5Star Story from Philippine Star

 

4

Interaksyon Singles Day Coverage by Catalina Ricci S. Madarang Almost everyone now knows the much-awaited 11/11, the largest online shopping event in Asia and the counterpart of the massive annual Black Friday sale in the U.S. Leading e-commerce platform Shopee released early data showing 11 million items sold in the first five minutes of November 11. Zoom out: While online shopping is getting a larger share of shopping malls' original foot traffic, it relies on footprints more heavily than malls. These online footprints are large data sets on customers' browsing behavior and preferences shared across platforms.   Facebook, for one, is able to push the targeted ads for users to buy on Lazada, for example, even when our accounts are not linked.

Let’s always be compassionate and merciful

By Fr. Roy Cimagala *

          THAT beautiful gospel story of Zacchaeus, the rich but short

chief tax collector who was privileged to have Christ stay in his

house, (cfr Lk 19,1-10) teaches us precious lessons about why and how

we should be friendly, compassionate and merciful with everyone,

irrespective of whether they are rich or poor, saintly or sinful.

          Our Christian faith tells us that God’s love for us is

eternal. It’s a love that goes all the way to showing mercy for us in

the form of his Son becoming man and taking up all the sins of men by

dying on the cross. No greater love can there be other than this love

of God for us.

          St. Paul drives home this point when he said in his Letter

to the Romans: “He that spared not even his own Son, but delivered him

up for us all, how has he not also, with him, given us all things?”

(8,32)

          That’s why, in spite of our proclivity to sin and make a

mess of our own lives, we can always have reason to be hopeful,

because God never gives up on us. The problem is that we can give up

on him and go our own desperate ways which we try to sweeten with all

sorts of defense mechanisms.

          While we should try to be most aware of our sinfulness, we

should also try to strengthen our conviction about God’s mercy. That

we are sinful is not hard to see. We see our weaknesses and

vulnerabilities quite openly. Temptations are also abundant.

          We should try our best to fight and cope with them as best

that we can, using all the means that Christ himself and the Church

now are giving us. We have a very precious treasure in fragile vessels

of clay. (cfr. 2 Cor 4,7) We may have a lot of talents and other

brilliant endowments, but let’s never forget that we have feet of

clay.

          This realization should make us most careful and ever

vigilant, and should elicit in us great desires to follow Christ as

closely as possible and to learn the art and skills of spiritual

combat to tackle the unavoidable weaknesses, temptations and falls we

will have in life.

          On top of all this, and since our best efforts may still be

found wanting, let’s never forget the abundant and ever-ready mercy of

God whenever we find ourselves in the worst scenarios in life.

          We have to continually check on our attitude towards others

because today’s dominant culture is filled precisely by the viruses of

self-righteousness, that feeling that we are superior to others, and

that would prevent us from being compassionate and merciful with

everyone. We have to do constant battle against that culture.

          That’s why we need to douse immediately any flame of pride

and egoism that can come to us anytime. We have to learn to understand

others, to accept them as they are, warts and all, while praying and

doing whatever we can to help them. It’s not for us to judge their

motives which will always be a mystery to us.

          We should not fall into the trap of putting justice and

mercy in conflict. Both have to go together. Their distinction does

not mean they are opposed to each other. Any appearance of conflict is

only apparent.

          But obviously the way to blend them together is to follow

the example of Christ, and not just to rely on our own lights, no

matter how brilliant these lights may appear.

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

Email: roycimagala@gmail.com

PH places 44 countries in green list, 2 in red

By THIRD ANNE PERALTA-MALONZO, SunStar Manila

THE Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) has placed at least 44 countries in the world under the “Green” list category, while two others have remained under “Red” list for November 16 to 30, 2021.

Green has been used for countries that are low risk to coronavirus disease (Covid-19), while Red is for those classified as high risk. Yellow means moderate risk.

