Book Notes on: Capitalism in Philippine Agriculture (Ofreneo, Rene. Foundation for Nationalist Studies. Quezon City: 1987)

*Capitalism in the Philippine Agriculture traces the history of corporatism in the countryside – from its colonial beginnings up to the advent of the so-called Green Revolution. The author shows the commanding role of agribusiness transnationals from the developed capitalist countries in the modernization of Philippine agriculture, which ironically aggravates further the age-old problems of poverty and inequality in the rural areas. The growth of agricultural capitalism under the aegis of foreign capital also makes the country even more dependent in the west.

…critically re-examines the various agrarian programs of the government, which have become the vehicle for the full ascendancy of big agribusiness in the countryside. In the name of agricultural modernization and export oriented strategy, giant corporations are now taking over almost all phases of agriculture and all kinds of crops. In contrast to this concerted offensive of the foreign and local agribusiness firms, the announced program to improve social equity – mainly through land reform and cooperativism – has not been realized

Rene E. Ofreneo is the editor of the Philippine Journal of Industrial Relations. He holds an M.A. in industrial relations from the Asian Labor Education Center of the University of the Philippines, where he is working as a training specialist and a labor researcher. In 1978, he received an International Organization fellowship in rural labor education. In 1976-77, he edited the Philippine Labor Review. He has also published a number of articles related to industrial relations.

Preface:
A common argument about analyses such as Ofreneo’s offered by conservatives is: they criticize the capitalist system but offer no alternative solution. (the book) gives more than just a broad hint that a planned economy and the abolition if private property in farm land could do away with the misery and chaos fomented by the green revolution, fake land reforms, exploitative credit systems and even more exploitative production contracts, high-handed and anti-social business activities of foreign agribusiness firms in connivance with local partners and officials and so forth. The conservatives will say: this is not an alterntive. But that’s only because they don’t like this alternative, and for no other reason. (Ernest Feder UP Law Center, Diliman)

Introduction:
The produce of the earth – all that is derived from its surface by the united application of labor, machinery and capital is divided among three classes in the community, namely, the proprietor pf the land, the owner of the stock or capital necessary for its cultivation, and the laborers by whose industry it is cultivated. But in different stages of society, the proportions of the whole produce of the earth which will be allotted to each of these classes, under the names of rent, profit and wages, will be essentially different… To determine the laws which regulate the distribution is the principal problem in political economy. (David Ricardo: Principles of Political Economy)

QQ:… even if the agricultural yield of the country were to grow 10 to 100 times more than the present level as a result of technological improvement, one could still say that no genuine rural development had taken place if the rural masses remain trapped in the vicious cycle of poverty, ignorance, unemployment/ underdevelopment and backwardness, all of which are rooted in an unjust and unequal socio-economic order. Agricultural modernization in itself may become the vehicle for the further perpetuation of the status quo in the rural areas.

QQ: The direct exploiters are the landlords who appropriate a certain percentage of the fruits of the land by virtue of ownership. The indirect exploiters are those who control the marketing and pricing of the agricultural produce as well as those who profit from processing cheap primary agricultural products.

I. THE COLONIAL LEGACY
A. From the encomienda to the hacienda
B. “Free trade” for American big business
II. THE POST-WAR YEARS (1945-1970)
A. The transition to capitalist agriculture
B. Changes in the export crop sector
C. Poverty and class structure
III. “AGRARIAN REVOLUTION” IN THE 1970s
A. Laying a capitalist cornerstone
B. Food production intensification
C. Impact of the capitalist transformation
IV. EXPORT EXPANSION IN THE 1970s
A. “Rationalizing” traditional exports
B. Development of new crops
C. Fish, meat and wood for export too
V. NEO-COLONIAL AGRO-INDUSTRIALIZATION
A. From free trade to foreign investment
B. Imperialism and Philippine agrarian programs
C. No business like agribusiness
VI. PROSPECTS FOR THE 1980s
A. Emerging trends and conflicts

Deconstructing a McDonaldized Conception of Society

I have just read the book authored by the sociologist George Ritzer and I tried to absorb as much as possible all the concepts that he tried to bring up. While in the process of reading the book I was taking down notes although I couldn’t capture as much as I wanted to because time is not a leisure I can afford. The best I can do is to take note several terminologies which I believe are rather significant as well as some concepts/ claims by the author that I wish to expound on or re-evaluate.

I am not attempting a comprehensive book review although to some extent maybe that is what I am doing. What I am going to write about is a point by point (randomly selected by virtue of what my mind specifically targeted) analysis of some of the ideas presented/ introduced in the book. Might I remind the reader of this piece that I am merely reacting on impulse and giving way to the free flow of thoughts inside my head which doesn’t necessarily aim to contradict the book although in some instances this may seem the case. I am writing it down for academic purposes (perhaps for future reference). I am reminded by what my Humanities I professor said at our first meeting “Don’t trust the teacher.” This is perhaps why I tend to question (intentionally or unintentionally) every bit of information I get hold of. By the way, as the rule of dialectics goes, a thesis will always beget and spawn off an antithesis. This by far the limit that I can reach, I am not brilliant enough to concoct my own thesis (as Ritzer has done) nor am I learned enough to extrapolate a reliable synthesis.

§ Quotable quote: William Kowinski argues that the mall “was the culmination of all the American dreams, both decent and demented; the fulfillment, the model of the post war paradise.”

§ On Levittown Houses (mass-produced prefabricated houses pioneered by Abraham Levitt and his sons. The company built 17,447 homes which later roofed 75,000 people): It was said in this section (at least from what I infer) that the idea of building uniform houses dehumanizes its residents because the land developers’ only aim is to profit from the large quantity of houses that they would construct to decrease the cost per unit (making it more enticing to low income earners). To a certain degree it strips the individuality and originality accorded to humans; this is claimed to be a form of dehumanization. I don’t fully agree to this. For one, I can see that the author errs in presenting this as a form of dehumanization perhaps because he views it too much from a theoretical point of view. I have had first hand experience in a low cost housing project in Bulacan called DecaHomes. The principle is very much the same; I have seen the entire process in fact how the floors, walls and wirings are prefabricated in an assembly like manner. To this extent maybe it is McDonaldized. I have interacted with the families who have availed of these houses with full knowledge of the uniformity of their residences, and it’s not an issue for them. Having a roof over their heads at the lowest possible cost is much more a priority. Men are entitled to food, clothing and shelter and experiencing these rights are the first steps to the concretizing humanization.

§ It was also mentioned that (fast food) workers are working “numbered hours of robotized actions” and that this is said to be dehumanizing. I believe that no one can bring down a person’s worth or value without his or her consent; it’s just a matter of perspective. People who go into the fast food industry or a kind of work being of similar nature to the former are aware of what they are going into. It is a lucid act that they commit to with full knowledge of the circumstances involved so in essence they do this in good faith. Plus, they are compensated (justly we might assume, unless specified otherwise which makes the case more complicated) for it. In this sense people have a livelihood from which they can obtain an income to pay for their food, clothing and shelter which we can call the experience of humanization. It would be more harassing if in the first place they have no employment from which they can earn a salary that would support the basic survival needs of an urban individual. It maybe true that it is a trade off; one has to undertake a repetitive/ uncreative job in order to afterwards reap the fruits of his labor an live on it; but it doesn’t have to be dehumanizing or idolizing when the person concerned refuses to view it as such.

§ With regards to the aforementioned point, it may be true that flipping burgers repetitively may become boring and would eventually suck out the creative potentialities of the individual performing it. A person will only become mechanical if he succumbs to the idiotizing aspect of his job. I view it as mind over matter; it’s rather surprising that a sociologist overlooked the fact that collectivizing its subjects (or collectively addressing its subjects) would run the risk of oversimplifying situations or deleting alternative but plausible scenarios. For example a worker can rise above the “dehumanizing” quality of his work if he sees the logic behind it. Why flipping burgers in the exact specified process is efficient has a logical/ reasonable origin. In fact a worker can benefit from this if he applies theses basic principles in his life. People would have to agree with me that a McDonaldized system is neatly organized and if this orderly fashion is selectively applied in appropriate aspects of the personal life, solving problems would be easier (it would be in a systematized less chaotic manner). With what I have said, a supporter of the author’s arguments would rebut me by saying that I am guilty of romanticizing the situation. I say, in my defense that romanticizing the situation brings back the innate humanistic side of the argument as opposed to the rigid (to an extent even harsh) depiction or interpretation of this existent reality. I am not totally disregarding or dismissing the whole notion that dehumanization is existent, I am merely saying that sometimes people, in their attempt to capture the essence of a certain concept tend to exaggerate or overemphasize specific matters to the extent that other equally important matters about the subject are neglected/ forgone.

§ From page 41 I quote (parenthesis not included): In a McDonaldized society, people rarely search for the best means to an end on their own (it’s a waste of time). Rather, they rely on previously discovered and institutionalized means. Thus, when people start a new job, they are not expected to figure out for themselves how to do the work most efficiently. Instead they undergo training to teach them what has been discovered over time to be the most efficient way of doing the job. I included this quote because it can be used to substantiate a claim on Schumpeterian profits. Ford pioneered the use of the assembly line and by doing so it amassed great profit. It is the earnings that an innovator would get to compensate for the rigorous and often costly process of research and development. This goes true with McDonalds who continually strives to perfect the process of rationalization to maximize efficiency.

§ In the book, various forms of “conveniences” have been criticized because service-providers have the tendency to quantify almost every aspect of it. The scenarios particularly used to illustrate this claim are the entry of a group of people (presumably a family) to Disneyland or a fast-food drive thru. These have been juxtaposed with how commodities are placed in a kind of conveyor belt that would undergo the “production process”. There may be a superficial similarity but I refuse to subscribe to this limited interpretation of reality. People should not be treated like commodities to be quantified. Aiming to intellectualize things to make them seem scientific is as crass/ crude as treating them as mere commodities. The fun that one can get out of being entertained cannot be objectively quantified nor should it be. In a family for instance, the parents may have spent money (quantifiable) on the different rides (measurable) of an amusement park (rationalized) but the psychological (psychosocial/ emotional) gain by the whole family from is priceless. (ß just like the series of credit card commercials; there are in reality things beyond our “price designation” capacity… no wonder the advertisement sounds so pleasing)

§ In page 55, it was said that the presence of many search engines in the Internet such as Yahoo (and Google) de-skills people. It used to be that before, computer users had to be equipped with certain skills in order for them to navigate the worldwide web. On my part though, this is not much a trade off, in fact the presence of search engines are advantageous to computer users. Knowledge and information are now more accessible than ever. It doesn’t de-skill people but it does the opposite. For one, programmers constantly improve the internet so it means that new knowledge is being put to good news. People who have a degree or specialize on computers upgrade their knowledge and skills by inventing new ways of how the Internet would become faster, more powerful and efficient. On the other hand, ordinary users do not need to hassle themselves with technicalities for them to acquire information/ knowledge that would eventually enhance/ catalyze an advancement of their skills in different fields.

§ From page 71 I quote: Television programming is heavily, if not exclusively determined by quantitative factors. The ratings of a program, not its quality, determines the advertising revenue it is likely to generate and therefore its longevity. In this I decisively agree. I am particularly critical of the popular (I don’t exactly know why) noontime show Wowowee. Its ratings are sky-high yet I do not see it as a show of good quality more so of good taste. The dancers are annoying; they not only degrade themselves but all other women as well. The way they dance and dress is not even wholesome; we can only imagine the impact/ influence the show has on its audience (most especially on the kids). The host, I especially abhor because of his disgusting reputation (note: this is highly subjective) and he doesn’t seem sincere as a host. The way I see it, he finds amusement (from the look of his face) in humiliating people or watching people humiliate themselves in front of him/ national television. He doesn’t look the least bit sympathetic about his fans’ condition (that most of them aren’t exactly rich). No, it’s not about the Ultra stampede although that’s an additional; it’s about the whole mediocre concept of the show. At least in other game shows like Game Ka Na Ba people learn things from watching. The dancers, the host, the nonsensical jingle that’s played over and over and the entire concept (of preying on the masses); it’s just so despicable. George Ritzer has claimed that the quality of television programs are sacrificed for quantity, well I say he should have drawn his example from Philippine primetime. (I am reminded of a painting that I saw in the newspaper once entitled “Kinaka-wowowee”. In the painting there is a contestant with a sad expression and he/she is surrounded by the host and contestants who seem to be ridiculing her. Oh, how it perfectly encapsulates my sentiments! It’s a shame I couldn’t remember the name of the artist.)

§ From page 93: …to overcome the problem of unpredictable appearance and behavior among employees, Disney has developed detailed guidelines about what Disney employees should look like (the “Disney look” and how they should act. Disney has assembled a long list of “dos” and “don’ts” for different kinds of employees. Female “cast members” (a Disney euphemism for its park employees)who are not in costume must not wear jeans, clinging fabrics, athletic shoes, socks of any kind, hoop earrings, bracelets, or more than two necklaces. Female hosts may not use eyeliner or frost their hair; they must use a deodorant or antiperspirant. Mustaches and beards are unacceptable for male hosts. The list goes on and on. …At Busch Gardens, Virginia, “a certain amount of energy is devoted to make sure that smiles are kept in place. There are rules about short hair (for the boys) and no eating, drinking, smoking or straw chewing on duty (for everyone). I know how it feels to be restricted in such a manner (that to a point it seems already abusive). For more than a decade I studied at an exclusive all-girls school and I know how taxing it feels to obey every single rule on the handbook. The soles of our shoes shouldn’t be more than 1 &1/2 inch thick, our socks should be folded twice and shouldn’t go beyond the ankle, the skirt had to be 2 inches below the knees (teachers really literally measure them with yardsticks).We had to wear our IDs all the time. No bracelets, necklaces and dangling earrings are allowed. Our hair accessories are limited to the colors blue, white, black and brown and absolutely no hair color is allowed other than the natural. Our brassieres should only be white or skin-tone because it’s not nice to see fancy colors under a white blouse… plus whole lot more! (The shear agony that our individuality suffered!) But looking back, it wasn’t rigid conformity that learned from it, it was how to be more disciplined. There is a reason why regulations are decreed in the first place. For one, it maintains a certain standard of hygiene that is good for the individual (deodorants are a must). Secondly rules are what are generally acceptable to most people. Sometimes, people tend to be caught up in the latest fashion sense that they tend to be eye-catching and daring. It isn’t exactly professional to wear distracting clothing; neither is it of good etiquette. Also, the customers feel safer when they see “predictable” clothing on workers. The stereotyped clean-cut image that is portrayed puts the customer more at ease. Personally, would you trust your kids to mount on a ride operated by a bearded, tattooed, multiple-body-pierced smoking guy with purple hair color? But of course there is a limit on what employers should “prescribe” to their employees. For instance I don’t really approve of sales ladies wearing short skirts. A professor of mine included this topic in her undergraduate thesis that the human resource department of shopping malls is required to check on the legs of applicants (there should be no unsightly scars, etc). I find this utterly degrading.

§ From page 98: Another form of entertainment that aims to provide no surprises is the package tour, which is as oriented to predictability as it is to efficiency. Tour operators have turned travel into a highly predictable product by creating trips that allow minimal contact with the people, culture and institutions of visited countries. This creates a paradox: people go to considerable expense and effort to go to foreign countries where they have little contact as possible with native cultures. This is a very good point to raise but we also have to remember that not everyone is equipped with“sensitivity” to other cultures. Even social scientist who are supposed to be experts of the field make mistakes; what more ordinary unaware people. Tourists are the ones alien to the land and what if the do something that offends the way of life of the natives? It’s rather unfair if that happens. Though mistakes are unintentional, sometimes moral damage is done.

§ From page 125: Cohen underscores at least three different irrationalities: (1) Rational systems are not less expensive, (2) they force people to do unpaid work, and (3) most important here, they are often inefficient. It might be more efficient to deal with a human teller, either in a bank or at a drive-through window, than to wait in line at the ATM. For the first, I argue that they are cheaper, for the whole economy that is. It is true that the use of sophisticated machines are costly but imagine if individual restaurants were to do their own research and development to find out the most efficient way to run the business and not adopt a “prefabricated rationalized model”. Although the world may benefit from the diversity of possibilities at gaining success, to an extent it’s a foolish waste of money. With regards to adding on to the original value, of course producers will do so for profit. But still, individually producing, say a can of soda is a lot more expensive than buying it from a mass-producer. (Besides if a consumer purchases a commodity it means he agrees to the market price, so what he purchases amounts at the least to the price set by the producer). For the second, I argue people should not be treated like dummies because they are fully capable of doing the work being specified. In the book the unpaid work being pertained to that a customer does, include throwing the trash at the waste receptacles, lining up and the like. This requires a negligible amount of energy. Kung sa Pilipinas, kusa na yang ginagawa. Tamad na ang turing sa mga taong hindi gumagampan sa mga gawaing tulad ng nabanggit. Personally, I don’t really mind cleaning up the mess I made before I leave or lining up when necessary (granted that the workers are doing there job accordingly). I don’t consider it as “unpaid labor”; it’s more like a responsibility so that the society will run in a less chaotic manner. For the third, I say that rationalized systems are efficient although admittedly they have flaws and defects. Monetarily speaking, it saves the economy a lot of money. Plus they are more convenient. If rationalized systems were not efficient, then how come people are still patronizing them? A world without ATMs, efficient? I don’t think so…

§ From page 136: The spread of American and indigenous fast-food causes less and less diversity from one setting to another. In the process, the human craving for new and diverse experiences is being limited, if not progressively destroyed. It is being supplanted by the desire for uniformity and predictability. I don’t believe that the spread of indigenous and mainstream fast food limits diversity. Rather, it even contributes to diversity. Individually these two categories will spawn their own breed. Eventually there will come a point when they will be fused to produce a hybrid which will then spawn its own kind. At one locale, there will be more to choose from, much more when a person goes from place to place. And besides countries, regions, states and islands have their own distinct culture so people need not fear the occurrence of absolute uniformity. Rationalized systems still have varied effects from one place to another; so uniformity or less diversity is a myth or at the very least a false alarm.

Terminologies:
Edutainment
Infotainment (news)
Retailtainment (mall)
McDoctors/ Docs-in-a-box
Unreality industry (example lemon scent detergent but there’s no lemon)
False fraternization (illusion of concern/ commodify emotions)
Tentative pregnancy
Designer deaths/ modern dying
Kevorkianism (Dr. Jack Kevorkian à give back to people control over their death)
Post-humus reproduction (sperm from a dead man)
Bureaucracies/ scientific management/ assembly line
McDonaldization: cultural imperialism vs. transnational phenomenon (monolithic vs. federation of semi-autonomous enterprises)
Kimchi: spicy pickled cabbage
Financescape: movement of megamonies through national turnstiles at blinding speed
Ethnoscape: movement of a large number of people throughout the world through tourism
Cultural homogenization vs. hybridization under globalization)
Glocalization: complex interplay of local and global
Coca-colonization: furor in France during the 1940s on the importation of Coke
Complexification (prevailing pattern in post industrial society) vs. simplification (engendered by McDonaldization = uncreative minds, simple selves, minimal communication)
Modern and post modern: compression of space and time
Sneakerization: customization
From page 181: Fordism has a number of characteristics:
Mass production of homogenous products
Inflexible technologies, such as the assembly line
Standardized work routines or Taylorism
Efforts to increase productivity (economies of scale, deskilling, intensification, homogenization of labor)
Market for mass-produced items
From page 182: Post-Fordism’s distinguishing characteristics:
Declining interest in mass products and growing interest in more customized and specialized products
Shorter production runs
Flexible production
More capable workers
Greater differentiation
From page 186: Five basic elements of a post-modern society
1. Association with capitalism
2. Superficiality
3. Waning of emotion of affect
4. Loss of historicity
5. Reproductive technologies

Quotable quote from page 192: McDonald’s is a symbol of problems such as environmental degradation, dietary dangers, the evils of capitalism, poor working conditions, faltering unionization, neglected children, and the threat of Americanization.

