12 Time July 19/July 26, 2021
TheBrief News
Nurse DelTa saNTiago has reacheD The
top of her field. She works at one of the best
hospitals in the Philippines, frequented by
billionaires and celebrities. But the 32-year-
old can’t wait to leave.
Santiago, who asked to go by a pseudo-
nym because of potential backlash from her
employer, is concerned about the risk of
bringing COVID-19 home from the hospital
to her family. Because of the pandemic, au-
thorities have imposed strict curbs on pub-
lic transport, making her 15-mile commute a
time-consuming ordeal. So for the past eight
months, she has been sleeping in a hospital
utility room, just steps from the plush, pri-
vate medical suites where high-paying pa-
tients recline in relative comfort.
There, on a thin mattress spread between
rolls of garbage bags and toilet disinfectant,
an exhausted Santiago has video calls with
her 8-year-old son, whom she rarely sees in
person. And she seethes with fury at what she
says is the needless suffering the pandemic
has brought to the Philippines.
The Southeast Asian country of 109 mil-
lion people was already struggling to contain
COVID-19 when numbers began to climb
sharply in March. Typical daily caseloads have
ranged from 3,000 to 7,000 over the past three
months but have peaked as high as 11,000.
Total COVID-19 deaths have doubled , risingWORLD
Out of step
Women in the Ukrainian military will wear high
heels as they march in an upcoming parade
marking the 30th anniversary of the country’s
independence from the Soviet Union, officials
said July 1, sparking an outcry from lawmakers
who labeled the decision sexist. Here, other
occasions when military style has brought
people to attention. —Madeleine CarlisleBRONZED MEDALS
Viral footage of an October 2020
police academy graduation
ceremony in Cairo showed
hundreds of buff and shirtless
police recruits posing and flexing
on a procession of cars, boats
and armored trucks.SPLITTING HAIRS
The U.S. Army announced on
May 6 that female soldiers can
now wear ponytails and braids
while in uniform. Many soldiers
had complained the previously
required bun made it difficult to
wear helmets.WEDGE ISSUES
Photos of a North Korean
border-patrol unit received much
attention in 2013 for appearing
to show female soldiers
marching in 4-in. platform heels
along the banks of the Yalu River
in the town of Sinuiju.NEWS
TICKER
Oil leak in
Gulf of Mexico
sparks fireA 12-in. leak in an
underwater gas pipe
in the Gulf of Mexico
created a raging fire
on July 2 that burned
on the ocean surface
for over five hours.
Pemex, the Mexican oil
company that controls
the pipeline, said the
fire was created after
lightning struck gas
that had risen to the
surface.Trump Org.
and senior
exec chargedNew York prosecutors
charged the Trump
Organization and its
chief financial officer,
Allen Weisselberg,
with tax-related crimes
on July 1—the first
criminal charges
resulting from the
yearslong investigation
of the former
President’s business.
Weisselberg pleaded
not guilty, and Trump
called the charges a
“witch hunt.”Eswatini
forces fire on
protestersOngoing anti-monarchy
protests in the
kingdom of Eswatini, in
southern Africa, were
met with gunshots
and tear gas that
left dozens dead or
injured, according to
reports. The U.N. said
July 6 it was “deeply
concerned” and called
on security forces
to exercise “utmost
restraint.”from 12,300 on March 1 to nearly 25,000 at
the start of July. (Experts say those figures are
almost certainly undercounts.)
Like Narendra Modi’s India or Jair Bol-
sonaro’s Brazil, the Philippines is ruled by
a “medical populist” in President Rodrigo
Duterte, says physician and medical an-
thropologist Gideon Lasco. It’s a term Lasco
coined to describe how authoritarian leaders
have responded to the public-health crisis:
making belittling threats, maligning data and
proffering improvised solutions.
Duterte’s approach has been to put the
Philippines on a war footing, Lasco says,
which is part of a deliberate “pattern of spec-
tacle.” The President appears on TV to give
COVID-19 updates, flanked by top military
brass; lockdown orders, in place across the
archipelago since March 2020, are enforced
by armed security personnel in a manner
described by U.N. High Commissioner for
Human Rights Michelle Bachelet in April as
“highly militarized.” Duterte has himself told
police to kill anti-lockdown protesters who
resist arrest.
The President has recently started espous-
ing vaccinations as the country’s way out of
the pandemic, but achieving herd immu-
nity anytime soon looks highly unlikely, as
vaccine hesitancy is deep-rooted. Less than
3% of the population was fully vaccinated
by early July. So, more intimidation could
be in the cards. On June 21, Duterte threat-
ened to lock up anyone refusing a COVID-
shot. “You choose, vaccine or I will have you
jailed,” he warned on television.
—aie BalagTas see/maNilaPOSTCARD
Do Duterte’s threats
make the Philippines
safer from COVID-19?