Coverage by Xave Gregorio, Philippine Star
Merck & Co.'s breakthrough antiviral drug has been approved for emergency use in the Philippines. The Food and Drug Administration's greenlight for molnupiravir allows its adoption across the health system, when only 89 hospitals were previously allowed to administer it.
What it does: The pill was found in phase 3 clinical trials to prevent hospitalization for COVID-19 by 50% among those who have been infected.
Coverage by Xave Gregorio and Bella Perez Rubio, Philippine Star
The government has "immensely" run out of disaster response funds—or at least that was President Duterte's version of the story. Officials dismissed the claim, pointing to several sources of financing to aid typhoon-battered regions.
A P2-billion calamity fund with NDRRMC. “We still have P1 billion, and then another billion given or allocated to local government units," an Office of the Civil Defense official said.
Duterte's contingent fund of P2 billion, according to the acting budget chief.
Rep. Carlos Zarate (Bayan Muna party-list)'s own estimate, on the other hand, suggests there is still more than P4 billion to tap for both the president's contingent and the NDRRMC's funds.
P1.44 trillion in unused funds from stalled and idle infrastructure projects, which the Commission on Audit flagged. Sen. Franklin Drilon suggests government can dip into this massive pool through realignment.
"Our social and health services took a backseat precisely to fund these infrastructure projects that the COA found delayed and idle... [T]he government must examine its prioritization, once and for all," Drilon said.
By Fr. Roy Cimagala *
THAT “Benedictus” prayer that was said by Zechariah, John the Baptist’s father, as an expression of a most profound sense of praise, thanksgiving and blessing for the great favor he received, highlights the reality of the tremendous love God has for all of us. (cfr. Lk 1,67-79)
“Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel; for he has come to his people and set them free. He has raised up for us a mighty Savior, born of the house of his servant David…” And Zechariah went on, pouring his heart out, and in the process was actually making a most wonderful prophecy.
Why does God love us so much? It makes us wonder why. Just consider these points which I am sure are not complete. In fact, they are still very far from complete, even if we think they are already quite exhaustive and overwhelming.
First, He created us when there was no need for him to do so. More than that, He created us in his very own image and likeness, taking the risk that we can replace him ourselves.
And when finally we, in Adam and Eve, fell to that temptation of replacing God, he continued to love by sending his own son to redeem us. “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” (Jn 3,16)
And the son assumed all our sins by dying on the cross and resurrecting. There can be no greater love than this. God has done this because the Son, the second person of the Blessed Trinity, is the perfect image of God himself. And since we are the image and likeness of God, the Son has to repair that divine image of ours that has been deformed by our sin.
God in Christ continues to go through the process of redeeming us by dying and resurrecting all throughout time by sending the Holy Spirit, founding the Church and instituting the sacraments, especially that of the Holy Eucharist. St. Josemaria Escriva has described the Holy Eucharist as God’s madness of love for us.
And the list goes on and on. It will never end. Again, why does God love us so much? We can only repeat some words of the Psalms: “What is the man that you are mindful of, and the son of man that you care for him?” (8,4)
We can only wager some possible answers. One of them could be that it is precisely because we have been created in his image and likeness that God cannot leave us alone. In a way, we can say that he sees himself in us, no matter how much we deform that divine image in us.
In this regard, God is like the mother mentioned in the Book of Isaiah. “Can a woman forget her nursing child and have no compassion for the son of her womb? Even these may be forgotten, but I will not forget you.” (49,15)
Besides, even in the natural plane, there is hardly any mother who will not clean her child no matter how dirty the child is. It’s instinctive of her to do whatever is needed to clean the child or to get him out of any predicament.
That, at the very least, is how God sees and treats us. He of course does a lot more.
* Chaplain Center for Industrial Technology and Enterprise (CITE), Talamban, Cebu City
Email: roycimagala@gmail.com
by Keith Bacongco, Manila Bulletin
DAVAO CITY – Like many of the responders, Cpl. Henry Baleña will celebrate Christmas with typhoon Odette survivors in Caraga region.
