UP Professor Felipe Medalla during a colloquium organized by Foundation for Economic Freedom(FEF), a report of which event you can read here, was talking about how the growth statistics being bandied about by the government may not be real.
Medalla pointed out that that there is a persistent discrepancy between GDP figures on the one hand and figures for consumption, tax collection, investment, government spending and exports (i.e the components of GDP). He further noted that considering the country's historical record, if the official growth rates being churned out by the government were true we would have been experiencing high inflation and interest rates.
According to the disappointingly short write-up by the Friedrich Naumann Foundation of the event, Medalla concluded that the official statistics have become too, er, optimistic.
Optimistic? I think Prof Medalla minced his adjectives here. A forecast may be said to be opimistic alright, but a GDP, although an estimate in some aspects, is not a forecast and therefore the right adjective should have been unreliable, or spurious, or phony. Not optimistic.
Whenever a SONA is made by the president, so many people dispute the wonderland that she paints in her speech. A more substantial refutation of GMA's hallucinatory SONA could probably be had following Medalla's lead.
President Arroyo, through Garci, padded election tallies; she also solved the classroom shortage by a simple re-definition of what constitutes a shortage (and voila ! a classroom for every pupil). I think it would at least be funny to know she is pole-vaulting the country to First World status by the sheer strength of her imagination, which she probably got at (the aptly named) Assumption.
Tuesday, July 03, 2007
Monday, June 25, 2007
The benefits of drinking alkaline water
According to health and longevity enthusiasts like MIT's Ray Kurzweil and Dr. Terry Grossman (whose incredibly informative book Fantastic Voyage I am reading now), the blood's pH level is very tightly controlled to fall somewhere between 7.35 to 7.45. To maintain this pH level, the body neutralizes acidic drinks like softdrinks with alkaline blood buffers.
The problem is that when we keep on ingesting acidic foods and drinks, we use up our body's limited supply of alkaline buffers and thus they become unavailable to neutralize the other acidic waste products continually produced by our bodies, including organic byproducts of digestion such as acetic acid, lactic acid, carbonic acid, and uric acid. When we don't have enough alkaline buffers to neutralize these acidic waste products, our bodies sustain health damage and become ideal for the development of cancer cells.
Because of this need to preserve the alkalinity in the blood, Kurzweil and Grossman specifically recommend to drink only alkaline water (of pH up to 9.5 and 10).
The above recommendation by Kurzweil and Grossman is the most controversial. Some say that this quack science is one proof that even a most brilliant scientist like Kurzweil could be so thoroughly misled. Water, these critics say, is basically electrically neutral.
Kurzweil and Grossman insist that that while water is indeed neutral, the location of the electrons make a huge difference. The side of the molecule with the hydrogen atoms is slightly positive in electrical charge, whereas the oxygen side is slightly negative. Because of these slight charges, water molecules combine to assume hexagonal or pentagonal shapes and these three-dimensional electrical properties of water are quite powerful in breaking apart strong chemical bonds of other compounds.
So should we all begin drinking alkaline water? Well, I don't know enough chemistry to independently evaluate both sides of the debate. However, when I telephoned one water supplier (Aqua Health) I learned that five gallons of alkaline water (pH 7.5) cost just about the same as the regular distilled water we were regularly ordering(Pesos 40-50).
Kurzweil and Grossman may be grossly wrong, but what if they're right? Therefore, for the same price as our old water supply, I began ordering alkaline water. I figured out I got nothing to lose, and a whole long life to gain.
The problem is that when we keep on ingesting acidic foods and drinks, we use up our body's limited supply of alkaline buffers and thus they become unavailable to neutralize the other acidic waste products continually produced by our bodies, including organic byproducts of digestion such as acetic acid, lactic acid, carbonic acid, and uric acid. When we don't have enough alkaline buffers to neutralize these acidic waste products, our bodies sustain health damage and become ideal for the development of cancer cells.
Because of this need to preserve the alkalinity in the blood, Kurzweil and Grossman specifically recommend to drink only alkaline water (of pH up to 9.5 and 10).
The above recommendation by Kurzweil and Grossman is the most controversial. Some say that this quack science is one proof that even a most brilliant scientist like Kurzweil could be so thoroughly misled. Water, these critics say, is basically electrically neutral.
Kurzweil and Grossman insist that that while water is indeed neutral, the location of the electrons make a huge difference. The side of the molecule with the hydrogen atoms is slightly positive in electrical charge, whereas the oxygen side is slightly negative. Because of these slight charges, water molecules combine to assume hexagonal or pentagonal shapes and these three-dimensional electrical properties of water are quite powerful in breaking apart strong chemical bonds of other compounds.
So should we all begin drinking alkaline water? Well, I don't know enough chemistry to independently evaluate both sides of the debate. However, when I telephoned one water supplier (Aqua Health) I learned that five gallons of alkaline water (pH 7.5) cost just about the same as the regular distilled water we were regularly ordering(Pesos 40-50).
Kurzweil and Grossman may be grossly wrong, but what if they're right? Therefore, for the same price as our old water supply, I began ordering alkaline water. I figured out I got nothing to lose, and a whole long life to gain.
Saturday, June 23, 2007
Web prowl
The Ateneo University Press is holding its annual book sale on June 18-29 at its Bellarmine Hall bookshop. The Asia-Pacific Security Survey 2007 Report by the East-West Center in Honolulu is now available online. Jürgen Habermas writes an obituary for American philosopher Richard Rorty here. New Yorker's Seymour Hersh has a story on Fil-Am General Taguba of the Taguba report on American abuses of prisoners. Looks can kill, here's Foreign Policy on some toxic ingredients to watch out for in some cosmetic products. From Newsweek, here's an interview with newly-elected President of East Timor Jose Ramos-Horta plus an essay from Body Shop founder Anita Roddick. For the beginner cinephile, here are 50 DVD's to own (or better, simply borrow and watch). Sir Isaac Newton predicted that the world would end in 2060 and-this he got correctly-the Jews would return to the Holy Land before the world ends. From the New York Times, a story on the incredible sperm cells.
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
Quisumbing family feud
While many people are enthralled by the Bektas v Bektas TV extravaganza, there is an ongoing family feud that is far more compelling and visceral down in Cebu. Instead of husband and wife at each other's throat (which is annoyingly common nowadays), the Quisumbing family feud features son versus parents.
Here's the story: Norberto Wenceslao Jesus B. Quisumbing III is the son of Norberto B. Quisumbing Jr. and Britta B. Quisumbing. In the 1980's, he assumed the leadership of the then debt-ridden Norkis Group of Companies and successfully engineered the rehabilitation of the family business. He was however disowned by his parents when he underwent a sex change operation and subsequently got married. He was booted out as president and CEO, and his shares of stocks apparently taken away from him (now her).
Mediation has failed, as Business World reports here and Wesy Quisumbing is now pursuing the cases he filed against his parents, which involve 900 million in damages, claims and inheritance.
Here's the story: Norberto Wenceslao Jesus B. Quisumbing III is the son of Norberto B. Quisumbing Jr. and Britta B. Quisumbing. In the 1980's, he assumed the leadership of the then debt-ridden Norkis Group of Companies and successfully engineered the rehabilitation of the family business. He was however disowned by his parents when he underwent a sex change operation and subsequently got married. He was booted out as president and CEO, and his shares of stocks apparently taken away from him (now her).
Mediation has failed, as Business World reports here and Wesy Quisumbing is now pursuing the cases he filed against his parents, which involve 900 million in damages, claims and inheritance.
Monday, June 18, 2007
Their eyes have grown tired watching Erap
Representatives Douglas Cagas of Davao and Exequiel Javier of Antique are excoriating the group Plunderwatch for allegedly turning its back on the conviction of President Estrada. Cagas, the Daily Tribune and the Inquirer report, also makes the insinuation that the convenors of the group led by Carol Araullo already made an alliance with the deposed president.
Based on the media quotes of Araullo, Plunderwatch still believes plunder was committed by Estrada. It is no longer keen on seeing Estrada's conviction, however, because,as the Inquirer reports here, it feels that the Arroyo administration, being a worse offender, has no "moral ascendancy" to convict.
The problem though with Plunderwatch's stance is this: If Estrada is not convicted under the watch of this administration he most probably never will be convicted under any other succeeding administration. It is simply now or never, under this administration with or without moral ascendancy.
Based on the media quotes of Araullo, Plunderwatch still believes plunder was committed by Estrada. It is no longer keen on seeing Estrada's conviction, however, because,as the Inquirer reports here, it feels that the Arroyo administration, being a worse offender, has no "moral ascendancy" to convict.
The problem though with Plunderwatch's stance is this: If Estrada is not convicted under the watch of this administration he most probably never will be convicted under any other succeeding administration. It is simply now or never, under this administration with or without moral ascendancy.
The blogger as politician
Apparently, the Kabataan Partylist organization narrowly missed catching a seat in the House of Representatives. The national tally sheet in the COMELEC website says the group managed to corner 1.54 % of the votes, a little shy of the 2 % threshold to gain a partylist seat in the Lower House. This sad news, of course, doused the hope in Philippine blogosphere of sending a congressman in the person of blogger Mong Palatino, Kabataan's first nominee and blogger at Mongster's nest.
The Kabataan setoral organization has, as to be expected, the best spanking website among those who contested the last partylist elections. The website has video, mp3, comment box and the works. If the group didn't make it this year, there is no reason why it shouldn't make it in 2010. After all, even Buhay, the runaway winner in this year's elections, was also a little anemic when it first joined the party-list elections. There's always going to be birth pains.
While Kabataan and Mong Palatino unfortunately didn't make it this year, Dorothy Delarmente of Doralicious won as councilor of the 1st District of Quezon City, the first blogger, as far as I know, to win an election.
The Kabataan setoral organization has, as to be expected, the best spanking website among those who contested the last partylist elections. The website has video, mp3, comment box and the works. If the group didn't make it this year, there is no reason why it shouldn't make it in 2010. After all, even Buhay, the runaway winner in this year's elections, was also a little anemic when it first joined the party-list elections. There's always going to be birth pains.
While Kabataan and Mong Palatino unfortunately didn't make it this year, Dorothy Delarmente of Doralicious won as councilor of the 1st District of Quezon City, the first blogger, as far as I know, to win an election.
Friday, June 15, 2007
Will the JPEPA help our fishery sector?
Jaime Escober of Tambuyog Develeopment Center claims in this Business Mirror op-ed that the JPEPA doesn't make sense in terms of promoting the local fishery interests. According to Escober, even without the JPEPA, the tariff for tuna is already at 3.5% and for frozen shrimp at 0%. Therefore, as far as these two products are concerned the Philippine fishery sector doesn't gain anything substantial out of JPEPA.
What the Philippine negotiators should have pushed is for our sardines, mackerel, anchovies, cuttlefish and seaweed to gain reduced-tariff entry to Japan because these would have greatly benefitted our smalltime fishermen. The JPEPA in its present form, however, expressly excludes these products from commitment of tariff reduction or even of future negotiation.
Another unacceptable thing about the JPEPA, according to Escober, is that it includes whales, dolphins, porpoises and dugongs as tradable goods. Tariff line # 0210.92 in the Japanese schedule of tariffs (pdf) in the agreement specifies that the tariff on these lovable sea creatures are to be eliminated in six equal annual installments from the date of entry into force of the JPEPA. We should probably start booking our trips to Palawan, Bohol and Donsol where we can still see these creatures now before they get sucked up by the Japanese market.
To summarize, JPEPA does no great good to Filipino fishermen and exporters of aquaculture products. For purported benefits of the JPEPA, one should look elsewhere becuase they sure can't be found in the fishery sector.
What the Philippine negotiators should have pushed is for our sardines, mackerel, anchovies, cuttlefish and seaweed to gain reduced-tariff entry to Japan because these would have greatly benefitted our smalltime fishermen. The JPEPA in its present form, however, expressly excludes these products from commitment of tariff reduction or even of future negotiation.
Another unacceptable thing about the JPEPA, according to Escober, is that it includes whales, dolphins, porpoises and dugongs as tradable goods. Tariff line # 0210.92 in the Japanese schedule of tariffs (pdf) in the agreement specifies that the tariff on these lovable sea creatures are to be eliminated in six equal annual installments from the date of entry into force of the JPEPA. We should probably start booking our trips to Palawan, Bohol and Donsol where we can still see these creatures now before they get sucked up by the Japanese market.
To summarize, JPEPA does no great good to Filipino fishermen and exporters of aquaculture products. For purported benefits of the JPEPA, one should look elsewhere becuase they sure can't be found in the fishery sector.
Thursday, June 07, 2007
No regrets from Senator Recto
Senator Recto was probably being cheeky when he began his valedictory speech with a biblical quotation from the Ecclesiastes about how there's a season for everything and a time for every reason; after all, is he not supposed to to be a senator for ALL seasons?
Alex Magno and Tony Lopez mourn today the defeat of Senator Recto at the polls, with the former branding the senator's critics as philistines. Senator Recto believes that it was the VAT law that did him in, but he's adamant that pushing for it was the right, albeit immensely unpopular, thing to do. He said he takes full responsibility for the law and he feels no regret for his championing it at the Senate.
Nobody likes taxes, especially new ones, but Senator Recto championed the VAT law with such utter disregard for the popular opinion, as if he didn't need to get elected at all and his life's happiness depended on cutting back the national deficit. Senators Angara and Villar also voted yes to the VAT law but somehow the odium didn't stick on them as it did on Recto. Senator Pangilinan, of course, had the good sense to be abroad when the voting took place.
Senator Recto was never a strong candidate, the Vilma Santos connection notwithstanding; during the last 2004 elections, he was also hanging in the balance. You may not like his opinion on taxes and the deficit, but he was a hardworking legislator who took his job seriously, rose intellectually to meet the challenge of his office and overshadowed the other senators more credentialed than he was. My personal feeling is that if the new Senate can accomodate two coup plotters and an environmentalist with an almost imaginary track record, there should have been another season for Senator Recto.
Alex Magno and Tony Lopez mourn today the defeat of Senator Recto at the polls, with the former branding the senator's critics as philistines. Senator Recto believes that it was the VAT law that did him in, but he's adamant that pushing for it was the right, albeit immensely unpopular, thing to do. He said he takes full responsibility for the law and he feels no regret for his championing it at the Senate.
Nobody likes taxes, especially new ones, but Senator Recto championed the VAT law with such utter disregard for the popular opinion, as if he didn't need to get elected at all and his life's happiness depended on cutting back the national deficit. Senators Angara and Villar also voted yes to the VAT law but somehow the odium didn't stick on them as it did on Recto. Senator Pangilinan, of course, had the good sense to be abroad when the voting took place.
Senator Recto was never a strong candidate, the Vilma Santos connection notwithstanding; during the last 2004 elections, he was also hanging in the balance. You may not like his opinion on taxes and the deficit, but he was a hardworking legislator who took his job seriously, rose intellectually to meet the challenge of his office and overshadowed the other senators more credentialed than he was. My personal feeling is that if the new Senate can accomodate two coup plotters and an environmentalist with an almost imaginary track record, there should have been another season for Senator Recto.
