“Never To Own Anything That Is Not Ours”

Never to own anything that is not ours? A Confusian analect, Marxist’s dialectic or Nietzsche’s geneaology of morals? No, it’s from the mouth of a poor, malnourished Filipino boy, with barely nothing to put into his mouth but turned in a bag with P18,000.
Yes, I stumbled upon this old news and made me  ponder upon this simple question: ” If a poor, malnourished boy can be honest, why can’t our moneyed presidents be honest?”. This led me to one of the first lessons we learned early in life at home and in school : “Honesty is the best policy”. This is very elementary, indeed. Our president  has gone beyond elementary schooling, she went on to higher education, got her doctorate in economics and she even went abroad for further studies. But it seems that all these things did not do her good for as a president she has forgotten the best policy- that of honesty. Too much education but lacking in honesty is I think as good as nothing. For me it is clear: Not Arroyo but a boy like him is the hope of our nation. Here’s the story:
………………………………..

Boy turns in bag with P18,000

Filipino values still practiced by simple Filipinos.
By Eva Visperas
Wednesday, October 10, 2007

“DAGUPAN CITY – Eleven-year-old Gicoven Abarquez spends his free time gathering plastic bottles around this city’s downtown area to help augment his family’s meager income.

But despite the family’s need for money, the boy never thought of keeping the bag containing around P18,000 which he found while looking for plastic bottles one day.

Abarquez, a grade four pupil at the East Central Elementary School here, was recently honored by the Dagupan City Police for his admirable honesty.

The boy was described by city police chief Superintendent Dionicio Borromeo as “malnourished, and who looks like a five-year-old because of his small body frame.”

It was last Sept. 21 when Abarquez, nicknamed Gangga, picked up the pouch bag along Perez Blvd.

“What was very impressive about this boy was that he never thought of owning the ‘manna,’ but immediately decided to turn it over to the police,” Borromeo told The STAR.

“It’s really heartwarming because he has high trust in the police,” he added.

Abarquez, the youngest of four children of Maria, a helper in a bagoong factory, and Benito, a construction worker, said his parents would get mad at him if he would take the money which does not belong to him.

“My mother taught us never to own anything that is not ours,” Abarquez told Borromeo.  

“If you see a Filipino like him, you will say, ‘There’s still hope in the Philippines after all’,” Borromeo said.

The awarding was delayed and held the other day because Borromeo wanted to add significance to the occasion by holding the ceremony this October in commemoration of Children’s Month.

Details about the money found by Abarquez have not been totally divulged because fake claimants have been going to the police station.

But Abarquez said he would be able to recognize the man who lost the bag as he saw him board a jeepney when the pouch he was carrying fell. The jeepney immediately sped off so Abarquez was not able to call the man’s attention, and brought the money to the police.

The police have given the true claimant 60 days, starting last Monday, to show up at their station. If the owner fails to come forward, the police, upon deliberation, have decided that the money will be given as a reward to the Abarquez family.

The local police also plans to make Abarquez the beneficiary of their Kinabukasan Mo, Sagot Ko scholarship project.

Borromeo said they will give school supplies to Abarquez including a school bag, notebooks, paper, ballpens, shoes and school uniforms. Abarquez, they learned, has never owned a pair of shoes.

The Kiwanis Club of Dagupeña likewise pledged to give Abarquez some of the books that he needs for school.”

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So far, so good as we used to say. This happened last year and I just wondering if the boy ever received the promised rewards by the police and the Kiwanis Club. And what happened to that P18,000? It’s just normal to wonder or entertain some doubts in a place where the authorities say one thing but do another thing, the problem of sincerity in our nation.

What’s wrong with being basic? Some people pretending to know everything already and who think they’re already far enough, are usually the same people who commit the most silly mistakes in life. The reason is that they ignored the very basic (simple) truths in life. You can claim to be very sophisticated in your thinking, to be on another level than the rest around you. But don’t you know that  simple things are most complex and difficult to follow? To live a simple life, for instance, is hard, when you mean by simple living avoiding the complexities, etc. of civilization and retreating to the countryside. For then you have to gather your firewoods, fetch your water from a well, wash your clothings by hands, feed your animals, etc. It’s hard work everyday! The same thing with basic teaching like “Be honest”. Simple as it is, but all of us have trouble with this and have failed. But worse,  all our presidents have failed. Who would believe for instance Arroyo’s SONA 2008? As Aesop has noted,” A liar will not be believed, even when he speaks the truth”.

According to John Ruskin, the beginning of education is to make your children capable of honesty. Our honest boy Gangga, though poor shows more education than the last five presidents of our republic which includes the sitting Arroyo. This poor boy speaks the language of honesty, not of greed. He surely learned this language from his parents, unlike our presidents who seemed to have patterned their concept of honesty not from their parents but from the practical definition of what a president now means in our nation: Greed as Measure of All, in short, GMA. Again, Marcos was the founder of this New School Of Greed, and was the mentor of the next generations of successful republic plunderers. The logic of Greed, however, doesn’t know what a genuine human feeling and loyalty is about. So they help one another to dethrone the incumbent Greed Holder only to replace him with their own version of Greed.

We know that Marcos did not bother about Jueting business, for instance, as Estrada did. Instead he concentrated on gold bars by shipping them all to Switzerland, hidden in a certain corner in Zürich a few kilometers from where I am writing this post. Indeed each of them has his/her own field of specialty, Marcos the miner with his fields of gold, Estrada the gambler with his gambling arenas and Arroyo the rice and fertilizer dealer with her rice fields. One of his outstanding students was undoubtedly Mr. Estrada, a man without formal education but graduated summa cum laude from this New School Of Greed. According to governor Singson at that time ( who was one of Estradas Jueting’s payoffs collectors), Estrada was receiving P32 to 35 million a month in Jueteng collections alone. With these high standards of earning set by these presidents, it is not surprising that Filipinos aspiring for presidency have in their subconscious also the dream of getting super rich- exactly  like their mentors. Even the sitting president graduated with honors from this school and is on the way to realizing this dream to the fullest. But she displayed a good portion of her education and loyalty by pardoning her ex-Boss Estrada, pardoning his plunder! This is the logic of greed in action, a logic too complex for our boy to comprehend. Truly, Professor Marcos was very successful in this respect. He taught his students this logic and helped them realize this Philippine Dream.

Going back to Erap, getting cuts from foreign loans or from big government contracts were too complicated for the mind of  this former small-town mayor, unlike Marcos who, being a criminal lawyer was familiar with legal technicalities. The bigger the mind, the more complex is the arena of deception. The small-minded Erap continued therefore with his Jueting, an expertise he knew so well during his mayor days. We are all familiar with the mechanics of town politics: The mayor appoints on day one his/her chief of police, if possible a relative. Utang na loob (debt of gratitude) pressures this chief of police to protect the personal interests of the mayor, mostly his/her illegal activities like Jueting, thereby reducing the whole town police corps to mere bodyguards or private goons of the mayor. We hope that Bulan was and is an exception to the rule! Anyway, this mechanics was continued by Erap as president viewing the entire PNP as his personal bodyguards. Now, we also hope Arroyo is an exception to this rule! I stand to be corrected here.

To continue, do you really believe this boy was too weak to tell a lie or to carry home that bag since home was much farther than the next police station? Well, I think not. Don’t be surprised if I would tell you now that we have more honest young people in Manila than Zürich! This keeps me optimistic about our chance for a better Malacañang or Philippines. This is the reason why: The second good news from home I read published in the local Zürich newspapers, now reproduced in English hereunder:

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 Reader’s Digest’s Global Honesty Test

Are people honest?
Reader’s Digest conducts global cell phone honesty test: Researchers ‘lose’ mobile phones in 32 cities, and two thirds are returned
By Reader’s Digest Association
Jul 23, 2007 – 6:02:20 PM

If you were sitting on a park bench and noticed that a “lost” cell phone was ringing, would you answer it? And if so, and a stranger’s voice on the other end asked you to take time from your busy day to return the phone, what would you do? Hang up? Keep the phone? Or, agree to return it?
That’s exactly what Reader’s Digest editors wanted to find out. And so the world’s most widely read magazine used its network of global editions to conduct an informal test of honesty around the world, asking reporters in the most populous cities in 32 countries to leave 960 mid-priced mobile phones in busy public places.
Local researchers from each country arranged and conducted their own tests, observing the mobiles from a distance. They rang the phones and waited to see if anyone would answer, and then watched to see if the person would (1) agree to return it, (2) call later on preset numbers that were programmed into the handsets, or (3) keep the phones for themselves. After all, these were tempting, brand-new phones with usable airtime.
The researchers tallied the results, interviewed test participants, and filed their reports in many of the August editions of Reader’s Digest, including the Web edition of U.S. Reader’s Digest (www.rd.com) and U.S. Selecciones magazine. While the study was not scientific, the results provided a fascinating human interest story.
“What we found out surprised and intrigued us,” said Conrad Kiechel, Editorial Director, International. “In every single city where the test was conducted, at minimum almost half of the phones were returned. And despite the temptation that people must have felt to keep the phones, and the fact that the test imposed on everyone’s time, the average return rate was a remarkable 68 percent, or about two thirds of the 30 phones we dropped in each city.”
The test followed last year’s Reader’s Digest Global Courtesy Test, which made headlines worldwide. Like the 2006 test, it was developed and overseen by the magazine editors in each of the participating countries. Both programs dramatically illustrated the magazine’s remarkable geographic “footprint” by conducting simultaneous local tests and reporting the results globally.
The highest percentage of returned phones was in the smallest city, Ljubljana, Slovenia, with a population of only 267,000. All but one of 30 cell phones were returned. From a nun at a bus stop to a young waiter at a coffee shop (who also retrieved a leather jacket the reporter had accidentally left behind – not part of the test!), the residents in this picture-postcard city in the foothills of the Alps were almost universally helpful.
Could the citizens of a major metropolis, with all its stress and pressure, be as honest? The people of Toronto, Canada (population 5.4 million), came close, returning 28 of 30 phones. “If you can help somebody out, why not?” said Ryan Demchuk, a 29-year-old insurance broker, who returned the mobile.
Seoul, South Korea, was third in the rankings, followed by Stockholm, Sweden, where Lotta Mossige-Norheim, a railway ticket inspector, found the mobile on a shopping street and handed it back. “I’m always calling people who’ve left a handset on my train,” she said.
Tied for fifth place in the rankings with 24 returned phones were: Mumbai, India; Manila, the Philippines; and New York City.
In many countries, people said they believed the young would behave worse than their elders. Yet, in the test results, young people were just as honest. In New York’s Harlem section, 16-year-old Johnnie Sparrow arranged to meet a reporter later that evening. Arriving at the scheduled time flanked by a group of younger neighborhood boys who clearly looked up to him, Sparrow was surprised to learn that the lost phone wasn’t lost at all. But he was proud of how he reacted when he found it.
“I did the right thing,” he said with a smile.
Parental influence weighed heavily with some. “My parents taught me that if something is not yours, don’t take it,” said Muhammad Faizal Bin Hassan, an employee of a Singapore shopping complex, where he answered a ringing phone.
Many adults accompanied by children were keen to show the young people how to behave when they spotted a phone. In Hounslow, West London, Mohammad Yusuf Mahmoud, 33, was with his two young daughters when he answered a phone in a busy shopping street. “I’m glad that my kids are here to see this. I hope it sets a good example,” he said.
Women were slightly more likely to return phones than were men.
All over the world, the most common reason people gave for returning a phone was that they too had once lost an item of value and didn’t want others to suffer as they had. “I’ve had cars stolen three times and even the laundry from the cellar was taken,” said Kristiina, 51, who returned a phone in Helsinki.
So, how did planet earth perform in the honesty test? Everywhere, the locally based Reader’s Digest reporters heard pessimism about the chances of getting phones back, especially given economic and other pressures. And yet, globally, 654 mobiles, or 68 percent, were returned.

 

The Phones we got back, city by city
Rank City Country Phones Recovered (out of 30)
1 Ljubljana Slovenia 29
2 Toronto Canada 28
3 Seoul South Korea 27
4 Stockholm Sweden 26
5= Mumbai India 24
  Manila Philippines 24
  New York USA 24
8= Helsinki Finland 23
  Budapest Hungary 23
  Warsaw Poland 23
  Prague Czech Republic 23
  Auckland New Zealand 23
  Zagreb Croatia 23
14= Sao Paulo Brazil 21
  Paris France 21
  Berlin Germany 21
  Bangkok Thailand 21
18= Milan Italy 20
  Mexico City Mexico 20
  Zurich Switzerland 20
21= Sydney Australia 19
  London UK 19
23 Madrid Spain 18
24 Moscow Russia 17
25= Singapore Singapore 16
  Buenos Aires Argentina 16
  Taipei Taiwan 16
28 Lisbon Portugal 15
29= Amsterdam Holland 14
  Bucharest Romania 14
31= Hong Kong Hong Kong 13
  Kuala Lumpur Malaysia 13

 ________________________

 Manila was 5th worldwide, and among asian cities tested, Manila placed 2nd after Seoul. This is something to be proud of, a ray of hope for Manila. How about Bulan’s Honesty Index? We have no solid facts in our hands to base our argument. Perhaps we need to device and conduct also such a test. How about our local government, our local chief executive? How do you rate her SOBA 2007- or,  State Of Bulan Address 2007? Public Trust And Credibilty is a public definition and perception, not a self-definition or self-rating by the mayor herself. Therefore it is legal and correct that people discourse about it publicly. It’s a needed feedback.

Mayor Helen De Castro reports herself, and I qoute, “ Public Office is a Public Trust”. Sayo baga tabi ini na padomdom sa entero na mga Opisyal san Gobierno, na an poder, autoridad nan capacidad na inhatag sa kaniya sayo na de-kumpiansa na trabaho. Permi ko tabi in-iisip na sa pagiging Mayor ko, nasa kamot nan liderato ko an kaayadan o pagroro san bungto ta, nan sa paagi san amo Administrasyon, makabalangkas kami sin mga plano, programa nan mga proyekto na para sa kaayadan san kadaghanan na mga ciudadano. Importante man na makuwa mi lugod tabi an kooperasyon, partisipasyon nan pagdanon san mga miembros san Komunidad Bulanenyo.
Ini na paghatod ko sa iyo sin Report saro na paagi basi maaraman tabi niyo kun nano na an mga inhimo namo, segun sa tiwala niyo sa amo. Parte ini san pangako mi na accountability nan transparency, na dire kamo nai-ignorar san mga programa san Gobierno Lokal.”

She says openly that she needs your participation and constructive assessment of her performance after you had entrusted her this office. So why not avail of this offer from Mayor Helen De Castro herself? Indeed, we should never own anything that is not ours- aside from things that legally belong to us, like our own opinion. Therefore, be proud of your opinions and voice them out. Our mayor needs them.

 

jun asuncion

Bulan Observer

Sad For My Country

An old article authored by The Call Of The Wild

 

I recently read an article in the newspaper about the current squabbles between the son of the former Speaker of the House, Mr. de Venecia, and the first Gentleman Arroyo.  I can not help but chuckle.  I was not surprised with the involvement of the husband of President Arroyo.  He has had his fingers on every scandal related to graft and corruptions.  And the President is not going to stop him or do anything about it.  It is good for their family. 

They are going to amass billions of dollars before her term is over.  It is good business to be President of the Philippines and good business to be the husband of the president.  It seems like the First Couple are trying to compete with Bill Gates.  However, Bill Gates amassed his billions by working….

That is the difference.  The First Gentleman is immune from prosecution. Who will dare to go against the greedy couple? They hold the people HOSTAGE by using their police and their military. The military and police are not there to protect the integrity of the constitution, to “Protect and to Serve” the welfare of the people. They are there to protect and to serve the interest of President Arroyo and her husband. What happened to Mr. Lozada ? That was part of intimidation…  Do you believe that??  Do you think the whole Filipino people from Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao are that stupid to believe it? 

Since the time of Marcos up to the present, they use the same tactics of intimidations: killings, kidnappings, murders, the disappearances of people that were brave enough to express their thoughts and opinions, the disappearance of student activists that held rallies in the streets to express their fight against the cuddling of corrupt officials that includes the First Couple. As I went through the list of journalist killed, I can’t help but ponder what the hell is going on in the Philippines? Many journalists were killed because they were brave enough to announce to the world what is going on in the Philippines.  They were the true martyrs.  I salute those who died in expressing their beliefs and principles and to those journalists that are struggling right now and risking their lives for the sake of true journalism, keep up the good work, we are with you. We salute you.

Where are the people and journalists that were picked up by the military?  Where is justice? These poor people went in the streets to  express their rights as Filipino citizen and were  supposed to be protected by  free speech as written in the constitution.  Where are they? 

Of course, you can almost predict the outcome of the rivalry of the two powerful families.  They are all mixed in the same pot.  The other family tolerated and connived with the First Couple as long as they both benefited from sacking the government’s coffer. No more, No less.  Each and every one of them had their fingers on the golden pot in all the government dealings that involved making more and more money.  The big problem is that THEY ARE ALL GREEDY.  When it involves big time kickbacks, everybody was scrambling to get into the Chinese pie. And lo and behold!  It was not a surprise that the First Gentleman got the bid and the kickbacks. Of course, the other family did not like it and wanted revenge.  Now, the”BAHO” start to come out. They started to spill the “MABAHO BEANS” and all went into chaos. The first couple scrambles to find a scapegoat. Beware, my friends and people of the Philippines. Watch this……

                                                   

THE OLD MODUS OPERANDI IS NOW IN FULL SWING 

 

Of course, the president will give a speech denying the allegations of graft and corruptions involving her husband. She will say it was politically motivated etc, etc, same old mabaho sh__….

Of course, there will be massive rallies, speeches by those politicians that did not get a share of the Chinese pie or (millions of dollars in kickbacks) Honest daw sila. Do you believe it?

Of course, the president will order an investigation about the graft and corruption that is plaguing the nation. A FARCE!

Of course, the president and her cohorts will try to find a way of getting out of this predicament…… Let’s divert the attention of these pesky protesters.

Of course, it was the works of Al Qaeda and the president will cry to the U.S. please help us ( to get more money from U.S.) and blame the NPA.

Of course, the president will mobilize her police and the military and hunt for the Al Qaeda, the NPA and the Invisible Foe.

Of course, now the president will have an excuse to declare an Emergency proclamation to curtail the rights of the people, to intimidate, to silence targeted vocal protesters, kidnappings, disappearances of young students who are idealistic and potential enemy of the administration.

The rampant killings without mercy and hesitations whether that person was a husband with children and wife or a young bright student whose only fault was being idealistic and patriotic. The many decent people whose only fault was that they expressed their feelings, opinions and beliefs were killed by their own countrymen. By the very same police and soldiers whose duty was to protect their countrymen not to kill them.  All for the benefit of the president……

Where is the UN and the Human Rights Organizations? Where are they? There are so many killings going on and they are killing the people with impunity. There is so much lawlessness and the country is continuously annihilating its own intellectuals. It is becoming like a pogrom. The judges, the SC judges, the magistrates, the ombudsmen were all powerless to serve the oppressed. It seems.

When the late dictator Marcos was deposed, there was great jubilation and relief amongst the people. At last, we can have a president that is more concern of the people and their welfare and the improvement of economy and prosperity. But look what happened?  It is the same sh__ with a different smell.  We were successful in kicking out Marcos, but look who replaced him? His very own wife and children that had bankrupted our government coffers.  The same people with the same last names whose role models were corrupt leaders and the mother is a flamboyant greedy hypocrite thief.

Who is replacing the old corrupt politicians?  Their children!  Their children found out in their early age that to be successful and rich, you have to be in politics. The family of  de Venecias, the Macapagals, the Arroyos, the Estradas, the Marcoses etc, etc.  

They don’t want bright, uncorrupted, idealistic young individuals who are on their way to change the way the government is being run.  They are eliminating our young children who are bright and full of vigor and vitality and ideals.  They are eliminating our future generations of more honest and idealistic individuals that are the hope of the future. We will end up having leaders that are products of the same families of politicians that had no hesitations of enriching themselves at the expense of the people. 

The people’s power was successful in kicking out Marcos a few decades ago hoping that the deposed corrupt leader will be replaced by a decent honest leader. But, look if you think Marcos was a brutal dictator, Is Arroyo better than him?  Undoubtedly, the president is practicing Niccolo Machiavelli’s “The Prince”. Read on….

And now, Ladies and Gentlemen, You and I know that this is the same sh__ that has happened so many times, you can almost predict it. So, what shall we do?  Sit and twiddle our thumbs?   Do nothing?  Join the rallies and cry our hearts out?  Run away and go to Japan and become a japajuki?  Go to Arab countries and be their slaves?  Not a bad idea.   The government doesn’t want you to progress here in the Philippines. They want you to join the rest of the OFW that are enslaving themselves so that they can support their families and in turn support the government.

 It is a big bucks man. No kidding. Millions of dollars are flowing in to support the Philippine economy. The government doesn’t care how you earn the money you send. Whether you prostituted, enslaved yourself, worked in the ditches. The government wants you to go away. Never mind if you are away from your family. Just get out of here and make some money abroad.  The government says; just send me the money, honey. And you gladly do it because you are a true Filipino who loves  your family.  You will be gone for five, ten years? Your children barely remember your face! Your wife or husband have a kabit on the side. You can not blame him or her. You were gone too long! 

 These are the results of the ineptness and the horrendous massive corruptions of the top leaders of our government. Their priorities and concerns are for themselves. This is truly a sad, sad story of my country.

Mayor’s 2007 Report to the People of Bulan

Office of the Mayor, Bulan Sorsogon
July 29, 2008 at 8:30 am · Edit

Note to readers:

Published hereunder is the Mayor’s 2007 Report to the People of Bulan. To follow after this will be the Mayor’s First Semestral Report, January to June, 2008. Thank You

______________________________________________________________________

Republic of the Philippines
MUNICIPALITY OF BULAN
SORSOGON

OFFICE OF THE MAYOR
______________________________________________________________________

Second Term’s First Year-end Report to the People of Bulan
(June to December 2007)

REPORT TO THE PEOPLE 2007
By: Mayor Helen C. De Castro

Sa Pinapadaba Ko na mga Kabungto:

INTRODUCTION:

Dios marhay na adlao tabi sa iyo entero.
Ini tabi an saiyo lingkod Mayor Helen “Baby” De Castro, na niyan mahatod saiyo, sa paagi sini na broadcast, san ako 2007 Report to the People of Bulan , o an Report tungkol sa mga nahimo san saato municipio, sa paagi san ako Administrasyon sa primerong onom ka bulan, batog na Hulyo hasta niyan na Disyembre, sini na ikaduwa ko na turno bilang Mayor san bongto.

PAGPASALAMAT AN UNA:
Bag-o ko tabi tukaron an manungod sa mga nahimuan san municipio, sa paagi san ako administrasyon, unahon ko permi siempre an pagpahayag sin maliputok nan sincero na pagpasalamat sa kada Bulanenyo, lalo na tabi yadto na mga nagboto nan nagsuporta sa amo, na mao gihapon an pilion
niyo na mga opisyales san bungto ta, na mao gihapon an hatagan niyo tiwala nan kumpiansa sa pagrenda san ato gobierno lokal, nan maging ilaw, harigi nan ulo san ato komunidad. An Administrasyon san De Castro magbatog pa kan Guiming hasta niyan sa ako nagbibilang na tabi sin Dose Anyos. Nan kun nano kay intiwalaan niyo kami sin irog sini kahalaba na na panahon, kamo na po an makasabi nan makatestigo sa paagi san iyo mandato kada eleksiyon. Naging pilosopiya politikal namo na dapat, sa paglipas san panahon, lalo kami makadara sin pagbabag-o, pag-unhan nan kaayadan; nan maging kasangkapan niyo kami sa pagbilog san padaba ta na bungto. Ini na kumpiansa sayo na regalo na dapat ko hirutan nan atamanon, pagtiwala na dapat ko ibalik sa paagi sin honesto, tutuo, episyente nan de kalidad nan pantay-pantay na pagserbisyo publiko. Kaipuhan didi , sa trabaho na ini, an hararom na responsibilidad, desisyon, dedikasyon nan debosyon.

PUBLIC OFFICE IS A PUBLIC TRUST:
“ Public Office is a Public Trust”. Sayo baga tabi ini na padomdom sa entero na mga Opisyal san Gobierno, na an poder, autoridad nan capacidad na inhatag sa kaniya sayo na de-kumpiansa na trabaho. Permi ko tabi in-iisip na sa pagiging Mayor ko, nasa kamot nan liderato ko an kaayadan o pagroro san bungto ta, nan sa paagi san amo Administrasyon, makabalangkas kami sin mga plano, programa nan mga proyekto na para sa kaayadan san kadaghanan na mga ciudadano. Importante man na makuwa mi lugod tabi an kooperasyon, partisipasyon nan pagdanon san mga miembros san Komunidad Bulanenyo.
Ini na paghatod ko sa iyo sin Report saro na paagi basi maaraman tabi niyo kun nano na an mga inhimo namo, segun sa tiwala niyo sa amo. Parte ini san pangako mi na accountability nan transparency, na dire kamo nai-ignorar san mga programa san Gobierno Lokal.
Nagbatog an saako ikaduwa na turno san Hulyo Uno, 2007, nan sa sulod tabi sini na onom kabulan, daghanon na na mga programa nan mga proyekto an kaipuhan maaraman niyo.

AN HELEN PROGRAM:
An HELEN Program permi mao an giya nan harigi san manlaen-laen na aktibidades san Gobierno Lokal ta. In-iimplementar mi ini kay mao an mga pinakamayor na mga programa sa paghatod sin serbisyo sosyal, pang-ekonomiya nan pangkomunidad na mga aktibidades. Aram ta entero na an ananuman na pagbabag-o permi mabase sa mga Programa sa Health o Salud, Edukasyon, Livelihood o Pagbuhay nan Aspeto pangEkonomiya, Environment o Kapalibutan nan Nutrisyon and Food Production. An mga Auxilliary Services pareho san Peace and Order, Disaster Management , Infrastructure nan iba pa na Development Programs puro karabit kabit sa programa nato na HELEN.

