Continue Your Good Work!

I have been contemplating whether to share or not share with you this email I got just this afternoon. This cold evening, after thinking things out over a cup of coffee, I finally decided to share this with you. The way that this mail has warmed my heart after reading it, I also hope this would do the same to all observers of Bulan as well as to our Mayor Helen De Castro and her Team. I firmly believe that we can reach our good sides and most importantly that of our public servants if we establish a way of constructive communication with one another and focus on good intention and reward for any good work done.

Bulan Observer was launched with this objective in mind, and not to cultivate hate among us; it doesn’t support anybody indiscriminately but support only his/her good intention and achievement for our town. “Continue your good work!” are words that summarize our approach in politics, words that should motivate us to do good works in any form for our community. By the way, these words came from a fellow Bicolano, from Senator Francis Escudero, words that I just cannot keep for myself  for his message is for all of us. Here’s his email:

 

Thursday, December 18, 2008 9:16 AM
From
To:
junasun05@yahoo.com
Asuncion:

Good afternoon! Thank you for sending an e-mail through my Online Office. Feel free to browse the website. It was put up in order to provide Filipinos a venue for understanding my legislative work and position on national issues. Through features like the forum and comment box, site visitors can send their thoughts and criticisms that serve as an opportunity for self-reflection and self-improvement.

I admire your work on the Bulan Observer. Its long-term goal of creating a huge non-partisan Bulan On-line Community that let members post their thoughts on corrupt practices and injustices in the town is impressive. It is really admirable that you harness new technology in encouraging pro-activeness and vigilance among people. Continue your good work!

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Chiz

——————–
I join Chiz in wishing  you all in Bulan  a Merry Christmas and a Happy New year!
 
 
 
 
jun asuncion
Bulan Observer

Position Paper of the Municipal Government Of Bulan Regarding Margaja Mining In Bulan.

Note: from PIO-Bulan to Jun Asuncion

Hereunder is a copy of the Position Paper of the Municipal Government of Bulan on the issues you raised regarding Margaja mining in Bulan.

November 8, 2008

Honorable Iggy T. Arroyo
The Committee Chairman

The Honorable Committee Members
Committee on Natural Resources
House of Representatives
Metro Manila

POSITION PAPER OF THE MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT OF BULAN, SORSOGON ON HOUSE RESOLUTION NO. 177, “ RESOLUTION DIRECTING THE COMMITTEE ON NATURAL RESOURCES TO CONDUCT AN INVESTIGATION, IN AID OF LEGISLATION, INTO THE ILLEGAL EXTRACTION/QUARRYING/MINING OF MAGNETIC SAND IN THE PROVINCE OF SORSOGON PARTICULARLY IN THE MUNICIPALITIES OF SANTA MAGDALENA AND BULAN, SORSOGON”.

Section 138, Chapter 2, Book II of RA 7160 or the Local Government Code of 1991 states, “ xxx . The permit to extract sand, gravel and other quarry resources shall be issued exclusively by the provincial governor, pursuant to the ordinance of the sangguniang panlalawigan…”

We respectfully submit to the Honorable Committee that the issue on the granting of approval and permits to prospectors of and operators on quarry resources is beyond the jurisdiction of the municipal government.

What the municipal government does, upon application by the quarry operation applicant, as part of the application procedure, is to issue a certificate of endorsement that it interposes no objection prior to the securing of the necessary permits and license from the concerned DENR agencies and the provincial government.

It is up to the concerned DENR agencies and the provincial government to judiciously decide whether the necessary requirements have been complied with. Given their technical expertise, which is beyond the scope of this local government, the former can very well determine and decide on the granting of permits on these resources.

As far as the Municipal Government is concerned, we were informed that there was a permittee of magnetite sand quarrying in our locality, first in late 2006, and then the permit was renewed in August of 2008.

On the matter of taxation, it will be up to the provincial government to remit the share to our municipal government and to the concerned barangays where the quarrying is taking place, for the utilization of our local resource.

As to the matter of operation, while it is within our territorial jurisdiction, we are of the presumption that the supervision on compliance to standards set forth by law rests with the agencies concerned who have issued the permit to such an activity.

(Sgd.) HELEN C. DE CASTRO
Municipal Mayor

2008 Year-End Report Coming Soon

Submitted on 2008/12/11 at 9:38am

 

Please watch out for the 2008 Year-end Report to the People of Bulan by Mayor Helen C. De Castro.We shall post the Annual Report thru this site before the end of December.

The report shall cover all the accomplishments of the De Castro Administration for the year 2008.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all!
LGU Bulan-PIO
1

LMP CITES DE CASTRO AS AN OUTSTANDING MAYOR

Submitted on 2008/12/11 at 9:34am
Press Release
PUBLIC INFORMATION OFFICE
Local Government Unit of Bulan

 

Bulan, Sorsogon, November 21, 2008

 

 The League of Municipalities of the Philippines (LMP) cited Mayor Helen C. De Castro of Bulan, Sorsogon as one of the Most Outstanding Mayors in the Philippines in the area of ecological protection during the League’s 2008 General Assembly at the Manila Hotel on November 19-21, 2008. Vice-President Noli De Castro, representing President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo presented Mayor De Castro a Special LMP Medallion and a Plaque of Commendation for her efforts.

In 2004, Mayor De Castro, full of vision and zeal for the environment, launched her Solid Waste Management Program, and this led to the institutionalization of the town’s annual Feast of the Mountains and the establishment of the Bulan Ecological Park out of the once municipal garbage site. This site is now becoming a model for other communities.. Early this year, the Municipality of Bulan was awarded the GO-FAR award by no less than DILG Secretary Ronaldo Puno. Bulan is now a replicating LGU nationwide. Last year, Bulan was a Saringaya Awardee of Bicol. It can be recalled that the De Castro Administration, since the time of former mayor Guillermo De Castro, has already been a consistent winner in regional and national awards on the environment. The incumbent mayor is continuing this legacy.

The LMP is composed of all the more than 1,500 municipalities in the country, represented by their mayors. This year’s general assembly feted about twenty municipalities with trailblazing and innovative programs, and Bulan is one of them. (PIO, T. Gilana)

“Hello Obama!”

Or, Arroyo’s Frustration  (reaction to J.A. Carizo’s and Atty. Benji’s comments)

   I expected somehow that Arroyo would not support Obama but rather McCain for Arroyo knows exactly that she cannot hide behind Obama should he become president; Obama is just too transparent, hence  not a good hiding place for Arroyo. For Obama, it was and is just fitting for him to avoid Arroyo for he knows right from the start how corrupt her administration is. This would only tarnish his image. The pro-active Obama doesn’t want to remove but rather avoid from the beginning a rotten apple to land in his basket. And so right on day one he did not want to hear sweet-talking and lies from Arroyo, perhaps that’s the reason why he did not pick up her “Hello Obama!” call  to congratulate him. It fits his profile and I think he did it wisely. For after all he is not a small fish like Garci. So it’s right that he should send a signal right from the start that he doesn’t endorse corruption nor personally appreciate corrupt leaders. He will have to continue the foreign relations with the Philippines and it’s wise for Obama to avoid his foreign policy to be based on personal relationship and sweet-talking to avoid falling into deadly trap of Utang Na Loob (debt of gratitude), a mistake done by Bush by being too close with other presidents. Bush was too pliant with Blair and even with Arroyo and at the same time too harsh with his adversaries resulting inadvertently to black and white or good and evil political perception. This is also a two-edged political sword for in the end Bush destroyed both his allies and foes; it led to Blair’s resignation and Arroyo’s regression. Most of all, it has led to senseless wars and injustice. But European leaders were quick to recognize the danger and so distanced themselves from Bush. A victim of his harsh attitude was Saddam Hussein. Saddam was surely not an angel for he let killed a lot of Kurds. But he never threatened the USA directly. Hence, to attack the whole nation of Iraq and to hang Saddam for ungrounded reasons was  pure injustice. No wonder why Arroyo favored McCain for McCain was a kind of Bush in many ways,- aristocratic, a warrior and an old father figure; Obama young and lacking in experience, a social worker – and black.

But we all had the chance to observe the two candidates Obama and McCain in depth for quite a long time during the election campaign: The social worker Obama was always dignified and well-defined in his ways (gestures) and speech (thinking) whereas the aristocratic McCain was very erratic in both. Obama defeated both Clinton and McCain just using his concept of Change all through the campaign, whereas McCain was always changing his concept in an effort to keep up and damage Obama but it did not work for McCain’s base was not strong and less-defined from the very beginning. We don’t need to elaborate on Palin for she was a bad accident in that election. I have observed though that when one is losing sound arguments, one resolves consciously or unconsciously  to the primitive weapon of racial supremacy- in gestures and insinuations- in trying to shake the firm Obama’s tower. All these three white candidates resolved to this weapon in their helpless attempt to reactivate among white Americans the fear of the dark skinned and their (the white Americans) historical supremacy over them. I was considering the idea that if Bush administration were popular, and if McCain were not too Bushy, Obama wouldn’t have won this election. So that’s the biggest credit that history would give to Bush- for preparing Federal America ripe for an Obama. Bush the sacrificial lamb.

There is a kernel of truth to say that the Filipinos still prefer “tisay” or “kana” (white-skinned people). That’s the result of being nurtured by the whites for a long time. Filipinos are discriminating to their own fellow-Filipinos, be it in the Philippines or abroad. It is known that they would serve first the white than the brown-skinned in cafes, restaurants, shopping stores, etc. This is sad to observe. But I do think this is more of a conditioned reflex brought about by colonialism: The white, my protector and provider, the brown my rival. Its well-known by-product is our crab mentality which is continuously reinforced by the extended lack of unifying figure in our political leadership and the ensuing moral decline in social behavior. The irrationality and dogmatic stance of the catholic church has also led to its failure in accomplishing anything of genuine moral base for the multi-cultured Filipinos. Going to church is therefore more of a conditioned behavior (habit) among us than deep religiosity and moral reflection for the problems that beset us then and now continue to be a moral one in character. Self-respect and sincerity are values that we urgently need  to develop for us to grow as one nation.

That Obama seems to abandon the Philippines is something that we must perceive as part of our growing-up process. We cannot lean on  forever to our dear Uncle Sam and forever assume this beggarly attitude. At one point we must leave our adolescence and enter adulthood, must learn to be independent  and self-reliant. This is perhaps that needed push we need- to be snobbed, be ship-wrecked and abandoned, alone between China Sea and the Pacific Ocean so we learn to depend on ourselves, get united and swimm together in order to survive and be proud of  our own accomplishments. Perhaps only then will the world community start to take us seriously. Alas, the original Filipino Identity!

The fact is the USA cannot totally do away without the Philippines if it wants to maintain its influence and improve its popularity  in the East and Southeast Asian region. American popularity has declined worldwide during the entire Bush Administration. Now Obama is set to repair it and for that he cannot ignore the former allies in Asia. Arroyo did not see in Obama the needed support only because she was snobbed during her last trip (June) to the USA; she saw it in McCain. But here she was again mistaken. Obama actually wrote Arroyo-as recently announced by her  executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita- and talked about common  interests such as “climate change, food security, poverty reduction, the future of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, human rights in Burma and defense reform.” Obama’s foreign and strategic policies as a candidate is summed up in the so called Phoenix Initiative report and this includes 1. counter-terrorism, 2. nuclear proliferation, 3. climate change and oil dependence, 4. the Middle East, and 5. East Asia. So the Philippines still has the prospect of doing business with the USA.

Obama’s presence will still continue to be felt in our region and knowing that he had once attended a multi-cultural and multi-religious primary school in Indonesia and with childhood classmates still residing in Asia, Obama has surely a fair share of good memories from there and with this Asian experience he could also be a unifying figure in our region and add to that that he stands for dialogue diplomacy- a stance heavily criticized by Bush, McCain and Palin which escalated during the campaign, becoming louder and louder, echoed softly back and silenced these three loud ones in the end. This is elegance à la Obama.

jun asuncion

Bulan Observer

The Bulan-te Connection

Or, The Missing P3million

When Bolante told the House agriculture Committee chaired by Palawan Rep. Mitra that of the 181 recipients (or “farmers”) he listed, only 22 did not avail themselves of  the P3-million to P5-million allocations he gave them, I was delighted to know that there are still 22 “farmers” in our country who are rich and honest and don’t need fluid fertilizers. I was hoping however that this time one of these 22 honest farmers comes from Bulan or Bicol region. But again this turned quite fast into frustration when I read the report of local newspaperman Roy Gersalia in his site Off The Beaten Path that ” Congressman Jose G. Solis said in a press con held Saturday that the P3 million he received were given by him to Bulan town mayor Helen de Castro. But the mayor, however, denied it and said that if such allegations were really true, she would be very happy if indeed the congressman gave her the P3 million intended for the farmers so that she can really help her constituents particularly those engaged in farming” (source : Roy Gersalia’s Off The Beaten Path under news)

A lie is the omission of truth and with such a national government that is founded upon lie, it is no wonder that there will be no shortage of it . A lie begets lie and so even Bolante’s lie has infected Bulan or the Bicol region as a whole. The fact is Congressman Solis accepted the P3 million- to my dismay. He is not one of those 22 who refused. Though I still do not buy Bolante’s revelation about these 22 who refused (a liar is still hard to believe even when he is probably telling the truth -Aesop-) Congressman Jose G. Solis’ case is clear. However, his assertion that he gave the P3million to the mayor of Bulan Helen De Castro could be another lie or maybe a truth. This time the burden of proof rests on Congressman Jose G. Solis. This would have been easy if Mayor Helen De Castro affirmed it right from the start- or if  he had a solid proof to prove his case. But as we know, solid proof attesting to the Truth is not an SOP in Arroyo’s administration. However, now that the mayor “denied” it, it still doesn’t make her a liar. To deny is a normal reaction of somebody accused of something she thinks she did not commit. The mayor could also be omitting the truth, but in this situation, it is a very weak argument.Therefore, granting our mayor her right to presumption of innocence (and the law does not require her to prove her innocence or produce any evidence at all), we should rather focus on Congressman Solis’ corruptible character (for he accepted the P3 million) and pressure him to prove in one way or another his allegation to the public. And though we have never seen yet Bolante’s complete list, with Congressman’s Solis affirmation that he received the P3 million, he already proved to us that he is on the list.

The public has the right to speculate when their public servants are again involved in such a mess. Let’s forget the real poor farmers, but why for example give the whole of this P3 million to Mayor Helen De Castro and not equally divide it to the other Sorsogon mayors? This act alone is already unfair (poor other mayors!). Is Mayor De Castro his padaba (favorite) or he is just using her as a scapegoat? Is this a politically- motivated scenario? …

To assert something without a proof is something that is unethical, or even if you know that there is no such thing anymore as ethics in our political system, you should still avoid giving out such an allegation in a press conference. Congressman  Jose G. Solis should put things in their proper places. We demand that he explains his case to the people of Bulan! But one thing is already clear to the public: If he couldn’t provide solid evidence to his allegation then his argument is not valid and that he is solely responsible for the missing P3million.

Again, this is the result of the logic of greed  among our public servants. Very unpleasant and primitive, indeed. Remember our poor and honest boy Gangga who taught us “Never To Own Anything That’s Not Ours”? Our poor farmers are proud that they did not receive such rotten fertilizers! Mabuhay ang ating mga mag-sasaka sa Bulan! (More power to the real farmers of Bulan!)