Saturday, June 02, 2007
Akbayan's debacle at the polls
There's a great possibility that when the tallying of votes is done, Akbayan will return to the House of Representatives with only one representative --Risa Hontiveros-Baracquel. This is a great diminution of force for Akbayan because they had three representatives in the 13th Congress, and also a big letdown for some people who would have loved to see UP Professor Walden Bello, the party's second nominee, plying the halls of the Lower House.
The national tally sheet as of June 1 shows that Akbayan, at 361,639 votes, has barely surpassed the 2 % threshold to gain a single seat at the House. During the last elections, their votes hovered somewhere in the 800,000. An official postmortem, I think, is yet to be done by Akbayan insiders to explain this unfortunate debacle at the polls. It could be, as one Akbayan member hinted, partially a result of vote shaving, or perhaps a natural consequence of more parties contesting the party-list system and eating at that portion of the electorate that previously went for Akbayan.
The national tally sheet as of June 1 shows that Akbayan, at 361,639 votes, has barely surpassed the 2 % threshold to gain a single seat at the House. During the last elections, their votes hovered somewhere in the 800,000. An official postmortem, I think, is yet to be done by Akbayan insiders to explain this unfortunate debacle at the polls. It could be, as one Akbayan member hinted, partially a result of vote shaving, or perhaps a natural consequence of more parties contesting the party-list system and eating at that portion of the electorate that previously went for Akbayan.
Senator Salonga on the JPEPA
Last Thursday, we paid a visit to Senator Salonga at his residence to ask his opinion about the side agreement that was signed by Philippine Foreign Affairs Secretary Romulo and Japanese Foreign Minister Aso during President Arroyo's visit in Japan. We were concerned that by virtue of the so-called side agreement allies of President Arroyo may be able to railroad the ratification of the treaty during the last session days of the 13th Congress Senate to avoid the opposition senators that will be ushered in by the 14th Congress.
Senator Salonga is inclined to believe that such a side agreement would be insufficient to cure the defects of the treaty with regard to its provisions on the export of Japanese waste to the Philippines. He also said that the internal dynamics of the Senate, notwithstanding the commitment of Senator Miriam Santiago as Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman to see the treaty ratified, preclude a hasty approval of the treaty given the weighty issues leveled against it. The People's Journal has a brief report of our meeting with Senator Salonga.
Thursday, May 31, 2007
A Dios Le Pido by Juanes
The Colombian singer Juanes has this really special poetic song called A Dios Le Pido (I Ask God), the music video of which you can see at youtube here. It's a prayer anthem, protest statement and a love song rolled into one, best listened to full blast, with lyrics so poignant that one must deign admit all is not lost yet in rock. The music is a mixture of cumbia, reggae and Colombian folk. You can read the Spanish lyrics here, and below is the English translation:
That my eyes open by the light of your face
I ask (this of) God
That my mother will not die and that my father remembers me
I ask God
That you stay at my side and that you never leave me again, my life
I ask God
That my soul does not rest when it is loving you, my heaven
I ask God
For the days that I have left and the nights that have not yet come
I ask God
For the children of my children and the children of your children
I ask God
That my people do not shed so much blood and rise again
I ask God
That my soul does not rest when it comes to loving you, my heaven
I ask God
A second more of life to give you and my whole heart to surrender to you
A second more of life to give you and by your side for ever be
A second more of life
I ask God
That if I die it is of love and if I fall in love it is with you
And that this heart is made of your voice
Every day I ask God
That if I die it is of love and if I fall in love it is with you
And that of your voice this heart can be
I ask God
That my eyes open by the light of your face
I ask (this of) God
That my mother will not die and that my father remembers me
I ask God
That you stay at my side and that you never leave me again, my life
I ask God
That my soul does not rest when it is loving you, my heaven
I ask God
For the days that I have left and the nights that have not yet come
I ask God
For the children of my children and the children of your children
I ask God
That my people do not shed so much blood and rise again
I ask God
That my soul does not rest when it comes to loving you, my heaven
I ask God
A second more of life to give you and my whole heart to surrender to you
A second more of life to give you and by your side for ever be
A second more of life
I ask God
That if I die it is of love and if I fall in love it is with you
And that this heart is made of your voice
Every day I ask God
That if I die it is of love and if I fall in love it is with you
And that of your voice this heart can be
I ask God
Tuesday, May 29, 2007
Challenging Speaker De Venecia
The challenge Kampi President Luis Villafuerte put up against Speaker De Venecia for the speakership of the House seems to be fizzling out faster than you can say committee chairmanships. Speaker De Venecia, now a septuagenarian, seems to be heading for a fifth term as Speaker.
It is not hard to imagine how the Speaker will once again pull off another term. No other personality comes close to De Venecia as an ideal power fiscalizer: friendly to everybody, never badmouthed anyone, always ready to give due consideration to just about every opinion voiced in the House. His disposition is of the type usually seen only in the most serene yogi. The personality of a perfect consigliere, in short.
Congressman Pablo Garcia of Cebu, the challenger, is also not actively seeking the position despite Villafuerte's brandishing his name around like a Damocles' sword on Speaker De Venecia's neck. As the Inquirer reports today, Garcia was only informed by Villafuerte through phone that he has been duly appointed by Kampi to challenge De Venecia. Akbayan Representative Risa Hontiveros, however, smells something sinister in this half-serious political moro-moro (or lutong macao, choose your own political incorrectness) at the House. Acording to her, Kampi might just be challenging Speaker De Venecia in order to gain the House minority leadership, with the goal of the Arroyo administration controlling both the majority and the minority in the Lower House.
It is not hard to imagine how the Speaker will once again pull off another term. No other personality comes close to De Venecia as an ideal power fiscalizer: friendly to everybody, never badmouthed anyone, always ready to give due consideration to just about every opinion voiced in the House. His disposition is of the type usually seen only in the most serene yogi. The personality of a perfect consigliere, in short.
Congressman Pablo Garcia of Cebu, the challenger, is also not actively seeking the position despite Villafuerte's brandishing his name around like a Damocles' sword on Speaker De Venecia's neck. As the Inquirer reports today, Garcia was only informed by Villafuerte through phone that he has been duly appointed by Kampi to challenge De Venecia. Akbayan Representative Risa Hontiveros, however, smells something sinister in this half-serious political moro-moro (or lutong macao, choose your own political incorrectness) at the House. Acording to her, Kampi might just be challenging Speaker De Venecia in order to gain the House minority leadership, with the goal of the Arroyo administration controlling both the majority and the minority in the Lower House.
Web prowl
Applications for the 2008-2009 SEASREP grants are now open. Visit the grant page here. Shopping for a safe personal care product? The Skin Deep database of cosmetic products maintained by the Environmental Working Group has been updated. When short people fall in love with a game for tall people, you get imported players trying to look ridiculously shorter. Slate has an article on the Philippines' incredible shrinking basketball players. From Taipei Times, here's what Taiwan means to the United States. The US Defense Department has released its China Military Power Report (pdf) and concludes that China does not yet have "the military capability to accomplish with confidence its political objectives on the island, particularly when confronted with the prospect of U.S. intervention." Many people struggle with their subscription-only Norton Antivirus when they can have the free and equally protective AVG antivirus.
Sunday, May 13, 2007
Currently listening to Allegri's Miserere by the Tallis Scholars
In the Does-God-exist-or-not debate, many arguments are presented in favor of God's existence: St. Anselm's ontology, Descartes, Pascal's wager, intelligent design, --and Handels' Messiah. Surely, some say, a work so great can only be divinely inspired. Well, if Handel's Messiah should count as a proof, Allegri's Miserere must be a confirmation.
Allegri's Miserere is an a cappella piece of choral music, a musical setting of Psalm 51, whose first line is Miserere mei, Deus, secundum magnam misericordiam tuam (Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness). Composed during the 1630's and sung at the Sistine Chapel every Holy Week, playing it outside the chapel was forbidden and writing it down or performing it was for a time punishable by excommunication. It is said that the young Mozart after attending a Wednesday service feverishly wrote it down from memory. Although the claim is supported by family letters, the actual transcription made by Mozart was never found.
The performance of the Miserere by the Tallis Scholars is I've read one of the best. The other tracks in this album (Mundy and Pallestrina) I don't care much for, but the Miserere is simply superb.
Friday, May 11, 2007
Minding our cholesterol levels
I got my blood tested yesterday for sugar and cholesterol, and although the results say I'm not going to die of a heart attack anytime soon, my blood levels are not that optimal either.
My total cholesterol is at 210.38 mg/dL; desirable level is below 200. My LDL "bad" cholesterol level is at 108.85 mg/dL. According to Mayo Clinic, that's only near optimal and should be below 70 instead.
Now, I'm trying to think hard how I can possibly bring those two figures down without giving up my carnivorous eating habits. If it's any consolation, my HDL "good" cholesterol level is quite impressive at 85.38 mg/dL; an HDL level above 60 mg/dL is already considered optimal and I exceeded that by fifteen solid points! My triglycerides level is also low at 84 mg/dL, which is quite good, and my fasting blood sugar is also at the low end of the acceptable range so my limbs are safe from the ravages of diabetes for now.
It is important to mind our cholesterol levels because they are risk factors to our developing heart disease, which is the number one killer in the Philippines today. You can have your cholesterols and sugar checked easily. You will be instructed to fast (meaning no eating or drinking) for nine to twelve hours before your blood will be extracted for examination. At the Best Diagnostic Clinic at 94 Masikap Extension, Diliman, where I got myself tested, total damage was P530.00. If you decide to have yourself tested, here's the Mayo Clinic guide to interpreting your cholesterol numbers.
My total cholesterol is at 210.38 mg/dL; desirable level is below 200. My LDL "bad" cholesterol level is at 108.85 mg/dL. According to Mayo Clinic, that's only near optimal and should be below 70 instead.
Now, I'm trying to think hard how I can possibly bring those two figures down without giving up my carnivorous eating habits. If it's any consolation, my HDL "good" cholesterol level is quite impressive at 85.38 mg/dL; an HDL level above 60 mg/dL is already considered optimal and I exceeded that by fifteen solid points! My triglycerides level is also low at 84 mg/dL, which is quite good, and my fasting blood sugar is also at the low end of the acceptable range so my limbs are safe from the ravages of diabetes for now.
It is important to mind our cholesterol levels because they are risk factors to our developing heart disease, which is the number one killer in the Philippines today. You can have your cholesterols and sugar checked easily. You will be instructed to fast (meaning no eating or drinking) for nine to twelve hours before your blood will be extracted for examination. At the Best Diagnostic Clinic at 94 Masikap Extension, Diliman, where I got myself tested, total damage was P530.00. If you decide to have yourself tested, here's the Mayo Clinic guide to interpreting your cholesterol numbers.
I'm on the Mainichi Shimbun!
Our protest at the Japanese embassy last May 3, Japan's Constitution Day, against the Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement was featured by several local papers and made it to Japan's Mainichi Shimbun. We were parodying the famous Iwo Jima picture and pointing out that Japan is trying to conquer Southeast Asia and make the region its waste dump. That's me standing on the leftmost. For the bigger picture and story, here's the Eco Waste Coalition blog entry on the protest.
Have you no decency, Monsieur Brawner?
The COMELEC decision disqualifying Naga City Mayor Jesse Robredo is nothing more but a desperate and cheap tactic on the part of the Villafuertes, through buddies Brawner and Ferrer at the COMELEC, to snatch city hall from Robredo, who defeated two Villafuertes before and is set to massacre another Vilafuerte, this time a nephew, on May 11.
The strategy up Villafuerte's sleeve is to confuse the Naga voters with an obfuscating disqualification decision and discourage them from voting for a mayor that could ultimately be declared unfit to govern by reason of Chinese ancestry. Once the heat of the election is over, there is almost no doubt that Robredo would once again be declared a Filipino.
For the jaded, this might seem just another case of a local government executive suspended or dismissed, but Robredo is not just your average city mayor. A Ramon Magsaysay Awardee, he is one of the most highly esteemed mayors, and enjoys a reputation like no other local government executive in the country.
Mayor Robredo lamented in one interview that he is often declared to be Chinese whenevever there's an election, but he reverts back to being a Filipino after. He also wondered why Villafuerte did not bother asking for his citizenship when they were running together in the same ticket in the past.
Teresita Ang See is, of course, incensed by such racial McCarthyism. She asks (see the PCIJ blog entry here):
It defies anyone’s imagination. How can a Jesse Robredo, a Ramon Magsaysay Awardee from the Philippines, who was born, bred and educated as a Filipino, elected for five terms and performed spectacularly as a Mayor, finally be disqualified from his Mayorship this last minute because of his Chinese ancestry? Next, are we Filipinos going to be asked to disclaim our national heroes for being of Chinese descent too?
I suspect there's another reason why Villafuerte is questioning Robredo's citizenship--and that is to tap the latent anti-Chinese sentiment in the hearts of some people. Let us admit it: there are still some people who think Filipinos of Chinese descent should just stay in Chinatown. The good thing about Mayor Robredo is that he does not carry a monosyllabic surname (good decision on the part of his father for choosing Robredo as a name) and his facial features aren't really that Chinese.
The strategy up Villafuerte's sleeve is to confuse the Naga voters with an obfuscating disqualification decision and discourage them from voting for a mayor that could ultimately be declared unfit to govern by reason of Chinese ancestry. Once the heat of the election is over, there is almost no doubt that Robredo would once again be declared a Filipino.
For the jaded, this might seem just another case of a local government executive suspended or dismissed, but Robredo is not just your average city mayor. A Ramon Magsaysay Awardee, he is one of the most highly esteemed mayors, and enjoys a reputation like no other local government executive in the country.
Mayor Robredo lamented in one interview that he is often declared to be Chinese whenevever there's an election, but he reverts back to being a Filipino after. He also wondered why Villafuerte did not bother asking for his citizenship when they were running together in the same ticket in the past.
Teresita Ang See is, of course, incensed by such racial McCarthyism. She asks (see the PCIJ blog entry here):
It defies anyone’s imagination. How can a Jesse Robredo, a Ramon Magsaysay Awardee from the Philippines, who was born, bred and educated as a Filipino, elected for five terms and performed spectacularly as a Mayor, finally be disqualified from his Mayorship this last minute because of his Chinese ancestry? Next, are we Filipinos going to be asked to disclaim our national heroes for being of Chinese descent too?
I suspect there's another reason why Villafuerte is questioning Robredo's citizenship--and that is to tap the latent anti-Chinese sentiment in the hearts of some people. Let us admit it: there are still some people who think Filipinos of Chinese descent should just stay in Chinatown. The good thing about Mayor Robredo is that he does not carry a monosyllabic surname (good decision on the part of his father for choosing Robredo as a name) and his facial features aren't really that Chinese.
