Friends and colleagues held an online tribute a week ago for Nestor Burt Sarmiento who died on October 31 from complications of pneumonia that is not COVID-19 related. Sarmiento had worked in various projects for the Rural Missionaries of the Philippines Northern Mindanao (RMP-NMR).
Despite the cases of COVID-19 transmission now reaching 1,605 active cases, Davao City’s COVID-19 Focal Person says this is “still not in the alarming stage”.
With nearly a millions Filipinos in Luzon affected in the aftermath of three successive typhoons (Quinta, Rolly and Ulysses), organizations and institutions in Davao City are organizing relief drives and calling out Davawenyos to help.
Due to the typhoon, Bicol farmers have lost yet another opportunity to make ends meet. They were supposed to harvest their produce in the months of October and November only to find their palay buried deep in flood waters.
In a single day on November 10, a journalist was shot and two others were arrested for cyber libel, raising concern on the state of journalists’ safety amidst the pandemic and the impunity.