PH won't allow entry of fully-vaxxed foreigners; LGUs to step up COVID-19 response

by Argyll Cyrus Geducos, Manila Bulletin

The Philippines will not be pushing through with its plan to open the borders to foreign nationals who are fully vaccinated against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) on December 1 due to the threat of the highly mutated Omicron variant.

Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles made the statement after the Inter-agency Task Force (IATF) for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases allowed on Friday the entry of fully vaccinated foreigners from non-visa-required countries from December 1 to 15, 2021.

In a statement, the acting Palace spokesman said the IATF made the move to temporarily suspend its resolution allowing the entry of foreign nationals during their meeting on November 28, 2021.

The recent turn of events came following the discovery of the Omicron variant which is said to be the “most heavily mutated” COVID-19 strain that was first discovered in South Africa.

With Omicron designated as a variant of concern, Nograles said the IATF approved recommendations to strengthen the COVID-19 response of local government units (LGUs) which include strongly enjoining LGUs to:

Heighten their alert for increasing and clustering of cases and emphasize the need for active case finding

Immediately conduct contact tracing and isolation of cases detected from case surveillance among the community, including domestic and international travelers

Use RT-PCR testing in order to allow for whole-genome sequencing of collected samples

The Regional Epidemiology and Surveillance Units are likewise directed to ensure targeted selection of samples for sequencing and address declining submissions of laboratories and regions from domestic and international travelers.

Meanwhile, the Bureau of Quarantine and the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) with the local government units (LGUs) have been directed to identify and locate passengers from red list territories who arrived within 14 days prior to November 29, 2021. These passengers will be required to complete quarantine under a home quarantine set-up for 14 days from the date of arrival and undergo RT-PCR if symptoms develop.

The IATF placed 14 countries under the red list due to the Omicron variant.

The LGUs and the DILG are further directed to ensure strict implementation and adherence to the Prevent – Detect – Isolate – Test – Reintegrate strategy and adherence and compliance to minimum public health standards (MPHS) with the directive given to the Philippine National Police to enforce MPHS compliance.

In addition, the Department of Health (DOH) is directed to ensure the country’s health system capacity is prepared to address the increase of COVID-19 cases if any; while the Sub-Technical Working Group on Data Analytics is directed to begin preparing models to show the potential impact of the Omicron variant to prevailing protocols and approvals of the IATF.

On Friday afternoon, November 26, Nograles said the Department of Health (DOH) and the IATF are “actively monitoring” the developments.

He added that the government is in constant communication with the World Health Organization (WHO) on the matter.

A Christian is always an apostle

By Fr. Roy Cimagala *

          WE need to realize this more widely and deeply. If we want

to follow Christ, if we truly consider ourselves as real Christians

and not Christians in name only, we have to be like Christ, holy and

with the burning desire to save all men. Thus, we ought to make

sanctity and apostolate the most important, ultimate and abiding goal

of our life.

          We are reminded of this truth about ourselves on the feast

of St. Andrew, the Apostle (November 30), where Christ simply would

pass by some men and then tell them to follow him. (cfr. Mt 4,18-22)

And, wonder of wonders, the persons called would just follow him too

without asking any question, willing to leave everything behind.

          I guess the only plausible explanation to that phenomenon is

that Christ had all the right to do so, and the person called also had

the duty to respond accordingly, because in the final analysis, all of

us are actually meant to be an apostle. That is to say, to be some

kind of ambassador, a representative of Christ on earth.

          At bottom, the answer is because we are supposed to be like

Christ, another Christ, if not Christ himself (“alter Christus,” and

even “ipse Christus”). All of us are patterned after Christ, and so we

cannot avoid being involved in the mission of Christ which is the

salvation of all mankind. Obviously, this business of making ourselves

like Christ, involved in apostolic work, would require a process and

would involve several stages.

          But we have to realize that we are all meant to be apostles

of Christ with the lifelong concern for doing apostolate, taking

advantage of all the occasions and situations in life. Vatican II

spells it out very clearly. “The Christian vocation is by its very

nature a vocation to the apostolate.” (Apostolicam actuositatem, 2)

So, anyone who wants to be truly consistent to his Christian identity

and calling should realize ever deeply that he is called to help

others get closer to God. This is what apostolate is all about.

          This duty actually springs first of all from our nature. We

are not only individual persons. We are also a social being. Our

sociability is not an optional feature. It is part of our essence,

violating which would be equivalent to violating our very own nature.

          We can never live alone. We need to be with others. And

more, we need to care for one another. We have to be responsible for

one another. And while this caring and loving starts with the most

immediate material human needs like food, clothing, etc., it has to go

all the way to the spiritual and more important needs of ours.

          That’s why we need to practice affection, compassion,

understanding, patience and mercy with everyone. We have to understand

though that all these can only take place if they spring and tend

towards God, “the source of all good things” for us.

          We need to be familiar with this Christian duty. We have to

do apostolate, and we need to see to it that the zeal for it is always

nourished, stoked and fanned to its most intense degree.

          We just have to be trusting of God’s will and ways, no

matter how hard and impossible they may appear to us, and that we have

to develop an apostolic concern that is universal in scope, unafraid

of the sacrifices involved.

* Chaplain Center for Industrial Technology and Enterprise (CITE), Talamban, Cebu City

Email: roycimagala@gmail.com