The responses of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) as a regional grouping to Covid-19 have been divisive, unclear, nonconsultative, impromptu, and driven by divergent policies, leading its member-states to control the pandemic individually and independently of each other. These are the assessments of observers among think tanks, media outfits, and independent researchers. A...
Category: Health
Post
Banishing anxiety and fear: a fitness journey
I knew I needed to get back to my exercise routine when the doctor didn’t hesitate to prescribe Xanax. It was the remedy for what he diagnosed as anxiety attacks after listening earnestly to my tale of feeling hopeless every day. His assistant handed me the tablets on my way out, and a new wave...
Post
Monkeypox spread? No cause for alarm—yet
As if Covid-19 were not enough to worry about, now comes monkeypox. For pandemic-fatigued Filipinos, it comes across as another point of concern, especially because it causes flu-like symptoms as well as horrendous-looking rashes that can spread across the body and form large blisters filled with white pus-like fluid. It does looks biblical, like something...
Post
Little Sisters care for women in the twilight of their lives
With Covid-19 continuing to pose a threat to life and health, some kind of hush has fallen over the home run by the Little Sisters for the Abandoned Elderly in San Juan City. The community singing and merrymaking that the residents enjoyed have been put on hold as health protocols are strictly observed in the...
Post
Staying fit has its ups and downs, but don’t quit
For someone who has been battling obesity, type 2 diabetes, liver disease and depression for years, trying to stay fit is a constant challenge made more difficult as I grow older—and simply because I love to eat. Being overweight isn’t the same as being obese. The World Health Organization defines both overweight and obesity as...
Post
Missing the boat on population management and economic development
The Philippines has missed a number of opportunities toward long-term economic development. While it was in pretty good shape in the 1960s through the late 1970s—and certainly highly competitive with other developing countries in Asia—it began to falter at the turn of the decade. By the early 1980s it started to miss the boat in...
Post
Poll campaign volunteer work, self-care and mental health
There is an almost child-like ebullience in artist Robert Alejandro’s works promoting Vice President Leni Robredo’s presidential candidacy. Done in various shades of pink, Robredo’s official campaign color, the artworks are full of hope, joy, and whimsy. It is easy to imagine that such positive vibes are coming from someone living a life of ease...
