By Alex P. Vidal
“There’s even a feature on my website where you can translate messages into codes, so whenever I have any big news it goes out in code first so the diehard fans are the first to know.”—Nina Nesbitt
A SHOCKING political story in the next five to six days is expected to create a major tremor in the ongoing campaign for the national positions in the May 9, 2022 Philippine election.
It will also amplify some popular and unremitting beliefs and projections that certain top political personalities penciled in, even before the start of the official campaign period since last year, to dominate the most coveted positions, will eventually fold up and be stamped out from the race.
The huge story, anyway, won’t stun those familiar with the election laws, especially those who profess strong adherence to the rule of law.
But it will also, in one way or the other, help reinforce the people’s faith in the jurisprudence as a whole, especially if the basis for this mammoth story was hammered out in a fair, factual, judicious, ethical, moral and logical presentation and conclusion.
We don’t predict with absolute certainty in the crystal ball this forthcoming tornado that will make a loud landfall before the goings in the campaign period get tough, but most of the readers probably understand what we are trying to point out.
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A RESHUFFLING of key officials and personnel in any organization is but a normal undertaking that must not be given any malice and negative inference.
Like the recent revamp in the Philippine National Police (PNP).
Every now and then the changing of the guards in the police organization occurs ostensibly as a normal cycle and for the good of all, not just for some PNP bigwigs who get assignments deemed to be “juicy” and favorable.
This includes fresh installations of officials and personnel in the regions, provinces, cities and municipalities with eternal problems in peace and order and lack of police visibility.
Reshuffling will prevent some PNP officials and personnel from becoming “too familiar” with some local government officials and the folk where they sometimes develop a not-so-healthy affinity and alliance.
It will also provide overstaying precinct commanders and personnel the opportunity to reinvent themselves and elevate their careers in their new assignments.
A general revamp involves the entire organization and affects everyone and ideally, there should be no favoritism and special treatment.
If the reorganization will not be favorable to certain organic members for whatever reason, they have no choice but to respect the hierarchy, follow the chain of command, and be obedient soldiers.
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Doctors studying Omicron’s spread around the world have found new clues to the pattern of symptoms caused by the highly-mutated COVID-19 variant, which a growing number of reports suggest might show up differently and faster compared to the Delta variant it is now displacing.
Early evidence suggests that in many patients, CBS News’ Alexander reported that “Omicron is leading to a new trend of milder symptoms that mostly affect the upper respiratory system—the nose, mouth and throat.“
That may help explain why it appears to pose a smaller individual risk of hospitalization or severe disease than earlier strains of the virus, which often invaded the lungs.
“What is becoming clearer … is that Omicron seems to have lesser impact on lungs than prior variants,” said Dr. Ronald Whelan, head of Discovery Health’s COVID-19 task team.
Whelan’s employer, South Africa’s largest health insurer, released an early report last month on the Omicron wave there, reported the CBS News.
Their analysis reportedly found that a sore throat ranked among the most common early Omicron symptoms, as well as congestion, a dry cough and lower back pain.
The incubation period—the time from infection to symptoms appearing—was as short as three days. That’s reportedly several days faster than previous strains of the virus.
(The author, who is now based in New York City, used to be the editor of two local dailies in Iloilo.—Ed)