HEALTH O SALUD:
Unahon ta mun-a tabi an sa Salud o Health.
An Rural Health Unit o RHU mao an agencia lokal na nag-aasikaso san programa sa Salud segun man sa mga naiplano san ato Administrasyon. Didi nakasalalay an mga aktibidades nato basi makadanon kita sa serbisyo medikal san ato katawohan sa Bulan, lalo na yadto na mga pobre na mga ciudadano.
Batog tabi na Hulyo hasta Nobyembre, an RHU nakapagserbi sin manlaen-laen na pasyente san bilog na Bulan.
Huyaa an mga programa pangsalud para sa mga kabatan-an: Sa Expanded Program On Immunization , lalo na sa mga baby, na edad wara pa sangtaon. An nakarecibe sin mga pagbakuna sa BCG, DPT1, DPT2, DPT3, OPV1, OPV2, OPV3 bale 941 na mga kabatan-an; An nakarecibe sin Vitamin A nan anti measles, 981 na mga bata; an nabakunahan kontra Hepatitis sa paagi sin Bakuna na Hepa 1, Hepa 2, Hepa 3, bale 959 na kabatan-an. May-on kita sin suma tutual na Fully-immunized Children na an edad 9 hasta 11 meses bale 936 na kabatan-an.
Sa Knock-out Tigdas nan Vitamin A Supplementation na hatag san DOH, pero an Gobierno Lokal an nag-implementar, sa danon san mga BHWs nato, 9,154 na mga kabatan-an edad 9 hasta 48 months an nahatagan sin Anti-Tigdas na bakuna. 14,945 na mga kabatan-an naman sa bilog na Bulan an nakarecibe sin Vitamin A Supplementation basi maibitaran an mga hapdos sa mata. Ini hinimo san Oktubre 15 hasta na Nobyembre 15.
Para naman sa mga Pregnant o Lactating Mothers, sa mga Borod, may-on kita sin regular na mga programa para sa kanira. Nakaserbi an municipio ta sin 1,002 na borod batog na Hulyo hasta Nobyembre. Nakahatag man kita sa kanira sin mga bakuna na TT2, Iron tablets nan Vitamin A. 860 na borod an pinaanak san ato mga municipal midwives. Sa Clinic mismo san RHU sa Obrero, nakapaanak kita sin 33 na borod. Kun dire pa tabi niyo aram, may-on na kita sin delivery room doon mismo sa RHU-Obrero. Apuwera pa soon, padagos an pagmonitor san ato mga health workers sa sector sin mga borod nan mga bata. Labi an ako pagreparo na maatenderan talaga an grupo na ini kay basi trangkilo an kanira pag-anak.
Sa mga mahapdos sin TB o Tuberculosis, nakaserbi kita sin 245 na pasyente sa paagi sin bulong nan eksamin.
Sa pagkondukta sin mga laboratory examination, nakaserbi kita sa 1,200 na tawo na nagpalaboratorio san kanira mga dugo, ihi nan sa fecalysis.
Sa Family Planning activities naman, nakaserbi kita sin 5,054 na mga tawo sa manlaen laen na pagpili sin Family Planning methods , artificial man o natural. Kaupod na tabi didi an mga paseminar, konsultasyon nan paghatag sin mga gamit sa family planning. Importante pan-o na may pakamangno an mga ciudadano ta sa tama na pagpamilya. 
May-on man kita sin 12 na inasikaso na pasyente sa kaso na Rabies.
Sa lado san malnutrition, 130 na mga bata an naibalik an lawas o rehabilitated dahil sa supplemental feeding program san RHU sa paagi sin mga BHWs. Manungod naman sa dental services o pag asikaso sin ngipon, an dentista nato sa RHU nakaserbisyo sa 409 na tawo, kaupod na an mga bata.
Puwera pa tabi sini na mga espesyal na programa, batog san Hulyo hasta Nobyembre, nakahatag kita danon sa paagi sin bulong nan mga konsultasyon sa manlaen-laen na Health Centers nan Health Stations para sa 4,213 na mga taga-Bulan.
Sa solod man po sini na lima kabulan, padagos an mga paseminar nan mga pa-training sa mga Barangay Health Workers nato nan sa mga Accredited na Partera. Parte ini san pag-upgrade nato sa kakayahan nira na lalo mapakayad an kinaadman sa primary health care, kay kaipuhan sira san mga barangay ta sa solod sin 24 oras.
Basi man lalo maging episyente an serbisyo medical san RHU, nag-order ako na dagdagan an ato doktor sa Center, kay dire kaya ni Dr. Payoyo an solosolo lang siya. Siya tabi si Dr. Kates Rebustillo.
An saato man ambulancia wara pahuway sa pagdanon sa mga emergencia na indadara sa mga daragko na hospital. May-on na kita doon sin permanente na drayber na mao an makaserbisyo sa ato kun available an ambulancia.
Dako dako an problema nato sa Pawa Hospital kay kulang sin doktor. Awat na ini na agrangay nato. Dahilan na dati solo solo lang an doktor ta, kinakapos kita sin serbisyo. An Pawa Hospital tabi dire man yuon sakop san municipio kundi an Gobernador an nakasakop soon. Apesar na kulang gamit, kulang pa dati doctor. Kaya, akoon ta, daghanon an kakulangan sa pagserbisyo. Inisip ko na dapat danonan ta an Pawa Hospital kay kadaghanan doon san pasyente taga-Bulan. An hinimo ko tabi, naghuron ako sa Probinsiya sin tolo na doctor na makaayuda sa Pawa doktor nato na si Dra. Tita Fe Palad. Pag sabado, napahuway man siya kaya may-on sin mga doktor na nakasalida, pareho nira Dr. James Apin, Dr. San Jose, nan Dr. Laguda. Ini na mga doktor haros boluntad na an serbisyo saato, pero naghinguha tabi kita sa municipio na hatagan ta man diyo na honorarium dahil sa serbisyo nira sa ato hospital. Kaya maski puro pan-o baga tabi, dire na ninggayod kita nawawaraan sin doktor maski sabado o domingo.
Gusto ko man i-report sa iyo na an opisina ko nakadanon na sin 364 katawo na nagrani dahil sa pangangaipo sin bulong o medicines assistance, An bulong na naidanon ta sa kanira nagkakantidad sin 50,876.00 pesos.

EDUKASYON:
An ikaduwa na angkla san HELEN Program mao tabi an programa sa Edukasyon. Aram nato an kahalagahan sini na serbisyo sosyal para sa ato komunidad.
Sayo sa pinakadako na ayuda na inhihimo nato, lalo na sa mga pobre pero karapatdapat na mga estudyante mao na mga inhahatag nato na educational assistance o pang-ayuda pinansyal sa kanira pag-escuela. Siempre, bag-o ini inhahatag naagi mun-a sa sayo na evalwasyon o assessment tungkol sa estudyante na nag-aayo sin danon sa municipio. Inrereparo ta man siempre didi an mga grades o marka san nag-aayo danon.
Batog tabi san Agosto hasta niyan na Disyembre, nakadanon na an municipio sin 74 na escuela na nag-ayo educational assistance na nagkakantidad sin 91,046 pesos. Pero kun isabay nato an batog pa san Enero hasta Hulyo, nakadanon pa kita sin 61 na estudyante sa kantidad na 94,542 pesos. An suma total sini entero tabi bale 137 na estudyante, nan an kantidad sin naidanon sa kanira bale 187,870 pesos.
Ini na mga estudyante nag-eerescuela sa Sosrsogon State College, AG Villaroya, RGCC, SLI-KRAMS, Solis Institute of Technology, nan may-on man sin hale sa AMA Computer College, Veritas College, Inmaculate Conception College of Albay nan Bicol University. May-on man kita sin napolo (10) na regular scholars na permi ta insususteniran an pag-escuela.
San Octobre nan Nobyembre, 20 na Computer Students hale sa SSC IMIT an nahatagan sin P5,000.00 Scholarship Assistance hale sa PGMA-TESDA Ladderized Education Program. Yadto na kantidad mao an naging pangbayad nira sa pag-escuela niyan na Second Semester. Maski diyo napakinabangan yadto san mga napili ta na mga escuela.
San nakaagi na Summer, in implementar ta gihapon an Republic Act 7323 o an Special Program for the Employment of Students o SPES. INi sa pakikoordinar nato sa DOLE o Department of Labor and Employment. 90 na college students an pinili nan hinatagan ta pribiliheyo na makatrabaho sa municipio nan an suweldo nira ginamit sa pag-escuela nira sini na taun. Ini man na mga service crew san Jollibee kadaghanan sa kanira mga escuela na hinatagan ta rekomendasyon sa Jollibee nan pakatapos sin pambihira na training nagkapirili an 52 sa kanira. Mao na yuon niyan na naiimod nato na service crew san Jollibee. Seguro, saday lang ini na bagay para sa iba, pero sa mga nabiyayaan sini na recruitment nan referral program dako na pakinabangan ini sa tawo na nabiyayaan.
Sa lado san mga Barangay High Schools nato. Padagos an ato pag-ayuda sa mga escuelahan na ini sa paagi sin paghatag maski diyo na honorarium sa kantidad na P1,000 pesos para sa 11 na volunteer teachers na nagtuturukdo sa Beguin, San Juan Bag-o, Cadandanan, Otavi, JP Laurel nan Gate. Ini na mga volunteer teachers mao an nakasugpon sin dako na serbisyo sa mga barangay ta lalo na sa mga escuelahan na kulang an teachers.
Kun matatandaan baga tabi nato entero, yaa na mga barangay high schools naitindog sa kagahuman san mga magurang, mga maestro nan lalo na sa danon nan suporta sadto san panahon ni Mayor Guiming. Para sa ako, inpapadagos ko lang an legasiya ni Ex-Mayor Guiming sa lado san edukasyon. Kundire naging matibay nan pusuanon yadto na nakaagi na administrasyon, daghan po seguro an mga naging kakulangan sa ato mga barangay. Pero dahil pinadaba namo an mga barangay, sa lado san edukasyon legasiya ini na dire basta basta mararangka san panahon. Daghanon na man na mga dati volunteer teachers sini na mga escuelahan an sa niyan nakapermanente na sa pagtukdo dahil sa kanira trabaho sa mga barangay high schools.
Daghanon pa na mga aktibidades an inhihimo nato sa municipio para sa mga escuelahan pareho san mga sa scouting, sa mga sports festivals nira nan sa ananuman na mga okasyon na puwede makasuporta lalo na an ako opisina. Nagsuporta man kita sa mga paglakaw sin mga escuelahan kun may-on sira sin mga contests sa iba na lugar.
Sini na nakaagi na Disyembre 14, incelebrar nato an Bulan Teachers’ Day, sayo na okasyon sa paghatag ta rekognisyon nan pagsaludar sa mga paratukdo sa elementarya, high school nan college. An saako tabi administrasyon an nagbatog sini na klase sin aktibidad. Ini na an ikatolo na taun soon na Teachers’ Day. Inisip ko na dapat talaga hatagan ta pagkilala ini na mga silensyo na bayani san ato komunidad. Sa paagi sin panguna san municipio, lalo na san ako opisina, naging makolor nan triunfo an selebrasyon niyan na taon. Sinuportahan ta moral nan materyal an pangangaipo para sa Teachers’ Day. Nakapili man kita sin mga Outstanding Teachers niyan na taun. Nan inpapasalamatan ta man tabi an entero na participating teachers nan schools.

LIVELIHOOD O PAGBUHAY:
Huyaa naman tabi an programa sa Pagbuhay o Livelihood. An Municipal Agriculture Office, an Public Employment Service Office o PESO nan an Engineering Motorpool Group an mga opisina nato na mao an nasa prentera sa programa sa Livelihood o Pagbuhay.
Segun sa pilosopiya political san ako administrasyon, an Gobierno Lokal mahimo sin paagi na makapanguna sa mga aktibidades pangkabuhayan pero nasa tawo na na nagbenepisyo an paghigos kun pan-o niya palakawon an hale sa Gobierno. An Gobierno Lokal sayo na kasangkapan san tawo basi makapagpaunhan sin pagbuhay.
Yaadi man tabi an mga naging aktibidades san Municipio sa paagi san Municipal Agriculture Office.
Hulyo 11 – Nakadistribuer an Municipio sin 328 na sako na gahi sin mais para sa 606 na paraoma hale sa ma 50 na barangay. Ini hale sa PCA o Philippine Coconut Authority;
Hulyo 25 – 1008 na paraoma hale sa 20 na barangay an nakarecibe sin 1,008 sako sin gahi na paray nan mga fertilizers basi maibalik sa dati an mga kapasakyan nato na naapektuhan san Typhoon Milenyo. Ini sa danon san Accion Al Hambre;
San Hulyo pa man, 90 na paraoma an nakarecibe sin Bio-N Seed Innoculant, nan 6 n paraoma an recipiente san Tipid Abono Techno-Demo sa Barnagay N. Roque.
San Agosto 2 , 85 na paraoma hale sa 30 na barangay an nakarecibe libre sin 3,000 na tagbong;
September 5,6,7 – Sayo na Participatory Rural Assessment , kaupod si Peace Corps Volunteer Shawn Dolan , an hinimo sa mga barangay san JP Laurel, Sn Vicente, Dolos, Bical, Calpi, Cadandanan, Aguinaldo nan Quezon.
September 12 – Nagbutang kita sin mga Bangus Fingerlings sa San Rafael para sa kanira semi-intensive Bangus Culture.. Nakikoordinar kita sini sa BFAR;
San September gihapon, 75 na sako sin gahi an hinatag ta para sa mga paraoma.
September 25 – Inlunsar nato an Farmer Field School sa Gate kun haen makinabang an 40 na paraoma.
October 8 – Sa Brgy Butag inentrega nato sa mga recipiente an Net for Aquasilvivicutlure. Ini para sa mga paraisda,
October 10 – 30,000 na tilapia fingerlings an indistribuer nato sa 27 na mga fishpond owners, nan may binuhian man kita na mga piyak sa lima na dam san Bulan;
San October 26, Inlansar nato an Farmers Information and Technology Service Center. Didi makarani an mga paraoma kun gusto nira makakuwa sin mga bag-o na kaaraman na teknolohiya sa pag-oma, apuwera pa sin mga asistencia teknikal sa agricultura.
Niyan man na Oktubre nan Nobyembre, nagpakondukta kita sin mga demonstration nan training sa Urban Agriculture, Pili Grafting, Low-cost Food Preparation, Compost Activators nan iba pa.
Dire ta man inpabayaan an pagmonitor san Bird Flu basi dire madestroso an mga manukan nan poultry nato sa Bulan;
Sini man na bulan , nakadistribuer kita sa municipio sin 401 na gahi para sa ma 200 na paraoma . Ini hale kan GMA nan Congressman Sonny Escudero;
San December 12, sa paagi sin Accion Al Hambre, nakahatag sin 1 unit na Power Tiller sa Gate Irrigators Association na mapapakinabangan sin 27 na paraoma.
May mga aktibidades pa an Agriculture Office pareho san paghatag mga pisog san maritatas para sa Gulayan sa Kada Balay, mga meetings sa Agricultural and Fishery Council, pagmonitor sin hapdos na nakaraot sa agrikultura sa Bulan, p;aghatag mga itaranom na mga puno; nan an pagbantay sa kadagatan ta. May nagkapera na man na mga pawikan an ato naisalbar nan naibalik ta sa kadagatan. Nakadistribuer man kita 36 na manlaenlaen na klase sin hayop para sa animal dispersal.
An Public Employment Service Office o PESO naman an opisina na nag-aasikaso sa mga pagkolokar sin trabaho para sa mga naghahanap trabaho lalo na kun may-on sin naabot didi sa Bulan na mga employment agencies.
Nagkaigua sin recruitment nan referral programs kita didi sa Bulan sa paagi san PESO. Nagkanhi an ALCARE Manpower nan AU Management Services na puro accredited san POEA. Dahilan sini nakapadara kita sin 15 na aplikante , 1 na nurse, 2 na DH nan 12 na Factory workers sa Taiwan. In-aanunsiyo man san municipio kun may naabot sa Bulan na mga lehitimo na recruitment agencies kay nadanon an Gobierno Lokal ta sa mga referrals nan recommendations kaupod na an pag-asiste teknikal sa mga aplikante. Yadto na mga Service Crew san Jollibee kaupod sa mga in process san PESO office nato.
Sayo baga tabi sa in-oorgulyo na programa san De Castro Administration mao ini na Heavy Equipment nan Roadbuilding Program, na aram ta man konektado permi sa pagbuhay, agrikultura nan pangisda sa barangay. Kun mayad an ato mga tinampo, mantenido nan masayon an pagbiyahe, dako ini na danon sa pagbuhay san tawo kay nagiging madali nan facil an transportasyon nan komunikasyon. Kaya dire ta inlilimutan na ini na programa alalay sa pagbuhay san mga taga-barangay.

Ireport ko tabi an mga natrabaho san ato Heavy Equipment sa mga barangay. Nailista ko an mga patrabaho batog pa san Enero niyan na taon hasta Nobyembre. Naging problema nato an maraot na mga panahon na mao an nakaulang nan nakaatraso sa ato. Pero, sa parte san Opisina ko, permi na lang kita nahinguha na an mga kakulangan mapunuan na lang sa pag agi san panahon.
Huyaa tabi an mga nahimo na road repairs o kaya mga back-filling activities: San Ramon to Butag, repair and backfilling of baras; Road Repair sa San Ramon Ubo; Sitio Inlobloban , Padre Diaz road repair; Calomagon to San Jose road repair; San Jose Crossing to Brgy Recto road repair; Polot to Jamorawon road repair; Sitio Polot Road Back filling and improvement; Pawa to Lahong road backfilling and improvement; Lahong barangay site backfilling; Fabrica to Otavi Road improvement; Fabrica to San Rafael road repair; Namo to R. Gerona road repair; Somagongsong to Calomagon road backfilling and repair; Calomagon to Dumpsite, backfilling and repair; Calomagon to Inararan, road repair and backfilling; Sta. Remedios nan Bonifacio, backfilling and road repair.
Naka-schedule man tabi sa heavy equipment ta an repair nan rehabilitasyon san mga tinampo sa Roxas to Dolos, Sabang to Bical; Inararan to Nasuje, Montecal , Abad Santos to San Juan Daan, Beguin to Jamora-awon. An maraot lang na panahon nan kauuran an nakaulang sa ato. Pag nag-init nan dianis na an panahon, ipapasige na tabi nato an mga trabaho san ekipahes, basi mapasayon an pagbuhay nan transportasyon sa mga nasabi na lugar.

ENVIRONMENT O KAPALIBUTAN:
I-report ko na man tabi niyan an sa Programa nato sa Environment o Kapalibutan.
Una, gusto ko gihapon pasalamatan an entero na taga-Bulan , nan sa iyo ko ialay an pagkagana nato san Saringgaya Award san nakaagi na taon. Siempre dire man ini mangyayari kun dire dahil sa iyo. An Regional Saringgaya Award mao an inhahatag sa sayo na bungto na dianis an programa sa pag-ataman sa Kapalibutan. Entero tabi kita responsable nan may kargo sa pag preserbar san ato kapalibutan. Ini an buhay nato na mga tawo. Kaya ngani, pokus san atensiyon ko an maenganyar entero, lalo na sa sektor san kabatan-an na magkaigua kirita sin pagkamangno manungod sa bagay na ini. Sa bilog na kinab-an, haros an entero na nasyones niyan nagkakadali na maibitaran ini na insasabi na Global warming. Didi sa Sorsogon, sayo na siguro an municipio nato na labi-labi an pag aktibar para sa Environment Awareness.
Sa niyan, nag-krear na kita sin separado na Municipal Environment Office na mao an nag-iimplementar san entero na programa sa kapalibutan segun sa palisiya san ako administrasyon.
Huyaa an mga naging aktibidades nato sa Environment Program. San Hulyo, in-reorganisar nato an Solid Waste Mangement –Technical Working Group basi maregulate nato sin husto an mga plano para sa environment programs. Sa grupo na ini in-endorso ko na an pagplano nan pag-implementar san mga environment activities.
Sa danon san Environmeent Office, nag-tree planting activity an Sigma Lambda Phi Fraternity didto sa Calomagon Ecopark. Nagkondukta man kita sin sayo na Environment Forum para sa Bulan North District Teachers and Pupils. Nagkaigua sin mga contest pangkapalibutan.. Nagkondukta man sin Demo on Carbonized Rice Hull making sa Eco park.
San Septyembre, Inotro gihapon nato an sayo na Environm,ent Forum sa Obrero Elementary School nan an Bulan National High School YES Group; nagkondukta man kita sin Orientation on Global Warming sa Immaculate Conception Learning Center; nan Demo on Vermi Composting sa Ecopark;

An pinakadako na aktibidad sa taon na ini inhimo ta san Oktubre 5-6, durante san ato ikaopat na Fiesta sa Kabubudlan didto sa Calomagon Ecopark. Inatenderan ini sin rinibo na mga estudyante, barangay oficials, mga grupo sibiko, NGOs, youth organizations, nan media. Durante san Fiesta sa Kabubudlan, nagkaigua kita sin mga treeplanting activities, Environment Forum, Orientation on Global Warming, Demo/Trainings sa manlaen-laen na waste recycling and re-use; nagkaigua man sin misa nan padisco sa mga participants san sira didto mag-camp out. Nan kaupod na aktibidad an BandFest o Musikalikasan didi sa Freedom Park sa Poblacion. Mismo an saato Gobernadora Sally Lee , nan mga bisita hale sa DILG nan PNOC, nag-kaorogma sa hinimo ta na dati dumpsite niyan sayo na na ecopark na puwede pasyaran.
Ini na tabi an ikaopat na selebrasyon san Fiesta sa Kabubudlan. In-maw-ot ko talaga na maging institutionalized na ini na activity sa paagi sin sayo ordinansa san ato Sangguniang Bayan.
Maw-ot ko na dire lang sa Ecopark magkaigua sin Fiesta sa Kabubudlan kundi sa entero na parte san Bulan, kun umabot youn na panahon. Dapat na magka-interes an entero na Bulanenyo sa pag-ataman san kapalibutan. Himuon ta tabi na tradisyon sa Bulan ini na Fiesta sa Kabubudlan.
Niyan na nakaagi na Nobyembre, nan sa Bulan san Disyembre, an mga Boy nan Girl Scouts san Bulan North nan an JP Laurel Elementary School naman an nag-etender sa ato Environment Forum. May Green Philippines Activity nan tree planting activity man an mga taga-Bulan National High School nan an Tau Gamma Fraternity.

NUTRITION AND FOOD:
An ikalima na angkla san HELEN Program mao tabi an programa sa Nutrition and Food.
Ini tabi na programa kabit na sa actibidades nato sa Municipal Agriculture Office sa dahilan na tungkol sa nutrisyon nan pagkaon an ato in-aatenderan.
An MSWDO mao tabi an opisina na nag-aatender san manungod sa Nutrition Program san municipio sa paagi san Municipal Nutrition Council.
San nakaagi na Hulyo, inkondukta nato an sayo na Nutrition Awareness sa mga kabatan-an nan mga magurang durante san selebrasyon san Nutrition month na taun-taon ta inseselebrar.
Sa niyan tabi, aktibo an ato mga Day Care Centers, nan ini inpapadalagan san mga Day Care Workers nato sa kada barangay. Kaupod sa mga pagtukdo didi tabi an pagpadomdom sa mga magurang manungod sa obligasyon nira sa pagkaon san mga kabatan-an ta. An municipio nag-susupervisar niyan sa 1,429 na mga pobre na pre -schoolers, 67 volunteer day care workers sa 57 na day care centers san Bulan.

AN MUNICIPAL SOCIAL WELFARE AND DEVELOPMENT OFFICE:
Maw-ot ko man tukaron didi an iba pa na programa san MSWDO puwera pa san manungod sa Day Care Service.
An MSWDO mao an responsible sa mga programa serbisyo sosyal san municipio. Lima na grupo an inseserbisyuhan sini: An mga Kabatan-an, mga kababayehan, mga may kapansanan, mga kawaraon nan an mga biktima sin kalamidad.
Sa sulod tabi sini na onom kabulan, daghanon na aktibidades an nahimo na san MSWDO kaupod na doon an Parent Efectiveness Service basi madanonan an mga magurang sa tama na parenting o pagpamilya lalo na an mga bataonon pa na mga inasawhan.
Sa sektor san Out-of –School Youths, 143 na mga out-of-school youths hale sa 5 na barangay an napairarom sa Unlad Kabataan Program san DSWD para madanonan sira sin mga self-enhancement activities, pangkabuhayan activities, sulong-dunong education program nan mga leadership trainings and skills.
Sa sector naman san kababayehan o Women Welfare Program, an MSWDO an nagpasilitar sa pa-organisar sin sayo na self-help group sin mga kababayehan na an ngaran KALIPI. May-on na kita naorganisar na 36 na barangays. Sa danon man san MSWDO, lima na na mga KALIPI organizations nakakuwa na sin asistencia pangkabuhayan hale sa DSWD sa kantidad na 475,000 pesos.
Sa mga may kapansanan, naka-asiste man an MSWDO sa mga pa-training pareho sin food preservation nan iba pa na makukuwaan sin pagbuhay. Pito na na miembro sini na grupo an inalalayan san MSWDO sini na nakaagi na mga bulan.
An MSWDO man an nakaprentera sa pag-asikaso nan paggabay sa mga biktima sin pang-abuso sa kabataan nan mga kababayehan . Nakadanon sira sa pagproseso sin 25 na kaso sin pagmaltrato sa babaye na asawa, 1 na kaso sin rape nan 5 na kaso sin economic abuse. Kaupod didi sa mga asistencia an mga referral sa mga abogado, asistencia medikal, nan pinansyal.
An MSWDO man sini na nakaagi na lima kabulan naghatag gabay nan ayuda sa mga nagkakasala na menor de edad. Nag-alalay ini na opisina sa 21 na kaso sin mga menor de edad. Puwera pa soon, 14 na kabatan-an na biktima sin pang-abuso sexual nan pisikal an inatenderan nan in-aatenderan sini na opisina. 2 sini na kaso an nasa husgado na sa niyan. May sayo man na kaso sin rape an nasentensiyahan na.
Ini na Opisina man an nag-aratender, kaupod an ako opisina nan an RHU, PNP, nan iba pa durante sadto na Bagyong Mina. Sira an nagmanehar san Relief Operations Center san municipio basi madanonan an mga nag-evacuate nan mga stranded na pasaheros. 77 na pamilya o 313 katawo nan evacues nan 16 na stranded na pasahero an dinanonan san municipio ta sa paagi san MSWDO. Ini nangyari san Nobyembre 23.
Gusto ko ngay-an tabi ipaisi na an Opisina ko, Opisina san Mayor, nakahatag danon para sa 1,428 katawo na nagkakantidad sin 1,335,406 pesos. Mga pobre ini na mga tawo na nangaipo sin danon pinansiyal. Nakahatag man kita sin 264,662 pesos para sa solicitation sin 128 na mga grupo nan indibidwal.

AN MUNICIPAL DISASTER MANAGEMENT PROGRAM SAN GOBIERNO LOKAL:
Tokaron ko tabi niyan an Municipal Disaster Management Program san municipio.
Sa Report ko na ini, importante na maaraman tabi niyo an manungod sa Municipal Disaster Management Program nato. Mao ini an sayo na programa na maski ngani bihira mangyari kay dire ta man in-aayo, pero dapat permi kita nakaandam sa panahon sin mga peligro nan kalamidad.
An Disaster Management Program dapat nasa lugar na permi bilang pag-antisipar nato sa mga dire dianis na panahon o kamutangan didi sa komunidad ta.
Napatunayan ta gihapon an kakayahan san municipio sa pag responde sa panahon na kaipuhan an municipio san nag-amba ini na insabi na superbagyo na si Mina san Nobyembre 23 hasta 25.
Dire kita nagpabaya. San maaraman ko na may nagdadangadang na makusog na bagyo na posible tamaan an Bikol, Nobyembre 19 pa lang nagpasurat na ako sa entero na miembros san Municipal Disaster Coordinating Council na mag-andam sa posible mangyari.
Nobyembre 21, bag-o pa magpagahoy an Provincial Disaster Coordinating Council, nagpamiting na tabi ako, sa paagi ni Vice Mayor Awel Gogola nan inaktibar na nato ensigida an MDCC nan an mga BDCC. Maogma ako na pinartisiparan ini san mayoriya san Sangguniang Bayan, mga Department Heads, an PNP nan mga organisasyon pareho san Bulan Rescue Team, Uswag Bulan, Beat, Banwa , Kabalikat nan mga Punong Barangay, nan lalo na an mga nasa sector san media, nan radio.
Standard Procedure na tabi san MDCC na pag-signal Number 2, insigida an MDCC dapat magkumperensya lalo na kun nakaamba an mga makusugon na bagyo. Kaya, dahil san miting, inaktibar tulos nato an MDCC Operations Center, Evacuation, Rescue and Relief, Rehabilitation nan iba pa. Naging mahigos man an ato Public Information Office nan an media sa pagdanon na maibalangibog an mga balita tungkol sa bagyo. Naging aktibo an manlaenlaen na grupo sa pagmanaehar sa pagdanon san mga relief nan evacuation centers nato sa Bulan South nan sa iba na barangay. Up –to –date an pagbalita nato sa posisyon san bagyo. Inpreparar nato an mga truck, patrol cars, ambulancia, pati mga first aid nan medical materials engkaso nagtodo an bagyo.
An Bulan kinilala san media sa Sorsogon na sayo sa pinakapreparado na municipio sadto na Bagyong Mina. Pero, mas pasalamat ako na wara nangyari. Mas pasalamat kita sa Mahal na Kagurangnan , sa Mahal na Patrona Inmaculada Concepcion na luminihis an bagyo.
Dahilan sadto na Bagyo,may-on man gihapon sin mga nag-erevacuate sa ato mga Evacuation Centers. 77 na pamilya o 313 katawo, kadaghanan mga kabatana-an an nadanonan ta sa mga evacuation centers. May-on pa sin 16 na pasaheros na tag-Isla an naghulat pa sin tolo kaadlao bag-o nakahale sa evacuation centers.
Dahilan sini na karanasan, gusto ko gihapon na lalo maging masistema an diasater management programs ta. Plano ko na lalo pakay-adon an MDCC nan mga BDCC sa kada barangay, magkaigua sin mga pa-training , lalo pa sa mga bag-o na mga opisyales san mga barangay.

