LOST IN THOUGHTS

Very often - sometimes too often! - the thought is back! If we wake up in the morning (or even many times in the middle of the night), the thought is back. Sometimes, the thought will not let us sleep. The "act of thinking". the "reflection", the "opinion" or the "serious consideration", no matter, how we describe it - our memory and conscience is always with us as a permanent companion. Especially now in times of Coronavirus.

We brood over unsettled problems. Sometimes we also bear unfair treatments, arrogance, ignorance, incompetent know-it-all-betters, and unbearable oddballs, who inexorable love to make our life a hell while living themselves a disorderly life.

We would not like to be distracted, but we're toying with some good ideas how we could throw overboard all that "human garbage". What will come next is a matter of conjecture.

Of course, I've got my ideas, but I'm not a mind reader. Too many trains of thought make us thoughtless and absent-minded especially in difficult and important daily life situations.

Does waiting and/or sleeping solve our problems? Or is it just again in time? Our life's central idea should not be, that while waiting, time solves all our problems. Thoughts should intensify, condense and deepen plans followed by actions.

It's good and helpful to carry thoughts in us all the time. Incomprehensible, or better unfinished and un-matured thoughts, no matter whether positive or negative, should be slept on, before tiredness outstrips us with supersonic speed.

Sometimes we feel that our thoughts and ideas can't be fulfilled with life. Where the heart is willing, it will find a thousand ways; but where the heart is weak, it will find a thousand excuses. If doubts begin to take roots, we should rouse from pink-tinted idealism or wear down and annihilate nightmares and erase and wipe out such thoughts and ideas.

If our thoughts are good and have the chance to be fulfilled in action, especially if "the other side" is prepared and willing to step on to such a bridge of life, we might get support and words of encouragement.

And, if not? No action? Maybe it is God's will to keep and protect us from a careless, rash, disadvantageous and uneasy action. Every new day gives us new inexhaustible possibilities to survive, to bear trials and to start a new beginning. We overlook and fail to notice many chances to lie through our sluggishness and laziness while thinking and dreaming of unequaled and unfulfilled ideas.

And, my dear readers, as always: Stay safe and healthy always!

Reisehinweise des Auswärtigen Amtes für die Philippinen per 3. August 2020

Aktuelles

Aufgrund der Ausbreitung von COVID-19 https://www.auswaertiges-amt.de/de/service/fragenkatalog-node/faq-reisewarnung/-/2309820und damit einhergehenden Einschränkungen im internationalen Luft- und Reiseverkehr sowie Beeinträchtigungen des öffentlichen Lebens wird vor nicht notwendigen, touristischen Reisen nach in die Philippinen weiterhin gewarnt.

Bis auf weiteres ist Ausländern die Einreise in die Philippinen landesweit verboten; erteilte philippinische Einreise-Visa wurden für ungültig erklärt, neue Visa werden derzeit nicht ausgestellt. Ausnahmen gelten ausschließlich für Flugzeugbesatzungen, für Familienangehörige (Ehegatten, Kinder, Eltern) von philippinischen Staatsangehörigen, für Diplomaten und Angehörige internationaler Organisationen, die in den Philippinen akkreditiert sind, sowie ab 1. August für Ausländer, die bereits im Besitz einzelner Kategorien von Langzeitvisa sind. Einreisende sind zur Durchführung eines COVID-19-Tests am philippinischen Ankunftsflughafen verpflichtet und unterliegen nach Einreise einer 14-tägigen Quarantänepflicht.

Eine Ausreise ist Ausländern, die sich im Land aufhalten, jederzeit erlaubt.

Die zwischenzeitlich unterbrochenen regulären Verkehrsverbindungen zwischen den Inseln des Landes wurden teilweise wieder aufgenommen, können jedoch jederzeit kurzfristig wieder eingestellt werden. Die touristische Infrastruktur ist seit Beginn der Covid-Pandemie stark eingeschränkt, zahlreiche Hotels und Resorts sind weiterhin geschlossen. Die Regierung der Philippinen hat die seit Mitte März 2020 geltenden, landesweiten Quarantänemaßnahmen zuletzt am 30. Juli 2020 mit der „IATF Resolution No. 60“ geändert. Es bestehen weiterhin umfangreiche Einschränkungen bei Versorgung und Bewegungsfreiheit. Es gelten variable nächtliche Ausgangssperren im Zeitraum von 20 Uhr bis 5 Uhr.

