Bohol named UNESCO Global Geopark

by PIA-LEE BRAGO Philstar.com

MANILA — Bohol has been named as the Philippines’ first Global Geopark, joining sites and landscapes of international geological significance.

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has endorsed the addition of 18 new sites from around the world, including the Philippines, to its network of outstanding geoparks, showcasing some of the most beautiful sites of natural beauty around the globe.

The 18 new designations bring to 195 UNESCO Geoparks in 48 countries, covering a total surface area of 486,709 square kilometers, equivalent to twice the size of the United Kingdom.

“Two UNESCO member states are joining the network for the first time: New Zealand and the Philippines,” UNESCO said in a statement.

The other new Global Geoparks are Cacapava and Quarta Colonia (Brazil), Lavreotiki (Greece); Ijen, Maros Pangkep, Merangin Jambi and Raja Ampat (Indonesia); Aras and Tabas (Iran); Hakusan Tedorigawa (Japan); Mount Kinabalu (Malaysia); Waitaki Whitestone (New Zealand); Sunnhordland (Norway); Jeonbuk West Coast (Republic of Korea); Cabo Ortegal (Spain); Khorat (Thailand), and Mourne

‘We are hitting a crescendo’...

PAGE A3 orientation, or similar grounds –with cases of aggravated assault trending upward. There was a 12% increase in reported hate crimes in 2021, according to FBI numbers. Data for 2022 is currently unavailable. States, meanwhile, continue to prosecute barely a fraction of reported hate crimes cases, with Texas prosecuting just five of the “hundreds and hundreds” brought before courts there. California, Levin added, is “pretty decent… and even we’re low.”

Anti-Black, anti-gay and antiJewish attacks were among the highest recorded, though Levin says targeted groups vary by city, with Los Angeles seeing more anti-Black attacks and San Francisco, with a larger Asian population, seeing more attacks targeting the API community. And while Levin notes there have been more attacks between and among minority groups the overwhelming majority are fueled by right-wing extremists and white supremacists. With PRIDE month here, Levin called the “demonization and genocidal language” now being aimed at the LGBTQ+ community a “warning sign” and he urged greater vigilance and reporting in the runup to PRIDE related events.

“When we see residents of our state being maligned,” he said, “I don’t care what their faith or identity is. The laws of California mandate that we have to protect our civil rights.” 

Fil-Ams continue to have low vaccination...

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Philippines, told me he already got his vaccine, and he turned out to be fine, then we thought, we should be okay, too,” she added.

File photo shows Chocolate Hills in Bohol. Philstar.com photo Gullion Strangford (United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland).

Bohol Island’s Global Geopark status was announced during the 216th session of UNESCO’s executive board, which was held in Paris, France. The UN agency said Bohol Island’s geological identity has been pieced together over 150 million years, as periods of tectonic turbulence have raised the island from the ocean depths. The geopark abounds in karstic geosites such as caves, sinkholes and cone karst, including the famous cone-shaped Chocolate

Hills at the center of the geopark.

UNESCO described the Philippine area as having “scenic and varied landforms and structural features.” the first vaccine that was available (one dose Johnson & Johnson) was not that effective and those who will be vaccinated first will serve as guinea pigs to test if the vaccine works or not,” said digital creator Aireen Marquez, 46, a mother of two teenage boys. getting treatment for the virus was and has always been completely thought of.

“The Geopark features one of the six double barrier reefs in the world and the only barrier reef in Southeast Asia,” it said.

She also says most of her family members back home work as frontliners so they were required to get vaccinated, even despite personal beliefs.

UNICEF: Filipino children among most at risk from ‘overlapping’ climate hazards

by CRISTINA CHI Philstar.com

MANILA — The Philippines is among the world’s most dangerous countries in the world for children in terms of exposure to multiple types of overlapping climate and environmental shocks and stresses, according to the latest UNICEF East Asia and Pacific report, ‘Over the Tipping Point.’ At least 96% of children in the Philippines face more than three different types of “overlapping” climate-related hazards or stresses, much higher than the global average of 73% and the regional average of 89%.

This means that at least nine out of ten Filipino children are at risk of experiencing several types of climate shocks like coastal flooding, water scarcity, heatwaves, air pollution, tropical cyclones or vector-borne diseases. With climate shocks increasing in frequency, the effects of these hazards may be more amplified among children who are already vulnerable to begin with due to non-climate shocks like the COVID pandemic and the cost-of-living crisis, among others, according to UNICEF.

