Tuesday, July 27, 2010
What cusoms of early Filipinos are still practices at present are they still practical in keeping with modern times?
Our country is often referred to as a melting pot of different cultures. The reason may not be clearly stated but obviously it could be the lack of a certain culture that is free from foreign influences. Is it true that most of the Filipino culture that we acclaim as ours nowadays is mostly borrowed from foreign culture? There are many explanations to this problem. The objective of this paper is to briefly discuss the growth of our culture, cite examples using references on our history and archaeology, and arrive to a conclusion regarding the question of pure Filipino culture.First of all, I would like to define culture and why is it important to us. Culture simply means the beliefs, customs, practices, and social behavior shared by a particular group of people. But culture isnt confined in this definition. To other people, it may mean their heritage, arts, folklores, etc. In my opinion, culture cannot be sufficiently defined but its main purpose is to give distinction to groups of people and therefore be passed on to every generation. This is important to us because it gives us our identity as Filipinos just like how our capital names give us our identity as a part of a family. However, culture isnt as simple as a family name. The periodization of our consciousness takes place in this. I have previously mentioned the lack of pure Filipino culture as well as a national culture. These two implies different scenarios but the previous is more serious in my opinion. Pure Filipino culture is a culture that wasnt influenced by any foreign culture at any extent. On the other hand, a national culture is a culture that is shared by all the people in the nation or in the country. The problem on this part is that we have a very diverse culture in which every region has a culture that is not practiced by the whole nation. This signifies our ³bayan´ type of consciousness. I believe that this is due to our vast number of indigenous and etno-linguistic groups. But personally, I dont regard this as a big problem because nowadays we adapt cultures within the nation. For instance, we read epics of the Bagobos, Maranaos, and others as part of the Philippine literature. And besides, the concept of a national culture or a dominant culture was once used by our American colonizers as a divisive strategy on us. The worse scenario is when we borrow the culture of other nations and consider it
Monday, July 26, 2010
Significance Of natural resources
On mid-day this coming Wednesday, June 30, 2010, not only the Philippines but probably the whole world will witness the historic inauguration of Benigno Simeon “Nonoy” Aquino III, as the 15th President of the Republic of the Philippines. Vice-President elect, Jejomar “Jojo” Binay, will similarly take his oath of office. All other elected officials during the first automated elections in the country last May 10, 2010 will formally assume the different levels of governance comes July 1. I am particularly interested on what policy agenda and priority programs the Aquino administration will pursue as far as the environment and natural resources management of the Philippines.
The appointment of the next Secretary of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources is crucial to determine where the new leadership is heading to on environmental governance. Reports say that the incumbent DENR Secretary, Horacio Ramos, stays for a year and after which defeated senatorial aspirant, Neric Acosta, will take over the environment portfolio of the Philippines. There is a one-year ban for the appointment in government posts of candidates who were not successful during the last elections.
Ramos is career DENR personnel who rose from the rank, but some conservation organizations have expressed reservations on him because he is viewed as biased towards mining, owing to his former position as the director of the Mines and Geo-Sciences Bureau. The mining industry received oppositions from various sectors because of environmental destructions associated to it. Ramos is advocating the so called “responsible mining” but he has yet to prove how this shall be carried out in as much that several mining operations have caused environmental devastations and are left without proper rehabilitation. There are allegations that Ramos is speeding up the processing of numerous mining applications. It is now a challenge to the Aquino administration on how this mining industry shall be treated relative to his resource governance agenda, especially so that several mining applications are threatening the remaining forests that are known to contain important biological resources of the country and are considered as critical watersheds.
It is also important to note that in spite of the devolution of authority from the national government to local governments, as accorded by the Local Government Code, which had been enacted during the term of Aquino’s mother, the late President Corazon Aquino, the ENR management was not fully devolved. The code still grants the DENR supervisory and control mechanisms over the devolved ENR functions while retaining the regulatory powers in permitting systems over the use of natural resources.
It is of great importance that the devolution shall be reviewed in proper perspective because some local governments are already willing to fully assume full responsibilities on ENR, including providing necessary personnel and budget allocations, which are perennial problems to the DENR. Several provinces, such as Negros Occidental, have already functional ENR offices while there are cities and municipalities that have relative capacity to carry out ENR responsibilities. Through total devolution we can make our local authorities even more accountable and appropriate policies and programs may be in enacted that would respond to local conditions and needs. In some instances, DENR issued policies are not appropriate for applications in certain areas. The DENR, however, should retain its functions as oversight body and as a technical expert and advisor to local governments.
