Lately there’s been a lot of backpatting accompanying all the feel-good stories surrounding the heroism and “bayanihan” supposedly exhibited in the aftermath of the destruction wreaked by tropical cyclone Ondoy on Metro Manila. Indeed, there is reason to congratulate ourselves. The motivation to “help out” and “contribute” to the relief effort transcended social class and political affiliation.
Me, being a frustrated student of the emerging science of macro-psychology, thinks that there are some key elements that underpin such an outpouring of “help”.
Guilt trip.
I see it all over Facebook — people grandstanding about what and how they are contributing “selflessly”. Social networking has encroached on what was once the exclusive role of journalists and the media. The Media once held exclusive claim over the role of capturing images and stories of events and their publication. Not any more. People are now able to — and have taken it upon themselves — to capture events (which they themselves play the “hero” in) on film and self-publish these on the Web for their friends and peers to gawk at. Quiet achievement — with recognition as just a bonus — has been superceded by action with instant-recognition as a pre-requisite.
There is something amusing in seeing well-heeled folk packing relief bags in makeshift warehouses and loading them onto trucks (again I thank Facebook for that). Many of these are people who come from households where domestic servants may outnumber their employers almost two-to-one. Wouldn’t it have been more efficient to simply deploy their servants to those centers to do the manual work while they themselves focus their energies (and core skills) on tasks that deliver bigger, more far-reaching, and longer-term bang (such as getting on the phone to chew out the politicians they routinely fund and hobnob with for neglecting public infrastructure for so long)?
Perhaps all that tacky self-promotion enabled by modern technology hides a more ancient underlying psyche — guilt. Just as feast all year fast for one week is the Filipino motto behind the Easter Holidays (“Holy Week” as Filipinos call it), “helping out” when disaster strikes is what absolves the resource-rich of a way of life characterised primarily by NIMBY-ism (“not in my backyard”).
I’ve fasted/self-flagellated this week.
I’ve contributed/done “my part” today.
What’s the difference between the two? Simple answer: Nothing. They are the same. They both relieve personal guilt over an inability to ingrain doing things properly into our routine way of life. And neither addresses the harder question: What happens next?
The “bayanihan” we see today is just a souped-up version of our normal mode of operations.
It’s just a matter of turning the volume up when it’s time to dance.
Both the rescue efforts during and directly after the disaster and the lifeline of relief effort to victims sustained in its aftermath are driven largely by private sector initiative. They in no way represent our taxes at work properly channeled through public facilities and services. Rather, they are products of informal coping mechanisms — the altruism of the resource-rich and what Randy David calls “private solutions to collective problems” — a testament to the continued applicability of the Filipino Trinity that represents what our lot stands for:
Bahala na (come what may): As always, altruism when disaster strikes saves the day as the preferred alternative to the more onerous task of building sustainable ways of living by investing in measures to mitigate disaster. Why invest in progressively and contnuously strengthening the foundations of our standard of living when we can always rely on the resource-rich to help out when times are tough — as that characteristically Filipino way of thinking goes.
Pwede na yan (that’ll do): For now, most of Ondoy‘s flood victims are surving on a steady supply of relief goods organised by the resource-rich. When the collective guilt has been absolved, the call to return to business-as-usual starts to overshadow the call to temporary duty, and the images of people “helping out” on Facebook become commoditised, what is an unsustainable pipeline of supplies to begin with reduces to a mere trickle. Eventually everyone moves on — the rich withdraw back into their gated communities and the poor move back into the floodplains. Next disaster, plez.
The third component of the Filipino Trinity – impunity is what set us up for this disaster in the first place. In the short-term, there were no unpleasant consequences associated with dumping garbage and raw sewage into our stormdrain systems.
False hope.
Again, the “bayanihan” we imagine to have happened over the last week or two props up our “hope” that Filipinos will be “ok”. Hope in what exactly? Yes, it’s that niggling question again that remains the elephant in the room.
