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Monday-Tuesday I Mar. 4-5, 2013
Opinion
BusinessWeek M I N DA N A O
YOUR LOCAL ONLINE BUSINESS PAPER
www.businessweekmindanao.com
BusinessWeek M I N DA N A O
YOUR LOCAL ONLINE BUSINESS PAPER
www.businessweekmindanao.com
The BusinessWeek Mindanao is published by BusinessWeek Mindanao Advertising and Promotions every Monday, Wednesday and Friday of the week with office address at Tanleh Building, Abellanosa, Cagayan de Oro City. It is registered with the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), Region 10 with Certificate No. 00875701, and with Business Permit No. 2013-10946, TIN No. 946-396-807 – Non VAT. Tel. Nos.: (088)8578447, 74-5380, 0923-432-0687, 0917-7121424
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Viral infections and self care measures TWO days ago, I had the great privilege of being drawn into a discussion by a group of future and promising Doctors. They were to do community work, where they have to immerse themselves and help out the barangay health workers in giving lectures and information to the residents of a given community. I suggested that on top of giving out information on the basics of common illnesses, and prevention, that they also teach them self- care measures. These are easy to do, effective, inexpensive, doable things that can impact one’s day to day living . A viral infection can affect anyone. It is no respecter of persons, which means it can affect the very young and the very old, male and female, rich or poor, educated or not. But, a viral infection has more pronounced effects on the extremes of ages (infants and the elderly), those who are immune-compromised (like those with the Big C, Diabetics), and those who live in very closed communities dormitories, jails, orphanages, home for the aged). In far flung communities where parents live with their children and grandchildren and a lot more of relatives (considering that Filipinos are a close knit family), it is very easy for a viral infection affecting one, to spread out and infect the rest of the family members or those
Health in Focus
The End of the World THINK a minute… Recently the biggest-selling book in America was about the end of the world. Sometimes watching the world’s news is like watching a horror movie, isn’t it? You know that the 20th century had more people killed in wars than all the other centuries of history combined! Besides all the wars, we’re seeing an increase in many kinds of natural disasters like earthquakes, floods, and hurricanes; plus totally new weather patterns that never existed before such as El Nino and La Nina. Then, there are the terrible diseases, plagues, and new mystery viruses. AIDS, the worst disease in history, is killing millions of people worldwide with still no cure
so it will be sudden and here before we know it. But Jesus explained it’s because He loves us so much that He’s waited as long as He can for more of us to choose to receive His gift of forgiveness and eternal life, before it’s too late! But if you know the world’s Judge personally as your friend, then His return is good news because you’re going home with Him to live forever in paradise, just as He promised. That morning of September 11, those people who went to work at the World Trade Center in New York had no idea they would never see their family again. And neither do we know if we’ll live to see tomorrow. Jesus made it clear that we all live forever—either in heaven or
Think a minute
JHAN TIAFAU HURST
hell. The choice is ours. So why not ask Jesus to forgive you and take charge of your life every day? Then you’ll have absolutely nothing to fear—neither your sudden death, nor even the end of the world. Just think a minute…
A fair warning to wayward bankers
DURA lex sed lex. A former president of a closed rural bank learned this well-known legal adage the hard way after the Supreme Court declared his earlier conviction for estafa through falsification “final and executory.” Hilario P. Soriano, former Chairman/President of the closed Rural Bank of San Miguel (Bulacan), had been convicted of estafa through falsification— in a case filed by his own brother Antonio— before the Manila Regional Trial Court. Instead of applying for probation, Soriano appealed his conviction before the CA, which affirmed the conviction. When said conviction was appealed before the Supreme Court, the conviction was again reaffirmed. The SC decision became final and executory on September 17, 2012. Soriano is now imprisoned at the New Bilibid Prisons in Muntinlupa City, where he is serving a term of four months to four years. He was
DR. MARY JEAN LORECHE
within the living quarters. Since transmission can be through droplets, close contacts, or ingestion of contaminated water and food, teaching them the basics of prevention, self –care remedies, and when to seek immediate consultation plays a central role. These simple guidelines are as applicable to the barangays and to us living in the highly urbanized areas. Antibiotics has no place in viral infections, unless there is a secondary bacterial infection. It is self- limiting, meaning, it should resolve on its own after 3-5 days. Where there is difficulty taking in f luids or food, weakness, persistent vomiting or nausea, changes in behaviour, or signs of dehydration (for intestinal flu), or, when the fever persists after 2 days, or, when the patient affected has other illnesses like a maligloreche/PAGE 7
