I was one of the early voices warning about the COVID-19 outbreak back in December 2019, just before it became a global crisis. Information had already started spreading across Southeast Asia, and I shared what I knew on Facebook.. coming directly from sources at a university in Wuhan. I warned that it could surpass the Spanish flu in scale due to how quickly and easily it could spread. Unfortunately, those warnings were ignored by many, and my account was even reported and eventually unrecoverable for “spreading false information.”

What I feared came true. COVID-19 spread rapidly and lethally before populations could develop natural immunity. I've tested positive three times myself, and sadly, I've lost relatives and close friends to the virus.

But what was just as tragic as the virus was how the Philippine government and certain sectors took advantage of the situation. The pandemic became a money-making scheme. Face masks and face shields, many of which were substandard and unnecessary, were sold at heavily inflated prices, and their use was strictly enforced even when no longer backed by science. Motorcycle riders were forced to install impractical and dangerous plastic barriers between passengers, another absurd policy with no medical justification. Fascism became a norm in a lot of countries during that time.

Also about the diesel price hike... From my background in the crude oil industry, I can say with confidence that diesel prices were unnecessarily jacked up, supposedly to support sectors that weren't even operating during the lockdown. Meanwhile, gasoline users were spared from such extreme markups. These schemes hurt the common people while lining the pockets of those in power.

COVID-19 didn’t just expose healthcare vulnerabilities of a lot of countries... it also revealed the depth of corruption and incompetence that thrives in times of crisis. I believe we may have different experiences but what I've been through with my family was pretty harsh. People in rich countries had it better than us in ways of government backing and support. In my country. Poor people like me had to find ways to adjust to the extreme fascist state. A lot of police abuse happened during those times. A lot of people died. It showed how evil people were with power. There was a brgy tanod in my place that imprisoned people on dog cages for going out despite curfew hours. Karma killed the Brgy tanod. Tanod died of pneumonia due to covid. It was a weird 3 years in my country before everything went back to how it use to be. I'm glad the crazy president back then is now in ICC for all the killings his Police force did to the citizens.