IT WAS SHOCKING TO KNOW- that the 56-year Serial Pipe Bomber from Florida USA – Cesar Sayoc -is of Filipino descent.
He had a lengthy criminal and financially bankrupt record and was described as “emotionally disturbed and very angry.” He was particularly in deep rage against blacks, Jews and gays. He was also a political psychopath.
He was so enamored by the present US president Donald Trump- almost to the point of idolatry- that the reverse osmosis of this passion was his extreme hatred against the critics and pet peeves of his “beloved president”. Consider those he sent potentially damaging pipe bombs through 13 dangerous packages through the Americal mailing system.
Democratic politicians leaders with family names like Obama, Clinton, Biden, Waters Booker, and Harper, Democrat bureaucrats like Brenan and Clapper, actor Robert de Niro, Democrat donors like Tom Seyer and billionaire George Soros.
While the homemade bombs would not destroy an entire building, they can lead to harm or even an assassination of the recipient. This is pure political terrorism.
Terrorism today takes all forms. It can be as blatant and devastating as 9-11, destroying two New York edifices and damaging the Pentagon. It can be as minimally damaging as the Boston Marathon Bomber. It can be as politically -eloquent and long-playing as the Marawi crises and here- insidiously deceptive but just as damaging like mailed pipe bombs of Suyoc.
Wars, nowadays, between one nation and another are hardly in vogue today.
The No. 1 Enemy now is Terrorism- fought within our boundaries, many times of faceless and ruthless enemies within and among us -as they choose their own battlefields – often, in areas we least expect them.
It is a horrifying, shuddering thought of modern times.
For comments: email to dejarescobingo@yahoo.com or bohol-rd@mozcom.com
DENGUE MALADY ON THE RISE
NOT YET AN EPIDEMIC-but a province-wide alarm was sounded off on the disturbing rise of dengue cases in Bohol.
The Provincial Health Office(PHO) has recorded 1,278 dengue cases from January 1 to October 20, 2018, and 10 dengue deaths in the same period renewing fervor versus the mosquito-borne disease.
The figure in the almost 10-month span is already higher than the number of dengue cases tallied by the Provincial Epidemiology and Surveillance Unit (PESU) last year in 2017 of 1,028.
The situation calls for joint community action. Note that checkup at community health centers for possible dengue cases is for free. Make use of them. Early examination and detection are crucial in this sickness where no medicine has yet been established make one immune from infection.
The “silver bullet” – to be called the vaccine “Denvaxia” supposed to be the prescribed amulet against the Aedes mosquito- driven malady and – invented by the giant French pharmaceutical company- ended in a national controversy, Of the 800,000 injected with it- 14 died- with the debate still in the air if the Denvaxia caused it to occur.
The debate has resulted in many citizens avoiding any form of inoculation or injection, thereafter -versus dengue, chicken pox and the like. Is this fear possibly be part of the reason why the numbers of dengue are rising again?
Nationwide, there are 138,000 reported dengue cases in the nation with 700 deaths as a result.
As a country, we have similarly high rates of dengue incidents as our ASEAN mates like Malaysia and Vietnam while others nearby like China and Singapore report every few. What are the latter two doing right and we not doing well to have this significantly bigger number of dengue cases?
The Department of Health has been reminding the public of the 4S strategy against dengue which involves Searching and destroying mosquito breeding places; Securing self-protection; Seeking early consultation, and Supporting fogging and spraying in hotspot places. Are all the barangays doing these?
Doctors advise that after two days of sickness and the person gets to have lesser and lesser appetite, then it is the right time to get the medical checkup. Are your communities educated enough on this matter?
Although the number of dengue cases recorded in 2018 has surpassed that of 2017, the figure is still less than half of the number of cases recorded in 2016 at 2,878.
But let not these comparative figures be a ground for our complacency. It is our lives and those of our loved ones at stake here.
For comments: email to dejarescobingo@yahoo.com or bohol-rd@mozcom.com