tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-93714582024-03-07T17:22:13.715+08:00Students of EnglishA comfortable place for Mila D. Aguilar's literature & language studentsmdahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11932277031824274539noreply@blogger.comBlogger103125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9371458.post-24952202794194754002015-12-31T12:20:00.000+08:002016-01-05T15:33:34.846+08:00A Platform for 2016 Presidential Candidates<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjp10GdQtJeEeEjlJBkcUjNaa9sObYB30j3yhjxqSiIBONz4oL6zyhyphenhypheniz5tVUkJJ2Y-ky_ntV0YcFX9myaS95IivVWUjWJr61C46ONmC7wzoRHIHFVAZMSU9N8iXmutI_MUnBw8zQ/s1600/Voter+pref+Dec.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="190" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjp10GdQtJeEeEjlJBkcUjNaa9sObYB30j3yhjxqSiIBONz4oL6zyhyphenhypheniz5tVUkJJ2Y-ky_ntV0YcFX9myaS95IivVWUjWJr61C46ONmC7wzoRHIHFVAZMSU9N8iXmutI_MUnBw8zQ/s400/Voter+pref+Dec.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Source: BusinessWorld</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: large;">by Mila D. Aguilar</span></h4>
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<span style="font-size: large;">There is such a dearth of depth among 2016 presidential candidates that I feel obliged to advance a platform, whether they like it or not.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">One candidate so thrives on logical fallacies of the ad misericordiam and evasion variety that I have dismissed her from my list of choices, no matter my being told that a friend of mine, a renowned economist and columnist, has been crafting one for her. I wonder why it’s taken so long; is it because she can’t grasp it?</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Another candidate loves violence so dearly, his followers closed to anything other than gunning after criminals as their one and only program (only after “peace and order” can we start talking about the economy, they simplistically declare), that I can’t even get the need for a platform past their heads.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">And a third candidate is so corrupt, such a lover of the politics of patronage, that he would rob the coffers of the nation blind just so he could let the masses eat cake — and himself and his family, the prime beef of Batangas.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Would any one of the three ever be able to grasp the need for a platform?</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Would the fourth and fifth candidates, the last of whom will definitely not win, appreciate the platform I personally think will drive the country forward in the next six, and not only six, but twenty years?</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I have no idea, but I can at least try.</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">Vs Corruption</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I start with the assumption that the fight against corruption is the first order of the day, and that the Daang Matuwid of the Aquino administration is basically correct, and has to be carried forward.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Of course, the opposition will howl that it was all a show, but theirs is the burden to prove their contentions. As far as I can see, they have not, and a fair number of high officials known far and wide for their seedy affairs are already in jail.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Why is it important for whoever wins to carry this program forward? Because, as Proverbs 14:34 says, “Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Righteousness and corruption are exact opposites. Corruption is sin, and sin is corruption. Sin is conscious detachment from God — His love, His mercy and His provision. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">When one is corrupt, one looks for ways to get to one’s goal of wealth, fame, power or position by oneself, without trust in God’s love, mercy and provision.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Righteousness is having so much faith and trust in God that one asks Him all the time for the things one needs, for the things one aspires to. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">And gets them — God’s pure, untrammelled way.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">That is why righteousness was a bedrock of the Bangon Pilipinas platform, which I helped craft. That the campaign of Noynoy in 2010 was able to simplify and popularize it as Daang Matuwid is a tribute to the brains behind it, whosever those were.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Juan Pusong</b> </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The battle against corruption, however, hasn’t ended. Corruption is present not only in the highest rungs of government but up to the very bottom of the poorest of the poor.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I have been studying this phenomenon more than two decades, and call it the Juan Pusong Syndrome. It is the tendency of every Filipino to get by through tricksterism. In Tagalog it is called pang-iisa, panloloko, panggagantso — pagiging mapamaraan.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">It is the tendency to get around rules, scramble after goodies, toady up to the rich with the express purpose of currying favours from them — without God, without regard for law and order, and sometimes without regard for one’s neighbours.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Now you know what I mean. Now you know why you can’t assign corruption only to the top rungs of government.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The phenomenon is so prevalent that if we were to rely on a Strongman to dish out warnings every Christmas that criminals will not hear a Christmas message from him ever again, our Strongman would end up becoming a genocidal president worse than Hitler, wiping out almost 100 million from the face of the earth.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">So how to solve the problem?</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Economics, Education, Social Justice and Welfare.</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: x-large;">I. ECONOMICS: The Foundation</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Why do the majority of Filipinos resort to tricksterism? Why is the Juan Pusong Syndrome so prevalent among us?</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The simple answer is: Because we have this seemingly insurmountable feeling that we are Have Nots. And so, we have to scramble. Some would call that our Poverty Mentality.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The Poverty Mentality persists — even when we have actually built houses good enough to live in.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">How do we battle the poverty mentality that leads to tricksterism and corruption?</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Do we do it by begging for foreign investments so that we can create “jobs, jobs, jobs”?</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">No. That only worsens the people’s poverty mentality, making them dependent on largesse while forcing them to become slaves to foreign whims, and the whole nation in thrall to foreign monopoly capital — as well as the politicians who invite it.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">But that is exactly what the slogan “Walang Maiiwan” means, even if now slightly and temporarily tweaked to “Walang Iwanan” because of the particular candidate’s present needs. “Walang Maiiwan” is an expression of patronage politics — Tangkilikin niyo lang ako, walang maiiwan sa inyo.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">That is exactly what a dealer in cakes would do, no matter how much he declares his patriotism and nationalism (which, by the way, he hasn’t lately, perhaps for purposes of getting the CIA off-track).</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">That is exactly what a Strongman will end up with, ignorant of the economy as he is.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Will the neoliberal do the same? If he is smart, he will include major foreign investments in his program, but NOT as a linchpin of the economy. The real linchpin of his economic platform should be the only program that can remove the dependence of the masses from patronage politics AND ensure a corruption-free climate forever:</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: x-large;">1. Push ENTREPRENEURSHIP: The Linchpin</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">A real entrepreneurship program would target the development of a number of entrepreneurs equal to the number of OFWs, earning more or less the same amount per month.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">If there are still 10 million OFWs, then we should have 10 million entrepreneurs in the land.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">If these OFWs are earning, on the average, P50,000 a month, then our local entrepreneurs should be earning at least P50,000 a month.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Why these targets? Because the current OFW count supports ⅓ of the population. If they are matched by as many entrepreneurs, then another ⅓ of the population are afforded support.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The more entrepreneurs, the more jobs. The more jobs, the more wealth. The more wealth, the less corruption.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">We can start entrepreneurial training on families of government employees, which count almost two million including casuals. They alone have an effective family reach of 10 million. Just 10 percent of these becoming entrepreneurs is already a big boost to our economy <b>and</b> a big anti-corruption factor.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Foreign investments won’t be able to match the number of jobs created by local entrepreneurs, nor the sense of independence and confidence that entrepreneurship can build.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Is the current administration already doing this? Yes, but lamely. An entrepreneurial movement IS building up — spontaneously — but not enough of it is spurred by government efforts. If government efforts were really thorough, we would already have 10 million entrepreneurs today who create and manufacture products, and not only buy and sell goods. Today, we have millions of salespeople, but not millions of businesspeople.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">This is because the entrepreneurial thrust of the government does not only have no target numbers; it also has a flimsy base. So far, the base it counts on is tourism, which is seasonal and limited.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">What would constitute a more massive base for entrepreneurship?</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: x-large;">2. Require Organic and Natural Agriculture</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Filipinos love eating. There are 100 million Filipinos. What could be a better day-to-day market than the Philippines? And how do you feed such a large population?</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Through agriculture, naturally.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">But the agriculture on which we will grow entrepreneurship should be organic and natural, because that is what will differentiate it from the world.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Never mind that the Monsanto/Syngenta lobby at Los Baños and IRRI is strong and powerful and one Upsilonian brod of an LP senatorial candidate is peddling dangerous chemical pesticides. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">If the current and future administration were really honest in its concern for the health and welfare of Filipinos, it would champion organic and natural agriculture even with the limited budget it has allotted to the DA.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"> We already have a number of prime examples of entrepreneurship based on agriculture. Negros Occidental’s Muscovado is doing fine. So fine that many are aping it. We have a lot of virgin coconut oil brands. Human Nature is proliferating all over. We even have cough medicines and liniments made from local leaves. But we need many more of these, and in much bigger quantities.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The government has to make a movement out of organic and natural agriculture, one officially built into its platform, one declared to the consumer public and the world market.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Everybody, including military families, should be taught organic and natural urban as well as rural farming, both as a means of subsistence and as a business.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Those who are inclined to business (target: 10M) should be taught basic product creation and processing, packaging, management, accounting and marketing.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Can the government start thinking in terms of movements, instead of bureaucracies? Yes it can, given the right president.</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: x-large;">3. Build Up Infrastructure and Software Manufacturing</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"> Pushing the above to completion means easing governmental red tape and building the roads, bridges, air, sea and land transport necessary to bring products from one region to another. All these the present administration has put in place, and can be improved upon further.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">But what would further support it on the business side is a robust Internet infrastructure. What is this program to spread the Internet into towns with a paltry 250 kbps speed? That is grindingly and shamefully slow. A key aspect of a presidential platform should be the targeting of Internet access at international standards, now a minimum of 10 mbps.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">This is crucial if we want enterprises in the Philippines to grow. With marketing and transactions done through the Internet, all businesses will fall into place.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Beyond agriculture and infrastructure, a worthy presidential platform would also be aware of the benefits of encouraging software manufacture in the Philippines as another leg of its entrepreneurial program. This means putting up Silicon Valley-type areas in all provinces on top of the ubiquitous call centres that are, while giving jobs, also unproductive for the country in the long run.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">We CAN become a world centre of software manufacture, especially entrepreneurial software manufacture, if we want to. Hardware is difficult to achieve because it requires manufacturing processes that we are not yet used to, but software is so easy, even children can do it. It just takes a little vision to see the benefits of software manufacture for the country.</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: x-large;">4. Plan Cheap Natural and Sustainable Sources of Energy & Transport</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">We cannot encourage entrepreneurship, nor even foreign investments, without lowering the cost of electricity. Aside from puncturing the current albatrosses that balloon such costs, we have to think in the long-term. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">A circumspect, smart presidency would use all the R&D at its command to plan a wide range of cheap natural and sustainable sources of energy all over the land — a combination of wind, solar, water, fungal, bacterial, and whatever new discovery there is that is appropriate to every region.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">A systematic nationwide plan for cheap and sustainable transportation should also be crafted.</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: x-large;">5. Launch Mining R&D</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">It is no secret that the Philippines is a treasure of minerals for the technological age. We are a constant target of Big Mining, which is why the Mining Act of 1995 was signed into law.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">But Big Mining does wonders only for the bursting pockets of foreign and local speculators and wreaks havoc on the environment.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">We know what it has done to the Lumads as well as to military brigades used to protect Big Mining interests.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Yet mining can become a rich source of income for the national coffers, properly handled.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">That is why it is time to launch genuine R&D into mining processes that are humane, environmentally-friendly, and community-profitable.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">A presidency that targets a robust economy will immediately launch mining R&D before allowing Big Mining to encroach on the land, and in mid-term be able to teach organized Lumad communities to harvest their mines in an environmentally-friendly way, without gouging out mountains.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">WITH THESE FIVE PILLARS on which to build our economic foundation, what can stop us from becoming an Asian tiger?</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">But to ensure that the five pillars can withstand shock, we have to build our educational system into them.</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: x-large;">II. EDUCATION: The Economy’s Steel Bars & Cement</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">No matter how far left or right I may be, objectivity demands that I credit the present administration for giving highest budgetary priority to education and health, a decades-old demand come true. Any president who takes over must work on that basis — needless to say, WITHOUT corruption.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">But all instruments of education must be geared toward the primary thrust of government, which is Entrepreneurship, Negosyo ng Masa, based principally on Organic & Natural Agriculture, using a speedy Internet for marketing and efficient transportation for delivery, on Software developed locally for the global market, with plenty of R&D involved especially in terms of Mining.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">To achieve these for the long-term, over a twenty-year program, the DepEd, CHED and other governmental agencies must:</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: x-large;">1. Build Entrepreneurially-Geared Public Education</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Entrepreneurs start young, like politicians do. Or, for that matter, actors, singers, beauty queens, and boxers, our sorry fields of choice for the moment.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">If we want to develop 10 million steady entrepreneurs in the first six years, another 10 million in the next six years, and the growth of small-scale to medium-scale and medium-scale to large-scale in the third, we must have a systematic program in place.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">It can start with Grade 1. Science can be geared towards the making of products — little toys made with tiny hands. Math can be geared towards buying and selling those products. Language can be geared towards communicating the value of the products made, or lack of them.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">And simple, fun applications can be made on classroom computers, collectively.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">In rural public schools, the vegetable gardens children grow can become a source of commerce, as well as kitchen product manufacture — jams, jellies, capsules.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">As the children grow up, their subjects grow with them. Physics, algebra, geometry and trigonometry lay the foundation for more complex products. Don’t let the Strongman abolish them for the simple task of accounting, which junior high students will already be experts in if they started Grade 1 in an entrepreneurially-based curriculum.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The Department of Education need not set up separate subjects for Entrepreneurship. They are a waste of time, energy and resources. They will never result in the development of 10 million entrepreneurs.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Instead, it should:</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: x-large;">2. Restore History and Geography in Public Schools</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Marcos wiped out the three separate 45-minute subjects of History, Geography and Social Sciences in 1972, replacing them with only one subject, Sibika. This has made four generations of students, now going on its fifth, ahistorical ignoramuses of the lowest order.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The DECS/DepEd through the decades has exacerbated this condition by reducing the role of history in the curriculum regressively, until it became mixed up with music, practical arts and what not in a mere 30 minutes.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The intent is obvious. They want to turn us into ahistorical ignoramuses, the better to oppress and exploit us, of course.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">A sensitive presidency would restore history and geography in our public schools for the simple reason that a historically-attuned and geographically-aware studentry make the best, most innovative, most grounded, and wealthiest entrepreneurs — entrepreneurs who know themselves well because they know their country and its place in the world.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">An insensitive presidency would not see the point at all.</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: x-large;">3. Push Organic & Natural Agriculture in State Colleges & Universities</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Let us leave chemical agriculture to foreign-funded IRRI, and make our agricultural state colleges and universities research on: a) the best commercial plants to grow in every region and province, b) the most effective organic fertilisers and pesticides for these and c) alternative, cheap and locally-built machinery needed to farm large tracts of land organically and naturally.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">UP Los Baños already has a core of professors doing these, despite pressure from IRRI-inclined PhDs. Encourage them to spread their expertise to agricultural state colleges and universities.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">And force the Department of Agriculture to use the technologies already invented in these schools, instead of the GMOs and chemicals palmed off to them by foreign companies!</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: x-large;">4. Establish Software Development Schools</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Computer schools should be forbidden from passing off courses on how to use Word, Excel and Powerpoint as “Computer Education.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">They should be made, instead, to teach real software development, the mastery of various computer languages used in businesses, and the manufacture of useful programs for commerce and consumers.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">A visionary president would program the establishment of software development colleges alongside public K-12 schools within Silicon Valley-type industrial estates all over the country. These would serve as centres of innovation and invention of products that can be sold not only within the nation and abroad.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">It may take 20 years before we see the fruits of such efforts, but we have to start. Now na!</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: x-large;">5. Push Innovative, Relevant R&D in U.P. and State Universities </span></b></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">It is time to put the knowledge stocked by the University of the Philippines and state universities to good use </span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 11px; text-indent: 42.5px;">—</span><span style="font-size: large;"> towards the advancement of the economy.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Whatever happened to U.P.-DOST’s metro rail project? It’s languishing on its rails like a blue-and-white elephant.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Is our premier university at all capable of turning out products that can improve, towards greenness and sustainability, our sources of energy, our means of transportation, our Internet, our mining?</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">A president who acts like a leader can harness the minds in our universities to contribute to the national economy through innovation and invention, provided his own mind is clear as to how to steer the country in the next six years.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">THE PILLARS of EDUCATION rise from the foundation to the ceiling. We wrap around them the protective walls of social justice, and top those with the roof of social welfare.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Without social justice and welfare, we would not have a house at all, just a useless basketball court built for purposes of commission.</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: x-large;">III. SOCIAL JUSTICE and WELFARE</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The current administration has put a lot of effort on its 4Ps and assigned a big budget to Health, which is commendable, but has not assigned enough funds for the all-important justice system. The next administration should immediately address this concern.</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: x-large;">1. Oil the Wheels of Justice</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">To its credit, the PNoy administration suggested a very able Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, one who knows the value of an Internet-based administration of justice.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">But this year, the budget it assigned to the Supreme Court was not enough to fulfil a program that could hasten the wheels of justice in the country.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">A presidency sensitive to the lack of social justice today should program bigger funds in the next few years to complete computerisation of all court records, increase the salaries of court personnel, increase the number of local judges, public prosecutors, as well as public defense lawyers, and secure the databases of the courts into a transparent national system that anyone can readily examine but not be able to tamper with.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">If this isn’t addressed in the next few years, any attempt at building an entrepreneurial base will amount to nothing, because the people at the bottom rung of the ladder will still feel that they have been had.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">They have to be able to easily and speedily, without much expense, resort to the courts for their major grievances.</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: x-large;">2. Institutionalize Military/Police Training in HR, Lumad Rights, Entrepreneurship </span></b></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">It is good that the administration has allocated a significant uncorrupted amount to building up our national defense and police system.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Now, we expect our government to formally, systematically train our military and police men and women in the civilized ways of human and Lumad rights.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Our generals and colonels must learn to refuse demands of Big Mining to muzzle our Lumadnon. They must learn to protect Lumadnon rather than organize paramilitary forces against them.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Military and police families can and must be trained in entrepreneurship — from production, processing, packaging, accounting, managing the enterprise to marketing — so that they can augment the family income without resorting to corruption, and prepare for any contingency as well.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Once trained in entrepreneurship, military and police, which already number more than a million including reservists, and exercise a direct family influence over at least five million, can become a formidable force in creating wealth not only for themselves but for the nation.</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: x-large;">3. Integrate Entrepreneurship into 4Ps and TESDA</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The systematic and corruption-free implementation of 4Ps all over the Philippines has resulted in subsidies for more than four million grade and high schoolers. Studies have shown that giving the poor money while requiring them to look after their own welfare inspires them to move forward, rather than making them dependents forever.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">In this sense, 4Ps is good.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">4Ps has also progressed beyond educational subsidies to livelihood training for 4Ps parents.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">This too is commendable.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">But it is not enough.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">It is not enough to train parents in welding and beauty culture because we have been doing that since Independence Day, without denting the economy.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">It is time to level up our training of the 8M parents in 4Ps. We must also train them in entrepreneurship — from production, processing, packaging, accounting, managing the enterprise to marketing. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Even if only 10 percent of these finally put up enterprises, we shall already have met our target of 10 million, together with all other sectors reached.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The same must be said of TESDA. It must not only train workers for industries abroad, it must also train its welders, mechanics, plumbers, carpenters, computer technicians on how to set up their own enterprises.</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: x-large;">4. Incorporate Light Machinery Manufacture into TESDA Training</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Instead of just training a host of welders, mechanics and computer technicians, it is about time for TESDA to train more of our workers in the manufacture of light machinery for our fledgling enterprises and farms.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">There is no lack of expertise in this area. In Mindanao, there already exists an NGO called Metalworkers Industries Association of the Philippines, or MIAP, which has been producing just such machineries for decades. We can be sure there are many more of such all over the land.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The existence of readily available light, portable, and compact machines is entirely necessary if our barbecue vendors are to progress beyond the grills in front of their houses, farmers beyond their carabaos, and jam makers beyond their homey kitchens. It can jumpstart our entrepreneurial economy by leaps and bounds.</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: x-large;">5. Highlight Native Cures in DOH Health Programs</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Testimonies abound regarding the thousands saved by Tawa-Tawa and Papaya Leaf Juice from dengue.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">But these testimonies spread only by word of mouth and social media, not through any official DOH endorsement.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Thousands of other native cures exist for such diseases as tuberculosis, arthritis and even cancer.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Indeed, these are advocated in public rural health clinics by trained midwives and volunteers, which is good.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Are we as a nation capable of mass-producing these native cures in commercial terms for our urban populace? We already have Pito-Pito and Tawa-Tawa teas as well as a few other products marketed by the enterprising. Is it possible for the DOH and DTI, using the huge budget allotted for health, to spur more of such?</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Surely we can afford to knick powerful foreign Pharma with a president determined to advance our economy?</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">NOW FOR THE LAST QUESTION: Will any of the candidates be bold and perspicacious enough to adopt this platform?</span></div>
