TO MAKE SOMEONE SMILE

When did you make someone smile lastly, my dear reader? Maybe you think that this is hardly the time to do so right now. Understandable, if we consider today’s global and national situation. 

Honestly, it seems we have no more time and no reason for laughter if we look around. That can wait until tomorrow or better until the day after tomorrow. Anticipation is better… .

Our enemies laugh up their sleeves, and most of the time we miss to recognize the fortune still smiling at us. But hold on: he who laughs last laughs longest. Remember?

American neurologist Henri Rubenstein says, laughter lowers high blood pressure while aiding digestion and fostering sleep. Well, give me even a simple smile and believe in what  experts say: “Good humor can help the gravely or terminally ill to hear their ordeal”.

Of course, if we look around us these days, we might really not roar with laughter or split our sides laughing. Or even more than this! Have you heard about the incident at the Danish Imperial Theatre in Copenhagen/Denmark sometime during the 1980’s, when a spectator died of a heart attack while watching the movie “A Fish Called Wanda” starring John Cheese of my favorite Great Britain’s Monty Python Comedy Team? Sure, a heart attack is indeed not funny, and honestly, I still love to watch this movie on Youtube.

Well, even if we think we don’t have reasons to laugh,we should try to express mirth spontaneously, and we should try to be merry or gay. We still have reasons to start with the softest form of audible laughter – the vocalized smile. This is what I learned and experienced from the first moment on while travelling in Asia since 1978, and being an expat living in the Philippines since 1999 for good. Keep smiling – even you are overloaded with huge problems.

Experts also say good humor works because it helps people feel easier in mind. The French psychotherapist Sylvie Tenenbaum stressed that, in her patients, laughter often signals the dawning of a wholesome awakening to reality. Gallow humor might be dubious in the eyes of others. But try to sing out loud, try to cry, but try to laugh!

Give a genuine compliment. Say ‘thank you’. Spark up a conversation with an old friend, either over the phone or 6 ft away. Send someone a meaningful song. Run an errand for someone. Tip a little extra. Do chores for your family or roommates. Bring someone a coffee.

As a devout Christian, I love reading the bible. Ecclesiastes 3:1-4 say: “There is a time for everything … a time to be born and a time to die ,,, a time to tear down and a time to build, a time to weep and a time to laugh!” 

And, very important – Psalms always help. The cries from the heart – the songs for sorrow as well as joy. For every emotion and mood, you can find a psalm to match. They wrestle with the deepest sorrow. Their voice is refreshingly spontaneous.

A blessing named ‘father’

by Manila Bulletin

Through the years, and with the melding of cultures of the east and the west, a father has taken on more non-traditional roles. To his children, he’s become father and mother, brother and sister, playmate and competitor, provider and teacher, cook and taste-tester, life coach and friend. Sometimes he is at the “driver’s seat” of a family’s journey. Other times, he is the passenger and back-seat driver.

In any role, to his children, a father is just “tatay,” “daddy,” or “papa” — no matter if he is a CEO, or staff member of a company, if he is an elected official, or the barangay kagawad of a city, or if he is breadwinner or house-husband.

With Father’s Day just days away, it’s a time to celebrate the many roles of a father — biological or figurative — in our lives. Was he the bread-winner who provided for all the family’s needs, including tuition for graduate studies? The disciplinarian who limited one’s social life? Or the soft heart who over-ruled a strict mother’s rules? The hero who secretly “corrected” many wrong decisions? Or was he the family driver-on-call 24/7?

With a father’s many roles, one would expect him to be everywhere, including on social media. But today, it is not typical to read captions like — “He’s my father!” — declared openly in a social media account, or displayed by affection in a public place. Except on Father’s Day. It’s as if a father steps out of the picture when a child’s career takes over.

But a father will never leave the “picture” even of an adult child’s life; he will likely hover around. It is said that a father’s instinct to nurture and protect a child never goes away. In the extended Filipino family, it is an instinct also shared by father-figures like grandfathers, uncles or friends who have fulfilled a father’s role because of circumstances.

