Beware: sudden death from merrymaking

Shafts of Life, Fr. Guido Arguelles’ reflections on life-death, love, truth, saints-sinners, forgiveness and many more, is now off the press. A fine Christmas gift, it is inspiring, witty, written as if purposely for you. For, Father Guido, SJ, spent the last days of his life designing it that way.

Only P400, Shafts of Life can be ordered from Vangie Reinoso, Father Guido’s long-time secretary: +63906-2028378, +63933-6490421, +63908-4020449, [email protected]. Part of the proceeds goes to continuing his livelihood, feeding and charity projects in the slums of Payatas, Quezon City, and San Jose del Monte, Bulacan.

Also available at St. Paul’s, 7708 St. Paul Road, San Antonio Village, Makati 1203, +632-8959701 to 04, (e-mail for orders) [email protected], with branches in most SM malls.

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Call him a killjoy, but Dr. Antonio Leachon is cautioning everyone against bingeing these days leading up to Christmas. We might succumb to the Holiday Heart Syndrome. That is, suffer heart attack or stroke due to overindulgence.

The week of Christmas can be most dangerous, Leachon warns. Parties get to be more often, and people are stressed from shopping and traffic, and tired from squeezing party preparations into work. They overeat and drink to de-stress. The chances of myocardial infarction or cerebral hemorrhage are higher soon afterwards. For those who drive drunk, chances of fatal accidents are higher as well.

A cardiologist and internist, Leachon draws from studies abroad to bolster his own domestic researches. Dr. Robert A Kloner of the Heart Institute, Good Samaritan Hospital, Los Angeles, is one source. Kloner had noted that the incidence of sudden death rises in the US during the little over one month from Thanksgiving to New Year’s Day. He attributes it to under-workout, stress and overindulgence. The cold weather constricts blood vessels. Merrymakers drop dead from the combination of unhealthy lifestyles.

Leachon says the holiday season is longer in the Philippines. It starts on the first week of December, encompassing Christmas, New Year and Three Kings’ Day, then extending to the Chinese New Year and Valentine’s. It’s not only the no-exercise, higher stress, and overeating and drinking that’s dangerous. There’s also the noise and air pollution from extra-loud music, and fumes from cigarettes and fireworks. Most holiday heart attacks and strokes in the Philippines occur in the early morning, when temperature is cooler.

A peso-a-year consultant of the health department for non-communicable disease, Leachon warns that heart and stroke patients are no longer the usual rich seniors. They’re getting younger and cut through all social classes. It’s because the Generation-X, now in the 30s, grew up in videogames instead of traditional physically strenuous sports. Junk food and soda, cigarette and alcohol are also readily available to rich and poor alike. Sixty percent of Filipino deaths today is due to non-communicable diseases: heart attack, stroke, diabetes, cancer, and lung ailment.

Workout is not enough, Leachon says. An average male must limit his intake to 1,800 calories a day; a female, 1,500; a serving of French fries gives 500 calories, a third of the day’s limit, but an hour on the treadmill can burn only 300 calories. Restraint is best. Cut down on the lechon, beer and, most of all, salt and sugar — now.

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The Manila Overseas Press Club has elected Weber Shandwick president-CEO, Atty. Mike Toledo, as governor. Toledo, who was press secretary and spokesman of President Joseph Estrada, holds a Master of Law degree from the London School of Economics, obtained under British government scholarship.

Toledo was also concurrently appointed MOPC spokesman by outgoing chairman, The STAR columnist Babe Romualdez. Elected as well were Inquirer publisher Isagani Yambot as incoming chairman, and Manila Standard Today publisher Rolando Estabillo as president.

Incorporated in 1945, the MOPC is the country’s oldest press club. It counts among its founders Carl Mydans, Life magazine’s combat photographer. Other media luminaries have served as MOPC officers, among them, The STAR founding publisher Max Soliven (deceased), Manila Standard columnist Emil Jurado, and business magazine publisher Tony Lopez.

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Last Dec. 12, I asked why gasoline in Manila, Seaoil’s P50.99 per liter, is costlier than the costliest in the US, $3.67 per gallon (P39.45 a liter) in San Francisco. The energy department’s Zenaida Y. Monsada, director of the oil industry management bureau, replies:

“To be exact, the $3.67/gallon in the US is equivalent to P42.285/liter, using the P43.61:$1 and 3.785 liters/gallon conversion.

“Comparing US and domestic gasoline prices would be unrealistic because:

“1. The US uses the West Texas Index, much lower than Philippine benchmark Dubai crude. Last Dec. 12 the WTI was $97.92 per barrel while Dubai was $106.86, a difference of almost $10. Reason: Asian oil demand is getting stronger, while the US is weakening due to its economic crisis.

“2. Gasoline in the US has a 91RON maximum quality, while premium gas in the Philippines has minimum of 93 RON.

“3. Gasoline in the Philippines is imposed an excise tax of P4.35/liter, plus 12-percent VAT, or approximately 19-percent tax. Tax on fuel in America, particularly San Francisco, is only about 16 percent.

“The above would be the main reasons why gasoline in the Philippines is costlier than in the US.”

Good Ms. Monsada brought up the tax angle, for it is a burden on Filipino consumers. US labor is so much higher than in the Philippines. California taxpayers get their money’s worth in the form of police protection, more and more freeways, clean air, etc. In the Philippines, taxes go to pork barrel in the three branches of government. One more thing: electricity in the Philippines, despite its cheaper labor, is costlier than in the US. And this again is due precisely to the higher fuel cost to produce power, and over-taxation for pork. It’s the system. Groan!

Catch Sapol radio show, Saturdays, 8-10 a.m., DWIZ, (882-AM).

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