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I am glad that most of the candidates for president have expressed their willingness to continue, in one form or another, “Build, Build, Build,” which is the flagship program of President Rodrigo Duterte. There was some worry that because of the acrimony in Philippine politics and the prospects of discontinuity as a new administration takes over the infrastructure program will be terminated. In several of the debates and interviews, many of the frontrunners in the presidential race have expressed their intention to pursue infrastructure development if they win in the May 2022 elections.

I see no other reason why we should not transition to Alert Level 0, where restrictions if any, are most relaxed. All health metrics support the full reopening of the economy. Removing all Covid-19 restrictions, save perhaps for the wearing of face masks, will unleash the full potential of the economy.

There is one aspect of the Filipino that I am not a fan of the penchant of some of us for self-flagellation. We sometimes put ourselves down and express shame instead of pride in our people, in our country. Phrases like “only in the Philippines,” “ang Pilipino talaga…” usually take a particular negative trait we observe in one or two people and magnify it to apply to the entire country. I remember when we would watch Filipino action films where cops would arrive after the hero of the movie had defeated the criminals and someone would always comment, “ang mga pulis talaga sa Pilipinas natin laging huli.”