Covid cases up by 82 percent

By Franco Jose C. Baroña, Manila Times

THE Department of Health (DoH) on Monday reported an 82-percent increase in Covid-19 cases in the country.

In its weekly case bulletin, the DoH said 3,051 cases were recorded from June 13 to June 19, or a daily average of 436. This is 82 percent higher than the cases reported from June 6 to June 12.

Health Undersecretary and spokesman Rosario Vergeire said the National Capital Region or Metro Manila is particularly experiencing "a start in the peak in the number of cases" similar to the spikes in September 2021 and January 2022 driven by the Delta and Omicron variants.

Vergeire made it clear that the current trend cannot be referred to as a "surge" and doing so will only confuse the public.

She attributed the increase of cases to the Omicron subvariants, increased mobility and the waning immunity of the population due to the slow administration of booster vaccines.

Out of 55 million Filipinos eligible for booster shots, only 14 million have received booster doses.

"So we are looking at around 14 million individuals who have not received their boosters, and we know that immunity is waning so we need to have this demand for our countrymen," Vergeire said.

She said while Metro Manila tallied a positive two-week growth rate, it is still classified as low risk for Covid-19.

"We are guiding our public, making them aware that this might be the start that the cases will continuously rise in the next couple of weeks," Vergeire said.

The Health department has also detected a slight rise in cases in Western Visayas, Northern Mindanao, Ilocos Region, Cagayan Valley, Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon) and Mimaropa (Mindoro, Marinduque, Romblon and Palawan).

Dr. Edsel Salvaña, a member of the DoH technical advisory group, said that despite the steady increase in infections, Metro Manila is still far from being classified as moderate risk for Covid-19.

Salvaña said the region's average daily attack rate (ADAR) is still "a little bit above" 1 out of 100,000 cases, and the ADAR must be at least 6 out of 100,000 to qualify for a moderate risk classification.

He added that the hospital utilization rate of Metro Manila is still in the "low 20s," far from the 50-percent level for moderate risk.

"We're far from the parameters used by DoH in terms of moving from low risk to moderate risk," Salvaña said in a public briefing.

Based on World Health Organization ratings, Metro Manila should have at least 800 infections daily in the next two weeks before it can be classified as moderate risk, he said.

PH logs 2,196 new Covid-19 cases

The uptick in cases is expected because of the new Omicron lineages that have infiltrated the country, "but it all remains manageable" and "health care utilization is still low," Salvaña said.

Meeting with German Ambassador to the Philippines Anke Reiffenstuel in Davao City

 

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Sara to Filipinos: Love God, country

15th VICE PRESIDENT Sara Duterte-Carpio, daughter of outgoing President Rodrigo Duterte, takes her oath as vice president during rites in her hometown in Davao City, on Sunday, June 19, 2022. Duterte-Carpio clinched a landslide electoral victory despite her father’s human rights record that saw thousands of drug suspects gunned down. Also in photo are, from left, Supreme Court Associate Justice Ramon Paul Hernando, her mother Elizabeth Zimmerman, and President Duterte. AP Photo/Manman Dejeto

By Catherine S. Valente, Manila Times

(UPDATED) TAKING her oath as the country's next vice president, Sara Duterte-Carpio on Sunday urged Filipinos to commit themselves to loving "God, family and country." She was sworn in by Supreme Court Associate Justice Ramon Paul Hernando at the San Pedro Square in Davao City before a crowd of 5,000 people.

Her mother, Elizabeth Zimmerman, held the Bible by which she took her oath while her father, President Rodrigo Duterte, joined them on stage.

In her inaugural address, Duterte-Carpio said she believed that "we should commit to heart the priorities of God, country, and family" as one country united and determined "to overcome our difficulties and achieve our aspirations." She said the voice of the 32.2 million Filipinos that voted for her "was loud and clear — with the message to serve our motherland, and this message has been reiterated in my oath: to consecrate myself to the service of the nation." "There is a God. A God whose will transcends the desires of our hearts, one whose will direct us to the way that we might not have imagined — but a way that consecrates ourselves every day to help our fellowmen overcome the difficulties they face in their lives, to change lives, to save lives," Duterte-Carpio said.

"If we all take a moment to listen to the call to serve and decide to heed the call — in the same way that many are already devoting their lives as hardworking farmers and fisherfolk that ensure there is food on our tables, dedicated health workers who help the sick, brave soldiers who fight for our country, honest and fair entrepreneurs who support our economy, patient school teachers that guide our children — I believe the country will be heading toward a future of hope, security, strength, stability and progress," she said.

Duterte-Carpio called on the people to become patriots and draw inspiration from the life and works of the national hero, Dr. Jose Rizal.

