Keep Echoing!: April 2009

Wednesday, April 29, 2009

We don't honor the truth

We don't honor the truth

It is no longer safe to say the truth in this country. Truth and truth-seekers are silenced. Anyone who speaks and stands up for the truth finds himself voiceless for fear of reprisal. In fine, truth is suppressed out of fear. Truth is a costly possession in this country and is not easily obtained without sacrifice and hammering from those who hate the truth.

Seemingly this is the Philippines today, to a great degree. Truth is elusive in this country and falsehood is popular. Graft and corruption is normal and honesty is out of this world. Deceit is accepted and integrity is unheard of. Truth tellers are not appreciated in our society and are often considered as threats to the government. And our leaders are insecure of the truth because it smites them.

Telling the truth is at this time critical in our nation’s history. What happens if all of us reject truth? What happens to our country if all of us are peddler of lies? What happens if the government befriends more the pathological liars than side with the truth seekers? We cannot live with lies and let the government take away our liberties and freedom.

Our leaders who lead us by telling lies are also urging us to tell lies. Our leaders are teaching us by their attitudes and behavior that they do not value truthfulness. They teach us to hide or distort the truth and love falsehood. It appears that telling lies is a qualification of becoming a leader in this country. It is ironic that we address our leaders “honorable” even when we know that they are liars. One indeed reaches the reputation of being called “honorable” if one is a liar.

This is the truth about our country today- we don’t honor the truth.

Highway robbery and trees

Highway robbery and trees

I have been dashing around Luzon lately to give talks, accompany a chess team, visit relatives and friends, among others. On my route to my destinations I noticed a lot of repairs being made along the highway. They caused heavy traffic and they are almost impassable making it dangerous and inconvenient to motorists and travelers.

I ask why we have to repair these roads almost every year. Why does it have to be done this year when our people are going on their way to spend their summer vacation in provinces and tourists areas? Some say that this is a “highway robbery” because the roads do not show any major damage that would require repair yet they insist on repairing them. Others say that the repair of these roads means that election is in the offing. The billboards of politicians who initiate these road projects of course provide them political mileage.

Our people are irked by these uncalled for repair of the roads. They question the spending initiatives of the government. Instead of using the people’s money to these misplaced priority projects, they should have been more wisely used in the construction of additional classrooms for our children or to other social services that are more responsive to the needs of our people.

Another concern is that many trees along the highway are being cut down. These trees probably were planted by boy or girl scouts or members of civic organizations. Now that these trees are full grown it is shocking that they have to be cut down. Are they chopped down because of a highway expansion project or because they pose hazards to telephone and electric companies? Many are upset by this cutting of trees along the highway and are confused as to how the government could have permitted this given its commitment to clean and green programs and initiatives on sustainable development.

There should be a national regulation on the planting of trees along the highway. DENR, DPWH and other concerned government agencies should coordinate with electric and telephone companies, local government units, and civic organizations on the technicalities and procedures to follow on planting of trees along the highway. We should remember that the trees did not grow along the highway spontaneously. They were planted there on purpose.

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Global Balita April Series #2

Saturday, April 25, 2009

The politics of conscience

The politics of conscience

We have come to live in a society where conscience is a stranger. Instead of having a society ruled by people with conscience, we have a society that is governed by dishonorable men and women who don’t seem to have conscience. They rule our society with arrogance and deceit and they supplant our individual consciences with their own rules and interests. Unfortunately, we also have some of our people who make moral choices independent of conscience and the teachings of the Church such that their moral choices are anchored on what is politically convenient.

The Catholic Church has long upheld the significance of informed conscience especially in making moral decisions. We make moral decisions on the basis of the authoritative teachings of the Church, the values of the Gospel, and the will of God. Informed conscience does not invent the truth. It discovers and evangelizes the truth based on the teachings of the Church. Only an informed conscience then can make good moral judgments. Conversely, uninformed conscience is always prone to make erroneous moral judgments.

Nowadays our leaders are so much engrossed with the issue on constitutional change. And as early as this, some presidentiables and other would-be political candidates for the 2010 general elections are busy positioning themselves in the political field to ensure their electoral victories. Lies, deceits, and dishonesty of these leaders and politicians horribly creep into the very political fiber of our society in order to protect their selfish interests and promote their ulterior motives. We naturally expect that all of these petty concerns would end up into compromises which would sidestep once more moral decisions based on the used of informed conscience.

