blackshama's commentary on Philippine issues

Talin Bay, Batangas. It is early morning and the shore is quiet for now at least.

In clearest terms in her State of the Nation address to Congress, Philippines President Mrs Gloria Arroyo expressed her wish for a parliamentary system of government for the Philippines. The term parliamentary is not very accurate. What is more accurate is the term "cabinet system". The cabinet is a collective executive of ministers headed by a prime minister and they are all responsible to the legislature. Mrs Arroyo would want a system similar to the Philippines' neighbours as she has indicated. But what kind of cabinet system would we have? We have several choices. 1) Singapore, 2) Malaysia, 3) Thailand 4) Indonesia and if we consider the following as close neighbours, 5) Australia and 6) Japan. Singapore, Malaysia, Australia, Japan and Thailand have systems modelled after that of Europe. Singapore, Malaysia, Australia being former British colonies are modelled after the Westminster parliament in London. Although they have introduced modifications to their parliamenta...

Today my students and I planted indigenous Philippine trees on the University of the Philippines common. Why do we have to plant a tree? Martin Luther, the great Reformer was heard to have said "If God revealed to me that the world will end today, I will still plant a little apple tree". The Confucian sages adviced that a man wouldn't had lived a full life if he did not 1) sire a son, 2) plant a tree. For Luther and the sages a tree represents life beyond one's own and we pray that this life will be full of hope. Like your children, trees are likely to survive you. An English saying has it best "When the tree is tall and wide, the planter has long died". The man has joined the elements and the tree remains. The oldest trees are conifers. The Bristlecone pines, cypresses in the Sahara and some southern araucaria pines in Australia, Chile and New Zealand are thousand of years old. The trees have their memory of their environment in their rings. Trees provide ...

President Macapagal-Arroyo is unlikely to resign now that former President Ramos has given his support. Protests are on the streets still led by parties with various agendas. The focus of the protests is on Ayala Avenue, the heart of the Philippines' business district. A cursory chat with a lot of people revealed that many people who support the resignation of the president seem no longer able to trust the constitutional processes. The constitution provides the process by which a sitting president may be removed and the grounds for this to happen. Because of United States influence on our history, the impeachment process is modelled after that of the US Congress process. Nonetheless, in American history impeachment has been few and far between. Andrew Jackson was impeached but remained in office. Richard Nixon resigned before he was impeached. Bill Clinton was impeached and the case went before the senate for trial. He was acquitted. If there was a likely successful impeachment ...

God save our gracious Queen, Long live our Gloria Queen, God save the Queen! Send her victorious, Happy and glorious, Long her FVR to reign over us; God save the Queen! O Lord our God arise, Scatter her enemies And make them fall; Confound their politics, Frustrate their Coryist and MBC tricks, On Thee our hopes we fix, God save us all! Thy choicest EVATs in store On her be pleased to pour; Long may her FVR reign; May she defend our laws, And ever give us cause To sing with heart and voice, God save the Queen! Not in this Manila alone, But be God's mercies known, From shore to shore! Lord make the nations see, That she will not resign be, And form one Parliament to see, The wide world over. From every latent foe, From the Cabinet’s blow, God save the Queen! O'er her thine arm extend, For Philippines ' sake defend, Our taxman, prince, and friend, God save the Queen! Lord grant that her General May by thy mighty aid Victory bring. May he sedition hush, And like a torrent rus...

Caveat lector. Political commentary ahead. Allusions to English History ahead. (Sorry, I am a keen student of English constitutional history!) Now that Mrs Aquino has said her piece three time, what the public likes to know and Mrs Aquino should clearly say so is who advised her to take this “GMA please resign” stand. Obviously Mrs Gloria Arroyo is unlikely to stand down. Now that Mr Fidel V Ramos has literally saved Mrs Arroyo’s presidency, the chances of her resigning is nil. Mr Ramos has emerged as the de facto prime minister or better yet President Protector. Doesn’t this sound like Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell seizing the Crown but not wearing it? As long as Mr Ramos won't put the crown on his head, he is still within the bounds of the law. Our own Ollie Cromwell should say to Mrs Aquino and her fratres in politics to at least shut up and respect the rule of law. Mrs Aquino by demanding Mrs Arroyo’s resignation as in the words of Thomas More himself, is cutting down eve...