How can there be hope when far bigger tragedies that occurred in the past due also to human neglect remain unaddressed today. What are we doing differently?
If the way our leaders and future leaders have responded to this disaster can be considered to be good indicators of what happens next, there is little reason to be hopeful.
![loading[1]](http://filipinovoices.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/loading1-500x343.jpg)
[Courtesy: UtakNgTilapia.com]
Indeed, one would expect that our future leaders would have already anticipated much of the key challenges that grip our society even before they had joined the race to begin with.
That’s just a bit too much to ask of Filipino politicians, I suppose; because rather than step up to the grade befitting true leaders, they choose to merely reflect the society they aspire to lead.
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Pwede na ‘yan = Benigno’s Aussie existence counterpart: “Tie it up with wire” Ha ha ha! That is so typically Australian. But Benigno is a Sydneysider immigrant. Dinky di, no idea if he ever has met that kind of character!
Bahala na = Benigno’s Western existence counterpart: “God’s will” That happened when Melbourne suburbs went in flames and Kevin Rudd was there to console.
Impunity = Benigno’s Australian existence counterpart: “Impunity” There were no unpleasant consequences for urbanite Australians like Benigno from abandoning aboriginal land use practices that should have prevented last year’s killer bushfires in Victoria.
You see Benigno’s Trinity is not a purely Filipino affair.
blackshama: you carrying as much of the Australia culture that benign0 does?
At least I seriously do not berate Australians for their cultural weaknesses.
Obvious. Sounds like a primer article.
Ok, now this comment really hurt, man.
ROFLMAO :P
Clarificatory points to benigno:
One. Are you sincere in saying that there is reason to congratulate ourselves for the heroism or bayanihan that outpoured as a result of Ondoy with those relief efforts coming from across the Great Cultural Divide?
Two. Why do you apparently begrudge those people in Facebook who capture their relief efforts in film or ‘self-publication’ if you honestly think they are in fact playing hero in given areas where they can actually contribute to helping the victims?
Three. Why do you reduce this self-promotion enabled by modern technology one resting on a kind of guilt?
Four. What is this so-called “Filipino trinity”? I have taken more than enough courses in social philosophy and psychology but I have yet to come across a concept like what benigno uncharacteristically presents here as though a well-accepted sociological theory.
These attitudes are already passe. Maybe blackshama has fully expound on the subject.
poor filipinos have no role models…. that hurts
did someone tracked that Australian dollar donation from benigno?
A good indication of Pinas having made progress about typhoon-response will be when PAGASA and Pinas media use the international standard name if the name has already been created for a depression or typhoon.
hay, benigs, you try so hard to strike a pose of modernity when all your moralizing makes you sound like a smarmy mother superior.
“A good indication of Pinas having made progress about typhoon-response will be when PAGASA and Pinas media use the international standard name if the name has already been created for a depression or typhoon.”
Well that again is an example of Pinoy “mental colony” thinking. International=progress! Ridiculous in this context. It is irrelevant whether the cyclone naming conventions is different here. The naming convention for international use is based on where the storm originates which could be outside the PAR. The Filipino one is simpler and more intuitive since it tracks storms within the PAR and easily grasped by the users of forecasts. Anyway, the media now reports both Philippine names and international names.
Also before we rebuild, the Philippines should use the studies made by its scientists in the last 30 years. This is NON-NEGOTIABLE and here I would agree with Benigno, this is the real platform and not silly feel good cliches like “people power”.
We need SCIENCE POWER!
Kudos to Filipino artists, shame on Filipino scientists—Flor Lacanilao
http://newsbreak.com.ph/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=6615&Itemid=88889094
Here is Inquirer writing about PAGASA:
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/nation/view/20091007-228840/Pagasa-in-a-storm-of-controversy
MANILA, Philippines — A storm threatens to wallop the Philippines but a huge computer that dominates the forecasting room of the nation’s weather service is in screensaver mode showing a cartoon pattern of unexploded bombs.
