By Bernie Lopez
This article is especially for the attention of Gabriela which supported Nicole, US Ambassador Kristie Kenny, the US government, and the American people. When the Supreme Court dismissed the case of rape against Daniel Smith last May 2009, Filipinos were incensed and Americans were relieved. Nicole and her supporters naturally felt there was no longer any justice when it came to superpowers breathing down the necks of small countries.
Rape is defined in the law as sex without consent. The element of force is essential to rape. Nicole willingly entered the lion’s den. She knew she was playing with fire. But she was daring and adventurous. She consented. There was in truth no rape, but there was also no justice beyond the rape charge. There is something deeper which many failed to see through the maze of geopolitics. Justice can sometimes be lost in the conflict of powerful forces, namely the Filipino public and the American armed forces.
The court had a dilemma. If it decided in Nicole’s favor, it knew it would be wrong. No rape meant no rape in the eyes of the law, no matter how many times you read the bible-thick court transcript. If the court decided in Daniel’s favor, which it did, it meant triggering an avalanche of protests and anger from Filipinos asking for blood. It meant being unpopular and getting heavy media flak. The court could even be accused of subservience to the powerful Americans. The court knew this but had to make a decision based on law, not on popularity or geopolitics.
Daniel, as performer, and his three co-accused, as voyeurs, after they enjoyed the night with the consenting Nicole, violently threw her, without her underwear, to the ground in the street outside. This showed how these Americans looked down not just on Nicole, not just on Filipino women, but for that matter women in general, namely as pure dirt. It was a form of sadism induced by alcohol. A protester said, “There was no rape, true, pero binaboy nila si Nicole (they treated her like a pig, literally)”. In Filipino culture, ‘piggery’ is debauchery. This insult is a crime not just against Nicole but all Filipinos, against their dignity. The heartless and cruel treatment after enjoying themselves with Nicole is a form of perversion, which is anathema in Filipino culture.
Perhaps in America, this is nothing, but for Filipinos there is even a tint of racism. That Daniel and company committed ‘piggery’ is evident from the court transcript beyond doubt, and here is where justice is lost. True, they can go scot-free on rape charges but they are still guilty of ‘piggery’. In their anger, Nicole and her lawyers failed to see that the charge was not supposed to be rape but ‘piggery’ which would have stuck like glue.
In fact, it is perhaps not too late to file a new case on that charge. Gabriela can help file a new case in the very same court. Even if they are now in the safety of the motherland, even if they do not serve any sentence, there is moral victory in pursuing justice in rescuing the name of Nicole and the Filipino people, if they are found guilty of ‘piggery’ or whatever the legal term is for that. It will also put the US government and armed forces on the spot, that they have double morale standards, if they do not hand over the guilty if the new case rules in Nicole’s favor. Suing for morale damages of $1 million on a celebrated case in the international media should be sufficient. The US Armed Forces can easily afford that.
Double standards has been the practice of American foreign policy for decades. It is the mindset of a superpower, that in their superiority, crimes of non-Americans against Americans have to be dealt with with total justice and crimes of Americans against non-Americans can be forgiven or forgotten. This was true of the rape case against an American soldier in Okinawa which triggered massive protest and a human barricade at the US naval base there. This was true of the Mai Lai village massacre by American soldiers during the Vietnam war. After years, the military court absolved them for killing innocent civilians on a massive scale, and remain scot-free to this day. This was true of the US Colonel assassinated by the NPA. They did not sleep until they got the assassins but they did not sleep until Daniel went scot-free.
Guantanamo is the supreme example of this double standards. America’s sacred regard for freedom, justice, and due process applies only to Americans. They tortured and detained suspects without trial, which bothered many Americans with some conscience left. They transgressed their own jurisprudence and due process in the name of ‘national security’, whether they are just suspects or proven terrorists. Their sacred regard for democracy applies only to Americans and not to non-Americans.