In Europe, the United States, and many countries around the world, the significance of fathers in people’s lives is celebrated every third Sunday of June.

In the Philippines, President Corazon C. Aquino signed on June 8, 1988, Proclamation No. 266 declaring every third Sunday of June as Father’s Day in the Philippines. (The same proclamation also declared every second Sunday of May as “Mother’s Day.”) That date had remained as Father’s Day even after another proclamation signed by President Joseph Estrada in 1998 had declared “the first Monday of December as ‘Mother’s Day’ and Father’s Day,” to return the traditional celebration on the date declared by a proclamation in 1921.

The “mother” of Father’s Day is a woman named Sonora Smart Dodd of Spokane, Washington, who initiated the celebration of the day inspired by her father who raised six children after their mother died in childbirth, according to reports from history publications. The first Father’s Day was celebrated on June 19, 1910, the month of the birthday of Dodd’s father.

Sunday, June 19, is Father’s Day. There is time to write a tribute or greeting to the man who had helped develop the way you think and live today. If he’s not around, say a prayer. A father in one’s life is a blessing.

Chikungunya confirmed in Davao

By Ruth Palo, Manila Times

THE Davao City Health office has confirmed two cases of chikungunya in Barangay Ilang after test results arrived from the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine in Metro Manila.

Ernie Cequiña, a nurse at the City Health Office (CHO) Tropical Disease Prevention and Control Unit, in a report from the City Information Office, said 16 more suspected cases of chikungunya were also recorded in the barangay (village).

Cequiña, however, added that the suspected 28 cases earlier reported in Barangay Panacan are still being verified.

The CHO Tropical Disease Prevention and Control Unit has intensified intervention efforts to control the Aedes mosquito species, the same species that carries dengue, in the area after the city confirmed its first case of chikungunya in Barangay Ilang on June 8, 2022.

Cequiña said the CHO responded with critical mosquito control measures, such as an awareness drive in the villages, Aedes aegypti larvae surveillance and fogging, and later conducted misting or indoor residual spraying.

Chikungunya symptoms are particularly difficult to determine as the patients usually manifest symptoms similar to those of dengue (fever, nausea, pain behind the eyes) but with more severe joint pains and early onset of skin rashes, he added.

According to Cequiña, the city remains steadfast in monitoring these cases and conducting intervention measures.

He, however, said protective measures, such as maintaining cleanliness of surroundings, remain the best method of preventing an outbreak.

Cequiña reminded Davaoeños to practice the 4S procedure; which stands for "Search and destroy" mosquito breeding grounds, practice "Self-protection" from mosquito bites, "Seek early medical consultation" and "Say yes" to community prevention and intervention measures.

Celebrate Father's Day with live orchestral music

For the first time after a two-year hiatus, the Manila Symphony Orchestra (MSO), the MSO Junior Orchestra and the MSO Music Academy will be officially coming back to one stage, for a live concert in time for a Father's Day celebration.

Be captivated once again by the beauty of live orchestral music on June 19, 5 p.m. at the Samsung Performing Arts Theater in Makati City.

Papa Mia, a MSO Family Concert will highlight piano and violin ensemble pieces to be performed by the students of the MSO Music Academy.

This will be followed by favorite classical pieces from Mozart and Handel and Filipino folk songs performed by the MSO Junior Orchestra.

The highlight of the evening will be an awe-inspiring performance of popular movie theme pieces from "Themes from 007," "Mission Impossible," "The Avengers," "Mamma Mia" with modern classical tunes by the MSO, Asia's longest performing orchestra.

More people avoid 'depressing' news – report

By Agence France-Presse

THE depressing state of the world is leading people to switch off from the news, the Reuters Institute reported on Wednesday.

The combined impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, Russia-Ukraine war and cost-of-living crisis have led to declining interest in the news, a survey by the British research group found.

Across 46 countries surveyed and 93,000 participants, it found the share who said they actively avoided the news had increased from 29 to 38 percent since 2017.

The numbers doubled in some countries, including Brazil (54 percent) and Britain (46 percent).

Young people in particular found the news to be a downer, but the chief reason for avoiding the news was its repetitiveness, especially around Covid and politics.

