April is the month when summer begins in the Philippines. The first few days of the month was quite wet but at this time – the 4th week of April and the 1st week May – it is quite hot… and terribly hot for me. It is also vacation time and there is a trend right now of people going out after spending a lot of time under lockdowns. The Philippines is under Alert Level 1, the lowest level of restrictions for the covid-19 pandemic and few people are getting the covid-19 virus. But I haven’t gone out, really.
And I will not go out and vote on May 9, the date when Filipinos will vote for the presidential elections. I am male, aged 60+ with comorbidities. I belong to that group of people which the coronavirus-19 likes to attack and kill. Lots of people from this group have died because of the virus and, quite recently, I read a couple of articles about two individuals who died because of it and they are quite known in their fields. I must admit that I am fully jabbed and have received the booster shot. Still, I will not go out and vote.
However, for those who can vote, or like to vote, or simply want to exercise their right to vote, DO SO. GO OUT and VOTE, and elect the people whom you think are capable of leading your locality, province and country. And take care of yourselves. Observe health protocols. Avoid crowding most specially. Make your act of voting as quickly and as intelligently as possible. Do not hang around the precinct vicinity if your only purpose is to vote. Leave immediately to give way for other voters.
Furthermore, I hope our COMELEC has already set the guideline and mechanism for those people with covid-19 who want to vote. Will they be allowed to vote in the first place? WHO has predicted – and our officials know this – that there will be a surge in covid-19 cases after voting or election day. Remember last December? We were on Alert Level 1; there were a lot of people who have received the vaccination shot; and science told us that there was “herd immunity.” There was none and there was a surge in covid-19 cases. I hope the prediction will not come true (and science will be wrong again – this time, for our sake.) Let’s hope and pray that there will be NO SURGE in COVID-19 CASES.
Keep safe. Observe health protocols. Avoid crowding. Stay healthy and make yourself healthy during election day. AND PRAY – IT WORKS.