From my travel log 17 August 1998 Lizard Island, the Great Barrier Reef, Australia From Cairns airport I took a light plane to Lizard Island, one of the interesting islands on Australia’s Great Barrier Reef. I was on an expedition sponsored by the Australian Geographic Society. I was with my skipper Juan Cruz of Venezuela (who is now at PhD student at Sydney University). The plane landed on the sandy airstrip and we disembarked. The sandy beaches are postcard perfect. This is paradise. The island is covered in scrub that tells me about the exposed nature of the island. The task now is to describe the patterns of distribution, of life, the ecological relations of the animals of the shore, all a mystery. The shore as Steinbeck and Ricketts always knew will hold its secrets very well and give it up very slowly, as slow as the motion of the nerite on the rocks. Surprises are in store and at the end a better understanding of nature is inevitable. The question is whether this will make me pl...

Dear Sir The critics are right. There is a decline in English proficiency among Filipinos. However, I disagree that it is not only at UP but also in "exclusive" schools like Ateneo or La Salle. Like what the critics believe, I believe students don't write and speak good English because they don't read. But what should trouble us is our confused language policy that mixes nationalist and globalist orientations. Unfortunately there are still people that believe English must be taught as a foreign language. However, while it was a foreign language imposed by the Americans, it became a medium to express our nationhood. In time, the language became our own. It is now not a foreign language but a second language. By appropriating their language, we both thank and damn our colonisers. According to Frankie Sionil Jose, that may yet be the best revenge! Our confused language policy promotes English language use only as a means of economic advancement. An example: Those who ca...

From my travel log 6 November 2002 Delaware, USA It might be a bit strange that to study the biodiversity of the Philippines, one has to go to America. But we were once a colony and once a colony, always a colony. With political independence we are guaranteed historical dependence. So it is really not strange to for a historian to go to Spain to study the Philippines and a scientist to spend time at an American natural history museum. Our historical ties to Spain and the United States will always be there. The question is whether Filipinos will look with lingering affection at their colonisers the way the Commonwealth countries do at England. The United States was never an imperial power until the war with Spain having spent the last half of the 19th century dealing with the Civil War and westward expansion. So in 1898, the USA ended up winning the Philippines, together with Cuba and Puerto Rico as war indemnity. The first thing the Americans did was to crush the Philippine Republic, i...

From my travel log 31 March 2004 Townsville, Queensland Australia I spent four years in Townsville as a PhD student. These years though at time lonely and difficult were the best in my life. I was lucky and free then. When I was a student and things became too burdensome for me, I went overseas, across the water to Magnetic Island. This island is 8 kilometres from Townsville, a mere 25 minute ride from the mainland. The island became my place apart. I spent long hours on the walking trails and the lonely beaches. The journey starts by boarding a ferry at Ross Creek and stepping onto Picnic Bay jetty. Sometimes I had friends on the journey and we stepped on the island together. At times I see my friends boarding as I disembarked. At all times, there is a wave of a hand and a smile even though the swells were big and storms are about.That was a comforting thought as one sets off to sea. So in my last visit to the island in 2004, the ferry no longer landed at Picnic Bay but at Nelly Bay. ...

Seven things I have done (and so I can die now!) 1) Be a teacher 2) Swim with a whale - Tanon Strait 3) Swim with sharks - Donsol and Mindoro 4) Dive in at least four of the world's oceans - Pacific, Atlantic, Indian and Southern (brrrr. The last one was the coolest!) 5) Take long bushwalk in Bartle Frere - Australia 6) See an endangered animal in the wild 7) Stare at the full moon like a lover while on a boat alone. Seven things I need to do before I die 1) Be a good teacher. 2) Get married 3) Be a father and take my son/daughter on a nature walk 4) Climb Mount Pulag 5) Publish a scientific paper in "Nature" 6) Learn a healing art 7) Write a book on natural history