INFRASTRUCTURE SERVICES PROGRAM:
Tokaron ko naman tabi niyan an manungod sa Infrastructure Services Program san municipio. Ini naman indelegar nato sa Municipal Engineering Office.
An Engineering Office nakadanon sa paghimo sin 94 na Program of Works nan Construction budget para sa 48 na barangay san Bulan.
Nakadanon man an saako opisina sa manlaen –laen na barangay infrastructure pareho baga san mga minasunod na proyekto. May mga pondo ini na hale sa municipio o gobierno lokal nato: Danao Barangay Hall na kantidad 180,000 pesos; Daganas Barangay Health Center kantidad 30,000 pesos; Installation of water supply sa Somagongsong, 24,000 pesos; San Isidro water supply, 24,000 pesos; nan an improvement san Sabang Park nan mga traffic installations.
An Plaza Rizal na niyan Freedom Park na pinagayon, pinadako nan pinakodalan ta na sin mayad. Testigos kamo soon tabi. An pondo soon in solicit ko hale kan Gobernadora Sally Lee sa kantidad na 3 million pesos. An Old Municipal Building sa niyan inpaparehabilitar nan repair nato kay basi magamit nato sa Municipal Trial Court, nan posible pag-abot sin panahon maging Heritage and Culture Center and Museum ta.
May naghahapot kun nano kay sinalidahan ta an pangaran sin Plaza Rizal na maging Freedom Park. Sayo pan-o yuon tabi na mando san batas na dapat an mga town plaza o parks maging sentro sin pagpahayag san kaborot-on sin mga ciudadano. Dire man po yuon dako na isyu na dapat ikakolog ta sin boot. Respetado ta man guihapon an memoria san ato herowe nasyonal na si Dr. Rizal, pero mas hararom an kahulugan san pangaran na Freedom Park kay mao man yuon an ipinaglaban san ato padaba na herowe.
Kita niyan sa Sorsogon an sayo sa may pinakamagayon an town plaza. Dapat nato ini ikaogma. Nan ipasalamat kan Governor an danon niya sa ato. Inaayo ko lang an danon san mga kabungto ta na hirutan ini na Plaza.
Nakapatindog na man kita sin bag-o na karneceria o slaughterhouse sa Zona 7. Mabatog ini pag-operate sa maabot na taun . Pag nag-operate na tabi ini na slaughterhouse, an mga karne na intitinda sa relanse mas malinig an pagkakatay. Hininguha ta talaga na maitindog ini na karneceria, maski ngani sa paagi sin utang na 5 million pesos, hale sa Land Bank of the Philippines, dahilan sa lumaonon nan dire na malinig an dati ta na bubuan doon sa Obrero, nan dapat na ini iluwas sa mga matawo na lugar. An Bulan niyan an sayo sa mga bungto san Sorsogon na may magayon , dianis na pasilidad segun sa mga spesipikasyon san National Meat Inspection Service.

HUMAN SETTLEMENTS AND LAND PROGRAM:
Sa lado san Human Settlements nan Land Program, naging aktibo an municipio ta sa pagkoordinar sa mga ahensiyas nasyonal pareho san National Housing Authority o NHA, HUDCC o Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council, nan sa DENR basi madali an pagproseso sin mga public lands na niyan ingagamit na san ato mga kabungto. An dako-dako an papel sa pagdanon sini na mga bagay an Municipal Assessor’s Office o Opisina san Tasador Municipal.
An municipio nag-asiste sa Barangay resettlement project san Brgy Calomagon na may 3 hektaryas nan 210 na benpisyario, nan sa Brgy Somagongsong.
Nag -asiste man kita sa 110 na residentes san Brgy Managa-naga basi ma-isyuhan na sira sin mga Tax Declarations.
Nagdanon man an municipio ta sa trabaho san DENR sa kanira pagpreparar sin Handog Titulo Program na invuelto an 600 hektaryas na public land sa Brgy Quezon nan Sagrada nan an mga ingod didi sa kabubudlan maihatag na sa mga paraoma nan okupantes soon na mga kaingodan.
Importante man tabi na maaraman nato entero na sa niyan indadanonan ta an DENR, DPWH, nan HUDCC sa kanira inhihimo na mga proceso basi yuon na ingod sa Zona 2, Purok Chico nan Purok Lanzones na dati nasunugan, pinalmente na maihatag sa mga residentes doon. May mga proseso ini na aagihan pero madanon an municipio alang-alang sa kapakanan san mga kaurupod ta sa lugar na yuon.
San Disyembre 14, may nangyari na demolisyon sa Zona 2 na invuelto an 12 na pamilya na awaton na naka-estar sa sayo na insasabi pribado na ingod.. Pero dahil sa interbensiyon ko, nan san mga opisyales san Zona 2, nakahuron mi an tagsadire na hatagan plaso ini na mga tawo hasta na makatapos an bag-ong taon. Nangako man an saako opisina na madanon kami sa ananuman na mga puwede ikaayuda sa kanira pagbalyo sin lugar niyan na Enero.

CIVIL REGISTRY:
Sa lado naman tabi san Opisina san Rehistro Sibil, nakarehistro kita sa solod sin 6 kabulan 1,365 na panganak, 104 na pagpakasal nan 226 an binawian sin buhay.
May programa man an Civil Registrar na Mobile Free Registration sa 17 na barangay pareho san Montecalvario, Otavi, N.Roque, San Isidro, Fabrica, Sigad, Quirino, Roxas, Del Pilar, Butag, Bonga, Quezon, San Juan Daan, Abad Santos, Cadandanan, Danao, R. Gerona. Nag recibe ini na opisina sin 702 na aplikasyon para sa late registration o yuon na mga bata na wara pa karehistro san municipio. Danon ini sa mga ciudadano nato basi magamit an papeles nira sa mga maabot na panahon.

PAZ Y ORDEN:
Sa solod sini na onom kabulan nag-report man an saato kapulisan o Philippine National Police na sa lado san Paz y orden, masasabi nato na relatively peaceful an saato bungto. Pero siempre dire didi kaupod an manungod sa report sa lado sin insurhensiya. An intutukan san ato kapulisan an community peace and order.
May nagkapera na insidente sin magub-at na mga krimen pero mga isolated cases ini na dire man apektado an bilog na komunidad. Alagad, ini na mga kaso ensigida na naresolber san PNP.
San Nobyembre, an ato mga kapulisan, nakadakop sin sayo na estudyante, menor de edad , na nag-eescuela sa sayo na dako na public high school didi sa Bulan. Ini na bata nadakopan sin 15 na sachet sin marijuana sa sulod mismo san escuelahan. Nakipagkooperar sa mga pulis nato an mga autoridad soon na escuelahan basi madakop ini na pusher. Positibo an resulta san mga eksaminasyon sa droga nan ini na kaso in-turn-over na sa MSWDO dahil menor de edad an na-invuelto.
Durante san pagkomemorar nato san Pista sa Gadan, trangkilo na nakalipas an Undas na wara ni sayo man na magub-at na insidente. Ini dahilan sa preparasyon san Municipal Peace and Order Council, nan sa danon san PNP, mga opisyales nan tanod san Sta. Remedios, Zona 8, nan San Vicente. Sa halawig na na panahon, batog san maka ingkod an De Castro, naging trangkilo an kada komemorasyon ta san Pista sa Gadan. Mas hangay na san tawo sa Bulan an matoninong na okasyon pareho san Undas.

TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT:
Sayo sa medyo kaipuhan tutukan nato sin pansin ini na Traffic Management san mga sakayan ta didi sa Bulan , lalo na sa Poblacion. Dako na an volume san trapiko sa Bulan kaya nangaipo na kita sin mga sistema na makadanon basi maayos an ato trapiko.
Sini na Octubre, Nobyembre nan Disyembre, inkondukta nato kada Mierkoles nan Biernes an Traffic Safety and Discipline Seminar para sa mga drivers san Traysikol nan Padyak. Katuyuhan sini na paseminar na maging mapagmangno an ato nagpapasada sa Bulan sa disiplina, kaayusan nan road courtesy nan an manungod sa Traffic Code na inpapautob san PNP nan LGU. Sa presente, may-on na tabi kita sin labi 1,300 na rehistrado na traysikol, pa-sangribo na padyak, nan manlaen laen na klase pa sin sakayan.
Plano po nato na sa masunod na taon, mahingayad ta ini na paradahan san mga traysikol sa may relanse, sa palibot soon na mao an centro san pagparada san mga sakayan nato. Kadanon ko sini an Sangguniang Bayan nan Engineering nan Planning Office.
Rerebisahon ta man sa otro taun an Traffic Code kay basi maka-adjust kita dahil sa pagbatog san operasyon san terminal sa Fabrica. Naniwala po kami na kaya ta himuon yadto na Special Zone na inpautob sadto ni Former Mayor Guiming.

BULAN INTEGRATED TERMINAL:
An pinakakontrobersiyal na proyekto san municipio sa irarom san ako administrasyon ini na Bulan Integrated Terminal na inpatindog ta sa Brgy. Fabrica hale sa sayo na loan package sa Land Bank of the Philippines.
An ingod na inbugsukan sini na terminal indonar san pamilya san asawa ko na si Guiming.
Entero an rekisitos, procedimiento nan dapat na mga legal, ekonomikal, sosyal nan teknikal na aspeto, pati na an pag-adal na didi sa Fabrica ibugsok an terminal , inkompli san Municipio, nan naniwala tabi kami na nasa tama an desisyon sini na administrasyon , na intiwalaan niyo na magmanehar san bungto ta, para sa kaayadan san bungto nato, dire lang niyan na panahon kundi pati na sa maabot na panahon o henerasyon. An inhurandigan mi man gihapon an mandato san mayoriya sa iyo san nakaagi na eleksiyon.
Nasasabutan mi kun nano an sentimiento san mga tawo na pulitika lang an tuyo basi raoton an administrasyon sa paagi sin paggamit san isyu sa terminal. Ginamit nira an isyu san terminal basi mahatagan sira sin buwelo na pakaraw-ayan an De Castro, gutob sa mga pamersonal na atake, pagpakaraot nan pagtatsar. Kilala ta man an nahurandig sa mga tunay na isyu, nan kilala ta man kun sin-o sa mga tawo na ini an namulitika lang. Pero, inrespondehan mi yuon na mga pamulitika sa paagi sin disente, sibilisado, resonable na pagsimbag sa mga isyu. Dire kami malusad sa level san kanira mga pagkatawo.
Pero dahil lider ako, nan may mga kaurupod ako na disente nan resonable sa kanira mga desisyon, lalo na an mga kaurupod mi na mga nasa Sangguniang Bayan, papanindugan mi an desisyon na para ini sa kaayadan san bungto ta. Tinagan niyo kami tiwala san nakaagi na eleksiyon na mao an magmanehar san bungto ta, kaya dapat niyo tabi kami tiwalaan sa mga inhihimo ta para sa bungto. Dire namo isusugal an puturo san bungto ta. An tuyo nato an para sa serbisyo nan kaayadan.
Naniwala po ako na maabot an panahon, mapreciar nato entero kun nano kay sa Fabrica nato naipatindog an terminal. May mga tiyempo na kaipuhan ta magsakripisyo muna. May mga tiyempo na kaipuhan ta an magpakumbaba mun-a.
May nabati ako na surmaton sin sayo na lider na ngaya, “ You cannot please everybody. And you must not” May mga desisyon kita na dire naroroyagan o popular sa iba, nan dire man ngani dapat onrahon an entero na karoyagon.
Ini na mga kalaban mi sa pulitika nag-sang-at sin kaso sa Regional Trial Court na paudungon an pag-abri o pag-operate san Terminal , pero dire yuon nangyayari pa. Kaya, an ananuman na isyu legal san terminal nasa korte na tabi. Pero, mala yuon, wara pa kami sin ananuman na balita manungod sa desisyon san korte, pero kun aram lang po niyo, wara pahuway ini na mga kalaban mi sa pulitika sin kahanap sin sala nan butas tungkol sa terminal. Habo na ugang kami magparatungo sini na mga tawo.
Nagbatog na tabi an operasyon san terminal. Inpabendisyunan ta ini san Disyembre 16. Presente man an mga stakeholders san terminal, si Governor Sally nan mga nagkapera na Bokal. May halip-ot nan simple na programa para sa formal opening san terminal.
San Disyembre 17, nagbatog na tabi an operasyon san terminal.
Sa niyan tabi, may-on sin 54 na rehistrado na porters nan baggage boys an terminal. Ini na mga porters an mga dati man mga baggage san mga terminal sa poblacion nan pier. Dire man sira nawaraan sin pagbuhay.
I-oorganisar ta sira kay may-on pa sin idadagdag na mga porters hale sa pier. Mga maboot, disiplinado an kadaghanan, puro nagpapakabuhay. Luway-luway nato inbibisay an sistema na pantay-pantay sira sa pagbuhay, makapakaon san kanira mga pamilya. May mga report pa sin pang-abuso, pero maabot an panahon masasawata ta ini entero. Mga ikatolong semana san Enero, entero na Porters, sa Terminal man o Pier, may ID na nan Uniporme. I-professionalize ta an paghanapbuhay sini na mga pobre ta na mga kabungto.
May 17 kita na accredited peddlers, mga datihan man na paratinda sin mga pasalubong, yuon gihapon sa terminal nagtatarabaho. Dire man sira nawaraan pagbuhay.
An mga paratraysikol, nakapila-pila, wara sin nakalamang, puro man nakinabang sa pagpasada nira sa terminal. Oro-adlaw, sobra singkuwenta na biyahe san traysikol an nahihimo sa terminal. Niyan luway-luway na inhihimo ta an mas organisado nan sistematiko an pagtaya nira nan pagbiyahe, lalo na poblacion-pier. Maabot an panahon, magiging mas trangkilo ini. May mga report pa sin pang-abuso, pero kadaghanan ssan mga paratraysikol mga maboot, masinunod sa patakaran san terminal, puro nagpapakabuhay.
Dowa na bus company an nakadagdag na nag-aplay sin booking sa Bulan, an JVH Transport nan St. Jude. Sabi nira sadto mawawara kuno, Nagdagdag ugang, duwa pa. Bale onse na an bus lines, plus an Queens nan Weenalyn bale 13.
Batog na Disyembre 17 hasta 28, nakapadispatsa na o biyahe kita sin 354 na biyahe san bus, 94 sini an sa Queens nan Weenalyn., paluwas sin Bulan. May nag-abot man na 300 bus na biyahe hale sa Manila. Poco mas o menos 15,000 katawo na an nagluwas- solod sa terminal sa solod lang sin 12 dias.
Mas napaboran an mga jeepney nan van na puro taga-Bulan an tagsadire. Kada adlao, 35 na jeep an naghahapit sa terminal, idagdag pa an 8 na van.
Nakarehistro na kita sin 50 na stranded na pasaheros na may mga dara na bata an iba, pero mas trangkilo sira sa solud san terminal kaysa didto sira sa may pier, maski diin, nan peligroso pa. Mas asikaso pa sira san ato mga terminal employees.
Wara sin hubog o tarantado sa sulod san terminal, kay dire ta yuon tutugutan , nan kay may mga guwardiya nan tanod kita. Malinig permi an CR. Kun may diyo man na kakulangan, dire ini pareho san maski diin ka na lang sa luwas mag CR.
May taga-Danao na nabilin an bag na may 11,000 pesos na kuwarta sa sulod san bag. Nakabalik tabi ini sa tagsadire. May mga gamit na nabilin na hasta niyan yuon pa sa opisina san terminal, puwede i-claim san maninigo na tagsadire. Wara soon maka-claim kundi an tagsadire. Dire ini mangyayari kun wara sin central terminal na puwede reklamohan.
May reklamo an sayo na taga-Dimasalang, natunton nato an tulo katawo, pinapulis nato, sayo na drayber nan duwa na porter, naibalik an sobra na pamasahe nan taripa na insukot sa kaniya.
May ma-15 na taga-Bulan na pinabayaan sin sayo na kompanya san bus, dire in-uli an kuwarta nira, naghimo na kita reklamo sa tagsadire basi ma refund an kanira pamasahe, kay pinabayaan sira sa Atimonan.
Tutuo, may mga abuso pa, may mga panarantado pa sa mga biyaheros lalo na na mga taga-isla nan masbate, pero, inseseguro mi saiyo,maabot an oras, puwersa na hahaleon mi ini na pagtarantado nan pang-abuso kay nakataya an imahe ta.
Niyan na Enero, matakod na kita sin mga ilaw hale sa Pawa Hospital pakadto sa Terminal. Magiging maliwanag na an agihan soon na tinampo.
Sa niyan tabi, nakinegosyar kita sa PPA, PNP, Coastguard, SB nan iba pa na stakeholders basi lalo ma-perfect an sistema sin porterage hale sa nan pakadto sa Terminal.
Naiintindihan ko an kasibutan san iba na makaimod sin pagbabag-o, may mga reklamo o kun nano pa, pero kampante ini na saiyo mayor nan ina san bungto na mabibisay ta entero , in due time, the soonest possible time.
An Bulan Terminal nan Slaughterhouse dire man tabi profit-oriented o tuyo na makaganansiya o maka-income an municipio. Sala tabi yuon na impresyon. An terminal, service-oriented, tuyo na makaserbisyo sa tawo. Tutuo, may sakripisyo an nagkapera sa ato, pero maabot an panahon na maapreciar nato ini na pasilidad, pareho san sinabi ko kanina.

AN SANGGUNIANG BAYAN:
Niyan man tabi gusto hatagan rekognisyon an Sangguniang Bayan sa kanira suporta sa administrasyon ko. Ini sa pamumuno ni Vice-Mayor Awel Gogola. Dahil sa suporta nan kolaborasyon nira tabi, lalo napapadali an mga mehoras panglehislasyon.
Sini na nakaagi na onom kabulan, batog san magsumpa an mga bag-o ta na mga miembros san Sangguniang Bayan, daghanon na na mga importante na lehislasyon, sa paagi sin mga resolusyon nan ordenansa, an naipasa san Konseho. An mga importante na Ordenansa na naipasar na san SB an Municipal Slaughterhouse Ordinance, Bulan Integrated Terminal Ordinance, nan an Municipal Investment Incentives Code.

PILOSOPIYA POLITIKAL SAN ADMINISTRASYON:
Duro desde pa tabi, batog san mahatagan sin kumpiansa an De Castro na mao an mag-administrar san bungto, permi nasa isip nan puso namo an pagserbisyo para sa mga taga-Bulan. Maski an mga ninuno mi san panahon mao na talaga an nakatalaga sa kanira palad na magdanon nan magserbisyo.
Ini na pagdanon lalo namo nahahatagan sin kahulugan sa paagi sin mandato niyo sa amo basi maging lider san bungto. Sa paagi sini na mandato lalo narerealisar an mga pangaturugan mi para sa bungto ta.
An kaayadan niyo, mga kabubungto mi, obligasyon mi tabi. Surugoon kami san komunidad. Nan pakumbaba tabi sa pagserbi sa iyo. Pero, bilang lider, nanindugan kami segun sa pagtubod mi na mao an dapat himuon para sa ato entero. Bilang lider, tuon mi an saamo dughan nan ulo basi marespeto an dignidad san Opisina nan Autoridad na intiwala niyo sa amo, pero nababa kami kun kaayadan nato an nakataya. Nababa kami kun pagserbisyo an dapat himuon. Dire kami nakilala sin kolor pulitika sa entero na narani sa opisina san Mayor. Kay an Opisina ko para sa entero, para sa kada Bulanenyo.

KONKLUSYON:
Sa pag-abot tabi san Bag-ong Taon 2008, asahan tabi niyo na lalo mi papakay-adon an pagserbisyo sa iyo, sa ato komunidad.
Inpapangadyi ko tabi bilang sayo na ina, an kaayadan nato entero. Inpapangadyi ko na dire kita mawaraan pag-asa, nan inpapangadyi ko tabi na punuon kirita sin biyaya, maski bagaman dire materyal kundi spiritual. Inpapangadyi ko na punuon kita sin pag-asa, nan pakisumayo, nan kaayadan san puso.
An kada pagbabag-o sin taon panahon sin pag-asa, nan panibag-o na paghinguha.
An kada Bag-ong Taon maging dalan lugod sin pagbabag-o sa sadire, sa pamilya , sa komunidad para sa kaayadan o lalo na kaayadan.
Maw-ot ko po an pag-unhan nato entero.
Salamatonon tabi sa atensiyon niyo sini na inhatod ko na Report.
Dios mabalos tabi. Ini an saiyo lingkod, an saiyo mayor nan ina, minagalang po ako sa iyo, Helen De Castro.

When Money Is Not Everything

By: Dora The Mouse

 

When I was a child growing up, I’ve seen poverty and misery at a very young age. I experienced hunger and deprivation like everybody else around my neighborhood.  Those were the years when one can not really comprehend what poverty really like until you experienced it.  When it rains, it poured rain into my house. When I was cold , there was no sweater to keep me warm. When I was hungry, there was no food to eat . When I was sick, there was no medicine to ease my pain. My grandmother will kill a chicken to see what is inside the chicken and diagnose my illness. When I go to school, there was no breakfast to nourish my brain.  When I go home from school, there was no food on the table. When I go to church, I did not have  shoes on my feet. I go barefooted. One time, my  late father bought me a pair of shoes three sizes more than the size of my feet. I cried and told him that the shoes are too big for me. He told me to put some old newspaper inside and it will fit me. He told me that my feet will grow into it.  Three years later, my feet really grew into it and I stop putting newspaper inside my shoes. When I cry for help, there was nobody there to help because everybody was helpless too.   Years later, when I was 10 years old , we still suffer from hunger . My cousin and I will sit under a mango tree after a day’s work in the rice field talking about our aspirations in life.  Everybody wants to be rich like what we see in the movies. We dreamed about driving beautiful cars, big houses and pretty dresses with matching shoes, all the candies and chocolates we can buy. It was fun to dream big dreams but can I  really  do it in real life? Everybody just shrugged it off because we were poor and can not even afford to go to  high school  how much more in college.  As a ten year old kid, I thought, life was a daily struggle to survive. How much more going to college and fulfill my dreams.  It was a big dream for a ten year old kid. I didn’t have a clue how and where to start. But our poverty and the hardships I went through while growing up gave me a very good lesson in life that I carried through out my adult life. It gave me inspirations to work hard, set a goal and go for.   DO NOT GIVE UP! My late father said. Life is like a wheel sometimes you are up there and sometimes you are down here.  Right now we are down here poor and struggling.  Try and work hard.  Whether you succeed or failed at least you tried than not trying at all.  In other words, give your best shot and go for it in full throttle.

Many years later, I reached the age wherein I was ready to tackle whatever is in the future for me. I work hard, I mean, really  hard. You can imagine, working during the day and go to school at night. No vacation, no outing like any  other young adult does. I was stubborn like a tiger and nothing can stop me to reach and attain the goal I set for myself.  A few years later, I finished college and work hard until I   reach the very top of the ladder. I have a good position at work, earned good money, bought anything money can buy, like my dreams with my cousins when we were young and sitting under the mango tree.  Bought the latest sport car,  went to the best restaurant in town and bought the latest designer clothes with matching bags and all. Took care of my relatives and made their lives more comfortable but I still wasn’t happy. The material things that surround me were a temporary pleasure. There was something missing in my life that I tried to search and understand.  I tried to be spiritual and search my heart and my soul. What is it? I was  restless, searching aimlessly, where is happiness? My heart is empty of that inner contentment and peace.  I HAVE EVERYTHING MONEY CAN BUY, BUT IN ACTUALITY I HAVE NOTHING. 

MY SEARCH FOR HAPPINESS.   I traveled and went to far places to search for that elusive HAPPINESS. It was a lonely road. I’ve seen poor people on the sidewalk begging for food, a mother with a child in her arms sitting and trying to breastfeed her child but the child continued to cry. I know that the woman probably does not have enough milk. She herself looks emaciated and hungry. I’ve seen little Nipa  Huts with holes on the roof like we used to have many years ago. I saw this man age 35 years old but look 55 because of long years of carrying heavy gravel by the sack. I’ve visited a local elementary school and the old Principal told me that the children fetch their drinking water from the river nearby and asked me if I could donate a water pump.  I promised him that I will donate a water pump . I spoke to one of the school children  that caught my attention for he was very quiet in the corner.  Asked him if he ate his  breakfast, and he replied, there is nothing to eat but I  still go to school. This reminds  me of long ago when I was his age going to school hungry.  I told him maybe he will have lunch and he replied, if there is any food. What if there is no food, I asked, then I go to sleep. Why sleep? Why not play? I don’t have the energy to play. By the time I finished my interview with him, I was the one crying and the little boy was just looking at me with bewilderment in his eyes.  I’ve visited a local hospital in Pawa( Gotladera Memorial Hospital)  and saw the plight of the patients waiting for help. If they don’t have the money to buy the medicine and medical supplies that was prescribed, then , I guess, they will  just go home without any relief of his/her ailment. I encountered a  very old man walking along side the road, limping and in agony. He told me that he has “rayuma” but can not afford to buy the medicine for pain. Apparently, his children a son and a daughter both died a long time ago. There is nobody there to help him in his old age.  He makes his living by planting camote and camoting kahoy but his rayuma is getting worse now. He is worried what will happen with him when he can no longer get out of the house to work. I looked at him in his eyes, he was crying. I held his old wrinkled  hands and whispered  to him, Help will come soon and  left with a heavy heart. When I reached my house, I send him some rice and medicine for pain.

Why? why all these poverty?  What is the government doing ? Where are our leaders? It had been twenty years since I left my barrio. I did not see any progress. Nothing.  I saw the same people that I used to play with years ago, the sign of hardship in life was very visible. Their sad look in their eyes, the several lines in their brows and faces, the missing teeth for lack of dental care, the emaciated look, the hardened hands from years of  working in the field. These were my friends and when I saw them, I feel very sad.  The government has to do something and do it NOW!

 THE SEARCH FOR HAPPINES IS OVER. After a long search for that inner peace and contentment that I was missing in my life, I finally found it. It was right here in my heart  all along.   The poverty and hunger I went through when I was a child was the driving force to seek the reasons of my restlessness and unhappiness. I want to know why? All the successes that I gained and the honors I was bestowed from my dedication at my work was just a piece of paper. My heart was still empty. I felt like a restless soul, searching, wandering aimlessly in the open field, where all I can see was vast space of empty fertile land with no grass growing, it was like my life, empty and hollow. From the lonely path I was traversing ,  I finally found the happiness I desperately sought.  It was the  realization that YOU CAN NOT BUY HAPPINESS AND  MONEY IS NOT EVERYTHING.

WHAT MONEY CAN DO.  I finally found the happiness, contentment and peace I had been looking for. It was my unfulfilled passionate desire to do something to alleviate the sufferings of the poor people that I love. I used to be one of them.  but I didn’t know how and  where to start.  It didn’t dawn to me until I talked to this elementary school boy with those big brown sad eyes. It reminded me of the time when I was his age, hungry and poor. It’s when I saw the old man limping along the road. The young man with a sack of gravel (graba).  I embarked on a mission to help the poor and never expected in my wildest dream that the respond was a tremendous success.