"May his memory light up the fire within us to become patriots. Rizal taught us that selflessness and sacrifice could change our country's fate and shape our children's future. The bravery of Rizal completes the fabric of our identity as Filipinos," she said.

"Let us show our love for our country by taking care of our families and communities despite the unending challenges that come our way," she said.

She noted that "a strong, loving, happy family sets down all the basic foundations essential in the development and growth of a child." "Today, our children are facing a very complex future, one that is rife with conflict and uncertainties. Some of these challenges include the winding cycle of poverty, the trauma of broken families, the life-long baggage because of irresponsible and bad parenting, the abandonment issues due to an absentee parent, the anguish of gender confusion and discrimination, the destruction brought about by drugs, the lure of easy money in criminality, cases of HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases, the failure to identify and speak up against different kinds of abuses, the life-altering effects of teenage pregnancy, the detrimental effects of illiteracy, the emotional injury of bullying, unstable mental wellness, recruitment to support terrorism, misinformation in the internet — and the list could be endless," she said.

We are meant to judge, but to judge fairly

By Fr. Roy Cimagala *

IN spite of our first impression on Christ’s words that we should not judge, since he said, “Judge not that you may not be judged,” we have to make it clear that we are actually meant to judge, but to judge fairly.

We are meant to judge precisely because we have been given the capacity to know things, situations and people as well with our God-given powers of intelligence and will. The very act of knowing already involves some judgment. We cannot know anything unless we make some judgments.

But we need to realize that we should judge fairly. Somehow this point is implied when Christ said, “For with what judgment you judge, you shall be judged. And with what measure you mete, it shall be measured to you again.”

In fact, in the gospel of St. John, we hear Christ saying: “Judge not according to the appearance, but judge just judgment.” (7,24) It’s clear that we have to be most careful in our judgments. We cannot be reckless about them, judging persons and things on the basis of instincts or feelings alone, or on some opinions, personal preferences, social trends, and even sophisticated theories and ideologies. 

Such way of judging cannot capture the essential issues involved in a particular case. It will unavoidably get entangled with the non-essential elements. It will be at the mercy of the wiles of the flesh, the world and the devil himself.

We have to judge with Christ himself, and now in the Holy Spirit. With respect to this point, St. Paul had this to say: “He that is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is judged of no man.” (1 Cor 2,15) It is not pride to aspire to that ideal of being so spiritual to be able to judge all things.

Only in this way can we become persons of sound judgment. It’s an ideal whose importance, relevance and urgency are increasing these days, given the complicating conditions we are getting into.

That’s actually an understatement. We know that to be a prudent man or a person of sound judgment is essential to us, considering our nature and dignity, plus the growing scope of the responsibilities we are acquiring nowadays.

Not only do we have to contend with the multiplying pressures and conditionings on our personal, family and professional life. Not only do we have to grapple with the confusing ramifications of our social, economic and political life, sorting them out as best that we could.

With escalating insistence, we need to learn how to integrate the material with the spiritual dimension of our life, the here and now with the eternal and supernatural destiny meant for us.

We have to know how to live by faith, hope and charity, the essence of our supernatural life with God, in the middle of our daily activities and concerns, and in the pursuit of our temporal affairs, be it in business, politics, education, culture, sports, etc.

This necessity demands of us to be nothing less than persons of sound judgment. We have to overcome our tendency to be guided mainly by instincts, emotions, moods, fashions, and some sophisticated philosophies and ideologies that, while offering many good elements, actually lead us away from our proper end.

Let’s never dare to emit judgments that are mere products of our own making. We have to make them always in the presence of God and motivated by nothing other than love for God and for everybody else. We have to continually check on the rectitude of our intention, and the correctness and timeliness of our words and deeds.

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

Email: roycimagala@gmail.com

Europe swelters in record-breaking June heatwave

By Agence France-Presse

PARIS: France and other western European nations sweltered over the weekend under a blistering June heatwave that has sparked forest fires and concerns such early summer blasts of hot weather will now become the norm.

The weekend's soaring temperatures were the peak of a June heatwave in line with scientists' predictions that such phenomena will now strike earlier in the year thanks to global warming.

The popular French southwestern seaside resort of Biarritz saw its highest all-time temperature Saturday afternoon of 42.9 degrees Celsius (109.2 degrees Fahrenheit) state forecaster Meteo France said as authorities urged vigilance from the central western coast down to the Spanish border.

Many parts of the region surpassed 40C, although storms were expected on the Atlantic coast on Sunday evening -- the first signs that the stifling temperatures will "gradually regress to concern only the eastern part of the country," the weather service reported.

Queues of hundreds of people and traffic jams formed outside aquatic leisure parks in France, with people seeing water as the only refuge from the devastating heat.

With the River Seine off limits to bathing, scorched Parisians took refuge in the city's fountains.

