The COVID-19 pandemic has literally destroyed lives in the Philippines as people have been forced to stay inside and away from families and many have lost their jobs. Curfew violators have also been killed by overzealous enforcers. In short, the never ending and constantly rotating lockdowns, which are fueled by reckless, fear mongering politicians, health officials, and other bureaucrats who do not seem to realize that only .02% of the population, 28,000 out of 108.000,000 have died due to the virus, has been quite devastating for the majority of the Philippines' population.
But not for all. Especially celebrities.
For actress Alice Dixson the mandatory quarantine, the one all inbound international travelers must undergo for 7-14 days, was a cherished experience, a blessing in fact.
Alice Dixson was in a locked-in taping for the new GMA 7 series, “Legal Wives,” when she learned that her surrogate was about to give birth.
“The production didn’t know we were expecting. Only a few people knew and our scriptwriters knew. We kept it for the first two locked-in taping sessions, but at a certain point I needed to leave…I got home last Feb. 15. And then, on the 16th, at midnight, we received a call saying that the surrogate was in the hospital giving birth,” she related in a recent virtual press conference.
Alice, 52, then flew to Canada—where she’s a citizen—to fetch her baby girl, whom she named Aura. The actress was initially worried that she would no longer be able to return to the show. But the team, thankfully, still managed to accommodate her.
“When I returned [to the Philippines], I still got in the last locked-in taping. I was so happy, because I didn’t think I would still make it. It was nice to be back and still able to complete the show. I will never forget the experience,” she said of “Legal Wives,” which also stars Dennis Trillo, Bianca Umali and Andrea Torres. “I felt that this show was a blessing, because of the professional and personal relationships I have made,” she said. “I will never forget this show.”
But now that shooting is finished, Alice can now devote herself to her baby. “It was difficult because I had to be away from her for two weeks. I also had a bad cold on the set. But now, I’m looking forward to being with her 100 percent,” said Alice, who’s in a relationship with a nonshowbiz man whose privacy she prefers to keep.
Meanwhile, in a guest appearance on “Eat Bulaga!” in May, Alice related that she cherished the process of bringing Aura to the Philippines, and going through mandatory quarantine together. “I embraced the experience because that’s a way to have bonding time with my baby and get to know her better,” she said.
Holding her baby for the first time, Alice said, filled her with happiness and relief. “I thought, ‘Am I going to be a good mom?’ I was so happy. But there were also some fears because of the things happening in the world right now. But I believe I was able to overcome those because I’m an optimistic person,” she said.
Alice Dixson is an incredible woman. At 52 years old she had her first child ever through a surrogate in Canada where she is a citizen. She is also an American citizen, natural born, and a Filipino citizen, jus sanguis. All of that is incredibly disgusting! She will be 72 years old when her daughter turns 20. Needless to say Alice is way past her expiration date and her egg carton was empty a long time ago. With three citizenships to her name she certainly has NO loyalty to any nation. They are a means to an end.
I am sure she did cherish the time with her baby when she arrived. Here is a picture of her upon arrival in the Philippines:
A “glimpse” of our quarantine...
My airplane go to outfit these days. For more information about my personal air filtration system, or how to order pls visit my store at http://store.alicedixson.com
Alice Dixson is so privileged that she does not even have to breathe the same air as us mere mortals. She is so privileged that mandatory quarantine was a chance for her to get to know the baby which another woman gestated in her womb for 9 months and knew more intimately than Alice ever will.
But for another and less privileged woman the mandatory quarantine upon arrival was a nightmare which kept her away from her daughter's wake.
An overseas Filipino worker (OFW) is pleading for a shorter quarantine period so that she can attend the wake and funeral of her daughter, who died last week.
According to Cedric Castillo's report on "24 Oras," Grade 10 student Cherry Mae Saranza was brought to a hospital after her relatives found her looking pale and unable to speak.
Cherry's mom, Rosamil, found it difficult to book flights from the United Arab Emirates, and did not arrive in time to be with her daughter at the end.
Rosamil could not hold back her tears as she recounted that her final moments with her daughter were only through a video call.
She is asking the national government to allow her a shorter stay at the quarantine center so that she can finally attend her daughter's wake.
[I am begging you to allow me to see my daughter just for a short while, for the last time.]
[I just want to see her. I am already here in the Philippines, just a few miles away. Jst a little bit more and I can be with my daughter.]