So, what is it? It’s been there for many years and had been serving the poor people for a long time. Maybe it already served some of you but you don’t know who is behind the scene for I don’t seek glory or praise. I am just happy and contented doing it and thankful to God for  guiding me find my niche and  giving me the courage and wisdom to do my mission in my small humble way. 

  I dedicate this article to my late father who taught me the power of pray, love, compassion, humility, hard work and never give up. 

                                                                                          Dora the Mouse

Poignant Memories of the Distant Past

Our Land Of Paradise

By: Tiger Of Serengeti

 

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               

Once upon a time, many decades ago, there were these beautiful islands sitting in the middle of the vast blue ocean on the other side of the world undisturbed of its beauty. It was like a paradise. It was indeed beautiful with its lush green forest, rivers and springs flowing with fresh cool crystal clear water from the mountains, wild birds with all sorts of colors fly freely, the thundering sweet calls of the Kalaw birds, abundance of colorful fish in the Coral Sea, the tamaraw and other native animals roam the virgin forest undisturbed by humans. The native people that lived in these islands took care of this country like a delicate maiden protected and unspoiled. They built the rice terraces, not only to plant rice, an engineering marvel, but to protect and enhance the natural beauty of the landscape. They harvested trees to build their homes, but were also careful not to spoil the habitat of the native animals that lives around them. They were very aware that ecological balance has to be maintained and considered to preserve the environment they live in.  These people were uncorrupted by greediness. They live in harmony with nature. The Aetas, the Ifugaos, the Igorots, and other native tribes lived in this beautiful land long before this country was called the Philippines. The native people had taken care of this land with the best of their ability as dictated by their beliefs and conscience. Their peaceful co-existence with other tribes  were  shattered forever by  the arrival of the Europeans, Chinese, Dutch, Indians, Malaysians, Japanese, Americans, etc. and out  of these groups of foreigners, came the modern Filipino of today. I can not call the Aetas, The Ifugaos, the Igorots and other native tribes “Filipinos” because they were already here long before the country was named Philippines in honor of King Philip 11 of Spain. I will call them the natives of the “Pearl of the Orient Sea ” and I am proud of them. These people maintained their identity and never waivered to foreign pressures to change their customs, traditions and beliefs. The native tribes were driven to the mountains by the onslaught of foreign conquest. The once virgin forest where the tamaraws freely roam was inundated of  its timbers by greedy Spanish conquestadores in connivance with Filipino politicians whose main concerns was to enrich themselves regardless of the consequences it will create. ( I happened to come across an old atlas book.  Philippine was listed as the 4th largest exporter of lumber in the world as of 1944. ) Where are the Tamaraws now? They only exist now in drawings and in pictures. What happened with our beautiful Kalaw birds and other native birds that live in the once virgin forest? Sadly, those beautiful birds were on the verge of extinction. Their natural habitats were destroyed by callous disregard of our environment by our corrupt leaders. Our leaders of the government allowed the greedy businessmen to harvest our timbers for money.  Now our mountains were denuded of lush green timbers. The head of our government did not even give a thought of replanting trees to replace what was harvested. There was nobody there to speak up and voice their concern about unabated destruction of our environment. I am sure the great majority of the masses saw these destructions of the environment around them but too timid or afraid to voice their revulsions or could it be apathy?  The denuded mountains are now growing cogon. Massive landslides destroyed homes and unprecedented death and destructions as a result of indiscriminate deforestations of our mountains.  The natural topography of our plains, hills and mountains were artificially redirected and re-routed to fit our modern needs. As a result of this interference with nature’s natural curvature of our landscapes, massive flooding occurs and no one can stop the fury of nature. Our rivers were once flowing with crystal clear water, is now murky, muddy, smelly, stagnant because of piles of garbage.  It became the raw sewage disposal place, mosquito infested, polluted and indeed a very, very sad river (see the river just below R.G de Castro College) Our rice fields was once fertile and a haven for native Hito (black catfish) and dalag that borrows itself in the mud during dry season and comes out from hibernation during rainy season fills our rice paddies. My mother told me how joyful it was to see them jumping, squiggling in the mud during rice planting season. How nature preserve these wonderful fish for us to appreciate. But all of these things are slowly disappearing with the introductions of chemical fertilizers, imported snails not even edible for human consumption, and imported Taiwanese catfish that devoured our native catfish. This is indeed very sad because this catfish (Hito) existed long before the modern human were here.  Our ocean became our garbage dump. Beautiful corals that once thrive in our shores are now slowly dying from pollution and careless scrapping of the corals by illegal fishermen from Taiwan with their big trawlers. We used to have abundance of tropical fish for our consumption and for the future generations to come, but with the insensitive disregard of our country’s rules and regulations for fishing by foreign fishermen, our corals are slowly being  destroyed and so the natural habitat of our endangered marine species. Our beaches that once were clear and the pride of our ancestors are now full of debris and broken glasses scattered around. You have to be very careful where to walk. You might step on human waste or dog’s droppings. We used to have mild weather; natural plants like abaca, rattan, coconut grow very well with the kind of weather we used to have. But when people   relentlessly harvested the trees for lumber and for other purposes without replacing it, our weather changed. It is no longer the kind of weather conducive to growth of our native plants. Our weather is hotter, dryer, less rain. These are all the catastrophic results of callously disregarding the ecological balance and environmental protection of our God given paradise land. I can’t help but reflects the POIGNANT MEMORIES OF THE DISTANT PAST of this land we call home. It was a home where we can breathe fresh air, drink crystal clear water from the rivers, the soft rustling sound of the streams, the croaking of the frogs like a concerto in C minor come rainy days, the singing of the birds in the early morning sun as if rejoicing the new day, the sweet smell of the grass after the rain, the smiling people coming home from harvesting rice, proud for collecting sacks of rice for his day’s work. It was a simple life and happy. What did we do to our land? Why did we not protect our natural resources? It was GREED, GREED, and GREED by our leaders and politicians. These politicians and leaders don’t care what happen with us and our environment. We can make a big difference by starting to be aware of our surroundings NOW. Start planting trees even one tree per family a month by the end of the year, we already had planted a thousand trees; don’t throw your garbage in the ocean, beaches or the rivers. Bury the biodegradable and recycle the reusable. Don’t use our rivers as your raw sewage disposal. It creates diseases and mosquitoes will thrive in it. Look at what happened with our very own river in Bulan. It is now a dying river and it makes me very, very sad. Plant assorted vegetables in your backyard.  Fresh vegetables are healthier than junk food. TEACH the youth to TAKE CHARGE OF THEIR OWN DESTINY; don’t expect other people to do it for you. Don’t be DEPENDENT. It is a crippling disease and takes away your dignity as a person. Teach the present and future generations to care for the animals, birds and other living species.  They are very precious to me. They have the right to live in this world too and they are part of our eco-system.  Teach them to express their thoughts and feelings in a positive way and to be open minded to positive criticism. Take pride in your work. When you work, give your 100% effort. You will feel better when you are honest with yourself.  At the end of the day, you can honestly say that you earned every centavo you made that day. It is a good feeling. For once in your life, you were honest and didn’t cheat.   IT IS YOUR LIFE AND FUTURE. Take away that ugly Filipino character of ( ma-isip, ma-o-ri, orihon, tamad, the bahala na attitude, do it tomorrow attitude, ENVY , DEPENDENCY to others will cripple your ability to survive out there in the real world. Shape your own future by working on it, not depending on others to shape it for you.  Be HONEST, take responsibility of your own mistake by accepting it, correct it, and apologize. Don’t indulge in FALSE PRIDE, it will just ruin you.  ARROGANCE is just an egotistical desire for power and dominance. We can not afford it. We are too poor for that kind of attitude and will bring you nowhere but down. GOSSIPING about other people to elevate oneself plagued the minds of the people for a long time. This kind of thinking is very destructive and it hinders progress. Let us CHANGE some of those ugly characters of the Filipino that is PULLING US DOWN TO CONSTANT POVERTY.  Keep the good traits, trash the ugly ones. We have to teach present and future generations to change this kind of mentality. We have to erase it. We have to start NOW or our country will be devoured by foreigners whose intentions are to take advantage of the plight of the poor people. They already started by building their shipyard in Zambales without regards to the destruction of our forest and natural habitat of our endangered birds and animal species. The Koreans, the Chinese, the Hindus, the Japanese, the Taiwanese, pretty soon, it will be the Vietnamese are coming in droves. They are looking, prodding, calculating, conniving with our leaders, planning, exploring, the possibility of taking over the Philippine’s natural resources, gold mining, oil explorations in the Spratly Islands, the destructions  of our sea shores from  mining of margaha right in front of our very own eyes  but people seem to be indifferent.  Is this what happened many, many years ago when our environment was being destroyed by greedy politicians and nobody was there to voice their concern?  It is sad to say that HISTORY SEEMS TO BE REPEATING ITSELF because of the total indifference of the people. I did not see anybody carrying placards saying “STOP THE DESTRUCTION OF OUR ENVIRONMENT”! About the government projects involving millions of dollars, these countries claimed that they donated millions of dollars on the pretext of helping the Philippines build the roads and other proposed projects to benefit the people. The monies they gave are not to build government projects. It goes to the pockets of our leaders as largesse.  Our leaders are selling our country to the foreigners and were given a free reign to do anything they want in this country. The Korean company Hanjin knows exactly what they were doing. They will not invest billions of dollars in those massive projects and walk away. There will be exposures of bribery, corruptions, overpricing of materials, cooking the book, so they say. No matter how our people complained about the destruction of our forest, our leaders will give in to the Hanjin Company’s demand. They are arrogant and don’t respect our Filipino leaders because they know that our leaders are corrupt and can be bought and were already bought. Few years from now, we will be again the slave of foreign domination. This time we are losing our country to foreign domination by way of subtle economic exploitations.  Our ancestors sacrificed thousands of lives defending our country (We lost 2 uncles, grandfather from World War 11.) but we won the war. This time, it is a different war. A war dominated by economic exploitations of our natural resources by the foreigners in conjunction with our elected leaders of our government.  Our very own government is selling off our country to the highest bidder for their own benefits. It is dastardly sickening to see what is happening to our once paradise land. But we can save our country from foreign domination by working   together as a team. We have to be assertive and take control of the situation. Don’t let the situations control us. It will be a long haul but we can do it.      

 

Email: tigerofserengeti@gmail.com

             

The Pen or The Sword?

The perennial question involving  pen and sword: Which is mightier? Well, you have read atty. benji’s exposition about this matter in his article “badil vs. tabil“. As of now I’m inclined to say that both of them could be  useless or mighty, depending on ( or relative to ) time, place and circumstances and above all to the person  holding the pen or the sword. Let’s try first to put things in proper perspective. Let’s start with the last one- the person. The person is the most important element in this equation for he is the one that puts either the pen or sword in action. Without him both pen and sword are useless or neutral. The person defines the usage of both, i.e, depending on his motives so the usage. Either for defense or attack, to protect or to insult (pen), cut or kill (sword). Next, the person determines the quality of results, i.e., intelligence and training (background) influence the quality of the result. A genius can produce out of a cheap pen an immortal poem or create a complex mathematical equation, an excellently trained samurai defeats ten swordsmen of inferior training. Not to insult, but a pen is useless in the hands of an idiot ( mentally retarded) so as the sword in the “hands” of a totally crippled man (physically disabled). Now the two in relation to time. In times of peace, the pen is mightier than the sword, or better, the pen is used more than the sword, whereas in times of actual war or combat or immediate danger, the sword is mightier than the pen in the sense that it is the right tool for the moment. But the way the events of war or whatever social turmoil during or  thereafter are recorded by the pen could make a whole world of difference.

 A history that is manipulated can mislead generations, affect their perception, thus, their collective identity positively or negatively. In our time, the meaning of both is relative to the place. In the Philippines or Zimbabwe, for instance, or in other places where democracy is flawed or no democracy at all, the sword is the actual tool that’s employed. By contrast, in  Switzerland or Sweden for instance, or in other places where democracy lives to the fullest, the pen is the actual tool used the most. In such places, whoever resorts to the sword is an outcast and primitive and is immediately removed from the society, i.e. tried and imprisoned, no exception or special treatment, president or janitor. The sword in such places is therefore  primarily  used to protect democracy, to reinforce law and order or to protect internal security from terrorism and the national borders from outward invasions, but never to influence another by force ( intimidation ) or to attack another country. In other words reason rules as opposed to brute force. In Zimbabwe or the Philippines (especially during elections), the sword, not the pen rules. In other words, brute force ( power, money, ) rules as opposed to reason.

This is really the only small difference yet this is what separates light years away the first world from the third world countries, a categorization we dislike but has its justification for it’s a matter of conscious choice, of being able to learn lessons from the past (some countries have difficulty drawing lessons from the past; they keep on repeating the same mistakes, thus, they hardly move forward ) , that the first world countries are now harvesting the fruits of their hard work and good decision ( and not just a matter of fortune or favorable historical events. Switzerland had also suffered from wars and internal strifes and just over a hundred years ago, it is one of the poorest nations in Europe)- that of laying down the sword but instead use more the pen to deal with one another. This is the birth of democracy and of teamwork and progress. The sword cuts and divides, whereas the pen allows exchange of ideas. In the Philippines, swords are there not primarily to reinforce the written law and the first three pillars of justice-  Investigation (Police), Prosecution, Courts, but to violate them or render them ineffective ( we all know those election-related violence, for instance, where the police are reduced to lame ducks or how our presidents are using the armed forces of the Philippines to reinforce their unlawful, vested self-interests like the martial law by Marcos or Arroyo’s declaration of state of emergency in February 2006 ). Hence, the sword ( power, connection, money ) is the law, not the pen ( justice, truth,  democracy), in our country. There, as in Zimbabwe, one can rightly say that the sword is mightier than the pen. In Switzerland or Sweden, the pen is mightier than the sword.

 Now we have seen that this famous saying “the pen is mightier than the sword”, noble as it is, nor its inversion, “The sword is mightier than the pen”, self-evident as it is, cannot be generalized for it is relative to the setting of time, place and circumstance and the person (society). It was 1839, in Act II of his play Richelieu where Edward Bulwer-lytton used this saying thru his play character Cardinal Richelieu when he challenged  the monk Joseph who contrived a plot against him by saying “Beneath the rule of men entirely great, the pen is mightier than the sword”, for as a priest he couldn’t challenge him to physical fight.

This brings us now to Jose Rizal who was an adept sword athlete  himself yet was known for his statement “My Pen, The Only Tool I Had”. It was his pen, not his sword, that catalyzed the revolution at that time, it was his pen that moved the sword, it was his pen that put another hero into the limelight- Andres Bonifacio, the warrior armed with the sword! Indeed, the pen mightier than the sword? Or Rizal over Bonifacio? Now, we have entered the most debated issue in our nation: Who deserves to be our national hero, Rizal or Bonifacio? Well, as I have observed then and lately ( see Bik-Lish ) scholars and laymen alike have practically exhausted their minds in trying to answer this question. For me the reason for all these headaches is simple: The question is wrong and so was the answer. Put into proper perspective, history needed both Rizal and Bonifacio for the revolution to be initiated and culminated. Thus, seen against the background of revolution, both Rizal and Bonifacio were justified to be called our national heroes,  which means that both of them deserve to symbolize those men and women who took part in the revolution -the Rizal or Bonifacio way, or, the pen or the sword method, thus catalysing the end of Spanish regime. In short, the revolution made use of both tools, the pen and the sword fighting side by side, all the way till victory. ( Revolution must not be confused with immediate danger to life and limb as they occur in daily life, thus necessitates the sword as the right tool only. Revolution is a social unrest over an extended period of time where pen and swords find their moments of use ). Rizal ( the pen, the idea ) alone would not have realized the revolution, and so Bonifacio (the sword, the action), which tells us clearly that both principles were needed for the complete reality of revolution to assume shape.

 Rizal and Bonifacio, the two sides of the revolution. This is the way I see it. A revolution cannot be one-sided, as any reality. This myopic, one-sided thinking was a mistake for it has misled us. It divided us, the strategy , I suppose,  used by the American colonizers intelligently by sponsoring (favoring) Rizal as the national hero, thereby relegating Bonifacio, Mabini, and all the rests into the background and forcing and limiting our mind for decades to think only in one direction, one sided, as opposed to a holistic perception of our Filipino reality. The effect was devastating for it produced doubts in us. There are many among us Filipinos of today who still are victims of this “colonial mentality”, who still harbor doubts within themselves and who are still either “in favor ” of or “not in favor ” of , pro or contra Rizal or Bonifacio. This is sad for they debate on the wrong question suggested in  their subconscious by the subsequent colonizers. Psychologically we remain with  respect to this issue a divided nation of Rizalists and Bonifacians, which means colonization still has us in its grips.

We must free ourselves from this mental bondage by redefining what a hero is in our modern Filipino understanding in relation to our present goal of achieving a progressive nation, our fight against poverty and corruption, in our attempt to treat our sick nation. In truth, today we need both Rizal and Bonifacio to guide us, the idea (pen) and the action (the sword), to revolutionize our moral make up for our nation to progress. Simply put, let’s broaden our horizon and avoid playing Rizal and Bonifacio against each other for it is a waste of time, mental energy and above all an insult to these two great historical figures. For sure Rizal, if alive today, would not agree with the idea of being the national hero himself, he would refuse it, and would have a totally different answer. And Bonifacio? Although he disdained his personal hero Rizal towards the end, I still believe that he would refuse to be the national hero were he alive today and offered this honor.  We only invented this debate to repress our own doubts about ourselves.

Both Rizal and Bonifacio were true to their own personal methods of approaching a problem- and of expressing their patriotism-  till the very end. Opposing methods as they appeared to be in surface ( Rizal at that moment in time being against the revolution and Bonifacio being in favor of the revolution ), in reality, i.e., seen in totality, history needed both of them to provide us a story and a reality distinctly Filipino. And it functioned! Only that we were taught to interpret our history the wrong way- and we failed to examine what had been taught to us. That’s the effect of the mighty pen used against us- it has misled us for decades even until now.

This is the way I see it. You may disagree which means you have your own way of seeing it. And that’s good like that. This is reality. Never one-sided.

jun asuncion

Bulan Observer

“An Kaayadan niyo, Obligasyon mi”

( Your Welfare Is Our Concern )

By: Office Of The Mayor- Bulan

( Here is a message from the Office Of the Mayor -Bulan for all readers of Bulan Observer, for all Tagabulans in Bulan and abroad and for all Bicolanos alike who care about and are interested in  the developments in Bulan. We are more than glad to be able to receive such a message for it completes our concept of democratic debate and brings us closer to our common goal of achieving a democratic, intelligent and progressive society of Bulan. I know that it is only by working together that we can achieve a brighter Bulan, a better future for these beautiful children above. The road to progress is not made shorter through this letter from the Office of the Mayor but it has widened it for all TagaBulans, irrespective of political ideas, to fit all together as we walk towards a modern and progressive Bulan. I know that democracy is the only way to a progress that suits the psychology of man for I have been living for decades in such a city where democracy is being practised in all levels of human interactions. The result? It’s again chosen last week as the best city in the world, in fact for several times already. Not that these people are more industrious and intelligent than we are but that they have recognized  long ago the necessity to work together and respect one another in order to survive. They did not only survive, they became the best. It is interesting to observe that foreigners in Zürich, no matter from which country they come from, with whatever religion, bring out their best right on their day one in Zürich and shortly thereafter contribute to the progress of Zürich. This is the wonderful effect of being respected, this is the positive effect of democracy. This is reality for me being in Zürich, but a big dream of mine for our beautiful hometown of Bulan.

Again, thank you for your letter. This letter will stand here in front for a few weeks to give chance to others to discover, read and reply. My Greetings To All Bulaneños!

For A Brighter Bulan! ———jun asuncion Bulan Observer  )

—————————–

Office Of The Mayor- Bulan

 

June 16, 2008

Greetings to all who are reading this site!

We say peace and goodwill to all.

First, we would like to extend our congratulation to Jun Asuncion for creating this blog. Despite the fact that he is quite a distance from Bulan due to his residency in Europe, we believe his heart is still in his hometown bulan. Nobody can deny the fact that indeed there is no place like home. And we are proud in Bulan for people like Jun who are doing their best and they carry the name
of Bulan with them.

First, we would like to inform Jun and his readers that we have been visiting your site, and we have read the various comments and viewpoints especially those coming from our own townfolks. In a democratic society like ours, everybody is free to do so provided that they do not trounce upon the dignity of the person they so wish to comment on. All of us are human and we can feel the pain and hurt at the aspersions cast upon us. Public servants that we are though we take this seriously so that if change be for the better, so be it. However, we believe some of the comments are already personal attacks in nature, and from some other persons, too much with a partisan tone. That is quite understandable. But we think the readers should be analytical and reflective enough to distinguish what bias or prejudice or comments are to be believed or not. We think many of us naman are level-minded, just and fair in our reasoning, and can be counted upon when we come to decisions and conclusions. Especially us Bulanenos.

Second, we would like to disown that blogger who commented about our political leaders, the great late Mayor Adonis Asuncion, your grandfather , who had done so much for our town, especially at a time we needed most our leaders during the Japanese Occupation. He was a hero to us. And truly, nobody can compare what that great old man had done and with our present crop of leaders. Similarly, the Geronas, De Veras, the Galiases, the Granados, the Gotladeras and the De Castros had/have their own share in contributing, as leaders, to the growth and nurturing of Bulan as a Community. We all owe it to our ancestors and to each of us Bulanenos. Pero, in fairness also to that blogger who commented in our favor, dire mo man seguro tabi siya mababasol kay naimod niya an tunay nan tutoo na situasyon.

One blogger was right in commenting that hopefully, this site will not be a “hate site”, but instead a venue especially for Bulanenos to bring out their minds and their hearts. And hopefully again, not as a site where insults are hurled simply because of political partisanship. As you well know, we can be so engaged in political biases to the point that politicians who lose in elections can use this site to advance their sourgraping and so forth and so on. Not that it is bad, but sometimes people can be misled and be misguided. Just look at how much lies are being perpetrated through the internet in relation to the Bulan Integrated Terminal. Much is being published about this transport terminal but all of it are lies! And we cannot just take it sitting down. However, we have the courts to speak for us. And just look at what the Court decided.

Much has been published in the internet, again, about the Terminal, even about the amount with which it was loaned. Many are exaggerations, many are lies. Our political leaders, who were given the electoral mandate to run the affairs of the local government are honest, sincere, and sensible officials who know well their responsibilities to the people of Bulan. I know this kind of concern may generate and raise further issues. And we are very much ready to face those issues. However, we can guarantee our Bulan citizens both here and abroad that what ever we in the Local Government Unit conceptualize and actualize, we mean and do it for the sake of the general welfare. Question this if you may, but we stand by what we say.

We are peeved, but not pained, not even insulted, by one particular person in Bulan who had been a pain in the neck, if you may allow us, for the sake of expression, because he had, for so many years now been throwing mud at us, in the guise that he is doing so for a better Bulan, is baloney. Using the internet now as a venue. The truth is, for so many elections now, people in Bulan have never liked them. They were always election losers. In one election, they never won even in their own barangay and precinct. So this is their only way for them to get even, the radio, the internet, the print. What do you expect from them? Good or bad opinions about us? You decide tabi.

As a matter of course, we are publishing this also to air our side.

Since the assumption of the De Castros, much change has come to Bulan. To those who are abroad, come and visit us. Even Mr. Guyala is benefitting from everything good that Bulan has to offer. He has taken a convenient and confortable seat at the Bulan Terminal when he went to Manila. He has gone to Sabang Park many times during his leisure time. He enjoyed in so many programs sponsored by the Local Government Unit. During election campaigns, he rode through so many farm to market roads opened and maintained by the local government unit, all courtesy of an administration that has the people in its heart. And more importantly, we collect his thrash almost daily and religiously and have this thrash properly disposed in what is now the Bulan Eco PArk. We do not distinguish friend or foe in politics, we serve because it is our call, it is a mandate. Can’t our most vitriolic critics not look the other way around, at things more positive happening in our town? It is sad, if some Bulanenos, because of being partisan, speak as if Bulan is hell all because of an elected administration. That is not fair and just. And it is a lie. While we admit that we are not perfect, may we know who is? Then let them cast the first stone. Why not look the other way around also? at things positive happening in Bulan.

The basic idea of governance by this administration is anchored on service and general welfare. Maybe the Guyalas will have their own too if the time comes for the people to let them. But for now we beg of cooperation and solidarity. If indeed, things like questions on the legality and validity of the terminal or the abattoir or the municipal programs are there, let it be resolved in court. SINCE WE ARE A DEMOCRATIC SOCIETY. We are a society for free and dignified expression and not of demagoguery. Let our views be heard during election time, and may we also answer those comments here that vote buying in Bulan in election time is massive. INSULTO YUON SA ATO NA MGA TAGA-BULAN. The people decide who their leaders are. True , we deserve the government that we elect. But in Bulan, we believe we have done our part faithfully in accordance to the mandate given us, that we have served well.

Maybe, we shall rest here. And we again invite Jun and many more who are abroad, to come to Bulan, talk to our leaders, talk to our people , see what’s going on. We likewise give our highest salute to Jun’s family, the Asuncions, whose family contributed so much to Bulan, leaders, doctors, educators and plain good citizens who cherish this old, beautiful and faithful town.

From our side, we wish all Bulaneneos prosperity and goodwill. We know the times are harsh and difficult, but here your leaders are doing their best so that the ideals we have for all  be realized. During our campaign we called out, An Kaayadan niyo, Obligasyon mi. It is a battlecry that serves as beckon to us leaders. It is a sacred mandate, a sacred trust that we carry in our hearts and shoulders and hands. We shall make this work for our people in Bulan. And one with the global community, we work hand in hand so that human dignity be achieved, prosperity and peace be realized.

MABUHAY PO KITA ENTERO. DIOS MABALOS!

From “Maraoton Tabi An Komentaryo Mo” by senior citizen, 2008/06/16 at 8:23 AM

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To Senior Citizen

( Translation-highlighted in red- from Bulan dialect to English and vice-versa is done by  and credited to Atty. Benji of Bulan Observer. )

jun asuncion:

As promised, I’m back with my answer to your comment. To keep the overview, I broke down your comment to small units and placed my answer after each unit and used the English language so that others may understand what is going on in our town. (TRANSLATION: Para sa Senior Citizen: Naipangako ko dati, yaa na tabi an saako kasimbagan san komentaryo mo. Para masabutan nato intero, inturunga-tunga ko an komentaryo mo para simbagon ko sin punto por punto an isyu nan masabutan man san iba kun nano talaga an mga nangyayari sa bungto nato.)

senior citizen:

“My congratulations to you dahil sayo ka palan na supporter ni nonong guyala. Yadto tabi na sinabi ni ex-mayor de castro “kund dire niyo gusto kung pano i-administrar an bulan, humali kamo”, may partikular lang tabi ini na grupo sin mga tawo, sayo na doon si nonong guyala. Dire man intero an taga-bulan.” (TRANSLATION: My profound congratulations to you because you are an avid supporter of Mr. Nonong Guyala. Please be informed that when ex-Mayor de Castro uttered the words “If you’re not contented with the policies of the administration, better leave this town.” Truly, he was only practically attributing said utterances against a particular class or group of people in Bulan, one of whom is Nonong Guyala. But not to the entire people of Bulan.)

 jun asuncion:

A legitimate citizen or  group of citizens  acting constitutionally and in the interest of the town, represent the entire citizenry as provided for in the constitution (Article 4 Citizenship) with all their constitutional rights as stated in the Bill Of Rights (Article 3). Hence, to be badly treated as such, to ignore their legal rights and to drive them out of the town is equal to driving out the entire law-abiding citizenry of Bulan as defined in and protected by our Constitution. Dire man intero an taga-Bulan? Why, are there two kinds of citizenry in Bulan? Are pro-government people special people? People representing either the political opposition or the government are one and the same citizenry of Bulan. Another thing, you cannot clean out opposition in Bulan politics by driving them out of the town. Only dictators and autocratic rulers do this. Or just a plain  Mayor who is not in possession of his reason. (TRANSLATION: An sino man na lehitimo na tawo o grupo san tawo na nagtatrabaho para sa interes san bungto ay minarepresentar san intero na katawuhan alinsunod sa pinuproklama san saato Konstitusyon (Article IV-Citizenship), kaupod an intero na mga karapatan san tawo na mababasa nato sa listahan san mga karapatan pantawo (Article III-Bill of Rights). Kung kaya ngani, kapag maraot an pagtrato sa sayo na tawo sa komunidad, pareho san deri pagkilala san kanira mga karapatan panlegal, nan an pagsurmaton sin sige magralayas kamo dide sa bungto kun deri niyo gusto an pag-administrar san Bulan, baga san pareho man lang yun san pinapalayas mo an intero na tawo sa Bulan kaupod an mga nagsusunod sa laye o batas, an mga karapatan na ine ay pinuprutihiran san saato mismo na Konstitusyon. An sabi mo tabi, Deri man intero na taga Bulan? Kay nano tabi, dowa na klase an tawo o grupo san tawo sa Bulan?  Kay nano espesyal tabi na tawo an mga kaapin san administrasyon? An mga tawo na nagrerepresentar san lado san oposisyon politikal o maka-administrasyon sayo man lang na klase yun sin tawo puro mga taga Bulan. Sayo pa na bagay, deri mo basta basta mapapahali an mga nasa lado san oposisyon kun paparalayason mo sira sa Bulan.  An makahimo lang tabi sine na pagpaparalayas san tawo an sayo na Diktador o Hadi. O kaya sayo na ordinaryo na Meyor na medyo haluga an turnilyo sa ulo.) 

