The Actual Birth Place of Jesus Christ

This is the most holy place in Bethlehem, the crypt in the Church of the Nativity, believed to be the actual birthplace of the Lord Jesus Christ.

In Celebrating Christmas
Let Us Call to Mind 
The Birth of Jesus

This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. Because Joseph her husband was a righteous man and did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.

But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”

All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet (Matthew 1:18-22): Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel (Isaiah 7:14).

Happy Greetings for a Blessed Christmas!

POSTSCRIPT TO A PACQUIAO FIGHT

Manny Pacquiao’s win against Antonio Margarito once more invites world attention to a Filipino in particular and the Philippines as his country of origin. While most Filipinos are still relishing Pacman’s recent victory, foreigners whose attention is advertently invited into the Philippine situation will find out that there are a string of high profile cases that are yet to be resolved.

Foremost of these cases are the Maguindanao Massacre, the Supreme Court being besieged of attacks relative to the Del Castillo plagiarism affair, the unresolved NBN-ZTE deal, the Jocjoc Bolante fertilizer fund scam, the case of Senator Panfilo Lacson who absconded in order to evade eventual arrest to answer for murder charges, the recent incident resulting to the death of taxonomist-scientist Leonardo Co who was allegedly caught in the crossfire between government forces and the New People’s Army while doing scientific research in the mountains of Kananga, Leyte, the pending case of impeachment against Ombudsman Merceditas Guittierez, graft charges against former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, and on top of these, cases of victims of disappearances, and a litany of other pending cases and debacles that could not be contained in this piece.

What the Filipinos, in general, and the Philippine Congress, in particular, failed to see is Manny Pacquiao’s dereliction of duty to attend to regular sessions and official functions as congressional representative from Sarangani Province. He had been absent from those sessions from the time he went into full preparation for his fight with Margarito until after he won that fight. Moonlighting or pursuing a private profession while in government service and using official time and resources for one’s personal gain is definitely unethical if not against the Code of Conduct of government officials. In Manny Pacquiao we have a model where a Congressional Representative of the Philippines is seen by the world fighting in a professional match while being away officially from the legislature.

The mediocrity of the rest of the legislative members, as well as that of the Chief Executive, to take action on the blatant absenteeism is a tacit admission of the flawed presumption that Congressmen are exempted from the rules of attendance to work, or that boxing has a much higher level of priority compared to concerns for enacting laws and legislative inquiries--- or that other personal alibi could be a viable reason to be absent from the hallowed halls of Congress, or that no agency or authority has the prerogative to censure the likes of Pacquiao, even if he does another boxing match in the near future.

The public in general has been led to believe that things are going regularly. It is, for instance, not extraordinary to have a boxer as a Congressman, to have a movie actor as a legislator, to have a congressional representative as anchorman in a primetime television show, or a Senator or Governor endorsing a commercial product, or to see the likes of Senator Bong Revilla running a television program. All of these, taken together, lend further credence to impressions in the public mind that the legislative work is easy, that sometimes it could even be unnecessary, and, yet, really, very rewarding. These are the subtle impressions that get embedded in the Filipino psyche and culture which are sooner or later manifested in the way government is run in the Philippines.

It's Time We Own the Earth

Wind, solar and other renewable-energy technologies that were once considered more appropriate for single homes or small communities are reaching levels of scale and centralizing that were formerly the province of coal- and gas-fired plants and nuclear reactors. In other words, green is going giant. In the Philippines, where land area and living space are fast becoming constricted, limitations relative to areas necessary for installing solar panels, wind turbines and infrastructure for renewable energy technology are a hindrance to making policy decisions intended to cope with thrusts towards clean air and sustainable environment. 

The Philippine National Building Code will have to be revised to keep it attune to the turbulence of technology and technical change. Sooner or later there will be a need to require homes, condominiums and shelters to have solar panels as roofing materials to do away with fossil fuel permanently. One drag about this idea is the reluctance of oil producers and oil marketers to relinquish business and take on the challenge of a new frontier where they will be groping for clout in a path less traveled. 

Arizona Public Service, an electric utility based in Tucson, is already harnessing natural energy by using an array of mirrors to concentrate sunlight in order to heat mineral oil up to 550 degrees; the heat vaporizes a liquid hydrocarbon, which runs a generator to make electricity. In other places, windmills and turbines are employed to generate and store electricity to run factories and light homes.

