( image: plenglish,com)
Naka testing na kaw tag gutom amo? All living organisms
need to feed. In fact, this is the basic motivation why people work. They need
to have food on their tables. The famous hierarchy of needs by Maslow is
founded on physiological needs when a person craves for survival needs such as
the need for sleep, food, air, and reproduction. Physiological needs are the
requirements we all need individually for human survival.
Deficiency needs
arise due to deprivation and are said to motivate people when they are unmet.
Also, the motivation to fulfill such needs will become stronger the longer the
duration they are denied. For example, the longer a person goes without food,
the hungrier they will become.
Nearly 35% of
Filipino workers nationwide are employed by the informal sector as of January,
government data showed. This includes jobs in sari-sari stores, barber shops,
as well as jeepney drivers and other small- and medium- enterprises (SMEs).
SMEs themselves account for nearly 98% of local firms in the Philippines, most
of which are located in Metro Manila, and a key driver of the economy
(Magtulis, 2020).
When the announcement
of community quarantine was made last Thursday, President Duterte made no
mention of its economic implications, including job losses, and how the
government intends to address them.
This threatened the “no
work no pay” employees that they and their families might lead to hunger. This
mindset must not be put on the sidelines since hunger will compel people to do
things beyond reason. They just need to eradicate the hunger; they just want to
survive.
Yahoo News reported
on November of 2013 in the advent of typhoon Yolanda that looting by locals
desperate for food and supplies had been reported in at least two Gaisano malls
in the heavily hit Tacloban City and two more in Ormoc City.
When the COVID-19
pandemic led the chief executive to proclaim a state of calamity to the
country, people with money went to the supermarkets and did panic buying. They hoarded
food and other essentials for them to survive. But what about those people who
do not have money? Can they do that? Deep in their minds, they are anxious
about their survival. This is an instinct inside all of us.
There is a looming fear in highly urbanized areas that people will gate-crash in the rich subdivisions and steal food. There are also words spreading in the social media sites that big supermarkets will be raided by the poor for food. These will materialize when hunger consumes many.
In 2012, Suzanne
Collins released a trilogy, The Hunger Games, which eventually became one of
this generation’s bestsellers. Set in a future North America known as
"Panem", the Capitol selects a boy and a girl between the ages of 12
and 18 from each of the twelve outlying districts to compete in the annual
"Hunger Games", a televised fight-to-the-death. The winner (or the
one who will survive from death) will receive a one-year supply of food until
the next time where the government (the Capitol) launches another “game”.
This dystopian
setting can terrifyingly lead to reality once the leaders, legislators and
social managers won’t have the necessary moves to curtail the looming food
shortage and eventually the scarcity of food.
According to Lauren
Reed (2017), developing a crisis management plan is not difficult, but it does
require some forethought. An astounding number of businesses don’t have a
crisis plan in place before a crisis occurs, which can lead them to be caught
off-guard when things go wrong and incorrect information goes viral in a matter
of minutes.
Our leaders and
managers must have a robust set of crisis management skills for them to be able
to manage people and resources well in difficult situations like a pandemic. To
state the reality, due to the volatility of the events occurring around the
globe, there is a dire need for leaders skilled in crisis management because
only then will the constituents be able to cope with the drastic changes in the
methods of coping with their lives.
As a result, the
quick decisions and efficient communication of crisis management leaders that’s
needed in a huge crisis is what helps the country survive.
President Rodrigo
Duterte ordered local government executives to abide by the enhanced community
quarantine guidelines set by the national government. In a video message
released dawn of March 20, 2020, Duterte reminded local government officials that they
are part of one republic and should thus follow the rules set by the national
government.
"I am therefore
directing the DILG and the DOJ to closely monitor the compliance of LGUs in the
directives of the office and to file the necessary cases against the wayward
officials," the chief executive said (abs-cbn.com).
Clearly, it is now in
the hands of our local leaders to develop strategic plans for people not to
behave like hungry animals scavenging for food. In the first place, they took
an oath to serve their constituents, right?
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