UNSUNG HEROES
OF CONTEMPORARY PHILIPPINES
Amidst the unprecedented times of fear, pain, and uncertainty, people tend to think of a capebearing hero when battling grotesque monsters. While such superheroes dominate the realm of fiction and fantasy, this COVID-19 pandemic has reminded us that they exist, however, in the guise of scrubs, coats, or just as simple casual outfits.
GRAPHICS Christina Michaela Cambiado
THE NATIONAL
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EDITORIAL
BOARD EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Izel Praise Fernandez De La Salle University - Manila MANAGING EDITOR
Miguel Atienza Lyceum of the Philippines University - Manila ASSOCIATE EDITOR
John Benidick Flores Banyuhay, Quezon City Science High School NATIONAL NEWS EDITOR
Angela Jo Niday The NORSUnian, Negros Oriental State University COMMUNITY NEWS EDITOR
Michaela Ann Marie Razon Adamson University FEATURES EDITOR
Sofia Beatriz Cabral Polytechnic University of the Philippines - Manila
George Rivera Nueva Ecija University of Science and Technology LITERARY EDITOR
Russel Anthony Loreto Trinity Observer, Trinity University of Asia RESEARCH EDITOR
Margalo Doherty Akane Alagao The Paulinian, St. Paul University - Iloilo LAYOUT EDITOR
Camille Finuliar Mother Margherita de Brincat Catholic School
WRITERS: Rjay Castor West Visayas State University
Lance Jeremiah Tolentino De La Salle University - Manila
Paulo Angelo Fronda Batangas State University
Karisma Primero Polytechnic University of the Philippines - Manila
GRAPHICS & LAYOUT ARTISTS: Christina Michaela Cambiado The Manila Collegian, University of the Philippines - Manila
Humphrey Soriano Banyuhay, Quezon City Science High School
THE
UNSUNG HEROES OF OUR TIME KARISMA PRIMERO
Amidst the unprecedented times of fear, pain, and uncertainty, people tend to think of a cape-bearing hero when battling grotesque monsters. While such superheroes dominate the realm of fiction and fantasy, COVID-19 pandemic has reminded us that they exist, however, in the guise of scrubs, coats, or just as simple casual outfits. These modern-day heroes spend countless nights and days to save innocent lives from a wreaking havoc villain. They passionately risk their own lives without blinking an eye in the process to defend our rights, keep our society nourished, informed, healthy, and safe. With the continued dedication offered by these unsung heroes, they all deserve a raise of gratitude and honor.
It cannot go unnoticed how difficult 2020 has been in the Philippines. To this date, exhaustive events still challenge our society, especially the healthcare industry. Oftentimes, praise is given to medical professionals for their sacrifices to save lives. Needless to say that among the vulnerable community, they are the most at tangible risk of acquiring the virus. Speaking of potential exposure, media professionals also deserve our applause for their undeniable perseverance to keep us informed. Without them, the general public would not be aware of the current events, which is an essential right to their daily progress. However, at these trying times, the COVID-19 is not the only threat to survival because our well-being must also be considered too.
As a result of continued lockdowns in the country, the economic shutdown directly affects our way of living. Before any more lives are lost, human rights defenders step forward to call out help from the government in terms of health and financial support, economic security, relentless harassment, and more. Basic rights and freedom is the fruit of blood, sweat, and tears of our grateful heroes. It is the time we see the value of people who stand up for human rights in an environment where risk is visible and imminent. The transition to virtual learning showed how much effort teachers have put for their students’ education. Most of us have made drastic adjustments to cope up with remote learning. Despite the adversities, they provided cheerful support and interactive lessons just to give an ambiance of a classroom setting even on online setup. Teachers and educators help us find the open doors leading to our future by being the pillars of knowledge which we grow from. Another main challenge at this trying time is the food supply. While there is a struggle of panic
WHAT’S
INSIDE?
Overwork yet underpaid
Mental Health Workers
Bayaning Nars
Iba’t ibang Pahina
UNSUNG HEROES
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Raise Thy Flag
Peste/Utang
OF CONTEMPORARY PHILIPPINES
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Sending gratitude
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buying, the markets are kept reasonably wellstocked because of our farmers’ harvest supply. As the pandemic has complicated agriculture, their efforts prevail despite the long travel of selling. They are among the heroes of this pandemic that we must be grateful for as they play a major role in keeping the country’s economy rolling. It goes without saying that COVID-19 pandemic is one of the most challenging humanitarian crises that the country has faced to date. Luckily, we are still thriving. Thanks to our modern-day heroes who are not hesitant to take the risk and put their life in danger for every Filipino. Such a hero figure is undoubtedly complex as it represents the best qualities of our society - love for our country and fellow community. Being a hero does not imply a socially prescribed behavior or trait, because in the end everyone has their own unique way of lending a hand. Not to mention, in the fullness of time, they gave their own life as a ransom for many.
