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SALITA NG DIYOS, SALITA NG BUHAY - JULY 12, 2021

Sakto | Teleradyo (12 July 2021)

MAINAM BANG BUMALING SA MATATAYOG NA PANGARAP? Kape't Pandasal kasama si...

Get jabbed

‘CHOOSING TO PASS UP A VACCINATION IS LIKE PLAYING RUSSIAN ROULETTE WITH YOUR LIFE. I THINK THE PROBLEM IS MANY OF US HAVE BEEN LULLED INTO A FALSE SENSE OF CALM BECAUSE THE WORST SURGE OF MARCH-APRIL (WHICH ALMOST TOOK MY LIFE) IS BEHIND US.’

LAST Saturday, I marked my 89th day since my discharge from St. Luke’s BGC, where I was confined for 13 days as a critical COVID-19 patient. Three of those days I spent in the emergency room, ensconced in a cubicle surrounded by National Bookstore book-cover grade plastic, conscious of the hustle and bustle around me, including all the bells and beeps of machines and the ever so often fuss created in the cubicles across from mine which houses the intubated patients. I was only moved up to a private room at 7 p.m. on April 2 and there I stayed for another 10 days. While confined, I got the run of COVID-19 medicines from numerous doses of Remdescivir to two bags of Tociluzimab.

I also got a bag of convalescent plasma from someone whose identity I will never know.

I have documented and detailed that journey here and on my Facebook profile numerous times, but one message that has impressed itself on me is something I will never tire of repeating: Get jabbed.

If you or I know that we will get out of the hospital walking on our own two feet even after an intense bout with COVID, then I will understand your hesitancy to get a vaccine that is, yes, in the experimental stage.

But I may have been singularly lucky that one time. And you and I know how COVID can be the most emotionally depressing and draining disease anyone can get – or anyone can watch their loved ones get.

You have to battle the disease alone, unable to hold the hands of your loved ones, stare into their eyes and share any last moment words of thanks or even regret. They couldn’t cheer you on every day, bringing your favorite dishes and desserts. And tell you you’re looking fine and things are looking up. Even if sometimes they lie just to make you feel better.

In COVId? If you die, you die alone.

Having gone through the horrors of staring that possibility in the face I waited for 90 days to get jabbed. As a recipient of convalescent plasma I needed to allow that period of time to pass so that the antibodies that were imported onto my system would have waned, allowing a vaccine to do its job of provoking my own immune system into making my own antibodies. It was a long wait, during which I kept up my routine of high intensity interval training around BGC while under regular e-consult with my St. Luke’s pulmonary specialist.

I was also keeping a close eye on developments regarding the Delta and the Delta+ variants, which health authorities suspect may be able to evade our immune systems, negating the effect of vaccines. By sheer coincidence the arrival of Moderna vaccines from the US CPI coincided with the end of my waiting period. And so, while two antibody tests seemed to indicate that I still had a considerable number of them in my system, I lined up to get jabbed at the Philippine Red Cross Logistics center in Mandaluyong, behind their EDSA-Boni headquarters.

I’m one step closer to being able to feel a little more protected against COVID.

But millions remain unprotected. Deputy IATF chief and testing czar Vince Dizon has made it clear that the problem is supply. Thankfully, despite a new surge of cases in Russia we received thousands of Sputnik doses two days ago. We also received a donation from Japan of millions of Pfizer doses, and Astra Zeneca doses ordered by the private sector are arriving next week. But we need much more because we have not even fully vaccinated five percent of our total population, and even the most optimistic projections seem to show that it will only be in Metro Manila where the level of protection will be sufficient for 40-60% of the population by October. Again, that’s only for Metro Manila, where you can find the best medical facilities in the country.

What happens then to those outside of Metro Manila who, without the vaccines, will fall ill to COVID?

Get jabbed. I understand the hesitancy of many people about the experimental vaccines but COVID is real and it’s mean. If you have access to vaccines, get jabbed. Choosing to pass up a vaccination is like playing Russian roulette with your life. I think the problem is many of us have been lulled into a false sense of calm because the worst surge of March-April (which almost took my life) is behind us. But as the Delta variant shows, the virus is everyday trying to outsmart us; every day.

Don’t gamble with your life, please, and the lives of your loved ones. Get jabbed as soon as you can.

Personal: Happy birthday Kagawad Franz Julius Sanchez of Barangay San Joaquin, Pasig City; Cj Mercado; Sarah Trinidad; Catamin Christiangarcia; Nancy Magdaraog; Gideon Dario of Pasay City

https://malaya.com.ph/index.php/news_opinion/get-jabbed/

Binibining Pilipinas 2021 | Grand Coronation Night

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ABS-CBN franchise renewal pushed anew in Congress

Two congressional leaders are pushing to revive the franchise of ABS-CBN now that a year has passed since the network’s renewal application was overwhelmingly rejected by the House of Representatives.

Deputy Speakers Loren Legarda and Rufus Rodriguez renewed their support for the network giant and pushed for the refiling of the franchise renewal bill in the House.

“I believe the franchise bill must be refiled and of course it (ABS-CBN) must be opened to allow jobs to be reopened also,” Legarda said in the episode of “Agenda” on Cignal TV’s One News last Friday.

In the same interview, Legarda explained for the first time why she abstained when the House legislative franchise committee was voting on the media giant’s application for renewal despite being one of the authors of the ABS-CBN franchise bills.

“I had to abstain from the voting because I was advised of my ongoing shows, which was funded by government. I could not vote because that would be conflict of interest. That was the opinion of legal luminaries,” the Antique congresswoman said.

Legarda, a former broadcast journalist of the network, insisted that her being an author of the bill spoke of her position on the matter, saying she filed it “as a form of gratitude as well and I believe it was the right thing to do.”

However, another House leader voted in favor of ABS-CBN despite the risks of her vote – Deputy Speaker snd Batangas Rep. Vilma Santos-Recto.

Santos-Recto, one of the 11 congressmen in the dissenting vote, said she was willing to lose her House leadership position if it would be the consequence of her voting in favor of the network.

Rodriguez, for his part, also stood pat on his stand in favor of granting the franchise renewal application of ABS-CBN.

“The hearings would show that ABS-CBN and its officials have no violations. Everything was complied with. Agencies were there to testify. Everyone was there to witness,” the Cagayan de Oro congressman recalled.

Rodriguez, a former law dean, branded the decision of the House panel as an “injustice.”

Last February, the House leadership rejected the renewed bid to grant franchise to broadcast network ABS-CBN under the Duterte administration.

Speaker Lord Allan Velasco stressed that calls to revive the ABS-CBN franchise renewal bill would “have to wait until the next Congress.”

The Marinduque congressman explained that the House needs to prioritize measures to ensure recovery of the country’s economy and of the Filipino people from the recession caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

Velasco said there are also measures left in the legislative agenda of the President that Congress needs to pass soon.

“On top of these priority legislation, we would like to see the passage of Bayanihan 3, as well as other economic bills geared toward rebuilding the Philippine economy,” he said.

Several lawmakers have filed bills seeking to revive the broadcast franchise of ABS-CBN, including Santos-Recto, Camarines Sur Rep. Gabriel Bordado and Senate President Vicente Sotto III.

But House committee on legislative franchises chairman Palawan Rep. Franz Alvarez said the issue was already “put to rest” when 70 members of the panel voted to deny the network’s bid on July 10 last year due to violations of the franchise by the network.

Like Velasco, Alvarez suggested that the ABS-CBN franchise issue is “best left to the next Congress.”

https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2021/07/11/2111650/abs-cbn-franchise-renewal-pushed-anew-congress