Thursday, May 10, 2007
Where does Pichay get all his money?
Given the extraordinary insouciance Congressman Pichay regards his humungous campaign expenditures, one would think he has a magical tree back in Surigao which sprouts foliar cash.
The group Pera’t Pulitika claims that Pichay had already spent P151.7 million, while Villar had spent P138.2 million, both exceeding the P135 million ceiling. When confronted with the inconvenient fact that despite his being the biggest spender so far he's still out of the magic 12 circle in polls, Pichay pertly answers that all he needs is more time and more cash for ads and he'll surely get there by the time the voting precincts call it a a day.
Now, nothing surprising about Villar being a big spender; he is, after all, one of the country's business tycoons. But Pichay? What with the lowly price pechay is fetching these days in the market, the money surely couldn't have come out of the mere tilling of the land. According to this Newsbreak report, Pichay, whose total assets only amount to some P33 million, has the enviable good fortune of having rich and generous friends like Lucio Co, whose touch, it is said, turns everyhting into pure gold.
We'll see in a month's time if Pichay and his friends' investment pay off. If he wins, the Filipino people would have confirmed their fondness for the vegetable; if he loses, well, you know what they say, a fool is soon parted with his money.
The group Pera’t Pulitika claims that Pichay had already spent P151.7 million, while Villar had spent P138.2 million, both exceeding the P135 million ceiling. When confronted with the inconvenient fact that despite his being the biggest spender so far he's still out of the magic 12 circle in polls, Pichay pertly answers that all he needs is more time and more cash for ads and he'll surely get there by the time the voting precincts call it a a day.
Now, nothing surprising about Villar being a big spender; he is, after all, one of the country's business tycoons. But Pichay? What with the lowly price pechay is fetching these days in the market, the money surely couldn't have come out of the mere tilling of the land. According to this Newsbreak report, Pichay, whose total assets only amount to some P33 million, has the enviable good fortune of having rich and generous friends like Lucio Co, whose touch, it is said, turns everyhting into pure gold.
We'll see in a month's time if Pichay and his friends' investment pay off. If he wins, the Filipino people would have confirmed their fondness for the vegetable; if he loses, well, you know what they say, a fool is soon parted with his money.
Web prowl
Read the papers presented and other sundry notes from the EIGHTH ANNUAL GLOBAL DEVELOPMENT CONFERENCE on The Rise of Asia and its Implications held in Beijing last January. In this age of discrimination and general snide behaviour, what do you do if you're in an interfacial marriage? From Time, here's some advise when your spouse is hotter than you. Before they became both famous, Zhang Ziyi and Liu Ye (he's the guy from Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress, and The Promise)were classmates at the Beijing Theater University and there's a youtube video of them performing in a skit back then. To protect the forests, formal or customary tenure must be enforced to avoid the Tragedy of the commons.
Wednesday, May 02, 2007
Much ado about nothing
There is much debate once again about the desirability of English versus Filipino as a medium of instruction as a group of scholars questioned before the Supreme Court the implementation of Executive Order 210, which seeks to promote the use of the English language in Philippine schools. The Implementing Rules and Regulations of the said EO will promote the language by:
1. Teaching English as a second language starting with Grade 1;
2. Using English as the medium of instruction of English, Mathematics, and Science and Health subjects starting Grade 3; and
3. Using English as the primary medium of instruction in all public and private schools in the secondary level.
What is so objectionable about the above?
Ever since I can remember, English is being taught as a second language with Grade 1. English is also the medium of instruction for English, Science and Math. We all learned multiplication and not multipilikasyon.
In this respect, President Arroyo's EO is simply codifying what is actually happening in our schools for quite some time now. The EO would therefore be ineffective in promoting the English language for the simple reason that it effectuates no new radical policy change at all in the primary school level. English is also the de facto primary medium of instruction for secondary schools now. The EO would just be validating and giving a more official imprimatur the reality tha has been well established by past practice.
The EO may have made the call center lobby happy, but I honestly don't see how it will improve the English language in this country.
1. Teaching English as a second language starting with Grade 1;
2. Using English as the medium of instruction of English, Mathematics, and Science and Health subjects starting Grade 3; and
3. Using English as the primary medium of instruction in all public and private schools in the secondary level.
What is so objectionable about the above?
Ever since I can remember, English is being taught as a second language with Grade 1. English is also the medium of instruction for English, Science and Math. We all learned multiplication and not multipilikasyon.
In this respect, President Arroyo's EO is simply codifying what is actually happening in our schools for quite some time now. The EO would therefore be ineffective in promoting the English language for the simple reason that it effectuates no new radical policy change at all in the primary school level. English is also the de facto primary medium of instruction for secondary schools now. The EO would just be validating and giving a more official imprimatur the reality tha has been well established by past practice.
The EO may have made the call center lobby happy, but I honestly don't see how it will improve the English language in this country.
Monday, April 30, 2007
The wretched of the party-list system
If socialites, desiring to promote a better understanding of their lifestyles often calumniated in less perfumed circles, choose to contest the party-list elections together with such groups as Akbayan and Bayan Muna, should they be allowed?
Discounting the fact that there's a precarious line these days separating the socialites from the socialists, the relevant Supreme Court ruling in Bagong Bayani v. COMELEC succinctly states that the socialites cannot. No chance, sorry, the party-list system is only for the underrepresented and marginalized. Also, an hacienda landlord cannot be a representative of a group purportedly representing plantation workers.
The demand of some groups for the COMELEC to disclose the names of the nominees of the parties it approved under the party-list system is therefore only reasonable following the Supreme Court's Bagong Bayani interpretation.
The problem however is that some people, including those in the COMELEC, don't buy the ruling that the party-list system is reserved solely for the marginalized sectors. As Dr. Bernas points out today (although in not so many words exactly), the 1987 Constitution does not reserve the party-list system solely for the marginalized sectors and that the Supreme Court may have erred in the Bagong Bayani case.
Discounting the fact that there's a precarious line these days separating the socialites from the socialists, the relevant Supreme Court ruling in Bagong Bayani v. COMELEC succinctly states that the socialites cannot. No chance, sorry, the party-list system is only for the underrepresented and marginalized. Also, an hacienda landlord cannot be a representative of a group purportedly representing plantation workers.
The demand of some groups for the COMELEC to disclose the names of the nominees of the parties it approved under the party-list system is therefore only reasonable following the Supreme Court's Bagong Bayani interpretation.
The problem however is that some people, including those in the COMELEC, don't buy the ruling that the party-list system is reserved solely for the marginalized sectors. As Dr. Bernas points out today (although in not so many words exactly), the 1987 Constitution does not reserve the party-list system solely for the marginalized sectors and that the Supreme Court may have erred in the Bagong Bayani case.
Thursday, April 19, 2007
Watch Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth for free
On Earth Day, April 22, 2007 (Sunday), SM Cinema, together with DENR, Earth Day Network Philippines, and Magnavision, invites you to watch FREE SCREENINGS of "An Inconvenient Truth" at 1PM, 3PM, and 5PM at the following theaters:
1. SM MALL OF ASIA - 5560104-05
2. SM MEGAMALL - 6331901, 6384270
3. SM NORTH EDSA - 9295452
4. SM MANILA - 5239240/05
5. SM SAN LAZARO - 7862487-88
6. SM CENTERPOINT-STA. MESA - 7161416, 7160647
7. SM FAIRVIEW - 4176811, 9350749
8. SM SOUTHMALL - 8066888, 8066782
9. SM PAMPANGA - 8311000 loc 1610-11, (045) 9637681-85
10. SM CLARK - (045) 6255844-45
11. SM BAGUIO - 8311000 loc 1625-26, (074) 6197838/39/41
12. SM CEBU - 8311000 loc 1637, (032) 2313876
13. SM DAVAO - 8311000 loc 1605-06, (082) 2976998
14. SM BACOLOD - (034) 7081010, 8311000 loc 1650
For more information, visit www.smcinema.com /www.climatecrisis.net
1. SM MALL OF ASIA - 5560104-05
2. SM MEGAMALL - 6331901, 6384270
3. SM NORTH EDSA - 9295452
4. SM MANILA - 5239240/05
5. SM SAN LAZARO - 7862487-88
6. SM CENTERPOINT-STA. MESA - 7161416, 7160647
7. SM FAIRVIEW - 4176811, 9350749
8. SM SOUTHMALL - 8066888, 8066782
9. SM PAMPANGA - 8311000 loc 1610-11, (045) 9637681-85
10. SM CLARK - (045) 6255844-45
11. SM BAGUIO - 8311000 loc 1625-26, (074) 6197838/39/41
12. SM CEBU - 8311000 loc 1637, (032) 2313876
13. SM DAVAO - 8311000 loc 1605-06, (082) 2976998
14. SM BACOLOD - (034) 7081010, 8311000 loc 1650
For more information, visit www.smcinema.com /www.climatecrisis.net
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
The politics of public romance
Considering that India is the land which gave as Vatsayana's Kama Sutra, it seems perplexing that Richard Gere's kissing of Shilpa Shetty (and only on the cheeks at that) would create a ruckus of indignation throughout the Indian subcontinent.
Perhaps because of Victorian colonialism or the Mughal influence, Indians turned conservative when it comes to public displays of affection. Just early this year young couples were attacked by the police in Uttar Pradesh for hugging and kissing in a public park. One couple who kissed during their wedding was charged of violating obscenity laws in another case in India.
Kama Sutra aside, it is the current opinion of most people in India,in Asia and in the Philippines that public display of affection (hugging, kissing, even holding hands) is improper. Also for Muslims in the Philippines, a man and a woman unrelated must never touch each other. Even a friendly handshake between a man and a woman some Muslims do not countenance. What's acceptable in the West and in Latin America makes most of us squirm here.
How then should one in love conduct oneself in public? While we have every right to express our affection, we must also balance it with a due regard to the sensibilities of other people. After all, there is no social advantage to public displays of affection. If one must really be amorous, one can always retire to the bedroom or, lacking that, rent a motel room. There the possibilites are infinite and we are limited only by our imagination.
My personal beef about public displays of affection is that while I understand those doing it have probably found their one true love and would probably live happily ever after, but must they rub it in our face? Rather than promoting amatory feeling in the world, public displays of affection only breed contempt, envy and finally disgust on the part of the people who aren't in love and are witnessing the display. PDA is probably okay if we can all be in love at the same time. But then again falling in love all at the same time sounds too much like free love, so we may have another set of problems with that.
One Indian blogger also has this to say about those who force their liberal outlook on this matter:
We must become more liberal in our outlook, I totally agree. But do spare a thought for those who condemn change. Change is never easy. Look at yourself. Did you get over your last girlfriend? Do you like your new job?
Perhaps because of Victorian colonialism or the Mughal influence, Indians turned conservative when it comes to public displays of affection. Just early this year young couples were attacked by the police in Uttar Pradesh for hugging and kissing in a public park. One couple who kissed during their wedding was charged of violating obscenity laws in another case in India.
Kama Sutra aside, it is the current opinion of most people in India,in Asia and in the Philippines that public display of affection (hugging, kissing, even holding hands) is improper. Also for Muslims in the Philippines, a man and a woman unrelated must never touch each other. Even a friendly handshake between a man and a woman some Muslims do not countenance. What's acceptable in the West and in Latin America makes most of us squirm here.
How then should one in love conduct oneself in public? While we have every right to express our affection, we must also balance it with a due regard to the sensibilities of other people. After all, there is no social advantage to public displays of affection. If one must really be amorous, one can always retire to the bedroom or, lacking that, rent a motel room. There the possibilites are infinite and we are limited only by our imagination.
My personal beef about public displays of affection is that while I understand those doing it have probably found their one true love and would probably live happily ever after, but must they rub it in our face? Rather than promoting amatory feeling in the world, public displays of affection only breed contempt, envy and finally disgust on the part of the people who aren't in love and are witnessing the display. PDA is probably okay if we can all be in love at the same time. But then again falling in love all at the same time sounds too much like free love, so we may have another set of problems with that.
One Indian blogger also has this to say about those who force their liberal outlook on this matter:
We must become more liberal in our outlook, I totally agree. But do spare a thought for those who condemn change. Change is never easy. Look at yourself. Did you get over your last girlfriend? Do you like your new job?
Tuesday, April 17, 2007
The unhappy spectre of Mr. Danton Remoto
When Comelec Chairman Abalos called Danton Remoto's Ang Ladlad a party of phantom voters, was it an underhanded reference to the popular phrase multong bakla or did he mean that Remoto, despite the pink barong, looked unpalatably achromatic?
As I understand it, the main reason for disqualifying Ang Ladlad is that the organization lacked a nationwide organization. Lacking a nationwide organization is quite different from having phantom voters. Bert Gonzales's party-list organization, for example, has a nationwide organization but has phantom voters (as evidenced by its lackluster performance in the previous polls.) Ang Ladlad may lack a nationwide organization but one could hardly argue it has phantom voters. As Danton Remoto piquantly stressed, one need only visit the Greenbelt mall to see that Ang Ladlad's constituency is real and, in fact, thriving.
In any case, the only definitive way to settle the question of Ang Ladlad's spectralness should have been to include it in the ballots and see how it fares.
As I understand it, the main reason for disqualifying Ang Ladlad is that the organization lacked a nationwide organization. Lacking a nationwide organization is quite different from having phantom voters. Bert Gonzales's party-list organization, for example, has a nationwide organization but has phantom voters (as evidenced by its lackluster performance in the previous polls.) Ang Ladlad may lack a nationwide organization but one could hardly argue it has phantom voters. As Danton Remoto piquantly stressed, one need only visit the Greenbelt mall to see that Ang Ladlad's constituency is real and, in fact, thriving.
In any case, the only definitive way to settle the question of Ang Ladlad's spectralness should have been to include it in the ballots and see how it fares.
Sunday, April 15, 2007
The wild rush to get wired
Yesterday, the Inquirer had for its editorial the botched plan of the DepEd in Bicol to purchase 600 desktop computers costing 250,000 each. The Inquirer rather sarcastically asked whether the DepEd had first checked whether the students who would be using those computers had classrooms in the first place.
A couple of days ago, Boo Chanco of the Philippine Star also wrote about the recently approved P16.47 billion broadband connectivity project for government offices. He asked whether such a humongous amount of money-a loan from China-is justifiable given our quite limited budget for capital expenditures. It would be more cost-efficient, according to Chanco, to just buy capacity from the private sector one small chunk at a time. Such a huge investment in infrastructure is scary given the rapid nature of technological obsolescence. It might very well be that when this project is finally completed there's a whole new VOIP platform needing newer computer hardware while the people of the Philippines are again left with a loan that needs to be paid.
For high schools and elementary schools, computers and the internet are good supplements to learning but they're, at the end of the day, just supplements. A well-stocked library is infinitely preferable to a computer with internet access. Coupled with a non-technologically savvy public school faculty, there is also the danger that those computers would only be used to surf porn and get dates online. In the wired world of the United States, for instance, this is a big and growing concern, which prompted the online behemoth myspace.com to institute safety precautions intended for minors using the site.