We are challenging the Catholic politicians to lead by their informed conscience. We challenge them to become proxies of the living Church and be moral exemplars and leaders of our times. We ask them to stand on the commitment of the Church regarding moral issues besetting our society. Their political actions and decisions should be reflective of their enlightened faith and the teachings of the Church.

It is about time that we should catalogue the performance of our Catholic politicians especially on how they stand on issues of the day. If their public life shows clearly that they do not side with the Church and they morally judge on the basis of their uninformed conscience, then it is proper that we dismiss them as not fitting to any public office. We would rather go electing a protestant politician who lives a public life with an informed conscience reflecting the Gospel values than a Catholic politician who opposes the teachings of the Church.

Friday, April 24, 2009

Cagayan mining creates social division

Cagayan mining creates social division

Many Cagayanos watched GMA 7’s Reporter’s Notebook last April 21 which featured, among others, the conduct of mining along the coastal areas in Cagayan. Many were alarmed that heavy equipment are used in a supposed small scale mining operations in these areas. Truth to tell coastal mining in Cagayan had already opened social wounds and divisions among friends and relatives.

Senator Aquilino Pimentel Jr. in his press release recently urged the Department of Environment and Natural Resources to strictly implement the statutory ban on quarrying and mining along seashores and to impose sanctions on individuals and companies engaged in this pernicious activity.

Pimentel stressed that “the extraction of black sands on beach areas within a radius of 200 meters from the shores – known as salvage zone – destroys the natural protective barrier that prevents seawater from overflowing and causing floods in coastal villages.”

“All mining and quarrying activities on seashore areas should be completely discontinued and banned because of the damage to the environment they are causing. Not only do they render the coastal communities vulnerable to natural disasters. They also cause degradation of adjoining agricultural lands because of the resulting intrusion of sea water,” Pimentel said.

“DENR and local government officials who have recklessly allowed these illegal and reprehensible activities should be held liable and criminally charged for flagrant violation of environment and mining laws,” Pimentel added.

It is very unfortunate that these environment and mining laws are ignored and unashamedly violated for the sake of economic interest. The mining operations may create employment and a rich source of national income but these are outweighed by the long-term social cost and ill effects to the environment. When these mining operations close, we presume that the foreign investors will not own the responsibility of the damaged done to the environment. The cost shall be borne by the people with environment problems to contend with while the foreign investors and local counterparts enjoy their prosperity here and abroad.

Thursday, April 23, 2009

The social dimension of suicide

The social dimension of suicide

It is understandable that families of victims of suicide wanted that people should be more considerate by not overly pestering them with unresolved questions and issues concerning the unspoken motives of the victims and on the unearthing of antecedent episodes of the suicide phenomena. However, this should not be construed that the acts of suicide work in a vacuum. We cannot simply regard suicides as personal affairs of the concerned families nor they are simply regarded as personal misfortunes of the victims and hence society has no business with them. This is a myopic view.

Committing suicide is not a one-sided individual act. Suicide is a social act. It is not attributed to the personal guilt alone of the victim. Behind every act of suicide are a social environment and a society that give unduly pressure to the victim to commit suicide. Suicide is contagious that it instigates other members of the society who are similarly situated with the victim to commit the same horrid act. It also reveals the social attitudes of the members like allowing them to condemn the act of suicide or to sympathize with the victim and the family. Families then of victims of suicide cannot preclude members of the society to wonder and speculate stories surrounding the acts of suicide.

Sociologist Emile Durkheim says that suicide is associated with societal crises of economic or social nature. That is why society is involved when a member of it commits suicide. Suicide presupposes societal ills. It reflects the problems of society like unemployment, immorality, financial constraints, which contributed to the mental and physical isolation of the victim. A hopeless victim prefers to commit suicide rather than living in society that is cruel and unfriendly.

Finally, suicide does not only offend the victim nor the family. It wounds and disturbs the society as a whole. From the Christian point of view, suicide as a sin has a social dimension. St. Paul says that Christians “are the body of Christ and individually members of it” such that if one member is hopeless, all other members suffer from it.

