Friday, October 9, 2020
2-day voting period for 2021 Palawan plebiscite approved – IATF
The government’s COVID-19 task force has approved a two-day voting period with five voters in one room at a time as a protocol for the conduct of a plebiscite in Palawan by the first quarter of 2021.
The people of Palawan are set to vote next year on the law that would divide Palawan into three provinces.
“These include the period of voting over the course of two days and five voters in the room at any particular time,” Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases spokesperson Harry Roque said in a statement.
“Registered voters between the ages of 18 and 21 years old and those who are 60 years old and above, those with immunodeficiency, comorbidity, or other health risks, and pregnant women shall be exempt from mobility restrictions for the purpose of voting,” Roque added.
The IATF also encouraged the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to devise safety mechanisms to let patients of COVID-19 exercise their right to vote.
During the onset of the quarantine restrictions in April, Comelec suspended all preparations related to the plebiscite to ratify Republic Act No. 11259, which divides Palawan into the provinces: Palawan del Norte, Palawan Oriental, and Palawan del Sur.
The new provinces will only be created upon the approval of the majority of the people of Palawan through a plebiscite conducted and supervised by the Comelec in the first quarter of 2021.
https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1345651/2-day-voting-period-for-2021-palawan-plebiscite-approved-iatf
IATF approves health, safety protocols for Palawan plebiscite
The conduct of the plebiscite to ratify the division of the province of Palawan may now finally push through in the first quarter of 2021 after the Inter-agency Task Force (IATF) for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases approved the health and safety protocols for the said event, Malacañang announced on Friday.
In a statement, presidential spokesman Harry Roque said the IATF approved on October 8 the set of protocols for the conduct of the plebiscite pursuant to Republic Act (RA) No. 11259 which provides that the plebiscite should be held on the second Monday of May, 2020, and pursuant to other relevant provisions.
According to Roque, the period of voting will be two days and only five voters will be allowed in the room to cast their votes at any particular time.
Registered voters between the ages of 18 and 21 years old and those who are 60 years old and above, those with immunodeficiency, comorbidity, or other health risks, and pregnant women shall be exempt from mobility restrictions for the purpose of voting.
Meanwhile, the IATF encouraged the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to devise safety mechanisms and procedures so confirmed COVID-19 and/or symptomatic patients can exercise their right to vote.
RA 11259, signed by President Duterte in April last year, divided the province of Palawan into Palawan del Norte, Palawan Oriental, and Palawan del Sur.
Comelec had originally set the conduct of the plebiscite to ratify the division on May 11 but it was suspended in April this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Comelec en banc agreed with the recommendation of its Law Department that the holding of a free and honest plebiscite on May 11 was impossible at the height of the spread of the COVID-19.
Comelec Commissioner Rowena Guanzon said in May that the plebiscite in Palawan will push through months from now if the province is not on lockdown or when it is safe to conduct it.
“We have to wait until it is safe to ensure that people can cast their votes without fear of contamination,” she said.
https://mb.com.ph/2020/10/09/iatf-approves-health-safety-protocols-for-palawan-plebiscite/
Love Never Fails, Or Does It?
My command is this: "Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends." John 15:12-13
"Your love was fake," the social media post read. "But the pain it caused was very real." It's a sad truth—to love, to be in relationship with another human inevitably involves experiencing pain in one way or another. To simply live in this world involves rubbing shoulders with people that we don't even like, let alone love. But, love—the kind that the Apostle Paul wrote about in the Bible book of 1 Corinthians, is the kind of love which fulfills promises, honors others and keeps peace in relationships. It is more than just a nice idea in the Bible. It is a way of life which allows God to touch other people through our lives. The Greek word for love there, is agape, which occurs when we make the decision to love. This love isn't something that you "fall into" through emotions or attraction. We may need God's help, and lots of it, to live out agape love. God always promises to help us love in this way!
In talking about this quality which we so badly need today Paul makes a big, sweeping statement about love's nature when he writes, "Love never fails." What a claim! Paul, do you really mean to say love never fails!? Never is a long time. Was Paul just being poetic, saying something that sounded really beautiful, but is completely untrue in the world of reality?
The word translated "fail" is the same word that was used of a Greek actor who messed up his lines and would be booed or hissed off the stage. So Paul is saying that on the stage of life, love is bound to win. It is certain to succeed, and that those who would practice it will never be defeated no matter how poorly they appear to be playing their part (from their vantage point) on the stage of life.
There's no poetry involved. Paul is simply stating a fact: The agape love that God can help you extend to others has power that transcends human logic, beyond an "eye for an eye and tooth for a tooth." This love transcends our human tendency to put ourselves before others. It won't fail because it is in line with what Jesus did for us on the cross. Jesus sacrificed himself for us and thus, the Christian life is a sacrificial one. This is why, when agape love is put to the test, it always succeeds in your marriage, your family relationships, and the office, shop or factory where you work.
Then Paul stresses the permanency of this love. In a real sense he proclaims the final victory of love as he writes, "Love never fails; but if there are gifts of prophecy, they will be done away; if there are tongues, they will cease; if there is knowledge it will be done away." Here Paul speaks of three spiritual gifts but says that the effect of love continues when Christ's coming shall have set aside the gifts which were given to the church.
There will come a day in your life when everything that you possess will fall away, but love will live on and on. Paul is saying that the effect of love lives far beyond our own lives. Agape love in our lives is endowed with an eternal quality since love is of God and God is love (see Romans 5:5 and 1 John 4:7).
Yes, fake love does fail. But the agape love that the Christ-follower is called to, is the strongest love of all. This love never fails. Who in your life needs love that never fails? Ask God to help you make the decision to put the good of that person before yourself today and put love to the test.
Resource reading: 1 Corinthians 13:1-13
https://www.guidelines.org/devotional/love-never-fails-or-does-it/