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mdahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11932277031824274539noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9371458.post-88974891718716278722015-02-05T17:11:00.001+08:002015-02-06T21:44:39.853+08:00<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-size: x-large;">ORLY B </span></h2>
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(isang maikling kwento)</h2>
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ni Mila D. Aguilar</span></h3>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Pasensiya na, Orly. Dangan kasi ipinamalita mo sa madlangbayan na crush mo ako mula Grade 1.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">E ang ayaw ko pa naman sa lahat yung matingnan nang may malisya. Yung mga tukso ni Freddie, na wari bagay naghihintay na matulad ako sa mga makasalanan sa mundo.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Hindi sa nagmamalinis ako, Orly. Alam ng Diyos ang dungis ko. Kaya lang, sa lahat ng utos ng Diyos, dalawa ang pinakaiiwasan ko. Una, yung pumatay ng tao. Pangalawa, yung mangulimbat ng pag-aari ng nag-aari, ng asawa ng may asawa. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Lahat na siguro ng utos ng Diyos, nilabag ko na, Orly, huwag lang yon. Siguro, ayaw ko lang makasakit ng kapwa. Alam mo yon? </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Pero hindi ibig sabihin na hindi ako nagkasala kailanman, Orly. Ang dami ko pa ring kasalanan sa Diyos at sa kapwa, malamang marami na akong nasaktan nang wala sa isip ko, at siguro isa ka na ron.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">O sige, magkatapatan tayo. Isa lang ang utos ng Diyos sa mga dahilan kung bakit hindi bumukas ang loob ko sa iyo.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Dangan kasi…. Dangan kasi….</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Paano ko ba sasabihin. Kasi, alam mo, unang una na maliit ka, di ba? Grade 1 pa lang tayo maliit ka na. Hindi naman sa nagmamalaki akong matangkad ako, pero mula’t mula pa mas matangkad naman ako sa iyo, di ba?</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">E kung sabagay hindi naman yon ang dahilan kung bakit hindi ako puede maging malapit sa iyo, ano. Kung hindi mo nga lang pinagdikdikan na crush mo ako.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Kaya lang, Orly, at dito sasabihin ko na talaga ha. Yung ano, nitong huling dalawang dekada kasi na ibinunyag mo yon, ewan ko ba, naging gusgusin ka. Tumaba ka sa baywang, para ka nang binaliktad na turumpo. Nawalan ka pa ng mga ngipin. Ang amoy mo, amoy pawis ng kalye. Para kang palaboy.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Sa totoo lang, nainsulto ako sa mga tukso ni Freddie kasi parang gustong ipagdikdikan na puede akong magka-affair hindi lang sa taong may asawa, kundi sa taong palaboy na, bungi pa.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Hayan, nasabi ko na, kaya puede mo na akong kundenahin sa puntong ito.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Kaya lang, kailangan ko nang sabihin, Orly, dahil ang laki talaga ng pagsisisi ko na hindi kita napakitaan man lang ng kaunting pagmamahal.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Dahil sa totoo lang, Orly, minahal naman talaga kita bilang kapatid, at gusto ko sana talagang magpakita sa iyo ng pagkalinga kahit kaunti man lang.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Kaya lang, hayun. Sa tuwing tatawag ka, ang unang maririnig mo sa akin ay “OW, ANO?” sabay singhal, na para bagang lalaki ang kausap mo sa kabilang linya. E kasi baka bigla mo akong ligawan, yun ang ikinatatakot ko sa lahat. Ang sama ko pa namang mambasted.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Makailang beses kitang tinanong kung kumusta na ang asawa mo, di ba? Ilang beses ka namang nagpahiwatig na kundi man kayo hiwalay, hindi ganon kakinis ang pagsasamahan ninyo. Kaya nga nailang ako sa iyo e, kasi hindi ko mawari kung ano ba talaga ang totoo at ano ba talaga ang buhay mo’t tumanda kang palaboy. Kuwento pa nina Cris, Alex at Ipe, kung saan-saan ka nakakarating nitong mga huling taon, mula Naga hanggang Nueva Ecija, at natutulog pa sa kung anu-anong bodega.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Saka lang bumukas ang isip ko nang papunta na kami ni Becky ryan. Ang sabi niya na halos magngilid ang luha, elementary ka pa lang daw ay doon ka na naninirahan sa boarding house ng pinsan mong si Teddy, at naging para kang utusan ng mga boarder roon, pariya’t parito sa kung ano man ang ipagawa nila.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Ganun ba kayo kadukha? Isip-isip ko. Kumirot ang puso ko roon. Kawawa ka naman.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Pero ang una ko pang naisip, hindi yung pagkapobre mo, kundi yung pagkahiwalay mo sa magulang nang maaga pa.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Alam mo kasi Orly, naranasan kong mahiwalay sa magulang e. Pero 16 na ako noon, at nangyari lang yon dahil takot na takot ang nanay kong matanda na mamatay silang mag-asawa habang bata pa ako. Kaya ipinagdorm nila ako ng isang taon, kahit na ang bahay namin ay isang kilometro lang ang layo mula sa unibersidad.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Kahit na naintindihan ko pa ang pakay ng mga magulang ko, naguluhan ako sa areglong yon, Orly. Ang baba ng mga grado ko nung taong yon. At nagkaroon na agad ako ng boypren nung sumunod. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Napagtanto ko na mahirap talagang mawalay ang bata sa magulang, kahit pa man may magandang dahilan ito. Nagkakaroon ng epekto sa bata kahit papano. Hindi magandang epekto.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Kaya yun na nga, dun lang kita nasimulang maintindihan.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Mantakin mo, 65 na ako at ikaw nama’y — 66 ba o 67? Basta hindi magkalayo ang ating edad.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Yun ang buong nasa isip ko habang nagda-drayb papuntang Araneta, kahit na lulan na namin si Elmer at Diana. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Tapos, nung nasa Araneta na, may isa pang tumambad sa isip ko. Nasaan ang Arlington? Tanong ko kay Elmer.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Hindi kasi ako sigurado kung yung Arlington ay yung nasa isip ko, o yun ba yung Paz.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Pero nalampasan namin ang Paz, na nasa kanan banda at pagkatapos na pagkatapos ng — ano ba yung mosoleong iyon? Hindi ko na matandaan.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Ang tanong ko sa tatlong kaklaseng kasama sa sasakyan, yun ba yung may magagandang mga parang bahay, yung Arlington?</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Hindi ko kasi maimagine na nasa Arlington ka, Orly, sa totoo lang, sa mga magagandang gusaling parang bahay.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Kasi ang alam ko, mga mayayaman lang ang nandoon.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Pero yun na nga ang malaking pangalan na tumambad sa amin — Arlington. At grasya ng Diyos, nakapagparking ako sa labas, kahit punong-puno na ng mga kotse ang lugar!</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Ang akala ko, nasa mga bahay ka nga. Kasi yun pa lang ang napupuntahan ko roon. Pero nagtanong si Elmer sa reception, at ang sabi ay doon ka sa building, sa second floor. Ah, isip-isip ko, mas akma.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Pero malaki pala ang kwarto mo sa second floor, at may hiwalay na kumedor pa, na malaki rin at may sariling CR. Ang mga upuan, parang yung sa simbahan, pero may mga komportableng kutson na nakadikit. Siguro kasya ang 50 katao roon. Malaki, kung tutuusin.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Unang bumati sa amin ang anak mong lalaki, na pangalawa ko nang beses nakita, ang una ay sa isang class mini-reunion yata, at ang huli ay bilang alalay mo sa ating Golden Anniversary Dinner-Dance apat na araw pa lang ang nakakaraan. Hindi ko naalala na may nasabi ka pala sa akin noon na nag-adopt ka ng babae, na nakilala ko rin at last noon.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Pero ang pinakamalaking revelation sa akin ay ang iyong asawa, na normal naman pala. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Ang unang tanong ko sa kanya, bakit hindi ka napakilala ni Orly sa amin noon pa? </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Ang sagot niya, “Ako hindi niyo kilala, pero ako kilala ko kayong lahat sa pangalan. Panay ang kwento ni Orly tungkol sa inyo, isa-isa niya kayong kinukwento. E ako naman, sabi ko sa kanya, e hindi ko naman kilala ang mga yon, panay ang kwento mo. Ang sagot nya sa akin, balang araw makikilala mo rin sila.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">At eto na nga, Orly, nagkakila-kilala rin kami. Hay naku, joker ka talaga.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Tapos nagdatingan na ang mga kaklase. Marami ang nagmamahal sa iyo, Orly. Hindi nagkasya sa lugar, kaya nagdala pa ng extrang mga plastic na upuan at ihinilera sa labas.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Nagdatingan din ang mga kapatid mo at iba pang kamag-anak. Puro pala lalaki ang mga kapatid mo? At ikaw ang panganay? Ngayon lang namin nalaman yon.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Nung tiningnan ka namin ng mga kaklase, buong-buong ang mukha mo, panatag na panatag, puno ang mga pisngi, medyo nakangiti pa, di tulad ng pagpunta mo sa simbahan noong ating thanksgiving mass nung Martes na hirap na hirap. At yung suot mo yung dilaw na kamisadentro nung ating Dinner-Dance sumunod na araw, may kurbata pa. Alam kong masaya ka noon, pero hindi ko maialis sa isip kong pasa-pasa na ang mga daliri’t kamay mo sa dialysis. Disenteng-disente na ang itsura mo, Orly, parang hindi naghirap.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">At nung inilabas ng anak mo yung naka-kuadrong picture mo para ilagay sa easel, namangha ako. Ang guapo mo roon, maganda ang ayos ng puting buhok. Parang tao, Orly!</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Yung mga kapatid mo rin at mga asawa nila, sabay na ang iba mo pang mga kamag-anak, mukhang may mga sinabi naman.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Natanong ko tuloy ang anak mo kung saan ba talaga kayo nakatira, sa Las Piñas ba o sa Project 3, dahil ang nakalista sa directory natin ay yung una, pero ang binigay sa akin ng iyong adopted nung hinanap ko ang mapagpapadalhan ng donasyon mula sa kaklase natin abroad ay yung huli. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">At ang sagot niya ay may bahay kayo sa Las Piñas, at nag-board sa Project 3 ang adopted niyo para malapit sa eskwela at trabaho, tapos sinamahan ng iyong asawa para mabantayan. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Tapos ikaw raw ang nagpatayo ng bahay sa Las Piñas, Orly! Mantakin mo yan. Hindi ka naman pala palaboy.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Ang pagkaalam ko customs broker ka dati pero nitong mga huling taon kung anu-ano na ang kinukwento mo sa akin na ginagawa mo, tulad ng pag-aareglo ng mga shows kung saan-saan, kaya hindi ko alam kung ano ang paniniwalaan. Ay ewan. Siguro nga. Ang sabi ng anak mo tumutulong ka raw sa pag-aayos ng mga papeles ng iba’t ibang mga tao sa customs nitong huli. Hayan mapapaniwalaan ko. Pero siguro nga in-between nakakahagilap ka rin ng ibang matatrabaho. Pareho lang siguro tayo.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Yung dalawa mo namang anak mukhang nagtatrabaho na sa call center. At ang asawa mo pala, Orly, ay empleyado sa gubyerno! Napakaistable ng pamilya mo, Orly.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">May apo ka pang maliit sa anak mong lalake na napaka-cute, takbo nang takbo sa malaking kwarto tulad mo nung maliliit pa tayo! Yun daw ang paborito mo, sabi ng iyong asawa.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Mabuti na lang nakapaghanda ng mala-misang programa si Sr. Aida, kaya nagkaroon tuloy ng mga sharing tungkol sa iyo.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Nung una, nagkakahiyaan pa ang mga kaklase, pero kalaunan lumabas din ang mga katatawanan sa buhay mo.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Naikwento ko kasi yung gustong sharing ni Vic para sa iyo. Sinulat niya ito sa Facebook mula Melbourne pa, kaya obligado akong banggitin. Sabi niya, magkasama raw kayo sa camping ng Cub Scouts minsan. May dala kang isang lata ng Libby’s Corned Beef, at siya naman ay may dalawang lata ng Ligo Sardines. Ikaw daw ang nagmungkahing mag-swap kayo — 2 sardinas niya sa isang corned beef mo. Sumang-ayon siya. Pero nung nakain niyo na raw at lahat ang swap niyo, sabi ka nang sabi sa kanya na naisahan ka niya, at lugi ka! Mukhang nag-enjoy ka sa ganong pagkalugi.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Tapos minsan daw sa parehong camping, kiniliti mo yung puwet ng isang kabayo kaya sinipa ka! Naku, Orly, sana hindi yon ang nakaapekto ng kalusugan mo nitong mga huling taon.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Ang kwento naman ni Rene, ang unang pagkakilala niya sa iyo ay nuong kumuha kayo ng test — hindi malinaw, pero wari ko para sa hayskul yon. Magkatabi raw kayo. Pareho raw kayong maliit noon, pero ikaw mas malaki pa ng kaunti kaysa sa kanya. Ang unang tingin niya sa iyo, parang bully at medyo mayabang yata, kasi panay ang bati mo sa lahat ng dumaan. Yung naman pala, sa kalaunan ay nakilala ka rin niya bilang isang mabait at matulungin na kaibigan.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Si Rory naman tumindig para magsabing pinaiyak mo raw siya nuong Grade 3, kasi hinila mo yung buhok niyang mahaba pa noon. Actually dalawa kayong lalaking nasa likod niya kaya hindi siya sigurado kung sino sa inyo, pero pinangungunahan ko na't naikwento mo na rin yata yon minsan at inamin na ikaw yon. Yung teacher daw na lalaki, si Mr. Castillo ba yon, ay hindi raw malaman ang gagawin kaya nagpunit na lang ng panyo sa pagitan ng kanyang matitibay na ngipin!</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">At heto pa, Orly, ngayon ko lang narinig ito! Si Alice pumunta sa harap para magkwento na nawawalan daw siya lagi noon ng baong bread na may palamang cheese at butter. Sarap, di ba? Misterio raw yon ng apat na dekada! Tapos nitong huling mga taon noong umuuwi na siya sa Pilipinas mula sa States, ikaw na mismo ang nagbunyag sa kanya na ikaw pala ang kumukuha. Hahaha!</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Ay, Orly, pati ang mga lalaking kaklase na malalaki nagkwento rin at last. Ang gawain mo raw sampu ng iba pang maliliit, na mukhang ikaw rin ang pasimuno, pinag-aaway-away sila at ginagawan ng kung anu-anong practical joke. E ang seryoso pa naman ng mga yan!</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Hindi ko mapigil humagikhik, kahit dapat solemno ang programa. Dangan kasi!</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Pero yun yata ang nagpalapit ng loob mo sa amin, at amin sa iyo -- yung iyong walang hanggang kapilyuhan.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Lumapit nga ang hipag mo pagkatapos ng mga kwentuhan at sinabing hindi nila akalaing ganun ka, Orly! Dahil sa kanila raw ikaw ang panganay, at bilang panganay ay seryoso. Iba ka sa mga kaklase mo, Orly. Duda ko kami ang tunay mong pamilya.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Kaya abut-abot na lang ang iyak ng iyong anak nung ikwento niya ang paghahanda mo para sa 50th ng klase. Grabe. Alam naman naming 20 porsiyento na lang ng kidney mo ang gumagana, na nagsimula malamang sa matagal mo nang hindi inaalagaang diabetes at high blood. Kaya siguro nung tumanda ka ay nagmukha kang turumpong baliktad, malapad sa ibaba. Gayumpaman, mahal ka ng lahat, Orly.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Ayaw mong magpapigil. Humiling ka raw sa anak mong samahan ka sa Alabang, kung saan naroon ang suki mong barbero, pero hindi siya nakarating sa Quezon City, kung saan mukhang namalagi ka na nung nagsimula ang iyong dialysis. Pero nagpagupit ka pa rin sa Alabang. Mag-isa. Mula pa Quezon City. Kasi gusto mo talagang makarating sa reunion na disente ang itsura.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Sa UP Chapel, tawag ka nang tawag kay Linda W mula alas-10 ng umaga habang nasa daan pa kami galing Tagaytay. E alas-12 pa ang misa. Mabuti na lang nakarating kami ng 11:30.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Iyak ka nang iyak sa isang kaklase nung makita mo. Nung naalarma ang kausap mo't tinanong kung okay ka lang, ang sagot mo, iniiyak mo yung hindi mga nakarating.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Tinulungan ka pa ng babaeng kaklase sa pagsuot ng gold T-shirt natin para sa okasyon dahil hindi mo na kayang isuot.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Tapos, abut-abot ang pasasalamat mo sa mga kaklase nung hinatid ka nila sa Project 3, lulan ng coaster na nakatakda namang maghatid sa lahat.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">At sa huling okasyon, yung Dinner-Dance nga nung Miyerkules, apat na araw pa lang ang nakararaan, sumayaw ka pa sa gilid sa tuwa, kain ka nang kain, at tawa ka nang tawa.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Ang sabi ng anak mo sa gitna ng mga hikbi, para bang hinintay mo lang ang okasyon na yon bago bumigay. Kasi pagkatapos noon, sumakit na raw ang ulo mo. Sa sakit, ipinupukpok mo pa raw sa pader. Ayaw mo nang kumain. Tapos, biglang tumigil na lang ang puso mo alas-3 ng umaga ng Linggo sa ospital na pinagdalhan sa iyo, 30 minutos pagkatapos magsiuwian ang iyong mag-anak dahil sabi ng doctor okay ka na.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Pero hindi ka okay, Orly. Alam ko yon, dahil ramdam kong paalis ka na nuong dumalo ka sa reunion. Nangingitim na ang mga bisig mo, Orly, marami ka nang pasa sa kamay.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Gusto ko ngang kausapin ka tungkol kay Hesus nung gabi ng ating Dinner-Dance, pero nakalimutan ko dahil sa saya. Sorry talaga, Orly. Sorry talaga, Jesus.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Siguro may agam-agam pa rin ako tungkol sa iyo noon. Kasi sabi nga ni Cris, nitong mga nagdaang taon, nabanggit mong bukas ka sa pag-aattend ng Bible study ko, pero sa isang dahilan lang — dahil crush mo ako. Haay, Orly. Sana nga lang natuto ako, sa pagtanda ko, na hindi matakot sa crush-crush na yan.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Sorry talaga, Orly.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Patawad!</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Patawad.</span></div>
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mdahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11932277031824274539noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9371458.post-27170841662847896452014-10-15T12:45:00.002+08:002014-10-18T18:36:26.579+08:00Whimsical but serious :)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-size: x-large; letter-spacing: 0px;">Tago</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Ni Mila D. Aguilar</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0px;">Paikli nang paikli </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Ang buhok ng</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Kapatid ko sa</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Pananampalataya.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Gayong natanggal</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Na baho ng kanyang</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Hininga. Nagawan din</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Ng paraan ng doktor</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Niyang batikan.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Kaya lang, hindi </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Nawala kanyang</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Pagkabalisa</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Na makapangumbabaw</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Sa sinumang babaeng</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Kinagigiliwan.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Kaya hayan,</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Nauupaw sa harap</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">At sa bumbunan.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Dangan kasi,</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Ayaw ibigay </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Sa Panginoon </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Kanyang</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Ay, oo</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Nga</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Pala.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Babae siya.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Setyembre 23, 2014</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 11px; letter-spacing: 0px;">10:30 - 10:45 am</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhY-nQ92-SCvaZxJmeJvv1WSIsOuZGaP0QMlxmeAMVbnK73_nxscYZjSUHYQWLF2ZIfdrHNicYRRSeOAjBzHacPMrbdWv9Oqb2bxgemmRO4F7wthSbiK4TBFNRynOcnzHeFjhTrmg/s1600/Tboys.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhY-nQ92-SCvaZxJmeJvv1WSIsOuZGaP0QMlxmeAMVbnK73_nxscYZjSUHYQWLF2ZIfdrHNicYRRSeOAjBzHacPMrbdWv9Oqb2bxgemmRO4F7wthSbiK4TBFNRynOcnzHeFjhTrmg/s1600/Tboys.JPG" height="320" width="136" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqjBngKfPQJfm00y-6zfEd9MYCdhCK_JIS1v566cDt5p09Ir8Qav-tGcM4lsZOOK8iBINrO2hAP5NoG_yQL4xGwsoTtn0Jw8Ff9RmHLPu5axd2v3etCxCNb1uEa8jEiGoR334xFw/s1600/NgAtNang.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqjBngKfPQJfm00y-6zfEd9MYCdhCK_JIS1v566cDt5p09Ir8Qav-tGcM4lsZOOK8iBINrO2hAP5NoG_yQL4xGwsoTtn0Jw8Ff9RmHLPu5axd2v3etCxCNb1uEa8jEiGoR334xFw/s1600/NgAtNang.PNG" height="320" width="320" /></a></div>
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mdahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11932277031824274539noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9371458.post-32170871090270972472013-11-25T17:52:00.000+08:002013-11-25T17:53:09.103+08:00Where Are My iGlasses? <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">By Mila D. Aguilar</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Who would use Google Glass while walking or driving? Anyone crazy enough to do so would most likely run into an accident. Or at the very least get dizzy viewing the Internet on a jog. So what is it for, then? There are already all manner of iDevices for Internet consumption purposes.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">The iGlasses I want are more practical. They could serve as real eyeglasses and sunglasses, and could even take photos and videos -- using my eyes as point of view.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">I don't have 20/20 vision. I'm near-sighted and astigmatic. I don't appreciate Google building a pair of glasses that's not meant for my eyes, and will take one more year to upgrade to optical lenses.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">The iGlasses I want will adjust to my grade according to my optician's prescription, without her having to keep on grinding lenses for it. For a start, she may program it, but later, as the iGlasses acquire better hardware and software, the device itself will adjust to my eyes' visual needs.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Since I'm already a senior citizen, it can even adjust to my reading needs, obliterating the need for "doble vista," or two different lenses stacked one on top of the other.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px; min-height: 16px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Now wouldn't that be something! It will also darken and lighten automatically according to my location. When I'm outside my house, it becomes a pair of sunglasses. At night, it lightens my vision so well it could even lend me infra-red, if I so wish.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px; min-height: 16px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">In fact, I could zoom in on the tiniest speck of dust if I wanted, and zoom out just as easily.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px; min-height: 16px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">But that wouldn't be all I could do with it. I am both a photographer and a videographer, and have always believed that the eye is the best camera in the world. With the iGlasses, I could take the most artistic photos and videos in the world, and upload them to wherever I want with the flick of a finger.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px; min-height: 16px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Of course, this last function would need the aid of another iDevice, like an iWatch, iPhone, iPad or iPod. Whether through Bluetooth, WiFi, or more advanced means of communication, the iGlasses will be able to stream or send the photos and videos it takes to the Internet through these other more robust devices, which can be on my wrist or in my pocket or bag.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px; min-height: 16px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">I can tap on the rim of my iGlasses to take a photo, then double tap to send. To assure accuracy, I can view what I am about to take on any of my iDevices and tap or send from there.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px; min-height: 16px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">That will also make it possible for me to place my iGlasses on the table and take a photo or video without my subject knowing!</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px; min-height: 16px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">And because my iGlasses can zoom in and out according to my instructions, whether by moving two fingers on my iDevice or sliding my hand over the handles of the glasses, I can take a telephoto or macro shot whenever I like.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px; min-height: 16px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Wouldn't that be exceedingly more fun and creative than viewing the Internet from a Google Glass? Or shooting photos and videos from a helmet perched on my head? It will take a lot of product research and development, but I know that, given a year or two, or perhaps three, it can be done.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px; min-height: 16px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<br />
