ECONOMICS - REAL PROBLEM

Impeachment move versus the President 

Another impeachment case in the offing versus the Vice-President

Hanging bilateral ceasefire between the AFP and the NPA

Threat of another nationwide strike of the jeepneys versus modernization plans that will remove old models from the streets and replaced with electricity-run jeeps.

Housing problems where urban poor have decided to reside in homes that were awarded to soldiers

Continuing rise in basic services and food

Why are these happening to us? What kind of citizens will be shaped by these events? How would the tenure of the President be characterized after this? Was there a mistake in putting up a Mindanaoan president, followed by two other Mindanaoan leaders now controlling Congress and the Senate? Is this a case of differing regional perspectives in governance?

Senator Leticia Ramos-Shahani who passed away last week, God Bless Her Soul- said that coupled with women joining the movement is not only to be there in order to garner rights and privileges but also to feel responsible towards their duties and obligations to society. And she emphasized the three principles of EQUALITY, DEVELOPMENT AND PEACE which were the rallying cry during the Celebration of the End of the UN Decade for Women held in Nairobi, Kenya. 

I think that we have leaders whose hearts are in the right places -- for the people to gain freedom from poverty. 

However the method of achieving that does not seem to be in the right direction. 

As a broadcaster over DZXL said last night "Hindi ko alam ang economic program ng President."

I agree with that. all the issues that I have mentioned won't result in a country with happy citizens. The right direction is to pinpoint why the Filipino people are still very, very poor. 

Last Sunday, it was reiterated in the worship mass at the UP Church of the Risen Lord that the Abot Kayang Tanghalian is still ongoing and relies mostly on donations. The students, some 200 ++ of them are able to eat a balanced meal only for P10.00 and that's because of the subsidy. Even Chancellor Michael Tan has contributed to the feeding program. 

Christ had said three times to Simon Peter, son of John, "Feed my lambs, feed my lambs, feed my lambs." This is the take-off of the CRL feeding program. 

Why is it very important to have a feeding program at UP and most of all in all the schools and universities of the country?

The price of eating outside the home has become very expensive. A viand costs from P40 to P80 depending on the kind being served. A fried egg, which when bought raw costs only P4 to P5, would be sold for P15 to P20 when fried. A cup of rice is P15. Some restaurants do not even halve the price if you just ask for a half-cup. 

Then I met three young girls here along Aurora Boulevard, and asked them:

 "How much do you spend for lunch?" One said P60.00. "Is that a complete meal?" "No Ma'am, only one viand." 

"What do you buy, vegetables or meat?"

"Meat, Ma'am."

Folks, our economic problems are really terrible. With so much natural resources we have from Batanes to Sulu, -- sea and marine resources; fertile lands and mountains; we cannot even feed all the population, especially the young kids. Our young people are being forced to reduce their food desires to the most basic -- and that is only to fill up their stomach with meat which is really heavy yet less nutritious compared to veggies. 

"How much is your allowance? \"

"P100 po."

"And how much do you spend for fare?"

"P50.00."

"Why, that's P110.00. Yet your allowance is only P100. Where do you get the extra P10?"

And she said, "Nangungupit po ako sa bag ng Nanay ko."

Kathe Kolwitz, artist

WOMEN IN AMERICA, ARISE!

WOMEN IN AMERICA, ARISE!

Resist the powers of darkness slowly covering your land.

You have nothing to lose but everything to gain. 

One triumphant move has to be succeeded by more ultimate triumphs that will completely obliterate the chances of the forces of darkness swallowing up your land.

Help the men realize that political power is nothing when forces of darkness rule. 

Let them see the bright side of life, bereft of artificialities and dishonesty. 

Remember the children, the children's children who will inherit your land. 

They need to feel loved, that not only do their present life counts but also their future dreams of a humane country.

WHY THE NEED TO HARP ON THE QUESTIONABLE ELECTORAL COLLEGE SYSTEM IN ELECTING THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES

1. The Electoral College, a handful of voters, is illegal because it supplants the votes of the majority to make the president win. 

2. Thus its use to determine the winner of the US presidential elections in 2016 is a bastardization, a nullification of the right of suffrage which recognizes individual human right to vote. 

3. Recognizing individual votes is paramount under the UN DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS. Ergo, without such individual recognition, everything else is invalid.

