Author: synergeia

Voices of the Health & Economic Summit

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Dr. Rey Aquino

Mentor, Synergeia Foundation

Ako po ay from Synergeia. Matagal na po ang engagement dito sa Marawi at nakatuon ang pansin namin noon sa basic education. Pero, ngayong pagbabalik namin, ang aming isa pang naging concern ay tungkol sa kalusugan at sa ekonomiya dahil ito ang dalawang na-apektuhan ng pangkasalukuyang pandemiya.

Siguro, hindi natin malilimutan noong nagimbal ang lahat ng mamamayan, hindi lang sa Marawi, hindi lang sa Pilipinas, sa buong mundo noong patapos ang December 4, 2019. Siguro naalala nyo pa yun. Yung sa Wuhan. Yun pala, pare-pareho tayo dito sa mundo na hindi lalabas, naka-mask, nag-iingat, natatakot. Yan ang pakiramdam hindi lang ng taga-Marawi, kung hindi lahat ng tao sa mundo.

At nakita rin natin na pare-pareho tayong naka-mask, naka-alcohol, nagso-social distancing, at iba pang mga paraan para maiwasan ang pandemyang ito. Pero hindi lang ang pandemya ang naka-apekto sa kalusugan kundi pati ang kabuhayan ng bawat isa sa atin.

Ano ba itong COVID na ito? Ano ba ang pandemyang ito?

Kung napapansin ninyo, halos ang tama nito ay sa respiratory system natin kaya ang tawag natin dito, hindi lang COVID 19 na ina-identify yung virus, kung hindi SARS—Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome dahil ang tama nito ay nasa paghinga. Kaya nga, tayo halos lahat tayo dito, ang pino-protektahan ay ang ilong at ang bibig dahil dito ang mas predisposed na puntahan ng virus na ito. Kaya, yung mga taong mahilig sa paninigarilyo, dahil respiratory ito, yun ang mas naaapektuhan. And of course yung mga mahihina ang resistensya.

Kaya nga, yung mga Vitamin C na nagpapalakas ng immune system ng ating katawan, aba naa-out of stock. Pati ang alcohol. Pati ang mask. Dahil ito ang kailangan natin para ma-prevent. And of course, kailangan ng social distancing, yung 6 feet apart. Although ngayon napapansin ninyo, ang ating kundisyon ngayon ay bumababa at bumababa ang incidence nito. Kaya tayo ay nagluluwag sa ating distancing. Pero hindi ibig sabihin, libre na tayo sa COVID. Wala na si COVID, pumunta na sa China? Hindi po. Mali po tayo.

At ang isa pang kailangang gawin natin, ang inuuli-ulit ni Dr. Ali ay tungkol sa vaccination. Siguro, tayo ay mas familiar sa  BCG, BTT, polio, measles, flu vaccines, sa mga babae, yung vaccine para sa cervical cancer. Pero ito ay halos pareho din. Ang ibig sabihin, itong vaccine na ito, magdadagdag or magaactivate ng anti-bodies sa katawan natin para labanan itong virus na ito.

So, kailangan, tayo ay dapat magpabakuna. Ito ang importansya ng nagpapabakuna Ibig sabihin nito sa pamamagitan ng siyensa, sa pamamagitan ng kooperasyon natin, kaya natin labanan ito. Kaya nating sugpuin ang pandemya, ang COVID 19 na ito. Huwag na nating hintayin na magkaroon pa ng ibang Omicron etc. at baka tapusin na ang lahat ng Greek letters ng alphabet, at doon tayo magpabakuna. Hindi po, dahil nagkakaroon ng mutation ang virus na ito. At, kamukha ng nakita natin, the shift from the Delta variant to the Omicron variant, mas tumapang. Kaya, kailangan huwag na anting maging matapang lalo itong variant nito.

So ang ibig sabihin na mape-prevent natin ito at dahil mape-prevent natin ito makaka-recover tayo. Pag nakarecover tayo sa COVID, makaka-recover din tayo sa ating ekonomiya, sa ating trabaho.

Voices of the Health and Economic Summit

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First allow me to accord utmost courtesy to the great men and women behind Synergeia.