<div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Especially if Apple with its excellent fashion design sense were to put its mind to it.</span></div>
</div>
mdahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11932277031824274539noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9371458.post-20401577000827318892013-10-17T10:43:00.002+08:002014-10-15T12:50:43.179+08:00Beast<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
<div style="font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 14px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">By Mila D. Aguilar</span><span style="font-size: 12px; letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica;">
<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0px;">Beast expiring fast</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica;">
<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Like a cat refusing death</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica;">
<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Falls on its flat feet</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 14px;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 14px;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 14px;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><i><span style="font-size: xx-small;">October 15, 2013</span></i></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><i><span style="font-size: xx-small;">5:30 am</span></i></span></div>
</div>
mdahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11932277031824274539noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9371458.post-55938213517114523142013-10-17T10:41:00.004+08:002014-10-15T12:51:27.037+08:00End Days<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
<div style="font-family: Helvetica;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">By Mila D. Aguilar</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica;">
<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0px;">Satan's last hurrah</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica;">
<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Spewed in an echo chamber</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica;">
<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Sounds multifarious</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 14px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><i><span style="font-size: xx-small;">October 15, 2013</span></i></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><i><span style="font-size: xx-small;">5:00 pm</span></i></span></div>
</div>
mdahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11932277031824274539noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9371458.post-14598173180328221492013-02-25T10:53:00.002+08:002014-10-15T12:52:23.011+08:00Poem for My Friends<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
<div style="font-family: Helvetica;">
<span style="font-size: x-large; letter-spacing: 0px;"><b>This Poem is For You, My Friends</b></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">By Mila D. Aguilar</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica;">
<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0px;">The gods who would take over</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica;">
<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Our God’s universe</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica;">
<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Are big and small.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica;">
<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">One is tall, lanky</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica;">
<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Proud of gait</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica;">
<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Though restrained now</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica;">
<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">By knowledge of the</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica;">
<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Oracle.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica;">
<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">He sends microbes into</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica;">
<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Our bodies through the air</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica;">
<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">We breath and the food</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica;">
<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">We eat and yes, even the water</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica;">
<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">We drink, ridding the earth</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica;">
<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Of half of its population</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica;">
<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">The better to rule.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 14px;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica;">
<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">These gods think</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica;">
<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">They could illuminate us</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica;">
<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">But our God’s Light shines</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica;">
<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Above them all.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica;">
<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Despite the worms</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica;">
<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Invading our wombs</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica;">
<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Our colons our breasts</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica;">
<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Our Redeemer lives.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica;">
<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">He lives in the love</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica;">
<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">You have sent to me</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica;">
<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">And to all those who need</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica;">
<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">To overcome </span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica;">
<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">The cancers sent</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica;">
<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">By these gods </span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica;">
<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Who would rule.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 14px;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica;">
<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">My Redeemer lives</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica;">
<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">In the fresh winds</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica;">
<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Of your warmth</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica;">
<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">In the food you offer</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica;">
<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Unmodified by any</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica;">
<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Dark science of profit,</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica;">
<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">In the clear living water</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica;">
<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Of the streams of your love</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica;">
<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Unpolluted by desire.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica;">
<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">And because </span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica;">
<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">My Redeemer lives</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica;">
<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">I will continue</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica;">
<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">To live in you,</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica;">
<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Fighting these gods</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica;">
<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Who would rule,</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica;">
<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Not to the death,</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica;">
<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">For our Redeemer lives,</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica;">
<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">But to eternal life</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica;">
<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">And His Kingdom,</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica;">
<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Which will be the rule.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 14px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica;">
<span style="font-size: xx-small; letter-spacing: 0px;"><i>February 25, 2013</i></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica;">
<span style="font-size: xx-small; letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><i>9:49 - 10:19 am</i></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica;">
<span style="font-size: xx-small; letter-spacing: 0px;"><i>(Specially dedicated to Vince Pozon, who also underwent surgery last night, this time for colon cancer stage 1)</i></span></div>
</div>
mdahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11932277031824274539noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9371458.post-74554667485154254562013-02-14T17:21:00.003+08:002014-10-15T12:54:25.245+08:00A Valentine's Day Poem<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
<div style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua';">
<span style="font-size: x-large; letter-spacing: 0px;"><b>Carrying Eve</b></span></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua'; min-height: 18px;">
<span style="font-size: 14px; letter-spacing: 0px;"><br /></span>
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">By Mila D. Aguilar</span><span style="font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></span></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua'; font-size: 14px; min-height: 17px;">
<br />
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua';">
<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0px;">Carrying Eve</span></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua';">
<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">In the womb of my mind</span></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua';">
<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Four decades</span></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua';">
<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">As I ran through </span></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua';">
<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">My country of birth </span></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua';">
<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">And choice</span></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua';">
<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">To taste of </span></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua';">
<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">The Tree of Knowledge,</span></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua';">
<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">I finally encountered</span></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua';">
<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">The Tree of Life</span></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua';">
<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Tall and imposing</span></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua';">
<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Majestic to my</span></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua';">
<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Nubile mind</span></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua';">
<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Without question</span></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua';">
<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">My best decision.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua'; min-height: 14px;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua';">
<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">My retroverted</span></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua';">
<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Womb</span></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua';">
<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">That had gone through</span></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua';">
<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Twelve hours of labor</span></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua';">
<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">And then wanted no more</span></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua';">
<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">That had gone through</span></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua';">
<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Month after month</span></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua';">
<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Of blood and pain</span></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua';">
<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">And then wanted no more</span></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua';">
<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Had to be cleaned out after.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua'; min-height: 14px;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua';">
<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">And now, following</span></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua';">
<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Two decades and three</span></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua';">
<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">In the Lord and country</span></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua';">
<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Of my choice,</span></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua';">
<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">It has been cleaned out</span></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua';">
<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Again, as if there were</span></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua';">
<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Not enough of</span></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua';">
<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Rasping away</span></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua';">
<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">At Eve's sin.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua';">
<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">I want no more of it.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua';">
<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">I wish to be</span></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua';">
<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">A resurrected body</span></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua';">
<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Neutered by my God</span></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua';">
<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Living, eating, drinking</span></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua';">
<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Among you all</span></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua';">
<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Husbanded by no one</span></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua';">
<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">But my heavenly</span></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua';">
<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0px;">Redeemer.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small; letter-spacing: 0px;">February 14, 2013</span></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua';">
<span style="font-size: xx-small; letter-spacing: 0px;">2:58 - 3:27 pm</span></div>
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mdahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11932277031824274539noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9371458.post-32239560335475013962013-02-14T16:12:00.001+08:002014-10-15T12:53:08.850+08:00The Day the Pope Resigned<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<b style="font-family: Helvetica; letter-spacing: 0px;">By Mila D. Aguilar</b><br />
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<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0px;">The day</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">My ovary lining was scraped was</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">The day</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">The Pope resigned.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Home hurting</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">After the rape</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">By a cold machine</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">I was struck</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">By God's timing.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Did He mean me to live through it,</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">This deflowering</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Of the human race</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Via drone</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Microchip</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">And nanotech invasion</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Of warmed wormy woolen guts?</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Was the blood worth it?</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Shall we meet midstream,</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">My Christ and I,</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Or will He resurrect me</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">From my blasted smithereens</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Disappearing unseen</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Into some nuclear screen?</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Does the answer matter?</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">I am saved,</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">And someone else is not.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">I am saved!</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">But someone else is not.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><br /></span>
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Hallelujah! I am saved!</span></span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0px;">But alas, someone else is not...</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small; letter-spacing: 0px;">February 13, 2013</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small; letter-spacing: 0px;">3:30 - 5:00 am</span></div>
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mdahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11932277031824274539noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9371458.post-39103255884763467902012-12-22T17:56:00.003+08:002012-12-22T17:56:47.775+08:00America: What Must Change? (First of Three Parts) <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-size: 14px; letter-spacing: 0px;">By Mila D. Aguilar</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><b>Another day, another U.S. massacre</b></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">(Part I of III Parts)</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUWGvQph7g9HUbBZO1jXgtuXODCpOpf_yRBXzkqJ7GRjNhXp-esmKRNEFYnJ0-N-D8eCOHmxzOAiGx8_PHCiizRD0ySHJ7qQqqqfS0fXLrgx2kVXR_vWsIOiy8S9QlFf2R9NK-dg/s1600/America+and+handguns.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUWGvQph7g9HUbBZO1jXgtuXODCpOpf_yRBXzkqJ7GRjNhXp-esmKRNEFYnJ0-N-D8eCOHmxzOAiGx8_PHCiizRD0ySHJ7qQqqqfS0fXLrgx2kVXR_vWsIOiy8S9QlFf2R9NK-dg/s320/America+and+handguns.jpg" width="246" /></a><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Another day, another U.S. massacre. Fil-Ams who are quick on the draw will waste no time reminding us that we too have our own Maguindanao Massacre, but I wonder who of us are smart enough to see the similarities between the two.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Our own massacres never fail to be political in nature, whether of the narrow electoral or broader class warfare type. This one before the world now, like the Columbine or the more recent movie theater killings, is the work of a lone crazy, executed without apparent rhyme or reason.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">And yet there is a deep underlying rhyme and reason to these crimes committed with ever greater frequency especially in the last four years.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Obama himself has just released the magic balloon out of his mouth in his fourth massacre visit: “We have to change.”</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">By which he should mean, America has to change.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Change what?</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">The American majority will soon elect to pass stricter gun control laws. Not astoundingly, indeed characteristically, some Republican outliers are starting to call for greater protection of children through -- you guessed it -- more guns in the hands of “responsible” principals and school staff.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">When the news first broke, some even dared to suggest more thorough preliminary surveillance of American society’s mentally and psychologically disturbed! To suppress their quirky little brothers, it seems, Americans never fail to call on their Big Brother’s gall.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">But notice the common thread that runs through these suggested solutions: GREATER CONTROL. To check the clay that’s running off of the Iron Man’s otherwise steely feet, the iron men and women of America suggest more effective binders.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">They want to believe in democracy, but they can’t take where their “democracy” is taking them.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Therefore they have to exercise greater and greater control over their own citizens.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">If they had listened to Michael Moore a little more closely after the Columbine massacre, they would have struck upon the solution by now.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">But ah, they dismissed him as a fringe Leftist, even as a communist.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Michael Moore tried to go deeper into the American malaise by raking up U.S. history from the time of the Pilgrims. American history, he concluded, has been a history of fear: they armed themselves from the start first because of their fear of Indians and bears, then because of their fear of black slaves, then because of their fear of Russia, then Islam, and now -- their own citizens.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">He implies that all this fear is used by the military-industrial complex to feed its arms factories, and therefore its coffers.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">I don’t entirely agree with him, but at least he has gone further than the rest of the little minds that mold American media.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">The overarching American problem is not fear, but a morbid obsession with control. The American fear factor comes about only when they cannot TAKE CONTROL over their lives, their society, the world.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">It is this maniacal obsession with control that is leading their citizens to morphing into crazed zombies, capable of killing their own kind.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">That is what needs to change, more than anything else.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Yesterday, I read two of the most insensitive attacks on the public reaction to the Newtown massacre. Both said, in effect, that people did not have the right to grieve over the Newtown deaths when they could not even sympathize with the mothers and children killed by American drones in Afghanistan and Pakistan.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Grossly insensitive, but tragically true.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">The truth is that America is going nowhere, and will continue to kill its own kind (aside from other kinds), because of its overarching maniacal compulsion to put the whole world under its big white thumbs, as if the whiteness of those thumbs will somehow cleanse all of mankind.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">I will go further. This maniacal compulsion is a compulsion to Godhood.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">The America that set out to evangelize the world about the Creator God is no more. The America we now see has taken on the attributes of God. It wants to be God Himself.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">And that is the beginning of its end.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">But I have just started. Let me elaborate my thesis in the next installments.</span></div>
