Our take.

Our take in the ongoing community quarantine.

1. Bring all documents and proof of employment; postal address, and employer address must be reflected in the papers. It's not just the driver that should have these documents, but including the passenger. If you are car pooling, the driver is responsible to check his/her passenger have the documents present. If we are the passenger, let's be responsible and make sure we do not impact our colleagues. Be mindful that car limit is 4 pax including the driver. All vehicles coming to checkpoint are subject to this process check.

2. Wear a mask when approaching the checkpoint. The officers in charge have been in contact with different personalities as course of duty. Hence, to protect ourselves from droplets let's just wear our mask. A distance of 1 meter may be challenging to do business in this set up where we are in our private vehicle and the officer outside.

3. Wear gloves, the officer may be handling our documents, and the hand is our conduit to spread the virus. Hence, wearing gloves is recommended.

4. Use alcohol or gel sanitizer after our checkpoint encounter. Make sure to wash our hands upon arrival at work to make sure we are not contaminated and/or do not spread contamination.

5. Bring bottled water and snacks, in case we are trapped in the long queuing lines of checkpoints. Just think that after the checkpoint, the road is less traffic as a result of school suspension and cancellation of mass gathering. This makes delays encountered bearable.

6. Drink your medicine (on maintenance) or vitamins, eat a healthy balanced diet, sleep early. A strong immunity gives us a good fighting chance against COVID19.

7. Patience and Prayer. Let's all accept the fact that there is birth pains in any process, nobody is perfect. By praying we acknowledge the uncertainty and we disempower fear. We are praying to allow us to recognize that we cannot know everything. And trusting that God watches our back and will keep us under His protection (that is faith).

This is the moment that we must exercise courtesy and respect to our authorities.  They, too, are risking their lives and their families.

This is not the time to blame our leaders for their past actions. Reserve those reflections on the next election.

This time we must exercise caution and think not just ourselves but for others as well.

Have a blessed Sunday! The liturgical message today is timely to our current situation.

God is watching us!