Monday, April 5, 2021
Why Should We Trust God?
Know therefore that the Lord your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commands. Deuteronomy 7:9
A dad took his son, then about five years old, and lifted him to the top of the wall about 42 inches off the ground. Then he said, “Now, son, jump and I’ll catch you!” The little boy looked down and hesitated. “Come on, jump! I’ll catch you.” The lad looked into the face of his father and then jumped, but as he did so the dad withdrew his arms and the little boy landed in a crumpled heap on the ground—shocked, and crying. “Look,” said the dad, “this is to teach you an important lesson—you can never trust anybody, ever, not even me. Don’t forget it.”
Unquestionably that boy was old enough to remember this horrible stunt—for the rest of his life—but what a lesson it taught. Is it any wonder that when some think of God as a Father, they are completely uncertain that He will be there for them in the time of need. Some 3,000 years ago Moses wrote, “God is not a man, that he should lie, nor a son of man, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill?” (Number 23:19).
Absentee dads are plentiful today, along with deadbeat dads who demonstrate by their actions that they are not to be taken seriously and can’t be counted on to be there when a youngster needs his dad. But is that also true of God, whom Scripture calls a father?
Moses, the one who first told us that God is not a man who breaks promises, wrote, “…the Lord your God, he is the faithful God, keeping His covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love and keep His commandments” (Deuteronomy 7:9).
To understand the importance of this in relationship to your own life, you need to know something of the power of a covenant—different from a contract which has limited liability. Going back some 6000 years in history, you find covenants between people—not much different from the legal contracts we use today—with one very important difference. There were two kinds of covenants—one made between equals and the other made by two individuals whose resources and authority were vastly different—say between a Sovereign or a powerful landowner with lots of money and one of his subjects—a poor person with limited resources.
That’s the kind of covenant God makes with us—one that cannot be broken. Moses calls Him “the faithful God” and describes what He promises as a “covenant of love.” Only a loving Father who cares about you agrees to bless you—something the New Testament calls grace—simply because you are His child.
The first mention of the word love in the Bible is that of a Father’s love for his son: the father was Abraham, and the son was Isaac. God told Abraham that He wanted Him to present his son—his only son—“whom you love” as a sacrifice.
God is faithful in keeping covenant with His children, said Moses, for a thousand generations. If a generation is roughly 50 years, then 1000 generations would be for 50,000 years—and that should be long enough for any of us. His point is that you can count on God to honor the promises of His Word. You can count on Him to be there for you—not to say, “Jump, and I’ll catch you” and then let you fall in a heap, but one whose everlasting arms are beneath you, whose strong hands will catch you, and who will lift you from the miry clay of life and put your feet on the solid rock.
Of one thing you can be certain. You can count on a loving Father who sent His Son to demonstrate His love and concern.
Resource reading: Genesis 22:1-18
https://www.guidelines.org/devotional/why-should-we-trust-god/
Former Press Secretary, MB EIC Jun Icban writes 30
Former Press Secretary and veteran newsman Crispulo Julio “Jun” Icban, Jr. has died at the age of 85.
Icban was editor-in-chief for the last 18 years, and devoted 47 years of his career in journalism to the Manila Bulletin.
“He will be missed. We have always looked up to him for his guidance in these times of transformation. The men and women of Manila Bulletin mourn the loss of a pillar in Philippine journalism,” said Dr. Emilio C. Yap III, president and vice chairman of the Manila Bulletin.
Icban was named press secretary by President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo in 2010.
Icban graduated magna cum laude from the University of the Philippines, with a Bachelor of Arts in English degree in 1954.
While in UP, he was editor-in-chief of the Philippine Collegian from 1953 to 1954.
He also took up a Master of Arts in Journalism course at the Syracuse University, New York State, USA in 1958 on Fulbright and Smith-Mundt grants.
From 1965 to 1966, Icban was a Nieman fellow at Harvard University in Massachusetts.
