METROPOST


JUNE 20 - JUNE 26, 2021 OPINION 9 HOW....FROM P. 14


encouraged me to keep myself busy and “start living a healthy new life”. So I dragged myself to the gym and enrolled there. Then I started liking what hard physical exercise was doing to my body. It made me feel good that my body was getting firmer, wala na sya gabitay; I could already control my inhalation and exhalation, taas na akong hangin; and I was clearly losing weight! I also began to meet a couple of like- minded fitness enthusiasts, Joyce and Au-au, who are into other sports such as running. They were the ones who coaxed me into running and eventually completing at least a 50-kilometer ultramarathon. What did you have to give up to get serious in fitness training? I have since given up on too much drinking, and I have also become conscious with the amount of foods that I eat. Of course, I still eat pasta and rice; I still eat anything but I do it in moderation. And I decided to do fasting of about 19 hours starting at 5 p.m., before I get to partake of lunch the next day. Then I load up on water. How was your first running race experience? My first race was a half marathon in the town of Tanjay. It was a bit challenging for me, especially that the weather was really bad that time. I finished 21 kilometers in three hours. Not bad for my first run. And what followed next? What challenged you to do more?


The first long distance race I ran was the Leon Kilat Ultramarathon in the town of Bacong. My goal then was just


THE WAY....FROM P. 7


consistently and uniformly enforced.


But how would legislators know if the laws and regulations they made are being enforced or not? Well, they could see for themselves if they would only use those legs to walk their domain.


to enjoy the long long run, and complete all 50 kilometers. I completed it in about seven hours, together with my running buddies from Fit & Play gym.


How did you plan for your first ultramarathon? What was your eating/hydration plan, and your time management plan?


I was also always thinking about my two boys who would call me every now and then, asking when I would finish running.


What was it like after finally finishing running 50 kilometers? The seven-hour experience


For about four months, my training buddies Buddy, Kim, and Leah, and I would run about 10 kilometers everyday. We also ate more bananas everyday because bananas have high potassium content, which fuels the proper function of our muscles. We had been warned that having low potassium in runners could lead to cramping and other muscular discomforts. Then three days before D-Day, we did carbo-loading consisting of rice and pasta.


What were you thinking about while running your first ultramarathon?


conscious effort to enjoy the moment, eating at the food stations, running on the road in the dead of night with my buddies. I kept reminding myself to continuously hydrate at least every five kilometers throughout the long run. And I kept on thinking about all the positive thoughts I could ever entertain myself with, to keep me relaxed and feeling stress-free. It helped a lot that I was running with friends, and so we kept on laughing on the road, thinking about the foods we should eat after the hard run, and having fun, even while passing through dark portions of the highway or picking up our pace under the hot sun.


I was simply making a


I see failures, and so can everyone else. Why can’t the government officials? Only when there was a tremendous increase in COVID infections and deaths in the City and the Province did the authorities respond. Implementing curfew hours was one of the first responses to a worsening situation. However, the imposition of the curfew was not consistently enforced. Next came the ordinance


that imposes a P3,000.00 fine on individuals caught not wearing face masks.


patrolled the City streets between 10:00 p.m. and 5:00 a.m., they had in their arsenal the face mask ordinance that could, hopefully, scare those who may take the requirement lightly.


So as the authorities


present, we still find people without face masks! So much for hoping that a P3,000.00 fine could persuade people to always heed the health protocols.


It will be noted that, at


this during the day with the same vigor when they were doing it only during curfew hours. They just have to be stubbornly consistent enough to become a pain in the ass. If they keep at it every day without fail, people will see them more often, and before you know it, they’ll be more apt to comply without being asked.


was simply fulfilling, knowing that you actually completed something that you started, or knowing that your hard efforts had paid off. The feeling of accomplishment and pride is invaluable. How do you maintain your fitness goals during this pandemic? What do you regularly do to be consistent in it?


even this time during the pandemic, making sure that my body is well-maintained, fit and healthy, and that I boost my immune system.


I continue to run everyday


nurse who finished Political Science at Silliman University, and earned a second course in Nursing from the University of the Visayas. When she is not attending to her modest business venture, she is surely maximizing quality time with her two boys, aged eight and six. In March this year, she joined a virtual ultramarathon, and eagerly completed running 50 kilometers in back-to-back solo long runs on a single day. Such a feat earned her the No. 3 spot among a thousand who joined the virtual race. She now weighs 65 kilos (about 143 pounds). She normally joins races with the running team called PutoSik (as they used to have puto and hot sikwate after their Sunday runs to Valencia).


Sheila Bardago is a registered


TO VAX or not to vax our oldies FEATURE


F


or months on end since last year, hubby Rene and I had been mulling endlessly about the merits of getting the vaccine if it ever came our way.


World War Z — where a virus threatened to turn humankind into zombies — among other considerations, fed on our fears.


None of the vaccs we read about have really been tested enough in a long-termy way for its latent side effects to


chance to see its effects on our richer neighbors in the West who had a head start getting jabbed.


