He is risen!

The dreaded coronavirus pandemic has thrown the globe, and our personal worlds, into uncertainty, grabbed our freedoms to worship with co-parishioners, to be with our loved ones far from us, to run to the drugstore and fastfood joints at once appropriate times. But thanks to our digital technical advancement, we are able to stay informed about where we are, to see the faces of our children on Viber, given hope that God is with us and our days of gloom are not forever, and we received, and sent to our friends and relations the most beautiful message of all: “Christ has risen!”

And so, during Lent, we were able to worship, listen to our pastor, and partake of communion, by online. We listened to Rick Warren, author of “The Purpose Driven Life” being interviewed by clearly interested CNN anchormen Anderson Cooper and Dr. Sunjay Gupta. A viewer asked Warren two inevitable questions: Where’s God in a pandemic? Why does he allow such a harmful thing?

On the first question, Warren said, “God is here, in the hearts of these people you see helping others.” He and a friend, Dr. Bob Redfield, have traveled together around the world and seen different pandemics, including the AIDS pandemic. They saw some people turning away from God on account of pandemic crisis in their lives and around them. Where is God, they asked. Said Warren on television: “You see God in the goodness of people, like when Katrina hit, I took 4,000 volunteers to New Orleans, and we worked there for three or four years, our church paid the salaries of 400 African-Americans who totally lost their buildings. Where was God? It was in the hearts of generous people.”

On why God allows the coronavirus pandemic to happen, Warren said, “Some people expect heaven on earth. . . In heaven there is no sadness, no sorrow, no sickness, no stress – as there is on earth. That’s why we pray the Lord’s prayer, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. We should not expect that on earth God could get rid of all the evil in the world.” But, he said, God’s greatest gift to man is one’s “freedom of choice,” and people use it to do evil or good.

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We listened to Pope Francis, addressing an empty St. Peter’s Basilica, but a global audience watching him on television on Easter Sunday, saying, “that because of the resurrection of Jesus, tonight we acquire a fundamental right that can never be taken away from us: the right to hope. It is a new and living hope that comes from God. It is not mere optimism; it is not a pat on the back or an empty word of encouragement. It is a gift from heaven, which we could not have earned on our own.”

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The misinformation on the coronavirus crisis by leaders, like US President Donald Trump, has gotten to the point that news organizations including MSNBC (American cable television channel) and CNN (Cable News Network) have limited their coverage of the POTUS’ press conferences on the pandemic. Alex Koppelman, managing editor of CNN Business, had written into the networks’ “Reliable Sources” newsletter that “there is a very real possibility that in broadcasting press conferences live or in quickly publishing and blasting out Trump’s words in mobile alerts, we are actively misinforming our audience and the network. So we need to ask ourselves whether we’re doing them a genuine disservice.”

As the networks became more careful about their coverage, CNN debuted a new ad in its “Facts First” campaign, an all-typography spot that “quietly lays out the crucial role of facts in a world growing increasingly anxious and confused in the midst of the coronavirus threat.”

The CNN ad has become my mantra, and may well be yours too:

“In a time of uncertainty, facts provide clarity.

“In a time of anxiety, facts comfort.

“In a time of division, facts unite.

“In a time of crisis, facts matter most.

“Facts First.”

The ad will continue to run during CNN’s 24-hour coverage of the coronavirus and on the network’s social feeds.

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Meanwhile, Philippine lawmakers are seeking Libingan ng Mga Bayani “Gawad Flavier” honors for fallen heroes in battles against COVID-19.

AKO BICOL Party-list Rep. Alfred Garbin Jr. and BHW Party-list Rep. Angelica Natasha Co are seeking posthumous honors for the pandemic frontliners who take care of coronavirus patients, hoping against hope that they would not be felled by the disease themselves, but are actually felled.

As of March 31, at least 12 doctors have died in the Philippines from the new coronavirus. They exemplified the Good Samaritan, who took care that others may live.

Reports show a growing surge in the number of COVID-19 cases and persons suspected to have infection in hospitals in the country. Several healthcare facilities have announced their having reached full capacity and would no longer accept new coronavirus cases.

Healthcare workers in the Philippines also deal with a shortage of supplies such as masks, suits and protective gear, making frontliners even more susceptible to the virus while caring for patients.

Exposure to individuals infected with COVID-19 also forces hospital staff to undergo 14-day self quarantine.

Rep. Garbin, reports her media bureau, said “Every Filipino frontliner who dies in this COVID-19 war deserves to be laid to rest at the Libingan ng Mga Bayani because of their supreme sacrifice for love of country, loyalty to the people, and devotion to their profession.” (My take in this is they are real heroes, not like the self-proclaimed, false medalist now buried in the Libingan ng mga Bayani.)

For her part, Rep. Co is asking the committee on honors to recommend to President Rodrigo Duterte an executive order amending the Honors Code of the Philippines “to establish a new honor to be named after the most beloved and most highly esteemed Secretary of Health our country has ever had, Dr. Juan M. Flavier.”

Co noted that Dr. Juan Flavier was a barrio doctor for 30 years, an alumnus of the University of the Philippines and of the prestigious Johns Hopkins University, a former senator, and a former Senate President Pro Tempore.

“We further propose that the Gawad Juan Flavier shall have a stature equal to the Order of National Scientists and Order of National Artists, with the same gratuities and privileges,” Co said.

Congressman Garbin said the funeral rites at the Libingan ng Mga Bayani “need not be done immediately.”

“According to the COVID-19 protocols, the remains are cremated first. In our proposal, the ultimate resting place would be the Libingan ng Mga Bayani. After the immediate COVID-19 threat has passed, there will be a proper time to properly honor the fallen frontliners versus COVID-19,” Garbin said.

He added that when Congress reconvenes, he will request the House leadership to approve the motion to express our collective gratitude, on behalf of the Filipino people, to all the frontliners in the fight against COVID-19.

Garbin and Co are both members of the House committee on health.

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