Throughout this entire pandemic, I’ve constantly read the same things dominating online discourse: Bacolod (and in general, the Philippines) is going into ruin; the government is to be blamed for everything; our lives are miserable because of the constant reversal to more strict lockdown measures. While all the above may be, to some degree, true, we are missing the crux of the solution to ending this pandemic: collaboration. 

COVID-19 is a monster that has exposed the deep-rooted cracks of our society. Bacolod City, where I live, and most other cities in the Philippines, is situated in a developing, recently industrialized, economy. State capacity in our city is still a developing force and unit, as is the case for most developing nations. Therefore, it would be an absolute oversimplification to primarily blame all our troubles on one entity: the state. In a growing nation, everyone has to act together when the fundamental fabric of society is being torn apart. 

In other words, this means that we the citizens have an equally, if not more important, role in ending the proliferation of COVID cases in our city. I agree with most people in advocating for more government transparency, especially when it comes to the dealings of funds and intervention schemes. But what I am not in accordance with are those so-called “activists” online who merely spout hatred, ignorance, and division and offer no real solution to the current status quo. These are the people that launch troll campaigns, and cite pseudoscientific evidence and misleading statistics. These people seek to erode the very fundamentals of the stability in our society. 

Ultimately, I’m a loyal supporter of those critics of the system, but am extremely disappointed in those who only seek to blame and not to really act. 

There are some exceptional examples that we should model our efforts on: the Bacolod Employers Union (BEU) was recently launched as a way to increase communication and representation of the private sector in the New Government Center. The BEU representatives voice their complaints, frustrations, and criticisms with government officials, and then sit down together to form real-time solutions and strategies. This is what we need to accomplish: collaboration. This is the right way to voice our criticisms: to our representatives in a collaborative, constructive fashion. 

Additionally, I have personally embarked in implementing a novel contact tracing solution, through collaboration with an American company called NOVID. NOVID is the only contact-tracing app in the world that allows users to retain anonymity while being immersed in a pre-exposure defense system. It is the only contact-tracing mechanism in the world that empowers the user with knowledge of how close the virus is to them, enabling them to act accordingly.

I have been trying to get this novel solution implemented over the past 3 months, collaborating with multiple government officials at different levels of authority. So far, I’ve managed to get an audience with Bacolod’s Emergency Operations Center (EOC) and district Congressman. But the process of implementation is still a gigantic hurdle ahead.

I personally am not a public health expert. In fact, I’m not even a college student yet. But, by keeping myself active on crucial channels in the internet and engaging in intelligent, constructive discourse, I found a way I could somehow contribute. Or at least steer the conversation to a more progressive direction. 

This is how real change, although painstakingly slower, is achieved. The effort to implement real-time change will drain your energy. It will gnaw away at your conscience, making you reflect upon the fragility of our entire political ecosystem. But, I assure you, it will make you realize how valuable the struggle for action and change is. It is a transformative experience, one that, if you persist through, will completely transform you. 

We are far from being a perfect society. Bacolod, as we see, continues to face multiple maladies in this time. But instead of directing our anger into an endless, toxic cycle, we can formulate new outlets to express our dissent. We need to revamp our discourse to be one where we can talk about different ways each stakeholder group (the private sector, the government, education, health care etc.) can come together and actually make a difference. We need to bring back intellectual debate to our Facebook discussions.

At 18, I have immense faith in some of the youth of our city. There are some already promoting these ideals of intellectualism in their respective circles. But we need to expand. For having these discussions will empower the average citizen of Bacolod to understand the pandemic’s effects on a more profound level, and perhaps will inspire them to form a novel approach that could drastically improve the status quo. 

Till then, keep reading. Keep checking on the government. And when possible, voice your opposition through a meaningful outlet. Don’t just let it become an excuse to spew more hate and division online. 

More than ever, we need to come together. – Rappler.com

Dhrubhagat Singh is a native-born Bacolod City resident. He is currently on a gap year, set to study economics at Harvard College in 2021.