BASIC APPROACH TO STRENGTHENING PEACEFUL TRANSITIONS

Definition of plebiscite

a vote by which the people of an entire country or district express an opinion for or against a proposal especially on a choice of government or ruler

www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/plebiscite


OLMECS use the river for transportation of goods and sculptures / FELIPE DAVALOS Nicht klassifizierte Kunstler / https://www.meisterdrucke.com/kunstdrucke/Felipe-Davalos/187158/Olmeken-benutzen-den-Fluss-f%C3%BCr-den-Transport-von-Skulpturen-und-anderen-Waren,-1993.html

WANTED: PRAYERS FOR THE WORLD AND EVERYONE

As I was listening to a sermon at the pulpit, I suddenly realized that every worship, every mass must include prayers for the family, especially the girl children and the female spouse; the community and their leaders to exercise honest , wise and non-discriminatory policies and programs; the nation so that the leader shall exercise the highest decorum and honesty in performing their function; and the world for her to experience peace. equal development of peoples, as well as protection and preservation of the environment 

We have to remind our people that we belong to one community of peoples not only here but with peoples all over the world so that the words, caring and nurturing shall apply to everyone and everywhere. We hope to be able to influence the directions of all human activities through this prayer act. 

PEACE AS THE CENTER FOR SONA

WHAT IS MORE IMPORTANT, OR WHICH SHOULD BE PRIORITIZED: EQUALITY, DEVELOPMENT OR PEACE?



As I listened to the SONA last Monday, I have come to realize that there is only one glorious triumph of this administration: the president had acted a true Commander-in-Chief by defeating the Isis-inspired Maute group in Marawi. 

It was a feat, no matter how long it had taken, considering that Isis is a global terrorist network. 

The imagined situations that the Maute brothers could have dismembered our country, could have made Mindanao a  haven for all terrorist groups, a place where women would never find equality in the home and in society, -- all possibilities had they won the war, all these made me feel very cold and desensitized. 

Folks, war is war. There is no justification for it. It makes widows of women and orphans of children.  It maims and kills soldiers. It makes other men who do not join the war feel emasculated in the face of the soldiers who are carrying guns and ammunitions.( Let us face it, the macho image is still in our society no matter how many articles we would come up to denigrate it. )

And so, if I were the speechwriter of the President, I would have focused on the triumph of the war against the Marawi siege and the rest a bit of ten percent each.

Peace of mind, safety of bodies, healthy emotions, nurturance of dreams and ambitions and many more are the results of a peaceful society.  

Photo taken on October 17, 2017 shows a damaged mosque minaret (L) and buildings in Marawi on the southern island of Mindanao.  / AFP PHOTO / TED ALJIBE

Thank you Ted. Wilhelmina

GOD SAVE AMERICA

Reading the news about the NATO and the Helsinki meetings between the Illegal Occupant of WH and the European leaders, I now ask many questions:

Did the voters for the IO of WH know that his greater loyalty is for Putin and not the democratic traditions of the country?

"Trump appeared to side with the Kremlin over his own nation's intelligence community, accepting Putin's “extremely strong and powerful” denial of Russian interference in the 2016 election campaign. " (Washington Post) 

Did they know that they were going to be subjected to drama and subterfuge, despite swearing to uphold the US Constitution during his inauguration?

Did they know his real character, that he has a chameleon-like predisposition - Color change in chameleons has functions in camouflage. (wikipedia)  that he not only changes colors, but jumps from one role to another, unpredictable but largely untruthful? 

Did they know that they were shamed internationally by their leader, when he said in a tweet: Our relationship with Russia has NEVER been worse thanks to many years of U.S. foolishness and stupidity and now, the Rigged Witch Hunt!

11:05 PM - 15 Jul 2018

This is the first time I have read and encountered a leader who shames his own people to the rest of the world, only because he owes his presidency to a foreign power. 

The wife has no business standing up with this person at all. She will tarnish her own history should it be written in the future by her association with him who is reviled by all politically and democratically conscious citizens of the world. 

What other revelations do the the people need in order to really fathom and act on what is happening to their country as she is being led into the abyss of being a puppet-country of another race? 

"Russians (Russian: русские, russkiye) are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Eastern Europe. The majority of Russians inhabit the nation state of Russia, while notable minorities exist in other former Soviet states such as Belarus, Kazakhstan, Moldova, Ukraine and the Baltic states."

"The majority of Americans or their ancestors immigrated to America or are descended from people who were brought as slaves within the past five centuries, with the exception of the Native American population and people from Hawaii, Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippine Islands,^[51] who became American through expansion of the country in the 19th century,^[52] additionally America expanded into American Samoa, the U.S. Virgin Islands and Northern Mariana Islands in the 20th century.^[53]

Despite its multi-ethnic composition,^[54][55] the culture of the United States held in common by most Americans can also be referred to as mainstream American culture, a Western culture largely derived from the traditions of Northern and Western European colonists, settlers, and immigrants.^[54] It also includes influences of African-American culture.^[56] Westward expansion integrated the Creoles and Cajuns of Louisiana and the Hispanos of the Southwest and brought close contact with the culture of Mexico. Large-scale immigration in the late 19th and early 20th centuries from Southern and Eastern Europe introduced a variety of elements. Immigration from Asia, Africa, and Latin America has also had impact. A cultural melting pot, or pluralistic salad bowl, describes the way in which generations of Americans have celebrated and exchanged distinctive cultural characteristics.^[54]

In addition to the United States, Americans and people of American descent can be found internationally. As many as seven million Americans are estimated to be living abroad, and make up the American diaspora."

