Being on “the right side of history” is a verdict seldom bestowed in one’s lifetime. After all, only time, and circumstances, can tell what and where the “right” side is.
But I suspect that the late senator Heherson “Sonny” Alvarez knew where he stood on many issues that he confronted in the midst of his political life and even after he had retired from it. And I’m sure he stood in the certainty that he had chosen what was right and righteous.
It is thus with a sense of loss and regret that we, as a nation, rue the passing of Alvarez, who was also, in the course of his tumultuous life, a Cabinet secretary, a congressman, an environmental champion, a freedom fighter in exile. He was also a helpmeet to his wife Cecile, who also like him was afflicted by COVID-19 but lives to tell the tale. And with the passing of years, also was a loving father and grandfather.
I also knew others taken by the dreaded present-day contagion, among them Alan Ortiz who died in literal exile while in induced coma in a hospital in Paris. But even as we mourn their passing, we must also keep in mind and truly celebrate those who survived the virus, and those who helped keep them alive: the medical and health frontliners who do battle every day, donning the protective clothing that is their only defense against an organism that has so far killed thousands in practically all corners of the world. To them and others like them, we pay tribute and give our thanks!
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Health frontliner, male nurse Gab Lazaro, plays a pivotal role in the moving and yet admirably subdued TV documentary “Ako si (I am) Patient 2828” by journalist Howie Severino.
Recently discharged from hospital after recovering from COVID-19, Severino shed his anonymity to tell the story of his 11-day confinement. But instead of focusing on his personal ordeal, he trains his attention to others who fought the battle alongside him, most notably Lazaro who comes to embody the humble heroism and quiet perseverance of caregivers like him.
Of course, Severino went through his own trial by fire — two sleepless nights when pain, anxiety, and a looming sense of doom drew him to the precipice. But the words of his wife, environmental lawyer Ipat Luna, pulled him back: “You will not be defeated. You will overcome.”And indeed he did. He lets actress and social activist Iza Calzado, who likewise survived her own bout with COVID-19, put into words the feelings welling up in the consciousness of every survivor. “Now I value every breath I take,” says Calzado, still overwhelmed with gratitude for all the people who helped see her through her own harrowing testing.
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What I most appreciate about “Patient 2828” is the restraint with which Severino conveys the plight of every COVID-19 patient. He minimizes the pain and difficulties he must have endured and instead trains the spotlight on other “players” in the drama.
There is, for one, Lazaro, who is shown putting on his “armor” against the virus: plastic booties, a shower cap, a jumpsuit, mask, and plastic face shield. Individually, they all look so flimsy and inadequate. So it takes courage, I would guess, for each frontliner to venture forth into the corridors and patients’ rooms armed with nothing more than protective clothing and all the medical advances that are at this stage still hit-and-miss cures.
Then there are Severino’s colleagues: Calzado, his team in “I-Witness” who worked behind the scenes to tell the story, and fellow documentarist and commentator Atom Araullo who puts the public’s “burning questions” into words. There is also Ipat, who restrains what must have been her fiery emotions, to present a calm, reassuring counterpoint to her husband’s harrowing experience.
Most people, says Severino, prefer to hide behind anonymity once they have overcome the disease. But he chose to breach his own privacy to share with the Filipino public what he went through, if only to let us in on the thoughts and fears, worries and relief of someone engaged in mortal combat with what must be by now the deadliest pathogen known to humanity.
Thank you, Howie Severino, for bringing to life COVID-19 and its meaning in these days of dread.
rdavid@inquirer.com.ph