 

jun asuncion

Bulan Observer

 

Related News article::

 

MANILA, NOVEMBER 19, 2008 (STAR) By Jess Diaz –

Department of Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap, Undersecretary Bernie Fondevilla and former undersecretary Jocelyn ‘Jocjoc’ Bolante take their oath during yesterday’s House hearing on the fertilizer fund scam. BOY SANTOS Former agriculture undersecretary Jocelyn “Jocjoc” Bolante said a total of 159 members of the House of Representatives and local officials received their share of the P728-million fertilizer fund.
Bolante told the House agriculture committee chaired by Palawan Rep. Abraham Mitra that of the 181 fertilizer fund “proponents” he listed, only 22 did not avail themselves of the P3-million to P5-million allocations he gave them.
Bolante said he could not identify the 22 who did not get their allocations and the 159 who received funds or fertilizer.
He said the Commission on Audit (COA) should be able to identify the supposed recipients.
Bolante listed 105 congressmen, 52 governors, one vice governor and 23 town mayors as fertilizer fund proponents.
The list was part of his request for the release of P728 million in fertilizer funds. He sent the request to the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) on Feb. 2, 2004, three months before the May presidential election.
The following day, Feb. 3, with uncharacteristic speed, the DBM released the funds Bolante requested. Budget Undersecretary Mario Relampagos signed the document releasing the money.
Several House members admitted receiving fertilizer and not cash from either the DA or Bolante. Others denied getting money or fertilizer.
In yesterday’s hearing, Majority Leader Arthur Defensor, who represents the third district of Iloilo, said he rejected the P5 million offered to him by a certain “Aytona.”
“I told her I was not interested and that she could talk to my mayors and see if they were interested in liquid fertilizer,” he said.
Defensor said he learned later that some of his mayors received liquid fertilizer.
Camarines Sur Rep. Felix Alfelor had the same story.
Alfelor said he told Bolante’s alleged agents to approach his mayors.
Parañaque Rep. Eduardo Zialcita, for his part, admitted receiving a fertilizer fund allocation, which he claimed was used to buy garbage shredders.
La Union Rep. Victor Ortega said he and his brother, Gov. Manuel Ortega, did not receive cash or fertilizer despite the fact that they were included in Bolante’s list of proponents.
For her part, Rep. Mitos Magsaysay of Zambales told the hearing that her father-in-law, former governor Vicente Magsaysay, was not able to get his supposed P5-million allocation.
However, House members who denied receiving cash or fertilizer in yesterday’s hearing did not ask Bolante why their names were in his list in the first place.
Former Lanao del Norte Rep. Alipio Badelles wrote the committee that he was in Bolante’s list but did not get his allotment.
Others who have denied receiving cash or fertilizer include Representatives Cynthia Villar of Las Piñas and Teodoro Locsin Jr. of Makati City, and former Quezon City representative Maite Defensor.
Quezon City Rep. Nanette Daza admitted availing herself of her P3-million allocation, which she said was used to buy garbage shredders for the Payatas dumpsite.
Speaker Prospero Nograles has admitted receiving fertilizer and not cash, and from the DA regional office in Davao, not from Bolante.
Bolante reiterated his testimony in the Senate that President Arroyo had no knowledge of the release and use of the P728 million.
He repeated his assertion that “there was no fertilizer scam” despite COA findings that there was “excessive overpricing” of the liquid fertilizer purchased by Bolante’s proponents.
In some areas, the overprice exceeded 1,200 percent, according to the COA report.
Auditors discovered that many of the lawmaker-proponents were involved in the use of their funds as evidenced by the memorandums of agreement between them and foundations they tasked to purchase liquid fertilizer.
They said House members in Bolante’s list received a total of P404 million.
In his testimony, Bolante also cleared Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap of involvement in the scam. Yap was undersecretary for operations in 2004.
Bolante said he never mentioned Yap’s name in the course of last Thursday’s Senate hearing on the fertilizer scam.
He said it was then Blue Ribbon Committee chairman Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano who identified Yap as DA undersecretary for operations for Luzon in 2004.
Bolante had told senators that he could not have known the anomalies in the use of fertilizer funds since he had resigned shortly after distributing the money.
He said the undersecretary for operations was the DA official who should have monitored the use of the funds.
Akbayan Rep. Risa Hontiveros-Baraquel told Bolante that he is insulting Filipinos by insisting that the President was not aware of the release of hundreds of millions in fertilizer funds and in asserting that there was no scam.
“You are insulting the public with your ridiculous assertions,” she said.
Bolante replied by saying that he respects Hontiveros’ opinion.
“I will appreciate it if you can prove that what I’m saying is not true,” he said.
For his part, Nueva Vizcaya Rep. Carlos Padilla said his province received its share of P5 million in fertilizer money in 2004.
But what is mysterious is that no Nueva Vizcaya official is listed as a proponent in Bolante’s list, he said.
Padilla said it is possible that the amount his province received “came from sources other than the P728 million.”
Padilla reiterated his proposal for the Mitra committee to inquire into the total 2004 releases amounting to nearly P3 billion.
Meanwhile, Owen Bolante urged the Court of Appeals (CA) to allow his father to be placed under house arrest instead of the Senate’s custody pending decision on the habeas corpus petition before the appellate court.
AccordingtoNoel Malaya, Owen had also submitted a compliance certificate to the CA from his father’s doctor indicating his father was indeed confined at St. Luke’s Medical Center from Oct. 28 to Nov. 8.
The certificate also stated that the elder Bolante underwent medical examinations. The results were also submitted to the CA, Malaya said.
The younger Bolante filed a petition for habeas corpus on Nov. 5 questioning the custody of the Senate of his father.
Two days later, the CA ordered Senate sergeant-at-arms Jose Balajadia to reply to Bolante’s petition.
The CA also ordered Owen to secure a medical certificate from St. Luke’s to support allegations of ill health.
Bolante’s lawyer Dennis Añover explained the writ of habeas corpus is a legal remedy questioning the legal basis of Bolante’s detention by the Senate. -With Mike Frialde

A Transcendental White House

Obama, Or the Clash Of Ideas, Not Of Emotions Or Races

The Obama effect on me was that sigh of relief the day he won this historic election. Think about the real significance of this event for the black race as well as for the white and all other colors in between. For the Afro-Americans, a historic triumph with effect comparable only to that of Abrahan Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation on January 1863, which is not to be confused with Britain’s The Emancipation Act on August 1, 1834, which did not abolish servitude, but the first significant promise of freedom. 

 But this time with Obama, this is the realization of the great black dream to be set on equal footing with the white-their former master-, a dream expressed by Martin Luther King in his famous speech I HAVE A DREAM delivered on August 28,1963. This dream was more of a vision. For not far away- just two years earlier-on August 4, 1961- Obama was born to give a concrete form to this dream 45 years later which for the blacks almost an elusive dream even a few moments before he was declared the election winner last November 4. Now it’s reality; Obama becomes the first elected black President. Racial barrier to White House has been crossed, broken down. For Obama it was everything but an easy task. It took hard work and fluid intelligence for Obama from the very beginning to this symbolic victory. A graduate from the Harvard Law School, it is his education, not only emotion and passion, that brought that needed Liberation of the black Americans. Education as light of the people- this was probably what Rizal had in mind when he wrote this line, or when he was in America as he described what he saw in this country in his letter to Mariano Ponce on July 27, 1888, (25 years after Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation) :

  “I visited the largest cities of America with their big buildings, electric lights, and magnificent conceptions. Undoubtedly America is a great country, but it still has many defects. There is no real civil liberty. In some states, the Negro cannot marry a white woman, nor a Negress a white man. Because of their hatred for the Chinese, other Asiatics, like the Japanese, being confused with them, are likewise disliked by the ignorant Americans. The Customs are excessively strict. However, as they say rightly, American offers a home too for the poor who like to work. There was, moreover, much arbitrariness. For example, when we were in quarantine.
They placed us under quarantine, in spite of the clearance given by the American Consul, of not having had a single case of illness aboard, and of the telegram of the governor of Hong Kong declaring that port free from epidemic.
We were quarantined because there were on board 800 Chinese and, as elections were being held in San Francisco, the government wanted to boast that it was taking strict measures against the Chinese to win votes and the people’s sympathy. We were informed of the quarantine verbally, without specific duration. However, on the same day of our arrival, they unloaded 700 bales of silk without fumigating them; the ship’s doctor went ashore; many customs employees and an American doctor from the hospital for cholera victims came on board.
Thus we were quarantined for about thirteen days. Afterwards, passengers of the first class were allowed to land; the Japanese and Chinese in the 2nd and 3rd classes remained in quarantine for an indefinite period. It is thus in that way, they got rid of about 200  ( or 643 coolies, according to Zaide ) Chinese, letting them gradually off board.”

So was Rizal’s taste of discrimination in the USA, a traumatic one for sure. Luckily Rizal was traveling first class- as implied in this letter- otherwise he would had been quarantined for an indefinite period and this could have changed the course of Philippine History!

Both American and British Emancipation Acts, the latter predating the former for 31 years, did not totally abolish racial discrimination and slavery, The Afro Americans though released from slavery, suffered more than a hundred years after the signing of that Emancipation Proclamation with limited civil liberties (no right of suffrage being black and being a woman, for instance),  while the more than half a million slaves in Britain’s Caribbean colonies had to wait for another four years for the most elementary liberties for the government feared that the situation would be out of control while the plantation owners feared the economy would collapse as forced labor would no longer be available. This is important to know because presently our Philippine government’s labour export policy is not genuinely based on goodwill but of fear that abolishing the OFW would only lead to our economic collapse, a fear secretly shared among our national politicians, revealed in a slip of the tongue that happened to Arroyo last 2001 in Singapore. Slave trading  being conducted in a more modern form, transported in modern vessels, revenues electronically transmitted? This is in no way to insult the OFWs but to view this phenomenon as a living proof of our government’s inefficiency and seemingly callous attitude towards its people. A government with vision works hard to keep its people at home or  to bring home those people away from home- like what South Korea did to its workers abroad. All I know is that Filipino oversea workers are driven home from time to time only because of their families and relatives, not because of their government and public officials. In truth, Filipinos abroad would never go back home because of Arroyo and Co. And even in their own host countries, they’re just ashamed to talk about our politics and political figures.

The election of Obama proved once again that with all its defects, America is still a democratic country whose face is changing with time, adapting to the challenges of all kinds in order to survive. Millions of young white American voters have opened their eyes and seen that it’s no longer sustainable to be just conservative for conservatism’s sake  and be against anyone for reason of skin color. Arguments and solutions count, not  skin color. Obama is the most palpable proof of change in the American perception. And Obama broke all the records and brought a quantum of solace for millions of Americans- and billions of people around the world. After all the paranoia brought about by the traumatic events that happened the world over in the past decades and the over-all negative effects of the unpopular Bush’s administration, it is interesting to observe that humanity did not fall into apathy and total disillusion. The way that the world favored Obama  in all the continents and reacted with euphoria and sense of release is a sign of good mental health for the world population. The archetypal need for a good and unifying leader, in short, for a hero, is still intact. On this historic day, not only the American voters, but the whole world voted for a hero, not only for an ordinary president. This explains the electricity of how the world citizens reacted to Obama’s election. In fact, if the world were allowed to cast  their votes, the results would have been more catastrophic and depressing for McCain! It’s good to know that the majority likes you. And Obama reacted just the way a hero is expected to react: a felt sense of tremendous responsibility as seen in Obama’s face and in his words. He did not dance around nor give any grandiose gesture of winning the battle. He was serious in his looks and speech. For him, the battle has just begun. There is no time to celebrate. The financial crisis, the problems at home and the all that mess that Bush has done, the world community- all these require Obama’s attention.

Most of you who are familiar with my little writings here in Bulan Observer would have already noticed that I am for a noble kind of leadership, for a leader who works hard for his/her people and values the unifying power of his/her position as a mayor or whatever, that I have been talking about redefining Bulan politics, that I am for working together as a team if we want Bulan to move forward and that we should transcend political affiliations and personal emotions when it comes to solving the problems of the town. For this reason I call Obama my Obama even if he doesn’t know me. It’s because of the kinship of our basic political ideas and attitude (don’t get me wrong for I am talking only about kinship not of talents for he has more than enough!). Now that he is building up his team, it awes and amazes  me how he approaches his bitter campaign rivals like McCain and Hillary Clinton, etc., asking them or offering them options to work with him. And that after all the mud hurled at him during those long campaigning periods! Obama is a living testimony of a leader who transcends and unites in order to solve the major problems now facing America and the world- and he is a leader who is very transparent in his ideas. This is why I see the White House more transparent and transcendental than ever with Obama moving in. And with his wise strategy, I think Obama is already ripe for his second term- even before his first term has ever started!

Back to Bulan, I ask you all political leaders and public officials to draw significant lessons from Obama’s political culture and to try to integrate them in your daily political thinking. Remember to put the town first. This is one step to transcendental politics.

For A brighter Bulan!

jun asuncion

Bulan Observer

A Pair Of Shining Shoes Made In Marikina

You still remember that while the City Mayors (organizer of the World Mayor Award) was looking for the Top 11 Mayors around the world last 2007, we found our town Bulan wrestling with the Central Bus Terminal-or CBT Scandal. Whatever happened now to this CBT case, we are practically no longer  interested with it as long as our Mayor Helen De Castro does not forget her responsibilities to our town and to our town people, not falling short in delivering the basic services and is sincerely concerned in providing adequate solutions to the immediate problems of Bulan community like unemployment, poverty (malnutrition), health care (hospital and medical personnel!), environmental protection and cleanliness (waste management), education (schoolrooms, more teachers, school dropouts), clean water supply, peace and security- and, last but not least, to inform the public (local, national and international) about the result of the CBT trial.

Practically, what counts are good results and all other minor failures in the past are forgotten. Most of all, she should focus, emphasize and make use of the unifying symbol of her office, a function of supreme importance in activating the identity and creative energy of Tagabulans. A symbol like this needs to be transparent and accountable for it to enter people’s perception, i.e., be processed as such. Investing in such values as transparency, accountability and corruption-free leadership pay off in the end for everybody than investing in their opposites. And this is the proof of it- a pair of shining shoes from Marikina that caught the attention of the world!- a pair of shoes worn by the lady Mayor Marides Fernando of Marikina City for winning 7th place in the World Mayor Award 2008 (launched by City Mayors last 2004 ). This is no joke. Here’ the reason for this prestigious recognition:

-“Mayor Fernando is credited with having turned Marikina into one of the Philippines most desirable places to live in. “Mayor Marides Fernando transformed MarikinaCity from a sleepy and lackluster town (always in the shadow of its bigger sister city Quezon City) into one of the most progressive and shining city in the Philippines. With the Mayor’s creative leadership by example, Marikina is the most peaceful, most orderly, cleanest, greenest, corruption free, educated and cultured new city in Asia.”

-“Under Marides Fernando leadership Marikina was named the “greenest and cleanest city” in the Philippines. The city also received a number of other awards: “The most recent and most prestigious award received the city of Marikina was the Most Competitive Metro City in the Philippines from the prestigious Asian Institute of Management (AIM) Policy Research Center, Asia Foundation, International Labour Organization (ILO), German Technical Foundation, and Konrad Adenauer Stiftung, and the Continuing Excellence Award in Local Governance given by the Galing Pook Foundation, DILG, Local Government Authority and the Ford ” . (See other comments given out by some observers of Marikina.)

“Marides Carlos Fernando (sometimes known as MCF) was elected mayor of Marikina City in 2001 and re-elected in 2004 and 2007, is a member of the centre-right Lakas-Christian Muslim Democrats party of President Gloria Arroyo. She is married to Bayani (“hero”) Fernando (also known as BF), her immediate predecessor as mayor and current Chairman of the Metro Manila Development Authority (himself the son of a former mayor) and Director of the Department of Public Works and Highways in the capital. Marides ran the BF Corporation of property developers during her husband’s three-term tenure as mayor (1992-2001), serving as vice president for admin and finance since 1985. In January 2008, BF announced his candidacy for the 2010 presidential elections.” (Source: Tann vom Hove, Editor, World Mayor) 

This years World Mayor Award went to Helen Zille, Mayor of Cape Town. Here’s one of the many comments about her and her team:
“Helen Zille and her team have brought stability, decency, integrity and good management to the City of Cape Town after many years of ANC mismanagement, corruption and lethargy. She has done a brilliant job of turning things around in the face of thwarted and hostile forces. A deserving winner of this prestigious award.” (Source: Tann vom Hove, Editor, World Mayor) 

Indeed, it’s wiser for a mayor to invest in stability, decency, integrity and good management than mismanagement, corruption and lethargy!

For these reasons, I’m proud to see Mayor Marides (Marikina, 7th place) on the list beside Helen Zille(Capetown) and Elmar Ledergerber (Zürich)! I know Ledergerber very well and I can only agree to the comments and praises given to him by people of Zürich, like:

“Mayor Ledergerber is often described as a bridge builder between the city’s Swiss nationals and immigrants as well as between the well-off and the less wealthy residents of Zurich. “Elmar Ledergerber has the unique capability to integrate the diverse political interests of the rich banks and the ordinary citizens, and achieve consensus on a good balance between moderate taxes and responsible spending for social welfare.”

