Stay at home, Folayang asks to help in battle against pandemic

Eduard Folayang, Philippine mixed martial arts’ grizzled poster boy, said there’s barely any adjustments done on his end when Luzon was placed into a community lockdown to battle the coronavirus pandemic.But the Cordillera-based fighter is also aware that such a perspective is a privileged one.

“I’ve been on [a rigid] lifestyle ever since,” Folayang told the Inquirer in Filipino, referring to his lifestyle of being an athlete for most of his life. “There were barely any changes [to my daily routine].”

Folayang, a two-time lightweight kingpin of ONE Championship and many-time member of the national wushu team, said it could be hard for the regular civilians to adapt to such an extraordinary setup—one that includes curfews, shopping schedules and social distancing.

Mindfulness, however, could vastly help in adjusting, according to Folayang—something that has also helped him in his decorated career.

“We all need to understand that whatever we do now will have consequences,” he said. “Some may not show right away, but they most definitely will in the future.”

The more that we’re not mindful of the things we should practice and follow, the more we are not helping in the containment and mitigation of COVID-19, according to Folayang.Folayang also noted that what most citizens could do now is to heed the national government’s call to stay at home to help flatten the curve.

“Whether we like it or not, we all have a role to play here,” he said. “And it’s staying home.” INQ