Included in the Green list are American Samoa, Bhutan, Chad, China (Mainland), Comoros, Cote d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast), Falkland Islands (Malvinas), Federated States of Micronesia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Hong Kong (Special Administrative Region of China), India, Indonesia, Japan, Kosovo, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Malawi, Mali, Marshall Islands, Montserrat, Morocco, Namibia, Niger, Northern Mariana Islands, Oman, Pakistan, Palau, Paraguay, Rwanda, Saint Barthelemy, Saint Pierre and Miquelon, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Sint Eustatius, South Africa, Sudan, Taiwan, Togo, Uganda, United Arab Emirates, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.

Faroe Islands and The Netherlands are the two areas that are currently in the Red list, while the rest of the countries, territories, and jurisdictions not mentioned are under Yellow list.

Fully-vaccinated travelers entering the Philippines from areas under the green list no longer need to undergo a facility-based quarantine upon their arrival provided that they yield negative RT-PCR test results taken within 72 hours prior to departure from the country of origin.

They also have the option to undergo a facility-based quarantine until the release of their negative RT-PCR test result taken in the quarantine facility upon arrival in the country or not to undergo quarantine, so long as they get a negative RT-PCR test result within 72 hours prior to departure from the country of origin.

Unvaccinated or partially vaccinated individuals, as well as those with unverified vaccination status and those who failed to comply with the “test-before-travel requirements” need to undergo a facility-based quarantine until the release of their negative RT-PCR test taken on their fifth day in the country.

or fully-vaccinated passengers departing from countries under Yellow list, they need to undergo facility-based quarantine until the release of their negative RT-PCR test result taken on their fifth day in the Philippines.

Unvaccinated or partially vaccinated will have to undergo RT-PCR testing on the seventh day of a facility-based quarantine.

Inbound passengers from Red countries will be denied entry in the Philippines if they stayed there 14 days prior to their arrival to the Philippines unless they were Filipino citizens who will be subject to testing and quarantine protocols.

Returning Filipinos are required to spend their first 10 days in a quarantine facility and the last four days at home. They also have to undergo RT-PCR testing on their seventh day.

Travelers transiting through the countries under Red list with proof they only stayed in the airport will not be considered as coming from a red country.

Meanwhile, the IATF also approved to honor the national Covid-19 vaccination certificates of individuals from Australia, Czech Republic, Georgia, India, Japan, The Netherlands, United Kingdom, Turkey, and Samoa as recommended by the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA).

“The said recommendation is in addition to such other countries/territories/jurisdictions whose proofs of vaccination the IATF already approved for recognition in the Philippines, and without prejudice to such other proofs of vaccination approved by IATF for all inbound travelers,” said Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque.

“Accordingly, the Bureau of Quarantine, the Department of Transportation-One-Stop-Shop, and the Bureau of Immigration are directed to recognize only the proofs of vaccination thus approved by the IATF,” he added. (SunStar Philippines)

Sarangani Profile

 

Sarangani Southern Philippines’ front door to BIMP-EAGA, is the southern most province in the mainland of Mindanao. It is cut midway by the city of General Santos giving its two sections hammock-like shapes that hug the mountains and Sarangani Bay. Sarangani is surrounded by the Celebes Sea, Sarangani Bay, and the province of South Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat and Davao del Sur.

The Province is also a coastal zone of SOCSKSARGEN (South Cotabato, Cotabato Province, Sultan Kudarat, Sarangani and General Santos), one of the country’s fastest growing development clusters.

Sarangani has seven municipalities (Alabel, Malapatan, Glan, Malungon, Maasim, Kiamba and Maitum) with 141 Barangays. Its vast beachfront, rolling hills and plains offers plenty of opportunities.

Major Industries: Aquaculture, Fishery, Agriculture Plantations and Tourism.

Power supply comes from the National Power Corporation (NPC) 69-KV transmission line and redistributed by a local electric cooperative, SOCOTECO II. The Southern Philippines Power Corporation (SPPC) stationed in Brgy. Baluntay, Alabel also supplies 55-MW from its diesel power plant, By 2015, Sarangani Energy Corporation, a coil-fired power plant located at Maasim will be operational with 200-MW capacity.