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mdahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11932277031824274539noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9371458.post-31514955234786209272012-12-22T17:53:00.004+08:002012-12-22T17:53:56.267+08:00America: What Must Change? (Second of Three Parts) <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-size: 14px; letter-spacing: 0px;">By Mila D. Aguilar</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><b>Bits of History, Bits of Violence</b></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">(Part II of III)</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">The most extreme irony of Obama’s speech assuaging Newtown’s parents and children, aired on football TV, was provided by the many tweets that objected to what they called a “nigger” cutting in on their Sunday entertainment.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">The irony arises not so much from the racism of the comments, but the utter violence with which they were blurted out.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">The Wrap, which later cut down on the long list of samples they got from Twitter and zeroed in on one, boiled down the issue to “the dumbest racists.” </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">But that analysis in itself is part of the American culture of violence. Name-calling is emotional and intellectual violence, often meted on those who would not submit to control.</span></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjB_6wwXEQ7eWwO_zo44FSXDn74laAHzmp8U8w7WB1s9_SR-2ci_xRY6JJgtxzaTS5cayKszhflXK2rlyKnpjw-vgHYCd3iCFG3eb69E-ZNy2DvT6Na9EjSdB1qXTwZ6l-yz97Q8Q/s1600/Screen+Shot+2012-12-18+at+4.18.52+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjB_6wwXEQ7eWwO_zo44FSXDn74laAHzmp8U8w7WB1s9_SR-2ci_xRY6JJgtxzaTS5cayKszhflXK2rlyKnpjw-vgHYCd3iCFG3eb69E-ZNy2DvT6Na9EjSdB1qXTwZ6l-yz97Q8Q/s400/Screen+Shot+2012-12-18+at+4.18.52+PM.png" width="370" /></a></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">How can a society with such deeply-embedded magmas of violence in its land ever manage to cool down to streams of peace and calm?</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">I must honestly state from the outset that I am a born again Christian and analyze phenomena from a Biblical perspective.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">At the same time, I must say frankly that I have a rather deep grounding in Marxism-Leninism-Mao Tsetung Thought, and therefore also make sure that my analyses do not fly off to heaven without warrant of material evidences and processes.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">The Spirit is principal only in those who choose it over themselves. Without that declared choice, consciousness -- whether personal or social -- cannot become a material force.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Therefore, though I know, like the billion Christians all over the world know, that 2 Chronicles 7:14 trenchantly applies to the United States of America today, I will not simply quote it like my billion brethren would.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">2 Chronicles 7:14 says, “if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Every Christian worth his/her salt knows that if s/he repents of his sins and calls on Jesus Christ, Son of God and God the Son, to heal him/her, He will forgive those sins and perform the miracle of transformation.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Repentance comes before forgiveness. The person, the nation, has to know his, its, sins and repent of them before s/he/it can be forgiven, and be transformed, healed.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">In no instance in the Bible does Jesus heal without someone wanting His healing. The person, the nation, has to make the first step of wanting to be healed, which means s/he/it has some idea however vague of what has to be changed within him/her/it.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">That is what America has to know, now, before it is too late. What are America’s sins? As long as these sins are not admitted and surrendered to Jesus Christ, they will remain deeply embedded in the nation’s soul, and that soul will never rise to be transformed.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">It is not enough to say that the culture of violence is behind America’s present troubles. Where is this culture of violence rooted, and when did it start?</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">I came upon American history when I was teaching early American literature, and I must say I was shocked by what I discovered. Let me cite a few details that America has always denied of itself.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><b>The Puritans</b></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">The group called the Puritans were the poor, deprived, and oppressed of England; their religious views also happened to be different from those of the mainstream of their time. They left England for Holland not only for religious but really, mainly, for class reasons; they were terribly treated in the land of their birth.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">When they got to Holland, their first stop, they were again badly treated there. So they petitioned their king to grant them leave to get to America, which had been discovered almost a century before, but which England did not get interested in settling until their population problems became more obvious.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">So after twelve years in Holland, these Puritan families set out for America. </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">There were actually two expeditions that set out for America. The first, apparently unprepared for the prospect that America was already inhabited by other peoples, ended up in an island off the East Coast and were found decimated by the second.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">The second learned from the first. They were sturdier, more numerous, and most important, more ready to kill.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Paolo Freire, the Latin American educator of the seventies, once said in his <b>Pedagogy of the Oppressed</b> that the oppressed are apt to carry over the habits, practices and tendencies of their oppressors unless they are made conscious of these and are able to overcome them.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">The Puritans carried over the violence done upon them by their oppressors on the natives of the land they occupied. They killed them to get their piece of land, poisoned them, and spread disease upon them whenever and wherever they could.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Violence fed on violence because their protagonists were equally violent, having had to survive through the centuries in harsh wintry land full of such big wild animals as bears and bisons, and having had to subdue these for their food, clothing and shelter.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">This violence did not spare their own kind.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><b>Anne Hutchinson</b></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">In 1634, a woman by the name of Anne Hutchinson, whose brood eventually grew to 15 children, left England with her husband William to settle at the Massachusetts Bay Colony in Boston.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">There, she began to gather in her home the women of the town, teaching them, contrary to what was being taught by the Puritans, that salvation came through grace and not by works, and that strict Puritan rules and regulations were nothing beside the guidance of the indwelling Holy Spirit.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">As the years wore on, her house meetings grew larger and larger and began to be attended by men. Her teachings soon became a threat to both legalistic church and state, which felt she was not upholding their authority nor their rigid moral and legal codes.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">The next governor, John Winthrop, put her on trial for heresy. Rumors were spread that she believed in free love. Eventually, she was excommunicated and banished from the Massachusetts Bay Colony, from which she had to leave with her husband and 13 children together with 60 followers.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Years later, when the Colony heard that Anne Hutchinson and her family were slaughtered by Indians in New Amsterdam (now New York), they rejoiced and celebrated.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Today, the Hutchinson River and the Hutchinson Road Parkway in New York are named after her, but Americans don’t remember that anymore, nor the violence done to her by their beloved Puritans.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><b>The Deists</b></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Another myth of America that must be dispelled is that its founders were believers in God. That is only half true. The whole truth is that many, if not most of its founders, were Deists. That is, they believed in a Creator God, but that Creator God at some point left Man alone to himself, to rule and to reign over the earth by himself, without intervention.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">One of the prime Deists of his time was Benjamin Franklin. Yes, <i>that</i> Benjamin Franklin. You can read this thesis of his in “A Dissertation on Liberty and Necessity, Pleasure and Pain.”</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Benjamin Franklin invented the lightning rod, the bifocals, the Franklin stove, meant to be a replacement for the fireplace, and the glass armonica. He did the kite experiment which uncovered the nature of lightning and electricity. He founded the University of Pennsylvania, the 111 Infantry Regiment, the Union Fire Company (a fire brigade), the Library Company of Pennsylvania, and the American Philosophical Society (with John Bartram). He named the Gulf Stream, enabling British ships to cut their travel time to the U.S. by two weeks.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Franklin’s life was a demonstration of the Deists’ belief in themselves.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">If we see America today trying to rule and reign over the world as if it were God, we can trace that tendency to its Deist founders.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><b>Slavery</b></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Americans, of course, recall more fiercely the slavery to which the South subjected Negros illegally hauled against their will from Africa. </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">The North freed those Negros, but in reality mainly because, despite their rhetoric of freedom and democracy, the former needed the labor to man their huge new factories in the East Coast.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">It was the freeing of the Negroes to become workers in the factories of the East Coast that enabled the development of American capitalism to imperialism.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><b>Imperialism</b></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">American history could not be fully appreciated without a knowledge of the term “imperialism,” which was explained by Lenin. Hold your biased horses, now, while I explain the phenomenon in Lenin’s highly scientific, objective language.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Imperialism, Lenin explained, is the highest stage of capitalism. In capitalism, goods are produced by workers in factories; the value workers add to those goods become profit that accrue to the personal benefit of the owners of the factory.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">But in highly mechanized production, goods are produced quickly, such that soon, the whole population of the nation that produces them has already bought them.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">The Singer Sewing Machine, one of the first products of American capitalism, first went into commercial production in the 1850s. After a few decades, almost every household in America most likely had them. Where to sell, since production could not be stopped?</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Abroad, of course. Europe was most likely the first foreign target, since it was a developed market, but soon that too was glutted.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Where to sell next?</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">In the 1890s, the United States decided to take Latin America from doddering Spain, and got the Philippines as part of the bargain.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">The first feature of imperialism, Lenin explained, is the formation of monopolies through the concentration of production and capital, so much so that these monopolies begin to play a decisive role in the economy.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">For a long time, Singer was a monopoly in the manufacture of sewing machines. So was Kodak in terms of film.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">The second feature of imperialism is the merger of bank capital with industrial capital and the consequent formation of financial capital ruled by a financial oligarchy.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">The formation of Central Banks all over the world (in the U.S., the Federal Bank) is a manifestation of this phenomenon.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">The third feature of imperialism is the precedence of the export of capital over the mere export of commodities.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">This export of capital is enabled by the vast accumulation of capital by factory owners through profits accrued on the goods manufactured in their factories. </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">After decades of selling Singer Sewing Machines and accumulating capital by it, its owner could afford to establish factories outside of the United States, bringing down his cost of production and further jacking up his profits.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">The fourth feature of imperialism is the formation of international monopoly capitalist combines, or cartels, which share the world among themselves.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">We see this phenomenon at work in the oil cartel, which fixes the price of world oil for its benefit.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">The fifth feature of imperialism is the territorial division of the world among the biggest capitalist powers.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">World War I and World War II are manifestations of this phenomenon.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">As we can see from history, the United States and the Soviet Union emerged as the biggest powers after World War II. But compared with the United States, the Soviet Union was given only the crumbs of Eastern Europe by the Allies.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">The first U.S. adventure of expansion after World War II took place in Korea, leading to Korea’s division. </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">It tried its hand in Vietnam, but that adventure began its balance of payments problem, which today is seeing its culmination in the so-called “fiscal cliff.”</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">With the demise of the Soviet Union, the U.S. became the only superpower in the world.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Not learning from its experience in Vietnam, in 2003 it attacked Iraq on the pretext of 9/11.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Today it is inextricably bound up in Afghanistan and is poised to undertake another adventure in Iran.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Having tired of sending men to war, it now sends drones, calling the violence it wreaks on the men and women of the world, collateral damage.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Throughout its history, America has manifested its need to control, its predilection for violence, its preference to rule and reign over all, whether with God or without Him.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">There are many details lacking in this short recount, but if you want to delve further, you may want to read <b>A People’s History of the United States</b> by Howard Zinn. </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">In that book are all the sins of which America must repent and ask forgiveness for, so that the Lord may hear and heal, and eventually transform it.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">If it but behooves America to do so.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">If American Christians would but deign to do so.</span></div>
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mdahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11932277031824274539noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9371458.post-48750583838172202762012-12-22T17:45:00.002+08:002012-12-22T17:50:15.689+08:00America: What Must Change? (Last of Three Parts) <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-size: 14px; letter-spacing: 0px;">By Mila D. Aguilar</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><b>An Earthly Kingdom, A Monstrous Beast</b></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">(Part III of III)</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicq813rG0g2US0PqF-ynHk4iGhjcUfLTiVnSRyxAUqcjyWZGfYOuB5YBI0whI0swMNnt37-2Gt4b7Qz6dgmpKz2qZhvqdvPPhfKXLPb0ojuMR-lNjjkEPuteAk2dHFbNnh8IGtzg/s1600/Screen+Shot+2012-12-22+at+4.54.31+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="302" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicq813rG0g2US0PqF-ynHk4iGhjcUfLTiVnSRyxAUqcjyWZGfYOuB5YBI0whI0swMNnt37-2Gt4b7Qz6dgmpKz2qZhvqdvPPhfKXLPb0ojuMR-lNjjkEPuteAk2dHFbNnh8IGtzg/s320/Screen+Shot+2012-12-22+at+4.54.31+PM.png" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">If American evangelicals had not been blindsided by the worship of their country, they should be leading the charge in America’s transformation today.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">But they chose to deny those very parts of the Bible that could extricate them from their country’s woes.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Yet all is not lost, for whatever the sin, those who have surrendered to Jesus as their Lord and Master sooner or later see His Light.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">If at the beginning American evangelicals spread a self-centered, individualistic gospel of purely personal salvation and prosperity, the good news they imparted to Africa, Asia and Latin America has taken on the possibility of national salvation through the intercession of the Christian community in each country.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">2 Chronicles 7:14 took root all over the world in the first decade of the twenty-first century. Now, not only believers in Christ can be saved. Whole nations could rise up through the ardent prayers of believers in Christ.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Still, the devil has not stopped working.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><b>The “New American Century”</b></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">In America itself, this outward urge took on a skewed dimension. Christianity was picked up by the Republicans, but only to be used for their narrow political ends. Karl Rove and his ilk tried hard to push for another American century of power and pelf using their mangled idea of Christianity. The enemy became every individual with petty personal sins against God in the areas of gender choice, abortion and women’s rights.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">The choice of enemy was not accidental. The whole scheme redounded to obscuring the fact of exploitation and oppression of the 99% by the top 1% of society. Concentrating on petty personal sins, indeed, one could remove the kleig lights from increasing poverty in America and the world, poverty wrought by the greed mainly of the American elite.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">And yet the Bible does not condemn sinners, it saves them.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">John 3:17 assures us: “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.”</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">One does not attack petty personal sins; one draws the person to Jesus Christ, letting Jesus’ personal relationship with the sinner work its way through his or her heart.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">In making their grievous theological mistake of skewering petty personal sins instead of the major social sins against the poor, deprived and oppressed, evangelicals in cahoots with Republicans unwittingly paved the way for the second victory of Obama. Their Mormon candidate, supposedly pure and holy as far as gender choice, abortion and women’s rights were concerned, blundered his way into secretly attacking the 47% on social security -- and ended up with only 47% of the vote.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">What these evangelicals continue to deny is that the <b>whole</b> of the Old Testament clearly calls for <b>justice and righteousness for the weak and oppressed</b>. “If you do not oppress the alien, the orphan, or the widow, and do not shed innocent blood in this place, nor walk after other gods to your own ruin, then I will let you dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers forever and ever,” Jeremiah 7:6,7 states unequivocally.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">“Do not exploit the poor because they are poor and do not crush the needy in court, for the Lord will take up their case and will plunder those who plunder them.” enjoins Proverbs 22:22-23.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">There is no lack of such verses in the New Testament, either. Jesus himself came from the poor, his earthly adoptive father having been a carpenter; many of his disciples were fishermen, only one of them being a tax collector -- the outcasts of that time; and the great majority of those he healed and saved were the blind, the lame and even the leprous of the streets and meadows of Israel. </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">His advice to the rich young man who wanted to go to heaven was, “Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” (Mark 10:21c,d)</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">If atheism is on the rise in America today, shouldn’t some blame be cast on the Republicans, their rabid political agenda, and the evangelicals they have hoodwinked into supporting it? Are Christopher Hitchens and his kind totally to be credited for atheism’s growth?</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><b>1 Samuel 8</b></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Aside from the overemphasis on personal salvation and prosperity and the shelving if not total denial of God’s love for the poor and oppressed, American evangelicals harbor in their secret pockets another, perhaps greater, theological error: their ignorance of 1 Samuel 8.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">1 Samuel 8 is a mere 22 verses in the Bible that tell an extremely significant story about human kings. Samuel, you see, was a judge, not a king. In the beginning, Israel had only judges, not kings.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">What is the difference between a judge and a king? A judge arbitrates, through constant consultations with God, the problems of the people with one another; he owns nothing; he acknowledges the Creator God's ownership over the people. A king owns the people; he does not have to consult God.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">All the tribes around Israel already had kings when Samuel was old and had to appoint his two sons as judges for Israel in Beersheba. </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">It so happened that his sons were corrupt.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">The reaction of the people of Israel to the corruption of Samuel’s sons was to demand a king over them. They did not ask for the corruption to be curbed, but for a king to be appointed. This was because the nations around them, all heathen and non-believers in God, already had kings.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Samuel knew the grave implications of their demand and so complained to the Lord about it.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">This was the Lord God’s response:</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">“<b>It is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected me as their king.</b> As they have done from the day I brought them up out of Egypt until this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so they are doing to you. Now listen to them; but warn them solemnly and let them know what the king who will reign over them will do.” (1 Samuel 8:7c-9)</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">What does this response show? The Lord was the King of Israel; that is why He appointed only judges over Israel. He intended to stay as the King of Israel forever. When the Israelites demanded a human king, they were rejecting not Samuel nor his sons, but the Lord God of Israel Himself!</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">And yet the Lord, in His goodness, told Samuel to listen to them and let them know what the king who will reign over them will do to them. This explanation constitutes verses 11-18, the bulk of the chapter.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">In essence, the Lord, through Samuel, told the people that the human king they wanted would <b>own</b> them, their spouses, their sons and daughters, their sheep and animals, their land, and everything within it -- <b>and could therefore do to these whatever he wished</b>.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">The human king would own Israel, which in reality was owned by none other than their true King, the Lord their God. In wanting a human king, the Israelites were in essence rejecting the Lord’s ownership over them as their Creator, and therefore His right to rule them directly.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">If they chose to have human kings with all their errant ways, they would undergo untold sufferings and hardships.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">A human king would not by any means be like the Lord, Israel’s God, who is infinite in His mercy and fair in meting justice.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">But the Israelites still insisted on getting a king, wanting to follow their heathen neighbors who had many gods.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">And so they got Saul.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><b>“Authority”</b></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Evangelical ministers, fond of their new-found authority over their flock, revel over Romans 13:1: “Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God.”</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">There is nothing wrong with Romans 13:1. </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Exegetically, it was propounded in the century when the Jews were under Roman rule and would have been decimated if they had rebelled. </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">It was also necessary in the millennia of Jewish diaspora, when Semitic emigres came under successive suppressions in Europe, from the Inquisition to the Black Plague to Hitler.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Ever since, it has been helpful everywhere in forestalling anarchy in times of extreme social disorder.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">But without the nuanced balance of 1 Samuel 8, Romans 13:1 becomes an excuse for tyranny and oftentimes, simply bad leadership.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">1 Samuel 8 reminds us that the Lord our God is the only real authority, that He is the only owner of earth and the universe, that He is our one and only King.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">We should therefore listen to Him, follow Him, and worship Him ABOVE all human kings.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Our relationship to Him should be direct and two-way, without interference of any human authority.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">But most importantly, 1 Samuel 8 presages a time <b>when human kingdoms will come to an end</b> to give way to the only Kingdom that will last -- the Kingdom of God, also known as the Kingdom of Heaven.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><b>The Four Kingdoms</b></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">1 Samuel 8 is very important to the understanding of the four kingdoms interpreted or seen by Daniel four times in different forms and under different foreign kings.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Christian leaders often insist that all these four kingdoms refer to ones long gone, the last preferably being the Roman Empire.