Saturday, April 18, 2020

Covid 6, Hysteria and disruptions in food production

Among the distortionary if not idiotic moves by the government in fighting the China virus aka Covid-19 are those many checkpoints and roadblocks that restrict if not prevent movement of people and goods, including agri products, their inputs.

(this photo I got from the web)
Government culture is often one size fits all. Once a lockdown is declared, many national to Brgy personnel take it as an order, or an opportunity for extortion. In Pangasinan town that I regularly visit, some corn planting djd not push through in many brgys because the tractors, fertilizers will come from another Brgy or town and they are restricted by the checkpoints. In the farm, eggplant planting for about half hectare was discontinued because the seedlings, high yielding variety, would come from about 4 towns away.

From Comelec Commissioner, also former Cadiz City, Negros Occ. Mayor Bing Guanzon: 

Here in Negros the milling season should have started but the sugarcanes are left drying in the haciendas because the trucks can't go through the checkpoints. We have the most number of sugar mills in the country and thousands of workers have no income. They depend on the landowner for day to day needs , even if some of them benefit from the cash assistance.

Hysteria de drama pa more.

A good article by Mahar here:

Allow people the freedom to earn a living
By: Mahar Mangahas - @inquirerdotnetPhilippine Daily Inquirer / 05:05 AM April 18, 2020

The responsibility for surviving the COVID-19 pandemic ultimately lies with the Filipino people, not the Philippine government….
COVID-19 testing does not cure the carriers, but only identifies them so as to prevent them from infecting others. Persons who are asymptomatic, and untested, do not deserve to be universally quarantined.

Unnecessary restrictions on personal movement. As long as persons wear face masks and keep adequate distance from each other, it does not make sense to inhibit them from moving across barangays, cities, or provinces within Luzon. The mere act of moving across a boundary does not imply the act of crowding. Checkpoints do not make sense; in fact, they promote crowding by creating queues where there were none….
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See also:
Covid Reflections 3, Economic hysteria getting worse, March 26, 2020 
Covid Reflections 4, Global deaths from previous pandemics, April 04, 2020 

Covid 5, Co-mortality of Covid + existing diseases, Philippines, April 11, 2020.

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