Water supply is sustained by spring development projects, construction of water systems and digging of artesian and swallow tube wells.

Telephone lines are connected in all seven towns of the province. All seven towns are now covered by the services of the cellular phone networks and wireless internet connection.

A 145Kms. world-class road network connects the seven municipalities and traversing through the city of General Santos, which maintains an international airport and a wharf. Commercial and rural banks provide business institutions and populace easy and efficient access to financial services in each municipality.

Taking a deep breath ...

 

Work, work, work. Now, it's really time to take a deep breath. Thank you Lord.

Preparing for the end times

By Fr. Roy Cimagala *

          THIS is just to be realistic. It’s not meant to scare us or

to be a killjoy or a wet blanket in our life. Not only do we all die.

There is also the end of time itself. Our earthly existence is just a

sojourn, a training and testing ground before we enter into our

definitive life for all eternity, hopefully in heaven with our Father

and Creator God.

          We need to develop a good and healthy sense of our life’s

end, which is our death that can come to us anytime, as well as the

end of time itself. If we follow our Christian faith, we know that

there is nothing to be afraid or anxious about in these truths of our

faith.

          We would know what truly is the purpose of our life here and

of our earthly existence in general. We also would know that we have

all the means to pursue that purpose properly. We are somehow reminded

of this truth of our faith in that gospel episode where Christ talked

about the end of the world. (cfr. Mk 13,24-32)

          But, yes, we have to develop a good and healthy sense of how

to end our life well, properly prepared to meet Christ in our

particular judgment as well as in our general judgment during Christ’s

second coming.

          Having a good sense of the end gives us a global picture of

our life that spans from time to eternity, and sheds light on the

present. It guides us. It gives us a sense of confidence and security.

It reassures us that we are on the right track, that we are doing

well.

          The sense of the end motivates us to make plans always, to

be thoughtful and anticipative of things. It also teaches us a sense

of order and priority. It motivates us to set goals, make schedules

and the prudent use of time. Ultimately, it helps us to distinguish

between the essential and the non-essential in our life.

          A person who does not have a sense of the end is obviously

an anomaly. He tends to be lazy and prone to his personal weaknesses,

to drift off aimlessly and lose control of his life. Such person is

usually called a bum, a tramp or a vagrant.

          In this regard, we have to learn to look forward to the

second coming of Christ. That’s when Christ, the pattern of our

humanity and the savior of our damaged humanity, will come again to

make the final judgment on all of us, establishing the definitive and

eternal Kingdom of God that is meant for us. Obviously, we have to

prepare ourselves for it.

          This truth of our faith was implied when some leading Jews

once asked Christ when the Kingdom of God would come. To which, Christ

answered that “the coming of the Kingdom of God cannot be observed,

and no one will announce, ‘Look, here it is,’ or, ‘There it is.’ For

behold, the Kingdom of God is among you.” (cfr. Lk 17,20-25)

          This attitude of waiting, expecting and making the proper

preparation for the second coming of Christ should be learned by all

of us. And we can do that by strengthening our belief that Christ is

actually already with us. He is everywhere, around us and inside us.

We just have to develop the habit of looking for him in order to find

him.

          Only with Christ, can we be properly prepared to face him in

the final general judgment during his second coming.

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

Email: roycimagala@gmail.com

What are the first livelihood skills that Filipinos developed?

 

Bisaya

Filipinos in the early 1500s were primarily farmers and traders. This is one of the reasons why a majority in the present day, 10 million Filipino people in Metro Manila, still reside around slums near public markets.

Life becomes difficult when you continually move from place to place to access clean water, food, or jobs. For our city dwellers not to be deprived of any one of these three, they needed a system that brought everything within their reach to start trading with other countries from all over Southeast Asia by land and sea routes. They created a kiosk-residence type, which became Manila's center point where all population flowed into during breaks between work periods and always found a comfortable room to rest.

For the average Filipino to survive, they needed to produce crops for food and clothing, build their own house, teach English or Spanish in exchange for money with foreigners who came to Manila. These were the first livelihood skills that Filipinos developed before modern technologies were introduced.