A couple of days ago, Boo Chanco of the Philippine Star also wrote about the recently approved P16.47 billion broadband connectivity project for government offices. He asked whether such a humongous amount of money-a loan from China-is justifiable given our quite limited budget for capital expenditures. It would be more cost-efficient, according to Chanco, to just buy capacity from the private sector one small chunk at a time. Such a huge investment in infrastructure is scary given the rapid nature of technological obsolescence. It might very well be that when this project is finally completed there's a whole new VOIP platform needing newer computer hardware while the people of the Philippines are again left with a loan that needs to be paid.
For high schools and elementary schools, computers and the internet are good supplements to learning but they're, at the end of the day, just supplements. A well-stocked library is infinitely preferable to a computer with internet access. Coupled with a non-technologically savvy public school faculty, there is also the danger that those computers would only be used to surf porn and get dates online. In the wired world of the United States, for instance, this is a big and growing concern, which prompted the online behemoth myspace.com to institute safety precautions intended for minors using the site.
Monday, April 02, 2007
Currently reading: Benjamin Franklin's Autobiography
This is one of those books you wish somebody somewhere did you a great kindness of recommending during a much earlier point in your life.
Like many great books, Benjamin Franklin's autobiography was written at an ebb in the writer's life, in this case when Franklin lost all hope of ever securing an imperial office from the British king. He set out to write his autobiography for the guidance of his own son and for other people to know the conducing means with which he secured his life's share of felicity.
For those seeking self-amelioration, Franklin recommends thirteen virtues: temperance, silence, order, resolution, frugality, industry, sincerity, justice, moderation, cleanliness, tranquility, chastity and humility. He relates how he maintained a book and tallied all the virtues he trespassed for each day.
Reading his autobiography, one is also struck by Franklin's immense civic spirit. He created a fire insurance service, establish a subscription library, organized a fellowship of public spirited men who regularly discuss public issues and write commentaries, and, because the Assembly dominated by pacifist Quakers would not do it, he even raised a private army to defend Philadelphia. How did he raise the money to buy the cannons? He set up a lottery.
Franklin was for a time also a vegetarian, but upon seeing a codfish's stomach full of smaller fishes, he thought, 'if you eat one another, I don't see why we mayn't eat you.' He commented: "So convenient a thing it is to be a reasonable creature, since it enables one to find or make a reason for everything one has a mind to do."
If you have time this holy week, I strongly recommend this book. It will be good for you.
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
That mysterious trickledown effect
The country's economic managers say we just have to wait, economic gains don't come easy, but if we are patient the poor will experience the trickledown effect of GMA's well-managed and growing economy. Joey Salceda even said in one interview that it should take about seventeen months (if I remember the figure correctly) for the trickledown effect to be felt.
Before we form a queu and wait for the trickledown effect, it bears asking: Is there really such a thing as a trickledown effect?
As it is always the case in the two-handed discipline called economics (on one hand this, on the other hand that), there is no waterproof consensus, although at first glance it seems commonsensible to assume that economic growth must be good for everybody, including the very poor.
Michael Todaro, in his influential text on Economic Development, says that in the less than idealized state of affairs, there is no trickledown that happens. Some development economists also contend that economic gains from growth trickle up to the middle classes and the very rich. Amartya Sen claims that economic growth does not always generate benefits in terms of numerous nonpecuniary measures of well-being. John Kenneth Galbraith, in contemptuous language, branded the trickledown effect as horse and sparrow economics: feeding horses superior oats so that starving sparrows can forage in their dung.
The above aspersions aside, there is more or less clear evidence that there is indeed such a thing as the trickledown effect, even if nothing is consciously done to make pro-poor growth (see Dollar and Kray, Growth is good for the poor) although where Joey Salceda got his seventeen months I don't know.The problem is that the poor benefit from the trickledown more or less in proportion to what they already have. So even if economic growth is as beneficial to the poor as it is to the rich, the poor would not benefit very much if they don't have anything to begin with.
In short, the trickledown effect will not save the hungry by itself, even if it comes right after the May elections.
Before we form a queu and wait for the trickledown effect, it bears asking: Is there really such a thing as a trickledown effect?
As it is always the case in the two-handed discipline called economics (on one hand this, on the other hand that), there is no waterproof consensus, although at first glance it seems commonsensible to assume that economic growth must be good for everybody, including the very poor.
Michael Todaro, in his influential text on Economic Development, says that in the less than idealized state of affairs, there is no trickledown that happens. Some development economists also contend that economic gains from growth trickle up to the middle classes and the very rich. Amartya Sen claims that economic growth does not always generate benefits in terms of numerous nonpecuniary measures of well-being. John Kenneth Galbraith, in contemptuous language, branded the trickledown effect as horse and sparrow economics: feeding horses superior oats so that starving sparrows can forage in their dung.
The above aspersions aside, there is more or less clear evidence that there is indeed such a thing as the trickledown effect, even if nothing is consciously done to make pro-poor growth (see Dollar and Kray, Growth is good for the poor) although where Joey Salceda got his seventeen months I don't know.The problem is that the poor benefit from the trickledown more or less in proportion to what they already have. So even if economic growth is as beneficial to the poor as it is to the rich, the poor would not benefit very much if they don't have anything to begin with.
In short, the trickledown effect will not save the hungry by itself, even if it comes right after the May elections.
Tuesday, March 27, 2007
Volunteer opportunity
The EcoWaste Coalition is looking for volunteers and interns who can assist in our campaigns and endeavors. The coalition is composed of different groups coming from the non-government organizations, community, youth, religious sector, academe etc., all pushing for zero waste alternatives.
The coalition's campaigns range from different pressing environmental and social issues such as "greening and waste-free" election 2007, junking of the Japan-Philippine Partnership Agreement (JPEPA), closure of dumpsites, landfills and incinerators, plastic use regulation, push for Extended Producers Responsibility (EPR) for product manufacturers, pollution, climate change and full implementation of different environmental laws like Ecological Solid Waste Management Act, Clean Air Act etc.
If you are interested and have some time this vacation, however short, please contact the EcoWaste Coalition at 0927-3209271, (02) 9290376 or email at ecowastecoalition@yahoo.com.
The coalition's campaigns range from different pressing environmental and social issues such as "greening and waste-free" election 2007, junking of the Japan-Philippine Partnership Agreement (JPEPA), closure of dumpsites, landfills and incinerators, plastic use regulation, push for Extended Producers Responsibility (EPR) for product manufacturers, pollution, climate change and full implementation of different environmental laws like Ecological Solid Waste Management Act, Clean Air Act etc.
If you are interested and have some time this vacation, however short, please contact the EcoWaste Coalition at 0927-3209271, (02) 9290376 or email at ecowastecoalition@yahoo.com.
Saturday, March 24, 2007
No cake, no bread, no SMS
Critics of the administration, admit impediments: President Arroyo has prudently managed the economy.
The fiscal deficit has been tamed; now all the previous talk about our possibly going the route of Argentina is gone. We have experienced, as the economist Emmanuel de Dios points out, 5 straight years of at least 3% economic growth, a feat never before seen in all our recorded economic history. Also, as Tony Lopez points out here, good money is also being made in the stock market, consumer prices are stable, and the peso stronger.
The opposition says that the problem with the present economy is that the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer.
Now, in a capitalist economy, the rich (unless they're profligate) should naturally get richer if only for the simple reason that they control more of the factors of production. If our rich were to get poorer, now that should be a cause for concern since that would mean the economy is contracting. While we get jealous of the rich from time to time (don't we all?), we can't really blame them for being richer unless we start working on our hammer and sickle. The problem is not that the rich are getting richer, only that the poor are getting poorer.
The question that should be asked is: Are our poor really getting poorer?
Yes, they are, if we are to judge based on the SWS surveys on self-rated poverty and hunger incidence in the country. The Arroyo administration must face the issue squarely rather than whimsically suggesting temperance among the poor. The president must realize that the people who are texting all those trite jokes and mawkish proverbs are simply not the same people who go hungry.
Temperance and frugality are virtues that should be vigorously promoted by the government, but belt-tightening as poverty alleviation policy hardly fits the gung-ho and can-do attitude of President Arroyo when it comes to meeting the challenges of economic development. Surely, she can do better than that.
The fiscal deficit has been tamed; now all the previous talk about our possibly going the route of Argentina is gone. We have experienced, as the economist Emmanuel de Dios points out, 5 straight years of at least 3% economic growth, a feat never before seen in all our recorded economic history. Also, as Tony Lopez points out here, good money is also being made in the stock market, consumer prices are stable, and the peso stronger.
The opposition says that the problem with the present economy is that the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer.
Now, in a capitalist economy, the rich (unless they're profligate) should naturally get richer if only for the simple reason that they control more of the factors of production. If our rich were to get poorer, now that should be a cause for concern since that would mean the economy is contracting. While we get jealous of the rich from time to time (don't we all?), we can't really blame them for being richer unless we start working on our hammer and sickle. The problem is not that the rich are getting richer, only that the poor are getting poorer.
The question that should be asked is: Are our poor really getting poorer?
Yes, they are, if we are to judge based on the SWS surveys on self-rated poverty and hunger incidence in the country. The Arroyo administration must face the issue squarely rather than whimsically suggesting temperance among the poor. The president must realize that the people who are texting all those trite jokes and mawkish proverbs are simply not the same people who go hungry.
Temperance and frugality are virtues that should be vigorously promoted by the government, but belt-tightening as poverty alleviation policy hardly fits the gung-ho and can-do attitude of President Arroyo when it comes to meeting the challenges of economic development. Surely, she can do better than that.
Friday, March 16, 2007
You know you are getting old...
when it has become so hard to organize a get-together. Your friends can no longer come because they're either having a baby (wife can't go out late) or children can't be left home or they're finishing an office report. Also, people you know from college who totally lived degenerate lives on campus have started morphing into model citizens of the republic and need a week's notice in advance. These are the same people during years past whom you could have texted at 2 AM and they'd invariably show up. Well, such is life. The anomie, the anomie!
Tuesday, March 13, 2007
Web prowl
Various papers and presentations on the Rise of Asia and its Implications from the Eight Annual Global Development Conference held in Beijing last January are available online. Professor Conrado Dayrit's paper on the potential of coconut oil as cure for HIV/AIDS is available online here.Zhang Ziyi and Liu Ye (of Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress and Curse of the Golden Flower) were classmates at the Beijing Theater University before they both became famous and there's a video of them performing a skit back thenduring their college days here. From Time, here's what to do when your spouse is hotter than you.
Saturday, March 10, 2007
Will the Pandacan oil depot be moved any time soon?
Probably not despite Manila Mayor Atienza's resolve not to appeal the Supreme Court decision ordering the immediate enforcement of City Council Ordinance 8027 which reclassifies the area occupied by the depot from industrial to commercial. This being an election year, Mayor Atienza and the city council would never dare to contest the SC decision and so they're all trashing the oil companies in radio interviews.
One hint that Mayor Atienza is not really batting for immediate closure is the fact that in the many interviews he granted, he never addressed the issue of City Ordinance 8119 or the Comprehensive Land Use Plan of Manila, which, the oil companies are claiming, superseded City Council Ordinance 8027 and provides them a seven-year period to relocate their terminals (or until 2013, according to Petron public affairs manager Virginia Ruivivar).
After the elections, the new City Council members with three years of newly secured public office can also lean over backward to accomodate the oil companies and issue a new ordinance that would favor a slow-motion closure of the depot. For the Manila residents who want to see the depot shut down, the real battle would be in packing the city council this May 14 with anti-depot councilors.
One hint that Mayor Atienza is not really batting for immediate closure is the fact that in the many interviews he granted, he never addressed the issue of City Ordinance 8119 or the Comprehensive Land Use Plan of Manila, which, the oil companies are claiming, superseded City Council Ordinance 8027 and provides them a seven-year period to relocate their terminals (or until 2013, according to Petron public affairs manager Virginia Ruivivar).
After the elections, the new City Council members with three years of newly secured public office can also lean over backward to accomodate the oil companies and issue a new ordinance that would favor a slow-motion closure of the depot. For the Manila residents who want to see the depot shut down, the real battle would be in packing the city council this May 14 with anti-depot councilors.
Friday, March 09, 2007
2007 Maningning Miclat Poetry Awards Call for entries
The Maningning Miclat ArtFoundation, Inc. (MMAFI)is calling on young poets writing in Filipino, English and Chinese to participate in the 2007 Maningning Poetry Competition.
The Poetry Contestconsisting of 3 divisions -Filipino, English and Chinese ?is open toall poets, age 28and below. An entry must consist of at least eight (8) but not more than fifteen (15) poems. Authors may join all the divisions but can submit only one (1) entry in every division. All entries should be original in every language and not a translation of another entry.
All entries should be submitted in four(4) copies, double spaced on 81/2 x 11 inches bond paper with one inch margin on all sides and with ARIAL or TIMES NEW ROMAN size 12 font. Entry should be submitted with pen name only. Real name and pen name should be submitted in a separate sealed envelop together with a biodata, copy of birth certificate and a notarized declaration of originality and authenticity of authorship of the entry.
Entries must be addressed to the Maningning Miclat Art Foundation, Inc. (MMAFI), 2nd Floor Mile Long Building, AmorsoloSt., Legaspi Village, Makati City(Tel No. 816-7490to91) not later than 5:00 P.M. of April 17, 2007. Entries sent by mail should be postmarked/invoiced not later than April 3, 2007.
Maningning Miclat was a multiawarded artist, trilingual poet and creative writer, translator and teacher. Her trilingual book of poetry, "Voice from the Underworld" has earned raves not only from English and Filipino readersbutalsofrom Chinese readers.Miclathas been anthologized in Beijing in a bookfeaturingthe World'sTop 39women poets writing in Chinese, which included her.
The Maningning Miclat Award has been launchedto honor her short but meaningful life and to encourage, recognize and nurture young talentslike her. Every year since 2003, MMAFI has been awarding outstanding poets during odd numbered years and winning painters during even numbered years. This year's grandwinnerswill receive PhP28, 000.00 cash award for eachof the 3 categories, copies of collector's edition of"Voice from the Underworld" and"Beauty for Ashes : Remembering Maningning"as well as the Miclat family journal, Beyond the Great Walland trophiesby theeminent sculptor, Julie Lluch. Log on to www.maningning.comand email maningningfoundation@gmail.com formore information.
2007MANINGNING MICLAT POETRY AWARD
RULES OF THE CONTEST
1. The contest is open to all poets of all nationalities, age 28and below.
2. There are three divisions in the awards: (a) Filipino (b) English (c) Chinese.
3. An entry must consist of at least eight (8) but not more than fifteen (15) poems.
4. Authors may join all the divisions but can submit only one (1) entry in every division.
5. All entries should be original in every language and not a translation of another entry.
6. A work which has been awarded a prize in another contest is not qualified for the awards.
7. Published or unpublished works may be entered in the contest.If published, the date of publication should be within 2006-2007.