To congratulate me as “supporter ni nonong guyala”- in as much as Mr. Guyala was and is being guided by the Constitution in his political dealings, – is true. Do not dare to depict me as being on the wrong side just because I do not support undemocratic and unconstitutional political behavior in Bulan, a behaviour that led me to describe the former Mayor De Castro as deconstructing himself. Mr. Guyala did not deconstruct him, but he himself. In plain words, there is no one to blame but he alone for behaving politically incorrect and the angry reactions of the public thereafter. (TRANSLATION: An pag-umaw mo saako bilang “supporter ni Nonong Guyala”, – nan pareho man kan Nonong Guyala, na nagsusunod sa sinasabi san Konstitusyon manunungod sa pulitika, – ay totoo tabi. Deri mo tabi pagsabihon na ako ay deri nasa tama na lado por dahil deri ko sinusuportahan an deri maka demokratiko o deri mayad na sistemang politikal sa Bulan, kay yun an dahilan na nagkumbinse sa ako na sabihon ko na an saato dati na meyor Guiming de Castro ay inrurungkab mismo niya an kaniya na pagkatawo. Si Nonong Guyala deri man nagpapakaraot san kaniya pagkatawo, si Meyor mismo an nagraraot san kaniya pagkatawo kun maintindihan mo. Sa malinaw sa surmaton, wara sin iba na pwede basulon dide kundi si meyor de Castro man lang por dahil deri tama an inhihimo niya sa pulitika, siempre deri man nato mababasol na maghatag sin deri dianis na komentaryo an mga tawo laban sa pag uugali niya.)  

senior citizen:

“Tagan ta tabi ikaw sin ideya kung baga dire ka man didi nagpipirme sa rugaring mo na bongto, na ini sira nonong guyala kalaban ini numero uno sa politika san mga de castro. Makulogon an mga boot sini kay kada eleksyon pirmi sira pyerde kay halos nubenta porsyento san taga-bulan dire man sa kanira naruruyag. Wara ini na mga tawo inhihimo kundi an pakaraoton an kalaban nira lalo na kung naabot na an eleksyon. Maraoton tabi an komentaryo mo against kay ex-mayor de castro. Dire tabi nira ugali an maging diktador o kaya sadirihon nira an bulan, in papakay-ad ngani nira tabi nira sin mayad an bongto ta kaya ngani sayo kita sa first class municipality sa panahon ta niyan”. ( Translation :Anyway, I will give you an idea here because in so far as I know you are not anymore living here in our town, that people like Nonong Guyala is the number one political opponent of the de Castro. Would you believe, they hated the de Castro so much because they always end up loser in the elections, in so far as I know almost ninety (90%) percent of the people in Bulan were very much disgusted with them. Because what they did during and every election wa s to solely engage in the character asassination against their political opponents and none other.Your remark against former mayor de Castro was very unpleasant and maybe blown out of proportion. As a matter of fact, I would like to tell you that it is not in their personality to become a Dictator nor to claim Bulan as their own property, as they are just doing their best shot for our town, and that is one of the reasons why Bulan has become the first class municipality today. )

 

jun asuncion :

I do not support any political personality or political party per se but support arguments and political results that put our town forward politically, economically, socially and morally. Bulan Observer is waiting for the moment when it would be reporting good things coming from the government- like moral uprightness, sincerity, transparency and democratic political dealings. These are the fundamental elements that will bring progress to our town. One word of advice, senior citizen: That you ought not to proclaim the goodness and holiness of your side by fiercely and unjustly attacking and  insulting publicly the other side. (TRANSLATION: Deri tabi ako nagsusuporta sin sayo na pulitiko o partido pulitikal, pero minasuporta ako sa mga tama na argumento o diskusyon para sa pagpakaayad san saato na bungto, pangpulitika man, pang ekonomiya man, pang sosyal man o pang moral man na isyu. An sa totoo lang an Bulan Observer naghuhulat lang san tama na panahon para makapag balita sin mga mayad na isyu na hali mismo sa administrasyon, pareho san makatotohanan, may sinsiridad, malinaw na transaksyun na wara sin tinatago nan makademokratikong pulitikal na bagay. Mao tabi ine an mga importante na elemento na madara sin tunay na progreso sa saato na bungto. Sayo lang tabi na pasabot ko saimo Mr. Senior Citizen: Deri mo dapat ipagbalangibog o ikurahaw an kadianisan o kabanalan san saimo pagkatawo para lang makapag-insulto ka o rauton mo sa publiko an karakter san sayo na tawo.)

 

senior citizen: 

 “Basi tabi gusto mo bisitahon an sadire mo na bongto kay binanggit mo pa an pagdonar nira san sayo na hektarya para bugsukan san terminal, na pinangaranan mo pa na “de castro terminal”, kay nano tabi, kaya mo man magdonar? Haputa daw tabi an sadire mo kun nano man an na contribute mo sa ikadidianes san bulan? Umuli ka tabi basi maaraman mo an problema san bulan nyan an progreso niyan na eenjoy san mga taga-bulan. (An naniniwala sa sabi-sabi, ay walang bait sa sarili.). ( Translation: Why not try to visit your hometown here, in fact, you mentioned the property being donated by them to be used as Bus Terminal which you named it as the “De Castro Terminal”. By the way, can you donate property also as what the De Castro did? Will you please first ask yourself a question, did you contribute anything for the betterment of the town of Bulan? Come home, and try to visit your hometown here so that you may be apprised of the  problem of Bulan, as you will know Bulan now is becoming progressive and its fruits are being reaped by every taga Bulan today. (The saying that “an naniniwala sa sabi-sabi ay walang bait sa sarili” literal translation is – if you tend to believe a lie, you will end up a liar also”).

 

 jun asuncion:

Don’t challenge me like a little boy does to another one. This is not the point. I’ve listened to the recorded radio program of Bandillo, Radyo Patrol Bulan, etc. Therefore, “maniwala sa sabi-sabi” is beside the point. I’ve heard myself the interview with Mr. De Castro where he vigorously insulted Mr. Guyala, Atty. Deri and the rest of the mandamus petitioners. His case is well-documented. Now, if you mean by contributions “sa ikadidianes san Bulan” a decent hospital, better public school buildings, a jueting-free town, implementation of anti -child labor Law, efficient law enforcement, protection of Bulan environment from illicit business transactions, politics of transparency and accountability, graft and corruption-free political practices, rice and fish for all, then I haven’t made such contributions for I haven’t promised to and been paid by the taxes of the people of Bulan to deliver them these basic services. But did you ask yourself this same question, senior citizen? Did you ask the De Castros this same question? For sure I’ll be coming home someday to my ancestral origin. But here is for you to grasp: that on that year I heard ex-mayor De Castros’ loud yelling ( were you not there at that moment?) on the radio telling some group of people ( who are constitutionally dealing with the municipal leadership) to leave the town,  I’ve been literally back home with Bulan Observer that very same year. (TRANSLATION: Deri mo tabi ako pag-ayaton na pareho san pag-ayat san sayo na bata sa kaniya kababata. Deri ine an punto dide. Nabati ko tabi an recorded radyo program san Bandillo, Radyo Patrol Bulan, nan iba pa. Kung kaya, sinabi mo na “an maniwala sa sabi sabi”, deri man yun an isyu dide. Nabati ko mismo an interview kan Mr. De Castro kun hain maisog na ininsulto niya si Mr. Guyala, Atty Deri kaurupod an mga petitioners na nanguna sa pagsampa san Mandamus na kaso. Ine na kaso ay suportado sin mga mang lain- lain na dokumento. Niyan, kun an gusto mo sabihon nano man an naikontribir o naidanon ko – “sa ikakayad san Bulan” – desente na hospital, mayad na mga eskwelahan, jueteng free town, pag-implementar san laye manunugod sa anti-child labor law, epektibo na pagpatupar san laye, pagprutihir san kapalibutan sa Bulan laban sa mga ilegal na mga transaksyun sa negosyo, malinig na pulitika o may pananagutan sa tawo, wara sin kawatan sa kaban san gobierno, bugas nan isda para sa entero, niyan an masasabi ko Mr. Senior Citizen wara tabi ako sin naikontribir o naiambag na sugad sine na mga bagay-bagay sa bungto, – nan sayo pa deri man ako nangako sa mga tawo, nan deri man ako inbabayadan o inpapasweldo san kwarta na hali sa gobierno para maihatag ko an serbisyo publiko sa kanira. Sa saimo na pag-urup urop nahapot mo tabi an sadiri mo san sugad sine na mga kahaputan Mr. Senior Citizen? Nahapot mo man tabi si Mr. de Castro san sugad man sine na mga kahaputan? Ayaw lang kay sigurado sa mga maabot na panahon mauli ako sa sadiri ko na rugaring. Mao tabi ine an tandaan mo – san taon na yadto nabati ko mismo si Meyor de Casto na nagkukurahaw sin makusugon (sigurado tabi ako na wara ka didto san mga panahon na yadto?) sa radyo sinasabi niya sa iba na grupo sin tawo (na mga lehitimo na nakikipag-istoria sa liderato san municipio) na mag ralayas kamo sa bungto, kay parang yadto man ako nagbalik sa Bulan Observer san mga panahon na yadto.)

 

senior citizen:

“Naistoryahan ka lang ni nonong naniwala ka na? Kun in muromalaki mo an nahimo san lolo mo na pagronda san canipaan, otot hamok yuon san nahimo san mga de castro. Namumundo lang ako kay marasa pa niyan ko lang nabasa na 2008 an imo komentaryo. Sadto mo pa kunta naaraman na ini si nonong guyala na buwaan, sabi niya bright siya pero tolo na beses nabagsak sa bar exam.” ( Translation: Maybe, you have just been apprised by Nonong guyala on the issue and you did easily believe in him. By the way, if you are grandstanding the accomplishment of your grandfather in guarding all over Canipaan. That accomplishment of your grandfather was nothing compared to the accomplishments of the de Castro today. I was just sadden because it was only this year 2008 that I was able to read your remark or commentary. Maybe, this should have been known long before to you that Nonong Guyala is a great liar. He said that he is intelligent, how come he failed or flanked the Bar Examinations thrice already? )

 

 jun asuncion:

You know, senior citizen, I haven’t met  yet  Mr. Nonong Guyala in person and I didn’t know him before. But it seems that we have a few  things in common, i.e., that we both believe in a democratic Bulan, accountability, abhor corruption and we both uphold the constitution of our nation. For these reasons, we do not need to hide behind a pseudo name. How about you, senior citizen? Is there any reason to use a pseudo name? Bulan Observer is a platform for all tagaBulans and fellow Bicolanos where we meet freely and discuss problems that concern us in an effort to bring our town forward. (Translation: Aram mo Mr. Senior Citizen, sa tanang buhay ko deri ko pa nabagat o naimod an pagkatawo sine ni Mr. Nonong Guyala, deri ko man yun kilala dati. Pero parang sa pag urop urop ko may-on kami sin diyo na bagay na maypagkapareho na dowa, i.e., pareho tabi kami naniniwala sa demokratikong Bulan, pananagutan sa tawo, paglaban sa kawatan, nan pareho kami nagkikilala sa kapangyarihan san Konstitusyon. Sa sugad sine na mga rason, deri ko tabi kinakaipuhan na magtago sa sayo na Alyas o Bansag. Ikaw, nanu ka man tabi Mr. Senior Citizen? May-on siguro sin dahilan kun nano kay nagagamit ka sin sayo na Alyas o Bansag? An Bulan Observer ay plata-porma para sa intero na taga Bulan nan mga kaurupod na Bicolanos na kun haen libre kita na magbabaragatan para pag-iristoriahan an mga manglain-lain na problema manunungod sa intero para makadanon kita sa pag-asenso san bungto nato sa maabot na panahon.)

Be that as it may, but I ask you to pay respect to my grandfather, the philanthropist ex-mayor Adonis Asuncion and the rest of our past noble town leaders next time you visit Bulan Observer for they deserved our respect, they deserved their peace.  ( TRANSLATION: Kun nano man an dahilan, sa masunod tabi na bisitahon mo an Bulan Observer blog,  inaayo ko saimo na hatagan mo man tabi sin respeto an saako Lolo, an maugayon na ex-meyor Adonis Asuncion, kaurupod na tabi an mga nakaagi na mga naging lider san bungto, kay dapat lang na irespeto nato sira, para sa kanira tunay na katuninungan sa ika-dowa na buhay.)

I leave the rest of your harsh comments to Mr. Nonong Guyala and to the people of Bulan for him / them to answer. This is fairness. (TRANSLATION: Ipinauubaya ko nalang tabi an mga magaspang mo na komentaryo kan Nonong Guyala nan sa mga tawo sa Bulan para siya, o sira naman an magsimbag saimo. Para patas an laban.)

 

For  A Brighter Bulan,

 

jun asuncion*

Bulan Observer

 

*My biggest gratitude to atty. benji for his translations and for his loyalty to the readers of Bulan Observer! Mabuhay ka atty. benji!

 

 

 

The Logic Of Greed

(Or, The Long Process Of Moral Evolution)

 

We Bikolanos can only hope for a miracle: That in view of 2010’s election, these trapos(traditional politicians) are also thinking genuinely about the welfare of the Bikolanos, and not only that of maintaining their staus quo. However,given this more or less the same configurations of trapos in Bicol region running for “Office” in 2010- and most probably the same story in all other regions of the Philippines- I see 2010 not really as a chance for a profound or deep change in the politics of our country but just to keep things the way they currently are. So we Bikolanos should rather expect more from ourselves with regards to our own personal political education and thinking for a deep, qualitative social change will happen only if each one of us arrives at this level of political maturity and wisdom, that missing factor that is at the root of all these socio-political chaos in our nation. I also do not believe in the battlecry for moral revolution now happening in Manila for it is again just an emotional campaign of some people whose motives and consciousness are corrupted themselves as in the case of Jose de Venecia, Jr., the former Speaker of the House of Representatives.We may recall that, during the height of his power, de Venecia was the epitome of the corrupt traditional politician.

 “We need a moral revolution today and make a fresh start, we badly need cleansing,” says de VeneziaI. But I suspect such loud cry for cleansing for behind it is again the abuse of the Christian doctrine of repentance and forgiveness. That after all my transgressions, all my cheating, my killings, denunciation, injustice done to the society, corruption and plundering the town or the nation,I can simply turn to my catholic belief and ask for spiritual cleansing. Thus a “moral revolution” that will “dramatically reduce political corruption in the country,” so the ousted Speaker de Venezia. He goes further,“When I say this, I mean I am not without sin,…I am 70, and I want to leave a good legacy for my country, for my children and for my grandchildren. We must now do something to lead our country from corruption, from despair and from poverty.” Yes, suddenly this urgency from a former Trapo King, now leading the crusade for moral revolution (a case of a trapo king becoming a political saint?) while sounding like confessing to a bishop for his own salvation. His salvation, but not for the nation.

 Corruption cannot be curbed this way if we want to be honest with ourselves. For as we have said before, corruption is just the tip of an iceberg. It takes more than just a ningas cogon to remove it, more than just a moral revolution and it needs a lot of time. Therefore, I think the the real thing is moral evolution, a natural social evolutionary process of replacing gradually our present moral make-up with something that has a future and sustainable for each one and for the whole nation to survive, where objectivity and rationalism, maturity and genuine political will has the upperhand and not the other way around,yes, this other way, where and how we are at the moment- a nation run like hell by emotions and by the logic of greed, hypocrisy and pseudo-morality – and corruption.

 Our current moral make-up has no future, and so our current political culture for it is badly flawed. Our elected public officials are the rebels themselves against the law of the land. Now, how can a sane man expect them to deliver basic services and social justice to the people when they become interested only in their own pockets and lowly desires the moment they are exposed to the power a government office brings with it? The Filipino politicians regress to primitivity and to his jungle past once given the chance to govern. This is a sad fact, an attest that there is something fundamentally primitive yet with our social perception.The Philippines is governed by thieves from Malacanang down to many municipalities- including Bulan. So don’t expect our nation and our town Bulan to progress as long as our system is rotten and as long as we have not evolved morally into politically-matured people.

 Paraphrasing Hegel, Karl Marx noted that each historical fact repeats itself twice–the original drama becoming a farce. But Marx proved himself wrong for history has shown us that history repeats itself much more frequently. Look at the facts: Before de Venezia, Marcos himself cried out for reforms and self-discipline (“Sa Ikauunlad ng Bayan, Disiplina ang Kailangan”) But what happened? Estrada advocated the same.What happened? C. Aquino did the same. What happened? Ramos cried out for the same moral revolution? What happened? And the sitting Arroyo? Let’s listen to her speaker Ermita ,” the President has pushed for the creation of the transparency group that monitors public biddings; the conduct of automated counting and anti-dynasty bill as part of several political reforms, and the Executive branch has been strongly supporting the independent function of the Office of the Ombudsman and the Commission on Human Rights(CHR)” and that ” it has been the duty of every leader to pursue a program on moral revolution to provide a better future for the people.”

 Defending like a rotweiler dog his Honorable President, he continued , “It can come out in any other term, any other form, but definitely the stability of our country, the welfare of our people, and the moral stability of our country is paramount in the mind of every leader, every President, and that includes definitely President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo,” so the blinded Ermita. I just wonder how much he was paid for talking as idiotic as this. Statements like this one from Ermita is a proof that the age of Enlightenment has not yet arrived in our nation’s history. We still are in the Dark Ages like that time in Europe, when lies were a plenty so as political murders, corruption and religious persecutions for the church dictated politics at that time,- as it is today in the Philippines. But things have changed since then in Europe, though it slid back from time to time in its history to situations comparable to the Middle Age. This is simply the mechanics of social evolution.

Albert Einstein once said that “one cannot cure the ills of society from the very consciousness that created the ills in the first place.” Therefore, be catious, my fellow Filipinos, may fellow tagaBulans. De Venezia’s consciousness is corrupted itself and his motives is one of egoism, of revenge. And there is something suspicious with his method when he surrounds himself with bishops from different churches of the country. This is more of a religious crusade, reminds me somewhat of the Inquisition in the Middle Ages that burned the church heretics. (see my Response To Timothy). This is leading to nowhere for this movement is superficial,hypocritical, very emotional and childish and is doomed to last only short. This applies naturally a considerable pressure to Arroyo but in the long term- or at least for 2010’s election- this will not result in having morally upright people getting elected. We need to progress morally but we need a new ground to start with for as I see it, everything that we have now in our moral department has only led us to defeat and failure as a nation. Something must change fundamentally with our character if we really want to get out of the pit.This is possible to happen, though it will take hundreds of years if we follow the natural course of social evolution. Events to come will gradually transform us to new social beings with genuine sincerity, rationality, better moral instinct and politically mature individuals, a nation of people which has transcended its past and its old maladaptive personality.This moral revolution movement now and in the past is just a small, natural step to this moral evolution in its long process. So again, don’t overrate (or expect too much) this moral revolution happening now for it will not yield good fruits in the coming 2010 election. But in the long run, this is part of those natural procesess that are shaping our future as a nation. Deep within our collective soul, the process of natural self-correction is running incessantly, slowly but surely, in an effort to adapt and survive as a nation. It simply needs a lot of time. And history has shown us that societies evolve and tend to be better with time. In this sense, Taoism’s doctrine of ” do nothing and everything will be done” applies.

 Middle Age is also present in Bulan and is best exemplified by the present government of Bulan. For there is no trace of rationality, transparency but an apparent lack of political understanding and social responsibility. They, too, are rebels against the law of the land, against the constitution, against the Bill of Rights and is ruled not by democratic logic but by the logic of greed. How do you expect them also to deliver genuinely basic services to the people of Bulan? Like a decent hospital and better school buildings in the remote barangays, security and protection for the people, environmental protection. These things are not in their heads for the logic of greed follows that they think first on how they can run away with their spoils of war as they go on fooling the people of Bulan by a little feeding program here and some repaintings of old walls there.This is trickery and superficiality. It is therefore not upon an oath to serve the people and upon an oath to protect the law of the land that this municipal government is based but upon rebellion against the people and of the existings laws of the land.

 

jun asuncion

Bulan Observer

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A CALL FOR MORAL REVOLUTION?

Or, A Change Must Come From Within!

by: atty. benji

“Watch your thoughts, they become words;
Watch your words, they become actions;
Watch your actions, they become habits;
Watch your habits, they become character;
Watch your character, for it becomes your destiny.”
-Anonymous-

Ours is a nation (or a town, province) gravely afflicted with interlocking diseases of poverty, passivity, cheating, graft and corruption, exploitative patronage, nepotism, factionalism, political instability, love for intrigue, lack of discipline, lack of patriotism, greed for power and the desire for instant gratification, etc. A cancerous growth is affecting the vital organs of our society to the extent that we seem to be in a state of paralysis; the patient is not responding to the problems confronting it. The times call for analysis of the social cancer.

And, we are both the doctor and patient. As Jesus Christ said in quoting the proverb: “Physician, heal thyself”.

Many years back, then former Senator Leticia Ramos-Shahani, in her sponsorship speech calling for Moral Recovery Program (MRP), has emphasized that “the sickness afflicting this country is moral in nature.” It is her view that at the bottom of our economic problems and political instability is the weakness and corruption of the moral foundations of our society. We don’t need an economic recovery program; we also urgently need a moral, intellectual and spiritual recovery program.

Senator Shahani continued that “aside from the widespread problem of corruption, there is violence, hatred, hostility, greed for power, divisiveness which has become part of the everyday atmosphere which we breathe. We have to cleanse our national body, to rid it of its poisons and toxins, if the country is to survive. This times demand self-examination. Let us remember the words of the Greek philosopher, Socrates when he said: “The unexamined life is not worth living.” Let us translate this wise saying to the national level and examine our own character as a people to ensure that we are growing in the proper direction, with proper values and proper priorities.”

Why concentrate on the weakness of the people, it might be asked? and you might be asked too?

-Because, as in every sick person, we must analyze his disease or diseases. There is a need to examine how society shapes our character, of how Filipino children are brought up. If the children and youth age 12 to 16 years old are already encouraged by their parents to practice child prostitution to add to the family income, can we expect these children to be upright and law abiding citizens? If the child sees so much physical violence and brutality at home and in society, is it normal to expect that he will long to handle guns and keep company with goons at a later age, not only during the period of elections but on a daily basis?

Is the economic situation so desperate that thousands of our women refuse to learn other skills other than selling their bodies several times over every night? Why do we always disobey traffic rules and regulations? Why has cheating become a normal way of life in the Philippines particularly during the elections?

Several years ago, the Philippine was considered one of the most promising counties in Asia. Today, the Philippines is still called the “Sick Man of Asia”. What has gone wrong? Can’t we put our own house in order? Why is there such a big demand for pornography and smut?

It is also important to realize the extent of this sickness and to be aware that in order to eliminate graft and corruption, society as a whole must change and we must change too. This means not only the government but the private sector and the entire people as well.

Do we have the political will to change ourselves, undergo a major surgery, make the necessary sacrifices and go back to the basic virtues of honesty, self-reliance and responsibility for the community and the nation, and in our town, too. Can our educators realize that it is not enough to change the child and the homes but also the whole of society?

“Let us minimize our weakness and strengthen our virtues, of which we have many. Let us look inward and cleanse and heal ourselves before it is too late. We cannot expect to implement our national vision unless we have a clean hands and pure hearts”, said President Fidel V. Ramos in his Proclamation No. 62 .

After the sponsorship speech of then Senator Shahani on the Urgent Need for Moral Recovery Program (MRP) and the Senate Resolution No. 10 adopted on September 18, 1987, which directed Senate Committee on Education, Arts & Culture, & the Committee on Social Justice, Welfare and Development to conduct joint inquiry into the strengths and weaknesses of Filipino character with a view to solve the social ills and strengthening the nation’s moral fiber.

-Reinforced by Presidential Proclamation No. 62, issued by then, President FVR on 1992 declaring a Moral Recovery Program of the government & calling for the active participation of all sectors of the society in the MRP.

After that mukhang walang nabago sa ating mga Pilipino, ganun parin tayo!

Sa kabila ng itinatag na Moral Recovery Program ng ating gobierno upang itaguyod ang mithiing maka-BAYAN, maka-TAO, maka-KALIKASAN at maka-DIYOS, ay laganap parin ang kurapsyon at kawatan sa lahat ng sangay ng pamahalaan, dayaan sa eleksyon, gahaman sa poder, palakasan o padrino system, laganap ang prostitution, talamak ang bintahan at paggamit ng bawal na gamot o droga sangkot ang kapulisan at tagapagpatupad ng batas, kawalan ng paggalang sa magulang at nakakatanda, tahasang paglabag sa batas trapiko, walang disiplina sa sarili, kulang sa pagmamahal sa bayan, kanya-kanya o walang paki-alam syndrome, crab mentality at iba pa.

In short, bagsak ang “moral character” o “moral values” nating mga Pilipino.

Thus, there is a need for self examination as a means to transform the nation, as advocated by Senator Shahani.

There is an urgent need for moral revolution to eradicate moral decadence in our community, and government, (or in the municipal government of bulan). Mabuhay ang maka-tao, maka-bayan, maka-kalikasan at maka-diyos na Pilipino.

It is the moral character which determines the destiny of an individual as well as that of the nation (town, or province). For an individual and nation to survive with dignity and prosperity that character has to be based on moral and ethical values.

Our greatest hope lies within ourselves! Sabi nga ni dating Presidente Marcos, “Sa Ikauunlad ng Bayan, Disiplina ang Kailangan”.

Tayo ba ay may disiplina sa sarili? tayo ba ay masunurrin sa ating batas? tayo ba ay masunurin sa ating mga magulang? at may pagpapahalaga sa ating kalikasan at sa bayan?

THERE’S NO FAILURE, ONLY SUCCESS DELAYED!

 

“I have persevered against difficulties,
I rose up against defeats &,
I conquered the failures of the past”.

 

by atty. benji

A billboard in one of the sweepstakes ticket outlets in Quiapo, reads “A quitter never wins; a winner never quits”. Of course, if you quit or stop dreaming you will never win in any contest, challenge or any kind of endeavor that you wanted to carry out. If you fail, never, never, never, give up! Failing is a vital component of growing up process. It’s a baptism of fire!

