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- Alminaza: Our next 500 years
- Gonzaga: To be vaccinated or not? (Part 2)
- Hofileña: Arrival of the Spaniards in Negros
| Posted: 23 Mar 2021 05:30 AM PDT TWO Sundays ago, our Holy Father Pope Francis celebrated a mass in anticipation of the 5th centenary celebration of the Christian faith in the Philippines, which will be officially inaugurated on Easter Sunday, April 4. During his homily, the Santo Papa took special note of our reputation as "smugglers of faith," with our willingness to "sow the faith" by sharing the good news of salvation wherever we may go. This is consistent with the theme of the jubilee celebration, "Gifted to Give," which is not only a challenge for Filipinos to engage in charity and in helping each other during these trying times, but also an acknowledgement that the value of sharing our blessings has featured prominently in the history of Filipino faith. The history of our faith, as some are almost too eager to note, is complicated. The past 500 years have seen us grapple with colonialism, revolutions, wars, tyranny, and countless natural and manmade crises. It is a history tainted with human error, even as it is blessed with human virtue and Divine Providence. But as leaders of the Catholic Faith here in the country recognize, it is a history of Filipinos giving what they have, from their material possessions to their lives, in service of one another. Even in the darkest years of our faith, we have witnessed twinkles of hope in our Church workers, missionaries, and lay-people who have armed themselves with the might of the Gospel in witnessing to their brothers and sisters through their actions and lives. But the story of the Filipino people being "Gifted to Give" should not just inform how we remember the past, but is a call to how we must approach the present and the future. It comes with a question and a challenge: What has the Lord given us now that we may share with others? And are we willing to share it? For many of us, the answer seems obvious. The Covid-19 pandemic has highlighted many inequalities in our society: whether you have food on the table, whether you can afford not to go outside to pursue your livelihood, whether you can study or work from home, are matters of whether you have or have not. And so it is clear those who have an excess in material wealth are called to share them with the less fortunate. Yet, the past year has also shown us a deeper truth about what has been given to us, and thus what is expected from us to share. In the months following restrictions due to the pandemic were introduced, experts have observed that natural ecosystems throughout the globe have been healing. The ozone layer has been recovering. Species thought to be extinct are resurfacing. It seems as though it took us being locked in our homes — unable to experience nature firsthand — to realize what we have had all along: our environment. Our beaches. Our forests. Our common home. Moreover, the last months of 2020 have also shown us what we have to lose. The typhoons we have faced together, especially here in Negros, have shown us that climate-related disasters do not wait for pandemics to be over. It has given us a peek of what is to come for the next 500 years, if we do not treasure Mother Nature and work so that we could share it with the coming generations. Will we give them a future of more floods, stronger earthquakes and more frequent storms and droughts? Or will we share with them blessings we have been so fortunate to enjoy: clean air, clean water, our natural parks, forests, and mountains? This March 27, environmental advocates, cities, and individuals will be observing Earth Hour. While it is not enough that we only set aside one hour to save energy and think about the planet Earth, perhaps we could also use this moment -- in anticipation of Holy Week -- to reflect on the Common Home God has given each one of us. Perhaps, as we gear towards remembering how God gave His only Begotten Son to the world, we can also remember the world that was given to us, His Children, for us to enjoy, fill up, and ultimately, share with one another. With all that is happening in our country and in the world, I am still hopeful that the next 500 years of Christianity in the Philippines will still be marked with the value of giving and sharing. But this relies on our ability to become good stewards and guardians of what we have been given. Especially when speaking of our environment, in order to be able to give the next generations what we have, we have to work to keep and protect them. And with the abundance of good works seen from Filipinos during this pandemic, despite the many flaws of those in power and the many problems we all have to face, I am confident that the spirit of giving and sharing and caring for one another among Filipinos, will last even beyond the next 500 years of Christianity in the Philippines.  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Gonzaga: To be vaccinated or not? (Part 2) Posted: 23 Mar 2021 05:28 AM PDT AMIDST the sound and the fury of exchanges over the internet and mass media regarding the pros and cons of mass vaccination comes an urgent call from a known epidemiologist and advocate for containment of the pandemic -- Geert Vanden Bossche, DMV, PhD, independent virologist, and vaccine expert, formerly employed at GAVI and The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. In an Open Letter to the World Health Organization (WHO), Dr. Vanden Bossche made this impelling warning: "I am all but an anti-vaxxer. As a scientist, I do not usually appeal to any platform of this kind to make a stand on vaccine-related topics. As a dedicated virologist and vaccine expert, I only make an exception when health authorities allow vaccines to be administered in ways that threaten public health, most certainly when scientific evidence is being ignored. The present extremely critical situation forces me to spread this emergency call. As the unprecedented extent of human intervention in the Covid-19 pandemic is now at risk of resulting in a global catastrophe without equal, this call cannot sound loud and strong enough." As Dr. Bossche clarified in his Open Letter to the WHO and the scientific community, he is not against vaccination. On the contrary, he