PCIJ Writing Fellowships
The Center offers fellowships for investigative reportage to full-time reporters, freelance journalists and academics. Their reports are syndicated in major Philippine newspapers and magazines or aired in broadcast stations. Reports by fellows who are staff reporters are published or aired exclusively by the agencies they work for.
PCIJ stories make an impact. Well-researched and well-documented, these reports have contributed to a deeper understanding of raging issues, from politics to the environment, from health and business to women and the military. Some of these reports have prodded government action on issues like corruption, public accountability and environmental protection.
Applicants for investigative reporting fellowships are required to submit a written proposal on the project they wish to undertake. The proposal should contain the following information: the rationale for the project; the research methodology the proponent intends to use; an estimate of expenses, including out-of-town travel, that the writer will incur; and a timetable.
The Center's board of editors evaluates proposals based on their timeliness, impact and relevance. The proponent's competence and integrity as a journalist are also considered.
PCIJ shoulders travel and research expenses, and in some instances, also video or radio production costs. The Center also pays writer's and director's fees. It can extend funding of as much as P30,000 for each project proponent. In very exceptional circumstances, it can provide as much as P50,000, excluding production costs. Research and
editorial support, including editorial supervision, will be provided by the Center. Proponents are required to report regularly to PCIJ.
The Center accepts proposals for fellowships on the following areas of concern: democratization, economic reform, environment, local governance, women, poverty and development, government and leadership, politics and power, the administration of justice, agriculture and agrarian reform, human rights, the military, insurgency, mass media and education.
Friday, April 02, 2004
New Day Books for graduates
New Day Publishers, pioneer Filipiniana and religious publishing house, is treating the graduates of 2004 a wide array of titles at 40 to 70 percent discount on regular books and other titles recently published.
These include Francis Warren’s "Iranun and Balangingi," Azucena Uranza's "A Passing Season," Dery's "History of Inarticulate," and other award-winning books that will make graduates more knowledgeable of the country’s rich heritage
Also up for are inspirational reading materials, the Women Write Series penned by women authors, cook books, insightful anecdote books, literary fiction, as well as comic books by the country’s leading cartoonists namely Larry Alcala (Mang Ambo), Tonton Young (Pupung), Pol Medina (Pugad Baboy) and Edgar Dionela (Simo).
Promo runs until supply lasts. For inquiries please call New Day Publishers at 928-8046; 927-5982 or email at newdayorders@edsamail.com.ph
New Day Publishers, pioneer Filipiniana and religious publishing house, is treating the graduates of 2004 a wide array of titles at 40 to 70 percent discount on regular books and other titles recently published.
These include Francis Warren’s "Iranun and Balangingi," Azucena Uranza's "A Passing Season," Dery's "History of Inarticulate," and other award-winning books that will make graduates more knowledgeable of the country’s rich heritage
Also up for are inspirational reading materials, the Women Write Series penned by women authors, cook books, insightful anecdote books, literary fiction, as well as comic books by the country’s leading cartoonists namely Larry Alcala (Mang Ambo), Tonton Young (Pupung), Pol Medina (Pugad Baboy) and Edgar Dionela (Simo).
Promo runs until supply lasts. For inquiries please call New Day Publishers at 928-8046; 927-5982 or email at newdayorders@edsamail.com.ph
Thursday, April 01, 2004
Justice for Mark Welson Chua, Bayani
Buried beneath the more salacious stories in today's papers was the conviction of one of the four suspects in the brutal murder case of Mark Welson Chua. Chua was the UST ROTC cadet who was killed in 2001 right inside the UST Department of Military Science and Tactics after he and other cadets exposed the corruption and bribery in the ROTC on the university's campus paper.
Manila RTC Judge Romulo A. Lopez sentenced the suspect Cadet Lt. Col. Arnulfo B. Aparri, Jr. to die by lethal injection for his participation in the crime. The charges against the other accused -- cadet Lt. Cols. Michael Von Rainard Manangbao and Eduardo E. Tabrilla, and former cadet officer Paul Joseph Tan -- were archived because they are yet to be apprehended.
One will remember that it was the death of Chua which triggered the massive call for the abolition of the ROTC. Students now have an option whether to undergo military training or community service through the NSTP program.
Buried beneath the more salacious stories in today's papers was the conviction of one of the four suspects in the brutal murder case of Mark Welson Chua. Chua was the UST ROTC cadet who was killed in 2001 right inside the UST Department of Military Science and Tactics after he and other cadets exposed the corruption and bribery in the ROTC on the university's campus paper.
Manila RTC Judge Romulo A. Lopez sentenced the suspect Cadet Lt. Col. Arnulfo B. Aparri, Jr. to die by lethal injection for his participation in the crime. The charges against the other accused -- cadet Lt. Cols. Michael Von Rainard Manangbao and Eduardo E. Tabrilla, and former cadet officer Paul Joseph Tan -- were archived because they are yet to be apprehended.
One will remember that it was the death of Chua which triggered the massive call for the abolition of the ROTC. Students now have an option whether to undergo military training or community service through the NSTP program.
Wednesday, March 31, 2004
Waiting for the OFW vote
UAE's Khaleej Times has a short feature on the Philippine labor diaspora, and it reminds one of the gory details of our economy's masssive failure to generate jobs:
The Foreign Department reports that as of December 2003, there were 5,345,700 Filipinos documented as working abroad, with over half a million more working illegally.
