Opinion

The only thing worse than being blind is having sight with no vision. – Helen Keller The cutting of century-old trees along the old Airport generated more than a week of cursing, ranting, maligning in social media, to a point of tagging those who felled the trees as “murderers.” It all started with a netizen who took a picture, posted it and within a couple of days when media took the issue on air, hundreds of angry social media feeds awakened our local officials who immediately ordered a stop to the operations. Cutting down 26 huge trees probably took a few days and unfortunately, despite thousands of people passing through that area, nobody took notice of the operation until the 26th tree was felled. That act saved nine other trees from being cut down. What made that i...

Over a year since the pandemic was declared, the cases of COVID-19 are on the rise again around the world. There was a decline in cases at the start of the year, which shows that we can work together to bring the virus under control. While we are waiting for vaccinations to reach everyone, everywhere - we all need to do what we can to stop the spread and help protect ourselves and our communities.  We can all play our part by wearing a mask, physically distancing, washing hands regularly and opening doors and windows to let the fresh air in, and reporting misinformation.  Unlike previous episodes of widespread disinformation, more of the current content are about manipulated and yet-to-be-proved theories or treatments that are touted as ground-breaking discoveries...

Today’s gospel gives us Luke’s version of the risen Lord’s appearance to his apostles on Easter night. The apostles and some disciples were gathered in a locked room when Jesus stood in their midst and greeted them Peace. Thinking they were seeing a ghost, they were greatly terrified. To pacify them, Jesus showed them his hands and feet, and even asked for something to eat. Then, he reminded them about the things he had said while he was still with them and explained how everything written in the Scripture was fulfilled in him. To show that he was not a ghost, Jesus gave four proofs of the resurrection. He made them see and touch his wounds; ate in front of them; and made them understand the Scripture. The first three proofs pertain to the bodily aspects of the resurrection a...

My Saturday was spent on a series of webinars from Rotary matters, COVID-19 issues, and Musichikahan with Maestro Ryan Cayabyab and by the time it ended at 6 P.M., I was overwhelmed with emotions from excitement, sadness, anger, and happiness. Happiness because my doctor niece received her negative swab results that morning, putting an end to our isolation since Thursday. Happiest was my granddaughter who was supposed to return home every Friday when school is out, but had to stay put until we get the results. Happiness because the webinar session with Mr. C, as we fondly call Ryan, became a sing-along reunion of sorts among theater friends who’ve worked with him in his various musicals. The morning webinars were with fellow Rotarians in our district and another that involv...

“A life that touches others, goes on forever.” Death affects us in many forms. Although we are saddened by the loss of someone we love, we were taught by our parents to embrace death as a celebration of one’s access to heaven, a fulfillment of a life well-lived. Acceptance of death is easier especially when a loved one is delivered from a lingering illness but even with the teachings we had, grief takes over and the sadness remains. Thus, it was with much heartache to learn that a family friend, Dr. Julian Raca, suddenly passed away last Monday. Julian was a constant fixture in our lives. He was my sister, Inday’s best friend who helped her during her bout with breast cancer. He was our go-to for medical certificates when the doctors in our family could not issue it. ...

End-stage renal disease (ESRD), also called end-stage kidney disease (ESKD), occurs when chronic kidney disease (CKD) - the gradual loss of kidney function - reaches an advanced state.  In ESKD, the kidneys are no longer able to work as they should to meet your body's needs. The kidneys filter wastes and excess fluids from the blood, which are then excreted in the urine. When the kidneys lose their filtering capabilities, dangerous levels of fluid, electrolytes and wastes can build up in the body.  COVID-19 hospitalization and all-cause death rates for patients with end-stage kidney disease undergoing dialysis, as well as kidney transplant recipients, climbed steeply early in the pandemic, and both exhibited racial disparities, according to a study published in the J...

On the Easter Octave of 2000, Pope John Paul II canonized St. Faustina Kowalska, a nun and a mystic, whose apparitions and messages from the Lord inspired the devotion to the Divine Mercy. On that occasion, the Holy Father established that the Second Sunday of Easter be called Divine Mercy Sunday. True indeed, today’s liturgy is replete with references on the mercy of God. The Father is addressed as “God of everlasting mercy” in the opening prayer, and the verse, “His mercy endures forever,” resounds repeatedly in the responsorial psalm. All three readings speak of Christ’s offer of peace and forgiveness that engenders new life and forms communities of love and communion. It is in the gospel, however, that the mercy of God is shown most powerfully. What happened that Eas...

I was scrolling through social media when I stumbled upon a post implying that there are plenty of groups who are pushing for former Congressman Albee Benitez to run for the mayoralty post in Bacolod. That is not new of course. As early as last year, at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the handling of the province’s situation with Albee at the helm, drew comments on social media that he might be a good shoo-in for the top post in Bacolod. I was one of those agreeable to that and never hid the fact that I was upset at how the city initially approached the pandemic. In fact, I had been gracious of my compliments for Vice Mayor El Cid for stepping up to the plate as the IATF chair and was visible in handling the COVID situation. Albee was very visible in the province and th...

