A winner of the so-called alternative Nobel Prize, the Alternative Livelihood Award, Nicanor P. Perlas, calls for a fusion of ‘spiritual-scientific response’ to the challenges posed by COVID-19, and asserts that with a focus on one’s “life mission,” one can hurdle the challenges posed by COVID-19, like other critical issues faced by humanity over the centuries.
Perlas expressed these ideas in a back-to-the-basics elearning forum sponsored by the Mediators’ Network for Sustainable Peace (MedNet) and the Davao-based Interfacing Development Interventions for Sustainability (IDIS) for civil society and government organizations last October 20.
Together with others held before it, the forum was organized to bring together community-based, civil society and government partners to a discussion on how best to manage the challenges posed by COVID-19. Mednet held its first learning forum in May 2020.
Perlas said many scientists all over the world now question many restrictive practices, especially lockdowns, being imposed to stem the tide of COVID-19, noting that 85 percent of those who died from the disease were those who wore masks. Citing a group of medical doctors what has recently drafted the Great Barrington Declaration, Perlas said the issuance advocates for an alternative, risk-based approach to the COVID-19 pandemic that calls for "focused protection" of those most at risk, and avoiding or minimizing lockdowns.
As COVID-19 numbers in many parts of the world are declining, he also noted majority of new infections are not serious, especially those of the youth, and many patients are recovering.
He also disputed the number of deaths in the Philippines after March 2020, saying that the figures of 2019 and 2020 for similar periods do not indicate mass deaths due to COVID-19. Deaths after March 2020 can also be due to other factors like stress caused by COVID-19 related lockdowns and other restrictions.
He warned that even the vaccines being developed against COVID-19 may be unsafe. These are all part of false data being spread over the rate of infection and testing done, a factor aggravated by the media industry that is controlled by corporate interests, and even by mainstream scientific journals.
He shared that many lawyer groups all over the world are now planning to sue the World Health Organization and many national governments for the lockdowns imposed on account of COVID-19, which wrecked many national economies and personal livelihoods.
Onetime winner of the Outstanding Filipino Award, Perlas trained as an agriculturist and key promoter of sustainable, organic and biodynamic agriculture in the Philippines. He is also microfinance leader, serving as board chairman and trustee of LifeBank, a rural bank and microfinance institution. He was adviser and consultant to many legislators and local governments, and a member of the Senate Task Force on Artificial Intelligence. He co-founded the Global Network for Social Three-Folding, Globenet3 or GN3, which has more than 17 geographic and functional nodes in Asia, Europe, Africa, and the United States of America. GN3 advances profound societal transformation towards integral sustainable development on the basis of socially-engaged spirituality and deep substantive inner change. For his international work, he received the Global 500 Award of the United Nations Environment Programme. He authored the book, Humanity’s Last Stand, The Challenge of Artificial Intelligence, that is sold on Amazon.=
He co-founded and is spokesperson for Tindog Pilipinas!, a national movement for a better Philippines, Professionals for Social Responsibility, and the Philippine Advancement and Renewal through Threefolding Networking, Research & Service, or PARTNERS, the Philippine node for GlobeNet3.