NEWS FEATURE UNDERVALUED. A 47-year-old nurse from Cainta Municipal Hospital gets P60 daily hazard pay after she died in Covid-19 last July 22. CAPTION | Paulo Fronda PHOTO | Rappler
PANDEMIC
OVERWORKED YET UNDERPAID
Nurse dies of COVID-19, gets Php60 daily hazard pay RJAY CASTOR
The COVID-19 situation in the Philippines, said to have had the longest lockdown in the world, remains to be an agony to our medical frontliners for putting them under immense pressure and pushing them beyond their capacity. Needless to say, they are risking their lives day by day, heeding the call to serve and endure the endless hours of work, so that others may heal and live. Never have their oaths as medical practitioners been so tested, much like the gruesome and heartbreaking story of a nurse that received a P60 daily hazard pay and died of COVID-19 before having it. Maria Theresa Cruz, 47-year-old nurse who had been working for the past 9 years at Cainta Municipal Hospital. Despite her health conditions that made her susceptible to COVID-19 – obesity and an enlarged heart or cardiomegaly, Cruz remained unfazed by the death-defying feats as a frontline worker.
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“Anak, hindi puwede ‘yun kasi ito yung sinumpaan kong duty, and ‘yung mga kasama ko kawawa naman, dalawa lang silang magdu-duty,” Theresa, also a mother of 3, told her eldest daughter Joie.
After testing positive for the virus and getting intubated, three days after getting her COVID-19 swab test, Theresa in an unfortunate reality died on July 22 last year. Joie, her daughter, for her mother’s hazard pay expected to get P30,000 – the hazard pay on the 60 days of risky work as promised in Department of Health (DOH) press releases. But to her surprise, her mother’s ancillary payment for toiling under dangerous conditions only costs P7,265 — her mother’s special risk allowance which was 25% of her basic salary plus a whittled down COVID-19 hazard pay amounting to a meager P60.93 a day. Joie lamented on Facebook the tragic worth of her mother’s life and revealed why there is so much anticipation on the hazard pay: “My mom was eager to receive her hazard pay because she said she was going to use it for Maxene’s Groiler Home Learning Materials... My mom died before she even got her hazard pay.” Besides the lack of government support and getting underpaid — a fact known to many, our frontliners were like ducks to water as they went down to the trenches to save lives, even if it costs theirs.
The heroes in scrubs willingly answered the call of duty while battling fear and anxiety, of course on top of constant exposure to the deadly virus.
government has shown little urgency to tackle the surge, to which Duterte defended his administration’s response to the crisis has “lacked nothing”.
“This issue is not about monetary value. This issue is about how some government agencies lie and how we take for granted and exploit our frontliners in the face of this pandemic,” the bereaved daughter noted.
Amid an exponential spike in cases of COVID-19 because of the new breed of contagious variants, many hospitals are at maximum capacity and even the medical workers are in dire need of “timeout” from the tumultuous numbers that appear to have caught the healthcare system unprepared.
When the infected and symptomatic became gravely ill, health-care practitioners like Theresa became by default the first line of defense in the enemy’s crosshairs: the nurses, doctors, medical technologists and staff in hospitals and health facilities where many life-and-death battles would be lost or won. Various health worker groups, like the Alliance of Health Workers (AHW) — a group vocal about the health workers’ plight amid the ongoing pandemic, have complained of “deceptive and divisive” salaries coupled with unsafe workplaces, as they are being forced to work longer than usual. Taking into account the numbers of health workers who have perished from the coronavirus and even as the cases overwhelmingly accelerates, the
“We forgive you, but we will never forget. We will hold you accountable. We will make sure that all appropriate actions will be taken to hold you accountable. You know who you are. Our mom’s passing will not be in vain,” said Joie, in hopes that health workers’ plight amid the ongoing pandemic be addressed. The heroism of Maria Theresa Cruz and our frontliners keeps our nation afloat. Healthcare workers are the backbone of the country, the real-life heroes who tirelessly worked to find ways to combat the threat and eventually beat the invisible nemesis. Every painful ordeal they and their families go through is another blow to the stories of the courageous workers risking their own lives to save ours.
