Protect and respect suffrage

May respect for this right never be tainted by the color of one’s choice - this is a prayer far from being heeded as those pinks are bashed by the reds, and the reds are cancelled by the pinks and the blues, whites and the rest are insulted while the yellows are despised or forgotten.

Freedom of expression is narrowed down depending on color choice.

If the pinks speak or the reds post regardless of the message, the bashing or expressing depends on which color one belongs – among same color it is simply expressing regardless of the message.  It is bashing if from the viewpoint of one not belonging to the same regardless whether the message is true or false. 

And as the election is nearing, everyone becomes judges – qualifying or disqualifying a candidate.

By our set qualifications, we override those that are set by our constitution. And so educational achievements were center of impolite debates. Our constitution already qualifies anyone who is able to read and write. But we cannot accept this.

We are so unforgiving to personal flaws, educational failures or any imperfections among our presidentiables but we are tolerating bad mouthing, rude and below the belt criticisms.

It is sad that we never realized that anyone among the presidentiables might win and become our president.

What face could he/she will have in representing our country when as early as now we devalue all of them by our disrespectful criticisms?

Who among them still have that clean slate of whom other nations may look as worthy of respect?

 "Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others." -from the letter to the Philippians

Overcoming covid-19 Part 2

Why I decided to choose Ivermectin?

I am not an influencer, nor a doctor, nor an expert but I am a reader and I write what I have read and experienced.

Many, especially the mainstream media, would say about the toxicity of Ivermectin (IVM) and its effect on the liver.  If it is toxic and harmful to the body, then we make WHO accountable because in their 2019 WHO list of Essential Medicine for Children, IVM is included in the list along with paracetamol   

https://www.who.int/groups/expert-committee-on-selection-and-use-of-essential-medicines/essential-medicines-lists. 

It is essential and it is for children. If it is toxic, why will it be considered essential and for children.

Everything that is in response to this pandemic are experimental.  

There are no drugs yet that can cure Covid-19. 

All the drugs are repurposed drugs. Remdesivir, Tocilizumab, IVM etc. these are all repurposed drugs.  

I am not a doctor but I am a reader.  

Since all are experimental, nobody is really an expert on this disease.  

All of us even the doctors are still in search of the answers - experimenting, analyzing.  

And nobody has the monopoly of knowledge, we study, we read, we experiment not to argue but to share.  

We must be open then, to many ideas even these ideas are against what we know or what we practice.  But we take ideas with open minds. 

With prayers for guidance and not merely leaning on our understanding, we prove all things and hold fast to what is good.

My only logic is, between IVM and Remdesivir, the lesser toxic is IVM because it is listed in the 2019 WHO list of Essential Medicine for Children. Remdesivir or Tocilizumab are not included in the list. 

Safe to say that they must be used sparingly or even not at all.

 

By price, IVM is much cheaper than these two.

If I die because I allowed to be a subject of an experiment with the use of IVM, then I die but at least I will never leave hospitalization bills for my mama and siblings to pay.

But if I use Remdesivir and Tocilizumab and I die then I cause also financial debt and death for my family. 

I would rather take all the burden than transfer it to my family.

Of course, taking IVM would not be one-take-heal-all effect.  

It would be a healing process. A roller coaster ride of healing process.  

High fever, no fever back to high fever again then to no fever, vomiting of phlegm – to some easier but to some difficult, fast heartbeat, profuse sweating, dehydration, shooting up of sugar, one experienced numbness of half of the body because of anxiety attack, difficulty of breathing because of clogged nose or cough, high blood pressure – these are so far what I observed as common patterns in the healing process of patients who used the IVM.  Not as a doctor, I am not but an informant to a one good doctor via messenger. 

So far, no lowering down of oxygen saturation, only improvement.  

Early Treatment is very important. 

If the patient takes all the medicines as prescribed, and never allows fear to take over despite the roller coaster ride, the healing process is fast.  

If it is done with praising the Lord and praying to Him, the healing process is very fast. 

Vaccination?

RA 115251 is the law that governs the vaccination against Covid-19.  

Section 2C of this Act recognizes the experimental nature of COVID-19 vaccines.

Section 8 is an immunity from liability of manufacturers and others with respect to all claims arising out of it, unless there is willful misconduct or gross negligence.

Section 10 establishes for an indemnity fund through Philhealth in cases of death, permanent disability of confinement to the hospital. 

RA 10152, on the other hand, is the law that governs basic immunization for infants and children. It does not have the same provisions as mentioned above. 

Is immunization and vaccination the same? I do not know. I am not a doctor. I am just a reader.

I choose to respect the wisdom and power of my Creator.  He created us fighters!

Our very core proves that we are fighters.  How our system works in combatting outside invaders from entering our body is a proof of that. 

Our innate immune system, which is active from the moment we were born, recognizes foreign invader then our system combats it. 

If every cell in our immune system is a good combatant, so should also our whole being. 

We are fearfully and wonderfully made by our Creator.  

It is Him who engineers our every system in our bodies and He made sure that we do not easily collapse and surrender when faced with sickness. 

If vaccination is God’s intervention to make us fight Covid-19, then we obey.  But is it? Or it is just our hasty way because we want to be back to the lives we used to live?

We rejoice for those whose lives are saved by whatever medicine. We rejoice in the Lord because He has been merciful. 

We grieve with those who lost someone. We grieve for them in our prayers to our Heavenly Father

We are not just born a fighter...

We are created a fighter!

Our very core proves that we are fighters.  How our system works in combatting outside invaders from entering our body is a proof of that. Our innate immune system, which is active from the moment we were born, recognizes foreign invader then our system combats it. 

