Calendar for 2021
Is there a dearth of calendars for 2021?
Calendars of the coming year are among the Christmas gifts I look forward to receiving. After opening my gifts last Christmas Day, I realized I did not get a single calendar.
Family members and some friends in the past got calendars from me after Christmas. These were the excess calendars after I put up those for the house. I received from three to eight calendars from government officials (the number goes up when it’s close to election year), private offices and company partners. I ended up giving to others the extra calendars. For the past three years, however, I noticed that the number of calendars as gifts has been decr easi ng.
This year, so far, zilch. I have not received a single calendar for the coming year. (This is NOT an announcement or an invitation to send me calendars. I’m sure I can get from family members or I can easily buy from the chur ch.)
Perhaps this dearth of calendars is an indication of our wariness over the future; that we do not want to look far because we are occupied with the present and have enough worries about getting sick or losing income. But a calendar can be more than just a count of the days that make a year. It makes you keep track of the passing of time, especially when you forget the date. It marks an event.
A calendar is also a reminder that there is tomorrow to look forward to and the end of the month to summarize what happened and celebrate milestones. A calendar is a reminder to hope for a better day.
Reminder to self: Get a 2021 calendar.
On forecasters and analysts. They were mostly proven wrong in 2020. Would they dare make a prediction for 2021?
There’s the case of a Manila feng shui master who in 2019 predicted that the year 2020 would be a good year. His exact prediction was that 2020 would be a “strong, prosperous and lucky year.”
He obviously got it wrong and he, unfortunately, took some flak during the start of lockdowns last March from citizens who remembered his forecast. They told him to explain himself, to eat his words. Something to that eff ect .
Not only he but other forecasters also got it so wrong. The coronavirus disease (Covid-19) was first detected in December 2019 in China but there was no prediction of how bad the year 2020
For the multi-sectoral fund drive, Pineda urged local executives and legislative councils in 19 towns and three cities to appropriate funds for the vaccination program.
He said Vice Governor Lilia Pineda and the Sangguniang Panlalawigan are supportive of larger allocation proposals from him.
“We will all have to sacrifice some projects in order to prioritize further the health needs of our constituents,” the governor said.
He is set to begin dialogues with the business sector, which is encouraged to put up counterpart funding and launch other means.
He said the brand of vaccine should be approved by appropriate health authorities and purchased in accordance with the government’s procurement law.
In a meeting last December 18, former President Gloria Macapagal- Arroyo and provincial officials discussed ways to help the local economy recover from the pandemic.
As consultant to the provincial government, Arroyo recommended the clustering of barangays in enforcing health protocols, with councilors overseeing the clusters.
She said that in this way, COVID-19 incidence in Pampanga, which is much lower than those of other large provinces near Metro Manila, would flatten further.