Note: sorry for the grammatical errors in this document, I was in a hurry to finish it

Journal entry #1: on November 29, 2006 discussion

In all honesty, there are a lot of points during the discussion which are worthy of a separate session either to be expounded further or be debated upon for a more thorough analysis. But for a practical start I have selected only a few matters to ponder on because I believe that excavating them would render significant realizations. For one, it was mentioned that the annual remittance of overseas Filipino workers amounts from $8-10 billion but one should not be deceived by these figures because their effect on the economy is rather superficial and temporary. I for one agree that a typical Filipino shopper loves to purchase as much consumer items as he can get hold of. Furniture, clothes, accessories, and loads of other consumables seem to satisfy the typical Filipino consumer. In other words, Filipinos purchase products that are intended for immediate consumption and with minimal or zero investment value. As a result, differed consumption by relatives abroad is only a form of delay because it is also spent on non-capital goods that won’t generate future income. There have been efforts by the government to motivate people, balikbayans in particular, to become entrepreneurs and start their own business. But this is to no avail or at most its effects are somewhat negligible.

To substantiate that Filipinos exceptionally love to buy consumables, I’d like to site food as an indispensable example. It seems as if every celebration always has to have an accompanying “handaan” of the grandest sort. Graduations, baptismals, despididas, welcome-home parties and even in-between shopping snacks siphon out the earnings of a lot of people. So it’s not really surprising that whatever is remitted in the country flows out almost as quickly especially since Filipinos seem to have the uncanny knack of patronizing imported goods. My mom, with her quick wit and practicality always reminds us to as much as possible patronize Filipino brands. So whenever we are out for a quick lunch, the list of choices is almost always limited to Jollibee, Chowking, Greenwich and Red Ribbon. True enough, these restaurants seem to be expanding and sustaining a good percentage of the clientele for food and have received international acclaim form renowned economists and business schools. I can only imagine, especially now that the holidays are coming, that a good portion of the money sent by relatives from abroad are being splurged on dinning out. But what really concerns me is that the people are spending is not really retained within the economy; instead it flows out of the country. For one, it is a confirmed fact that Jollibee’s burger patties come all the way from Australia. I can only imagine where, Red Ribbon’s icing, Greenwich’s ingredients and Chowing’s Hong Shu vegetables come from. So in essence we can’t really say that we are patronizing Filipino brands when the producer’s themselves find it more economical to obtain their supply elsewhere. The same goes for SM malls; they maybe owned by Filipino Chinese but upon closer inspection Mr. Henry Sy actually imports them from China. The same goes for Ben Chan for his RTW clothing-line and his brother the owner of Oishi. They may be Filipinos by citizenship, and it is undeniable that they provide local employment opportunities by having more franchises that distribute their products but it is also true that they have factories in China where they employ more Chinese at lesser costs. In essence, it is rather contentious to use the development/expansion of local industries as the sole gauge to monitor the economy and the generation of employment because given the aforementioned setup it is rather evident that a large sum of money is utilized/ made functional and circulated elsewhere.

Another point that I would like to bring up, but rather briefly (because I know this would be debated on in class) is the one concerning the UPCAT and the tuition fee increase. While I believe that there is wisdom behind the previous mechanism to which UP used to filter its incoming freshmen, I believe that it isn’t exactly fool-proof. It is true that those from public schools, especially those with innate potential deserve to continue further schooling and be rightfully subsidized by the government. Also, it is logical to assume that those who have the capacity to study in private high schools can also afford to go to private universities/ colleges. But this is not always the case… I for one am a product of a private school but by means of socialized tuition fee. I have learned to value quality education as much as my parents did. We have a modest family income but with my three other siblings studying as well, compounded by the rapid increase of tuition fees, its rather hard to imagine how we could have gone by without availing/ applying for it. I have an older sister who has quite the same situation as mine, she took up Area Studies also in UP Manila and graduated a cum laude. Ayoko magbuhat ng sariling bangko, that’s why I am citing my sister’s case, if she doesn’t deserve to be a recipient of subsidized education, then who is?! But of course this is a case to case basis… Personally though, with regards to scholastic standing maybe those who are not as hard-working as others should be the ones pulled out. Getting into UP tends to make other people slack off, sometimes to the extent of regularly cutting classes to the unfair expense of taxpayer’s money. I believe that being an iskolar ng bayan makes me accountable and conscious of my actions, at least for those who are not maybe they are not deserving of a slot in UP and should be made to compete with other more deserving people for place in the university. If the issue is more concerned of who deserves to be subsidized, then maybe those who are industrious and can maintain a decent GWA as reflected by hard work and scholastic performance. Then again, this is just my own point of view…

Another thing that I wish to comment on is the potential income that UP can generate from leasing out its idle assets. I agree that commercializing certain land assets (in fact it can be said that it is a liability since its maintenance and security costs are subtracted from the budget) is not the same as commercializing education. Imagine, the system holds claim to 24,500 hectares of land and only 1,500 hectares of it are concretely functional? In a previous economics class, it was proposed that unproductive land should be taxed heavier than productive lands because it decreases the possibility of hoarding productive land to the disadvantage of the economy; I agree to this. In the same manner, UP should not hinder other people form maximizing its development; I see it as an opportunity forgone for the economy. It’s only a lease anyway, and the contracts I assume were drawn to favor the side of the university. I don’t find anything wrong with trying to generate our income especially since the university is aided with properties to do so. In fact, I find it rather selfish not to; why burden the government with expenditures and higher budget allocations when UP has brilliant minds to think of solutions to independently augment the budget. Self-reliance would in fact benefit not only UP constituents (there won’t be TFIs anymore), but also other sectors because the government would have more money to spare for social services and the like.

I think I have said enough. For purposes of economy I would comment on the readings some other time.

Just a stupid theory on paroxysms… (unedited)

I have this theory that’s based on an experience that I had on the 2nd of July 2006 wherein I felt a simultaneous insurgence of emotions (bad, mad, sad and at the verge of tears). Maybe its just a crooked thought that crossed my mind among the many other crooked thoughts that I conceive, but I guess its worth writing about it. Rather than running the risk of a potentially-significant thought to be as good as non-existent, perhaps there’s merit in writing about it (and validating its physical existence) for whatever seemingly-negligible value it may contain.

…is it really love that people like? Or it’s gruesome aftermath? The experience of heaviness in the chest that I have always claimed to have a romantic affair with, is what I am pertaining to. I have ever since loved to affiliate myself with sorrow, especially the tormenting kind, because it makes me sound heroic and more human than what I really am. In light of this and of Pablo Neruda’s ever-famous lorn-filled verse: love is short, forgetting so long, I realized that heartache is ironically what I crave for. It sounds neurotic I admit (I am not one to argue my sanity) but I gave the matter considerable thought, and lo, this is actually the case. What makes matters worse (depending on how you perceive it) is that, an orgasm is what I can associate it with. Biologically when a person feels an orgasm coming, it is preceded by a stimulus then a consequent build up of tension at the lower part of the body. After which, there’s this unexplainably agonizing yet pleasurable experience that one feels prior to the climax. Then… the bursting, the outflow that sweeps and overpowers the body with the glorious experience of emancipation...

The same happens with a heartache. The stimulus can be a fight with a close friend, a fix in a stressful situation or a break-up that would instigate a build up of tension. It is felt in the chest in a non-hypothetical (though unexplainable) manner, which sometimes climbs up to the throat and stings the back of the eyes. Prolonging and trying to control it actually intensifies the liberation that is felt when its release is finally allowed. It’s like an eruption that contrastingly engulfs you…

I have never experienced a biological orgasm but according to reports having many is what makes people lead a long and happy life. Does an emotional orgasm serve the same purpose? As of the moment, I’ve had had a lot and I can say that I am leading a relatively satisfied life. So it’s effects are therefore yet to be tested and proven… I never really thought that my obsession and attraction to sorrow is somewhat “sexual”; I don’t know if I’m speaking sense but I’d like to believe so (even the least bit) because it’s hard not to have something certain to hold on to when confusion is less than an inch away from shaking the foundations of one’s sanity. Of all the things that I don’t understand and I have done wrong, I’d like to believe that there is a tad bit of logic in what I am writing down.

What is forgiveness? Someone once sent me a quote that, metaphorically it is the fragrance that a flower gives off when it is crushed. I’d like to believe that I can still be as heroic as a crushed flower, contributing something to humanity despite the many times that my personhood has been brutally shattered…
Why this genre by the way? Usually when I start to wallow in wrath and sullenness rhymes and images start to flow out of me…I was a writer/poet then, because I sold by entire self and soul to the arts. But I did not nurture the seed that was planted in me; ideally I should have taken creative writing, literature or journalism at least. But I felt it rather selfish because the most that I can do was contribute to the literary world. In essence it was a trade off; either I become selfish and render the most artful of verses or I become humbled by my vision to contribute more to mankind, groping in the dark without a mastered skill to boast of. Writing is selfish because it mainly seeks self-expression; influence is just an unintended consequence. There is pride that can be reaped when the world depended on the next sardonic rhyme that a writer can produce but there is nothing productive about it. What I want is to make a difference, one that can be felt not mainly by myself but of others. I want my name to be unheard of, unwritten, and unspoken than be popularized in a shallow and conventional manner. I want more smiles, less poverty, next-to-utopian and sustainable bliss and the actualization of idealism not through my words but through my actions. A new drive possessed me, but it extricated whatever genius/ command over rhymes that I was previously granted. For the last time, I tried to be selfish and gripped solidly at whatever shadow that was left… but no. My rhymes no longer echoed the melody that it used to; the picturesque that I was capable of painting with words became a drab canvass of empty lines.

I loved poetry and it used to love me back but it can’t do that any longer. So with every tear that I shed, with every emotional orgasm that I experience, I am reminded of the days how it rocked my heart and hand to move as one. But those were the days… and these are the days…No longer accessible are the soft memories of the past. The most I can do is to attempt to feel it. It has fled violently from my grasp because of the chaos that intellectualization and emotionalism pervaded. Poetry’s warmth, intensity and entirety are like indelible marks of a muse’s face that gives breadth to my life; eternally existing and yet unreachable.

Random Notes: The Philippine Road to NIChood (edited by Thompson, W. Scott and Villacorta, Wilfredo)

*Bro. Andrew Gonzalez got his PhD in Linguistic from University of California in Burkley

* Some of the articles in the compilation overly praised President Ramos for his “good work”. I’m not sure if they were sucking up to him (mga himod tumbong) cause it was during his time that this book was written or, their economistic backgrounds took the better of them (most of them are economists). I bet most of them are still alive to suffer the consequences of privatized and deregulated public services/utilities and “un-forgo–able” (I coined this, it sounds nice) commodities. Are they not aware of how the politics, the economy and more importantly the culture in the Philippines work? Efficiency and honesty (as opposed to consumer harassment and manipulation) are almost non-existent. It’s so damn embarrassing to admit that the latter are the ones actually embedded in our culture. Too bad decisions can’t be reversed or withdrawn…

* On Andrew Gonzalez’ article (The Emergence of Nationhood: The Linguistic Evidence) It is stated that, the Philippines from being an aggregate of unrelated tribes spread over a group of islands, through the colonization of Spain became a fledgling nation with its self-identity and national unity. Well, on this I’d have to believe otherwise. First, pre-colonial Filipinos engaged in trade with other communities which means they formed relationships with each other to the point perhaps of economic (inter)dependence. Next, I believe that if history unfolded without the Spanish setting foot in our country, the Philippines would still have had a sense of self identity and national unity most likely stronger than what it turned out to be (the Spaniards are not a pre-requisite for this to happen). The Spaniards tried to erase all traces of our past by attempting to burn artifacts and symbolisms of our cultural heritage which somewhat halted all opportunities for unification. This resulted to a lagging (if not cessation) of a process, which would have taken place otherwise.

* QQ: (page 79 by W.S. Thompson) Although the term “NIC” refers literally only to economics, it has come to refer to a certain economic status of nations and includes far more than just economics, as we all see, which is why we came to include ‘civil society’ as an adjunct to the concept. With respect to Korea, for example, I take NIChood to include not just 250,000 percent increase in exports since 1960, the obsessiveness about the prestige of their exports, but the free and fair elections which brought the present government to power, the investigations of corruption and abuse of office in past governments –but also the role of Korean musicians and artists and world arenas, and the NGOs demanding the clean-up of the environment and the polity. With Taiwan it has meant a certain maturity about identity and the development of a personality in world affairs in spite appalling obstacles. We use NIChood thus to denote not just a rapidly growing economy, but a maturing polity as well for the good reason to believe that one cannot last long without the other à Who thought this would be appropriate years after?! Whatever happened to our export industry, our elections (Hello?!), our environment (cute turtles *sob* in Guimaras no more) and the investigating of past governments (Marcos money, Cojuangco land, Ramos’ indecisions, Estrada’s corruption and stupidity…). Although the notion of a maturing polity is rather vague and relative, well at least it connotes progression.

* QQ: Governments in order to become NICs do not have to be authoritarian, they have to be authoritative! ß And I believe this to be true but they have to win the confidence of the people because a fine line divides these two perceptions.

* A 1995 SWS survey showed that by late 1994, 78% of the Phil. population believed that to develop faster the government should try to slow down population growth.
* QQ by Lance Gokongwei: Filipinos are tired of grandstanding politicians… people have attained a certain political maturity and are willing to look at issues rather than personalities. ß this was said around 1997, so what happened?! it’s still about people in the limelight. My guess is that society prefers to have a person to blame because it simplifies the problem, rather than admitting that a problem is spawned by a malfunctioning/ ill-functioning system, which would be more difficult to comprehend and address.

* An inventory of Philippine NGOs:
1. Institute of Education and Management for Environment and Habitat = offers degrees in environmental education
2. Institute for the Study of the Environment = by the conservative economist Bernardo Villegas; founded to assist industries in integrating environmental considerations to corporate policy.
3. The Jaime Ongpin foundation (named after Aquino’s finance secretary) = aims to help the elderly, handicap (or differently-able)
4. Kalahan Educational Foundation = helps a tribal people in Nueva Vizcaya in developing their environment
5. Kalipunan ng Maga = helps Cordilleran peoples in their struggle for self-determintation
6. Kinaiyahan Foundation = aims to raise the consciousness of the people in Mindanao with a databank, through grassroots work ßI don’t know if these organizations are still existent. It’s nice to know that these organizations have a genuine concern and awareness for social responsibility… the downside to this is that, the more organizations that exist, the more costly they become. Even if they are non-stock and non-profit, operational and fixed costs are there to be paid. In one article on the Gates Foundation, when Warren Buffet, one of the world’s richest people donated his wealth, a comment there caught my attention because rather than setting up a new foundation (with all that money, it can more than suffice on its own), Buffet opted to entrust it to an existing foundation. True enough, it is more economical; funds can be directed towards its rightful destination, instead of being spent unnecessarily on rental of headquarters, separate taxes, operational costs, etc. (indeed it is wasted in that sense)

* What the Philippines needs are not more technocrats but more patriots (by Alex Melchor)

* Statecraft is not a Nintendo Game ßshould be said to all the politicians out there who believe in this or are oblivious to living this concept out

Reaction: Other Factors Than Economics to Reach NIChood (Seung Young Kim)
I am utterly disappointed! The title sounded so nice and being the idealist and hopeless romantic that I am, I thought “finally someone who makes sense”. It’s not just my hate for numbers and graphs that makes me want more proof that what the subject can give. Personally, I can’t help but feel that economics compresses reality so much to the point of distortion. At least in sociology/ anthropology people are regarded as people although at times they are treated like guinea pigs being observed in an experiment. But economics… heck! A person’s like is reduced to a mere mortality percentage; a child’s literacy is considered as a negligible ratio and human suffering is now quantifiable in statistical terms! …and then I come across this article whose title at the least intrigued me… but what do I see? This is utterly preposterous, una profanacion! The other factors besides economics being pertained to in the title are national security and national image… (so disheartening)
I have ever since wanted to make a separate paper on national security (or the issue of military (over)spending), but I am no expert in the matter…
“Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed” (from Pres. D. Eisenhower as quoted by Samuelson and Nordhaus)”ß and I definitely agree. It has always been a riddle to me why the budget allocation for defense is so big and for social services so meager.
I believe that we can modernize our military in less costly ways. In training for example, instead of using real guns and actual bullets (which may not be re-used) why not use guns with cameras to enhance the shooting skills of the soldiers. The lack of actual handling of ammunition can be compensated by lectures and regular technological innovation updates so there won’t be a need to purchase all of them. Anyway, the essence is still there, the shooting proficiency of the soldiers is not sacrificed and neither is the supposed budget that could have evaporated so easily from purchasing costly paraphernalia. Also instead of “simulated laboratories and specialized training fields” why not go to rugged terrain? Afterall, in real combat soldiers have no actual experience of where they are to be deployed… by doing so, their resourcefulness, quickness, application of appropriate strategy and tactics formulation will altogether be harnessed. One can bring up environmental considerations as an intersecting issue but disruptions nonetheless at a minimal since (as mentioned above) the gadgets that are used are “not real”.
What is my justification for this?! When the soldiers signed up, they became immediate candidates to become heroes in their own right because defending the country entails the potential sacrifice of their lives. But death is not the only measurement for them to prove their noble intentions. By forgoing part of the budget allocation, which will be redirected to social services, they are doing the country a big favor. It’s not that they will not be provided for; it’s just that they are living such a glamorous life with more than adequate monetary compensation for their families (nuclear and extended) that it seems rather unfair to most of the other citizens. Defending the national territory and security is not a glamorous job, so it shouldn’t be perked up and “beflowered” so much the way it is now. But of course politics is involved; the president is beefing and fattening it up for personal interests; military elites as part of national power stakeholders etc… All the hullabaloo almost wants to make me wish for life to be simplified into economic models with all other things remaining constant…
Second is national image: the immediate image of an export product is decided by the quality and economic performance of the exporting country, but the national appeal, based on culture and historical attractiveness form an important undercurrent. This enhances the appeal of sophisticated products ß Well I say, our craft is sophisticated alright! Our independent films (collectively) are world class, which reap numerous awards; there’s this designer in Cebu who happens to be so good that Hollywood stars practically drool over his rattan creations. Our output is good, but what makes it unpopular in the market is the country’s image. Corrupt cops, even more corrupt officials, dirty cities, even dirtier elections… So you see, it’s actually the other way around. There are individuals who attempt to dignify our country but because of a vicious cycle, they are the one’s being stripped of their dignity by the country that they wished to bring honor to.