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Monday, September 7, 2009
Thursday, June 5, 2008
EASTWIND, part 2, journals of a drifter
by Bernie Lopez
Author's Note. This is an excerpt from the unpublished book Wings and Wanderlust, the Art of Discovering Yourself. There are life-long lessons on the road of adventure that I learned in my youth. You can say I took my Doctorate in Adventure from the University of the World. Let me share small portions of that intense period I called eastwind. For they are very relevant today in our age of confusion. As a young man, I did what few Filipinos dared. I hitchhiked 25,000 kilometers for 18 months through 18 European countries with just $1,000 in my pocket. I have written a book about it.
Portugal 1976. After the fiesta of the bulls, I headed towards
I hated New York New York
I normally kept my backpack below six kilos. For the long hike from Lisbon to Fatima , I reduced it further to two kilos, just a sleeping bag, a wine skin bag, food for the day, extra shirt and a toothbrush. Lesson of the day - simplicity is a virtue that can make you happy just as complexity can make you sad.
Gradually, the big highway narrowed to a country road. The romantic Portugese countryside made me calm and mellow. I did a leisurely three kilometers an hour for four to five hours a day. The entire trek was 80 kilometers for seven days. I prayed the rosary two to three times a day as I walked. I slept under the stars. I had a candle for light, the cheapest and lightest. One evening when it drizzled, I asked a farmer if I could sleep in a smelly sheep shed, reminding me that it was one such shed where the Creator of the universe was born in all humility.
In two villages, rowdy kids came up to me shouting 'perigrino'. They smothered me with fruits from the nearby farm. I would brush my teeth in the village fountains. I alternated wine and milk in my skin bag. Too much wine was not good for hiking. Everyday, I was awed by new discoveries.
On the last evening, I slept atop a knoll under an olive tree. In the pink misty dusk, from the distance, the bells tied to the necks of sheep pealed like music. It was the gift of peace from Our Lady that overwhelmed me almost to tears.
I reached Fatima in the evening and decided to sleep at the doorstep of the giant church. The church bells started pealing at four in the morning. At dawn, I joined a group hearing mass. The pilgrimage was a spiritual cleansing from my worldliness in my adventures. Lesson of the day - prayers are answered. Long after eastwind and the Fatima pilgrimage, I would go back home and become a writer.
I headed north towards Coimbra
My candle would not light in the wind. In the middle of the night, it began to drizzle. If it rained, I had nowhere to go. I went inside my plastic sheet which was a tube. Finally, the drizzle stopped. The dawn bathe the river gold. To my surprise, the three kids came with my breakfast - a hot roll of bread and some cheese. Lesson of the day - people not places make your day.
From Coimbra , I got my longest ride of the entire 18 months, all the way to Meximieux in Switzerland London Winterthur in Switzerland
We had a problem at Marseille. I will not make him pay for me in a five star hotel he was to stay in. So we looked for a place where I could sleep. A beach loomed in sight and he dropped me off there.
Tough luck. It was a private beach. They were all urban people in their trunks and bikinis. Desperate, I went in anyway. There was no guard. But they were all staring at me. Perhaps I was not wanted. A good looking woman came up to me and spoke rapid French. I took out a tiny French English dictionary from my pocket and started to search for words. I stumbled through my French, no grammar or tense, just infinitives and root words.
That broke the ice. They all smiled and dispersed. The French hate people who answer in English. They admired me for trying hard to speak broken French with a dictionary. The woman gave me a glass of red wine, then another and another. By the time I knew it, the beach was deserted and all mine. They left for their homes. I slept nicely with the red in my head. The beautiful kids of Mondego river flashed in my mind.
The next day, the diver came at the crack of dawn. We were on our way. Portugal
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EASTWIND part 1, journals of a drifter
by Bernie Lopez
Author's Note. This is an excerpt from the unpublished book Wings and Wanderlust, the Art of Discovering Yourself. There are life-long lessons on the road of adventure that I learned in my youth. You can say I took my Doctorate in Adventure from the University of the World. Let me share small portions of that intense period I called eastwind. For they are very relevant today in our age of confusion. As a young man, I did what few Filipinos dared. I hitchhiked 25,000 kilometers for 18 months through 18 European countries with just $1,000 in my pocket. I have written a book about it.
