Sir, sir! What is that thing plastered on your face?
Writer: Elisha Rein De Vera (April 23, 2021)
Veiled heroes, the ones coherently voicing out the unfortunates' cry for help, the professionals whose sweat are dripping inside their white warrior suite, our great ordinary Filipino citizens that do the extraordinary things to ensure that no one's left behind, and other heroine and their heroic acts that greatly contribute on keeping others sane prove that regardless of the system, we can rise as one.
“Challenge and adversity are meant to know who you are. Storms hit your weakness, but unlock your true strength.”
The pandemic had substantiated, in a basic term, exposed how our country, focusing on the government, lacks the ability and capacity to secure the people's needs from primary to secondary. Starting with the healthcare system, which is administered by PhilHealth– a government organization that is connected to the Department of Health. The system is developed to assist Filipino citizens in paying for their medical needs through health insurance.
However, a 15 billion pesos missing fund was allegedly lost due to corruption in 2019, according to a former anti-fraud officer of the corporation. This lead to the questionable transactions in PhilHealth to the pandemic. An underlying problem that reflects the situations happening within our hospitals and the people involved whereas the elites were never deprived of the benefits all of the Filipinos are rightful of.
If this does not concern you enough, how about the Philippines' active cases of COVID has become the highest in South East Asia and our country itself ranked 79th place out of 95 countries based on the Lowy COVID response index? Folks, if this would be the start of widening how you view things, considering this as your first step is a big contribution enough on engaging to seek change. The real opponent is the system that slowly creeps into us until one's sight becomes blurry enough to see the silver lining that glistens in each other's eyes. Let us pursue putting an end to the triangular concept of society that dictates where an individual stands as our feet are originally laid on the same ground.