The article points out that the OFWs are, in a way, fashioning the country's middle class, and a consolidation of their inchoate political power can reinvent--perhaps temper-- the country's elite dominance.
The OFWs indeed have the potential to reinvent the political terrain, but they didn't take to overseas voting that well. If I remember correctly, there were about only 300,000 Filipino OFWS who registered to vote abroad, a trickle by any standard, dismally insufficient to tilt the balance of power in a national election. We would have to wait for another election other than the coming one in May to see if there would emerge an OFW vote.
UAE's Khaleej Times has a short feature on the Philippine labor diaspora, and it reminds one of the gory details of our economy's masssive failure to generate jobs:
The Foreign Department reports that as of December 2003, there were 5,345,700 Filipinos documented as working abroad, with over half a million more working illegally.
The article points out that the OFWs are, in a way, fashioning the country's middle class, and a consolidation of their inchoate political power can reinvent--perhaps temper-- the country's elite dominance.
The OFWs indeed have the potential to reinvent the political terrain, but they didn't take to overseas voting that well. If I remember correctly, there were about only 300,000 Filipino OFWS who registered to vote abroad, a trickle by any standard, dismally insufficient to tilt the balance of power in a national election. We would have to wait for another election other than the coming one in May to see if there would emerge an OFW vote.
Monday, March 29, 2004
Web prowl
The Beijing Review reports on the burgeoning expat communities in China. For those who are philosophically inclined, papers from the recently concluded Columbia/NYU graduate Conference in Philosophy are now available online. Michael Dirda of the Washington Post has a short review essay of a biography of the pianist Glenn Gould, celestially famous for his Bach's Goldberg Variations.
The Beijing Review reports on the burgeoning expat communities in China. For those who are philosophically inclined, papers from the recently concluded Columbia/NYU graduate Conference in Philosophy are now available online. Michael Dirda of the Washington Post has a short review essay of a biography of the pianist Glenn Gould, celestially famous for his Bach's Goldberg Variations.
CALL FOR PAPERS FOR EDITED BOOK
THE CELL PHONE:
HISTORY, TECHNOLOGY, CULTURE
Edited by Anandam P. Kavoori and Noah Arceneaux
Dept of Telecommunications
Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication
The University of Georgia, Athens, Ga 30602
The Cell phone presents itself at the periphery of contemporary discourse about media and culture. TV cops use it as they rush to crime scenes, teenagers use it to connect with their peers, terrorists are traced through calls made on their cell phones, extra-marital affairs draw sustenance from them. Such images, however, do not do justice to the central role that cell phones have begun to play in contemporary society. Cell phones lack the hype of the Internet but are fast approaching the cultural impact of a mass medium. They have begun to shape how we communicate; their use has created new forms of media-centered relations; and in the marketplace they have begun to influence patterns of media ownership and acquisition. In the developing world the cell phone is often the first phone for the urban poor. In their intersection with other technologiestext messaging, the World Wide Web and digital photography/videoCell phones have changed how we look at an omnipresent cultural technologythe “telephonee.
This edited book seeks papers that examines three overarching issuesHistory, Technology and Culture-- as they relate to the Cell Phone. Papers from all theoretical (social scientific, cultural, critical, ethnographic, historical) perspectives are welcome. Of special interest are papers dealing with the impact of the Cell Phone in the developing
world and with issues of identity politicsrace, gender, ethnicity and sexuality.
Papers may address one or more of these questions. These are suggested research questions, not a complete template. You may wish to add to these.
History:
When did Cell Phones develop into a mass medium? What are the economic, political and institutional factors that have had a major impact on the Cell phone industry? What has been the relation between the history of the Internet and the Cell Phone? What is the future of the Cell Phone as compared to the history of other media technologies? What has been the trajectory of Cell Phone use in the developing world as compared to the West?
Technology:
What is the technology of the Cell Phone? How did it evolve and intersect with other media technologies (Internet, Phone, Web, Texting)? How have the design and architecture of Cell phones (size, texture, features, color) influenced their growth? What are the current technological limits and possibilities of the Cell Phone? How might Cell Phone technologies grow and change in the next decade? How has it impacted minority cultures and the developing world?
Culture:
What are the shifts in cultural sensibility that the Cell phone represents? What kinds of normative and interactive models for communication does the Cell phone represent? What forms of mass mediated relationships and Identity politics does the Cell Phone configure? How do the aesthetics of Cell phones impact behavior--especially youth and business culture? How have Cell phones changed the structuring of daily life? How do cell phones intersect with issues with issues of identity-politics, especially those of race, gender and sexuality. What future impact can the Cell phone have as it merges with web and other technologies? What is the impact of the cell phone in developing countries? With changing Geo- politics?
The deadline for paper abstracts is September 1, 2004.
Please send your queries via email to the corresponding editor, Noah Arceneaux at noahax@uga.edu or via mail to Dr. Anandam P. Kavoori, Associate Professor, Dept of
Telecommunications, Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602.
THE CELL PHONE:
HISTORY, TECHNOLOGY, CULTURE
Edited by Anandam P. Kavoori and Noah Arceneaux
Dept of Telecommunications
Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication
The University of Georgia, Athens, Ga 30602
The Cell phone presents itself at the periphery of contemporary discourse about media and culture. TV cops use it as they rush to crime scenes, teenagers use it to connect with their peers, terrorists are traced through calls made on their cell phones, extra-marital affairs draw sustenance from them. Such images, however, do not do justice to the central role that cell phones have begun to play in contemporary society. Cell phones lack the hype of the Internet but are fast approaching the cultural impact of a mass medium. They have begun to shape how we communicate; their use has created new forms of media-centered relations; and in the marketplace they have begun to influence patterns of media ownership and acquisition. In the developing world the cell phone is often the first phone for the urban poor. In their intersection with other technologiestext messaging, the World Wide Web and digital photography/videoCell phones have changed how we look at an omnipresent cultural technologythe “telephonee.