Diagnostic Paper: Relevance of Economic Theory

Economics, simply stated is the study or systematic inquiry of human activities that are generally categorized under production, consumption and distribution (sometimes also pertained to as exchange) of goods and services. The etymology of the word is credited to the Greeks, which back then meant ‘household management’. As per other bodies of knowledge, economics is considered to be eclectic to the point that appropriately defining its boundaries is shrouded with controversy. It touches if not includes other disciplines such as but not limited to: mathematics, sociology, psychology, accounting, geography, and political theory. Due to its complexity, it is said that attempts at creating economic models is tremendously difficult because collective human behavior is not completely predictable. Also, even economists are divided with regards to whether to treat this subject matter as an art or a science. All in all, the nature, magnitude and implications to individual and social welfare is the primary focus of policy prescriptions that have been produced from the study and application of this field.
More important than defining and acknowledging the existence of economics is knowing and understanding its relevance in the micro, national, macro and global scale. Ever since its emergence as a separate discipline in the 18th century, it is undeniable that people have seen more clearly the significance and impacts of economics from the personal to international level. The cognizance of such became the reason why national governments adhere to and employ various theories that have been fashioned/ refashioned and extensively debated upon economic theories.
Roughly classified into 4 categories, the more popular of the numerous theories that have been conceived fall under classical. Marxist, neo-classical and Keynesian. Classical economics was a by-product of post-mercantilist practices and served its purpose as a new phase or a refreshing beginning that was chiefly concerned with macroeconomic phenomena. Economists such as Adam Smith, John Stuart Mill, David Ricardo and Thomas Malthus are some of the more well-known figures and proponents of this time. Smith’s claim of absolute advantage was one of the main arguments that attacked mercantilism. He was in support of free trade and division of labor as a means by which a country can increase its income. Perhaps the statement “if a foreign country can supply us with a commodity cheaper than we ourselves can make, better buy it from them” can be used roughly as one of the bases that various economies have employed. To this extent even the Philippines has imported from other countries such as China commodities that are produced more cheaply as compared to when the country produces them. Shoes, accessories, bags and countless other merchandize flood our markets and eventually our homes with its origins extend way beyond our borders. Although Smith, claimed that exceptions to free trade include military security, and tax imposition on imports to protect/ encourage local industry, this seems to be one of the aspects that our government is guilty of neglecting. The Philippines, together with other countries are guilty of unbridled reception of products sometimes to the disadvantage (or eventual demise) of local producers and industries; the production of footwear in Marikina being one of my cases in mind. It is true that international trade is rather indispensable due to the fact that resources are scarce and that a country may not be as geographically, demographically and technologically endowed as others. Benefits of trade include, improvement of the standard of living, acceleration of economic development, stimulation of production, generation of foreign exchange earnings (to buy capital investment that we have no capability of producing as well as paying off our burdensome debts), promotion of product specialization, increases consumer satisfaction among others.
Still on classical economics, Ricardo formulated the theory of comparative advantage in which he states that: a country should export the goods in which it has the greatest comparative advantage and should import the goods in which it has the greatest comparative disadvantage. It is said that this analogy can be applied to a person who is both a nurse and a doctor at the same time. This person has a greater comparative advantage as a doctor and thus confine his/her activities to such. This brings to mind the exceptional case of health workers in the Philippines wherein skillful doctors opt to become nurses abroad. The theory of comparative advantage tells us, although it may seem inconsistent with the analogy at first, that the exodus of health workers is a comparative advantage in a micro scale because they earn more abroad than in domestic hospital and also because our country has comparative advantage on the labor market which is said to be more profitable (due to remittances) that we export.
Next we move on to Marxist economics. Traditionally and philosophically speaking, Marxist theories are founded based on dialectical materialism wherein there would be an initial thesis which will generate its own antithesis then a synthesis. Marxism became controversial because it directly attacked the capitalist system at a time when capitalists were so engrossed with reaping, spending and advertising the fruits of their ingenuity. The theories of Karl Marx per se inspired other thinkers, representative of other countries to formulate their own indigenized version of an advertent defense/ counterattack of the prevalent capitalist system. USSR, Eastern Europe, Cuba and China are some of the countries who have/ had a history adopting the belief that the state is not independent from society and economics. They aimed to change the economic base which would thus alter the society’s political-legal superstructure. In the Philippines however there are progressive organizations who study and subscribe to the beliefs propagated by Marxists, socialists and communists alike. These organizations deliberately oppose and protest the government’s advancement of economic reform because it would worsen the effects of free trade, globalization, economic imperialism and neo-colonialism in the country. Although their advocacies may not be that popular in the policy-making procedures of government they serve the purpose of making people aware of the economic inefficacies of government (sometimes also that of other governments) or in other cases serves as an equalizing agent that reminds legislators to include ordinary workers, farmers (non-capitalists) into consideration.
Moving on to neo-classical economics whose chief concern is to dissect and explain microeconomic phenomena. The major assumption is that market forces tended to ensure that the economy will maximally employ its resources without leaving anything idle which shifted attention to a more basic perspective. It is said that neoclassical economics is heavily mathematical in nature that only those who were well versed in the complexities of numbers could understand nevertheless it gave more room for governments to encourage small scale economic activity. In Bangladesh for example, there is a bank that understands the economic value of small scale lending to “financially-incapacitated” people. It has been lauded for its innovative and practical practices objectives and also because it recognized the significance of microeconomic development as the foundation behind a stronger economy. In the domestic scene, the current administration is promulgating micro-entrepreneurial measures to aid market proficiency and encourage the exercise of the productive potential/capacity of common citizens.
Lastly, Keynesian economics rejects the theory that the free market will provide employment for everybody. It advocates tax cuts and government spending on public works during periods of recession and create jobs even at the risk of running a budget deficit. On the other hand, when the economy booms, it is said that governments should stop spending or increase taxes to reduce demand then use the budgetary surplus to pay off debts. In essence, Keynesian economics deals with problems with substantial gravity such as issues on debt, unemployment, and taxes which even when addressed separately still requires stringency. The Philippines or any other developing country for that matter is particularly laden with the complexities of these concerns.
The four major categories and a simple demonstration of their utility and relevance in the national an international scale have been stated. In reality, governments need to employ a combination of these theories because there is no one theory that addresses the multi-dimensional/faceted problem of stabilizing or improving the economy.

(References are available upon requests)

Xanthous Sonnet:
Sunrise

Ecstatic lights robbed me of a climaX
Xanthous linens hung down the morning sky
I, waking up to this phenomenA
Allowed myself quite an indulgent sigh
With a single memory it begaN
Needlessly desiring to be entranced
By ironies to hurtful to resisT
Time’s elements endlessly romanced
Sensations captured in a single toucH
Hinting of nothing but a blissful day
That no depraving power could undO
Only such a godly command could sway
A brilliant eye rose to inverted depthS
Stitching the dawn into one blinding ray

Tears Beneath the Rain

I went out to stroll in the rain
Cause my heart is weighing me down
My tears I cannot hide in vain
It is now that I can’t help but frown

I thought the clouds were there to cry
But no, heaven was not in pain
And I beneath it left to sigh
Trusted my disguise to the rain

I took a shade beside an old tree
To search myself and question God
What would the world miss without me?
Creating me was rather odd

Then, a dead leaf fell on my head
As if a reminder of life
I won’t realize till I’m dead
Its significance with the strife

Guilt suddenly flooded in me
For God meant life to be a game
He wanted me to be happy
And there I was cursing his name

The brilliance of the sun came back
And it dried my sorrow away
My feet were leading to the shack
And my heart forgetting the day

If the broken love hadn’t pushed me
To set out in the rain and cry
Perhaps until now I can’t see
That there was reason to ask why

It is foolish to think that life
Can just be filled with what we see
And what was brought out by the strife
Is the only answer for me

previous epoch

An image of the previous epoch moves in front of me
A language bastardized by age is being used
Philosophical truths are being unfolded
That generations may know the barbaric reality
I can barely withstand the pressure
Information is being overloaded in my brain
Some lack the space
Others lack the enthusiasm
I lack the courage to oppose
I take all of this as truth
Despite the rebellion of my conscience
There is a need to conform

wallowing in self pity

The pallor of the walls reminds me
of an emptiness within.
The faint gush of color in the room
creates an atmosphere of somber tranquility.
I put my hands in my pocket and speak in silence.
I listen to the predominant gestures of the air
and I stare blankly at the songs
that pinch my calloused heart.
Someone salvate me from what is to come.
I find my solitude unbearable.
It decreases my morale by the hour…
by the minute…
by the second…
Deliverance is a far-fetched thought that nags me.
Promises hang themselves in mid-air
right in front of me.
I walk further down the path of the unknown.
Suicidal drops of rain clash down at my fragile flesh.
The entire earth is against my dreams.
The soil wishes to defy laws that exist,
to open up and swallow me whole.
The water holds back immeasurable strength
to avoid drowning me.
The air, though it finds it hard not to intoxicate me,
despite all odds it is surprisingly calm.
The horror of life lies smack in my feet.
Damn!
Damn!!

a mishmash of rhymes

My pain
My grief
The impact of sorrow
Shattered my delicate dreams


I’m insane
Unknown thief
Of a dormant life
That is not what it seems


Love won’t wane
Words to brief
A voice inside
Uncontrollably screams

for my darling...

In a world so measured
Why hast thou come to thee?
I’m only familiar with beats and rhythm
Like the sounds of a clock
Footfalls on the ground
Thumping of the heart

Man has given a name
To the fathomable sea
To the wavelengths of light
To the heat underneath the earth

Volumes of sound has already been labeled
Lengths of time made exact
Even structures are fashioned with proportion
In the midst of all these
Why hast though entered thy world?
With the unquantifyable intensity of your kisses
With the infinitely addicting gentleness of your touch
And with your limitless capacity to love

It has brought upon me an unexplainable confusion
But I seem to like it just the same…

Lebanon Crisis:

From 2,678 wars in the 12th century, the total increased to 13,835 in the first quarter of this century. Wilbur M. Smith estimated that “up to the close of the 19th century… 14 billion have been killed in the wars of the human race.

From 1496 BC to AD 1861, the world knew 3,130 years of war and 227 years of peace. In the last four hundred years European nations have signed more than eight thousand peace treaties. In this century 37.5 million people died in World War I and 45.4 million died in World War II. In the Vietnam conflict 57,605 U.S. lives were lost and 304,000 U.S. military personnel were injured.
-Zuck, Roy B. The Speaker’s Quote Book

WAR; so short a word and yet seems to precede doom and destruction in their most horrifying forms. It is utterly unthinkable that although no one wishes for it to happen, everyone just keeps on talking about it. In newspapers, on the television and even on history books, the occurrence of a war has always been emphasized almost to the point that it’s as if it were the only event that shapes history. There is no denying the fact that a war is a major event but, highlighting it so much gives it such popularity that makes it seem that people dwell (if not thrive) on the mere thought of it.
Recently another major war on the Middle East (or West Asia) has erupted. It is between Israel and Lebanon. Rivalry and conflict is not new to them, in fact there has been this certain atmosphere of hostility that has enveloped the region for so long. In the not so distant past, Israel fought a war to defend its territory against the three countries neighboring it. “Legend” has it that Israel is God’s gift to the Israelites upon their emancipation from Egypt. For so long they have been landless and in constant diaspora, and though ironic as it sounds, their supposed promised land is already “owned”. Throughout history, the citizens of Israel have had this form of paranoia that their land might get reclaimed and them thrown into limbo again. So in desperation, they always have to be on guard. Even women and children are trained and geared to be well versed in the complicated art of combat; they are taught how to make use of guns and how to follow positioning strategies. True enough, when the 3 other countries declared war on Israel instead of losing, Israel succeeded at extending its borders and increasing the size of its territory.
It is also not a secret that the US had a hand in Israel’s victory. Some speculate that US hegemony and influence was upon Israel as it attempted to bestow its benevolence strategy “to defend the landless.” It is crazy actually how inter-continental politics can be so annoyingly complicated yet ruefully disturbing at the same time. Why, one might ask, is Lebanon the one mostly mentioned in the news then? Why is it the Lebanon crisis? Well, for one thing its because the U.N. is having a crisis of how to let it stop its attacks…
The Filipinos wouldn’t really be involved in this mêlée, if it weren’t for the thousands and thousands of Filipinos employed in the war-stricken area. The war is an issue and the Philippines’ apparent involvement in it is yet another that merits its own discussion. Poverty, out migration, economic stability (micro and macro) and sociological complexities are only some of the major issues that surround it. It is hard to discuss all these just as it is hard to capture and capsulate the concept of the ongoing war.
The reason perhaps why I am being evasive about the topic is because I do not read or listen to the segment of the news that talks about it. I know enough to understand that people are in grave danger and that conflict is being brewed and simmered with a lot of other problems that could explode in dire vain. I know how it started and I know the reason why it escalated, and frankly it hurts to even try to contain it and know more. It is true that people wouldn’t know what peace is, if there were no conceptions of war. But it is definitely not nice to hear that we need war in order to experience peace.
Like most other people I am weakened by the mere mention of the fact that civilians are most often the victims. It is inconceivable how one would use schools for protection and risk the lives of numerous kids, more so the execution of “air strikes” above areas like schools. These are lives at stake and not just mere percentages and body counts to fill up history books. No matter how people disguise, invert, repackage and euphemize it a war is a war; and there is no excuse in engaging in it.

Mahalay ;p

Begin to unclad me with your sexy eyes from afar
Forget your moralistic sentiments and emotions at war
Forge my singularity into this awaited moment’s heat
Tease me with vibes until I’m no longer stable at my feet


Make my heartbeat echo into the darkness that falls
Talk really dirty and spare me the silence of these walls
Whisper in my ear until I forget my friggin’ name
Caress my face and kiss my temples to fire up the game


Back me into a corner where I cannot escape
Undo my clothes until they are invisibly adrape
With your hands explore my nakedness in the night
Enslave me with your tongue and vanquish my fright


Then, sweep my trembling feet off the arctic floor
Your passions, into me, I allow you to pour
Thrust yourself forward and make me arch back
Combine pain and pleasure to make me go whack


Take in my moans and satisfy my craving flesh
Then after we climax, take hold of my thresh
Brush my hair aside with your ringed finger
With the memory of our first night let us both linger

Helios

The eye of the universe stares at me
Staring
Melting
Despising my shameless existence
It burns my soul
It chars my being
It evaporates my thoughts
And lets me live in subdued misery
Making me suffer a delusional romance
Demanding me to adore
I struggle in the pit of freedom
But a force
…the heat
Waves of pure and insurmountable power
Keeps me trapped
Hidden and unable to see beyond
Beyond the piercing heat of each ray
Of each strand of ember
Of each thread of blinding light
My wrists and ankles are ablaze
Chained by searing dreams
My neck is strangled by knuckles of fire
Violently suffocating me
But I live
Despite all these
Despite the abandonment of all hope
Misery vowed to keep me breathing
Wallowing in sheer ignorance and disguised ecstasy

Restorative Justice, Poverty and HRV

Justice, a concept that is commonly associated subsequent to crime. Crime, a violation of a legislated law or even an unwritten custom agreed upon, which merits the offender a consequence of retribution. The more civilizations and societies have progressed, the more complex judicial systems have become.
In the Philippines, what is more common is the notion of retributive justice. It is a theory that presupposes that punishments are justifiable so long as they are proportional to the crime committed by the violator. Supposedly, it aims to make the criminal understand that what he has done is wrong because it causes damage to other people and the community in general. Simultaneously, punishment is something that would deter and hinder other people from violating the law. In the news for example, when the relatives of a victim would grievously face the camera and state: sana mabigyan ng hustisya ang anak ko!, they are most likely referring to retribution. Usually for damage of property, the sentence is monetary compensation or reimbursement and for physical injury, more often than not the verdict would indicate incarceration.
Theoretically there is nothing wrong with the whole injunction. But of course the effectivity of a certain system varies with respect to the culture it is imposed on. For instance in Japan, those who are sentenced to prison are still allowed a form of gainful livelihood. They are given paper work, or researches from which they can earn a minimum wage. The money that they earn is placed directly in a bank for safekeeping, which they may have access to only upon being discharged. At least they haven’t wasted months, if not years of their lives in idleness. This methodology was pilot-tested after ex-convicts complained that they often didn’t have anything to go back to when they get out of prison because no immediate employment awaits them. True enough, a very low rate of recidivism reflected the effectivity of the strategy. But sadly, in the Philippines, due to lack of funds even for vital services, our areas for confinement are one of the worst in the world. Cells are jam-packed and cramped, which results to an unhealthful and unsanitary environment. Criminals by then are made to feel the gravity of their crime even by the mere state of their place of detention. And still the crime rate of the country steadily increases year after year. What does this say about our justice system or our country in general? There is definitely something wrong…
The other type of justice, which is less popular and seldomly used is restorative justice. Supporters of this approach believe that crime is something committed against an individual or a community and not against the state. So the offender is made to undergo a process of restitution that he/she may repay the victim or community that he had offended. Activities such as public apologies, rendition of public service and counseling are just some of the things that are included. More often than not, this proposition is presented to cases of juvenile delinquents in the hope of a positive transformation. Schematically, a restorative means of resolving conflict is both less damaging and “promotes more healing” for both the victim and the violator. It shows very promising results too, because according to recorded cases it also reveals a low rate of a relapse in criminal behavior. One may wonder, why this system is not implemented in the country; it’s cause it is said to be very costly. There is a need to employ counselors, mediators to promote dialogue between the violated and the offender, case reviewers, information disseminators and collectors, as well as educators to make the public aware that the notion of justice can in fact be reconstructed in a more humane schema. Dumping convicts and letting them pile up with only food and jail guards to spend on is more “cost efficient” anyway, since after all what is being dealt with here are criminals and rotten off-springs of society. Why would people want to spend their taxes on providing for the comfort of people who have endangered the lives and property of other people? And surely, when a member of my family was killed or raped, I would want the criminal to suffer the same fate and vanish from the face of the earth. Justice: what violent truth be-webs and envelops it…
How complicated justice seems to be and yet a lot of people are uttering it as if it were such a mundane word. Restorative justice versus retributive justice; which one could truly emancipate humanity from being shackled by ignorance or overpowered by its first nature? I say, the best way of deterring crime is not in elaborating on the consequence but on preventing it. Crime… such a brutal word and yet ironically, when mentioned seems to be just another word that has embedded a bitter truth in the everyday life of many. What is wrong with our society? What is right seems all wrong and what is wrong appears to be very common…
As of late, political killings are the most rampant criminal cases that have stirred controversy. Mostly radio commentators, media contributors and journalists are the unfortunate and piteous preys of this spate. Everyone seems to know that the government has something to do with it and yet no one can give material proof that it is actually happening. It is said that the common characteristic of those who were “silenced” was that they were vocal about their resistance and opposition to the current administration. They articulated and exposed the dreadful and yet factual things that the government is letting the people experience. And for this they are eternally barred from their right to freely express themselves. Obviously, there was bloodshed, there are deaths, numerous at that; evidently there is crime. Justice is supposed to follow and yet it isn’t. Why? Because there is no one to which justice should be decreed upon. This is what I wish to point out: for what use are talks about what form of restitution or retribution is to be implemented if in the first place the condescendence of crime can’t even be agreed upon.
My thesis statement is something that involves poverty, is it too far-fetched a thought to link to political killings and justice? The need to express oneself and the capability of man to conceive notions of justice are actually fulfillment of his “higher needs”. These needs are essentially grounded on a more basic need of man, which is to survive. Food, water, clothing, shelter and the opportunity to acquire these resources are what a modern man needs to survive. The lack thereof would automatically entail poverty. In reality what occurs here is a vicious cycle of the unfulfillment of man’s basic and higher needs. Filipinos are so poverty-stricken that they do not have the avenue to develop themselves in a gainful manner because they are living in an isang kahig-isang tuka manner. Those who are able to overcome this stage and are elevated to the status of taking care of their political/ civil rights are being killed by those who want to remain superior. Supposedly, media people hold the key to public awareness, they have the power to educate and awaken the people from ignorance. They can expose the inefficiencies and irregularities in the government so that people will act and take away the force that oppresses them and that thy may free themselves from poverty. But these significant people are being hunted down for “inciting to sedition” and are taken cared of “extra-judicially”. What is there to restore, when lives of people can never be brought back? There can never be justice. People remain in their state of poverty because of fear that when they try to satisfy their higher needs, their right to exercise their freedom to speak or even to think freely, they would suffer a gruesome fate. Poverty: Justice: Freedom; their strands are far more entangled than we perceive and yet no one seems to know how to reduce the chaos that there is at present.

