Davao City honors 32 centenarians

By Ruth Palo, Manila Times

October 5, 2022

THE Davao City Government through the City Social Welfare and Development Office (CSWDO) has honored 32 Davaoeño centenarians in an event at the Grand Menseng Hotel here on Monday, October 3.

Each awardee, present or not, received a plaque and P100,000 cash.

Eligible for the award are those who turned 100 years old after Dec. 2, 2021, the day the Ordinance Honoring Centenarians was passed.

The event had 11 centenarians who were able to personally attend and receive their award. The 22 other centenarians were represented by family members.

Mayor Sebastian Duterte went from table to table to hand over the plaques and cash award alongside Vice Mayor Jay Melchor Quitain, and City Councilors Wilberto Al-ag, Tek Ocampo and Myrna Dalodo Ortiz.

"Once you reach 100 years old, this often includes having a healthy lifestyle. It was also revealed that these centenarians have family members who really take good care of them," CSWDO head lawyer Marlisa Gallo said.

Aside from the cash assistance, the centenarians who came from far-flung areas like Marilog District were also given hotel room accommodations in the morning before the event.

Families of the centenarians said they were elated that their parents were recognized during the event.

Reuben Corro, son of 102-year-old Emma Corro, said "this is really a great help and inspiration for all because according to our neighbors and relatives, they were encouraged to keep themselves healthy so that they could get the promised incentives."

Angeles, Calida resign

Press Secretary Rose Beatrix "Trixie" Cruz-Angeles and Commission on Audit (CoA) Chairman Jose Calida. TMT FILE PHOTO

By Catherine S. Valente  and Kristina Maralit

October 5, 2022

Press Secretary Rose Beatrix "Trixie" Cruz-Angeles and Commission on Audit (CoA) Chairman Jose Calida. TMT FILE PHOTO

(UPDATE) TWO members of President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr.'s Cabinet have resigned from their posts, Malacañang said on Tuesday.

Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin confirmed that Press Secretary Rose Beatrix "Trixie" Cruz-Angeles and Commission on Audit (CoA) Chairman Jose Calida had filed their letter of resignation.

In a statement, Cruz-Angeles said she tendered her resignation for "health reasons."

"I tendered my resignation this morning, effective end of business hours today. Due to health reasons. It was a pleasure working with you," she also said.

Cruz-Angeles is the second Cabinet official who stepped down after Victor Rodriguez announced on Sept. 17, 2022, that he has resigned as executive secretary but will continue serving Marcos as his chief of staff.

Senior Deputy Executive Secretary Hubert Guevara said the President is yet to appoint Cruz-Angeles' replacement.

"She tendered her resignation today. We're still in the process of helping the office address her resignation today," Guevara said.

"Wala pa hong bagong (There is still no new) press secretary. Hopefully, in the near future, we will have [a] new press secretary," he said.

According to Guevarra, Marcos gave Cruz-Angeles a "thank you note" after her resignation.

When asked if there are already names being considered to replace Cruz-Angeles, Guevarra said there was none.

Earlier in the day, the President reappointed some of his Cabinet members who were bypassed by the Commission on Appointments.

Cruz-Angeles was among the officials who were not on the list and not present during the ceremony.

Rumors about Cruz-Angeles' quitting from her post circulated after Marcos' working visit to the United States.

In May, she accepted the offer to be press secretary and head of the Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO).

She previously served as PCOO's social media strategist from July 2017 to July 2018 during the administration of then-president Rodrigo Duterte.

As a lawyer, she is known for representing military officers charged with rebellion and mutiny.

Cruz-Angeles was also a former commissioner for Cultural Heritage of the National Commission for Culture and the Arts and former spokesman for the Integrated Bar of the Philippines.

She was also a member of then-Chief Justice Renato Corona's legal team during his impeachment trial in 2012.

Meanwhile, Bersamin also confirmed that Calida has stepped down as CoA chairman, but he declined to answer when prodded about the reason for the latter's resignation.

"He (Calida) tendered his resignation for many reasons, but it's up to him to later explain to you or publish what were his reasons, but we accepted that with regret and we commended him for his patriotism for serving for a short while," he said.

Calida, who served as solicitor general under the Duterte administration, is yet to issue a statement on the matter.

"Please be advised that the chairman was one of the officials whose appointment was bypassed by the Commission on Appointments," CoA's public information office said in a statement on reports of Calida's resignation.

"Today, the President issued the reappointments of 10 Cabinet members, unfortunately, Chairman Calida was not one of those reappointed," it added.

