LUNA-TIKO?!

Was the tempestuous Antonio Luna really a raving lunatic? Or did he come so close to killing Filipinos who slept or collaborated with the “enemies” because of his all too consuming love for flag and country? But first this disclaimer: You may be reading the musings of an “enemy” I being a descendant of an American soldier who fought against the forces of General Luna during the Philippine-American War.

The Americans won that war in 1902 with Emilio Aguinaldo going in exile to Hong Kong after receiving   largesse from the US. My great grandfather, the American, lost however the battle of the hearts, never to return to the States again after falling under the spell of a Filipina enchantress. Several generations down the road, here I am, as Filipino as chicken adobo but with a name that is as American as apple pie.

Aguinaldo lived a long, long life to repeat with the Japanese invaders of World War II his chummy relationship with the Americans. Aguinaldo had all the time in the world to deny that the Magdalo-Magdiwang schism was just a farcical trap to lure the Bonifacio brothers into a kangaroo court and a death sentence carried out at Mount Buntis (always mentioned by tourist guides in the same comical breath as the Bundok ng Susong Dalaga).  Of course,  Aguinaldo did not order too the assassination and mutilation of General Luna.

But enough digression. If you’re a Filipino and you have yet to see the R-13 movie Heneral Antonio Luna, what are you waiting for? It’s our patriotic duty to do so. While the movie’s treatment of Luna was almost like a caricature with his overblown wry sense of humor and volcanic temper bordering on utter madness, it surely drilled in the message that sometimes we Filipinos, and not foreign invaders, are our own worst enemies. This is as true today as in Luna’s time.

It's Eid! Celebrate!

 

We wish to extend happy greetings to Muslims who will celebrate Eid al-Adha, one of the two most important festivals in the Muslim calendar.

Eid al-Adha commemorates the willingness of Ibrahim to sacrifice his son Ishmael as an act of obedience to Allah. It also demonstrates Allah's mercy in putting a lamb in Ishmael's place at the last moment.

Muslims believe that the very moment Ibrahim raised the knife, God told him to stop, that he had passed the test, and to replace Ishmael with a sacrificial ram.

Eid also marks the end of Hajj, the annual pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia that is an integral part of the Muslim faith.

The Koran urges all Muslims who can afford to should make the journey to Saudi Arabia at least once in their lifetime. Every year, at least two million Muslims will make the pilgrimage and stand before the Kaaba, a shrine built by Ibrahim, and pray to Allah.

Here in the Philippines, Eid al-Adha is a public holiday that involves animal sacrifice, prayers and family gatherings. The day begins with morning prayers, followed by visits to family and friends and the exchange of food and gifts. Muslims are obliged to share food and money with the poor so that they can take part in the festivities.

                  

Image by www.demotix.com                                         

When 3 Good reasons are Bad

It's good that from time to time we hear or read about success stories of overseas Filipino workers who have graduated from menial jobs to become entrepreneurs.After all, the OFWs, of which there are now more than 10 million  spread out across the four corners of the globe—have left the country precisely to improve their economic conditions. 

 

But we should not be surprised at all if there are OFWs who end up even worse off than when they started.

We can cite several reasons why this is so.

First, OFWs come home penniless because their families become too dependent on their remittances and see no need to uplift their economic situation because their breadwinner is doing that for them.  Since OFW families look at overseas employment with high income as a godsend, they see no need to stand on their own two feet.

Two, OFWs may already have financial problems even before leaving the Philippines. Many of them borrow huge amounts of money to pay for overseas employment since they reckon that they can recover their investment anyway at some future time.

And three, OFWs end up poorer than before because they make no conscious effort to save their hard-earned money.

According to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas,  eight out of 10 Filipinos don't have bank accounts. That only means one thing: they have to be taught financial literacy.

If many OFWs don't really save for the proverbial rainy days and instead splurge on luxurious goods and gift items for their families back home, they should be made conscious of long-term financial planning.

While many OFWs usually earn more money in other countries than if they stayed here, some of them experience financial problems despite years of hard work because they fail to spend their money wisely.

