blackshama's commentary on Philippine issues

President Gloria Arroyo's directive to give cash subsidies (to the tune of 5 billion pesos annually) to poor families has attracted criticism from Cardinal Rosales of Manila and other aid organizations. The critics say that the dole promotes dependency and indolence. I agree on the first but as one study on poverty has pointed out, the poor are hardly indolent if their dignity is respected. The poor need jobs not doles! This has pointed out by the critics. I would agree with them. The whole scheme is nothing but pure populist political gimmickry. We are not surprised. Gloria has to do all what she can if she wants to hold on to the Presidency. But as every person knows, a dole is an affront to human dignity. But that is precisely what Noblesse Oblige doesn't consider. It is convenient for the President. In Pinoy class stratified society, Noblesse Oblige is convenient. But there is no nobility in the governing class. We have two major classes.The class that steals wealth and th...

I finally saw that controversial rectal surgery video (taken in a Cebu government hospital) on a cable news channel in which a 39 year old gay florist was on the operating table as doctors (and nurses) try to remove a 7 inch body spray canister from his anus. On the video were several medical staff taking photos with their cellphone cameras. The video was allegedly taken without the patient's consent and the doctors and nurses were cheering and laughing. The video was uploaded on YouTube and got 7 million hits until it was taken out of the site. The issue has raised questions and medical ethics, patient confidentiality, privacy, gay rights, class discrimination and good grief, Catholic theology! I believe that the antics of the doctors and nurses have made an a_s of the health professions.The doctors and nurses have shoved up something in theirs! They have shot down the traditional respect we have for them. It is time that the spotlight be on doctors and nurses if they step out of ...

I just came from the celebrations marking the 60th anniversary of the Fulbright Program in the Philippines. My mom and sister were also there being Fulbrighters like myself. The creme of the creme of Pinoy academia, arts, sciences and intellectuals were there.Ex National librarian Dr Serafin Quiason was as bubbly as ever on a zillion topics most of them dealing with Queen Gloriana. Ateneo VP Tonnette Palma Angeles were there too. National artists Napoleon Abueva (sculpture) and F. Sionil Jose were moving through the cocktail crowd. My mom knew both men since she was a librarian. Abueva was dean of Fine Arts at UP and that college was then on the 3rd floor of the Main Library building. Abueva designed the Fulbright award trophies. Sionil Jose was and is still at 85 promoting reading. My mom introduced me to Sionil Jose by simply stating the truth. "My son has read all of your books! In fact he has all copies of your books." Sionil Jose repliedand smiled "My condolences. ...

This post should inspire ABD's (all but dissertation) and other PhD candidates losing steam! Queen's lead guitarist Brian May was very recently installed Chancellor of Liverpool John Moores University . The largely honorary university post is usually given as a recognition of great achievement. What then is Brian May's great achievement aside from Queen rock gigastardom? May was once enrolled as a PhD student in astrophysics in the 1970's having earlier graduated with an honours degree in physics. But when Queen became a global hit, he abandoned his PhD studies. Thirty years later,in October 2007 he completed his PhD thesis on "A Survey of Radial Velocities in the Zodiacal Dust Cloud" passed his viva voce, made revisions and was granted the degree. (Brian May didn't get any special treatment in the PhD exam. Almost all candidates revise their thesis.) I agree with the university. Finishing a PhD is an achievement in itself. Finishing a PhD after 30 years d...

Everyone has heard of the aphorism "the only sure things in life are taxes and death" Perhaps we may add "climate change"! But nonetheless I have been taxed by four countries, the UK, USA, Australia and my beloved Philippines. My UK tax I had to pay to the Bermudian government for some crust I earned at the Bermuda Biological Station.  It was pretty straightforward and was easy. It took me two minutes to lodge the form. The US of A will hound you to the ends of the earth (or even the galaxy, remember that Apollo 13 astronaut?) for tax money. So now that I am in Manila, I received the tax form in the mail which I sent with payment. In Australia, I had to work for a crust on student wages and I lodged my tax form at the Australian Tax Office. I received a cuppa and an Anzac bikkie in return. They keep the customer satisfied! After all it is the taxpayer who makes the Commonwealth run. In my beloved Philippines, I get a tax computation two days before the deadline. And...