His career in journalism started in 1954 when he joined the Manila Times as an editorial assistant, as a reporter covering the Foreign Affairs beat, and as editorial writer.
He was named news editor in 1968 up to 1972 when the paper was closed down due to the imposition of martial law.
He worked as an editorial consultant at the Manila Bulletin in 1974 and was later named news editor.
In 2003, he was appointed editor-in-chief of the Manila Bulletin.
In 2020, he was named concurrent publisher and editor-in-chief.
Icban, a fatherly figure in the Manila Bulletin’s Central News Desk, was also chairman of Samahang Plaridel, an association of Philippine Journalists, and of the Campampangan in Media.
His remains will be cremated on Tuesday, April 6, 2021.
A two-day wake will be held at Loyola Commonwealth from April 7 to 8.
He was born on Aug. 3, 1935 in Tondo, Manila to Crispulo Manansala Icban of Lubao, Pampanga, and Mercedes Villanueva Julio of Pura, Tarlac.
He is married to Zenaida Pamintuan Icban with whom he has six children—Susan Icban Amores, Mercedes Icban Hermogenes, Crispulo Icban III, David Icban, Zenaida Flor Icban, and Michael Ben Icban.
https://mb.com.ph/2021/04/05/former-press-secretary-mb-eic-jun-icban-writes-30/
Technical glitches mar livestream of Gesmundo’s oathtaking as new Chief Justice
SC postpones oral arguments on Anti-Terrorism Act as magistrates consider online session
Supreme Court Associate Justice Alexander Gesmundo officially took his oath on Monday as the 27th chief justice of the high court, in a ceremony that highlighted the need to improve the judiciary’s information and communications technology (ICT) infrastructure.
Newly-appointed Chief Justice Alexander Gesmundo tentatively scheduled to take his oath at 4pm today, according to SCPIO. SC source says he will take his oath before Acting CJ/Senior Associate Justice Estela Perlas-Bernabe. https://t.co/UCv0waI9oV
— Mike Navallo (@mikenavallo) April 5, 2021
Gesmundo took his oath before Senior Associate Justice Estela Perlas-Bernabe, who had been the acting top magistrate since former Chief Justice Diosdado Peralta’s retirement took effect Saturday, March 27.
Also present during his oath taking was Associate Justice Marvic Leonen.
All the other magistrates attended the ceremony via Zoom, according to SC spokesperson Brian Keith Hosaka.
Gesmundo’s family also joined via Zoom.
The Supreme Court and other courts in Metro Manila, Bulacan, Rizal, Cavite and Laguna are still on lockdown following the extension of the enhanced community quarantine protocol in the area.
On Monday, it also suspended yet again oral arguments on petitions questioning the Anti-Terrorism Act to 2 weeks after the ECQ is lifted.
TECHNICAL GLITCHES
But the oathtaking ceremony, which was livestreamed on the high court's YouTube account, encountered technical difficulties.
The video froze multiple times, with some justices were overheard talking about the issue.
The SC Public Information Office later uploaded a full video of the 5-minute ceremony.
Gesmundo earlier said during his interview with the Judicial and Bar Council that one of his priorities is to develop the Judiciary's ICT infrastructure.
The high court, during the time of ousted Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno, hired Helen Macasaet as consultant in 2013 to work on the judiciary’s Enterprise Information Systems Plan (EISP) and other related computerization and ICT projects. Among her tasks was to automate 2,700 courts nationwide.
But her contract, which ended in November 2017, was later voided by the Supreme Court in 2019 supposedly for violating the Procurement Law, because it did not go through public bidding. She was supposedly paid allegedly excessive fees.
A former court official, lawyer Carlos Garay, who was the acting chief of the SC Management Information Systems Office (MISO), told lawmakers in February 2018 that there was no need to hire an ICT consultant and that despite Macasaet’s hiring, the effects were “not substantial” in terms of improving the efficiency of the judiciary’s IT system.
The hiring of Macasaet was among the issues raised against Sereno in the attempt to impeach her at the House of Representatives.