Tuesday, April 7, 2009

Our penitential meditation

Our penitential meditation

Lenten season is a time for reflection on the passion of Christ and its meaning for us. It is a timely period for us Filipinos to think if we still have that Easter hope for moral change in this country. When all social evils and government scandals are now pressing in on all sides, we need to have an ethical regeneration because our country continues to get shrieked by the never-ending tales of insolence, incivility, and immorality of some our leaders. We always cry for hope in this country but we never get through it. The Lenten season always offers hope and this we must benefit from.

Many of us look for private ways on how to spend this Lenten season. Many of our people find themselves enjoying the season along beaches and resorts. To them, Lenten season is an opportunity to get pleasure from a long vacation. The season no longer jogs the minds of some of us to make a prayerful reflection indicative of the fact that the season is not taken seriously. The essence of Lenten meditation falls by the wayside and paves way to a joyous celebration of family outings and parties.

Just like the passion of Christ, we experience disappointments, doubts, and other sacrifices. Let us take this penitential season to examine ourselves and ask why we are suffering from all of this and reflect the agonies of Christ. Aside from focusing ourselves on prayer and fasting, we should take a look at the brokenness of our country and ask why it is in a dismal condition.

In our Lenten meditation we should learn to appreciate the value of sacrifice, fasting, and abstinence. May we realize that reasonable sacrifices and self-denial efforts we can offer can make a difference in making this country a better place to live in.

Sunday, April 5, 2009

Only good ads are invited

Only good ads are invited

Hi,

We are interested to place our ads on your site. If interested, please email me.

We, WuTravel.com , are a start up travel site in Singapore.

Best Regards,
Samantha

An Invitation from the Sangguniang Kabataan of Zambales

Republic of the Philippines
SANGGUNIANG KABATAAN PROVINCIAL FEDERATION
Province of Zambales

OFFICE OF THE PPSK PRESIDENT

March 23, 2009

Hon. REGINALD TAMAYO
SB Member
Aparri, Cagayan

Dear SB Member Tamayo

Greetings!

We, the Sangguniang Kabataan Panlalawigang Pederasyon of the Province of Zambales in coordination with the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) will conduct a Sangguniang Kabataan Provincial Convention on April 2 - 5, 2009 at City Travel Hotel, Baguio City with the theme “Simulain ng Batang Zambaleno: Adhikaing Pang-Kabataan; Tagumpay Pinoy Ito”.

The Convention aims to develop the participants into an empowered youth sector in participating in the government affairs, particularly as advocates on environmental protection and on livelihood venturing.

In this regard, may we respectfully request you to be one as our Resource Speaker on April 3, 2009 (afternoon slot) to share about Youth Empowerment thru Dynamism, Nationalism, and Social Reform that the Sangguniang Kabataan of Zambales would be developed their experience and expertise to govern and guide their fellow youth in the community.

Thank you for your continued support for the Kabataang Zambaleno.

Very truly yours;

Hon. JJ D. BILLMAN
PPSK President

*JJ/amy

GlobalBalita Series April #1

Welcome to GlobalBalita.com!

GlobalBalita.com is dedicated to publishing articles about Filipinos and all that affect them.
The new site will still have all the content you’ve come to love here—we’ve just made it a lot easier to navigate through. We will also introduce the Pinoy Forum (an online message board) where you can have discussions or share your opinions with other Filipinos. Look for that in the next month.

We’re still making enhancements to the site and would love your feedback on the progress thus far. You can now subscribe to our RSS Feed, making it easier for you to see the latest articles. Feel free to comment or email perrydiaz@gmail.com.

Thank you for following PerryScope.org and all of its contributors. The site was successful because of the readers. We look forward to meeting you here at GlobalBalita.com where you can find all the previously published stories from PerryScope.org as well as new ones.

LATEST FROM GLOBAL BALITA

We have nine very interesting news, opinions, and stories today:

1. Billy Esposo in his article, "How Tony Blair can complicate the peace process," writes: "Unable to see the big picture, the nation finds itself grasping at straws and clinging to false Messiahs and palliative solutions that do not address our real core problems."

