GLOBALIZATION

Globalization implies the dissemination in terms not only of goods and services, but of ideas,
information, and technology on an international level. It’s when the borders of countries and continents
no longer exist and the whole planet becomes one global village in itself. But, does globalization benefits
everyone? Who benefits the most from increasing globalization? How the gains from globalization are
touching the lives of the poorest citizens in developing countries? What is the role of ASEAN in
globalization?

There is a wide variety of countries that avail much more from globalization than the others,
particularly those small countries, as the Philippines' President Rodrigo Roa Duterte said. Benefits are
unevenly distributed since actual benefits in globalization are slightly higher and difficult to keep up with
developed countries. When countries open up to trade, they tend to grow faster and standards of living
tend to rise but the point is that the benefits of this higher growth are trickling down to the poor
because even poor patronize their products. In the most disadvantaged nations, the educational gap is
even higher, leading to a less active labor force. Inequality and growth are negatively connected by the
fact that poorer people spend less on educating themselves and developing themselves. Another
concern is that there are often no open data of good quality about the health of disadvantaged people.
Therefore, the inequality between the rich and the poor tends to increase just like the difference
between China (GDP: 13,368,073M.$) and Africa (GDP: 368,125M.$) in terms of GDP and economic
growth. In a broad sense, it is very hard to figure out the impact of globalization on those small or
developing countries. Today, The Association of South East Asian Nations, abbreviated as ASEAN is a
global microcosm that is a highly developed nation, middle-income countries, and developing countries.
It has become a beacon of multilateral cooperation in a darkening world of greater protectionism, a shift
towards bilateral trade, and a move towards globalization. Globalization is also viewed in this part of the
world as the path to the future. The real measure of progress will be recognizing and resolving the
problems and dissatisfaction generated by globalization and technological change in the West and
ensuring that no one gets left behind as ASEAN continues to expand. ASEAN economies are extremely
competitive when measured by their rapid growth development, but less so when an account is taken of
environmental harm. ASEAN's main environmental issues are water conservation, deforestation and
land loss, air pollution, and climate change. There are various factors causing deforestation and land
degradation in ASEAN, including demand for timber products and palm oil, intensive farming, and urban
sprawl. Weak laws, and corruption in some cases, have also permitted wasteful practices.

Globalization has more beneficial effects than harmful ones. Globalization's Influence on
developing countries such as India, China, and some African countries are immense. International
investment has created multiple employment opportunities in developing countries and has
strengthened their economies. Globalization has also allowed people to share their ideas and their
culture.
COVID-19

The world has witnessed outbreaks, some of which are worse than others, but one thing is
common, all these outbreaks lead to the loss of lives and a global health crisis. One of the world's worst
outbreaks was the Spanish flu in 1918 that hits 500 million people worldwide and reports say that 50
million people have been killed. It's incredible how they control their own anxiety and stress as there is
no vaccine yet because the medication before is not that powerful that's why it took them 27 years to
discover a vaccine.

In the meantime, the latest coronavirus pandemic an infectious disease has taken almost
900,000 lives and approximately 207,000,000 infected people worldwide. Cases of COVID-19 are
increasingly growing and affecting more than 200 countries in the world. The reason why everyone can
be a COVID-19 positive especially those who work in a hospital because health care workers spend a lot
of time doing high-risk activities in close contact with the patient just like Dr. Greg Philip in the video I
watched and no one can tell when you'll recover. It took months or more before you recover and your
whole body is affected. After the treatment, you'll experience an after-effect same with the situation of
Dr. Greg Philip where his vocal cords have been affected.

Governments have a role to play in softening the economic impact of COVID-19 and all
policymakers have to understand that we are living in a globalized world and a crisis like this requires a
global response. The COVID-19 pandemic economic implications call for immediate policy responses to
keep the economy stable. So they started partial lockdown easing but maintained some constraints on
movements and mass gatherings, given that local transmission is already occurring. With fewer people
going around, the risk of spreading the infection uncontrollably and rapidly beyond the health system's
ability is minimized. Also, health care should be provided equally to all people, without excluding poor,
undocumented workers, inmates, or indigenous people since they were all badly vulnerable by COVID.
However, policymakers must approach this pandemic head-on, with calm and humility. When it comes
to our health, front liners are there risking their lives to provide life-saving support and protection to
each of us.

However, people turn to governments to act, and they often have high expectations. We
shouldn't let the government face it alone and past conflicts need to be set aside. Countries need to
work together to help each other overcome this pandemic. Remember the song "WE HEAL AS ONE.” we
must practice protective measures because it is still the best way to protect oneself against COVID-19
since lockdowns are not enough to defeat the COVID-19. Households must take steps to ensure that
they have access to reliable information from sources like WHO, and local and national governments
would be important for families Make sure to practice frequent and proper hand washing, practice
proper cough etiquette, and maintain a distance of at least one meter away from individual/s.
Cooperation and understanding can help solve this pandemic, most especially prayers.