On various topics, many people have been dismissing scientific experts and trying out conspiracy theories from YouTube influencers and vloggers. Some of these are relatively harmless.  For example, if you believe that the earth is flat, that’s not going to really harm anyone. If you think that the moon landing was not real, it’s also okay – that won’t kill you or anyone. But if you believe that “COVID is not real”, “vaccines have microchips in them to control your mind,” “tuob will kill COVID” then you can potentially harm yourself and others.   False rumors and disinformation spread really fast. In fact, most of them, especially the ones that elicit strong emotional responses from people, travel the fastest. in a fashion similar to the spread of a biological virus. ...

Today, we celebrate Easter Sunday, the greatest feast of our faith. It is on this day that Jesus fully accomplished his mission from the Father. By his passion, death, and resurrection, Jesus conquered sin and death and won for us our salvation and our new life in him. Our celebration of Easter this year is made extra special because on this day the Church opens the celebration of the 500th Anniversary of Christianity in the Philippines. We remember the first Mass in Limasawa celebrated on Easter Sunday five hundred years ago. A few days from now, we shall recall the first baptism in Cebu, conferred on King Humabon and his household, along with hundreds of his subjects. Our quincentennial celebration is primarily one of thanksgiving for the gift of faith which we received thro...

My Facebook memories showed that a year ago today, the provincial government addressed the call of Corazon Locsin Montelibano Memorial Regional Hospital (CLMMRH) for more Personal Protective Equipment (PPEs). A year ago, CLMMRH uploaded a video with #TargetZero and I shared it because my niece, EmEm, a nurse at the hospital, was among those featured. A year ago, the partnership between public and private hospitals was admirable after St. Luke’s Medical Center donated to the Philippine General Hospital several beds, infusion pumps and pledged P10 million worth of supplies. A year ago, the city PIO posted pictures of Bacolod Mayor Bing Leonardia inspecting the Respiratory Out-Patient center at the BAYS Center to ease congestion at emergency rooms and OPDs in hospitals. Sam...

The antiviral drug remdesivir (Veklury) improves the time to recovery of hospitalized COVID-19 patients, this according to a multi-center effectiveness study published in JAMA Network Open. The retrospective study, conducted by Johns Hopkins University researchers, involved 2,299 COVID-19 patients receiving care in a 5-hospital health system in the Baltimore and Washington, DC, area from March to August 2020. About 15% percent received remdesivir (342) as part of their treatment, of which 285 were matched with controls. Figure 1: Mechanism of action of Remdesivir from https://microbenotes.com/remdesivir/ Clinical improvement was defined as release from the hospital without worsening of World Health Administration (WHO) severity score during hospitalization or within 28 day...

Palm Sunday or Passion Sunday marks the start of Holy Week when we reverently remember the last days of the Lord. Palm Sunday recounts the triumphant entry of Jesus to Jerusalem, as he rides on a colt (traditional royal procession) and is welcomed by the crowd with palms, branches and shouts of hosannas. Holy Week closes with an even more glorious event - the Lord’s resurrection on Easter Sunday. In the days between, Jesus goes through his passion and death on the cross. The enthusiastic reception of Jesus by the people on Palm Sunday manifests their high expectation of him as the long-awaited messiah who would free them from Roman subjection and restore the kingdom of Israel. Instead, Jesus enters Jerusalem with a higher purpose of accomplishing the Father’s will to save human...

Optimism is spreading in the US as COVID-19 deaths continue to decrease and states are starting to ease restrictions and open vaccinations to younger adults. But in Europe, the scenario is different with another wave of infections forcing school closures and new lockdowns. Why is this happening? It can certainly be attributed to the faster vaccine rollout in the US (slower vaccination in Europe) and the greater spread of more contagious variants in Europe. What’s happening in Europe should serve as a warning against dropping safeguards too early, as many of the same variants are already spreading in the rest of the world at lower levels. The virus will just keep on spreading until it infects everyone but we can stop it just like New Zealand, Australia, Thailand, Vietnam...

Last week, many thought that the OCTA Research Group was exaggerating when it claimed that based on the trend of COVID-19 cases, by end of March, we will be seeing 10,000 to 11,000 new cases daily as per their modelling. However, in the last three days alone, our figures were above the 7,000 mark, and yesterday we breached 8,000. If this trend continues, the government is aware that health services will reach a critical level again and could be far worse than what was experienced last year. Here at home, we have been seeing a rise albeit very low compared to what we are seeing in Metro Manila and neighboring cities that have been placed on community lockdown. However, I am suspecting that what we have on record here is not the real picture because we have not been testing a...