Manila Collegian Special Issue: SONA

As to be expected, I didn’t even have to open the paper in order for me to know what was inscribed in the pages. The black and red façade said it all. The ever-famous and legendary combination of black and red were used to capsulate and symbolize all the angst, despair and revulsion that the citizens felt for the government. I known it to be the truth that whatever regime or administration was seated in power, the UP publication would always abhor. Whoever was in power would still be subject of scrutiny, criticism and blatant condemnation by the writers of the publication. I do not know whether the writers personally believe in this or the current editors are just adjusting the articles so that the articles would keep up with the paper’s reputation. Either reason, I don’t care. It’s rather shallow, one sided and overly sensationalized. For the same reason that I keep on delaying or avoiding my rounds of reading the Philippine Daily Inquirer… it’s cause they’ve had enough.
Perhaps there is truth in all the figures and accusations that are gathered and used as data but perhaps it could be presented in a less harassing way. I am not surprised that a lot of citizens are malcontented, whiny and have such down-trodden outlooks toward the country and the government, it is because its spelled all over newspapers and displayed across TV screens and blared on radios. If the truth could actually set us free then why are we all burdened by agitation and restlessness?
The president hasn’t even delivered her SONA, the Collegian has already distributed its materials for propaganda. It could be viewed as political sabotage but I guess they would insist “that it is a responsible citizen who is vigilant about issues.” I’d say fine, they can publish their own version of the SONA whenever they want, but I challenge them not to use loaded words and present both sides or at least not just he negative news because it spoils and extinguishes whatever little hope and confidence that the citizens have on its government.
Social services and basic need like water, education, pa-tubig, and electricity cannot be given instantaneously. And surely there is a much more civilized and less troublesome way of demanding from the government what has been long due, other than shouting it out on the streets and disseminating below the belt accusations of the president. Mas may awa pa ang mga salot na dalubguro ng UP sa pagbibigay ng grade kaysa sa mga estudyante sa kanilang gobyerno. I have a theory that they are just channeling their unrelated anger and frustrations in life to the government.
I am not an avid fan of the government; I have thrown my share of criticisms on their means of governance. But I try to balance it out, with proposals what could be done or at the least bit imparting a sense of hopefulness that its performance would improve. The recently concluded SONA, I believe should be commended for its optimistic and futuristic plans for the Philippines though in reality it seems rather farfetched and hard to grasp. There is sense in trying to look back on previous SONAs for reference and to follow-up what should have been accomplished but it could have been done in a more objective manner.
Honestly, I do not know how else to analyze the content of the Manila Collegian’s version of the SONA, it is in fact all laid there, bear and raw for everyone to see. Columnists are pressured to make their articles “sell”, but of course this should not go beyond the extent of sacrificing the balanced presentation of both sides or as much perspective on any issue.

on Bob Marley...

It is to my utter embarrassment that I am going to admit that I have never heard a single song of Bob Marley prior to the recently concluded ACLE that we had in DS121. Although I know for a fact that there is a singer named Bob Marley, beyond that I didn’t know anything. I thought at first that he was very famous because he sported those oh-so dreadful locks of his, from which I wrongly concluded that it was a trademark or signature look that he did to promote the sale of his records (kinda like Avril Lavigne with her punkish look or Carlos Santana with his decorated guitar). Also I know for a fact that he had a double-digit number of species of creepy crawlers in his head and from then on I didn’t really bother to know more about him.
As it turns out, I am one of those people that he complains about and condemns in his song. I was overly biased and prejudiced. I thought all reggae artists came up with songs that you could dance to and groove with, yet another embarrassing fact that I have to admit. And again, since Bob Marley was dark-skinned I thought that he was the ghetto type of singer who transferred the volume of bling-bling instead to the volume of hair he had.
I am a lyrics person. The melody and rhythm of a song seldom mattered to me because, not unless I get to know the lyrics first I wouldn’t really appreciate anything. It’s such a shame that I have never encountered Bob’s songs earlier on, I feel that it’s such a loss. Justice, freedom, and truth are the major themes of his songs and they contain as much reality as can be possible. I am saddened about the fact that mainstream artists keep on singing about their pitiful emotional wallowing or magnified attraction towards sexuality. Seldom do socially significant songs catch up on the market and get famous and sadly even if they do, are perhaps not considered for their intrinsic value.
Not everybody is brave enough to talk about hunger, a detrimentally stratified and unjust society and the dirty politics that is involved in religion. For someone to sing about it and make the world aware of his opinions is something truly to be recognized and celebrated. No wonder that even if Bob Marley has long since passed away, his music still continues to inspire and kindle awareness. The youth are the most vocal about their affinity with music, and most probably so will they be the direct beneficiaries of various artists who care enough about the rest of the world to include reality in their songs no matter how harsh it may seem.
I agree with Bob when he said “so much trouble in the world”, but what’s more disturbing about this fact is that people are not conscious of it. If more singers could only sing, more poets could only write and more painters could only paint about how much the world needs to be transformed from its current state then perhaps there is hope for all of us. Partial redemption can afterall come in a form of enlightenment and freedom from the darkness of ignorance. If, in our everyday lives what we see, hear and read reminds us that there are people who are trapped in a vicious cycles of poverty and starvation, of lawlessness and injustice and of violence and apathy, then I believe it would be abnormal not to be moved into praxis.
A picture can paint a thousand words, a poem can capture a thousand paintings and a song could captivate more than a thousand minds. Art is a special medium by which messages can be creatively passed across. Bob Marley is just a single person who wrote and sang of the various injustices that he had witnessed that all of us (I presume) experience anyway. Personally, I believe that its hard to dance to his reggae knowing that what he is singing about is the struggle of humanity to uplift itself from its awful state. I consider myself to be a convert, from non-knowing to enlightened and appreciative. Its really ironic that it is from an artist that I have looked though that I would learn so much with just a single song. But I guess that’s just part of the irony of life that everyone have repeatedly refused to look into.

All because of you

I used to care about the whole world
The global scale mattered more than anything to me
When I cross the street
I got so used to the honking of buses,
it did not bother me anymore
When I look up skyscrapers,
my eyes seem to have room for more
When I get to pass by dumps of garbage
my hand seldom reacts to shield my nose
I eat food…lots of them
and I still seem to crave for more
My hands… pages of books, knobs of doors
a variety of fabric, the list could go on forever
without me noticing the objects that grace my fingertips
The world was so huge
I thought that I could never get enough of it

But you came…
I saw you…
And you conquered me…
You tilted my world on its axis
You made me rotate more than I could handle
And my concern for the whole universe
Amounted to just as much as I cared for you

The beat of my heart and the tocks of the clock seemed to deafen me
A drop of tear blinds my sight
The smell of a rose overwhelms my senses
Even the sweetness of water satiated both my hunger and thirst
Now my hands, they react to the slightest touch of your skin

From honking to measured beats
From scrapers to a single drop
From heaps to a petal
From culinary perfection to a tasteless liquid
From millions of objects to the touch of your skin
You encased my world into smaller proportions…
But now I seem to value life even more

A Usable Past by Renato Constantino

The concept of using the past or one’s history in order to guide the present and the future is a very nice strategy. Afterall, history does not shape itself, it is the people and the circumstances involved that create it and make it worthy to be remembered. There is nothing wrong with this concept per se at first glance, but within the context of the Philippines this could be very problematic. If we examine the Philippines’ past, we will see that we have been transferred from the hands of various colonizers, which have considerably stamped an impressions in all aspects of our culture (i.e. politics, social practices, religion and so forth). It is then hard to define and delineate which ones are ours and which ones are theirs. The Spaniards have held us almost entirely with the exception of the Muslims in Mindanao and a couple of isolated areas for over 3 centuries. The Americans in the same manner, regardless of how much they’ve disguised their hegemony under the cape of benevolence have had us for over 4 decades (some argue that it continues to date). Then the Japanese; who compensated for the short-termed reign of theirs by the intense horror of their dreadful presence. Technically, the Philippines have a very young conception of freedom and independence, so which part of the past is there that is usable?
Through out those years, what the Filipino had was a way of life subservient to others deemed more superior. Various cultures have been imposed unto us; our women were forced to be conservative and religious, our leaders thereafter were groomed to be dependent on the benevolence of others, after which our people were altogether made to fear defiance of authority. For one, our past may not be as useable as we think because it is a history of regret. For another, our past is not “just our past”, it is a past contaminated by other cultures.
Seeing it in another light, our struggles have driven us to be strong. We have rightfully rebelled against conquerors. But for what? …Only to be enslaved by others anew? The Katipuneros have declared revolution only to see their brothers embrace the stars and stripes of another country. It’s as if we are trapped in a vicious cycle, that instead of wisely emerging from our struggles, we are bound to undergo almost the same thing in order for us to “feel the gloriousness of triumph” again. The memory of EDSA was not simply commemorated; it was relived in its truest sense. It’s as if the people keep on wanting to suffer because, freedom is sweeter when proceeded by bitterness. In what instance has the past been usable there?
I am not deliberately contesting Renato Constantino’s claims; he is far more learned and experienced than me. But perhaps dissecting matters and looking at them from a different perspective would be helpful in identifying what went or will go wrong. It was Constantino himself who said that the past should not only be descriptive, but analytical as well and that it should present objective as well as value-laden developments. I am sure that I am not the only one who has observed these things in our history (the aforementioned observations); this is exactly why it needs to be given considerable attention.
“The past is a concrete historical reality and should be an integral part of the process of unfolding reality… the present must be perceived as part of the process constituted by a real historical past dissolving into a real historical future, and only through this can the future be consciously shaped.” Roughly this is what R. Constantino intends to say; I have a question (not only for him, but for everyone, including myself as well). If the past should not be taken as a frozen reality, then it intermingles with the present; so the present would be a crude mixture of what has happened and what is happening. So then the future will be a blend of these? Won’t it be almost the same as reliving those moments and tasting the same flavor? Shouldn’t we rise above the past in order for us not to impede real progress? In essence, with what can be readily observable in our country’s history is that, events repeat themselves in almost the same fashion; could this be a result of reusing the past. Its either the whole concept is problematic, or it is our misuse that is getting us into trouble. Frankly, with the way things are, it seems that the Filipinos do not learn from their mistakes and are not utilizing the events of the past the way that they ought to. Again, it is not the idea of reusing the past that is condemnable, the question is; in a macro perspective, is it in the first place, even remotely feasible/ consciously practicable?

Slumber

A light breeze triggers me
Echoes of the real world start to fade
The fairy of dreams seduces me
Commanding my lashes to fall
How can I resist such enticement?
I wish to defy
So I grip tighter to the brink of the present
I should not give in to an invitation to slumber
I need to be awake
A sprinkle of dust fall on me
But I continue to hold on to my reality
No matter how unpleasant
How sordid
And how unfulfilling it may seem
My lashes grow heavier
And the windows to my soul are almost closed
I beg
My utterance of mercy seems to have worked not
Because the seduction continues
The fairy of dreams blows another breeze
Gently releasing her breath in my nostrils
My grip of my sanity fades
I am weak
My flesh and my psyche
For I surrender to this
I submit all my passion
To experience a full night of bliss
Of transient and ephemeral bliss…

doodling on physics class...

The smoothness of ether invisibly cloaks me
I am enclosed in a warped dimension of light
It can neither be ignored nor can it be escaped from
Visible rays of light devour the consistency of darkness
I am enlightened by the strength of a dying truth
Exiled by the masters of the cosmos
And shunned by the emptiness of existing realities
I write with suppressed anguish and boredom
Feelings that I have vowed to disregard
Feelings that have sawed rigid edges
…On the corners of my distraught heart
Sooner or later I would have to conform
Sooner or later a choice must be made
Time is swiftly raging in currents of immeasurable quantity
The past will be erased and the future will still be a dreaded mystery
This is the law of the universe
It waits for no one and its command is absolute and encompassing
Theories are engraved and laws are made even more eternal
Beams of light still rise and set
The division of day and night is held intact
But other than this, everything is dependent
…On the curse of relativity of time and space

Obsession

You haunt my every thought
Like bittersweet symphonies in the night
You line my every word
Like clichés of movie posters in sight
You are the source of strength
In every single task that I do
My inspiration at length
But I doubt if you have the slightest clue
You stop my every step
With every glance you throw my way
Making me feel like crepe
With all the flowery words that you say
You make my skin tingle
With each breath that you exhale
Making my mind mingle
With thoughts that I won’t dare to unveil

My Immortal

…When I, beneath this earth start to lie
Accepting my fate locked in a grave
For all men should rest too and then die
With only the grace of God to save

…When all of those who breathe are dead
And tongues silenced from what they rehearse
For upon this earth we all once bled
Proved worthy an epitaph with verse

…When all the memories are forgotten
And left to fall in the edge of time
Those who thought they’d survive are rotten
For only you would remain sublime

…When all is engulfed by the darkness
Only you can transcend the judgment
For you stepped on earth with holiness
To extend God’s mercy you were sent

Maoism

Maoism is an ideology derived from the beliefs, lifestyle and principles of the late Mao Tse-tung who was born in one of the provinces in China. I have observed that a lot of political personalities who advance their principles were born with well-to-do families as in the likes of Jose Rizal, Simon Bolivar who were geniuses and academics in their own right. No wonder they have room to discover and theorize about society; it’s because they were formally schooled thus are equipped for further accumulation and cultivation of knowledge. Also, what is common with the 3 (and others) aforementioned personalities is that, it is their status of being learned that has opened their mind to possibilities of reform and societal transformation though in different styles.
What surrounded Mao during his time was an array of differing and diametrically opposing political beliefs. Though both Chinese, the Nationalist and the Communist parties were violently against each other. Another issue was that the Communist Party to which Mao belonged was under the influence (possibly even being manipulated) by the Russian communist leaders namely Lenin and Stalin. It was almost impossible to organize anything because even internal affairs were not consolidated and did not agree on many things. There was one point wherein there was an assassination plot planned against Mao by one of his supposed colleagues. So for one man to be steadfast despite this much adversity rightly deserves to be at the least bit recognized.
The Long March was one of the landmark events that rocked Chine during the time of Mao, from more than a hundred thousand supporters, the number was reduced to a mere ten thousand and Mao was one of them. The communists had much to prove with what they did; after being shunned and persecuted by the supporters of Chiang Kai-shek they were forced to escape the wrath of the nationalists and turn to the provinces. It was through this even that Mao theorized that they needed the peasants in order for the spirit of communism to live on. It was through the peasants in the countryside that most of the communist supporters survived. In the same way, the peasants developed a sympathy for the marchers that they’ve already absorbed their principles.
This is perhaps where the contemporary members of the New People’s Army are structuring their strategies from. Namumundok sila at dumudulog sa kanayunan dahil naroon ang tunay na pakikibaka. Mao during his time saw that the cities monopolized the attention of public officials, which was very unfair to those residing in the rural areas. In the Philippines, followers of Mao, who was largely a Marxian disciple, believe in land reform for the peasants. Vast tracks of land are owned by only a few, there is a need to collectivize farming because those who till the land at present are living below their supposed level of subsistence.
Mao was restored to power when the nationalist party were not able to sustain their grip on power. Mao proposed and implemented the Great Leap forward wherein he asked farmers to become workers in the campaign to industrialize the country. His intentions were good; the drive to modernize a nation would be greatly beneficial if things had gone the right way. The country was under the spell of a famine that critically affected their agriculture. The drought/ famine and the lessened number of field tillers resulted to the death of thousands of Chinese. This not only decreased his popularity, he also became an object of hate for the people.
Just like other people in politics, Mao had his share of ups and down. but despite all this, his name is contained in various history books, which only means that he has made a significant mark in history. His Red Book contained much of what he believe in and is constantly referenced by communists who wish to continue his struggle and propagate his ideology.

Just Once

I can only love once in a lifetime
It is only once that a heart can feel
The romance in a certain lover’s rhyme
And believe in his proposal of zeal

I was only blessed with a single heart
Either to be broken or completed
But to decide is to master an art
An art never known to have existed

I have known love to be a paradise
That one can only see if love is true
It should be the only thing that would suffice
And I felt all of these when I met you

on thinking...

­I think too much
And it hurts
It hurts to know
But it also hurts to not know
I don’t think
I feel…
I feel wrath…
Then I start to think again
I hate
I hate life
I hate love
I hate thinking
I hate knowing and not knowing
I hate myself for writing this
But I am…
And I will continue to…
So my hate increases…
Increasing…
Hurting…
Strangling…
Burying me….
Killing me…
Drowning me in the depths of rebellion
I hate
Therefore I will hate
But I wish I hated hating
Cause it hurts to hate
For hate is hate
And hate is a product of thinking
A process, which I hate to do
So I feel
But I feel wrath
And wrath is hate
So what am I left to do?
If not to think
If not to hate
If neither to say nor to write
Of a hate
that I abhor so much

Dear Hickie,

Find the hidden hickie…
Where hast thou been made
Are you in my neck, cheek, shoulder…
Or have I actually been laid?


Can my hair hide you?
Under its cascading length
Or should I dare display you
To manifest arousive strength


Roses are often dull red
And violets are not always blue
You are brighter dear hickie
And every seer would get the clue


How shall I excuse myself
While conversing with mom and dad
With you sitting prettily in my neck
They’d surely go ballistic and mad

Would there be more of your kind
In my chest, in my belly or perhaps down there
Would I be given more pleasure,
When you are in places no one can bare?


Now that I have found you little hickie
O please do not subside yet
I’m not ready to release your memory
I have been happy though we have briefly met


It was fun having you around
But summer would soon be over
This fling would undoubtedly end
Perhaps in winter we’ll meet through some lover


*the reason why i find it so easy to write about these things is because i have nothing to hide from people. writing is an outlet for me... i don't claim to have experienced all of the things that i write about... its more like this is where i pour out my curiosity... if anybody's grossed out about what i write about, don't worry... i am too ;p

Frozen

My hands are frozen
And my lips are quivering
My insides are wrapped in sheets of ice
And my body is being blown by a blizzard
The sun outside shines with all its might
It showers me with all its radiance
But it doesn’t reach me
The spirits of spring and nature console me
But end up a failure in doing so
The whirlwind of snowflakes continue in me
Burying me further down
I could do nothing
I did not struggle
For I would only end up hurting more
I have accepted my fate
I have long believed I would end up this way
I would die bearing a hungry heart
An aching body
And a hopeless soul
So let the world be still and silent
Let the streams of life flow on
For I am not one of great importance
Therefore better of left alone
Let my conscience drift
And my frozen body will be taken cared of
Let my soul transcend existing barriers
And float off to a realm, which does not exist
I do not care anymore
Anything would be better than this frost
…even death

Paranoia

I have set balustrades as high as my chin
Padded the walls of the room I was in
Tightly hooked every furniture, frame and block
Bolted every knob and chained every lock


My eyes were alert all the time
My ears awoken to the sound of a muted chime
My body was poised in a battle stance
My tongue ready to spit words sharper than a lance


Paranoia conquered every turn that I took
My hands, oh how they uncontrollably shook
I cannot afford my defenses to be down
Despite the fact that I was a freak around town


For I know that as soon as she lays sight on me
Demons of revenge will dance with lustful glee
She will not make haste in strangling my neck
Like turning the table to get better cards in the deck


Slowly she would tie my body and make the kill
An object to be destroyed and disposed at her will
The time I have now to live I will not waste
cause my time to die will not be in painless haste

…HIS VENGEFUL WIFE IS AFTER ME…

Faded Fantasy

The stars in heaven twinkled less
And the fantasy seems to fade away
Even the night was a mere darkness
To my bitter emotions, a constant delay

Even the moon did not shine like before
Or perhaps I refused to see its light
Succeeding to erase an established rapport
Between the real world and my plight

Elation?!

