The Delta Challenge

As we write this column tonight, our country faces a more virulent and highly contagious variant of Covid 19 which the DOH and respected scientists have dubbed as Delta variant. Thus, to prevent the spread of the deadly variant our government has imposed a harder lockdown or Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ) in the National Capital Region from August 6 to August 20, and thus only authorized persons outside of residence (APOR) could leave their homes per Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) guidelines. This APOR group has been categorized into three types: workers in essential establishments, residents outside their homes buying essential goods, and those who are scheduled for COVID 19 vaccination.For Metro Manila residents, cash aid of up to P4,000.00 shall be given per household. As a gesture of cooperation with the government, reports also indicate that Executives of Corporate giants in the country, like the San Miguel Corporation and the Ayala Group of Companies, have volunteered to give free vaccinations not only to their employees but also to their employees’ families and their dependents as well. Indeed, this is well and good, as we believe that the fight against this silent but deadly enemy is a fight not only by our health authorities and the leadership of this country, but by each and every Filipino. In each of us lies the cooperative effort badly needed by our health care professionals, to share their burden through what we can do in our own little way to combat the deadly variant. In these difficult times, small acts of sacrifices, such as not eating out in your favorite restaurant or avoiding a meet-up with friends, become big acts of heroism. I recall that years back, we were successful in invoking the Bayanihan system in our attempt to rise again after a natural disaster, when typhoons and other natural calamities hit us. Indeed, this time let us link arms once again in a Bayanihan way, and “kill” this deadly virus.

In Naga City, we are still under Moderate Enhanced Community Quarantine (MECQ) protocol which will last until August 12. Thus under this protocol, senior citizens are supposed to stay home until the said date, except when going out is indispensable for obtaining essential goods.

TRIVIA:

Belated greetings and congratulations to Brod Emeterio “Boy” Aman owner and proprietor of Haciendas de Naga and Chairman of the Board of the Metro Naga Water District (MNWD) on the occasion of his birth anniversary yesterday August 10.

My daughter who is a member of a lay community of women with religious vows of chastity, obedience and poverty will be having her Oblation Ceremony on August 15, 2021, 9:00 in the morning at the Mass on the Feast of Our Lady of the Assumption, Xavier Hall, Ateneo de Naga. Her community is called Secular Madonna della Strada, and was founded in Vienna, Austria by a Jesuit, Fr. Carl Dinkhauser, SJ. It is my hope that single women out there would take interest in joining communities like this.

QUOTATION OF THE WEEK:

“ACT AS IF WHAT YOU DO MAKES A DIFFERENCE-IT DOES!” - WILLIAM JAMES

FOR OUR WORD OF LIFE

“HUMBLE YOURSELVES BEFORE THE LORD AND HE WILL LIFT YOU UP”. -JAMES 4:10