4. TWO MILLION VOTES CANNOT BE SUPPLANTED BY MERE 304 ELECTORAL COLLEGE VOTES. 

5. Electoral College votes are only geographical in nature. 

6. Such EC system can be used for other types of elections but not for the election of the highest positions of the land, so important for determining the destiny of a people. 

7. To accept what is happening in the US now is for the Americans to tell the world, "Ths is the United States, No one can dictate to us how we should run our elections."
Unfortunately, the Russinas have already done it -- dictate to the current sitting official what he should do and say should there be questions about the legitimacy of his position or how to parry charges of illegitimacy. 

8. Not to correct highly flawed election results is to make a mockery of all kinds of professions, whether of law, of education, of IT, and the whole spectrum of knowledge. 

9. It is to teach this generation and the coming generations that money, not principles rule the world, that might is right and not the other way around.

10. The UN should declare elections as illegal in any country if they do not conform to the proper definition of the right of suffrage. It should create an election force or commmittee that will oversee a reelections. If a country refuses, then their membership should be suspended or a harsher penalty could be imposed unless the government of the country corrects the error. 

UN Declaration of Human Rights Article 25: Every citizen shall have the right and the opportunity, without any of the distinctions mentioned in Article 2 and without unreasonable restrictions:
(a) To take part in the conduct of public affairs, directly or through freely chosen representatives;
(b) To vote and to be elected at genuine periodic elections which shall be by universal and equal suffrage and shall be held by secret ballot, guaranteeing the free expression of the will of the electors."

CA, TURN JURY?

Our country is known for having started the People Power Movement in order to restore democracy and afterwhich to strengthen the people's participation in governance.

However, the political moves in the country point to conservative or traditional styles of governance where the structure has not been changed at all, save the restoration of Congress. That's all. And the hierarchy is still there; the people are outside the power loop of the elected officials. 

This should not be the case. The non-confirmation of Gina Lopez as secretary of the department of environment and natural resources points to a flawed process in our government, in particular,  of the Senate Commission on Appointments. 

The process is too open -- the jury members, the senators themselves appear to be like criminal judges questioning the apparent capability and moral ascendancy of Ms. Lopez. They turn a blind eye to her very obvious desire to serve the country and the people. 

Why, how do we see the Philippines, a mere map? Of course not. The Philippines, the country that we love has soils, oceans, seas and mountains. And the people reside on them to enjoy the bounty that God has provided. 

But the confirmation "judges" seem to turn blind as to what the Philippines, our country is. 

They only see our country as a playground for digging and bombing in order to extract minerals. They do not look beyond that. 

Hence in order to use the principles of the People Power Movement, we must make sure that the cabinet secretaries are put up, not only by the elected senators/congress people but with the concurrency also by groups of NGO organizations.

And so, I propose, if there should be confirmation hearings, all the "judges" should be billeted in a hotel, with no one contacting them for the duration of the sessions to interview the applicants to official posts. Not even their staff should be allowed in. Also, they should not discuss with each other their findings or conclusions until the last day when they have to make final judgment. 

The sessions should be done in closed-door meetings, but video recorded in order to see if what they had done was above par. A group of concerned citizens, the president and Senate President should watch the video and evaluate the interviews to see which judges were impartial/not impartial in their interviews. 

In this manner, the judges will not have any chance to be influenced by vested interests.

to be continued 

STATE TERRORISM AND WOMEN

     

      TERRORISM is defined as “the unlawful use of violence and intimidation, especially against civilians, in the pursuit of political aims.”

   

      When the State legalizes killing does it become lawful terrorism?

      As women, who give and can give birth to children, it is very painful to think that children could be drawn to acts that would give the State the chance to kill their lives. In the case of the drug problem in our country, the State, through Congress and the Senate, is now legalizing this form of State terrorism in order to make the drug lords, pushers and users fearful of the consequences of their acts.

  

      A lot could be done to make people turn away from the drug problem. Primary to that is to make the barangay busy with cultural activities, not basketball games which is the most sponsored. Cultural means – theatrical – puppetry, literary, dramatic readings, video and film art, as well as crafts. By doing something with their hands and using their minds to create, we could turn away the people, especially the young from nefarious activities, if only…. 

      Today, being International Women's Day, women can work together to come up with artistic  solutions to the drug problems and make the State turn away from terroristic acts which

      could spawn more rebellions in the future. 

      

WOMEN AND RADIO

While listening to the radio, I discovered that a lot still needs to be done in order to equalize women's role in our society. 