Wasn’t this supposed to elate me?
Then how come I feel all wasted
What wrong turn did I make for me to end up in this Inferno?
How long have I resisted this feeling?
I am delusional and oblivious of the world around
Then just like that…
My heart was shattered
Back to its broken form
The pieces are scattered in endless directions
I seem to not have the courage to collect them all
For what use are the broken pieces
If not to be broken further down?
Just like my life…
What else is its use when everything is ruined
Suspended into thin air
What else is left that is whole in me?
I am but a clump of flesh
Moving without life and void of emotion
What happened to me?
How come I ended up in this state?
I am unaware of the surroundings
I did not notice that it was eating me up
Now I am this
A hand that writes
Of nothing but emptiness
A shallow pit filled with broken pieces
Of the past…
Of my heart…
Of my soul…
I have no idea of what step to take next
Hope that someone would know how to put them back together?
But it is useless to hope
For everything is beyond reproach
Beyond remorse
And beyond a life that seeks to defuse
All because of an experience I dared to feel

Denial

Why am I speaking with this kind of pride
That as if my ego is not estranged
Why do I act like I’ve so much to hide
But very well in fact I have just changed

What right do I have to say I’m the same
When the truth is in love, I did fall
Moreover, why am I agitated by your name
And claiming that I don’t know you at all

CURSE

It is a curse I have to suffer
One distantly more unbearable than death
I am covered by a shadow
A trailing dark figure of the one ahead
People compare me
People misjudge me
Decisions are biased
My future is controlled
My freedom is mercilessly disregarded
I am not at peace
My footsteps will never be in serenity
I cannot count on myself to walk a straight path
I have to subject myself to this torture
My determination is being unobtrusively quelled
My methods labeled unorthodox
My passions accused to be outrageous and revolting
And I…
Even my parents point to me as a sinner
Heaven forgive me for what I will do
I will disobey that which is imposed on me
I will risk my reputation to build myself
To spell my name in the walls of history
And not merely an echo of what had gone ahead

Commentary: Randy David’s A Society of Cults

It’s all a matter of perspective… and this I shall justify at the later part of this commentary.
I can remember my highschool fieldtrip to Mt. Banahaw. Prior to the actual trip itself we were already briefed about what to expect. Leave nothing but footprints, burn nothing but calories, take nothing but pictures…those were the typical taglines, which pretty much summarized how we should deal with the environment that we were about to venture into. But how to deal with the people we would be meeting there?! Well it merited an entirely different discussion. “Ladies, heighten your sensitivity and learn how not to be discriminatory”… obviously referring to the Rizalista’s that had their “kuta” beside the Husgado Cave, our teachers and tour guides warned us over and over, never to mention the word “kulto” in their presence.
Obviously the word in itself connotes a sense of derogation. As defined by trusty Mr. Webster a cult is: a quasi-religious group, often living in a colony, with a charismatic leader who indoctrinates members with unorthodox or extremist views, practices or beliefs. Adopting this definition makes it sound less harassing but in reality it makes the subject matter even more ambiguous and controversial.
As how I understood it to be, what Randy David was trying to underscore in his article was the unexplainable yet existent phenomenon of fanaticism. That when one is considered to be such, it’s hard to delineate figurative from literal; actual from idealistic, pragmatism from romanticism and more importantly actual reality and subjective reality. My mom once told me, in her wisdom and knowledge never to argue with a fanatic. I never really realized the seriousness of what she said until I did… and based on experience it’s not something that you would wish to re-live.
People who go by the flow of the mainstream couldn’t quite understand why, extremists like these exist in society. The followers of Hitler were such fanatics, that one could only wonder what kind of indoctrination was done unto them to make them so mad at an entire race and resort to killing approximately 6 million of their kind. Same as with the group of Osama bin Laden, which in the same way made their followers believe that they have to be suicide bombers to fulfill their destiny. We can call them fanatics and their group cults simply because we do not know where else to classify them.
Ecological radicals which believe in three frameworks none of them part of the mainstream can again be labeled as such. Eco-radicals believe in deep ecology, eco-feminism and social ecology that basically put the blame on the human race for the destruction of the environment. A true blooded eco-radical would be one who wouldn’t eat meat or freshly picked fruit and would be very careful not to step on plants because they believe that it is a form of murder. The preservation of nature is paramount that they aim to reverse and phase out all forms of technology so that our species may once again live in harmony and amidst the purity of nature. For some it is a form of psychosis to be this extremely attached, for others it is a case of absolute and unrecoverable fanaticism.
Even the leftists are not spared from this. Mainstream believers accuse leftists of penetrating the barrios and indoctrinating people who are not formally educated because they are the most vulnerable thus easy to sway. Karl Marx and his contemporaries (the Communist Manifesto as their bible) would serve as their “prophets” because leftists live and hang on to their every word. Protracted war is by all means justifiable to eradicate the current system.
I can actually continue mentioning all sorts of beliefs/ advocacies that people find worthy of their efforts yet relative to others is just a mediocre ideology; my point is: if there is one thing that I agree with in what Randy David has written, it is that fanatics exists and that our society is indeed a mish mash of different and sometimes clashing cults…. But sometimes it’s also a matter of perspective…

Bibingka Strategy

I thought at first that this term pertained to the strategy that was used to make the bibingka business successful I was mistaken. It seems that it actually refers to the manner in which bibingka is being prepared which is figuratively analogous to the strategy for national success. The only thing that is required is to have an ongoing fire on both sides of the bibingka; the top and the bottom. Roughly, the same is true for our country.
A simultaneous top-down and bottom-up approach is needed in order to make an endeavor successful. Centralizing action and the motion for change is useless; if the campaign is not disseminated nothing will happen. The same is true the other way around, without the cooperation of those at the base, development will never be attainable.
I am reminded of 2 theories of planning that is very much applicable to the aforementioned approaches. First is the Comprehensive-rational approach which could serve as the top-down strategy. Here, planners clarify goals, systematically analyze policy alternatives, sets standards and criteria for implementation then afterwards monitors the results. This is often done using the macro perspective and more often then not it is our elected leaders who act upon this responsibility. Their task is to oversee what happens from the top, but this doesn’t necessarily mean that they should monopolize the resources. When utilized properly, this planning strategy can yield results parallel to set objectives. The strengths of this approach lies in the fact that it, as it aims to be inclusive, a lot of issues are recognized therefore can be addressed with the proper solution. Also, from the top there are a lot of experts, learned individuals and technocrats that can be tapped to help in the process. On the other hand, what makes this strategy dysfunctional is the lack of coordination with the people below. Sometimes policies are formed but they are imposed upon the people because their input is discredited and not given importance from the start.
Next, the bottom-up strategy can be concretized through the implementation of the grass roots approach. This makes use of the microeconomic perspective. This makes room for the opinions and suggestions of the masses in general because they might know a thing or to about how to improve themselves and their kind. The psychology and culture of the different strata of the society is unique to their own; who else would be better at generating appropriate solutions that would not be a hassle to follow than one of their own?
When laid out like this, it seems so simplistic and unbelievably idealistic. In reality, what is hindering this strategy is the fact that members under the different strata have clashing interests. Those at the top and the ones at the bottom not only have different objectives, because with that there is room for compromise. The real situation is that, they have opposing goals. It is hard to settle on the middle ground for this to extremes but it is possible.

Ako, ang Taft Avenue …at ang UP

Ako at ang Taft Avenue… mahabang kwento ito! Una kong narinig ang tungkol sa Taft sa aking ate, first year siya noon, Area Studies sa UP Manila at ako 3rd year highschool pa lang. Basta ang alam ko, dun kung kalye ng UP…at ng Rob! Wow mall! Ang swerte ni ate!
Akala ko dati papayagan ako ng aking inay na huwag muna mag-college. May panata ako sa sarili ko na pag ‘di ako pumasa sa UP, magpapahinga muna akong isang taon bago sumubok ulit sa ibang pamantasan. Akala ko magkaka-nervous break down ako nung highschool. Hindi ako nag-apply sa ibang school at alam kong labis-labis ang pagnonobena ni mommy sa kung sinu-sinong santo para sa akin. Gumapang sa kahabaan at ka-initan ng Quiapo, tumulay sa miswa, lumamon ng apoy, ganyon si ma! Nagkataon na hindi ako pumasa sa UPCAT, pero pinanindigan ni mommy na hindi! Hindi lang daw ako umabot sa cut off kaya ipapa-reconsider niya. Kawalan daw yon ng UP, matalino daw ako at maganda naman, pero siyempre nanay ko siya; kahit ikasunog niya sa impyerno ang pagsisinungaling, ok lang. Pinapili niya ako kung sa Manila o sa Diliman ko gusto mag-aral. Seryoso ko siyang sinagot na parang gusto kong mag-agriculture sa UP Los Baños para kung sakali maipagpapatuloy ko ang pamamalakad ng mga bukid ni lolo sa Mindanao. May sira na daw ako sa tuktok at bakit daw gusto ko pang magpa-rape sa kagubatan. Kung tutuusin mas maraming course sa Diliman at may pinsan naman akong kumukuha ng public ad.doon. Pero sabi ni mommy sa Manila na lang daw ako para si ate na mismo ang magbabantay sa akin. Masyadong malaki ang Diliman para ma-matyagan ako Palagi ng aking pinsan; wala talagang tiwala sa akin si mama. Pero, parang tadhana, d’on nagsimula ang love affair ko kay Taft.
Noong unang linggo ko sa UP, hirap na hirap akong pumasok. Matapang ako mag-commute pero bulok talaga ako sa direksyon kaya kahit anong turo ni ate lagi akong nawawala. Halos tatlong linggo din bago ko naperpektong pumara ng sakto; minsan Kalaw pa lang bumababa na ako, feeling ko kasi ang lapit na. Minsan naman nasa Pedro Gil na ako bago mag-register sa utak ko na, teka, lagpas na yata ako, hindi ko na alam ang lugar na ito!
Malaman-laman ko lang na karamihan ng mga kaklase ko ay mga “recon” din pala. Medyo bumalik ng konti ang self-esteem ko. Nung una pakiramdam ko’y isa akong basahang pinilit itabi sa mga henyo. Kala ko kailangan maging ka-buhok ko muna si Einstein bago ako maging katanggap-tanggap. Hindi naman pala… medyo lang…Sa kabuuanok lang naman sa akin ang pagpasok, minsan nga lang pabugsu-bugsoang enerhiya ko, parang manic-depressive. Na-weirdohan din ako sa ibang prof o baka hindi lang siguro ako sanay na informal yung treatment nila sa mga estudyante.
Marami akong ayaw sa UP, ayaw ko yung pagkain kasi mapapa-fast food ka Palagi at ito’y nakakataba. Ayoko yung mga CR dahil minsan walang tubig. Ayoko din ng mga maiingay na aircon, feeling ko sasabog sila anytime at lalapnusin yung mukha ko. Pero ang pinakaayaw ko sa lahat ay yung papunta at pauwi sa bahay. Puñeta! Mapapamura ka ng todo sa saobrang traffic.
Taga QC ako kaya halos 1 oras ang biyahe ko. Babagtasin ko ang kahabaan ng Espanya (mula E.Rod), Quiapo, Lawton, tsaka pa lang ako makakarating sa Taft. At dahil kuripot ako (jeep at hindi FX ang sinasakyan ko) nalalanghap ko ang halimuyak ng kalunsuran. Hindi na ako magtataka kung sinabi sa akin isang araw na may taning na ang buhay ko dulot ng lung cancer.
Malimit banggitin ng mga progresibong org na nasa lansangan ang tunay na buhay at doon ka talaga matututo. Aba, totoo pala! Simula pa lang , feeling ko ang galing ko na dahil wais na ako, marunong na sa buhay (at pwede na ikasal) Magbabanggit ako ng ilan sa mga ito. Natutunan ko na:
Huwag masyado magsuot ng puti dahil mabilis itong malulusaw. Walang ibang paraan para ibalik ang tunay nitong kundi babarin ito ng magdamagan sa matapang na bleach (pinakamadumi ang hangin pag rush hour sa Taft)
Huwag agad tatawid kahit green na ang stoplight para sa tao, hindi kaagad kumakagat ang preno ng mga sasakyan.
Magdasal ka araw-araw kung Mahal mo pa ang buhay mo; kahit bakla at batang babae pwede kang tutukan ng banana cue stick at hold-apin ang bag mo.
Mas mabuti pang matulog na lang kaysa mag-isip habang trapik kundi maaga kang mapra-praning.
Hindi bodhi tree ang bubong ng jeep, siguraduhing nagawa na ang homework at nakapag-aral na bago umalis ng bahay.
Maagang lalabo ang mata mo kung lagi mong pipiliting basahin ang ga-dangkal mong readings habang nagco-commute
Sari-sari ang mga taong makakasalumuha mo. Marami ang naniniwala na sila ang hari ng kalsada. Magdala rin lagi ng panyo; mahusay itong pananggalang kung may BO/ halitosis ang katabi mo.
Huwag masyadong gumastos sa pagpe-pedicure dahil lagi’t-laging madudumihan ang paa mo pwera lang kung marunong kang mag-levitate. Sayang ang French-tip, manghihinayang ka lang…
Sa kalsada pantay-pantay ang lahat. Maging kalbo, matalino o maputi ka man, ash tray ang labas mo.
Kahit ano pang panlalait ang gawin mo hindi kusang lilinis ang hangin, gagalang ang mga barubal na drayber, mawawalan ng lubak ang kalsada at titino ang mga gago’t kupal na buwaya.

…at dahil alam ko ang lahat ng ito alam ko rin kung alin ang dapat magbago/ baguhin. Ang Taft, kahit hindi tunog Pilipino ay sumisimbolo sa Pilipinas gaya ng iba pang busabos na kalye. Maaaring puro kabulukan ang nakikita ko pero hindi ibig sabihin nito na tanggap ko ang riyalidad na ito. Mahal ko ang Taft, ang UPM at ang Pilipinas kahit gaano pa man ako pinahihirapan nito na alam kong ‘di naman sadya. Inutusan ako ni mommy na mag-shift sa ibang course; kung dati sinusunod ko lahat ngayon tumutol ako dahil alam kong kailangan ng Taft, UPM at ng Pilipinas ng mga tulad ko.

Reflections of a Teenage Drama Queen

1
A rogue I once was
Sporting unbrushed teeth
And a bold rotten tongue
I was severed by the ages
Bitter carvings they were
What I have borne was
Once a fragile soul
But I was bitten by Pleasure
Disfigured by the dregs
Of its uncontained corpse
Before I became a rogue
My flesh was incorruptible
I was made of the
Finest bits of dust
And was clothed
By the whitest of linens
I soiled myself with
The dirtiest of passions
But that was then…
Somehow I managed
To pick the locks on its chains
A vagabond with
The most unclean name
I washed myself though…
With the water from His side
Then I became cleaner
Than I ever was


2
Beneath a hill
Of lustful uncertainty
I found my soul
The most precious gift
God has given me
With the command of His breath
I became a steward
Of His creation
I was wrapped in a body
Part of the package
Was a vulnerable brain
And an unquestioning heart
My soul got lost
In the confusion
Of the external world
I found it shivering instead
In a dark
Dank corner of my being
I have forgotten to ask
The Giver for strength
So I lived in fear and utter shame
But this time
I will reconcile myself
Reunite my flesh and spirit
As it was supposed to be
And hope that their unity
Would lead me to grace

Poverty Reduction Strategies of thee 2006 State of the Nation Address by GMA

Since time immemorial, the root-cause of poverty has been a resounding question for economists, sociologists and development scientists alike. It seems that there is no definite reason behind its existence, instead it arises from a chaotic and “untanglable” set of problems that have plagued different societies all over the world and have transcended across time. So, as an alternative to attacking the elusive crisis of poverty, technocrats and learned people devised differing strategies to address singly the others that are attached to it. It’s apparent that it is in light of this scenario that the president designs her own series of supposed solutions to poverty.
Let us start of with her banefully idealistic plans of modernizing infrastructure. Accordingly, the process of upgrading ports, roads and inter-provincial connections would hasten the transport of goods (and services) and thus would improve our economy. Farms will be connected to markets, international airports to various domestic airports and “rurban” areas to places where there would be a need for indispensable employment. A pretty picture of our economy slowly rising from the clasp of poverty is what every sane and sober Filipino would hope for. Personally I would have no qualms whatsoever with this massive shift to a modernized lifestyle; who wouldn’t want to live a life of convenience and less hassle? This would cut us all some technological slack, from the divide that has been present since other countries have launched their respective technological revolutions. But of course, this would open up opportunities for massive corruption. Concessions, construction funds and kickbacks galore!
In one of the more recent articles of Mr. Boo Chanco, he took note of the rapidly deteriorating condition of the MRT3. By 2010 (which is not a long way from now) the metro’s transit will have been worn out beyond regret. If the state of our existing technologies is like this, additional facilities would be less efficient and worthwhile. Also, our country has sought the aid of Austria to donate train coaches to replace the one’s that we have which turned out to be incompatible because the doors wouldn’t open because of the raised platform and has heater instead of air conditioners (good luck!). How then would we expect the construction of new technologies if we do not even have the funds to maintain the existing ones?
Another point to be noticed is how GMA targets to “phase out” and erase all traces of corruption in the bureaucracy. So grand a dream and so noble a cause and yet what moonshine it is! Just recently one of the major broadsheets in circulation had an editorial cartoon of the brother of Imelda Marcos evading the PCGG. Past cases of corruption have not been resolved, what more the present. As much as I’d like to take in the congratulatory comment that the president made; na ang mga pulis at kawal ay tapat… all I can say is that: Gloria, commute with me and lets see how the traffic enforcers of Quiapo turn into walang pakundangang mga buwaya! If the president sincerely wants to eradicate corruption she should do an all-out vertical and horizontal disciplining of her people. It is true that corruption is strongly linked to poverty, people don’t get social services and jeepney drivers have less to feed on, it has to be eradicated.
Yet another point in the president’s agenda is to mobilize, upgrade and disseminate knowledge and technologies for productivity. I say that true productivity of the people would happen if they were amply educated. What will people do with roads extending here and there if they can’t read instructions? What will people do with economic statistics and percentages if they do not even know how to count. It’s incomprehensible, why the president did not give ample space in her lengthy speech to talk about prioritizing education when she had the time to gracefully spit out numerous names of people. She is an economist, she should know! It’s rather shameful on her part (or on the part of her famous/infamous panel of advisers) that in her educated and learned stature she doesn’t know that education is part of what the people want and actually need to make them self reliant in their struggle to win against indigence.
There are actually a lot of points to pick up in her lengthy SONA, a lot to be discussed and to debate about. “Bickering in politics may delay, but not derail the initiatives that need to be taken on our pro-poor, pro-growth and pro-peace agenda.” In this single statement itself there are a lot of questions, disparities and controversies to be resolved. Perhaps the current administration is right at touching on some of the “untanglable” strings that cause poverty instead of wasting precious time trying to attack it directly. But the strategies to solve these said issues are either lacking in priority or down right incompatible with the reigning system. I am a pragmatist and struggling idealist, like most other Filipinos out there, there is nothing wrong in hoping for a better nation, but there is utmost wisdom in at the least hoping for a better government.