• Wenn Sie zurzeit zu Gast in den Philippinen sind, prüfen Sie Rückreiseoptionen und nutzen Sie vorhandene Ausreisemöglichkeiten. Die Reisemöglichkeiten aus den Philippinen sind zurzeit beschränkt, jedoch werden weiterhin einige Verbindungen angeboten, die Ausländer nutzen können.

• Verfolgen Sie die lokalen Medien, und folgen Sie den Anweisungen der Behörden.

• Informieren Sie sich auf der Internetseite der Deutschen Botschaft Manila, auf Facebook und auf Instagram.

• Falls Sie im Besitz eines Langzeitvisums sind, erkundigen Sie sich bei den philippinischen Behörden, in Deutschland z.B. bei der philippinischen Botschaft, ob Sie zur Gruppe derjenigen gehören, für die eine Wiedereinreise möglich ist.

Komplizierte Situation um Flüge auf die Philippinen

 

 

Die Situation um Flüge auf die Philippinen ist momentan etwas kompliziert.

Richtig ist, dass Philippinischen Staatsangehörigen und deren Ehepartnern und Kindern sowie Diplomaten und Personen mit Langzeitvisa (ab 01.08.) die Einreise in die Philippinen wieder gestattet wird.

ABER: Die Philippinische Regierung möchte die Zahl der Einreisenden nach wie vor möglichst gering halten. Darum gibt es seit Monaten schon so genannte „arrival limits“ – also eine maximale Anzahl an geduldeten internationalen arrivals. In den letzten Wochen lag dieses Limit in Manila bei 1.200 bis 2.000 Personen pro Tag (je nach Quelle). Nur zum Vergleich: 2019 waren es im Schnitt über 30.000 int. arrivals pro Tag!

Wir und auch die Länderbüros der Airlines kennen den Verteilungsschlüssel nicht, mit dem diese wenigen erlaubten arrivals auf die Airlines und Routen aufgeteilt werden. Fakt ist aber, dass derzeit nur wenige Airlines wegen dieser Limitierung überhaupt Umstiegsverbindungen von Europa oder Amerika aus auf die Philippinen anbieten. Die wenigen, die man momentan findet, sind dazu a) sehr teuer (das könnte eine Limitierungsmaßnahme der Airline sein) und werden b) kurz vor Abflug sehr oft und ohne Vorankündigung ersatzlos gestrichen.

Die Buchung eines solchen Fluges ist also nicht nur kostspielig, sondern auch absolutes Glücksspiel. Da wir die Durchführung dieser Flüge derzeit nicht ansatzweise garantieren können, bieten wir bis auf Weiteres keine Tickets für die Route Europa-Philippinen mit Abflug bis mindestens Ende August an.

Dies gilt nicht für Flüge AB den Philippinen – die sind möglich, siehe unsere Infoschiene „Infos für alle Reisenden, die noch auf den Philippinen sind“.

Beobachten kann man, dass die wenigen arrival slots aktuell eher mit Direktverbindungen aus Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Doha, Singapur, Hongkong etc. (also meist heimkommende OFWs) als mit Umstiegsverbindungen aus Europa und Amerika gefüllt werden.

Sie werden ab August in Manila wohl auf 5.000 arrivals/Tag angehoben (auch die Kapazitäten in Cebu und Clark werden leicht erhöht): https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/…/more-inbound-intl-passenger…

Im Vergleich zu Vor-Corona natürlich immer noch minimal, aber vielleicht hat es trotzdem einen positiven Effekt auf das Ticketangebot für Interkontinentalflüge auf die Philippinen. Das wird man dann wohl im Verlauf der nächsten Wochen sehen.

