As the country enters the summer season amid COVID-19, netizens have jokingly shared their confusion with ECQ and MECQ, saying that the next for Metro Manila will be BBQ (barbecue) due to the intense summer heat. However in hindsight, we see here how even semantics in naming policies and its communication can go either right or wrong; Nevertheless, whichever direction weighs a great impact on the fight against any crisis.

Through the months, the government has accumulated various quarantine terms for each risk level classification – ‘general community quarantine’ (GCQ) and ‘modified general community quarantine’ (MGCQ) for low to moderate risk areas, ‘enhanced community quarantine’ (ECQ) for high risk areas, and their latest ‘modified enhanced community quarantine’ (MECQ), a transition phase for highly urbanized cities and populated areas from a strict ECQ to a relaxed GCQ.

Frankly, though each classification has varying restrictions, merely looking at the list of terms confuses our brains. What more for our illiterate kababayans? For them, one thing is clear: it’s a lockdown; and the virus, the lockdowns worsen the daily threats they face such as poverty, hunger, and unemployment.

Another program deemed counterproductive in terms of its naming is the Social Amelioration Program or SAP. It is the cash emergency subsidy meant to aid 18 million low-income families. Although the main issues with SAP are the delays and inconsistencies in distribution, we realize that part of the problem is that Filipinos do not completely comprehend what they are getting. Yet again we see it counterproductive as regular Filipinos and the illiterate do not exactly understand what ‘amelioration’ is. 

In an attempt to create solutions for this pandemic, more questions were raised as citizens panic and fear for their lives. The bottomline is that in crisis response, the use of simpler terms are crucial for everyone’s understanding. ‘Healing as one’ might be simply hard to attain if many of our kababayans are excluded.   

The usage of simpler terms therefore helps in effective information dissemination. Along with this, our leaders must then possess effective communication skills. In Jacqueline and Milton Mayfield’s research on leadership communication, ‘direction-giving’, ‘meaning-making’, and ‘empathy’ are crucial in effectively motivating followers. Their findings also pointed out that ‘direction-giving’ is typically over-used while the other two are disregarded.

Unfortunately, our very President himself embodies the findings of Mayfields’ research. His blatant directives and neglect of meaning-making and empathy shows in his weekly addresses. At unruly hours of 11 in the evening, we hear how he directs the PNP a ‘shoot to kill’ order, his incoherent rants against the ‘veerus’, and neglect of what Filipinos hold dear, big or small, such as postponed graduations and vacations, and even the deaths of frontliners among many others.

The very small details in crisis response such as naming programs and its communication have detrimental impacts if not executed properly. Even in the mere usage of words, we see that there is inequality; Therefore, we must keep in mind the importance of inclusivity. We now realize that the earlier joke confusing ECQ with BBQ sums up the fact that the ignorance of government leaders in effective crisis leadership manifests with less seriousness and support from the public.

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Author
Alec Templonuevo
Managing editor for Online Media