2. Tony Abaya in his article, "Second-Round Vote," writes: "If our constitutional geniuses had thought of inserting a run-off or second round vote in the 1987 Constitution, every president elected since then would have enjoyed the support of the majority of voters from Day One and, perhaps, would have governed with more consensus and support from the electorate, instead of the endless bickering that marks every presidential term in this country."

3. Atty. Ernesto B. Francisco, Jr. in his article, "Ombudsman takes 80 million Filipinos for fools," writes: "This latest move of the Office of the Ombudsman (“Ombudsman”) to spare First Gentleman Jose Miguel “Mike” Arroyo and other individuals prominently mentioned in the World Bank reports from preliminary investigation and from the risk - no matter how remote - of being charged before the Sandiganbayan, coupled with the ploy of passing on its job of investigating them to the National Bureau of Investigation (“NBI”), is totally disgusting and sickening."

4. Hong Kong columnist Chip Tsao's controversial article, "The War at Home," has created worldwide furor over his insulting article in regard to the Spartly baseline issue." He writes: "There are more than 130,000 Filipina maids working as $3,580-a-month cheap labor in Hong Kong. As a nation of servants, you don’t flex your muscles at your master, from whom you earn most of your bread and butter." Read some of the readers' comments.

5. Ellen Tordesillas in her article, "Mikey, truly the son of Gloria and Mike," writes about Congressman Mikey Arroyo's effort to get House support for Charter Change which many believe is an attempt to keep his mother stay in power beyond 2010.

6. Herman Tiu Laurel in his article, "For truth and justice," writes: "For one, DNA examination of the alleged Dacer-Corbito bone fragments by the University of the Philippines Natural Sciences Research Institute stated thus: “Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) analysis targeting the 121 bp intergenic region of the COH and tRNAlys genes of the mitochondrion gave NEGATIVE RESULTS for the presence of human DNA.” In lay language, what Herman was saying is: the bones claimed by the government to belong to Dacer and Corbito are not human bones.

7. Reginald Tamayo in his article, "Wanted: Honest leaders and people," writes: "In our search for the new breed of leaders, honesty to one self and to others should be the first criterion. Anybody who presents himself as a leader but knows too well that he cannot do the job is a dishonest leader."

8. Bert M. Drona in his article, "THE FILIPINO MIND: Decolonizing the Filipino (Mind) - A Brief Sketch," writes about the nationalist struggle to "decolonize" the Filipino.

9. Ben Serrano in his article, "The search for that elusive lasting peace in Mindanao in the eyes of the Presidential wanabees," writes: "With 2010 presidential election fever is about to start (until November 30 when they filed their certificate of candidacies), we have not seen or heard any of among eight or nine presidentiables talking about Mindanao. What are their agendas for Mindanao? How will they do it?"

Once again, GLOBAL BALITA TODAY strives to bring to your "doorstep" interesting articles for your reading pleasure.

All the best,
Perry Diaz

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

How Tony Blair can complicate the peace process

AS I WRECK THIS CHAIR
by William M. Esposo
from Philstar

An event of the past week demonstrated anew the pathetic state of the national mind and how it fails to see the big picture. Unable to see the big picture, the nation finds itself grasping at straws and clinging to false Messiahs and palliative solutions that do not address our real core problems.

Such is the case of Peace Process Presidential Adviser Avelino Razon’s proposal to engage former British Prime Minister Tony Blair as an adviser for the Mindanao Peace Process. Whether Razon [...]

To read more, click here How Tony Blair can complicate the peace process

*******************************
Second-Round Vote
by Antonio C. Abaya
from Standard Today

The framers of our 1987 Constitution were not thinking when they prescribed a multi-party political system but failed to provide the mechanism for making that system function more democratically.

I am referring to the absence of a run-off or second round ballot. We have been so used to the American-style two-party system, in which one party usually gets 50 percent plus-1, or the numerical majority of votes cast, that when we switched to the more democratic multi-party system, our constitutionalists failed to make provisions to make sure [...]

To read more, click here Second-Round Vote

*******************************
‘Ombudsman takes 80 million Filipinos for fools’
by Atty. Ernesto B. Francisco, Jr.

This latest move of the Office of the Ombudsman (“Ombudsman”) to spare First Gentleman Jose Miguel “Mike” Arroyo and other individuals prominently mentioned in the World Bank reports from preliminary investigation and from the risk - no matter how remote - of being charged before the Sandiganbayan, coupled with the ploy of passing on its job of investigating them to the National Bureau of Investigation (“NBI”), is totally disgusting and sickening. This is too much. This also proves that the Ombudsman really takes 80 million [...]