IN THE SERVICE OF MASSES
‘BAYANING NARS’ Nurse aids homeless woman giving birth on roadside RJAY CASTOR
“Non nobis solum nati sumus” (Not for ourselves alone are we born) - A maxim manifested by a ‘Bayaning Nars’ who got shot to fame for helping a homeless woman give birth on a sidewalk in Makati City last year in August. When public transportation was suspended during the lockdown, 29-year-old nurse Mary Lorraine Pingol, despite running out of time on her work, was called to help a homeless woman deliver her baby. Jeka Mae Rausa, 31, and her newborn might have found themselves in a life-threatening situation had it not been for her heroic deed and Pingol not been nearby where the aching woman was found by barangay watchmen about to give labor. Rausa was lying down beside a pile of garbage, with her placenta still inside her. With her manful hands, Pingol kept her focus and managed to complete the entire procedure in just four minutes — though inexperienced in childbirth. “Deep inside me, I feared that if I make a mistake, it would cost the lives of the mother and child, and that will be caught on video. I can face a criminal offense and eventually lose my license,” she shared. “As for me, as long as you are capable of something, just do it, that’s what I believe in,” the heroine in white added. Unknown to many, Pingol, who wanted to “prolong her life” had already bid farewell to the nursing profession seven years ago after she was diagnosed with chronic myeloid
leukemia—an unusual type of cancer of the bone marrow and the blood. “I graduated and passed the board in 2011. I worked hard for it, then all of a sudden I got sick in 2013,” Pingol in a changed of hearts said, who then taught German and English languages, as well as caregiving courses for three years. After much contemplation on the immeasurable hardships and unfathomable sacrifices of her parents while supporting her to finish nursing, the “fighter, survivor” nurse went back on her rightful track and started working in Medicard Philippines as a company nurse since 2019. Indeed, there’s nowhere you can be that isn’t where you’re meant to be. Pingol’s regrets and realizations about her chosen career led her back to what she considers to be her true calling. “I am grateful for my work now as a company nurse because if I were in a hospital now, I may have contracted COVID-19, or worse dead, since I am immunocompromised,” Pingol said. As an epitome of pride and inspiration to the nursing profession, the Philippine Nurses Association bestowed Pingol the “Bayaning Nars” awards after she “exemplified bravery, professionalism, caring, and integrity beyond her call of duty.” Alongside Pingol in the spotlight of their “selfless commitment beyond the call of duty as front-liners amidst these trying times of health crisis” was the other 14 awardees who were recognized posthumously — among those who died in the line of duty amid the pandemic.
PHOTO | ABS-CBN News
Raise Thy Flag: Filipino nurses bring ‘pride, heroism’ across the globe RJAY CASTOR
Dressed in face masks, caps, goggles, and gowns, with their worn out eyes peering into a world threatened by an unseen- merciless enemy that they themselves fear. The Philippines has one of the largest diasporas in the world and Filipino medical frontliners abroad have consistently gone beyond their call of duty just to help and care for the people of different ages, race or nationality
to cope and eventually overcome the unprecedented public health crisis. Prior to the onset of the pandemic, Susan Castor, a 64-year-old Filipino American nurse who was once a COVID-19 positive, tirelessly made her rounds taking care of patients at a transitional care unit at a Community Medical Center in New Jersey, USA. As cases continued to surge and an overwhelming number of patients flocked their deck,
Castor, despite knowing that the patient in her unit could be positive for COVID-19 and the possibility of getting infected again, persevered to get the patient the care they needed. “Others will turn their back just because they are afraid and they don’t want to do it, but Filipinos face the challenge and help out until the end,” says Castor. “Even with COVID, we will still serve because that is our passion.”
READ MORE >
PINOY PRIDE. A Filipino nurse is seen working at a makeshift hospital in the NKTI in Quezon City on May 1, 2020
CAPTION | Xavier Son PHOTO | CNN
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GRAPHICS Christina Michaela Cambiado
FEATURE
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I had stumbled upon a certain truth that I might never be fine without seeking professional help. I have been suffering from depression since freshman year of high school. Four years later, I found the courage to sign up for my name on the psychiatric ward of Philippine General Hospital, which, by the way, is free. And it turned out, I have a mental illness. I met Dr. Hipona one week after I registered from the ward. The feeling was undescriptive. But one thing is for sure: hope is there. It lightened the room of melancholia. But note that hope is not linear; mostly it fades, rattled, crucified, or certainly unbothered. And most importantly, you must understand that persons specializing in brain disorder are not saviors and gods. Nevertheless, she is my hero, which is different from being a savior. Heroes are models of change, as they compose themselves to be an inspiration for others, while saviors are not. Dr. Hipona mostly wears a white gown; a color that resonates
Lance Tolentino
with her heart. She has ears for those who are voided from reality. She is the first person whom I told and kept my secrets with, with no obligation that I must comply with her all the time. I just plainly felt safe, like a shark free from ocean parks. The essential, if not, the greatest lesson she has taught me is to be my own hero, even though she is the hero. You know, reader, when you are having an illness like mine, it is better to remember that your hero, your psychiatrist, psychologist, or your therapist, will not constantly be beside you. Well, I did not realize this not until the pandemic came: the out-patient department of the hospital was closed except for the facilities of COVID-19 positive patients, there was no initial plan for us patients when the filtration
of virus began since it was not expected that the one week turned to be one and a half years of lockdown. So, during the first quarter of the crisis, there was no communication from her. Nothing else, but one message telling us that the ward will shift to online consultation. And I thought at that moment, I had lost hope once again. The letters a-l-o-n-e were like sacks of salt that I was carrying. I can’t even trust myself, my family, and my friends. Her ears were what I needed the most, I thought. But the pain that wounded and strangled me has embodied something: She is not the cure; I am (though there are still no strong medications to cure depression). But of course, my mind was lying. She’s there for me. I know that. Not always, but an assurance. To
me, being a hero like her is something that stereotyped her from being a robot— with people thinking that they can cure depression with a magic word. But they are wrong. This disease can also exist in anyone’s mind—even to Dr. Hipona. I wondered, sometimes, is she okay? Dr., are you? Heroes are also humans. They can silently or deliberately teach you universal concepts of strength, love, wisdom, and humanity, but we should also assure them that it’s okay to rest, to focus on themselves, to embrace the inner voices telling them to lay down their tiredness on a couch, and let the TV do the work. Even if they have chosen this path of sympathizing and empathizing with the marginalized, we must also acknowledge that their strength to serve is a manifestation of self-care.