Equally important measure that should be addressed is the institutionalization and strengthening of the protected areas system in the Philippines. It should be noted that since the enactment of the National Integrated Protected Areas Act, also passed during the incumbency of our next President’s mother in 1992, there are only 12 PAs that have been declared by the Congress out of more than 200 candidate sites. However, these Congress declared PAs are still languishing from lack of budget and personnel, which make these areas even more vulnerable to destruction.
It is therefore necessary that new administration shall look into the situation not only of the declared PAs by the Congress but as well those other candidate sites since these areas are hosting the numerous endemic species of the Philippines, many of which are already threatened to extinction in the wild. Unfortunately, many of these areas are also largely threatened with large scale resource exploitation, such as mining and logging. These protected areas are also functioning as life support systems because of the numerous social, ecological, cultural and economic benefits they provide to the people. I am hoping that the Aquino administration will not only look protected areas as sources of natural resources but the broader benefits and potentials of these biologically important sites for sustainable development once they are properly managed and protected from destructive activities. (To be continued)*
The appointment of the next Secretary of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources is crucial to determine where the new leadership is heading to on environmental governance. Reports say that the incumbent DENR Secretary, Horacio Ramos, stays for a year and after which defeated senatorial aspirant, Neric Acosta, will take over the environment portfolio of the Philippines. There is a one-year ban for the appointment in government posts of candidates who were not successful during the last elections.
Ramos is career DENR personnel who rose from the rank, but some conservation organizations have expressed reservations on him because he is viewed as biased towards mining, owing to his former position as the director of the Mines and Geo-Sciences Bureau. The mining industry received oppositions from various sectors because of environmental destructions associated to it. Ramos is advocating the so called “responsible mining” but he has yet to prove how this shall be carried out in as much that several mining operations have caused environmental devastations and are left without proper rehabilitation. There are allegations that Ramos is speeding up the processing of numerous mining applications. It is now a challenge to the Aquino administration on how this mining industry shall be treated relative to his resource governance agenda, especially so that several mining applications are threatening the remaining forests that are known to contain important biological resources of the country and are considered as critical watersheds.
It is also important to note that in spite of the devolution of authority from the national government to local governments, as accorded by the Local Government Code, which had been enacted during the term of Aquino’s mother, the late President Corazon Aquino, the ENR management was not fully devolved. The code still grants the DENR supervisory and control mechanisms over the devolved ENR functions while retaining the regulatory powers in permitting systems over the use of natural resources.
It is of great importance that the devolution shall be reviewed in proper perspective because some local governments are already willing to fully assume full responsibilities on ENR, including providing necessary personnel and budget allocations, which are perennial problems to the DENR. Several provinces, such as Negros Occidental, have already functional ENR offices while there are cities and municipalities that have relative capacity to carry out ENR responsibilities. Through total devolution we can make our local authorities even more accountable and appropriate policies and programs may be in enacted that would respond to local conditions and needs. In some instances, DENR issued policies are not appropriate for applications in certain areas. The DENR, however, should retain its functions as oversight body and as a technical expert and advisor to local governments.
Equally important measure that should be addressed is the institutionalization and strengthening of the protected areas system in the Philippines. It should be noted that since the enactment of the National Integrated Protected Areas Act, also passed during the incumbency of our next President’s mother in 1992, there are only 12 PAs that have been declared by the Congress out of more than 200 candidate sites. However, these Congress declared PAs are still languishing from lack of budget and personnel, which make these areas even more vulnerable to destruction.
It is therefore necessary that new administration shall look into the situation not only of the declared PAs by the Congress but as well those other candidate sites since these areas are hosting the numerous endemic species of the Philippines, many of which are already threatened to extinction in the wild. Unfortunately, many of these areas are also largely threatened with large scale resource exploitation, such as mining and logging. These protected areas are also functioning as life support systems because of the numerous social, ecological, cultural and economic benefits they provide to the people. I am hoping that the Aquino administration will not only look protected areas as sources of natural resources but the broader benefits and potentials of these biologically important sites for sustainable development once they are properly managed and protected from destructive activities. (To be continued)*
Taking pride in land of my father
My father was a cricket fanatic whose love for the game was enthusiastically adopted by his children at an early age. He was also Indian, which makes tomorrow's India v England Test in Chennai, the first since his death, between the country of his birth and the one he chose to live in for more than 50 years, a resonant one for me.