While tropical depression “Pepeng” (international codename: Parma) ominously hovers near the main island of Luzon, the computer has no data to receive as the main weather radar on a hilltop in the northeastern resort of Baguio is out of action
…
However, Pagasa operations chief Nathaniel Cruz insisted he was in charge of a “24/7″ system, manned at any one time by up to four forecasters.
They were supported by as many as three cartographers who plotted the weather systems on graphs, up to two weather satellite experts and two meteorological telecommunications men, he said.
Cruz also rejected one common assertion that Pagasa was not getting the government funding needed to perform properly.
“It is incorrect to say Pagasa has been left begging for funds,” Cruz said, adding the government had given the weather service P4 billion (about $86 million) for equipment upgrades over the past five years.
Shame on Flor… chipping at the wrong target. Filipino artists get support from fans and even government. Where do Filipino scientists get their support? A meager salary? The problem is our unscientific culture which greatly appreciates song and dance of good-looking but brain-dead stars, but when explaining thunder and lightning to their children would say St. Peter is playing bowling. Besides, showbiz and artisty technically allows you to have fans; science does not. It’s an unfair comparison.
This would explain why I needed to change the channel back to Discovery (SCI, PBS, or History) from TFC (especially from Wowowee) practically every time I turn the TV on. Given what little effort TFC invests on real knowledge, it just amazes me how our “resident bakya crowd” can even complain about including, instead of learning from, kuya Kim Atienza sharing nuggets of information between breaks . “Ignorance is bliss” I suppose.
In response to blackshama, comparing those perceived cultural weaknesses of Australians to those of our Pinoy society is like comparing apples to oranges. Relatively speaking, Australia is doing way better. Berating them is not such a good idea, and may even backfire, given the level of excellence they’ve achieved, especially in their science (they have about 13 Nobel Laureates since 1915, most in the fundamental sciences which we Pinoys still dream of achieving).
Our culture and our society’s general attitude towards science should be critically examined:
http://www.getrealphilippines.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=9
In case our “religious culture” becomes an excuse for impeding scientific thinking, check this one out:
http://www.rae.org/jaki.html
Regarding Australian Nobel Prize winners btw, this link gives you a more accurate picture:
http://www.whitehat.com.au/australia/people/NobelPrize.asp
In response to blackshama, comparing those perceived cultural weaknesses of Australians to those of our Pinoy society is like comparing apples to oranges. Relatively speaking, Australia is doing way better. Berating them is not such a good idea, and may even backfire, given the level of excellence they’ve achieved, especially in their science (they have about 13 Nobel Laureates since 1915, most in the fundamental sciences which we Pinoys still dream of achieving). -Asiawest
Good on you Asiawest. I wonder if this would finally stop Blackshama’s incessant reference to Australia just because b0 is there. The problem is in the Philippines but he keeps going to other countries and looking at their own shortfalls even if their achievements outnumber it.
What will science do if leadership in public management is lacking. The result , it will not be implemented. That’s what happen.
Yes of course, pinoys can be talented. It is our biggest resources. But progressive countries did not rely on their resources but GOVERNANCE. Govern our resources well.
Our Political style of governing the country: send more pinoy servants overseas and allow young women to marry Old Joe…
And he continues to do battle against the strawmen his addled mind created.
Amen!
in this case, the strawmen sure flooded the streets of Manila… sayang di namatay yung mga pasaway … hahahaha
“Wouldn’t it have been more efficient to simply deploy their servants to those centers to do the manual work while they themselves focus their energies (and core skills) on tasks that deliver bigger, more far-reaching, and longer-term bang (such as getting on the phone to chew out the politicians they routinely fund and hobnob with for neglecting public infrastructure for so long)?”
really? thats more far-reaching? pagalitan mo sila? hmmm…
How about this one – “House Bill 6866 – AN ACT APPROPRIATING THE SUM OF TEN BILLION PESOS AS SUPPLEMENTAL APPROPRIATION FOR THE IMPLEMENTATION OF RELIEF OPERATIONS, RECONSTRUCTION AND REHABILITATION OF THE NATIONAL CAPITAL REGION AND OTHER AFFECTED REGIONS WHICH SUFFERED DEVASTATION BROUGHT ABOUT BY TYPHOON ONDOY”?
