Distrustful Complacency
The Delta variant is real, but it is sad that some people still hold on to the idea that the pandemic is just a conspiracy concocted by the government and some unscrupulous organizations.
But the figures don’t lie. More than 4 million deaths worldwide cannot be considered a mere conspiracy. People gasping for breath and begging for oxygen In hospitals manned by exhausted health workers is a grim picture of how this pandemic strikes at the most vulnerable point of human existence.
At present, we have effective weapons against the virus: time-tested handwashing, social distancing, mask-wearing, and vaccination. Despite these tools in our arsenal, we still struggle with rising cases of Infection, prompting the government to impose the draconian measure of a hard lockdown. While the Philippines is grappling with the pandemic, some countries managed the crisis well. The Duterte administration needed to use the strong arm of the law and send people to Jail to enforce compliance. But is this necessary?
One study reveals that people’s compliance with restrictions may be motivated by their trust in their political leadership, which could be sufficient to mitigate any personal complacency. This political trust refers to the faith people have in their government.
As the government imposes tighter restrictions due to rising COVID cases, trust issues may again manifest, as shown by the increasing number of arrests of quarantine violators, which mirror the government’s failure to care for their needs.
The recent report released by the Commission on Audit (COA) on the Department of Health’s (DOH) pandemic response last year is another breaking point of people’s trust in government. To appease an enraged citizenry, COA clarified that there is no finding of corruption in their report. Well, there is no conclusive evidence of corruption yet. However, the auditors finding that the DOH did not touch P59.125 billion of its budget allocations in 2020is enough basis to support a conclusion of incompetence, inefficiency, and gross negligence considering the deaths of so many health workers due to lack of budget to procure personal protective equipment.
There will always be distrustful complacency among the citizens for as long as the government fails to deliver the much-needed services during this pandemic. No arrest of violators can remedy the problem of low compliance. Citizens’ trust in the government is the key to win in this crisis. But trust is earned, not imposed.
By ATTY. GREGORIO B. AUSTRAL, CPA