Just listen to this radio ad, "Honey anong tingin mo sa damit ko?" and the girl goes on and on asking her husband what she would wear, until finally she lands on her pyjama. Now, would you trust this woman's opinion about who should be president come election time? Of course not. if she cannot decide what to wear, how much more if the topic is already something that concerns our country?

Then there is this lunchtime comedy radio program that has really a long list of anti-women jokes. One -- the guy(s) belittle the woman; insult her; and call her names. Two, she is placed in odd situations that make her vulnerable to their tauntings. Three, the wife is always a butt of ill jokes making her sound like a buffoon. Although she fights back, the harm in the consciousness has been done 

Listening to a religious radio station, one would think that the announcers would really be conscious of gender equality. But no, two female announcers that I can recall have hyphenated family names that it is really difficult for me to remember which one is their real name. I wonder why the women cannot just choose one family name, instead of two. That is burderning the ears of the listeners. 

But what is really galling is this: men even as early as 7 o'clock in the morning thinking of having a hard drink right away. Don't the advertisers know that children inside cars could be listening to those ads and so they are already shaping them up to be hard drinkers when they grow up. There ought to be a sanction against such ads. Dep Ed Help!

The radio is an intimate medium. It penetrates our hearts and minds, not just our ears. Therefore, it is a very sensitive tool for changing the behavior or strengthening the values of people. A little bit of being discreet is in order

WOMEN IN THE BIBLE

Women in the Bible

Our parents are very fond of naming their girl children after women in the Bible. But do we know their backgrounds?

ABIGAIL –(meaning, my father's joy) 1060 BC she gave food to David against her landowner husband's (Nabal) wishes. Actually her marriage to Nabal, a much older man, was arranged by her family. (Some Filipino parents

misspell the name as Abegail.)

In our country, there are many women who are betrothed by their parents to men who have been chosen either because of wealth, debt or their wish for them to have a comfortable life. However, we must remember that love cannot be forced, no matter how long a couple stays together.

ANNA – (means favor or grace, from the name Hannah) a prophetess, ; lived with her husband for seven years from her virginity, became a widow till she was 84. She always prayed and fasted night and day at the temple. One time, she saw Mary and Joseph with baby Jesus inside the temple. She thanked god for having seen him and spoke of him to all who were looking for redemption of the Jews. (from Luke 2:36-38) (Some parents just write Anna with one “n.”

DELILAH – [meaning she who weakened (Samson)]Folks, I think you better read the Bible and find out who she is. Our political scenery is replete with constant mentioning of the name Delilah and her background is quite complicated. It is March 8 and I don't wish to add fuel to the fire.

(Judges 16)

DINAH – (Hebrew name meaning judged or vindicated) the daughter of Jacob by one of his less-loved wives Leah. While on a trip, she is seen by Shechem, the son of a local ruler. He rapes her. The offers to marry her but the sons of Jacob refuse, and they try to get even by killing hi cm and the many men in their tribe through a ruse – they tell him that he would be allowed to marry her if all the men would be circumcised. Shechem agreed; but on the third day, the brothers attacked and killed him and the men.

Accounts say that the opinion of Dinah was never consulted.

JUDITH –(means “woman of Judea”) a very beautiful, brave and scheming woman. She saved her God-fearing tribe from invasion by the forces of Nebuchadnezzar. She uses her allure to deceive the general, Holofernes. (The Book of Judith is part of the Apocrypha / Deuterocanonical scripture and appears in the Old Testament of Catholic Bibles.)

I had an English woman friend named Judith and she was a very strong woman. She married a guy with a different color from hers and they bore a son. To have a spouse with a different color from oneself could raise the eyebrows of ordinary citizens there in the UK.

PRISCILLA (PRISCA, formal; means ancient, venerable) – Taught about Jesus Christ at Ephesus. She was highly influenced by Paul ( Paul was a pioneer in the recognition of the function of women in Christian service – and the women of the time were ready to respond to the call of Christ.) She was the first in the list of loyal advocates of Paul. She and her husband Aquila used their home for spreading the life and word of Christ. (in Acts, Romans, 1 Corinthian, and Timothy)

We had a Filipino sexy star by the name of Priscilla Almeda way back in the 90's.

NAOMI – (means pleasant) the mother-in-law of Ruth. Naomi had an uncanny way of linking up couples. She was able to bring Boaz, a rich man to marry Ruth. (Book of Ruth)

Our Pastora in the choir is named Naomi, and she is very knowledgeable about the Bibl(e and inspiring in making people become believers in Christ and God.WO