Portugal 1976. It was early Spring and I headed north after a winter sojourn in Morocco and Canary Islands . Hitchhiking from Cadiz with a Spanish guitar I bought in Madrid
It was dusk when I hit Vila Real de Santo Antonio. Not knowing where I would sleep, I was eyeing a nearby park. I preferred to be burdened by a guitar rather than a tent and risked the rain because the guitar was an absolute magic wand.
I was frugal because I wanted to stretch my money for the long trek. I was also brave and resourceful. I headed for a noisy bar where no one was sober. I wanted a free meal. So I took out my guitar and started singing. To catch attention, I sang a lively Christmas song, Ang Pasko ay Sumapit, right in the middle of Spring. There was absolute silence. Half way through the song, a large mug of beer slid in front of me. At the end of the song, there was a giant ham sandwich escorting the beer.
After the song, they told me to drink and eat. Someone took over the guitar. The Portugese are like Filipinos, very warm, very boisterous, very drunk. They were so happy seeing me finish the beer in two gulps and the sandwich in six bites. They were completely amused with my broken Spanish. On my fifth mug, the noise was going into a crescendo, but I did not care.
Someone asked me where I was going to sleep. I said I did not know. He told me I could sleep in his place. I said yes instantly, as it was better than the park if it rains. Another guy approached, asking the same question. I told him I was going to sleep in the first guy's place. The second guy insisted I sleep at his place. The two argued who was going to be my host. The heated argument became a brawl. They were on the floor. Everyone was screaming. It was pandemonium.
I slipped away quietly and ended up sleeping at the park. There were only three instances when the rain caught me in all 18 months - Milan , Las Palmas and Algarve
Next day, I hitchiked to Algarve
He introduced me to two lovely Canadian girls with a bottle of Jack Daniels. Between the four of us, we had a rowdy evening with Jack D. I whispered to the Brit that we should sleep near their tent so that if it rains, they would take us in. He winked at me. For the first time, I was praying for rain. And it did rain, and cats and dogs at that.
We slipped into their tent and there were the four of us like nice sardines. They were giggling but believe me, it was water water everywhere but not a drop to drink, if you know what I mean. Lesson of the day - people on the road take care of each other, as I often experienced.
The fiesta at Vila Franca de Xira was famous because they let two bulls loose in a fenced portion of the main streets. Only the brave and the drunk dared tease the bulls, but not me. My valor was of a different kind. After the fireworks at dusk, I strolled along the streets. Everyone was out in the open roasting sardinas frescas and drinking agua pe. Agua pe was cheap but powerful red wine. Agua pe means 'foot wine', referring to when they wash their feet after they crush the grapes. Do not to take that literally.
It was their costumbre to give to all passersby roasted sardines and shot or two of agua pe. After two short blocks, I was woozy. The people were as hospitable and noisy as Filipinos. I felt at home.
Lesson of the day - people are more exciting than panoramic views and ancient castles. Throughout eastwind, I traveled to meet people rather than see places.
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BAYANI’S KALAYAAN FIASCO
By Bernie Lopez
MMDA Director Bayani Fernando is the engineer-wanna-be who designed the expensive Kalayaan elevated u-turn which is presently under construction. Engineers I interviewed have termed it ‘Jurassic’, ‘irreversible’ and ‘defying international standards of traffic and safety’.
The core problem lies in Bayani’s perception that he is infallible and criticisms are simply ignored. Bayani’s bullheadedness is the issue. Kalayaan reflects not only a first-class engineering blunder, but also bad governance. The senior transportation engineers I interviewed have been building interchanges for decades.
First is an anecdote before we talk of Kalayaan. A World Bank mission came to town to review the infrastructure projects it was funding. Bayani asked to join the inspection. The consultant said there was no need. Bullheaded Bayani insisted, wanting to influence the review. So the mission gave in. Standing at an intersection, Bayani told the consultant what he thought should be done. On the spot, he made a sketch and handed it to the consultant, who suggested he pass it on to his designers first and make a formal technical study.
