The Five Stages of the Quarantined

Wazzup Pilipinas!

Downplayed does not even come close.

I spent the first few months in denial, I thought it will not last and will be over soon. I had some savings to keep me comfortable, so no worries.

I said it will be a much needed break after years of being busy. The few months on quarantine would be meant to spend time on my previous hobby of gardening. Back then before Covid-19 it was ornamental, then became herbal, now while covid is still around - veggies and fruits - see the trend towards the more essential?

Comfortable yet still complaining against the government because of the plight of others. Do they deserve to experience this?

But then there goes the reliefs of mostly few pieces of canned sardines, packs of instant  noodles, and few kilos of rice, then the ayudas or SAPs which because my wife works for the government (one of the agencies) we were not qualified to receive regardless how small her salary is.

No matter, I said. We are still lucky to have enough food on the table. Grocery and market shopping on a weekly basis, drug store visits for maintenance medicines, bank withdrawals, etc. Life continued.

The Kübler-Ross model, or the five stages of grief, postulates that those experiencing grief go through a series of five emotions: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. Which stage am I now?

I learned indeed a lot more than expected from container gardening - organic fertilizers and pesticides, hydroponics, etc., and even got noticed by one of the shows of a TV network and invited me to guest. But now that they've been shut down.......

Many questioned the priority of the government that they would think of other tasks aside from what is most urgent. I guess they are just waiting for the vaccine and do not intend to do anything else to spend the trillion of funds they now have after loans.

Covid-19 cases increasing.

Many lost their jobs and businesses. Online shopping and deliveries quadrupled. We are still capable of spending for pampering.

Covid-19 cases increasing.

No intention for mass testing. Election season is fast approaching. Are they saving the funds for their campaigns?

News of their unjust methods proliferating. Closure of a critical media outfit? Or was it closed down because of content that adds to the dumbing down of the masses? After all, that gay comedian is sickening, the big brother wannabe is obviously scripted, and the reality shows are capitalizing on the emotional baggages of contestants.

Just as how an online media provokes people with their click-bait headlines and content, do we really need media outfits who will do everything to sell their news like whores?

People may rise up to protest against incompetence. Anti-terror bill is passed.

Should we be at the anger phase right now?

A friend invited me to follow the example of others in seeking alternative sources of income, but you were still too stubborn to believe this pandemic will be staying longer.

Then it will take another friend to shake you back to reality as if saying indirectly that....This pandemic is not ending soon. You have to adjust and evolve. A lot of businesses have closed down, lots of people lost their jobs, face-to-face events are not coming back soon so that means no event coverage and less opportunities to collab with brands... other than those who switched to online selling and delivery, including online events via livestreaming.

So my eagerness coupled with my inclination towards technology having a background in IT from previous work experiences, learning livestreaming was limited only to what the free versions couldn't offer. I can't just invest on something that may soon have several other competitive likeness due to possible increase in demand- zoom, be.Live, streamyard, etc., were previously just alternatives but now they are necessities if you want to stay home and avoid getting infected.

And then there's the SONA, which further added salt to our wounds.

To be continued....and FYI, this could be a forever changing diary each time I remember to add something significant within the story.

Super Juniors Tamayo, Abadiano are now Fighting Maroons

Wazzup Pilipinas!

When the next basketball season of the University Athletics Association of the Philippines opens in a Covid-free future, the University of the Philippines Fighting Maroons will have the one-two punch of Nazareth School of National University in their line up.

UP Men’s Basketball Team manager Atty. Agaton Uvero confirmed today the transfer of 6’7 ultra talented big man Carl Tamayo and decorated floor general Gerry Abadiano to UP after the two National University (NU) Bullpups committed to make the big jump to Diliman.

Fighting Maroons head coach Bo Perasol personally met with the new recruits and happily welcomed the two high school stars to the team.

“Carl [Tamayo] and Gerry [Abadiano] will be a big part of our rebuilding efforts,” Uvero said. “We graduated six players last season and we have five more players who have just one playing year left. These two will help us secure our basketball future. We hope they will be model student-athletes of UP.”

“We are very happy to have Carl and Gerry in our team. Coming straight out of high school, they have five full playing years with the team. They will really be a big boost for our young team which is again in the process of rebuilding,” added Bo Perasol.

