Unless the national government comes up with more concrete and proactive plans, the country will end up spending more years under lockdown.
“Napakaimportante na ang mindset ng gobyerno ay solusyon tayo na naghahanap ng problema, rather than parang, ‘Oh, problema na naman y’ung lalapit mo,’” former Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano said in an interview with RMN DZXL Manila on August 17.
(It’s important to have a mindset that we are solutions looking for problems, rather than thinking that problems are always coming to us.)
On what the government can do to give hope to the Filipino people, Cayetano referred to the acronym MAPA, which stands for Mindset, Attitude, Plan and Action.
As this is a very crucial time in the pandemic where more variants are emerging and many establishments are already overcrowded or unsure of the different forms of quarantine, now is not the time to have a closed mindset.
“Yung attitude mo when dealing with the problems. Kasi kung ang attitude mo ay parating reactive ka, ayaw mong pangunahan so katulad sa Metro Manila, we had a few days before lockdown to give ayuda but we waited for ECQ bago binigay ng gobyerno ang pera,” he explained.
(The attitude you have when dealing with problems is important. If your attitude is that you are always reactive, and you don’t want to act ahead, it’s like what happened with Metro Manila. We had a few days before lockdown to give help but we waited for ECQ before the government gave any money or financial help).
The remaining letters in the acronym stand for the plans and actions that the government will take. This is because it is essential to have plans for those whose businesses will close, for displaced workers, and for tourist sites. It is only when one has a plan that they can also act on it, Cayetano said.