No word on what happened to this lady. Hopefully the government showed some mercy but they likely did not.
Australian Miss Philippines Catriona Gray has also been able to exercise her privliege during this pandemic. After leaving her home country of Australia to eke out an existence as a Pinay Miss Gray was finally able to reunite with her parents in May of 2021.
Miss Universe 2018 Catriona Gray will finally reunite with her parents after more than a year due to the pandemic.
“After countless rescheduled flights, two flight cancelations, swab tests, stress, applications and waiting...I'm finally on my way to see my parents for the first time in one and a half years,” said the beauty queen in an emotional Instagram post.
All that emotion boiled over at the end of her trip when Catriona Gray was forced to bid a "raw and real" tearful goodbye to her parents.
What saying goodbye looks like.
When I said goodbye to my parents at the airport, underneath my mask I kept smiling. Although it trembled. I didn't want them to see. We hugged saying "see you soon". But this pandemic makes a once easy thing such an uncertainty...when?...how? When will we be together again?
I felt the emotions spilling over but didn't want them to see, so as I rounded the corner through the passenger terminal finally out of their sight, I let the tears come.
I contemplated whether or not to post this. But this is something raw and real. I'm so grateful for the time I had with my family. And now it's back to counting down the days, the sunrises, the sleeps until we're together again.
Please never take time with your family or loved ones for granted, so many of us wish to have that reality everyday.
Boo-hoo. What a narcissist. Who takes a picture of themselves crying expect to show off how sad they are? Pure narcissism. That is basically all Instagram is good for, fostering narcissism. Meanwhile in Manila there are no more tears left to be cried.
For Gio Pineda, a young doctor in the Philippines capital of Manila, the past few days have been among the most harrowing of his life.
Pineda has been manning the triage section of his hospital’s COVID-19 emergency unit.
With the more than 40 beds occupied by patients in critical condition, and the hallway lined with more patients in wheelchairs, Pineda had to decide who would get treatment and who would not.
He turned away more than half the people who came begging him to take in an ailing loved one, many of them struggling to breathe.
Some even knelt in front of him, begging to at least be allowed to wait in the hallway.
“Many of them said we were already the eighth or ninth hospital they tried, and if it were up to me, I really would have taken them in,” he said. “But there really was no room left.”
Patients are rushing to hospitals in Manila and its surrounding provinces amid an exponential spike in cases of COVID-19 that began in March. Many hospitals are at maximum capacity and even patients in dire need of treatment are being sent home. Many have died waiting for a hospital to call them back.
At the hospital where Pineda works, doctors can now only take in a new patient when an earlier one has died. They are forced to choose from among those waiting outside who is most in need of attention.
“I was like playing God. That’s how I felt having to decide who gets a chance to live and who, sadly, will be left to their demise,” Pineda said.
Angelo Barrera, a game developer from Manila, lost his father to COVID on March 28, after 20 hospitals turned them away because they had no beds, he told Al Jazeera.
“I need you to understand that this is the government’s fault,” Barrera said in a social media post that has gone viral.
“Every hospital is full. Home care is the only option. Medical machines are in high demand and in low stocks. Access to emergency care is nonexistent. How can I not blame the incompetence of the people leading us?” Barrera continued.
But even as the pandemic accelerates and people point the finger at his government, Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte has shown little urgency to tackle the surge.
“There is nothing we can do about it,” Duterte said in a televised address a week ago.
A few days later, when pressed on the slow pace of the vaccination drive, Duterte said: “We have a long way to go. I’m telling you, many more will die because of this, I just can’t tell who.”
Catriona Gray has done a lot of work in the slums. Has she cried a single tear for the many poor Filipinos suffering under the thumb of this careless regime? Seems doubtful. You can't post that on Instagram.
Sharon Cuneta fills out this unholy Trinity of privileged celebrity Filipinas. Unlike many Filipinos who are trapped in the country Sharon was able to fly "home" to Los Angeles to "breathe, collect myself, gain strength."
I’m going home. Of course my real home, where my heart is, is where my husband and children are. But tonight I am flying home to my Mommy’s Gramps’ country, where only my eldest and I are legal residents. I need to breathe, collect myself, gain strength.
If her real home is where her family is then why would she call the USA her home? It's obviously not her home. She is merely a legal resident which means she has a green card. For Sharon the USA is a means to an end. While her compatriots were forced to wear face masks and face shields just to be able to shop for food Sharon was enjoying "normal life" without those restrictions.
