FENOMENAL 2O2O

TEAM A VS TEAM B: Which side are you on?

by Tasha Eugenio

Amidst the crisis brought upon by the COVID-19 pandemic, Filipinos proved to be a nation that looks on the brighter side of life. On April 19, 2020, Zamboanga City Mayor Maria Isabelle “Beng” Climaco - Salazar on her Facebook page announced the implementation of the quarantine pass scheme pursuant to Executive Order No. BC 563-2020 that took effect on April 23, 2020. According to Mayor Climaco, this executive order was in compliance with the advisory of the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) dated April 18, 2020 where all local government units were highly encouraged to schedule or cluster the communities and barangays who may be allowed to go out.

The local government issued two types of quarantine pass – Quarantine Pass A and Quarantine Pass B. Quarantine Pass A holders are allowed to leave and go out from their houses to buy basic necessities such as food only during Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays while Quarantine Pass B holders is on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. No quarantine pass is issued for Sunday. Because of this, Quarantine Pass A holders were dubbed as Team A while Quarantine Pass B holders as Team B.

At first, it was not much of a big deal to the Zamboangueños. However, an event that happened on May 18, 2020 created the competition between the two teams. On that day, KCC Mall de Zamboanga opened its doors to its customers for the first time after how many weeks of lockdown. As expected, the mall was jam-packed and the social distancing protocol was not properly observed. Photos of the incident immediately circulated online and went viral, condemning the holders of Quarantine Pass A a.k.a Team A for not following the rules. Along with that, a Facebook post by a person named Marco Rodriguez gained attention for its humorous snide remarks towards the incident.

Chavacano: Team B! Numa kita kopya na mga Team A, nuay social distancing si ta anda na KCC. Dapat very good kita mga Team B. Power!

Translation: Team B! Let us not copy Team A who does not observe social distancing when going to KCC. We should behave properly Team B. Power!

The following day, May 19, 2020, the KCC Mall de Zamboanga unveiled its new set-up outside its premises in order to ensure that the public will observe social distancing.

Along with this, the mall’s Facebook page posted a reminder to Team B to be disciplined and calm upon going to the mall with an additional remark that seemed to be dedicated for Team A.

Translation: Team B! Let us be disciplined and calm unlike the others. Ahe.

Although it was a harmless post that was intended to serve as a reminder and to humor people, angry members of the Team A flooded the comment section. They said that they were not able to observe social distancing because of the mall’s “lack of crowd control measures” However, some people commended KCC’s wise strategy on putting a comparison between the two teams to follow the rules.

The competition was intense for the first few days but both members of Team A and Team B did their best to follow the social distancing protocol. It resulted into an orderly queue to the mall’s entrance, which delighted the mall goers since it was the complete opposite of what happened on the first day.

The new trending topic on the social media definitely brought smiles and laughter to the Zamboangueños during this difficult time. As we face a global crisis, we cannot help but to feel anxious and helpless. However, the healthy competition between Team A and Team B, besides bringing entertainment and joy, gave many people something to focus on besides the pandemic. The friendly competition provided Zamboangueños a motivation to be responsible and disciplined citizens by just simply following the quarantine protocols, particularly social distancing.