This edited book seeks papers that examines three overarching issuesHistory, Technology and Culture-- as they relate to the Cell Phone. Papers from all theoretical (social scientific, cultural, critical, ethnographic, historical) perspectives are welcome. Of special interest are papers dealing with the impact of the Cell Phone in the developing
world and with issues of identity politicsrace, gender, ethnicity and sexuality.
Papers may address one or more of these questions. These are suggested research questions, not a complete template. You may wish to add to these.
History:
When did Cell Phones develop into a mass medium? What are the economic, political and institutional factors that have had a major impact on the Cell phone industry? What has been the relation between the history of the Internet and the Cell Phone? What is the future of the Cell Phone as compared to the history of other media technologies? What has been the trajectory of Cell Phone use in the developing world as compared to the West?
Technology:
What is the technology of the Cell Phone? How did it evolve and intersect with other media technologies (Internet, Phone, Web, Texting)? How have the design and architecture of Cell phones (size, texture, features, color) influenced their growth? What are the current technological limits and possibilities of the Cell Phone? How might Cell Phone technologies grow and change in the next decade? How has it impacted minority cultures and the developing world?
Culture:
What are the shifts in cultural sensibility that the Cell phone represents? What kinds of normative and interactive models for communication does the Cell phone represent? What forms of mass mediated relationships and Identity politics does the Cell Phone configure? How do the aesthetics of Cell phones impact behavior--especially youth and business culture? How have Cell phones changed the structuring of daily life? How do cell phones intersect with issues with issues of identity-politics, especially those of race, gender and sexuality. What future impact can the Cell phone have as it merges with web and other technologies? What is the impact of the cell phone in developing countries? With changing Geo- politics?
The deadline for paper abstracts is September 1, 2004.
Please send your queries via email to the corresponding editor, Noah Arceneaux at noahax@uga.edu or via mail to Dr. Anandam P. Kavoori, Associate Professor, Dept of
Telecommunications, Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602.
Friday, March 26, 2004
Blogs
Noam Chomsky has started his own blog, while I wonder what happened to Bill Clinton's plan to put up his own last year. Perhaps he could not choose among the possible titles of the blog, some of those suggested were: Oral Issues, Where's Monica, The Meaning of Is, Wag the Blog, The View from Under the Desk.
Noam Chomsky has started his own blog, while I wonder what happened to Bill Clinton's plan to put up his own last year. Perhaps he could not choose among the possible titles of the blog, some of those suggested were: Oral Issues, Where's Monica, The Meaning of Is, Wag the Blog, The View from Under the Desk.
Thursday, March 25, 2004
Silent plague
While more and more young people are taking the habit of smoking, 75 tubercular Filipinos die everyday. Manila Times reports that the Philippines is the eight in the world with the most cases of tuberculosis.
I suspect the situation is even worse. Almost every month I buy a bottle of supplements ( to prolong my corporeal existence before I join the Dark Side), and almost each time I am at the drugstore there is someone beside me buying TB prescription: isoniazid, rifampicin, pyrazinamide, ethambutol etc. (I know I should not but I always cannot help looking over the shoulder of people buying prescription drugs; it's my vice.)
One friend who is a social worker in Tondo also told me that in their medical aid missions, a disproportionately large amount of cases involves TB. The tubercular people's medications in Tondo also have to be personally supervised that they take the proper dosage because, according to her, most people simply re-sell their drugs once the primary TB symptoms subside without completing the six-month complete medication.
One matrona lady at St Luke's was also threatening to sue her doctor for medical malpractice, alleging that the doctor gave her TB shots. The lady could not fathom, for the life of her, how she could have possibly gotten the disease, unless the allergy shots she received from her doctor carried the bacteria. After great investigation and medical soul-searching, it turned out that that patient's septuagenarian mother has TB. She therefore got it from her mother.
The above incident is disturbing because it means that in some households TB is already present but is unrecognized despite consulations with doctors.
How could the patients be so uninformed ? Because most doctors are so delicate that they seldom have the heart, especially with TB cases, to be matter-of-factly when dealing with clients. Doctors will show the X-ray and simply issue prescriptions, and that's all about it--sometimes not even an advice to cut down on smoking.
TB severely strains our labor force as TB is wont to attack people at their prime earning capacity (40-65). It also severely drains the income of many Filipino households.
TB is a plague, and we all wallow in ignorance about its perniciousness.
While more and more young people are taking the habit of smoking, 75 tubercular Filipinos die everyday. Manila Times reports that the Philippines is the eight in the world with the most cases of tuberculosis.
I suspect the situation is even worse. Almost every month I buy a bottle of supplements ( to prolong my corporeal existence before I join the Dark Side), and almost each time I am at the drugstore there is someone beside me buying TB prescription: isoniazid, rifampicin, pyrazinamide, ethambutol etc. (I know I should not but I always cannot help looking over the shoulder of people buying prescription drugs; it's my vice.)