This leads to a “polycrisis” — “a situation with multiple nearsimultaneous shocks with strong interdependencies,” UNICEF stated in its report, which sought to measure the compounding effects of several environmental shocks in the East Acia and Pacific Region.

“Other human-driven trends amplify these effects, leading

The UNESCO Global Geopark designation, created in 2015, recognizes “geological heritage of international significance.” Geoparks serve local communities by combining the conservation with public outreach and a sustainable approach to development.   PAGE A5

Marquez, who has lived with her family in Hawthorne for more than three years when the COVID-19 pandemic was at its peak, admitted that when the vaccine became available in late 2020, they opted to wait to get vaccinated due to their exposure to a lot of misinformation on social media.

The deadly coronavirus, caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus or COVID-19, wrought havoc on mankind at the onset of 2020. Millions of people were affected and perished due to the lack of adequate and appropriate information about this infectious disease.

Originally identified in China in 2019, the virus is characterized by symptoms, including fever and cough, and is capable of progressing to severe respiratory symptoms and in some cases death, especially in older people and those with underlying medical conditions.

The World Health Organization (WHO), after more than 100,000 cases in 114 countries and over 4,200 deaths, declared COVID-19 a pandemic on March 11, 2020.

At the beginning of the pandemic, WHO told the public that the best way to prevent and slow down transmission was to be well informed about the disease and how the virus spreads. People were asked to protect themselves and others from infection by staying at least one meter apart from others, wearing a properly fitted mask, and washing your hands or using an alcohol-based rub frequently.

"My family are mostly soldiers, nurses, lawyers, police officers and doctors. They interact with the public that's why they need to be vaccinated. Everybody seemed to be fine after getting the vaccine so all our fears about the effectiveness of the vaccines eventually faded off,” said Marquez.

But she says their vaccine hesitancy also did not last that long as they were left with no choice but to get jabbed.

“My husband’s employer required all employees to have the vaccine so when he went to get his vaccine, me and my sons also got ours,” she recalled.

The WHO defines vaccine hesitancy as the delay in the acceptance, or blunt refusal of, vaccines.

The United Nations-sanctioned agency also described vaccine hesitancy as one of the top 10 threats to global health in 2019. Conversely, vaccine confidence relates to individuals’ beliefs that vaccines are effective and safe.

Marquez, meanwhile, points out that being a frequent traveler, full vaccination is also a must.

“We have no choice but to comply with the government’s travel rules. We always visit our parents in the Philippines,” she added.

“I heard some myths surrounding the COVID-19, like the vaccine affecting reproductive system and menstrual cycle, but my own judgment as a parent and as a person in the medical field has almost always prevailed,” said David, pointing out that her family are all vaccinated, especially her children.

Data from the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health Services showed that as of April 2023, Asian American children got the highest vaccination rate at 84.1% and 81.5% for 5+ years old and 12+ years old, respectively.

“I am aware that like any other vaccines and some medicines, there could be a lot of side effects,” explained David, who is also certified corrections health care professional and psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner.

Being in the medical field for more than 17 years, David, a mother of three children with ages 7-10 years old, pointed out that, “I always see to it that I educate my family especially my children (with regard to COVID-19 vaccination and treatment).”

David, 41, also believes that her long-time experience as a health worker has helped her become more discerning about COVID-19 related issues.

“I always believe in the power of science and medicine,” she added.

A loss of trust in health authorities has been a reported key determinant of vaccine confidence, with misconceptions about vaccine safety being among the most common reasons for low confidence in vaccines.

According

to the study “Social Media Use and Misinformation

Among Asian Americans During COVID-19” by Stella K. Chong, Shahmir H. Ali, Lan N. Ðoàn, Stella S. Yi, Chau Trinh-Shevrin and Simona C. Kwon, social media has been crucial for seeking and communicating COVID-19 information.

However, it has also promulgated misinformation, which is particularly concerning among Asian Americans, including Filipino Americans, who may rely on in-language information and utilize social media platforms to connect to Asia-based networks.

This study noted that Asian American social networks are distinct from other communities. These networks may include family in other Asian countries and include dissemination of non-English information on social media.

