May I ask, have you spent time in the US?

Oh, sorry about that. No unfortunately I haven’t.

… rather than operated for public interest, it is wrong. The air waves are should not be private property.

It’s a franchise.

The government can take over such utilities should the need arise.

… is as warped as putting the station’s own stars front and center.

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?

I believe great nations are built on good intentions.

Ok then.

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

I see it all over Facebook — people grandstanding about what and how they are contributing “selflessly”.

Do you want them instead to apply your business sense of expecting a buck for all their trouble?

Quiet achievement — with recognition as just a bonus — has been superceded by action with instant-recognition as a pre-requisite.

Instant-recognition as a pre-requisite? Do you actually have any kind of basis for this statement?

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)?

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?

Day ten, post Ondoy

… and others who are interested in bringing proposed solutions to the next level of detail, this is a great start. I’ve put a bit more meat around the points I raised in the flooding diagram in a separate and more comprehensive blog post on the subject. Check it out.

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”.

But in the split second between the time I right-clicked on my mouse and left-clicked on it to select “Paste” on the menu that appeared, I had a major brainwave (yes, my mind works that fast). Benigno from the FV article “A bit of Australiana from a fair dinkum Aussie”

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,

… focus on information, what government officials say people should do, where shelters are, ….

They did. And then there is a government channel NBN 4 in case you aren’t satisfied with such information from others.

Abandon commercial broadcasting …

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 ….”

*********************************

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.

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

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.

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

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.