Being what was most politely known as an Anglo-Indian 30 years ago, it was easy to find heroes for the British half of my ancestry but the only Indians I was interested in were cricketers. My father would bang on about Rabindranath Tagore or Satyajit Ray and I would impatiently try to steer the conversation back to Vinoo Mankad and Vijay Merchant.
I wanted to hear about people whose feats might impress my 12-year-old peers. This, remember, was still a time when what we would now call casual racism was rife. Some of it, like coming up to you full of bonhomie and singing "Cadburys take 'em and they cover them with chocolate" ad infinitum, was seen as having a cracking sense of humour instead of being abusive.
Another tack taken by a bumptious boss-eyed evangelist of the master race in our year at school was to appear to state an argument that no logic could destroy. "Just because, right," he would say, "a cat is born in a kipper box, it doesn't make it a fish." Before you could even respond with a risky "Hail, Spode!", he would wobble his Weeble frame across the playground with a look of smug triumph on his face to satisfy his craving for a ninth lunchtime bag of Seabrook's crinkle-cut.
There were others who sought common cause, the type who would preface every derogatory remark with, "No offence, but …" before unveiling their best Peter Sellers accent, usually more Welsh than sub-continental. Their conclusion, provided you didn't show a "sense of humour failure", was invariably along the lines of, "You're all right, you. At least your dad works for a living. It's them other buggers I'm on about." Little wonder, then, that when India toured England in 1979 I was desperate for them to do well and puncture the prejudices of the pre-teen "send 'em back" brigade.
At Headingley I got my chance to see India in the flesh and my first impressions were far from favourable. Only a year before Iqbal Qasim had been skelped by a Bob Willis bouncer and looking at these apparently frail men — short in stature, some bespectacled and the majority irredeemably square when compared to England's young cavaliers, Ian Botham and David Gower — I feared for their safety.
I need not have worried. Sunil Gavaskar, Anshuman Gaekwad and Mohinder Amarnath had faced far worse than Willis and Mike Hendrick on a damp pitch. In Jamaica in 1976 Michael Holding and Wayne Daniel unleashed a concerted assault that included a string of beamers and yet all three had shown formidable courage in those pre-helmet days before their captain, Bishan Bedi, had to surrender with five batsmen absent hurt in the second innings.
The Leeds Test was ruined by rain and by a wag on the long-leg boundary who greeted an approaching Indian fielder with a raucous "It stinks of curry round here now". This from a man whose only experience of such cuisine was dehydrated Vesta or the luminous gloop that fish shops sold to moisten the chips. He may have ventured into a curry house once but probably ended up ordering "eight of them big crisps".
Four years later at the 1983 World Cup the atmosphere had changed. There were more brown faces in the crowds and goodwill towards the Indian team after they defeated England in the semi‑final to face the seemingly unbeatable West Indies at Lord's.
A hat-trick of victories for Clive Lloyd's team looked inevitable after India scored only 183 in their innings but when Kapil Dev sprinted to catch a swirling Vivian Richards mis-hit, I don't think I have been as excited by a cricket match before or since. Kapil was in his pomp but it was Amarnath, Madan Lal and Roger Binny who did the damage with seam and swing. It was a nice twist that India became world champions by exploiting the "English conditions".
Their victory didn't make the team the pride of the Indian immigrant community, they had always had that honour, but it was a massive boost to the self-esteem, even to those of us who had passed the Tebbit test before it had been invented and supported England.
Getting older makes it harder to get up at 3.30am to watch the first session of matches played in India but I'll do it tomorrow because I know that someone to whom a love of this game is the least I owe would not have wanted to miss it.
Monday, July 19, 2010
జుస్తిన్ ఇస్ మై న్యూ friend
ఐ లికె జుస్తిన్ బిఎబెర్ సో ముచ్ ఇం ది బిగ్గెస్ట్ బిలిఎబియన్ ఫ్యాన్ అఫ్ బిఎబెర్.
