Malditang Librarian

National Museum closes facilities nationwide amid spread of COVID-19 in PH The National Museum of the Philippines (NMP) closed its facilities nationwide starting March 13, 2020 until further notice as a preventive measure and in support of the National Government’s move to contain the spread of the COVID-19. Director-General Jeremy Barns issued the order hours after the President raised public health alert to Code Red Sublevel 2 per the advice of the Inter-agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases on March 12, 2020. The order closed indefinitely the NMP flagship museums National Museums of Fine Arts, Anthropology, Natural History and Planetarium in Rizal Park Complex, Manila. Also ordered closed are its regional, area and site museums located all over the Philippines. All NMP facilities are freely accessible to the public, thus, frequently visited by domestic and foreign tourists and learners of all ages. Relatedly, all previously announced public programs, incl...

I am writing this in the time of COVID-19. I just started a new job this March, but due to the worldwide pandemic, it's suspended at this time until next month. People are urged to stay at home to prevent the spread of the virus. We live in interesting times, right? Who'd have expected something like this to happen right now? It seems like something out of those zombie contagion movies. I hope that this will be over soon and life will go on as usual.  While at home, I'm trying to blog, write, and catch up on books, movies, and TV series to kill time. For Day 1 of community quarantine, I rewatched Ari Aster's Midsommar [ read my review ]. For Day 2 (yesterday), I watched the same director's first film, Hereditary.  Like Midsommar , one would think Hereditary is horror at the first impression. Hereditary is terrifying at times, but stripped of the horror elements it is a family drama dealing with grief, trauma, and mental illness. Hereditary is...

GCash, the leading mobile wallet in the Philippines, encourages Filipinos to support the #FightCOVID19 campaign, a digital donation drive that aims to assist the frontline health workers and hospitals combat the dreaded novel coronavirus (COVID-19). The donation drive, done via the GCash app, will provide GCash users with an avenue to support the ongoing collective initiative to mitigate the spread of the global pandemic in the country. By donating money via GCash, Filipinos no longer have to physically go to the offices of social groups or hospitals to support the fight against the deadly virus. Proceeds of #FightCOVID19 will be equally divided among the seven non-government organization partners of GCash, namely: the Philippine Disaster Resilience Foundation (PDRF), the Philippine Red Cross (PRC), World Vision, UP Medical Foundation, PGH Foundation, Inc., ABS-CBN Lingkod Kapamilya Foundation, and Ayala Foundation. These organizations have been helping efforts to curb the...

Globe extends free and unlimited internet connection via its GoWiFi services to more hospitals nationwide as more COVID-19 cases are being confirmed in areas outside Metro Manila. This is to augment the efforts of more medical frontliners, and help patients and their loved ones to stay connected and informed in the country's fight against the pandemic. GoWiFi is available in the following medical institutions from March 16 until April 15, 2020 : Agusan del Norte MJ Santos Hospital Holy Child Colleges of Butuan Hospital Bataan Bataan St. Joseph Hospital and Medical Center Corp. Batangas Daniel O. Mercado Medical Center Lipa City District Hospital Lipa Medix Medical Center Mary Mediatrix Medical Center San Antonio Medical Center Bohol Ramiro Community Hospital Benguet Benguet General Hospital Bulacan Mendoza General Hospital QualiMed Hospital Altaraza Rugay General Hospital Camarines Sur NICC Doctors Hospital Capiz Capiz Emmanuel Hospital Cavi...

Photo credit: SM Mall of Asia Facebook page SM Group allocates Php100M towards COVID-19 outbreak support to PGH, RITM, and other government hospitals:  “To ensure the safety of medical front liners, SM is bringing in personal protective equipment (PPE) - face masks, gowns, visors, hoods, gloves, and shoe covers, as well as urgent medical supplies to help government hospitals who badly need them,” said SM Prime’s Hans Sy. Assistance has also been extended to Philippine General Hospital (PGH) and Research Institute for Tropical Management (RITM) for their urgent needs and for improving their laboratory testing capacity. SM has also allocated PPEs and medical supplies to the UP Medical Foundation Inc. to reach a wider network of hospitals. To improve the availability of tests, SM has reached out to Manila Healthtek Inc. to distribute 20,000 tests for free to government hospitals, once approved for use.

In light of the impact of COVID-19, Globe is giving all its mobile and broadband customers including business and enterprise clients nationwide an extra 30 days from the due date to settle their monthly bills. "Globe understands that during these difficult times, the need to be connected and informed on the latest developments in the fight against the global pandemic is very important to everyone.  Globe believes the extension of the bill payment will be one less worry for our customers especially during these difficult times," Ernest Cu, Globe President and CEO said. The move is in support of the government's call for people especially in Metro Manila to stay at home and practice social distancing to minimize possible exposure to the virus. To track down data usage, subscribe to offers in order to get more data, or pay bills, Globe customers may download and use the GlobeOne app or the Globe At Home app free of charge.  GCash is also an available option to sett...

Panaysayon: Tales from Panay Island by Christian George Acevedo, edited by Hazel Joaquin. Published through a grant from the National Commission for Culture and the Arts, Intramuros, Manila. ©2019 Photo from the author The author of this book has been a guest in the #Humans of the Library series in this blog: Christian George Acevedo . He is a librarian and the current head of Capiz State University Library. This is his first published book, published through a grant from NCCA. Panaysayon is a collection of 27 folk tales from Panay island, which includes the provinces of Iloilo, Antique, Aklan, and Capiz. Some of these tales may be familiar, some are new and a few of them I've never heard before. Every story has a translation to Hiligaynon. The stories are collected from various sources: books, libraries, archives, and interviews. It features different kinds of folk narratives: myths, legends, and folk tales. Two legends in the book, "Why the sky is high" an...