"I actively avoid things that trigger my anxiety and things that can have a negative impact on my day," a 27-year-old British respondent told the researchers.

"I will try to avoid reading news about things like deaths and disasters."

Others said the news led to arguments they would rather avoid, or a feeling of powerlessness, while many young people said they found it hard to understand.

Lead author Nic Newman said the findings were "particularly challenging for the news industry."

"Subjects that journalists consider most important, such as political crises, international conflicts and global pandemics, seem to be precisely the ones that are turning some people away," he was quoted as saying.

Most of the study was completed before the invasion of Ukraine in February, but subsequent surveys in five countries found these issues had only deepened in its aftermath.

Trust in the media fell in half the countries surveyed, and rose in just seven, the report said, reversing gains made during the pandemic.

Overall, trust was at 42 percent, down from 44 percent when the media had a small positive bump from the pandemic.

The United States showed the lowest level of trust at 26 percent, tied with Slovakia.

Finland has the highest levels of overall trust — 69 percent — up four points on last year and 13 points in 2020. In Asia, trust has risen in the Philippines (+5) and Japan (+2). A survey conducted by Publicus Asia in April showed that The Manila Times was the sixth most trusted news outlet in the Philippines with a 34.8 percent trust rating.

CNN and GMA-7 were the most trusted, with 49.3 percent and 46.9 percent, respectively. They were followed by the Philippine Daily Inquirer, Philippine Star and Manila Bulletin.

𝐀𝐝𝐨𝐩𝐭-𝐚-𝐂𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐝 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐦 𝐠𝐨𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐧 𝐞𝐱𝐭𝐫𝐚 𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐞

 

Shehara, a little girl who was left under the care of her grandparents, is among the beneficiary of the PLGU-employee-funded Adopt-a-Child Program in Davao de Oro.

Having been in the hands of both senior citizens since childbirth is a gift for Shehara. Her mother died from an illness when she was just two (2) months of age, and her biological father was left to attend to an older sibling. 

Mainly relying on farming, Shehara’s father and grandparents support both Shehara, and her older brother, King. On June 7, 2022, Shehara just celebrated her first birthday and was made even extra special through the Adopt-a-Child Program.

It’s a day that Shehara would never forget. Through the convergence of sponsors from the Provincial Planning and Development Office (PPDO), Provincial Governor’s Office, Mayor Antonio Libuangan of Laak, and Sanina de Ukay Store, Shehara’s first nativity celebration went beyond the bare minimum.

Since its re-launching on  April 27, 2022, the Adopt-a-child program significantly made changes to the health status of thirty-three (33) children-beneficiaries in the municipality of Laak including the one (1) year-old Shehara. The program was funded mainly out of the pockets of the employees of the PLGU and was first launched way back in 2008.

Adopt-a-Child Program is one of the end-hunger program chains of PLGU-Davao de Oro that provides weekly supplies of goods and other services to children affected by malnutrition in a span of one-hundred twenty (120) days.

Moreover, extra services were offered by the employees aside from the weekly provision of supplies. Some offices provide kitchenwares, beddings, clothing, and even constructed comfort rooms and renovation of some house parts for their beneficiaries.

As the commencement of this year’s Adopt-a-child operations near an end, parents of children-beneficiaries are beyond grateful for the program, from wasted, severely wasted, and severely underweight, children-beneficiaries are now of normal body-mass index. (𝐽𝑎𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑒𝑛 𝐴𝑏𝑒𝑙𝑙𝑎, 𝑃𝐴𝑂-𝐼𝑃𝑅𝐷, 𝑝ℎ𝑜𝑡𝑜𝑠 𝑏𝑦 𝑃𝑃𝐷𝑂-𝐷𝑎𝑣𝑎𝑜 𝑑𝑒 𝑂𝑟𝑜)

OFW remittances fall to 11-month low

By Mayvelin U. Caraballo, Manila Times

THE amount of money sent home by overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) fell to its lowest level in 11 months in April, according to data released on Wednesday by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).