Bayani was so angered that he complained to head of the mission. When the consultant found out about that, he confronted Bayani and told him to complain directly to him next time. Infrastructure engineers say that the World Bank consultants today hesitate to give a go signal to Engineer Bayani’s infrastructure projects, many of which he himself designed from cloud nine. One such Bayani design rejected by the World Bank was the dual interchanges at SM North and R
Time and again, Bayani resorts to vengeance when his ideas are turned down. In Eastwood, he wanted to build a footbridge. When it was turned down, he closed all the u-turns to make it harder for all to move around. If you are in Eastwood and want to turn left on C-5, you have to go all the way to the Libis underpass to make a u-turn. However, Bayani was forced to open one u-turn because DILG Secretary Ronnie Puno uses that u-turn. There are higher GMA boys than Bayani.
Now, it will be easier to understand Kalayaan. The unfortunate thing about the Kalayaan interchange is – it is irreversible. To undo the blunder and build a proper long-term facility, the entire P600-million (it could be as large as a billion, engineers suggest) facility has to be torn down.
Bullheaded Bayani is also Band-aid Bayani. The Kalayaan interchange is the epitome of band-aid make-shift engineering. The engineers told me that the maximum speed of traffic depends on radius of curvature. The sharper the turn, the slower you go. The engineers showed me a table relating speed to curvature. The table gives the maximum of 20 meters curvature for urban facilities, the sharpest turn allowable, where maximum speed was set at 30 kph. The Jurassic Kalayaan has a curvature of 10 meters, which is not allowed by international or DPWH standards, because this is not only accident-prone for a heavily-used two lane turn, it also causes more traffic. In other words, Bayani’s P600 million caper will cause rather than prevent traffic. The many 16 wheelers passing through the C-5 Kalayaan interchange, need two lanes to make the turn, which will also cause more traffic. In basketball, we call it ‘forcing through’.
Bayani’s blunder was unfortunately backed up by Malacanang. DPWH Secretary Hermogenes Ebdane was supposed to make a presentation to GMA of a three-level interchange at Kalayaan. Bayani intercepted the ball and made his own presentation before Ebdane could stand up. GMA applauded Bayani’s blunder. Ebdane said there was no need to present since the boss had made a decision. Did the DPWH evaluate and approve Kalayaan, which is required by law? The engineers doubted it. Bad governance, especially from the very top, is the reason for all our woes. Knee-jerk decisions is disastrous governance.
In that presentation, Bayani said his concept was cheaper. He did not say it was unsafe or would cause more traffic, just cheaper. That was why GMA applauded his Jurassic design. The Kalayaan design defies all principles of cost-benefit. It simply talks about cost and forgets about benefit. In fact, the Kalayaan interchange has no benefit in terms of traffic flow and safety. Bayani says his design would save P3.6 million a year because there is no need for traffic lights, traffic aides, signage and other peripheral traffic control factors. Bayani did not know the ten-fold savings of P365 million a year for commuters who would be using less gas in a straight rather than curved elevated facility.
The engineers suggested that a straight elevation is better than a curved one, similar to the three-level Quezon Boulevard – EDSA interchange, which was the same design suggested by Ebdane for Kalayaan. The engineers suggested that a two-level would suffice at Kalayaan so it would be cheaper. They point out that for the same length, a straight road is by far cheaper to build than a curved one. The straight elevation option is safer, requires less gas, and yields better traffic flow.
Bayani has an attitude problem because he is not open to criticism. He sees his visionary design as creative and is blind to its weaknesses. Bayani is a symbol today of extremely dangerous and bad governance. The saying goes, “Arrogance is dangerous. Ignorance is dangerous. But the two together is deadly.”
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WHY MERALCO CAN DEFY GMA
By Bernie Lopez
Meralco is bigger than meets the eye, having allies that Malacanang cannot just ignore. These allies are big time energy multinationals which have connections in high places, namely the same diplomatic and lending institutions that have been pressuring our government for decades now.
Both Meralco and First Philippine Holdings are controlled by the Lopezes. First Philippine Holdings owns 60% of two Independent Power Producers (IPPs) which sell power to Meralco, namely San Lorenzo and Sta. Rita. The 'ally' is a big powerful energy multinational, British Gas, which owns 40% of both San Lorenzo and Sta. Rita.