“During Elmar Ledergerber’s leadership, Zurich has several times been named as the most liveable city in the world: “After a large period of decline, Zurich is now vibrant again – not only has it been rated number one for quality of living for several years now, but it is now developing further. Mr Ledergerber is a major driving force behind the redevelopment of Zurich-West, the expansion of public transport, the re-discovery of urban recreational space… I have been living in Zurich for 4 years now and he is definitely my choice for world mayor.”

The mayor is also praised for staying in touch with ordinary people: “Elmar Ledergerberis smart and articulate, he listens to the people, in fact he is very approachable and friendly, has an excellent way to communicate and explain his visions yet with the right amount of tenacity to get them into reality. Zurich is a wonderful town with an outstanding quality of life – and this also thanks to our Mayor Ledergerber who has significantly contributed to this success over the years.” (Source: Tann vom Hove, Editor, World Mayor)

Sadly, he recently announced his resignation in 2009. People don’t want him to go. But listen to his reason: “My 16-year old son needs me urgently now”. Also a very noble reason, isn’t? So people understand him.

“Born in 1944, Elmar Ledergerber has a degree in history and literature as well as in economics. He obtained his PhD in economics at the university of St Gallen. In 1977 he established a consulting firm, which he managed for more than 20 years. He was elected mayor of Zurich in March 2002. Before that he had been active in Zurich politics and nationally, as a parliamentarian.The mayor leads a city council, which consists of nine members from four political parties. He is divorced and a father of three. His youngest son is almost 16.” (source: swiss-info)

I even played with the idea that if it were not for the dramatic political backround in Capetown  where Mayor Helen Zille works and achieved good results, Mayor Ledergerber would have won the first place for reasons cited and for his simplicity.

Why publish such things here in Bulan Observer? Well, I think we need to learn some lessons we could use in our journey to a better Bulan if we ever want to continue with it. Success needs both- a good leader and responsible constituents. In a city like Zürich with intelligent and highly responsible and educated population, a good leader is still indispensable. How much more in a developing town like Bulan? For a brighter Bulan now and in the future, we need these lessons.

Finally, Bulan Observer congratulates Mayor Marides Fernando for her exemplary achievements!

jun asuncion

Bulan Observer

BULAN SENIOR CITIZENS CELEBRATE MONTH FOR ELDERLY

Press Release

By  Tonyboy ( PIO, LGU-Bulan)

Bulan, Sorsogon – October is declared as the Month in honoring the Elderly, and the Bulan Senior Citizens, responding to the call for activeliness in community undertaking, came in big numbers representing various Senior Citizens’ groups.

The Office of the Senior Citizen Affairs (OSCA), headed by former Councilor Joe Tan, under the supervision of the MSWDO and the Office of the Mayor, prepared several activities for the Month for Elders. It was also supported by various Senior Citizen Organizations like the BASCA, headed by Mr. Jose Jolloso, Veterans Post-Bulan Chapter, headed by Mr. Florentino Loilo, GRETA under Mrs. Benita Guan and the FSCAP under the leadership of Mrs. Nelly Diesta. This year’s theme is “Mga Senior Citizens, puwede pa makadanon sa pag-unhan san Bulan” (Senior Citizens, contributors to Bulan’s progress).

On October 4, during the Fiesta sa Kabubudlan, the elderly came and joined the Tree Planting activities at the Eco park.

On October 6, 800 undernourished children were attended to by the elders as they conducted a feeding program at the Bulan Freedom Park.

On October 11, the Bulan Lions Club helped in ECG examinations for the elderly at the Pawa Hospital.

On October 14, some 800 elderly came for the medical and dental activities intended for them at the Sabang Park, sponsored by the LGU. Mayor Helen De Castro, in a gesture of goodwill, also provided snacks for all of them. Present to extend medical assistance were Dr. Ludovic Tan, Dr. Tita Fe Palad, Dr. San Jose, Dr. James Apin, Dr. Estrella Payoyo, Dr. Kates Rebustillo and Councilor-dentist Jolife Dellomas, Dr. Visconde and Dr. Marilou Jimenez. The Bulan Rural Health Unit also assisted.

During the Culminating Activity on October 18, a HATAW physical exercises were rendered by the Senior Citizen. It was lead by Mrs. Anilin Diaz. Also present during the program, were Mayor Baby De Castro, Kgd. Dondon De Castro, Kgd. Joey Guban, Kgd. Goto Geronga and Kgd. Jolife Dellomas.

Mayor Helen De Castro has been greatly supportive of the senior citizen sector, especially thru the OSCA. (PIO, LGU-Bulan)

From Mayor’s 2007 Report to the People of Bulan, 2008/10/23 at 5:46 AM

Two-Edged Swords

by jun asuncion

( My reaction to rudybellens interesting contribution ” Lessons We Should have Learned…)

This situation analysis about Taiwan and the Philippines boils down to the most basic fundamentals again that we have been talking about: education and character, with all its strengths and weaknesses. To illustrate this I quote hereunder salient portion of rudybellen’s report:

“The Philippines still has an edge in being an English speaking-country and in having many natural resources, unlike Taiwan that only has its people as resource. However, its sole wealth in people, enabled Taiwan to tap its greatest potential in developing high-technology industries. ITRI, an agency with more than 5,000 researchers and more than 1,000 Ph.Ds, has enabled the spin-off of many technology companies.”

Taiwan has a high quality educational system as we have seen in PISA results. Wealth is a matter of quality not of quantity. Quantity-wise, we are richer than Taiwan in terms population, about 23 million (Taiwan) vs. about 90 million (Philippines). But this “wealth” of ours is more of liabilities than assets when it’s not educated in the modern sense as Taiwan; Taiwanese are highly educated and this is the big difference. The other thing that contributes to their success is their character. The Taiwanese engineers and scientists trained in Silicon Valley in the 80’s and 90’s returned to their small country and helped boost its economy in the succeeding years. This is loyalty and patriotism, a character trait that seems to be strongly anchored among the Taiwanese.

The Philippines’ claim of having an edge being an English speaking-country is a farce, outdated in my view for it did not/doesn’t contribute substantially to the country’s economic progress. We were made to believe by the American colonizers that by adopting their language and lifestyle we would boost our economy, i.e. get rich. The fact is that many countries that are rich and successful are not English-speaking ones,-Taiwan, Japan, Vietnam, South Korea and many more. The Philippines learned English early yet remained poor until now. So where is this edge? These countries acquired English much later but now they write and speak much better than most of us; they have learned their lessons well, thanks to their better equipped teachers and schoolrooms.

It is not to be disputed that the Philippines is endowed with rich natural resources compared to Taiwan, that in fact our wealth is still not fully tapped and converted to economic wealth yet -though we have already ravaged our ecosystem to a greater extent due to ignorance, greed and lack of political foresight. This is sad but I believe that there is still much left to be saved and recovered for us now and for the next generations. Let us not be pessimistic about our environment for in the long run it’s not we human beings that shape nature, but nature us human beings. Naturally we have to maintain our immediate environment clean (less pollution) if we want to survive and harvest something from it or else commit a planetary suicide.

This is an option left for us to decide. But such things as global warming and climate change, etc. are nothing new in the history of our planet and solar system. Central Europe was not always a temperate zone; hundreds of thousand years ago it was a tropical region with corresponding flora and fauna; there used to be palm trees like coconuts in Luzern for instance during those times. Glacial ice melted here and there millions of years before the invention of cars and Al Gore’s birth. Behind man’s exaggeration and hysteria about the climate is his belief that he is the center of all things and thus being in control of the world. Our realistic responsibility is to keep our surrounding clean and productive, nothing more. The universe takes control of the whole- even us little creatures.

How are we related to cows and milk? Well, they reveal a lot about our weaknesses and strengths. I do not mean the strength you get from drinking fresh cow’s milk every morning nor the weakness from the lack of milk, but about our political will and character.

To quote again rudybellen’s report to us:

“A foremost backer of a strong dairy industry was former Senator Leticia Ramos Shahani, who launched her White Revolution years ago to bring in Indian cows and bulls to propagate higher yields of milk and meat in the country. The Philippine Carabao Center (PCC) also developed in vitro fertilization (IVF) to propagate better breeds, including some from Hungary, to increase the number of livestock for milk production. Dairy farmers have complained that there is little incentive for milk production even though there are large pasture areas in the country that have not been adequately exploited”.

You see clearly that it’s not the lack of brains in our country but the lack of political will to continue something good that has been started like this White Revolution launched by Senator Shahani. Mr. Ningas Cogon and Mrs. Crab Mentality are names that dominate the government’s payroll. They are the enemies of our economy for they come only to search and destroy, instead of to search and preserve or further develop. These large pasture areas in the country have been adequately exploited not for the dairy industry but for residential subdivisions, an example of those projects that are a two-edged sword for though they create, they destroy much more than what was created.

There are other solutions to solving the housing problems of a growing population. First, control the population, and second, design housing structures vertically, not horizontally. We know that global food crises come and go- only to come again. We are experiencing it at the moment. Yet I have never heard until now of such problem as global housing crisis where countless people die in a short period of time. There is always a way to find a little corner to sleep or a roof when it rains- and survive. To find food however is too difficult when every inch of the land has been cemented; you would survive after you have eaten your grass-deprived cow or goat, but not long.

We should therefore be avoiding converting vast areas of lands for housing purposes but should preserve them for our cows, rice and grass. Building subdivisions is destroying the economy and landscape and investing huge money in an economically poor project; it has zero-returns for the whole country and other related industries, hence a passive investment. The land should produce crops and offer living space for productive animals.

In the same manner that two-edged swords destroy our economy, death penalty in Saudi Arabia destroys heads every week in public squares. An Erap head should have rolled all along the Edsa Highway, instead of being house arrested with all the luxuries of a first class prison and getting pardoned in the end by an egoistic Arroyo. Death penalty is a tool that I think is reserved only for a very just government where, to quote rudybellen “we only need to implement the law rationally”, and justice for all- if I may add something to it. We have already seen in Arroyo’s action that such death penalty is also a farce in a corrupted political and legal system. Where money and power rule, death penalty is a joke for the rich and powerful criminals but of course feared like hell by smaller criminals.

Have you ever heard or- in case you are an OFW in Saudi Arabia- seen an Arabian Prince or influential public official hanged in those many execution squares in Saudi Arabia on charges of corruption? Saudi Arabian politics is unequalled in bribery and corruption- even before they discovered their oil. It is often called as the Kingdom Of Corruption- and it has the most advanced and active death penalty of the world!

Death penalty in this country is a tool used by corrupt officials to protect their status quo by propagating fear (deterrence) among the little people, but not to stop corruption itself. Take note also that countries with less or no grand scale corruption are countries without death penalty in their legal system – with the exception of the Philippines. In a public act (display) Arroyo aborted death penalty in our country yet her term has the highest record of extra-judicial killings. Whatever the motives behind these two events, and whether there is relationship, is open for interpretation. This is my observation.

jun asuncion

Bulan Observer

Lessons That We Should Have Learned Long Time Ago…

from rudybellen

 

On Technology Development :

The research agency that virtually turned Taiwan around from an agrarian to an industrialized economy suggests that the Philippines should put up a similar agency that can get technologies take off from the shelves. The Philippines may derive a model from Taiwan in having established in 1973 the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI), which widely bridged the gap needed in technology commercialization.

ITRI told a Congressional Commission on Science, Technology, and Engineering (Comste) forum that the US technology model (of the academe collaborating with industries) may not work in Asian countries like Taiwan and the Philippines. But the ITRI model may work too for the country as much as it did in Taiwan. US companies are very big and have the capability to do research through links with the university. ITRI is like something in between to get the universities to work with industries. Such institution, should be run like a private enterprise, although it may receive seed money from government.

Comste said that government has been studying the setting up of an institution that will enable the country to develop niche products that have high commercial potential. And ITRI may just lead the way. We may set up an R&D institute that’s partly government and partly private. This may need legislation. The role of government is basically to set incentives, maybe give some grants, some tax breaks. Essential to making research institutions meet private enterprises’ needs for technology is a law that allows government-funded R&D works to be owned and patented by researchers themselves. Comste said that to start off with a similar ITRI agency, government may pass a law converting the Advanced Science and Technology Institute (ASTI) into a profit-earning corporation. ASTI at present is one of the Department of Science and Technology’s (DoST) seven-research institutes. While earning a small profit, ASTI remits much of its earnings to government. In my own personal view, I would probably start small and consider ASTI which is now focused on ICT (Information Communication Technology) and electronics to “corporatize”. Their mandate can cover many areas, not only ICT. Because it is advanced science and technology, it can also be on biotechnology and nano technology.

As Taiwan has been beefing up its R&D budget, which is now approaching three percent of gross domestic product (GDP), the country should devote more budgets for this from its present minuscule 0.12 percent of GDP, many times less than that of Taiwan, a lot smaller country of 23 million people, in the 1950s-1960s, the Philippines had a higher per capita income. Taiwan with its investments in R&D, ninth biggest in the world, has experienced an economic miracle that has made it sixteenth in rank in global trade and foreign exchange reserve fifth in the world. The Philippines still has an edge in being an English speaking-country and in having many natural resources, unlike Taiwan that only has its people as resource. However, its sole wealth in people, enabled Taiwan to tap its greatest potential in developing high-technology industries. ITRI, an agency with more than 5,000 researchers and more than 1,000 Ph.Ds, has enabled the spin-off of many technology companies.

The emergence of world’s biggest wafer foundry Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.,
is partly attributed to it. ITRI has invested more and has helped growth and birth of 255 companies under its Open Lab. These are Taiwan’s world market share in technology products: soho router, 93 percent; WLAN, 90 percent; Ethernet LAN switch, 84 percent; and cable CPE, 80 percent.

On Melamine Scare : Gov’t should strengthen dairy industry

The global impact of the melamine scare should push the government to reexamine its dairy program and accelerate its milk self-sufficiency target, which is originally set for 2018. The National Dairy Authority (NDA) set 2018 as the target for 100 percent milk sufficiency even as the discovery that large inventories of milk produced in China were laced with melamine, a chemical ingredient in the manufacture of plastics, has cast doubts on the integrity of imported milk. NDA is targeting to secure 11,000 dairy cattle in the next five years in its bid to raise production to 63 million kilos of milk yearly.Total national production is only five percent of demand, and the country’s entire population of milking cows is a pittance at 15,000 head. The annual production, mostly from cooperatives, is only 13 million kilos, while a big Thai dairy cooperative produces one million kilos a day.

A foremost backer of a strong dairy industry was former Senator Leticia Ramos Shahani, who launched her White Revolution years ago to bring in Indian cows and bulls to propagate higher yields of milk and meat in the country. The Philippine Carabao Center (PCC) also developed in vitro fertilization (IVF) to propagate better breeds, including some from Hungary, to increase the number of livestock for milk production. Dairy farmers have complained that there is little incentive for milk production even though there are large pasture areas in the country that have not been adequately exploited.

Industry players have said milking cows could increase milk production by consuming moringa or malunggay leaves, as proven by the experience of Nicaraguan farmers who secured an increase in milk by 45 percent. Malunggay could be intercropped with fruit-bearing trees to ensure that farmers would earn more. Experts said that with enough malunggay in pasture areas and with abundant grass sufficient for 10 cows per hectare, milk production could increase significantly.Some enterprising dairy farmers have proven that with enough pasture land; a cow can produce 15 liters of milk a day. More pregnant cows mean more milk, and cows can produce milk from seven to 10 years. They give birth on the eighth month and can get pregnant again after three months. Experts said small farmers all over the country could participate in the dairy improvement program through proper training and education on the long-term benefits of milk production.