Personal remittances, or cash or kind transfers between families, totaled $2.67 billion in the fourth month of 2022, down 7.51 percent from $2.88 billion in March of this year, but up 3.76 percent from $2.57 billion in April 2021. It's the smallest amount sent since $2.65 billion was sent in May last year.

The year-on-year gain in April was attributed to a 4.7-percent increase in remittances from land-based workers on one year or longer contracts, which inched up to $2.02 billion from $2.93 billion a year ago, the central bank noted. Meanwhile, remittances from sea- and land-based workers on short-term contracts saw an uptick of 1.4 percent to $581 million in April 2022, up from $609 million a year earlier.

Total remittances for the first four months of the year totaled $11.31 billion, picking up 2.6 percent from $11.02 billion in January to April 2021, according to the latest numbers. In the meantime, cash remittances were $2.39 billion in April, plunging 7.67 percent from the previous month, but accelerating 3.90 percent from $2.30 billion a year ago.

The BSP said revenues from land-based and sea-based workers soared by 4.7 percent to $1.86 billion from $1.77 billion and 1.4 percent to $533 million from $526 million, respectively, fueling the annual increase in cash remittances in April.

Cash remittances surged by 2.7 percent from January to April 2022 to $10.16 billion, rising from $9.89 billion a year earlier. "The growth in cash remittances from the United States, Saudi Arabia, Japan, Taiwan and Singapore contributed largely to the increase in remittances in January-April of 2022," the Bangko Sentral reported.

In the four months ending April this year, the United States had the greatest share of overall remittances, accounting for 41.2 percent. Next were Singapore, Saudi Arabia, Japan, the United Kingdom, the United Arab Emirates, Canada, Qatar, South Korea and Taiwan. Remittances from these 10 countries accounted for 79.2 percent of all cash remittances for the four-month period.

The BSP forecasts a 4-percent increase in cash remittances this year, citing "projected improvements in global growth prospects and further opening of economies along with the continued mass use of vaccines to prevent the spread of Covid-19 are also expected to continue to lend support to the growth prospects for OFW remittances."

Europe 'epicenter' of monkeypox outbreak – WHO

By Agence France-Presse

COPENHAGEN: The World Health Organization (WHO) said Wednesday Europe remained the epicenter of the global monkeypox outbreak, which posed a "real risk" with more than 1,500 cases reported in the region.

The UN health body already announced on Tuesday that it would hold an emergency meeting next week to determine whether to classify the outbreak as a public health emergency of international concern.

"Europe remains the epicenter of this escalating outbreak with 25 countries reporting more than 1,500 cases, or 85 percent of the global total," Hans Kluge, WHO regional director for Europe, told a press conference Wednesday.

WHO's European region comprises 53 countries, including several in Central Asia.

Until the past few months, monkeypox had generally been confined to Western and Central Africa.

Kluge said that the majority of cases reported in Europe "have been among men who have sex with men", but also warned against stigmatisation.

He stressed "that the monkeypox virus is not in itself attached to any specific group."

The regional director also warned that the risk was increasing as summer had arrived with "tourism, various Pride events, music festivals and other mass gatherings planned across the region."

"These events are powerful opportunities to engage with young, sexually active and highly mobile people," Kluge said, but stressed that "monkeypox is not a reason to cancel events, but an opportunity to leverage them to drive our engagement."

Speaking next to Kluge, Steve Taylor, director of European Pride Organisers Association, said that some 750 Pride events were planned across the European region and welcomed the WHO's recommendation not to cancel these events.

"Sadly, but entirely predictably, some of those who oppose Pride and who oppose equality and human rights have already been attempting to use monkeypox as a justification for calls for Pride to be banned," Taylor told reporters.

The EU announced Tuesday that it had purchased almost 110,000 vaccine doses to help tackle the outbreak, though the WHO does not recommend mass vaccination against monkeypox.

PSEi drops 2.40% on impending Fed rate hike

By Ed Paolo Salting, Manila Times

THE Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) plummeted on Wednesday by 155.11 points, or by 2.40 percent, to 6,319.42 as the local market was affected by the negative sentiment from last night's performance of the US bourses.