If you encountered fiascos and failures in your board exams in the past, this is a must read article for you! – Be inspired and enlightened!

If you encountered setbacks in your political career or business in the past, this is a must read for you, too.

If your experienced frustrations and desperations in your chosen profession or vocation, this is a must read for you, also.

And, if you encountered denials and rejections in courting a woman of your choice, never give up, this article is probably a must read for you. I hope so, he-he-he. -Be inspired! Believe that there is always a light at the end of the tunnel.

I would like to share this article to all of you, who, or to whomsoever, (as an inspiration, motivation or a challenge) had experienced the pain and nightmare of failing in their chosen career, business & profession several times already (e.g. exams, sports or politics, etc). Failure is an inevitable circumstance! That’s  life!

I did experience several tumultuous failures and frustrations in my chosen career. I did encounter my first major debacle in my chosen profession in 1996 onwards when I flanked the bar exams. But, failure/s did not stop me from pursuing my dream until I claimed victory over it, and conquered the disaster of the past!

Despite depression, I did not surrender; despite desperation, I did not quit; despite anxiety, I did not give up my dreams, my mentor called it, “Spirit”.

The “pyerdido” (loser) of yesterday will be the “ganador” (victor) of tomorrow, I believe so, after all, our past does not define our future!

With this, I was reminded by a comment of a certain “Lazarus” in the sorsogonnews blog against the Guyalas branding them as “pyerdido na politico”. The comment of Lazarus, regardless of his motive or intention, (whether to insult them or otherwise) is uncalled for. For nobody knows, and who knows in the near future, the Guyala will become the next Mayor of Bulan, or Congressman of the 2nd District, or Governor of Sorsogon, or even Senator of the Republic someday. Time will come that a loser will emerge as the victor, and time will come that Guyalas’ debacle will be translated into victory someday. (Sabi nga sa Biblia, an mga nauuna ay mahuhuli at ang mga nahuhuli ay mauuna) –And, time will come, I’m sure, na an kadaghanan san mga botantes sa Bulan magsasawa man sa mga de Castro sa maabot na panahon! And that time is yet to come. Though, the Guyalas, particularly (atty. rene) had lost several times in his political bid many years back but time will come he will emerge as victorious man on earth.

The case of the late Senator Rene “Compañero” Cayetano is a classic example of success after so many setbacks in politics. He lost several times in his bid to challenge then incumbent Congressman Dante Tinga of Taguig-Pateros District (laging talunan nuon si cayetano, hindi man lang nakatikim ng panalo) but when the opportunity comes right during the Ramos Presidency, he instead ran for Senator and topped the senatorial elections. You see! For man’s past does not define his future.

Likewise, the compelling story of Abraham Lincoln is one of the best examples of success after so many defeats in politics.

Lincoln had a very strong desire to make a difference, so he entered politics. In August, 1832, he finished eighth out of 13 in a race for the Illinois House of Representatives.

In 1834, while practicing law in a firm he had established with several partners, Lincoln ran for and won a seat in the Illinois Legislature. He served a four-year term, and he soon developed a reputation as a capable and honest politician.

Unfortunately, over the next decade he experienced numerous business and political setbacks. But unlike most people, Lincoln did not let any of these challenges — including a business and personal bankruptcy — discourage him from going after his dreams.

In 1836, Lincoln won an election to Congress. It was during this time that he took an unpopular stand against President James K. Polk regarding the Mexican War. Abraham thought the war was unjust.

After his term ended in 1849, Lincoln took the next five years off from politics and focused on his law practice. Again, he encountered more business setbacks. But again, he persisted, and did not let “so-called” failures discourage him.

In 1854, he returned to the political arena. One of the first things he did was to oppose the Kansas-Nebraska Act, which threatened to extend slavery to other states.

In 1855, he ran for the Senate but was defeated. The next year he went after the Vice Presidency position, and was also defeated.

With so many failures, a lot of people, in Lincoln’s position, probably would have given up. But because he was determined and committed to make his political dreams come true, he would get up each time he was knocked down. He knew the only way to gain ground, to move forward, to march on, and to turn his goals into reality, was to learn from his setbacks and failures.

Finally, in 1860, Lincoln’s years of persistence and hard work paid off when he was elected the 16th President of the United States of America.

Abraham Lincoln represents the finest example of persistence. Although he faced countless defeats throughout his life — many that must have seemed insurmountable — he never gave up on his dreams.

LINCOLN LOST EIGHT ( 8) ELECTIONS, failed in business many times, and suffered a nervous breakdown. He could have quit many times, but he didn’t. Instead, after each defeat he would pick himself up and press forward until he achieved his aspirations.

Malaysian international speaker, Billi Lim, in his Dare to Fail magazines’ series said that from school days we are indoctrinated to adore success. Success and failures are like heaven and hell.

Heaven forbids that you should fail. Many believe when we fail, we are condemned. Failure is not an irreversible chemical reaction. Numerous success stories have their origins in failures. Sowing the seeds of failure brings the fruits of success. A lot of successful people were once called failures.

Failure is not a black hole that we fall into and get stuck there permanently. It is only temporary. Failure is success delayed. We have merely postponed our success. David Ireland authors the book aptly entitled “Failure is Written in Pencil”. Failure is erasable. It is not cast in stone. Erase failure now and begin a new life on a brand new page!

Failing must be courageous!
“Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever hope to achieve greatly” says Robert F. Kennedy

During World War II, Japanese Kamikaze pilots sang patriotic songs before they flew their fighter planes in suicide mission. They pledged to their beloved country that they will strike deep into enemy’s territories and would perish in their dangerous missions. Because of their courage to die for their country, kamikaze pilots often returned alive.

Failing is a privilege!
Failure is not an option. We don’t chose to fail neither we opted to become a loser. It is an honor to fail. Failure is the baptism of fire. Failure is a wake up call. From failing, we evaluate our strengths and weaknesses. We scout for opportunities and prepare for threats.

Failure is not final!
“Success is never ending; Failure is never final” says Robert Schuller. Failing does not issue death sentence. It is not the end all. There is always another opportunity to try again. Likewise, success is not a final destination. It is a journey that we strive continuously. Failure shall not drown us. Instead, it is the bridge that connects us over troubled waters to success. “He is no failure. He’s not dead yet” say W.L. George

We must not be ashamed of failures!
It is a daily test of our courage and ingenuinity. Failing is not a taboo. Failure occurs mainly in isolated cases and is often beyond our control.

We must distinguish failures from the acts of failing. If we cast ourselves as failures, it leaves behind a psychological scar. Don’t take failure as an act of not attaining certain bench marks, we can still walk upright with pride. “We do not fail ourselves; it is primarily the work we do that fails”.

We must permit ourselves to fail!
“When we give ourselves permission to fail, we at the same time give ourselves permission to excel”, says Eloise Ristad

We must not fear failure. The minute we stop trying is the minute that heralds failure.

We must not stigmatize Failures!
“He that lies on the ground cannot fail” according to Yiddish Proverb.

The Yakuza (Japanese Mafia) practice a traditional ritual for gang members who failed in their missions or assignments. They chop off their fingers to atone for their failures. Failing is not a stigma. We must not punish ourselves for failures like Yakuza members whose cut fingers are permanent reminders of their failed missions. Failing is honorable. It is not a misdemeanor. Just remember every genius was once a failure. Ask any genius!

“Even the best of men get knocked down many times in a lifetime. Occasional knock downs are not anything to be afraid of. In fact, they make the game of life interesting; they are the hazard and bunkers and sand traps that force us to keep our mind on the game and play our best”, says Clinton Bernard.

Failure is a prelude to success!
We treat failure as the wrong answer and success as the right answer. Failure is not actually the opposite of success. Failure is actually the step preceding success. If we make a decision, it will inevitably result in two results – failure or success. If the result is failure, acknowledge it is a learning process before success beckons. Failure is necessary part of success. In the book entitled “Think & Grow Rich”, I forgot the name of the Author, it says that “failure is a fertilizer of success”. That’s correct!

In fact, many people on the failure track are so close to success when they call it quits. Only if they persevere a little longer, success will be attained. Success is like the bride waiting at the end of the aisle. Thomas Edison hit the nail on the head when he said “Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up”

Failure is an asset!
“Every adversity, every failure, every headache, carries with it the seed of an equal or greater benefit”, says Napoleon Bonaparte

“The greatest test of courage on earth is to bear defeat without losing heart”, says Robert Ingersoll.

“Our greatest glory is not never falling but rising every time we fall”, says Oliver Goldsmith.

Never, never, never give up!
“There is no failure except in no longer trying”, says Elbert Hubbard. The annals of history were laced by great people who failed. Sir Winston Churchill once admonished, “Never, Never, Never give in, in whatever you do”.

Do not judge people who try and fail but those who fail to try. Tom Hopkins, Americas Top sale trainer, advocates, “I am not judged by the number of times I fail, but by the number of times I succeed. The number of times I succeed is in direct proportion to the number of times I fail and keep trying”.

The genius, Sir Albert Einstein failed many times! He disliked schools because of strict regimentations and structure. At 15, he dropped out of school, He taught himself calculus. Einstein’s poor memory especially for words led to his dismal performance in Greek. His teacher belittled Einstein, “No Matter what you do, you will never amount to anything”. Another teacher ridiculed him, “Your mere presence spoils the respect of the class for me”. His father once sought his head master’s advice on what profession Einstein should pursue. The head master admonished, “It doesn’t matter, he will never make a success of anything. Albert Einstein was named by the Time Magazine as the Person of the Century. Einstein famous theory of relativity led the foundation for the atomic bombs that were dropped at Hiroshima and Nagasaki. It forced the Japanese to surrender and brought WWII on an abrupt halt.

Another genius, Sir Thomas Edison has failed several times too!
At a press conference, a young journalist asked Sir Thomas Edison how many times he failed before he invented the light bulb. Thomas Edison politely replied, “I was actually successful in knowing 1800 ways of how not to make a light bulb. In his wisdom Edison further enlighten him, “In every wrong attempt discarded is another step forward”.

If you fail once, twice, thrice and more already in your chosen career, don’t be discourage, and don’t lose hope for there is always sunshine after darkness, as there is always a rainbow after thunderstorm. That’s for sure!

Believe that there are no failures. We merely postpone our success. There are no failures in life, only delays.

But I’m sure you can remember Robert F. Kennedy, the man who failed to be President. You can remember Martin Luther King Jr. Nelson Mandela waited 27 years to be President. And President Kim Dae Jung of South Korea; he has been beaten, kidnapped, imprisoned, sentenced to death but he not only became President, he has also been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize 2000.

Many of us don’t understand why sometimes we have to lose. In fact sometimes to win we have to yield just like the grass yielding to the great wind. Those who can’t yield sometimes got uprooted by the great typhoon.

Kusog lawas, labanan an mga Kabiguan sa buhay! Mabuhay kita gabos!

God bless us all. Keep fighting, never give up!

A DEGREE IS JUST A PIECE OF PAPER!

(You can be Billionaire even if you are School Drop outs)
By atty. benji

A bachelor degree is just a piece of paper. (e.g. PHD stands for Permanent Head Damage, just kidding) It is not the degree that makes the man. It is man who makes himself.

“You can be a millionaire or billionaire even if you are school dropouts”, says Billi Lim

Below is a very interesting and compelling part of the speech delivered by Lawrence “Larry” Ellison, the CEO of Oracle Corp. and the 2nd richest man in the world, at the Yale University last month.

“Graduates of Yale University, I apologize if you have endured this type of prologue before, but I want you to do something for me. Please, take a good look around you. Look at the classmate on your left. Look at the classmate on your right.

Now, consider this: Five years from now, 10 years from now, even 30 years from now, odds are the person on your left is going to be a loser. The person on your right, meanwhile, will also be a loser. And you, in the middle? What can you expect? Loser. Loser hood. Loser Cum Laude.

In fact, as I look out before me today, I don’t see a thousand hopes for a bright tomorrow. I don’t see a thousand future leaders in a thousand industries. I see a thousand losers. You’re upset. That’s understandable.

After all, how can I, Lawrence “Larry’ Ellison, college dropout, have the audacity to spout such heresy to the graduating class of one of the nation’s most prestigious institutions? I’ll tell you why.

Because I, Lawrence ‘Larry’ Ellison, second richest man on the planet, am a college dropout, and you are not.

Because Bill Gates, richest man on the planet .. for now, anyway – is a college dropout, and you did not.

Because Paul Allen, the third richest man on the planet, dropped out of college, and you did not.
And for good measure, because Michael Dell, No. 9 on the list and moving up fast, is a college dropout, and you, yet again are not.

…. Finally, I realize that many of you, and hopefully by now most of you, are wondering, “Is there anything I can do? Actually, no; it’s too late. You’ve absorbed too much, think you know too much. You have a built-in cap, and I’m not referring to the mortar boards on your heads.

…. I want to give hope to any underclassman here today. I say to you, and I can’t stress this enough: Leave. Pack your things and your ideas and don’t come back. Drop out. Start up. For I can tell you that a cap and gown will keep you down just as surely as these security guards dragging me off this stage are keeping me down…”

– End of speech –

CNH (Central Nautical Highway) – An Opportunity (And A Challenge…)

 

by rudy bellen

 

Attached is an excerpt from a news article of Manila Bulletin last April 29, 2008 during the launching of the Central Nautical Highway by no less than Pres. Gloria Arroyo seeing off roll-on roll-off (Ro-Ro) three day sea caravan plying the maiden route taking off from Bulan port. This is the last leg that completes a sea route connecting Bicol and Mindanao, the final component of the Strong Republic Nautical Highway (SRNH) via the central seaboard. The other two are : 1.) Western Nautical Highway (western seaboard) via Batangas port linking Manila and Dipolog, and  2.) Eastern Nautical Highway (eastern seaboard) via Matnog connecting Samar/Leyte to Surigao City. The CNH is an intermodal transport system offering a safe, affordable transport alternative to travel across the central Philippines or the Visayas. It links Sorsogon, Masbate, Cebu, Bohol, Camiguin, and Misamis Oriental in Mindanao, it also seeks to reduce travel and trade costs and consequently boost economic development in the countryside.

 

–> see Manila Bulletin Online for the original of the following report:

 by Genalyn D. Kabiling

“Filipinos can now enjoy a safe, affordable transport alternative to travel across the central Philippines or the Visayas. President Arroyo yesterday launched the Central Nautical Highway (CNH) that seeks to reduce travel and trade costs and consequently boost economic development in the countryside.

 

The Central Nautical Highway is an intermodal transport system linking Sorsogon, Masbate, Cebu, Bohol, Camiguin, and Misamis Oriental. It completes the Strong Republic Nautical Highway (SRNH) composed of 17 ports across the country, inaugurated by the President in 2003.

Accompanied by Transportation and Communications Secretary Leandro R. Mendoza, transport officials, and local executives, Mrs. Arroyo kicked off a three-day sea caravan in Bulan, Sorsogon, where she switched on the lights showing the ports in the central seaboard.

Under the Central Nautical Highway, the ports are located in Bulan, Sorsogon, Masbate City, and Cawayan in Masbate; Bogo and Cebu City in Cebu, Tubigon and Jagna in Bohol, Mambajao and Benoni in Camiguin, and Balingoan, Misamis Oriental.

The President later sent off the RORO (roll on, roll off) caravan, boarded by passengers mostly members of the media, in Bulan.  From Sorsogon, Mrs. Arroyo boarded a helicopter and travelled to the two ports of Masbate for similar send-off ceremonies.

The President first inaugurated the port of Masbate City, the first national port in the island province. The port exclusively handles containerized cargo among the Bicol terminals, aside from bulk commodities. Its fastcraft operations connect Bicol main with the port of Pilar, Sorsogon.

 

 

So what does it means for us? For me, I can see a great opportunity and benefits that Bulan would gain as the main gateway to one of the most dynamic regions in the Visayas and northern Mindanao. This nautical highway has put Bulan as the most strategic location linking directly to the tourist famous destinations of Cebu, Bohol and Camiguin. It also links us directly to Misamis Oriental in northern Mindanao – site of the biggest Hanjin Heavy Industries’ (HHI) investments (a staggering US$2B), together with the other HHI facility at Subic, these investments when completed would propel the Philippines as the 3rd biggest

shipbuilder in the world just behind South Korea and Japan even surpassing Spain.

 Just imagine, if the enterprising Cebuanos – comparable to Japanese, with no mango plantations yet they are best known for their dried mangoes, guitars, and other famous Cebuano products, would be directly passing Bulan, they might as well discover our native products and services which they can probably help us market through out the world. Or, help us develop our beautiful natural sites not only in Bulan but at the other places in Bicol as well, by putting up and developing tourism oriented facilities. Germans in Bohol are only confined today in their sanctuary in Panglao and other Bohol beaches but once they started to discover the beauty of Bicol they might change their mind. I was once surprised to find in the internet spectacular photos of the Butag bay and sunset at Sabang beach taken by no less than German adventurers!

  This direct “contact” is not feasible before as there’s no alternative land/Ro-Ro transport to offer, Cebuanos, Boholanos and other Visayans prefer to fly or take ferries direct from Manila to their final destinations thereby bypassing Bicol. But now they have the choice and option increasing the chances of more regional trades and tourism activities subsequently capital movements that would boost economic developments. This will also open up intra regional migrations, both for Bulan and the greater Bicol area vis a vis Central Visayas and Northern Mindanao.

  Let us not forget foreign tourists as well, with the big Hanjin investment at PHIVIDEC, Misamis Oriental, expect a throng of Koreans and other nationalities excitingly discovering this part of the country – and what does it means for us? Well, this is another opportunity to take advantage of, for us to globalize our products and services catering to international customers and so on. There is a never ending prospect for us!

 This is exactly what I told Letty in my response to her Kabatas’ blog on her gripes about the status of Bulan today, that there are now lots of strangers and “invaders”. I informed her that this is the strength of our town – a local melting pot, naturally and strategically situated at the crossroads of an important, very dynamic region, they know there is an opportunity. That this is a challenge for the local leadership to hasten, tap and reap the benefits of the blended talents of the local and “migrants” and transform our town to be one of the most vibrant, prosperous and flourishing trading post in our region.

 What should be done? There are lots of things to do if we don’t want to miss this once a in a lifetime opportunity. First we must get our acts together. We need to apply the three C’s of progress – Collaborate, Complement and Cooperate.

· Collaborate – Team up, this call for the public and private sector to work together in partnership. Be proactive. Put first things first and begin with the end mind – no place for lapses, blunder and oversight.

· Complement – Harmonize and supplement, make up for the weakness of the other. Seek first to understand then to be understood. Instead of opposing and rivalry that would create hostile environment, identify strength and niche products or services specific to a place that would give rise to specialization and originality.

· Cooperate – Assist, pool resources, do your part, synergize.

 Another C to watch out is competition, be prepared and organize ourselves for a tough and challenging competition from other contenders. Though Bulan is the official designated CNH Ro-Ro port, Pilar town is aggressively gearing up themselves as an alternative route of the CNH, its fastcraft operations connect Bicol main with the ports of Masbate city or Aroroy town. While they have fastcrafts Bulan has nothing to speak of.

 Second, we must educate our people and make liquid clear the importance of being a tourist or stranger friendly citizens. This negative trait of some of our folks has been with us ever since. I remember one time on one of my occasional break when I went home together with my wife and daughter; we took a bus and upon arrival at the Bulan bus terminal the usual boorish “baggage” boys were banging each other to get first and grabbed our luggage. My wife and daughter were so shocked and afraid so I have to step up and threatened them; coincidentally I was sporting a short cut hair then, they thought I was a military man and they backed off. But the experience doesn’t stop there, after several days of our stay; there was news of a man from Masbate who ran amock at the market. The poor man was “pushed to the wall” by successive depressing events that happened to him – he is traveling back home because his wife passed away, he and his daughters did not catch the last trip to the island and was forced to sleep and wait for the next day trip at the bus terminal, when they woke up, their belongings were nowhere to be found. He reported the incident to the police but instead of helping him, he was passed around and worst of all his young daughters were harassed and molested by the ill mannered “baggage” boys. So there he goes, he went wild and stab every person in his way.

If you have spent some vacation trip at Bohol, there you’ll discover the true meaning of tourist friendly phrase. Hotel staff would politely refuse any form of tips; folks are so friendly and always ready to assist any stranger in their community.

 What do we have to offer? I think we have ample natural and human resources readily available for development and advancement. Butandings (whale sharks) is not exclusive to Donsol alone; we have plenty of it in our waters too. These gentle giants are not confined at Sorsogon bay for their food requirement, in fact they are grazing outside of the bay and most are in Ticao Pass because their food (planktons and small shrimps) are carried upstream by the converging Pacific Ocean and China sea in San Bernardino Strait. Many of our fishermen can attest to this phenomenon. We also have the giant Pasa-pasa (Manta Rays) and plenty of it is right in our waters.

 We have beautiful and unique (margaja sand) beaches from Danao all the way to Marinab, there are exciting diving sites, too, especially in the Butag bay. Possibly under our waters were old age shipwrecks – from Spanish to WWII eras which are a main draw for the diving enthusiasts. Maybe we can convince tours and travel agencies to put Bulan (and Sorsogon province) in their radar maps for their tourist promos as an alternative to other known and crowded beaches of the country.

 We have an airstrip that should have been fully maximized instead of being a grazing place for the carabaos (some portions were already converted to rice paddies). This is one asset that other towns doesn’t have aside from Bacon, and should be an enticing factor for those who don’t want to travel overland from Manila all the way down to Bulan. Small aircrafts and STOL (short take off/landing) crafts can easily be accommodated by this facility. I can still remember when Air Force can even land their cargo planes on it. Maybe some enterprising entrepreneurs can start a chartering business for this purpose.

 Other things to remember. We should also learn from the experience of other towns, like Matnog – it is one of the first municipalities to have the Ro-Ro facility and has been there for some time now, but no significant progress has been achieved by the town. Why? We should gain knowledge and be taught from their failures, acquire and leverage from the know how and technology of the progressive ones.

 As a logistics person, I recognize and see a need for support facilities for the Ro-Ro port to operate efficiently. I think the controversial Bulan Central Terminal (BCT) has its function and purpose after all. But from my point of view, I cannot see the relevance – in any way I look at it, how it would best support the Ro-Ro port from its current site. It is too far! The ideal site should be right beside the port so the arriving and departing passengers would not be inconveniently shuttling or going back and forth. This will irritate the exhausted travelers, besides being time consuming additional expenses would be incurred by the passengers just to catch up with connecting rides. It can be also a temporary holding area for the cars and buses that are waiting for their turn to board Ro-Ro ships, eliminating long queues and crowding of vehicle thereby resulting to a smooth and efficient port operation.

 Lastly, I see a need to relocate the port in five years time or less with an assumption that there would be an unprecedented growth in the number of travelers. The port should be relocated outside of the town proper with enough provisions and support facilities to encourage and promote continued usage. The current road leading to the facility is too narrow and not adequate enough to sustain the volume of vehicles that would be traveling to and from the docks. This would create congestions and gridlock

I know this is only a fraction of a long list of what to do and what do we have and may have forgotten other things that should be done to make our town an organized, equipped and a prepared community for the forthcoming progress. You may add other relevant infos and suggestions that would be of help.

I firmly believe that our town has a bright future and it is starting to manifest now.

 

Bless us all.

 

 

 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On The 18th World Press Freedom Day- May 3,2008

( or Observe Bulan And Win! )

A free press can of course be good or bad, but, most certainly, without freedom it will never be anything but bad. . . . Freedom is nothing else but a chance to be better, whereas enslavement is a certainty of the worse.” Albert Camus

 “Our liberty cannot be guarded but by the freedom of the press, nor that be limited without danger of losing it.” –Thomas Jefferson to John Jay, 1786.

 Yesterday, the world celebrated the 18th World Press Freedom Day. As expected, the Internet and news media were filled with reports of all kinds pertaining to freedom of the press.  

It is true that we Filipinos are freedom-loving people for we had in the past expelled out of the country all those foreign invaders. Coming out from those hundreds of years of forced silence, it is no wonder why  the freedom of expression and of the press has been given importance right on day one as a free republic as can found in the 1897 Constitution of Biak-na-Bato in ARTICLE XXII:RELIGIOUS LIBERTY  which states, “Religious liberty, the right of association, the freedom of education , the freedom of the press , as well as freedom in the exercise of all classes of professions, arts, trades and industries are established.”

Today, 111 years after 1897, the Philippines is famous for intimidating or killing investigative journalists, a clear transgression of the law of the land. Protection for journalists at work is also poor. In fact, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ)  Impunity Index lists  the Philippines one among the worst countries ( together with Somalia, Russia, etc.) in the world at prosecuting journalists’ killers.This is a clear-cut evidence that corruption is embedded strongly in our politics, in the heads of many of our politicians and that all claims of democracy is but a sham. For the logic of our powerful oligarchs is greed and they control the machinery to sanction truth-oriented journalism.

Still, no matter how the powerful few play around with our constitution, we will continue to hold on to it for it is the truth that we have agreed upon as a nation to guide us as we blaze the trail of civilization.

Here’s what our 1987 Constitution says about communication and press  under Bill Of Rights:

 Section 3. (1) The privacy of communication and correspondence shall be inviolable except upon lawful order of the court, or when public safety or order requires otherwise, as prescribed by law.

 Section 4. No law shall be passed abridging the freedom of speech, of expression, or of the press, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble and petition the government for redress of grievances.

Section 7. The right of the people to information on matters of public concern shall be recognized. Access to official records, and to documents and papers pertaining to official acts, transactions, or decisions, as well as to government research data used as basis for policy development, shall be afforded the citizen, subject to such limitations as may be provided by law.

Here’s are two  examples of using power to disregard Section 7 of the Bill Of Rights:

In the Manila, here is a case in point:

“We are deeply concerned that the First Gentleman, Mike Arroyo, is not using this libel suit to seek legitimate redress. Rather he is redefining libel, a clear affront to the Philippine press. As we know, the test of libel is the presence of malice. But Mr. Arroyo disregards this basic tenet and recklessly uses libel to intimidate and silence the press. The message we’re getting is this: anything that hints of criticism of the First Gentleman or is considered unfavorable coverage of his activities is “libelous.” In effect, he hinders the public’s right to information on matters of public concern.” Pinoy Press

In Bulan, the incumbent mayor caused a scandal that went around the world for refusing to show  to the mandamus petitioners the documents pertaining to her and her husband’s controversial Central Bus Terminal Project. Visit the Sorsogonnews “Kabatas” blogsite ( see Blogroll ) and search for Luisito Panelo’s entry entitled “The Truth About The P80 Million Bulan Bus Terminal Mandamus”.

If you have been reading carefully, you would have noticed that Section 4 is a very defined written law- for it does not express any exception or limitation as opposed to Sections 3 and 7. But all together, these three Sections form a formidable unit of protection and legal basis for every citizen’s right to inform and be informed- verbally or in written form.

Here’s a good news for all Bicol, Bulan Journalists !

According to the Center For Media Freedom And Responsibilty, “the 2008 Jaime V. Ongpin Awards for Excellence in Journalism (JVOAEJ) will focus on corruption/governance, human rights and environmental issues, for reason that ” The country has been rocked by one corruption scandal after another, even as the human rights situation and environmental degradation have worsened.” For Bulan-related articles, go to Sorsogonnews “Kabatas” blogsite and search for the entry ” Bulan’s “Blood” Sand”.

The winning articles can be either investigative or explanatory reports, and will receive the usual cash prize of P70,000 each. Other meritorious investigative/explanatory articles will also be recognized and accordingly awarded.

The awardees will be presented in a ceremony preceded by the JVOAEJ journalism seminar, which this year will be on June 26.”