Isn’t this putting the cart before the horse, pray tell?
A few pinoys would say what you say, Primer.
Others would say “..what’s the use to close the barn door after the horse is gone?”
Now, many managers/officials at LGU’s (as well as DSWD, other natl govt agencies) burning thru the cash because of Ketsana would be glad to get some pesos out of that P10Billion.
Methinks Denmark and Sweden have a lot more Bayanihan than we’ll ever have. Maybe even Australia! hehe.
Hmmmm . . .
Interesting set of reactions.
I fear the messenger doth get in the way of his message,
or maybe has become it.
I personally detest public figures who find a way to get into the public face during time of disaster. If they care, work behind the scenes rather than promote themselves on the tears of others.
Joe
I was about to say the same thing. Some of the comments to the article above confirm that there are hardly any intelligent life forms in the country. I think Benign0′s biggest problem is that not everyone understands his point.
I for one have always wondered why the government does not take advantage of cheap labor to build lasting and highly engineered infrastructure. They could easily create employment by directing funds into building a better sewage system and correcting the urban architecture. This would also stimulate the economy. It is a mighty feat but can slowly be done if the mindset is looking towards the future and if the one sitting at the top has any vision.
I’ve always wondered too why the elite members of the Philippines lack the drive to think about innovative ideas despite having all the time in their hands because they have yayas, maids, a cook and a driver to do all the chores for them. It’s probably because they’d rather be partying around to see and be seen.
“…there are hardly any intelligent life forms in the country.”
I thought I was the only one thinking this. Korek ka dyan, Sistah! :P
calling others who do not necessarily share your point of view as unintelligent is hardly a sign of intelligence. :)
apanfilo,
There is a big difference between someone who is disagreeing with an opinion and someone who is just merely attacking the messenger. An intelligent person who disagrees will come up with a counter argument to prove the writer wrong otherwise; he is just making noise or just wants to see his name on the monitor.
Have a look again at the responses above and you should realise that some are just singularly focused on the fact that Benign0 lives overseas and that he has no right to comment about the status of the Philippines. I have said this before and I am saying it again, Filipinos who live in the Philippines do not have the monopoly on love of country. In fact, majority of the ones who live here have become desensitized on the whole situation: poverty, corruption, environmental degradation and etc. It has become a way of life to be disengaged and anyone who points at the error will be labeled as racist.
Why don’t we focus on the issues being raised? Give concrete proof if we think that something is not right instead of just dismissing someone because we think they are being insulting.
I agree Joe, Benigs gets the same reaction from the same bunch of FV writers, no matter what he writes. Just like our very own oppositionists in governments, their minds are conditioned to oppose no matter what.
danny,
“Oppositionists”
I like that expression. It applies to those who object first and think later, or never at all.
I shall use it now and then, if you don’t mind . . .
Joe
Apparently, just recently in a formal meeting, Noynoy was asked specifically about his platform and money/financing of governance. He did well! Or maybe Noynoy did miserably? But here is the report.
http://newsbreak.com.ph/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=6912&Itemid=88889051
Many of the man-made disasters arising out of natural calamities could have been avoided if Filipino leaders and people continued with a ‘Disiplina ang Kailangan’ policy.
As it were, Pinoy society enjoyed democracy with impunity. And borrowing further from Benign0, there was too much ‘Bahala Na’ attitude in the flood control planning.
I saw a Discovery Channel special (Mega Projects or something) which featured Kuala Lumpur authorities building a mammoth flood-control-cum-highway (when its dry). The dual purpose project is envisioned to protect KL from flash floods which could happen within minutes…
Well, not to mention much corruption in Philippine infrastructure projects. Hay naku. Naman, naman!