Baleña, who belongs to the Philippine Navy, is one of over a hundred personnel who joined the newly-activated Joint Task Force Sambisig of the Armed Forces of the Philippines’ Eastern Mindanao Command that departed for the typhoon-hit areas to conduct relief and rehabilitation efforts.
The task force is primarily composed of personnel from the Army, Philippine Navy, Philippine Air Force, Medical Corps and Army Engineers.
Aside from from the soldiers under the Eastern Mindanao Command, personnel from the Office of Civil Defense and Philippine Coast Guard also joined the contingent that departed for Surigao City on Wednesday morning.
Baleña admitted that his hometown in Rosario, Agusan del Sur was also partially hit by the onslaught of the typhoon.
“Our town was partially hit by the typhoon but there’s not much damage, only some agricultural crops. Most important is that my family is safe,” he told Manila Bulletin shortly before their departure on Wednesday morning.
Eastern Mindanao Command spokesperson Maj. Alex Mindalano said the Joint Task Force Sambisig will serve in the typhoon-hit areas until the relief and rehabilitation efforts is completed and the situation is normalized.
“Some personnel are already in the area and there will be shifting of personnel because some will also need a break. So those who left today will be spending their Christmas with the typhoon survivors,” Mindalano explained.
He added that the contingent brought at least 10 truckloads of relief aid for the typhoon survivors.
The OCD provided what they call as ‘family packs’ that contain kitchen utensils, sleeping kit and hygiene kits, the military officer said.
On December 16, Typhoon Odette shredded the provinces of Dinagat Islands, Surigao del Norte, Southern Leyte, Bohol, Cebu, Negros and Palawan.
The trail of destruction left hundreds of thousands of people homeless with just 10 days before Christmas.
Like Baleña, Army Pfc. Jay Recarro will also spend his Christmas helping the typhoon survivors.
Recarro, who hails from Tagum City, added that he is also glad to be a part of the contingent because he will also have the opportunity to check his relatives in Surigao City who were also affected by the onslaught of the typhoon.
“We will spend our Christmas in the area but it’s okay because that’s part of our job. But I will be home for New Year,” he said in the vernacular.
The second part of the National Vaccination Drive (NVD) officially started in Davao Oro from December 20 to 22, 2021 with an aim to ramp up the number of vaccinated dabawenyos province-wide.
The second part of the NVD was originally set from December 15 to 17, 2021, and was moved on a later date in Davao Region due to Typhoon Odette. On the first implementation of the NVD, DdO successfully jabbed around 14k individuals and will increase the coverage of the vaccines until everyone is safe.
Rural health units all over the province will simultaneously conduct the mass vaccination drive to eligible individuals during the NVD and will also target areas that have low vaccine coverage.
On the first day of the mass vaccination drive, DdO jabbed 12k individuals and reached 52.49% of the daily target, way more to go for the remaining 2 days.
As of December 21, 2021, the province vaccinated around 484k dabawenyos reaching 39% out of the projected 70% target population for herd immunity.
Dr. Antonio Ybiernas, in his message, highlighted the importance of being inoculated with the vaccine against Covid-19 as this will not only provide protection for everyone but will also help businesses to re-open and the economy to push forward.
The kick-off ceremony of the NVD Part 2 was held at the Municipal Cultural Center of Maragusan, Davao de Oro and was also attended by Assistant Secretary of Health in Visayas and Mindanao, Dr. Roy B. Ferrer, Dr. Anabelle Yumang of DOH Region XI, DILG Provincial Director Noel Duarte, Mayor Maricel Vendiola and Vice Mayor Ceasar Colina. (JA PAO-IPRD, photos by J. Cadiz)
By Fr. Roy Cimagala *
IT’S a question we have to ask ourselves, especially these days when we are hounded by a heavy wave of darkness, uncertainty and even pessimism, what with the pandemic and the spoiler Odette still gripping us in abnormal conditions. If what excites us the most are earthly and temporal things, then we would be very vulnerable to the predicaments of sadness and depression.
We should see to it that what should excite us the most, what our soul should magnify is God, our Creator, Father and Savior. We need to train our mind and heart, our feelings and all our other faculties and powers we have to make God as the ultimate and constant source of our joy.