It is sad to note that only one newspaper in Britain covered extensively the thousands of groups that demonstrated against this visit of the IO, in London, Scotland, and Helsinki. Why so? Were the other media prevented from expressing their views?

It is very difficult to understand what's happening politically to the United States. One thing is sure: it is being destabilized from within, with strong support from without by a cabal of power-hungry group that is seeking to establish power all over the world. And they have found a willing, weak, and easy to manipulate puppet whose driving interests and personal ambitions are highly materialistic and anti-democratic.

Unfortunately he is purported to lead the country, to where is difficult to predict. 

God save America!

Statue of Liberty picture by Tumblr

THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY

The Christian religion is very  good at defining standards for judging the acts of individuals vis-a-vis-others. Good and evil are the forces governing our actions. Good means loving God and our neighbors, among all the commandments that God gave to Moses. Evil are the forces like the snake that baited Eve to eat the apple in the tree. 

These two standards are okay but they look too black and whitish. We should have a third: the Ugly. 

Now the past few days we have seen the Good arise from a remorseful man who has rethought his statements that God is _____. He now says that he is sorry he ever said that. "If it's the same God, I'm sorry, that's how it is. Sorry, God. I said sorry, God. If God is taken in a generic term by everybody listening then that's well and good," he said Although he qualifies his God, nonetheless, it is still an apology and he has graduated one rank higher to the Good sectors of society. 

Who is Bad? That is the illegal occupant in the WH. Everything he says, everything he does is bad. He does not lift a finger at the separation of children from their parents, no matter if they are below five years old. He curses the heads of states at the Nato meeting for not sharing enough in defense spending. 

Why in the first place should making war be a major policy in the world? Why spend for arms instead of food for the hungry; why not spend for making drinking water available everywhere; why not have funds for the printing of books and provision of computers to every student; why not provide housing for all the homeless? and many, many more. Thousands of people have turned refugees seeking a better life in Europe and other places just so they can escape from violence and lack of caring for their lives in their countries. Surely, the money for defense should be spent more ethically for these people.  

So, Folks that's really a Bad guy, the typical villain in a Hollywood movie. 

The third is the Ugly. Who is it? Can you guess? The Ugly Communist. Yes Folks, there are the Good, the Bad and now the Ugly... Communist who tampered with the elections in the United States and whose recipient of his revolting act is none other than the Bad guy above. 

Aren't we having a whole panorama of different characters in the political world, Folks? We should be laughing... and crying at the same time because the word Democracy is being made obsolescent. 

But wait, who is the good Communist? Aplenty in our midst. They are those who are trying to act quickly so that the hot-headed war freaks would not pull their triggers so easily. They are those who are sharing their efforts and resources at making the world less impoverished. 

But what is really a Communist? The root word of Communism is  the Latin "communis," meaning "common" or "shared." Ergo, to go by the original word, it is very noble - a sharing of something. the common enjoyment of benefits, of goods, of services. 

However, since Marx and Engels reinvented the word and gave it a new meaning: it has become this: a socioeconomic order structured upon the common ownership of the means of production and the absence of social classes, money and the state. 

We know of course that it's a dream, an inspiration and that there is no perfectly Communist regime. China and Russia, purportedly have perpetual heads of state who rule their countries. They are not exporting Communism at all but are getting the other countries to accept their grants, whether funds or equipment just so they would not be  attacked politically or no one will question their expansionist excursions in lands that are not theirs. (Russia annexed Crimea and intervened militarily in Ukraine and in the United States insured the election of their business partner who is learning the ropes of how to catch international attention: that is by attacking and attacking positions regardless of facts. Meanwhile, China has wandered in the areas that are rightfully owned by the Philippines in the South China Sea.)

People not power should be the priority. 

PRO HUMANITY

I propose several questions when assessing a policy, a program, a plan of the government:

Makatao ba yan? Maka-kalikasan ba yan? Maka-kapayapaan ba yan?

SOCIAL ISSUES

1. An elevator in a posh mall smells of sewage all the time. I pity the elevator woman who has to stay inside all the time delivering passengers on every floor from opening to closing of the mall. 

2. The tile installers of several companies seem to have done a very bad job. In a bank, I nearly tripped over because the tiles were no longer flat on the ground. 

In a mall, in almost all the floors, the tiles also are uneven. I wonder why the tile installers 
cannot perfect their craft. Do they have an axe to grind with their construction company so that they just do as they please, making safety a problem in walking inside the buildings? I think this reflects on the kind of Philippine construction we have. The Professional Regulations Commission has to sit up and inspect the credentials of construction company officials if they are really  fit to engage in the trade. 

