Gobbledygook

                                         (photo: hatawtabloid.com)

Kalisod sabton! One of the things that school paper advisers tell the budding journalists is to write in order to express NOT to impress. You see, the readers must understand what you are writing for them to know, decide, discern, be entertained or even create a stand on the issue at hand. Once the writer comes across, the objectives of the article will be met.

Presidential spokesperson Salvador Panelo offered a grim picture of the Philippines as it battles to curb the spread of the deadly coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

Virgil Lopez of GMA News (March 27, 2020) reported: Panelo gave the message a day before President Rodrigo Duterte marks his 75th birthday, which the chief executive will be spending in Manila for the first time since he assumed power in June 2016.

“As if these human and natural monstrosities were not enough to test the nerves and leadership of this President, our country is now on the precipice of annihilation as he leads us to face this Armageddon of an unseen lethal invader of a disease that is creeping into our people’s lifeblood, killing them slowly and painfully into their graves,” Panelo said.

In linguistics, "syntax" refers to the rules that govern the ways in which words combine to form phrases, clauses, and sentences. The term "syntax" comes from the Greek, meaning "arrange together." The term is also used to mean the study of the syntactic properties of a language (Nordquist, 2020).

Diction, on the other hand, is the careful selection of words to communicate a message or establish a particular voice or writing style. For example, flowy, figurative language creates colorful prose, while a more formal vocabulary with concise and direct language can help drive home a point.

Again, in journalism, we already know that there are four main types of writing: expository, descriptive, persuasive, and narrative. Each of these writing styles is used for a specific purpose. A single text may include more than one writing style.

When the presidential spokesperson delivered his message, a lot of people got confused due to the choices of words he made and the way the syntax was done. A screen shot from the presentation he made circulated in the social media sites and a few even said they had “nose bleed,” a colloquial term used when one cannot comprehend the words being said in English.

Why do we have to write and speak clearly in times of a pandemic?

Chugh (2020) said: It is important to write responsibly. People are already anxious and your stories can leave a long-lasting impact. Make sure the impact is for the better. Words are powerful. They can change the way a person perceives information. Misinformation spreads like wildfire. The writer needs to stay cautious, stick to the facts, not infuse melodrama or breed theories in their writing.

But why do people integrate a lot of difficult words in their speeches and articles? Is there some kind of superiority when one can use words that he alone can understand? Or, is this really his style of writing?

Lawyers, like Salvador Panelo play up a lot of words when they write their briefs and legal notes. But can we rely on their prose when they address to the majority of the people?

There is a problem of bad legal writing- one that is far more serious than we recognize or are willing to admit. The causes include insufficient education in good writing, carelessness, faulty thinking and reasoning, a failure to appreciate the potential and impact of legal language, an unwillingness to risk new language, and an inability or failure to make the time commitment required for good legal writing (Feerick, 1994).

But then again we knew that these people are well educated. Panelo for instance has an English degree from the University of the Philippines.

The late Miriam Santiago can also rant technical terminologies while they are on session. But she was wise enough to realize that the common “tao” has to understand what she was saying. This can be attested when her books “Stupid is Forever” and “Stupid is Forever More” became instant bestsellers. These contain “hugot” lines and street-smart quips.

When you are writing primarily to inform, use words generally familiar to readers and keep your sentences reasonably short and simple. Write to express, not to impress. The person who can express complex ideas simple is likely to go farther in the world than the person who writes gobbledygook (Escote, 2009).

The bottom-line: In these confusing times, we need to choose the words which can be read or heard by the people. If we are public figures and we have something to write or say, careful choices must be considered. Since words from authorities might be the only crutch of the individuals who are now on the verge of panic.

One Flew Over Koko's Nest

                                      (photo: philstar..com)

Pagka Iresponsable! Flooding the social media sites are the condemnation of Senator Koko Pimentel’s actions as he went to Makati Medical Center to accompany his wife who will deliver their baby anytime. There, he allegedly received a call announcing that he is positive of the COVID 19.

The Philippine Star reported: The Makati Medical Center on Wednesday evening said that Sen. Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III, who announced earlier in the day that he tested positive for the new coronavirus disease, breached its strict infection and containment protocols on Tuesday night (March 24, 2020).