The hungry like the drunk are unreasonable. The global rice crisis has claimed its first political victim. The PM of Haiti just resigned over food riots in Port-au-Prince. The Haitian mob also murdered the Nigerian police officer who was driving a UN vehicle. This is a portent of things to come if things get worse. The Philippines is no exception. Here in the Philippines politicians are in self delusion. Palawan Rep. Abraham Mitra says that a food riot is an "alien concept". If being hungry is an alien concept then I would agree,but hunger isn't alien. It is endemic. The politicians and government spin doctors keep on playing the Gloriana mantra that our "macroeconomic fundamentals are good". Philippine Star op ed columnist Cito Beltran today writes that in a crisis you can't eat money . This is only partly true. Of course you can eat money! You have to be 1) a termite or have 2) wood cellulose digesting bacteria in your gut (in that case then you really ...

The Philippine Daily Inquirer has the rice price crisis as a headline. Perhaps it is good politic to say it is just a matter of market forces and economics but it may be better to dish out the plateful of truth, we have a global food crisis. The IRRI and Philippine rice experts have listed climate change as big factor together with land conversion and the biofuels boom. Nonetheless none of them would want to say that we have reached the two major determinants for carrying capacity (K) of planet Earth. Water is the first limiting factor followed by cultivated land. Both resources as any freshie environmental science student knows are finite. IRRI board chair Professor Elizabeth Woods listed the following areas of immediate concern 1. An agronomic revolution in Asian rice production to reduce existing yield gaps. Farmers have struggled to maximize the production potential of the rice varieties they are growing, so there is a gap between potential yield and actual yield. Farmers must i...

Pierre Teilhard de Chardin , the French Jesuit preist, palaeontologist and evolutionist who is remembered in science for correctly interpreting the evolutionary significance of Peking Man is the subject of a science biography by Amir Aczel entitled " The Jesuit and the Skull ". While Teilhard's science credentials are impeccable, he is best remembered in his attempt to integrate Catholic belief and science in a mystical way. For doing this,Teilhard was not allowed to publish any of his works when he was alive. The Jesuits and the Vatican ordered the embargo. The Teilhard science bio is one of the recent books that have been published looking at the relationship of science and faith. Many of these books were written by Jesuits, the most notable are those by Guy Consolmagno SJ. While Aczel (a non Jesuit and a Scientist) tried to deal with the same subject and tried to capture the two sides of Teilhard's life,he so fails miserably. Aczel unlike Consolmagno did not have ...

In light of the protests over Beijing's crackdown on Tibetan protests and the protesters' attempts to extinguish or trip the Olympic torch bearer, Jacques Rogge, International Olympic Committee (IOC) chair has spoken out. Mr Rogge called on Beijing for a "rapid, peaceful resolution" of the Tibetan problem. The IOC has finally got sense in its head! I think everyone who has competed in sport would realize what the IOC belatedly realized and the Beijing government (as well as most governments) can never realize is that sport and liberty are inseparable. The athlete wants to be better than his/her best and that can only be achieved in total freedom. This is the same freedom that citizens in democratic countries enjoy. We can thank the protesters for waking us up on that truism. Olympic sport and probably all sport has become big business and of course the politicians benefit from it. Nation-states would use sporting events as a stage to demonstrate their superiority. An ...

The Olympics have earned its share of power plays ever since the Superpowers made it a Cold War arena. We have seen the Americans and its allies boycott Moscow 1980, the Palestinians massacre Israeli athletes in Munich 1972, the Russians boycott L.A. 1984. The end of the Cold War saw almost all of the Olympic movement participate. Now with Beijing 2008, there is talk of world leaders boycotting the opening ceremony but the Olympic teams will compete. There are protests over China's appalling human rights record in Tibet and elsewhere. Since China is the new superpower to rival the US, we are not surprised at the latest protest actions. Olympic boycotts and unfurling separatist flags (banned by the IOC) at the opening rites are now passe. The protests have moved to newer ground with new techniques. One technique is to trip the torch bearer and if that doesn't work have a water pistol or a fire extinguisher and douse the Olympic flame. Well that is really assasinating the flame! ...

