Bougainvilleas on the fast lane

Driving through the gleaming concrete pavement of NLEX, I’m  fascinated by the lush greens of rolling mountain ranges and picturesque carpets of paddy fields surrounded by trees and shrubs along the roadsides.

But as you and I welcome the summer season, driving through the expressway has been made even more enjoyable with multi-colored bougainvilleas all in full bloom along the tollway stretch from the interchanges of San Fernando and Mexico, Pampanga.

The rows of the colorful plant often used as sturdy road dividers, have blossomed as part of the greening program of the NLEX-SCTEX, which aims to contribute to cleaner air and healthier ecology along the expressways while enhancing the road’s aesthetic value. 

Around 90,000 trees at interchanges and other plantable areas of the expressways were also planted by the NLEX Corp. employees and volunteers from other companies under the MVP Group as well as other public and private and organizations in line with their pro-environment operations. 

I learned that the NLEX-SCTEX greening program, which started in NLEX in 2006 and was later on adopted in SCTEX, was launched to mitigate the effects of global warming and environmental imbalance. Environment-friendly initiatives, such as using LED roadway lights, bamboo-reinforced concrete fences, inverter air conditioning units, and solar-powered CCTV cameras, have also been part of the tollway company’s green practices.

This goes to show that there’s more to experiencing safe and convenient travel along the North Luzon Expressway (NLEX). With Mother Nature’s fascinating glory, beautifying our roads is indeed one sure way of making our journey as exciting and colorful as reaching our destination.

A word of caution, though: Don’t feast your eyes too long on these blossoms. You’re on the fast lane after all. 

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Notwithstanding the negative connotation of vaccination as a result of the controversy over the dengue vaccine, UNICEF in the Philippines observed World Immunization Week April 24-30, with the message that vaccination is a shared responsibility to ensure all Filipino children grow up healthy and protected from preventable  diseases.

After all, said UNICEF officials, health workers, national and local government officials, civil society, mothers, fathers, and community members have a role to play to ensure that Filipinos receive the right information on immunization, families are supported in overcoming barriers, and that children complete their vaccines.  

Vaccines act as a shield that protects children, families, and communities and particularly the most vulnerable. Vaccines protect children against disease and death, saving up to three million lives every year. For the Philippines, vaccines also make economic sense. Vaccines prevent illness, freeing up precious resources to invest in strong health systems. Vaccination can also promote a stronger workforce and prevent losses in productivity. 

UNICEF, however, reported that while many countries have dramatically increased immunization coverage, in the Philippines coverage is decreasing. While the Philippines eradicated polio in 2000 and eliminated maternal and neonatal tetanus in 2017, we have fallen behind in routine immunization that protect children from diseases such as measles, diphtheria and hepatitis B. It is time for urgent action.”  

In the Philippines the proportion of children aged 12-23 months who received all basic vaccinations dropped from 77 percent in 2013 to 70 percent in 2017, while the percentage of children with no vaccination rose from four percent in 2013 to nine percent in 2017. Eighty percent of children received the first dose of measles vaccination, while only 47 percent received the second dose of vaccine preventing measles.  As a result, an outbreak this year resulted in more than 700 children contracting measles, a disease that can potentially be lethal to a small child. This could have been prevented with timely vaccines. Measles and other diseases can only be eliminated through collective action. 

“Ensuring that children complete their vaccines is not the job of health workers alone. Government agencies, non-government and people’s organizations, civic-oriented groups, faith-based organizations, academe and other partners – we can all work together to reach out to families and persuade them that vaccines are safe and effective. We appeal to all parents and caregivers to ensure that their children are immunized according to schedule and encourage other families with children in their neighborhoods to do the same,” UNICEF Philippines Representative Lotta Sylwander said. 

 UNICEF works with the Department of Health to increase immunization coverage by helping strengthen routine immunization and improve processes to procure and distribute vaccines. UNICEF also helps at the barangay or village level to strengthen local governance mechanisms, create ordinances and health committees, improve data and monitoring, conduct training and communicate health messages effectively. 

As to the dengue vaccination scare, UNICEF, according to Ms. Sylwander, supports the government’s immunization program in fulfillment of every child’s right to survival and good health. UNICEF supports the DOH in its decision to suspend dengue vaccination until safety and efficacy issues are resolved and a clear dengue response strategy is formed.

UNICEF echoes the World Health Organization’s  position that in settings where there are many cases of dengue, the vaccine can have significant benefits to the affected population. However, until a full review has been conducted, WHO recommends vaccination only in individuals with a documented past dengue infection, either by a diagnostic test or by a documented medical history of past dengue illness. 

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A dear friend passed away, causing many to shed tears. Victoria Manguerra Montilla was such a loving and gentle person, she will always be in our hearts. An acquaintance wrote a nostalgic piece for her; this we want to share with readers.

“While her partner basked in the limelight of the glitz and glamor of public relations, being the proverbial social butterfly whose day is often filled with functions that hug the pages of major broadsheets this side of tinseltown, she chose to find solace in the background with her meek demeanor depicting a fair lady of substance whose strength emanates from the pureness of heart she naturally possessed through the many charitable causes she immersed herself in without fanfare nor pomp, traits that endeared her to the people whose lives she touched.

“ Often, women share equal billing with the men in their lives. She dared to be different. She became the sunshine whose all encompassing radiance lit up Rotary in the year her partner led Asia’s First Rotary Club with the grace of a queen who preferred to linger with the community than showcase her regal stature among royalties without sacrificing her support for the man she showered with love.

“And now, as you rest in eternal bliss, Vicky, we nostalgically remember that smile of a lady who truly manifested Service Above Self in all its splendor as God welcomes you into the paradise of His abode. Rest well, fair lady as your sojourn in humility has now become a legacy we can genuinely reminisce, not with the grief of a loss, but, with  celebration for a life well-lived.”

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