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">What they can never account for is that the fourth kingdom in The Book of Daniel is always replaced by the Kingdom of God.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">And yet, in the same breath, these same Christian leaders acknowledge that today we are in the end times, even the last days, and we are soon to witness the Second Coming of Jesus Christ, the King of Kings, not just in our hearts, but physically, for all the earth to see.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">If the fourth kingdom is the long-lost, declined and kaput Roman Empire, what will the Kingdom of God, of Jesus Christ God the Son, the King of Kings, replace?</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">The truth is that our Christian leaders are in gross denial of present-day realities.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">If they let the Word of God, the Bible, talk to them a little more, they would see that the fourth kingdom is operating right in their midst.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Daniel, in 2:40-43, tells King Nebuchadnezzar:</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">“Finally, there will be a fourth kingdom, strong as iron – for iron breaks and smashes everything – and as iron breaks things to pieces, so it will crush and break all the others. Just as you saw that the feet and toes were partly of baked clay and partly of iron, so this will be a divided kingdom; yet it will have some of the strength of iron in it, even as you saw iron mixed with clay. As the toes were partly iron and partly clay, so this kingdom will be partly strong and partly brittle. And just as you saw the iron mixed with baked clay, so the people will be a mixture and will not remain united, any more than iron mixes with clay.”</span></blockquote>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">This is immediately followed by verses 44-45:</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">“<b>In the time of those kings</b>, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed, nor will it be left to another people. It will crush all those kingdoms and bring them to an end, but it will itself endure forever.”</span></blockquote>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">In other words, the Kingdom of Heaven will be set up in the time of the fourth kingdom. But the Roman Empire has long passed. If this Kingdom of Heaven was set up by Jesus Christ during the Roman Empire, when did His millennial reign begin? </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Do not tell me we are now into His third millennium.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">And yet, notice the description of the fourth kingdom: Does it not look very familiar to you, with its strength that can crush and break all others, but its feet made partly of iron and partly of clay, invading many countries at the same time like the superpower it is but racked by dissension and financial crises in its own boarders?</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Do not tell me that is Russia.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">In fact American evangelicals insist that the United States of America is not in the Bible.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Russia is, Europe is, the Islamic Caliphate is, even China is -- all as foes of God, in their estimation -- but the United States is not.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Even the islands of the Philippines are in the Bible. But the United States is not.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Tell that to the Marines, if you read your Bible carefully.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><b>The Beast of Imperialism</b></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Another very important portion of the Bible slurred over by American evangelicals is Revelation 17.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">The chapter is of course subject to many interpretations, being highly symbolic in character.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">But if you understand Lenin’s scientific definition of imperialism, you might see through the symbolisms of Revelation 17.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">The beast, on which the adulterous woman sits, has seven heads and ten horns.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">The seven heads are seven kings, but there is an eighth who belongs to the seventh but is headed for his destruction.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Have you heard of the Group of Seven, which became Eight with the inclusion of Russia?</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">The ten horns, on the other hand, are also ten kings, who are part of the Beast but will make war on the Lamb, Jesus Christ, obviously without the cooperation of the seven-become-eight kings who are also part of the Beast.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Aren’t the Group of Seven-now-Eight in the same oil business as the Islamic nations?</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Aren’t the Islamic nations at war with the Lamb?</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">And who is the prostitute, the adulterous woman, who sits on the Beast, but whom the ten horns hate? She sits on waters which “are peoples, multitudes, nations and languages.” At the same time she sits on seven hills, which are also the seven kings.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">New York City, the financial center of Imperialism?</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Whatever your interpretation of the Beast, it is undeniable that when Jesus Christ comes down from heaven with His saints, it will be not only to bind Satan, but to throw the Beast AND his false prophets into fire and brimstone -- forever. That is the clear, indelible and unquestionable message of Revelation 19.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">The Beast and his false prophets are destined for destruction.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">If the Beast is Imperialism -- the fourth and last kingdom, as I see it -- then Jesus Christ will come down to destroy Imperialism, and it will never again reign on earth, nor oppress any nation.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Every nation that survives Jesus’ sword will be a peer among nations.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">No one nation will rule over others. No nation will attack any other. Every nation will be an equal in the community of nations.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Only Jesus Christ will be King of Kings and Lord of Lords, with every nation having a leader, a “king,” who will receive his or her instructions straight from the Lord, but will not be able to impede any of his or her citizens from talking to the Lord.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><b>The millennial reign of Jesus Christ will have no room for a superpower.</b></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">If only American evangelicals could live with that fact.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Then perhaps, they can lead America in its journey to complete transformation.</span></div>
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mdahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11932277031824274539noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9371458.post-5892379072740458212012-09-28T21:51:00.001+08:002013-10-17T10:53:45.824+08:002012: End of the world as we know it?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<em><span style="font-size: x-small;">Book Review</span></em></div>
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<em><span style="font-size: x-small;">By Mila D. Aguilar</span></em></div>
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<strong><span class="photo_left" style="clear: left; float: left; max-width: 180px; padding: 2px 10px 5px 0px;"><img alt="" class="photo_img img" src="https://fbcdn-photos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/228954_10151030935447854_2041351219_a.jpg" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; max-width: 493px; padding: 0px;" /></span>Petrus Romanus: The Final Pope is Here </strong>by Thomas Horn and Chris Putnam, ⓒ 2012</div>
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This book should be of interest to those concerned with end-times scenarios. Based on numerous sources not excluding pagan prophecies and the Bible, it is very definite about its prediction that 2012 is the year of the ascension to power of the Antichrist.</div>
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I first encountered news of the title in May or June (it came out in April) but could not get a copy of it until now, when it’s finally on Kindle. That I should bother with it at all could be cause for wonder. I read through the whole of it out of curiosity and am now convinced by its mountain of evidence and historical data, and even a little teary-eyed by the horrifying iniquities it outlines in great detail.</div>
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I have never really believed that the Antichrist could be the Roman Catholic Pope, since purveyors of the idea have been American evangelists who barely scratched the historical surface and seemed to have nothing to go on except their prejudices. I have always thought that they were merely deflecting the finger away from their own beloved country.</div>
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But Thomas Horn and Chris Putnam go through the whole history of the Roman Catholic Church not only from the so-called conversion (which they question) of Constantine but from Paul’s evangelization efforts in Rome, as well as the dubious claim that Peter was its first bishop and died there.</div>
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Page by excruciating page, they demonstrate how Benedict XVI, the current Pope, will give way either by resignation, natural death or murder to the last Pope, who will be the Antichrist. That Antichrist will likely, by their calculations, after overseeing the destruction of Rome according to Malachi’s prophecy, transfer his headquarters to Jerusalem, where he will declare himself to be God.</div>
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This the authors accomplish using the prophecy of Malachi, a Catholic bishop in the Middle Ages, the calculations of Rene Thibaut, a French Jesuit who wrote in 1951, and the more recent revelations of Malachi Martin, another Catholic (who was murdered after his allegations), as well as hundreds of other sources and documents.</div>
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What really drew me to read the book thoroughly, however, was the authors’ equally detailed history of Washington, D.C. Though they do not mention it, Washington, D.C., like Rome, sits on seven hills (as does Jerusalem and 57 other cities, for that matter). As I read more than a decade ago when I was researching for a course I taught on early American literature, most of the founding fathers of the United States were deists. </div>
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Deists are people who believe that at one point, God left humanity to itself to make its own future. But that is not the end of it, although it’s bad enough. The two authors specifically mention George Washington and Benjamin Franklin as not only deists, but Freemasons as well, with a very specific agenda for a far future that prophesies 2012 as their defining moment. In fact, they pinpoint the two key American political founders as firm believers in dark magic, sorcery and the Nimrod/Osiris/Apollo legend.</div>
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The belief of Freemasons, contend the two authors, is that they birthed America for the purpose of giving rise in 2012 to the new Nimrod/Osiris/Apollo, who would become President of the New World Order. To effectuate such a rise, they built Washington D.C. on the same exact pattern as Rome, with an obelisk (the Washington Monument) facing the Capitol Dome (a replica of the Vatican main building which houses the Pope).</div>
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It sounds weird on the surface, but if you read through the historical gamut of the two capitols in the book, you will begin to see that they are intricately bound together by very dark spiritual forces led through the ages by -- you guessed it -- the Freemasons, the Illuminati, or whatever else you may call them, who are today even more deeply ensconced in the Vatican and continue to ensure the sorcerous inauguration of the U.S. President.</div>
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These dark spiritual forces are poised to impose, by the end of 2012, a New World Order which seems peaceful on the surface but actually creeps in on humanity’s personal freedoms and, more objectionably, does so to forestall the Second Coming and millennial reign of Jesus Christ, which has always promised to bring about genuine peace together with personal freedoms.</div>
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The book comes out with a rather convincing picture, if you ask me.</div>
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For all its mountain of research and its commendable efforts to tie up this research with the Bible, however, the book has its flaws, and these are with regard to its eschatology. </div>
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Thus, while it exceeds all other American evangelical “prophecies” in its admission of a U.S. role in the end-times (the others deny it vehemently, even going so far as to say that the U.S. is not in the Bible), it falters in seeing what the specific role of the U.S. is.</div>
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One reason may be that, when the book was written earlier in the year, Obama seemed to be a goner as far his reelection was concerned. Romney was then a rising star and had virtually clinched the Republican nomination. Nevertheless, the authors proceeded with their thesis that Obama’s actions after winning the 2008 elections showed an ambition to become the Apollonian apotheosis of George Washington as dreamed of by Freemasonry.</div>
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The authors were not able to relate their analysis of Obama to their very carefully laid-out history of Washington D.C. If they had, they would have concluded that no matter who wins the U.S. election in 2012, even if it were Mitt Romney (a Mormon who like all Mormons think that the United States was designed to save the world), that winner will be a key figure in the era of the Antichrist, if not the political Antichrist himself (conceding the spiritual Antichrist to be the Roman Catholic Pope).</div>
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But the failure may also be due, as I said, to an eschatological misreading. While they identify the woman clothed with the sun and topped by a crown of twelve stars in Revelation 12 as Israel and the dragon which persecutes her as the Roman Empire which morphed into the Vatican after Constantine, and while they also identify Mystery Babylon in Revelation 17 as, again, the Vatican, they are silent on the Beast in the latter.</div>
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We must remember that Mystery Babylon <em>sits on</em> the Beast in Revelation 17. This beast is like none of the others described in both Daniel and the Revelation: it has seven heads and ten horns. “This calls for a mind with wisdom,” says the angel who explains the beast to John:</div>
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“The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman is seated; they are also seven kings, five of whom have fallen, one is, the other has not yet come, and when he does come he must remain only a little while. As for the beast that was and is not, it is an eighth but it belongs to the seven, and it goes to destruction.” (Rev 17:9-11)</div>
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I often wonder how it is that today’s prophets miss the fact that there was a G7 (Group of Seven) that became the G8 with the inclusion of Russia, and especially that the U.S. is and for a long time to come will still be at the head of this G8.</div>
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As for the ten horns, the angel describes them in this way:</div>
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“And the ten horns that you saw are ten kings who have not yet received royal power, but they are to receive authority as kings for one hour, together with the beast. These are of one mind, and they hand over their power and authority to the beast. They will make war on the Lamb, and the Lamb will conquer them, for he is Lord of lords and King of kings, and those with him are called and chosen and faithful.” (Rev 17:12-14)</div>
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Are not the Arabic nations of today, their oil interests interlocking with U.S./British/multinational corporations, part of the Beast? Are they not “of one mind”? Have they not, through their business interests and lack of military might, “hand(ed) over their power and authority to the beast”? Are they not making war on the Lamb?</div>
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We must remember that this is not the end of the angel’s description of the ten horns. He says further:</div>
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“And the ten horns that you saw, they and the beast will hate the prostitute. They will make her desolate and naked, and devour her flesh and burn her up with fire, for God has put it into their hearts to carry out his purpose by being of one mind and handing over their royal power to the beast, until the words of God are fulfilled.” (Rev 17:16-17)</div>
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If the prostitute, Mystery Babylon, is the Vatican as the authors say, and the Antichrist or last Pope is likely to transfer his headquarters to Jerusalem by ruse, would it not be logical that the ten horns, if they are the Arabic nations, hate her, and will sooner or later attack her whether in Rome or in Jerusalem, even if the Vatican makes a great show of ecumenism now and into the future?</div>
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The truth is that while there is a Mystery Babylon, a spiritual Babylon personified by the Vatican, there has to be an eco-political Babylon because the Vatican by itself, without economic, political or military might, could only mesmerize the world through sorcery and not much else. And that eco-political Babylon could not but be the recognized capital of the multinational imperialist Beast headed by the United States, which in Revelation 18 burns down in an hour and is mourned by the merchants and sailors of the world. Why don’t American evangelists admit its connection with 9/11? Why did everybody start seeing the Second Coming coming after 9/11, if they honestly did not see the connection?</div>
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We must also remember that when Jesus Christ, King of Kings and Lord of Lords, comes down from heaven with his host of angels and saints, He binds Satan and throws the Beast and the false prophet into the lake of fire and sulfur. The false prophet is described as the one “who in its presence had done the signs by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped its image.” (Rev 19:20b) Wouldn’t this more correctly be, as the authors themselves outline, the Vatican? And if so, wouldn’t the Beast be, more correctly, the beast of economic and political conquest, the beast of empire, the beast of imperialism?</div>
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Extending the question further, wouldn’t the Antichrist then be, more accurately, the President of the United States who becomes the President of the World, Nimrod/Osiris/Apollo reborn?</div>
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Or will the character of the Antichrist be shared between the U.S./World President and the last Pope?</div>
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We have only a few months to know -- IF the analysis of the authors is correct.</div>
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2012 indeed, by all indications whether in current events or historical precedents as ably outlined by the authors, seems to be the year of the definitive appearance of the Antichrist.</div>
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As to whether 2016 will be the year of the coming of the Lord, as hopefully enunciated also by the authors because it is within a 3½ year scheme, we should be less sure. After all, the “man in white linen,” presumably Jesus Christ, told Daniel:</div>
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“And from the time that the regular burnt offering is taken away and the abomination that makes desolate is set up, there shall be 1,290 days. Blessed is he who waits and arrives at the 1,335 days.” (Daniel 12:11-12)</div>
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If the passage means that the time between the abolition of the regular burnt offering and the setting up of the abomination that makes desolate is 3.5 years more or less, and that we have but to wait one or two months after that (1,335 days is approximately 3.65 years), then perhaps we can say with relief that by 2016 the earth will joyfully be in the hands of the Lord Jesus Christ.</div>
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But if the passage means that we have to wait another 3.65 years, then at the earliest, we can lay physical eyes on the Lord only in 2019.</div>
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That will be after the 70th anniversary of the state of Israel, which is really more likely.</div>
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Whichever, the only caveat is to be prepared -- through repentance, acceptance of Jesus Christ as our personal Lord and Savior, and purification and sanctification by His divine grace.</div>
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mdahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11932277031824274539noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9371458.post-91772567955579859762012-06-14T06:05:00.001+08:002012-07-25T20:38:08.948+08:00Movie Critque<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Fantasy, Cinematography and Story in “Ang Pagdadalaga ni Maximo Oliveros”</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">By Mila D. Aguilar</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoY5dUT-MawmKMr33L4ADvRA2mkvdqfPaNKl8dTsBjjGyY4smpYtAFlT5BF5XmSdn5HHSy07Ln4uLH6_x0Aaqcw_5tEQarjgnbrQTzMqYqY7pl0qnyEN5HFlCq24Puq60jKcga9g/s1600/images.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoY5dUT-MawmKMr33L4ADvRA2mkvdqfPaNKl8dTsBjjGyY4smpYtAFlT5BF5XmSdn5HHSy07Ln4uLH6_x0Aaqcw_5tEQarjgnbrQTzMqYqY7pl0qnyEN5HFlCq24Puq60jKcga9g/s1600/images.jpeg" /></a></div>
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">“Ang Pagdadalaga ni Maximo Oliveros” is the first full-length Filipino movie on YouTube, a pioneer in the project to upload Pinoy indies to the popular Internet facility. It is in response to this generous gesture of YouTube and Filipino indie directors that I am moved to write a critique of the movie, which I otherwise would never have been able to see.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">At the same time, I have been barraged on Twitter lately with news of Jerry Sandusky and John Travolta, two of the most horrific, though still unproven, examples of homosexual abuse, and cannot help but see the contrast. I will explain this contrast at the end, but first let me go to the movie.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">“Ang Pagdadalaga ni Maximo Oliveros” is directed by Aureus Solito, an independent director who is at the same time a declared homosexual. His protagonist in this film is a wisp of an effeminate boy nicknamed Maxie. Maxie, as the first shots establish with repeated, prolonged and therefore rather undue attention to garbage swimming in a flood of water, lives amid the filth of an urban poor community.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Cinematography is this movie’s greatest strength. Through gloriously dinghy scene after scene, we learn, one by one, that Maxie is one among a rather big bunch of transgender boys who are not given any particular attention by the community but come and go as they wish and are accepted without question or condemnation. Early on, we see a hefty mustachioed man in his forties selling what looks like a contraband cellphone to a woman in front of a low-slung house in an urban poor alley.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">As the cinematography unfolds, we learn that Maxie’s role is to cook, do the laundry, and darn torn clothes for his family of three, a father and two brothers who are all macho and grown but love him as he is. Maxie seems to be a replacement for his deceased mother. The man who sells the contraband cellphone turns out to be his father.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">As the story unfolds, a handsome young policeman turns up in the community. He becomes the love interest of Maxie and the complicating factor in this story of the blossoming of a child homosexual in an urban poor community whose father and brothers make a living thieving.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">The story unfolds beautifully because cinematically, with enough drama to capture our attention but without the needless sound and fury of usual dramas. It is rather a very Filipino portrayal of a love that transpires slowly and gently.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">But alas, the young policeman, it turns out, is onto the petty crimes of Maxie’s family, and tries to work Maxie into transforming his family. That sets the story into its climax, which ends in Maxie’s Papa being shot to death in the dark by the returned station chief in front of the young policeman and in full view of a half-hidden Maxie.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">It is here that the story begins to hiccup. What was the issue between this returned station chief and Maxie’s Papa, that the former killed him in cold blood? That angle is not fully developed in the course of the story.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Aureus Solito has spent so much loving time on his love story that we missed that angle. All we know is that the Papa is suddenly shot in the dark, with the young policeman and Maxie presumably, or rather, perhaps, seeing each other as the tragedy occurs.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">The next problem, of course, is: What will the brothers, who are in on their father’s petty crimes and means of livelihood, do? They promise to avenge their father’s death, and they are on their way and fully capable, having already killed Maxie's tormentor on his behalf. But how does it happen that at the end of the story, they are suddenly sending a taller Maxie off to school, still calling him “sister” though he is without his usual girly frills? And then again, how does it happen that Maxie himself does not agonize over the fact that his beloved policeman just stood by as the station chief killed his father?</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Have they been transformed? Has HE been transformed himself?</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">We do not know, but the last scene provides a prodigious clue: Maxie walks slowly and in a rather straight manner to school through a fuzzy tree-lined park, followed in a jeep by his policeman friend. The policeman parks the vehicle on the route, gets out, then sits by it, waiting as Maxie strides by him still walking fairly straight.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">It is then we realize that the movie is a homosexual fantasy set amid the squalor of urban poor reality. The reality is that yes, there are many openly effeminate and transgender boys in urban poor communities, and they are accepted and loved by their families and the <i>masa</i>. The fantasy is that one of these urban poor homosexuals could get a handsome young policeman to love him enough, without getting anything in return, to tide him through his growing, and perhaps, to extend the fantasy even further, aging years.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Fantasy is the reason why Aureus Solito’s cinematography could be so beautiful, while his story could be so inexplicable on two key points: the father’s killing, and the brothers’ transformation. Indeed, on three key points, the third being the handsome young policeman’s manifestation of a profound, loving and lasting <i>malasakit</i> for a <i>bakla</i>.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Such fantasy lies in stark contrast to the brutal homosexuality displayed in the court case of Jerry Sandusky and the allegations against John Travolta. In the latter two, we are witness to the use of money and power to entrap the unsuspecting into savage, cruel, vicious, brutish, heartless, ruthless sexual dalliances with big muscled homosexual men. In stark contrast, an effeminate homosexual of Maximo Oliveros’ mold wishes, perhaps against reality, that some big, muscled but gentle and handsome man would fall in love with him and take care of him forever.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Unfortunately, such is not the case, as the hiccups in Maximo Oliveros’ story indicate.</span></div>