If every cell in our immune system is a good combatant, so should also our whole being. We are fearfully and wonderfully made by our Creator.  It is Him who engineers our every system in our bodies and He made sure that we do not easily collapse and surrender when faced with invaders. 

In these times, in which many difficulties, unwanted situations, sickness, lies, uncertainties invade our systems - self, family, society, may we never fear.  Instead we fight just as our very core is designed to fight. We fight on bended knees and fight with the Truth. 

Superman!

You were named Saul

After the first king of Israel.

Just as he was mighty, so were you.

Your code name was superman.

You had it tattooed on your arms

so that you will be remembered as such.

You loved so deeply and shared generously.

We are so many - children from many wives of your brothers and children of your only sister.

Yet, you looked after us like we were your own. 

Bastards or not,

You equally helped and accepted us.

For to you, all of us are part of the family.

But certainly, I was your favorite.

But all others were also your favorites,

under your own many categories. 

But I was still the most privileged.

For I spent time with you days before you left.

We talked many things, we laughed at them.

But in those days nearing your death,

you never showed you were worried.

You still have that same laugh and appetite for food.

You were one of those that I have seen to have lived life fully.

Who loved so wholly

and trusted completely.

You lived life with gratitude,

Embracing each day with joy

and taking all with faith. 

 Before your last breath,

I was so sure that you felt how much we loved you

I saw you smiled despite your heavy breathing 

- or was it only my imagination?  

I prefer to believe that you smiled

Remembering your usual comic smiles.

We will miss you.

But even so, Fly high, superman! 

Fly high!

My waiting piece :D

Starting up is always not that easy.  It requires so much efforts, so much time,

so much sacrifices. But always humbling.

Having A-t-t-y at the beginning of one's name does not guarantee income nor big salary.

At times, A-t-t-y only means a status that is of no difference as being Mrs., Ms., etc. 

It is just a prefix that invites expectations -

Thus, one who is excited to use it, all the more excites expectations.

Whether to use it or not is a decision one must wisely balance out.

It is a misplaced bravery to use it when the purpose is to simply brag

Or to feign ignorance or to be haughty. 

But it is real bravery mixed with humility in not using it

Yet standing firm on what is right and the truth.

*I wrote this while I waited for an hour for friends to celebrate Ayel's bday.

What God did to me

When God surprises us it always would exceedingly outshines our purposes and plans. 

After I took my oath as a lawyer, my purpose and plan are to make a good attorney out of myself.   But God shifted my tracks unexpectedly.

Two days after my oath taking ceremony, I was admitted in the hospital for renal stones.  I was subjected to medical imaging but no stones were found.  I was instead diagnosed to have adenomyosis which is the culprit for my dysmenorrhea, I suffered since I started law school and electrolyte imbalance.  All my imbalances were remedied and fixed.

Right after my discharge from the hospital, I was up and about to do things as I planned them.  But God stopped me one more time.  A fluid-like cyst in my ovary was seen during my follow up check-up. That was exactly fifteen days from my discharge.  I prayed in silence, not knowing what to pray as indignation against God was starting to rouse inside my heart.

But God in His creative ways, sent me a message - 'This is not your battle but Mine.'

Indeed, it was not my battle.  The next day, He sent His financial provisions through family and friend supports.  

I had my surgery and it was successful however, no cyst was found.  Instead, a diverticulum in the dome of my urinary bladder was found. None among my body part was removed and scraped.  Only that my urinary bladder was so tired from holding pee. 

Was there a mistake in my doctor's diagnosis? 

I don't think so. I think it was God who subdued that giant ovarian cyst into something minor.

But why did God allow that I will undergo an operation?

So that I will know that He is my God, my healer, my commander-in-chief. And that I will always remember His lovingkindness. 

That voice that called me a year ago

A year ago, I made a pivotal decision in my life.  It was not an easy decision as it meant letting go of a job that gives promising salary and other many perks.   But there was this insistent voice that keeps on calling me every sleepless night.  I never listened to it at first for it sounded absurd.  I was already in my comfort zone, why else let go of it.  The more that I disregarded it, all the more that it became louder until it manifested to me clearly – let go and have faith!  And so I let go, ventured into something that is unknown while embracing a leap of faith.
Now I fully understand what that voice meant.  I needed to take two steps backward for me to have a good jumpstart.
A time in my life when I said that I wanted to meet people of brilliant minds with good hearts, people of different nationalities and people who are diplomats and I met them all in a one of a kind wonderful experience.  Have I not listened to that insistent voice calling me to be more grounded to the realities of poverty, inequities and inequalities, I would never had ticked this out of my bucket list.
In June 2016, I went to Geneva, Switzerland to help the Bla’an people of Tampakan to be heard.   It was my pleasure to be of their service.  I was so honored to be bringing (translating) the voices of the Bla’an royalties into the United Nations Human Rights Council.  It has never dawned on me before that my aptitude in the English language will be the bridge between the oppressed Bla’an people and the international world.  I am praying that through this bridge, these people will have once more their dignity as a tribe – they will never be left out but clearly heard, not again would they be displaced for reasons of development.
In my year of being with the Bla’an, of knowing their culture and history, I learned that I owed something to the Bla’an people and it is the fact that the space – literally space where I am enjoying my so-called home was once theirs.  According to a Bla’an old man who chanted their history to us while doing a genealogy, Koronadal City which they call Kolon Datal was their hunting ground.  And they decided to move to the mountains because the “Christian” (perhaps he refers in general the settlers from Luzon and Visayas) arrived in Kolon Datal and started claiming their grounds.
Perhaps that insistent voice wants me to hear this story so that I will see it as my moral obligation to help the Bla’an people.  Perhaps this insistent voice wants me to change into a more sensible person and sensitive to the rights of others.
Perhaps this insistent voice is the voice of my God who wants me for a purpose – for His Glory!