Gwapo! The Philippine Daily Inquirer yesterday had this editorial entitled "Ugly" about Metro Manila Development Authority Chairman's Bayani (BF) Fernando's tarpaulins on EDSA. This editorial would have been on target if it didn't dish out another round of innuendos on BF. That BF isn't ugly is beyond debate (I don't know him that well to say he is vain). I have met him on several occassions and he strikes me as a dandy and to some extent a fop. My brother-in-law works with Fernando on many projects and according to him BF buys the best shampoos and hairsprays. No wonder he can keep that coiffure intact during 1) crisis situations and 2) disasters that hit the Metro! Not even Queen Gloriana can keep an intact coiffure during her stressful situations! The politicians who would like to rip Fernando's tarpaulins can hold no candle to BF's gwapo. Can Rambotito be called gwapo? Can Roilo Golez be as gwapo as BF? Fernando's turf and river can be call...

In the undergrad course I teach "Environment and Society" one of the important environmental issues we take in class is human population growth. And no one can take stock of the issue without bumping into Thomas Robert Malthus and his theory on population. Malthus was an Anglican country parson who wrote one of the most influential works in science "An Essay on the Principle of Population". This essay influenced Darwin and Wallace at a time they were formulating their evolutionary theory. Malthus being a parish priest was able to create his theory from christening, marriage and funeral records. What better place to be a demographer! Malthus' essay has three important concepts. Some environmental science textbooks call these as "prophecies" while some call it "predictions". For the sake of scientific objectivity, I prefer the latter term. The predictions are 1) Population will increase exponentially as long as their is enough food (Malthus ini...

The People Power regiment I hope that the AFP top brass is joking when the Air Force commanding general said that even with the lack of fighter aircraft, we will defend our islands with "warm bodies"! The AFP should now consider drafting People Power stalwarts. After all they have warmer bodies than our soldiers. Maybe we can have a readily mobilized People Power regiment that can be air dropped to PagAsa island. And thay can flash their trademark Laban signs at the invading Red Army. Our armed forces have become so pathetic in its capabilities. The blame really is on the successive Malacanang tenants we have had in the last 20 years or so. Worsening food security and the Communists I suppose the AFP has still more firepower than the New Peoples Army. The communist ideologues really have the gall to intensify attacks during this coming crisis. This will cause more hardship for the masses. Maoism, Leninism and Stalinism all variants of the unscientific ideology of Karl Marx ha...

Remember the comfort women? These were young women abducted and forced to provide sexual services to Japanese soldiers in World War II. In the Philippines the issue was brought to fore when Lola Rosa Henson came out and told her story after one prominent historian declared that there were no comfort women in the Philippines. The truth is that the Japanese government did officially sanction rape in World War II. The Japanese government has never formally apologized for Japan's atrocities in World War II. The Japanese government also has not paid any damages to the women although a private foundation sponsored by the government has done so. The comfort women are now passing away and are a perfect analogue on what's happening to the Philippine environment. It is not a foreign power that is officially sanctioning environmental rape but the Philippine Government! Take for example the Philippines's mango isle of Guimaras. An Australian company has applied for a mining exploration...

It seems that most of us and especially the government and the church have overlooked the relationship between environment, geographyt and rice supply. In 2006 in the International Geographic Union conference in Brisbane climate and food geographers have warned about the effects of rainfall shift (presumably due to global warming) and rice supply. In a well attended lecture two Japanese climatologists modelled the effect of the shifting monsoons and listed two countries that will be heavily impacted rain wise and rice wise. These are our beloved Filipinas and Vietnam! Thailand will be hit but not as bad as Vietnam and the Philippines. The two nations are heavily dependent on monsoon flooding to irrigate their paddies. Their rapidly urbanizing societies are converting rice lands (in the coastal regions) and turning these into subdivisions and golf courses. This is related to a rapidly rising population. Socialist Vietnam has slowed down its population growth and reduced poverty. The Chu...