Government should encourage business to thrive in these areas. But more often than not, engineers and technicians employed therein become trapped in a system where everything becomes trade secret thereby killing the industry that was primarily intended for public purpose. The real change should come not in newer technologies, but rather on the willingness and political will of government policy makers to adopt these technologies for the advancement of humanity and the preservation and renewal of global environment.

In the G20 Summit which started last Thursday night in Seoul, no agenda has been included pertaining to environmental protection, much less global warming and climate change. World leaders were all concerned about currency war, the ailing US economy and the uncertainty of the Euro. For all we know, issues and anxieties about environmental destruction in Africa and the Middle East and territorial marine disputes could be the underpinnings of terrorism, global unrest and the crashing world economy. In short, the real issue should be about the rising temperature of planet Earth and the man-made factors that contribute to the foreseen impending global catastrophe.

It is not amazing that impetus for global climate protectionism is usually hatched in smaller non-distinct countries where the effects of imbalances in nature and climate are heavily felt. Typhoons and other natural calamities are fast becoming a regular phenomenon if not a scourge. Billions of dollars are annually sucked in the drain by harsh force of nature of which man has no control except the willingness and resolve to mitigate it. Where IMF-WB loan funds seem limitless and unending, we still have to see an orchestrated effort from among the leaders of the world to pool those fund resources and equitably shared among qualified countries for the purpose of  investments on programs to protect and preserve planet Earth--- with strict sanctions against heads of state in case of misappropriations. It can be done if we begin to think that we are all co-owners of this planet!

Notes on Leonardo Co's Murder

This murder is a useless waste, and another one for the books, too. With all due respect to researchers and scientists doing field work, they should involve local government units in their endeavors, first by seeking permission from LGUs to do research in their jurisdictions, and second, by asking assistance from local government agencies to provide security. At the stage of inception of any research work, the LGU concerned should already prohibit field research if the area concerned is infested by rebels or if it is a warfront between armed protagonists.

At this juncture, misgivings about the Agham research group could be commonplace as it is imbued with some political color, taking into consideration the fact that Agham is a party-list political aggrupation. On the one hand, if the Agham group is doing research for Energy Development Corporation, what has it to do with research on taxonomy in Kananga, a research which was what the late Leonard Co and company were allegedly conducting when they were killed in the alleged crossfire between government forces and the New People’s Army?  Taxonomy is the science that deals with description, identification, naming and classifying of organisms.

On the other hand, it is unfair to surmise that Agham and taxonomist Co are somehow having illicit connections with the NPA or that they could be working clandestine on the side of the government forces, all under the veil of scientific research work. These presumptions could have been eliminated at the first instance when Agham researchers and scientists properly secured permission from the local government of Kananga, Leyte.

Now, Anakpawis party-list Representative Rafael Mariano has filed House Resolution 653 for a probe into Co’s death, contrary to a neutral civilian investigation that Agham is asking for.  As usual, cases such as these are gifts to Representatives who are very eager to embark on new causes of action in Congress for their own personal grandstanding. Suddenly a simple case of police matter becomes high profile, giving us the impression that Congress has judicial powers to resolve criminal cases and further deepening innuendos that ordinary courts have lost their judicial ascendancy and functions to decide on legal matters.  At the least, Filipino taxpayers are again at the losing end in terms of time and effort being expended by legislators to inquire into criminal events which are not the primordial concerns of Congress.  This is just another case that is being added to the already piling legislative inquiries that have no clear end in sight. 

Merry Christmas

The Christmas season begins on the day of Advent (December 8), which is also the feast day of the Immaculate Conception, which is also the feast day of St. Nicholas, who, the Roman Catholics believe, is the real Santa Claus. In other words, it is roughly two weeks from now that the Yuletide season begins. News today, however, report business firms already wary about the expected slow-down of business activity after the year ends. This looming post-holiday blues sees the latest confidence index (CI) falling to 51.0 percent for the first quarter of 2011, from the previous 59.2 percent of first quarter of 2010.

Latest survey of the Bangko Sentral nga Pilipinas shows that business expectations of majority of 1,624 respondent business firms were less optimistic for the coming first quarter. The CI is the difference between the percentage of firms that answered in affirmative and the percentage of firms that answered in the negative. The 51.0 percent CI should not dampen the rest of the population who would like to feel the joys and blessings of Christmas this season, and the CI should not set the tone of the upcoming holidays. 