The other multinational is an American giant, the former Ogden Corp., which owns a big portion of Quezon Power. The Lopezes, as far as documents show, do not have equity in Quezon. But Meralco also buys power from Quezon. These three IPPs form a sinister 'energy triumvirate' which is the cause of all the rate increases Meralco has been illegally passing on to customers. Meralco can defy pressures from Malacanang and the public to lower illegal rate increases because it hides behind the skirts of these powerful energy multinationals.
Since circa 2001, the aggregate payments for power purchases of Meralco to the energy triumvirate is a staggering P200 billion based on broad estimates culled from Meralco reports. Meralco in turn passes on these payments to you and I as electricity consumers. In other words, our money goes not to Meralco, the mere conduit, but to the Lopezes and their multinational allies, which will move heaven and earth to protect this huge windfall.
Just for the record, the estimated P200 billion is based on payments on power purchases of Meralco to Sta. Rita and San Lorenzo of P15 billion in 2001-2002. If we multiply this by seven years (2001 to the present), the total is P105 billion, even if we wrongly assume no subsequent increases in power purchases. If we include purchases from Quezon Power based on the same average as San Lorenzo and Sta. Rita, we add another P53 billion for a grand total of P158 billion. If we allow conservatively for increases in power purchases after 2001, we have the broad estimate of P200 billion that flows into the pockets of the energy triumvirate and First Philippine Holdings through Meralco.
Here is the problem. Even if we ask Meralco for a refund, they are no longer holding the money. We have to run after the energy triumvirate and the First Philippine Holdings. It will not be easy for GMA or the general public to run after these giants, whether through diplomacy or court decisions.
To show how the energy triumvirate has been maneuvering to protect its windfall profits, members of both American and European Chambers of Commerce have been giving statements that the EPIRA should not be amended. Why? Because they know the EPIRA is a flawed law that protects Meralco monopoly in spite of EPIRA's articulated intent to break monopoly. EPIRA became a law for rather than against monopoly through the manipulation of its Implementing Rules and Regulation (IRR) by a powerful lobby group with friends in the legislature and even in Malacanang. Enrile is behind the effort to amend the EPIRA.
In other words, amending EPIRA will destroy Meralco monopoly and cut off the money pipeline to the IPPs and to the multinationals. It must be noted that the World Bank, in good fate, financed the authoring of the EPIRA and pressured the government to enact it. It did not realize the many loopholes that the powerful lobby group quietly inserted into the EPIRA’s IRR. But even the World Bank is ultimately financed by multinationals, so we have to ask what is its true stand.
This is why Meralco is so brave in insisting in its rate increases even if they are illegal. They are illegal because the EPIRA provides that Meralco cannot buy power from IPPs at rates higher than that of Napocor’s. In its website, Meralco admits it bought power ‘from itself ‘ (meaning Lopez to Lopez through Santa Rita and San Lorenzo, a conflict of interest) at generation rate of P4.54 per kilowatt hour in April, which is higher than the current Napocor rate of P4.01. The 53 centavos difference translates to an increase in revenue for Meralco of about P270 million per centavo or a total of a whopping P13.5 billion in a single month, all charged to the beleaguered consumer already being strangled by global prices of oil and food. The rate increases are not only blatantly against the law but are also unilateral and arbitrary.
It is unilateral because Meralco says the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) was informed, but informing does not mean approval. It is arbitrary because Meralco gave a lame excuse that it increased generation rates because WESM rates were extremely high. This is true but Meralco purchases at WESM are a meagre 9% whereas they are a huge 55% from its affiliated IPPs.