The commission said it would wait for Marcos' appointment of a new chairman.

Calida had served as the undersecretary of the Department of Justice from 2001 to 2004.

He also previously held the executive director post at the Dangerous Drugs Board.

Calida graduated from Ateneo de Davao University in 1969.

In 1973, he graduated with a Bachelor of Laws from the Ateneo de Manila University and passed the Bar the same year, according to the Office of the Solicitor General's website.

Also on Tuesday, Bersamin said his predecessor, Victor Rodriguez, was no longer a part of the Marcos administration.

Speaking to Palace reporters, he said there is no official document delegating Rodriguez as presidential chief of staff.

"No, he is no longer a member of the Cabinet. You must recall that he resigned for a specific reason, and that reason is well published. We cannot second-guess that reason. Take it as it was stated by the secretary and let us respect his privacy," Bersamin noted during a media interview.

Bersamin issued the statement after Rodriguez on September 17 announced his decision to step down from office to assume his new role as the President's chief of staff.

Then-press secretary Cruz-Angeles earlier said Marcos signed Administrative Order (AO) 1 creating the Office of the Presidential Chief of Staff, which will be under the direct supervision of the Office of the President.

The Office of the Presidential Chief of Staff shall have the primary function of supervising and ensuring the "efficient and responsive" day-to-day operational support to the presidency to enable the President to focus on strategic national concerns, she said, citing AO 1.

Cruz-Angeles added that Rodriguez "will immediately" assume his new position as presidential chief of staff, which will have the rank and emoluments of a Cabinet secretary.

Malacañang, however, is yet to release a copy of AO 1.

Bersamin said he has not seen the order creating the position, which was reportedly signed by the President last month.

"Kung meron talaga, ililitaw natin kung meron. Pero up to now, wala pang lumilitaw na ganyan (If there is really [AO 1], we will make it public. However, we are yet to see it up to now)," he added.

The new executive secretary said they do not even talk about the order.

He also asked that Rodriguez's privacy must be respected.

"And to be fair to him as well as to the President, let us not belabor that issue kasi (because) the decision has been made. I was appointed executive secretary. I was sworn into office and that should put that matter to rest," he added.

Rodriguez was Marcos' longtime chief of staff and spokesman before he was nominated as an executive secretary in May.

Bersamin, on the other hand, was named as executive secretary on September 27.

Prior to his role in the Marcos administration, he served as chief justice from 2018 to 2019 during the term of then-president Rodrigo Duterte.

Everything should be a form of prayer

By Fr. Roy Cimagala *

WE should do our best to overcome the usual tendency of ours to fall into some form of dichotomy, dividing our life mainly into 2 parts—one for prayer, our relation with God, and another for work, our involvement in the things of the world or our temporal affairs.

We only have one life, and it’s a life that essentially should be an active participation in the life of God, since we have been created to be his image and likeness. Though our life has many parts, many dimensions, many aspects, and each one requires specific treatment, we should not forget that all of them comprise one and the same life. They have to be blended and made to work according to one same spirit—the spirit of God.

We are reminded of this basic truth about ourselves in that gospel episode about the two sisters, Martha and Mary, where the former complained to Christ about the latter for apparently not helping her in some tasks of hospitality. (cfr. Lk 10,38-42) That was when Christ told Martha that only one thing is necessary and that Mary, her sister, who was contemplating on Christ, was doing the right thing and it would not be taken away from her.

The mistake of Martha was to consider her tasks of hospitality not as a form of prayer but simply as some practical work that needed to be done. She failed to elevate her work into prayer. That was why she felt uncomfortable to see her sister apparently doing nothing by simply putting herself before Christ, listening to him.

The main point of the gospel is that we are supposed to be contemplative souls. That is to say that no matter what we are doing, no matter what condition we may be in, we should not lose touch with God.

That’s obviously not an easy thing to do, but we have precisely our whole life to cultivate that kind of lifestyle. And we have been given all the means so that such ideal can be achieved by us. We should just do our part.

The story of the sisters, Martha and Mary, therefore offers us a precious lesson on always giving priority to prayer, the one thing necessary in life, no matter how many and urgent our other concerns are during the day. It urges us to make everything a form of prayer.

The immediate basis for this truth is what Christ himself said: “What will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul?” (Mt 16,26) That’s because prayer is like the breathing and the heartbeat of our spiritual organism, of our soul. Just as we continue to breathe and just as our heart continues to beat even while we are unconscious in our sleep, so should our prayer be.