What then ushers in the spirit of Christmas, or more particularly, who should usher in the spirit of holidays? Definitely not the government, even if it allows extra bonuses to government workers, even if it declares holidays on some certain dates; not business firms, not agencies, and not even news that foretell gloom after the Christmas season two weeks before it could even begin. It is the happy people who enliven the season, the people who are eager to share that spirit of giving, who would like to go out and meet friends on a get-together or on a holiday, people who light up Christmas trees this early to herald the coming of the Advent season, people who rejoice at the thought of commemorating the birth of the Savior of the World.

The spirit of optimism is the expression of hope. In the spirit of Christmas we celebrate that hope by setting and lighting up Christmas trees, by sending Christmas cards, by putting up decorations that not only add color to what could be a dull and dim ordinary world, by sharing passages from the Bible that recall the blessed nativity, by singing carols or playing that favorite Christmas tune that has been playing inside our heads, by meeting new friends and posting happy greetings in Facebook, or by simply thinking that the season of giving is a good reason to be happy. 

Merry Christmas!

WANTED CHILDREN ARE BLESSINGS

Population reduction as an objective of the Reproductive Health Bill I could be elusive. While dependency burdens in low income areas could influence the composition of capital, impede its growth and, thus, influence the rate of economic development. It should however be emphasized that over-population and dependency burden, taken together as a factor, are not the primary reasons for underdevelopment in Third World countries. The real problem about population in the Philippines, for instance, is how the government should be able to harness the Philippine labor sector, or that big portion of population belonging to age group between 15 and 65 who can be employed and are willing to work. This age group of population is the Philippine labor force which should be harnessed and put into use to be more productive and contributive to national economic development. A bigger labor force implies a higher per capita income. In countries with large labor force it is an economic advantage. China has the biggest population in the world, and yet it is now the second biggest economy in the planet.

The conclusion, however, that the Philippines should be a communist government  just to be able to be like a country as progressive as China, does not follow. The key to the answers on questions about population reduction is individual discipline on human procreation. This implies a requirement of a higher level of maturity that often comes after responsibility. A slower pace of population could be only a simple consequence of a fast-paced lifestyle that is similar to lifestyles of Westerners and Europeans. The Philippines have not come to that level primarily because government priorities are not focused on the human development aspect of its citizens. For instance, how could people from the low income class be more responsible when they are unemployed; how could they be employed when they are not properly educated; how could they be properly educated when they have low levels of income and/or in poor health; how could they share in the equal distribution of wealth when they are not employed? These are questions that are actually economic characteristics of underdeveloped countries. Gunnar Myrdal (Asian Drama) sees these factors as moving in a vicious circular cumulative causation, in a continuous link, the breakup of one factor does not destroy the cycle.  These questions require a multi-pronged solution that squarely answers each and every factor all at the same time. Can our government provide the necessary answers? If it can do that, there will be no need for Reproductive Health bills such as the one that is now under attack from the Church and some sectors of society.

Proponents of the Reproductive Health Bill should not be threatened by Bill Clinton’s statement that babies are a boon to the Philippines. As Edcel Lagman says, Bill may have uttered that statement thoughtlessly and in passing. The fact is, that statement of Bill’s is the truth, and Lagman may not just be aware of it. However, just like any other general statement, that also accepts of some exceptions. We refer to babies that are wanted babies as differentiated from those that are unwanted. In the latter case, the issues turn ethical and moral, which the Roman Catholic Church in the Philippines should be primarily concerned about. The Church can take these issues in particular on the pulpit instead of attacking the RH Bill in any forum in general. 

SUN TZU'S ART OF PERSUASION VERSUS QE2

Just lately I have discovered that I have been posting comments on Facebook based on my readings of newspapers on the economy and economies of the world. I make these posts thinking that people concerned in the news including people like me who make comments might be able to better the situation by considering the adaption of some of my suggested alternatives. I find offering alternatives as part and parcel of my comments on problem situations. 

Of course, more often than expected, my feedbacks fall on deaf ears, giving me a feeling that this preoccupation of mine is a total waste of time, money and effort, and that there could be other better things to do, that this sense of grandiosity is egotism if not plain barbaric expressions of my suppressed libido, or just a psychological need for a long-denied recognition, the need for psychological acceptance, to be lauded by friends, peer and kin. Mentoring in the classroom was once my sideline and now it gives me unresolved idea that may be I could once again be just another docile pupil learning new lessons and better tricks to be able to hold a captive audience like that in the academe.

Which is not the case in Facebook or in any fan page in the internet. The whole world watches although it may not be listening, or it could be reading but not discerning. In whatever circumstances the world is, bloggers like me should write and express opinions that should be informative, truthful, meaningful, relevant and could serve as rallying point to inspire readers towards taking concrete action or to persuade them to share the same opinion and disseminate the same for the benefit of everyone who are or who will be placed in similar situations. In short, it must also be proactive.