And at Vincennes Zoo in the capital's outskirts, shaggy-haired lions licked and pawed at frozen blood fed to them by zookeepers, who monitored the enclosure's animals for signs of dehydration under the scorching sun.

"This is the earliest heatwave ever recorded in France" since 1947, said Matthieu Sorel, a climatologist at Meteo France, as June records fell in a dozen areas, leading him to call the weather a "marker of climate change."

Europe braces for blistering June weekend

In a major incident in France, a fire triggered by the firing of an artillery shell in military training in the Var region of southern France was burning some 200 hectares (495 acres) of vegetation, local authorities said.

"There is no threat to anyone except 2,500 sheep who are being evacuated and taken to safety," said local fire brigade chief Olivier Pecot.

The fire came from the Canjeurs military camp, the biggest such training site in Western Europe.

Fire services' work was impeded by the presence of non-exploded munitions in the deserted area, but four Canadair planes were deployed to water bomb the fires.

Daniel Toffaloni, a 60-year-old farmer near the southern city of Perpignan, now only works from "daybreak until 11:30 am" and in the evening, as temperatures in his tomato greenhouses reach a sizzling 55C.

Forest fires in Spain on Saturday had burned nearly 20,000 hectares (50,000 acres) of land in the northwest Sierra de la Culebra region.

The flames forced several hundred people from their homes, and 14 villages were evacuated.

Some residents were able to return on Saturday morning, but regional authorities warned the fire "remains active".

Firefighters were still battling blazes in several other regions, including woodlands in Catalonia.

Temperatures above 40C were forecast in parts of the country on Saturday -- with highs of 43C expected in the northeastern city of Zaragoza.

There have also been fires in Germany, where temperatures were forecast to go as high as 40C on Saturday but only reached 36C. A blaze in the Brandenburg region around Berlin had spread over about 60 hectares by Friday evening.

The UK recorded its hottest day of the year on Friday, with temperatures reaching over 30C in the early afternoon, meteorologists said.

"I think at the moment people are just enjoying it being hot but if it gets any hotter than this, which I think it is meant to, then that's a concern," said Claire Moran, an editor in London.

Several towns in northern Italy have announced water rationing and the Lombardy region may declare a state of emergency as a record drought threatens harvests.

Italy's dairy cows were putting out 10 percent less milk, the main agricultural association, Coldiretti, said Saturday.

With temperatures far above the cows' "ideal climate" of 22-24C, animals were drinking up to 140 litres of water per day, double their normal intake, and producing less due to stress, it said.

Experts warned the high temperatures were caused by worrying climate change trends.

"As a result of climate change, heatwaves are starting earlier," said Clare Nullis, a spokeswoman for the World Meteorological Organization in Geneva.

"What we're witnessing today is unfortunately a foretaste of the future" if concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere continue to rise and push global warming towards 2C from pre-industrial levels, she added.

Negativity kills

Sometimes, we feel our life is turning miserably. Our negativity doesn’t allow us to keep our eyes, ears and, most importantly, our minds, hearts and souls opened. We’re reaching our breaking point.

As I said several months ago here: this breaking point can be the prelude to our strongest moment. It is when we reach our breaking point, that we discover our real strength. Allow me to ask you, my dear readers, “What happens to you or with you when you reach your breaking point?” Do you face it, or do you run away?

I’ll be giving you a very simple answer: If you face it, you break it. If you run away (and/or close your ears, eyes, and mouth) – it surely breaks you!

Every day, a dull reality! Many of us will answer this question with a big YES! Actually, we do like to cover a newborn’s day already with a grey veil. Each day has a new face, but sometimes we don’t have the strength to watch its countenance. Of course, not every day has adventures and highlights.

But we enjoy quarreling and arguing. With other people and even with ourselves.

Contrary to what might be expected, I look back on experiences that, at the same time, seemed especially desolating and painful with a particular satisfaction. Indeed, everything I have learned, everything that has truly enhanced and enlightened my existence, has been through affliction and not through happiness.

If it ever were to be possible to eliminate affliction from your earthly existence, the result would not be to make life delectable, but to make it too banal and trivial to be endurable.

By observation, we can feel that many of us need help to manage our everyday life. We need something that would keep us going as we journey through life. Many times, we can also learn from other people and their experiences.

Blue eyed or very philosophical but so very true: If the world is to be brought to order, a nation must be first changed.  If the nation isn’t changed, my hometown is to be reordered and must first be set right, my dear brothers and sisters. And one step further: If my family is to be regenerated, I MYSELF MUST FIRST BE!

