Thinking Differently*

Reading the digital PhilRice Magazine Jan-Mar 2021 issue, from this many-faceted digital Editor In Chief’s point of view, the issue is early . Edited by Ronan G Zagado , I say the issue is superb . I see PhilRice again institutionally invigorated. Congratulations, PhilRice! With founding Executive Director Santiago R Obien (SRO) starting mid-1980s, PhilRice became world-class, both in intellectual and physical attributes. After SRO retired in 2000, I have not seen any mighty show of institutional force until today, in PhilRice’s pursuit of farm clustering . I see it as a modern form of French writer’s Alexandre Dumas’ 1845 masterpiece The Three Musketeer’s battle cry, “All for one, one for all. United we stand, divided we fall.” To continue to be a tireless blogger, I have to read very widely, and this is the first time that I come across any of those many agencies and offices under and attached to the Department of Agriculture (DA) talking about those “8 Paradigms” being pursue...

Is the Philippine Department of Agriculture (DA) ready to fulfill its own nationwide agricultural responsibilities once all kinds of quarantines are down? Yes, under the leadership and planning-ahead head of Secretary William Dar. Never. In my 20 years of blogging, after thousands upon thousands of short & long essays published online, I never wrote in favor of an advertisement – until now. I am looking at the Facebook ad of CitizenWatch Philippines with the headline, “Public And Private Partnership Is The Key Towards Sustainable Development” (upper image above). And the lock to open it today is to end the lockdown! CitizenWatch is saying: We call on the government to work with the private sector in creating sustainable initiatives that will fortify a future-proofed Philippines beyond this pandemic. "Now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of their country [1] " – Charles E Weller. Today, we must love our country, all of it!  Now is the time for all goo...

We Filipinos celebrate 500 years of Christianity today Wednesday, 31 March 2021, Christianity brought to pagans by Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan sailing the seas for Spain. The historical question is: Where was the first Holy Mass celebrated: “Limasawa” (in Leyte) or “Mazaua” (in Butuan)? Catholic priest Fr Joesilo C Amalla has just published the book (above), An Island They Called Mazaua, that argues the island of “Mazaua” in Butuan is the “true site of first Holy Mass in the Philippines [1] ”  and not “Limasawa” in Leyte (ANN, 07 January 2021, Manila Times ). The declaration and discussion are made by Butuan-based Fr Amalla in his 644-page book. Among other things, he writes: The truth is that the prevailing state- and church-affirmation and multiple reaffirmations of the island of Limasawa as the site of that first Holy Mass have no factual, historical and geographic (bases) whatsoever nor any shred of evidentiary support from cartographic studies, navigational info...

Belated “Happy Birthday,” Mr President! (28 March 2021). Sorry to spoil your birthday, but the World Bank has spoken: “PHL Reliance On Prolonged Lockdowns Caused Economic Deterioration – WB [1] ” ( Louise Maureen Simeon , 27 March 2021, The Philippine Star ). Carolina Figueroa-Geron , who shared that on Facebook; I read somewhere someone's wishes, “May our Lord Jesus Christ enlighten our darkness! God bless us!” Miss Louise quotes the World Bank as saying: The Philippines relied more on prolonged restrictions on mobility rather than an effective test-based strategy. Countries with greater quarterly growth contraction in 2020 had higher infection rates, imposed more stringent mobility restrictions, had more highly indebted governments and were more dependent on earnings from tourism. Because of mass testing, mobility restrictions were not as severe, resulting in gross domestic product growth for Vietnam (2.9 percent), China (2.3 percent) and Laos (0.4 percent) in 2020. Cambodia’s...

How should we measure the Filipino woman’s role in PH Agriculture? In one word, significant . But if you isolate it, not! From Cagayan De Oro City, JC Anito from the Department of Agriculture (DA) RFO X reports: “DA NorMin Takes Part In 2021 Nat'l. Women's Month Celebration” (Facebook sharing): “(DA-10) took part in the Serbisyo Para Kay Juana National Convergence in celebration of the Women’s Month in Cagayan de Oro City.” (“Juana” is any PH female, from male counterpart “Juan.”) On Thursday, 25 March, DA X distributed 1,020 packets of 5-in-1 assorted vegetable seeds totaling P 132,600 in three variants of culinary purposes: pinakbet, chopsuey , and sinigang, to the participants. JC did not include the names of vegetables included in each packet, but it’s the giving that matters, not the gift. Receivers of the free seeds included women’s organizations, farmers, solo parents, senior citizens, persons with disabilities, micro, small & medium enterprises, indigenous peop...

What you did yesterday, in Manila Saturday, 27 March 2021, was switch off the lights for 1 hour, 8:30 to 9:30 PM. I have another non-conformist, earth-shaking idea: Not “Turn off your lights” but “Turn on your power!” (spinning world image [1] from Dreamstime.com) Switching off the light for 1 hour 1 day 1 year – that’s saving gigawatts of electrical energy worldwide. We Earthlings can do much better than that – save on power every time, everywhere! That’s what I call “ Earth Power.” To be celebrated by everyone even in broad daylight during the whole year. Since I am an Agriculturist, let me show you how power works in Agriculture – there is Power from Knowledge ! (1)    Power from Coops – We have the farmer as a member of a cooperative that can assist him in many ways. The loans are available at affordable interests – the loan sharks will then lose their power! Additionally, the coop will show extra power to the farmer in avoiding expenses. ( 2)    Power f...

  Bayanihan – The above image shows the earliest national heroes of the Philippines. Today, I’m calling on village heroes in communication for development, journalists out to move people to change the lives in the villages one good deed at a time! People working together to help their community, not just themselves.  (Bayanihan image [1] from Nationalnews.com ) Why don’t we have in the Philippines digital and print media field journalists & columnists all-out supporting the small-scale and large-scale efforts of government to solve the problems of Agriculture and move it forward to bring favorable & sustainable changes to the lives of farmers and fishers, without exacting irreparable damage to the environment? I am not going to identify the journalists who write nothing but to try to prove that some government officials are lying, or worse. With your journalism dedicated 100% to anti-bad government, you have nothing left for pro-good government. Not only that – you ...