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<span style="color: black; letter-spacing: 0px;">You can see the full movie at <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z42YxfR7-LI"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px; text-decoration: underline;">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z42YxfR7-LI</span></a></span></div>
</div>mdahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11932277031824274539noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9371458.post-43941251050557053152011-10-31T00:33:00.004+08:002011-10-31T01:25:00.752+08:00To the Pharisees, RE: #Occupy Wall Street<b>By Mila D. Aguilar</b><br />
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Pharisees.<br />
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Your population hangs wretched with widespread unemployment and you claim: <br />
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Never in the history of the world has there been a system that alleviates human suffering, such as yours.<br />
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Your productivity has been down for decades and you jeer:<br />
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Never in the history of the world has there been a system that allows for human creativity, such as yours.<br />
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How many nations have you destroyed with your arrogance?<br />
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How many peoples have you decimated with your weapons?<br />
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How many histories have you mangled with your greed?<br />
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<i>“All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of their possessions was their own, but they shared everything they had.” (Acts 4:32)<br />
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Never in the history of the world?<br />
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And you claim to be Biblical?<br />
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How could you ask:<br />
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“You assume that the wealthiest 1 percent giving up their wealth would solve the problem. How do you know that to be true?”<br />
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You have never heard of the rich young man? <br />
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<i>“If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” (Mt 19.21)</i><br />
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Who do you follow, with Ph.Ds after your names? Is it really Jesus?<br />
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Hypocrites.<br />
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You are given a narrow path to the lost, and you make a detour.<br />
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Who is your god? Is it God, or your country?<br />
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Who is your lord? Is it Jesus, or your 1 percent?<br />
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<small>- October 30, 2011</small><br />
<small>10:30-11:16 pm</small><br />
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<small>[Digital Painting by Tala Roque]</small>mdahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11932277031824274539noreply@blogger.com0Quezon City, Philippines14.635391101189715 121.0563172783204214.541315601189714 120.98385577832042 14.729466601189715 121.12877877832042tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9371458.post-52182418427985433902011-08-29T14:25:00.008+08:002011-09-01T15:37:11.080+08:00In Answer to James Soriano<h1><b>The Filipino is Multilingual</b></h1><br />
<h3>by Mila D. Aguilar</h3><br />
<blockquote><i>This is not to disparage James Soriano, a young man who may have learned German, but hasn’t yet seen the world in all its gritty detail. I wouldn’t quarrel with him, especially since I’m a very old woman of 62; but I would love for him to learn a thing or three about his country.</i></blockquote><br />
When I was born in 1949, my father, Jose V. Aguilar, was winding up what became known as the Sta. Barbara Language Experiment. Before I turned two months old, he had already proven through this experiment in a remote town in Iloilo, the island of Panay, that pupils who were taught in their mother tongue during the first two years of school learned better than those who were shocked into learning through the medium of English.<br />
<br />
But that does not mean that I grew up entirely using my mother tongue, Hiligaynon. My father was wise enough to speak to me purely in English, while he bid my mother and siblings to speak to me purely in Hiligaynon.<br />
<br />
Did I grow up confused? No. I grew up versatile in both languages. When I transferred to U.P. Diliman with my family at the age of four, I learned my Tagalog from playmates. By the time I reached Grade 1, I was speaking it fluently. <br />
<br />
When, at the age of 25, I was assigned to the underground of Mindanao and consciously mingled with the urban poor, I learned Cebuano in a month. When I made a week-long foray into the hinterlands of Samar at the age of 34, shortly before I left my beloved movement, I was able to get the rudiments of Waray and would not have forgotten it had I stayed in Samar a bit longer.<br />
<br />
I also know a smattering of Kapampangan and Ilokano from friends both within and without the underground.<br />
<br />
The Filipino is multilingual. You can see that from 10 million Filipinos all around the world, learning the languages of their adopted countries so quickly, you could hardly hear them stuttering. And most of these Filipinos aren’t rich; they’re masa, domestic helpers, drivers, janitors, seamen, nurses with hungry mouths to feed.<br />
<br />
As to whether they become grammatical or not is not the point. The point is, they could communicate with anyone in any language.<br />
<br />
So what’s this “revelation” about living a princely life with English?<br />
<br />
There is nothing new to it. During the Spanish times, the conquistadores herded the datus and their families into town centers and cut them off from their barangays, the better to prevent them from staging rebellions. They brainwashed those datu families into thinking they were a privileged lot by teaching them Spanish, among other things.<br />
<br />
The datu families began to think they were princes, living a princely life using Espanggol.<br />
<br />
No different from our “princes” today, who think they’re so lucky to be born privileged.<br />
<br />
But then this shows that life today is no different from life centuries ago. We still have a privileged class bragging about how good they are in the language of the conquistador.<br />
<br />
This is not to disparage James Soriano, a young man who may have learned German, but hasn’t yet seen the world in all its gritty detail. I wouldn’t quarrel with him, especially since I’m a very old woman of 62; but I would love for him to learn a thing or three about his country.<br />
<br />
In English, because that is the language he understands. But I could very well switch to Filipino, which serendipitously combines all languages with Tagalog as base; or Hiligaynon, or Cebuano. But he wouldn’t understand.<br />
<br />
I have written underground tracts in Tagalog and even tried to translate Bible verses into Filipino right on Facebook, so James can’t say that our languages are meant only for informal conversations. And has he heard U.P. professors teaching biology, physics and chemistry in Pilipino?<br />
<br />
Truth is, English is not necessarily the language of connection, because a full three-quarters of the world don’t speak it anyway. One does not have to connect using English; one connects by communicating with the eyes using one’s Filipino smile. The language, whatever language that is, comes after.<br />
<br />
That is what Filipinos all over the world, from Europe to Asia to the Middle East to Latin America to Africa, have discovered. <br />
<br />
Oh yes -- I left out the U.S. That’s because it’s perhaps one of the few countries in the world left that is largely monolingual, and bilingual only among first and second generation immigrant families. That they’re teaching second languages like Spanish now is a recognition not only of their Latin American migration problem but of their scientific finding that monolingualism makes for a dumb population.<br />
<br />
No, English is not a universal language, I teach in TESOL. Does God, who rules the universe, and the multiverses as well, speak in English? Of course not. He speaks to you Spirit to spirit, in any language you can accept with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength.<br />
<br />
At most, English is the language of world commerce. If that is what the upper classes of Philippine society need it for, then so be it. Let them deal with Japanese and Chinese CEOs in English.<br />
<br />
But let me tell you what happened to this language of commerce in the 1950s, after my father had so painstakingly shown, through his Sta. Barbara Experiment, that the mother tongue is a better medium of instruction for efficient learning in Grades 1 and 2.<br />
<br />
A man named Clifford Prator, from the University of California in Los Angeles, came up calling vehemently for a return to English as the medium of instruction on all levels in Philippine schools. His reason was, in a word, in my view, something like: Ah basta! English is superior.<br />
<br />
Subsequently, my father’s findings were twisted statistically to show that, indeed, his findings were wrong: English was really the better medium of instruction on all levels.<br />
<br />
I’m sure these same tactics are being used and will be used again and again to push the superiority of the English language in the Philippine scene, including and especially in the Constitution.<br />
<br />
Sige, go ahead. Meantime, I will use the language of the reconquistador to shout down its proponents.<br />
<br />
So have I connected?<br />
<br />
Apir!<br />
<br />
<br />
<small>N.B.: It appears (no pun intended) that James Soriano's teacher has since retracted for him. Please see <a href="https://www.facebook.com/notes/jonathan-capulas-balsamo/mula-sa-guro-sa-filipino-ni-james-soriano/10150264797591269">https://www.facebook.com/notes/jonathan-capulas-balsamo/mula-sa-guro-sa-filipino-ni-james-soriano/10150264797591269</a> for that.<br />
<br />
The original essay by James Soriano is here, after the Manila Bulletin withdrew it from its website: <a href="http://blogwatch.tv/2011/08/language-learning-identity-privilege-by-james-soriano/">http://blogwatch.tv/2011/08/language-learning-identity-privilege-by-james-soriano/</a><br />
</small>mdahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11932277031824274539noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9371458.post-6176383735159941572011-07-19T08:06:00.007+08:002011-07-19T08:27:21.767+08:00How to Become an Honest Bureaucrat<h1>Wilhelm G. Ortaliz: He Grew Orchids</h1><br />
<h3>By Mila D. Aguilar</h3>[From <a href="http://www.goodmorningphilippines.ph/cover/vol1no10.pdf">Good Morning Philippines, Vol. 1 No. 10</a>]<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7ELVwqyfp-a0Klqd4vR7WNT_5ESy0Bfu89Okldu3zJ0u3RQ9yykUJlOEdLCFZM1QpAKoNuYw-G3GdZX1JVwCsbOtZdRrRy2QR07ZHrWfh86pEQvJBdTiNqTuFj-y26ort8BgB-g/s1600/GMPvol1no10_Page_11.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear:left; float:left;margin-right:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="320" width="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7ELVwqyfp-a0Klqd4vR7WNT_5ESy0Bfu89Okldu3zJ0u3RQ9yykUJlOEdLCFZM1QpAKoNuYw-G3GdZX1JVwCsbOtZdRrRy2QR07ZHrWfh86pEQvJBdTiNqTuFj-y26ort8BgB-g/s320/GMPvol1no10_Page_11.jpg" /></a></div>How does one stay honest as a government bureaucrat? Wilhelm G. Ortaliz’ answer seems to have been to grow orchids. With the campaign against corruption in government as well as in the private sector under way, officials may want to look into his solution.<br />
<br />
Ortaliz, fondly called Willie by family and friends, got to a position as high as Assistant Minister of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) under Roberto Ongpin. However, he refused to be appointed permanently in government, preferring to finally become a consultant to Philippine Export Zone Authority (PEZA) head Lilia De Lima, though he was a CESO -- a Career Executive Service Officer. In government parlance, that means he could not be booted out of government unless under grave circumstances such as a criminal or serious administrative case.<br />
<br />
Willie was so fond of orchids that he became Vice President of the Philippine Orchid Society. This was not his only advocacy, however. He was also a Board Director of The One Algon Place Foundation, an advanced behavioral health facility dedicated to the cure of addiction to drugs, alcohol, sex, and even computer games.<br />
<br />
But no, he wasn’t addicted to orchids. <br />
<br />
<b>How he came to love orchids</b><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjORwDc0yyfXPahy2slS-ab5kuAjIc71bPeVeQDYINcrPTt0tCsjKh28KZrqXq98UUqPTMUwpVQ0awovH-Q8mwPWcifTa80csdd2vmag43YZw5Vdaxd8hYmzfv3ccmzpclwPR8Eww/s1600/Willie%2527s+Orchids.tif" imageanchor="1" style="clear:left; float:left;margin-right:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="320" width="238" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjORwDc0yyfXPahy2slS-ab5kuAjIc71bPeVeQDYINcrPTt0tCsjKh28KZrqXq98UUqPTMUwpVQ0awovH-Q8mwPWcifTa80csdd2vmag43YZw5Vdaxd8hYmzfv3ccmzpclwPR8Eww/s320/Willie%2527s+Orchids.tif" /></a></div>The only boy among five siblings, Willy had been his mother’s assistant in her small orchid-laden yard in Iloilo, commanded to fetch this and fetch that, water this and water that in lieu of play. As a boy he sort of resented the idea, not knowing that he would later fall in love with it. <br />
<br />
Willie’s mother had not graduated from high school because she had gotten married early to a military man, who later retired as an army captain. That made her concerned about her children’s education; she made sure almost all of them, particularly her only son, graduated from the University of the Philippines in Diliman. And he did in 1966, as a consistent scholar of the National Science Development Board (NSDB), with a B.S. in Chemistry. He even went on to get his M.B.A. also from U.P. Diliman after he had obtained his M.S. Chem from Ateneo.<br />
<br />
Though he didn’t exactly relish his role in his mother’s garden, in college he “accidentally stumbled into a Philippine Orchid Show in the site where Harrison Plaza now stands” -- as he himself writes. It was here that he met the doyen of the Ponce Enriles, who was also into orchids. However, he noticed that orchids were at that time a prerogative of the rich. Filipina airline stewardesses would bring them into the Philippines at the behest of the rich, who would then grow them exclusively in their gardens. That gave Willie the dream to grow orchids not to hobnob with the rich nor to get rich, but, he told his sister -- so that “time will come when these orchids will be for the common tao.”<br />
<br />
Poor as he was, Willie was amiable. He soon made friends with the doyen whom he would come to call Mama Ponce Enrile as well as the other wealthy ladies who knew all about growing the flowers. After his mother, he got his life’s lessons on orchids from them. Later, he would even write about his saga with this family of flowers in his self-deprecating way, proceeding from phalaenopsis to cattleyas to dendrobiums to teret-vandas and then, he writes, “to something else” he does not quite name.<br />
<br />
<b>Where he grew them</b><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFejHh55A3YRnHeck1i7s15rU9XoTQdJAAgCi0yNU3xCDpjIGrlIxoJp9jK6SuI-mfymFHbmZYtPwLWc8zBif4sGTZ9RatoE7nejd4jwkXShaS9c7hTccJ243hHcFmsQEMq-O_Iw/s1600/Passionate.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear:left; float:left;margin-right:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="270" width="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFejHh55A3YRnHeck1i7s15rU9XoTQdJAAgCi0yNU3xCDpjIGrlIxoJp9jK6SuI-mfymFHbmZYtPwLWc8zBif4sGTZ9RatoE7nejd4jwkXShaS9c7hTccJ243hHcFmsQEMq-O_Iw/s320/Passionate.JPG" /></a></div>Since Willie wasn’t wealthy, he grew his first orchids in the compound that his parents had transferred to from Iloilo so that his mother could supervise her children’s college education. But orchids need the morning sun, and his family’s house faced the afternoon sun, so he had to transfer them to the garden of the Lung Center in Quezon City. At that time, the Lung Center was renting out some of its open spaces. Since the hospital executive director then, Dr. Calixto A. Zaldivar Jr., an Ilonggo from Antique and a friend of a family friend, also liked plants, Willie’s orchids were able to stay at the Lung Center for a long time.<br />
<br />
But Dr. Zaldivar had to leave the Lung Center at some point, and his replacement did not renew Willie’s contract anymore. Again, Willie was blessed with an offer. A Mr. Tañedo, who owned unused property in Fairview, offered it to Willie’s orchids for free! He even allowed Willie to put up a house there, the only proviso being that Willie would have to pay the taxes on land and improvements.<br />
<br />
It was a good deal, and so Willie stayed on at Fairview for 10 years, up to his death from illness on February 26, 2011.<br />
<br />
<b>And he became Willie the gift-giver</b><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEio8yCKYBrL5X49umSYgyyxiyK2VzmHXNEm97cLPO7zxvRj6PPuiUSLRKUePVvwxST-IKns40i36z2l_pS_L9959NmHCUGdzYW4EpdF3MZ6y3Q6sboZRtqLmK7FrPNt2QZQsWOVfw/s1600/Flowers+for+the+Chinese+businessman.tif" imageanchor="1" style="clear:left; float:left;margin-right:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="320" width="281" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEio8yCKYBrL5X49umSYgyyxiyK2VzmHXNEm97cLPO7zxvRj6PPuiUSLRKUePVvwxST-IKns40i36z2l_pS_L9959NmHCUGdzYW4EpdF3MZ6y3Q6sboZRtqLmK7FrPNt2QZQsWOVfw/s320/Flowers+for+the+Chinese+businessman.tif" /></a></div>At this point you would be asking, so what did Willie’s orchids have to do with being an honest public servant?<br />
<br />
Well, let’s put it this way: Willie’s father had taught him and his sisters the value of honesty. Their father told them time and again, “Safeguard the family name because it’s the only thing that you can bring to your grave.” <br />
<br />
From the time Willie graduated from U.P., he was already employed in government, first by Ting Paterno in the Economic Development Foundation, then at DTI, as assistant minister in charge of such powerful bodies as the Iron and Steel Authority. Once, he received a Betamax at home; the Betamax was accompanied by a calling card. He immediately returned the “gift,” saying he wasn’t interested, but if the donor was serious, to please replace it with two ceiling fans and two floor fans for the Elementary Laboratory of the Philippine Normal College, which he knew to be a hothouse.<br />
<br />
“Gifts” that were brought to his office, on the other hand, were raffled off and distributed to indigents.<br />
<br />
Anthropologists would tell us that gift-giving was practiced by tribal chieftains from way back to affirm and confirm their power over another tribe. The one who gave the greater gift was deemed to have the greater power over the other.<br />
<br />
Willie turned around this gift-giving syndrome by giving gifts himself. Not out of pocket, but out of his orchids, which he grew by the sweat of his brow. For birthdays, he made corsages cradled in beautiful boxes that he fashioned himself. For weddings, he supplied not only corsages, but all the flowers needed going up to the altar. In every office affair, he would stand out with his contribution of orchids to the occasion. Once he even arranged floating flowers with candles in a swimming pool for a Chinese friend in Forbes Park!<br />
<br />
Not content with that, for Christmas he would give away his special ensaymada, which he himself kneaded and baked using a total of two sacks of flour!<br />
<br />
What can be more valuable, and therefore more powerful, than gifts proffered using one’s labor of love?<br />
<br />
Willie’s elder sister Cynthia Ortaliz-Ranada once took over his Lung Center orchids just before they were transferred to Fairview. All those who saw them wanted to buy some, but he would never sell. So finally, just before the transfer, he relented -- he gave his sister the authority to sell them for a brief two days. “Bahala ka na,” he told her.<br />
<br />
She sold P25,000 worth of orchids in two days.<br />
<br />
That was how much they were worth if he had deigned to become an orchid businessman. But it was not his calling. His calling was to give them away free, cum labor on flower arrangement for corsages worth as much as P350 each.<br />
<br />
<b>So his friendships lasted beyond death</b><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrY4CKuIP0G0zCk5ZO2jcvx0A_NSxgZrPvphXKU-PTeJz-AeDFifbZC66FG6gXJOBlxh6Rh27DMZd1vzVY_emEdhw1ZRYvAhCt_19WZahbGES83SB9th8IsaQ7QM_WSJ5Vh6QIAg/s1600/PBR+wrkshp+24Nov2006_wgo-1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear:left; float:left;margin-right:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="154" width="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrY4CKuIP0G0zCk5ZO2jcvx0A_NSxgZrPvphXKU-PTeJz-AeDFifbZC66FG6gXJOBlxh6Rh27DMZd1vzVY_emEdhw1ZRYvAhCt_19WZahbGES83SB9th8IsaQ7QM_WSJ5Vh6QIAg/s320/PBR+wrkshp+24Nov2006_wgo-1.JPG" /></a></div>And so Wilhelm Ganzon Ortaliz survived the government bureaucracy unscathed, his head held high, the admiration for him abounding. It was in these circumstances that he met Rudin and Annie Gonzales, whose business was trading in steel at the time Willie was in the Iron and Steel Authority. He did not ask anything from them, nor did they offer anything to him. Instead, he even helped them establish The One Algon Place Foundation, a healing center for the behaviorally disabled, taking time out every weekend he was available to brainstorm on the idea in Barangay Mamatid, Cabuyao, Laguna, where the center is based. Willie’s orchids are there now for all to see.<br />
<br />
As to why they are there now is a story in itself. While Willy lay sick at the Kidney Center not wanting to be visited, Annie and Rudin showed up, wanting to take care of him. He tried to shove them off, but Rudin protested vociferously, refusing to forego the privilege of taking care of him even just for a day.<br />
<br />
Before he died, Willy mentioned to his sister Cynthia that he wanted to let go of some of his orchids when he recovered. So Cynthia thought of the large Algon property in Cabuyao. On February 26, as he lay comatose at St. Luke’s, she showed the orchids to Annie at Fairview. They then proceeded to St. Luke’s to visit him. Annie distinctly heard Willie say he wanted Algon to have his orchids, comatose as he was. He died soon after.<br />
<br />
Today, the organization Willie helped establish, The One Algon Place Foundation, is on its way to well-deserved fame in the field of behavioral sciences. In honor of Willie, it will launch a definitive biography of the man who defied corruption in the government bureaucracy -- by growing orchids. It’s a biography worth waiting for.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiV4IdmaxkBbw5Xu8er9r_SIldhtusYfNly0Ww7k2isDWJTmH8hWxh1qZJiGXaq1H4YhEl3p71Y3OVJhSzFbVoefs8bJv7-DuZR1HRgOebhcMJT11QiaPrMtrsaZp0EHCbO8Z1yA/s1600/Wedding+Decor.tif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" height="188" width="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiV4IdmaxkBbw5Xu8er9r_SIldhtusYfNly0Ww7k2isDWJTmH8hWxh1qZJiGXaq1H4YhEl3p71Y3OVJhSzFbVoefs8bJv7-DuZR1HRgOebhcMJT11QiaPrMtrsaZp0EHCbO8Z1yA/s320/Wedding+Decor.tif" /></a></div>mdahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11932277031824274539noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9371458.post-89278361157275989722011-07-09T22:06:00.004+08:002011-07-12T17:12:22.256+08:00In Response to Merlie's Seas<h1>Someday is Here</h1><b>(For Merlie Alunan)</b><br />
<br />
<h3>By Mila D. Aguilar</h3><br />
<i>Somedayishere somedayishere somedayishere</i> <br />
It came in waves. Foul smells come in waves <br />
Like the cars and the trucks on the highway <br />
By my bedroom sounding like waves surging <br />
Engulfing all sanity, insisting on the right to control <br />
Your life and the babies unborn before and after you. <br />
<br />
<i>Somedayishere somedayishere somedayishere</i> <br />
The waters have been rising for years, skyscraper tall, <br />
Rising and ebbing and rising again, smashing onto shores <br />
Rushing down mountains while the earth under quakes <br />
And sinks and ingests one third of humanity in its <br />
Wake, in its wake without your even noticing it. <br />
<br />
<i>Somedayishere somedayishere somedayishere</i> <br />
The waters have turned bitter, who knows if it's gnawed <br />
One third of the life in the ocean, and is Wormwood <br />
Fukushima, and Chernobyl and Three Mile Island <br />
And those two nuclear plants in Nebraska whose <br />
Fate we can't fathom -- because they're hiding it? <br />
<br />
<i>Somedayishere somedayishere somedayishere</i> <br />
The locusts are already droning somewhere in <br />
Afghanistan, stinging the Taliban and all else <br />
With their scorpion tails, giving them five months to live <br />
While their insides crumble, rumble and stumble <br />
All over and they ask to die but death wouldn't take them. <br />
<br />
<i>Somedayishere somedayishere somedayishere</i><br />
Even the elect are deceived, the trumpets have sounded <br />
The trumpets have sounded into their ears, into <br />
Their ears but they did not hear, they refused to hear <br />
As fire, smoke and sulfur gutted their land while <br />
Their nation sent fire, smoke and sulfur into other lands. <br />
<br />
<i>Somedayishere somedayishere somedayishere</i> <br />
We are merely in wait for the two hundred million <br />
Drones will they be? What are the seven thunders <br />
Will they march into Israel or fly by the by? And yet <br />
As we watch, do we change? Do we clasp our Creator <br />
By the hem of His skirt and ask to be taken up with Him <br />
<br />
Not someday, it is here, but now, while we can. <br />
<br />
<small>- July 8, 2011<br />
7:15 - 8:51 am<br />
<br />
[The inspiration for the poem having been <a href="http://www.facebook.com/notes/merlie-alunan/sea-stories/10150707494680065">Merlie Alunan's "Sea Stories"</a>]<br />
[Images reference <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Revelation%205-10&version=NIV">Revelation 5-10</a>, <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ezekiel%2038-39&version=NIV">Ezekiel 38-39</a>]</small>mdahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11932277031824274539noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9371458.post-40437866141162813022011-05-19T15:30:00.008+08:002011-05-19T16:00:05.660+08:00Revillame Revisited, Part I of III<h1>A Portrait of Slow Transformation</h1>By Mila D. Aguilar<br />
<br />
Yes, "progressive" darlings, I went to see "Wil Time Bigtime" at its reopening inside ABC-5 on Saturday.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWgbTLkOW1S0zhCLYOIsRbYfcp4wpqDKH8HgCdgYeokf0llWtMejzvMhsQCQU-p6zgHFXGnoUOMdL_gKCwikBnxiQOWVAPbBd4k6846bAc7RMSDHntiR8QogzFwxfFT0d3KrzdcQ/s1600/IMG_1960.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear:left; float:left;margin-right:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="239" width="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWgbTLkOW1S0zhCLYOIsRbYfcp4wpqDKH8HgCdgYeokf0llWtMejzvMhsQCQU-p6zgHFXGnoUOMdL_gKCwikBnxiQOWVAPbBd4k6846bAc7RMSDHntiR8QogzFwxfFT0d3KrzdcQ/s320/IMG_1960.JPG" /></a></div>And that’s because I never agreed with your self-righteous rants about Willie Revillame, nor your total damnation of his episode with the hapless boy who macho-danced on his show.<br />
<br />
Rather, I have always wondered what made Willie Revillame tick with the masses. These are the masses you are supposed to be loving, at least ideologically, but whom you have never really known. Because the masses you know are the indoctrinated ones, the ones we both call "organized," who do not gyrate or sing or laugh spontaneously.<br />
<br />
I have been in search of those masses the past thirty years, and have found them. They are not the masses you know. They are the masses that Willie Revillame knows. He is a representative of those masses.<br />
<br />
That is why I have been keeping tabs of Willie Revillame some years now. Not consistently, but closely enough to see that through the years, he has developed, even if by the painful little, shedding his grossness and crassness bit by bit.<br />