Monday, July 5, 2010
సిగ్నిఫికాన్సు అఫ్ హుమన్ & నతురల్ రెసౌర్చెస్ అఫ్ ది ఫిలిపిన్స్ తో ఔర్ nation
Superior Human Resources Fuel Economic Growth
There is a sense of excitement and anticipation that the steady economic growth in the Philippines holds promise for the future. Despite its recent history of natural disasters, political unrest and economic hardship, the Philippines’ 5-6 % growth rate in Gross National Product (GNP) for 1997 is significant and offers hope of promising change. Further, deregulation, liberalization, and privatization reforms are contributing to the country’s "Philippines 2000" campaign, aimed at achieving Newly Industrialized Country (NIC) status, modernizing its agricultural sector, and revolutionizing its infrastructure by the turn of the century. Included in these reforms is an emphasis on the role of the private sector and promotion of foreign investment.
The Asian economic crisis has not hurt the Philippines as much as it has hurt its neighbors. The country is, however, in a mild recession. Its GNP growth is expected to slow to 3.7 percent this year, in contrast with the aforementioned 5 to 6 percent growth in 1997. The leadership of the country is confident, however, that their economy will be among the first in Asia to recover from the crisis.
The Philippines is gradually becoming an attractive location for production centers in Asia for many international companies. For those searching to make an investment in Southeast Asia, the Philippines offers the promise of high growth, with operational advantages such as a strategic location for global exports, and a highly qualified and educated workforce. Moreover, the Philippines has recently achieved a stable political environment, something which has held the country back for decades.
The Philippines’ labor force is well equipped to work with foreign ventures and is one of the country’s outstanding attributes. English is commonly spoken. The population and culture is a mixture of its Malay origins and Spanish and American influences. Furthermore, following independence, the country maintained many of its Western-flavored institutions, particularly in law, government, and economics. This familiarity with Western practices eases Filipino integration with Western business practices and foreign ventures. Additionally, unlike many other Southeast Asian countries which must grapple with a skilled-labor shortage, the Philippines boasts a literate population that is well equipped with computer skills, advanced technological expertise, and good Western managerial skills. In fact, in some cases there is an overabundance of skilled labor; millions of Filipinos who can’t find work at home live in foreign countries utilizing their technical expertise.
Filipinos are young, educated, energetic, and motivated to succeed. With the support of such superior human resources, the Philippines is in a prime position to sustain its present growth rate and to play an excellent host to foreign investment. To establish a successful presence in the Philippines, an understanding of the culture, law, and practices of the Filipino labor force is critical. Building a mutually beneficial relationship with Filipino employees requires an awareness of the Philippine disposition, the country’s labor laws, customary salary and benefits, union rights, and employment procedures.
The Filipino as an Employee
Filipinos are friendly and have a "laid-back" culture. They adopt an informal appearance, even in the workplace. They are at ease with walking into their superior’s office simply to have a conversation. On the other hand, they are sensitive to being reprimanded. They like to be treated with patience. Because they value a solid reputation and a good public image, it is shameful for them to be reprimanded in public. They respect a manager that is fair, respectful of their dignity, and willing to compromise. In return, they are trustworthy, dedicated, responsible, and productive workers.
Typical of Asian culture, Filipinos avoid conflict and confrontation. In order to avoid unsettling situations, they often rely on an intermediary or third party to convey their message. While in the United States this could be perceived as evasive, the Filipino is more comfortable avoiding conflict. They value harmony over their personal viewpoint and often remain silent in disagreement. Thus, harmony is preserved at the expense of their own creativity or initiative. They will follow a boss’s decision rather than create a stir by suggesting an alternative proposal.
Business is usually undertaken at a leisurely place. Unlike the United StatesA
There is a sense of excitement and anticipation that the steady economic growth in the Philippines holds promise for the future. Despite its recent history of natural disasters, political unrest and economic hardship, the Philippines’ 5-6 % growth rate in Gross National Product (GNP) for 1997 is significant and offers hope of promising change. Further, deregulation, liberalization, and privatization reforms are contributing to the country’s "Philippines 2000" campaign, aimed at achieving Newly Industrialized Country (NIC) status, modernizing its agricultural sector, and revolutionizing its infrastructure by the turn of the century. Included in these reforms is an emphasis on the role of the private sector and promotion of foreign investment.
