Are they joking about Duterte’s health?

By Herbert Vego

 

WHAT is the latest medical bulletin about President Rodrigo Duterte?

There is none but he is…

“Mas malakas pa sa kalabaw,” in the words of Senator Bong Go.

Alas, who would believe that fawning statement which his idol would not agree with?

Remember, Duterte is a self-confessed victim of unique diseases, namely Barrett’s esophagus, which involves tissue lining the esophagus; and Buerger’s disease, a constriction of the blood vessels caused by accumulation of nicotine.

Sin-o sa ila ang butigon? Let us see.

In Tuesday’s cabinet meeting, Duterte said that his doctor had told  him:  “You, Duterte, refrain from drinking alcohol because your Barrett’s esophagus is nearing stage one cancer.”

But he shrugged off as “hearsay” an article in the August 19 issue of the online Toronto Star based in Toronto, Canada, “scooping” that he had flown to Singapore on August 15 for treatment of coronavirus disease (COVID-19).

A sentence in the article said, “Duterte has stated to those in his circle that he doesn’t trust Filipino doctors, and felt the Singapore Health Care system was better suited.”

Duterte did not categorically deny the story though. For he also said, “If I want to go to Singapore, I will go to Singapore. If it is a private undertaking or if I want to attend the burial of a friend or pay a visit to the wake, I will go there.”

Was it because the ambulance story could be proven?

About that ambulance plane identified and shown as a Lear Jet 60 with Serial 7CO1D7 and callsign VH-AND, it allegedly landed in Davao City  at 3:30 p.m. of Saturday (August 15)  and flew back to Singapore at 4:00 with President Duterte on board.

In response, Malacañang Press released to the streamline and social media a photograph showing the President having lunch at home in Davao with wife Honeylet holding the August 17 issue of the Manila Bulletin. Farther away coddling an unidentified baby is their daughter Veronica “Kitty,” who looks more like a child than a teenager that she is.

Well, since Singapore is only a three-hour flight away, the presumed authenticity of the picture could not disprove the rumor.

Disbelievers insinuated that the picture could have been photoshopped; they came up on Facebook with photoshopped pictures of Adolf Hitler and Elvis Preley holding the same Manila Bulletin issue.

Presidential spokesman Harry Roque interpreted his boss’ “no show” in Malacañang for almost one month now as indicator of his being “in perpetual isolation.”

Since “perpetual” means “never ending,” if that were literally true,  indi na gali magpakita pa sa madlang pipol si Presidente eh.

-oOo-

WHAT if the COVID pandemic is actually a “plandemic” hatched by China’s President Xi Jinping and the World Health Organization’s (WHO) director-general Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus?

It’s a suspicion that some post on Facebook, mainly because Dr. Ted is a biologist from Ethiopia who is said to be personally close to Xi.

To this day, there is no conclusive belief on how coronavirus originated. The only undisputed fact is that it was “born” in Wuhan, China within the last quarter of 2019.

A prevailing rumor is that the virus “escaped prematurely” from a Chinese lab; and that it came from a natural origin, probably a bat.

According to a Norwegian team of scientists, the viral genetic material could have been manipulated to produce a biological weapon. But they ran short of confirming some Americans’ suspicion that China had aimed at subjugating the world through “bioterrorism”.

While that angle might never be proven beyond doubt, the WHO seems to have succeeded more in sowing panic than in curing the disease.  Its daily odometers on rising COVID seem to propagate the idea that we have to wait for a vaccine before calming down.

Meanwhile, a seemingly irreversible economic collapse in most countries, including ours, seem to have sapped most of the wealth we have built in a lifetime.

Why could they not appease us with the assurance that COVID is not a death sentence? That is a respiratory ailment conquerable by a strong immune system and treatable by existing antibiotics?

As of yesterday, WHO’s odometer registered a total number of 24,239,212 cases worldwide in the last six months, with 827,019 of them dead. That mirrors a mortality rate of only 3.4 percent.

WHO’s numbers for the Philippines were 202,361 total cases, of which 3,137 are dead. Our mortality rate looks scary, but it is a much lower 1.5 percent of the total cases.

If COVID were incurable, then why do the vast majority recover despite the lack of hospitals to accommodate the COVID-positive?

Have we forgotten that it is basically preventable? We know that coronavirus may only be spread from a person’s saliva or phlegm in the form of droplets. This is the logic behind wearing masks, physical distancing, disinfecting hands with alcohol and washing them with soap and water.

Why the need for community quarantines and lockdowns that destroy the economy and impoverish the people when the aforementioned protocol could be good enough?

As I was saying in a previous column, records from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) show that an average of 1,500 Filipinos die of different causes daily – or 45,000 per month, or 540,000 per year.

Waiting for the availability of a vaccine before calming down could cause stress. All doctors agree that stress weakens the immune system, which is our best defense against COVID at the moment.

Yesterday, incidentally, I viewed a video-recorded message by Cebu Governor Gwen Garcia, where she cited examples of  hospital cases made to appear as COVID-caused to enable hospitals to collect from Philhealth the amounts of P140,000 for “probably COVID,” P240,000 for COVID-positive or P700,000 for “critical COVID.”

Kaya pala bangkarote ang Philhealth.

-oOo-

PATIENCE PAYS.  Let this adage apply to Ilonggos applying for electrical connection to MORE Electric and Power Corp. (MORE Power.)

MORE Power has dismantled 5,000 illegal connections or “jumpers” tapping electricity from street lines. There are around 25,000 more to be dismantled.

All of these illegal power users are being given a chance to “legalize” by enlisting as paying customers. Their sheer number is mind-boggling; makes us wonder how Ariel “Aye” Castañeda manages to accommodate them all.

Castañeda heads the distribution utility’s I-Konek department, which is tasked to convert them into paying customers.

While it’s on “first come, first served” basis, there are so many “firsts” that even they have to stretch their patience to the max. They have no alternative but to legalize for their own peace of mind. Under the law (RA 7832), power pilferage is a crime punishable by reclusion temporal (imprisonment of 12 years and 1 day to 20 years) or a fine ranging from P50,000 to P100,000, or both.

Fixers offering “connection” for a fee are not allowed. But if there are individuals who pose as fixers, you may report to MORE Power’s office or write a message to the company’s Facebook page.

-oOo-

Old broadcasters never die; they just fade away.

Pardon this corner for paraphrasing that saying about old soldiers because, like them who hold firearms, the broadcasters who hold the microphone lose “life” without it.

That is so in the case of our friends John Sapio and Don Dolido, supposedly retirees from Aksyon Radyo and Bombo Radyo, respectively. You see, they find retirement boring at this pandemic time when broadcasters are obliged to be on the frontline of public service.

They are back on the air at DYRI-Radio Mindanao Network weekdays starting today in line with the “pairing policy” imposed by station manager Ronel Sorbito. John pairs with Eric John Pamplona in “Unang Radyo, Unang Balita” at 4:00 to 6:00 a.m.; Don, with Ronel on “Targetanay sa Udto” at 12:00 noon to 3:00 p.m.

Wow, ang bigat n’yo Bay! Painum kayo ha?