Covid Politicized

Belated post, but last March 16 was the 3rd anniversary of "two weeks to flatten the curve" in the Philippines and many countries. That day, all flights and boat trips, domestic and international were cancelled; all buses, jeeps, taxi, Grab etc were halted; all malls, many restos and shops were closed, etc. Even mobility of people on their cars were limited and restricted. Anyway, "only 2 weeks to stop the virus spread" of heavy draconian lockdown. Two weeks passed, wrong mistake palpak. The bright infectious disease "experts" said "two more weeks" of lockdown,... Became two months, became two years. Now three years and several restrictions remain like mandatory facemask in many areas, inside planes, even requiring vaccination cards in some hotels and restos. Or requiring antigen test for all guests like what they do at the Senate and House of Reps. The experts from WHO, DOH, FDA, PMA, PSMID, UPCM, OCTA, etc even added or didn't oppose the ma...

*  BusinessWorld  February 27, 2023.  ----------- Feb. 24 last week marked the first anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The Ukraine crisis has morphed from a border war between the two countries to a potential nuclear conflict in Europe. Here are five major crisis narratives which have had a big impact on economic growth and individual freedom. 1. The virus/pandemic crisis.  It led to widespread government-imposed business and mobility restrictions or lockdowns and human isolation, while expanding government spending and borrowing. House Bill 6522 and Senate Bill 1869 will create a new bureaucracy — the Philippine Center for Disease Prevention and Control (CDC). I have two objections against this bill. One, it contradicts the National Government Rightsizing Program (NGRP) of the Marcos Jr. administration which aims to reduce redundancy or duplication of functions, and reduce government spending. See this column’s piece last week, “Bureaucratic rightsizing a...

Looking back at the PH's lockdown policies 2020-2021, Duterte administration and his economic, health, political, general and medical "experts" job was to sink the PH as deep as possible. To impose the strictist lockdown possible, to close as many shops, restos and malls as possible, to close all buses, taxi, even jeepneys as long as possible. When they said "only 2 weeks to flatten the curve", they were lying already when they extended to 2 months, 2 years, more. The new administration job is how to get out of the morass and sinkhole quick. Bad news -- Duterte team and advisers still there, like Vergeiri, Gen. Galvez, Salvana, etc. But at least mobility restrictions been abolished by mid-2022, including mandatory mandatory masks, vax card, etc. Those 2+ years lockdown has no precedent yet it happened. Now that there is a precedent, very likely it will happen again. The authorities and authoritarians have already tasted so much power over people's lives, the...