In crises like this pandemic, what usually comes out is the kindness of those who want to help even when they do it on their own volition and without any fanfare or expectation of returns.
For example, stories come out about individuals who, even when they themselves are facing dire situations, lend a hand to those who are facing the biggest challenges. These people are even several steps ahead of the call of the government to extend assistance especially to the frontliners.
However, on the flipside, the ugliest face of disasters, like this coronavirus disease, is the usual emergence of exploiters, unscrupulous individuals whose only concern is to pad wads of money into their pockets.
Countless reports have come out about those who went into hoarding essential goods and tried to sell these items at prohibitive prices to those who need them the most, unmindful that by doing so, they expose not just the others to the danger of the virus, but also themselves as the spread of the disease becomes faster.
Not only that. Even the Securities and Exchange Commission reported about individuals and groups trying to lure the public to invest in ridiculous schemes as they thought the unwitting are in a very susceptible environment.
It is time for the government to throw the book at these opportunists not for the lesson, but also for the public to get educated and warned. These bad people must be made to pay a huge price for their mistakes.
