blackshama's commentary on Philippine issues

The Bishop of Malolos the Most Reverend Jose Oliveros has complained that the healing masses of Father Fernando Suarez, a Canada based priest violated Vatican rules. The Manila Times reports on the issue. The bishop cites the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith ruling instituted by no other than Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger who is now known as Pope Benedict XVI. Churches with an episcopal form of government give territorial authority to bishops. Anyone who wants to minister to congregations within a diocese has to get the go ahead from the bishop. But it seems that Suarez did not bother to ask Oliveros for permission. But Oliveros was quoted to have said "I cannot unfortunately say that [whether Suarez is a real healer], although some people claimed they were healed. It needs further study, maybe, on the part of us bishops,” Fine but Oliveros may have legit concerns according to canon law of whether Suarez has the right or not to dispense the sacraments in his diocese. If he h...

Commemoration of the Mendiola Massacre The Mendiola Massacre protesters tried to march to that bridge over the estero only to be met with police with placards with the non-violence message. The lefties cried foul and "psy war"! Well the fossilized ideologues of the CPP-NDF and its fronts don't have the monopoly on placards. Fascists or anyone for that matter can make them too. Also the commie fossils have to realize that how to do psy war isn't just found in Mao's Little Red Book or in " Philippine Society and Revolution". Ha ha ha! The lefties got a dose of their own medicine! Heath Ledger dies Aussie Actor Heath Ledger was found dead on Jan 23 in his New York flat apparently of a drug overdose. Ledger's performance as a gay cowboy in "Brokeback Mountain" was amazing and this was his ticket to Hollywood stardom. Ledger was nominated for the 2005 Oscar Best Actor only to lose to Philip Seymour Hoffman who portrayed Truman Capote. We will...

As the secular University of the Philippines celebrates its 100th year in 2008, Pope Benedict XVI's speech that he was supposed to deliver at Rome's La Sapienza Universitylast January 17 gives us some food for thought. EWTN has the full English text of the speech originally in Italian. I have always admired and have been amazed at Benedict's way of discourse. The former Don of Regensburg does not fall into stereotyping and logical twists unlike the Don of Oxford Richard Dawkins! That's why I await the day when the Oxford Don meets with the Infallible Regensburg Don! Bui I digress here are some highlights of the speech. " Well, so far I have only talked about the university in the Middle Ages, trying however to show to what extent its nature and purpose have remained the same all along. In modern times knowledge has become more multi-faceted, especially in the two broad fields that now prevail in universities. First of all, there are the natural sciences which have ...

The US Federal Aviation Administration downgrade of Philippine airports due to safety and security concerns came as rude awakening for the Arroyo administration. Air safety is something that cannot be allowed to go below standard. That the Philippine air regulation authorities knew about the downgrade six months ago and didn't do anything reflects the sputtering attitude we have that makes us uncompetitive. Because of the downgrade,Philippine Airlines is forced to rethink its plans of expanding routes in the US. Cebu Pacific which plans to fly to US territories in the Pacific also plans to reconsider. Nonetheless the US embassy issued a statement for US bound travelers advising that they take carriers that meet safety standards. This is obviously aimed at Philippine Airlines. But PAL I believe meets stringent safety standards. It is our idiotic air regulation authorities that can't! But let me comment. US carriers in recent years have pushed safety to the limits in cost cutti...

EWTN news reports that Pope Benedict XVI has cancelled a visit to Rome's La Sapienza University. La Sapienza is Rome's oldest public university having been founded in 1303 by Pope Boniface VIII. Students and professors at the university are protesting at the speech delivered by the then Cardinal Ratzinger in that he said "in Galileo's time the Church remained much more faithful to reason than Galileo himself. The trial against Galileo was reasonable and just". It seems that Ratzinger's earlier pronouncements are hounding him now that he is Pope. This is too bad. There is a difference between a Professor-Cardinal and a Professor-Pope. The Regensburg Don may propose a disputation to students and the students if unprepared would look and sound foolish. But as Pope, Ratzinger can no longer propose disputations with students or the academe without generating controversy. Papa Ratzi may just propose these to the theologians. His predecessor Pope John Paul II gener...

Albert Einstein said it best "imagination is more important than knowledge" Here he comments on the importance of wonder in the search for knowledge. Einstein is famous for a few things. Firstly he proposed relativity as a theory, secondly for writing US President FDR about the possibility of a nuclear bomb in German hands and third for flunking his PhD exams twice. Einstein is the icon of the flunking student in school; primary, secondary or grad school! Geologist Henry N Pollack wrote a book entitled "Uncertain Science, Uncertain World" which aims to reach non-scientists and the public at large about how scientists work and how science is done. It is about the problem of uncertainty of conclusions in science. But one chapter has an important commentary on science education. The reason why the public has a difficulty understanding science is because of inadequacies in science education. Pollack writes "Children are born as natural scientists. They emerge in a ...

