Different Kind of Health and Dating Lifestyle after Covid 19

Wazzup World!

If you've been lockdown for more than 2mos and counting during this Covid19 pandemic. The best way to do is to educate and have fun by yourself while you stay safe lock at home.

Lately, I've been singing duet online with several Karaoke Pop divas  from the US via smule mobile application.

And its really cool, I found it very entertaining. Imagine its better than you're KTV, you have recording that you can edit and customize in just a minute. Then you have instant recording you can upload it in your social media.

Just much more advance than your regular KTV bar or regular dating site. Because you can do tutorials even practice before or after recordings. Just like a celebrity taping - ready, set action - cut!

Much more exciting things to do suited for an adventurous Bachelor guy like me. According to medical experts they say that this pandemic will stay for a year or two.

I don't know, but for sure - this will change our lifestyle the way we see things. As far as travelling and dating lifestyle is concern. With the technology nowadays. You can do background check before meeting someone online.

Wether its educational, financial, criminal  or medical records. You can always ask the other person, do it yourself or hire a 3rd party provider to do that background check.

Because of what happened this year, people are really curious about social distancing and Physical health. You can even ask your mate to do STD checks before dating or meet up when this pandemic is over.

So both of you are not wasting time, before meeting up or do travel together. Making sure that your health is being monitored and tested by a medical professionals. If you're US based you can get $15 off on men and women health test here.

Lacson Accusses DOH of Overpricing

Wazzup Pilipinas!

Senator Panfilo Lacson has revealed several instances of overpricing with regards to the items and equipment used by the Department of Health's purchases of COVID-19 Pandemic testing.

One word: Commissions, the bigger the expense, the bigger the commission. During the time of Marcos they used to call it " Blessing". During other presidents term they called it " For the Boys". Today they call it " Pastillas" ay leche nadulas...

I think the good senator should clarify this matter. Is this the same brand?

Because if it is, then I think its overpricing.
If its not, then the specs, track record, and reliability should be taken into consideration.

Really needs to be investigated to get to the bottom of things. But this also happens in private institutions, even without any foul play. Sometimes it's all a matter of timing, specifications, source and supply & demand dynamics. Prices can vary widely based on these factors. These aren't commodities and are not subject to standardized pricing. One has to delve into these details and not just toss it in the public arena with scarce details and lots of opportunity to spin any which way to influence the wary and poorly informed public.

Example: for RT PCR, European brands are much more expensive than its asian counterparts.

Also I think, overpricing means jacking up the original price by a large percentage and hindi yung maspinili mo yung mahal compared sa mura. There are parameters to adhere to, so Senator Ping should clarify this.

For the PPE, reliability and track record again comes into place. If may budget to buy better and more reliable equipment then buy the better one than the cheap one.

A tabular presentation would explain better if there are discrepancies in the purchasing process. We will see the specs and most especially the brand. For it to be clear.

With regards to the swab, there are differences in what we call "experience" after the procedure. For example, in phlebotomy, I prefer using Terumo(TM) than any other brand. It is known that terumo syringes are more expensive than other brands, but it may provide a more comfortable experience to the client. But then again, without the specs, we cannot say for sure.

The product that DOH/RITM bought is thermo fisher. Please search the reliability and track record of the brand. You will know bakit mahal siya. Even ang common centrifuge ng thermo fisher is expensive. Do side by side comparison ng specs.

They should have compared what brand are bought and which is more reliable. I myself is involved in medical devices trading and know the huge disparity between chinese vs US / European brands. Even do us biomedical techs / engineers prefer the US made.

I'm not a lawyer but i understand that in government procurement bidding is paramount...but, as i understand it too (and ready to be corrected), the new Bayanihan law gives the executive some leeway in procurement...this is going to be interesting...re: Duque, he should resign immediately and not give PRRD a black mark...

Indeed, there are certain issues that needs to be addressed. However, in relation to the visual presentation of senator lacson which is quite lacking in details, it might provide the wrong impression and cause unnecessary public outroar. Like everyone else, I am an advocate of fact based criticism than half-baked hate.

I think the point here is that, if the private sector who uses their own money chooses to buy the other brand which is cheaper (but definitely of high quality) then how come the Gov't whose funds are bleeding dry opt to buy an expensive one? and btw to allay fears of corruption why don't they itemized their purchases and show the summary of expenses for the people to see just like what the OVP is doing.

Ang mas importante po sana CURE.

Sana po kayo mag push din ng multiple INDEPENDENT testing of FABUNAN anti-viral - without government control.

Then do an inquiry if it is true that this option has been ignored since before the DENGVAXIA debacle that might have been averted by a "sariling-atin" Filipino product (reportedly with a U.S. patent).
Imbis na itest ay ipinasara daw sila - suspicious!