‘flood-control-cum-highway’
Manggahan floodway is the equivalent of KL’s SMART tunnel. It has 2 service roads. If there is a need for more road space then just build over the floodway.
Without us noticing, Radio and TV Networks are actually competing with government agencies and even against the Phil. Natl. Red Cross in doing relief efforts. Seems nothing wrong at first, but there is conflict of interest in play here.
Did we notice that both ABS-CBN and GMA7 do not cover the PNRC extensively? Did we know for example that the Red Cross rescued hundreds of people in the raging floods with their volunteer Water Search and Rescue – WASAR – teams? Did we know that aside from providing relief goods, the PNRC led in the cleanup drive with their thousands of volunteers to restore normalcy in many places in Metro Manila? Surely, TV Networks would not cover the PNRC because they compete with them in soliciting donations.
I am sure, there are heroes, even in many goverment agencies… but those heroes we would never know. We are deluged by images of poor people walking in neck-deep waters and then with TV celebrities packing relief goods. There are many stories in-between, real stories of inspiration forever lost.
Come 2010, I am sure people will still vote for those that played well with the mass media while real leaders will remain marginalized.
Many jobs require salesmanship, and if it is a requirement,
then a real leader will learn to work the press.
Just look at the bishops of the CBCP.
Indeed.. many are trying by playing with the media. FVR is an example who successfully did. But what did it cost him? What did it cost the country? We will never know..
Many other groups are pushing popularity, because they think that is how they can play with mass media.. but will it get us somewhere?
I think mass media should be infiltrated from within by producing content that can compete.. “Get Real” is a wonderful step and I think it is about time to put it in more popular medium..
If more groups support us or buy more radio time for themselves say within the same station I am broadcasting, then we can all present clear alternatives to the people.. I think there is a target market, at least all of us here are.
I’m annoyed that the Philippine Air Force’s 505th SAR didn’t get proper recognition as well. There were even insinuations that no rescue choppers were sent to fly. Unfortunately only one Huey 505th SAR bird was able to do that — the other two are in Visayas and Mindanao. :-/
What about Phil Army and Phil-Navy search-and-rescue?
Surely their trucks and boats got to move about, right?
Hey, if US Navy Seals were seen helping people in the flooded areas, our own Army and Navy were certainly at work. I don’t seem to see this aspect featured in the media. Shame on the media.
Lead Philippines,
The media seem to be a part of the general theme of “arrogance of self” over common good. ABS/CBN, for instance, lacks a proper ethical foundation when the company seeks to BE the news instead of report on it, and when they make sure the stars of their programs are front and center doling out aid. It is a rather sick, slick kind of help, corrupt, if you will, in that it perverts a good deed in the face of tragedy for commercial gain. It works at cross purposes to the REAL aid-givers who are blocked from proper coverage because of the self promotion.
Stars who want to help can do so quietly, and genuinely.
Like, be real . . . not a play actor. Way too many of those about already . . .
Joe
Because the networks know the power of mass media and they would like to maintain that power by appealing more to the people, by promoting themselves…
We sympathize to all who were victims. We are all victims, because
we suffer also. If our countrymen suffers. Disasters will not
recognize any person. Rich people, influential people, and famous
people. All will suffer when disaster strikes. This is the reason you
cannot turn your eyes away from your neighbor’s plight. If he will
build his shanty on the estero near your house. Surely, you will be
flooded. If they cut and denude the forests near your house. Soon
fashfloods and landslides will come to you. So, GET INVOLVED. Or we
will all perish the next time disasters strike.
i’d like to add something to benign0′s point- we have a Manila centric response to Ondoy.
my dad’s hometown of Bae, Laguna is as badly hit as Pasig and Marikina with floods. i have not been there for a while but i have news from friends located nearby that the damage is just as bad as Pasig and Marikina. now my issue is that the residents of the said town are actually residents- tax paying, working, schooling- and generally very productive members of that community. a significant chunk of the victims of Ondoy(i don’t have the exact number though) are squatters or informal settlers, with no permanent jobs and no fixed benefit in taking care of the environment they are in. the victims of bae are local fishermen, traders, farmers- real productive members of society. and since the location is very far from the immediate reaches of abs-cbn and gma7, it has not received as much attention as metro manila areas.
sorry nagtatampo lang- parang lahat ng relief and rehab efforts nasa manila eh.