Laiya San Juan Batangas lies near Tayabas Bay. This is the area previously identified by Professor Kent Carpenter of Old Dominion University as the area having the highest number of marine species per unit area in the world. Research in the area dates back a hundred years ago when US scientists with the Bureau of Science did their first surveys in 1907-1908. Despite the environmental degradation of the last 100 years. The shore still has its surprises.

Narra burns Narra Residence Hall burned down hours after UP kicked-off its centennial celebrations. Narra is one of the earliest dorms on the Diliman campus. With the conflagration Narra has now passed into campus legend. Since I lived so close to campus, I never needed to stay in a dorm (until I spent some time at UP Visayas and at James Cook University in Australia). However I have many friends who lived in Narra. The tales they told me were funny like there was a time a large python slept on a dormer's bed. The dormer returned drunk one night and never found out that he was sharing his bed with a snake! Also tales abounded about the Narra showers! Perhaps it was Narra's liberal policies that made the dorm's character. It is said that residents can bring women into their rooms (a no no in any dorm!). When my sister was an undergrad she made a TV production about campus living and she went to a friend's Narra room without anyone batting an eyelash. She was to tape a s...

Now that we are celebrating the University of the Philippines centennial, did you know that Graduate degrees UP awarded its first MA degree to a woman? Her name is Josefa Desiderio who got her MA in 1917, the year UP's grad school first produced its graduates. The next year saw UP award its first MSc degrees to two men, Amando Clemente and Jose Mirasol. The university also awarded its first research doctorates in 1918 in tropical medicine and public health. Before that time the university awarded professional doctorates in medicine and dentistry and of course honorary doctorates. Salaries As early as 1922 the UP had a problem with professors salaries. Professors' salaries were way below that of other professions. (What else is new?) Profs left to teach at private universities or go overseas. (What else has changed?!) Budget Even as early as 1919, UP wanted (and sorely needed) bigger state subsidies. UP got 1.12 million dollars from the Philippine Insular government. Compare t...

Today the University of the Philippines starts its year long celebrations of its centennial. The university was founded by the Philippine Legislature when it passed a bill granting the university its charter on 26 May 1908. On June 18 of that year the Governor General signed the bill into law. The university traces its foundation really from the First Philippine Republic which created the Universidad Literaria de Filipinas . When the republic fell to the American invaders, military government was first established and when limited representative government was established with civil rule, the Philippine assembly made it a priority to establish a state university. The father of the university is no less than Leon Ma. Guerrero , the chair of the education commitee of the assembly who sponsored the bill. Guerrero was professor of pharmacy in the Universidad Literaria, a cabinet minister of the republic and a leading scientist. The first colleges of the university are 1) Agriculture, 2)Vet...

In the old Christian calendar January 6 is the feast of the Epiphany when the wise men followed the star to Bethlehem and found the baby Jesus with his father and mother. In Spanish Philippines January 6 is when kids got their presents. When my grandparents were alive, I got my presents on January 6. When American practices supplanted that of the Hispano-Filipino, kids shifted to Christmas day when presents are opened. The wise men brought gifts of gold,frankincense, and myrrh. Some presents to give to a baby! But tradition says that these gifts were not for the child but for the divine in Him. Tradition also holds that the gifts were prophetic,with gold (kingship), frankincense (priesthood) and myrrh (sacrifice). To this day a monarch is expected to reign, lead the realm to God and if need be die for the realm. But who were the wise men or magi? Medieval tradition has turned them into kings but it is likely that they were zoroastrian astrologers from Persia. They were the scientists...

Exactly a year ago, on January 1, 2007 I wrote a email to the Philippine Daily Inquirer from Louisiana criticising Justice Isagani Cruz who wrote about Filipino being a less important language for Filipinos than English and that we need to invest more in developing competency in the latter. I usually don't write about the language debate unless there is need for commentary. Saklolo! (Help!) Senator Nene Pimentel Jr complained that the Metro Manila Film Fest Movie and Star Movies production "Sakal, Sakali, Saklolo" slighted Visayans. The Inquirer reports on this "In the movie, a character played by Gloria Diaz, scolds the nanny of her four-year-old grandchild by saying: "Bakit pinapalaki ninyong Bisaya ang apo ko? (Why are you bringing up my grandchild as a Bisaya?)." The child's mother, played by Santos, butts in and tells the nanny: "Speak to the kid in Tagalog. Para Pinoy. (So he grows up Pinoy)." I saw the movie on Dec 27 and there is more...

We waited for the new year countdown using the Internet (Worldtime) by setting the computer clock and iPod to GMT plus 8. At midnight the iPod played Auld Lang Syne. Welcome 2008! We hope 2008 will offer the same hopes and opportunities of 2007. Despite what the seers say as this year being still a year of discord, the Feng Shui masters say that even if the year is of the rat, people who are smart as the rat will make a killing. In the story of evolution of mammals, the rodents are the megastars. Anywhere the rats end up they speciate! Definitely the year bodes well for all. The Santa Claus Movie theme song says "All my life, I learned if I was good, and did everything I should, my dreams would all come true." This New Year let's get to work. I have only one resolution and that is To help one poor child grow up into a good person. That involves a lot of work