A GAME OF CHESS IN A BUSY DAY

I assumed you’ve already heard or played Chess before? I’m pretty sure you’ve heard that game. If you don’t know the rules of the game, let me tell you some of them. The main goal of Chess is to protect the king by moving the other chess pieces or even the king itself. Every piece has a path to follow. You can take some of the pieces of the enemy’s and they can take from you, too. Once the king is in Checkmate and there is no other way to evade the situation, you’ll lose. If you’re wondering what is the correlation between Chess and the topic I’m going to be writing about, you’re about to find out.

Up to this day, the pandemic is still ongoing and people are still suffering. Over 57 million people have been put in enhanced community quarantine in Luzon starting from March 17, 2020, to April 12, 2020. We’ve been living in captivity of our own house for over a year. We’ve been living in fear of ourselves and everyone we know to shield us from a possible virus exposure. Some establishments have temporarily shut down to lessen the spread of the virus, only those who have essential services are still open for business.

Usually, these open establishments are Medical services, Financial Services, Retail and Wholesaling, Food preparation and delivery services, Utilities, and Manufacturing Establishments. Essential Workers are people who work for these services. They still work despite the pandemic and risk their health, only to provide the necessities to survive. At this point, they’re becoming overly exposed to the virus.

Essential workers are trying their best to work and earn money for themselves and their families. Some jobs can be hard, yet it only gives them low salaries and wages in return. According to the i-Price Group, mid-level registered nurses in the Philippines earn ₱40,380 a month or ₱233 per hour which is 57% lower than Vietnam, the second-lowest paying country in the region which makes an estimated ₱63,232 every month or ₱365 an hour. The Philippines is also considered the lowest figure among Vietnam, Thailand, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Indonesia.

Sen. Leila De Lima filed the Republic Act of 10121, also known as the Philippine Disaster Risk and Management Act of 2010 which gives extra hazard pay for essential workers in both public and private sectors. There is also another existing law called the Magna Carta for Public Health Workers, or the RA 7305, which only benefits government health workers. According to De Lima, essential workers deserve additional pay for the extra work they are giving for us during these times.

Dealing with the current situation is already hard for us who are just waiting for the pandemic to end. What about those who are on the frontlines? They also get hurt and get stressed from all the work they’re doing. They’re already stressed from their jobs, what about the anxiety and the additional stress they feel from being infected by the virus? Some people don’t understand this and add more stress to these employees. Let’s remember that Essential workers aren’t just employees, they’re also humans and they are also our heroes.

Their employers also have an important part in their employee’s safety. They should be more careful with their actions and they should also take full responsibility for the problem that the company or the business is facing. They should also be less strict with their employees since this might impact the emotional and mental health of their employees, especially when they are already burnt out by their jobs. Employers should be more approachable and friendly so that the employees wouldn’t be that anxious to walk up to them and ask for their help whenever there is a problem that needs to be solved.

In this context, we are the kings in the game of chess while the Essential workers are the other chess pieces. They are trying their best to protect us and make our lives easier and more convenient while they’re out there facing head-on with the enemy. Let’s not wait for some pieces to get captured by the enemy. Let’s also not wait for the King to get a checkmate. Let’s do our best to help the Essential workers even with the littlest efforts.