in sight! In Africa, entire towns have no adults because they’ve all died from AIDS, so just babies and children are left to survive alone. According to a new United Nations report, we now have the worst world hunger and famine in history. Hundreds of millions are starving with countless thousands dying every day. You know that Jesus Christ told us that all these things would happen and that they’re like labor pains just before a mother gives birth. These terrible things are the sign that He’s getting ready to come back. Only this time, He’s coming to judge all this world’s evil and wrong. Jesus said we can’t know the exact day of His return,
OK, let’s take it easy. What I mean is that in spite of our best efforts, we continue to be haunted by our tendency to say one thing yet do another. It’s a predicament we all are subject to. Hypocrisy and deception can become very attractive to us because they offer us some instant if false relief or convenience or advantage. Sometimes there are good reasons for playing a game similar to hypocrisy. That’s when we need to be discreet, tactful and prudent. This would not be hypocrisy. In other cases, it is simply malice and pure deception that we are playing. The latter is what we should try to avoid. Christ’s injunction to his disciples to do and observe all things the scribes and Pharisees were saying, but not to follow their example, because they preach but they do not practice what they preach (cfr Mt 23,1-2),
also ordered to pay a fine of P5,000. But his woes wont end there. Soriano is actually facing a slew of estafa cases filed by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas. The criminal cases stemmed from his “fraudulent misappropriation” of the proceeds of the Rural Bank of San Miguel’s emergency loans from the BSP—prior to the bank’s declaration of a bank holiday. Investigation conducted by the BSP’s Office of Special Investigation, headed by Atty. Gene Penaco, revealed that part of the emergency loan proceeds eventually ended up in Soriano’s Valle Verde residence. In a decision dated April 3, 2007, the Malolos Regional Trial Court Branch 11 convicted Soriano on all four counts of estafa filed by the BSP. He was sentenced to suffer imprisonment of 10 to 14 years for each count, and to pay the BSP and co-complainant Philippine Deposit Insurance Corporation an approximate
amount of P33.6 million. The following year, another Malolos RTC branch convicted Soriano of one count of estafa. The Malolos RTC Branch 15 sentenced the former rural bank president to imprisonment of 10 to 12 years. He was also ordered to pay the BSP the amount of P360,000. Soriano then appealed both convictions before the Court of Appeals (CA). However the appellate court affirmed both convictions. The CA also modified the judgment of the earlier conviction: Soriano was sentenced to suffer imprisonment of four to 20 years—instead of 10 to 14 years—for each count. Soriano has elevated both convictions before the Supreme Court, which has yet to resolve both appeals. In the meantime, the BSP had filed six more criminal cases of the same nature against Soriano. The estafa cases, filed in 2000, are now pending before the RTC-Malolos Branches 17 and 83. This should serve as fair
We are all hypocrites
continues to be effective up to now. We need to exert continuing effort to avoid falling into this predicament. But, of course, given our weakened and wounded human condition, we cannot deny that sometimes, and even many times, we can fall into the ways of the scribes and Pharisees. Just the same, we can still get God’s good graces by doing the first part of the injunction, that is, to continue teaching and preaching the good news even if our behavior is not yet at par to what we are preaching. As long as we striving to close the gap between our words and our deeds, I suppose things would just be all right. After all, no matter how much we try, things can always be better. There’s no such state of perfection in this life, in our thoughts, words and deeds that cannot be improved further. So, let’s
just be game. Otherwise, we would all be saints here in this life, since there would be no more sin if we say things cannot be improved anymore. But the immediate, very obvious reality tells us otherwise. What is important is that we just try our best to conform our actions to our words and intentions, and our intentions conformed to God’s will. This is what is called consistency or integrity or unity of life, a goal that we have pursue everyday, making the relevant plans that consider our usual problems and difficulties in this regard and the means we need to precisely reach that goal. We need to remember that for us to be able to do this, we need to be with God, to have a certain intimacy with him where we can truly have a heart-to-heart conversation with him. That’s when we can manage to be sincere
Speaking out
IGNACIO BUNYE
warning to wayward bank officers who violate their fiduciary responsibility that requires high standards of integrity and performance. *** Note: My book, Central Banking for Every Juan and Maria, is now available at the following outlets: Fully Booked – Bonifacio Global City, Powerplant Mall (Rockwell), Katipunan. Power Books – Alabang Town Center, Greenbelt 4, Serendra. National Book Store – Greenbelt 1, Powerplant Mall (Rockwell), Cash and Carry, Market Market, SM Mega Mall.
Hints and traces
FR. ROY CIMAGALA
and authentic. Let’s remember that truthfulness is always a matter of having a relation with God, because God in the first place is the Truth himself, the creator of the universe and therefore of reality itself. We can never be truthful just by ourselves, that is, without God, no matter how much we profess to be honest. Especially in some difficult situations, when we are strongly tempted to twists cimagala/PAGE 7