As a blogger, it is my categorical imperative to craft opinions that come soothing to the senses of my recipients. These opinions may sometimes be amusing, or they could be contemptible, purposively, to further arouse interest, such as giving and outlining the finer details of how a heinous crime was carried out, or how genius was a perfidy committed. They could be soul-refreshing as when one writes a critique on the aesthetic value of an impassioned poetry, or heart-rending and life-threatening as my comments could be on The Second Quantitative Easing and its foreseen international currency war or its global economic holocaust, or as persuasive as when I suggest that the outcomes of the Group of 20 meetings in South Korea during the week should hinge on humanitarian considerations in favor of underdeveloped countries of the Third World, and not solely for the preservation of the elitist life and lifestyle of American conglomerates and their intermediaries. 

The US Federal Reserve should reel in the Second Quantitative Easing (QE2) before it should even cast it out. A currency war is in the offing and as Sun Tzu would have it for all wars, persuasion is the primordial step to undertake. Sun Tzu's proposal is of course based on the assumption that there are only two protagonists, which is not really the case in the present tussle--- the interests of the whole world are at stake. All over the planet, countries involved in international trade will be affected. The QE2 involves printing new money worth 600 billion dollars, spontaneously creating paper mills for money bills that are supposed to be legal tender but are in fact worthless pieces of paper if not ludicrous print-outs of Dead Presidents like Monopoly play money bills when the indoor game has totally become outmoded. 


If the US thinks it can spread its dollar wide and thin, China could also do the same or perhaps even better, and so can Japan, India, Thailand  and the rest of the countries of the emerging markets. Instead of printing more money, all peoples of the world should be planting more trees and preempt disaster and man-made catastrophes that could be brought about by global warming and climate change, and the people of America should stretch some more muscles like when obese, flatulent or figure-conscious enthusiasts do their daily jog, or could use some manual and menial labor just like the rest of the demure or brawny Asians do. Unless it gallivants to be silly, the US has no viable reason to raise or foment another world war. 

ON WHO THE BUDGETS TOLL

The Philippine national budget for the year 2011 is the most articulate instrument of the Aquino administration relative to its plans in the next coming years. The budget document that hopes to be approved before the year ends, further states the continuing trend of government spending, this time in the tune of P1.62 trillion. The greater bulk of this amount, or 78%, is earmarked for foreign and domestic debt interest payments. As in the past, debt servicing has become the primary reason for the enactment of the national budget.

The proposed-to-be-approved 2011 Philippine National Budget is only a virtual reality. Budget estimates are things and imaginings that Congress hopes to see in the nitty-gritty reality. Where will the real money come from? The total amount that must be amassed for actual happy expenditure is only on paper and does not have the color of money, and even so depends so much on the capability of the hallowed Bureaus (Bureau of Internal Revenue, Bureau of Customs, the Bureau of the Treasury, the Bureau of Local Government Finance, and the revenue-raising government agencies) to collect what is expected of them from all taxpayers and other revenue sources.

Aside from being arithmetically systematized, the national budget is also geometric in growth. So much of the budgetary estimates are based on percentage increases on previous years’ actual tax collection and revenue collections vis-à-vis allowances for service and commodity price increases, plus allowances for overhead expenses, plus allowances for bad-debts, plus allowances for natural calamities, plus allowances for over-spending-- a nicer term for graft and corruption in government, plus others.

The realization of the national budget depends largely on the capability of the Chief Executive for look around for funds in the form of aids, grants, financial assistance and dole outs from the IMF-WB, from the US of A, from Asian neighbors, from interested investors, and from all other benevolent financiers.  It is an executive prerogative laden with pitfalls and lures that could make or unmake a President as a true leader, as what happened to ex-President Arroyo and the allegedly anomalous NBN-ZTE deal. Aids, grants, and financial assistance, for one, are misnomers—they are the cosmeticized carrot-and-stick of the national economy, with very tough strings tied behind. These are actually loans and loan advances that come in batches with very stringent terms and conditions sine qua non that often serve as built-in compounders, and pro forma conditionalities. Getting into the availability of these loans is the easiest part, while coming out of them is almost next to impossible.