A Letter To No One

I wish to relay a lengthy poem about me
About a love that at first I refused to see
Because many times I suffered in deep pain
For attempting to love somebody else in vain
Recently I entered a door, which I shut
And all the ties from outside I did quickly cut
Thinking that this is the way to keep my heart safe
By driving myself at a sheltered little waif
But one was strong enough to ruin what I’ve built
One whose grace was like a flower who did not wilt
She entered my life like a storm in a dark night
Without noticing that she was robbing my flight
She conquered my whole damn world in a single sweep
And made me bow down to kiss the dust in her feet
But all of these things she did do out of her care
Or perhaps out of a love that I did not share
I savored the days she had me on her finger
Because it made my mind drift and my heart linger
One day, I was handing my heart for her to keep
Because I did not know that she would make me weep
She was as gentle and as fragile as a cloud
Just as much as I was incomparably proud
Friendship blossomed and developed between us two
Or perhaps a love disguised in another hue
It made the angels in heaven green with envy
Doing everything to separate her from me
Lashing my new-found fate and making me suffer
For a crime of giving my heart to another
That was the power that love bestowed upon me
Making me drown in a vast emotional sea
Temporarily making me resist the pain
Blinding me from doing what is actually sane
Just when I thought that everything was going right
Just when I thought I was tightly gripping the light
Just when I was starting to think that love is true
That was when heaven made its wrathful cue
I used to think that something good was meant to be
But now I am aware of fate’s hatred for me
And just in a snap, I was the dust in her track
I was the reason of the constant pain in her back
I was the nasty cold that caused frost in her bite
And I became that unnerving sore in her sight
So that was how love revealed its power to me
It has gone so fast I did not actually see
I speak of its power and of its cruel truth
And of how it stole my innocence and my youth
Now I am starting to build a wall just like back then
So that I won’t fall in the hands of love again

Headless . . . Horseless

Long, long ago in a forgotten period in time
There once was a maiden who was utterly sublime
Out of curiosity she wandered into the Woods of dread
Disregarding tattletales and folklore consistently said

The wilderness she found so great and vast
Which brought enchantment to her mind’s eye at last
The thick bunks of trees, she befriended them all
Down to the littlest flower a few inches tall

The insects and moss, though wild, she found tame
Unlike the servants in her castle which were inconceivably lame
But by the time she realized the night to be closing in
The trail was erased by darkness that wasn’t so thin

Her sense and wit took the better of her mind
Despite the alarming situation, with fate being unkind
Looking for clues to retrace her previous track
Doing the hard road of the litany to take her back

Seemingly out of nowhere, the sound of hooves she heard
Amidst the thick forest, at first she found it absurd
But assumptions and prayer proved her to be true
A handsome horse and its rider appeared out of the blue

Her gown was dirtied and her toes pained her much
And a ride was the best option for an event like such
The rider, though, seemed to have an unusual stare
Not that she as a maiden, would particularly care

With a few pleas she was on her way home
Atop the chestnut beast so valiantly grown
Attempts for conversation were futile in fact
Cause the dear gentleman with intelligence seemed to lack

It took more than a few hours to get to her abode
Many times in sickening circles the animal obediently strode
The man seemed to be with harmless nature and gait
And the idea of a horse was rather splendid at any rate

Basically that is what the tale is all about
All silly verses to brighten a bitter man’s clout
A story with one headless man and one horseless girl
Contained in a poem of strange wind and whirl

Pacify Me...

Pacify me
Tame my savage instincts
Detoxify my saturated thoughts
Control the profanities that I create
Do something
Calm my ruthlessness
Crush my insolence
Step on my pride
Restrain my inherent ferocity
Drown my anguish
Do something
I need to be tamed
I need to be tamed by you
…I need you
Unclad my being
Strip me of my honor
Make me vulnerable
Cleanse me of all my wrath
Then fill me with your love
Satiate my lust for passion
Satisfy me
I need this…
No… I need you
Do something
It hurts too much to stay this way
So pacify me now
Control me
Take hold of my freedom
And wrap me in your embrace

Need I say more

Need I say more of what you have
Or those precious things that are yours?
Must I say you rival the sun
In it’s exquisity and force?

Perhaps the moon would be better
It has secrets never revealed
And you have beauty that brightens
And it can never be concealed

For your eyes are like golden spheres
Jewels are like rocks beside thee
Never shall a flowing river
Compare the existence that be!

Though God made roses that are red
They look wilted against you lips
How dare they talk of Helen when,
It’s your face that would launch those ships

Lest I be cursed for what I said!
Nothing levels to your splendor
Not Helen, the sun nor the moon
You’re perfect! I dare not say more…

misery

I am staring into a silver dish
That rested in the heavens
Wondering if you were doing the same
I am counting the specks of glitter dust
Sprinkled in unfathomable darkness
Wondering…
If my tears amounted the same
I still can’t get over the pain
And each day that passes
Only seems to widen the sky
Only seems to blacken the darkness
Only seems to feast on my regret
When will the stars cease shinning?
When will my tears stop falling?
When will the air
Make me forget of your warmth?
Make me shiver until I no longer remember?
Make me die in the midst of a lasting peace?

QUEEN OF ICE

Bitterly he called me the queen of ice
Cause I wove majestic truth out of lies
Never did I feel the warmth he gave me
Whatever passion surged I did not see

Quickly, when a drop of tear brimmed my eye
Feigned though it seemed, then vanquished by a sigh
Seldom did a smile tilt my feisty lips
In his heart I tore a thousand rips

The embers of his emotions were raw
But still my frozen heart he could not thaw
All I could spare was an insincere kiss
Then turned my back with a traitorous hiss

I was incapable of feeling love
A wish granted by powers above
For I feared having to experience pain
In exchange my soul met its unfelt bane

Despite the hurtful words he hurled at me
No matter what beauty he lets me see
My world remained cold even with his touch
No sadness, bliss, love and feelings like such

Slave of my passion

I am enslaved by my passion to write
My hand is triggered by the slightest occurrence of phenomenon
My delicate thoughts are transported
It takes but a few wistful seconds to jot them all down
From my head I create
From my heart I feel
From my passion I am driven
This is what gives me life
The essence of poetry defines my vitality
My life is caged by the power of words
I am a mere hand that writes about prose
I am a mere outlet upon which poetry unleashes its glory
I am a mere soul consumed by a passion to deliver captivating lines
And I cannot be stopped
My zest to obey such wishes remain steadfast
My will is not mine
It is owned
It is not within my possession
Therefore it is not within my control
With this said
I will continue to write
I will write about everything that is constant and unwavering
I will write about love and how it had broken me
I will write about faith and how it had sealed my salvation
I will write about trust which had betrayed me long before
I will write about honesty and of how it emancipated my hunger for freedom of expression
And I will also write about anger
How it made me sell myself into becoming a writer
A slave of passion
A servant of words
Chained by rhymes and meters
And barred by dots and phrases
But this is how I choose to live
And this is how I choose to love
I am in love with romance
Between me and a world full of letters dictated by imagery
And this is what I will continue to do
For I am enslaved by my passion to write

My Apologies…

The last resort of my lips were to speak
Of ironic thoughts in trenches so bleak
With words of glitter and sugary gold
Backed by accusations often foretold

Rather than have silence bellow at her
I exceeded, conjured and did concur
That fast fleeting was this moment of time
With such awkwardness relative to crime

“Sorry”… a whisper with feathery wings
Quaint syllogisms of sorrow it brings
With a single tear to erase the past
Apologies have impressions that last

The Ballerina…

Greatness excused the obliteration of fear
Likened to unleavened twilight brought by a tear
She fell into step with the bandwagon of chance
Held by shear ecstasy and pithed by romance

The smallness of universe encased her laments
Forgotten in pirouettes of unmasked contents
Too sordid and too sullen to set up a stage
Lazy were her feet to bother with faultless rage

Oblique lines kept on prancing around her vision
Regretful of a feat to fulfill a mission
Retrieving the maces and swords hurled by the tongue
Uncast spells and incantations better unsung

Oscillating ripples imbibed by regret
A performance nobody will ever forget
Brought to closure the farce tapped by her blistered toes
Promising never to look at ribbons and bows

An “Ode” to a Professor

A challenge to win his raging heart
A struggle to make him commit to me
Where will I start to tame him?
With his radical thoughts and outrageous ideas?
With his preposterous tongue?
With his less-than-venerable looks?
Or perhaps his psychotic intentions?
Capturing his freedom is never an option
If only I could take a minute of his occupied time
To make him notice me
To let me touch and soften his transverse reality
To let me recite verses of selfish poetry
If I only had the guts to bring up my attraction
my infatuation…
no, make that my obsession
Damn that little devil!
Unbeleaguered and beguiling…
Unjustifiable and jarring …
A crazy loop of my sanity knots the rest of my consciousness
Understandable and understated
Shit!
Maybe it’s me and my crooked thoughts
Maybe it’s me and my repressed promiscuity
Maybe it’s me and my insane concept of romanticism
Crap!
…
It is me!


This is how I get infatuated. There was Mr. _____ and Mr._____ in highschool. Then just when I thought I would outgrow my tendency to “crush” on “the authority”, this one comes along. There is really something in intelligent people that makes them so appealing. I wonder why? Sir ____ (highschool) had the uncanny ability to make himself sound like he was really intelligent or at least more intelligent than how he looked. Then Sir _____ (highschool) who undoubtedly possessed real intelligence, practically sweeps me away.
Then Sir _____ comes along armed with his arresting aura! Every time he would give us lengthy discussions and anti-government lectures he makes me want to “pounce” on him then and there. Its just so damn sexy! I know it’s gross and utterly crazy and I’m not even sure of the reason behind my unexplained attraction for brainy people but that’s just how it is.
… if only students who would seduce their professors did not get penalized, damn! I’d probably be the first and foremost (and probably the most often) violator of professional etiquette! As much as I’d like to deny it, the more I try to repress it, the harder it kicks my gut. Had I allowed myself to indulge in fantastic reveries during class, may puddle na siguro ng drool sa desk ko… Hehe! Let’s leave it at that, kunwari na lang seryoso ako sa pag-aaral mabuti na yung effect na ganon …

--> INSTANT NOODLES <--

Minsa’y tinanong ko ang aking ama…
Duy, why do the Chinese have chinky eyes?!
Aa! Nababanat daw kasi ang kanilang mga mukha sa sobrang pagtitiis sa paulit-ulit na pagkain
“Pansit nanaman!?!”
Tumawa lang ako dati
Hindi ko inisip noon na may mas malalim pala itong kahulugan

Instant Noodles
Sagot sa kumakalam na sikmura
Amoy pa lang humahagod na sa lalamunan
Sabaw pa lang, bawas na ang hapdi at kirot ng magdamagang pagtrabaho
Pano ba yan? May ulcer pa naman ako…
Bawal magpagutom…
Sulyap pa lang… naglalaho na ang paghihirap
At wow! Isang subo pa lang…Xet! Mapapahalinghing ka sa sarap…

Bakit kaya ang daming Pinoy ang kumakain nito?
Hindi na yata fishball at kwek-kwek ang Pambansang merienda, instant noodles na!
Ang dami ng yumayakap sa kapangyarihan nito, pati yata kanin handa ng pagtaksilan
Yun rin lang naman ang laman ng tindahan ni Gloria
Yun rin lang ang mas mura sa ‘sang kilong bigas…
Wala rin lang namang lasa ang kanin
At least ito pwedeng upakan ng mag-isa…

Noodles; pampahaba daw ng buhay
Parang lubid na kumakadena sa sikmura para pigilin ang nagpupumiglas na pangungulila sa pagkain
Parteng sabaw, parting solido
Sakto! Pantanggal ng epekto ng nagniniig na gutom at uhaw

“Instant noodles”…ang sarap pakinggan di ba?
Pakiwari ko’y banayad na musikang humahalay sa hangin…
Mistulang isang uri ng romansang ‘di ko lubos masaklaw ang kagandahan.
‘Di na baleng mabalot ng MSG at preserbatibo ang mga laman loob ko
Basta… nahuhumaling ako dito!


ARREZA. Veronica
2004-07926
BA Dev. Stud.
DS 100 Prof. Ponsaran

San Lazaro Hospital

Pumikit ka kaibigan at pag-isipan mo ‘to…
Nagrereklamo ka ba sa maraming hanging nalalanghap mo sa Taft?
Nakikipag-suongan ba ang daliri mo sa pisong dagdag sa pasahe?
Nababagot ka ba na pagmumukha ng mga ‘di kaguwapuhan at kagandahanang mga kaklase ang nakakasalamuha
mo araw-araw?
E pano kung ibahin natin…

Hihinga ka ba kung sinabi kong may meningo ang katabi mo?
Kakapit ka pa ba kay Roxas at Benigno kung alam mong sila ang magliligtas sa buhay mo?
Mababagot ka pa ba kung araw-araw kang nakikipagsapalaran para maiwasang kahirap si Kamatayan?
Huwag mo nang sagutin… Alam ko na, dahil pareho tayo
Ganon kasi ang tipikal na pampublikong ospital
Isa na don ang Ospital ng San Lazaro…
Pangalan pa lang parang alam mo ng kakailanganin ng milagro para lumabas ng buhay ang pasyente
Pero bakit ang dami pa ring tumutungo don para magpagamot?
Tourist attraction kaya ang mga kagamitan at pasilidad nila doon?
Wala lang… Feel ko lang makakita ng taong naninilaw sa Hepa…
Trip ko lang makipag-agawan ng hangin sa mga may emphysema…
I just wana you know, make pa-sign and make-pa-autograph the tao with AIDS…
May iba nga dyan na rumaraket sa mga research e…
Ginagawang guinea pig ng kung anu-anong mga pag-aaral ang mga pasyente…

Haay, ang komedya nga naman ng buhay…
Akalain mo bang matatagpuan mo ang lahat ng kabalahuraang ito sa pugad ng samu’t saring nakamamatay na mikrobyo?

Pero may alam akong mas malala pa diyan
Isang institusyon na ang mga pinakamalubha lang ang pinapapasok
Mas nakakapangilabot pa nga e, dahil kadalasang ‘di napapagaling ng gamot ang mga pasyente
At wala ring ekstrusibong manipestasyon sa katawan ang mga sakit.
Pero kapag sinilip mo ang loob, na-aagnas, nagnanaknak at nakakadiri na pala…
Mas kadiri pa sa imburnal na may malapot na bahang ‘di bumababa
Mas kadiri pa sa panis na kaning-baboy na pinang-hapunan
Mas kadiri pa sa putik, basura, tae at burak na pinaghalu-halo tapos sinukahan…
Naaawa ka ba?
Hinde di ba… kasi kadiri talaga!
Parang gusto mong itaboy ang mga taong ito hanggang maglaho sila sa kawalan
Parang gusto mong apakan ang kanilang mga singit at durugin ang kanilang mga pantog para siguraduhing di na
nila maparami pa ang marungis nilang lahi…
Sa may baybayin ng ilog Pasig ang institusyong tinutukoy ko…
Malapalasyo nga ang laki pero umaalingasaw ang baho at panghe…

“Ahy ehm sohreh” kung marami akong nasabing kabulastugan.
Promise! di na muling mañañari ito…
Ang turo kasi ng dakila naming propesor ay dapat daw ipresenta namin ang lahat ng anggulo
Malayo ba ang koneksyon?
Dahil ba parehong nasa Maynila ang 2 lugar na pinag-uusapan ko kaya ko sila pinagsama?
Kung nagawa mong mag-imagine ng mga di ka-aya-ayang larawang naipinta ko kanina…
Malamang kaya mo ring pagtaliin ang mga heresiyang sinabi ko…

On Feminism and Equality:

ARREZA, Maria Veronica L.
2004-07926
BA Development Studies
Social Science II
Prof. Arumpac

Reaction Paper: Relate the movie Iron-Jawed Angels to the Social Contract Theorists

Before anything else I would like to comment that among the three movies shown last week in celebration of the Department of Social Sciences Week, the film entitled Iron-Jawed Angels was the one I enjoyed the most simply because it has a happy ending. The life of David Gale was too heavy and too agonizing for me to recall while the documentary of Fidel, although he had quite noticeable good looks during his not-yet-bearded days, is still leaning towards controversy. On the other hand, the Iron-Jawed Angels had a “happy ending” and a movie that I can identify with since I am a representative of the “weaker sex”. These are the two precise reasons why I opted to use this movie for this particular paper
In Hobbesian light, there are certain points to be picked up that are very much related to the plight being tackled by the movie. Hobbes mentioned in his Leviathan that: Nature made man equal in the faculties of body and mind; difference between men are not so considerable. There is a possibility that Hobbes was pertaining to men per se, consistent with the biological notion but I see no reason why we still have to exclude women. Hobbes, insofar as the excerpts that I have read is concerned, never distinguished or dwelt on gender issues so I deem it men including women have equal faculties of body and mind and their differences are close to negligible. It was said that the weakest man has enough strength to kill the strongest either in secret or confederating with others. This context is applicable to the movie because for many years women have always been regarded as weak, but by means of coming together and confederating with each other, they became an entity strong enough to make the president as well as the whole American population that it was time indeed that they get their right to suffrage.
A commonwealth is formed when people mutually agree to surrender their rights to a certain sovereign power, but how come it ended up that women have lesser rights left than men when they have surrendered just as much as the men did? This is a principal point of contention that spawned the escalation of the centuries-long conflict between the inequality of men and women. It is just and evidently justifiable why women acted with such extreme conviction, it is because they wish to preserve the kind of life, liberty and respect that is due them.
Moving on to the Lockesian context, it was mentioned that that one of the limitations of the government is that it may not have absolute control over the lives and fortunes of people. The government has no right to destroy, enslave and impoverish its subjects because it defeats the purpose of building the government if the aim of preserving the people’s lives is not accomplished or in this case is notoriously subjugated. Locke said that the people had the right to rebel and be absolved from further obedience if the legislators take away their liberties. It is rather ironic that the women characters in the movie were very conscious of the law and took great care that they use ways within its framework, although unconventional to repossess their rights and still end up being accused of “bypassing the law”. Also according to John Locke, there were three main reasons why people rebel: People who are ill-treated will always be ready to ease themselves of the burden; People revolt because there is chronic abuse of power and lastly the people would rather have their rights back rather than endure harassment. All three conditions were concretely exhibited by the plight of women on the case that they were not to have a say on the elections, so it should not surprise anyone that they resort to a fighting stance in order to be heard.
Last of the great thinkers of the social contract is Rousseau, he wrote that people who deliberately form a civil society creates a moral and collective body which act in unity because of a common identity. As we all know, when we pertain to identity it is inclusive of each and every aspect of a whole. How is it possible then to form an identity that a major part/ sector of the commonwealth doesn’t even have a voice or the right to choose one who would represent their polity? In the same manner, rules by which the method of counting votes and comparing opinions should be regulated and be in accordance of the general will. It was said that the general will is infallible and because it is geared to cater to the interest of the public. Then again in order for a notion of “general will” to come up, it must be inclusive of every aspect. The United States of America then was neglecting a very important part, and a very significant one at that, of their population when women were not yet allowed to vote. Women eat the same food, buy the same commodities and abide by the same laws that the men do and there would be no logical explanation why they should be exempted from participating in the politics of the state.
In essence, the issue of discrimination based on sex goes beyond the framework of voting, in extends to a greater field of controversy and the topic of justice and fairness amidst the social contract combined with this makes it even more complex.

