blackshama's commentary on Philippine issues

Let me be macabre tonight. Driving along Manila's Funeral parlour strip (Araneta Avenue in Quezon City), there were signs and other marketing "come ons". Way back when my Dad passed away, there were no such things. Methinks the funeral biz has become more cutthroat with parlour owners willing to bite necks for more blood and cash! But then again this represents the nature of our globalized society. For instance, one popular funeral home led the way with free wi fi. Two years ago at a wake of a neighbour, I was to suprised to see the orphaned teenage kids with their late dad's laptop surfing the net. I learned at that moment that free wi fi was part of the memorial package the family had bought. Gee. I thought this was a Dr Arroway "Contact" moment where the young Ellie Arroway tried to contact her recently deceased dad via a ham radio! But the kids were just showing how they can cope with death. The same funeral home is now offering online "burol" ...

The Spectator has the latest on a debate between Richard Dawkins and John Lennox at Oxford's Natural History Museum. Lennox an Oxford maths professor wrote the book "God’s Undertaker: Has Science Buried God?"which according to some demolished Dawkins' "God Delusion" more thoroughly than John Cornwall's "Darwin's Angel" Dawkins caught off guard in the debate said "A serious case could be made for a deistic God." The video of the debate can be viewed here . Methinks Dawkins' statement is as significant as John Paul II's "more than a hypothesis" 1996 statement on evolution. A no nonsense take on science really can lead you to some interesting conclusions!

This time I agree with Justice Secretary Raul Gonzales. In his Business Mirror op ed piece , He says there is something fishy with recently retired Police Gen. Eliseo de la Paz carrying 100K Euros (valued at 6.9 M PhP) in his luggage. Russian customs prevented him from boarding his flight back to the Philippines. de la Paz attended an Interpol conference in Moscow. Sec. Gonzales says it is the first time he heard of a government official on government business carrying contingency funds on his person. There is something very fishy about this. Hasn't de la Paz heard of wire transfers or bank drafts to pay for hotel and other conference expenses? I am not big time in the government pecking order but when I am on government business representing the Republic, conference fees and hotel expenses are usually prepaid for through the necessary and authorized channels sometimes through our embassy. I never hold any cash save for the usual 300 USD for contingencies and taxi fare (which I ha...

This piece of news is tabloid fodder. Two Brits were caught "making out" on Dubai's famous Jumeira beach. They were arrested. According to the BBC, the couple (who are not married to each other) were intoxicated and lost all "inhibition". A police officer had warned them before. They were arrested and sentenced to 3 months in jail. The blurbs say that this is a case of Western permissiveness clashing with Arab conservative Islamic values. But this had me scratching my head. Isn't Dubai the most liberal of the Arabian states? In fact people I know who have worked there say it is even more liberal than tolerant Malaysia. In the Beeb's news report, the expats interviewed said that "foreigners should be warned about these issues". There is little sympathy for the couple. Nonetheless Dubai is liberal. In a more conservative state they should have been lashed or at least have parts of the anatomy cut off as what was due certain offenses. Even the B...

The age old question is why there are so many poor people. I think I got this from "Fiddler on the Roof". Jesus Christ said that "the there will always be poor people" There is a way out of poverty and this is not through doles. The poor know how to get out of poverty but are too poor to do it. Poverty is linked to environment. In fact as an environmental scientist, it is a moral obligation to teach my mostly middle to upper class students that poverty is THE ENVIRONMENTAL PROBLEM. Almost all our environmental problems have a root in poverty or cause more poverty. The first priority would be to do immediate environmental intervention. As Jeffrey Sachs has it, meet poor people's immediate environmental needs; clean water, sanitation and health care. The second step is to take steps to boost productivity primarily through education, investment in agriculture and provision of basic health care. Education remains as the best investment to a permanent rise in product...

Happy Teacher's Day to all! We are all teachers in one way or another. Anyway I am reminded of these lines in Robert Bolt's "A Man for all Seasons" Sir Thomas More- Why not be a teacher? You'd be a fine teacher; perhaps a great one. Richard Rich - If I was, who would know it? Sir Thomas More - You; your pupils; your friends; God. Not a bad public, that. And oh yes. The quiet life. "A Man for all Seasons" is one of my favourite plays and movies. But what does it really mean to teach? The cliche is that teaching is a noble profession. Perhaps. But like all cliches, many don't really have an inkling what that really means. Bolt's More is right mostly but the quiet life bit. Teachers do not have a quiet life. They are there to disturb, to shake or rock, to shatter and even to destroy if need be. Teachers do build. They build futures. But in order to do that they have to shatter complacency, stereotypes, apathy and destroy ignorance. In doing so they ...