Tamayo and Abadiano, who graduate from high school this year, said they chose UP because they value education and know how the University makes sure its student athletes also perform well academically.

“It’s one of my dreams na makapag-aral sa UP. Education is one of my reasons for picking the school and siyempre ‘yong basketball program din,” said Tamayo, enrolled as a B Sports Science major.

“Sobrang saya kasi siyempre tulad ng sinabi ni Carl, dream school ko rin ang UP. Hindi lang ito tungkol sa paglalaro. ‘Yong napili ko rin dito is education. Kapag natapos na [ang basketball], di natin masabi ano mangyayari. Ang importante ay maganda ang tinapos namin,” said Abadiano, who is taking up BS Tourism.



Tamayo and Abadiano, who suited up for Gilas Pilipinas in the 2019 FIBA U19 World Cup, join a loaded pool of UP recruits this year. Other players who committed to UP recently are Xavier School ace Miguel Tan, Fil-Canadians Alonso Tan and Anton Eusebio, Fil-Australian center Ethan Kirkness, Fil-Am guard Sam Dowd, and Gilas Youth cadet RC Calimag.

Tamaraw Society Aims to Raise Funds for Mindoro’s Tamaraw Rangers

Wazzup Pilipinas!

Frontliners come in all shapes and sizes.

If not for the dedicated rangers of the Tamaraw Conservation Programme (TCP) and Mounts Iglit-Baco Natural Park (MIBNP), the tamaraw might well be extinct. In 1969, the global population of this elusive forest buffalo was thought to have dropped below 100.

After decades of dedicated conservation work, tamaraw numbers rose to nearly 600 and are poised for recovery. Then COVID-19 happened.

The pandemic crippled businesses and operations globally. Since March 2020, most of the Philippines has been under general or enhanced community quarantine. The country’s national parks were closed to prevent the virus from spreading.

This left Mindoro’s Iglit-Baco Natural Park with little funding, cutting off the sole source of income for 32 wardens and one ranger, all members of Mindoro’s indigenous Taw’buid, Buid and Iraya tribes. Indigenous people are particularly hard-hit by the pandemic because they lack access to relief and medical services.

To cover a years’ worth of salaries for these tamaraw frontliners, the Philippine Parks & Biodiversity NGO is forming the Tamaraw Society. Comprised of an initial 20 organizations, the society’s members shall commit to donate or raise PHP20,000 each. The funds will be disbursed through the TCP under the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR).

“Our campaign is a COVID-19 emergency response to unite concerned groups by securing much-needed salaries and allowances for the retrenched frontliners who protect them,” says PH Parks & Biodiversity representatives Nella Lomotan and Ann Dumaliang.

Eight entities have already confirmed their commitments as of July 2020: WWF-Philippines, Masungi Georeserve, Eco Explorations, D’Aboville Foundation, Planet CORA, Fund the Forest, Ecoheroes Philippines and Mr. Oscar Lopez Jr.

This complements #TogetherforTamaraws, a campaign launched in July 2020 by the Biodiversity Finance Initiative (BIOFIN) project under the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the DENR’s Biodiversity Management Bureau and MIMAROPA Regional Office.

“Exotic places like the Iglit-Baco mountain range might seem distant to most people, but they must be conserved. Rangers and wardens need and deserve our support to keep doing good conservation work,” explains Onno van den Heuvel, BIOFIN global project manager.

The park’s wardens serve as guides and porters for tourism and research expeditions while both TCP and park rangers keep poachers at bay, in case the lockdown entices some to illegally enter the park and hunt animals.

Today, only 23 TCP rangers and three MIBNP wardens are patrolling a core area of 2500 hectares inside the 106,655-hectare MIBNP, which hosts at least 480 of the world’s last 600 tamaraw.

“This pandemic should bring forth empathy and not drive us to apathy,” says Occidental Mindoro Congresswoman Josephine Ramirez-Sato. “Let us all show the spirit of Bayanihan by helping our rangers and wardens in saving the tamaraw.”

A total of 20 organizations will comprise the 20 for 20 Campaign. Organizations can help through bit.ly/TamarawSociety or by emailing phparksandbiodiversity@gmail.com.