Beachten Sie abgesehen von diesem Buchungsumstand die immer noch sehr restriktiven Bestimmungen auf den Philippinen selber. Also selbst wenn es Ihnen gelingt, eine Verbindung zu buchen, auf der Sie auch tatsächlich mitgenommen werden, erwarten Sie auf den Philippinen nach wie vor strenge Quarantänemaßnahmen und Reisebeschränkungen.

Wir bleiben natürlich am Ball und werden Sie weiterhin mit Infos versorgen.

Bleiben Sie gesund, Ihr Kirschner Reisen Team!

HOW BEING ISOLATED HAVE ALTERED US

Did our personalities are shaped by our experiences and social interactions? Being isolated from friends, family, and colleagues is indeed strong tobacco for all of us.


There wasn’t just one lock-down – we all had our own experience. Some people - including me and my family - were forced into months of unbroken solitude, others trapped for weeks on end with an estranged spouse. Some saw it as a positive experience – a welcome opportunity to slow down, go for walks and relax with a loving partner, or enjoy quality time with the children.



Whichever way the lock-down played out, there has been one near-universal aspect to the past months – it abruptly disrupted our daily routines and living arrangements in ways that would not normally occur. Nothing new. And we don't know how long this will last.



The Senior editor at Aeon+Psyche Christian Jarrett asks interesting questions: Will this strange time have left its mark on us, not just superficially, but deep down? As we venture out tentatively, do we do so with our personalities somehow altered? And if so, how will our new selves cope as we begin to mix and travel once again?



I strongly agree with his answers. For much of psychology’s history, personality – the set of enduring habits of behavior, emotion, and thought that form each person’s unique identity – was considered set in stone, at least beyond early adulthood. Research over the last few decades, however, has led to a consensus that, while personality traits are relatively stable, they are not completely fixed. Instead, they continue to evolve through life and in response to major life events.



In other words, from a theoretical perspective, there is every possibility that at least some of us will have been left changed by the lock-down.



Honestly, I have problems getting along without the usual daily face-to-face contact with friends, family, and colleagues. Anecdotal evidence seems to suggest the same. Although conscious that I’ve been more fortunate than many in my experience of the pandemic so far, I also know that I’ve been feeling less stressed due to less rushing around, but also more withdrawn and introverted. Friends of mine (also not too adversely affected) agree they feel different – more reflective, perhaps, but also less sociable. In one of my previous write-ups at this corner, I praised my status at the home office. Maybe you still remember it?



The many months of changes to our routines may have led to changes in our behavior that will stick long after the pandemic has finished. It “may lead to new norms, which may over time also shape our personalities,” says Wiebke Bleidorn at the Personality Change Laboratory at the University of California, Davis. I am sure, she is so very true.

DTI-DdO distributes livelihood kits to 100 MSMEs

Davao de Oro --- Some 100 micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in 20 identified barangays in the province received livelihood starter kits under the DTI’s Livelihood Seeding Program–Negosyo Serbisyo sa Barangay (LSP-NSB) on Friday.

DTI Davao de Oro Provincial Director, Atty. Lucky Siegfred M. Balleque said the first twenty beneficiaries that received a package of livelihood kits amounting to PHP5,000 were residents of barangay Bawani, Mawab. The LSP-NSB also aims to boost micro enterprises by providing basic business advisory and information to qualified individuals affected by natural and human-induced calamities such as pandemic brought by COVID-19.

“This livelihood assistance may be small but with a right entrepreneurial mindset, it can push your business into a better position”, Balleque added.

The MSME beneficiaries of the LSP-NSB program include sole proprietors that are located in identified barangays, including those in Geographically Isolated and Depressed Areas (GIDAs) under the government’s End Local Communist Armed Conflict (ELCAC) program. They also underwent four modules of capability building seminar to develop and strengthen their entrepreneurial competencies during the turn-over ceremony.

For his part, Mayor Ruperto S. Gonzaga III acknowledged the government’s program to his constituents in teaching and helping them improve their businesses thru series of sessions.

Rosie T. Ignas, beneficiary from Brgy. Bawani expressed gratitude for granting her as one of the beneficiaries of LSP-NSB program.