This prompted the hospital to issue this statement: “Pimentel, whose result for COVID-19 testing turned out to be positive, brought his wife to the hospital for delivery via cesarean section. By being in MMC, [the senator] violated his Home Quarantine Protocol, entered the premises of the [Medical Center Delivery Room Complex], thus, unduly exposed healthcare workers to possible infection,” Medical Director and Interim Co-CEO Dr. Saturnino Javier said.

Critics lambasted the actions of the senator who directly apologized for his actions. He underscored the fact that he was just assisting his wife who is scheduled to have an operation. But for public officials, would this be reason enough when in fact he vowed not just to serve his family but the entire country? Was he overwhelmed by the emotion of becoming a father that he forgot that he is supposed to stay at home after learning that he was exposed to a meeting with an infected official on March 11?

Sean (2010) said: We all have emotions. It is something that is innate and intentionally designed for us. Emotions are very powerful and we have to be mindful of it. It is because our emotions are very powerful decision-influencers.

Theorists commonly assume that people’s attitudes and judgments reflect information about the object of judgment. But people’s evaluations also reflect information from their own affective reactions. In social situations, for example, the crucial factor in our evaluation of other people is often the feelings that they elicit in us. However, knowing and feeling are tightly linked, and disentangling them requires methods by which affect can be varied independently of belief.

We can be enveloped with anxiety or excitement and succumb to them without confronting evaluative judgment on what to do. This is the time when we can consider that emotions are dangerous when they take over our judgment.

Observations, along with a great number of experimental results, suggest that emotion and behavior may be linked in at least two ways that can be described as reflective and impulsive. In a more systematic fashion, the two psychological mechanisms have been described in the context of the Reflective-Impulsive Model (Strack and Deutsch, 2004, 2015), which provides a conceptual orientation for the reported research.

Thus, Senator Koko acted out impulsively forgetting that he was on self-quarantine. The alibi of telling the people that he did not know that he was infected cannot be accepted since he was well-informed that his companions during the March 11 meeting did their own ways of distancing themselves from others. He was overwhelmed by his emotions he forgot to perform responsible actions for the public and the country.

Nicole-Ann C. Lagrimas of GMA News mentioned that the Department of Justice (DOJ) will not investigate Senator Aquilino "Koko" Pimentel III for his alleged breach of home quarantine protocol unless it receives a complaint, Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra said on Wednesday night. Guevarra said the DOJ would "temper" the law with compassion.

"As I have said before, during abnormal times like these, when people are prone to commit mistakes or violations of the law, the DOJ will temper the rigor of the law with human compassion," Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra said in a message to reporters.

Critics then posed this question: Would the law be considerate to the poor as well? Others even juxtaposed the actions of the senator and the common Filipino who is being tasked to do community service by being caught during curfew hours. They implicate inequality among the powerful and the poor.

Which leads us to the conclusion: In these abnormal times, we must do what is considered as NOMAL by continuously examining the actions that we do regardless of what we feel.

Ennui

Mabuang ako sa kaaya! These are the words you hear from others within this situation. Most of them come from the young ones. Since almost all the municipalities in the Philippines are in a community quarantine (with the enhanced community quarantine in Luzon), people are limited with their movements and physical distancing is also encouraged to limit the spread of the dreaded virus.

Boredom is a common feeling. Feeling unsatisfied by an activity or uninterested in it, can lead to boredom. Boredom may occur when you feel energetic but have nowhere to direct your energy. It may also occur when you have difficulty focusing on a task. Boredom is marked by an empty feeling, as well as a sense of frustration with that emptiness. When you’re bored, you may have a limited attention span and lack of interest in what’s happening around you. You may feel apathetic, fatigued, nervous, or jittery (Giorgi, 2016).

Since the pandemic is escalating and we are being ordered to stay at home, our routines suddenly changed. We also found limited work to do since we got so familiar with our previous tasks we now see the present situation as boring. We have less things on our hands.

According to Jessica Lebber (2013), boredom can be a destructive feeling, leading people to zone out in meetings and classes–and in some cases, even to alcohol or drugs. But in certain circumstances, boredom can also be a force for good, becoming the spark that starts a creative process or leading to greater self-reflection.