Just as we read this piece, the World Bank has extended a $300,000 grant to the Philippines to be used purposively for assessment of the country’s national roads. Well, sometimes, the President doesn’t really have to go around looking for those funds, they just fall when they are least expected. Aside from the aforementioned assistance, Mr. Aquino was also able to corner a considerable amount from Vietnam during his state visit there. Earlier than that, the Millinneum Challenge Corporation headed by the no less than the US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, also granted the Aquino government $434 million purposively for BIR streamlining and Samar Road construction projects. It should be noted that the MCC grant is ‘gratis et amore’ which needs no pay-back. A closer scrutiny of the grant, however, would reveal that it is part of the US counter-insurgency program in the Philippines, a form of aggression and intervention in Philippine domestic affairs. In short, MCC grant is actually an advance payment for any US bungle that may probably ensue.

Normally, as in the past, the estimated budgetary expenditure is never realized, at most it only served as benchmarks for a blue print of a program of government—a program that should not be implied, rather than that, it must be charted in black and white. Fiscal administration in the Philippine setting serves only as a fund raising program in support of the realization of the proposed national budget, reason enough why calendar years are called fiscal years—an unending process of searching for that elusive pot of gold.

But the buck should have stopped dead right here, when we began to realize that we have already lost our capacity to pay those totality of debts that have ballooned and still continues to grow  because of foreign and domestic debt interest payments. The national budget has become a scapegoat of fiscal and budget policy makers in favor only of incumbent political leaders. The republican government of the Filipino people through their chosen representatives could not scissor-cut a collect-and-spend plan that is at least realistic, at most we have been spending money before we can even collect them. How? We borrow and take out loans from all sources for the purpose of paying those ever-compounding interests on capital loans. Meanwhile, our OFWs are sweating it out there just to keep the capital inflows coming.

On who budgets toll? They toll on thee.

The Information Age

        Also known as the Computer Age, or Computer Era, the Information Age is the present stage of the different eras of world history and human development that began with the Ice Age. The present era is an outflow of the contemporary Space Age that was preceded by the Jet Age, the historical period starting in the middle 70s when turbo-jet planes were introduced to mankind by way of the Super-Sonic Transport (SST).

In the present state, cybernetics and the internet have made information available anywhere from the four corners of the globe. As this essay is written, information and data continue pouring in millions by a minute. Decisions of world leaders and policy makers contribute to the bulk of knowledge shared in the web. Statistics from the stock market and foreign exchange could prove an unending challenge to businessmen and global investors. News comes from all over the world—floods in Thailand, a potentially explosive device found in England, a new song from Lady Gaga, Clint Eastwood’s last movie, a new Chanel show, the latest top-selling local liquor, a new friend in Facebook, plastic-eating bacteria off the coast off Mogadishu, a destructive virus in the internet, etc.

Information grows in every aspect of the arts and sciences. The reading ability of man and his capacity to take in information and his capability with which he can handle all the information have become a daunting challenge of “catch-me-if-you-can.” We elude this discomfort by reading only those data and information that we think we need, mostly those that are in the news, lest we be spending the rest of our lives reading everything that there is to read.

        Photos and pictures, movies and trailers also add to the information overload. Accessing your Google account is not an easy as it may seem. Often we are lost in the morass of notifications, advertisements and sexy lingerie before we can begin to do what we primarily intended to be doing in the computer. Then there are pop-ups, like when your Messenger tells you your brother or kin or friend is on the line. Be discreet with “How are you?” It could mean forever.

Scientific and practical research is a continuing process in the internet. Often we have to fill out lengthy questionnaires out of humanitarian considerations and personal belief that we could be of help in the continuing development of some products and or services in the world market. We may not notice it, but news of successful laboratory experiments come exploding in the web like a bang of the atom collider. The failed ones of course end up in a hushed whimper.

The world knows when its leaders are leading its populations astray, and despite the information that we could scoop free from the internet.com, common sense in making humanitarian decisions remain a big challenge. Countries like China, for instance, do not want to open a wider gate for competition in the world market. Fomenting wars remains to be the pastime of Pentagon. While fashion trends keep on going and coming back better, as history really repeats itself, the Ecstasy, cocaine and marijuana remain to be the bugging problems of sane societies of the world. Hijacking and kidnapping are some of the easiest avenues towards gold and riches. Out of this information maze we often realize that it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of the needle than for a blog to be read, unless, perhaps, if you pass it around with flowers.