So, go with your pens, photo/video cameras, observe Bulan write and win!

jun asuncion

Bulan Observer

 

Your Welfare is my Concern

 
“The Transparency International Global Corruption Barometer is a public opinion survey that has been administered around the world each year since 2003. The Barometer explores how corruption affects the daily lives of ordinary citizens, asking about the general public’s attitudes toward corruption, the extent to which they believe corruption pervades public institutions, their experience with petty bribery and their sense of how the fight against corruption will fare in the future”
           

 “Key findings in the Global Corruption Barometer 2007 are:
The poor, whether in developing or highly industrialised countries, are the most penalised by corruption. They are also more pessimistic about the prospects for less corruption in the future.

About 1 in 10 people around the world had to pay a bribe in the past year; reported bribery has increased in some regions, such as Asia-Pacific and South East Europe

Bribery is particularly widespread in interactions with the police, the judiciary and registry and permit services.

The general public believe political parties, parliament, the police and the judicial/legal system are the most corrupt institutions in their societies.

Half of those interviewed – and significantly more than four years ago – expect corruption in their country to increase in the next three years, with some African countries the exception.

Half of those interviewed also think that their government’s efforts to fight corruption are ineffective. ” Global Corruption Barometer

 We all know that the topic of corruption is not a new subject for us TagaBulans, for us Filipinos. But if you want a thorough read about this subject, then visit the website of Transparency International (see Blogroll).

Study results and strategies suggested by TI (Tranparency International) represent only one thing. Corruption is an attitude, a mode of social behavior and interaction. That means that without the individuals’  “willingness” to leave this attitude behind, all those studies and strategies are of no use.

 The fact that we have a problem of corruption, I think, is a proof that our dream of democracy will remain a dream. For the first step in building a democracy is the reversal of corruption, which means, switching to “your- welfare- is- my- concern”- attitude. Only upon this attitude can you start building democracy, the attitude that’s in the minds of advanced democratic nations.

On the other side, a reversal of this attitude to “my- welfare -is my -only -concern” is the downfall of democracy also, a trend noticeable in the politics of highly-capitalized  democratic countries of today where people think only of nothinh else but profit after profit. Here, the zenith is almost reached and so the machiavellian’s wheel of history rolling down again.

 

jun asuncion

Bulan Observer

Chicken and Egg Question

FEATURED COMMENT:

( A comment sent by J.A. Carizo of “Bik-Lish”, of Legaspi City to atty. benji’s article ” Who is to be blame for Poverty…”. I post it here in front to introduce the author and his writings. The title was taken from the comment itself -and I hope Mr. Carizo approves it!  So make time to visit Bik-Lish! jun asuncion)

By. J. A. Carizo
April 29, 2008 at 8:42 am ·

Thanks Atty. Benji. I guess it’s a chicken and egg question. On one end, we can blame the government, and on the other we can blame ourselves, the people, all of us.

First, the government exists based on a “social contract” be that a theory based on Rosseau or John Locke. The idea is that the people set-up a government, agreed to respect it, pay taxes, etc., on the condition that it will serve the people and pursue the public interest. But there came a time when the government became corrupt, became “manhid” that it failed to do its obligations. On the other hand, the people also permitted it, pay grease money (paipit, pakimkim, under-the-table), did not howl over government irregularities, still elected the politicians with questionable character, sold their votes, etc. In simple sense, the people tolerated the government. So there your poverty comes.

Second, there is also this problem of definition. Every now and then the government would release statistics saying the economy grew. The people would not ask nor require the government an explanation why this figure and that. As a result, the government became comfortable and believed its own propaganda to be true.

Lastly, there is also this problem of consciousness. In this, the Church is also a party to blame. The Church would emphasize “Blessed are the poor for they will enter the Kingdom of Heaven”. As a result, the people made no questions and thought it’s just okay to be poor. At any rate, there is an afterlife — Heaven. Whether the Church did it intentionally or not, we cannot say. The possibility is that it missed the context — meaning, its interpretation was wrong. And the Church being wrong is not anymore new nor surprising because like any other organizations, it is also NOT infallible. One evidence of this is when the Church declared Galileo a heretic and excomulgado when the latter declared that the earth is the one moving around the sun. Otherwise, why should the people remain poor when the Bible says “man is created on the image of God”? Unless God is also poor.

The other possibility is that the Church missing the context is intentional. Studies in psychology and sociology shows that the people tend to cling to God or any gods or goddesses for that matter when they are poor. In simple terms, a great number of individuals seek God only in times of scarcity but in the times of plenty, you can count the fingers of your hand as to the number of those who still go to Church. This observation is also the basis of Karl Marx when he said that “Religion is the opium of the people” — a statement which is commonly taken out of context.

 

 

 

Who Is To Blame For Poverty In The Philippines?

 

By: Atty. Benji

 

(this article is partly a response of atty benji to our discussion Corruption Is Just  A Tip Of The Iceberg…)

The National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB) has bared the facts regarding poverty in the Philippines:

“1 out of every 3 Filipinos is poor.”

Mr. Neil Cruz of the Philippine Daily Inquirer has pointed out in his column the everyday realities, which rosy description of the economy could not hide: the number of poor people is increasing. There are more children and old people begging in the streets, squatter colonies where the poorest of the poor lead wretched lives are expanding. More and more people are looking for jobs and finding too few; recruitment agencies are always awash with people hoping to get jobs abroad. The Department of Foreign Affairs can’t cope with the demand for passports as more and more Filipinos try to escape the poverty at home for greener pastures overseas. All of these are clear signs that something is very bad with the economy: it cannot support our population.

And so the persistent questions are ever before the Filipino people and those in government and business: why are there so many poor Filipinos? Why can’t so many Filipinos find jobs at home? Why are they forced to leave their families to earn a living abroad? Why don’t so many Filipinos have enough to eat? If the economy is really as good as the President claims, there would be few poor Filipinos, they would have jobs here, they would have enough to eat, there would be few squatters.

Those in government are quick to make excuses for the growing incidence of poverty: It is because of inflation brought about by the increase in oil prices, they say. It is because of the typhoons. And more excuses, excuses. Other countries were also hit by the high oil prices; other countries were also hit by typhoons. But we are the only country that had such a big increase in poverty.

Corruption in government and among government officials:

Moreover, Mr. Neal Cruz is emphatic in pointing out that it is neither OPEC nor typhoons that are to blame; it is CORRUPTION (….is just a tip of an Iceberg?). Companies find it expensive to do business in the Philippines because of corruption and red tape, so no jobs for Filipinos. Funds that should go to projects and to basic services to the people go to private pockets. Commissioners and brokers are no longer content with 10-percent commissions. They now collect 100 percent of the original cost, thus doubling the cost of the project. The ZTE-NBN and North Rail projects are JUST THE TIP OF THE ICEBERG.

We may be wondering why the Philippines is not as stable (or progressive) as the United States although we have copied, and tried to improve, the American Constitution and also in spite of the fact that we are comparably well educated as the American people are. As a matter of fact, well-known constitutionalists claimed that the Philippine Constitution (e.g. Marcos & the Aquino Charter) is the best Constitution in the world.

Quid Pro Quo (something for something) Democracy

( 0r Buy and Sell Election))

The Right to vote is not given to a mentally ill and accused criminal , therefore this right is a positive attest to your health and legal status. There is a political issue and you have to decide.The nature of your decision shows where you stand with your principle. If you cast your vote  freely , i.e., without depending on anything or anybody, conscientiously studied the issues involved and with common good in mind, then you stand on democratic principles. But to cast your vote  in exchange of anything is to devalue your rights and downgrade the already downgraded society. You relinquish wittingly your positive qualities we mentioned above. And that is what makes you really an enemy of a that sector of the society that is clamoring for change and progress. On the other side, a politician who directly buys  electoral votes is a no lesser crook than the one selling. For by buying, he is already acknowledging to himself and to others that he will plunder the public funds once he would win. Hence, to sell vote is like selling your future for you voted a thief to rule over your town. And to buy vote is already building your future adinistration/government upon a foundation of moral corruption- of yourself and of the people.

Many were bought by Marcos and Imelda at that time and they did nothing afterwards but plundered the nation.Too many also suffered, disappeared or got killed. Yes, at the early stage of his rule, the economy improved but still it was not a proof that dictatorship of such type is the answer for the right form of leadership for the Philippines. This economic boom was short-lived because the political structure was based on greed, not on foresight. And so it has produced greedy politicians, businessmen  and military officers, divided the Filipinos, hate and revenge were everywhere. Can a nation grow under these circumstances? On a personal level this could have led to divorce, patricide or extended suicide. In short, broken home. Marcos broke the nation, and not getting enough, he transferred the kaban ng bayan and gold deposits ( greater than the total gold reserves of Gross Britain!) to Switzerland  and in other foreign banks to secure his survival. I mean you can be a super-visionary politician- as some people considered Marcos to be,- build expressways and airports. Those were nothing for as we have said, progressive thinking is not based on such infrastructures alone but in upgrading the nation’s democratic consciousness and building  a political “infrastructure”  where patriotism is allowed to grow and where the next generation of leaders would willingly work with one another for the progress of the nation. Marcos himself was a product of a faulty Philippine political landscape and during his tenure he damaged this landscape even more. We all know the rest of the story. These lost money and golds were not recovered and  made other countries even more richer. Is that being visionary? For his survival and for foreign bankers maybe, but not for the survival and  progress of our nation.

What is left with a person without a moral principle but a primitive natural man whose behavior is guided by the dictates of lowly desires alone than by nurtured and cultured reason. You could have all the benefits of materialism but that doesn’t make you a better person. I have a friend who told me once about a person that in order to find him, one would  just need to  go to the known corrupt politicians in his province for he is known to have this ambition of becoming a rich man- and so he clings like a dog to such politicians. This man was once  an outspoken UP “Down With Imperialism!” activist before, fighting for a cause. Knowing this, you feel like throwing out.Yes, you just cannot stomach somebody who is a fake. This kind of person begs on his knees.The lack of genuine moral principle is the decline of everything. A society without it has no future. The same way with a government. It is nothing but an institutionalized robbery, a kleptocracy. Picture yourself a society populated with people begging on their knees. Shameful, isn’t it? For this UP activist what matters most at the moment is his food on the table, his full stomach and his brand new car he got as a present for wagging his tail for all his corrupt friends. On the other hand, can you stomach an image of a vicious and corrupt politician and government official  who lives comfortably from the  blood, sweat and tears of others? Social Darwinism is  true just up to a certain point and it ends there where moral instinct begins to manifest itself and says “mister, don’t forget I’m also a part of yourself”.To protect the weak is a universal  human moral instinct, an instinct that is unfortunately often suppressed by greedy public officials.

When you claim to  feed the poor children with a banner behind that says “Nutrition Program by the Municipal Mayor” then you are just making a fool out of this poor people. For obviously you’re using their empty stomach to prepare for your second term on the next election. When you call out loud on your constituents as your “manga padaba” (my dearest ones), you’re actually  indirectly buying their votes- and cheating them when by the same token you refuse to tell the truth about your expenses. The Kaban Ng Bayan normally belongs to the people- but not to you and your own family. So don’t empty it. This is a fact that stands in any democratic political primer.

If a mayor engages in such  a costly project that only empties the public treasury ( limasin ang  kaban ng bayan) to the point that there is no more left for other basic services then this mayor is an irresponsible one, much like a mother who spends more for her dress and beauty kits leaving her children malnourished. Or a father whose drinking spree with his friends after work sends him  home with nothing left for his family that waits for him- examples we all know.These are small examples that illustrate the effect when vice rules over duty and principle. We may recall the notorious extravagance of Imelda Marcos that went around the globe. When  extravagance combines with greed for power then you have all the ingredients you need to bake a kleptocratic government. And so it was with Ferdinand and Imelda. They baked a huge cake that did not nourish their children but left them hungry. 

Back to vote buying or selling. In itself, it is like any normal trading or a market exchange a quid pro qou something for something,  but a trading that is illicit or a market that is a black market. It is until now considered as illegal in any civilized country. Vote buying takes place in may forms like direct monetary rewards or indirectly in form of goodies and favors. For us Filipinos maybe it’s the only way you could have a share of the stolen government revenues. Indeed, as some authors have noted, there is really no guarantee of the seller’s compliance, which means that you can get the money and  vote for another candidate, instead of him, or not cast a vote at all after receiving the financial remuneration. And it’s hard for the buyers to monitor this market. But In some places they let the seller go to the polling station with a cellular -phone camera, picture his filled up ballot and send the photo to the buyer’s monitoring station as a proof of compliance. There are many informal ways to control or to monitor seller’s compliance or not-compliance. If they can extort you to sell your votes, how can they refrain from killing you when you don’t comply to the trade’s agreement?

So, take care of yourself, avoid such situations. Stand on your feet, don’t live on your knees. Stand for Bulan.

 

jun asuncion

Bulan Observer

Strengths And Weaknesses – The Filipino Character

Or, Your Journey To A Better Society

 

Democracy, as we understand it by definition and as our Constitution attempts to provide it for our nation, is still light years away from us Filipinos. For though there is election, in effect we elect always the same set of politically powerful people, the Oligarchs. The conduct of election itself is in practice influenced (vote buying, giving of favors, threats and extortion, etc.) by these groups of people- and therefore the outcome. We have in practice a form Oligarchic Democracy in the Philippines.

We see in political history a reflection of the biological nature of man and the confirmation of Darwin’s Theory of Evolution, the survival of the fittest. You have never seen an instance in nature where the weak dominates the strong. The degree of strength and in size  determines the instinctive inclination of animals to row themselves in proper positions in their jungle hierarchy. But it’s different in man owing to his moral instinct .This moral instinct is also a by-product of the evolution of the brain in response to his social environment, the organ that has released man from this jungle hierarchy, given him the power of abstraction and reflection and a sense of responsibility.

Ironically, radical political theories and political revolutions that we know have been based upon this sense of responsibility. Karl Marx saw the exploitation of the peasants by their feudal lords and industrial capitalists and devised a theoretical system to liberate them which was then put into action by Lenin and the Bolsheviks during the  October 1917 revolution.This failed in the long run because this system was against the natural instincts of man to Possess (market and economy) and to Self-actualisation (individual development) for one thing, and other thing  was that the system of communism, which was supposed to liberate them, turned into (or got stuck in)  totalitarianism (state regulation of almost all public and private matters!) and this enslaved them in the end. It is interesting to note how these forces of destruction and creation work in strange ways. Marx would turn in his grave if he would hear about the positive economic developments in China as capitalism ( free market) – which for Marx means “poverty in the midst of  plenty” – and personal possession (private property) were gradually allowed again, allowing them to rise up out of the poverty resulting from years of communism. Now, Oligarchy (defined as the rule of the rich and powerful few) was originally developed also to stop the rule of one man,- the Monarch, so as for power to be distributed. And now Oligarchs keep the power to themselves.

Yes, these political dynasties in the Philippines. They are the rich and powerful few, the Oligarchs of our nation! They are the ones who dominate our ugly political landscape, and they are not really attractive to people who crave for social and economic justice- not only in the Philippines but also in many places on earth. This dynasty-political system has long been a burden to the nation for it hinders our progress, fosters nothing but corruption and alienates the rest of the population from politics. With the growing resentment among the population, it’s about time that legislators should work on this issue (The main problem is that our legislators themselves come from these dynasties!). It is possible to remove the existing dynasties on two conditions: First, through a morally strong President who would see this task as his lifetime achievement (nothing else) and  by putting into effect Section 26 of Article II of the 1987 Constitution which reads “the State shall guarantee equal access to opportunities for public service, and prohibit “Political Dynasties as maybe defined by Law” – and to amend this section by removing the disturbing word  “maybe“. Marcos tried it once, only he ended up building new ones! A military coup d’ etat aiming to save the country usually turns to a tyranny itself. So this is not a case for  the Philippines. Second, that these political dynasties, on local and national level, should now give way for more citizen participation in the electoral process so as to avoid anarchy. History teaches us that democracy is one thing, people’s emotion is another thing. That when a certain threshold is exceeded nature takes over civilization once again and gives way to eruption of emotions of hate and revenge leading to destruction and killings of politicians.- an event we call as people’s uprising or revolution. Look at Tibet today, or Haiti, Zimbabwe, Kenia and Pakistan. Or remember our Edsa People’s Power which ended Marcos’ Dynasty. The people literally overrun the object of hate (mostly corrupt politicians) to re-establish democratic order. Viewed in itself, the use of brute force and violence is indeed a primitive, non-democratic method, but interestingly  the end justifies the means when the end is the restoration of democracy  itself. This is the paradox of democracy bein g manifested in a political rupture. Our political dynasties can help much in changing the course of history if they would give way, therefore, easing political tension in our nation. With today’s economic and world food crises (mess of globalization!), poverty amidst plenty, we are back to the mother situations that had given birth to revolutions in the past. On the other hand,  economic and political crisis fragments and traumatises a society, thus making it susceptible to other ideologies, as in the case of Germany’ in 1918, when, after being defeated in war, plummeted to social, cultural and economic crisis. The Germans were too weak and hungry as to desist the rising National Socialism of Hitler. Hitler, originally an Austrian, promised the German nation alleviation from hunger and from the trauma of world war I. This seductive promise ended up as the biggest trauma itself for the German nation until today. The Filipinos, too weak to resist, may  also become susceptible to other ideologies.

The Philippines is already a capitalist society, and must not repeat  the experience of China which first adopted communism only to flirt with capitalism after its bitter experience with the former. And basically, we  have more political freedom compared to the Chinese of today. These two elements- free market and personal freedom- are also present in progressive societies like  Finland, Norway, Sweden, Belgium, Switzerland, Japan, etc. But what is lacking that progress seems to be withholding itself from us? This brings us back to the center of human society- to man in general and (in the Philippines) the individual Filipino, in particular. Every modern Filipino is faced with these elements: the economy, politics and his choices. Do we have bad choices or can we not constructively deal with our freedom? I personally think we have bad choices. Try to examine the extent of discrepancy between our agreement and our corresponding choice of action. Our basic national agreement is best illustrated in the Preamble of our present Constitution which says:

We, the sovereign Filipino people, imploring the aid of Almighty God, in order to build a just and humane society and establish a Government that shall embody our ideals and aspirations, promote the common good, conserve and develop our patrimony, and secure to ourselves and our posterity the blessings of independence and democracy under the rule of law and a regime of truth, justice, freedom, love, equality, and peace, do ordain and promulgate this Constitution “

Now, the details:

1. Implore the aid of Almighty God. Yes! We are world champion in reciting prayers and rosaries, in going to church every Sunday, in showing reverence to the priests, in forwarding chain letters. We are famous for imitatio christi, as some of us get  flagellated and nailed on the cross every year. A new President taking oath saying “…so help me God.”  Well, God knows…

2. A just and humane society.  Well, what kind of society have we chosen to build? Can we call it just when some stand above the law and humane when countless live below existence minimum??

3. A Government embodying our ideals, aspirations, promoting common good. What kind of Government do we have now and in the past?  Promote common good? What kind of ideals and aspirations do our political dynasties represent and embody?

4. Democracy under the rule of law. Rule of law or of some powerful few? Pardoning the plunderer Erap was not an instance of rule of law but rather of the logic of greed and self-preservation of the incumbent president.

5. A regime of truth, justice, freedom, love, equality and peace. Nice things, but where are they? A regime of scams and crises, moral efluvia, substerfuge, extra-judicial killings. The list is long.

Now we ask ourselves- did we exercise good choices? If we had, we would have had a good government, a better  economy and a humane society by now. In short, Progress.

Many other countries also had a bitter childhood but they have chosen to overcome it, dusted themselves up and chose to work together. We Filipinos seemed to have chosen the other way: a bitter childhood, self-pity and chose not to work together. Do you expect a nation to progress this way and export rice to other nations? No way. The Philippines import rice from Vietnam, from her former agriculture student. Vietnam was ravaged by war and “no stone was left unturned in my country during this war” as a Vietnamese friend once told me. But the Vietnamese dusted themselves up after years of being in the pit. The Filipinos remained in the pit.

We do have a lot of things at our disposal- from our rich  natural resources to our “fully-furnished” Constitution, that, though not perfect, is almost complete and could serve already as a solid  framework for nation building. God has indeed  given us everything. Basically, the second thing lacking in us seems to be sincerity. That’s the reason why we are light years away from the goals we have set in our constitution- and so from progress. But what is sincerity? For me sincerity is not only learning what you ought to learn but doing what you ought to do, as simple as that. For our legislators, they ought to do what the constitutions requires them to do. Or between you and me, when  we agreed to meet at nine o’ clock tomorrow, don’t come at twelve or rather tell me straight if you will not come at all! But it seems that we Filipinos have the fondness of making things complicated; we corrupt a simple thought or action habitually and we are now trapped within this system we created ourselves. Yes, it’s true, we have trapped the whole nation. A habitual liar always ends up lying even if  in some occasions he really does not have any reason to tell a lie. His habit has trapped him into lying automatically. Our personal interaction is reflected in our national politics. For after all, the individual trees define the quality  of the forest. This is the  reason why we are having these political problems in our country- its because of you and me. We have bad choices and are not sincere enough. Yes, the truth hurts.

Now, how do we get ourselves out of this trap? How shall we free ourselves from this bondage? “Know thy Self” was the answer of Socrates. Again, to know the forest, we must examine the trees. Or shall we put the whole nation on a couch for a freudian psychoanalysis? Better not. We don’t have to know all our traumas and complexes.

But to remind ourselves about those common Filipino traits and habits that we knew  as pupils still help explain where we are today. Here they are again:

Our Major Weaknesses:

1. Utang Na Loob (Debt Of Gratitude). Up to a certain point it is a virtue, but too much is a trap in itself. We Filipinos exaggerated this trait unwittingly believing this was natural to us, hence, good. In truth, this is a colonial residue still overshadowing us. This is not strength but rather a weakness for it is built upon our belief that we were chickens (and not as eagles) as the successive colonizers had forced us to believe. We over-subjugated ourselves in order to survive. We did survive,  but heavily damaged from within. This utang na loob made us believe we are of lesser-value than  others, prevented from developing that strong consciousness necessary to get out of our  miserable situation. The revolutions freed us from the oppressors physically, but the oppressed in us has remained even to date. Applied into our politics, this trait is the nucleus of corruption for this prevents our mind from siding to the ideals of  common good  but rather reduces it to side with things or with people whom we are indebted to in one way or another. This is partly behind vote buying/selling, or behind the failure of the five pillars of criminal justice, etc.

2. Crab-Mentality. This is what divides us as one people and therefore prevents us from joining hands together in order to build a progressive nation. For instead, we pull each other down out of envy or just plain egoism. Even among bloggers who claim to hate our system, this mentality exists. For each of us choose rather to solo his fight and ends ultimately to nothing. In politics nothing great is accomplished by a lone fighter. This is why our nation doesn’t move forward but rather backwards- like a crab. And a crab with Utang Na Loob  is a perfect disaster!

3. Ningas-Cogon. This reinforces the crab in us for this means total retreat after taking a few steps to the front. Politics can achieve something substantial if it is held on a steady course over time. The same way with fighting for a cause. Nothing will happen if we cannot stay and fight to the end. To come and go as you wish is never a big help to your team. With this, nothing shall ever be accomplished or finished to the end.

4. Mañana Habit. This is the reason why everything has been delayed in our country. We push everything for tomorrow, so don’t ask for progress now for with this habit, progress will never be a thing of today but will always be a thing of tomorrow. This habit, combined with ningas-cogon, utang na loob  and with the crab on top with bad choice and lacking in sincerity, then you have the perfect picture of the Philippine society of today – and, maybe, of tomorrow.

Our Greatest Strengths:

1. Strong Family Orientation (Family-ties). After all these years, I still consider this trait as our strongest strength for it is the reason behind why the Philippines is still existing even in the face of high migration, internal conflicts, political and economic crises. Filipinos abroad normally still go back home even after years of being away simply because of their loyalty to their family and relatives. This is not class-specific for it is indeed a strong trait observed not only among the poor but even among the affluent  Filipino families.

2. Utang Na Loob (Debt Of Gratitude). As mentioned, this is a Filipino strength when kept in proper place (private life), hence doesn’t rob us of our objectivity and correct performance of our duty or public service. This trait shows our thankfulness- or looking back-  to people and situations that have touched our lives positively. This is inherent in all other strengths of the Filipinos.

3. Pakikisama (Social Flexibility). Closely related to Pakikiramdam or Pakikipagkapwa-tao, I translate this as social flexibility for this what is all about being  a Filipino in a social setting –  that of striving for harmony in our interpersonal relationships. This makes us attractive to other nationalities for we can easily connect with them and give them the feeling that we understand and accept them.

4. Endurance. A product of our difficult historical struggles. Extreme social, political and economic problems resulting from colonizations, wars and recurring natural catastrophies have moulded the Filipinos into a strong people when it comes to dealing with difficult situations over an extended period of time. This is the foundation of our patience. Patience is never a natural gift but is a result of experience. With this strength, Filipinos survive difficult situations at home or away from home. Resoluteness is very much related to this, a trait we badly need in our political leadership and for us to counter the ningas-cogon tendency.

 This journey to our center was  indeed a difficult journey for we have seen that the ills of our society are to be found actually within each of us, thus corruption in our everyday life is just the tip of the iceberg. Now we have ( re-) identified some of our enemies, and since we are determined to fight for progress, this knowledge shall guide us and, hopefully, helps develop in us that needed consciousness, thus making our fight for progress and against poverty more effective. Keep it as you go on your journey to a better society.

Again, to borrow my own favorite phrase, “Bulan deserves a bright future!”.

 jun asuncion

Bulan Observer

PrLet’s look at ourlWe, the sovereigllln Filipino people, imploring the aid of Almighty God, in order to build a just and humane society and establish a Government that shall embody our ideals and aspirations, promote the common good, conserve and develop our patrimony, and secure to ourselves and our posterity the blessings of independence and democracy under the rule of law and a regime of truth, justice, freedom, love, equality, and peace, do ordain and promulgate this Constitution.
We, the sovereign Filipino people, imploring the aid of Almighty God, in order to build a just and humane society and establish a Government that shall embody our ideals and aspirations, promote the common good, conserve and develop our patrimony, and secure to ourselves and our posterity the blessings of independence and democracy under the rule of law and a regime of truth, justice, freedom, love, equality, and peace, do ordain and promulgate this Constitution.
eamble 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

 

 

 

 

We, We, the sovereign Filipino people, imploring the aid of Almighty God, in order to build a just and humane society and establish a Government that shall embody our ideals and aspirations, promote the common good, conserve and develop our patrimony, and secure to ourselves and our posterity the blessings of independence and democracy under the rule of law and a regime of truth, justice, freedom, love, equality, and peace, do ordain and promulgate this ConstitutiontPreamble 
We, the sovereign Filipino people, imploring the aid of Almighty God, in order to build a just and humane society and establish a Government that shall embody our ideals and aspirations, promote the common good, conserve and develop our patrimony, and secure to ourselves and our posterity the blessings of independence and democracy under the rule of law and a regime of truth, justice, freedom, love, equality, and peace, do ordain and promulgate this Constitution.

 

 

 

 

 

he sovereign Filipino people, imploring the aid of Almighty God, in order to build a just and humane society and establish a Government that shall embody our ideals and aspirations, promote the common good, conserve and develop our patrimony, and secure to ourselves and our posterity the blessings of independence and democracy under the rule of law and a regime of truth, justice, freedom, love, equality, and peace, do ordain and promulgate this Constitution.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

 

 

 

 
 
 

 

“Corruption Is Just The Tip of An Iceberg”

An Invitation to tagaBulans and fellow Bicolanos

I invite everyone, every tagabulan and Bicolanos  to write down and share to others their ideas to this thesis:

 “Corruption Is Just The Tip Of An Iceberg. The biggest cause of our failure is unseen and this resides within us.” 

This may sound focusing on the negative side, thus going  against our conception of our Fight For Progress. But I think it’s part of developing that needed “consciousness” (positive thinking- so jacarizo of Bik-Lish)  in order to fight poverty , as atty. benji has explained it to us in his article “TagaBulans To Fight poverty”.