One friend who is a social worker in Tondo also told me that in their medical aid missions, a disproportionately large amount of cases involves TB. The tubercular people's medications in Tondo also have to be personally supervised that they take the proper dosage because, according to her, most people simply re-sell their drugs once the primary TB symptoms subside without completing the six-month complete medication.
One matrona lady at St Luke's was also threatening to sue her doctor for medical malpractice, alleging that the doctor gave her TB shots. The lady could not fathom, for the life of her, how she could have possibly gotten the disease, unless the allergy shots she received from her doctor carried the bacteria. After great investigation and medical soul-searching, it turned out that that patient's septuagenarian mother has TB. She therefore got it from her mother.
The above incident is disturbing because it means that in some households TB is already present but is unrecognized despite consulations with doctors.
How could the patients be so uninformed ? Because most doctors are so delicate that they seldom have the heart, especially with TB cases, to be matter-of-factly when dealing with clients. Doctors will show the X-ray and simply issue prescriptions, and that's all about it--sometimes not even an advice to cut down on smoking.
TB severely strains our labor force as TB is wont to attack people at their prime earning capacity (40-65). It also severely drains the income of many Filipino households.
TB is a plague, and we all wallow in ignorance about its perniciousness.
Privatizing irresponsibility
The government and the Maynilad are denying it ardently with all the corporate poker face they can muster, but as this BusinessWorld story confirms, the long and short of the deal is that the Lopez group is ipso facto relieved of its debt burden:
In Amendment No. 2 to the concession agreement, a copy of which was obtained by BusinessWorld, the state-run Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) effectively released Benpres Holdings Corp. from its commitment to guarantee payment of at least $47 million in Maynilad debts in case of default.
Under the proposed bridge banks term sheet, or Annex F-1 of Amendment No. 2, the new Maynilad shareholders will pay $39 million of the $47 million in seven years at concessional rates of between 1% and 3% over prevailing interest rates. The $8 million will paid within a year at 1% over prevailing rates.
"If these terms are not acceptable to any or all of the bridge banks, then payments to non-accepting banks shall be held by Maynilad in trust for ... Benpres if any or all non-accepting bridge banks recover from Benpres pursuant to Benpres' guarantee," the proposed term sheet provides.
The deal is therefore a bailout in whatever Wittgenstein language game. The people must have water, especially during elections, and at the same time the Lopezes must not lose money. How to reconcile the two? Bill the republic.
The government cannot help but bail out this particular market failure courtesy of Kapamilya because 1) the Lopezes have a humungous clout and, more importantly 2) Maynilad's clients cannot biologically afford to live without water.
This controversy should force us to rethink the wisdom of privatizing utilities in the first place.
The expressed motive for privatization of the utilities--and privatization, in general-- is increased economic inefficiency, with the extension of private ownership and market relations seen as the means to achieve that end. And in most cases, the logic of privatization holds.
Private businessmen, goaded by their rational desire for profits, run businesses more smoothly, efficiently and effectively than government bureaucrats. And with businessmen competing with each other, the result, the logic of privatization holds, is lower rates for better sevices for the consumers. With privatization, Thomas Borcherding's "Bureacratic Rule of Two", "Removal of an activity from the private to the public sector wiil double its unit cost of production," is supposed to be reversed.
So what went wrong in this privatization of Maynilad?
The water distribution was privatized alright, but the government monopolist agency was simply replaced by another monopolist private agent in the private sector. The privatization in this case did not lead to efficiency. What in effect happened was a privatization of irresponsibility. The element of healthy business competition that directs Adam Smith's invisible hand, was not there.
Maynilad has no competitors in the area; there is no other competitor to deliver service if Maynilad were to self-destruct. Public interest therefore, especially in the summer time, cannot allow Maynilad to fail because otherwise the people would simply die of dehydration. Thus, we have the bailout.
There are two other disturbing things about the bailout:
1) Apparently even after the government bails out Maynilad, it would not acquire direct management of the corporation. Exactly who will control Maynilad after the bailout remains a secret.
2) The partner of Benpres, the French water management firm Ondeo Services, cannot help but cry foul because it has already honored some of its Maynilad guarantees. The bailout would free the Lopezes from obligations but, "under the compromise deal, Ondeo will still be required to honor its outstanding guarantees on Maynilad's debts. These obligations include an undertaking to pay the $50 million that MWSS will draw next month from the performance to partly answer for PhP8 billion in unpaid concession fees."
The bailout gives capitalism a bad rentseeking name in this country. Abroad, it gives us a repuation for being bad business partners.
The government and the Maynilad are denying it ardently with all the corporate poker face they can muster, but as this BusinessWorld story confirms, the long and short of the deal is that the Lopez group is ipso facto relieved of its debt burden:
In Amendment No. 2 to the concession agreement, a copy of which was obtained by BusinessWorld, the state-run Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) effectively released Benpres Holdings Corp. from its commitment to guarantee payment of at least $47 million in Maynilad debts in case of default.
Under the proposed bridge banks term sheet, or Annex F-1 of Amendment No. 2, the new Maynilad shareholders will pay $39 million of the $47 million in seven years at concessional rates of between 1% and 3% over prevailing interest rates. The $8 million will paid within a year at 1% over prevailing rates.
"If these terms are not acceptable to any or all of the bridge banks, then payments to non-accepting banks shall be held by Maynilad in trust for ... Benpres if any or all non-accepting bridge banks recover from Benpres pursuant to Benpres' guarantee," the proposed term sheet provides.