In the same study, it showed that Asian Americans, who comprise 5.5% of the U.S. population are leading users of internet and mobile technologies, evidenced through higher ownership of smartphones, laptops, and wireless networks.

Approximately 94% of Asian American households, the study stated, own a smartphone in the U.S, which increases access to the internet and social media for entertainment, information seeking, and social connectedness.

In particular, Asian Americans (many of whom are first generation, foreign-born immigrants) utilize the internet and social media to seek and receive up-to-date health information.

Based on a Pew Research Center report, social media also allows for cross-national social connectedness to family and friends in home countries, and the efficacious transfer of health, political, economic-related information in native languages.

True to this report’s findings, Marquez says her constant communication with immediate family in the Philippines through social media platforms like Facebook also swayed them against getting immunized early.

“Back home in the Philippines, when my brother, a member of the Armed Forces in the

It was noted that despite the prevalent use of social media among Asian Americans including Filipino Americans, there has been limited research on Asian Americans' pattern of social media use by age, gender, and socioeconomic status. Frequently, Asian Americans are not included in national datasets on social media use and engagement.

The lack of disaggregated data on Asian Americans reportedly took its toll on a young Filipino American adult whose naviety on COVID-19 misinformation cost her her job.

A 25-year old Fil-Am, based in Downtown LA, who requested anonymity, used to work as a medical assistant at a physical therapy clinic in Torrance. However, she lost her job for refusing to be vaccinated due to a fear of unwarranted side effects of the COVID vaccine.

Prior to heightened pandemic scare, Mary (not her real name), said she spent most of her time on various social media apps and platforms. Her apparent failure to decipher a misinformation from a fact about COVID-19, led her to a more unfortunate “side effect."

“It’s really frustrating that I opted to get fired than to get the vaccine which efficacy, I believe at that time, had yet to be fully established. I was so scared that I might not be able to bear another child if I get that antiCOVID shot,” said Mary, who has a 4-year-old daughter.

Charles Lawrence Chamorro, an administrator of the popular Southern California (SoCal) Pinoys social media group, is adamant and more discerning of the information being disseminated on these social media platforms.

“I got vaccinated. I was not afraid and did not get affected by social media posts,” Chamorro remarksed when asked if his active engagement in social media affected his discretion to take the COVID-19 vaccine.

Distrust in vaccine efficacy and safety

Despite extensive exposure to misinformation on social media, some middle-aged Filipino Americans, especially those who work in the medical field, are sharing different perspectives.

Though Tatum David, a registered nurse (RN) at Liberty Healthcare, acknowledgeed the existence of “myths” around COVID-19, she said her family’s judgment with regard to taking any vaccine, medication and

Husband and wife Jerome and Jam Libiran, both RNs from Santa Clarita, were among the first to take chances on the COVID-19 vaccine.

Jam, 33, who works at a dermatology clinic in Santa Monica, and Jerome, an RN at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center and Kaiser Permanente Thrive, know that during those trying times, they need to completely trust the system.

“The moment the vaccine became available for frontliners, we didn’t hesitate to grab the opportunity to be protected as we know we would need it to have a fighting chance to survive the virus, just in case, we’ll catch it. We didn’t hesitate to get the vaccine because we trust the process. We’re briefed on how it has been tested and proven effective. We believe that it will be our first line of defense during the battle of COVID,” the couple, who has a two-year old son, said.

Jerome recalls that during the onset of the pandemic, they would have monthly staff meetings on new protocols and updates on COVID-related cases.

“These regular updates and information sharing from the hospital management on the vaccines’ development have greatly helped us in appreciating the importance of being protected from the virus,” he noted.

Of the 4.2 million Filipino Americans in the United States, around 506,000 are based in Los Angeles, according to the 2019 data of Washington-based polling firm Pew Research Center (PRC).

An estimated 4%, or about 150,000, of nurses in the U.S. are Filipino.

An earlier study showed that over 30% of the 205 nurses who have died are Filipino American, though the group makes up just 4% of the nursing workforce. In California, where about 20% of nurses identify as Filipino, they account for 11 of the 16 COVID-19 deaths in the profession, or nearly 70%, according to the California Nurses Association.

Among health care workers as a whole, the outsized impact of the virus on Filipino Americans is likely much greater.

In California where more