blackshama's commentary on Philippine issues

Last September 22, Armed Forces of the Philippines chief General Hermogenes Esperon attended a symposium on "Untamed Conflict and Arrested Development: Finding a Way Out of the Vicious Cycle" at the University of the Philippines. This forum was sponsored by the Association of Political Science Majors. On the way out the General and Professor Alex Magno were pelted with eggs. A woman army officer was hit in the face and the Prof had to lecture with a suit of scrambled eggs. The protesters belonged to the STAND -UP and League of Filipino Students (LFS). These groups subscribe to a Maoist ideology. While all sorts of ideologies are tolerated on campus, violation of freedom of expression and academic freedom are not. While I may believe that Prof Magno is entitled to his own opinions and that I think he is an apologist for Mrs Arroyo, this time I have to agree with him. In his "Philippine Star" column today he was saddened about the level of debate in the University o...

Some social scientists say that gender is a social construct and that society tends to agree on the roles of its members. Some natural scientists working within the Darwin-Wallace paradigm would say that sex is linked to gender and the biological construct (a product of natural selection) tends to form the basis of the social construct. Thus to some evolutionary biologists, there are only two apparent sexes, male and female. To some extent this is true, most animals and plants are recognizably male and female. Some plants would have the two sexes in one organism, but still the male reproductive organ is distinct from that of the female one. One of the biggest questions of biology is why there is a need for a male and female. What advantages does sex confer? And what is the tradeoff? Should males and females be in competition? Is gender necessary for sex? There is one school of thought that say males and females in order to be evolutionary stable should not be in competition with each o...

Pope Joseph Ratzinger now known as Benedict XVI is an excellent professor. One of the main responsibilities of a professor is to disturb minds so that minds may be opened or shut. A professor cannot ensure that minds will be opened or shut. The responsibility for such belongs to the owner of the mind. Benedict has thrown a heresy on modern society. Our modern society seems to accept the relativeness of moral positions and the supremacy of Science in understanding the world. For many a contrary view is not politically correct. A heresy by another post-modern Western term. Papa Ratzi's latest lecture in the Great Room (aula magna in Latin) to the science faculties and students of Regensburg is certainly a mind opener. I saw on BBC World the ruckus made by one statement which does not really represent the opinion of the Pope Prof (Prof Pope must sounnd better!) but the opinion of one of the last Byzantine emperors. The Prof Pope's exposition of the subject is historical. He do...

University of the Philippines law professor and dean, Raul Pangalangan wrote and essay in the Inquirer “ Church-State Separation in the Diliman Republic ” Philippine Daily Inquirer 15 September 2006. about Church and State separation in the university. The university denied the request of a civic group to unfurl the largest Philippine flag (that would set a Guinness Book record) and hold a prayer gathering on grounds that this would violate Church and State separation clause in the constitution. The university as a publicly funded institution has to be neutral with regards to religious belief. That is at the core of the secular principle. But is the University of the Philippines secular enough? Surely it cannot pretend to be separate from the rest of Filipino society the majority of members believe in God, gods and the supernatural. Thus it is interesting that constitutional tests for the secular ideal would be serious business in the UP but rarely on the outside. One test of a truly ...

The Vatican has indicated that it will publish the minutes of Pope Benedict XVI's meeting with former students held last summer in his holiday residence at Castel Gandolfo. Surely a meeting (that would have brought memories of a "tute") between a professor and his former students wouldn't merit a yawn in the world press. But if your prof became Pope and the topic was evolution, this would really, really attract the attention of opinion editors and of course bloggers like me. Even if his predecessor John Paul II had apologised for the Galileo affair and said before the Pontifical Sciences Academy that evolution "was more than a hypothesis" the public perception that the Church still is in conflict with science is hard to kill. And it's no longer just the Catholic Church's fault. The separated brethren churches (read as Protestants) that read the Bible literally have added fire to the controversy. Having lost legal battles in the USA about equal time f...

