Ilang rubber boats ang $35,000 na ginastos sa hapunan ni Arroyo sa New York?

Habang pinapakinggan ko ang sinasabi ng mga rescuers na gustuhin man nilang tulungan ang lahat na humihingi ng tulong noong kasagsagan ng bagyong Ondoy, hindi nila kaya dahil limitado ang kanilang mga gamit, naala-ala ko ang $35,000 na .dalawang hapunan ni Gloria Arroyo at ng kanyang mga alipores sa New York noong isang buwan.

Sinabi ni Lt. Col. Edgard Arevalo, spokesman ng Philippine Navy, na iilan lang ang kanilang rescue team, rubber boats at trucks. Sinabi sa TV hindi yata umaabot 20 ang rubber boats ng Navy.
Sinabi rin ni Marikina Mayor Marites Fernando na 13 lang ang rubber boats ng Marikina.

Halos 12 milyon ang tao sa Metro Manila. Halos 500,000 naman ang populasyon ng Marikina. Mga 30 lang ang rubber boats samantalang bahain naman talaga ang Metro Manila.

Kahit pa anong sabihin ng mga pamahalaaan na pambihira ang dami ng ulan, hindi yun katanggap-tanggap na dahilan sa ang kakulangan ng gamit. Hindi maaring sabihin na walang pera. Ay kung kaya-kaya ni Arroyo maglabas ng $20,000 para sa isang hapunan sa Le Cirque, isang mamahaling restaurant sa New York at $15,000 naman sa Bobby Van’s Steakhouse sa Washington D.C, bakit walang pera para sa rubber boats.

Ang isang rubber boat ay nagkakahalaga ng $925.00. Mga P43,000 yun. Kung pinambili ng rubber boats ang $35,000 (P1.6 milyon) may nagamit sana silang dagdag na 35 bangka para mag-rescue sa mga na stranded sa baha. Ang Marikina at maraming lugar sa Quezon City at Rizal at parang dagat at bangka lang ang maaring sakyan para marating ang mga bahay.

Hindi sana ganun kabagal ang pagtulong sa mga apektado ng bagyo kung may sapat na gamit. Ang lalong nakakangitngit ng kalooban ay ang nadiskubre ni Rep. Teofisto Guingona III ng Bukidnon noong isang buwan na ang P800 milyon na para sa contingency fund ay ginamit ni Arroyo sa kanyang mga biyahe sa ibang bansa bitbit ang sangkaterbang mga kongresista at senador.

Noong Hulyo sa kanyang State of the Nation address, pinagyabang pa ni Arroyo ang kahandaan ng Pilipinas sa mga kalamidad dahil daw sa galing ng kanyang pagpamahala. Sabi niya meron raw modernong gamit ang pamahalaan para malaman ang mga darating na kalamidad .

Nasaayos na raw ang flood control infrastructure sa Pinatubo, Agno, Laoag, and Abucay na magbubomba ng tubig mula sa Quezon City at Tondo. ““Patuloy naman yung sa CAMANAVA, dagdag sa Pinatubo, Iloilo, Pasig- Marikina, Bicol River Basin, at saka river basin ng Mindanao,” sabi niya.

O ano ngayon ang mapagyabang niya? Hindi kaya siya naku-konsyensya?

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Learning Without Fear

Penman for Monday, September 28, 2009


YOU NEVER know who or what you’ll run into at weddings. A couple of Sundays ago, Beng and I were pleasantly surprised to find that we knew the father of the bride, Eliza Hao Chin; it was the groom, Johannes Sia, who was my friend as a fellow Apple and fountain-pen fanatic, but Beng had long known Vic Hao Chin Jr. from the Theosophical Society of the Philippines, which Vic leads and of which Beng and her father Jess had been longtime members. (If you’re wondering what “theosophists” are, think of them as some of the world’s gentlest people, believers in nonviolence and in a rich spiritual life.)

So we chatted with Vic while the reception area was being set up, and it was in the course of that conversation that I discovered a bit of good news worth sharing with readers whom a daily barrage of the bad stuff—corruption, abuse, ambition, exploitation—threatens to turn into sullen cynics. When we asked Vic what he was busy with these days, he mentioned the Golden Link College.

Like most of you, I’d never heard of the GLC before, but it turns out that this school in Camarin, Caloocan City—set up by the TSP and the Theosophical Order of Service as the Golden Link School in 2002—practices a unique and pioneering educational philosophy that our mainstream institutions would do well to learn from. It’s a school that emphasizes learning without fear and punishment, and that promotes harmony and cooperation over competition.

“We don’t give out medals for, say, declamation,” Vic says. “Instead, we have each and every one of our students recite a piece before an audience that includes their parents. It may take two days, but everyone’s happy.”

Key to the success of GLC’s approach is the retraining of teachers more used to shouting, threatening, and other forms of intimidation. Vic admits that “It’s hard, because you have to be very patient, and sometimes you lose it after a couple of weeks. But we can’t give up.” Patience and caring, GLC-style, can do miracles. Many of the school’s students are problem children expelled from other schools. “At first, they have to adjust to the new environment, but soon they learn to be trusting and caring as well.” Only in the most extreme case, where a student might physically threaten the safety of others, will he or she be asked to leave.