To be sure, this is possible and doable, because praying does not even need a bodily organ for it to be done. It is a spiritual operation that can transcend the use of our bodily faculties. It’s a matter of attitude, of belief, which we can always have even if it is not expressly articulated.

As such, it can be done in any situation—while we are working, playing, resting, etc. But it would be good that we spend some time doing nothing other than praying, directly engaging God in a loving conversation, because that would help us to be prayerful in all our other activities and situations in life.

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

Email: roycimagala@gmail.com

'Green' energy open to foreigners – DoJ

By Franco Jose C. Baroña, Manila Times

October 4, 2022

FOREIGNERS can own 100 percent of renewable or "green" energy projects in the Philippines, the Department of Justice (DoJ) said.

In a legal opinion it issued on September 29, the DoJ said the renewable energy sector is not covered by the 60-40 ownership rule in Section 2, Article XII of the Constitution.

It said, "the Constitutional foreign ownership restriction on the exploration, development and utilization of natural resources only covers things that are susceptible to appropriation, thus excluding the sun, the wind, and the ocean."

The DoJ said the phrase "all forces of potential energy" in the Constitution should be interpreted to exclude "kinetic energy" such as renewable energy.

Potential energy is defined as "energy at rest," while kinetic energy is "energy in motion." Renewable energy sources like solar, wind, hydro, and ocean or tidal energy are therefore considered kinetic energy sources.

The DoJ said the investment cap only seeks to "preserve for Filipinos limited and exhaustible resources."

The "appropriation of waters, direct from the source, for power generation" should continue to be subject to the foreign ownership restriction, the DoJ said.

Before more foreign investments in renewables are allowed, the Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) of the Renewable Energy Act of 2008 (Republic Act 9513) must be amended to conform with the opinion, it said.

The government is planning to increase the share of renewable energy in the power generation mix to 35 percent by 2030, and increase it further to 50 percent by 2040.

Based on Department of Energy (DoE) data, renewables make up 22 percent of the generation mix, with coal having the biggest share at 58 percent.

As of June, a total of 998 renewable energy contracts with a combined installed capacity of 5,460.59 megawatts and a potential capacity of 61,613.81 MW have been awarded by the DoE.

Under current rules, foreign firms may go into renewable energy development through a service or operating contract with the government, but they cannot own more than 40 percent of a project.

In a statement, Energy Secretary Raphael Lotilla said the DoE is already revising the IRR of RA 9513 which places the exploration, development, production and utilization of natural resources under the government's full control and supervision.

"Private sector investments are central [to] achieving our renewable energy targets and vision for the Filipino people and this is a welcome development for our foreign investors to invest in renewable energy production here in our country," Lotilla said.

He thanked Justice Secretary Crispin "Boying" Remulla "for this favorable development which will pave the way for the opening of foreign investments in renewable energy development."

In 2020, the government allowed full foreign ownership of large-scale geothermal projects through financial and technical assistance agreements as long as the minimum investment amounted to $50 million.

Tawi-Tawi hospitals need to upgrade' – BARMM

By Julmunir Jannaral

October 4, 2022

COTABATO CITY: The proposed parliamentary bills seeking to establish and upgrade hospital bed capacity in Tawi-Tawi have been refiled by several BARMM (Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao) lawmakers.

Member of Parliaments (MPs) Amilbahar Mawallil, John Anthony Lim, Eddie Alih and Suharto Ambolodto introduced Parliament Bills (PB) 45 and 46 in the plenary session last September 29.

Datu Halun Sakilan Memorial Hospital will be upgraded to a level 2 hospital with 100 beds as proposed in PB 45, and will be directly supervised by the Ministry of Health (MoH).

Mawallil said the proposed establishment of Datu Halun Sakilan Memorial hospital aims to provide residents of Tawi-Tawi with easy access to high-quality and sustainable health care services.

Mawallil said despite these improvements, the memorial hospital still functions at level 1 status and lacks the necessary supplies, equipment and personnel to provide adequate service to its patients.

‘Parade of Lights’ kicks off Zamboanga Hermosa Festival

by Liza Abubakar-Jocson, Manila Bulletin

ZAMBOANGA CITY – A Parade of Lights kicked off this year’s Hermosa Festival– Zamboanga City’s annual festival honoring its patron saint Nuestra Señora La Virgen del Pilar – on Saturday, Oct. 1.

One of the floats competing in this year’s ‘Parade of Lights’ in Zamboanga City.  (Zambo LGU photo)

Twelve floats decorated with sparkling lights sponsored by business establishments, schools, barangays and other private organizations were paraded in Zamboanga streets.