This is the time when the individual must confront his or her inner person by dealing with the new situation and discover new possibilities by reflections and creative diversions.

In late March 1845 Henry David Thoreau went to Walden Pond, a sixty-two acre body of water a few miles from his parents' home in Concord, Massachusetts, and selected a spot to build a house. He eventually wrote his solitary thoughts and experiences which would later become one of his masterpieces:

When I wrote the following pages, or rather the bulk of them, I lived alone, in the woods, a mile from any neighbor, in a house which I had built myself, on the shore of Walden Pond, in Concord, Massachusetts, and earned my living by the labor of my hands only. I lived there two years and two months.

Over the course of the next three hundred-odd pages, Thoreau outlined his philosophy of life, politics, and nature, laying the foundation for a secure place in the canon of great American writers. Although Walden enjoyed only moderate success in Thoreau's lifetime, his experiment at the pond would spark considerable interest in the years to come especially in dealing with oneself and introspection.

Little things make us happy, and little things can drag us down. One “little thing” that can be a source of unhappiness is boredom. I’ve found that the more I focus on my boredom or irritation, the more I amplify that feeling (Rubin, 2010).

Feelings of boredom and being busy are subjective. You can’t look out in the world and claim it is busy or boring. To say these feelings are subjective is obvious, but that misses a key point. The real problem is quality. Being engaged, neither busy or bored, happens when your attention is focused on high-quality activities.

This is the time when one could discover the stories of their family members: their experiences, their dreams and their fears. A person can also develop a hobby which can allow the time to pass in a creative or physical manner. There are books to read and music to listen. Also, there are areas in the house to clean and there are areas to enhance.

M.Farouk Radwan, MSc says: It’s your life style that should be changed and not anything else. Do you know why do you feel bored often? It is because you rarely find something interesting. And do you know why you lack interest? Because you have no major goals to go after! The more goals you have the more tools you will need to accomplish them and the more you will find these tools around you and so you will hardly feel bored. Boredom comes from within and not from your surroundings and that's why the only effective way to deal with boredom is to change yourself.

We do not know where this pandemic will lead us. We still have two or more weeks to observe and wait whether the virus will be contained or not. We might be the cause of the spread if we are going to go out and gratify ourselves. There might come a time when will be FORCED to stay at home if it entails public safety.

Therefore, we might as well know how NOT to get bored.

Hunger Days

                                                  ( image: plenglish,com)

Naka testing na kaw tag gutom amo? All living organisms need to feed. In fact, this is the basic motivation why people work. They need to have food on their tables. The famous hierarchy of needs by Maslow is founded on physiological needs when a person craves for survival needs such as the need for sleep, food, air, and reproduction. Physiological needs are the requirements we all need individually for human survival.

Deficiency needs arise due to deprivation and are said to motivate people when they are unmet. Also, the motivation to fulfill such needs will become stronger the longer the duration they are denied. For example, the longer a person goes without food, the hungrier they will become.

Nearly 35% of Filipino workers nationwide are employed by the informal sector as of January, government data showed. This includes jobs in sari-sari stores, barber shops, as well as jeepney drivers and other small- and medium- enterprises (SMEs). SMEs themselves account for nearly 98% of local firms in the Philippines, most of which are located in Metro Manila, and a key driver of the economy (Magtulis, 2020).

When the announcement of community quarantine was made last Thursday, President Duterte made no mention of its economic implications, including job losses, and how the government intends to address them.

This threatened the “no work no pay” employees that they and their families might lead to hunger. This mindset must not be put on the sidelines since hunger will compel people to do things beyond reason. They just need to eradicate the hunger; they just want to survive.

Yahoo News reported on November of 2013 in the advent of typhoon Yolanda that looting by locals desperate for food and supplies had been reported in at least two Gaisano malls in the heavily hit Tacloban City and two more in Ormoc City.

When the COVID-19 pandemic led the chief executive to proclaim a state of calamity to the country, people with money went to the supermarkets and did panic buying. They hoarded food and other essentials for them to survive. But what about those people who do not have money? Can they do that? Deep in their minds, they are anxious about their survival. This is an instinct inside all of us.