8. All entries should be submitted in four (4) copies, double spaced on 8 ?x 11 inches bond paper with one inch margin on all sides and the page number typed consecutively, e.g.,1 of 10, 2 of 10,and so on.Font should be ARIAL or TIMES NEW ROMAN, and the font size should be 12.Entry should be submitted with pen name only and not real name.
Real name and pen name should be submitted in a separate sealed envelope together with a biodata, copy of birth certificate and a notarized declaration of originality and authenticity of authorship of the entry.
9. Entries must be addressed to the Maningning Miclat Art Foundation, Inc. (MMAFI) , 2/F, Mile long Building, Amorsolo St., Legaspi Village, Makati City not later than April 17, 2007.Entries sent by mail or courier should be postmarked/invoiced not later than April 2, 2007.
10. Entries submitted via e-mail should be an RTF (Ritch Text Format) or a Word Document file and should be sent as an attachment together with the author's biodata and copy of birth certificate and notarized certification of originality or authenticity of authorship of entry.The original copy of the notarized certification should then be sent to MMAFI thru mail.Entries submitted via e-mail should be transmitted not later than April 17, 2007.
11. Submitted copies of winning entries shall remain with and become the property of MMAFI. Copyright of the works remains with the author but the latter grants, assigns and transfers into MMAFI the right without necessity of any payment other than the prize which may have been awarded to publish any winning entry or selection or portion thereof as it may at its discretion determine; to make the work available for downloading on the Internet or other electronic medium; and /or to allow students to make copies for research or in connection with their school requirements.
12. Plagiarism is anathema to the contest and MMAFI has the right of action against the author, if it may be later on discovered that said person is not the creator or owner of the copyright to the winning work. The foundation shall not be liable to any court action if a third party files a case against the winner who plagiarized the work of the said third party.
13. There will only be one Grand Prize winner for each division and the prize is P 28,000.00 and a trophy per winning entry.
14. The Board of Judges shall have the discretion not to award any prize if in its judgment, no meritorious entry had been submitted.
15. MMAFI has the sole right to designate the persons who shall constitute the Board of Judges in each division of the contest.The decision of the majority of the Board of Judges in all divisions shall be final.
16. The names of the winners and the members of the Board of Judges shall be announced on September 29, 2007.
The Poetry Contestconsisting of 3 divisions -Filipino, English and Chinese ?is open toall poets, age 28and below. An entry must consist of at least eight (8) but not more than fifteen (15) poems. Authors may join all the divisions but can submit only one (1) entry in every division. All entries should be original in every language and not a translation of another entry.
All entries should be submitted in four(4) copies, double spaced on 81/2 x 11 inches bond paper with one inch margin on all sides and with ARIAL or TIMES NEW ROMAN size 12 font. Entry should be submitted with pen name only. Real name and pen name should be submitted in a separate sealed envelop together with a biodata, copy of birth certificate and a notarized declaration of originality and authenticity of authorship of the entry.
Entries must be addressed to the Maningning Miclat Art Foundation, Inc. (MMAFI), 2nd Floor Mile Long Building, AmorsoloSt., Legaspi Village, Makati City(Tel No. 816-7490to91) not later than 5:00 P.M. of April 17, 2007. Entries sent by mail should be postmarked/invoiced not later than April 3, 2007.
Maningning Miclat was a multiawarded artist, trilingual poet and creative writer, translator and teacher. Her trilingual book of poetry, "Voice from the Underworld" has earned raves not only from English and Filipino readersbutalsofrom Chinese readers.Miclathas been anthologized in Beijing in a bookfeaturingthe World'sTop 39women poets writing in Chinese, which included her.
The Maningning Miclat Award has been launchedto honor her short but meaningful life and to encourage, recognize and nurture young talentslike her. Every year since 2003, MMAFI has been awarding outstanding poets during odd numbered years and winning painters during even numbered years. This year's grandwinnerswill receive PhP28, 000.00 cash award for eachof the 3 categories, copies of collector's edition of"Voice from the Underworld" and"Beauty for Ashes : Remembering Maningning"as well as the Miclat family journal, Beyond the Great Walland trophiesby theeminent sculptor, Julie Lluch. Log on to www.maningning.comand email maningningfoundation@gmail.com formore information.
2007MANINGNING MICLAT POETRY AWARD
RULES OF THE CONTEST
1. The contest is open to all poets of all nationalities, age 28and below.
2. There are three divisions in the awards: (a) Filipino (b) English (c) Chinese.
3. An entry must consist of at least eight (8) but not more than fifteen (15) poems.
4. Authors may join all the divisions but can submit only one (1) entry in every division.
5. All entries should be original in every language and not a translation of another entry.
6. A work which has been awarded a prize in another contest is not qualified for the awards.
7. Published or unpublished works may be entered in the contest.If published, the date of publication should be within 2006-2007.
8. All entries should be submitted in four (4) copies, double spaced on 8 ?x 11 inches bond paper with one inch margin on all sides and the page number typed consecutively, e.g.,1 of 10, 2 of 10,and so on.Font should be ARIAL or TIMES NEW ROMAN, and the font size should be 12.Entry should be submitted with pen name only and not real name.
Real name and pen name should be submitted in a separate sealed envelope together with a biodata, copy of birth certificate and a notarized declaration of originality and authenticity of authorship of the entry.
9. Entries must be addressed to the Maningning Miclat Art Foundation, Inc. (MMAFI) , 2/F, Mile long Building, Amorsolo St., Legaspi Village, Makati City not later than April 17, 2007.Entries sent by mail or courier should be postmarked/invoiced not later than April 2, 2007.
10. Entries submitted via e-mail should be an RTF (Ritch Text Format) or a Word Document file and should be sent as an attachment together with the author's biodata and copy of birth certificate and notarized certification of originality or authenticity of authorship of entry.The original copy of the notarized certification should then be sent to MMAFI thru mail.Entries submitted via e-mail should be transmitted not later than April 17, 2007.
11. Submitted copies of winning entries shall remain with and become the property of MMAFI. Copyright of the works remains with the author but the latter grants, assigns and transfers into MMAFI the right without necessity of any payment other than the prize which may have been awarded to publish any winning entry or selection or portion thereof as it may at its discretion determine; to make the work available for downloading on the Internet or other electronic medium; and /or to allow students to make copies for research or in connection with their school requirements.
12. Plagiarism is anathema to the contest and MMAFI has the right of action against the author, if it may be later on discovered that said person is not the creator or owner of the copyright to the winning work. The foundation shall not be liable to any court action if a third party files a case against the winner who plagiarized the work of the said third party.
13. There will only be one Grand Prize winner for each division and the prize is P 28,000.00 and a trophy per winning entry.
14. The Board of Judges shall have the discretion not to award any prize if in its judgment, no meritorious entry had been submitted.
15. MMAFI has the sole right to designate the persons who shall constitute the Board of Judges in each division of the contest.The decision of the majority of the Board of Judges in all divisions shall be final.
16. The names of the winners and the members of the Board of Judges shall be announced on September 29, 2007.
Tuesday, March 06, 2007
Web prowl
There is a great disincentive for liberal democratic change in China because, according to this East-West paper (pdf), both the losers and the winners in the country's capitalist reforms don't want to challenge the Chinese Communist Party. In a related note, Der Siegel asks Does communism work after all? A male suicide bomber is supposed to get women in heaven, what does a female suicide bomber get? asks Slate. Last week, the actress Alicia Meyer appeared in a photo op for PETA Philippines wearing nothing more but lettuce leaves, and many people said she looked better than ever, leading many women to ask where can one find a beginner's guide to vegetarianism. Newsweek writes on the bleak prospects of Ban Ki Moon's tenure in the United Nations. Janet Yellen, chair of Clinton's Council of Economic Advisers in 1997, writes about Lessons of the Asian financial crisis 10 years later. Cebu Pacific is offering seats at greatly discounted prices till March 8 for travel dates from June to December this year.
Sunday, March 04, 2007
Communists just wanna have fun
Because of the dance photos released by the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and prominently played up in the newspapers, Communist party of the Philippines founder Joma Sison has had to explain in a press statement today that since it was Christmas, "it was perfectly alright for me to have kodakan [picture-taking], yugyugan [dancing] and kantahan [singing] with the Filipina movie and singing star Ara Mina [and singer-actor] Janno Gibbs."
The man is good in swing, must he apologize for it? Communists, unless they're Iglesia, have the inalienable right to dance whenever they feel like dancing--and not only in Christmas time (they're probably atheists anyway). What does the AFP expect Joma Sison to do? Be dour and sullen until the revolution comes? Dancing should be a central committee-approved method of putting away the ennui of alienated labor.
The Manila Standard Today also carries a picture of Sison derisively decribing him in the caption as "well-fed-looking" like some communist pig in Orwell's Animal Farm.
The one good thing that came out of this unfortunate disparagement of a communist's ability to party is that Joma Sison's website (from which the pictures were culled by the military) is more popular than ever.
The man is good in swing, must he apologize for it? Communists, unless they're Iglesia, have the inalienable right to dance whenever they feel like dancing--and not only in Christmas time (they're probably atheists anyway). What does the AFP expect Joma Sison to do? Be dour and sullen until the revolution comes? Dancing should be a central committee-approved method of putting away the ennui of alienated labor.
The Manila Standard Today also carries a picture of Sison derisively decribing him in the caption as "well-fed-looking" like some communist pig in Orwell's Animal Farm.
The one good thing that came out of this unfortunate disparagement of a communist's ability to party is that Joma Sison's website (from which the pictures were culled by the military) is more popular than ever.
Friday, March 02, 2007
Job opening
Earth Rights International (ERI) has opening for an Asia Office Manager and an EarthRights School Teacher position. The job descriptions are both on the website at this link:
http://www.earthrights.org/misc/jobs_and_internships.html
About EarthRights International
EarthRights International (ERI) combines the power of law and the power of people in defense of human rights and the environment. We focus our work at the intersection of human rights and the environment, which we define as earth rights. We specialize in fact-finding, legal actions against perpetrators of earth rights abuses, training for grassroots and community leaders and advocacy campaigns. Through these strategies, ERI seeks to end earth rights abuses, and to promote and protect earth rights.
ERI has offices in northern Thailand and Washington, D.C. ERI was incorporated in the U.S. and has nonprofit status pursuant to U.S. Tax Code 501(c)(3). The staff is ethnically diverse (evenly divided between people from the Global North and South), and is composed of lawyers, human rights and environmental activists, and experienced NGO workers.
http://www.earthrights.org
About EarthRights International
EarthRights International (ERI) combines the power of law and the power of people in defense of human rights and the environment. We focus our work at the intersection of human rights and the environment, which we define as earth rights. We specialize in fact-finding, legal actions against perpetrators of earth rights abuses, training for grassroots and community leaders and advocacy campaigns. Through these strategies, ERI seeks to end earth rights abuses, and to promote and protect earth rights.
ERI has offices in northern Thailand and Washington, D.C. ERI was incorporated in the U.S. and has nonprofit status pursuant to U.S. Tax Code 501(c)(3). The staff is ethnically diverse (evenly divided between people from the Global North and South), and is composed of lawyers, human rights and environmental activists, and experienced NGO workers.
Wednesday, February 28, 2007
Love's labor lost
Into the boundary of each married man, Sir Elton John sings in Sacrifice, sweet deceit comes calling. In the case of James Yap, the calling must have happened sometime between the facial and the scrub. As the old skin and corporeal detritus sloughed off, the matrimonial vow must have washed off with the exfoliation, such is the efficacy of Belo's various treatments.
Ricky Lo reports today that a close friend of Kris Aquino believes the couple would eventually break up. Why should a single infidelity ruin a marriage? James Yap already said sorry, he never cohabitted with Hope Centeno, and has no plan whatsoever to carry on whatever trysts may have happened between them in the past. Why can't the couple simply move on?
In married life, exactly what is it that is so hurtful about an infidelity? Admittedly, unless there's sexually transmitted disease involved, a sexual tryst outside of marriage is of middling practical cost to the offended spouse. Bill Clinton got sucked by Monica Lewinsky; it was big deal alright for the uptight Republicans (who presumably never get any) but marital infidelity hardly ruined Hillary Clinton's weltanschauung. Or Loi Estrada's marriage, for that matter. Why then should Kris not just sleep this over, patch things up with James Yap and simply buy those facials and scrubs you see at Watson's?
If you break up your marriage just because your spouse had sex with another person, you are in effect admitting that your marriage is nothing more but a venue for legit sexual relation. As John Milton wrote in Doctrine & Discipline of Divorce, "What is this but secretly to instruct us, that however many grave reasons are pretended to the married life, yet that nothing indeed is thought worth regard therein but the prescribed satisfaction of an irrational heat?"
If you as a married couple tide over a lifetime without a single infidelity, that's outstanding and worthy of emulation. But there is more to marriage than sexual monogamy. Writing in Against Love, Laura Kipnis said "Adultery is one way of protesting the confines of coupled life; of course there's always murder." Let's just all be happy James Yap didn't grab the kitchen knife.
Ricky Lo reports today that a close friend of Kris Aquino believes the couple would eventually break up. Why should a single infidelity ruin a marriage? James Yap already said sorry, he never cohabitted with Hope Centeno, and has no plan whatsoever to carry on whatever trysts may have happened between them in the past. Why can't the couple simply move on?
In married life, exactly what is it that is so hurtful about an infidelity? Admittedly, unless there's sexually transmitted disease involved, a sexual tryst outside of marriage is of middling practical cost to the offended spouse. Bill Clinton got sucked by Monica Lewinsky; it was big deal alright for the uptight Republicans (who presumably never get any) but marital infidelity hardly ruined Hillary Clinton's weltanschauung. Or Loi Estrada's marriage, for that matter. Why then should Kris not just sleep this over, patch things up with James Yap and simply buy those facials and scrubs you see at Watson's?
If you break up your marriage just because your spouse had sex with another person, you are in effect admitting that your marriage is nothing more but a venue for legit sexual relation. As John Milton wrote in Doctrine & Discipline of Divorce, "What is this but secretly to instruct us, that however many grave reasons are pretended to the married life, yet that nothing indeed is thought worth regard therein but the prescribed satisfaction of an irrational heat?"
If you as a married couple tide over a lifetime without a single infidelity, that's outstanding and worthy of emulation. But there is more to marriage than sexual monogamy. Writing in Against Love, Laura Kipnis said "Adultery is one way of protesting the confines of coupled life; of course there's always murder." Let's just all be happy James Yap didn't grab the kitchen knife.
Tuesday, February 27, 2007
Bituing nawawalan ng ningning?
Senator Pangilinan has recently been thrown into unflattering light when he didn't show up in the opposition's proclamation rally at Plaza Miranda. Some of the members of the opposition apparently are not too happy that they are campaigning for Senator Pangilinan while the latter is only campaigning for himself. Some of the senator's critics are exploiting the situation and making it appear that Senator Pangilinan is namamangka sa dalawang ilog while having his cake and eating it too.