Sarangani hospitals get P95-M medical equipment from DOH

Photo taken by Jake Narte on October 26 during the ceremonial turnover of brand-new medical equipment and supplies at the Sarangani Healthcare Facility.

ALABEL, Sarangani (November 4, 2021) – The six provincial government-run hospitals in Sarangani have obtained P95-million worth of brand-new medical equipment from the Department of Health (DOH) as part of the Universal Health Care (UHC) Law.

Total equipment cost for each hospital varies with the P20M for Glan Medicare Community Hospital, P10M for the Malungon Municipal Hospital, P14.5M for Maasim Municipal Hospital, P20M for Dr. Cornelio T. Martinez Sr. Memorial Hospital in Kiamba, P6M for Maitum Municipal Hospital, and P25M for the Sarangani Healthcare Facility (SHF) inside Capitol compound in Alabel.

Health Regional Director Dr. Aristides Tan turned over the medical equipment on October 27 at the SHF which were part of their “2017 fund allocation” for the provision of medical equipment in the different hospitals in the region.

In Sarangani, the equipment turned over were X-ray, Ultrasound and Ventilator machines, a brand-new unit of ambulance and operating tables which Provincial Health Officer Dr. Arvin Alejandro expected to “drive the medical staff to better their service to the people.”

According to Alejandro, the said equipment will immediately be of use soon as the supplier will finish the installation as well as the needed training and orientation to properly operate the equipment.

As among the pilot sites of the implementation of the UHC, Alejandaro said Sarangani was afforded with the medical equipment as the UHC Law, he said, targets to provide equipment and other needs of the hospitals in the identified implementation sites.

“For as long as we comply with the necessary requirements for the UHC maturity levels one, two and three," Alejandro said, "there are more coming equipment and supplies next year."

RD Tan anticipated the equipment delivered will be a “driving force” for the improvement of the three Level 1 hospitals in Sarangani and for the Sarangani Healthcare Facility to deliver the “best medical service.”

He, too, expected that implementation of the UHC Law in the province will be successful.

As of this writing, Sarangani has already three Level 1 hospitals situated in Malungon, Glan and Kiamba. Alejandro said these “are duly approved to serve as Covid—19 facility.” Also, he said, the SHF is already applying for its accreditation to be a Level 1 hospital.

“A certificate of need has already been issued which is the first requirement to become a Level 1 hospital,” Alejandro said.

The continuous improvements in the health sector in Sarangani were made possible with the strong tandem of Governor Steve Chiongbian Solon, Deputy Speaker Congressman Rogelio Pacquiao, and Vice Governor Elmer De Peralta with the full support of the town mayors and all the members of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan.

Meanwhile, Governor Solon commended all the medical staff “who are tirelessly working and who are taking the risk every day to give their service to those who are in need.”

The UHC Law was signed by President Rodrigo Roa Duterte in February 2019 to usher in massive reforms in the Philippine health sector.

Among the salient features of the UHC Law are the expansion of population, service, and financial coverage through an array of health system amendments.

The UHC Law ensures that every Filipino is healthy, protected from health hazards and risks, and has access to affordable, quality, and readily available health service that is suitable to their needs.

 (Joshua John Pantonial/SARANGANI PROVINCIAL INFORMATION OFFICE)

A DISPLAY OF FAITH

What is the true meaning of faith? Faith means: belief, firm persuasion, assurance, firm conviction, faithfulness. Faith is confidence in what we hope for and the assurance that the lord is working, even though we cannot see it. Faith knows that no matter what the situation, in our lives or someone else's that the lord is working in it.

Trust or reliance? What does faith mean for you, my dear readers?  To say it clearly: without faith we are really nothing. Faith is belief; believe in us, beliefs in our works, talents and personalities. Faith - a great challenge in us and our future.

We also should believe in our parents or better, in the whole family including the black sheep, who can be found everywhere. We should also believe in our friends, even sometimes it seems to become a very difficult task. A friend? A real friend? An expatriate friend...?

