I had yet to fully enjoy our new-found mobility when the government, voila, brought us back to the stricter MECQ status, which to some is basically at par with ECQ which just a bit of a modification here and there.
There goes my wishful thinking of having all the works – you know, manicure, pedicure, hair dye, and hair cut. After 120 days of being locked up, my hair is an unruly shoulder length.
We’re locked up for another two weeks due to the combined effects of the significant climb in the number of positives recorded and the authorities heeding the request of the medical professionals for a time-out to give their weary bodies a much needed rest.
Are we back to square one? In my random crowd sourcing, the baseline answer is no because even a number of establishments which totally stopped operations between mid-March and mid-June are open, such as the jolly-jeep, that food truck, which services employees and other workers of the essential businesses allowed to open. In the morning, with construction activities permitted. I still can hear the cement mixers churning, cranes transferring logs and other raw materials.
It’s in the mindset, one responded, saying our body clocks are a bit confused. Hers is a perfect set-up a loving supporting husband who had the foresight to opt to WFH prior to ECQ; a daughter who is an incoming senior high; and a good paying job in a mid-tier management position.
Although she said she understands that the government has to accede to the frontliners’ request for a “time-out,” there’s psychological impact in going back to virtual house arrest. She had adjusted to physically reporting for work four days in a week. It wasn’t smoothly and paranoia on COVID-19 infection consumed her. Six weeks of adjustment. Now it’s WFH again.
No one is complaining about the decision. Fatigue is catching up. I’ve seen this with Lucky over the weekend, a nurse, who has a nine- year-old daughter and an 11 year- old middle son. Lucky, if she’s lucky enough, gets to have her day off once every two weeks of straight duty night Shift. When she gets home from the hospital and after the mandatory cleansing no ifs and buts about it – the lure of hitting the sack is definitely greater than eating. In less than five minutes, she was asleep.
Adjustment is what it takes to set the seasons apart. Deemed to be the most highly digitized lending institution in the country, Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation (RCBC) has to make adjustments in its preparedness protocol even prior to the pandemic to be in step with the new mode of banking.
In my e-conversation with Eugene S. Acevedo, RCBC president and chief executive officer, the day after the reversion to the MECQ status of the metropolis, he said tweaking the bank’s protocol drawn-up during the SARs period was necessary because COVID-19 is more virulent.
I caught up with him just when he took the bitter decision (of course, with the full backing of the bank management) to temporary close down for a year 25 branches, on top of the 30 networks already out of operations.
Adjustments and rationalization have become the order of the financial institution. Branches need to be opened based on transaction volume. Even if it’s strategically located, If there are few depositors, a branch cannot compete with a network that has heavy volume of the transactions.
Realizing how difficult it is for both the bank and its clients, Mr. Eugene, in one of his FB posts, pleaded: “Please be patient with your bankers, we are in the frontlines, too. Many of us are potentially exposed when leaving our homes to man branches and call centers, and maintain ATMs.
For now, RCBC’s known as #BankFromHome
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