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Manila Bulletin devider Opinion devider Tidings of joy

Tidings of joy

Published Dec 11, 2021 12:05 am

MEDIUM RARE

Jullie Y. Daza

It might as well have been a weekend. But because it was a national holiday, feast of the Immaculate Conception of Mary, the whole world seemed to be in one great big place, gathered to celebrate the holy day as well as the coming holidays, and they were there at MOA, Mall of Asia, from noon ‘til long into the night.

After a catch-up lunch with an old friend that put me in the mood to explore, the feeling was that everybody else was there, like me, to explore, explore, explore! There I discovered my chance to discover and crawl through the cavernous Ayala Malls Manila Bay, stretching for miles and miles multiplied by four floors, including a Chinatown and a Korea town, with a parking basement large enough to house one or two barangay.

Whereupon I mindlessly compared MOA with a recent weekend in Makati that I found so quiet, almost deserted. Here was the action, right here in MOA, with all the holiday lights, the wide open spaces, the Christmas people and their cars. Under darkening skies a drive-through waited to be explored with all its fancy lights and what appeared to be a railway, and if there was a railway there was bound to be a choo-choo train, exclusively for tourists with receipts attesting to cash purchases.

Christmas is still two weeks away but God is good, giving us a break from incessantly bad news; let’s do our part to be in sync with forecasts of a hopeful season by DOH-IATF-OCTA.

For the first time in a very long time the voice of a doctor on radio sounded like a musical greeting from the Angel Gabriel. Not the voice of doom as we have been used to, but glad tidings, for according to Dr. Grace of Sta. Ana Hospital in Manila, of 600 frontliners working in the hospital, 90 fell ill, with only one severe case who eventually recovered. In addition, “thanks to the (City Hall) leadership,” all doctors, nurses and staff have received their benefits in full. What’s more, the hospital does not have a single COVID-19 patient left.

Would that all hospitals were in the same merry mood, their heroic frontliners fully paid and adequately appreciated for their services. Bonus next?

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