Lester : I hope that immediately after Ondoy, that Bae, Laguna officials contacted the Laguna Governor, the Phil National Red Cross, DSWD about the damage to Bae that they see and the help they need. If Bae didn’t raise its hand to ask for help when things were going crazy, it may be too late to ask for help now.
Now another typhoon is coming, and another after that, and another, and another. Bae may be doing this already, then congratulations. If it’s not doing this, time to learn a trick. Bae, Laguna officials should have 5 or 6 telephone-numbers. Bae, Laguna should call for help whenever the town is badly damaged after a typhoon. Call a metro-Manila TV station if things are ugly; send photos! And call the foreign NGO’s, too, like Habitat for Humanity, UNICEF, WHO. These guys are not looking for pogi-points, they would just as soon help an Aeta tribe as they would the residents of Provident Village.
@ AsiaWest:
In other words, Australians (or for that matter all other societies that have SOLID track records of achievement), achieved their success DESPITE their cultural (among other) weaknesses.
In contrast, Filipinos continue to fail BECAUSE of their cultural (among other) weaknesses.
Benigz would like to believe he is up there on the hill surveying, assessing, commenting on the follies of the Pinoys.
But his vision, alas, is not exactly 20/20 because apart from the fact that the hill is a little far off from the plains, his vision is severely blocked by his own shadow.
Nakakatawa naman ang iba rito. And my American friend Joe is agreeing with them. How interesting. Expecting private entities like ABS-CBN and Channel 7 to advertise for free what public services the government doing to the flood victims. Why should public service be advertise or be expected to be trumpeted through the media like products for sale?
Government has its mandates to do its job for the people and for the country. After all, they are being paid by the people to do the job.
And these guys thinking it’s the obligation of ABS-CBN and Channel 7 to broadcast government’s work?
OMG, I’m lost, really lost.
Bert,
Here’s a lifeline, dear lost friend . . .
Not advertise government services. Abandon commercial broadcasting for a few days and focus on information, what government officials say people should do, where shelters are, what is happening with schools, where food can be obtained, where water can be obtained, how water can be treated, who to call if people are thieving, what areas are open to the pubic, what are closed, the causes for the disaster and what people are saying will be done about it, etc. etc. Information . . . not advertising, not self promotion. Information. Not Wowowee. Not Kris with her compromised political objectivity. Not entertainers. If I see one more teary shot of C. Reyes I will upchuck. Put the self-promotional flashy banner headlines aside. HELP some people.
In the US, radio and television stations are public property operated by private companies who agree to serve the public.
They do.
Here they strut.
Joe
Of course, Joe, “they” can chew gum and dance at the same time. “They” can advertise and provide information on
Benigno,
Do you want them instead to apply your business sense of expecting a buck for all their trouble?
Instant-recognition as a pre-requisite? Do you actually have any kind of basis for this statement?
How long do you think such a phone call should last if indeed such well heeled folk call such politicians?
What makes you imply those well heeled folks didn’t actually bring along their servants to help them with the manual work?
http://filipinovoices.com/shotgun-bayanihan/comment-page-1#comment-101347
It’s day ten that you were brought a list of proposed solutions.
Where are the details on your end? I’ve scanned the Get Real Philippines forum (where your old article “De-forestation – into the abyss!” shows no detailed solutions) and your AntiPinoy articles and there seems to be no further issues on detailed solutions (the 2 or 3 floodway or spillway issue is hardly national in scope) other than implied motherhood statements like changing attitude towards garbage disposal, improvement of waste management systems, etc…
During that time; you have posted 2 articles on FV with one of them being on Australian Trivia with reservation and relevance that you claim translates to a bit of “class”.