I may disagree with Pope Benedict XVI on some matters and I really disagree with some of his subalterns when they mix science and Catholicism, but I admire this Pope since he is no wimp. The fallout from Benedict's speech in Regensberg is unfortunate and also that from his undelivered speech at La Sapienza University. But it would be dishonest for me or anybody else to say that he was wrong on both counts. After all this razor sharp Professor-Pope is not known for not showing moral and intellectual courage, traits notably lacking today in many professors of our universities including the "Ang Galing Mo" University of the Philippines. If one thing Benedict must be admired for is in not bowing to intellectual and politically correct academic fads. We professors are guilty since we have to bend to these fads to get rave reviews and research or teaching grants. Benedict is no Rowan Williams who in some moment of whimsy publicly lectured to British barristers why Sharia Law sh...

Books! National Bookstore oftentimes has surprises on sale. The bookstore we first can remember (recall that mom bought cartolina, notebooks, crayons here when we were bright eyed pupils) has over the years diversified its selections, especially books. During cut price sales you can find classics. After all where can you buy interesting science books like Tim Flannery's "Weather Makers" at around PhP 400 each? or Amir Aczel's science biography of Teilhard de Chardin "The Jesuit and the Skull" at PhP 700? or Pedro G Ferreira's "The State of the Universe" at PhP 300 ? Best of all Arthur I Miller's tome on how black holes were hypothesized and observed in "Empire of the Stars" at PhP 299! The books can be had in some branches but one has to go through the pile of cut priced books. To do this one needs lots of time. The branches at Greenbelt, Rockwell, Quezon Avenue and Katipunan across Ateneo has very good finds. That's why I sta...

Ms now Batangas Governor Vilma Santos is the Star for All Seasons. While she can act better than the once and future Superstar, she has no sole claim to her title. She never starred in a Shakespeare flick. The honour belongs to Paul Scofield, the overlooked Brit acting great. Unlike Laurence Olivier, John Gielgud or even Alec Guinness, he refused a knighthood and never took on stereotypical and campy roles in Hollywood. Scofield passed away last March 19 in Sussex, England. Scofield is best remembered for playing Sir Thomas More on stage and in film in Robert Bolt's "A Man for All Seasons". I have to confess, seeing Scofield essay More was one of the reasons why I decided to be Catholic. Later on while studying Bolt's play, the play isn't about Catholic martyrdom per se but paying the price for holding on to one's conscience. Here Scofield breathtakingly plays More's gentle refusal to bend to the King's will. Of course the movie was made even more memo...

Anthropologists of religion say that once a religious ritual or practice becomes non functional, it dies. Sometimes it takes a war (the old religious rites of Intramuros died when the churches there were destroyed in 1945) or cultural changes (The Latin Mass is an example. When Vatican II closed, it signified a real religious cultural revolution. Very few lay today Catholics would trade in the vernacular Mass for the Latin Mass. Catholics today barely know a word of liturgical Latin.) Since Vatican II, priests have been creative enough to update lenten practices. A few diehards tried to preserve the pre-Vatican II rites and this resulted in a major international schism (the first since the Reformation). But it wasn't the Vatican II church that split into a zillion denominations. It was the conservatives. It was a sort of Protestantism in reverse. The Vatican II Catholic Church is one. So we see new updates to Good Friday practices especially in Manila. The "pasyon" has be...

Once the whole of time was holy. Then innocence was lost through sin and the first humans had to leave their Eden. Time had to be marked for they had to work the earth for their survival. Now it has become worse, we are so busy that time is not enough for many of us. We are responsible for this "hell". We want to escape. For many Manila dwellers, this is the only time for them to move out of the city. But the kind of work I do requires me to be near the sea many times of the year. Here I find some bit of solitude and the necessary escape. You wouldn't find me on the beach on Holy Week. Everyone's at the beach it seems. Manila becomes a place of solitude. Especially on Good Friday. On this day Manila's air quality is the best in the year. The wind is what it used to be. It is only on this day that on Ayala Avenue,one can hear the melodious song of the yellow vented bulbul. These birds roost in Greenbelt and fly around the CBD. The churches fall silent. And silence...