assures the readers that each of the current vaccines has been designed, developed, and manufactured by brilliant and competent scientists. However, these types of prophylactic vaccines "are completely inappropriate, and even highly dangerous, when used in mass vaccination campaigns during a viral pandemic. Vaccinologists, scientists and clinicians he avers, "are blinded by the positive short-term effects in individual patients, but don't seem to bother about the disastrous consequences for global health." Unless he writes, he is scientifically proven wrong, "it is difficult to understand how current human interventions will prevent circulating variants from turning into a wild monster." Racing in his sense, "against the clock," he at the time of his Open Letter was completing his scientific manuscript, the "publication of which is, unfortunately, likely to come too late given the ever-increasing threat from rapidly spreading, highly infectious variants". As an immediate measure, he posted a summary of his findings as well as his keynote speech at the recent Vaccine Summit in Ohio on LinkedIn (Author: Geert Vanden Bossche, DVM, Ph.D. March 6, 2021 -- https://www.linkedin.com/in/geertvandenbossche. In his slides which I accessed, Dr. Bossche provided international health organizations, including the WHO, with his analysis of the current pandemic as based on scientifically informed insights in the immune biology of Covid-19. Given the level of his perceived emergency, he urged them to consider his concerns and to initiate a debate on the detrimental consequences of further "viral immune escape." Tragically, while in Bossche's view "there is no time to spare," he has not received any feedback. Experts and politicians alike have remained silent, while talks about relaxing infection prevention rules and "springtime freedom" abound. Yet, as he laments his statements "are based on nothing else but science. They shall only be contradicted by science." While one can barely make any incorrect scientific statements without being criticized by peers, he avows that, "the elite of scientists who are currently advising our world leaders prefer to stay silent...(though) sufficient scientific evidence has been brought to the table." Bossche's warnings and study remain untouched by those who have the power to act. He posed this burning question, "How long can one ignore the problem when there is at present massive evidence that viral immune escape is now threatening humanity?" Our own IATF and health authorities can hardly say, "We didn't know -- or were not warned." In his agonizing letter in which Bossche claims, he put all of his reputation and credibility at stake, he challenges: "I expect from you, guardians of mankind, at least the same. It is of utmost urgency. Do open the debate. By all means: turn the tide!" In this column, I have tried to continue the debate, now it's your turn to popularize this important issue on your own platform, whether it be social media or your own network of friends.  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Hofileña: Arrival of the Spaniards in Negros Posted: 23 Mar 2021 05:28 AM PDT THE Negros Occidental Historical Council Inc. facilitated this article as part of its research program for the promotion of history and culture in Negros Occidental in support of the partnership between the Provincial Government and the NOHCI. In particular, this research project was drafted in response to the interest of many researchers in the province, including foreigners, who are concerned with local history which will be followed by similar publications in the coming months. Interestingly, this research topic coincides with the current worldwide effort of the Catholic Church to celebrate the iconic history of the "Five Hundred Years of Christianity" in the Philippines. Negros Island is first mentioned in Spanish sources in connection with Miguel Lopez de Legazpi's expedition to the Philippines in 1565. This notable event followed the historic arrival of Ferdinand Magellan to the Philippines on March 16, 1521. The account of the Spanish historian, Esteban Rodriguez, with Legazpi talks of a reconnoitering expedition which started from the southwest part of Bohol, a place Legazpi and his men inadvertently got to when a storm blew them off the Butuan coast where they hoped to get ample food provisions. From Bohol, their frigate coasted westward toward a big island called Buglas (old name of Negros Island). About half a league from the sea, the Spaniards saw many houses when they briefly landed. They intended to sail that night to another island nearer the anchored ships of Legazpi at Bohol but before they could reach that island a storm blew them off their course. The next day, they discovered that they were coasting along Buglas again! They therefore continued sailing along the coast and about the northwest direction at a distance of five leagues, they saw an island with two smaller islands nearby, one of which was Guimaras Island. They then continued along the coast of Buglas in a northeast and southwest direction. The long 21-day voyage gave the Spaniards a good idea of the entire Negros coast and the western side of Cebu. They learned the existence of many settlements along the coast on both the eastern and western sides where they saw the black men sometimes mingled with the brown-skinned -- natives. There was an air of hostility and an obvious fear of new arrivals to their shores indicating that they must have had unpleasant experiences with other groups not only with the marauding Moro pirates. From their statements, the natives indicated that they were familiar with the visiting Chinese and other Asian traders. After this initial visit to Negros, Legazpi decided on Cebu for his first settlement in the Philippines. At this stage, the Spanish officials distributed to the early Spanish settlers the initial encomiendas to fifteen conquistadores on September 6, 1571. There were more than 30,000 natives in these areas to be cared for and supervised by the new encomenderos in the name of the King of Spain. In our succeeding columns, we will share more historic information with this initial onset of Hispanization in the Philippines.*  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
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