She was later ousted through a quo warranto petition in an 8-6 vote by her fellow-magistrates in 2018.
In the midst of the raging pandemic last year, the Supreme Court under Chief Justice Peralta fast-tracked the rollout of videoconferencing in hearings which resulted in 222,767 videoconference hearings from May 4, 2020 to March 12, 2021, with a success rate of 88%.
Other aspects of court processes also need to be digitized.
Former Supreme Court spokesperson Theodore Te said there needs to be a culture shift, aside from upgrades in the infrastructure.
“The SC itself needs to see that it can work online and abandon/modify some traditions that no longer work and cannot work in an online setting,” he told ABS-CBN News.
“Filing and payment of fees including bail would be topmost--people are using QR codes already; the court should be doing that already,” he explained.
SC CONSIDERING ORAL ARGUMENTS ON ANTI-TERROR LAW
Supreme Court sources told ABS-CBN News Monday the magistrates are now considering holding “online” oral arguments on petitions challenging the Anti-Terrorism Act.
Petitioners against the law initially proposed holding online oral arguments in the wake of the Office of the Solicitor General’s move to cancel oral arguments, due to concerns over the spread of the coronavirus.
They pointed out that trial courts have been holding videoconference hearings.
The OSG rejected videoconferencing because that would still mean at least 25 individuals gathered in one room, according to its filing before the Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court eventually junked the OSG’s pleas, relenting only to postpone oral arguments when Solicitor General Jose Calida claimed that some of his staff tested positive for COVID-19.
The oral arguments on ATA will resume 2 weeks after the lifting of the ECQ in Metro Manila.
https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/04/05/21/technical-glitches-mar-livestream-of-gesmundos-oathtaking-as-new-chief-justice
Amid virus spike, daily COVID-19 testing is at 50,000, says official
The Philippines has increased its coronavirus testing to 50,000 per day, an official said Monday, as the capital region and nearby provinces battled a surge in virus cases.
COVID-19 testing Secretary Vince Dizon said the country's COVID-19 testing averaged at 51,300 from March 25 to April 1 and "peaked" at 57,800, but he did not expound on the data.
The health department's daily tally of virus cases released at 4 p.m. only included laboratories that have met its cutoff time, Dizon said.
"Pagka weekends at holiday talagang bumabababa ang ating ano (testing) dahil ang mga laboratoryo natin hindi 100 percent ang kanilang capacity," he told ABS-CBN's Teleradyo.
(Our testing decreases during weekends and holidays because our laboratories do not operate at a 100 percent capacity.)
He added that some 25,000 antigen tests would be conducted daily in the NCR Plus bubble, which is composed of Metro Manila, Laguna, Cavite, Bulacan and Rizal.
"Sa NCR Plus lang dahil nakikita natin marami sa laboratoryo natin ang nagkakaroon ng outbreak. Kailangan gamitin lang ito sa mga symptomatic at mga close contact," he said.
(This will be done in NCR Plus only because we can see many of our laboratories are having an outbreak. We only need to use this on symptomatic patients and their close contacts.)
Those who get positive antigen test results need to be isolated immediately while those who turn out to be negative but are exhibiting symptoms must undergo confirmatory tests, Dizon added.
Vice President Leni Robredo earlier said Metro Manila needs to conduct at least 90,000 tests daily to get a more accurate figure of the pandemic.
"Ang point ko lang, nung last year na ang cases natin nung March, April (ay) 1,200 (ang daily average), ang goal na natin (sa testing ay) 30,000. Pero bakit hanggang ngayon, andun pa rin tayo na sobrang dami na ngayon na nagpa-positive," she said.
(My point is, in March and April last year, our cases averaged 1,200 daily and our goal was to test 30,000. Why is our testing still the same until now when there are so many who test positive?)
The Philippines on Easter Sunday tallied 11,028 new cases of COVID-19, bringing the country’s total to 795,051.
The country's COVID-19 positivity rate, or the number of people who get tested and turn out positive for the coronavirus, is now at 22.7 percent, according to ABS-CBN Data Analytics.