Personal Opinion:

Political Science 14
Prof. Carl Ramota
Reaction on Film Viewing (and “Garci Issue”)

Documentaries such as the one that we have watched are not mere reflections of reality, as most people claim. Instead these are the realities that the majority have been running away from and have consistently and vehemently denied. Such graphic footages and clips were taken upon the occurrence of the so-called “street parliamentarism” more commonly referred to as rallying or “pagpro-protesta”.
Events such as the People Power Revolution in EDSA and the Hacienda Luisita Massacre are only two examples among many protests that have been recorded in which the marginalized, disenfranchised and underrepresented citizens of the Philippines assemble to express their experience of injustice. If we come to look at it, these two commemorative occasions are only the ones, which, people have seen in various newspapers. But more than just what is being reported, rallies and protests in streets are happening everyday, sometimes even simultaneously, and yet it doesn’t affect incumbent officials who are supposedly the ones concerned. It then makes us question if our cries for justice are being heard or do the sworn public servants that we have voted, dismiss these pleas to prioritize their interests? Worse than being trapped in a vicious cycle is being stuck below, with only the dregs of a powerful political system to chew on! But of course, who would want to chew on such rubbish? Literally speaking we are a nation of malnourished citizens, undereducated children, unemployed workers, displaced minorities and a generally repressed populace. To make the situation worse, the people who promised to bring us out of this misery, frankly just don’t give a damn!
Most of the time I am not one to complain; in my entire stay in UP I have only attended three out of numerous (hundred perhaps) rallies that various progressive campus organizations have invited me to participate in. There may be points of contention and differences in opinions but there is one thing that I, as well as everybody else would definitely agree upon. That is the fact that this country needs a drastic change. Honestly, with all the controversial Garcilliano crap that the media has hassled themselves with, I am utterly fed up and disgusted beyond reproach. It used to be that I wanted GMA to resign or be ousted in her office but I thought the better of it and realized that we need more than just a change of leaders.
Issues as to whether legally and legitimately, the diminutive Madam Gloria should be the one awarded the presidency, have been plaguing the minds of the people ever since the tapes were released. The thing is, all throughout history it has been the same case. Corazon Aquino was placed in position through “extra-constitutional” means. Neither did Joseph Estrada undergo due process under the law, so what else should we expect from the kind of system that we have?
If asked candidly what would happen now that Garcilliano is back with his “hell of an” explosive information, I would have to say: the same slow-paced, interruption-filled, and annoying political bullshit that happens in Congress everyday. Again if asked what I want to happen, well I have to answer that a change to a federalist-parliament would do us good. This suggestion was said to be a diversion tactic from the real issue, I say: what better time do we have to adapt a new form of government than now? We have nothing further to lose. The people are not satisfied anymore and no one wants to be accountable to any of the debilitating events that have occurred so far. If a centralized government did not work for us, then it’s time to decentralize. If a unitary government serves us poorly, then it's time to shift gears. There are more than one underlying reasons as to why I choose to believe in this option and enumerating the obvious would be a waste of time and effort. A transitional revolutionary government is a lot more ideal but it is too risky, too vague and unattainable in certain aspects precisely because it has never been tested. A federalist form of government may not be the entire answer to all our problems but it is a big step towards the attainment of a solution.
Lastly if asked, do I still want GMA seated in her throne, I would answer yes. Although with much doubt and no complete trust and confidence, I believe she is the best person to stay in control for the time being. While waiting for the drafting of a federalist-parliamentary form of government, GMA being one of the lesser evils, is a fairly good choice to retain.
Amidst this chaos and hullabaloo, as a student I firmly intend a partisan scholarship with a mixture of passive resistance and praxis. This may sound a little bit too highfaluting but for me it only means to act accordingly and responsibly by the spirit of the constitution and what I believe to be right. Studying in UP has fashioned and harnessed the principles the principles that I already have (and perhaps added a few) and will use them as my sword in a battle of compromise. If it is not what we want that is accessible to us, then settling with something closest to it will have to do. This doesn’t mean lowering ones standards and criteria; on the contrary, it is adjusting to attain the best option as a means to resolve a problem. At a pragmatic point of view, it means making do with the available resources/ solutions and building on them for improvement.

Simply put....

A touching little poem, reportedly written by an African child and was nominated for the best poem in 2005 (lifted from The Philippine Star, April 27, 2006)

Wen i born,
i black.
Wen I grow up,
i black.
Wen I scared,
i black.
Wen i sick,
i black.
when i die,
i still black.
And u white fella,
wen u born,
you pink.
wen u grow up,
u white.
wen u go in the sun,
u red.
wen u cold,
u blue.
wen u scared,
u yellow.
wen u sick,
u green.
Wen u die,
u gray.
And u calling me colored?

I copied the poem as it was in the newspaper, with all the uncapitalized letters, wrongly spelled words and erroneous grammatical construction to preserve its essence. To be completely honest, ang lakas ng tama sa akin nung tula that I couldn’t resist the urge to post it here in the blogspot. Imagine, for an African child to have written something like this! Truly, no one is spared from racism and discrimination that even those too innocent to be held victims are aware and victimized by it. For kids to be exposed to such a harsh reality is just one of the saddening ironies that contains this world (and not the other way around).

On Nietzsche and Joema...

Social Science II
Prof. Arumpac
Optional Paper
*I merited a grade of 1.0 on this paper, and I guess it would be worthwhile to share this

Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche, is one, if not the most, significant philosophical thinkers who greatly contributed to the library of German thought. He gave birth to the concept of Übermensch to which a lot of his readers were drawn either by shear fascination or by delving deeper into its actual incorporation into one’s lifestyle. Nietzsche reputedly set precursory ideas of an existentialist perspective, which was apparently what was needed by the people, given the context of his time.
Nietzsche’s first book entitled The Birth of Tragedy pointed out the effects of Grecian drama in the philosophical and literary fields. Here he distinguished the rational aspect of man as attributed to the worship of the god Apollo, from man’s passionate nature, which on the other hand corresponded to the worship of Dionysus. He claimed that when these two are fused together, man would experience an overwhelming state of internal harmony, which he called the primordial mystery. Admittedly his presentation of this theory on mythology was meant for those who refused to accept the traditional values propagated by Christianity. What was most controversial about his work was not the fact that he made such expositions, but that a considerable number of people were actually converted out of Christianity. In this theory, he considered Christianity to be a religion submerged in hate and vengeance. Historically, it was how the slaves in turn enslaved their masters by manipulating matters of faith to rise above their slavery and gain control. These concepts were actually expounded on extensively in his most celebrated book, the Thus Spake Zarathustra. His writing style compounded prose and poeticism, which perhaps could also be one of the reasons behind the eventual popularity of this particular work of his.
“God is dead.” God being a representative of all that is looked up to as anything and everything that is absolute, should be overcome. His notion of absolutism was also in connection to one the beliefs that he became a proponent of, which is eternal recurrence. An individual’s life is cyclical, what happens to man at present will keep on happening to him repeatedly. Of, course in essence people as well as Nietzsche himself found this rather disturbing. Thus, there is a need to overcome one’s repetitive predisposition. A man possesses a will to power, which will lead him to the summit of his existence, which is self-actualization and fulfillment. One becomes an Übermensch upon succeeding to rise above all that is absolute, including and above all God and religion.
Christianity and Nietzsche was a religion of the “weak herd” and he attacked it vociferously because of the kind of morality that is imposed on its followers. His superman is a natural aristocrat who celebrated life and strove for harmony on earth, which is so much in contrast of how the Christians believed in sanctification to reap rewards in their heavenly life. He was, to a certain extent, disgusted that the values being promulgated by Christ’s followers are somewhat self-degrading. If one takes a closer look, this sort of mentality is very rampant in the Philippines. Majority of the population is actually included in the Christian community and distinguished behaviors are observable. It seems that those who are meek, soft-spoken and blindly obedient are the ones said to be able to inherit the Kingdom of God. Look at our telenovelas and soap operas on TV, the protagonists always, in one way or another possess these characteristics often in its superlative degree. Pregmatically, it would be hard to always be like such, it is very easy for others to take advantage of you since after all, the world is not as benevolent as it was when God created it. Humankind is a harsh race, one who is included in it would have found it out by now. People will end up abused, battered and most likely to be drained of all moral strength if at all time meekness and unquestioning docility would be the guiding principle of one’s actions. Of course there are always good aspects of these traits, but more often than not, they have to be in moderation.
Above everything else, Nietzsche’s ideas became largely attributed to the rise of the Nazis. Purportedly, the Thus Spake Zarathustra was being distributed to the Nazis together with the Bible for them to study both. The idea of a supreme race was implied but largely distorted to justify their course of action. To regard Nietzsche’s philosophy as the prototype for the ideologies of the Nazis is erroneous. For one, he was a cynic and wrote smugly about the German culture. Also, he began to dissociate himself indirectly from his country, which in effect would mean that he himself did not share the sentiments that the Nazis became fanatical about.
I would like to pick up from this point and excavate the matter for a more thorough understanding. As history has accounted for, the Nazi’s played a very antagonistic role during the Second World War. No one till this day can fully contain and sum up all the violence, monstrosity, and needless bloodshed that occurred during that time. In the drive to come up with a solution to continue the superiority of a pure Aryan race, the Germans became fanatical. But who is to be held responsible to the resulting genocide of millions of Jews. Is it Hitler, who sweet-talked the Nazis to killing the Jews? Others would argue that he was just a single man , although charismatic and to a point hypnotizing, he could not have been the ultimate factor that ignited everything else. So it would be the German then? Then again, they might have shared and sympathized on the same sentiments, but they are a cluster of individuals nonetheless. To date, Germans never bring up their grim history to the younger generations just as the Japanese does so by deleting all traces of what they have done in historical accounts in all the textbooks that they prescribe. After then, we revert to the root of all this. Who started and disseminated such an ideology then?
Much credit is given to Nietzsche on the matter. He had the same effect on the Germans as Machiavelli did on his fellow Italians. Was it right for him to conceive of such radical thoughts and dish them out for public scrutiny? Is it the responsibility of the writer to regulate what he releases or does the public have the burden of judging on the substance being presented to them?
Many people are well aware that the media has a great impact on the lives and decisions of people. In this context, as far as neutrality is concerned, it can only be classified as a myth because there will always be, in one way or another, some form of bias. This controversial and very encompassing point is very much related to the one I have expounded on as can be attributed to Nietzsche. It can be said that the timeframe and the contextual background of the current situation of the Philippines and Germany during the 2nd World War are indeed dissimilar from each other. But one cannot deny and ignore the fact that there is an element that links them even in the remotest way possible.
At present the Philippines has been suffering from disruptive rallies (this of course depends on how you perceive the situation to be) and mass demonstrations that more often than not stir up chaos in the streets. More than that, it greatly affects the economy as well as the security of the populace. It can be inferred that the media is one of the catalyzing agents that make people resort to street parliamentarism. Taken as a whole it seems rather abstract but upon subdivision, we will see that individual people are behind all these. What comes out on the newspapers, the radio stations and television are opinions, ideas and interpretations of individual people of reality. There are a lot of gifted speakers and writers (undoubtedly the reason why they are hired) out there. They are allowed to express in an unbridled manner all their opinions, criticisms and outright condemnation of whatever they find maladaptive or questionable in the existing system. In essence, they are no different from any of us, in the sense that we all hold claim to our right of freedom of self-expression. The only difference is that, their ideas are broadcasted and become accessible to all.
To make the parallelism more concrete I would like to cite the case of Jose Maria Sison. He has books that contain ideologies apart from that of the mainstream. Even in his exile his works are still made accessible for anyone to get hold of and analyze. It is not new to us that he definitively promotes the application of communist ideologies in the country. Just as Nietzsche stirred up commotion by suggesting the perpetuation of a superior race, Sison has the same effect on the “armed strugglers” in the Philippines. Can all these be classified as a classic case of ideological distortion, which eventually result to destructive fanaticism?
My mom, in her wisdom, has advised me to never argue with a fanatic because it would be pointless no matter how many points are raised in a conversation. According to her I could only go as far as probing, and this will merit me additional knowledge and a broader perspective if not a brutal debunking of my own argument. Personally, based on my experience, those who obsessively adhere to particular ideologies and beliefs are not the ones who conceived of such ideas. Evidently this only means that regardless of wherever he got the information, it has been subjected to his or her own interpretation. Which then brings us back to the conflict of who should shoulder the burden of responsibility. Is the government stripping off a journalist’s right or protecting the public from the danger of having people threaten other citizens in their quest to the apostolic following of radical/ deviant ideologies? Reprimands and prohibitions by the government in an attempt to regulate what comes out of the media more often than not merits disapproval from the public. Which only means to say that a considerable portion of the population greatly values our right to the liberty of self-expression. But if not the government, who should be responsible?
I brought this point up because I consider myself a writer. Although my preferred genre is poetry, I seldom find a venue to cultivate it further. Getting exposed to a variety of political controversies inevitably planted a desire for me to explore uncharted terrain. But with all the reports on killings and gunning down of journalists and media-affiliated people, one would want to think more than twice if it would be the career option most suitable for him. In a broader range, it is not only the expression of self-conceived ideologies that become troublesome, it is also inclusive of expositions on the dirty politicking, election fraud and what-have-yous that are prevalent in our society. As a writer, would it be in your hands to decide whetherthe disturbing truth should be exposed to the public or would it be up to the people to decide how to react and resolve such a dilemma?
In all honesty, all I have are questions. There are perhaps more arguments and disparities or parallelisms that could have been brought up in proper attribution to all the other brilliant thinkers, which have been discussed in class. I chose this topic to ponder on precisely because I think that there is only a remote possibility that another person in class would come up with this topic. No matter how much I think about it, I still have not come up with a final answer. I have this fear of allowing myself to even consider giving and advancing my stand in political matters. I have a tendency to be an “all out person” and my writer-friends and seniors have always cautioned me about my pessimistic and unintentionally denigrating style of writing. Although it would be flattering to have someone appreciate my work, I do not want to run the risk of instigating a war/ revolution. It would be selfish though, to keep potentially enlightening sentiments to one’s own self but the responsibility perhaps would lie in the choice of an audience. selecting the people with whom to discuss it, would be consequent of a less chaotic scenario. Open-minded and rational people are preferable. There is a lot of information already out there in the open, and society has been damaged and reconstructed altogether given just a handful of data. I am not condemning those who actively voice out their political and truth claims; there is much courage to be learned from them. But then again if the situation does not give room or necessity for possibly-detrimental information, one must take on an omnipotent perspective and visualize the consequences first.

Snowflake

The wings of darkness wrapped the immense sky
Flinging all strands and traces of light
Not a single ray would dare to deny
A promise to canvass a sightless plight

I felt the cold air caressing my face
And the misty wind leading me outside
So in a solitary midnight pace
To the words of the night I did abide

One, two, three… every step seemed so endless
Lost in the echoes of a silent song
And the wind’s temptation was relentless
I was hugged by arms I seemed to belong

I stared in the vastness of the stark night
Till impossibility disappeared
Right then and there, a sign that caught my sight
Shattered existing hopelessness so feared

I extended my palm for me to catch
A golden snowflake that gracefully fell
All I did was to blankly stare and watch
As it captivated me in a spell

The glittery flake landed on my skin
Its grandiosity settled in my palm
Each stem etched with perfection though so thin
Attempted to recite a blissful psalm

But then fragile was the small golden flake
Like a piece of thin and breakable glass
Into equal halves it did quickly break
As the stoical winter wind did pass

So, with the gust did half my snowflake went
Overpowered by the shining darkness
To the untainted silence it was sent
Lost in insurmountable emptiness

The other half remained in my own hand
It’s beauty was now tarnished and incomplete
But the flake became stronger and could stand
The harsh bite of the wind it could defeat

I felt much pity for the frozen flake
So I decided to keep it with me
I beseeched dear God for a vow to take
To keep it safe till the next half I see

Blessed was I for Him to answer me
True enough the fragile flake melted not
I kept it secret from others to see
But my love and my care I gave a lot

One, two, three Christmases had slowly gone
And the unmelted flake was still with me
But I shan’t rest till my mission is done
Even if all this means uncertainty

Four, five, six Christmases sadly flew by
And each Christmas I went out for a walk
I was lonesome under the faithful sky
With half a flake with me to have a talk

Seven, eight and nine seasoned cycles passed
With each time my loneliness was the same
But I felt lucky with the flake I glassed
For I just knew it brought hope when it came

This present Christmas, like any other
I empowered my senses to lead me
To that same place which always seemed further
Than the previous instance I sought to flee

It is the same old memorable place
Where I found my golden image of hope
Now, in a slow and contemplative pace
I allowed my past reveries to cope

From quite a distance, footsteps I did hear
And I was most certain they weren’t mine
But since they were all muffled and unclear
Setting my concern aside would be fine

So I prayed to God, as I always do
This time it was more fervent than the last
I pleaded to kindly send for a clue
For precious time was ticking really fast

I wished for the other half of the flake
Which flew with the piercing cold years before
Only with the other half could I make
Something worthwhile or perhaps even more

Countless times has this flake been in my hand
Just now did I realize what it means
That though it possess beauty so grand
It was incomplete despite all the gleans

I saw myself in the flake I did hold
Quite fragile, but most of all incomplete
And like the flake, I can defy the cold
But still remain in a state of defeat

While searching for half, did I waste my time?
When instead I should be saving myself
Was I subconsciously making a crime
Regarding matters of the heart as pelf

I stared at the flake with all its strange might
More intense than what I have ever done
Then, tears started to cloud my weary sight
For all hope seemed to have vanished and gone

Suddenly a warm hand closed in on mine
Distinctly bigger and gentler it was
Stunningly holding the lost half so fine
Undamaged like a puzzle made of glass

Tender fingers took the flake straight from me
And attached the two pieces together
At long last a complete flake I did see
With all its beauty lasting forever

The cold winter chill swept the flake away
Like it did to the other half before
I then decided for it not to stay
Being whole is one sight to adore

I shifted my gaze from the drifting flake
To the person standing right beside me
I planned my words of thanks for heaven’s sake
For replying to a desperate plea

But all the words instantly disappeared
As I became aware of the one beside me
The days ahead of me seemed to be cleared
And even the faint stars had to agree

An enchanting smile rested on his face
Which swept my ankles off the icy floor
And though we haven’t crossed each other’s ways
Something tells me I’ve met him long before

Perhaps a rapid acquaintance he was
But then again, I’m not really so sure
Or perhaps a vague dream that did pass
My childhood heart and innocence so pure

As I reached his hand for a courteous shake
Fairy dust magically filled the air
Every nerve in me was so damn awake
As snow slowly descended on my hair

Is it God’s tactic to send a snowflake
Then afterwards divide it into two
The other one who has the other half to take
Is the one especially meant for you?

For destiny is knocking on my door
Calling and whispering to let him in
Is this the message the flake was sent for
Which I so often dismiss with a grin?