The deal is therefore a bailout in whatever Wittgenstein language game. The people must have water, especially during elections, and at the same time the Lopezes must not lose money. How to reconcile the two? Bill the republic.
The government cannot help but bail out this particular market failure courtesy of Kapamilya because 1) the Lopezes have a humungous clout and, more importantly 2) Maynilad's clients cannot biologically afford to live without water.
This controversy should force us to rethink the wisdom of privatizing utilities in the first place.
The expressed motive for privatization of the utilities--and privatization, in general-- is increased economic inefficiency, with the extension of private ownership and market relations seen as the means to achieve that end. And in most cases, the logic of privatization holds.
Private businessmen, goaded by their rational desire for profits, run businesses more smoothly, efficiently and effectively than government bureaucrats. And with businessmen competing with each other, the result, the logic of privatization holds, is lower rates for better sevices for the consumers. With privatization, Thomas Borcherding's "Bureacratic Rule of Two", "Removal of an activity from the private to the public sector wiil double its unit cost of production," is supposed to be reversed.
So what went wrong in this privatization of Maynilad?
The water distribution was privatized alright, but the government monopolist agency was simply replaced by another monopolist private agent in the private sector. The privatization in this case did not lead to efficiency. What in effect happened was a privatization of irresponsibility. The element of healthy business competition that directs Adam Smith's invisible hand, was not there.
Maynilad has no competitors in the area; there is no other competitor to deliver service if Maynilad were to self-destruct. Public interest therefore, especially in the summer time, cannot allow Maynilad to fail because otherwise the people would simply die of dehydration. Thus, we have the bailout.
There are two other disturbing things about the bailout:
1) Apparently even after the government bails out Maynilad, it would not acquire direct management of the corporation. Exactly who will control Maynilad after the bailout remains a secret.
2) The partner of Benpres, the French water management firm Ondeo Services, cannot help but cry foul because it has already honored some of its Maynilad guarantees. The bailout would free the Lopezes from obligations but, "under the compromise deal, Ondeo will still be required to honor its outstanding guarantees on Maynilad's debts. These obligations include an undertaking to pay the $50 million that MWSS will draw next month from the performance to partly answer for PhP8 billion in unpaid concession fees."
The bailout gives capitalism a bad rentseeking name in this country. Abroad, it gives us a repuation for being bad business partners.
Wednesday, March 24, 2004
Pramoedya Ananta Toer, No Night Market:
Then the Chinese said with his eyes fixed on a broken roof tile, "Why does anyone of us have to die alone? Be born alone? And live alone in a world full of people? And when we love someone and they love us--," he knelt and peered through the door to father's solitary body, "as our late friend did, for instance, why do we have to part with them in death? Alone. Alone. Alone. Born alone. One person. Then another. Why can't we be born together and die together? I wish the world was as warm, noisy and bright as the night market is."
Then the Chinese said with his eyes fixed on a broken roof tile, "Why does anyone of us have to die alone? Be born alone? And live alone in a world full of people? And when we love someone and they love us--," he knelt and peered through the door to father's solitary body, "as our late friend did, for instance, why do we have to part with them in death? Alone. Alone. Alone. Born alone. One person. Then another. Why can't we be born together and die together? I wish the world was as warm, noisy and bright as the night market is."
Tuesday, March 23, 2004
CSSP Campaign for Resources
The UP College of Social Sciences and Philosophy is having a fund drive for several projects it is undertaking. Rich and generous alumni are requested to contribute. Click here for the details on how to make a gift.
The UP College of Social Sciences and Philosophy is having a fund drive for several projects it is undertaking. Rich and generous alumni are requested to contribute. Click here for the details on how to make a gift.
Monday, March 22, 2004
Miriam strikes again
Miriam Defensor Santiago is blasting Boots Anson-Roa and Amina Rasul for filing a meritless petition to declare GMA as resigned before the Supreme Court. She said Rasul and Roa should be jailed instead so they could at least read more about the Penal Code.
There is simply no one to match Miriam's katarayan, not even GMA's. I remember when Miriam showed her legs on TV and said they were more shapely than a certain man's she was jousting then ( I cannnot remember the name of that official.)
I know not a few people look forward to seeing Pilar Pilapil in the Senate. Imagine how things would turn out if Pilar Pilapil were to be elected senator and engage her fellow Bisaya Miriam in a bout of invective hurling. Now that is what we would call first-class political entertainment.
Miriam Defensor Santiago is blasting Boots Anson-Roa and Amina Rasul for filing a meritless petition to declare GMA as resigned before the Supreme Court. She said Rasul and Roa should be jailed instead so they could at least read more about the Penal Code.
There is simply no one to match Miriam's katarayan, not even GMA's. I remember when Miriam showed her legs on TV and said they were more shapely than a certain man's she was jousting then ( I cannnot remember the name of that official.)
I know not a few people look forward to seeing Pilar Pilapil in the Senate. Imagine how things would turn out if Pilar Pilapil were to be elected senator and engage her fellow Bisaya Miriam in a bout of invective hurling. Now that is what we would call first-class political entertainment.
Sunday, March 21, 2004
The Philippine ruling class
The Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism invites you to the launching of
THE RULEMAKERS
How the Wealthy and Well-born Dominate Congress
and The Ties that Bind CD-ROM
24 March 2004, 5 p.m.
Balay Kalinaw, U.P. Diliman
Quezon City
---------------[ About the Book )------
The Rulemakers
How the Wealthy and Well-born Dominate Congress
by Sheila S. Coronel, Yvonne T. Chua, Luz Rimban, and Booma B. Cruz
THIS book tells the story of the Philippine legislature by examining the men and women who make up that body. It looks at their demographic characteristics (age, gender, education, profession), their assets and sources of wealth, and also their family lineage.