3. The drug addiction problem is a social issue. Ergo it needs social solution. Drug pushing is economic sabotage. Still that needs a peaceful not a violent solution. (By the way, I wonder why everytime a police action occurs,  someone dies, gets killed. Why can't the police use bullets that would just paralyze the targeted offender or criminal? I am not a gunholder but I pity the many lives that get lost everytime  a police operation occurs. Besides, the police could be earning more the ire of those in the trade if they pursue that method of just snuffing the lives of their "colleagues" in the trade.

4. I also want to ask: how come when news of arrest in an operation occurs, the source of the illegal drugs is not mentioned? We only get to know about the police and the arrested. Isn't there a way of deepening the reporting and making the public more concerned about the problem? As it is we seem to be becoming inured to the problem. 

5. The condition of senior citizens needs more thorough study, daily, not just occasionally. For example, at huge malls, I notice that there are hardly seats for us to rest on as we try to walk from the entrance to the supermarket. The more affluent can afford a wheelchair to be pushed by their caregiver. But how about the ordinary folks? 

The public vehicles should be able to stop, load and unload senior citizens at places where they have to get on and off. The MetroManila Development Authority should relax their rules on this matter. At Makati, I have a hard time walking from the loading to the unloading sections. Supposing other senior citizens or PWDs have problems with their legs, then the need to have flexible road regulations becomes very important. 

6. The Quezon Memorial Circle is anti senior and anti-PWD citizens. Coming from Quezon Ave, the buses unload at a point far from that stop where the terminal of the Tandang Sora jeeepneys is located. Today, I had to take a cab to go to the Department of Environment along Visayas Avenue. It's good I have funds for that, but how about the others? 

7. Every restaurant and canteen should have a card in front of the food served at the counter detailing the contents. Many times, I have been told a viand is veggie but when I ate it, it contained bits of pork which made my nape ache. I think it must be imperative that food contents should be put in the label of the food and penalties should be imposed on those who do not follow the rule. 

8. Every restaurant and canteen also must have two kinds of sugar offerings -- refined and brown. Too often, when I eat refined sugar I develop a toothache. 

Everytime I eat pancake at this fastfood chain they do not have brown sugar for their coffee and I just have to blink hard at the thought of eating toxic refined sugar. 

So by offering brown sugar, we are giving customers a healthy choice for sweetening what they eat. Children will also learn that nutrition means looking at every aspect of what one eats and how they affect the body. 

9. Daily, I suffer from intrusions into my residence. I hope that the barangay would speed up its hearings on this matter as I have already mentioned the suspects. Many days past, they tamper with my things, getting the scissors from where I have placed them and dropping them at the foot of the table. Yesterday, the intruder pilfered my ID picture, defaced it and put it on top of the piano bench. What does that mean- a threat to harm me physically? I am not afraid of dying and so I pasted the ID foto on the door of my residence. 

SORDID ATTEMPTS TO LEGITIMIZE POSITION

All illegitimate government officials undergo a series of sordid changes in their approaches in governance. 

The first phase is making the majority accept their dubious ascendancy into power. In our case, one used the media heavily in "legitimizing his illegal election." Another used the religious to provide him cover. A third ran again in the elections to prove people's votes put her up in power and won through what the "hello garci tapes" revealed.  

Unfortunately, in the case of the WH occupant, he has failed to convince the majority of the American public that his election was bereft of ties with the guys from the other continent. In fact, the long period of investigation by the special counsel has made it imperative for the American people to doubt his being a president. And the occupant's pronouncements more and more declare that he is unfit  to be a president in a country steep in democratic roots. He calls colored people names that are abominable even to ordinary folks. He does not feel anything even when he himself is a father, when Mexican children are grabbed by the border police from their parents. And many more. 

The second phase in his attempts at legitimizing his government is this: he went abroad and met with many heads of states, and the last with the North Korean leader who until now has not made a clear position on whether to denuclearize or not. Still the occupant has not been successful abroad and in fact Germany, France, and Canada are very angry with him due to the tariffs that he is imposing on their products. 

I think the third phase of his attempts is to start a war abroad, such as that war with Venezuela so that the focus will be on the war and not on his status. The day-to-day bloodletting, if the American soldiers will accede to his orders as questionable "commander-in-chief" will be truly bloody and thus will make the political issues focused on that. 

Why is he able to come up with such ideas? A guy who is a product of media could suddenly think globally about invading another country? Someone must be advising him. I wonder who. Who will side with the US if she invades Venezuela? 

Whatever attempt he makes now will not lessen the impact of the results of the Mueller investigation. You don't change horses in midstream seems to be a favorite quotation in US of A, but this time it might not be applicable. 

Anyway, the political panorama in America is blurry, as the occupant, with the media coverage of his administration seems to show that he is "powerful" and the grassroots reactions are hardly given enough space. 

Actually, the US should not fall into the trap of compromising as the country now looks like it's being run by someone in the other continent.