Said floats were also rated by judges for the prizes given by the Zamboanga government.

The floats lighted up Mayor Vitaliano Agan Avenue, Mayor Climaco Avenue, JS Alano and Valderrosa Streets.

The parade culminated at Paseo del Mar where Mayor John Dalipe distributed cash prizes to this year’s winners.

The P200,000 cash prize for this year’s top winner went to the Tau Gamma Phi.

Other winners were the Don Pablo Lorenzo Memorial High School winning P150,000; Kuya’s Lechon P100,000, Brent Hospital P70,000; and College and Barangay Arena Blanco P50,000.

The Zamboanga Hermosa Festival/Fiesta Pilar will culminate on October 12 with a mass, novena and procession in honor of Our Lady of the Pillar, Zamboanga City’s patron saint.

‘Karding’ infra damage reaches P304M – NDRRMC

by Martin Sadongdong, Manila Bulletin

Super Typhoon “Karding” has dealt P304 million worth of damage to infrastructure as the extent of its destruction becomes clearer nearly a week after it left the country.

Brgy. Salangan in San Miguel, Bulacan still submerged in flood on Sept. 26, 2022 after the onslaught of Super Typhoon Karding. (MARK BALMORES / MANILA BULLETN)

The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) said Sunday, Oct. 2, that the estimated cost of damage to infrastructure by Karding, which left the Philippine Area of Responsibility (PAR) last Sept. 26, already reached P304,245, 310.

There were 43 infrastructure projects that were damaged or destroyed by Karding in five affected regions namely Ilocos Region (1), Cagayan Valley (Region 2), Mimaropa (Oriental and Occidental Mindoro, Marinduque, Romblon and Palawan or Region 4B), Bicol Region (5), and Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR).

Twenty-seven of the damaged infrastructure projects were found in Cagayan Valley which cost P280 million. CAR has eight damaged infrastructure projects, Ilocos Region has six, and one each in Mimaropa and Bicol Region.

There were also 58,172 houses that were damaged by the typhoon in Ilocos Region, Cagayan Valley, Central Luzon (Region 3), Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, and Quezon or Region 4A), and CAR. More than 51,000 houses in the affected areas were partially damaged while around 7,000 where completely destroyed.

Meanwhile, agricultural loss was pegged at P3.053 billion in six regions – Ilocos Region, Cagayan Valley, Central Luzon, Calabarzon, Bicol, and CAR. A total of 104,500 farmers and fisherfolk were affected by the typhoon while production loss was recorded at 159,867.35 metric tons.

The number of affected Filipinos due to Karding also grew to 1,072,282 or 299,172 families.

As of Sunday, there were 3,098 individuals or 821 families who have yet to return to their homes. They were temporarily staying in 26 evacuation centers.

The death toll related to Karding stood at 12, five others were still missing, and 52 individuals were injured.

The NDRRMC also said that a total of P57.89 million worth of relief assistance was provided for the typhoon victims in the affected regions.

The assistance came in the form of family food packs worth P16.57 million; financial aid worth P10.96 million; and non-food items worth P536,294.34. Some P29.6 million was also spent by the member-agencies of the NDRRMC to help the typhoon victims but they were not itemized and listed only as “for verification.”

Filipina wins prestigious global award

By Conrad M. Cariño

October 3, 2022

DALAREICH Polot became the first Filipina to receive the Goldman Sachs/Fortune Most Powerful Women Global Award.

The 34-year-old from Bohol, known as "Bohol's Chocolate Princess," told The Manila Times she learned over the weekend that she has been chosen for the award along with an Egyptian woman.

"I didn't... expect that they would choose me because I'm competing with other graduates from different countries," she said.

Polot was referring to the Goldman Sachs 10,000 women program that aims to empower women entrepreneurs globally. She is one of the 200 Filipinas who have benefited from the program, having been part of its 2011 alumni.

She said the program was handled in the Philippines by the University of Asia and the Pacific (UAP), and she was one of the last five who attended the program.

"I am extremely honored to be the first Filipina to be conferred this prestigious award at 'Fortune Most Powerful Women Summit' in California in the next few days," she said in a post in her Facebook page.

"They (UAP) sent me an application in the last week of August where you can write your 'Pay it Forward' project for your chosen community. In the Philippines, only me was given an application form," she added.

Polot will fly to California this week to receive the award, which includes a dollar-based grant for her project.

"I'm also eager to listen and network with women leaders and CEOs that I will meet during the summit. I'm so looking forward to engaging with women leaders who will be at the event which includes Melinda Gates, US government women representatives from different states, women CEOs from Fortune 500 companies network and many other amazing women who I usually just read in books or watched on TV," she said.