What we found was troubling, but hardly new: Philippine legislators constitute a select and exclusive segment of society. They are richer, older, better educated, and better connected than the rest of us. The great majority of them are also part of families whose members have been in public office for two or more generations.
This book also shows how lawmakers have employed their powers to further enrich themselves and entrench their families in power. The powers to make laws, to conduct legislative inquiries, to examine the national budget, and to vet presidential appointments have been used by legislators to get benefits for themselves, their allies, and their kin.
Book: P450
CD-ROM: P250
Book and CD-ROM package launching price: P540.00
The Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism invites you to the launching of
THE RULEMAKERS
How the Wealthy and Well-born Dominate Congress
and The Ties that Bind CD-ROM
24 March 2004, 5 p.m.
Balay Kalinaw, U.P. Diliman
Quezon City
---------------[ About the Book )------
The Rulemakers
How the Wealthy and Well-born Dominate Congress
by Sheila S. Coronel, Yvonne T. Chua, Luz Rimban, and Booma B. Cruz
THIS book tells the story of the Philippine legislature by examining the men and women who make up that body. It looks at their demographic characteristics (age, gender, education, profession), their assets and sources of wealth, and also their family lineage.
What we found was troubling, but hardly new: Philippine legislators constitute a select and exclusive segment of society. They are richer, older, better educated, and better connected than the rest of us. The great majority of them are also part of families whose members have been in public office for two or more generations.
This book also shows how lawmakers have employed their powers to further enrich themselves and entrench their families in power. The powers to make laws, to conduct legislative inquiries, to examine the national budget, and to vet presidential appointments have been used by legislators to get benefits for themselves, their allies, and their kin.
Book: P450
CD-ROM: P250
Book and CD-ROM package launching price: P540.00
Saturday, March 20, 2004
The mystery of the Easter Island
Speculators believe the giant statues were sculpted by aliens stranded on earth. Now my own curiosity can rest: Jared Diamond explains in a review essay for the New York Review of Books that the statues were actually made by real people paying homage to their chiefs. Diamond points out that Easter Island was once a rainforest, where the long ropes used to haul the statues came from.
The island suffered massive deforestation sometime in the sixteenth century as the different clans one-upped each other in building the more garish and bigger statues. Because of the deforestation and the concomitant decline in the animal species in the island, islanders practiced cannibalism for lack of food.
No tree remains on Easter Island today:
The overall picture for Easter is the most extreme example of forest destruction in the Pacific, and among the most extreme in the world: the whole forest gone, and all of its tree species extinct. Immediate consequences for the islanders were losses of raw materials, losses of wild-caught foods, and decreased crop yields.
Diamond also writes how the Easter Island crisis serves as a caveat for the rest of us of how a society can be torn apart by environmental degradation:
The Easter Islanders' isolation probably also explains why their collapse, more, perhaps, than the collapse of any other pre-industrial society, haunts readers and visitors today. The parallels between Easter Island and the modern world are chillingly obvious. Thanks to globalization, international trade, jet planes, and the Internet, all countries on Earth today share resources and affect each other, just as did Easter's eleven clans. Polynesian Easter Island was as isolated in the Pacific Ocean as the Earth is today in space. When the Easter Islanders got into difficulties, there was nowhere to which they could flee, or to which they could turn for help; nor shall we modern Earthlings have recourse elsewhere if our troubles increase. Those are the reasons why people see the collapse of Easter Island society as a metaphor, a worst-case scenario, for what may lie ahead of us in our own future.
Speculators believe the giant statues were sculpted by aliens stranded on earth. Now my own curiosity can rest: Jared Diamond explains in a review essay for the New York Review of Books that the statues were actually made by real people paying homage to their chiefs. Diamond points out that Easter Island was once a rainforest, where the long ropes used to haul the statues came from.
The island suffered massive deforestation sometime in the sixteenth century as the different clans one-upped each other in building the more garish and bigger statues. Because of the deforestation and the concomitant decline in the animal species in the island, islanders practiced cannibalism for lack of food.
No tree remains on Easter Island today:
The overall picture for Easter is the most extreme example of forest destruction in the Pacific, and among the most extreme in the world: the whole forest gone, and all of its tree species extinct. Immediate consequences for the islanders were losses of raw materials, losses of wild-caught foods, and decreased crop yields.
Diamond also writes how the Easter Island crisis serves as a caveat for the rest of us of how a society can be torn apart by environmental degradation:
The Easter Islanders' isolation probably also explains why their collapse, more, perhaps, than the collapse of any other pre-industrial society, haunts readers and visitors today. The parallels between Easter Island and the modern world are chillingly obvious. Thanks to globalization, international trade, jet planes, and the Internet, all countries on Earth today share resources and affect each other, just as did Easter's eleven clans. Polynesian Easter Island was as isolated in the Pacific Ocean as the Earth is today in space. When the Easter Islanders got into difficulties, there was nowhere to which they could flee, or to which they could turn for help; nor shall we modern Earthlings have recourse elsewhere if our troubles increase. Those are the reasons why people see the collapse of Easter Island society as a metaphor, a worst-case scenario, for what may lie ahead of us in our own future.