A recent bill in the Philippine Congress seeks to reestablish English as the language of instruction in the schools. The sponsors of the bill list competitiveness in the global marketplace and workplace as supporting arguments in favour of its passage. It is true that English is really the world's lingua franca. A great bulk of scientific literature is in that language. The language of electronic media is also in that language. A cliche is that even the Chinese are scrambling to learn the language, why should we abandon it? The bottom line is competitiveness. If we look at the history of the West, the first lingua franca was probably Greek. (The known Western world was really the Mediterranean). But the Greeks lost the edge largely due to the centralisation of Imperial and later Church authority in Rome. Latin then became the lingua franca. A clear evidence that Greek was once the lingua mundi is in the Canon of the Latin Mass itself. The Latin Mass preserves its Greek origin in...

For Steve Irwin (1962-2006) There is something strange about our southern land The land grips and the harshness that is burned into soul And really not one of us can claim mastery, ownership and all The best is all we can say, that we are now owned And the deadlies crawl, slither and surprise From Barrier Reef to Tasman Heights And so the Tiger Snake has evolved to eat Mutton Birds The bushfires one has to deal with As well as floods that come from the North And you have gone the way, that I am still afraid To fall for Nature's barbs, sting and all But this is the way, you probably wanted it to be And most of us in the burbs would see it just on the Telly Or on travel books and natural history guides Fair Dinkum the pollies proposed A State Funeral for you, this a complete laugh Thank God your dad had the sense to chuck it out For every larrikin bloke would stumble on a grog Even if this Aussie Icon has done it all about And an Aussie Icon you really are And to die on Australian se...

The death of Steve Irwin (4 September 2006) came to me as a shock, but hardly a surprise. Anyone who is with nature is exposed to dangerous situations. I was a student in Australia almost a decade ago when Irwin became a global celebrity. He has a unique way of speaking the broad Strine accent. That accent I haven't heard from any true blue Aussie until Irwin came along on the telly. I got a chance in 1999 to visit Australia Zoo in Beerwah, QLD and saw him go through his routines. Bindi was then a baby. But since then I have followed Irwin's career on Animal Planet and as time ambled along, got tired of his antics. So it was no wonder that his TV show had some major overhauling. Obviously Irwin is considered as an Aussie Icon. And Aussie Icon who spoke that broad Strine accent with his mouth wide open. Perhaps he had to do some exagerration since he was catering to the American audience. Nonetheless, in a visit to the USA, some of my nephews were big fans of the show. Irwin...

I have belatedly followed the brouhaha between Justice Isagani Cruz and what he believes are gays’ role in society and the response of some of his critics such as, “The Explainer” Manolo Quezon. In a democracy, ideas are open for debate and I know that a respected jurist like Mr Justice Cruz knows what the limits of freedom of expression are. But while Justice Cruz and Mr Quezon have a right to their opinions, I’ll dish out some of my own. Natural scientists and social scientists will have to really define what being gay is. Under the cold logic of Darwinian sexual selection, is gayness functional? What does “functional” mean? Now before I inflame some people, it would be best for them to read Darwin’s “Descent of Man”. But reading Adrian Forsyth’s “A Natural History of Sex” may be a good starter. I found this book in the really, really bargains pile at the recently concluded Philippine Bookfair in Manila. Forsyth is a leading biodiversity scientist based at the Smithsonian. Now the w...

Most scientists don’t bother to read Karl Popper. This famous 20th century Philosopher once stated that science progresses by falsifying previously held conclusions. I had to read his thick “The Logic of Scientific Discovery” in preparing to defend my PhD. One of my examiners threw in a few philosophical questions about my scientific theory (if a PhD is to be conferred, the student has to come up with a theory, which is nothing but an explanation about something in nature). For a decent rebuttal, I had to read Popper with popcorn to prevent my head from popping. After all the troubles and the PhD, I came to appreciate Popper’s statements that scientific conclusions can never be proven despite the experimental evidence in support of it. But a single example contrary to the conclusion clearly falsifies it. It is impossible to prove all swans are white, but a single black one clearly falsifies the idea. So all scientific conclusions are tentative and subject to change once falsified. What...