There is a looming fear in highly urbanized areas that people will gate-crash in the rich subdivisions and steal food. There are also words spreading in the social media sites that big supermarkets will be raided by the poor for food. These will materialize when hunger consumes many.

In 2012, Suzanne Collins released a trilogy, The Hunger Games, which eventually became one of this generation’s bestsellers. Set in a future North America known as "Panem", the Capitol selects a boy and a girl between the ages of 12 and 18 from each of the twelve outlying districts to compete in the annual "Hunger Games", a televised fight-to-the-death. The winner (or the one who will survive from death) will receive a one-year supply of food until the next time where the government (the Capitol) launches another “game”.

This dystopian setting can terrifyingly lead to reality once the leaders, legislators and social managers won’t have the necessary moves to curtail the looming food shortage and eventually the scarcity of food.

According to Lauren Reed (2017), developing a crisis management plan is not difficult, but it does require some forethought. An astounding number of businesses don’t have a crisis plan in place before a crisis occurs, which can lead them to be caught off-guard when things go wrong and incorrect information goes viral in a matter of minutes.

Our leaders and managers must have a robust set of crisis management skills for them to be able to manage people and resources well in difficult situations like a pandemic. To state the reality, due to the volatility of the events occurring around the globe, there is a dire need for leaders skilled in crisis management because only then will the constituents be able to cope with the drastic changes in the methods of coping with their lives.

As a result, the quick decisions and efficient communication of crisis management leaders that’s needed in a huge crisis is what helps the country survive.

President Rodrigo Duterte ordered local government executives to abide by the enhanced community quarantine guidelines set by the national government. In a video message released dawn of March 20, 2020, Duterte reminded local government officials that they are part of one republic and should thus follow the rules set by the national government.

"I am therefore directing the DILG and the DOJ to closely monitor the compliance of LGUs in the directives of the office and to file the necessary cases against the wayward officials," the chief executive said (abs-cbn.com).

Clearly, it is now in the hands of our local leaders to develop strategic plans for people not to behave like hungry animals scavenging for food. In the first place, they took an oath to serve their constituents, right?

A Bit of Sacrifice

Gahi na mga uyo! As the community quarantine segued to become an enhanced one, people continue to go out. Others are pleading to allow them to work since they are paid daily. Their company has this “No Work No Pay” scheme. The stringent social distancing mandate by the government was not followed by some since for them the virus won’t kill them but hunger. Yet, there are students who roam around the places; there are young and older ones who socialize through their favorite “tagay”.

The Philippine Information Agency reported on March 12 this year that President Rodrigo Roa Duterte has approved the imposition of Stringent Social Distancing Measures in the National Capital Region (NCR) for thirty (30) days, upon the recommendation of health officials, as well as members of the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) in a bid to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

This also includes local government units which declare suspension of gatherings and the like.

But people continue to go out and socialize. Some of them cannot confront the thought of being inside their houses and continue to gratify themselves. This prompted this author to wonder why DELAYING GRATIFICATION is difficult for others.

Delaying gratification is the act of resisting an impulse to take an immediately available reward in the hope of obtaining a more-valued reward in the future. The ability to delay gratification is essential to self-regulation, or self-control (Conti, 2019).

There are those in our society who cannot control their impulses to gratify themselves even in difficult circumstances. We hear of husbands who drown themselves with alcohol while his children are dying of hunger. We hear of women who buy clothes and beautiful bags while their families are in debt. They gratify themselves even if in reality they are in dire situations.

The same to those who cannot control their urge to play basketball; go out and be with friends and do things they like. There’s a term in Freudian psychoanalysis known as the pleasure principle, which is the instinctual seeking of pleasure and avoidance of pain in order to satisfy biological and psychological needs. According to Freud, the pleasure principle is the driving force guiding the id, the most basic part of ourselves.

But can we as a species NOT control these urges? Can we not spare some time to sacrifice and consider the greater good?

In his paper titled Reasons Why We Rush for Immediate Gratification, Shahram Eshmat, PhD (2017) posits these reasons: Uncertainty, Age, Cognitive Capacity, Poverty, Impulsiveness and Emotion Regulation.