The government needs to invest at least P500 million annually to enhance the local dairy industry’s capacity to produce milk and help lessen the country’s dependence on milk imports. The country imports between US$ 500 million to US$ 600 million or P25 billion worth of milk and other milk products annually. About 99 percent of milk and dairy products available in the Philippine market is imported, while only one percent is produced locally.The country’s dependence on imported milk and milk products makes the country vulnerable to the entry of toxic food products. Should the government “diversify” its focus and invest in the local dairy industry’s capacity to produce milk, the country could ensure the safety of dairy products in the market. The annual investment, will cover the importation of milk producing animals such as cows, which is estimated to cost P70,000 per head. The P500 million per year investment can easily be recovered by lessening the country’s spending on imported milk. Only a small portion of the Department of Agriculture’s budget is allotted to the local dairy industry, with the bulk of expenditures focused on rice sufficiency and operating expenses. Food security advocates, on the other hand, said the influx of contaminated food into the country could be traced to the Philippines’ trade policies. According to the Task Force Food Sovereignty, the trade liberalization strategy adopted in the early 1980s has caused the “inevitable toxic food dumping” at present.

Of Greener Pastures, Brain Drains and Headhunters

 (A response to J.A. Carizo’s comment on A Lesson from From Shamans…)

Colonization actually started also with the dream of greener pasture which, as in the case of Spain, not really to spread Christianity and glorify their God and His Ten Commandments like Thou shall not kill, Thou shall not steal, Thou shall love thy neighbor etc. , for in fact they came in search of resources and employment and, worse, conquered, enslaved the natives, murdered and looted the whole Philippine archipelago. In the Philippines alone, colonization provided jobs for tens of thousands-perhaps millions- of Spaniards at that time in the Philippines and surely substantially increased Spain’s GDP during this pillage that lasted for 333 years. How about if you add to that the colonized South American countries? You may recall the Galleon Trades en route Mexico-Manila-Spain resulting to sinking some of these ships for being overloaded with golds, silver, goods and slaves. Some treasure hunters are still on the way mapping out the oceans with the hope of locating these lost  cargo ships. Now, we may just say it was the past and we just happened to be one of those unlucky nations that fell into the hands of those European colonizers. Some European friends of mine also admit that they were the ones who started the troubles in this world. It was painful for the colonized, glorifying for the colonizers. But from today’s modern perspective, for the former colonizers, what they did was a shame and source of remorse, for the former colonized ones, it was the birth of nationalism and authentic heroism, in short, a source of pride. You see, how situations and meanings change with time, true to the maxim that time heals if you were the victim, time injures if you were the perpetrator. In other words, time brings justice. From the modern, civilized, humanistic perspective, the Philippines is a proud nation for it has a clear conscience unlike Japan, Germany, Spain, France, Great Britain and America who unti now suffer from this collective guilt and in some cases have to pay reparation fees.Viewed against this context, we can shout  with clear conscience to the whole world “Mabuhay Ang Pilipino!”.

However, we now can comfort ourselves with the idea that the Spanish colonizers’ landing on the shores of Mactan was far from being an exact planning. The work of Professors Feyrer and Sacerdote of Darmouth College showed that it was wind direction and speed which decided where Europeans settled first and not by cherry-picking, i.e. choosing consciously better islands to settle. In short, by chance. Good or bad luck for us, you may say, for in truth colonization had both its negative and positive sides. Spain helped accelerate our development in many areas like education, arts, literature, sciences, engineering, architecture, nation building and -whether you like it or not-religion and Catholicism; they planned and built our cities, towns, universities, hospitals (and churches!) etc. The same with our American and Japanese colonial periods; they also contributed to the development of these areas mentioned. In effect, it has united us as one people, gave birth to nationalism, provided the platform for the development and cultivation of the Filipino mind and stimulated our political consciousness. We are all familiar with the negative sides of colonization so it’s about time we talk about its positive sides and use these with our modern insights to help us overcome those negative ones for as a nation we cannot afford to linger forever in the past and keep romanticising the pains of colonialism; we have to move forward.

Translated into our Bulan politics, we should act in such a way as to help those people in our municipal government be aware of their own good sides and good intentions so that they’ll think and act accordingly resulting to positive achievements for the town. This is what I mean by redefining many things in Bulan. We have been acting and behaving for ages according to the old definitions we carry in our subconscious that’s why we never move forward. We have to define our politics anew if we want progress: For the politician or politician-to be, think of how you can enrich your town while in office or if elected; for the political opponents including their supporters who lost the election, think also of how you can help those elected enrich the town. Fair play and teamwork is needed for the town to grow. This is simple but hard to do for this means transcending the ego for a higher end. This is difficult for it goes against the natural man in us and requires a civilized step we call reflection. Not transcending selfish motives and hate means staying by the old definition of politics and therefore against the idea of Bulan moving forward. The mayor should respect her office and use it to motivate and unify our people and act according to our new definitions of things in Bulan. This is the only way for Bulan to move to the next form.

You have mentioned OFW. The same way that Spain suffered a big outflow of human capital at that time the problem of human capital flight in the Philippines is as old as our colonial history itself. Think of the years spent by Rizal, Luna, Hidalgo, etc. outside the Philippines during their most productive years. Brain drain, originally coined by the Royal Society to describe the emigration of scientists and technologists to North America from post-war Europe, is not a new phenomenon and familiar causes of emigration are conflict, lack of opportunity, political instability, etc. -reasons also known to Rizal in his time. But we should not forget that it was not one sided at that time. Our country profited during that time also from  a huge in-flow of human capital or brain gain; educated European brains settled in our country and improved our GDP by bringing with them their knowledge and skills we never had before they came. Actually it was the colonizing-and later the war-torn Europe- that first suffered from brain drain. The families and relatives of the OSW, or Oversea Spanish Workers, knew already long ago the sentiments we Filipinos are experiencing now with our own OFW. Actually, brain drain in the Philippines started in the 1970’s due to the government’s adoption of international contract work known thereafter to us as Oversea Contract Workers whose first wave landed mostly in Saudi Arabia and in other Southeast Asian countries as well. There are by now around 8 million Filipinos working abroad (more than the population of Austria, Finland and Switzerland) and last year they sent home over 10 billion dollars which is about 12% of the country’s GDP. Arroyo’s government is happy about this money that’s why it boasted last July 25 of “coffers with monetary reserves” to face the world’s food and fuel crisis. But this is the hook to it: The lack of nurses and doctors and other medical personnel is continuously damaging the country’s health care system (resulting to closures of hospitals) – this with around 15,000 nurses leaving the country each year.

The problem in our country is that our political and economic situation is only conducive to brain drain but not to brain gain, i.e. in-flow of highly skilled individuals. Many foreigners are hesitant to invest their money, time and knowledge in our country for we do not meet the requirements of these people; it’s unthinkable for instance for European or South Korean nurses and doctors to apply as such in our country. However, brain drain is not only a problem among developing countries, it is a global problem. On the other hand, countries benefiting from brain gain (human capital) and economic gain (financial capital)  are countries that invested and continously invest in education and research and are politically and socially stable ones. A case in point I know so well is Switzerland, one of the best headhunters in the world. This is a place of brain gain from almost every imaginable discipline. I can say with certainty, as an example, that at the moment in history, the best brains of theoretical and astrophysics are gathered in Geneva working for CERN’s recently opened Large Hadron Collider (LHC), the world’s largest particle accelerator. Whereas, to talk about headhunting in the Philippines is still taken literally by many foreign nationals, which understandably triggers fear and flight instinctive reactions in these people.

To qoute J.A. Carizo, “Aren’t the municipality missing guys like you and Atty Benjie and the rest of the Taga-Bulans who are now in Manila and other places living far from your hometown for lack of opportunities?”. Well, Attybenji would somehow find it easy as a lawyer to find a job in Bulan. I could imagine him as practicing lawyer, a competent politician or as a legal counselor to our mayor, for instance. But for a clinical psychologist, I think it woudn’t be easy to find clients in Bulan, a psychiatric hospital or a psychological clinic/research institute. Or, am I mistaken? I stand to be updated here!

 

jun asuncion

Bulan Observer

 

 

 

   

 

When A Shaman Runs Amok

Or,  The Problem Of Depression And Violence In Finland

It happened just a few hours after I have posted my previous article about Finland: In Kauhajoki, Finland, a Finnish gunman ran amok killing  several students in a classroom. This horror echoes last November 11, 2007 ‘s student shooting -also at a classroom in Finland- which is known as the “Jokela High school Massacre” in the town of Tuusula. It sounds paradoxical as we have just been  praising the Finnish educational system and economy. But one thing is clear that these student shootings are not part and parcel of the educational program of Finland. But the question is why does such drama  happen in such an educated society? Education is just one aspect of the Finnish society, it is not everything, it’s a great accomplishment yet is not a panacea, a cure-all medicine of the ills of the society. This incident brings us rather to the nature and culture (upbringing) of the Finnish men and women as they went through the tunnel of time and experience. We mentioned the high rate of suicide and alcoholism in Finland, and this was already a problem even before their economic boom. The World Health Organization’s Survey of 2003 showed that  “at 26.6 per 100 000 population in 1993, the Finnish suicide rate  was by far the highest among the reference countries…” Suicide is a form of self-inflicted violence, and when this act involves other persons than oneself (take others with you, so to speak), then it is called extended suicide, a phenomenon observed in many industrialized countries. In trying to answer the root cause of this suicide phenomenon we must go back to the individual Finn and find a trait that could give us a clue which relates to this destructive behavior. The historian  Anthony Upton, concurs that even in the 19th century “Finland was understood to be two to three times more violent than Western European countries”. Statistics show that the Finnish suicide problem  is higher among the finnish male. Common sense will therefore tell us that Finnish men are more violent than women since suicide is by definition a form of violence. A study conducted by the Finnish sociologist Johanna Kantola confirms Upton’s statement when she found out that domestic violence in Finland has also the highest rate in Western Europe. Finnish men are indeed violent, with 40 % of women being victims of their violent men, as her study has shown. Violent behavior is a negative indicator of psychosocial-well being, which means that not all but many Finnish men are unhappy and do not find socially adequate means of expressing their emotions. This is mostly the result  of the social perception of the role of men in Finland (as in other cultures as well)-that of being like a Viking, hardened and strong, shielded from the attacks of the outside, no display of emotions. This is the weakness of their firewall system for nothing can come out anymore thus resulting to emotional suffocation, leading the system to break from within due to this accumulated pressure. The result is violence- either in form of direct suicide, indirect suicide (as excessive alcoholism and drug addiction) and/or domestic violence.The demand of a high-performance society is intense and this alone can cause depressions due to stress, mobbing, failures and broken relationships. You add to that the effect of the weather and climate, which in Finland is characterized by freezing temperatures and darkness for extended periods-not really a balsam for the soul- then you have the perfect ingredients of producing depression. The formula is simple: depression (seasonal, reactive or endogenous) combined with inward violence plus alcohol and modern drugs, mixed all together in a  stressed body and frustrated soul, result to Finns mostly hurting their partners, killing themselves and others (extended suicide )- a story we know also from Japan or even Switzerland.

Free education, industrialisation and economic boom have also their price: people, especially young people, are put under high pressure. In Finland-as in the Philippines- women outnumber men when it comes to attaining tertiary education. This fact makes the men understandably uneasy and in Finland with such a “macho” Viking past, men are placed under intense pressure. This adds more fuel to their violence inside. Entering a university is not at all easy even if it’s free of tuition; a student must bring the necessary high scholastic qualifications and competition among students is high. For this reason, it is not surprising that many Finns go abroad to study. These successive school massacres in Finland is already an indicator of young men’s frustration and violent attitude towards their educational institutions. However, these two recent Amok in Finland represent only the few extreme cases. Idealism (right-extremism) seemed also to have played a crucial role in both incidents. This time it’s an example not worthy of imitation.

 

jun asuncion

Bulan Observer

A Lesson From The Shamans, Witches And Magicians

Or, Education in Finland

by jun asuncion

 

What do I know about Finland aside from my nokia handy and the outstanding PISA ranking? I digged down and remembered Alvar Aalto, (February 3, 1898 – May 11, 1976)  a celebrated Finnish architect and designer, the Kalevala which is a book and epic poem compiled from the Finnish and Karelian folklore by the Finn Elias Lönnrot, herds of reindeers and moose, the thousands lakes, the Vikings that occupied it, the Lapland region with white snow and unspoilt nature and vast wilderness. For me it is a mystical place that has since excited my imagination, a place so remote that even now when I think of Finland I remember instantly  those Finnish women co-workers of mine who were white as snow covered in golden hairs, reminding me of skilled ancient Finnish witches, magicians and shamans who used music by singing special spells, herbal medicines and also by entering a trance, letting their souls travel to foreign places.

Hunger is not a specific Philippine problem.The worst famine in European history happened in the soils of Finland, killing 15 per cent of its already small population. Added to that, as a Finnish friend tells me, “During the second world war, we have lost almost all our men in Finland”. Finland fought against the Soviet Union and the Nazi-Germany and incurred heavy losses. Heavily dependent on Soviet union as its primary trading partner, Finland suffered deep recession in the early 90’s when the Soviet Union collapsed, simultaneous with its banking crisis, political mismanagement and with the global economic downturn at that time. Not to forget,  this agricultural country was and is better known also for having globally the highest suicide rate and high alcoholism. Alcohol has become the leading cause of death in Finland for men and for women and is surely a contributory factor in suicides, and is involved in deaths caused by accidents or violent crimes.

The population did not rise dramatically even when the economy became better after the second world war. With a total land area of 338,145 square kilometers and an estimated 2008 population of only 5,320,000, Finland is one of the sparsely populated lands of the world. By contrast: The Philippines is only 38,145 square kilometers smaller than Finland. Imagine now if the Philippines had only over 5,000,000 inhabitants! Bulan would have been empty, a wild park.

To survive, the government liberalized its economy and spent large amounts for high-tech education, training of highly-skilled teachers (mostly with master’s degree). This investment in education has paid off. Now Finland is one among the leading  global economies with highly-skilled work force. 

It is said that  Kalevala, that precious book of epic poems had provided the inspiration for the national awakening that ultimately freed the Finns from Russia in 1917. As I see it, the seed of their high-tech culture was already contained in that book, as described in the practices of the shamans like letting their soul travel while in trance, this astral projection as we used to call it. My brother-in-law studied architecture and design with Alvar Aalto in Finland and he provided me some of the most interesting reports about his master teacher Aalto and about Finnish culture in general. One specific story that got stucked in my memory was his story about the practice of mental telepathy by the local Finns. He was told by these people that it was natural for them to communicate with their friends and relatives via mental telepathy for there were no phones (at that time) and they live in great distances from each other. In winter it is cold and dark, thick snow and ice hinder travel even by foot. Telepathy was borne out of this necessity to communicate over wide distances and harsh weather conditions. Astral projection and mental telepathy? What do they have in common? It’s a wireless technology! This technology has always been there looming in the souls of the Finns; they seem to have this natural affinity to wireless technology since the beginning. Now, Finland  is the world leader in wireless communication technology. Just recently, I have read a report about it in a newspaper and reproduce here salient features of it:

-“Nowhere has mobile communication caught on as it has in sparsely populated Finland, where nearly 70 percent of the 5.3 million residents are armed with wireless phones and an ever-expanding array of tools, games and services they can use on the fly.”

-” Finland’s role in wireless development has been a boon for the country that only a decade ago was overly dependent on slumping wood-products industries and doomed trade with the Soviet Union.”

-“Although the phones can’t do all that a home PC can, Finnish companies have soared to the forefront with services that allow users to check news, sports and weather wherever they are, as well as read their horoscopes or biorhythms, order food, pay bills, buy Christmas presents and collect e-mail.”

-” What you see happening here today will be happening in other markets very soon. We’re just a year or two ahead of other Europeans, and Europeans are just a bit ahead of the United States,” says Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, chief financial officer for Nokia, the world’s largest wireless communications provider.”

-“Only about 25 percent of U.S. citizens own mobile phones, compared with about half the European population. Finland’s current 67 percent market penetration is expected to exceed 70 percent by the end of the year, a higher rate than in any other nation. Finland is followed by Hong Kong, Norway, Sweden, Israel, Japan, Denmark and Italy in the ranks of top cellular consumers.”

-“Wireless operations also allow Terentjeff to custom-fit the work environment to his employees’ needs, he says, noting that one valued co-worker has negotiated a protracted maternity leave on condition that she keep an eye on her projects via wireless conference calls from home.”