Without faith, we will be reaching the rock bottom. Please don't say, it's a likely story. The German poet Johann Christian Friedrich von Schiller (1759-1815) mentioned in his drama "Maria Stuart": "Even the word might be dead, but faith keeps it alive." Yes, I can live with this.

Faith and hope belong together. In his book "Through the Valley of the Kwai", Scottish officer Ernest Gordon wrote of his years as a prisoner of World War II. The 6'2'' man suffered from malaria, diphtheria, typhoid, beriberi and jungle ulcers. Many circumstances quickly plunged his weight to less than 100 pounds. Lying in the dirt of the death house, he waited to die. But every day, a fellow prisoner came to wash his wounds and to encourage him to eat parts of his own rations. As this fellow prisoner nursed Ernest back to health, he talked with the agnostic Scotsman of his own strong faith in God and showed him that, even in the midst of suffering - there is hope - and faith!

Faith is indeed tantamount to convincing and conviction. Richard Wagner, a German classical composer and poet found the following lyric: "Blessed are those people, who know how to live their life in humility and faith!"

Well, let's even continue believing in our government. Faithful hope is loyal, reliable, exact and honorable.

Faith looks beyond the transient life with hope for all eternity. The hope we read in scripture is not a wishy-washy optimism. First and second Chapter of Thessalonians, for example, give encouragement to all Christians, who have been undergoing persecution for their faith. And, Corinthians 13:2 says: "If I have faith it can move mountains!"

Let’s have proper focus in life

By Fr. Roy Cimagala

          CONSIDERING that our life here on earth offers us a lot of

things and options, plus the fact that we of course enjoy freedom, we

need to be reminded that we have to learn how to have proper focus in

life, especially because we have a lot of distractions in our world.

          Also we should be ready to leave everything behind when God

finally calls us. And, yes, we also have to know how to exercise our

freedom properly for a certain law governs it. It just cannot be used

in any which way. That would not be freedom, but rather its abuse.

          All these are somehow implied in that gospel episode where

Christ lamented about the loose lifestyle of some people then. “As it

was in the days of Noah, so it will be in the days of the Son of Man,”

he said. “They were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in

marriage up to the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came

and destroyed them all.” (Lk 17,26-27)

          To have the proper focus in life is a big challenge today.

At the moment, we can see a disturbing development involving many

people, especially the young. A big segment of the people is getting

addicted to games and the many other novelties played out in the

Internet and in the new technologies.

          They are now getting more self-centered and self-absorbed,

prone to idleness, laziness and comfort and pleasure seeking. God and

their relationship to others are all but blotted out of their

consciousness.

          We now have the huge challenge of how to make God the

be-all-and-end-all of our life. We need to present Christ’s words in

this regard in a way that would be attractive to the people of today

with their peculiar sensitivity and culture. Let’s remember that

Christ himself did everything to adapt himself to us to carry out his

redemptive mission.

          How can we present, for example, the following words of

Christ to the people of today without scaring them: “Seek first the

kingdom of God, and his righteousness, and all these things shall be

added unto you?” (Mt 6,33)

          We need to understand that our life here on earth is only a

training and testing ground God gives us to see if what he wants us to

be is also what we would like ourselves to be. We should be ready to

leave everything behind when God finally calls us to himself to render

account of what he has given us.

          Yes, to leave everything behind has been more than amply

taught and commanded by Christ himself. For example, to the rich young

man who wanted to be perfect, Christ told him in no unclear terms, “If

you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor,

and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.” (Mt 19,21)

These words obviously would give us the impression that we should

possess nothing.

          In another instance, Christ specifies what is required to be

worthy of him. “He that loveth father or mother more than me is not

worthy of me; and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not

worthy of me.” (Mt 10,37)

          We also need to understand that the proper exercise of our

freedom is when we use our freedom to do the will of God for us.

That’s the law, and no other, that governs our freedom.

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

Email: roycimagala@gmail.com