Coronavirus pandemic can also produce some silver linings

AFTER a seeming quarantine from the media spotlight with respect to the coronavirus pandemic, Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles recaptured media attention last week by taking the lead in announcing to the nation that the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) is now pushing for the implementation of the government’s national identification (ID) system to streamline relief distribution to groups that are under threat from the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19).

Nograles accomplished the feat by resurrecting and speaking as the cochairman of the task force, which he is indeed, according to official records.

To many in the media, the change of talking heads in the virus fight was a relief because it represented a reprieve from two increasingly wearisome situations.

First is the usually uninformative and defensive speakership by Palace spokesman Harry Roque, who inexplicably doubles as speaker for the task force while bearing no medical credentials.

Second is the bland, monotonous briefings of Health undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire, who recounts daily the incremental increases of the number of Philippine cases of virus infections, fatalities and recoveries.

At one time, early in the health emergency, Secretary Nograles was literally the face of the nation’s struggle against the virus. He was the face our people saw every day, reporting on the health situation.

He was the voice we heard in March, when the community quarantine strategy was first announced along with its package of draconian prohibitions and restrictions.

Now two and a half months later, when some of the draconian restrictions have been lifted and the economy has perceptibly recovered some degree of normality and activity, Nograles has returned to the media circuit bearing with a slight twist on the nation’s daily diet of information on the Covid situation.

His message is predictably being welcomed because the daily diet was close to driving many nuts or into diarrhea.

According to Nograles’ fresh bulletin, “The IATF is now pushing for an expedited delivery of social services to the most vulnerable groups in the population through the Philippine Identification System (PhilSys) ID cards linked to digital payment systems.”

He made the announcement in an online speech that he gave during a “webinar” (web-based seminar) conducted by the Far Eastern University Career and Placement Office on Friday. It was also Nograles who started the current fad of virtual media briefings.

Explaining the new scheme, Nograles said in his speech: “Through PhilSys, the government will have a more reliable registry of vulnerable persons from all databases, resulting in automatic and universal release of aid during national emergencies without the need for applications.”

The education sector also needs to adapt to the new situation through the institutionalization of so-called blended or online learning, flexible learning options such as open high schools, alternative delivery modes and satellites for off-grid areas, he said.

“We’re keeping up with the everyday challenges of Covid-19, and we’re slowly easing in systems that will benefit every Filipino — young and old, student, worker, homemaker [and] entrepreneurs. Let’s all be positive and supportive.”

“We’re all in this fight together,” he added.

It was in August 2018 that President Rodrigo Duterte signed into law the national ID system that will harmonize and integrate several government IDs.

The ID card will contain the bearer’s full name, image, date and place of birth, address, fingerprints, marital status and other relevant information.

The ID system aims to promote good governance, enhanced governmental transactions and a better environment for trade and commerce.

The PhilSys was pilot-tested in several areas in the country. It was halted because of the Luzon-wide quarantine to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.

Now, in an ironic twist, the virus — which earlier slowed down its implementation — is now spurring the implementation and activation of the ID system.

Roles are subject to change. A health emergency might as well provide also a silver lining.