More news about how the COVID-19 pandemic in the Philippines is being handled by the public and the government.
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| https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1211121 |
The City Tourism Operations Office (CTOO) announced Wednesday that various international flights will be revived in the city in October.In an interview, CTOO officer-in-charge Jennifer Romero said the Davao-Jinjiang and the Davao-Hong Kong direct flights will resume on Oct. 8 and Oct. 29, respectively.Romero said Royal Air will start carrying Davao-Hong Kong flights and vice versa, while Xiamen Air will resume offering the Davao-Jinjiang direct flights.“Both air routes will be scheduled twice a week with the Davao-Hong Kong flight set on Thursday and Sunday and the Davao-Jinjiang on Wednesday and Sunday,” she said.Romero hopes the revival of direct flights to Hong Kong and Jinjiang will boost the tourism sector in the city to recover the rate of tourist arrivals lost during the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic.Aside from direct flights to Hong Kong and Jinjiang, the Davao-Singapore direct flight, which resumed in October last year, will also continue under Scoot as parent company Singapore Airlines will end operations of the same flight on Oct. 31.
That is good for tourism.
It is a well known fact that closing schools messed up student's learning not just in the Philippines but all around the world. But now the teachers are at the forefront of recovering learning abilities.
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| https://mb.com.ph/2023/10/5/teachers-at-the-forefront-of-learning-recovery |
There is no denying how the pandemic changed and continues to change the landscape of education across the globe.
In the Philippines, the pandemic presented both challenges and opportunities for teaching and learning.
Being on the frontlines, the pandemic was also a very challenging time for teachers.
It forced them to redefine their ways of teaching so their students could adapt to distance learning modalities such as modular, online, and blended learning.
Amid the threat of the pandemic, teachers were tasked to ensure learning continuity.
As the world shifts back to normalcy post-pandemic, teachers face another challenge: learning recovery.
In celebration of World Teachers’ Day (WTD) on Oct. 5, the Manila Bulletin pays tribute to teachers who experienced a lot of difficulties to ensure that learning will continue even though schools were shut down due to the threat of the pandemic.
For some of the teachers at De Mesa Elementary located in Brgy. San Gregorio Municipality of Alaminos, Province of Laguna, while the pandemic paved the way for new teaching methods, a greater focus should be given to the learning recovery of the students.
“The pandemic had a devastating impact on learning,” said Grade 2 adviser Grace Maleon–Endriga.
To ensure learning would continue despite the suspension of face-to-face classes, Endriga explained that the school crafted the Learning Recovery Plan (LRP), which served as a guide in “conducting various types of activities, interventions, and remediation to address the learning gaps brought by the pandemic.”
While implementing the LRP, teachers expected that it would be hard for the students to transition from distance learning to face-to-face learning. However, through the cooperation of the school stakeholders, interventions were given to students to help close learning gaps and difficulties during the pandemic.
Lester Buera, a Grade 5 adviser, finds using technology effective when it comes to learning recovery.
Despite the threat of the pandemic, teachers were considered frontline workers tasked with ensuring the continuity of education for their students.
For Gerlie Castillo, a Grade 3 adviser, the emotional well-being of the students was also of utmost priority.
“Educators play a critical role in the emotional well-being of their students and are often the first point of contact for students experiencing mental health issues,” she said. “Teachers must receive proper training and education on mental health issues so that they can be aware of students facing difficulties,” she added.
Castillo noted that teachers should “foster positive relationships with their students, create classroom environments more conducive to learning, and meet students' developmental, emotional, and academic needs to cope with the new socialization in their environment.”
With the opening of a new school year, teachers underscored the need to assess the student's learning capability and implement appropriate interventions to ensure learning recovery.
For Endriga, learning assessment is crucial to address learning gaps among students. She explained that learning assessment is a crucial factor in evaluating students' progress and learning.
If they messed it up during the pandemic how can they be trusted to fix it now?
Marcos continues to repeat himself. How many times will he say that the pandemic taught us not to rely on imports?
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| https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1842197/pandemic-taught-us-not-to-rely-on-importation-says-marcos |
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said on Friday that the COVID-19 pandemic taught the Philippines that it should not rely on importation.
Marcos, the concurrent Agriculture Secretary, made this remark as he was distributing various government assistance to the local government of Tangalan, Aklan.
(We learned during the pandemic when we could not import. We could not import because there were no available ships.)
Marcos reiterated that the government is actively trying to improve local agricultural production, which includes crop production, fishing, and livestock breeding.
(We got too used to importation. Now, the food supply is in a tight spot, which is why we were forced to import expensive food. That is why we will change that. We will change that. What we will do is strengthen the agriculture sector.)
To recall, Marcos had approved a series of sugar, fish, and rice imports since the beginning of the year.
I think the whole world learned this as supply chain issues caused shortages and inflation globally.
One foreigner survived the pandemic in the Philippines by growing coffee in his backyard.