Let us not speculate anything before it was investigated and proven that those who procured these items had done it for the sake of corruption. We might me letting the devil sneak into our lives thereby making our lives vulnerable to his attacks. The truth will be shed to light. And even if they have erroneous actions, we are not suppose to throw any unpleasant words to them. Our duty is to pray for them and let the ax of God be on them if He wills it. But remember that anything that came out from our mouth is our responsibility before Him.

You know Senator Lacson? With all of your queries above that even we, a normal citizen of this government cannot even understand why. If you can't answer those many whys, how can we? We are just here listening and watching all of you lawmakers from the media. We do not know what to believe anymore. But with those accusations of yours, you need to prove and provide us the real and transparent reasons why. Politicking in times of pandemic is brutal as well as not giving a genuine service to the Filipino people. May you be guided accordingly Senator Lacson!

I agree that this is not the right time.

But if this is really true and government funds are being bled dry, then as a senator, we give you free reign to check as we have also the right to know why.

I understand their are also factors like quality, serviceability and others that need to be considered...

People might say that this is a blame game. But for me this is accountability. Whatever actions they do it is their responsibility and responsibility breeds accountability. So DOH please be accountable on all of these. This pandemic does not give you the license to take advantage of the situation to overpriced.

Tiis Pilipit – Mangyan Tribesmen, Tamaraw, Threatened by Hunger and Disease

Wazzup Pilipinas!

The old chief exhaled and the hut was enveloped in blue smoke. “I remember,” whispered Fausto Novelozo, chief of the Taw’buid tribe. “That a sickness drove us from the mountains. Measles we got from siganon or lowland visitors. Half our village of 200 died.”

We’re in the village of Tamisan Dos, one of two newly-established Mangyan communities at the foothills of the Iglit-Baco Natural Park in the province of Mindoro Occidental. Measles drove Fausto’s people closer to town, where they can have better access to western medicine.

Most people don’t consider disease a major threat to biodiversity. But diseases ranging from Coronavirus to African Swine Fever and Ebola have spread worldwide, taking thousands of lives and causing billions in economic damage.

For the reclusive Taw’buid, death and disease are part of life, hindering them from protecting an animal they revere – the critically-endangered tamaraw (Bubalus mindorensis), only 600 of which remain today.

Living deep in forests, tribal communities are plagued not just by blood-sucking leeches, malarial mosquitoes and venomous snakes – but a lack of clean water, poor sanitation, poor nutrition and inadequate medical knowledge. With hospitals often several days’ journey away, many ailing tribesfolk die on their way to treatment.

Malaria, tuberculosis, measles and other diseases have always taken a steady toll on Mindoro’s Mangyan population, estimated at 200,000. About 60% of Mangyan children are malnourished and almost all go hungry during the rainy season which lasts from June to October. With torrential rains turning Mindoro’s streams into raging rivers, many cannot visit their upland ricefields and must hunt or gather whatever food they can.

“We call this period tiis-pilipit (to twist in hunger) and we must make do,” says Taw’buid gatherer Robar, tiredly raising the day’s catch. “We are lucky. We caught some rats and frogs today.”

With limited healthcare access, tribesfolk have traditionally relied on medicinal plants to deal with cough, colds, fever, skin diseases, intestinal parasites, diarrhea and other common ailments. The Taw’buid for instance use bungarngar to treat stomachaches, pito-pito to relieve pain and salimbayong for healing open wounds. A 1984 study by Garan and Quintana identified 128 medicinal plant species used by various Mangyan tribes.

“Isolated communities are especially vulnerable to diseases from the outside world because immune responses have yet to be developed,” says medical anthropologist Gideon Lasco. “Limited access to healthcare and fear of hospitals also keeps them from seeking treatment.”

People From Above

Taw’buid means ‘people from above’ and is among two names the tribe calls itself – the other being Batangan or ‘felled forest.’ Close to 20,000 inhabit Mindoro’s central highlands, making them the largest of the eight tribes collectively called Mangyans by lowlanders – the others being the Alangan, Bangon, Buhid, Hanunuo, Iraya, Ratagnon and Tadyawan.

Many still sport loincloths called amakan, hunt game with spears called tulag, bows called gadun and spike traps called silo. Unlike other Mangyan who chew betel-nut, nearly all Taw'buid men smoke a combination of papaya and tobacco – children included.

Once occupying Mindoro’s lowlands, they were pushed into the mountains by both Spanish colonizers and Filipino immigrants. Their home forests too have retreated – with thousands of hectares converted into grazing land or rice paddies. As a people, the Taw’buid are peaceful, secretive and deeply animistic – careful not to rouse the anger of their gods including Alulaba, lord of rivers and waterways, or Mangyan Muyod, lord of the mountains.