Non- overlapping magisteria (NOMA) is a term that Stephen Jay Gould proposed to define what the relation of science and religion should be. In his book “Rock of Ages” Gould defends the idea that science and religion are pre-eminent in their own spheres of inquiry. The Church (read Catholic) has supreme authority to teach faith, while Science (read Natural) has supreme authority to teach about how the natural world works. While Gould does a masterful exposition of the idea together with some theologizing (for which he was criticized since he was overstepping NOMA!), he is a bit late. The Catholic Church even before John Paul II was elected; was burned in the Galileo affair and had long accepted that idea. Catholic theologians did not term it as NOMA but as principle of limitation (PP). Philosophers have also called it the Independence Principle. It was Galileo that put this line of argument on paper. In his theological treatise “Letter to the Grand Duchess Christina” Galileo argued tha...

It is said that Philippine President Ferdinand E Marcos axed Voltes V off the air in late 1979 after that Zul planning -a -coup –against- Prince Zardoz episode was aired. In that episode, the Boazanian adviser and general Zul planned to use Dr Ned Armstrong (the father of three of Voltes V’s pilots) to build a replacement Voltes (after trying to deceive Armstrong that Voltes was destroyed by a beast fighter). Armstrong saw through the deception and so did Zandra ( Zardoz’s assistant who harboured a love interest). In the end, Zul’s plan was exposed and he was executed. Now Voltes V is almost 30 years old. It is perhaps the only anime that may have catalyzed the political maturity of a whole generation of children. Much has been written about how this generation led the 1986 EDSA people power revolt. But when Voltes V was aired and sponsored by a Filipino hotdog manufacturer, the establishment thought that it was just any cartoon show, mere fantasy. Cartoon shows beforehand were Americ...

The first service I ever attended that was presided by a woman cleric was in Westminster Abbey in 1996 where I attended a Midday Eucharist. The cleric preached on CS Lewis and she apparently was of the Anglo-Catholic persuasion. After the service, as is customary in the Anglican Church to greet the people as they leave the church, I spoke with the priest and found out that she did a literature MA on Lewis. And being a CS Lewis fan myself, what should have been a short chat became a long conversation. The Church of England in Holy Synod, voted to ordain women to the priesthood only in 1992. The first women priests were ordained in 1994 so I presume that the Vicar I spoke with was among one of the first to be ordained. The Episcopal Church in the US voted to ordain women in 1976 and ordained its first female bishop in 1988. In 2006, the first Woman Primate of this Church was elected by synod. In the Philippines, the Independent Church (Aglipayan) ordains women to the priesthood and also ...

Yes, the Philippines is at war. I am not kidding. This is according to Natural Resources and Environment Secretary, General Angelo Reyes. In the recent national workshop on invasive species two week ago, the General sounded the call to arms. And the enemy is the alien and invasive species. Invasive species have the potential to wreck havoc on our ecology, disrupting farming activities and causing disease among farm animals and of course humans. Well as in all wars go, recognizing the enemy is THE problem. The question is what is really an invasive or introduced species? People have been introducing species to different countries for the purposes of increasing food production, controlling pests and diseases and ornamental uses. People also introduce species as pets and companions. There are a lot of introduced species that have been part of the Philippine environment for so long that they are considered “native”. The example is the stately acacia tree that lines many roads and that defi...

The constitution of the Philippines requires the President to appear before Congress and deliver her “State of the Nation” (SONA) address on the third Monday July each year. The idea was that the President can present her accomplishments and plans to the legislature and the people. The whole idea of the Head of State appearing before parliament started with the English Sovereigns who called parliament on their whim if they wanted something done (more taxes, ex post facto bills, lop somebody’s head off etc). As representative government evolved, parliament became supreme in passing laws. The Monarch became under the law rather than above the law. While she can still summon parliament on a whim (The Queen retains this prerogative to this day and so does the President of the Philippines), she rarely if ever does. In the case of the Queen of England, constitutional convention forbids her to express her political opinion in public. When Parliament new sitting starts; The Queen just reads th...