The person with me was also wordless
Possibly much more speechless than I am
Not even a single word to express
All the magic of this heavenly scam

So, with him I slowly retraced the track
To go back to the place where I have been
Though the night was dominated by black
A strange light emanated from within

I’m glad for the miracle of the flake
It turned out that even God seemed to speak
He has lighted a path for me to take
And even gifted me with someone so meek

At the partial conclusion of the day
No… make that at the end of ten long years
I feel so complete in a special way
And with the flake, vanished all of my fears

Shattered

Such loneliness I cannot contain
Such sorrow that did remain
Sheathed my soul with clouds of dust
Crowned my forehead with a promise to trust
It was my fault to succumb to this temptation
Knowing dearly that it would end in devastation
What force drove me this far?
What made me believe in a love that did not mar?
Now I am left in the middle of insanity
Searching for an answer from the whole of humanity
Why can’t I stop myself from indulging?
And why can’t I stop myself from believing?
Then feel the pain of a thousand thorns
That did not subside even after a thousand mourns
A pang that bites the emptiness within
A regret more powerful than when you sin
Then, when you think that the pain would cease
You realize that your heart is in deep freeze
Failing to shield the cold
But succeeding in being foolish and bold
How will my heart ever learn from mistakes
When it has been shattered into countless little flakes
And why is it that I can’t resist the power of love
When afterwards all I do is curse the great powers above

…Impossibly Possible…

I wish to syllabicate my words with ease
Randomly tickling each rhyme as I please
And capture such vivid imagery in the palm of my hand
Then dissect each wonderful idea into tiny bits of sand


My eyes, if they could only see far enough
And my other senses delve in the deepest trough
While I fondle my pen with a knowing hand
My thoughts travel the diversity of land


I wish to have the power to bend rays of light
And twine them round my neck to please thine sight
Shush the thunder that bothers my dreams
Possess knowledge detached from what seems


Rub my cheeks with the fluffy clouds in the sky
Sniff nectar and eat the flowers without getting high
Rush into a peaceful world of dryads and sprites
Make love to the silence of music and darkness of lights


Then vanish into thin and invisible air
Braid my thoughts into understanding like strands of hair
There is a lot I want to know and write about
But to will and to do together is impossibility without doubt

XANADU

Thine eyes of mercy
Bestow upon me a sense of timelessness
Of suspended rapture
A place of freedom and unrestrained glory
A fraction of heaven is what I long for
A space between this wrathful earth
And my fleeting dimension of dreams
A place where my thoughts are not chained
And the beauty of silence is unmarred
The delight of water running through my fingertips
Blades of grass tangled in my hair
The enchanting scent of misty flowers teasing my idle mind
Fingers of the earth caressing my bare skin
I long for this place
I long for the hands of time to cease turning
I long for the earth to stand still
And feel the shining mirth of the brilliant sun
Motionless
Meaningless
Relentless of a passion in an adjacent dimension
But I long to be there
Emancipated by time
But captivated by sinful pleasure
Of a frozen moment
In a place…
A place unsung by eternity

Book Review: The Myth of Development

ARREZA, Maria Veronica L.
2004-07926
BA Development Studies
Development Studies 100
Prof. Ponsaran

Book Review: The Myth of Development: The Non-Viable National Economies

Before I give a book review, I believe it would be more appropriate to give the critique that this book deserves. Due credit should be given as deserved; this book is very “loaded”. Loaded in a literal sense because its content is packed with so much information, statistics and percentage data to back up all its claims. Also the term loaded used to describe it earlier can be given context in a literal and yet “not so literal way.” This book used a lot of words and phrases that have certain biases. It is hard to explain but to give you an idea, the phrases, and sentences by the writer Oswaldo de Rivero are what you would call the antithesis of euphemisms. If euphemisms were invented and intended to make a person feel good, the words that were used in this book on the other hand is not a very subtle of saying that he is dismayed and disgusted of how things are going. But all in all, this book is highly recommendable. It becomes boring to an extent but the information that could be extracted can and would most likely come in handy.
In the introduction of the book alone you can already very much grasp how reading the entire book would feel like. It provides an overview of the not-too-pleasant realities that there are about the less developed countries as well as the accusatory tone that the author makes use of to emphasize how grueling developed countries are. Oswaldo de Rivero coined the term quasi-nation states to aptly describe national countries that experienced stinted economic growth due to unfinished national projects, which could be directly attributed to lack of funding. From here we can infer that he is referring to all the less developed countries and even the “developing” countries whose ascent towards progress is abruptly yet needlessly impeded. For accounting purposes, he made mention of 140 non-developed countries (take note: non and not less) and an addition of 4 more newly industrialized countries particularly Singapore and Hongkong which are classified as city-states and South Korea and Taiwan as full-fledged countries. As a drawback though, although these economies have been typified as newly industrialized countries they are unable to sustain the rate of progress due to unfortunate but induced unfavorable circumstances. This he said can be traced as a fruit of the technological revolution.
The writer referred to his notion of technological revolution as a struggle and battle to modernize a nation’s current state of technology by inventing and applying the most number, in quantity as well as qualitatively, of futuristic gadgets, software and other paraphernalia as a means to produce. Instead of an arms race there seems to be a race to invent and make use of mass-producing machinery. Putting it in analogy: If the Cold War is to Technological Revolution, then arms race is to mass-producing machinery. In effect, non-developed countries became reliant of developed countries because they are the source of all these which were promised to bear the fruit of instant progress.
Historically, the occurrence of the Cold War, started to sketch the outcome of the dependent nature of non-developed economies. During this time, they relied on countries such as the US and UK for economic aid and political support and this escalated to make matters less advantageous for non-developed nations. They were strategically subsidized for their survival, which was done in exchange of excessive state intervention and the permission, though it seems they do not really have the choice, to profligate economic policies.
The Unholy Trinity played a huge role in this hullabaloo as well. They are said to be the reason why the non-developed countries are unable to withstand competition. It is evident that amidst the technological revolution poor countries remain to be exporters of raw materials and manpower (labor). Actually these two can be considered as a comparative advantage that the third world nations are capable of producing but the ironic thing is they are rapidly pushed into obsolescence by the use of high-end technologies. So in effect, third world nations are not only technologically backward they suffer from the diseases of having to thrive on low-income, and being manipulated by an authoritarian and low-powered form of democracy as well. At present, the essence of the technological revolution can be extracted from this wide-scale drive towards globalization. The positive aspect of this is that cultures are going to be brought together, political, economic and scientific information is easily disseminated and sports and amusement can be enjoyed by everyone. But it seems that this is only partially existent, and if not purely then mostly speculative and theoretical. Globalization was likened to the universal law of gravity in that it is inescapable. What makes this even more unfair is that countries such as the US, Japan and UK are promoting so much because they are already at an advantage point; their economies are already developed. During their time of development they could freely copy each other’s technology and they could protected their small industries from vicious cutthroat competition. But now, with the existence of intellectual property rights, patents, trademarks and copywrites which the first world countries themselves created, non-developed economies don’t have the chance to progress without having to pay a debilitating amount for royalties. The global north would undoubtedly do anything for profit, no wonder they are so excited for the wide-scale unbridled and unbridling effects of globalization.
Another major problem that globalization is confronted with is the urban population boom. And with the decreasing need for manpower because of the technological revolution, a lot of people are bound to become either underemployed or unemployed. Currently an alarming 30% of the employable adult population don’t have jobs. Also it is observable that there seems to be an increase of unskilled workers. Again there is a disparity in the supply and the demand for the kind of jobs that are needed and that are available. What makes this problem even worse is that the kind of economic orientation being promulgated globally is very materialistic and consumeristic. Plus, these consumption patterns are very environment unfriendly. With the rate that the chaotic urban community is expanding, the planet is bound to suffer in as much as its inhabitants are going to. Obviously the sustainability of the environment to which the global south is highly dependent on for the extraction of food and materials needed for production is exceedingly becoming farfetched and questionable. In as much as the global south is concerned, their functions to the worldwide economy are to pay debts, receive speculative capital and import food, fuel and industrial products all to the advantage of the global north. Not only are the environmental, social and economic costs of these circumstances highly unfavorable, they are increasingly becoming the bane of third world existence.
The term that the writer used to describe third world countries are non-viable national economies or NNEs for short. He included even the NICs or the Newly industrialized countries even if they are a step ahead economically because their kind of development is perceived as unsustainable and unprogressive. The NNEs are under such governments who readily adhere to the structural adjustment programs imposed by the Unholy Trinity, which does not do any good and in fact digs the countries deeper into a life of filth and misery. Eventually, as what is evident in the Philippines, the people will begin to experience unrest because the citizens don’t have food in their stomachs, education to help them, health security to rely on and a government who would accommodate and provide for them. This would result to an implosion of violence to which an NNE will start to manifest characteristics of an ungovernable chaotic entity or UCE.
In the third chapter entitled International Darwinism, the concepts of the famous Charles Darwin and Adam Smith were combined and explicated on. Charles Darwin wrote a book: On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection which dwelt on the biological evolution of various species as a means of adaptation to their environment. Darwin theorized that only the strongest and the fittest survive and reproduce to propagate their species. Little did Darwin know that his claims would be the foundations of economic evaluation. Only the strongest and most predatory countries can survive in the global jungle. It is rather unfair actually to apply Darwin’s concepts to humanity, because although we are part of Kingdom Animalia, we should not be subject to such studies precisely because human nature is more complex in a lot of dimensions. More thoroughly applicable are the theories and studies by the neo-classicist Adam Smith within the context of globalizations in his notion of laissez-faire and a free market economy. He proposed that industries should have minimal state intervention because it impedes a person’s full economic potential. A lot of people misinterpreted it though to mean that he became the proponent of globalization in all its strident glory. Economists forget that in studying history and works by brilliant thinkers, their ideas should be seen within the context of the particular thinker’s timeframe and background. Smith did not attempt to justify the predominance of individual interest at any cost, but rather within the boundaries of moral sentiments designed to control egotism. He wrote the book The Theory of Moral Sentiment specifically to contain counterarguments that he was broadcasting his encouragement of a selfish form of development. Of course we have to take into consideration that Smith’s aim was to make economic policy into a pure body of knowledge. He assumes to formulate mathematical calculations for supply and demand and did not intend for his works to become the hard and fast law of the nature of globalization. In relation to this, concepts of evolution, conflict and dualism were discussed further. It has been applied in modern social and economic reasoning in a Marxist perspective and in neo-classicism. These two schools of thought are both rooted in the ideology of material progress brought about by the industrial revolution.
In yet another chapter entitled Global Empowerment and National Impoverishment, de Rivero wrote about the rise of the new global aristocracy as the result of a game of geopolitical balance among great powers. It was mentioned that power is not measured in terms of how much a country owns or by any other means except a country’s capacity for technological innovation. The scale is no longer gauged in geopolitical terms but in geo-economic terms. There is an existing anonymous global economic and financial kind of dictatorship by the global aristocrats, which penetrate the economies of less developed countries. He used the term perforated sovereignties to aptly describe the state of third world countries, which the aristocrats bombard with structural adjustment programs, and surplus produce that greatly affect their national sovereignty brought about by socio-cultural and political hegemony.
There’s actually so much more to be discussed I do not feel that I have given justice to the book by reviewing it this way. But for purposes of economy I will cut this cssay short. One has to read a book to fully understand and grasp the dramatic reality that this book expounds on.

Rethinking the Dynamics of Development

This is my first exam in DS100 which merited a grade of 1.0. I thought it would be nice t post it for public scrutiny (?). The original was done in haste and spontaneously… the one here is with very minimal alteration, so if ever the thoughts seem to be incoherent, well… pasensya na lang. I thought it would be better to preserve it (for sentimental purposes na rin)


Rethinking the Dynamics of Development/ Maldevelopment

There are numerous misconceptions of development, in fact even the definition of the word itself has been a point of contention for so long. Sociologists, economists and development scientists alike have debated as to whether development is the process of an entity or the end towards which a process is made. More than just the problem of the definition is the problematic process of creating a model to strategize its approach. Some would argue that by coming up with models, one would be guilty of reducing reality into mere diagrams and graphs. Others would say that before action there must be a stage of crucial planning first. And still others would further insist and propose that too much thinking would end up no where and what is needed is the fusion of theorizing, acting and reflection for revision or praxis.
Mainstream and alternative approaches have been invented and re-invented to suit the particularities of those who are in most need, specifically the less developed countries (LDCs). Mainstream paradigms further classified into seven different approaches, such as the modernization paradigm, women and third world development, another development and the like, are primarily concerned with the “whats” or the contents of an approach. In essence similarities fall on the objective that urbanization and industrialization are the keys to alleviate poverty and liberate the disenfranchised and marginalized from an undignified and inhuman condition/ state of life. It used to be that the GNP was used to measure the level of development in a certain country but it was changed into the Human Development Index that looks into the protection of a citizenry’s (collectively) civil and socio-economic rights. Freedom of expression, basic and functional literacy, equal access to opportunities, resources and employment, life expectancy and mortality rate are just some of the components considered in the HDI
With regards to the alternative paradigm, which is subtypified into 3 classifications (barefoot revolution, etc), mainly concerns the “how” of development. It was said that in order for a strategy to work, it must first be founded in each and every individual’s willingness and propensity to participate in the process since afterall they are the ones directly involved. Also it should stem from the heart or core of each culture, which means the procedures must be indigenized/ “altered to fit” or made suitable according to what is deemed necessary and functional. Afterall, it seems that LDCs should not be diagnosed and generalized with the same sicknesses and given generic cures for a variety of complicated illnesses.
Both paradigms and approaches have strong points as well as mal-addressed issues. An example of which is that models are patterned after Western ideologies making it seem that implementation of such strategies is “value-free” and not culture bound.
So it seems that underdevelopment is consistently present in countries, which have been previously colonized. Distribution of power and the access to resources are concentrated only on those who have the power to colonize, or on a more apt and contemporary context, the neo-colonizers. Development is wittingly/ unwittingly disguised in various forms, which they present to the people with so much sugar-coating (or various euphemisms). But if truth be told, these neo-colonizers take control of a vicious cycle of repression and oppression. Neo-colonialism is practiced by countries like the US via its control on the IMF, the government of its “allies” like the Philippines. In the same manner, neo-colonialism is also exemplified by transnational corporations and multi-lateral agencies through their vehemence and persistence to control the global market by luring the misinformed (and miseducated) citizens of LDCs into the inescapable clasp of globalization. It is also exemplified by the local rich (as portrayed in the plaza complex) and perhaps event he church that try to gain manipulative powers over the people. Neo-colonialism is one of the heaviest issues being tackled as a cause of underdevelopment, which seriously needs to be resolved.
Yet another issue to be confronted is that of a sustainable global economy. This means that people have an obligation to the present and future generation to ensure that they have equal access to the resources that we are utilizing at present. Throughout the process of implementing developmental strategies, the environment has been neglected unintentionally. This has resulted to irreversible damage that is very hazardous to the people and other forms of life.
These concerns plus many more are just some of the much debated upon issues regarding the dynamics of development and maldevelopment. Many things are uncertain and perhaps they will remain as such for an indefinite period of time. But one thing is for certain and that is: the LDCs have the right to maximize their potentials through a humane and dignified way of life just as equally as any other developed country. Development is a must, and the people from the developed countries should not impose their standards thereby violating their rights to sovereignty and freedom from coercion.

Prometheus Rebound

At long last a blog of mine!!! it's been a life long dream! Kahit walang magbasa, okay lang basta malabas ko lahat ng mga "disposables" ko sa katawan! I have long been constipated (blogspot=Loperamide)

Here comes my attempt to create my own political line of poetry, nakakapanibago nga e... its actually based on a well renowned poem by no less than the brilliant Jose Lacaba: Prometheus Unbound... i know very well that great poems need no explanations but for purposes of interpreting it correctly an explanation will follow =)


1 Dangling chains caress thy unknowing wrists
2 Rendering forth billows from putrid pits
3 Outward flays sought by the unkindred mind
4 When has it transformed to be so unkind?
5 Never recognizing dints of sorrow
6 Ending the liberty of tomorrow
7 Decapitating all fists of today
8 Intolerant of sickening dismay
9 Nights repeatedly stumble at thy feet
10 Hollowing the high heavens’ rustic sheet
11 Encased contaminated reveries
12 Down-casted a desire to cross the seas
13 Owning none but a tainted form of love
14 Never allowed freedom from the dregs of-
15 Instantaneous pleasure so fair and white
16 Siphoned in an innocence so contrite
17 Tenderly, daggers drew blood from thy neck
18 Incongruous to such thoughts of unwreck
19 Covering none of what should be despised
20 Obsolescence woken though unsurprised
21 By way of dissonant docility
22 Liverworts thrive in thy servility
23 Incest’s antithesis broth forth to life
24 Vindicating all suffering and strife
25 Into deep oblivion all these shall go
26 Opulence and eternity swung fro
27 Nefariously struck with a final blow

The reason why the title of this poem is as such, is because it was inspired by the brilliant composition of Jose Lacaba entitled Prometheus Unbound (MARCOS HITLER DIKTADOR TUTA!) In order for one to understand the analogy more clearly perhaps one should know first who Prometheus is:
PROMETHEUS In Greek Mythology, he is a Titan who steals fire from heaven for the benefit of mankind: in punishment, Zeus chains him to a rock where a vulture comes to eat his liver, which grows back each night. Thus he suffers eternal punishment for a supposed good intention/deed that he did. In a contemporary context, to be described as “Promethean” means life bringing, creative or courageously original.
How I interpret it to be, Prometheus in Lacaba’s poem is a personification of the Filipinos suffering under the martial law. Their suffering was compared and aptly given a parallelism to the innocent torment experienced by Prometheus. He was a god who dared to resist Zeus, by giving fire, which would be of great help to the mortals. This picture on the other hand can be likened to the heroes during that time who dared to contradict the suppressive manipulation of the reigning government.
As I have mentioned earlier my poem was inspired by this and so I remain faithful to the symbolisms that were used. What I held constant was the idea that the Philippines and it people is like the god Prometheus in that their freedoms are not theirs. As for my title “Prometheus Rebound”- this means that the country was once free but held captive again by a different set of captors. I know that good works of art neither need explanation nor justification but for purposes of proper interpretation I will provide for it.
DROWNED IN HEDONISTIC OBLIVION is my tagline, if you have not noticed it by now. I am referring to the Philippines’ voluntary enslavement under the neocolonial influence of the U.S. As I see it, it seems that the Filipinos are actually happy being manipulated and are already being forgetful and indifferent to their own rich culture.
In the 7th line, what I wished to impart here is that the protesters and street parliamentarists of the present are being silenced because majority would rather wallow in the trail that our neocolonizers have paved for us.
In the 13th line, this tainted form of love that we have, the kind of nationalism that we feel is very much substituted to colonial mentality. It is as if our indigenous roots are now alien to us (unkindred = without kin, we have sought to disassociate ourselves from what our identity should supposed to be)
(15) “Instantaneous pleasure so fair and white” –we find all our answers from those who are fair skinned that as if they would give us salvation. The next line talks of how, these gods that we look up to has taken advantage of our vulnerability and disguised their manipulative acts into benevolent ones. Slowly, we are being killed (figuratively and literally) without our knowledge because most of us believe that everything is fine and nothing is wrong (state of unwreck). Our nationalism and identity is rapidly becoming obsolete, molds (liverworts =amag/ lumot); what should have been an ardent desire to serve our people has been transformed into a drive to please our supposed benefactors. This in effect, causes confusion and people tend to hate their countrymen (predisposing us to civil war)
I don’t know how else to explain without spoon feeding the reader, perhaps its better for me to leave some of the lines “unraveled” to leave room for critical thinking and scrutiny. I hope to come up with more of this in the near future… for any comment/ questions and well… violent reactions feel free to say so…