If we will measure the value that Synergeia has given us way, way before, I don’t know if we can be compensated. They have helped our learners, especially now in light of the two adversities that have befallen Marawi City since the siege until now, during the pandemic. They never tire of helping us. They have this extreme compassion for the learners of Marawi City. For this, Ma’am Nene at sa lahat ng dumating ngayong—matagal-tagal na ang last visit ninyo. Two years. And now that you are here again in our beloved city and for that we thank you very much. We would like to tell you that we, in return, will serve our learners with utmost care, delivering quality education.

Allow me also to accord utmost courtesy to our best partner, the CLGU, the chief doctor, the boss of the City Health Unit, for the alleviation of the health of our learners and our teachers. We, too, are stringent in implementing the various protocols, like vaccination and all. What we are doing now in this health summit will strengthen more, give us more knowledge, capacitate us more, in protecting our learners especially now that we are doing face to face classes here in the City Schools Division of Marawi. We would like to inform Ma’am Nene na dalawa na pong paaralan namin ang nagbukas – Nanapun Elementary School and Mapandi Elementary School. And soon, when it ends, on March 21, iba po sa Central. They have one year in Marawi City because we follow the Inter-Ministry Memorandum Circular vis-a-vis the Joint Memorandum Circular. Two months sila, tayo po isang buwan. We will do another expansion when we are done on March 21, expanding to 11 schools. So, with your help, with everybody’s help, we will do better. We will be more equipped, healthy, safe in delivering quality education through the different programs that we will give to our teachers and learners in Marawi City Division.

Ako po ay nagpapasalamat uli na hindi kayo napapagod na tulungan kami sa Marawi and I would like to say this again. I always say this, every time I speak. Until we transition our last child, the last Marawi displaced child is transitioned to our permanent school in Ground Zero, please do not tire helping us. Because right this moment, we are still rising back. So, kindly don’t tire helping us until we transition our last displaced child to a permanent school.

Maraming-maraming salamat po. And in behalf of the entire City Schools Division of Marawi, welcome again. I hope that you consider Marawi your second home.

Thank you at mabuhay po kayong lahat.

Synergeia Foundation Kickstarts Parents Wellness Workshop in CDO

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Cagayan de Oro City through its Local School Board (LSB) recently conducted the “Nanay, Tatay, Okay Ka Ba Diyan?” wellness workshop for parents in partnership with Synergeia Foundation, Inc. and the Oro Wellness and Development Center. Over 100 parents of Kinder to Grade 3 students from public schools in the said city in Northern Mindanao joined the virtual event which is part of the local government’s efforts to sustain its education program.

Honorable Mayor Oscar S. Moreno of Cagayan De Oro City praised the parents for their resilience and perseverance in helping their children adapt to the sudden shift of learning modality. In his welcome remarks, Moreno assured the participants that the local government has deployed numerous initiatives to help the people cope with the new normal.

According to a study, when COVID-19 hit the Philippines and impacted all sectors, the top most critical problems faced by families were food security, education opportunities and access to health care. The loss of income forced parents and caregivers to consider drastic measures that will impact the well-being of children. For education, both parents and children were concerned of the obstacles to distance learning.

Held to aid in coping with the challenges of the current learning modality, the parents participated in a plenary session on Parental Burnout led by the head of the city’s Social Welfare and Development Office, Dr. Rhyselle Bernadette B. Melliza-Descallar.

Specializing on mental health and well-being, the guest speaker emphasized the importance of addressing the signs and symptoms of parental burnt out to avoid its long-term damaging effects to one’s mental health. The breakout sessions were facilitated by volunteers from Synergeia Foundation, the LSB and documented by scholars of the city’s Scholarship Office.

Talking about wellness, Dr. Melliza-Descallar, who is also a lecturer on topics about health, life and love, parenting and leadership, explained the science behind a stress-free parenthood while adding that “parenting need not be a taxing and draining task to do.”

In her message, Synergeia Foundation’s President and Chief Executive Officer Dr. Milwida Guevara encouraged the parents to become role models for their children for “the kind of children we see at school reflects the kind of upbringing they have at home.”

As a champion of good local governance, Synergeia Foundation’s mission is to transform how leaders govern and to empower communities to create a better life for themselves and their children. Reinventing the Local School Board is one of the foundation’s way of promoting local government-led systemic education reforms at the community level.

Dr. Rosalio Vitorillo, the city’s Chief Education Program Supervisor delivered the closing remarks by expressing his gratitude to all partners and reiterating the Schools Governance and Operations Division’s support to the parents and children of Cagayan De Oro City.