We are reminded of this truth about ourselves in that beautiful prayer, the Magnificat, that Mary said upon visiting her cousin, Elizabeth. (cfr. Lk 1,46-56) It’s a most wonderful prayer that simply drips with the highest aspirations and noblest sentiments any human being can and should have.
Yes, we have every reason to feel intense joy and thanksgiving and to feel blessed, regardless of whatever, because the Son of God, the very pattern of our humanity, has himself become man to bring us back to where we all come from and to whom we belong. Whatever situation we find ourselves in, good or bad, happy or sad, should always be infused by the spirit of the Magnificat.
We should repeat the words of the Magnificat daily, and, in fact, often during the day. We should repeat them from the heart, especially when we encounter difficulties and failures in life, because they remind us that God never fails to bless us. Yes, we should always feel blessed even amidst our problems and mistakes.
Feeling blessed is important and indispensable to us. Without it, we would be putting ourselves in great danger as we would simply stand on an unstable ground, totally dependent on the shifting world of chance, luck and fortune.
To us, the Magnificat should be the pledge that God loves and blesses us, no matter how undeserving we are, as well as the means to face all the vagaries of life, praising God, thanking him, asking for pardon and favors with confidence.
The Magnificat should remind us that even in our worst predicaments, God is always around and Mary is showing us how we can be united or reunited with her Son. She would infuse confidence into our heart especially at a time when we would be most vulnerable to lose that confidence and opt to become a fugitive from God.
The Magnificat is like a most precious and useful family treasure in a Christian’s life. It’s not meant to be kept in some secret vault. It has to be used frequently, for it has tremendous power to bring us back to a vibrant Christian life if we have slackened or to keep the fire of love burning, full of action and not just of desires.
Like Mary who quickly visited her cousin to help, we too can quickly involve ourselves in the lives of others. Let’s always remember that our relationship with God and with all the saints in heaven develops through our relationship with others in our present life.
Loving God is inseparable from loving others. We should try our best that we truly involve ourselves in the lives of others, helping them in any way we can, since that involvement can only prove our love for them and for God.
* Chaplain Center for Industrial Technology and Enterprise (CITE), Talamban, Cebu City
Email: roycimagala@gmail.com
Adobo is not just a dish, it is a cooking method which uses a lot of souring agents to prevent meats from spoiling or decaying.
It is a very popular preservation method here in the Philippines because our climate is hot, and foods that are prepared on the table can become spoiled easily.
That's why our ancestors would marinate certain types of meat, like chicken, carabao, fish, beef and many others in a concoction of onions, garlics, peppers, salt and vinegar, so that the food can be stored for several weeks before its consumption date.
Then came the Chinese traders who introduced the use of soy sauce, which was later added to the Adobo dish that caused the darkening of the meat and sauce color.
Adobo is just one of the food preservation techniques here in the Philippines.
By Fr. Roy Cimagala *
THAT gospel story about the Archangel Gabriel visiting Mary
to tell her that she was going to be the mother of the son of God
(cfr. Lk 1,26-38) reminds us that like Mary, we too should say,
“Fiat,” (Be it done) to whatever the will of God is for us, so that
not only can we be born again in Christ but also become more and more
like Christ until we are made “another Christ” as God wants us to be.
This is the will of God for us which we should be clear
about so that we would not be confused, much less, lost, as to the
real purpose of our life here on earth. We have to realize that we
have an active role to play in this “divine project.” While God is the
main agent of this project, we too have to be his co-agent.
In a sense, we are his co-creator and co-redeemer,
understood properly in that it is only God who creates and redeems us,
but we need to cooperate and to correspond to his creative and
redemptive work on us. That’s how we have to understand these
expressions.
The secret, of course, is that we obey God’s will for us,
whatever it is and whatever it takes. We should expect some difficult
and even impossible things to tackle, since this divine project is
eminently spiritual and supernatural in nature.
But with God, we would also be given the grace so that what
we cannot do through our natural powers, given our weaknesses and
limitations, his power can do it for us as long as we go along with
him.
It is our spiritual powers of intelligence and will that
would enable us to receive the supernatural power of God’s grace.