I never liked long haul flights. Flights that last 9 hours or more are a bore. There was a time in the distant past when the in-flight magazine really contained interesting articles. That was the time when flying had that adventure panache and people dressed up for the flight. Now flying is as common as getting on the subway or bus (with the added post 9/11 stringent security checks as an appetizer). And like subway stations and buses, the in-flight magazine is filled with ads and more ads and articles on resorts and getaways that are nothing but, ads! The average bloke in economy class of course can just dream of these hotel suites and resorts. The in-flight movie is something that the cable networks have wisely ignored. The in-flight radio is a mishmash of less known and strange 1970s hits. I once thought that the classical program on channel 13 was OK.  Then I suddenly realised that the avant-garde classical program sounds like… gasp, a jet about to crash! Switch channels. ...

On the occasion of UP’s 98th year The University of the Philippines is the biggest university in the Philippines in terms of programs offered, subsidy from the State, probably student population and its impact on the nation. In two years it will be celebrating its centennial and the nation will have to assess on the role of the university in the past, present and future. Now the question is who really makes the university run? Without these people, one hundred years of UP would have been for naught. Of course the members of the faculty, some of which are famous, the non-academic staff and the students make the university run. But there is one thing that seems to be a major factor; many UP Integrated School (UPIS) graduates are employed by the university! Many are members of the faculty, and even more are members of the non-academic staff. Now isn’t it silly for someone who has spent studying from kindergarten to high school then to college and some even to their PhDs in UP decide to st...

The Philippines Congress has approved a government bill repealing an earlier bill instituting capital punishment. While laudable, the problem is the public seems not to have been part of the debate. The Catholic Church of course was a leading party to the debate and so were organizations that represent victims of heinous crimes. The death penalty has had a long history in human society. It is a logical extension of the individual’s right to self-defence. The theory was society being composed of individuals possesses the same right. While the intended act of self-defence is to protect life, the possible unintended effect is to destroy life. This principle is also extended to the concept of a “just war” and even why we have to slit the necks of innocent chickens if there is a threat of bird flu infections. In the Catholic Catechism, the death penalty is discussed under the section on punishment. Punishment should result in the correction of the offender and if the offender accepts his/he...

Conventional wisdom says that men usually peak in their mid- forties. Their mental powers, leadership abilities and their career and even sex appeal reaches a zenith and this is the so called “high summer” of a man’s life. This is maybe true for lawyers, physicians and other corporate types and professionals, notwithstanding writers and academics in the arts and literature.  In their forties these men have developed a certain respectability and authority. But not for scientists. The truly great ones, Newton, Einstein, Darwin, Galileo and Alfred Russel Wallace have sealed their contributions to science in their mid-twenties to their mid-thirties. There is a painting of Galileo in his 40th year, showing a man, proud and confident  knowing that his contribution (made in his early 30s) was secure (He had figured out and mathematically described the Principle of Inertia. And a few years later he would discover Jupiter’s moons using a telescope). His tiff with the Church h...

When books are burned There is something very sinister with a book burning, an evil that is worse than murder. The world first realized the horrors of what the Nazis were to unleash in Europe when they burned books. A renowned American writer who wrote a biography of Anne Frank rightly placed these events in their proper context. The Holocaust started with a book, (Hitler’s “Mein Kampf”, a book infinitely more evil and lie filled than the “Da Vinci Code”) continued with the burning of more books, then the burning of millions of men, women and children and ended with a the publication of a book.  And that book is none other than Anne Frank’s diary. “The Diary of Anne Frank” is the second most printed book in history, outranked only by the Bible. Why do we burn books anyway? John Steinbeck in an essay about books in 1951 writes that “When a book is burned, the ultimate tyranny has been committed” Why? It is because that books are believed first before other forms of media ar...