Tangible results of huge investment in education and research:
-“Gross domestic product rose more than 30 percent in the five years after 1992 and is projected to post an additional 20 percent increase by the end of this year. Unemployment has dropped from 20 percent at the start of the decade to 10.5 percent now — a level not expected to change despite healthy increases in new jobs each year because of the specialized training needed for the country’s new high- tech focus.”  ( source: San Francisco Chronicle.)

 

EDUCATION IN FINLAND: A Summary
Pre-school begins at age 6
Comprehensive school: age 7 to 16
Upper secondary school or vocational school: 16 to 19
Pupils in Finland, age 7 to 14, spend fewest hours in school
Higher education places for 65% young people
Second-highest public spending on higher education (source:oecd)

Major features:

The World Economic Forum ranks Finland’s tertiary education #1 in the world
-Free Education: No tuition fees are collected in all levels – elementary, secondary and tertiary education, be it public or private school.

– school health care and a daily free lunch

– school pupils are entitled to receive free books and materials and free school trips

-teaches the same curriculum to all pupils

 

Like all of you, I also wish we would have free education in the Philippines and all the other benefits like the Finnish system. Why not? It pays off in the end for the whole country. It would break the poor education-poverty cycle that we have talked about before. Other things being equal, all people could have education which in turn would give them the chance to work and get out of poverty. With educated population and a country without poverty, the Philippines would move forward. Here is one sad fact about our current educational system: it is elitistic and discriminating, fosters poverty and social divide. It attacks the family itself: for in a family of five or more children, the average parents could only send perhaps a child or two to college and what about the rest of the chiildren? So the system injects into the basic unit of society itself  the evil of division and discrimination. What kind of educational system is it then?

I do not believe that Singaporean minister’s statement  that increasing the teacher’s salary-as rudyb shared to us- is not the solution to the problems of education. It may apply to Singaporean teachers but not to our own teachers. It is indeed not the only solution but it is one of the solutions to encourage the teachers for in my view, the teachers are very much underpaid in the Philippines. In our country, things are a little bit more complex for our politics doesn’t understand the importance of education- and of educated politicians.

Going back to Bulan, I respect the Bulan Teacher’s Day  as started by Mayor Helen De Castro (see her 2007 report- Edukasyon). This is one of the many ways to give incentives to our teachers and teachers to be.

Otherwise it’s about time for us to consult and to learn the lessons from the shamans, witches and magicians. They know the way.

 

Bulan Observer

  

 

 

 

