TACLOBAN CITY– In honor for this year’s pride month, the Integrated Global Models (IGM) Events Management Services will hold a Pride Parade here in the city on June 20.
This event, which has a theme ‘Walk with Pride,’ is open to all LGBTQIA+ and allies who are willing to promote gender equality in the region.
According to IGM’s Special Assistant to the Chief Operating Officer, Jacob Brazil, “here at IGM we want people to know that we promote the uniqueness and inclusivity to all the people from our region.”
“We accept everyone no matter who you are in this world,” he added.
The event management services would like to orient the society that these members of the LGBT-QIA+ are humans too and that they deserve equal rights just as how they are.
“After all this is a time for the community to celebrate their uniqueness during the pride month season,” Brazil said.
Among the highlights of the event will be the holding of a grand fashion show where there will be surprise guests both from local and national artists who will be performing, aside from homegrown talents from the region.
Manila-At the request of the Philippine government, eight experts from the United States government arrived in Pola, Oriental Mindoro on Tuesday (March 21) to support the oil spill response operations of the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG).
Five members from the U.S. Coast Guard’s (USCG) National Strike Force will provide subject matter expertise and assess the affected areas to determine the most effective method and equipment to contain and clean up the oil spill from the sunken tanker MT Princess Empress.
Through funding from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), two members of the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) will work closely with the Philippines Department of Environment and Natural Resources to conduct rapid environmental assessments of affected areas, identify priority areas at risk of environmental damage, and assess needs for ecosystem restoration. NOAA has already provided the PCG with satellite imagery to boost assessment efforts. It also provided the University of the Philippines-Marine Sciences Institute with support for scientific modeling to estimate the trajectory of the spill.
Lastly, a U.S. Navy Supervisor of Salvage and Diving will evaluate the technical parameters required to support the possible deployment of a remotely operated vehicle.
Prior to their deployment to Pola, the American experts received a briefing on March 20 in Manila from the PCG and the Japan Disaster Relief Expert Team about oil-spill mitigation actions taken so far.
“When vessels are in deep water, as in this case, cleaning up the remaining oil becomes a complicated issue. Through our incident management professionals’ wealth of experience and strong expertise in oil spill response, we will assist the PCG in developing safe and efficient methods to contain and recover the oil and minimize damage to the environment,” said Commander Stacey Crecy, commanding officer of the USCG Pacific Strike Team. “The USCG remains deeply committed to our relationship with the PCG.”
Earlier this month, USAID partnered with the World Food Program to support the Philippines Department of Social Welfare and Development in transporting 20,000 food packs for families affected by the oil spill. (PR)
ORMOC CITY– A buy-bust operation in the town of Merida, Leyte province on Tuesday (March 21) resulted in the death of the subject of the operation with operatives recovered illegal drugs from the suspect valued at P30,000.
The suspect, Rodcir Maraviles, a resident of Barangay Libertad, Ormoc City reportedly drew his firearm to the operatives who retaliated which resulted in his death, report from the regional headquarters of the Philippine National Police(PNP) based in Palo town, Leyte, said.
The report said that operatives from the regional drug enforcement unit of the PNP together with the local police of Merida conducted the sting operation against the suspect at Brgy.Poblacion, Merida at about 4:40 pm Tuesday.
One of the anti-narcotics agents, acting as a buyer-poseur, bought a sachet of suspected shabu from the suspect.
After the transaction was made, the police government agents ran toward the suspect, who reportedly drew his gun and fired at them.
The police officers, in return, fired back, hitting him in the different parts of his body.
The suspect was brought to the Ormoc District Hospital where he was declared dead on arrival by the doctor who attended him.
Maraviles was said to be a high-value target and ranked number two among the regional top priority targets on illegal drugs. (ROBERT DEJON)
In line with President Ferdinand Romualdez Marcos, Jr., order to digitalize governmental transactions, the Bureau of Customs (BOC), has moved to its digitalize procedures and processes “to bring services at par with regional and global standards.”
President BBM has been harping about digitalization of government transactions as a legacy of his administration, here and in international Fora abroad.
The Philippines, through the BOC will participate in the cross-border exchange of the electronic phytosanitary certificate (e-phyto) as an approach to a better trade facilitation in the ASEAN region. In fact the BOC and the Department of Agriculture (DA), take credit for the implementation of the e-phyto certificate among ASEAN member countries, via the ASEAN Single Window (ASW) System. For the Philippines, the BOC E-Phyto Management Portal issued by the DA’s Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI) – considered as the country’s National Plant Protection Organization (NPPO) as well as those issued by the respective NPPOs of exporting countries.
Specifically, the BOC and DA “will conduct data and process mapping covering both incoming and outgoing e-phyto messages with ASEAN, as well as system alignment with other modes of exchange the DA-BPI is currently implementing.”
Indeed, BOC believes that the cross-border exchange of the e-phyto certificate would reduce document falsification, increase transparency and predictability in agri-food trade, and facilitate faster Customs clearance.
MY COMMENT:
It is nice to tap shoulders to recognize a government agency introducing new ideas, strategies to improve the methodologies, processes or at least modifications to existing, may be obsolete in order to improve, hasten delivery of services, cutting red-tapes, checking on corrupt practices, etc. The ‘controversial’ perennially tagged as one leading corruption-laden BOC has shown its image-building move when, together with the DA, kicked-off the e-phyto certificate among ASEAN countries.
