Pasaway at Pandemya

© Bacungan

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The pasaway narrative is something we Filipinos know all too well, a word tossed around and left lying along households, schools, in the cracks along the streets. It is weightless and bearing light meaning, sliding from our tongues a little too smoothly—ang kulit, and titigas ng ulo! I hear my mother’s voice in my head when I spill fresh laundry onto the floor or break another pair of glasses, a teacher’s sigh as they exasperatedly try to silence a rowdy classroom, a friend’s sing-song tone at endless banter and teasing. But when a global pandemic takes over the course of lives around the world and cases continue to spike at a rapid pace, I find an administration pointing fingers at hundreds of thousands of Filipinos alongside myself.

“Napakarami kasing pasaway, matigas ang ulo, pilosopo at makasarili,” says transport assistant secretary Goddes Hope Libiran, regarding the deliberation on implementing a total ban on public transportation during quarantine in Metro Manila.

Senate President Tito Sotto brings to light the constant rise of positive cases in the Philippines: “Kaya pala ang bilis ng pagtaas ng COVID sa atin. Not because there are more mass testings now, but because we are so hardheaded.”

Last April, Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque commented on the Philippines ranking first among ASEAN countries in the number of positive COVID-19 cases, stating, “Ang dami pong pasaway sa atin. At dahil po dyan number one nanaman po tayo sa ASEAN sa dami ng COVID-19. Nakakahiya po yan.”

These past few months, the Department of Health has also been placing great emphasis on individual compliance to minimum health standards, especially after the nation’s shift to General Community Quarantine. Last July 8, DOH iterated that community transmission is now the primary driving force in the surge of COVID-19 infections, rather than the late reporting of previous cases. DOH Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said they have been studying the factors that have contributed to the rising trend of COVID-19 cases, but they could no longer trace current infections to any positive case—community transmission means that the infection is coming from everywhere. This further implores us to comply with the set minimum health standards.

Since earlier 2020, when Enhanced Community Quarantine was first implemented, Filipinos have been experiencing stern measures in an attempt to contain the virus; the government took on a more militaristic approach to ensure the Filipinos’ discipline, aggressively. ECQ became one of the world’s longest stay-at-home-order, ranging from mid-March to May. Its implementation came alongside strict curfew ordinances and harsh penalties for noncompliance.

There are numerous and contrasting views on the Filipino people’s compliance to these health standards, opposing or even adding to the pasaway narrative imposed upon us.

Former Inter-agency task force adviser Dr. Anthony Leachon called Filipinos “pasaway” and uncommitted to the campaign against the coronavirus after citing a social study that concluded that many Filipinos don’t perceive COVID-19 as a personal threat. On the other hand, a local study by the National Research Council of the Philippines showed that middle class Filipinos had a “high level” of compliance in lockdowns and safety measures like wearing face masks, hand washing, and physical distancing. A COVID-19 behavior tracker debunked the pasaway narrative by conducting a survey with about 1500-2000 respondents. According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the most effective personal habits and minimum health standards to avoid transmission are to observe frequent handwashing, avoid close contact, cover mouth and nose with a mask when around others, and to clean and disinfect surfaces.

As of late July, about two months after the Philippines took the risk of reopening the economy and slowly lifting quarantine, 93% of Filipinos always wear masks when going outside; and 83% of Filipinos always disinfect and wash their hands. As for avoiding close contact and crowded places, 73% of Filipinos always avoid crowded places while 54% are able to avoid public transportation. 55% always avoid going out, as much as possible. Government officials and the Philippine National Police have placed the blame on quarantine and health protocol violators for the rising cases in the country. However, medical societies pointed our that the misconception that our situation is getting better is an illusion created by the “progressive lifitng of quarantine.”

According to WHO, there are numerous other factors to take into account in combatting COVID-19. Contact Tracing plays a significant role in containing the virus, a system that detects cases and identifies close contacts to be advised for quarantine. This tracks the chain of infections and avenues where transmission may occur. Laboratory and therapeutics access or mass testing is essential to rapidly identify, treat, and isolate the positive cases, enabling us to see the bigger picture of how many people are infected. Apart from these, WHO also mentioned surveillance, infection prevention and control, clinical care, risk communication and community engagement, logistics support, subnational operations support, and responding to outbreaks in high risk areas.

So when does this pasaway narrative become dangerous?

Apart from an unwillingness to shoulder accountability and take immediate action, the pasaway narrative breeds many instances of negligence and puts to risk countless of Filipinos. This narrative manifests in President Rodrigo Duterte’s response to the recent frontliners’ plea.

A distress signal to the nation took form in an open letter addressed to President Duterte. Medical groups have united to bring to the table the nation’s shortcomings in pandemic control strategies and the condition of the health sector. Proposing a two-week ECQ, the medical groups suggested that it be used as “a timeout to refine our pandemic control strategies”, namely hospital workforce efficiency; failure of contact tracing and quarantine; transportation safety; workplace safety; public compliance with self-protection; social amelioration. They also claimed that the timeout would be needed to prevent the collapse of the healthcare system and the continuous surge in coronavirus infections.

President Duterte heeded the frontliners’ plea and reimposed MECQ; however, this lockdown was not what the healthcare workers were asking for. There remains no clear plan to rescue the struggling healthcare system, Duterte resorting instead to threatening healthcare workers and reprimanding them for airing their grievances. Instead of addressing their concerns, they are set up as objects of blame.

When pasaway culture manifests in places like this, it is no longer something to brush off lightly, to excuse with the claim that it does not do any harm. We have our respective duties to uphold as individuals, and although the fate of the country is also reliant on our individual action and responsibility, we must not allow ourselves to carry the burden of the administration’s shortcomings.

Marami talagang pasaway.