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| https://www.asiamediacentre.org.nz/features/a-philippines-coffee-journey/ |
It was February 2020 when I arrived in the Philippines to be with my Filipino wife. Little did I know that a nationwide lockdown would be imposed that would be extended for more than a year, becoming one of the world’s longest and strictest. Unable to return home to Christchurch, my wife and I decided to settle in Indang, Cavite--- a provincial town about two hours away from Manila - to avoid the COVID-19 infections ravaging the capital.
With nothing to do during the pandemic, I discovered some old coffee trees while exploring the farm we lived on. I felt lucky to see up close red coffee cherries sprouting on trees ready for harvest. It was only then I was reminded that the Philippines is a major coffee-producing country and one of the few that grow all four varieties of beans - Arabica, Robusta, Excelsa, and Liberica.
To keep my sanity during the pandemic, I did my own research on the harvest and processing of coffee. It was mostly a solo venture that became an everyday routine. Early in the morning, I picked the cherries, before I washed and dried them in the sun in makeshift drying beds. In the afternoon, I manually took off the skin of the green beans, and “roasted” batches in a wok. I ground up the roasted beans, brewed them, and the result : An authentic DIY bean-to-cup coffee experience!
My personal hands-on experience with coffee made me realise the complex science behind it, given the many bean defects that I produced. I searched on where to get proper training on coffee farming and processing and got in touch with the Cavite State University’s National Coffee Research, Development, and Extensions Center (NCRDEC)--- the Philippines’ leading institution on coffee research and innovation. The NCRDEC provided me with the practical knowledge and training on the proper way of harvesting and processing coffee, which curtailed my trial-and-error experiments that produced bad coffee.
After a year of learning about coffee, I was able to produce better-quality single origin beans. The validation came when my coffee won awards during the 2022 Regional Coffee Cupping Competition in Cavite--- First place in the Robusta category, Second Place in the Excelsa Category, and First Place in the Coffee Blend Category.
Those successes were the motivation to pursue more training on the various fields of coffee: Post-Harvest Processing from the NCRDEC, Roasting Skills from the UCC Coffee Academy, and Barista Training from the Global Coffee School. I was also fortunate to be granted scholarships to participate in two courses accredited by the US-based Specialty Coffee Association (SCA): Green Coffee and Sensory Skills, and Basic Agronomy and Nursery Management sponsored by the Barista & Coffee Academy of Asia (BCAA) and PhilCafe.
That's better than siting around doing nothing.
Assumption College is celebrating its first Face-to-face homecoming since the pandemic began.
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| https://www.cnnphilippines.com/lifestyle/2023/10/9/assumption-college-first-f2f-velada-homecoming-since-pandemic.html |
Assumption College San Lorenzo will celebrate its 131st year on October 14-15, 2023 with this year’s traditional Old Girls Day 2023, the Assumption community’s annual homecoming event, and its first face-to-face gathering since the pandemic started, which calls for “A Celebration,” coincidentally this year’s theme of the event. The much-awaited event is a strong tradition in the Assumption community and celebrates the gift of friendship, love, and life among the alumnae and among the jubilarians celebrating their milestones this year.
This year’s host will be the Silver Jubilarians, Assumption College High School Batch 1998, whose tagline ACcelerate98, aims to give back to the community by ACcelerating education, moving forward from the pandemic.
According to Batch 1998, “Among the worst impacts of the pandemic in the Philippines is the deterioration of our education system. With the funds raised by ACcelerate98, it is our hope to accelerate the recovery of our education system, starting with the eight (8) Assumption mission schools nationwide, to help our children get back on track to maximize their potential,”
They are going to raise funds as if that will help the basically irreparable Philippine education system.
The number of new COVID-19 cases was up very slightly during the first week of October.
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| https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2023/10/10/2302666/philippines-sees-1264-new-covid-19-cases-first-week-october |
The Department of Health said Tuesday that there were 1,264 additional COVID-19 cases recorded in the past week.
In a bulletin, the DOH said an average of 181 cases were recorded daily from October 2 to 8. The agency noted that this average was 3% higher compared to the cases reported from September 25 to October 1.
Among the additional cases, 12 had severe and critical illnesses.
There were 272 patients in severe and critical conditions, constituting 9% of the total COVID-19 admissions in the country.
The Philippines had 3,062 active COVID-19 cases as of Monday. More than 4 million Filipinos have recovered from COVID-19 since the pandemic started in 2020.
According to data from the health department, only 12.2% of the 1,524 beds in intensive care units were utilized, and 18.4% of the 12,496 non-ICU beds were occupied.
The DOH also confirmed six deaths in the past week, one of which occurred in the last two weeks. The death toll from COVID-19 in the Philippines reached 66,702.
Over 78 million Filipinos have received their coronavirus vaccines. However, only 23 million have gotten booster shots.
It's still hardly anything to worry about.
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