Winged Beauty

      Has anybody seen anything like this? Please try to help me. I haven't identified this animal which I think is a moth if not a butterfly-- a regular nocturnal visitor of forget-me-not flowers in our garden. That has been so until tonight, when one of our cats, Goldie, caught the buzzer and held it in its mouth and played with it for quite a time until it got tired with the insect. Luckily, Goldie released it but was guarding it, waiting for the winged beauty to take flight and catch it again. I took the rare opportunity and picked the poor thing up from the well-lighted doorway. It was still alive but was barely surviving. It sustained a torn left wing, but excepting that it was almost intact. Before I released it back to the wild, I held it to my mobile phone camera and took these shots, and there I have it forever. 

      I have been trying, surfing the web and hoping to find a similar-looking photo of it for its common and scientific names, but I just couldn't identify the  creature that has proboscis-like tongue about three to four inches long, perhaps it hasn't been cataloged  yet in the list of members of Zoology. I hope somebody could help me.

MY TWO LONG-TAILED NINJAS

       These are two of my three cats. They are at their best when you least expect them. As you may see, they are up there in the narra tree that I have potted for bonsai purposes but which has outgrown its pot and now serves as the hanging playground of these two long-tailed Ninjas. I was just sitting there, under that tree, when out of the blue these playful "toys" just raced up trying to dislodge each other for a better perspective of what they might hope to see around. But I saw the better of them and took a shot out of my mobile phone camera-- a 2.0-megapixel Nokia 5130 that I have with me all the time just in case something like this happens--- which provides for my instant access to the picturesque world that often passes ephemerally. Now I have captured my loved companions at home and they will be with me forever.

PHILIPPINE URBANIZATION

         Let me begin with a definition. Urbanization is the migration or natural influx of a segment of population from rural areas to urban centers. Simply put, urbanization is urban migration. In the wake of this migration is the vast area of arable lands in the countryside that remain idle and uncultivated, such as the one that we have in our picture. 

       In the Philippines, this migration pattern has been going on for the past four centuries. Rural populations migrate to urban areas primarily in search of better economic opportunities. In this sense that migration is seen as an endowed human and natural tendency.

     In the year 2010, more than 60 percent of the total population live in urban centers around the country-- a burgeoning population that is constantly growing with urbanization, increasing urban poverty, burdening problems along urban health and sanitation, and, on top of these, worsening economic inequity. Urban management and ecological systems as well the institutions that are primarily responsible are almost incapable to answer for the unabated growth in urban population that has already exerted environmental, economic and political pressure on governance. Present concerns related to urbanization include but are not limited to the following: better education, improved health and sanitation, higher income levels, housing and transportation, environmental pollution, and social and economic infrastructure requirements.

      The Philippines has more than 1,608 towns and cities with a significant number of conversion of municipalities into cities. In the year 2000, 16 new cities were created and 15 more were converted in the first half of 2001, bringing the total number of cities to 115. Just this year, more cities were proposed to be created. By the year 2020, it is estimated that the country will have more or less 600 cities and urban centers. This natural tendency is best illustrated in the virtual farms of Farmville, just in case you have the opportunity to visit.

 Urbanization of rural and agrarian sectors entail a lot of issues to be resolved, topmost of which is mitigating the costs of urbanization via good urban governance. In the light of urban trend and projections, the following current issues have become very important: poverty reduction, a wider people participation in urban governance, a more rigid line-item budget for development projects (no Congressional lump sums in the form of Priority Development Assistance Funds or "pork barrels"), stronger relationships between public-private sector partnerships, economic development-centered legislation, and an ethics-based judicial system.

One issue that we often sidestep is the intensity of rural-urban relations. For instance, the conversion of agricultural land into industrial, residential and commercial uses underly political processes that reflect particular developmental priorities and political power relations that quite often tend to circumvent bureaucratic regulations at three separate but intertwined levels: policy formulation, local implementation and regulation, and personal relations in rural areas.  Policy formulation, for instance, is easier than having those policies implemented down to the grassroots level.

On September 10, 1971, former Philippine President Ferdinand E. Marcos signed Republic  Act 6389, otherwise known as the Code of Agrarain Reform of the Philippines, thereby turning the entire Philippine archipelago into a land reform area. The ramifications of this Act were overwhelming and sweeping and raised questions about its efficacy relative to objectives and implementation. Even so, the agrarian reform is yet to be finished with no clear accomplishments so far with its infirmities still affluent. 

A classic illustration is the 220-hectare Hacienda Tinang in Concepcion, Tarlac. The hacienda which was once owned by Benigno Aquino, Sr. was sold to the wealthy De Leon family of Pampanga. The De Leon heirs circumvented land reform by faking a voluntary offer of sale under which the land, in parcels, was sold to "farmer-beneficiaries" who were actually members of the De Leon clan composed of the country's wealthiest bankers and businessmen who were able to protect their landed interests.