“Dako kaayu ning tabang dili lang kay sa akua apil na usab sa uban pang naka-benepisyo sa maong programa gikan sa gobyerno nga magamit ug ma sustain sa matag-adlaw namu nga panginahanglanon labaw na sa kapait sa panahon nga dala sa pandemya,” Ignas added.

The program is in partnership with provincial and local government units. The barangay LGU has a fundamental role in identifying the MSMEs in their areas who have potential of becoming mega business.

DTI-DdO targets to finish the distribution of livelihood kits by the end of October. 

(Rheafe C. Hortizano, Information Division Davao de Oro).

Davao de Oro celebrates Nature’s Day

Davao de Oro Province--- From the most complex products such as medicine, clothing, furniture and food down to raw materials come from nature. As mankind’s life was brought to greatest heights for ages, nature is always behind its back and it is our duty to replenish the favor.

With this, in cognizance to the Provincial Ordinance No. 15-2012, PLGU-Davao de Oro celebrated the “Nature’s Day” spearheaded by the Provincial Environment and Natural Resources office (PENRO) with the theme “Time for Nature.”

This year Nature’s Day was celebrated at the Provincial Rehabilitation Center, Sta. Maria, Nabunturan, Davao de Oro wherein Governor Jayvee Tyron L. Uy with Board Members Vivencia L. Secuya, Nena G. Atamosa, Macario T. Humol, Raul C. Timogtimog, Charlemagne Bautista, Joseph T. Jauod, Nicky R. Opisan, DepEd representative Division’s Chief Ruben Reponte, PLGU Executive Committee Members and NGA representatives pressed the earth’s bosom by planting trees in the grounds of the rehabilitation Center.

The pandemic does not solely brought fear among the hearts of individuals, but it also brought most of us back into nature’s welcoming hands through planting ornamental plants, vegetable gardening and tree planting reviving green thumbs and relieving boredom due to months of lockdown.

Trees are of great help. From its trunks down to its roots can be used for various purposes. Aside from giving off fresh air, prevention from landslide and shelter for animals it also gives comfort in times of weariness and stress and even play an important role in combating climate change.

The tree planting activity was held at the rehabilitation center as it will provide additional comfort and beautify the area as our detained brothers and sisters will redeem themselves to a journey for a much better life.

(Jasteen P. Abella, Information Division, Davao de Oro, photo by Albert Dayao)

Wake Up in Northern Mindanao | Philippines Tourism Ad

Philippines reimposes non-essential foreign travel restriction for citizens

By VIRGIL LOPEZ, GMA News

The Philippines reimposed the restriction on non-essential outbound travel for Filipinos, Malacañang announced Thursday.

In a televised briefing, presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said the government’s COVID-19 task force made the decision since only one insurance company agreed to provide travel and health insurance in relation to the pandemic.

However, those with confirmed bookings as of July 20, 2020 will be allowed to leave the country subject to the conditions imposed by the government. The task force earlier lifted the ban on non-essential overseas travel on July 6.

Under the guidelines, a traveler must have adequate travel and health insurance to cover rebooking and accommodation expenses if stranded, and hospitalization in case of infection.

A traveler must also submit confirmed round trip tickets for those traveling on tourist visas.

Roque also announced that the government allowed the resumption of essential outbound travel for Filipinos.

Essential trips include those for business and work, medical, emergency and other humanitarian reasons which cannot be postponed, the task force said.

The conditions include a declaration signifying knowledge and understanding of the risks involved and compliance with the guidelines for returning Filipinos. —KBK, GMA News

DAVAO CITY ALSO IMPOSES STRICTER COVID-19 SCREENING FOR LAND TRAVELERS

The Davao City government has also strengthened the health screening at the entry and exit checkpoints for land travellers entering and exiting the city.

Davao City Mayor Inday Sara Duterte on Monday said that the people arriving from other Mindanao airports that do not require a negative Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) and travel by land to the city will be screened at the checkpoints.

