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Manila Bulletin devider Opinion devider The .75 solution

The .75 solution

Published Sep 18, 2020 04:05 pm
Jullie Y. Daza

MEDIUM RARE

Dr. Manuel Dayrit’s commandments to stay clear of the coronavirus stop at No. 7.

The eighth commandment: Thou shall take virgin coconut oil (VCO) daily to strengthen your immune system.

Dr. Dayrit, a former Health secretary, is the godfather of VCO. For decades, he has been promoting the fabulous benefits of VCO to a people who grew up and live with coconut, the nut from the tree of life, an advocacy his doctor-son is pursuing in a similarly passionate way.

Dr. Dayrit has been in the news to answer questions on where he stands on the 1 meter vs .75 meter distancing rule for riders in public vehicles. His answer, if one may summarize and personalize it, is that neither side of the argument is wrong. This is one case where science is not measured by a precise number. The argument was born when only one secretary, Mr. Tugade of Transportation, took it upon himself to implement the rule with no loud and convincing objections coming from other members of the Interagency Task Force, not even the secretary of Health (who was silent because he was absent).

As I keep repeating, IATF spells I Am The Fourth branch of government, with powers spelled out in the titles and ranks of its generals and czars. They have a law to back their authority, which does not mean that they are expected to think alike, which does not mean that when a policy is announced they should speak as one. As it turned out, DOH Secretary Duque was against .75, and so was DILG Secretary Año. Secretary Roque tossed the issue, for want of a silver coin to toss in the air, to their boss of bosses, who will announce his decision on Monday night. My feeling is it’s the voice of the man on the street that the President will heed.

On the street where public transportation is sorely lacking, the overwhelming preference of bus operators, drivers, and passengers was 1, not .75, the reason being their instinctive fear of infection. If the .75 solution was invented to accommodate more passengers, Marikina Rep. Stella Quimbo has a less divisive answer: Deploy more jeepneys on more routes! Beautiful, so clever you’re afraid IATF won’t buy it.

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Jullie Y. Daza
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