Senator Pangilinan's position is that he is running as an independent and that, as any candidate wishes support from any sector that will deign to give it, he is happy to have been adopted by the opposition, but he is still running as an independent, thank you very much.
If you come to think about it, Senator Pangilinan's decision to run as an independent is the morally superior choice. Both the administration and the Estrada opposition have been discredited; therefore, any reasonable and honest man must mark and blaze a third way. There's something eerily perverse about the opposition senatorial slate avowedly running for good governance while fawning at the foot of Joseph Estrada.
Of course, Senator Pangilinan can afford to be so high and mighty now because he is the man Sharon Cuneta go home to at the end of the day. And this is probably the reason why many politicians find Senator Pangilinan's political stance now especially infuriating. They all need a political party to campaign effectively; Senator Pangilinan only needs to stay married (and these days when women are too forgiving that's not too hard to do, ask Mr Yap).
Senator Pangilinan's position is that he is running as an independent and that, as any candidate wishes support from any sector that will deign to give it, he is happy to have been adopted by the opposition, but he is still running as an independent, thank you very much.
If you come to think about it, Senator Pangilinan's decision to run as an independent is the morally superior choice. Both the administration and the Estrada opposition have been discredited; therefore, any reasonable and honest man must mark and blaze a third way. There's something eerily perverse about the opposition senatorial slate avowedly running for good governance while fawning at the foot of Joseph Estrada.
Of course, Senator Pangilinan can afford to be so high and mighty now because he is the man Sharon Cuneta go home to at the end of the day. And this is probably the reason why many politicians find Senator Pangilinan's political stance now especially infuriating. They all need a political party to campaign effectively; Senator Pangilinan only needs to stay married (and these days when women are too forgiving that's not too hard to do, ask Mr Yap).
Tuesday, February 20, 2007
Web prowl
Thant Myint-U argues in What to do about Burma? that the economic sanctions against Burma, given the support of China for the Burmese military junta and the intransigence of the generals, have no chance of working to liberalize the country. He argues instead that institutions that can challenge the military as an effective national institution be developed, pointing out a little woefully that the top leaders of the National League for Democracy (save Aung San Suu Kyi herself) are all retired military officers. From the New York Review of Books, an essay on the women of Spanish director Pedro Almodovar. Japan is also negotiating with Thailand a free trade agreement similar to our own JPEPA (which was denounced by local environmentalists) and an article in the Bangkok Post asks if Thailand is going to be An international dumping ground?
Thursday, February 08, 2007
Curse of the golden flower
First things first: Go watch it pronto (see official website here). It is so good if I'm not going to Davao tomorrow I would probably be watching it again. The story is about Gong Li's empress being slowly poisoned by Chow Yun Fat's emperor because she is sleeping with the emperor's favorite son and crown prince. The empress, in an imperial power struggle, solicits the help of her own talented son played by Jay Chou, asking him to command an army in rebellion againt his own father.
The story is like a Chinese Oedipus Rex (there's incest, father-son struggle, a kingdom to gain and lose although I bet Jocasta didn't look quite as good as Gong Li) and the palace eunuchs act like some Greek chorus monitoring the passage of time.
SPOILER: Just about everybody ends up dead at the end except for Chow Yun Fat's emperor. On whose shoulders then lay the onus for the tragic ending? I find Gong Li's character despicable: She sleeps with her own stepson and continually seduces him. To lure her own biological son to fighting his own father, she was also economical with the truth: She merely said that the emperor was poisoning her and never told him about her incestous relationship with the crown prince. Had she told that bit of truth, I doubt if Jay Chou's Prince Jai would have led the rebellion. Like in any great tragedy, a small piece of truth unshared proved the undoing of everybody.
Although it was Gong Li's transgression that started the tragedy ball rolling, the different members of the imperial family had their own sins and faults. The emperor was championing natural law at the beginning (filial piety, loyalty), but he also killed his third son in anger. The only untainted character was that of Prince Jai, who, as far as his knowledge is concerned, merely defended his mother.
During the great massacre of ten thousand soldiers at the end though, I was thinking, "Why cant' Jay Chou with a whole army with him manage to storm the same palace Tony Leung and Maggie Cheung briskly invaded in Hero?" And is the art film Gong Li too stately to do onscreen martial arts? Would have loved to see her whacking Chow Yun Fat like feisty Jade Fox. Also, come to think of it, Gong Li's palpitations and dizziness probably wouldn't be so bad if only the Tang Dynasty had White Flower.
Curse of the Golden Flower is a great movie, but, I must admit, Hero is still my all-time favorite.
The story is like a Chinese Oedipus Rex (there's incest, father-son struggle, a kingdom to gain and lose although I bet Jocasta didn't look quite as good as Gong Li) and the palace eunuchs act like some Greek chorus monitoring the passage of time.
SPOILER: Just about everybody ends up dead at the end except for Chow Yun Fat's emperor. On whose shoulders then lay the onus for the tragic ending? I find Gong Li's character despicable: She sleeps with her own stepson and continually seduces him. To lure her own biological son to fighting his own father, she was also economical with the truth: She merely said that the emperor was poisoning her and never told him about her incestous relationship with the crown prince. Had she told that bit of truth, I doubt if Jay Chou's Prince Jai would have led the rebellion. Like in any great tragedy, a small piece of truth unshared proved the undoing of everybody.
Although it was Gong Li's transgression that started the tragedy ball rolling, the different members of the imperial family had their own sins and faults. The emperor was championing natural law at the beginning (filial piety, loyalty), but he also killed his third son in anger. The only untainted character was that of Prince Jai, who, as far as his knowledge is concerned, merely defended his mother.
During the great massacre of ten thousand soldiers at the end though, I was thinking, "Why cant' Jay Chou with a whole army with him manage to storm the same palace Tony Leung and Maggie Cheung briskly invaded in Hero?" And is the art film Gong Li too stately to do onscreen martial arts? Would have loved to see her whacking Chow Yun Fat like feisty Jade Fox. Also, come to think of it, Gong Li's palpitations and dizziness probably wouldn't be so bad if only the Tang Dynasty had White Flower.
Curse of the Golden Flower is a great movie, but, I must admit, Hero is still my all-time favorite.
Wednesday, February 07, 2007
Cayetano's beef
Sassy Lawyer succinctly writes today that the bank certifications presented by First Gentleman Mike Arroyo during the rather acrimonious congressional hearing do not conclusively prove that not one of the Arroyos has or ever had a bank account at Hypo Vereins Bank in Germany.
Even if there are no accounts under the name of any of the Arroyos, there could very possibly be accounts under a corporation or some other juridical entity of which an Arroyo is a shareholder. Also, there could be investment accounts not named under the Arroyos but designate them as beneficiaries. The wording of the certifications coming from the bank does not include these accounts.
The waiver drafted by Congressman Cayetano, which Mike Arroyo refused to sign, was clearer and encompassing all possible accounts the Arroyos may have or have had at one time at the bank. Had Mike Arroyo signed the waiver as drafted by Congressman Cayetano, he would have put all doubts to rest.
There is the primal question though with regard to the appropriateness of Cayetano's requesting Mike Arroyo to sign a blanket waiver. Supposing a barangay captain lives a stupendously profligate life with no other possible source of income whatsoever, can one rightfully demand the barangay captain to sign a waiver to vouch for his honesty in public service? What Cayetano demands of Mike Arroyo we can demand from just about everyone in government. Why single him out? No case, as far as we know, has been filed against him with regard to these supposed accounts. If Mike Arroyo just plays deadma to all these, he has every right to do so. But perhaps he wants to see Congressman Cayetano, now in fourth place in Pulse Asia poll according to Ellen Tordesillas, in the Senate next year.
Even if there are no accounts under the name of any of the Arroyos, there could very possibly be accounts under a corporation or some other juridical entity of which an Arroyo is a shareholder. Also, there could be investment accounts not named under the Arroyos but designate them as beneficiaries. The wording of the certifications coming from the bank does not include these accounts.
The waiver drafted by Congressman Cayetano, which Mike Arroyo refused to sign, was clearer and encompassing all possible accounts the Arroyos may have or have had at one time at the bank. Had Mike Arroyo signed the waiver as drafted by Congressman Cayetano, he would have put all doubts to rest.
There is the primal question though with regard to the appropriateness of Cayetano's requesting Mike Arroyo to sign a blanket waiver. Supposing a barangay captain lives a stupendously profligate life with no other possible source of income whatsoever, can one rightfully demand the barangay captain to sign a waiver to vouch for his honesty in public service? What Cayetano demands of Mike Arroyo we can demand from just about everyone in government. Why single him out? No case, as far as we know, has been filed against him with regard to these supposed accounts. If Mike Arroyo just plays deadma to all these, he has every right to do so. But perhaps he wants to see Congressman Cayetano, now in fourth place in Pulse Asia poll according to Ellen Tordesillas, in the Senate next year.
Monday, February 05, 2007
Butch Dalisay's Upgraditis
When cheeky mountain climbers are asked about their motivation for their hikes, they retort that they climb mountains because the mountains are there--that simple. It has always appeared to me though that it is this same logic that undergirds people's inexcusable consumerism: Why do you buy that bag when you don't need it? It's there.
Butch Dalisay has just succumbed to the consumerist temptation when, as he writes here for the Philippine Star, he ditched his Palm Treo 650 for Sony Ericson M600i for no reason other than he somehow felt compelled to buy a new gadget. He was perfectly happy with the Treo but he just had to buy something new.
I like to think of myself as a relatively frugal person, but sometimes the power of advertising is just too much for us mere mortals to bear. I once bought a 3G phone even though I have no plans whatsoever to make a video call and was in fact perfectly happy with my clunky old phone. But, thank God, we are not the Americans who were exhorted by their president to fight terrorism by shopping more.
Reading Elizabeth Royte's Garbage Land, I was struck by this statistic offered by author and entrepreneur Paul Hawken: for every 100 pounds of product that's made--products that hit the store shelves--at least 3,200 pounds of waste are generated. Now, whenever I go to the mall or walk into a bookshop, I remember that.
Butch Dalisay has just succumbed to the consumerist temptation when, as he writes here for the Philippine Star, he ditched his Palm Treo 650 for Sony Ericson M600i for no reason other than he somehow felt compelled to buy a new gadget. He was perfectly happy with the Treo but he just had to buy something new.
I like to think of myself as a relatively frugal person, but sometimes the power of advertising is just too much for us mere mortals to bear. I once bought a 3G phone even though I have no plans whatsoever to make a video call and was in fact perfectly happy with my clunky old phone. But, thank God, we are not the Americans who were exhorted by their president to fight terrorism by shopping more.
Reading Elizabeth Royte's Garbage Land, I was struck by this statistic offered by author and entrepreneur Paul Hawken: for every 100 pounds of product that's made--products that hit the store shelves--at least 3,200 pounds of waste are generated. Now, whenever I go to the mall or walk into a bookshop, I remember that.
Sunday, February 04, 2007
Where will Pacquiao find the time?
Manny Pacquiao is running for mayor of General Santos City under the banner of Lakas. He will be challenging his ninong and (former) ardent supporter incumbent Mayor Pedro Acharon Jr. The question though is where will Pacquiao find the time to campaign and if he wins, how does he intend to fulfill the duties of a mayor since apparently he does not plan to retire anytime soon? And if he does retire after winning the mayoralty race, wouldn't it be such a big loss considering that he has just reached his peak earning capacity as a boxer?
One thing is for sure though: Pacquiao, with his immense popularity, has no need for this campaign training course at Xavier University in Cagayan de Oro on February 27 to March 3. And even if he does, he would probably be too busy training with Freddie Roach.
One thing is for sure though: Pacquiao, with his immense popularity, has no need for this campaign training course at Xavier University in Cagayan de Oro on February 27 to March 3. And even if he does, he would probably be too busy training with Freddie Roach.
Thursday, February 01, 2007
In defense of political dynasties
With JV, Jinggoy, Pimentel fils, two Aquinos and Cayetano all gunning for the Senate, there's resentment about how the country's political affairs have been reduced to familial intramurals with public office constituting part of several family heirlooms. And the image of former President Estrada playing the role of a highhanded godfather in the selection of senatorial candidates also didn't help.
Senator Tatad was so incensed of the "mad and shallow family park" he had to pay the newspapers to publish a missive to the nation. There's no question politics here are sometimes mad and often shallow, but suggestions to ban dynasties are even madder. How does one define a dynasty? If we disallow one to run for office simply because one of his kin is already in politics, is that really just? We may be able to give the electorate more choices, but the sphere of individual freedom would be needlessly harmed.
All this talk about curtailing political dynasties is really impractical political engineering. It is disturbing though that while Koko Pimentel defends his right to run, he at the same time says if elected he would file a bill banning the relatives of the president from running. Eh, what's good for the gander not good enough for the goose?
The reason why families are fielding more and more of their family members (aside from the understable natural feeling of every parent to see his children follow in his footsteps) is that running for office is like getting married. Two formerly single unattached people discover in a marriage that both of them can easily live on the previous budget of one. Similarly, one family member running for office costs just about the same as two. For the price of one, a family therefore gets two. (Read Alex Magno on the electoral financing gap today). Seamless logic.
Perhaps another reason why many family members are flocking to politics is the relative drought of exciting things to do in this country. This also partly explains why many actors are now running for office; the local film industry is dead and the television is swarming with younger and younger faces prettier than you (pace Richard Gomez).
Seriously, let them all run and let the people decide. If the people prefer and vote for akin blood, tough luck but that's smaller gene pool and democracy for us.
Senator Tatad was so incensed of the "mad and shallow family park" he had to pay the newspapers to publish a missive to the nation. There's no question politics here are sometimes mad and often shallow, but suggestions to ban dynasties are even madder. How does one define a dynasty? If we disallow one to run for office simply because one of his kin is already in politics, is that really just? We may be able to give the electorate more choices, but the sphere of individual freedom would be needlessly harmed.
All this talk about curtailing political dynasties is really impractical political engineering. It is disturbing though that while Koko Pimentel defends his right to run, he at the same time says if elected he would file a bill banning the relatives of the president from running. Eh, what's good for the gander not good enough for the goose?
The reason why families are fielding more and more of their family members (aside from the understable natural feeling of every parent to see his children follow in his footsteps) is that running for office is like getting married. Two formerly single unattached people discover in a marriage that both of them can easily live on the previous budget of one. Similarly, one family member running for office costs just about the same as two. For the price of one, a family therefore gets two. (Read Alex Magno on the electoral financing gap today). Seamless logic.
Perhaps another reason why many family members are flocking to politics is the relative drought of exciting things to do in this country. This also partly explains why many actors are now running for office; the local film industry is dead and the television is swarming with younger and younger faces prettier than you (pace Richard Gomez).
Seriously, let them all run and let the people decide. If the people prefer and vote for akin blood, tough luck but that's smaller gene pool and democracy for us.