To my modern hero, Dr. Hipona, may you keep the passion of helping the Sylvia Plaths of this generation.
How mental health workers help us Lance Tolentino
GRAPHICS Brian Axel Ycoy
According to the National Library of Medicine’s qualitative study, one-fourth (¼) of the 1879 respondents in the Philippines have experienced moderate-to-severe anxiety, and one-sixth are reported to have moderateto-severe depression and psychological impacts. There have been a rise of cases of mental illnesses in the country and across the globe. In Britain, adults who are now experiencing symptoms of depression are now twice compared to the year before the pandemic. The cases of depression leads to an increase of suicide rates. Several studies describe the effects of the pandemic in our mental well being in which a qualitative study by the National Library of Medicine stated that one-fourth of the 1879 respondents in the Philippines have experienced moderate-to-severe anxiety, and one-sixth are reported to have moderate-tosevere depression and psychological impacts. So, the solution given to this problem is the trend of letting people consult via online. I am one of them, actually, taking the internet
into an advantage as therapists, psychologists, and psychiatrists proceed in doing their jobs. Assured, suicide cases will deflate overtime. Furthermore, numerous facilities and institutions open their doors for virtual therapy, such as UPD psychosocial services (UPD Psych Serve), the De La Salle University Dasmarinas Center for Applied Psychology, and many more. The increase of online consultation in the country is easing the detrimental effect of the pandemic in our lives. Such consultations have given opportunities to people outside of the cities, or far from their respective hospitals, giving them ways of seeking help. But in the rise of the trend of online therapy, we must beware of pretentious mental health workers. An example is the pseudoscientific procedure of treating such illnesses like the faith healers wherein they used their beliefs rooted in religion to gaslight, manipulate, and guilt undiagnosed people. We need to be vigilant and cognizant to invest our trust and put ourselves out there in the sea of strangers; assess if they can truly help us or make things worse.
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FEATURE
IBA’T IBANG PAHINA PAULO FRONDA
UNANG TAGPO
Unang buklat ng pahina Ngiti ang iyong bungad Sa liwanag ng iyong kamera Kitang-kita ang galak at saya Kahit hindi mo kami nakikita Patuloy ka pa ring nagsasalita Ika’y isang huwaran Ikaw ay dapat hangaan PAGLIPAS NG ORAS
Lumipas ang ilang buwan Parang may naiiba Ilang oras ang iyong inilaan Ikaw ay iniiwasan at iniiwan Ngunit patuloy kang naghihintay sa kung sinoman Tinatago ang emosyon tulad ng kalungkutan Na tanging sarili lamang ang nakakaalam
WALANG HANGGAN
Kahit na malayo sa isa’t isa Nagbibigay kulay sa bawat buhay Kahit na may pandemya’y laging nakasalalay Laging karamay sa pasakit at lumbay Kahit na maraming reklamo ang mga mag-aaral Laging sambit “Anak, tahan na” HULI
Sa pagitan ng mga pahina Kung saan nakatala ang mga alaala Lahat ng kwento ay may katapusan Ngunit anak sa tuwing ikaw ay tatawa Sa tuwing ikaw ay mag-iisip Kung nasaan ka man sa sulok ng mundo Ako ba ay minsan mo pang naaalala?
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GRAPHICS Christina Michaela Cambiado
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THE NATIONAL GUILDER