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| Lobaton: Learning from situations Posted: 13 Jun 2021 06:27 AM PDT WE CONTINUE to learn things in our ongoing fight for survival against the Covid-19. This is because it is teaching us the reality that we cannot return to normalcy unless we will be ushered into a society that has reached herd immunity. With the 110 million population of the country, it could take some time before we could vaccinate at least 70 percent of our population. Where we are now is still way too far from the target, but at least the government is doing everything despite some constraints along the way. We just need to accept that we have nothing to do at this time than cooperate to ensure safety for ourselves and our family. Let us remember that the crisis on the coronavirus is widespread that other societies are also struggling like us. As in the past many days, the figures are telling us that number of cases kept increasing. The average daily rate at the national level is at 7,000 cases, but less than half of these cases are from Metro Manila. It is giving a signal that the situation could be improving and other cities and provinces outside of the National Capital Region (NCR) especially in Visayas and Mindanao, would be a concern. Bacolod recorded the highest number of cases during Independence Day (June 12), at 236 cases based on the report of the Department of Health (DOH) Western Visayas. Prior to this is an upward trend. On June 8-81 cases, June 9-92, June 10-138 and June 11-164 cases. I don't know how our Emergency Operations Center (EOC) would deal with this trend and what measures they are implementing other than the ongoing vaccination. I presume that vaccination can just be pursued slowly while not sacrificing efforts to detect, test and treat our people with Covid-19. The situation calls for a continuing multi-faceted approach of our government as a contrast to the one-track effort where resources and manpower are poured in. We are apprised that should we focus on one aspect of this fight and leaving the other will increase our vulnerability. Our hospitals since last week had been releasing announcements that their spaces for Covid-19 are already full and many still are on the waitlist. The other day, Riverside Medical Center announced that they could not accept patients related to Covid-19 and with those exhibiting symptoms. Dr. Julius Drilon of the Corazon Locsin Montelibano Memorial Regional Hospital also shared the same situation, with most of his health workers exposed or still in isolation. In all this, we could reflect and learn from situations. We may be exposed to false consciousness on the type of quarantine (MGCQ) that we have that's why we felt there is silence despite the high number of cases. Secondly, the vaccination that had been rolled out could have developed a belief among our people that they will not be infected, hence, they've started going out in places. Lastly, we could guess that probably, we can expect that figures will show a decline naturally in the number of cases despite the absence of intervention. We'll see how the trend would go in the coming days. Supposedly, we cannot allow that we approach situations like this too lightly. Ordinary individuals may have no guidance even at the least report of those barangays where positive cases are detected. We need to be guided on the spread of infections in our community to prepare as it attempts to come closer to us and our family. For sure we need the guidance of our government through information or any available mode that could tell us, we are still in control of everything despite the situations.  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Sanchez: Global summit amid pandemic Posted: 13 Jun 2021 06:26 AM PDT COVID everywhere in a pandemic where the disease transcends national and international borders. On March 18, 2020, I got in touch with Rosalaura Romeo, an Italian working for the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations based in Rome. Rosalaura is a secretariat member of the Mountain Partnership, an international voluntary alliance dedicated to improving the lives of mountain peoples and protecting mountain environments around the world, known by its acronym SMD, a functional discussion platform for mountain states on policy issues with determination to follow up what gets collectively agreed upon. These global summits have been characterized by diverse discussions, debates, and exchanges. They have also produced specific policy briefings and recommendations, which are helping the dialog on development practices and policies for the mountain states. I first met Rosalaura in 2004 in Rome, then in the mountain city of Cusco, Perú. The last time I met Rosalaura was in 2016 for the slow food movement by Terra Madre. I often featured the Partnership in my SunStar Bacolod columns, even recruited the province of Negros Occidental as a subnational state under then-governor Alfredo Marañón. Our points of convergence are Mts Mandalagan and Kanlaon on the basis of sustainable mountain development. But instead of face-to-face meetings like in 2013 in Erzurum, Turkey where I gave a presentation during the 4th summit, last year's summit was a different ballgame. It reflected the signs of the time. The 9th edition of Sustainable Mountain Development Summit (SMDS) became a four-day-long summit zoom meeting organized by Indian Mountain Initiative (IMI) and hosted by Sustainable Development Forum Uttaranchal (SDFU), Dehradun. The theme for the 2020 Sustainable Mountain Development Summit was "Emerging Pathways for Building a Resilient Post Covid-19 Mountain Economy, Adaptation, Innovation and Acceleration." Last year, I asked Rosalaura via Messenger, "Good morning, Rosalaura (we address one another on a first-name basis). How are you and the folks at FAO?" (The Philippines is six hours ahead of Western Europe). Se responded the following day, saying, "Hi Benedicto! We are all fine, but working from home. Hope you are well, too." I can understand that. On January 31, 2020, the Italian government suspended all flights to and from China and declared a state of emergency. In February, eleven municipalities in northern Italy were identified as the centers of the two main Italian clusters and placed under quarantine. The majority of positive cases in other regions are traced back to the two clusters. On March 8, 2020, Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte expanded the quarantine to all of Lombardy and 14 other northern provinces, and on the following day to all of Italy, placing more than 60 million people on lockdown. Now the baton as point person for Southeast Asia of the Mountain Partnership has been passed on to my friend Cabinet Secretary Bernadette "Berna" Romulo-Puyat, daughter of former Senator Alberto Romulo. Berna gamely hiked with the leaders of ONOPRA to the mountain organic farms in Barangay Patag, Silay.  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
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