Contact with the Taw’buid has been established through missionary groups and the Tamaraw Conservation Programme (TCP), which employs tribesmen as trackers and rangers.

For the Taw’buid, serving as a ranger is an honor and a stepping-stone to become a fufu-ama or tribal elder – making them natural allies to conserve the world’s most endangered buffalo. Fufu-amas Henry Timuyog, Fuldo Gonzales, Oskar Bongray and Pedro Salonga are some of the many Taw’buid who have served as TCP rangers. “We welcome them for their bushcraft and field skills,” shares TCP head Neil Anthony Del Mundo as we trudge closer to the grassy peaks inhabited by herds of tamaraw.

Disease Outbreaks

A century ago, disease nearly wiped out the tamaraw – it’s also disease which threatens its protectors.

The island of Mindoro has a long history of disease. The island was largely bereft of human settlement in the 1800s because of malaria but was home to an estimated 10,000 tamaraw, a small dwarf buffalo with distinctive V-shaped horns that roamed its dense forests and wide rolling fields. But a century later, the island became a prime pastureland and the forests and open fields turned into a hunting ground for poachers armed with high-caliber weapons like M14 and M16 rifles.

By 1969, the outbreak of rinderpest and avid sport hunting drove the tamaraw population below 100, prompting the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) to declare the species as critically endangered.

Decades of conservation led by the Tamaraw Conservation Programme (TCP), Biodiversity Management Bureau, Mounts Iglit-Baco Natural Park (MIBNP) and a host of allies including the Biodiversity Finance Initiative (BIOFIN) of the United Nations Development Programme and Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Mindoro Biodiversity Conservation Foundation Incorporated, D’Aboville Foundation, Global Wildlife Conservation, World Wide Fund for Nature, Far Eastern University, Eco Explorations and the Taw’buid people led by chief Fausto Novelozo, prevented the bovine’s extinction, helping tamaraw numbers recover to around 600.

Today the animals are confined to four isolated areas in Mindoro, all vulnerable to disease. “Bovine tuberculosis, hemosep and anthrax can enter Mindoro if we’re not careful,” explains Dr. Mikko Angelo Reyes, a Mindoro-based veterinarian. “The key is biosecurity, the prevention of disease through quarantine, inoculation and immunization. We should ensure that at the very least, animals entering the island are checked for sickness. We should also establish and respect buffer zones around protected areas, which are often rung by farms and livestock.”

Like the siganon visitors to chief Fausto’s village, imported cattle can spread diseases which tamaraw have not developed immunities to. The Mounts Iglit-Baco Natural Park (MIBNP) spans 106,655 hectares. It is currently surrounded by 3000 cattle belonging to 30 ranchers.

Preventing Outbreaks

Together, TCP and MIBNP rangers work to ward off poachers, dismantle spring-loaded balatik and deadly silo snare traps while keeping disease outbreaks to a minimum – preventing cattle from intruding into the park and giving the park’s indigenous people medicine and employment so they can buy supplies.

To gather much-needed resources for this, BIOFIN is helping raise funds via donations. “A little help goes a long way. We ask fellow Pinoys to donate just a bit to save the Taw’buid, tamaraw and the rangers keeping everything working,” says BIOFIN Philippines project manager Anabelle Plantilla.

The nationwide lockdowns spurred by COVID-19 is also taking a toll on communities and institutions dependent on ecotourism revenues. UNDP is preparing crowdfunding campaigns in the Philippines and other nations to keep these communities afloat – especially as government funds are being redirected to fight the growing pandemic.

Since its inception in 2012, BIOFIN has worked with both the public and private sectors to enhance protection for the country’s biodiversity hotspots by helping secure funds to implement sound biodiversity programs. BIOFIN’s second phase in the Philippines runs from 2018 to 2022 and includes the implementation of finance solutions to raise resources for the tamaraw and other endangered species through creative crowdfunding from corporations, government units, schools and individuals.

* * *

Back in the Iglit-Baco Park, a weathered man in a loincloth emerged from a field of upland corn. “Help us. We need medicine,” coughed Ben Mitra, a Taw’buid fufu-ama. Our column, already returning to the lowlands, stops to dig out whatever medicine we have left.

“Fadi-fadi,” he says in Taw’buid, accepting our goods. Thank you. As we trek back down, I pray they’ll be spared from disease and the fate of chief Fausto’s now-abandoned forest village. Like many of the country’s protected areas, the Iglit-Baco Natural Park exists in a fragile balance. One outbreak is all it takes – but we can all pitch in to prevent it. Contact biofin.ph@undp.org to know more.