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Image by www.dailyalternative.co.uk

Filipino ingenuity

Foreigners passing through Metro Manila streets from the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) must wonder what dozens upon dozens of Meralco’s electric meters are doing atop the posts very close to power transformers. Surely, they cannot imagine the need for meter readers to elevate themselves either with the use of a ladder or a hoisting crane to see and input the power consumption of concerned households.

While unsightly with the dangling feeder lines, the electric meters atop the posts serve at least two practical purposes, namely: 1) To prevent meter tampering and electricity pilferage; and 2) to make it unnecessary for meter readers to go to individual houses to input the power consumption of residents.

Electricity pilferage is a very serious problem as all customers of electric utilities shoulder its cost under the charge “System loss.” Next time you look at those electric meters high up the posts, just look at it as probably another uniquely Filipino way of solving a problem. 

(Image by ConceptCentral)

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Keeping our head above water

      

Flooded streets are one major cause of traffic congestion in Metro Manila, as we witnessed recently when a late-evening thunderstorm unleashed torrential rain that inundated parts of EDSA and other major thoroughfares, turning them into parking lots well into the night and even to the wee hours the next day.

But what is the government doing to alleviate the flooding problem in the metropolis? 

As a matter of fact, the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) is rushing the completion of two major flood control projects in Metro Manila worth over P1.2 billion before President Aquino ends his term in June 2016.

These projects are the P600-million Blumentritt Interceptor Catchment Area Project and the P609-million Mandaluyong Main Drainage Project.  These are expected to be completed in March and June 2016, respectively.

The construction of the two flood control projects, which began in 2013, has taken time because they pass through major thoroughfares in Metro Manila. Other low-lying areas in Metro Manila, however, deserve as much attention.

In addition to constructing the necessary infrastructure for flood control, the agency has been working together with the Department of Interior and Local Government and the National Housing Authority to clear 19,000 informal settlers living near Metro Manila’s major waterways.

The government is on the right track in continuously working on flood control projects in Metro Manila and surrounding areas. After all, 20 million of the country’s 101 million total population live in the capital, and flooding that leads to traffic congestion adversely affects productivity and economic growth.

Flooding results in the disruption of the movement of people and goods every year. Government must therefore funnel more resources into flood mitigation projects especially in Metro Manila that serves as the country's political center as well as its financial and business hub.

Image by www.theatlantic.com

Getting murkier by the minute

There’s a saying that if you gather five lawyers in a room, they will come up with five different interpretations of a single law. This seems to be what’s happening in the disqualification case against Senator Grace Poe before the Senate Electoral Tribunal (SET).

Suddenly, every lawyer worth his or her salt has come up with a take on why Poe is a natural-born Filipino, thus the SET has to dismiss the case against her, or that she is a naturalized citizen thus her election as senator should be voided.

The SET declaring Poe a naturalized citizen would not only jettison the adopted daughter of the late Fernando Poe Jr. and Susan Roces out of the Senate, but would also disqualify her as a candidate in the 2016 presidential elections.

As the leading presidential contender who even increased her lead among fellow contenders Mar Roxas and Vice President Jejomar Binay, Poe being barred from a presidential run in 2016 is unthinkable.

On Monday, Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio, who chairs the SET, came up with a statement that sent shock waves on the camp of Poe. Being a foundling, Poe is considered a naturalized Filipino under customary international law, said Carpio.

Carpio added that Poe must prove to the SET that she is a natural-born citizen. Making the rounds of early morning television and radio talk shows Tuesday, Poe’s lawyers questioned Carpio’s position.

One lawyer maintained that the burden of proof to show that Poe is a naturalized citizen lies with the party who filed the case against her before the SET, adding that in the absence of proof of naturalization every Filipino must be assumed to be natural-born.

A more senior lawyer contended that under the customary law cited by Carpio, it should be Poe’s blood parents who should be assumed to have been naturalized and not Poe herself.  In such a case, he said that under the Constitution, the child of Filipino citizens, whether the parents are naturalized or natural-born, is considered natural born like Poe.

To resolve this matter beyond the domain of conflicting legal claims, would the blood parents of Senator Grace Poe, if they are still around, come forward?  

Image by: www.gmanetwork.com