My gosh. Being here makes it seem like Covid is a lot farther away than it ever was. I love the weather now (it’s cold), and aside from seeing people wearing masks and not being able to watch movies at cinemas, eating at restaurants tables apart, it almost feels like life is normal again...I love being “home” here. Though I lived in Boston for a year++ and love New York, the West Coast has always felt like home to me since I was a little girl. I could live here forever. Kiko would NEVER leave the Philippines no matter what though. I could. In a heartbeat!
The difference, of course, is Duterte. The USA does not have a Duterte ordering the PNP and AFP out into the streets with tanks to enforce COVID restrictions. No police are killing people over curfew violations or mask violations. No one in the USA is AFRAID like they are in the Philippines.
But despite her very privileged respite from the Duterte administration's foolish and militaristic approach to the pandemic Mrs. Cuneta, upon returning to the Philippines, told her followers to pray for her because she is "going through so much."
This story comes from Instagram where she writes: Arrived back home in Manila very quietly at 4 something in the morning on August 1. Am now in my 10-day quarantine. Same building as our home, but in the other half where the hotel is. I cannot even see high up to our balcony where I wished yesterday that I would be able to even just see my babies and Kiko waving at me. Going through so much so please pray for me.
Kahit talaga anong tino ng pamumuhay mo, magkakaroon ka pa rin ng problema. Pero mabait ang Panginoon (No matter how decent you live your life, you will always get problems. But the Lord is kind). He has never let me down, and so I have lifted everything up to Him and I trust in Him completely.
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https://www.instagram.com/p/CSFR7JThUzM/
Granted even a privileged old broad like Sharon "MILF" Cuneta can have problems but I wish she would tell us exactly what she is "going through." Does she have a problem with not being able to see her family because she is in a mandatory ten day quarantine after returning from the USA? Then make a post about how stupid it is and how the government is stupid for requiring it. Does she have a problem with returning to the authoritarian Philippines where everyone is required to wear a face shield which has NO scientific basis? Then make an Instagram post about it. She should use her platform for good and not vanity. Oh wait her husband is one of the many buffoons who run this nation, Senator Pangilinan. I guess we can't expect her to say anything contrary about this corrupt and horrid regime.
Sharon Cuneta is a very rich woman who can afford to book a quarantine hotel for 10 days. Not everyone can do that. She is also a citizen which means she has an unalienable right to enter the Philippines. The same is not the case for foreigners who have families in the Philippines. It is only recently that restrictions have been eased for those people. |
The Bureau of Immigration on Monday said arriving foreign spouses, children and parents of Filipinos no longer need to present an entry exemption document (EED) to enter the country starting August 1.
Previously, these foreign nationals can only enter the Philippines if they have valid 9(a) tourist visa and an EED issued by the Department of Foreign Affairs through embassies or consulates abroad. Failure to present the EED will lead to their exclusion.
But Immigration Commissioner Jaime Morente said Monday that this new policy is in compliance with the latest resolution of Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases that further eased requirements from foreigners related by marriage to Filipinos.
“Under the new IATF resolution, foreign spouses, children and parents of Filipinos will only be required to present 9(a) tourist visas beginning on Sunday,” BI added.
The bureau added that the pandemic task force has also instructed the DFA to put on the visa of these foreign nationals this note: “EED not required per IATF Resolution No. 128 (2021).”
Morente stressed that these new guidelines are only for foreign nationals who are not accompanied by the Filipino spouse or parents in going to the Philippines. They should first apply for a 9(a) tourist visa from the Philippine consulate abroad to be allowed to enter the country.
While this is an easier process than having to obtain a residency visa it is still burdensome. One has to go to the local consulate and apply for a tourist visa rather than receive one upon arrival. They also have to pre-book a quarantine hotel for 10 days. That's a lot of money to be spent and a lot of days to be wasted. I'm sure anyone going through that process is "going through so much."
Let''s face it. The lockdowns have been devastating to Filipinos across the nation. More so to the poor who have lost their jobs and, in some cases, their lives at the hands of the authorities. This trifecta of Pinay celebrities profiled above (though Alice and Catriona are not natural born Filipinas) shows an attitude that is completely out of touch. Alice Dixson is even walking around with a personal air filtration system because she does not want to breathe the same air has her fans. I won't object that Catriona's tears are fake or that Sharon is not really "going through so much" but the majority of the nation has suffered and continues to suffer much more and in silence.