To read more, click here ‘Ombudsman takes 80 million Filipinos for fools’

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

The War at Home

Read the comments from readers at the end of the article. Interesting comments.
— Perry Diaz

Source: http://hk-magazine.com/feature/war-home
by Chip Tsao

The Russians sank a Hong Kong freighter last month, killing the seven Chinese seamen on board. We can live with that—Lenin and Stalin were once the ideological mentors of all Chinese people. The Japanese planted a flag on Diàoyú Island. That’s no big problem—we Hong Kong Chinese love Japanese cartoons, Hello Kitty, and shopping in Shinjuku, let alone our round-the-clock obsession with karaoke.

But hold on—even the Filipinos? Manila has just claimed sovereignty [...]

To read more, click here The War at Home

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

Mikey, truly the son of Gloria and Mike

by Ellen Tordesillas
Mikey Arroyo, son of Gloria and Mike Arroyo, who represents the second district of Pampanga in the House of Representatives, must really take all Filipinos to be stupid.
He thinks we could not see through the deception in the still- to- be filed resolution of Camarines Sur Representative Luis Villafuerte “calling upon all members of Congress to convene for the purpose of considering proposals to amend or revise the Constitution, upon a vote of three-fourths of all the members of Congress.”

In all his interviews about his having approached former [...]

To read more, click here Mikey, truly the son of Gloria and Mike

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

For truth and justice

by Herman Tiu Laurel
from The Daily Tribune

“It is in justice that the ordering of society is centered.”—Aristotle

If we are a topsy-turvy society today, it is because justice has been overtaken by power politics and the use of force and deception. This is what can be observed in many of our most celebrated crime mysteries, from the Ninoy Aquino, Lean Alejandro, and Popoy Lagman assassinations to the present and highly charged Dacer-Corbito case. Even though all have been marred by still many unanswered questions, accusers in the present instance do not have [...]

To read more, click here For truth and justice

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

Wanted: Honest leaders and people

by Reginald Tamayo

Looking for new breed of leaders is one of the most widely talked about topic nowadays. This is understandable considering that 2010 election is fast approaching. It is our wish as Filipinos to have leaders that can inspire and enrich our lives, leaders who can serve our best interests and liberate us from poverty. We don’t need leaders who manipulate us, peddle lies and leaders who are greedy, and immoral.

Do we have these new breed of leaders today who have a sense of mission and direction to [...]

To read more, click here Wanted: Honest leaders and people

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

THE FILIPINO MIND : Decolonizing the Filipino (Mind) - A Brief Sketch

by Bert M. Drona

A few decades ago, our great nationalist Prof. Renato Constantino (1919-1999) wrote: “The true Filipino is a decolonized Filipino.”

During the late 1960s, Filipino nationalism was approaching its zenith when President Marcos, constrained by the Constitution with its presidential term limits but wanting to stay in power, declared Martial Law. Marcos glibly equated Filipino nationalism with communism to rekindle the “fear of communism” and thus gain support from the middle class, the Catholic Church and most of the elite. With his US-supported dictatorship, Marcos issued proclamations that allowed [...]

To read more, click here THE FILIPINO MIND : Decolonizing the Filipino (Mind) - A Brief Sketch

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

The search for that elusive lasting peace in Mindanao in the eyes of the Presidential wannabes

by Ben Serrano

BUTUAN CITY- In past elections and even until now, when 2010 election fever is about to commence (or has started?), no Presidential wannabes have presented specific, measurable, attainable, reliable and time bound plans for solving that elusive peace and development in Mindanao.

While we are bragging to be the “food basket” supplying 60% of food supply requirements of the whole archipelago, we end up sometimes empty basket full of promises, hopes and aspirations in the boulevard of broken (LEGACY) dreams.
While Mindanao inhabitants now close to 17-M (16-M I think) [...]

To read more, click here The search for that elusive lasting peace in Mindanao in the eyes of the Presidential wannabes

Visit www.GlobalBalita.com for more news, updates and to comment.

END

Keep Echoing!