Quarantine jumpers an indictment of how sick our rule of law is

The recent cases of people in quarantine that turn out to be partying are not a new phenomenon. It is a form of jumping or cutting queues that happens all the time. We see it in daily lines and in our roads; we witness it in our documents and in court cases. Some queues are meant to improve our lot. We give preference to the elderly, the sick, the pregnant, and the young. Although personally, I think seniors at 60 years old are too young in our modern, health-conscious world.

For those that have no basis in fact or in law to be served ahead of others, the claim to go first is usually based on privilege — be it power, money, authority, or connections. The more Freudian among us will attribute it to ego pride again tied up the any of the conditions cited. What needs to be addressed as a matter of national importance is the issue of impunity.

In the last two years of the pandemic, has the rule of law changed in the country? Has it improved, stagnated, or decayed further?

There are three ways that the virus has impacted the justice sector. One, with the lockdowns, skeleton staff, personnel absences, and limited capacities, there is a drastic slowdown of justice-related processes. Urgent matters including bail hearings and promulgation of decisions are subjected to multiple delays.

Two, inertia, more than ever, is more pervasive and deeper in the whole structure. It seems that all actions are in super slow motion and never-ending follow-ups. It will take more than a jump-start to rev up a frozen engine. Lethargy is as infectious.

Third, justice reforms since stalled from 2016 and not prioritized in the recent past have practically disappeared from the justice governance agenda. There are the finance and tax-driven changes, as well as the “Build, build, build” mantra, but hardly anything on the penal reform that is transformative.

This brings us back to the problem of quarantine jumpers. Even if one disagrees with the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases rules because they are not backed by science, there ought to be at least compliance on the quantitative aspect, i.e., number of days in isolation and RT-PCR tests that do not allow misinterpretation. The most egregious face shields, we endured. The senseless little contact-tracing slips, we filled. The congestion at vax sites and checkpoints that further spread the virus, we survived.

Right at the heart of quarantine jumpers and queue-cutters, in the center of murderers and plunderers, is the complete disregard of regulations and rules. It is the attitude of knowing it is wrong but I don’t care; it is going against essential norms for one’s convenience and profit. It is a blatant violation of our systems of laws that provides order for our society. It is an acknowledgment and an indictment that the rule of law is as sick as we all are.

GERONIMO L. SY
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