“Gipakusgan napud nato atong mga land checkpoints sa entry and exits diri sa Davao City, because we expect na dunay musakay sa ubang airport tapos mag by-land sila padulong diri sa atoa (We have also strengthened screening at our entry and exit checkpoints in Davao City because we expect that there are passengers who landed from other airports and will enter the city by land),” she said.

The Task Force (TF) Davao has created a screening process to check the travel history of passengers entering the city. TF Davao will also coordinate with the City Health Office (CHO) if ever they find Davao residents who arrived from other airports.

Mayor Inday Sara said the TF Davao has also improved the health screening at the checkpoints.“For the past two weeks naa tay gina-construct nga mga facilities para mas ma-paspas nato ang health screening nato dinha sa mga checkpoints nato (For the past two weeks we constructed facilities to speed-up the health screening at the checkpoints),” Mayor Sara added.

The thermal scanner was already installed at the Lasang checkpoint on July 19 while the installation in the Sirawan checkpoint will be done on July 21 and on July 25 at the Lacson checkpoint.Mayor Sara also said the city may conduct a voluntary and random RT-PCR testing for land travellers if the number of cases with a history of land travel will increase. This was previously done for air passengers due to the surge of positive cases since the resumption of commercial flights in Davao International Airport.

“We’ll see with the numbers because makita man nato kung unsay history or unsay exposure sa usa ka-confirmed Covid-19 case (We’ll see with the numbers because we can identify that with the history and exposure of a confirmed Covid-19 case),” she said.

Air travelers entering Davao City are required to present before boarding the negative result of RT PCR test conducted within 72 hours before the trip.Davao City had earlier required Davao-bound passengers to submit upon check-in at any airport of origin a negative RT-PCR result taken 48 hours before the departure date as one of the measures to control the transmission of the coronavirus infection.The requirement was adjusted to 72 hours.The city government was prompted to require a negative RT-PCR after the data from the City Epidemiology and Surveillance Unit showed that the highest confirmed Covid-19 cases in Davao City were travellers from Manila. CIO

Philippine Bureau of Immigration Press Release

21 July 2020
PRESS RELEASE

Only permanent residents can enter PH starting August 1, BI clarifies

MANILA, Philippines - The Bureau of Immigration (BI) clarified that only foreigners with permanent or immigrant visas can enter the country starting August 1.

"For the information of the public, the entry of foreign tourists, non-immigrant visa holders, and other categories of aliens are still prohibited. They will be turned back if they land in any of our ports of entry," BI Commissioner Jaime Morente said.

The BI Chief issued the statement upon learning that immigration offices at the airports, and other field offices of the Bureau were being swamped with calls and queries from persons who wrongly thought that the country has opened its doors to all foreigners.

"The resolution of the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) is clear - only foreigners with existing long-term visas will be allowed entry beginning August 1. So if you are not a permanent resident here, do not attempt to travel to the Philippines because you will be excluded and denied entry by our immigration officers," Morente said.

He appealed to the public to stop spreading fake news that all foreigners are now welcome to enter the Philippines as it will only sow confusion, and create chaos in our airports if there is a sudden surge in the arrival of foreigners still covered by the travel ban.

According to BI Port Operations Division Acting Chief Grifton Medina, there are only four visa categories of aliens who will be allowed entry starting next month.

Medina said these aliens must fall under the following categories: those who were issued non-immigrant visas under Section 13 of the Immigration act; those who acquired resident status under Republic Act 7919 or Alien Social Integration Act; those who availed of Executive Order 324 or Alien Legalization Program; and native-born foreign nationals.

Medina also stressed that foreigners married to Filipinos and their dependents, as well as foreign diplomats, can also come here as earlier resolved by the IATF.

"We are therefore advising the different airlines to take note of these latest travel guidelines so that they can accordingly inform their foreign customers who may wish to book their flights to the Philippines," the BI official said.

Medina added that the BI does not expect a major upsurge in foreign arrivals despite the lifting of entry restrictions on immigrant visa holders as the Bureau's records indicate that there are only about 15,000 of them who are stranded abroad due to the COVID-19 pandemic.