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CONSIDERING that our conscience plays a very important role in our life, we have to see to it that we take utmost care of it. It is supposed to be where we hear the voice of God who tells us what is right and wrong, what is good and bad. It is our immediate guide as to how we have to think, speak, act and react.
But we should see to it that it is truly God’s voice that we hear and not just our own ideas or the voice of another entity, which if it is not God, then it is something that is opposed to God.
We are reminded of this aspect of our life in that gospel episode where Christ was confronted by some leading Jews, accusing him of not following the Sabbath law because he cured a man who was ill for 38 years on a Sabbath. (cfr. Jn 5,1-16).
For our conscience to truly hear the abiding promptings of God, we need to always anchor our mind and heart on God. We have to remember always that we are meant to live our life with God. We should be wary of our tendency to live our life on our own, especially when we are quite gifted with intelligence and other talents.
Such gifts should never take God away from our mind and heart. Rather, they should work to make our consciousness of God’s constant presence and interventions in our life sharper.
When we notice that we are already relying more on our own powers and are slowly distancing ourselves from God, we should immediately correct it. The ideal condition for us should be that we be sharply aware of God’s presence and interventions. There should be no moment when we are not aware of God in our life.
This, obviously, will require a certain discipline, considering that we have this strong tendency to be on our own. In fact, right at the beginning of human history, during the time of our first parents, Adam and Eve, who were created in the state of original justice, that tendency already occurred. That is why they fell into sin, causing all of us to be born with original sin, that is, not in the state of grace as God wanted it for us in the beginning.
Again, for us, to contain this tendency, we need to truly live by faith, which would require of us total obedience and humility before God. This is the constant challenge we have to tackle. But while it certainly requires great effort and sacrifice, we should remember also that God always gives us the necessary grace so we can do what he wants us to do. We just have to correspond to that grace through obedience and humility.
The goal to pursue is that even though we may feel very awkward and unworthy about this, we should feel God’s presence all the time, we should somehow see him, have a living encounter with him, engaging him in a continuing dialogue of love. To be sure, he initiates that dialogue with us. We should just learn how to correspond.
Yes, to be keenly aware of God in our life, and to discern his constant promptings should be the normal thing in our life. When we realize that we are more aware of our thoughts independently of God, we should realize that we are taking the wrong track and, therefore, should correct ourselves promptly.
CLEMELLE L. MONTALLANA,DM, CESE ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR III
Without a doubt, the country had reached its critical point in the scarcity of Nurses in our local hospitals. The apparent exodus of our competitive and steady-hand Nurses is also alarming, so much so that the government had put a cap on the number of nurses employed or deployed abroad.
According to Ramon Tulfo, undeniably one of the more famous columnists in our national Broadsheets, the number is pegged at 7,500 per year.
But why does a nurse decides to leave her home, her loved ones, her family, and her work? Because of two vital and important constructs Compensation Care and Respect.
Rowalt Alibudbud published at the National Library of Medicine a research paper entitled When the “heroes” “don’t feel cared for”: The migration and resignation of Philippine nurses amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. And he wrote ;
Given the chronic understaffing, low wages, unsafe working conditions, and deployment bans, Filipino nurses have expressed their exhaustion and dismay with statements such as “We don’t feel cared for” and “We feel exhausted…but we always keep in mind that we have to help our people because…no one else will” [3,4]. Eventually, some of them may leave the profession or try to go abroad since “it’s really not worth being a nurse at home” [4]. This seemed to be the sentiment of nurses and other health care worker groups who have announced their mass resignation from the Philippine health care system amidst the COVID-19 pandemic [8]. While some were able to migrate, remaining nurses in the Philippines, as seen in private hospitals [4], may leave their profession to escape their seeming domestic captivity and socio-economic hardships amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. Thus, Filipino nurses may be free when they no longer work as “nurses”.
The excerpt actually sheds light on the question of Exodus . and it shows a resentful take of the realities beseeching the professionals .
The website indeed.com had pegged the average monthly compensation of Registered Nurses in the Philippines is at Php. 30,061.00 per ,month . This could be challenged by people but my point is , with the exposure to pathogens and the stress ( Physical, Mental and Emotional) they deal with to me this is low.
The website has listings on the compensation of Nurses in National Capital Region , Alabang has its at Php. 37,673.00 the Highest in terms of Base Pay and Quezon City at Php. 26,101 per month at the lowest.
In the United Kingdom the Nurses Salary is at 34,000 pounds or roughly at this day monetary tables it is Php. 2,293,000.00 a far cry to the Less than Php. 400,000 annual income of the Nurses in Alabang . This is more than 5 times over in comparison. Beyond the issue of wages , Nurses also leave because of the apparent low regard of the professions by Private Hospital Owners and the Government’s lack of strong empathy.
To this writer, Nurse is an exact synonym with the word love. Take away the Nurses who gently and expertly man the hospitals, it will never be the same.
This far, we have seen how it doesn’t work, how dreadful the conditions are and how self-eroding for the nurse the realities on the ground.
Thus, their plight must be known.