The return of the GI babies ?
UP Prof. Carolina Hernandez made some remarks yesterday about the need to have US bases again to bolster the nation's security, notwithstanding the rap that Spain got for its support for the US.
The reports by the Businessworld and the Manila Times yesterday were short and did not say whether the remarks were part of a formal talk or were merely offhand comments. Today though took Prof Hernandez to task and made a stinging shooting down of the idea.
Personally, I, too, don't see how the US bases could possibly help in countering terrorism. As Today pointed out, the US bases would only make us a hot spot, a la Spain, to be targeted and punished for our support in propping up the Great Satan.
Terrorist attacks are not deterred by great firepower. Otherwise nobody would have dared touch New York, bastion of the greatest military power known to mankind.
Terrorist attacks are characterized by stealth carried out by a handful of personnel. Cold War deterrence no longer works. What we need is a greater capability to do intelligence work--and in this aspect the Americans are pathetically ill-equipped and are in no position to lecture their Filipino counterparts.
What remains of our AFP admittedly needs reinforcement and training, but are not the Balikatan exercises enough for that ?
The bases that the US used before and left are yet to be cleaned up. Hundreds have gone sick; many have died of leukemia. The formers bases have put to risk the health security of not a few Filipinos. If it is security that the government and Prof Hernandez want, the more appropriate idea would be for pushing the Philippine government to sue at the International Court of Justice for the US to clean up the radioactive waste it left in its former bases.
THe US cleaned up its mess in Germany. Why not in the Philippines ?
We are too polite and unmercenenary in our dealings with the US; that is why we always get shortchanged. Western-trained mostly in US universities, our leaders are bad hagglers. Look at Turkey: they bled the Americans for every dollar, was initially rebuffed but was simply, the US later realized, too important to be left in the cold. We to, like Turkey, are simply too important the US cannot afford to ignore us. And besides if the US ignores us, we can always suck up to China. Let us see how the US State Department will deal with that.
The one thing nice about new US basing arrangements is that we would have more mestizas and mestizos to audition for Starstruck. The US bases, seen in this light, has more to do with psychic security than national security. On the other hand, do closer ties with China potentially mean more F4-like bands ? The Filipino people would be practically at the end of its wits were the debate on national secutiy ever to hit the mainstream.
UP Prof. Carolina Hernandez made some remarks yesterday about the need to have US bases again to bolster the nation's security, notwithstanding the rap that Spain got for its support for the US.
The reports by the Businessworld and the Manila Times yesterday were short and did not say whether the remarks were part of a formal talk or were merely offhand comments. Today though took Prof Hernandez to task and made a stinging shooting down of the idea.
Personally, I, too, don't see how the US bases could possibly help in countering terrorism. As Today pointed out, the US bases would only make us a hot spot, a la Spain, to be targeted and punished for our support in propping up the Great Satan.
Terrorist attacks are not deterred by great firepower. Otherwise nobody would have dared touch New York, bastion of the greatest military power known to mankind.
Terrorist attacks are characterized by stealth carried out by a handful of personnel. Cold War deterrence no longer works. What we need is a greater capability to do intelligence work--and in this aspect the Americans are pathetically ill-equipped and are in no position to lecture their Filipino counterparts.
What remains of our AFP admittedly needs reinforcement and training, but are not the Balikatan exercises enough for that ?
The bases that the US used before and left are yet to be cleaned up. Hundreds have gone sick; many have died of leukemia. The formers bases have put to risk the health security of not a few Filipinos. If it is security that the government and Prof Hernandez want, the more appropriate idea would be for pushing the Philippine government to sue at the International Court of Justice for the US to clean up the radioactive waste it left in its former bases.
THe US cleaned up its mess in Germany. Why not in the Philippines ?
We are too polite and unmercenenary in our dealings with the US; that is why we always get shortchanged. Western-trained mostly in US universities, our leaders are bad hagglers. Look at Turkey: they bled the Americans for every dollar, was initially rebuffed but was simply, the US later realized, too important to be left in the cold. We to, like Turkey, are simply too important the US cannot afford to ignore us. And besides if the US ignores us, we can always suck up to China. Let us see how the US State Department will deal with that.
The one thing nice about new US basing arrangements is that we would have more mestizas and mestizos to audition for Starstruck. The US bases, seen in this light, has more to do with psychic security than national security. On the other hand, do closer ties with China potentially mean more F4-like bands ? The Filipino people would be practically at the end of its wits were the debate on national secutiy ever to hit the mainstream.
Friday, March 19, 2004
On knowing when to quit and hit the road
Bill Moyers is quitting NOW after the US November elections. VP Guingona may be able to relate with Moyers's farewell open letter:
You don't want to quit altogether. You keep thinking of those lines from Tennyson's "Ulysses": How dull it is to pause, to make an end/ to rust unburnished, not to shine in use.
But slowing down is not quitting. And you also think about the legendary black pitcher Satchel Paige, who spent most of his career in what was then called the Negro Baseball League. By the time the racial barriers were relaxed, he was, as baseball measures the life span, an old man. That didn't stop him from doing the one thing he knew how to do well – he just kept on pitching, and pitching, and pitching.
When a reporter asked him, "How old are you?" He replied: "How old would you be if you didn't know how old you was?" One day, though, he found out, and even Satchel Paige handed the ball to a younger man and left the mound for good. Knowing when is the trick; timing is what counts.