Striking concepts are focused on age. The paper mentions that young people tend to be impulsive and easily get bored. Deepened discussion is centered on cognitive capacity. Higher intelligence is associated with a more future-focused tendency. Children and adults with higher intelligence tend to be better at shifting attention away from the affective properties of rewards.

Time preference is associated with the emotional environment in early childhood development. Children of disengaged and unresponsive parents tend to have a poor ability to delay gratification. Emotional distress also causes a behavioral shift toward immediate improvements in mood, leading people to make poor decisions.

And who could not agree more with poverty? Dr. Eshmat continued: Poverty and the pressure of present needs can blind a person to the needs of the future, leading (necessarily) to a stronger focus on the present.

Summing up, people are not following orders by some amount of sacrifice because they are either young, do not have higher intelligence to grasp the matters at hand and they are poor trying to look for a living.

On March 17, 2020, President Duterte has declared a nationwide state of calamity for six months to address the outbreak of the corona virus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in the country. The declaration will allow the President to tap, among others, the government’s calamity funds, which were earlier reported to amount to P16 billion under the 2020 national budget. It will also allow local government units (LGUs) to speedily access special funds to assist their constituencies during the public health emergency (philstar.com).

That is a wise move to augment food and basic necessities of the poor. The parents can have their share in regulating the movements of their young children if they will be bored and become impulsive as part of responsible parenting.

But then again, it would take complex processes to attain meta-cognition and cognitive capacity. This is the reason why education is the best armor for humanity to survive.

Try Alone

                                                  (photo: USA Today)

Kaaya anhi! This is the usual complain you see on social media as different authorities here in our country encouraged the people to have self-quarantine to prevent the spread of the dreaded COVID-19 virus. In fact, social distancing is one of the features of executive orders from the president down to the local chief executives. That is the reason why the young ones are complaining. Their social contact is now limited.

We humans are social beings; we share mirror neurons that allow us to match each other’s emotions unconsciously and immediately. We leak emotions to each other. We anticipate and mirror each other’s movements when we’re in sympathy or agreement with one another—when we’re on the same side. And we can mirror each other’s brain activity when we’re engaged in storytelling and listening – both halves of the communication conundrum (Morgan, 2015).

We can also feel disconnected with one another especially if our values are poles apart. Yet, simply put, it is difficult for us not to have contact with others.

President Rodrigo Roa Duterte has approved the imposition of Stringent Social Distancing Measures in the National Capital Region (NCR) for thirty (30) days, upon the recommendation of health officials, as well as members of the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) in a bid to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Addressing the nation from Malacanang, the President appealed to the people not to stress themselves about the COVID-19 as he assures "government is doing everything to make it at least controllable,” he said (PIA).

Other cities and municipalities are also stipulating in their executive orders to practice social distancing schemes so to avoid direct contact which might spread the virus. This could be difficult to Filipinos since we are “touching” people. We kiss the hands of our elders; we hug our parents, hold our friends and feel “empty” when there is no contact with others thus the coined term “barkada” which now evolves to “tropa”. Being alone is equated to being lonely.

But as proactive individuals, we can make this phase in our lives as a situation which can improve ourselves. Why not try being ALONE?

Some people naturally prefer time alone and that can be fine. Roughly 50% of the population can be categorized as introverts, meaning they get the most value in life out of time spent on their own.  Being alone can offer a rich psychological experience according to psychalive.org.

Our brains need balance. While social interactions are crucial to certain areas of brain activity, time alone is necessary for our brains to unwind and recharge. Dr. Sherrie Bourg Carter explains, “Constantly being ‘on’ doesn’t give your brain a chance to rest and replenish itself. Being by yourself with no distractions gives you the chance to clear your mind, focus, and think more clearly. It’s an opportunity to revitalize your mind and body at the same time.”

Lena Firestone (2019) says that creativity tends to flourish in solitude.  Studies are now showing that people are actually more likely to come up with their best ideas on their own, rather than during group brainstorming sessions. Human beings in general and creativity in particular, are sensitive to criticism from others, which is one reason why so many of us are able to think more freely and express ourselves more clearly when we are alone. Additionally, the lack of interruption from others allows us to reflect and think differently, leading to more creative “meta-cognition.”

Most of the people who prefer to be alone take long walks. They are also fond of doing things which do not require social interaction like reading and writing. There are those who do crafts and scrapbooks. While they do these things, they often think.