I cite this case to relate it to the fact that a truthful and determined agrarian reform program is a sure fire avenue towards encouraging agricultural farmers to produce, which is the basic solution to the unrelenting urbanization of the Philippine islands. Where presently we are importing most of our rice from Vietnam, the country might as well dip its fingers deeper into rice and agricultural production by way of agrarian reform.  As of September 2010, the Philippines remains Vietnam's largest rice importer which accounts for nearly 41% of the country's total export value. 

If the Philippine government can turn the trend from labor-exportation to domestic employment and change import-dependency to local agricultural production and industrial  manufacturing, the country can begin to have a glimpse of economic development in the horizon.

FAIRY FLY

    Would have been that most of us were poets, or would-be poets of sorts, that is, -- but now find ourselves mostly preoccupied with things other than poetry or with things we fain somehow attribute to be matters concerning identifiable with the nuances of poetic rhyme and rhythm. We could have chosen to be licensed engineers, too, or registered nurses, doctors, or somebody else other than who we are presently, because to be a poet is  to be impoverished.

   If we measure wealth in terms of the amount or volume of money that we have, then all of us are poor, except for a negligible number of lucky people who struck it rich in this planet. On the other hand, measuring wealth in terms of wisdom or degree of educational attainment would be preposterous if not absurd, as no wealth is enough to satisfy our greed, and the search for learning and education is an unending process, a task, indeed, that we chose to limit upon reaching the doctorate degree. 


   The fact, then, is that, we are all poor, a fact that most of us feign to accept either because reality could smack us right in the face, or we have that bank deposit, or that steady flow of cash into our business account which could burst like a bubble and vanish into thin air at any time without a prior's notice, and this fear jump starts us to begin struggling to be wealthier in terms of more money or in terms of earning  a much superior certificate of   Level of Enlightenment. 

   We think that if we have wealth we can achieve a higher level of education, or that if we are well educated we are guaranteed to be wealthy, and vice-versa. In fact, we may have already equated these two concepts as mutually symbiotic. Conversely, we cannot be rich if we are poorly educated, and we cannot be richly educated if we are financially poor-- facts that characterize the economic demography of the Third World in a circular cumulative causation, but which, of course, admit a lot of exceptions.

   The idiosyncrasy and syndrome of a society that have developed this wealth-wisdom psychology has become apparent in the psycho-social order of things almost anywhere and in most civilizations of the rest of the world. Spiritual enrichment and bureaucratic honesty seem not to suffice for anybody, and most of us give anything up to the extent that nobody in his right mind would ever ambition to be a mere janitor, cobbler, barmaid, or a handyman-- except when you are dead-right-down- there in the gutter. 


   A good number of us profoundly think we must act fast before time catches up with us, life is ephemeral as a fairy fly and only a very few of us have understood that we have been endowed wise and rich, and that human fulfillment finds itself in the  unlimited sharing of this wisdom and wealth that a few of us possess.


   Yes, indeed, blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

HEDGEROW

Before the sun is really up,
when the birds barely stirred,

and after almost an eternity

of stalking the opportunity--

long before my longest shadow is cast,

I viewed with finality the hedgerow,

that I've decided to end through the night.

So, after the sweat and the trim—

the morning's feat and the dream,

The Lord, in His eyes and guide

Gifted me with what it seemed

something like I should not hide.

SIMPLE JOYS

This is a photo of a patch of lawn in front of our facade. Ten years ago I planted the crab grass and maintained it like a green carpet, until a few years back when I came to the reality that I could no longer gather the same strength and stamina to cut the grass to its carpet form. 

When I took this photo from under the foliage of our apple-mango tree, I have just finished cutting the grass. My son has swept the lawn with a broom made of ribs of coconut fronds. The hedgerow needs trimming, but I thought it would have to wait for another weekend when we could have time again to be able to do just that.

What a refreshing feeling to have cut the grass!

At the far end of the lawn, what seems to be a rounded object is a bonsai pot that has been purposely turned up-side down. There are other pots stacked beside it that have remained empty since the time Typhoon Frank hit us a few years back.

Sitting at the garden set eating biscuits are my wife and my second son, Paco, the youngest of our two children. I always love to see this sight, and now I could always relish it. Thanks to my mobile phone camera.

The simpler we live, the closer we become to God. I give thanks to Him, the Lord God Jesus Christ, who really knows how to provide for all our simple joys.