Located in a poor neighborhood, the college has one form of scholarship or other for most of its 400 students. It offers bachelor’s degrees in secondary and elementary education, and emphasizes English instruction, “although we focus more on public speaking and using English in everyday situations than on grammar,” Vic says.

Vic Hao Chin wants to establish closer ties with the community, such as by providing books for local libraries and turning them into youth centers. If you want to help Vic in this endeavor, or if you want to learn more about the Golden Link College, check out their website here.


A FEW weeks ago, I stumbled on another praiseworthy cultural initiative, this time under the auspices of the Vibal Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Vibal Publishing, better known to most Filipinos as the publishers of textbooks. I was invited by the foundation’s Tin Mandigma and Karen Lucero to hold a one-day workshop on writing for their staff, and since I had know Tin from her days as a reading advocate (she still is), I was happy to oblige.

I did some Googling on my hosts, and was even more impressed to find that, through its foundation, Vibal has pushed the learning envelope much farther into the digital age. The foundation runs four websites: www.wikipilipinas.org, www.filipiniana.net, www.thepoc.net and www.e-turo.org. The Wikipilipinas site is a localized version of the more familiar Wikipedia, and—given the inherent difficulties and pitfalls of something so large as the “wiki” concept—is probably the one among the four that needs the most work. The other three, however, are well on their way to becoming mature, robust resources for the scholar looking into Philippine affairs.

The Filipiniana site—still a work in progress—offers digitized versions of many of our most important historical and literary documents, such as the massive Blair & Roberston series, the Philippine Revolutionary Records, the complete Jose Rizal, the Philippine Legal Database, and 100 Filipino Novels, among others. The Philippine Online Chronicles is a snappy, literate, well-laid-out newsmagazine. And E-Turo is a priceless resource for the hapless teacher who needs help with his or her lesson plans. (Here’s a sample lesson: “ENGLISH 4 Quarter 4 Week 2: Looking at Problems in a Global Context. Explore the opportunities for obtaining comprehensive information and varying perspectives about looking at problems in a global context. Agree/disagree with other people's outlook on a given issue. Get information about global problems and their solutions from various sources. Express appreciation for human nature presented in literature. Stress worthwhile values as portrayed in a literary text.”)

When I think about what a mess we often make of things and of how easy it is to surrender to cynicism and to say that nothing really works anymore so we might as well give up, I remember exemplary private initiatives like these and reflect on my own mission as a teacher. Compared to the challenges that others have so boldly taken on, my job’s a breeze.

What’s your Latest Travel DiscOVIry?

The Philippines is made of 7, 107 emerald isles. This island nation of 300,000 square kilometers and 88 Million Filipinos is politically divided into 80 provinces.

Of which, how many have you already visited and explored?

malacañang Palace, manila
My recent Travel Discovery: Malacañang Palace

BYAHILO is sponsoring another round of contest I’m sure everyone will enjoy!

The contest title is “What’s your Latest Travel DiscOVIry?” This is a photo contest sponsored by OVI by Nokia.

The general theme of the photo contest is pretty obvious, TRAVEL. It should be your latest travel discovery here in the Philippines. It could be some hidden beaches only a few knows. Or a nice and quiet park in the middle of a busy metropolis. It can also be your first time experience in a festival. Theme will vary every week.

Share it to us! And your photos could win you PHP2,000 electronic GC from Ayala or a brand new NOKIA PHONE!

Contest Mechanics:

1. Open an OVI account
2. Activate your OVI Mail address
3. Go to BYAHILO OVI account. Click the DiscOVIry Contest Week 1 Album to upload the photos.
4. For every photo entry, write a short description about your Travel DiscOVIry.
5. Every photo upload must contain the following information: FULL NAME, OVI email address, and Short description of the photo.
6. Only Minor Editing will be allowed like cropping, resizing, adjusting cotrast, lightness, brightness. No HDR photos, please.
7. Reader can send entries, as many as many as they want.
8. Photos can either be taken using a Cellphone camera or any Point & Shoot or SLR Camera.
9. Non-winning entries can still be resubmitted in succeeding weeks.
10. This photo contest is open to Philippine Residents only.

This photo contest spans EIGHT (8) WEEKS! Yes, its EIGHT LONG WEEKS!

Check out the Contest period:

Week 1 September 28 – October 4 (Theme: General Travel Photos)
Week 2 October 5 – October 11 (Theme: Sun, Sea, and Sand)
Week 3 October 12 – October 18 (Theme: Fiesta!)
Week 4 October 19 – October 25 (Theme: Landscape)
Week 5 October 26 – November 1 (Theme: Landmarks & Structures)
Week 6 November 2 – November 8 (Theme: Luzon)
Week 7 November 9 – November 15 (Theme: Visayas)
Week 8 November 16 – November 22 (Theme: Mindanao)

Cutoff date for each weekly contest is EVERY SUNDAY 11:59PM Manila (GMT+8). Weekly Winners will get PHP2,000 Ayala Electronic GC!

The announcement of Winners will be held EVERY TUESDAY. From the eight weekly winners, one will be picked as the Grand Winner. The Grand Prize Winner will win a Nokia 2330 Classic phone! The Grand Prize Winner will be announced on November 27.

You like reading this blog post? You might also be interested in BYAHILO's other adventures at Sugarloaded!

What’s your Latest Travel DiscOVIry?