No ‘beso-beso,’ handshakes for now, suggests Magsaysay

DAGUPAN CITY — No beso-beso (cheek-to-cheek), no handshakes for the meantime.

This advice came from Sen. Ramon Magsaysay Jr. when local reporters asked him what to do best to avoid the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) virus.

But Magsaysay himself apparently could not help but shake the hands of local folk when he spoke during the 83rd annual convention of the American Legion Auxiliary here yesterday.

"They (might) get mad at us (if) we refuse to shake their hands," he quipped.

But he said, "We have to change our culture like the beso-beso (and) eating kamayan style in restaurants."

He said Filipinos should also keep their nails clean, wash hands before eating and use alcohol, always have handkerchiefs and use surgical masks.

Meanwhile, Pangasinenses have apparently been suffering from discrimination being the province mates of confirmed SARS case Adela Catalon, who hailed from Alcala town.

A group of excursionists from Villasis town, headed by Mayor Nonato Abrenica himself, was denied accommodation at a Laguna resort when the management learned that Catalon was initially brought to a hospital in Villasis before she was rushed to the San Lazaro Hospital. As a result, the excursionists had to cancel their trip.

In another incident, a cockfight aficionado from Alcala town was driven out of a cockpit arena because other sabungeros feared they might get the SARS virus from him, according to a municipal mayor.

In Tarlac, four regular workers of a Japanese-owned company at the Hacienda Luisita were reportedly sent home merely because they are Pangasinenses.

The firm’s management has agreed to allow them to report for work on Monday provided they don’t have any SARS symptoms, a union officer said.

Provincial health officials, however, assured the company that the four workers were "safe from SARS."

They also reported to Gov. Jose Yap Jr. the absence of any SARS case in the province.

Before she died, Catalon acted as a sponsor in a wedding in Ramos town, and attended the reception in Moncada. None of the wedding guests showed any symptoms of SARS, according to Dr. Ricardo Ramos, provincial health chief. — With Benjie Villa