Parents beware!
Early this week the City Heath Office (CHO) issued a grim warning to the people of Davao City that cases of Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease are on the rise in the Davao Region with significant number of affected people, mostly children, recorded in areas like Matina and Buhangin.
What is more alarming is the statement of a CHO official that the said disease, although not as deadly as CoViD, is also easily transmissible from one who has the bacteria to another. And to us, layman though we are, it is not surprising that the victims of the HFM disease are children. Why because the CHO official said that one of the areas where transmission could be had the fastest are swimming pools, especially those that are open for public use.
We all know that these days families usually hold their bonding activities through picnics or outings. Those who fear the oceans normally prefer bathing on swimming pools in inland resorts. Of course it is common knowledge that children, once into the water in the pool, would hardly take a break from their swimming of just wading in the water.
So, if we have to consider the authority of the health personnel being a doctor identifying swimming pools as one area for the disease transmission, the official concerned could not be making a joke on the matter.
Parents, therefore, should heed the warning if they want to safeguard the health of their children. There is a saying that goes, “An ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure.” Putting the same into practice is one easy task to do.
Thus, for the meantime that the prevalence of the disease is still very much in the city and the entire Davao Region as well, it would be wise that bonding activities of families in resorts offering swimming pool as one of its amenities be carefully thought of.
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Two sensational crime stories in Davao City have come into the public’s consciousness. One is the surrender and subsequent filing of a homicide through reckless imprudence, and other related cases against a driver of a Vice Mayor. The driver abandoned his victims. The woman back rider was killed on the spot while her boyfriend who was driving the motorcycle was severely injured and hospitalized. Claiming fear for his own life, the self-confessed driver suspect surrendered only after former President Rodrigo Duterte offered a P500 thousand reward to anyone who could lead the police to the identity of the perpetrator driver or the vehicle owner.
It turned out that the self-confessed hit-and-run suspect is the driver of the Vice Mayor of Boston, Davao Oriental. But even with the surrender and the filing of appropriate cases is already in progress, the parents of the victims are still entertaining suspicion that the confessed driver may not necessarily be the real culprit. And apparently one of their bases is the time delay between the actual surrender and the date of the accident. Add to it the apparent failure of the vehicle owner to advise his driver to give up and surrender his vehicle involved.
Whether or not the deliberation on the charges to be conducted by the city prosecutor’s office will affirm that indeed the respondent driver is really the right person and not just made the fall guy, the public will know after some time. And definitely it will put a stop to the victims’ parents’ and the public’s speculations.
Meanwhile, the other crime incident happened some nine years ago and was already forgotten by many who are wary of stories about killings in the city in the past three decades. This second crime story happened on June 12, 2014 and the victim was Cebuano Filipino-Chinese businessman Richard King. He was shot dead inside his own office at Barrio Obrero.
The killing was allegedly done through a conspiracy of several individuals including P/Col. Leonardo Felonia who happened to be an acquaintance of ours. Felonia who was at that time assigned with the Regional Intelligence Unit (RIU) was identified by his alleged co-conspirators as the one who allegedly hatched the crime.
After nine years of hearing the case and with Felonia incarcerated for the entire duration, Regional Trial Court Branch 14 Acting Presiding Judge Gerardo Braganza acquitted the police officer. Meanwhile the acquitted police colonel was denied his salary and other benefits for the years that his case was heard. And in fact as can be seen in his picture with his lawyer Cesar Europa, Felonia is clearly robbed of nine years of his prime. Had he not been accused and remained in the police service he could be a happy retiree by now.
With Felonia’s acquittal he and his lawyer may now be plotting out their moves to recover what were denied him and his family including his retirement pay and other benefits.
But of course the Court’s decision may likely be appealed by the King family. They have all the resources to bring their appeal to the higher court and this could derail whatever plans Felonia and his lawyer have.
Meanwhile, we are wishing our friend Police Colonel a happy reunion with his family after a nine-year separation.