And here is one more thing: Affection is the humblest love – it gives itself no airs. It lives with humble and private things: soft slippers, old clothes, old jokes, and the thump of a sleepy dog’s tail on the kitchen floor. The glory of affection, the disposition of mind, the good will and tender attachment, is that it can unite those who are not “made for one and another,” people. Who, if not out down by fate in the same household or community, would have nothing to do with one and another.

For me life has been a thing of ups and downs in approximately equal measure. I don’t have something sensational to report every day about my progress. Often, I wonder if fulfillment in life is necessarily tied to change for the better.

Zahlungsausfall vermeiden: So melden Rentner neue Anschrift

Umziehen, aber richtig: Rentnerinnen und Rentner sollten dem Renten Service einen Ortswechsel mitteilen, sonst droht der Zahlungsausfall. 

Ob in eine altersgerechte Wohnung oder das einstige Feriendomizil: Es ist keine Seltenheit, im Alter noch mal umzuziehen. Wichtig dabei ist, dass man der Rentenstelle den Ortswechsel anzeigt.

 Bei einem Umzug sollten Rentner und Rentnerinnen daran denken, auch dem Renten Service der Deutschen Post ihre neue Adresse mitzuteilen. Das gilt unabhängig davon, ob Ruheständler innerhalb Deutschlands oder ins Ausland umziehen. Andernfalls droht der vorübergehende Verlust der Bezüge, heißt es von der Deutschen Rentenversicherung Bund in Berlin.

Die weitere Rentenzahlung wird zunächst gestoppt.

Um die Rente auszahlen zu können, benötigt der Renten Service die aktuelle Adresse des Rentners. Wird diese nach einem Umzug nicht mitgeteilt und kann sie auch nach einem Rücklauf der Rentenanpassungsmitteilung nicht ermittelt werden, stoppt der Renten Service zunächst die weitere Rentenzahlung. Nur so können Überzahlungen vermieden werden. Melden sich Betroffene dann mit ihrer neuen Adresse beim Renten Service, wird die Zahlung fortgesetzt.

(C) 2022 Merkur-de

What are Filipinos like?

Bisaya

Proud Bisaya Ko

Filipinos are some of the most friendly, hospitable people you will ever meet. They are always quick to help out a stranger, and they love to celebrate. There are few things that Filipinos enjoy more than a good party, and they are always ready to dance, sing, and eat. Filipinos are also incredibly proud of their culture and heritage.They are quick to tell you about their country's history, and they are happy to share their traditions with anyone interested. If you want to experience the genuine warmth and hospitality of the Filipino people, there is no better way than to visit the Philippines yourself. You will quickly see why Filipinos are known as some of the most welcoming people in the world.

About the Author

Bisaya

Proud Bisaya Ko

Pinoy Podcaster

Lived in Iligan City

Active in 2 Spaces

Knows Cebuano

What is the strongest tribe in the Philippine archipelago before the Spaniards arrived?

Dayang Marikit

Philippine History Professor

There we’re tribes in the deep mountainous interiors of the islands, but the most powerful cultures in the archipelago were not tribal.

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Based on archeological evidence, it seems that Manila bay polities always has some form of influence over the archipelago. We could see this in the Laguna Copperplate, where it seems that Tondo had political influence as far as Dewata in Butuan.

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By the time of Spanish contact they also mentioned that Manila had a monopoly of the archipelago’s trade, thus making the other polities in the archipelago almost completely dependent on Manila. It is important to note that by around this time, Tondo had become more of a port town, and its leader (Lakandula) was said to be more of a port supervisor than an actual ruler, most of the political power was concentrated in Manila. Chinese products would enter the port of Tondo and be transported to Manila, from where these products would be redistributed across the islands.

Based on Spanish accounts, when the Spaniards arrived in Butuan, they attempted to trade with the locals, but merchants from Manila ordered the locals not to deal with the Spaniards unless it was silver that was being traded. The Spaniards were also able to settle in Cebu because of Manila Moro interpreters who helped them make deals with the local rulers, then when the Spaniards almost starved to death in Cebu, Manila Moros brought them food and supplies. A Spaniard also mentioned that there was a powerful Moro ruler in Manila who was well known throughout the islands and that he was obeyed as little less than a king. Manila had basically woven a trading colony or a trading empire prior to Spanish colonization, and the Spaniards actually based their colony on Manila’s network.

The Spaniards also relied on the local blacksmiths in Manila to manufacture cannons for them, this is because they were already knowledgeable about cannon-making, even before European contact.

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The main takeaway here is that Manila monopolized trade in the archipelago and that made the other polities become very reliant on them. The Spaniards also relied on Manila to make their own colony. In my opinion, that makes Manila the most powerful political entity by the time of Spanish contact.

• The Spaniards were able to settle in Cebu with the help of Manila Moros, but the Spaniards still wanted to move to Manila. I think that gives you an idea about how wealthy and attractive Manila was.

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.