While We Patiently Wait For Mayor Helen De Castro

President Arroyo delivered her nation’s address on July 2008 before a joint session of both houses of Congress following Article VII Section 23 of the 1987 Constitution which states: “The President shall address the Congress at the opening of its regular session. He may also appear before it at any other time.”
This work, reproduced hereunder, is in the public domain because it is a work of the Philippine government pursuant to Republic Act No. 8293 or the Intellectual Property Code of the Philippines, which renders all official Philippine texts of a legislative, administrative, or judicial nature, or any official translation thereof, ineligible for copyright.
This is her speech last July as separate from the SONA Technical Report portions of which we had already read. This is a suggested reading for Bulanians as part of training our political literacy and consciousness. While we patiently wait for our Mayor Helen De Castro’s corresponding 2008 report to the people of Bulan, I think we should use our time wisely. We could for instance study in depth the contents of President Arroyo’s speech or Attybenji’s article on Strenghts And Weaknesses Of Filipino Character. However, we do hope that our Mayor Helen De Castro has already started writing her report to the people of Bulan and that she has read Attybenji’s article where he mentions lack of discipline as one among our weaknesses which I now qoute: “3.) Lack of Discipline: The Filipino lack of discipline encompasses several related characteristics. We have a casual and relaxed attitude towards time and space which manifest itself in lack of precision and compulsiveness, in poor time management and in procrastination. We have an aversion for following strictly a set for procedures and this result in lack of standardization and quality control. We are impatient and unable to delay gratification or reward in the use of short-cuts, in skirting the rules (palusot syndrome) and in foolhardiness. We are guilty of ‘ningas cogon‘, starting out projects with full vigor and interest which abruptly die down leaving things unfinished. Our lack of discipline often results in inefficient and wasteful work system violations of rules leading to more serious transgression and a casual work ethic leading to carelessness and lack of follow through.”
President Arroyo’s speech maybe a subject of contentions but at least she has done her assignment already.
jun asuncion
Bulan Observer )
———————————–
Here’s her speech:
                                                    State of the Nation Address 2008
by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo
“I address you today at a crucial moment in world history.
Just a few months ago, we ended 2007 with the strongest economic growth in a generation. Inflation was low, the peso strong and a million new jobs were created. We were all looking to a better, brighter future.
Because tough choices were made, kumikilos na ang bayan sa wakas. Malapit na sana tayo sa pagbalanse ng budget. We were retiring debts in great amounts, reducing the drag on our country’s development, habang namumuhunan sa taong bayan.
Biglang-bigla, nabaligtad ang ekonomiya ng mundo. Ang pagtalon ng presyo ng langis at pagkain ay nagbunsod ng pandaigdigan krisis, the worst since the Great Depression and the end of World War II. Some blame speculators moving billions of dollars from subprime mortgages to commodities like fuel and food. Others point of the very real surge in demand as millions of Chinese and Indians move up to the middle class.
Whatever the reasons, we are on a roller coaster ride of oil price hikes, high food prices and looming economic recession in the US and other markets. Uncertainty has moved like a terrible tsunami around the globe, wiping away gains, erasing progress.
This is a complex time that defies simple and easy solutions. For starters, it is hard to identify villains, unlike in the 1997 financial crisis. Everyone seems to be a victim, rich countries and poor, though certainly some can take more punishment than others.
To address these global challenges, we must go on building and buttressing bridges to allies around the world: to bring in the rice to feed our people, investments to create jobs, and to keep the peace and maintain stability in our country and the rest of the world. Yet, even as we reach out to those who need, and who may need us, we strive for greater self-reliance.
Because tough choices were made, the global crisis did not catch us helpless and unprepared. Through foresight, grit and political will, we built a shield around our country that has slowed down and somewhat softened the worst effects of the global crisis. We have the money to care for our people and pay for food when there are shortages, for fuel despite price spikes.
Neither we nor anyone else in the world expected this day to come so soon but we prepared for it. For the guts not to flinch in the face of tough choices, I thank God. For the wisdom to recognize how needed you are, I thank, you Congress. For footing the bill, I thank the taxpayers.
The result has been, on the one hand, ito ang nakasalba sa bayan; and, on the other, more unpopularity for myself in the opinion polls. Yet, even unfriendly polls show self-rated poverty down to its 20-year low in 2007.
My responsibility as President is to take care to solve the problems we are facing now and to provide a vision and direction for how our nation should advance in the future.
Many in this great hall live privileged lives and exert great influence in public affairs. I am accessible to you, but I spend time every day with the underprivileged and under represented who cannot get a grip on their lives in the daily, all-consuming struggle to make ends meet.
Nag-aalala ako para sa naka-aawang maybahay na pasan ang pananagutan para sa buong pamilya. Nag-aalala ako para sa magsasakang nasa unang hanay ng pambansang produksyon ng pagkain ngunit nagsisikap pakanin ang pamilya. I care for hardworking students soon to graduate and wanting to see hope of good job and a career prospect here at home.
Nag-aalala ako para sa 41-year old na padre de pamilya na di araw-araw ang trabaho, at nag-aabala sa asawa at tatlong anak, at dapat bigyan ng higit pang pagkakakitaan at dangal. I care for our teachers who gave the greatest gift we ever received – a good education – still trying to pass on the same gift to succeeding generations. I care for our OFWs, famed for their skill, integrity and untiring labor, who send home their pay as the only way to touch loved ones so far away. Nagpupugay ako ngayon sa kanilang mga karaniwang Pilipino.
My critics say this is fiction, along with other facts and figures I cite today. I call it heroism though they don’t need our praise. Each is already a hero to those who matter most, their families.
I said this is a global crisis where everyone is a victim. But only few can afford to avoid, or pay to delay, the worst effects.
Many more have nothing to protect them from the immediate blunt force trauma of the global crisis. Tulad ninyo, nag-aalala ako para sa kanila. Ito ang mga taong bayan na dapat samahan natin. Not only because of their sacrifices for our country but because they are our countrymen.
How do we solve these many complex challenges?
Sa kanilang kalagayan, the answer must be special care and attention in this great hour of need.
First, we must have a targeted strategy with set of precise prescriptions to ease the price challenges we are facing.
Second, food self-sufficiency; less energy dependence; greater self-reliance in our attitude as a people and in our posture as a nation.
Third, short-term relief cannot be at the expense of long term reforms. These reforms will benefit not just the next generation of Filipinos, but the next President as well.
Napakahalaga ang Value Added Tax sa pagharap sa mga hamong ito.
Itong programa ang sagot sa mga problemang namana natin.
Una, mabawasan ang ating mga utang and shore up our fiscal independence.
Pangalawa, higit na pamumuhunan para mamamayan at imprastraktura.
Pangatlo, sapat na pondo para sa mga programang pangmasa.
Thus, the infrastructure links programmed for the our poorest provinces like Northern Samar: Lao-ang-Lapinig-Arteche, right now ay maputik, San Isidro-Lope de Vega; the rehabilitation of Maharlika in Samar.
Take VAT away and you and I abdicate our responsibility as leaders and pull the rug from under our present and future progress, which may be compromised by the global crisis.
Lalong lumakas ang tiwala ng mga investor dahil sa VAT. Mula P56.50 kada dolyar, lumakas ang piso hanggang P40.20 bago bumalik sa P44 dahil sa mga pabigat ng pangdaigdigang ekonomiya. Kung alisin ang VAT, hihina ang kumpiyansa ng negosyo, lalong tataas ang interes, lalong bababa ang piso, lalong mamahal ang bilihin.
Kapag ibinasura ang VAT sa langis at kuryente, ang mas makikinabang ay ang mga may kaya na kumukonsumo ng 84% ng langis at 90% ng kuryente habang mas masasaktan ang mahihirap na mawawalan ng P80 billion para sa mga programang pinopondohan ngayon ng VAT. Take away VAT and we strip our people of the means to ride out the world food and energy crisis.
We have come too far and made too many sacrifices to turn back now on fiscal reforms. Leadership is not about doing the first easy thing that comes to mind; it is about doing what is necessary, however hard.
The government has persevered, without flip-flops, in its much-criticized but irreplaceable policies, including oil and power VAT and oil deregulation.
Patuloy na gagamitin ng pamahalaan ang lumalago nating yaman upang tulungan ang mga pamilyang naghihirap sa taas ng bilihin at hampas ng bagyo, habang nagpupundar upang sanggahan ang bayan sa mga krisis sa hinaharap.
Para sa mga namamasada at namamasahe sa dyip, sinusugpo natin ang kotong at colorum upang mapataas ang kita ng mga tsuper. Si Federico Alvarez kumikita ng P200 a day sa kaniyang rutang Cubao-Rosario. Tinaas ito ng anti-kotong, anti-colorum ngayon P500 na ang kita niya. Iyan ang paraan kung paano napananatili ang dagdag-pasahe sa piso lamang. Halaga lang ng isang text.
Texting is a way of life. I asked the telecoms to cut the cost of messages between networks. They responded. It is now down to 50 centavos.
Noong Hunyo, nagpalabas tayo ng apat na bilyong piso mula sa VAT sa langis-dalawang bilyong pambayad ng koryente ng apat na milyong mahihirap, isang bilyon para college scholarship o pautang sa 70,000 na estudyanteng maralita; kalahating bilyong pautang upang palitan ng mas matipid na LPG, CNG o biofuel ang motor ng libu-libong jeepney; at kalahating bilyong pampalit sa fluorescent sa mga pampublikong lugar.
Kung mapapalitan ng fluorescent ang lahat ng bumbilya, makatitipid tayo ng lampas P2 billion.
Sa sunod na katas ng VAT, may P1 billion na pambayad ng kuryente ng mahihirap; kalahating bilyon para sa matatandang di sakop ng SSS o GSIS; kalahating bilyong kapital para sa pamilya ng mga namamasada; kalahating bilyon upang mapataas ang kakayahan at equipment ng mga munting ospital sa mga lalawigan. At para sa mga kalamidad, angkop na halaga.
We released P1 billion for the victims of typhoon Frank. We support a supplemental Western Visayas calamity budget from VAT proceeds, as a tribute to the likes of Rodney Berdin, age 13, of Barangay Rombang, Belison, Antique, who saved his mother, brother and sister from the raging waters of Sibalom River .
Mula sa buwang ito, wala nang income tax ang sumusweldo ng P200,000 o mas mababa sa isang taon – P12 billion na bawas-buwis para sa maralita at middle class. Maraming salamat, Congress.
Ngayong may P32 na commercial rice, natugunan na natin ang problema sa pagkain sa kasalukuyan. Nagtagumpay tayo dahil sa pagtutulungan ng buong bayan sa pagsasaka, bantay-presyo at paghihigpit sa price manipulation, sa masipag na pamumuno ni Artie Yap.
Sa mga LGU at religious groups na tumutulong dalhin ang NFA rice sa mahihirap, maraming salamat sa inyo.
Dahil sa subsidy, NFA rice is among the region’s cheapest. While we can take some comfort that our situation is better than many other nations, there is no substitute for solving the problem of rice and fuel here at home. In doing so, let us be honest and clear eyed – there has been a fundamental shift in global economics. The price of food and fuel will likely remain high. Nothing will be easy; the government cannot solve these problems over night. But, we can work to ease the near-term pain while investing in long-term solutions.
Since 2001, new irrigation systems for 146,000 hectares, including Malmar in Maguindanao and North Cotabato, Lower Agusan, Casecnan and Aulo in Nueva Ecija, Abulog-Apayao in Cagayan and Apayao, Addalam in Quirino and Isabela, among others, and the restoration of old systems on another 980,000 hectares have increased our nation’s irrigated land to a historic 1.5 million hectares.
Edwin Bandila, 48 years old, of Ugalingan, Carmen, North Cotabato , cultivated one hectare and harvested 35 cavans. Thirteen years na ginawa iyong Malmar. In my first State of the Nation Address, sabi ko kung hindi matapos iyon sa Setyembre ay kakanselahin ko ang kontrata, papapasukin ko ang engineering brigade, natapos nila. With Malamar, now he cultivates five hectares and produces 97 cavans per hectare. Mabuhay, Edwin! VAT will complete the San Roque-Agno River project.
The Land Bank has quadrupled loans for farmers and fisherfolk. That is fact not fiction. Check it. For more effective credit utilization, I instructed DA to revitalize farmers cooperatives.
We are providing seeds at subsidized prices to help our farmers.
Incremental Malampaya national revenues of P4 billion will go to our rice self-sufficiency program.
Rice production since 2000 increased an average of 4.07% a year, twice the population growth rate. By promoting natural planning and female education, we have curbed population growth to 2.04% during our administration, down from the 2.36 in the 1990’s, when artificial birth control was pushed. Our campaign spreads awareness of responsible parenthood regarding birth spacing. Long years of pushing contraceptives made it synonymous to family planning. Therefore informed choice should mean letting more couples, who are mostly Catholics, know about natural family planning.
From 1978 to 1981, nag-export tayo ng bigas. Hindi tumagal. But let’s not be too hard on ourselves. Panahon pa ng Kastila bumibili na tayo ng bigas sa labas. While we may know how to grow rice well, topography doesn’t always cooperate.
Nature did not gift us with a mighty Mekong like Thailand and Vietnam, with their vast and naturally fertile plains. Nature instead put our islands ahead of our neighbours in the path of typhoons from the Pacific. So, we import 10% of the rice we consume.
To meet the challenge of today, we will feed our people now, not later, and help them get through these hard times. To meet the challenges of tomorrow, we must become more self-reliant, self-sufficient and independent, relying on ourselves more than on the world.
Now we come to the future of agrarian reform.
There are those who say it is a failure, that our rice importations prove it. There are those who say it is a success – if only because anything is better than nothing. Indeed, people are happier owning the land they work, no matter what the difficulties.
Sa SONA noong 2001, sinabi ko, bawat taon, mamamahagi tayo ng dalawang daang libong ektarya sa reporma sa lupa: 100,000 hectares of private farmland and 100,000 of public farmland, including ancestral domains. Di hamak mahigit sa target ang naipamahagi natin sa nakaraang pitong taon: 854,000 hectares of private farmland, 797,000 of public farmland, and Certificates of Ancestral Domain for 525,000 hectares. Including, over a 100,000 hectares for Bugkalots in Quirino, Aurora, and Nueva Vizcaya. After the release of their CADT, Rosario Camma, Bugkalot chieftain, and now mayor of Nagtipunan, helped his 15,000-member tribe develop irrigation, plant vegetables and corn and achieve food sufficiency. Mabuhay, Chief!
Agrarian reform should not merely subdivide misery, it must raise living standards. Ownership raises the farmer from his but productivity will keep him on his feet.
Sinimula ng aking ama ang land reform noong 1963. Upang mabuo ito, the extension of CARP with reforms is top priority. I will continue to do all I can for the rural as well as urban poor. Ayaw natin na paglaya ng tenant sa landlord, mapapasa-ilalim naman sa usurero. Former tenants must be empowered to become agribusinessmen by allowing their land to be used as collateral.
Dapat mapalaya ng reporma sa lupa ang magsasaka sa pagiging alipin sa iba. Dapat bigyan ang magsasaka ng dangal bilang taong malaya at di hawak ninuman. We must curb the recklessness that gives land without the means to make it productive and bites off more than beneficiaries can chew.
At the same time, I want the rackets out of agrarian reform: the threats to take and therefore undervalue land, the conspiracies to overvalue it.
Be with me on this. There must be a path where justice and progress converge. Let us find it before Christmas. Dapat nating linisin ang landas para sa mga ibig magpursige sa pagsasaka, taglay ang pananalig na ang lupa ay sasagip sa atin sa huli kung gamitin natin ito nang maayos.
Along with massive rice production, we are cutting costs through more efficient transport. For our farm-to-market roads, we released P6 billion in 2007.
On our nautical highways. RORO boats carried 33 million metric tons of cargo and 31 million passengers in 2007. We have built 39 RORO ports during our administration, 12 more are slated to start within the next two years. In 2003, we inaugurated the Western Nautical Highway from Batangas through Mindoro, Panay and Negros to Mindanao . This year we launched the Central Nautical Highway from Bicol mainland, through Masbate, Cebu, Bohol and Camiguin to Mindanao mainland. These developments strengthen our competitiveness.
Leading multinational company Nestle cut transport costs and offset higher milk prices abroad. Salamat, RORO. Transport costs have become so reasonable for bakeries like Gardenia, a loaf of its bread in Iloilo is priced the same as in Laguna and Manila. Salamat muli sa RORO.
To the many LGUs who have stopped collecting fees from cargo vehicles, maraming, maraming salamat.
We are repaving airports that are useful for agriculture, like Zamboanga City Airport.
Producing rice and moving it cheaper addresses the supply side of our rice needs. On the demand side, we are boosting the people’s buying power.
Ginagawa nating labor-intensive ang paggawa at pag-ayos ng kalsada at patubig. Noong SONA ng 2001, naglunsad tayo sa NCR ng patrabaho para sa 20,000 na out of school youth, na tinawag OYSTER. Ngayon, mahigit 20,000 ang ineempleyo ng OYSTER sa buong bansa. In disaster-stricken areas, we have a cash-for-work program.
In training, 7.74 million took technical and vocational courses over the last seven years, double the number in the previous 14 years. In 2007 alone, 1.7 million graduated. Among them are Jessica Barlomento now in Hanjin as supply officer, Shenve Catana, Marie Grace Comendador, and Marlyn Tusi, lady welders, congratulations.
In microfinance, loans have reached P102 billion or 30 times more than the P3 billion we started with in 2001, with a 98% repayment record, congratulations! Major lenders include the Land Bank with P69 billion, the Peoples’ Credit and Finance Corporation P8 billion, the National Livelihood Support Fund P3 billion, DBP P1 billion and the DSWD’s SEA-K P800 million. For partnering with us to unleash the entrepreneurial spirit, thank you, Go Negosyo and Joey Concepcion.
Upland development benefits farmers through agro-forestry initiatives. Rubber is especially strong in Zamboanga Sibugay and North Cotabato. Victoria Mindoro, 56 years old, used to earn P5,000 a month as farmer and factory worker. Now she owns 10 hectares in the Goodyear Agrarian Reform Community in Kabasalan, Zamboanga Sibugay, she earns P10,000 a week. With one hectare, Pedro and Concordia Faviolas of Makilala, North Cotabato, they sent their six children to college, bought two more hectares, and earn P15,000 a month. Congratulations!
Jatropha estates are starting in 900 hectares in and around Tamlang Valley in Negros Oriental; 200 in CamSur; 300 in GenSan, 500 in Fort Magsaysay near the Cordero Dam and 700 in Samar, among others.
In our 2006 SONA, our food baskets were identified as North Luzon and Mindanao .
The sad irony of Mindanao as food basket is that it has some of the highest hunger in our nation. It has large fields of high productivity, yet also six of our ten poorest provinces.
The prime reason is the endless Mindanao conflict. A comprehensive peace has eluded us for half a century. But last night, differences on the tough issue of ancestral domain were resolved. Yes, there are political dynamics among the people of Mindanao . Let us sort them out with the utmost sobriety, patience and restraint. I ask Congress to act on the legislative and political reforms that will lead to a just and lasting peace during our term of office.
The demands of decency and compassion urge dialogue. Better talk than fight, if nothing of sovereign value is anyway lost. Dialogue has achieved more than confrontation in many parts of the world. This was the message of the recent World Conference in Madrid organized by the King of Saudi Arabia, and the universal message of the Pope in Sydney.
Pope Benedict’s encyclical Deus Caritas Est reminds us: “There will always be situations of material need where help in the form of concrete love for neighbour is indispensable.”
Pinagsasama-sama natin ang mga programa ng DSWD, DOH, GSIS, SSS at iba pang lumalaban sa kahirapan sa isang National Social Welfare Program para proteksyonan ang pinaka-mahihirap mula sa pandaigdigang krisis, and to help those whose earnings are limited by illness, disability, loss of job, age and so on – through livelihood projects, microfinance, skills and technology transfer, emergency and temporary employment, pension funds, food aid and cash subsidies, child nutrition and adult health care, medical missions, salary loans, insurance, housing programs, educational and other savings schemes, and now cheaper medicine. Thanks to Congress.
The World Bank says that in Brazil , the income of the poorest 10% has grown 9% per year versus the 3% for the higher income levels due in large part to their family stipend program linking welfare checks to school attendance. We have introduced a similar program, Pantawid Pamilya.
Employers have funded the two increases in SSS benefits since 2005. Thank you, employers for paying the premiums.
GSIS pensions have been indexed to inflation and have increased every year since 2001. Its salary loan availments have increased from two months equivalent to 10 months, the highest of any system public or private – while repayments have been stretched out.
Pag-Ibig housing loans increased from P3.82 billion in 2001 to P22.6 billion in 2007. This year it experienced an 84% increase in the first four months alone. Super heating na. Dapat dagdagan ng GSIS at buksan muli ng SSS ang pautang sa pabahay. I ask Congress to pass a bill allowing SSS to do housing loans beyond the present 10% limitation.
Bago ako naging Pangulo, isa’t kalahating milyong maralita lamang ang may health insurance. Noong 2001, sabi natin, dadagdagan pa ng kalahating milyon. Sa taong iyon, mahigit isang milyon ang nabigyan natin. Ngayon, 65 milyong Pilipino na ang may health insurance, mahigit doble ng 2000, kasama ang labinlimang milyong maralita. Philhealth has paid P100 billion for hospitalization. The indigent beneficiaries largely come from West and Central Visayas, Central Luzon , and Ilocos. Patuloy nating palalawakin itong napaka-importanted programa, lalo na sa Tawi-Tawi, Zambo Norte, Maguindanao, Apayao, Dinagat, Lanao Sur, Northern Samar, Masbate, Abra and Misamis Occidental. Lalo na sa kanilang mga magsasaka at mangingisda.
In these provinces and in Agusan Sur, Kalinga, Surigao Sur and calamity-stricken areas, we will launch a massive school feeding program at P10 per child every school day.
Bukod sa libreng edukasyon sa elementarya at high school, nadoble ang pondo para sa mga college scholarships, while private high school scholarship funds from the government have quadrupled.
I have started reforming and clustering the programs of the DepEd, CHED and TESDA.
As with fiscal and food challenges, the global energy crunch demands better and more focused resource mobilization, conservation and management.
Government agencies are reducing their energy and fuel bills by 10%, emulating Texas Instruments and Philippine Stock Exchange who did it last year. Congratulations, Justice Vitug and Francis Lim.
To reduce power system losses, we count on government regulators and also on EPIRA amendments.
We are successful in increasing energy self-sufficiency – 56%, the highest in our history. We promote natural gas and biofuel; geothermal fields, among the world’s largest; windmills like those in Ilocos and Batanes; and the solar cells lighting many communities in Mindanao. The new Galoc oil field can produce 17,000-22,000 barrels per day, 1/12 of our crude consumption.
The Renewable Energy Bill has passed the House. Thank you, Congressmen.
Our costly commodity imports like oil and rice should be offset by hard commodities exports like primary products, and soft ones like tourism and cyberservices, at which only India beats us.
Our P 350 million training partnership with the private sector should qualify 60,000 for call centers, medical transcription, animation and software development, which have a projected demand of one million workers generating $13 billion by 2010.
International finance agrees with our progress. Credit rating agencies have kept their positive or stable outlook on the country. Our world competitiveness ranking rose five notches. Congratulations to us.
We are sticking to, and widening, the fiscal reforms that have earned us their respect.
To our investors, thank you for your valuable role in our development. I invite you to invest not only in factories and services, but in profitable infrastructure, following the formula for the Tarlac-Pangasinan-La Union Expressway.
I ask business and civil society to continue to work for a socially equitable, economically viable balance of interests. Mining companies should ensure that host communities benefit substantively from their investments, and with no environmental damage from operations.
Our administration enacted the Solid Waste Management Act, Wildlife Act, Protection of Plant Varieties, Clean Water Act, Biofuels Act and various laws declaring protected areas.
For reforestation, for next year we have budgeted P2 billion. Not only do forests enhance the beauty of the land, they mitigate climate change, a key factor in increasing the frequency and intensity of typhoons and costing the country 0.5% of the GDP.
We have set up over 100 marine and fish sanctuaries since 2001. In the whaleshark sanctuary of Donsol, Sorsogon, Alan Amanse, 40-year-old college undergraduate and father of two, was earning P100 a day from fishing and driving a tricycle. Now as whaleshark-watching officer, he is earns P1,000 a day, ten times his former income.
For clean water, so important to health, there is P500 million this year and P1.5 billion for next year.
From just one sanitary landfill in 2001, we now have 21, with another 18 in the works.
We launched the Zero Basura Olympics to clear our communities of trash. Rather than more money, all that is needed is for each citizen to keep home and workplace clean, and for garbage officials to stop squabbling.
Our investments also include essential ways to strengthen our institutions of governance in order to fight the decades-old scourge of corruption. I will continue to fight this battle every single day. While others are happy with headlines through accusation without evidence and privilege speeches without accountability, we have allocated more than P3 billion – the largest anti-graft fund in our history – for real evidence gathering and vigorous prosecution.
From its dismal past record, the Ombudsman’s conviction rate has increased 500%. Lifestyle checks, never seriously implemented before our time, have led to the dismissal and/or criminal prosecution of dozens of corrupt officials.
I recently met with the Millennium Challenge Corporation, a US agency that provides grants to countries based on governance. They have commended our gains, contributed P1 billion to our fight against graft, and declared us eligible for more grants. Thank you!
Last September, we created the Procurement Transparency Group in the DBM and linked it with business, academe, and the Church, to deter or catch anomalies in government contracts.
On my instruction, the BIR and Customs established similar government-civil society tie-ups for information gathering and tax evasion and smuggling monitoring.
More advanced corruption practices require a commensurate advances in legislative responses. Colleagues in Congress, we need a more stringent Anti-Graft Act.
Sa pagmahal ng bilihin, hirap na ang mamimili – tapos, dadayain pa. Dapat itong mahinto. Hinihiling ko sa Kongreso na magpasa ng Consumer Bill of Rights laban sa price gouging, false advertising at iba pang gawain kontra sa mamimili.
I call on all our government workers at the national and local levels to be more responsive and accountable to the people. Panahon ito ng pagsubok. Kung saan kayang tumulong at dapat tumulong ang pamahalaan, we must be there with a helping hand. Where government can contribute nothing useful, stay away. Let’s be more helpful, more courteous, more quick.
Kaakibat ng ating mga adhikain ang tuloy na pagkalinga sa kapakanan ng bawat Pilipino. Iisa ang ating pangarap – maunlad at mapayapang lipunan, kung saan ang magandang kinabukasan ay hindi pangarap lamang, bagkus natutupad.
Sama-sama tayo sa tungkuling ito. May papel na gagampanan ang bawat mamamayan, negosyante, pinunong bayan at simbahan, sampu ng mga nasa lalawigan.
We are three branches but one government. We have our disagreements; we each have hopes, and ambitions that drive and divide us, be they personal, ethnic, religious and cultural. But we are one nation with one fate.
As your President, I care too much about this nation to let anyone stand in the way of our people’s wellbeing. Hindi ko papayagang humadlang ang sinuman sa pag-unlad at pagsagana ng taong bayan. I will let no one – and no one’s political plans – threaten our nation’s survival.
Our country and our people have never failed to be there for us. We must be there for them now.
Maraming salamat. Magandang hapon sa inyong lahat.”
 Gloria Macapagal Arroyo
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The Great Filipino Dream

Or, Greed Over Education

 

(This is actually my response to attybenji’s comment on Teachers, Don’t Leave Us Kids Alone!)

You may recall that Mrs. Arroyo refers to college education as the ‘great Filipino dream’. Indeed she’s right this time considering that, as the DepEd says, out of 10 students entering Grade 1, six will complete the elementary course, four will get through high school and two will enter college. If these two would finish college and if they would get a job is another story, or another dream!

The country is “on the verge of take off” Arroyo told us during her  SONA 2005. And she talked about increased  government spending on education for “better trained teachers in more classrooms; 30,000 additional classrooms and computer access to more than 3,000 high schools in the past four years; and a “healthy start” breakfast program for young schoolchildren.”

The truth is, the education sector continues to suffer from yearly budget cuts. The results are poor state of classrooms and school facilities and the severe shortage of teachers in public elementary and high schools nationwide.This is the worst crisis in public education. According to Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT), in this school year, “classroom shortage is pegged at 57,930; teachers, 49,699; and desks and chairs, 3.48 million. Until now, 445 barangays (villages) in the country still have no elementary schools. Six municipalities still have no high school.” Based on these facts, I would rather say that the country is on the verge of a crash.

Education is supposed to narrow down social divide, hence foster social equality and justice. But it seems that in our country, the present state of education widens the “social scissor” ever more. A good education fosters social mobility, the absence of which fosters poverty and social alienation. And many of those who have made it through college have already left the country and many who are left at home are contemplating to leave, on the “verge of take off.” This is probably what Mrs. Arroyo meant. For as she said in her visit to Singapore in 2001, the Philippine economy will remain heavily dependent on Filipino overseas workers sending home some eight billion US dollars annually (stand of 2001). Last 2007, the OFW’s remittances amounted to about 14.7 billion dollars. Today, she still promote labor-export policy. Though the Philippine economy profits from these remittances, this kind of labor- policy is a clear sign of defeat on the part of the government, of failed politics and poor national housekeeping. It’s a proof of our third-world status. According to The International Monetary Fund, the Philippines is the third largest recipient of remittances among developing countries next to India and Mexico (World Economic Outlook Report in 2005). For Ninoy Aquino it is elusive justice after 25 years, for millions of young Filipinos it remains an elusive dream after twenty-one years of 1987 Constitution  to go to college as unabated hikes in tuition- both in public and private colleges- continue to plague tertiary education due in part to the Education Act of 1982, particularly Sec. 42. Tuition and Other Fees.- “Each private school shall determine its rate of tuition and other school fees or charges. The rates and charges adopted by schools pursuant to this provision shall be collectible, and their application or use authorized, subject to rules and regulations promulgated by the Ministry of Education, Culture and Sports”. This has led to continuous hikes in tuition.