I guess Brad Pitt’s movie


And then 2021 came. And with it, “dem vaccines” right into Philippine soil. However and from whomever, my mind blanks out. It just focuses on one thing: Do we take it or do we not? T h a n ks


encouragement (prodding) from friends and loved ones, social and news media, the government — topped by the fears and the need to survive — we finally succumbed to the idea that THE VACCINE IS A GOOD THING. (Heck, if in the end we all turn green at the very least, then we would all be green together, right?)


came the bigger d ilemm a: Should


be visible and observable, considering the CoViD-19 is a newbie to our world. So who was to tell us for sure we wouldn’t turn green in the end? In a way back then, we were secretly glad we lived in the Third World, near-bottom end of the food chain (translated into vaccine-receiver chain) because that would give us a


any kind.


almost 97-year- old ‘baby’ in the house get vaccinated, too? After all, we had kept her pretty closeted since March 2020, away from public germs of


And then our to th e


enter our doors, and make its way to the most protected citizen of the casa. So yet again, our doubts


about the vaccine’s possible ill effects surfaced, this time with double the anxiety. We were after all looking at a frail, near-a-century-old little lady. Would her body be able to withstand the vacs attack? The succeeding paragraphs are for the benefit of those who may be facing a similar dilemma, where the elderly in their households are concerned. After consulting with friends in the medical profession, friends who had elderly parents, (Google,too!) who all, but one, gave answers in the affirmative, we decided the clincher would be to ask our very trusted family doctor in the boonies of our old home in Mindanao (who happens to be one of the leading CoViD authorities there), and here is what she said:


“Please vaccinate. We only advise no- vaccination if imminently- dying ang person. Which is not likely naman with Lola because she is still up and about. To have her vaccinated will


improve her quality of life as she can receive visitors again, and make pasyal again. Plus, less stress with family members bringing home the virus and infecting her.


But what if one of us around her just happened to unknowingly bring home a bit of the dreaded V? Even if we’d been doing our best to limit our forays beyond our gates only for what we deemed “essentials”, there were still possible little ‘windows of opportunity’ for that most- unwanted house visitor to


Please don’t listen to noise on Facebook, etc. Very, very, very small ang chance of significant side effects, compared to its benefits. And definitely, NO to waiting for ‘herd immunity’. Because if paiiralin ang laws of nature, then ‘survival of the fittest’ yan. Lola is not one of the fittest. Kaya we give protection via vaccine. Sinovac (the brand available in Dumaguete) has very minimal


TO PAGE 10


The forming of the Health Marshals has made people wonder why the City decided only now to be strict in their enforcement? Was it because it was only now that the COVID situation became virtually out of control? And if so, how much confidence should we really place on our City officials that they genuinely have our immediate interests in mind? That they should have been strict and consistent with their enforcement of the protocols is nothing new. People have tried suggesting that to them, and broadcast commentators and newspaper columnists, including yours truly, have aired/written articles delving extensively into the matter. Was the government listening? Was the government aware of the suggestions from the public for them to be strict and consistent with their own rules?


In the recent past, COVID cases spiked to hair-raising levels. Afraid to have a runaway train on their hands, the City formed a cadre of individuals composed of health workers and law enforcement personnel—the Health Marshals. This team does not only enforce the COVID curfew ordinance at night, they also go around the City during the day, checking and educating people about the importance of heeding the health protocols, including the wearing of face masks, face shields, physical distancing, and the constant washing of hands. They also go to restaurants and stores to check if they are enforcing the health protocols inside their establishments.


Marshals is a good one, and it is the only thing now that holds the promise of helping curb the COVID-19 spike. So now, the entire City is covered by the Health Marshals, and they do


The idea of the Health


More often than not it seems, government does not promptly respond to suggestions from the people. They do only when they can claim it as their own idea. But why, when they really are supposed to listen to the clamor of the people, and respond accordingly, and without delay?


Only they know the reason, and we may never even know because they seem to shy away from transparency. We can only hope that with the City government’s attention on COVID now, other matters will not be left unattended.


The way it is now, Dumaguete City is a very dangerous place. We need leaders who, in a heartbeat, will dump even politics to save their people. We don’t need leaders who are not pro-active because they’re the ones who will move only when push comes to shove. And that’s bad because it may be a tad too late.


Philippine National Archery Team Coach Clint Sayo looks over the country’s Top 2 archers, the Mariño-Bidaure sisters from Dumaguete: Pia Elizabeth Angela (in white cap) and Gabrielle Monica (in black hat) as they warm up at Charlety Stadium in Paris to earn the top two berths in the Tokyo Olympics scheduled in July. (Photo by Rosendo Sombrio/WAP)


BOW....FROM P. 7


amahan si Dodoy”. Even with my position as a government executive, I was still known as Nonoy, the son of Kapitan Dodoy.


“please love and take good care of my son.”


If its really true that the success of the parent/s is measured by the success of the children then I would say that my father was a successful parent. He was an emotional person and when my spouse first visited our place as my fiancée, he cried, hugged my girlfriend then and whispered


He was a godfather to many baptisms and ninong to numerous weddings. He spent a great part of his life to public service and in all those years, we never heard of him being accused of abuse nor of corruption.


He died a rich man not because of material wealth but of the countless people of all ages whom he touched, served and assisted. He put smiles on


the faces of people who came to him with problems. Papa was just a farmer in a place where haciendas are unknown. But we were never hungry, even during those times when people would line up for few kilos of NARIC/ NGA rice or yellow corn. He sent us to good schools and taught us about honest public service, true love and realistic life thru modeling. Papa Dodoy never knew Father’s day as commercialism was foreign to him, but my


father is always remembered by many “children” from our household and our community. How I wish papa would still be here and join me in reaping the fruits of the “seeds and seedlings which he himself also sowed and planted”. He was a good singer and dancer. How I wish I can still ask him to “sing me a song daddy” and express that I want to “dance with my father again”.


Happy father’s day to all!


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