Day ten already; where are your major brainwaves on this issue as you had on the issue of Australian trivia? Is that all the “meat” you’ve got? Are you telling everyone “Pwede na yun” ? If you do have more; can you tell us why you aren’t writing about them instead? Even a poster in your “The Filipino Cultural Trinity” in Anti Pinoy is asking you about your solutions. Your answers to his/her query were motherhood statements.
Btw, issuing out offers/dares/etc… without adequate follow through from those supposedly with “fast minds” who did the offering/etc… in the first place tend to show that they were initially done with a seeming “Bahala na” attitude. Bahala na kung wala palang isasagot!
Coming out with more offers/dares/etc… when you couldn’t follow through or pull up your end on previous ones; now that’s “impunity” .
Heck; I’m sure that if I wasn’t here; you’d still be claiming your so called brilliant book is brilliant even if we resolved that more than a year ago in another blog.
And as for the McDo Happy meals; I say get the trinkets but start refusing the wrappers/pings/plastics.
Joe America,
They did. And then there is a government channel NBN 4 in case you aren’t satisfied with such information from others.
Why? Do you think they should exhibit “hiya”?
Btw, someone quoted a lot from you in an article for Anti Pinoy. It’s about your derision of the perversion of a good deed in the face of tragedy for commercial gain. Quite interesting for someone (not referring to you) who believes that “Great nations were not built on good intentions ….”
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When I thought of re-foresting denuded forests, I think plain timber trees might not be enough.
It might just be a matter of time till someone dumb and stupid comes along (maybe even from even a nearby community) and see the forest for the timber.
Along with the idea of terrace farming, putting up fruit tree farms might be worthwhile on already denuded areas or terraces themselves (whether the high parts, low parts, etc.. will depend on what is feasible). It might help ameliorate the food problem, economy, etc… If the residents of a nearby community are given license, permits, etc…. for the area they just might show more concern for it.
And as I write this, dam waters are contributing to the floods by being released on the surface instead of being sent underground where they will do more good than the harm they are unleashing right now.
Come election time and I’m disappointed in not hearing/reading/etc… about candidates’ details on how to achieve this or that; I usually put up my own “specifics” when I believe I am capable of doing so.
I’m probably due for another one next year (whether I’m disappointed or not) on some issues (though it won’t entirely be new from what I’ve published before in the web and some that got posted in the letter sections of selected newspapers. I’ll likely be elaborating again on ideas I’ve put out already). But with luck; I’ll probably finish before the year ends.
justice league,
Reporting on the plight of C. Reyes is not exactly what I had in mind for helpful reporting. Many people in the country get only two channels, ABS/CBN or GMA.
There is the concept of “utility”, essential services that are regulated because monopolies are permitted. When such utilities are used for plunder, rather than operated for public interest, it is wrong. The air waves are should not be private property.
That is the foundation of my argument, and in time of crisis, to use the critical air waves for private gain is as warped as putting the station’s own stars front and center.
I have no control over how someone uses my arguments. I believe great nations are built on good intentions. The US Constitution is brilliant, and written by people that recognized personal ambition can go the way of greed, or good works that benefit the public good, for private gain.
Just about everything in the Philippines is founded on personal gain . . . period. The notion of public interest or public service is weak, indeed.
May I ask, have you spent time in the US?
Joe
Joe America,
It’s a franchise.
The government can take over such utilities should the need arise.
Kim Atienza was one of those who showed survival tips on ABS CBN. They also showed some other private individuals and government people. But who did you expect them to show; the stars from the other stations?
Ok then.
Oh, sorry about that. No unfortunately I haven’t.
Check it out! This brilliant article of mine has been included in Elbert Or’s excellent Ondoy compilation After the Stom: Stories on Ondoy. Check it out here!