The crisis in our public education is aggravated by the fact that the  Arroyo’s education budget amounts only to two percent of the GDP, which does not even meet the minimum standard prescribed by UNESCO which is six per cent of GDP. This is certainly not in accordance with Article 14 of the Constitution which mandates the state to provide for the highest budgetary allocation for education. Arroyo spends very little for education, yet brags of “coffers” in her SONA 2008 filled with monetary reserves to meet the food and fuel crises and insists on rice rationing to feed the poor and malnourished pupils with her breakfast program, capitalizing on and misusing the result of the Asian Development Bank study  that poor nutrition among children whittles down the IQ by 10 to 14 percent. This is nothing but deception of a bigger scale, opportunism and showmanship only, insulting the poor Filipino people and the OFW who send billions of dollars annually to the country. Arroyo is certainly not an educator but more of a politician from showbiz that brags than a graduate economist of reputable universities. This again is the logic of greed dominating education.

Given the present situation, it is indeed a great Filipino dream to study in college for millions of our young people. Arroyo is right this time. And for the tens of millions who are jobless, left alone without a future in their homeland and wanting to find a job abroad, the country is definitely on the “verge of a take-off” to Middle-East, Japan or the USA. Arroyo seems to be always right on things that should not be.

 

jun asuncion

Bulan Observer

Teachers, Don’t Leave Us Kids Alone!

 

Teacher’s salary should be doubled! A wishful thinking? Yes, this is  maybe a dream but one that rests upon solid foundation- upon our constitution in Article XIV, Section 5 (5) which says that” The State shall assign the highest budgetary priority to education and ensure that teaching will attract and retain its rightful share of the best available talents through adequate remuneration and other means of job satisfaction and fulfillment.”

Teachers are the real public servants for all so they deserve special attention and adequate remuneration and incentives. In short, upgrade the teacher’s salary! Although these people are in the first place driven by their calling to “transfer” knowledge to their students and not by the desire to accumulate material wealth, it is still proper for them to recieve a salary that will give them and their families a decent existence, keep them away from worries so they can focus their energy on teaching. This is the first step to ensure quality education. In Human capital theory, the economy of  a nation is a reflection of the quality of education. High quality education means high economy like Taiwan, Finnland, Hongkong and Japan to name a few examples. In short, a better educated population produces a better economy. 

Furthermore, Article XIV Section I of the 1987 Constitution of the Philippines says that ” The State shall protect and promote the right of all citizens to quality education at all levels, and shall take appropriate steps to make such education accessible to all” and that the “State shall establish and maintain, a system of free public education in the elementary and high school levels. Without limiting the natural rights of parents to rear their children, elementary education is compulsory for all children of school age” Section 2 (3). (Republic Act No. 6655 of 1988 is very important in this connection, hence a suggested reading for more details. To this,  Education for All Philippine Plan of Action (EFA-PPA)  addresses access, equity, quality, relevance, and sustainability.)

Twenty-one years after the newly-enacted 1987 Constitution (the Constitution currently in effect, enacted during the administration of President Corazon Aquino, replacing the Marcos-tailored 1973 Constitution), Philippine Education today has “sunk to its lowest level” says Education Secretary Jesli Lapus during the  consultative meeting of  education stakeholders in Baguio City last January 2008 that was also attended by Arroyo. The alarm was first raised in 2006 by the department of Education. Yet two years after nothing has been improved. President Gloria Macapagal-Arroy admitts herself that the state of education continued to worsen, though the budget-as the governmnet claims- has increased over a 10-year period – from P90 billion in 1999 to P149 billion in 2008, excluding the P4 billion acquired in 2007 from the private sector,  after Education Secretary Jesli Lapus re-launched the Adopt-A-School program in 2006. Kudos to Jesli Lapus for his efforts in bringing Education as a societal concern. But gathering from the materials I’ve read pertaining to Philippine education, it shows that increasing the budget for education is not the only solution to the problems of education.

Past statistics show that generally Literacy Rate in the Philippines climbed up over the last few years- from 72 percent in 1960 to 94 percent in 1990 due to increase in the numbers of schools built-elementary, secondary and tertiary levely-  and the rising level of enrollment that followed. Indeed, if you would bother to examine the figures about education in the Philippines that you would find published in Internet, it’s very impressive how enrollment in commerce and business courses as well as engineering and technology courses went up. One interesting fact is the gender distribution: female students are very highly represented in all levels-elemetary, secondary and tertiary education-, whereby male and female students are almost equally represented in the elemetary level. The clear difference begins in the secondray and tertiary education. Here the females exceed the males. In general, higher rates of dropouts, failures and repetition are shown among the boys in the elementary and secondary levels. This is a phenomenon that interests me from a psychological viewpoint. One thing, what does “has improved” mean in the present time and even more interesting is, what does it mean today in global context? In this connection, we will talk later about PISA, or Programme for International Student Assessment.

According to our leading educators, the main problems of our education  are declining quality, affordability, budget and mismatch.

Quality  You may have noticed that the statistics merely give us figures. Quantity is one thing, quality is another thing. In the Philippines the problem of quality is a central issue that will bother us for the next decades. There is still much to be done in this area if we want to help Arroyo realize her dream of transforming the nation into a first-world country. For as of now we are down there below if seen globally. If you live outside the country, what the world knows is only about our corrupt presidents who are taking advantage of their people instead of working for the common good. Many among us  were sadden to hear that our president is the most corrupt leader and the Philippines voted as the most corrupt country in asia. One may question the credibilty of this survey and the people who designed and, most of all, people who financed the said survey. Indeed, this could also be politically-motivated one. But one thing for sure, the Arroyos have already dominated the headlines for corrupt practices even before this survey was made and published. So to expect a good quality of education in our nation amidst this political chaos, moral desorientation, poverty, the on-going rebellion in Mindanao and the ever-present NPA threats, is beyond imagination, a dream in the true sense of the word. Progressive leaders are geared in improving more and more the quality of education in their respective countries to keep up, if not lead, the global standards of excellence and global market demands. So they never tire in evaluating their educational programs and investing huge amounts annually for training, upgrade of facilities and for research. This is investing in human capital for they believe that in today’s  Information Age, education is a tremendous production factor becoming more valuable than capital and labor. 

AffordabilityIt is poverty that hinders education and it is poor education that fosters poverty. Many of us cannot afford to pay education. We just hit the core of the problem, the vicious cycle where there seems to be no way out for the majority of the Filipinos. A pupil can still make it to go to school without  breakfast and lunch for a day. The next day don’t expect this pupil to be in school. It’s just not possible to learn when hunger is killing you. The same with an intelligent public high school graduate from a province. Even if he topped the UP entrance examination and has qualified for government scholarship, who would shoulder his living expenses in Manila? His daily transportations? His school materials? He will end up somewhere below his potentials.

BudgetThe Philippines is slowly becoming a two-class society- the rich and the poor  with a collapsing middle class. Ninety-five per cent of all our elementary pupils are attending public schools and many of them never make it to finish grade six let alone enter public high school because of poverty (Last count reveals that  more than 17 million students are enrolled in public schools). The fight for progress should happen in two levels at the same time- that of maintaining and improving the quality of education and of eradicating extreme poverty and/or diminishing “normal”poverty. This is really the challenge to our political leaders. To our church leaders, if they really understand that poverty has direct connection with rising criminality and juvenile delinquency, that poverty contributes directly to breaking the Ten Commandments that Christianity teaches, then they should take the necessity of birth control as a moral imperative.

You would never see pupils inside a very good classroom with a well-trained teacher when, due to absence of food, all the pupils are  weak and sick or have to roam around looking for food. But even if we have sometimes reason to believe that the powerful few wants the majority to remain poor so they can easily control them, we should never give up striving for a better Filipino society by continously pushing for the needed reforms.

It is clear that in order to break this vicious cycle of poverty-poor education, the government should devise a sustainable socio-economic program of improving the livelihood of all poverty-striken families in all communities and follow the constitutional mandate of allocating the highest proportion of its budget to education. In reality, it is impossible to cope up with the first world when it comes to quality of education for while we are still trapped within this vicious cycle of poverty-poor education, the first world countries have since long freed themselves from this trap and since then been busy with high-tech researches and innovations, winning Nobel Prizes one after another.

MismatchThis is the argument that speaks for the needed reform in our educational system which is coupling vocational training with the private industry sector and rationally introducing Apprenticeship System. The state should create the necessary legal basis for this partnership between the educational and private industry sector. A four year vocational course for instance should be divided into two segments of two years theoretical learning and two years Apprenticeship to the corresponding industry sector where the student /apprentice learns the practical side of his chosen profession in coordination with his school. The student should be considered as an employee during this period and is entitled to monthly compensation which is adequate enough to support his existence as a student. During this apprenticeship period, the student attends theoretical lectures in his school at least two times a month, the school requiring him to pay only the minimum of tuition fees during this period. This is similar to the present OJT (On-the-Job Training) program being practiced now by some noted companies in the Philippines like IBM, Shell,etc.

 

Now about the PISA:

PISA or Programme for International Student Assessment (source wikipedia)

 The Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) is a triennial world-wide test of 15-year-old schoolchildren’s scholastic performance, the implementation of which is coordinated by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

The aim of the PISA study is to test and compare schoolchildren’s performance across the world, with a view to improving educational methods and outcomes.

Developement And Implementation

Developed from 1997, the first PISA assessment was carried out in 2000. The tests are taken every three years. Every period of assessment specialises in one particular subject, but also tests the other main areas studied. The subject specialisation is rotated through each PISA cycle.

In 2000, 265 000 students from 32 countries took part in PISA; 28 of them were OECD member countries. In 2002 the same tests were taken by 11 more “partner” countries (i.e. non-OECD members). The main focus of the 2000 tests was reading literacy, with two thirds of the questions being on that subject.

PISA’s debut round in 2000 was delivered on OECD’s behalf by an international consortium of research and educational institutions led by the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER). It continued to lead the design and implementation of subsequent rounds of PISA for OECD.

Over 275 000 students took part in PISA 2003, which was conducted in 41 countries, including all 30 OECD countries. (Britain data collection however, failed to meet PISA’s quality standards and so the UK was not included in the international comparisons.) The focus was mathematics literacy, testing real-life situations in which mathematics is useful. Problem solving was also tested for the first time.

In 2006, 57 countries participated, and the main focus of PISA 2006 was science literacy. Results are due out in late 2007. Researchers have begun preparation for 2009, in which reading literacy will again be the main focus, giving the first opportunity to measure improvements in that domain. At last count (end-March 2007), about 63 countries were set to participate in PISA 2009. It is anticipated that more countries will join in before 2009.

Development of the methodology and procedures required to implement the PISA survey in all participating countries are led by ACER. It also leads in developing and implementing sampling procedures and assisting with monitoring sampling outcomes across these countries. The assessment instruments fundamental to PISA’s Reading, Mathematics, Science, Problem-solving, Computer-based testing, background and contextual questionnaires are similarly constructed and refined by ACER. ACER also develops purpose-built software to assist in sampling and data capture, and analyses all data.

The process of seeing through a single PISA cycle, start-to-finish, takes over 4 years.

Method Of Testing

The students tested by PISA are aged between 15 years and 3 months and 16 years and 2 months at the beginning of the assessment period. Only students at school are tested, not home-schoolers. In PISA 2006 , however, several countries also used a grade-based sample of students. This made it possible also to study how age and school year interact.

Each student takes a two-hour handwritten test. Part of the test is multiple-choice and part involves fuller answers. In total there are six and a half hours of assessment material, but each student is not tested on all the parts. Participating students also answer a questionnaire on their background including learning habits, motivation and family. School directors also fill in a questionnaire describing school demographics, funding etc.

Criticism has ensued in Luxembourg which scored quite low, over the method used in its PISA test. Although being a trilingual country, the test was not allowed to be done in Luxembourgish, the mother tongue of a majority of students.

Results

The results of each period of assessment normally take at least a year to be analysed. The first results for PISA 2000 came out in 2001 (OECD, 2001a) and 2003 (OECD, 2003c), and were followed by thematic reports studying particular aspects of the results. The evaluation of PISA 2003 was published in two volumes: Learning for Tomorrow’s World: First Results from PISA 2003 (OECD, 2004) and Problem Solving for Tomorrow’s World – First Measures of Cross-Curricular Competencies from PISA 2003 (OECD, 2004d)

Here is an overview of the top six scores in 2003:

Mathematics

Reading literacy

Science

Problem solving

1.  Hong Kong 550
2.  Finland 544
3.  South Korea 542
4.  Netherlands 538
5.  Liechtenstein 536
6.  Japan 534

 

1.  Finland 543
2.  South Korea 534
3.  Canada 528
4.  Australia 525
5.  Liechtenstein 525
6.  New Zealand 522

 

1.  Finland 563
2.  Hong Kong 542
3.  Canada 534
4.  Taiwan 532
5.  Estonia 531
6.  Japan 531

 

1.  South Korea 550
2.  Finland 548
2.  Hong Kong 548
4.  Japan 547
5.  New Zealand 533
6.  Macau 532

 

Professor Jouni Välijärvi was in charge of the Finnish PISA study: he believed that the high Finnish score was due both to the excellent Finnish teachers and to Finland’s 1990s LUMA programme which was developed to improve children’s skills in mathematics and natural sciences. He also drew attention to the Finnish school system which teaches the same curriculum to all pupils. Indeed individual Finnish students’ results did not vary a great deal and all schools had similar scores.

An evaluation of the 2003 results showed that the countries which spent more on education did not necessarily do better than those which spent less. Australia, Belgium, Canada, the Czech Republic, Finland, Japan, Korea and the Netherlands spent less but did relatively well, whereas the United States spent much more but was below the OECD average. The Czech Republic, in the top ten, spent only one third as much per student as the United States did, for example, but the USA came 24th out of 29 countries compared.

Compared with 2000, Poland, Belgium, the Czech Republic and Germany all improved their results. In fact, apparently due to the changes to the school system introduced in the educational reform of 1999, Polish students had above average reading skills in PISA 2003; in PISA 2000 they were near the bottom of the list.

Another point made in the evaluation was that students with higher-earning parents are better-educated and tend to achieve higher results. This was true in all the countries tested, although more obvious in certain countries, such as Germany.

2006 Survey

Here is an overview of the 20 places with the highest scores in 2006:

 

Mathematics

Science

Reading

1.  Taiwan  Finland  South Korea
2.  Finland  Hong Kong  Finland
3.  Hong Kong  Canada  Hong Kong
4.  South Korea  Taiwan  Canada
5.  Netherlands  Estonia  New Zealand
6.  Switzerland  Japan  Ireland
7.  Canada  New Zealand  Australia
8.  Macau  Australia  Liechtenstein
9.  Liechtenstein  Netherlands  Poland
10.  Japan  Liechtenstein  Sweden
11.  New Zealand  South Korea  Netherlands
12.  Belgium  Slovenia  Belgium
13.  Australia  Germany  Estonia
14.  Estonia  United Kingdom  Switzerland
15.  Denmark  Czech Republic  Japan
16.  Czech Republic  Switzerland  Taiwan
17.  Iceland  Macau  United Kingdom
18.  Austria  Austria  Germany
19.  Slovenia  Belgium  Denmark
20.  Germany  Ireland  Slovenia

——–

As announced, the next PISA Testing will be in 2009. I am not aware if the Philippines will be joining – or is ready to join this time. But given the total socio-economic and political situation in our country, I doubt if the Education Ministry will consider filling-up the application form. One thing more, I am not sure if we would meet the PISA standards for joining. It is astonishing how close we are geographically to our neighboring countries which  did not only join but topped the PISA 2006 like Taiwan  Korea and Hongkong in mathematics, reading and science respectively. One could actually reach Taiwan by a small boat. Yet viewed from these PISA Results, Taiwan appears to be light years away from the Philippines and so as South Korea, Hongkong and Japan. Indeed, these countries have shown that the future lies in asia and lately I have heard that from 2015 the Chinese universities will be dominating the world in terms of technical and scientific researches that European researchers can no longer do away without consulting their Chinese counterparts. Are we already satisfied with  the role of an on-looker in a rapidly developing asian community? If our people have no more faith in our politics this is understandable. But to lose faith in education is something that we cannot afford. We don’t leave our kids alone. And we have seen that nowadays our young people should not only be literate but should be able to fluently express themselves in liguistics and scientific terms to cope up with the global standards- or, let us say,- with the asian standards. This will take time and a genuine political will on the part of our next generations of leaders to finally set a decent goal for our country. The present administration has nothing else to offer in this respect for it’s too busy with other goals highly important for themselves only.

jun asuncion

THE ELUSIVE JUSTICE AFTER 25 YEARS!

