The entire country spent Tuesday waiting with bated breath for the all-important government announcement of what measures would be imposed after the expiration of the “enhanced community quarantine” on May 15. What everyone was expecting to hear were specific plans and instructions on the only two issues that matter to anyone on the planet right now: What to do to stop the still-growing coronavirus pandemic and how to restart an economy left in shambles by it.
On both counts, particularly the latter, the audience that had been kept in suspense since Monday afternoon was frustrated. President Rodrigo Duterte’s promised announcement at 8 a.m. was another hour-long free association monologue, with considerable time devoted to his appreciation of mothers, including his own, and the by-now obligatory rant against the communist rebels, and ending without his saying the one thing everyone had tuned in to hear.