The Asian economic crisis has not hurt the Philippines as much as it has hurt its neighbors. The country is, however, in a mild recession. Its GNP growth is expected to slow to 3.7 percent this year, in contrast with the aforementioned 5 to 6 percent growth in 1997. The leadership of the country is confident, however, that their economy will be among the first in Asia to recover from the crisis.
The Philippines is gradually becoming an attractive location for production centers in Asia for many international companies. For those searching to make an investment in Southeast Asia, the Philippines offers the promise of high growth, with operational advantages such as a strategic location for global exports, and a highly qualified and educated workforce. Moreover, the Philippines has recently achieved a stable political environment, something which has held the country back for decades.
The Philippines’ labor force is well equipped to work with foreign ventures and is one of the country’s outstanding attributes. English is commonly spoken. The population and culture is a mixture of its Malay origins and Spanish and American influences. Furthermore, following independence, the country maintained many of its Western-flavored institutions, particularly in law, government, and economics. This familiarity with Western practices eases Filipino integration with Western business practices and foreign ventures. Additionally, unlike many other Southeast Asian countries which must grapple with a skilled-labor shortage, the Philippines boasts a literate population that is well equipped with computer skills, advanced technological expertise, and good Western managerial skills. In fact, in some cases there is an overabundance of skilled labor; millions of Filipinos who can’t find work at home live in foreign countries utilizing their technical expertise.
Filipinos are young, educated, energetic, and motivated to succeed. With the support of such superior human resources, the Philippines is in a prime position to sustain its present growth rate and to play an excellent host to foreign investment. To establish a successful presence in the Philippines, an understanding of the culture, law, and practices of the Filipino labor force is critical. Building a mutually beneficial relationship with Filipino employees requires an awareness of the Philippine disposition, the country’s labor laws, customary salary and benefits, union rights, and employment procedures.
The Filipino as an Employee
Filipinos are friendly and have a "laid-back" culture. They adopt an informal appearance, even in the workplace. They are at ease with walking into their superior’s office simply to have a conversation. On the other hand, they are sensitive to being reprimanded. They like to be treated with patience. Because they value a solid reputation and a good public image, it is shameful for them to be reprimanded in public. They respect a manager that is fair, respectful of their dignity, and willing to compromise. In return, they are trustworthy, dedicated, responsible, and productive workers.
Typical of Asian culture, Filipinos avoid conflict and confrontation. In order to avoid unsettling situations, they often rely on an intermediary or third party to convey their message. While in the United States this could be perceived as evasive, the Filipino is more comfortable avoiding conflict. They value harmony over their personal viewpoint and often remain silent in disagreement. Thus, harmony is preserved at the expense of their own creativity or initiative. They will follow a boss’s decision rather than create a stir by suggesting an alternative proposal.
Business is usually undertaken at a leisurely place. Unlike the United StatesA
ಎಫ್ಫೆಕ್ಟ್ಸ್ ಆಫ್ ಪೋಪುಳತಿಒನ್ ಏಕ್ಷ್ಪ್ಲೊಸಿಒನ್ ಇನ್ ದಿ ಫಿಲಿಪ್ಪಿನೆಸ್
Effects of Population Explosion In The PhilippinesIn point of fact, our national government declared many programs that emphasize the importance of family planning in order to reduce the growth rate of the population. However, because of some negative effects brought by these artificial methods, and, as mentioned earlier, these cultural and religious bases, many couples do not use them. But most of them have their own individual solutions, and disparities over formulas had often blocked efforts to come up with a solution. So many families are not aware of the programs regarding the population explosion that we have now. For this reason, our country becomes poorer, and the people get stuck in this sticky situation of poverty and squalor. In this lies the problem: at first, the babies need milk, diapers and vitamins. Providing them creates a large number of problems that demand the fullest utilization of the nation's resources. And when they do, they need education, which requires more school structures; they need food, clothing, houses, jobs, etc. This rapid growth of population is quite hard to endure for it really affects both the social and economic condition of our country. However, population growth cannot be controlled easily because of cultural and religious reasons, not to mention, the Philippines is known to be very conservative and very much Catholic, in its broadest sense. But the trouble is, babies grow up. These are basic needs that must be filled. There will be more babies born 20 years from now than the number of babies that are born this day. There are more babies being born today than there were in the 1970s.
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