Opinion

Life is often likened to a sea voyage. The analogy couldn’t be more fitting as the sea is not our natural home and its liquid state evokes an eerie feeling of instability and insecurity. Thus, the storm at sea presents a perfect picture of the overwhelming difficulties of life.Images of raging waters and turbulent seas abound in the Old Testament and in ancient literature symbolizing the unruly forces of chaos and man’s total helplessness in its face.We read of the deluge in Noah’s time that decimated the human race and the waters of the Red Sea that wiped out the Egyptian army. In desperation, the psalmist turns to God and cries, “Save me, O God, for the waters have risen to my neck…” “Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord.”In the gospel we find the disciples caught in a lif...

Last week, CLMMRH Medical Director, Dr. Julius Drilon, announced that results from their molecular laboratory, where most swab tests from Bacolod residents are being processed, showed a high positivity rate of more than 40 percent. That’s four out of ten people being swabbed, testing positive.That is exactly what happened in our household. After our brother, Nonoy, tested positive, 11 of us left at home got swabbed and five tested positive. That’s the reason why I missed out on my columns in the last two weeks because of a family crisis and the anxiety of awaiting the swab results.Over a week ago, the medical community also appealed before the city government for stricter enforcement of health protocols and asked for a “time out.” But in a joint meeting with the business community,...

Higher levels of COVID-19 vaccine uptake in a population are tied to lower rates of infection in unvaccinated younger individuals (those 16 years and below who not yet eligible for the vaccine at the time of the trial). This is according to an observational, real-world study in Israel and published in Nature Medicine.The study lead by investigators from Technion-Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa, Maccabitech, Maccabi Healthcare Services, and Tel-Aviv University, involved mining vaccination records and COVID-19 test results gathered during a rapid vaccine rollout in 177 communities. They found that vaccination rates in each community were linked to a large subsequent decline in COVID-19 infections in the unvaccinated youth. For every 20 percentage points of ...

The whole world commemorated Environment Day on June 5 focusing on ecosystem restoration, bannering the theme "Reimagine. Recreate. Restore."The United Nations has declared every 5th of June as World Environment Day to highlight the importance of protecting our environment. The Philippines is also celebrating Environment Month this June adopting ecological restoration as the main theme. The province of Negros Occidental is similarly adopting the national theme on the commemoration of its Environment Week this coming 4th week of the month.This year's Environment Day highlighted the urgency of restoring the already damaged ecosystems of the world, from terrestrial to marine ecosystems. In its briefer, the UN Secretariat for Environment Day claimed that "every three seconds, the world...

It is timely that as we re-enter into the Ordinary of the Year, our gospel reading presents the two parables of Mark on the kingdom of God. The first tells of the sower who scatters seeds which grow by themselves until they mature and bear a bountiful harvest. The second is about the mustard seed, the smallest of all seeds which becomes the largest of plants. Both parables illustrate how the kingdom of God works in our ordinary life.By now we are familiar with the meaning of the kingdom of God. It is not some divine territory, much less a political entity. Rather it refers to a regime, God’s manner of running things. Thus “reign” would be a better translation of the original, basileia, than “kingdom.” I explain it simply by saying that the kingdom of God is where God is king, where he ...

WHO has assigned simple, easy to say and remember labels for key variants of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, using letters of the Greek alphabet. The labels were chosen after wide consultation and a review of many potential naming systems. The scientific names can be difficult to say and remember and as a result, people often resort to calling variants by the places where they are detected – like UK variant, South African variant, Brazilian variant, Indian variant – this is not recommended because it is discriminatory and stigmatizes the country that first reported the variant. To avoid this and to simplify public communications, WHO encourages national authorities, media outlets, and others to adopt these new labels.The million-dollar questio...

The Philippines Biodiversity Conservation Foundation Inc., also known as PhilBio or PBCFI, recently commemorated its 15th founding anniversary. Organized by the late British wildlife biologist William Oliver, who spent more than two decades of his life working for the conservation of the country's endemic species and their habitats before he died in 2014, PhilBio through the years, continues to implement the Philippines Biodiversity Conservation Program, which is now on its 30th year. Oliver also created the PBCP, one of the longest running conservation programs in the Philippines.The PBCP had launched the iconic campaign on saving threatened endemic species by popularizing the theme "Only in the Philippines" through various audio-visual information and education materials. It prioriti...

Today’s Solemnity was originally celebrated as the Feast of Corpus Christi (the Body of Christ) to honor Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament.It started in the Diocese of Leige in 1246 and was extended to the universal Church by Pope Urban IV in 1264. With the liturgical reform of Vatican II, the Feast of Corpus Christi was joined with the Feast of the Most Precious Blood (1 July) to become what we now keep as the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ.Interestingly, our readings contain more references to the blood of Christ than to his body. As one preacher puts it, today’s readings are practically dripping with blood. The first reading is about the covenant between God and Israel, sealed by the blood of the sacrificial animal. The second reading introduces Christ, the ...

Hospitalization, hypoxemia (abnormally low level of oxygen in the blood), pneumonia, and other complications were found more frequently in children who had COVID-19 compared to those who had the seasonal flu, according to a study published in Pediatrics.The researchers drew from databases in the US, Europe (the Netherlands, Spain, the UK, Germany and France) and Asia (South Korea and China) to analyze data on over 240,000 18 years and younger diagnosed as having COVID-19 from January to June 2020, 4.0% of whom were hospitalized. The investigators then comprehensively characterized this large international cohort of pediatric and adolescent patients infected with SARS-CoV-2 and almost 2 million with previous seasonal influenza (during the 2017-18 season) across 5 countries...

The Special Agreement in Protected Areas (SAPA) has been another contentious issue facing the Northern Negros Natural Park in Negros Occidental, recently. This protected area instrument for land and other resource uses is not actually new, but its implementation was suspended several years ago because of numerous concerns as to its main purpose and who are supposedly the main beneficiaries of this 25-year agreement with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.The suspension of the SAPA was later lifted, and DENR Secretary Roy Cimatu issued Administrative Order 2018-05 providing an addendum to DAO 2007-17, which is the original guideline for special uses in protected areas.Last week, mainstream and online media platforms based in Bacolod City came out with reports claimi...