<br />
My memory of his first suspension was when he, Randy Santiago and John Estrada joked very badly about some sexy vixen beside them, giggling like adolescents with their flies virtually open. Correct my remembrance of the event if I’m wrong.<br />
<br />
That suspension, if I remember right, hardly tempered Willie’s attitude towards women, but it did temper his crassness, if only a bit.<br />
<br />
Barely-clad women still dance sexily on his shows -- as they do in all viable entertainment extravaganzas -- but he has stopped looking at them lustily, at least in public. For me, this is a very big development both for Willie personally and in terms of his influence over the public at large, even if it happened over a long decade.<br />
<br />
But what got me more interested in Willie was when he started to show his compassion for the masses. That was already manifest while he was at ABS-CBN in his tear-jerking interviews with his contestants. You know, if you’re truly in love with the people you pretend to espouse, you show it by the way you ask questions about their personal lives. If you are able to show your sincere interest, they respond to you with the truth -- the naked truth, which may seem vulgar at some points to you who are ensconced in your petty bourgeois ivory towers, but are enough to wrench the hearts of Willie’s masa viewers, who came from the same truth.<br />
<br />
At ABS-CBN, however, the money relationship between Willie and the masa often came to the fore. There was even a time when some starlets sang to him something like “Money, Money, Money, Give Me Money and I’ll Give You Love.” You could tell from his face that the song hurt. It was as if the crass jokes he had made with Randy Santiago and John Estrada had come back to him karma-like in the form of a crass song about money. It was as if the reality of his relationship with his mother had struck him dead in his tracks.<br />
<br />
At TV5, the money relationship was happily subsumed under his genuine feelings for the people. He still gave away gifts and prizes, and the masses still hankered for them, but the love relationship was on its way to some form of purification -- until, of course, the six-year-old Jan-Jan came onstage, and Willie’s old habit of sincerely trying to give his masses “saya at tuwa” got the better of him.<br />
<br />
I don’t blame you for pouncing on that. I do suspect that the media fervor was whipped up in no small measure by parties interested in getting back audience lost during the hours he was on air, but I don’t blame those parties either; all is fair in profit-oriented love and war. But I do stare in wonderment at how none of you who style yourselves as “progressive” saw that Willie Revillame is a child of the class divide and should therefore become a subject of study if not sympathy, but not of utter revilement.<br />
<br />
Have you ever tried to get authentic feedback from your un-indoctrinated maids, at the very least? They will tell you that they like Willie because “nakakatulong siya sa tao,” “nagbibigay siya ng saya.” And they will not understand why you have so willy-nilly attacked him.<br />
<br />
But anyway, he’s back, to the consternation of the competition. His production team has tried to put together a more thoughtful show highlighted by a state of the art high-definition LED floor. They have integrated your high-brow requirement of a quiz portion at the end of the show. Hopefully that will educate your great unwashed -- your great unwashed, whose priority has, according to the latest studies, always been television, radio and newspapers whether they can afford it or not; in other words INFORMATION, belying your charge of ignorance on them.<br />
<br />
Those, however, are not what I noted in my mind when I watched the reopening on Saturday.<br />
<br />
What I noticed first and foremost was that the show started with a -- surprise -- prayer! The young man who prayed asked for guidance from the Lord God of heaven and earth. And his prayer, rather long by TV standards, ended with “in Jesus’ name, Amen”!<br />
<br />
I asked Jay Montelibano, ABC-5 Managing Director of TV Productions, if this was a practice before the reopening, and he said Yes. Of course I have no one to verify his claim, but my main concern is Willie Revillame anyway. Did I see any change in Willie with regard to his spiritual wellbeing?<br />
<br />
I certainly did. While Jay replied that Willie himself had been mentioning God before the reopening, it was my first time to notice. In fact, in the previous show, I was rather concerned that while more and more of his contestants referred to the Lord as their source of strength, he would not respond to them in any way. This time, however, the words came from the man himself.<br />
<br />
Does this matter? Isn’t it all a show?<br />
<br />
I would say Yes, it matters, and No, it wasn’t a show. The man is transparent -- more transparent than any of your “progressives” or even “saints.” It was his very transparency that got him into all that trouble with the sex jokes, with his 2010 endorsement of Manny Villar, with the Jan-Jan episode. So this time, his transparency speaks of his humbling; he is now, by his very comportment, awed by the God who causes his constant rise and fall; none of his seeming arrogance showed, at least last Saturday.<br />
<br />
It was his transparency too that caused him to thank, among others, such Christians as Gary and Angeli Valenciano and Bro. Eddie Villanueva for their heartfelt greetings and concern for him.<br />
<br />
It was his transparency that caused him to gush over being regaled to lunch or dinner by rich men and women -- he who came from the poor, he who once had no manners!<br />
<br />
So has he totally changed once and for all?<br />
<br />
I would like to say Yes, but I remember how long it has taken me to shed all my sins since I surrendered to Jesus Christ as my Lord and Master and was born again of the Holy Spirit. It took God ten years to sweep off the major cobwebs in my mind and another ten years to wash me further of my past. I’m now on my twenty-first year in His service, and He still has to squeeze me of my earthly habits a little bit more!<br />
<br />
So now here’s the rub: At the Saturday reopening, Willie brought out a tiny elephant that he said had been given to him by Cristina Ponce-Enrile because it was “maswerte.”<br />
<br />
That tiny elephant is indicative of the idols Willie still has to smash in his life. One of those idols is his relationship with his mother. Successful men (and maybe women too) usually have a troublesome relationship with their mothers. It took me sometime to get over my own, and my mother wasn’t even the problem; it was my own rebellion. I was more terrible to my son than my mother ever was to me. So I could imagine how Willie must feel about his mother.<br />
<br />
As long as he doesn’t get over that, he will keep on making mistakes, and the competition will keep on pouncing on him.<br />
<br />
But once he gets over it, once he has forgiven her fully, once he starts talking openly about her, about his dire poverty and how he grew up; in fact, once he starts to genuinely love a woman for what she is because she loves him for himself -- not his money, nor his talents --, he is certain to become the greatest entertainment host in Philippine history.<br />
<br />
***<br />
<a href="http://studentsofenglish.blogspot.com/2011/05/revillame-revisited-part-ii-of-iii.html">Part II: The Great Class Divide</a><br />
<a href="http://studentsofenglish.blogspot.com/2011/05/revillame-revisited-part-iii-of-iii.html">Part III: What Then Should Be Done?</a>mdahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11932277031824274539noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9371458.post-52432902951460295952011-05-19T15:26:00.007+08:002011-05-19T16:01:00.184+08:00Revillame Revisited: Part II of III<h1>The Great Class Divide</h1>By Mila D. Aguilar<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg55wbkoa7DFpbGMJByMB74eYVRHftYduLyFFPGp0-Z2jVJWvgITp0IyV0IEzKj1KPPR3i8c9aEBcWgifqYs-rjrAaSo2xIjQCyoo__gN7SY2rTu6HRCJQ3LFcGLHspDI23hKSW1w/s1600/IMG_1965.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear:left; float:left;margin-right:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="239" width="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg55wbkoa7DFpbGMJByMB74eYVRHftYduLyFFPGp0-Z2jVJWvgITp0IyV0IEzKj1KPPR3i8c9aEBcWgifqYs-rjrAaSo2xIjQCyoo__gN7SY2rTu6HRCJQ3LFcGLHspDI23hKSW1w/s320/IMG_1965.JPG" /></a></div>Transformation is not an easy thing to understand if one tends to think statically.<br />
<br />
It’s a slow process, especially if one is not willing to change. If can be hastened only by two types of surrender -- first and foremost, total surrender to the Jesus as one’s Lord and Master; and next, surrender of that particular aspect of one’s life that has to be changed.<br />
<br />
One can, on the one hand, try one’s best to change a particular trait or habit by one’s lonesome, without Jesus. That makes for a totally bogged down process, a process that repeats its mistakes over and over again like a broken record without end. It’s why I couldn’t truly, totally change in that period of my life when I denied His existence.<br />
<br />
One can, on the other hand, surrender to Jesus as one’s Lord and Master and yet not surrender a particular aspect of one’s life. That makes for a slowing down of the process of transformation. It’s why God took so long to change me.<br />
<br />
The process of transformation has to be dialectical. God can change you, but you have to be willing to change. Being a respecter of persons, He won’t move until you ask Him.<br />
<br />
But once you do with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength, you can be sure He’ll do wondrous things for you. For he can make the blind see and the deaf hear -- as long as they ask.<br />
<br />
Has Willie asked? Has he surrendered to Jesus as His Lord and Master?<br />
<br />
I don’t know; I haven’t met him personally. I can only tell that there has been some amount of change in the way he conducts his show, as outlined in the first part of this article. Those changes are indicative of some amount of transformation, but how deep the transformation is, we don’t know yet. As I suggested, he will have to surrender himself totally to God, as well as keep contending with certain areas of his past to fully surmount his conduct.<br />
<br />
In the meantime, God must love him so much that He keeps shaking him with all manner of personal and professional crises. It looks to me like He really wants him to keep changing.<br />
<br />
For the better.<br />
<br />
Transformation is a process that a person or society undergoes for the better. The opposite of transformation is retrogression. While a great many individuals in our society have been transformed to some extent or other, our society in general has been retrogressing.<br />
<br />
And that is the context in which we must place Willie Revillame, not to excuse him, but to objectify our sentiments regarding his misdemeanors.<br />
<br />
<b>Retrogression: The Social Context</b><br />
<br />
History professor and National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP) commissioner Ferdie Llanes has suggested that the solution to the problem of Willie Revillame is education. He is right. But before we get to the solution, let us identify the problem.<br />
<br />
Those of you who went to primary and secondary public school in the Philippines before 1972 will remember that your classes opened at 7 am and ended at 4 pm. In other words, you spent a total of eight hours in school.<br />
<br />
Each of your subjects lasted at least 45 minutes. Am I correct?<br />
<br />
And the absolute maximum number of classmates you had was 40; 30, however, was the average.<br />
<br />
For English, you had one 45-minute subject for Reading, as well as a separate 45-minute subject for Writing. In high school, another 45-minute subject, Composition, may even have been added. That made many of you rather good in English, and most of you at the very least passable.<br />
<br />
For Tagalog, you had at least one 45-minute subject. It didn’t result in mastery of the language, but at least it taught you to distinguish between the two languages and your vernacular, if any.<br />
<br />
Then you had three separate subjects of 45 minutes each: History, Geography, and Social Science. <br />
<br />
Since they were three separate subjects, you were able to learn facts and figures from the history not only of the Philippines, but even of the United States. That was History.<br />
<br />
You were able to memorize maps; you knew where Cotabato was even if you were from Ilocos Norte. And you even knew the relative location of New York! That was Geography.<br />
<br />
You knew that in the olden times, before the Spaniards came, the tribes had aliping namamahay and aliping sagigilid. You knew that the tribes were called balanghay or barangay. You knew that each barangay had a datu. You even knew that the Native Americans, called American Indians at that time, were also tribal, and that they had a council of elders led by a chieftain. That was Social Studies.<br />
<br />
In fact, many of you were so good that you became outstanding students at the University of the Philippines, bringing with you the names Arellano, Araullo, Ramon Magsaysay and other public high schools.<br />
<br />
But do you know that things have changed drastically since, and pupils aren’t taught the way you were?<br />
<br />
The retrogression of the Philippine educational system can be traced back to 1968 with the formation of the Presidential Commission to Survey Philippine Education, or PCSPE. The survey was funded by the World Bank. It was supposed to see how Philippine education could be improved.<br />
<br />
The findings of the PCSPE were published under the title Education for National Development in 1970.<br />
<br />
These findings recommended the use of public primary and secondary schools as training grounds for technical workers with middle level skills. This, PCSPE said, had to be done in the name of national development.<br />
<br />
In order to achieve this aim, PCSPE further recommended that the time for teaching science and math be increased. <br />
<br />
But in order to increase the time for teaching science and math, PCSPE recommended that the time for teaching Languages be decreased. <br />
<br />
But that wasn’t enough. PCSPE also recommended that the three 45-minutes-each subjects of History, Geography and Social Studies be merged into ONE 45-minute subject.<br />
<br />
The Philippine Congress at that time, being of a progressive nationalist bent, resoundingly objected to the PCSPE recommendations.<br />
They deduced that the decrease of Language subjects would result in students who had no skill in science and math either -- for the teaching and learning of science and math necessitate language skills.<br />
<br />
They smelled that the merging of History, Geography and Social Studies would result in students without a sense of history, national culture and nationhood.<br />
<br />
They suspected that the only reason the World Bank wanted a massive training of technical workers with middle level skills was to feed the factories of foreign corporations with cheap labor.<br />
<br />
Moreover, they knew that the sixties were a turbulent era of worldwide student revolts over the Vietnam War, and therefore the real intent of the PCSPE “Education for National Development” was to rid the curriculum of the liberal arts and humanities orientation that led students to revolt against the reigning order.<br />
<br />
The recommendations of the World Bank, by the way, were not confined to the Philippines alone. They were imposed in various forms and degrees on all countries of the world, the United States and Europe included, where most student revolts had occurred.<br />
<br />
So the PCSPE recommendations did not pass the scrutiny of Congress.<br />
<br />
<b>1972: Martial Law is Imposed</b><br />
<br />
Then Marcos, with the apparent blessings of the U.S., imposed martial law on September 21, 1972.<br />
<br />
A day or two later, he signed P.D. 6-A, known as the “Educational Development Decree of 1972,” its Objective #2 being: “Train the nation’s manpower in the middle level skill required for national development.”<br />
<br />
Like all bills and laws, P.D. 6-A by itself sounds innocuous enough, with its great and glorious phrases and terms for national ek-ek -- except for its giveaway Objective #2.<br />
<br />
But then, when the next school year came, all the recommendations of PCSPE began to be implemented. English became one subject, and History, Geography and Social Studies were merged into one subject called “Sibika.”<br />
<br />
So all public school pupils who were born in 1967 and were age six in 1973 started to lose their mastery of the languages, their sense of history, their sense of geography, their sense of national culture, and their sense of nationhood.<br />
<br />
These pupils graduated from public elementary school in 1979. They would step into high school the same year. <br />
<br />
But while P.D. 6-A allotted ten years and included high school for the development of the iniquitous curriculum, it seemed that a decree wasn’t enough to cement martial law babies and the succeeding generations in its mire. <br />
<br />
By 1978, Marcos was forced to form an Interim Batasan Pambansa, and by 1980, he was forced to cosmetically “lift” martial law. So, to further cement martial law babies and the succeeding generations in the mire, Edgardo Angara sponsored an Education Act, which became the Education Bill of 1982.<br />
<br />
The Education Bill of 1982, like all bills and laws and P.D. 6-A as well, sounds innocuous enough, with its great and glorious phrases and terms for national ek-ek, except for its giveaway Objective #2 -- which, exactly like P.D. 6-A, states: “Train the nation’s manpower in the middle level skill required for national development.”<br />
<br />
So the first generation trained purposely without a mastery of the languages, without a sense of history, without a sense of geography, without a sense of national culture, and without a sense of nationhood graduated from high school in 1983, and from college in 1987.<br />
<br />
Those who graduated with an education degree in 1987 became the teachers of the succeeding generations of educational victims.<br />
<br />
The next generation of teachers graduated in 2001.<br />
<br />
But these two generations were not as hapless as the generation that followed them.<br />
<br />
<b>Further Retrogression: RBEC 2002</b><br />
<br />
By the year 2002, despite the millions sent abroad as overseas contract workers starting in the early eighties and increased substantially as a matter of economic policy by the Cory administration after 1986, the education budget was getting smaller by ratio to the national debt and military spending.<br />
<br />
Not enough money was allotted to build more classrooms and train more teachers, and the government was unwilling, unable and/or instructed not to spend more.<br />
<br />
So Raul Roco thought of a brilliant idea: reduce the number of subjects to five starting with Grade 2 (four in Grade 1), with only 35 minutes allotted to each subject. The five subjects are: English, Pilipino, Science, Math, and Makabayan, which FURTHER squished the five subjects of P.E., M.S.E.P., E.K.A.W.P., and Sibika at Kultura into one!<br />
<br />
“Makabayan,” with all its pretensions to the name, is actually physical education, practical arts, music and what not rolled into one.<br />
<br />
It is “Et Al,” “Maka,” but definitely not for the bayan.<br />
<br />
As a result of Roco’s RBEC, schools were able to hold not only one shift of classes but THREE -- one in the morning, one in the afternoon, and one in the evening.<br />
<br />
Parents became happy with the arrangement, because then they could send or employ their young as child labor the rest of the day. These child laborers will be graduating from high school next year, 2012. In 2016 some of them will be college graduates.<br />
<br />
Such is the educational situation up to this very date, May 17, 2011.<br />
<br />
The hapless teacher majority, who had graduated after 1987 or worse, 2001, are hard-pressed to teach 80-100 students, 35 minutes taking up all of their time just to call the roll.<br />
<br />
I know, because I talked to about a hundred of them taking their masteral and doctoral education courses at U.P. Diliman last week.<br />
<br />
<b>SO WHAT ABOUT WILLIE?</b><br />
<br />
So what do all these have to do with Willie Revillame, you ask.<br />
<br />
Nothing and everything. Willie may not even have gone to school; so secretive is he about his private life, we don’t know what grade he reached.<br />
<br />
But certainly, the vast majority of his audience come from the ranks of these martial law babies.<br />
<br />
They not only have no firm grasp of any language, no sense of history, no sense of geography, no conceptual sense of national culture, no studied sense of nationhood; they could, at this point, hardly read and write, having been given so little time in school to learn to do it.<br />
<br />
None of them could be proud to have come from Arellano, Araullo or Ramon Magsaysay High School anymore.<br />
<br />
Much as they would like to succeed in life, therefore -- and they do, they do, I can assure you -- they know, unless they are exceptionally bright and gifted, that they have nowhere to go except abroad, as domestics, drivers, dancers or prostitutes -- despite their diplomas. <br />
<br />
In the meantime, while they cannot afford the fees, they are forced to live vagrant lives in the cities.<br />
<br />
Their only salvation is jueteng, or the lotto, or some kind soul who would send them or their children through school if not employ them despite their delimited brains.<br />
<br />
That kind soul can be Manny Villar, or Jojo Binay, or whatever other politician they could hang on to.<br />
<br />
Or it could be Willie Revillame.<br />
<br />
Otherwise, without that shot at jueteng, at lotto, without that kind soul who would look at them with empathy in his/her eyes and employ them or send their children to school, what choices are they left with?<br />
<br />
They could pick pockets at Divisoria, slither into your houses or cars to steal, kidnap your children, carnap your vehicles, hold you hostage for a million or so, sell shabu.<br />
<br />
But most of them still have enough of a fear in God to not want to do that.<br />
<br />
So they hang on to Willie Revillame.<br />
<br />
<b>The Great Class Chasm</b><br />
<br />
But you know, the most painful factoid in this desperate scenario is that those who had enough resources to go to private schools from elementary up did not suffer the same fate.<br />
<br />
While they too were deprived of the separate subjects of History, Geography and Social Studies, they could, up to now, still go to school from 7 am to 4 pm. <br />
<br />
If their school administrators are particularly progressive, these could even go around the strictures of “Sibika” and later, “Makabayan,” to infuse more national content into their curricula.<br />
<br />
And there are still just a maximum of 30 of them per class.<br />
<br />
So now, isn’t that great? The middle classes, the OFWs who earn a little extra to send at least one child to a private school, are saved!<br />
<br />
The problem is, the majority are damned.<br />
<br />
Where before 1972, the problem was between the rich and the poor, now it is between the rich, the middle classes, and the poor. The middle classes have lost all empathy for the poor, are ever more distant from them, and now treat them the way the rich always did -- like dirt.<br />
<br />
That is your great class chasm today.<br />
<br />
***<br />
<a href="http://studentsofenglish.blogspot.com/2011/05/revillame-revisited-part-i-of-iii.html">Part I: A Portrait of Slow Transformation</a><br />
<a href="http://studentsofenglish.blogspot.com/2011/05/revillame-revisited-part-iii-of-iii.html">Part III: What Then Should Be Done?</a>mdahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11932277031824274539noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9371458.post-41222080184381874632011-05-19T15:23:00.008+08:002011-05-19T17:37:45.794+08:00Revillame Revisited: Part III of III<h1>What Then Should be Done?</h1>By Mila D. Aguilar<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoY8znA616_fcBH04VFdjXzzOUd8JyyttdGRPIr9Ls4fR2OfieCMpjGFnaRaFswC0jjYxGILoAkItpo6O7BTyv_S9XnfYYVMROW9tc4qLbzq_Rtsau-y0If9JMFd_DA_z_N-Z29A/s1600/IMG_1971.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear:left; float:left;margin-right:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="320" width="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoY8znA616_fcBH04VFdjXzzOUd8JyyttdGRPIr9Ls4fR2OfieCMpjGFnaRaFswC0jjYxGILoAkItpo6O7BTyv_S9XnfYYVMROW9tc4qLbzq_Rtsau-y0If9JMFd_DA_z_N-Z29A/s320/IMG_1971.jpg" /></a></div>A political genius once advised me: “Take the long view.”<br />
<br />
Though that political genius has long since been reviled, I have never forgotten his advice.<br />
<br />
Taking the long view enables us to see solutions instead of just problems.<br />
<br />
It enables us to zoom out of ourselves so that we may see us interacting with our fellows, the situations that surround us and our fellows, the world around our respective situations, and even the multiverses that envelop our world.<br />
<br />
If we are able to admit that the multiverse is composed not only of matter but also of spirit, of thought, of energy, of diwa, we might even see the wars in the heavenlies that are being waged at the same time as and in parallel with our wars on earth.<br />
<br />
At the very least, it could bring us away from our preoccupation with the minutiae of character assassination and its tendency to divide the nation.<br />
<br />
So, having taken the long view away from the seeming nuisance that is Willie Revillame, let us look into the solutions to our vast, and some do think hopeless, social problems.<br />
<br />
<b>1. Extend Class Hours, not School Years</b><br />
<br />
When I spoke as a member of a panel of three at the College of Education last week, the hundred masteral and doctoral public school teachers who were there heartily agreed that 35 minutes is too short a period for them to teach anything.<br />
<br />
They agreed even more heartily to my proposition that the solution to the problem of shortened class hours was to build more classrooms and employ more teachers.<br />
<br />
And they roundly agreed with my stand that as a nation incredibly endowed with natural resources, in fact with a budget that enables the corrupt to pocket 40 percent of it, we CAN afford to build more classrooms and employ more teachers.<br />
<br />
The question merely redounds to a matter of policy, of thrust, of POLITICAL WILL AND NATIONAL RESOLVE.<br />
<br />
But then, of course, forces greater than us will conspire against such a move.<br />
<br />
These may be the same imperial forces that conspired to bring about the PCSPE in the first place.<br />
<br />
They may be the same forces that have conspired for decades, indeed centuries, to keep our masses down on their knees, begging for alms.<br />
<br />
They may be the same forces that would extend school years, rather than class hours, compounding the problem rather than solving it.<br />
<br />
We need to struggle against such forces.<br />
<br />
Indeed, we need to pray for God to break them apart and bind them up, so that they can do us no more harm.<br />
<br />
<b>2. Restore History, Geography & Social Studies in all Grade Levels</b><br />
<br />
This will be an even greater struggle than the first.<br />
<br />
No empire would want to see a people already disarmed gaining back their sense of history, culture and nationhood.<br />
<br />
But we have to struggle and pray for it, because otherwise we will soon be lost as a people, our riches taken over by others who through their own folly have depleted their natural and human resources.<br />
<br />
<b>3. Promote Mastery of Knowledge through Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education (MTB-MLE)</b><br />
<br />
MTB-MLE is education that starts with the use of the student’s first language as medium of instruction, with the graduated introduction of second languages as subjects.<br />
<br />
It has already been introduced by DepEd in a memo to all schools and is being implemented with the able help of the U.P. College of Education and other institutions and non-governmental organizations of language learning.<br />
<br />
Studies have shown -- including my father’s pioneering Iloilo Experiment way back in 1948 -- that pupils learn faster, better and more when their own language is used as the medium of instruction.<br />
<br />
But full and effective implementation of MTB-MLE will not succeed unless class hours are extended. Otherwise, MTB-MLE will fail, contributing merely a more effective method of teaching but heavily burdened by the constraints of time.<br />