The latest racist coloured brouhaha is about a BBC produced comedy skit that depicted a Filipino maid. This comes a year or so after a similar slur on Filipino doctors (more accurately, medical schools) in the Hollywood dish "Desperate Housewives" The BBC skit was aired last Sept 26 in the comedy "Harry and Paul". Yahoo Philippines has the news report here . While the Housewives slur hinted at professional incompetence of health workers, the BBC skit's slur is more offensive and disturbing as Akbayan Rep. Risa Hontiveros-Baraquel says. The comedy trivializes human trafficking. The Philippine Embassy in London has lodged complaints with BBC and the British Government. Her Majesty's Brittannic Ambassador in Manila has expressed regret but emphasizes that the BBC while publicly funded, is independent of the Government of the day. It agree on the latter point. The BBC has many times in the past irritated the government and even the Royals. This represents again ...

My mother has now some unflattering things to say about Republican candidate for veep Sarah Palin. A disinterested observer of the US presidential derby, mum decided to watch on CNN the veep debates. And afterwards she made the funny remark that Palin is a Cory Aquino and Erap Estrada rolled into one! I agree in large part. Palin's famous " I can see Russia from Alaska" and "Lipstick" reminds me of Cory Aquino's "galunggong" (roundscad) and "like how a housewife does accounting" campaign lines in 1986 when she was asked about the economy. Mrs Aquino was clueless of the intricacies of the economy . And like Erap Estrada in 1998, Palin needs more coaching from her minders. Palin has made limited media interviews like Estrada before the election. At how things stand, Palin may end up as still the Governor of Alaska. In contrast Aquino and Estrada became Presidents of their country. The US presidential race has become very surreal. Palin is m...

October 4 is the feast day of Saint Francis of Assisi, the patron saint of animals, nature, environment, ecologists, San Francisco, the Franciscans and every one named Francis. For the more secular, the day is also World Animal Day . The day is apt since Francis really loved animals. The Little Flowers of Saint Francis tell of tales of how Francis talked to the birds, tamed the Wolf of Gubbio, preached to the fish and when he died, thanked his donkey. But Francis is best known for the prayer attributed to him. The Prayer of Saint Francis is one of the most known in Christian spirituality. But this prayer probably dates just back to 1912. One prayer the Canticle of the Sun (Canticle of the Creatures) was really written by Francis himself in 1224. Considered as one of the foundation pieces of the Italian language, It has been translated to many languages. October 4 is also the day when animals are blessed in church. I myself have assisted at the Mass of the Animals and all sorts of soun...

An estimated 60% of Filipinos have no Bible in the home or have difficulty getting hold of one and yet an overwhelming 90% or more Pinoys claim to be Christian. This is the estimate of Philippine Bible Society officials (PBS) in a recent press conference. Perhaps nothing shows the failure of catechesis as clearly as this Bible shortage. The Evangelical churches could make being born-again a business (and counting how many have been saved) and the most numerous Roman Catholic Church can raise hell about wearing the right attire for Mass, scream and excommunicate about the RH bill but yet many Catholics have no Bible. Despite the efforts of the churches, Filipinos seem to have very little appreciation for the written Word of God. I'm not saying that Pinoys have no reverence for Sacred Scripture ( which they do) but because they have no habit of reading, whether be it sacred or secular books. A devout Catholic was interviewed. She owned a Bible but hasn't read it in 5 years! It wa...

Ngayon na na pukaw muli ang aking interes sa lumang pasulat, natutuwa ako na naka-download ako ng true type font (TTF) na walang bayad ng baybayin mula sa web. Paumanhin lang po kung may pagkakamali ang pagsulat ko sa baybayin. Huli akong gumamit nito ay noong nasa paaralang elementarya pa ako. Sinubukan ko paglaruan ang TTF. Ito ang pinakapaborito kong awit ni Florante (na palagiang naming iniaawit noong nasa ika-3 baitang kami) na nakasulat sa baybayin. Noong nasa grade 6 ako, tinuruan kami ng aming guro sa Araling Panlipunan na sumulat gamit ang baybayin. Dito ko natutunan gumamit ng mga kudlit na nagpapahiwatig na ang mga baybay ay nagapahiwatig na ito kaparis ng isang patinig. Ang kudlit na "+" o ang virama sa wikang Ingles ay tinuturing na "vowel killer" ay inimbento ni Padre Francisco Lopez noong taong 1620. Ito ay unang ginamit sa Doctrina Christiana para sa mga Ilokano. Ngunit di ito naging malawak ang paggamit nito. Ang pagsulat sa baybayin ay tuluyang n...

The UP Archaelogical Studies Program, The National Museum and the UP College of Arts and Letters yesterday hosted the "Ang Sulat sa Palayok: A symposium on the Calatagan Pot" at the Recto Room of Bulwagang Rizal (for old UP alums in the archeological record, this used to be the FC!) The Calatagan Pot is the only evidence we have (with the archeological context) about pre-colonial writing. On the pot's rim are several verses in baybayin, the ancient Philippine script. The pot was unearthed in 1961 in Calatagan, Batangas by the National Museum. That Filipinos were literate was first documented by the Spanish friar missionaries,whose first task was to write and translate Catholic prayers from Latin to the Philippine languages. The first catechism The " Doctrina Christiana " is written in Roman letters and baybayin. But since we can easily read the Roman letters with the baybayin, we can easily know what sounds the baybayin symbols represent. Also we know the direct...