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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NEXT TOPIC : “US S.I.A.recognizes RP in the global semi-conductor industry”
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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.

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.