Three years after Marawi siege, children face new battle against COVID-19

Wazzup Pilipinas!

Bailiya was only nine years old when her hometown was destroyed by the five-month gun battle between the government forces and ISIS-inspired Maute groups which started on May 23, 2017. The Marawi siege has flattened homes, schools, infrastructures, and displaced 200,000 children and their families.
“Our lives back then were difficult,” said Bailiya, 12, one of the beneficiaries of Save the Children Philippines’ education program and an internally displaced learner at Angoyao Elementary School. “However, it is twice difficult this time because our house was destroyed and we have no school to go back to.” Bailiya’s family, along with her seven siblings, live in a transitory shelter in barangay Boganga in Marawi.

To make matters worse for Bailiya and to children like her, there are already nine confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Marawi City and Lanao del Sur, as of May 17, 2020, with four deaths and 40 cases of patient under investigation (PUI) based on the regional health office in BARMM.

Atty. Alberto Muyot, Chief Executive Officer of Save the Children Philippines said the impact of conflict to children has lasting implications and goes beyond even if it has end.

He said children and their families in Marawi are more at risk to diseases including COVID-19 as clean water, toilets and hygiene facilities remain a problem in the transitory shelters.

“Children bear the brunt of armed conflict as they suffer from severe malnutrition, diseases including COVID-19 as healthcare and food supplies are disrupted,” said Muyot. Children’s right to education must be fulfilled even in times of emergencies, he added.

In this regard, Save the Children Philippines continues to help children and their families to rebuild lives in Marawi amid uncertainties and risks of the COVID-19 pandemic.

For the past three years, Save the Children Philippines has been providing emergency and recovery assistance to children and their families affected by the Marawi siege, reaching 48,475 children and 9,492 adults. These include learning materials, psychosocial first aid and temporary learning spaces to ensure children will continue learning during the crisis.

Recently, Save the Children has distributed handwashing facilities in checkpoints and quarantine facilities in Marawi City. The team also distributed hygiene kits to children and their families and food packs to medical frontliners and provided assistance to families to access water supply, hygiene promotion and access to safe drinking water. The team supported the rehabilitation of latrines and construction of toilets in the areas where temporary learning spaces were installed.

Edwin Horca, Head of Save the Children Philippines-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region for Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) offices said “education is a life-saving response as it provides children a safe space to learn, provides normality, routine and ensures their protection.”

As such, Save the Children Philippines provided temporary learning spaces, back to school kits, and hygiene kits to motivate children to go back to school.

“Learning spaces also provide protection to children from threats of sexual violence, harmful work and recruitment into armed groups,” said Horca.

The humanitarian support also includes training of teachers on child protection and the minimum standards on education in emergencies, as well as art workshops themed on peace for children and youth.

Children’s access to education, water, sanitation and hygiene and child protection were supported by the Department of Foreign and Trade of the Government of Australia, Radiojhalpen/ Swedish Music Aid, and European Union Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations.

Save the Children Philippines will continue to provide emergency assistance for the reconstruction and recovery of Marawi with new partnerships with the Asian Development Bank and the private sector. These efforts will be aligned with the national government’s recovery and rehabilitation plan under Task Force ‘Bangon Marawi.’

Horca said the new programs will complement the recovery and rehabilitation programs of the national government and SCP-BARMM to ensure access to income and livelihood of conflict- affected families, and those in host communities.

“We are harnessing resources, local and foreign, to ensure that the affected people of Marawi are never forgotten,” said Horca.

Save the Children Philippines is one with the people in the commemoration of the survivors and heroes of the Marawi Siege and encourages everyone to help and support its programs for the continued protection and the rebuilding of lives of those affected, most especially the children.

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.