Mindfulness of thoughts means watching them come and go, with friendly curiosity and nonjudgmental acceptance. When you’re mindful of your thoughts, you realize that thoughts are constantly appearing and disappearing and that you can choose whether to believe or comply with them (Baer, 2014).

But then again, are we trained and does our culture dictate us from being alone? Are we as a people adept to social distancing?

Sara Maitland in her book titled “How to be Alone” believes we are “under skilled” when it comes to being by ourselves, and that we were deprived of those skills as children. “Everybody says it is natural for the human species to be social,” she says, “yet we put enormous amounts of effort into training our children to be sociable. We tell them, ‘don’t fight, say thank you, and share your toys… ’, we send them to playgroup. We’re depriving them of the skills for being alone.”

In these life-threatening times when exposure to others is a risk factor, we need to perform social distancing. We can train ourselves to confront the inner things of our existence and our being and becoming. We can use this time to be the best person to know the inner self. 

Doing things by ourselves can be productive too.

We win together

                                           (philstar.com)

Umay paglingap? There are those who hoarded ethyl and isopropyl alcohol one could ask what would they do about it? They are going to bathe using it? You see, soap is still the best thing to use and alcohol with 70% solution can be an alternative way of disinfecting the hands so with the sanitizers. We understand that you are concerned about your health but what about the well-being of others?

Self-preservation according to the American Psychology Association is the fundamental tendency of humans and nonhuman animals to behave so as to avoid injury and maximize chances of survival (e.g., by fleeing from dangerous situations or predators).

Members of the Interagency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases yesterday met at Malacañang and agreed to implement sweeping measures to contain the spread of infection, including banning mass gatherings, extending class suspensions and imposing “localized community quarantine” for areas with confirmed COVID-19 cases.

Philstar.com reported: It’s no “lockdown,” officials said, but Metro Manila is being placed under a month-long “community quarantine” to contain the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) starting March 15 to April 14 of this year.

These prompted the people not just in Metro Manila but even in the provinces to head to the nearest stores and started panic-buying.

When people panic-buy it’s a “gesture”, Hinde (2020) explains – they’re doing something to help themselves in an otherwise helpless situation. When we have no control over the bigger picture, we crave control in our “micro world” – our home and daily routines. And in this case, people are doing it by buying up supplies.

There’s also the fear element – understandable when some people have died from Covid-19, although only a small number in the UK. On top of that, people are scared of running out of food or supplies, says Pankhania (2020), so there’s the basic survival instinct of: “If I don’t have food, I’ll die.”

Is such fear an excuse for NOT being emphatic in such situations? You see, even in dire situations the sense of understanding that others also need stuff like food and alcohol for their own survival, we have the ability to think and feel. Have we not, as humans, transcended being animals?

Richard Taflinger in his paper called The Biological Basis of Life (1996) said: Any form of life must gather resources that allow it to survive and reproduce. The resources may be food, water, sunlight, minerals, vitamins, shelter. Without these things, the organism dies. Since the two most basic purposes of life are to live and to reproduce, it should do everything it can to avoid dying through a lack of resources.

Greed is one organism getting a larger piece of the pie, more of the necessary resources, than other organisms. For example, in the Amazonian rain forest, an occasional tree dies and falls. This leaves an opening to the sun in the continuous canopy of foliage. Plants and trees race each other to grow into that opening. The winners in the race fill the hole; the losers die through lack of sunlight. The greed for sunlight means life (Attenborough, 1990).

So that is it. Greed thrives when there is a need to survive.

Recent research indicates no decisive conclusion regarding whether humans are “fundamentally generous or greedy and whether these tendencies are shaped by our genes or environment.” (Robison, M, 2014). Studies seem to indicate we are both, and the reasons are genetic, evolutionary, and environmental.

In cases of the present situation, it seems that people are reacting to a stimulus. And this is the fear caused by the COVID-19 which is being elevated by the World Health Organization (WHO) as a pandemic. But then, we cannot also discredit the fact that there are people who are genetically selfish or they are influenced by the environment to act selfishly.

There is a need for us to reflect on current situations rather than to perform reactive actions (like panic buying). We need to understand that in situations like these, we can contribute individually and be victorious as a whole.

