Thankful to be reopening

In this age of the coronavirus disease 2019 or COVID-19, we give thanks to all those who have kept us safe and sane during the last eight weeks in forced isolation until now as we slowly ease to a “new normal” lifestyle. The enumeration below does not reflect importance; it’s just a random listing of what comes to mind.

1. Garbage collectors I can’t imagine how filthy our front yards would be if the regular collection of our garbage would have stopped. They have continued plying their regular routes without any hazard pay, perhaps simply thankful that they are “luckier” to still have jobs.

2. Utility network personnel We’re talking here about the people who go to work in companies that keep our taps supplied with water, electricity lines humming with power, and communication channels supplied with data on our mobile phones and television sets.

Thanks to apps like Facebook Live, Zoom, and FaceTime, quarantined families managed to get in touch with others, like during Mothers Day. These also helped those in isolation or confined in the hospital to emotionally recharge while recovering.

3. Supermarket, grocery, and drugstore staff Many of them served with fear that they may, by a stroke of tough luck, be contaminated by the coronavirus. They kept the flow of essential goods going. Special kudos goes to cashiers and sales people who could be considered as the frontline staff of these stores.

4. Local officials More so in the densest communities of cities with the highest virus-spread risks, local officials down to the barangay and street levels continue to deliver free food supplies to those who most need them. While the food they bring is not always enough, their presence still evoke smiles of gratitude.

5. Health workers Despite the scarcity of personal protective equipment (PPE) in hospitals, they have persisted. We have lost far too many of them, but those left to man the frontlines stood their ground.

6. Volunteers Many of our more able citizens organized soup kitchens, offered transport for frontline workers, and set up manufacturing brigades for health workers’ PPE. The willingness of Filipinos to help others shines through.

Overseas Filipinos

Filipinos employed overseas, especially those in hospitals and health care facilities, have been recognized for their service and care towards people in countries they work in.

They have faced bigger challenges from the huge surges of infections in countries like the United States, Spain, Italy, and the United Kingdom. Swamped treatment rooms, inadequate supply of proper PPE, and even unfair labor practices are some of the problems they grapple with.

And yet, they have persevered. Their touching stories have been leaked out in social media platforms, showing how they have kept their professionalism in grueling circumstances, and have kept on.

Quite a number of Filipinos are also working in the education sector, like our youngest in the family, Alexandra Regina “Ina” Gamboa. She is one of many new Filipino graduates chosen under a program organized by Ministry of Education of Spain to conduct teaching/tutoring of English for young students (elementary level).

They are assigned to different cities and towns, e.g., Madrid, Barcelona, Zaragoza, among others, where they are also expected to study and learn the local culture as part of the program. While on lockdown, they conduct their classes online while offering a more laidback glimpse of life under quarantine conditions.

She sent some photos and a narration of life as a Pinay millennial in Zaragoza, Spain. This was featured in Cosmopolitan PH, and may be accessed at www.cosmo.ph/lifestyle/ living-in-spain-covid-19-a1213-a4664-20200425.

Seniors’ lifeline

Finally, it’s great to hear our senior citizens trying to infuse some sense in policy-making by government officials, however “trivial” the issue seems. The latest has been about the continued restrictions on seniors’ movements, even under the modified lockdown rules.

Gen. Gene Senga, former AFP Chief of Staff, posted in our Valley Seniors group chat his sentiments, parts of which follow: “There is irrefutable evidence that seniors’ physical and mental wellbeing substantially improves from outdoor exercises done with regularity such as walking, golfing, tennis and other non-contact sports.

“… as a senior golfer, the benefit that is derived from fresh air in the natural environment is a lifeline that may even extend life expectancy for many. Realizing this fact, an unwarranted lockdown of seniors has presented devastating effects.

“Specifically, inactivity due to imposition of an unjustifiable extended lockdown (for over two months) bring health challenges such as depression, high levels of anxiety, high blood and muscular atrophy just to mention a few.

“Hence, allow us to enjoy whatever time is left for us to live for.”

Facebook and Twitter

We are actively using two social networking websites to reach out more often and even interact with and engage our readers, friends and colleagues in the various areas of interest that I tackle in my column. Please like us on www. facebook.com/ReyGamboa and follow us on www.twitter. com/ReyGamboa.

Should you wish to share any insights, write me at Link Edge, 25th Floor, 139 Corporate Center, Valero Street, Salcedo Village, 1227 Makati City. Or e-mail me at reydgamboa@yahoo.com. For a compilation of previous articles, visit www.BizlinksPhilippines.net.