Saturday, January 20, 2007
The disappearing of local govt executives
National politics very rarely encroach on local politics. This is partly the reason why despite the unpalatability of the present national administration, there will be no candidates running against it in many provinces come May 2007.
In the rare instances when politics in the national level invade the local, it is usually to hunt down the local executives through the long arm of the law. When national and local officials face off, not even years of carefully nurtured patronage can save the local government executive (e.g. Governor Remulla's ignominious fall in 1995 in the hands of FVR's hatchet man, Epimaco Velasco).
Only the most thickheaded will believe that the recent spate in the dismissal and suspension of local government executives had nothing to do with national politics. It had everything to do with it. Take the case of Iloilo. The administration's anemic senatorial ticket will need all the votes it can get in May. Cebu can be relied upon to deliver once again. The administration's political machinery, given Ilonggo Secretary Gonzales's presence in the Arroyo Cabinet, is also strong in Iloilo, but the combined forces of Governor Tupas and Senator Drilon effectively neutralize Gonzales's sway in the province.
By removing Governor Tupas and busying him with legal drudgery , the field is now clear for Secretary Gonzales to do mano a mano with that other big shot in the province, Senator Drilon, and persuade his constituents to go for the administration's senatorial ticket. Without the Ombudsman's case against him, Governor Tupas is simply too strong for anybody (including Gonzales and one-time Iloilo gubernatorial hopeful Edu Manzano) to take on. But now that he has been hauled to court, the gubernatorial race, as Iloilo City Boy points out, has suddenly become wide open.
In the rare instances when politics in the national level invade the local, it is usually to hunt down the local executives through the long arm of the law. When national and local officials face off, not even years of carefully nurtured patronage can save the local government executive (e.g. Governor Remulla's ignominious fall in 1995 in the hands of FVR's hatchet man, Epimaco Velasco).
Only the most thickheaded will believe that the recent spate in the dismissal and suspension of local government executives had nothing to do with national politics. It had everything to do with it. Take the case of Iloilo. The administration's anemic senatorial ticket will need all the votes it can get in May. Cebu can be relied upon to deliver once again. The administration's political machinery, given Ilonggo Secretary Gonzales's presence in the Arroyo Cabinet, is also strong in Iloilo, but the combined forces of Governor Tupas and Senator Drilon effectively neutralize Gonzales's sway in the province.
By removing Governor Tupas and busying him with legal drudgery , the field is now clear for Secretary Gonzales to do mano a mano with that other big shot in the province, Senator Drilon, and persuade his constituents to go for the administration's senatorial ticket. Without the Ombudsman's case against him, Governor Tupas is simply too strong for anybody (including Gonzales and one-time Iloilo gubernatorial hopeful Edu Manzano) to take on. But now that he has been hauled to court, the gubernatorial race, as Iloilo City Boy points out, has suddenly become wide open.
Friday, December 29, 2006
Will blog again
I will be blogging again in 2007, so anytime now I'll probably be writing some weird stuff again on this blog.
I quit blogging last year for two reasons: 1) I was getting a lot of spam comments, my inbox swamped with advertisements; and 2) I was sounding like I was a big fan of the president (which I was-and am- not). The spam has stopped now and the political caterwauling has simmered down. It would be nice to start blogging again in a less poisoned blogosphere.
Happy new year!
I will be blogging again in 2007, so anytime now I'll probably be writing some weird stuff again on this blog.
I quit blogging last year for two reasons: 1) I was getting a lot of spam comments, my inbox swamped with advertisements; and 2) I was sounding like I was a big fan of the president (which I was-and am- not). The spam has stopped now and the political caterwauling has simmered down. It would be nice to start blogging again in a less poisoned blogosphere.
Happy new year!
Tuesday, October 25, 2005
Neologism
I got this from an e-mail:
1) garcify
a) to distort results
b) to cheat in an election
Used in a sentence: "The president was unable to evade allegations that she garcified her way to the highest office in the land." Or, "There are claims that the Philippines has become irreversibly garcified, claims which are becoming increasingly difficult to refute."
2) norberse
a) to be purposely obtuse
b) to obfuscate in an attempt to hide the truth
Used in a sentence: "The official remained norberse all through the hearing, leading many to think he was clumsily trying to protect someone." Or, "There is no truth to the claim that norbersity can be cured through the slow ingestion of potassium-laden bananas."
3) miriamphony
a) a verbose and lilting discourse during which the speaker drifts in and out of reality
Used in a sentence: "The senator perorated in the expected miriamphony as she once again sought to prove to all and sundry that she was not insane." Or "Her miriamphony fooled no one - she swiftly erased all remaining doubts about the state of her reason with her diatribe."
4) nogralese
a) manner of political discourse in which a speaker pretends to agree with one side for as long as they are useful to him.
Used in a sentence: "Day after day, the congressman mollified his opponents with his smooth and unctuous nogralese, catching the unwary by surprise when he later removed them from their posts." Or, "Even his friends begin to flee to remote locations once he starts spouting his nogralese."
5) joedevivre
a) a lifestyle which is devoted to always attempting to please others and never having to choose between right and wrong
Used in a sentence: "His joedevivre caused his eventual downfall, as the electorate finally saw him for what he truly was." Or, "His joedevivre forced him to consistently refuse to play a simple game of chess, because there are no gray areas on a chess board."
6) dequirose
a) having a Quixotic bent
b) used to describe one who is constantly vilified by critics for his insistence that all public officials must be held accountable, regardless of which sector of society they belong to or who they are connected to.
Used in a sentence: "Despite virulent ad hominem attacks, the writer remained dequirose, steadfast in his convictions."
1) garcify
a) to distort results
b) to cheat in an election
Used in a sentence: "The president was unable to evade allegations that she garcified her way to the highest office in the land." Or, "There are claims that the Philippines has become irreversibly garcified, claims which are becoming increasingly difficult to refute."
2) norberse
a) to be purposely obtuse
b) to obfuscate in an attempt to hide the truth
Used in a sentence: "The official remained norberse all through the hearing, leading many to think he was clumsily trying to protect someone." Or, "There is no truth to the claim that norbersity can be cured through the slow ingestion of potassium-laden bananas."
3) miriamphony
a) a verbose and lilting discourse during which the speaker drifts in and out of reality
Used in a sentence: "The senator perorated in the expected miriamphony as she once again sought to prove to all and sundry that she was not insane." Or "Her miriamphony fooled no one - she swiftly erased all remaining doubts about the state of her reason with her diatribe."
4) nogralese
a) manner of political discourse in which a speaker pretends to agree with one side for as long as they are useful to him.
Used in a sentence: "Day after day, the congressman mollified his opponents with his smooth and unctuous nogralese, catching the unwary by surprise when he later removed them from their posts." Or, "Even his friends begin to flee to remote locations once he starts spouting his nogralese."
5) joedevivre
a) a lifestyle which is devoted to always attempting to please others and never having to choose between right and wrong
Used in a sentence: "His joedevivre caused his eventual downfall, as the electorate finally saw him for what he truly was." Or, "His joedevivre forced him to consistently refuse to play a simple game of chess, because there are no gray areas on a chess board."
6) dequirose
a) having a Quixotic bent
b) used to describe one who is constantly vilified by critics for his insistence that all public officials must be held accountable, regardless of which sector of society they belong to or who they are connected to.
Used in a sentence: "Despite virulent ad hominem attacks, the writer remained dequirose, steadfast in his convictions."
Wednesday, October 19, 2005
Call for Innovative Ideas to Promote Development with Equity
In the Philippines, many are excluded from social and economic development because of their disadvantage in terms of income, assets and opportunities. Thus, the need for "Development with Equity", which means reducing inequality in order to provide greater opportunities to those with the least resources. Beyond income distribution, "Development with Equity" is also about greater access to services, infrastructure, power, influence and participation.
Panibagong Paraan (the Philippine Development Innovation Marketplace) is a multi-partner program that encourages and supports innovative ideas to promote "Development with Equity" in the Philippines. The program has two competitions:
Expression of Ideas Competition
Share your views on bringing about "Development with Equity"! Entries may be submitted in the form of policy proposals, essays, poetry, art work, song compositions, or multimedia presentations. Guidelines for the Expressions of Interest Competition will be announced later by the Panibagong Paraan 2006 Secretariat.
Project Grants Competition
Put your ideas to action! We are looking for innovative projects that address specific inequity issues. Winners will be provided grant funds of up to PhP1 million, to implement their projects over a one-year period. Guidelines for the Project Grants Competition are described below:
Who can apply?
* People's organizations, including community-based groups, sectoral associations and cooperatives
* Non-government organizations, foundations, civic organizations, faith-based and inter-faith organizations, and other civil society organizations (CSOs)
* Private and public research and academic institutions, in partnership with people's organizations or CSOs
* 5th and 6th class municipal LGUs (including barangays therein), in partnership with local people's organizations or CSOs
Panibagong Paraan 2004 and Global Development Marketplace winners are eligible to apply provided the proposed project is different from the previously-awarded project.
Categories (Equity issues to be addressed):
* Increasing incomes/income opportunities
* Improving access to social services, infrastructure and utilities (e.g., energy)
* Improving access to/control of land and other assets
* Improving access to/ensuring fairness in market and financial structures and systems
* Strengthening participation in decision-making (voice and influence)
* Improving access to/ensuring fairness in political and justice systems
Special award categories:
* Advocacy or Policy/Action Research on Population and Development
* Basic Infrastructure and Equipment for Education or Health
Target Groups:
* Indigenous peoples
* Women, men , and youth in difficult or disadvantaged situations
* Elderly
* Children
* Persons with disabilities
* People living with HIV/AIDS
* Commercial sex workers
* Farmers and fisherfolk
* Formal and informal laborers, migrant workers
* Communities in remote areas or that are usual victims of disaster
Project ideas will be judged on the basis of: Innovation, Scalability and Replicability, and Potential Impact.
Initial proposals should be in the form of a brief concept paper (maximum of four pages). A multi-sectoral technical working group will evaluate eligible concept papers.
Deadline for submission: November 30, 2005
Concept papers must be submitted with one or two reference documents (e.g., SEC registration, certification from the local government unit, accreditation with a regulatory agency) establishing proof of the organization's identity. Concept papers in English, Filipino or other major Philippine languages can be sent by mail or hand-delivered to:
Panibagong Paraan 2006 Secretariat
23/F Taipan Place, F. Ortigas Jr. Road, Ortigas Center, 1605 Pasig City
Finalists will be notified in February 2006 and will be asked to submit full proposals by April 2006. Finalists will be invited to participate in an Exhibit and Social Policy Forum to be held in May 2006 (details to be announced later). A board of distinguished jurors will determine the winners.
For further information, contact the Panibagong Paraan 2006 Secretariat at telephone numbers 917-3047 or 637-5855 local 3047.
Panibagong Paraan (the Philippine Development Innovation Marketplace) is a multi-partner program that encourages and supports innovative ideas to promote "Development with Equity" in the Philippines. The program has two competitions:
Expression of Ideas Competition
Share your views on bringing about "Development with Equity"! Entries may be submitted in the form of policy proposals, essays, poetry, art work, song compositions, or multimedia presentations. Guidelines for the Expressions of Interest Competition will be announced later by the Panibagong Paraan 2006 Secretariat.
Project Grants Competition
Put your ideas to action! We are looking for innovative projects that address specific inequity issues. Winners will be provided grant funds of up to PhP1 million, to implement their projects over a one-year period. Guidelines for the Project Grants Competition are described below:
Who can apply?
* People's organizations, including community-based groups, sectoral associations and cooperatives
* Non-government organizations, foundations, civic organizations, faith-based and inter-faith organizations, and other civil society organizations (CSOs)
* Private and public research and academic institutions, in partnership with people's organizations or CSOs
* 5th and 6th class municipal LGUs (including barangays therein), in partnership with local people's organizations or CSOs
Panibagong Paraan 2004 and Global Development Marketplace winners are eligible to apply provided the proposed project is different from the previously-awarded project.
Categories (Equity issues to be addressed):
* Increasing incomes/income opportunities
* Improving access to social services, infrastructure and utilities (e.g., energy)
* Improving access to/control of land and other assets
* Improving access to/ensuring fairness in market and financial structures and systems
* Strengthening participation in decision-making (voice and influence)
* Improving access to/ensuring fairness in political and justice systems
Special award categories:
* Advocacy or Policy/Action Research on Population and Development
* Basic Infrastructure and Equipment for Education or Health
Target Groups:
* Indigenous peoples
* Women, men , and youth in difficult or disadvantaged situations
* Elderly
* Children
* Persons with disabilities
* People living with HIV/AIDS
* Commercial sex workers
* Farmers and fisherfolk
* Formal and informal laborers, migrant workers
* Communities in remote areas or that are usual victims of disaster
Project ideas will be judged on the basis of: Innovation, Scalability and Replicability, and Potential Impact.
Initial proposals should be in the form of a brief concept paper (maximum of four pages). A multi-sectoral technical working group will evaluate eligible concept papers.
Deadline for submission: November 30, 2005
Concept papers must be submitted with one or two reference documents (e.g., SEC registration, certification from the local government unit, accreditation with a regulatory agency) establishing proof of the organization's identity. Concept papers in English, Filipino or other major Philippine languages can be sent by mail or hand-delivered to:
Panibagong Paraan 2006 Secretariat
23/F Taipan Place, F. Ortigas Jr. Road, Ortigas Center, 1605 Pasig City
Finalists will be notified in February 2006 and will be asked to submit full proposals by April 2006. Finalists will be invited to participate in an Exhibit and Social Policy Forum to be held in May 2006 (details to be announced later). A board of distinguished jurors will determine the winners.
For further information, contact the Panibagong Paraan 2006 Secretariat at telephone numbers 917-3047 or 637-5855 local 3047.
Thursday, October 13, 2005
Fiction magazine launching
Come to the STORY PHILIPPINES launch--Friday, October 14 at 6 pm onwards, A DIFFERENT BOOKSTORE, EASTWOOD City, Libis, QC. The launch is part of a Book Fair hosted by A Different Bookstore. The event will also feature a poetry reading by poet Marjorie Evasco and others. Be there and buy a copy of Story Philippines and get a chance to snag a shopping spree at A DIFFERENT BOOKSTORE.
STORY PHILIPPINES is the first magazine of its kind in the country. It offers the Filipino reader the most entertaining and interesting new short fiction by Filipino writers, presented in an intriguing tabloid format that boasts cutting edge design, illustration and photography.
The maiden issue features 7 new Philippine stories: a moving story of love, illness and death ("Losing Mac")by the famed Gilda Cordero- Fernando, an account of a healer "dwende" and his psychic handler ("The Life and Loves of Doc Dwende") by Sarge Lacuesta, and a stunning tale of a town blighted by a tragic curse ("Natakdan"), by David Hontiveros, among others.
The maiden issue of STORY PHILIPPINES is already in bookstores and newsstands around the metro.