I also think that we must first ” Know thyself” (Socrates) for only then we will be in a position to correctly distinguish the “enemy from a friend”, hence, making our task simplier and more effective.Please include your name or your site so that this may be added  to Bulan Observer’s links (Blogroll).

This idea came upon me as I was writing my feedback to atty. benji, the whole feature of which you can read below. I’m hoping to get feedbacks from our fellow Bicolanos so that we can start connecting with each other and learning from each other in our common journey.

Thank You.

jun asuncion

 

 

To atty. benji

This is a good read, atty. benji and is now on top post, as you can see. Our Fight For Progress is based on the ” power of positive thinking”, a phrase mentioned by jacarizo and as I also tried to describe in my ealier writings here. And take note that Bulan Observer is slowly reaching out other Bicolanos, not only tagaBulans. This will be our next step: to connect with other Bicolanos who have the same objectives as we do and share with them our concept of change. There are still things to be described and they will come as soon as we get more time.

That SVD german priest was right, in my view. The Germans are people of high-fighting spirit and they base their behaviour and thinking on their strength, not on weakness or sorrows. Hitler ruined Germany and the survivors joined hands together to rebuild their nation.They have fought for progress and won. Right after that, in a short period of time, they conquered the world with mercedes, bmw, volkswagen, opel, audi, produced the most modern war tanks, etc. This is surely not a result of negative , sorrowful thinking.

We motivate our Kabungtos to stand up and help build Bulan. This is what you mean by developing the right”consciousness” in order to put an end to poverty, self-pity and resignation. Progress begins in the mind- so as failure.

Corruption is just the tip of an iceberg. The biggest part of our failure is unseen and this resides within each of us tagaBulans, Bicolanos and Filipinos. We will try to elaborate more on this in our upcoming posts.

Thanks again for sharing your ideas and in helping build up Bulan Observer and in making our objetives be known slowly but surely to entire Bicol region.

jun asuncion

TAGABULANS TO FIGHT POVERTY

(or Free Bulan from the Bondage of Poverty)

by: atty benji

Origins of Poverty:
Historically speaking, when man came on earth he did not live in a society or hierarchy nor was he endowed with poverty. Good health, longevity, natural cheerfulness were his own even as he found himself amidst plenty.

Ending Poverty:
That poverty can be eliminated through higher levels of education, which enables true truths to flow, and greater knowledge of what can be achieved in life for the individual, replacing the falsehoods and evil that rise in the soil of poverty and ignorance.

Abolishing Poverty:
Unless the poor are determined not to be poor, poverty cannot be solved. Poverty is best abolished by the development of consciousness. Next best is to develop infrastructure, create employment opportunities and other forms of livelihood projects, including access to education, etc.

Keys to Moving out of Poverty:
To move out of poverty one needs to — truly want more, make the effort to gain it, seek self-employment over normal employment, gain the necessary skills to accomplish it and establish personal values.

Eliminating Poverty:
Poverty is eliminated by, generating more employment; raising the level of minimum education; making the social elite aware of the possibility of removing it; presenting the LGU concrete programs of prosperity; educating the public opinion that poverty is not inevitable.

Peace, and End to Poverty:
Only in peace, hunger and poverty can be abolished, and full employment realized. Only in peace, the whole world can live in and acquire prosperity. Only in peace, the human resource and potentials can blossom and expand.

x-x-x Question: NATO TABI KAY POBRE KITA NA MGA FILIPINO, if not the poorest in the world? In Bicol region, or in Sorsogon, or even in Bulan, in particular, poverty and hunger is so epidemic, and even widespread. (e.g., Kamote an pamahawon an suda sirum-sirom na inihaw, belanghoy an pangalasdose an suda solamente asin, pinakru na saging an merindalan an suda wara, an panigab-i kamote an suda kinagod na lando na lubi….pag-abot sin katutnga sin gabi maharabahabon an tiyan…..mapung-awon nan makahihibi ine na sobra na pagtios, hehehehe!

In the old testament, poverty is a curse! While, the new testmament says otherwise, poverty is a blessing indeed, as christ proclaimed the words, “Blessed are the poor, because the kingdom of God belongs to you”!

I would recall during my tertiary years in a catholic university, my professor in theology, an SVD priest had categorically said the reason why poverty is so widespread in our midst, because the philippines, being the only catholic country in the whole of Asia, tends to give more importance in celebrating the passion of the christ during “semana santa”, which according to him, the passion of christ symbolizes suffering and death, rather than commemorating the resurrection of christ, or the risen christ, which symbolizes new life and success. Maybe, that is the point of view of the SVD, a religious congregation founded by a German priest, while the opinion of the other religious congregations founded mostly by Spaniard & Italian priests, such as, OP, SJ, OPM, AOR etc, may contradict the opinion of the SVD…

… an article entitled “The Poverty in the Bicol Region” posted in Bik-Lish blog (Bikol-English) by Jacarizo, in his thesis he deposed in part:
“A colleague asked him: The Bicol Region is rich in natural as well as human resources. How come it still remains poor?”
“I immediately remember the stories about Japan after World War II. It was so poor and so war torn, how come the Land of the Rising Sun still became rich?”
x-x-x-x x-x-x-x
“Base sa factsheets kan National Statistics Coordination Board, almost half of the Bicolanos are poor. In 2003, the figure was 41%. The highest poverty incidence is in Masbate followed by Camarines Norte. Interestingly, these are the areas where gold mines are located. Kaya an hapot: Nata?”

“One explanation is, wealth is not fairly distributed in these areas.” blah, blah, blah!!!

And there he continued that “Politics is another reason why Bicol region is poor!

“or maybe because of the existence of political dynasty in bicol,” – an sayo pa na dahilan kun nano kay nagtitirios kita! San-o kaya kita marayaman? Baka, until thy kingdom come…..

Perhaps, I would also agree that Bicol region is poor because wealth is not properly distributed to the needy in the areas, (excluding corruption ha) this incident can be fully attributed to the failure of the government, (both the House of Representatives & Senate) to properly address and prioritize the enactment of laws or measures by equitably diffusing wealth and political power for the general welfare of the people as mandated in the Constitution, re, social justice provision.

Article 13:
Social Justice and Human Rights

SEC. 1.
”The Congress shall give highest priority to the enactment of measures that protect and enhance the right of all the people to human dignity, reduce social, economic, and political inequalities, and remove cultural inequities by equitably diffusing wealth and political power for the common good. To this end, the State shall regulate the acquisition, ownership, use, and disposition of property and its increments.”

SEC. 2.
”The promotion of social justice shall include the commitment to create economic opportunities based on freedom of initiative and self-reliance.”

Usually, that’s the problem with us Filipinos, kapag nailuklok na sa pwesto ang mga tinatawag nating public servant or servant of the people, they tend to forget everything at biglang sinasapian ng “Amnesia” at hindi nila alam kung bakit sila ay nariyan sa kongreso, senado, o sa gobierno.

The challenge to all tagaBulans that – “Unless the poor are determined not to be poor, poverty cannot be solved.” Nato tabi an hihimuon ta sine? Deri man pwede na makurunol nalang kita, ala juan tamad syndrome… Siempre kinakaipuhan tabi na an mga nasa kapangyarihan o nasa pwesto maghimo sin mga remedyo o estratihiya para makalampas kita san sobra na pagtios, deri pagparalabutan an pundo san gobierno, dapat an mga tawo an makinabang san gracia san gobierno, an kadaghanan liwat san nasa pwesto nato puro kickback o komisyun lang san project an iniirisip….. ayaw man tabi sun! In the same token, all tagaBulans must also think for an alternative solution to alleviate poverty in our midst, deri nato pagparaasahan an gobierno, sabi nga ni Presidente ML Quezon sa mga kabungtos, “don’t think what the country can do for you, but think what you can do for your country”…

We have to liberate our people in Bulan from the bondage of extreme poverty and hunger, maybe the LGU-Bulan in particular shall promote social justice and distribute the wealth proportionately to the needy, if any. Besides giving them access to quality education, create employment opportunties, establish livelihood centers, and the last to give them land, a land to own – and in that way the tagaBulans or Kabungtos will become more self reliant component of the society, as partner for progress and development.

Worth remembering in relation to the social justice provision of the constitution as a way of alleviating poverty in our midst, the famous oratorical piece of Raul Manglapuz served us an inspiration and motivation to enable us to fight out poverty and hunger. At the prime of his life, Manglapuz ran for President in 1965, but lost to Ferdinand Marcos. Manglapus is a statesman of towering stature, he is best summed up by a Philippine newspaper columnist as “…the best President we never had.”

LAND OF BONDAGE, LAND OF THE FREE
by Raul Manglapus

x-x-x-x x-x-x-x x-x-x-x
“I indict the Spanish encomendero for inventing taxes impossible to bear.

I indict the usurer for saddling me with debts impossible to pay.

I indict the irresponsible radical leaders who undermine, with insidious eloquence, the confidence of my kind in our government.

You accuse me of not supporting my family. Free me from bondage, and I shall prove you false.

You accuse me of ignorance. But I am ignorant because my master finds it profitable to keep me ignorant. Free me from bondage, and I shall prove you false.

You accuse me of indolence. But I am indolent not because I have no will, but because I have no hope. Why should I labor, if all the fruits of my labor go to pay an unpayable debt. Free me from bondage, and I shall prove you false.

Give me land. Land to own. Land unbeholden to any tyrant. Land that will be free. Give me land for I am starving. Give me land that my children may not die. Sell it to me, sell it to me at a fair price, as one freeman sells to another and not as a usurer sells to a slave. I am poor, but I will pay it! I will work, work until I fall from weariness for my privilege, for my inalienable right to be free!”

…… to borrow the favorite phrase of mr. Jun A., “Bulan deserves a better future!

Indeed, we all deserve a bright future in Bulan, and to live in a progressive community, where peace and order reigns!

…….. as the saying goes, HABANG MAY BUHAY, MAY PAG-ASA!

Mabuhay an mga tagaBulans, may the force be with us always!

Cooperation and Unity Among The tagaBulans

by: atty benji

 

My heartfelt thanks and sincerest appreciations to you mr. Jun A!

I’m humbled by such feed back, and interest of the Bulan readers to this blog!

Maybe someday, or in the years to come, the town of Bulan will step forward as a progressive & first class municipality in the country thru the initiative of our local executives and politicians, sans political bickering and animosity.

In its fight for progress, LGU-Bulan shall endeavor to undertake the following program, (unsolicited advices)

1. To properly address the root cause of poverty, (review the economic & livelihood program) and alleviate the same by creating more jobs. And by all means, accelerate anti-hunger campaign as a priority program of the LGU-Bulan. Because, in order to combat poverty alleviation, we must eradicate corruption (stealing of funds or red tape is prohibited) in government projects so that both the big and small entrepreneurs could create wealth and jobs with least expenses.

2. To continuously encourage & invite more and more businessmen (local or foreign) to invest in the town’s economy.

3. To address the peace and order in the locality, because the economic development or progress of a particular place is solely dependent upon its peace & order situation/political stability. (kapag magulo, may patayan, at laging may bangayan, walang investor na mamumuhunan sa isang lugar)

4. To accelerate and increase (LGU) government earnings or revenues either thru raising the effective collection of taxes, etc. as one component of poverty alleviation. (similar to that of the Quezon City Govt. Tax Collection program)

5. To improve healthcare system thru subsidize medicines available in all barangay health centers.

6. To conduct monthly feeding program in all government elementary schools in the barangays. (as there are thousands of malnourished pupils in the public elementary schools right now)

7. To access to education, especially the poor, and the deserving, as education is one of the most important weapons in the fight against poverty.

In FIGHTING FOR PROGRESS OF BULAN, cooperation and unity among the tagaBulans is a must.

mr. Jun Asuncion, God bless us with overflowing blessings, and shower us with knowledge, wisdom and good judgment to write, for the consumption of the Bulan readers. We can attain progress thru the use of pens, not by guns, harassment, intimidation, threat against the lives of those who are critical of this present administration in Bulan.

As you always declare, “Bulan deserves a better future!”

Best regards! Mabuhay ka!

BADIL – versus – TABIL”, Which is the Mightier?

by: atty benji

Some say – The GUN is Mightier than the PEN:

In the past, &/or until the present time, the media practitioners (print & broadcast) such as, journalists, newspapermen & radio-tv reporters/broadcasters, in the country have been the subject of “salvaging” (a police lingo – for “summary execution”) & other forms of extra-judicial killings for critically exposing the anomalies & corruptions in the government perpetrated by some unscrupulous local government officials, politicians, warlords, policemen or military men, – indeed, the killings were exacerbated by the hard-hitting commentaries of the media people against the rascal government men or politicians, or warlords – “Badil an Mautas san kanira Buhay!”

This senseless and incessant summary execution of media practitioner/s in the country was meant to close their lips to prevent the truth from coming out in the open, &/or to suppress the right of the people to information on matter of public interests as enshrined in the 1987 Constitution.

Ok! Perhaps, we may consider the hottest Headlines appearing in various Tabloid newspapers showing that the GUN (sword) is mightier than the PEN (tongue) of the media people (local or national), thus, – to borrow the words of one of the tv-newscasters in the late night news, “Headline Bukas, Ngayon na ang Broadcast”, as follows:

Tabloid-1: Mamahayag binaril ng Jueteng Lord! Nalagutan ng Hininga sa Ospital!

Tabloid-2: Radio Broadcaster tinumba dahil sa kanyang “hard-hitting expose” laban sa Illegal na Droga, sangkot ang Kapulisan!

Tabloid-3: Kolumnista ng Tabloid, tinutukan ng baril ni Meyor!

Tabloid-4: TV reporter, nag-expose ng “ghost project” ni Congressman, Pinaputukan, Todas!

Tabloid-5: Bahay ng isang local radio reporter, hinagisan ng Granada, dalawa ang patay!

Tabloid-6: Heneral ng AFP, sangkot sa pamamaril sa isang tabloid reporter!

Tabloid-7: Baril ginamit na panakot sa isang TV reporter!

Bicolano Tabloid-8: Matabil na Radio Reporter, Binadil ni Hepe! Gadan! Nilamayan! etc.

In all of the above scenarios, the PEN (or Tongue) of the news reporter or radio broadcaster cannot be mightier than the bullet of the GUN of the assassin! Am I correct, sir?

It is arguably undeniable that many of the media practitioners in the country, who used their pens and tongues to expose corruption, have been the subject of intimidation, harassment, or even worst they become victims of ’salvaging’ for exposing anomaly/s in government projects. They “stand up for what is right even if it meant losing their lives”, as what nonong guyala’s description of the heroism of Fr. Chubby, who spearheaded the “rally for life” in Sorsogon to stop the series of extrajudicial killings of militants, etc., (in article re, bulan blood sand).

Anyhow, I would recall last year of May, (nagbakasyun ako) & on my way to the province, I had came across with the white streamer hanging in front of the Sorsogon Provincial Capitol which reads, “BADIL -versus- TABIL”, a basketball exhibition game featuring the Sorsogon media practitioners versus the military/police force. I would assume that the objective of the organizer is to foster unity, camaraderie and cooperation between media & the military/police, instead of sowing animosity against the other.

Sure, it’s tough to be a journalist in Afganistan, Iraq, Palestine, Somalia, Sudan, Bosnia, Nigeria, Burma, etc. But do you know what country is, according to the Asia Times, “far and away the most perilous place to be a journalist in Asia, if not the world?”

It’s the PHILIPPINES, where being a radio broadcaster is “riskier, on a per capita basis, than service as a left-wing activist or even as a guerrilla for the communists’ New People’s Army or militant Muslim groups.” According to an advocacy group called the National Union of Journalists, at least 42 Filipino journalists have been killed since President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo took power several years ago. Most of those killed have been radio broadcasters, who regularly criticize politicians, warlords, soldiers, & the police.

Arroyo has been criticized for contributing to lawlessness in the Philippines, where local vigilantes operate largely unchecked & there is, according to Amnesty International, a “lack of confidence in the criminal-justice system.” Few murderers are caught – there has only been one conviction of a police officer for the 42 journalist deaths. And that, says the Committee to Protect Journalists, “looks like an anomaly.”

Others say: The PEN is Mightier than the SWORD (the Gun):

“The Pen is Mightier than the Sword” is an adage coined by Edward Bulwer-Lytton in 1839 for his play “Richelieu; Or the Conspiracy”. x-x-x-x,
Woodrow Wilson’s 1916 U.S. presidential re-election campaign used the slogan “He proved the Pen mightier than the Sword”.

According to the website Trivia-Library.com, the book The People’s Almanac by Irving Wallace and David Wallechinsky lists several supposed predecessors to Bulwer’s phrasing. Their first example comes from the Greek playwright Euripides, who died circa 406 BC. He is supposed to have written: “The Tongue is Mightier than the Blade.” If the People’s Almanac is correct, it should be possible to source this to an extant work by Euripides; however, the quote does appear in the 1935 fictional work Claudius the God & his Wife Messalina by Robert Graves, & is thus possibly an anachronism. (source: wikipedia, free encyclopedia)

Several possible precursors do appear in the Old and New Testaments, for example, in the Epistle to the Hebrews, whose authorship is uncertain, verse 4:12 reads: “Indeed, the word of God is living & effective, sharper than any two-edged sword, penetrating even between soul and spirit, joints & marrow, & able to discern reflections and thoughts of the heart.”

Abu’l-Fazl ibn Mubarak, who died in 1602 & was personal scribe and vizier to Jalaluddin Muhammad Akbar (Akbar the Great), wrote of a gentleman put in charge of a fiefdom having “been promoted from the Pen to the Sword & taken his place among those who join the Sword to the Pen, & are masters both of peace and war.” Syad Muhammad Latif, in his 1896 history of Agra, quoted King Abdullah of Bokhara (Abdullah-Khan II), who died in 1598, as saying that “He was more afraid of Abu’l-Fazl’s PEN than of Akbar’s SWORD.” (source: wikipedia, free encyclopedia)

Robert Burton, in 1621, in The Anatomy of Melancholy, stated: “It is an old saying, “A blow with a Word strikes deeper than a blow with a Sword”: & many men are as much galled with a calumny, a scurrilous & bitter jest, a libel, a pasquil, satire, apologue, epigram, stage-play or the like, as with any misfortune whatsoever.” After listing several historical examples he concludes: “Hinc quam sit calamus saevior ense patet”, which translates as “From this it is clear how much more cruel the PEN may be than the SWORD.” (ibid)

Thomas Jefferson, on June 19, 1792, ended a letter to Thomas Paine with: “Go on then in doing with your PEN what in other times was done with the SWORD: shew that reformation is more practicable by operating on the mind than on the body of man, & be assured that it has not a more sincere votary nor you a more ardent well-wisher than Y[ou]rs. &c. Thomas Jefferson”.

The French emperor Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821), known to history for his military conquests, also left this oft-quoted remark: “Four hostile Newspapers are more to be feared than a thousand Bayonets.”

When the PEN proved mightier than the GUN:
As a hardcore militant, Hemanta Jamatia was, in his heydey, one of those who terrorized Tripura. But the musician in him overpowered the insurgent, leading to him being selected for a Sangeet Natak Akademi award.

“Music often Triumphs over Guns,” says Jamatia who bade farewell to arms 14 years ago. But the lines he composed during his underground days still haunt him.

“Whenever I sang in the deep forest hideouts, my other rebel brothers would leave their arms & join me,” he said. (source: posted in the internet)

“My Pen, the Only Tool I Had”, by Rizal

Dr. Jose Rizal’s speech was immediately published in the newspapers of Madrid, & not long after in the Manila press. Rizal’s parents & family had long worried about the effect of his thinking & ideas. After the publication of this speech in the Philippines, many doubted that he would ever be allowed to return home.

I would say that Rizal has been inclined to believe that the PEN is mightier than a sword (a gun), while Bonifacio may have opted to believe otherwise! Maybe!

Which do you think is the mightier, the PEN or the GUN?

PS: …. though, there were reported incidents of extra judicial killings in the towns of Bulan & Irosin, or in the City of Sorsogon a year, or years ago involving members of the law enforcement agency/policemen as victims, or even lawyers as victims too, but not of the media/press people. Up to now, the name or identity of the perpetrator of summary execution is still a big question mark to us tagaBulans.

Who was the mastermind? And, who pulled the trigger? Bang! Bang! Bang!

If a particular crime is not yet solved nor closed, everybody is a possible suspect!

Fr. Chubby and Bulan- or Protect Bulan!

 

Well, what’s the next step??? File a case with the Ombudsmann? It’s now time to act so I appeal to all sane TagaBulans to take the next step now to stop this prohibited child labor, environmental crime and systematic looting of Bulan by these people. Organize yourselves and go to the streets and make known what you think and what you feel! Democracy is all about that, it’s your government, it’s rule of the people! So make it known to the entire Bulan that kleptocracy is not tolerated in our town! Move now before Bulan is damaged forever! We have written enough, we know enough, now it’s the time for action! In unity- as we all know- there is strength!

No, Fr. Chubby did not die in vain! For  now we have a true tagaBulan who will guide and inspire us in  our present fight against the destruction of Bulan. In  him we found  a true symbol for what Bulan really stands for-  moral integrity, loyalty, dedication to duty and bravery. It is just our bad luck that we ended up with people in the government who are there to pirate Bulan. For now , my kabungtos, all roads lead to Bulan, not to Rome. We have seen once again that Rome is not there for our cause, it’s not there for our Fr. Chubby, it’s not there for you and me. It’s there for those who can pay.

Protect the integrity of  Bulan- that is our responsibilty. Leave your comfort zones now and act as one, one people who fights for a noble cause- PROTECTION of democratic ideals, of children and environment.

Bulan deserves a bright future!

jun asuncion

Bulan Observer

They Need Someone, A Leader – by rudyb

to : jun a./atty. benji

before i proceed to compose and write this reply i have some lingering thoughts in my mind if i had to necessarily respond to your write ups as a rejoinder to my observation on the Future of Bulan. but i had to continue anyway as i felt you might have misinterpreted me or did not get my point on my opinion of today’s youth. i have no doubt that the future indeed lies upon the youth of today. you’re right in saying that they are the tangible present entity that connects us in the future. that’s why, every time i open this site i can’t help myself pause for a while and focus on the picture, scrutinize and analyze the faces of the children. first, i am very eager that i might be able to recognize thru their faces, looking for the smallest semblance that i would be able to recognize and guess who their respective parents are – hoping they are the siblings of one my friends or a relative. second, looking at their faces i do recall my early childhood years in our town. flashbacks rushes in my brain – my grade school era, remembering my teachers’ (mrs. del monte, mrs. golpeo, ms. gloriane, mrs. francisco, mr. gojar, mr. zuniga, mr. otilano, etc.) supreme sacrifice in molding our personality. my parents greatest love and guidance (i love you and terribly misses you so much wherever you are…) third, would contemplate what is the future of these children? do we have an emerging leader amongst them? would they succeed given their current environment? what values do they learn? from whom? carefully studying their faces i’m particularly engrossed by the girl in between the one with notebook and with the handkerchief. her face, in my opinion, is so strong, determined and focused. it seems she is challenged by the event (photo session) that someday she’ll be successful and triumphant beating all odds against her. and i agree with her if she will just be guided accordingly and appropriately. but do we have the right leaders today to make it happen?

going back to the PMA training camp, i will completely disagree with you that this is comparable with the Gulag type youth training camp. first, the institution is not totally isolated from the outside world, they are in constant contact with the corrupt military higher ups. second, their instructors are somewhat corrupt already and they’ll just pass on the legacy. third, the trainee/cadets themselves are the very example that i have mentioned – the aspiring police applicant (though some of them may be idealist). so what would you expect? let’s forget this thing, this is not an appropriate proposition.

youth of yesteryears, of the past, of the colonial era is totally very different from today’s youth – because they  have the passion, a cause that they are fighting worthy of dying for, so in their veins runs the blood of heroism, the valor, bravery, intrepidness and fearlessness – all the adjectives that would fit and describe their love for our country. Dr. JP Rizal if he is still alive today surely would be very disappointed and a very frustrated person as he expected too much from the youth to be the hope of the fatherland and the movers of the nation – but he is partly to be blamed (pardon me for the word) for the result of his failed idealist aspiration. no matter how genius he is, he lacks the foresight and planning, he fell short of anticipating and preparing for the third, fourth till the execution of the mating move. but we can not blame him totally, he’s no Nostradamus. however, if he had not concentrated on his bla-bla alone and had he just laid down the groundwork and the solid foundation for a well trained, informed, attentive, concerned and responsive youth – presumably there will be less youths that are delinquent, addicted to drugs, joining violent and criminal gangs, suffering from unwanted pregnancies and abortion, or giving up to smoking, drinking, gambling and other vices and in conflict with the law, uncared for, school dropouts, etc…. today.

the consequences of his failure continued to reverberate up to Pres. M. Quezon with his “I would rather see my county run like hell by the Filipinos”, so the hell is with us today – we are the one suffering, again for lack of foresight and planning. i would say that there was a revival of patriotism during our generation – the Martial Law era, i can still recall, this is my third and fourth high school years before the ML was declared, the happy go lucky and who cares attitude of the youth during that time. we’re not fully aware that the left is already slowly creeping up and preparing for a mass recruitment and resistance right in the heart of our very own town. i can still remember when our barkadas were invited by classmates Ka Pepe and the other guy i already forgot his name, for a mountain hiking/trekking in San Ramon (they’re from that place). they showed us the highest and a very strategic point where you can see the dam and all the vehicles going in and out of Bulan leading to the divided hill with a curved road. with a binocular you can identify a civilian from military vehicle. not knowing that these places would be the site of the most bloodiest encounters and ambushcades during the ML days. after the trekking, drinking spree followed and introduction to the leftist propaganda. so many of my 4th year classmates (almost half) joined and almost all of them perished. with today’s rice crisis, again it reminds me of the same crisis during those years, while we are waiting for the rice delivery trucks someone has shouted “yaadi na” and off we ran to the old municipal building to queue up only to find out it was not rice but truckloads of stacked lifeless NPA bodies and there lies one of my classmates – Norma Fruto with a gaping wound in her back. there are lucky “returnees” like Jun del Monte (my childhood playmate), Francis Burgos (a friend) who later became a doctor and others and those who continued, the most prominent of which is the lady from Iraya (forgot her name) who rose from the ranks to became the 3rd most powerful and only woman Politburo member of the CPP. she was later captured somewhere in CAMANAVA area (i think in Malabon). these youths has something in common with the revolutionary youths which is the belief that there’s something worthy fighting and dying for – maybe the love for the country. but today’s youth there’s none, and are only exposed to anomalies, corruption, bribery, dishonesty and so forth.

to go on, the blunder was later on solidified by the Aquino administration, she totally missed all the opportunities to start up with a clean slate governance. maybe not her but again her relatives did it all just like what Marcos did. with Baby Lopa and Mokong or Komong Rodriguez i should say and “baba” Cojuangco around, they plundered the wealth of the country. to top it all they messed up the economy and mismanaged the energy sector that plunged the country into one of our darkest times. so we can not blame Greg and his cohorts (most of whom are bicolanos) if they have launched several coup attempts. but what about if Greg has succeeded in his cause to overthrow her? i would like to believe that probably we would be more stable and progressive as i believe he would implement reforms as a namesake of his group – RAM. correspondingly Estrada did it and Arroyo did it also. that’s why we are all here in this pit right now.

so where do the youth’s role fits in – again same as you guys, i also believe they are our future but they need someone, a leader or a group of leaders who can and will guide them through, help them out and reinforce them with the good moral values, the right attitudes etc., challenge and motivate them to be the good leaders that we idealized them to become someday. the leaders must have the foresight, good planning skills and has to be worthy and respectable role model.

but we are different, so we will fly like the king eagle do.

so i’m through with this and will be just happy to read your respective responses if there will be and i’m sure there will be. habo na ako masurat pa, mapagalon mag-isip saka magsurat baga lalo na kun makurolog na an daliri (sorry forgot the bicol word). no more response from me.

so until then God bless and regards.