Or, the Prepared Speech That Was Never Read.

By attybenji

Ninoy Aquino said, “The Filipino is worth dying for.”

In retrospect, Twenty Five (25) years after Ninoy Aquino’s death, only his murderer, the alleged hired killer, Rolando Galman (RIP) and the other alleged conspirators, (mostly members of the defunct AVSECOM-MIA), now languishing and serving their sentence in the National Bilibid Prison in Muntinlupa City, have been convicted.

Until now, these convicts are still denying their participations in the alleged grand conspiracy in killing Ninoy Aquino.

But what/how about the alleged mastermind of this heinous crime of all time? Ferdinand Marcos, Imelda Marcos, Fabian Ver & Danding Cojuangco, et al..

Imelda Marcos and Danding Conjuangco were not formally charged nor indicted for their alleged participations in the conspiracy, same thing with the late Ferdinand Marcos, who is now 6ft. below the ground, and also the late Fabian Ver was acquitted already by the Sandigan Bayan many years back. Similarly, the Agrava Fact Finding Commission, which was established by the government then to conduct full-blown investigation on Ninoy’s death, has concluded that his (Ninoy) death was part of the grand military conspiracy.

In his grave probably, Ninoy is still crying out for justice, his ghost continues to haunt his real killer/s, and we, Filipinos, are likewise crying out loud for justice to Ninoy. And hoping to see the light ahead.

Ladies & gentlemen, boys & girls, Today, August 21, 2008, we are celebrating the 25th Death Anniversary of one of our National Heroes, “Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino, Jr.

truly, Republic Act No. 9256 was passed and approved in to law on February 25, 2004, AN ACT DECLARING AUGUST 21 OF EVERY YEAR AS NINOY AQUINO DAY, A SPECIAL NONWORKING HOLIDAY, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES”

Apparently, prior to said event, president GMA has issued an order commemorating Ninoy’s death on August 18, 2008 instead of August 21 as what the law provides, and declared the former date as non working holiday.

In restrospect, when Ferdinand Marcos declared Presidential Decree 1081 on September 21, 1972 placing the entire country under Martial Law, the Writ of Habeas Corpus was suspended. Many Filipinos were arrested for subversion including Ninoy. He was arrested, imprisoned and exiled along with the other activists at that time. He suffered a heart attack and was put on exile in the United States. He decided to come back to the Philippines on August 21, 1983 at the expense of his own life.

“if it’s my fate to die by an assassin’s bullet, so be it”.

His death ignited the hearts of every Filipino, who longed for freedom and were long sufferers of a country governed by a dictator. His death catapulted the EDSA Revolution, famously known as “People Power.”

Until now, the perpetrators of his assassination were not yet convicted. His case is one of the mysteries in history that will never be unveiled although deep in our hearts (Filipinos) we know who the mastermind/s was/is – are/were.

“The Filipino is worth dying for.”

Twenty five years after Ninoy’s death, in retrospect, is the Filipino still worth dying for?

Today, heroes are only found on the peso bills, decorative statues on building façade, parks, and streets, and institutions named on their behalf.

His death has in fact triggered the EDSA revolution that toppled the former dictator Marcos from Malacañang, and installed Cory Aquino to presidency.

The younger generation today lost the fire that ignited the revolution in EDSA. Twenty five years have passed since Ninoy’s death and 22 years after EDSA “People Power” Revolution… What happen now? The answer is yours!

Some writers say, we need another Ninoy to fuel our nationalism/love of country, not just loving oneself, one’s family, or loving one’s community.

I do not have the authority to preach, teach, or dictate about the current level of nationalism of us, Filipinos, but I could definitely say that we have forgotten the true meaning of Ninoy’s death and the true message of EDSA UNITY, FREEDOM, JUSTICE, and PEACE!

Analogous to this, I would like to quote & reproduce hereunder the most famous undelivered and never read speech in Philippine history of Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino, Jr. This speech, as we all know, was made and prepared by him while he was still in the United States, or said speech was drafted prior to his arrival in the Philippine soil on August 21, 1983. And, as expected based on his premonition, and apprehension, upon his arrival at MIA Tarmac, he was brutally murdered point blank, and failed to deliver his message to the entire Filipino people.

The UNDELIVERED SPEECH!
By Ninoy Aquino, Jr.

“I have returned on my free will to join the ranks of those struggling to restore our rights and freedoms through nonviolence.

I seek no confrontation. I only pray and will strive for a genuine national reconciliation founded on justice.

I am prepared for the worst, and have decided against the advice of my mother, my spiritual adviser, many of my tested friends and a few of my most valued political mentors.

A death sentence awaits me. Two more subversion charges, both calling for death penalties, have been filed since I left three years ago and are now pending with the courts.

I could have opted to seek political asylum in America, but I feel it is my duty, as it is the duty of every Filipino, to suffer with his people especially in time of crisis.

I never sought nor have I been given assurances or promise of leniency by the regime. I return voluntarily armed only with a clear conscience and fortified in the faith that in the end justice will emerge triumphant.

According to Gandhi, the WILLING sacrifice of the innocent is the most powerful answer to insolent tyranny that has yet been conceived by God and man.

Three years ago when I left for an emergency heart bypass operation, I hoped and prayed that the rights and freedoms of our people would soon be restored, that living conditions would improve and that blood-letting would stop.

Rather than move forward, we have moved backward. The killings have increased, the economy has taken a turn for the worse and the human rights situation has deteriorated.

During the martial law period, the Supreme Court heard petitions for Habeas Corpus. It is most ironic, after martial law has allegedly been lifted, that the Supreme Court last April ruled it can no longer entertain petitions for Habeas Corpus for persons detained under a Presidential Commitment Order, which covers all so-called national security cases and which under present circumstances can cover almost anything.
The country is far advanced in her times of trouble. Economic, social and political problems bedevil the Filipino. These problems may be surmounted if we are united. But we can be united only if all the rights and freedoms enjoyed before September 21, 1972 are fully restored.

The Filipino asks for nothing more, but will surely accept nothing less, than all the rights and freedoms guaranteed by the 1935 Constitution — the most sacred legacies from the Founding Fathers.

Yes, the Filipino is patient, but there is a limit to his patience. Must we wait until that patience snaps?

The nation-wide rebellion is escalating and threatens to explode into a bloody revolution. There is a growing cadre of young Filipinos who have finally come to realize that freedom is never granted, it is taken. Must we relive the agonies and the blood-letting of the past that brought forth our Republic or can we sit down as brothers and sisters and discuss our differences with reason and goodwill?

I have often wondered how many disputes could have been settled easily had the disputants only dared to define their terms.

So as to leave no room for misunderstanding, I shall define my terms:

1. Six years ago, I was sentenced to die before a firing squad by a Military Tribunal whose jurisdiction I steadfastly refused to recognize. It is now time for the regime to decide. Order my IMMEDIATE EXECUTION OR SET ME FREE.
I was sentenced to die for allegedly being the leading communist leader. I am not a communist, never was and never will be.

2. National reconciliation and unity can be achieved but only with justice, including justice for our Muslim and Ifugao brothers. There can be no deal with a Dictator. No compromise with Dictatorship.

3. In a revolution there can really be no victors, only victims. We do not have to destroy in order to build.

4. Subversion stems from economic, social and political causes and will not be solved by purely military solutions; it can be curbed not with ever increasing repression but with a more equitable distribution of wealth, more democracy and more freedom, and

5. For the economy to get going once again, the workingman must be given his just and rightful share of his labor, and to the owners and managers must be restored the hope where there is so much uncertainty if not despair.

On one of the long corridors of Harvard University are carved in granite the words of Archibald Macleish:

“How shall freedom be defended? By arms when it is attacked by arms; by truth when it is attacked by lies; by democratic faith when it is attacked by authoritarian dogma. Always, and in the final act, by determination and faith.”

I return from exile and to an uncertain future with only determination and faith to offer — faith in our people and faith in God.”

-End of Speech-

This is a very informative one, and considered as one of the famous political speeches of all time in Philippine History.

Until Now, or 25 years after Ninoy was assassinated, the real mastermind of the killing and other conspirators have yet to be indicted in court or convicted.

Justice to Ninoy is justice to all.

The Rice Terraces Strike Back

Filipinos are still aware of  what’s happening in their country and they still know what they want or not want. In the latest survey conducted by the Social Weather Station (SWS) they sent the president diving. But as we have observed in her SONA 2008 she’s not to be blamed for her abrupt decline in this satisfaction rating but the rising rice and fuel prices!
To quote the presidential management chief Cerge Remonde, “President Arroyo’s -38  net satisfaction rating may have been the result of the rising rice and fuel prices in the country, …which should not be blamed on the government.” ( I have been observing how lousy are the people employed as presidential or mayor spokesmen in our country- no creativity in giving out statements about their bosses, that they mostly  damage their bosses instead of defending them adequately!) Filipinos may be generally poor economically but they still have good memory. They have not forgotten the scandals of this president- the election fraud-related hello garci tape, the ZTE scam, the human rights violations (killings  of investigative journalists, human rights activists and patriotic student leaders soared high in this regime ) the diversion of fertilizer funds, the Jueting scandals of Mr. Arroyo and this NFA rice rationing which is powered not by love for the poor but a sheer taking advantage of the world food and fuel crises to polish her image. And now this latest move to push the cha-cha (charter change) along with the switch to federalism with the aim of bringing a long lasting solution to the insurgency problem in Mindanao. All these things are clothed with her ambition of staying longer in power which is possible scenario to happen once her proposed Constituent Assembly would come into being because this would have the unlimited freedom to amend and revise one or two provisions of the constitution- to her advantage. Mr. Pimentel and Co. should only be watchful that their authored Senate Resolution No. 10 (Federalism)  will not be misused by the admiminstration. You know after all the mess she had done before and during these actual difficult times of food and fuel crises, it is just right that she goes diving now and stay down there unti 2010 to give our country the chance to grow. The people want a decent figure now at the top to lead the country out of this dead-end. If ever I would be asked about  the prime advantage of Federalism in the Philippines I would point out the reduction of the powers of the president. Our presidents with enormous powers have always been a burden to our country for the last four decades. Too much power corrupts the mind of man.
Remonde opined that “such an assessment of Mrs Arroyo is unfair  …  it’s never easy to be president of the Philippines”.  To become a president was easy, just a hello to garci, and that was it, she got her second term. But she should not expect an easy dasein as a president after all the deception and scandals she has caused herself and her husband. Remonde was not being fair here. And to blame not only the food and fuel crises but also the typhoon Frank for Arroyo’s very low net satisfaction rating is absurdity. Frank was not born yet when journalists and student leaders were being harrassed or killed in the Philippines, or when Arroyo was calling Garci and when Garci himself disappeared.
To make the matter worst, deputy Presidential Spokesperson Lorelei Fajardo doubled by saying she was  “not surprised with the net satisfaction rating because the country is plagued by several problems… these problems are not within the government’s control.” Not within the government’s control? The real problem was and is Arroyo and she controls the government, therefore, how can the government control the problem? How can Arroyo control herself when the mind has long been corrupted by too much power?
To sum it up, Fajardo said, “It is lonely at the top. Where else shall the people look for relief but from the president and government? The dissatisfaction does not come as a surprise. As a country, we are all suffering from the world economic downturn, factors beyond our control have seriously assaulted our economy and our way of life”. I don’t know if you would hire Lorelei Fajardo  as your spokesperson if you would be the first president or prime minister of the Federal Republic of the Philippines. The fact beyond control that asssaulted our economy and our way of life and, If I may add, the image of our nation abroad for decades by now were our very own powerful presidents made possible by our unitary sytem of government. Green light then for Federalism, for the State of Bicol ? I would say yes, but exercise caution  as we cross the road. 
jun asuncion
———————–
Here is the report:

18 July 2008

Second Quarter 2008 Social Weather Survey:
PGMA’s net rating falls to record-low -38

Social Weather Stations

The Social Weather Survey of June 27-30, 2008 found 22% satisfied and 60% dissatisfied with the performance of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, giving her a Net Satisfaction rating of -38 (% satisfied minus % dissatisfied), which is a new record-low for Presidents since 1986, surpassing the previous record of -33 in May 2005.

The new net rating is a 12-point drop from net -26 (27% satisfied, 54% dissatisfied) in the First Quarter 2008 Survey of March 28-31 [Chart 1, Table 1]. It is the fourth consecutive quarterly drop in her net rating since June 2007, when it was a neutral -3.

In all areas, majorities are dissatisfied

For the first time, gross dissatisfaction is at majority levels in all study areas: 63% in Metro Manila, 60% in the Balance of Luzon, 56% in the Visayas, and 62% in Mindanao.

The President’s net satisfaction rating in the Visayas, where she customarily draws her strongest support, fell by 18 points from -15 in March (36% satisfied, 51% dissatisfied) to a record-low -33 in June (23% satisfied, 56% dissatisfied) [Table 2, also Chart 2, Table 3].

In Mindanao, it fell by 8 points, from -33 (26% satisfied, 59% dissatisfied) to -41 (21% satisfied, 62% dissatisfied), also a new record-low for the area.

Her net satisfaction ratings fell by 13 points in Balance Luzon, from -25 (26% satisfied, 51% dissatisfied) to -38 (22% satisfied, 60% dissatisfied), and by 3 points in Metro Manila, from -37 (23% satisfied, 60% dissatisfied) to -40 (23% satisfied, 63% dissatisfied). The existing record-lows in those areas are -47 (May 2005) in Balance Luzon and -48 (June 2006) in Metro Manila.

Between March 2008 and June 2008, President Arroyo’s net rating fell by 11 points in both urban and rural areas: the former from -27 to -38, the latter from -26 to -37.

Ratings hit record-lows in all socio-economic classes

The June 2008 survey found dissatisfaction worsening in all socio-economic classes, with the middle-to-upper classes or ABCs just as dissatisfied now as the masa or class D.

The net satisfaction rating of Pres. Arroyo fell the most among the middle-to-upper classes or ABCs. It fell by 23 points, from -14 (34% satisfied, 48% dissatisfied) last March to -37 (22% satisfied, 59% dissatisfied) in June [Chart 3, Table 4]. The previous record-low for ABCs was -34 in May 2005. It had been positive in February, June and September 2007, when the ratings for the lower D and E classes were negative or zero.

Her net rating fell by 11 points among the class D or masa, from net -24 in March (28% satisfied, 52% dissatisfied) to net -35 in June (23% satisfied, 58% dissatisfied). The previous record-low for Class D was -34, also in May 2005.

The President’s net rating fell by 8 points in Class E, from net -37 in March (23% satisfied, 60% dissatisfied) to -45 in June (20% satisfied, 65% dissatisfied). The previous record-low for Class E was -37 in March 2008.

Survey Background

The Second Quarter of 2008 Social Weather Survey was conducted over June 27-30, 2008 using face-to-face interviews of 1,200 adults divided into random samples of 300 each in Metro Manila, the Balance of Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao (sampling error margins of ±3% for national percentages and ±6% for area percentages). The area estimates were weighted by National Statistics Office medium-population projections for 2008 to obtain the national estimates.

The quarterly Social Weather Survey on public satisfaction with the President is a non-commissioned item, and is included on SWS’s own initiative and released as a public service, with first printing rights assigned to BusinessWorld.

——————-

“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.”

—————-

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:

_______________

 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