These spiritual powers of ours have what is called as the obediential
potency to receive the supernatural grace of God.
This is what it means to be born again in Christ and to live
our life with him, in him and through him. We should always be aware
of this basic truth about ourselves and learn to act on it daily,
making use of some practices of piety, like prayer and recourse to the
sacraments, and always undertaking the ascetical struggle so that our
mind and heart would always be with God.
Let us always keep in mind that our life here on earth is
the time God uses in his eternity to create and redeem us. He is still
shaping and directing us, helping and cleaning us of our sins, mainly
through the ordinary events of our life. Yes, we have to be keenly
aware of this reality of our ordinary daily life. God is actively
intervening in our life through these events, regardless of whether
they are humanly good or bad.
We have to understand that this is the ideal way to live. We
need to be with Christ, the Way, the Truth and the Life for us, not
only from time to time, but all the time. To put it bluntly, we cannot
be in the right way, we cannot find the truth about ourselves and
everything else, we cannot have true eternal life, without him.
We need to be clear about the abiding presence and love of
Christ for us. “Remember, I am with you each and every day until the
end of the age,” he assured his apostles who can include all of us if
we choose to believe and follow him. (Mt 28,20)
* Chaplain Center for Industrial Technology and Enterprise (CITE), Talamban, Cebu City
mail: roycimagala@gmail.com
"Have You Ever Been in Love" is a song by Canadian recording artist Celine Dion, recorded first for her seventh English studio album A New Day Has Come (2002) and was later included on her eight English studio album One Heart (2003). The song is a power ballad, written by Anders Bagge, Peer Åström, Tom Nichols, Daryl Hall and Laila Bagge, while production was handled by Bagge & Peer. This song inspired me for today's column. Far from typhoons, pandemics and other bad news.
Falling in love with someone can feel exciting, even exhilarating. But over time, these feelings may settle into something that feels a little different. This love might seem mellow or calm. You might find yourself thinking “I love them” instead of “I’m in love with them.”
This transformation doesn’t necessarily mean there’s anything wrong with your relationship.
Loving someone instead of feeling “in love” with them simply illustrates how feelings of love evolve over the course of a relationship, especially a long-term relationship.
Love - a real life drama sometimes that unfolds anytime, yet no one can explain. Ask yourself how or why love happens and you might get plenty of ideas but seldom a satisfying explanation. You might get a nervous giggle or a quick chuckle, a sleepless night or a never-ending palpitation of the heart, a red face, and appetitlessness. Worldwide innumerable lyricists wrote and are still writing being inspired by this phenomenon of love. And yes, back to Celine Delon: almost every composition tells us about love.
Love, the inexplicable emotion that overpowers kings and queens and turns people either into philanthropists or misanthropes. Love, the first state of passionate affairs, that told us love stories like "Romeo and Juliet", Antony and Cleopatra" or "King Edward and Mrs. Simpson".
Naranasan mo na bang umibig? The former Archbishop Fulton Sheet said a long time ago, "Love is the perfection of justice". Aristoteles, the Greek philosopher added, "Even there is justice you also need friendship". Saint Augustus remarked in those days, "Do what you like. If you love God, you'll do nothing wrong".
Well, I guess there is something more than romance, changing kisses or gilic tasks or giving a bouquet of roses. There should be something more than looking for "the best way to win a man's heart through his stomach" - and out come only the empty dishes.
Love is in between two but also in the midst of many taking responsibility for a child, for a family, for a company or for an institution, for a public task or a new planted tree.
Love can destroy agonizing bitterness which we easily develop against our enemies or people, who liked to be close to us but being disrespectful at the same time.
As frustrated and hopeful as you may feel right now, with God's love your life can be happier than you dreamed possible. The time after the coming of Jesus Christ is not a time of fear but of love. If you realize this, you'll be able to experience all kinds of love that life has in store. Hopefully, maybe one day in future, you'll be able to love even your enemy or adversary of your fellow creature who tries to squander your last respect.
Have you ever been in love - You could touch the moonlight - When your heart's shooting stars -You're holding heaven in your arms - Have you ever been so in love?