Regina Capital Development Corp. Managing Director Luis Limlingan, Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. chief economist Michael Ricafort and Philstocks Financial Inc. senior research analyst Japhet Tantiangco all agreed that investors are worried over an aggressive rate hike by the US Federal Reserve Bank.

The further depreciation of the Philippine peso against the United States dollar and higher US Treasury yields added to the market's bearish sentiment.

"The rate-setting Federal Open Market Committee will conclude its two-day meeting on Wednesday. The market is betting on a 75-basis-point rate hike, according to the CME Group Inc.'s FedWatch tool. Today's moves also came as investors digested another important inflation reading of May's producer performance index, which showed that wholesale prices rose 10.8 percent, and hovered near a record pace," Limlingan explained in his analysis.

Meanwhile, Vista Land's real estate investment trust (VREIT) debuted on the PSE and Limlingan and Ricafort noted that it would have finished much higher if it were not for the current market sentiment.

They said that the company aims to maintain high occupancy rates and quality tenants with particular focus on those offering essential goods and/or services. Also, its weighted average lease expiry of 5.09 years is quite impressive while the relatively high occupancy rate for malls was at 90 percent as of end-2021 despite the pandemic.

VREIT closed unchanged at its initial public offering price of P1.75 per share, and saw an intraday low of P1.59.

Other Asian bourses ended up mixed as Japan descended again by 1.14 percent, China climbed 0.50 percent, Hong Kong up 1.14 percent, Korea down by 1.83 percent, Vietnam dipped at 1.33 percent, Indonesia inched downwards by 0.61 percent, Thailand slid by 0.59 percent and Singapore slipped by -0.10 percent.

Trading remained anemic with net value turnover posting P5.84 billion, below the year-to-date average of P6.80 billion.

The model prayer

By Fr. Roy Cimagala*

“IN praying, do not babble like the pagans, who think that they will be heard because of their many words.” (Mt 6,7) With these words, Christ is telling us to be wary of the dangers of the way we pray. And he immediately tells us how to pray. Thus, we now have what is known as the Lord’s Prayer, or the “Our Father.”

We need to realize that this is the model prayer that shows us what dispositions we ought to have when we pray, how we ought to address God our Father, what we have to ask, etc. Thus, we have to assume the spirit with which the prayer is given to us by Christ.

In the Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, we are told that “the Lord’s Prayer reveals us to ourselves at the same time that it reveals the Father to us.” (2783) 

In other words, we are told who we really are and who God is to us. Thus, no matter how our life here on earth goes, we should never forget that we are children of God who will do everything to bring us back to him. Psalm 129 reinforces this truth of our faith: “With the Lord, there is mercy and fullness of redemption.”

We just have to make sure also that, as expressed in this prayer, we also have to be merciful to everyone just as God is merciful to us. “Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.”

We have to understand that forgiveness or mercy is the ultimate expression of love which is the very essence of God and which is also meant to be the essence of our humanity since we are God’s image and likeness, children of his.

And as if to underscore the importance of this point, Christ reiterated: “For if you will forgive men their offences, your heavenly Father will forgive you also your offences. But if you will not forgive men, neither will your Father forgive you for your offences.” (Mt 6,14-15) It’s clear therefore that we can only be forgiven if we also forgive others.

We have to be clear that this injunction is meant for everyone, and not only for a few whom we may consider to be religiously inclined. That’s why when asked how many times we should forgive, he said not only seven times, but seventy times seven, meaning always.

That’s also why he easily forgave the woman caught in adultery. And to those whom he cured of their illnesses, it was actually the forgiveness of their sins that he was more interested in.

To top it all, Christ allowed himself to die on the cross as a way to forgive all of our sins, and to convert our sins through his resurrection as a way to our own redemption. What he did for us he also expects, nay, commands that we also do for everybody else. 

Thus that indication that if we want to follow him, we have to deny ourselves, carry the cross and follow him.

It is presumed that all of us sin one way or another. That’s why St. John said: “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” (1 Jn 1,8) I am sure that our personal experience can bear that out easily.

We really need to live the spirit behind this model prayer!

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

Email: roycimagala@gmail.com