The World Health Organization recommends a positivity rate of 5 percent or lower for at least 14 days before reopening the economy.
St. Louis University in Baguio to hold limited face-to-face classes starting Monday
Saint Louis University (SLU) in Baguio City will hold limited face-to-face classes for medicine, nursing, and allied medical courses starting Monday even as parts of the country remain on lockdown due to the recent spike in COVID-19 cases.
After passing the inspection of the Commission on Higher Education (CHED), SLU was allowed to resume some classes, but with stringent health protocols.
SLU is one of a handful of universities in the country to apply for the resumption of face-to-face classes.
Graduating medical students, fourth-year students on their clerkship will return to their classes according to SLU College of Medicine Dean Dr. Anthony Domantay.
This will allow students to acquire the "minimum competencies" needed to become doctors, Domantay added.
“So it’s a limited [exposure] but that is a much better than no exposure at all," Domantay said.
Some 800 nursing students are also expected to return on Monday to continue their classes, according to SLU College of Nursing Dean Dr. Mary Grace Lacanaria.
“We are anticipating about 80 percent of them will be joining the limited face to face of course. We cannot force them, so only those who are willing of course, with the consent of their parents,” Lacanaria said.
“We all believe that students cannot learn the skills online, they have to perform it personally with mannequins, using the right equipment so that they can develop their skills, once they have the skills, then we will fill them to hospitals,” Lacanaria continued.
SLU's medical technology classes will also resume according to College of Natural Sciences Dean Ann Opina.
“We have our own clinical laboratory that is accredited, the students will go 6 months stay in university and 6 months stay in the hospitals,” Opina said.
Students will not be allowed in COVID restricted areas of the hospitals where they are doing clerkship, nursing practice and lab work.
“There are restrictions of course they are not allowed to go to the COVID wards and must at all times must including the especially the wearing of the appropriate PPE.”
Philippines: Bangsamoro awaits interim gov't extension
Bangsamoro officials hold talks with president, others to extend time for transition authority
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte will personally meet the Senate president and Congress Speaker to decide on extending the limit of the Bangsamoro Transitional Authority (BTA) until 2025, sources said.
“President Duterte will now decide about an extension in the BTA beyond 2022,” government sources told Anadolu Agency.
Last week, sources said representatives from the regional Bangsamoro government met virtually with Duterte, Cabinet members, Philippines Senate president and the Congress speaker.
“Everyone supported the move to extend the transition period and hold elections in 2025,” they said. “There was only one objection -- the governor of Sulu province [of Bangsamoro].”
Before the BTA was founded in 2019 following a popular referendum, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), led by Al-Hajj Murad Ebrahim, asked for a transition period of six years during peace negotiations with the Manila national government.
But negotiations resulted in a three-year transitional government under Ebrahim until 2022.
The two sides agreed to allow the transitional government to take control of regional governance and run affairs until 2022, when elections were expected to be held.
But voices have been raised to extend the BTA time limit until 2025. Almost all BTA parliament members have unanimously supported the motion, while residents across the region have held marches supporting the demand in recent few weeks.
Members of the current Bangsamoro regional government believe they need more time to achieve the set target before elections are conducted.
At least seven bills have been filed in Congress and the Senate – six of which seek an extension while one advocates that elections be held at the agreed time in 2022.
Bangsamoro is a region of nearly 5 million people who are ethnic Moros and mostly Muslims. It has five provinces and three cities, including a capital.
The MILF led the region’s struggle for autonomy since the mid-20th century, ultimately resulting in peace talks and the BTA formation after a referendum on Jan. 21, 2019.
Congress is expected to resume business in May when the bills will be debated and are expected to be passed, sources said.
Last year, the autonomous government passed the Bangsamoro Administrative Code and declared Feb. 21 a non-working holiday.
https://www.aa.com.tr/en/asia-pacific/philippines-bangsamoro-awaits-interim-govt-extension/2197937