STORY PHILIPPINES is the first magazine of its kind in the country. It offers the Filipino reader the most entertaining and interesting new short fiction by Filipino writers, presented in an intriguing tabloid format that boasts cutting edge design, illustration and photography.
The maiden issue features 7 new Philippine stories: a moving story of love, illness and death ("Losing Mac")by the famed Gilda Cordero- Fernando, an account of a healer "dwende" and his psychic handler ("The Life and Loves of Doc Dwende") by Sarge Lacuesta, and a stunning tale of a town blighted by a tragic curse ("Natakdan"), by David Hontiveros, among others.
The maiden issue of STORY PHILIPPINES is already in bookstores and newsstands around the metro.
Monday, September 26, 2005
Web prowl
Read about the moral decadence and sexual perversity of Simone de Beauvoir and Jean Paul Sartre and how they toyed with other people's hearts a la Les Liaisons Dangereuses. Vote for your favorite public intellectuals in this online poll sponsored by the magazines Foreign Policy and Prospect. From Nerve.com, an essay on why Nabokov's Lolita endures. The Financial Times profiles Paul Wolfowitz's work at the World Bank. The Ateneo de Manila University launched its "Discussing Politics" essay series with: Beyond Mere Leadership Change: Reviewing and Redesigning Electoral Institutions (pdf) by Millard Lim, From ‘Hello Garci’ to 1-800 COMELEC: Reinventing Electoral Administration in the Philippines (pdf) by Melissa Jayme Lao and Education for Sale (pdf) by Anne Candelaria.
Tuesday, September 20, 2005
Sukarno in his own words
I had no idea until today that Sukarno had an autobigraphy. But reading the following hilarious excerpts from it, where Sukarno refers to himself in the third person, I have to add it in my (alas, ever-lengthening) must-read list:
"The simplest way to describe Sukarno is to say that he is a great lover. He loves his country, he loves his people, he loves women, he loves art, and, best of all, he loves himself."
"Now, I must admit that in my youth I was so terribly handsome that I was almost girlish-looking. Because there were few female intellectuals in those days, there weren't many girl members and when Young Java put on a play I was always given the ingenue role. I actually put powder on my face and red on my lips. And I will tell you something, but I don't know what foreigners will think of a President who tells such things … Anyway, I will tell it. I bought two sweet breads. Round breads. Like rolls. And I stuffed them inside my blouse. With this addition to my shapely figure, everybody said I looked absolutely beautiful. Fortunately my part didn't call for kissing any boys on stage. I couldn't waste any money so after the show I pulled the breads out of my blouse and ate them."
"The simplest way to describe Sukarno is to say that he is a great lover. He loves his country, he loves his people, he loves women, he loves art, and, best of all, he loves himself."
"Now, I must admit that in my youth I was so terribly handsome that I was almost girlish-looking. Because there were few female intellectuals in those days, there weren't many girl members and when Young Java put on a play I was always given the ingenue role. I actually put powder on my face and red on my lips. And I will tell you something, but I don't know what foreigners will think of a President who tells such things … Anyway, I will tell it. I bought two sweet breads. Round breads. Like rolls. And I stuffed them inside my blouse. With this addition to my shapely figure, everybody said I looked absolutely beautiful. Fortunately my part didn't call for kissing any boys on stage. I couldn't waste any money so after the show I pulled the breads out of my blouse and ate them."
Friday, September 16, 2005
Web prowl
The Cato Institute has released its Economic Freedom of the World report. Walden Bello and John Rees discuss America's vulnerabilities. The novelist Carlos Fuentes on Cervantes, Kafka, and the saving grace of literature.
Thursday, September 15, 2005
OJT at the ABS-CBN
ABS-CBN Publishing, Inc. is accepting OJTs with the following courses:
Communication Arts
Journalism
Business Management
Accountancy
Marketing/ Advertising
Psychology/ Behavioral Science
Industrial Engineering
These are for our Editorial, Circulation, Finance, Marketing, Ad Sales, Business Development and HR Departments.
Kindly ask your referrals to forward their resumes, certificates of good moral character and recommendation letters to the ABS-CBN Publishing, Inc. office, located at the 4th floor of the ELJ Bldg. Mother Ignacia, Quezon City
Bingle E. Villanueva
Human Resources, ABS-CBN Publishing Inc.
4152272 loc 4666
Communication Arts
Journalism
Business Management
Accountancy
Marketing/ Advertising
Psychology/ Behavioral Science
Industrial Engineering
These are for our Editorial, Circulation, Finance, Marketing, Ad Sales, Business Development and HR Departments.
Kindly ask your referrals to forward their resumes, certificates of good moral character and recommendation letters to the ABS-CBN Publishing, Inc. office, located at the 4th floor of the ELJ Bldg. Mother Ignacia, Quezon City
Bingle E. Villanueva
Human Resources, ABS-CBN Publishing Inc.
4152272 loc 4666
Monday, September 12, 2005
Malaysian politics for dummies
I'm presently reading Cities of the Hot Zone: A Southeast Asian Adventure by Greg Sheridan, who writes for The Australian, and here is his "all-time disco guide to Malaysian politics and sociology":
PAS [Islamic Party] members don't go to discos, ever. Keadilan [Justice Party of Anwar Ibrahim] goes but doesn't drink alcohol. The DAP [Democratic Action Party of the Chinese] works hard all day, goes to the disco at night and gets drunk. The MIC [Malaysian Indian Congress] works in the disco. The MCA [Malaysian Chinese Association] owns the disco. UMNO [United Malays National Organization] owns the building the disco is in.
PAS [Islamic Party] members don't go to discos, ever. Keadilan [Justice Party of Anwar Ibrahim] goes but doesn't drink alcohol. The DAP [Democratic Action Party of the Chinese] works hard all day, goes to the disco at night and gets drunk. The MIC [Malaysian Indian Congress] works in the disco. The MCA [Malaysian Chinese Association] owns the disco. UMNO [United Malays National Organization] owns the building the disco is in.
Thursday, September 08, 2005
Now that it's (all but) over
I know that not a few people are relieved that the impeachment complaint against the president has finally been junked, not because they harbor a special fondness for Mrs. Arroyo but simply because it has all gone, er, tiresome. Sadly, even the quest for justice is susceptible to ennui. Ask Don Quixote.
For the opposition and its many supporters, their defeat is almost inexplicable, like like death--natural, yes, but still incomprehensible. How did they lose when they had almost everything one can wish for in impeaching a president? The Garci tapes are like manna from heaven PR-wise; the only thing that could possibly have topped it was a VCD sex scandal with the president in bed with a man not Mike A. (to which effect some in the opposition tried to insinuate, describing in one scandal sheet the sexual adventures of the allegedly nymphomaniac GMA).
What is so goddamn hard about ousting GMA? The extreme left and the perfumed class combined couldn't budge her. The Cory magic disintegrated before her. Even our hyperventilating and incendiary national dailies failed where in Erap's time they were execeptionally successful. Why, not even a daily-updated PCIJ blog with links to all and sundry revelations against Mrs Arroyo achieved quite the same impact as the outfit's erstwhile revelation of Erap's mansions. Why? Why, Oh why is Mrs. Arroyo so seemingly impregnable, like an unmoveable little barnacle off the bank of the Pasig River?
Simply because it is hard to vilify her. And you need this to manufacture outrage that can propel a People Power revolution(which FVR understood only too well). If anyone will bother to look inside the capital's student campuses, the present Anti-Gloria movement has failed to deliver enough buzz. Not enough students are talking about it. And you need students for People Power because they swell the crowds at a cheap cost and they don't need to go to work.
By President Arroyo's seeming weakness, it is hard to recruit forces against her (I think there is a suitable passage from the Tao Te Ching about this, which I'm too lazy to look for at the moment). Outrage is reserved for powerful personages. If you're small, people only laugh at your foibles (or make your embarrassments ringtone for their cellphones).
Personally, I am resigned (okay, I'll admit it, even a little elated) that this episode is finally winding up or at least not proceeding with the same crescendo as before. Unlike the Anti-Erap movement where some of us ended up looking good with our idealism, the anti-GMA is only portraying all of us in a bad light. Rather than leaving our hearts with comforting assurance as to the innate goodness of men, the anti-GMA alliances are only leaving a especially disturbing bad taste in the mouth: Ping Lacson linking arms with priests, Satur Ocampo dissuading proletarian farmers of Hacienda Luisita from protesting against their landlord, various socialites pretending to be "civil society," Butz Aquino invoking the memory Ninoy while sharing spotlight with the latter's murderers.
What now for the opposition? If God is truly on their side, as they claim He is, surely one year would not be so hard to bear before filing another impeachment complaint. Or if they really find Mrs Arroyo insufferable, well, I guess, they can always try a more adventurous-- and final--solution to the nation's predicament.
For the opposition and its many supporters, their defeat is almost inexplicable, like like death--natural, yes, but still incomprehensible. How did they lose when they had almost everything one can wish for in impeaching a president? The Garci tapes are like manna from heaven PR-wise; the only thing that could possibly have topped it was a VCD sex scandal with the president in bed with a man not Mike A. (to which effect some in the opposition tried to insinuate, describing in one scandal sheet the sexual adventures of the allegedly nymphomaniac GMA).
What is so goddamn hard about ousting GMA? The extreme left and the perfumed class combined couldn't budge her. The Cory magic disintegrated before her. Even our hyperventilating and incendiary national dailies failed where in Erap's time they were execeptionally successful. Why, not even a daily-updated PCIJ blog with links to all and sundry revelations against Mrs Arroyo achieved quite the same impact as the outfit's erstwhile revelation of Erap's mansions. Why? Why, Oh why is Mrs. Arroyo so seemingly impregnable, like an unmoveable little barnacle off the bank of the Pasig River?
Simply because it is hard to vilify her. And you need this to manufacture outrage that can propel a People Power revolution(which FVR understood only too well). If anyone will bother to look inside the capital's student campuses, the present Anti-Gloria movement has failed to deliver enough buzz. Not enough students are talking about it. And you need students for People Power because they swell the crowds at a cheap cost and they don't need to go to work.
By President Arroyo's seeming weakness, it is hard to recruit forces against her (I think there is a suitable passage from the Tao Te Ching about this, which I'm too lazy to look for at the moment). Outrage is reserved for powerful personages. If you're small, people only laugh at your foibles (or make your embarrassments ringtone for their cellphones).
Personally, I am resigned (okay, I'll admit it, even a little elated) that this episode is finally winding up or at least not proceeding with the same crescendo as before. Unlike the Anti-Erap movement where some of us ended up looking good with our idealism, the anti-GMA is only portraying all of us in a bad light. Rather than leaving our hearts with comforting assurance as to the innate goodness of men, the anti-GMA alliances are only leaving a especially disturbing bad taste in the mouth: Ping Lacson linking arms with priests, Satur Ocampo dissuading proletarian farmers of Hacienda Luisita from protesting against their landlord, various socialites pretending to be "civil society," Butz Aquino invoking the memory Ninoy while sharing spotlight with the latter's murderers.
What now for the opposition? If God is truly on their side, as they claim He is, surely one year would not be so hard to bear before filing another impeachment complaint. Or if they really find Mrs Arroyo insufferable, well, I guess, they can always try a more adventurous-- and final--solution to the nation's predicament.
Tuesday, September 06, 2005
Jop opening
DLS-CSB is looking for design and arts professionals
As it prepares to expand its degree programs, the School of Design and Arts (SDA) of De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde is in search of professionals who enjoy interacting with creative young adults as mentors and as fellow designers and artists. The SDA needs men and women with competence in any design and arts field and preferably in the following areas:
• Graphic Design
• 2D and 3D Animation
• Web Design
• Interactive Authoring
• Photography
• Technical Theater
• Philosophy of Aesthetics
• Production Design
• Fashion Design
• History of Art and Design
• Professional Practice for Design and Arts
• Sound Design
Qualifications: A Bachelors Degree from a design and arts field, preferably with a Masters degree plus a minimum of three years professional experience. Contacted applicants should present a portfolio of works and be available for a teaching demonstration.
Please send an application letter, curriculum vitae, copy of transcript of records and 3 pcs. 2x2 photos to:
Tet Lamarca
School of Design and Arts
De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde
2544 Taft Avenue, Manila
Telefax: 526-7441 loc. 181 / 123
lamarcat@dls-csb.edu.ph
As it prepares to expand its degree programs, the School of Design and Arts (SDA) of De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde is in search of professionals who enjoy interacting with creative young adults as mentors and as fellow designers and artists. The SDA needs men and women with competence in any design and arts field and preferably in the following areas:
• Graphic Design
• 2D and 3D Animation
• Web Design
• Interactive Authoring
• Photography
• Technical Theater
• Philosophy of Aesthetics
• Production Design
• Fashion Design
• History of Art and Design
• Professional Practice for Design and Arts
• Sound Design
Qualifications: A Bachelors Degree from a design and arts field, preferably with a Masters degree plus a minimum of three years professional experience. Contacted applicants should present a portfolio of works and be available for a teaching demonstration.
Please send an application letter, curriculum vitae, copy of transcript of records and 3 pcs. 2x2 photos to:
Tet Lamarca
School of Design and Arts
De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde
2544 Taft Avenue, Manila
Telefax: 526-7441 loc. 181 / 123
lamarcat@dls-csb.edu.ph
Saturday, September 03, 2005
'Separate but equal' Mangyans of Mindoro
At the Oriental Mindoro Provincial Hospital, Mangyan patients are maintained in a separtate ward because other patients complain of their presence (and their allegedly foul smell).
Upon first hearing this, we, of course, thought this was an unforgivable instance of racial discrimination, reeking of American "separate but equal" maintainance of exclusive facilities for blacks. But the doctor assured us that this arrangement worked for the advantage of the Mangyans: They ended up getting better service. True enough, the Mangyan ward, which sits on top of a hill, is more airy, more spacious, and better maintained than the regular wards which are cramped, dank and altogether not that well-ventilated. The Mangyan ward even has its own kitchen!
I still don't know what to think of this arrangement. Is this patronizing for indigenous peoples? Or are we just over-politicizing an arrangement that people of Mindoro otherwise find natural? In any case, Mangyans in that hospital seem to be enjoying quite a preferential treatment that people of lighter color should probaly complain.
Upon first hearing this, we, of course, thought this was an unforgivable instance of racial discrimination, reeking of American "separate but equal" maintainance of exclusive facilities for blacks. But the doctor assured us that this arrangement worked for the advantage of the Mangyans: They ended up getting better service. True enough, the Mangyan ward, which sits on top of a hill, is more airy, more spacious, and better maintained than the regular wards which are cramped, dank and altogether not that well-ventilated. The Mangyan ward even has its own kitchen!
I still don't know what to think of this arrangement. Is this patronizing for indigenous peoples? Or are we just over-politicizing an arrangement that people of Mindoro otherwise find natural? In any case, Mangyans in that hospital seem to be enjoying quite a preferential treatment that people of lighter color should probaly complain.
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