Bayaniyan – this is the word proposed by Deputy Speaker and Laguna Rep. Dan Fernandez to refer to Filipinos suffering from COVID-19 who are willing to have their names published to help contract tracing to prevent the spread of the disease.
“Instead of treating them unfairly, instead of discriminating or showing them our prejudice, we must start calling Filipinos who courageously admit their condition “bayaniyan,” said Fernandez.
He added: “Maytamayan – that is the apt term for people who refuse to understand the feelings of an infected person’s or those who subject the sick to ridicule, indifference and even to many forms of cruelty.”
The administration lawmaker said a friend from the House news media suggested the term “bayaniyan” after covering the Committee on Good Government hearing on government’s treatment of LSIs (locally-stranded individuals).
“It's a word play for bayanihan – the spirit that drives Filipinos to support each other during times like this,” he said.
During the hearing, Fernandez urged PNP-NCRPO chief Gen. Debold Sinas and other government officials to try to find a word that would fittingly describe COVID-19 infected persons who will volunteer to expose themselves publicly in order to make contract tracing easier for authorities.
In the hearing, Anakalusugan Rep. Michael Defensor demanded the publication of the names of all persons infected with the virus as an effective contact tracing method aimed at preventing the further rise in COVID-19 cases.
Defensor explained that unmasking the identities of infected persons could be the best manner of “contact tracing”.
He called for the amendment of Data Privacy Act and the Public Health Emergency Act that provides rights to confidentiality and privacy of persons.
The administration solon underscored the need to resort to such measures since the country is facing the worst public health threat ever experienced in history.
Defensor noted that Senator Juan Miguel Zubiri immediately came out publicly to reveal his COVID 19 condition in his bid to help health authorities and the public track recent contacts who may be in danger of catching the deadly 2019 novel coronavirus.
Senator Juan Edgardo Angara and ACT-CIS Partylist Rep. Eric Go Yap also divulged their COVID 19 predicament to help in the contact tracing efforts.
However, the Department of Health later clarified that Yap had tested negative to the disease, saying that its staff made an error about the result.
Fernandez said Zubiri, Angara and even Yap deseerved to be called “bayaniyan” for “doing what a responsble person must do when faced with such predicament.”
“Marami nang mga opisyal, artista at mga celebrities na pwede matawag na bayaniyan. Saluduhan natin sila at lahat ng katulad nila (Many officials, artists and celebrities can be called bayaniyan. Let us honor them),” he said.