People exert less effort when performing in groups than when working alone. Based on the collective effort model’s core principle that individuals are only willing to work hard if they expect their individual contribution to be instrumental in obtaining personally satisfying outcomes, there is a strong influence of individual motive dispositions on group performance. Motive dispositions vary from person to person and, when triggered by appropriate cues in the environment, form the current motivation and determine behavior (Helkenmeier, 2018).

The scientists are working hard to find a cure on this strain. We are afraid to be infected and we worry about our family members. But then again, others also deserve to survive not just ourselves. We can do this together.

Listen to the authorities! They mean well.

Hypochondriac

Panhinaw! We are told by our parents to wash our hands before and after eating. One reason is for us not to ingest anything dirty and the other is for our hands not to smell “paksiw” and dried fish which we often eat by our bare hands. As time goes by, the reason for washing our hands elevated to disease prevention and even hypochondria.

As of press time, CNN Philippines reported that sixteen more people have tested positive for COVID-19 in the Philippines, bringing the total number of those who have been infected with the new virus to 49.

The dreaded virus is not airborne according to medical experts. It can be transmitted through droplets from the sneeze or cough of the infected person. Also, the virus could land on surfaces and can last for some minutes that it can be transferred to the hands. The affected hand can be placed on the mouth, eyes or noses which the viruses thrive in the persons as s/he now becomes its host. Flu-like illness will then take place which can lead to severe cases and even death.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2018), keeping hands clean is one of the most important steps we can take to avoid getting sick and spreading germs and virus to others. Many diseases and conditions are spread by not washing hands with soap and clean, running water.

But how adept the Filipinos are in terms of hand washing?

A study conducted by Safeguard Philippines in 2017 was found out that 8 out of 10 Filipinos claim to wash their hands after using a public toilet but only 2 out of 10 really do.

In the school level, learners are taught how to wash their hands properly. Hand-washing with soap is one of the key elements of DepEd’s comprehensive Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) in Schools (WinS) Program, stipulated in DepEd Order No. 10, s. 2016, which advocates correct hygiene and sanitation practices among schoolchildren, and promotes an environment conducive to learning to keep learners safe and healthy.

Still, we can ask the practices in terms of hygiene in the home. Are they at par with the health department’s standards?

Jeff Harvie (2017) wrote: Filipinos are a sociable people, and sharing food is as natural as breathing. Arrive anywhere when food is being eaten, and you will be invited to share it. Small children (i.e. those under 10) are often fed very informally by whoever is there. If a child is in reach, it’s normal practice to get a bit of food off your plate (by utensils or eating-fingers) and stick it in the child’s mouth. And if the child wants something you are eating, don’t be too surprised to find that small child with mouth open in front of you.

In 2011 Brian A. Vasquez conducted a research titled “Tagay” and Cross Contact Contamination. He observed that in Cebu City, drinking alcoholic beverages was done by sharing glasses. Each one takes turn in drinking and this is called "tagay". Variations from the traditional practice were also observed. These were: (1) passing two glasses in round-robin style; (2) passing the drink under the table; and (3) passing the glass on the next table. Medical and paramedical professionals were also observed in the practice of sharing glasses during drinking session.

Systematic reviews of related studies revealed that this practice, be it traditional or contemporary, may result in the transmission of communicable diseases or cross contamination of allergen, bacteria and viruses.

This writer is putting a parameter in looking at culture and community practices as causal factors in the spread of communicable diseases like the dreaded COVID-19. There is a need for authorities, legislators, people in the academe and parents to look into them. A little bit of paranoia can be useful these days.

REACH conducted a large-scale study in 2015 to contribute to the development of best practices for sustainable change in sanitation and hygiene behavior in the Philippines.

The assessment examined knowledge, attitudes and practices related to Water, Hygiene and Sanitation, and included a survey of 3,025 households in project areas across six provinces: Eastern Samar, Samar, Leyte, Cebu, Capiz and Iloilo. The study used a mixed-methods approach to collect both qualitative and quantitative information at household level, community level, and in schools. The assessment found significant variation between the six provinces, but revealed a high overall level of hygiene awareness and knowledge. It also demonstrated a significant gap between the reported importance of hand-washing and its practice, therefore careful selection and targeting of relevant hygiene messages will be particularly important.