<br />
Learning is cumulative, and time is of the essence in cumulating knowledge and skills to achieve learning.<br />
<br />
But with the extension of class hours as well as the revival of History, Geography and Social Studies in the curriculum, MTB-MLE will be a perfect fit.<br />
<br />
That is, once we have gotten rid, through struggle and prayer, of the forces that would enchain us.<br />
<br />
<b>4. Build Entrepreneurship into the Curriculum & Establish Entrepreneurial High Schools</b><br />
<br />
For more than a decade I have been so vocal against our culture of dependency, I have even attempted to trace it historically and offer a solution to it.<br />
<br />
That solution is entrepreneurship. I am exceedingly glad to see networks like ABS-CBN and GMA7 picking up the advocacy through shows that push it.<br />
<br />
More and more NGOs and foundations are organizing the poor in various localities around the skill of entrepreneurship, sometimes calling it by its time-worn name, livelihood, but infusing into these projects the necessary skills of management, accounting and marketing.<br />
<br />
Those shows and organizing efforts are laudable and worthy of the highest awards, but are not enough. <br />
<br />
To hasten the process of smashing the culture of dependency, we need to establish Entrepreneurial High Schools.<br />
<br />
The Entrepreneurial High School will be one in which math is geared to adding, subtracting, dividing and multiplying products and payment for products, science to discovering laws and principles that go into the invention of products, history to uncovering our pre-Hispanic weaving, smelting and trading gifts (and how these gifts were contorted and distorted by the Spaniards and Americans), geography and social studies to studying markets, and languages to talking and writing about ourselves as a people and the products of our minds and hands.<br />
<br />
If some congressman or senator is willing to sponsor a bill to establish Entrepreneurial High Schools all over the country, I will help him/her write and push it. These high schools will be the entrepreneurial equivalent of our present Philippine Science High Schools, only hopefully they won’t turn out more doctors, lawyers and military men than entrepreneurs (I’m afraid our science high schools do, more than scientist-inventors).<br />
<br />
But even this may not be enough.<br />
<br />
Public elementary schools, AFTER extending class hours and reinstating History, Geography and Social Studies, may have to pick up the cudgels by building entrepreneurship into the curriculum as early as Grade 1. <br />
<br />
This way, we develop children who are ever ready to produce, market and benefit from their own goods, rather than children who are ever ready, at their parents’ urging, to go begging in the streets.<br />
<br />
<b>SO WHAT ABOUT WILLIE?</b><br />
<br />
The issue of begging in the streets and in television studios will begin to beg the question once we have instituted the above remedies.<br />
<br />
But in the meantime, we are faced with an enormous social problem.<br />
<br />
I would have continued to nonchalantly rant and rail against the culture of dependency had I not, in the past months, been increasingly apprised of the rampant and ever more horrible crimes around us.<br />
<br />
It’s bad enough to know that your son’s partner’s iPhone 3GS was snatched in Divisoria while she was talking right into it. The snatching came from behind, she wasn’t even scratched, but the audacity of the crime leaves you with a painful realization about the society you love.<br />
<br />
It’s bad enough to learn that your nearest neighbors have been robbed from the side and back of their houses, their iron window grilles jacked or sawed off. Though you yourself are under the protection of your Lord’s angels, you tend to shiver at the thought.<br />
<br />
But it’s terrible to know that some young pastor’s neighbor’s son in Bagong Silang was snatched from school, then found dead and unstitched, his organs gone, his parents sent a note saying, “Pasensya na talaga, kelangan lang namin mabuhay.”<br />
<br />
And the young pastor knows of at least 10 similar cases both in his neighborhood and in Cavite, police remonstrances notwithstanding -- all done to people AS POOR AS their wrongdoers.<br />
<br />
I am at a period in my life when God is passing each and every deeply held or hidden belief in front of my eyes and telling me, “You are wrong. Recant.”<br />
<br />
Much as I have always hated charity but pressed as I am by the abominable crimes I see growing around me, not touching me, true, since I am under God’s protection, but injuring, maiming and killing many others -- how can I not start to believe in charity?<br />
<br />
When charity is perhaps the only way for these hapless people to get out of their poverty traps, given the powerful forces that have held those traps shut for decades, even centuries?<br />
<br />
My innate humaneness prevents me from wanting to slough off the population of the poor to solve their problems.<br />
<br />
So I have had to come to the painful conclusion that, prior to the complete solutions we need to struggle against all odds for, there is no other way to save the poor from the crimes that engulf them either as victims or doers except: Charity. <br />
<br />
At least some poor -- one soul, one family at a time.<br />
<br />
Long before I came to this Bildungsroman, this coming-of-age at 62, our people have been doing charity through the practice of bayanihan -- helping each other, carrying each other’s houses when needed.<br />
<br />
In the 1920s, some pioneering young Filipino women put up the Gota de Leche -- which means drop of milk -- an institution dedicated to the proposition that rich women would continuously provide goat’s milk to poor women who had nothing to feed their babies.<br />
<br />
In our times, there are entertainers like Willie Revillame who, despite all their bad habits, want sorely to snatch the poor around them from the fate that they themselves suffered early in life, and know no other way to do that than to give them money or secret scholarships.<br />
<br />
I honestly wish now that I too had the resources to be as generous as they.<br />
<br />
Not all of us may have to come to this point, just as not all of us may want to struggle against the odds for equality of education for the poor; but the call to charity, I believe now, is as legitimate as any. <br />
<br />
And charity is nothing but love, so the fifth call must necessarily and simply be:<br />
<br />
<b>5. Love your neighbor as you love yourself.</b><br />
<br />
***<br />
<a href="http://studentsofenglish.blogspot.com/2011/05/revillame-revisited-part-i-of-iii.html">Part I: A Portrait of Slow Transformation</a><br />
<a href="http://studentsofenglish.blogspot.com/2011/05/revillame-revisited-part-ii-of-iii.html">Part II: The Great Class Divide</a>mdahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11932277031824274539noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9371458.post-22281744116167412472010-11-20T00:33:00.008+08:002010-11-20T01:54:36.243+08:00Flowers and a Poem for...the Murdered?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSbqbz6NfUn1617gzJhN9Mc5askI-PM9uISdKL0dRHdOkKhwTxGwxWbXLZNwbKWwJ8ezViwIMrhM38an71SRNKTgbLkKWOzSKCsUi9p7eb6Sai8NBghHBe156NHXy5q9CQe3wb1Q/s1600/IMG_1155.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSbqbz6NfUn1617gzJhN9Mc5askI-PM9uISdKL0dRHdOkKhwTxGwxWbXLZNwbKWwJ8ezViwIMrhM38an71SRNKTgbLkKWOzSKCsUi9p7eb6Sai8NBghHBe156NHXy5q9CQe3wb1Q/s320/IMG_1155.jpg" width="239" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgd5eCGN9GcpFqT4Fdo9fXA-tWrnx1QXesu9_yZFf7r-fvCJZnpsDeqSzBNvtyGm7tr5X-XB9o-xr1nGxIPSjeZBdUNejzbLOa4lWKWmnM_b1rWE5WCG0qCWFedEjyqrN6jYvMJwg/s1600/IMG_1156.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgd5eCGN9GcpFqT4Fdo9fXA-tWrnx1QXesu9_yZFf7r-fvCJZnpsDeqSzBNvtyGm7tr5X-XB9o-xr1nGxIPSjeZBdUNejzbLOa4lWKWmnM_b1rWE5WCG0qCWFedEjyqrN6jYvMJwg/s320/IMG_1156.jpg" width="239" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjBDWYFTmMAsOSgfRrBnkewGPIB1N1iuFF1pwS6Q9QAlFFBFggz6KqdOvHBltQdu9SXXScKt9lURpr1EE9umtcwzylIbKoFFPQVjdv1NUGKBsqXMYS_Ko7qOwiNZ_JPyz68xi_KQ/s1600/IMG_1161.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjBDWYFTmMAsOSgfRrBnkewGPIB1N1iuFF1pwS6Q9QAlFFBFggz6KqdOvHBltQdu9SXXScKt9lURpr1EE9umtcwzylIbKoFFPQVjdv1NUGKBsqXMYS_Ko7qOwiNZ_JPyz68xi_KQ/s320/IMG_1161.jpg" width="239" /></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Flowers for <a href="http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquirerheadlines/nation/view/20101119-304043/Slain-botanist-heard-begging-for-mercy"target="_blank">Leonard Co</a></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;">by Mila D. Aguilar</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;">Never was one for</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;">Phyla and chordata</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;">Stomata and stigma</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;">But yes, stigmata</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;">That's what drew me.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;">If you had been</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;">My teacher earlier on</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;">Perhaps I would have</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;">Loved Biology</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;">Or Botany, at least.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;">But I guess</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;">You were younger.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;">And we never met.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;">And now you're gone</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;">With the offer of</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;">These flowers</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;">Which I cannot name.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;">Would</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;">Your murderers</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;">Knew them better</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;">You'd have been spared.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px;"><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">- November 19,2010</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">10:00 - 10:15 p.m.</span></span>mdahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11932277031824274539noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9371458.post-44346933896997265602010-10-02T21:30:00.005+08:002010-10-02T21:38:20.584+08:00Looking at the RH Bill Objectivelyby Mila D. Aguilar<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOPuRxEGy0fR-3Hid1vc8QKL7NIfrR1IraKoI9w4RaCXjSVkNaM7m9u8sB0Iq3lwnAsHrjNRD6boej3SfGD7N8-K40pFR_r5SJKIVvTO17t78CdqvDQIE9nbDQH2EyHDh23vZc_g/s1600/RH.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOPuRxEGy0fR-3Hid1vc8QKL7NIfrR1IraKoI9w4RaCXjSVkNaM7m9u8sB0Iq3lwnAsHrjNRD6boej3SfGD7N8-K40pFR_r5SJKIVvTO17t78CdqvDQIE9nbDQH2EyHDh23vZc_g/s1600/RH.jpg" /></a></div>The recent ruckus raised regarding the Reproductive Health Bill, whatever its variation or version, has confused the issue to the delight of its invisible original proponents. To bring the issue back on its feet, firm on the ground it actually stands on, may I humbly show the following figures from the old revered <a href="https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/rp.html">CIA World Factbook</a>, which recently received a beautiful makeover AND 2010 estimates as well.<br />
<br />
The first figure is our population: 97,976,603 by July 2010 estimates.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRbzD1fzZx-8NYbMG_FblPl7XNvwKkAXQq2PKIIFiI46gR9MyarDVj_MPLcgncxr4UwhjwW5n-ytFKHNXZIysRdU4Gj2fqtWVYTVZ8zef5PBdrs8kT5GIn7xmsFSFLl8-OwOlrSg/s1600/2010-10-02+at+7.47.22+PM+population.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="41" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRbzD1fzZx-8NYbMG_FblPl7XNvwKkAXQq2PKIIFiI46gR9MyarDVj_MPLcgncxr4UwhjwW5n-ytFKHNXZIysRdU4Gj2fqtWVYTVZ8zef5PBdrs8kT5GIn7xmsFSFLl8-OwOlrSg/s320/2010-10-02+at+7.47.22+PM+population.png" width="320" /></a></div>You might howl: terrible! But wait, here’s another one for your delectation: our total land area is: 298,170 sq km.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMIgO7XqwRet3TLYKc1ASGknR5IobLaVuIBPYUTUis-93z1lbWtW7GD6VkHqhtSbUnf1-JfktRXYh8KLf-u4UCFODf7d8KmEyTCKK5Cb5LYBgmTtzeWwQh_BpkA3Xy24k9t4I-gQ/s1600/2010-10-02+at+7.49.59+PM+land+area.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="57" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMIgO7XqwRet3TLYKc1ASGknR5IobLaVuIBPYUTUis-93z1lbWtW7GD6VkHqhtSbUnf1-JfktRXYh8KLf-u4UCFODf7d8KmEyTCKK5Cb5LYBgmTtzeWwQh_BpkA3Xy24k9t4I-gQ/s320/2010-10-02+at+7.49.59+PM+land+area.png" width="320" /></a></div>If you use your math, that would mean 328.59 people PER SQUARE KILOMETER, or 3,043.27 SQUARE METERS for every Filipino.<br />
<br />
Does it look like we’re jostling each other out of space?<br />
<br />
Of course, population control proponents can very well say we will, if we don’t make our people stop doing babies.<br />
<br />
Let’s look at another figure, then:<br />
<br />
The CIA World Factbook, latest version, says that our population growth rate is 1.957% (2010 est.). In the chart of national population growth rates, we are number 63.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPxyE2N4ZSPZ-4ebYCNsNZ8mvvPpwGl2JFdbP0axCF4pW3API10lyk6lkvK-ebCsPAz9kf5oEn9AAib-coD2r9BsSlgRecdSwncp_KB5yk_Ophyphenhyphen1Yej8dPv5uF4Hjmqs_JW0Bb-w/s1600/2010-10-02+at+7.53.41+PM+RP+pop+growth+rate.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="37" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPxyE2N4ZSPZ-4ebYCNsNZ8mvvPpwGl2JFdbP0axCF4pW3API10lyk6lkvK-ebCsPAz9kf5oEn9AAib-coD2r9BsSlgRecdSwncp_KB5yk_Ophyphenhyphen1Yej8dPv5uF4Hjmqs_JW0Bb-w/s320/2010-10-02+at+7.53.41+PM+RP+pop+growth+rate.png" width="320" /></a></div>The country with the highest growth rate is the <a href="https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/2002rank.html?countryName=Philippines&countryCode=rp&regionCode=eas&rank=63#rp">United Arab Emirates</a>, with 3.69% -- 2.74% above ours. There are 12 countries in the 3% and up category.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrQQITnC9kOOMFhkWoQJ3pJECzeeBPCpnmN7DHDldKdh6ftAgMkqrQ7c-S-WQngYGqN0T_xH1xEmsEXBx0e2LG8H5rcspi0ClT7vHXMS6Yc9ow4ibTvGF5XmCV0xQCbQKpR_D4GA/s1600/2010-10-02+at+7.58.54+PM+highest+growth+rate.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrQQITnC9kOOMFhkWoQJ3pJECzeeBPCpnmN7DHDldKdh6ftAgMkqrQ7c-S-WQngYGqN0T_xH1xEmsEXBx0e2LG8H5rcspi0ClT7vHXMS6Yc9ow4ibTvGF5XmCV0xQCbQKpR_D4GA/s320/2010-10-02+at+7.58.54+PM+highest+growth+rate.png" width="320" /></a></div>Countries 13-62, 49 in all before us, are in the category of 2 to just below 3%.<br />
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We are the first country in the category just below 2%. In our category of 1.96% (Philippines)-1.05% (Argentina), there are a total of 65 countries.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjo-WuRqYVRnLsznsnXL5NOtcYb5BIEI903BfXMbhBwq8OjiQZE4KLY5X1M7vcYR0NjVFDYnHqEtOQS5eJ3EKhDZIEg7dS5yp4O4cF6i-yoWaDUhwEQ82iceVDcFhD0Ut-Jh0byuQ/s1600/2010-10-02+at+8.03.46+PM+RP+growth+rate+comparison.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="270" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjo-WuRqYVRnLsznsnXL5NOtcYb5BIEI903BfXMbhBwq8OjiQZE4KLY5X1M7vcYR0NjVFDYnHqEtOQS5eJ3EKhDZIEg7dS5yp4O4cF6i-yoWaDUhwEQ82iceVDcFhD0Ut-Jh0byuQ/s320/2010-10-02+at+8.03.46+PM+RP+growth+rate+comparison.png" width="320" /></a></div>In the category of 1% (Seychelles) - .01% (Norfolk Island), there are a total of 71 countries.<br />
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In the category of NIL growth, 0 to -7.8, there are a total of 36 countries.<br />
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In other words, out of a total of 233 nations of the world, 107, or almost 46% -- approaching half of the countries of the world -- are in danger of not reproducing at all!<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgW4ufQxiyie_1_Zn4UsV9bfb8tqc23SgrxbvR85ZnUVVUmViyK96s2DYiEecGHeTNm3I2WLT4kGXFa3tNVV8MbwyyTfJSfIEeU8GaOJZgoqKN3atfnZu5G1_w9QSHxNTYZjCAnw/s1600/2010-10-02+at+8.07.10+PM+lowest+growth+rate.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="165" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgW4ufQxiyie_1_Zn4UsV9bfb8tqc23SgrxbvR85ZnUVVUmViyK96s2DYiEecGHeTNm3I2WLT4kGXFa3tNVV8MbwyyTfJSfIEeU8GaOJZgoqKN3atfnZu5G1_w9QSHxNTYZjCAnw/s320/2010-10-02+at+8.07.10+PM+lowest+growth+rate.png" width="320" /></a></div>On the other hand, only 62 out of 233 nations or 26.6%, less than a third of the nations of the world, may be said to be over-reproducing.<br />
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The rest of the world, 65 countries in all or 27.89%, are in a more comfortable margin of reproducing just enough manpower to take over its future! We are in that batch, albeit with the highest population growth rate -- in that batch.<br />
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Couldn’t that be another way of looking at world population data with the latest CIA figures?<br />
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Now here are even more shocking figures: <br />
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Our birth rate is 26.01 births/1,000 population (2010 est.) We are number 64 there. But do you know what our infant mortality rate is? It’s 20.56 deaths/1,000 live births, of which we are number 102 in the world. So how many of those 26.01 births actually survive the world?<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNo8BgaS7VWgSihsXa1DUQ4tOlaLyc_R3vpLFLQVyyfd9nQE48ZJGBzIwXsJnOEE8yjdSF_ptuhEXY1vyHDBI-S25akJ2pYoaRMpbb01J1Dzgj9GQKX6sB7k8NU9yVeLyrqXB4xg/s1600/2010-10-02+at+8.09.39+PM+birth+rate.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="40" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNo8BgaS7VWgSihsXa1DUQ4tOlaLyc_R3vpLFLQVyyfd9nQE48ZJGBzIwXsJnOEE8yjdSF_ptuhEXY1vyHDBI-S25akJ2pYoaRMpbb01J1Dzgj9GQKX6sB7k8NU9yVeLyrqXB4xg/s320/2010-10-02+at+8.09.39+PM+birth+rate.png" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjH_GWO7E4-ri95jHeG3vVoeislxR9X1bqUIpAHN8h77vCM76xfW0Wa3E6tIiF6mUX9p7TCcpUBd9Gwo17d4ioqrntstv0W7UK2lNOX4aeyPDDfEWRQLUh2lLzsBa47QCaftqOx3w/s1600/2010-10-02+at+8.11.28+PM+infant+mortality+rate.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="34" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjH_GWO7E4-ri95jHeG3vVoeislxR9X1bqUIpAHN8h77vCM76xfW0Wa3E6tIiF6mUX9p7TCcpUBd9Gwo17d4ioqrntstv0W7UK2lNOX4aeyPDDfEWRQLUh2lLzsBa47QCaftqOx3w/s320/2010-10-02+at+8.11.28+PM+infant+mortality+rate.png" width="320" /></a></div>But let’s look at another, even more telling figure: our total fertility rate. Can you guess that the 2010 estimate of number of children born to every Filipino woman is: <br />
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3.23 children born/woman (2010 est.)?<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh11dKgGIOKLsepuLDabGkzwG2MsK4D0KRpxdEqOuNNYprMDoiJsUPKbK8yraNvNdOMVpRhfse75Zh1kqjsi-EM14p5BcjR06Wma18zXm_4hJ_hxEhYf-25eo91voTruMkb1aT5HQ/s1600/2010-10-02+at+8.14.42+PM+fertility+rate.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="36" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh11dKgGIOKLsepuLDabGkzwG2MsK4D0KRpxdEqOuNNYprMDoiJsUPKbK8yraNvNdOMVpRhfse75Zh1kqjsi-EM14p5BcjR06Wma18zXm_4hJ_hxEhYf-25eo91voTruMkb1aT5HQ/s320/2010-10-02+at+8.14.42+PM+fertility+rate.png" width="320" /></a></div>Your guess was 6, right? No, it’s less than 4; it’s 3.23 children born per Filipino woman.<br />
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So what is all that ruckus about the Reproductive Health bill for? Do we even need it? Haven’t our horrorable senators and congressmen checked the CIA World Factbook yet? Has Carlos Celdran?mdahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11932277031824274539noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9371458.post-47223291725824976752010-08-04T15:19:00.008+08:002010-08-17T17:16:15.887+08:00Reading _Room_ by Emma Donoghue<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhg6DZm2sMZb2aBVjg48-1AS4HxnnSkn5nj6Mf2rCeRXqp1I0hRrNR7r5GiH552gg0u7jD9QTHGNpGFDkZWXkxr_1st-4p8mSAwMg44XwVrc4_QdOMdGHVPjNea0P_2jWSk1JzToQ/s1600/Room.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 140px; height: 215px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhg6DZm2sMZb2aBVjg48-1AS4HxnnSkn5nj6Mf2rCeRXqp1I0hRrNR7r5GiH552gg0u7jD9QTHGNpGFDkZWXkxr_1st-4p8mSAwMg44XwVrc4_QdOMdGHVPjNea0P_2jWSk1JzToQ/s320/Room.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5501451834317464738" /></a><br />
by Mila D. Aguilar<br />
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If I've been silent for a day (on Facebook, that is), it's because I've been reading <span style="font-weight:bold;">Room<span style="font-weight:bold;"></span></span> by Emma Donoghue, a novel about growing up as a child of a kidnapped young woman in a hermetically-sealed 11-by-11-foot room.<br />
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What got me interested in the book was the case of Elizabeth Fritzl, who had been kept for 24 years as a sex-slave in a dungeon in Austria by her father, emerging as a 42-year-old woman with seven children by him, one of whom died of illness after his gross neglect -- thereafter to be incinerated by him in a heating stove next to the dungeon.<br />
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I read and watched every bit of news about the Fritzls almost since the day it burst out in April of 2008 and am still on the lookout for whatever little piece of information I could get about the monster Josef Fritzl or his hapless though rescued daughter Elizabeth and six surviving children/grandchildren.<br />
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The book was touted at the conclusion of the Fritzl case as an offshoot of it.<br />
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Knowing all the juicy details about the Fritzl case, I got not a little disappointed with the novel. The beginning, and actually the whole perspective of the latter, is novel: it is told from the point of view of the child, who was born in the room and was taught by his mother, at five, how to escape from it and rescue her. He emerges as the novel's unknowing, unwilling and ever-unconscious hero -- superhero, in fact -- even leading her to her own closure by insisting on visiting the room for the last time.<br />
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It's a cute way of presenting a highly distressing, intriguing and gripping situation. He manages to escape from his captor, not having known anything about the outside world except what he had seen on TV in his five years in it, tell the police about his mother, and lead them, through a particularly alert and motherly police officer, to his mother, who has stayed in the Room waiting for the rescue.<br />
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The plot is well-done, gluing the reader to the novel up to the last sigh of relief, after all the goodbyes are done to every aspect of the tiny Room.<br />
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But presenting a situation from the eyes of a five-year-old child, no matter how proficiently, has its limitations.<br />
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The characters of the two other protagonists in the novel turn out flat in consequence. Old Nick, the kidnapper, who has kept Ma, Jack's mother, in the prison-room for seven years, cannot be elucidated. Of course, he is more like the kidnapper of Natasha Kampusch than Josef Fritzl, the other Austrian sex-slaver whom we never get to know because he killed himself upon his victim's escape. So perhaps we can forgive the lack of a rounded picture of Old Nick, though he for his part ends up in prison.<br />
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But Ma's sudden suicide attempt becomes as much of a conundrum to us as it is to Jack. It could very well happen in real life -- a 26-year-old mother who has brought up her son very well, teaching him not only to read and write but to do very good math as well as providing him with all the physical and vocal exercises she could within the limits of a hidden prison, could very well, after being rescued by him through her own plan, want to kill herself because of a bruising encounter with thoughtless media. <br />
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But then, taking into account her son's own narrative, it would seem that she almost deliberately planned the whole scenario for five years, waiting for the opportune moment for him to grow up. Why would she suddenly throw away all her efforts -- and her son's future -- just because of some media meddling?<br />
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It could be explained, of course -- as a sudden weakness in character built in even before her kidnapping -- but perhaps not from a little boy's viewpoint.<br />
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So what starts out as a cute device doesn't end up cute at all.<br />
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And we who know the Fritzl case begin to associate the novel with the true story.<br />
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In the true story, Felix, the youngest boy, is also five, and experiences the outside world in much the same way, with the same fascination and wonderment, and the same physical disabilities, described with just much more detail in the novel.<br />
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But in the true story, Elizabeth, the mother and incest victim, is heroic all the way. She is not known to have tried to kill herself after rescuing all her children from the clutches of her ogre of a father. And in the true story, we get a rather deep glimpse into the twisted psyche of Josef Fritzl besides.<br />
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What is the true story about, why is it so riveting?<br />
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It is able, in its most complicated true-to-life fashion, to portray the depths of depravity to which the human soul can descend, as well as the heights of hope, faith and love to which it can aspire.<br />
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<span style="font-weight:bold;">Room</span> cannot do that, not only because of the viewpoint it has chosen, but because the author herself, by all accounts (see her <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ru8Q_9jMdR0&feature=player_embedded">video</a>), lacks the perspicacity and depth to see these dimensions.<br />
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So <span style="font-weight:bold;">Room</span> becomes exactly what she intended it to be -- a novel about child development, unfortunately comparable to the Fritzl and, to a minor extent, Kampusch stories because of the many elements she borrowed from both -- without acknowledging it, by the way, in her final book.<br />
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Which is a shame. Reading <span style="font-weight:bold;">Room</span> is like reading the novels of Paolo Coelho, which I could not for the life of me appreciate. Both make for extremely popular (because, I suspect, easy) reading. Both try but fail to make some meaningful literarily profound statement about life (though Coelho tries harder and literally does, in essay fashion -- in fact he's quoted rather widely on it). <br />
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And both will not, I am afraid, outlast this century.<br />
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So now let me go back to my Dostoevsky, which I've been trying to re-read without much success on my smartphone -- the same type of device I used to read, with ease, both <span style="font-weight:bold;">Room </span>and Coelho.mdahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11932277031824274539noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9371458.post-77567426435878631172010-05-13T01:32:00.000+08:002010-05-13T01:34:06.211+08:00The Devil is Upon UsBy Mila D. Aguilar<br /><br />The devil is upon us<br />He thrives on harmless<br />Vegetables we keep<br />To create compost<br />For our hungry gardens.<br /><br />The stink will invade<br />Your noses day to day<br />Stinging your skin<br />Developing dots<br />For microbes to feed on.<br /><br />But that is not<br />The worst of it.<br />Ripe compost produces<br />Methane, which is odorless<br />And could kill you<br /><br />Without your knowing it.<br />The trick is to<br />Throw open your windows<br />So God’s air could come in<br />And dissipate the gas.<br /><br />But lock your doors<br />Lock your doors<br />For the devil could get you<br />By climbing the fence<br />He himself built.<br /><br />Remember, the devil is with us<br />Sending warts upon us all.<br /><br /><br />- May 12, 2010<br />7:10 - 7:22 ammdahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11932277031824274539noreply@blogger.com1