Timing is what counts. Those who quit fast, died young are the people who loom large in the historical imagination: Jesus Christ, Alexander the Great, Evita Peron, Martin Luther King Jr, Cesare Borgia, Che Guevara. Emilio Aguinaldo arguably faded in Philippine history not so much because he betrayed Bonifacio but because he grew old and never died young, as all good historical figures should do. The astute Mahathir Mohamad understands this cardinal rule: if you want to secure a page in history better quit fast lest people get bored with you.
Bill Moyers is quitting NOW after the US November elections. VP Guingona may be able to relate with Moyers's farewell open letter:
You don't want to quit altogether. You keep thinking of those lines from Tennyson's "Ulysses": How dull it is to pause, to make an end/ to rust unburnished, not to shine in use.
But slowing down is not quitting. And you also think about the legendary black pitcher Satchel Paige, who spent most of his career in what was then called the Negro Baseball League. By the time the racial barriers were relaxed, he was, as baseball measures the life span, an old man. That didn't stop him from doing the one thing he knew how to do well – he just kept on pitching, and pitching, and pitching.
When a reporter asked him, "How old are you?" He replied: "How old would you be if you didn't know how old you was?" One day, though, he found out, and even Satchel Paige handed the ball to a younger man and left the mound for good. Knowing when is the trick; timing is what counts.
Timing is what counts. Those who quit fast, died young are the people who loom large in the historical imagination: Jesus Christ, Alexander the Great, Evita Peron, Martin Luther King Jr, Cesare Borgia, Che Guevara. Emilio Aguinaldo arguably faded in Philippine history not so much because he betrayed Bonifacio but because he grew old and never died young, as all good historical figures should do. The astute Mahathir Mohamad understands this cardinal rule: if you want to secure a page in history better quit fast lest people get bored with you.
Roco on family planning
I've seen Roco prevaricating and being evasive on the issue of family planning on Debate on Channel 7. ( Lacson, in contrast, is admirably straightforward in pushing for family planning using methods prohibited by the Catholic Church. )
I do not understand the need for Roco to be vague on this particular topic for fear of suffering a ballot backlash. Nobody--well, except perhaps the clergy and the Opus Dei--takes it against a presidential candidate tha fact that he supports artificial methods of curtailing the reproductive propensity of the populace. It is only among a few of our middle classes and the religious rich ( too minuscule a segment of our population to warrant attention) that being pro-life counts for something.
Let's face it: we are shy to directly tell it to our priests but, deep inside our sinful selves, we couldn't care less about the natural method. It is tedious and some people don't even have a pocket calendar.
The priests and the nuns are celibate. Just because they are non-reproductive doesn't mean we have to compensate for them. Roco should give a clear and determinate stand on the issue.
I've seen Roco prevaricating and being evasive on the issue of family planning on Debate on Channel 7. ( Lacson, in contrast, is admirably straightforward in pushing for family planning using methods prohibited by the Catholic Church. )
I do not understand the need for Roco to be vague on this particular topic for fear of suffering a ballot backlash. Nobody--well, except perhaps the clergy and the Opus Dei--takes it against a presidential candidate tha fact that he supports artificial methods of curtailing the reproductive propensity of the populace. It is only among a few of our middle classes and the religious rich ( too minuscule a segment of our population to warrant attention) that being pro-life counts for something.
Let's face it: we are shy to directly tell it to our priests but, deep inside our sinful selves, we couldn't care less about the natural method. It is tedious and some people don't even have a pocket calendar.
The priests and the nuns are celibate. Just because they are non-reproductive doesn't mean we have to compensate for them. Roco should give a clear and determinate stand on the issue.
Monday, March 15, 2004
Lord of the Rings
BBC reports that The Lord of the Rings is being turned into a West End musical. The net is buzzing with suggestions for possible songs to be included in the musical:
1) ‘I’m gonna wash that orc right out of my hair’ (Legolas)
2) ‘You’re the One Ring that I want’ (Sauron in Act I, then Gollum in Act II, and Frodo, Gollum and Sauron in Act III)
3) ‘People will say we’re in love’ (Frodo/Sam duet, Act II, theme echoed by Gimli and Legolas during Battle of Pelennor Fields)
4) ‘City with the Tree on Top’ (Gandalf’s arrival at Minas Tirith)
5) ‘How do I solve this problem, my dear Grima?’ (Theoden introduction)
6) Gollum’s Act III showstopper, ‘Memorieses’.
7) Frodo to Gollum: 'I don't know how to club him.'
8) Where do we go from here? ( The final parting of the fellowship at the Grey Havens).
BBC reports that The Lord of the Rings is being turned into a West End musical. The net is buzzing with suggestions for possible songs to be included in the musical:
1) ‘I’m gonna wash that orc right out of my hair’ (Legolas)
2) ‘You’re the One Ring that I want’ (Sauron in Act I, then Gollum in Act II, and Frodo, Gollum and Sauron in Act III)
3) ‘People will say we’re in love’ (Frodo/Sam duet, Act II, theme echoed by Gimli and Legolas during Battle of Pelennor Fields)
4) ‘City with the Tree on Top’ (Gandalf’s arrival at Minas Tirith)
5) ‘How do I solve this problem, my dear Grima?’ (Theoden introduction)
6) Gollum’s Act III showstopper, ‘Memorieses’.
7) Frodo to Gollum: 'I don't know how to club him.'
8) Where do we go from here? ( The final parting of the fellowship at the Grey Havens).
Sunday, March 14, 2004
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