CAT IN THE TUB

Rub a dub dub...

there's a cat,

a feline in the tub.

It's indicatively sleeping,

floating on Cloud Nine.

And what does it signify?

Either clothes hanging dry,

fluttering in the wind,

or still in the hamper

all waiting to be washed.

Philippine Nationalism and Patriotism

The words nationalism and patriotism are often used interchangeably, meaning one for the other. There is, however, a wide distinction between nationalism and patriotism as political concepts. Let us consider the following.

Nationalism, etymologically, means love, care for, preservation and patronage of one’s native land and everything in it—the country of birth of a national, whether it be Filipino or otherwise. To be a Filipino nationalist, therefore, the ethnological ramifications of nationalism must all be present in one’s being. This implies a heartfelt dedication for the love, care, and preservation of the Philippines and everything that is identified with it: the Philippine territory, the inhabitants, Philippine sovereignty, its government, all things that represent and symbolize the country; the aspirations, hopes, dreams and needs of the Filipino people.

On the other hand, patriotism is taken from the Latin term pater, which literally means “father”. Patriotism is the willingness and determination to lay down one’s life for the fatherland—the constant resolve to sacrifice one’s life and limb for the preservation of the State. It is the total realization of that love for the country, which is nationalism. In other words, to be patriotic is to be nationalistic. Conversely, one cannot be patriotic without being nationalistic.

In the Philippines, today, we are lacking in patriots largely due to the diffusion of Filipino values, culture, influence of conquistadores, and the confluence of historical bad governance. The Philippine State is in dire need of statesmen who truly understand the basics of politics—politics being defined as the systematic study of the state—the state being defined as having four basic elements: territory (the Philippine archipelago, its waters, subterranean shelves, etc.), people (the Filipino people who are nationalistic and patriotic), sovereignty (freedom from foreign dictates), and government (a body politic composed of delegates who are considered to be representatives of the people to stand and fight for Filipino interests, dreams, aspirations, and hopes).

For as long as our political leaders blind us of these things, for as long as the Filipino people refuse to learn, for as long as we remain mediocre, for as long we could not change our self  inwardly, for as long as we refuse to change, nationalism and patriotism will only be words in the dictionary.

BOOKS OF OUR LIVES

Books are gifts to us from their authors.

Books are the primary source of learning-- 

we cannot imagine how students could learn 

without the facility of books.

Investing in books has lost its mode

in the present-day affairs of the world.

Some students attend school classes

without the benefit of a single book.

Text books and reference materials,

aside from literature, creative writings,

documentaries and biographies,

are our necessary tools to face

the challenges of the turbulent world.

The youth of today cannot simply ignore

or take books for granted and prefer

to learn from the internet. 

There are learning modules and programs 

specially tailored for students 

and learners in the web.

Retention of learning is almost always

assured by the possession of books.

Books can be handed down from generation

to the next learning generation. 

Yet, investing in books seemed to have

lost its fashion in the present-day 

affairs of the world.

The Book Collector seemed to have

silently vanished as a unique human specie.

Now, the common problem is always about

English language and grammar,

either for composition or for street usage. 

It is a fact that English has become 

one of the international languages

of mankind that cannot be taken for granted--

if anybody wants to see the world.

We also read world history from books.

The story of the world cannot just be

handed down by word of mouth. 

The newspapers and magazines that

were once fashionable are now

beginning to fade out in circulation,

thanks to the internet that has provided

the alternative reading avenue.

More readers are turning in to movies 

instead of reading stories from the book. 

Most of them would prefer a 3D movie

 to a classic story book, and little

do they know that these movies

are all taken from manuscripts

in the form of a book.

In the Philippines, where daily subsistence

is the primordial concern of everyone,

investing in books is a twisted obsession.

Filipinos buy books only because

they need them in order to graduate 

and earn a Master's Degree

or a college diploma-- but even that 

could be arranged without the need

of a book.

With the availability of desktop printing,

the availability of books should have

grown geometrically--- but no,

modern cybernetics only furthered

copyright infringement and plagiarism.

All we need now is just one copy 

of any book in any field of study.

This book must be free-- gratis et amore. 

If we write books and think we

should get rich by writing them, write again.

Nobody should be allowed to get rich

by a single book. 

Theses are written for the academe

and the advancement of research and knowledge, 

but it is not yet for wisdom.

Books become valuable either because:

they contain the wisdom that we all need;

of the expenses incurred in producing them;

of the invaluable time spent in writing them;

or, simply because without price, 

nobody would care about a book!