With this data, we need to consider our hand-washing practices as a people. We can also avoid the “tagay” practice since it is not medically-sound. There must be a widespread awareness among us of hygiene’s importance and how we can survive from this looming pandemic.

Panhinaw na!

Unproductive

Mag ginoberno gud na trinabahuan. There is this misconception among people that if one is working in a government agency, you have the right to loaf around and receive the salary with lesser displacement of work consistent to what is being paid. We hear of local government workers who perform procrastination at its peak. We also hear of teachers coming in late to their stations and go out of school as early as three thirty in the afternoon. But the most annoying ones are those who come to work early but do not displace any output at all. They are just there with no tangible outcome of either services or paperwork.

Loafing according the Dictionary.com is to idle away time or to lounge or saunter idly and lazily. It then prompted the Civil Service Commission (CSC) to remind state workers to strictly observe government working hours. The CSC issued the reminder through Memorandum Circular No. 1, series of 2017 reiterating the policy on government office hours, and penalties for unauthorized absences, tardiness in reporting for duty, and loafing during office hours.

What then is the reason why people get unproductive during working hours other than sheer laziness?

Worker productivity is an ongoing challenge in the world. It would be easy to blame this lack of productivity on ‘lazy’ millennial. But there are more complex factors at play including issues with workplace culture, a lack of investment in skills and training, and change on use and expectations of digital communications tools.

Barry Chignell (2019) mentioned that these are the main reasons why people are NOT working at their best: The working environment is not fitting for the purpose; Digital technology is out of control; Managers are unskilled; Performance management is not in step with reality; No rewards and recognition scheme; Stressful assignments with additional loads and less social interactions.

Let us look at the schools since this writer is immersed with them as the ecology.

If one visits the public schools, the reality will slap the person with enough force that could knock him/her unconscious.  Classrooms are jam-packed with learners and the furniture and even the floors are not wholesome enough to look at. Teachers and students are trying cope with the online fad and cannot manage themselves on how to situate themselves in this social media revolution. School heads are not focusing on the curriculum since they are misguided by all the paperwork and “beautification” activities. The introduction of the PPST/PPSSH-aligned performance is beyond the understanding of other school heads (they do not even understand why lesson plans must be tracked and classroom observations must be properly written). Teachers claim to have enough teaching loads and competencies to be taught are stressful enough to cope.

These are just slices of the big pie that encompass the realities in the Department of Education. But then, as persons of cognitive understanding, we can adapt and cope on the so-called demands if we understand what we are working at.

Heraclitus, a Greek philosopher who lived around 500 BC, developed an entire philosophy around the fact that life is nothing but constant change. Having to adapt to those changes is a basic element of being human, but it is not always easy to excel at it. Adaptability requires an ability to positively alter your mindset and your actions, often in ways that are initially uncomfortable or even stressful, to conquer new challenges (David, 2019).

There is the gap. When people sit on their laurels and do not go out of their comfort zones and then resort to sloth.

A person is being lazy if he is able to carry out some activity that he ought to carry out, but is disinclined to do so because of the effort involved. Instead, he carries out the activity perfunctorily; or engages in some other, less strenuous or less boring activity; or remains idle. In short, he is being lazy if his motivation to spare himself effort trumps his motivation to do the right or expected thing.

Recent research suggests that, though our instinct is for idleness, people will pick upon the flimsiest excuse to keep busy. Moreover, people feel happier for being busy, even if their busyness is imposed upon them. In their paper, Idleness Aversion and the Need for Justifiable Busyness (2010), Hsee and colleagues surmise that many purported goals that people pursue may be little more than justifications for keeping busy.

Government workers must be reminded that we took oath on serving the people and the country to our utmost abilities. Since we chose to become teachers and employees of the public schools, there is a need for us to be productive daily. Our performance and academic achievement of the students are manifestations that we are doing our best to displace services.

Meanwhile, the Civil Service Commission warned the government workers that loafing during regular office hours is a grave offense and is punishable by suspension of six months to one year for the first offense, and dismissal from the service for the second offense (CSC Memo Circular no.1, s. 2017).