Polot helped communities in Bohol that were ravaged by Typhoon "Odette" late last year. Bohol was one of the areas that bore the storm's brunt.

"My parents even cried [after learning of the award] because they know I'm always outside the house since the typhoon doing many things in faraway towns and even didn't put [those efforts] on social media," she said.

She admitted getting tired at times, "but I can't just watch the people without homes and having lost their livelihood."

Polot co-founded Dalareich Food Products and started Ginto Chocolates, which produces artisanal chocolate products and helps cacao farmers in Bohol produce quality raw materials.

Loving without measure

By Fr. Roy Cimagala *

THAT’S how love should be if it is true. That is to say, if it is the love that flows from the same love which is the very essence of God and that is also meant for us, since we are God’s image and likeness.

We are reminded of this truth of our faith in that gospel episode where Christ was asked what God’s greatest commandment is. That is to say, what God really wants us to do and ultimately to be. (cfr. Lk 10,25-37)

That’s when Christ clearly said that the greatest commandment is to “love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your being, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.”

The response of Christ clearly indicates that we ought to give everything to God out of love. In other words, it’s an all-or-nothing thing, an incredible ideal to attain but for which we actually have been given all the means. 

We just have to do our part which, of course, will take some time and some process. The important thing is that we should try to put our mind and heart into this responsibility, and no matter how things go, we should just move on. God is always understanding and patient with us, “quick to forgive, slow to anger.”

We need to realize that true love has a universal scope. It is all inclusive. We are meant to love our neighbor, who is actually anyone and everyone, including those we do not know, and those who are strangers and are even our enemies.

Let’s also remember that our love for God is expressed and is proven by our love for others. St. John in his first Letter said as much, “He who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen.” (4,20)

In this regard, we have to see to it that we are always thinking of the others, and of how we can serve them in any way. This will prove our love for God, since love is deeds and not just sweet words.

Obviously, to pursue this ideal will always be a work in progress, requiring a lot of patience and prudence. Before anything else, it will require that we be more and more Christ-like because only then can we really have this inclusivity of charity. Let’s hope that we be game with that.

The inclusivity of charity for sure is not an anything-goes matter. The truth cannot be compromised, but we have to understand the truth not as a fixed, frozen thing that can be fully captured by our articulated doctrines, laws and principles. The truth is a living thing, as living as God himself who is precisely the absolute truth. As such, it is dynamic and wrapped many times in mysteries and spiritual and supernatural realities.

It’s not that our doctrines, laws and principles serve for nothing. They are necessary, but as a guide to the truth, and not as truth itself. They will always need to be read, understood and followed with the proper spirit that can only come from God. They need to be continually updated, deepened, and polished.

It is with these parameters that we have to approach issues like whether we should be dealing with people who are non-believers, public sinners, those in what we call are in irregular situations, and even those who are in open enmity with the Christian faith.

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

Email: roycimagala@gmail.com

Climate change, now a risk factor for heart disease – expert

 

By Red Mendoza, Sunday Times

October 2, 2022

CLIMATE change is now one of the cases of having cardiovascular disease, according to a leading heart expert.

This comes as the Philippine Department of Health (DoH) has joined forces with the World Health Organization and other partners to strengthen their collaboration against numerous cases of cardiovascular diseases.

In an event recently held in Taguig City, Professor Fausto Pinto, president of the World Heart Federation, said that air pollution is now emerging as one of the main causes of heart disease, which is one of the top causes of death across the globe.

"Air pollution is responsible for around seven million deaths per year, and one of the systems that air pollution that has a significant impact is the cardiovascular system, so that is one area that we are ensuring that we can tackle this global problem," Pinto said.

Pinto emphasized that there is now evidence to support the claim that air pollution and climate change can, from a physiological standpoint, affect the cells in the respiratory system that is also linked with the cardiovascular system.

He said that they are now working on developing strategies on how to reduce the impact of air pollution and climate change, noting that this link between the phenomenon and cardiovascular diseases is "worrying."

Dr. Bente Mikkelsen, director of noncommunicable diseases of the World Health Organization, said that every country in the world has the "tools and protocol-based treatment that is available for the population."

"If you provide prevention and treatment, we will be able to save millions of lives and secure prosperity for countries," Mikkelsen said.

Mikkelsen said that worldwide, less than 50 percent of all heart disease detections are not diagnosed, and 40 percent of them manage their heart disease due to the high cost of out-of-pocket spending for medicines.