Let us take a quick look at solons as friends and foes of Meralco. Joker Arroyo and Peter Cayetano were asked by a militant group, Kasangga, to stop defending Meralco and prove they are pro-poor as they say they are. They also cited Pia Cayetano, Teddy Casino
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ARROCEROS RESURRECTED
by Bernie Lopez
If you were to see an environment map of Manila Arroceros Park in Plaza Laughton in the heart of the city, the rice port of Chinese
This was where all the rice across the archipelago converged to feed the burgeoning Manila community. When the British invaded this Spanish colony, the local Chinese sided with them because they were looked down upon and oppressed by the Spaniards. Yet, ironically, the Chinese controlled local trade. When the Spaniards massacred them after defeating the British, there was a momentary halt in local trade. Today, this former rice port is the bastion of the lowly tree. The Arroceros forest park
The Arroceros park was a gift from then First Lady Ming Ramos and then Manila Mayor Alfredo Lim in 1993 to the green ladies of Winners Foundation, which pruned it and made it greener. When Mayor Atienza, now an 'environmentalist' in GMA's cabinet, took over in 2003, the Arroceros park suddenly died. In a series of maneuvers, the 'environmentalist' yanked the park from the hands of the green ladies, decimated more than half of the forest, only to put up a building. There was one giant ancient hardwood that was felled secretly, worth about half a million in the hardware store. That brought tears to some of the green ladies.
Atienza used his goons to disrupt the placard bearing green matrons, who did not hesitate to descend from their pristine palaces and face this rowdy bunch face to face. The National Historical Institute and the National Museum
Atienza was also the killer of a nearby forest park , the Meyhan Garden
When Alfredo Lim resurrected in the Manila mayoralty race against the younger Atienza in July 2007, like a Phoenix
The Winners vision was to make the park a meeting place of artists and students, like Greenwich in New York , Soho in London
On the recent celebration of Earth Day, the spirit of the park under the Winners tutelage came back with vengeance. A large crowd gathered at Arroceros beneath the trees. There was a painting contest with judges from our prestigious art community. About a hundred contestants aged 4 to 12 joined the contest. The affair was in cooperation with the Cultural Center of the Philippines
Winners conducts exclusive art auctions for the hoi poloi every once in a while in a five star hotel, to help the artists sell their stuff. Arroceros resurrected is their tool for not only nature lovers but also art lovers. I was thinking that Winners could perhaps forge a win-win situation by asking the former goons of Atienza to be part of the park today, as forest keepers perhaps. After all, there is no more war and everybody is a winner at Arroceros resurrected.
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Friday, May 16, 2008
VERTIGO
by Bernie Lopez
Vertigo is a physical sickness, an abnormality of the middle ear that causes the loss of the sense of balance and total disorientation. But in rare occasions, there are spiritual causes.
There are vertigo cases where patients experience intense attacks for one to two days once or twice a month or even a year. Joel, in his sixties, was a very successful executive, the Chief Executive Officer or CEO of a medium sized firm, the small empire he had built through the decades of hard work. Joel's advanced stage vertigo was different. It was not occasional attacks but one protracted unending attack.
He had heard about Sister Raquel Reodica, RVM, the healer from Novaliches known to many. He went to her, hoping to be healed. He had to be guided by two persons on either side. He complained to her about his continuous vertigo. But there was something more, Joel posed.
She said, "Let me guess the real problem."
"Go ahead Sister, take a shot", Joel dared her.
"You don't know what to do with yourself and your life. You are lost."
Joel was stunned, "How did you know?" Sister Raquel hit it right on the head. They had been talking just for a few minutes. Sister had no idea who and what he was.
He went on. He was at the top of his career. He had attained everything he wanted. He sat in a plush office, giving commands to his people like a general, or more like an emperor. There was nothing he could not get if he wished for it. But he was bored to death giving orders and being in charge. He had a lot of 'bored meetings'. He had no desire for more fortune as he had it all. He was bored being respected by everyone. All their praises and awe were nothing to him. There was something missing in all these. At the apex of his career, Joel felt there was no meaning in life. There was nothing there on top, just emptiness amidst all the frenzied tasks to keep the empire going. Joel’s case reminded me of the book ‘Hope for the Flowers’. I told Sister to tell Joel to read the book. It is a book for children. You could finish the book in one sitting, say two hours. It had a very simple plot but it was deep and powerful and hits the spirit in search of one's self.
Sister told Joel everyone had a calling or vocation. Everyone had his mission-vision to fulfil. You do not have to reach your goal in your lifetime. But you must try to reach it, approach it. The effort is more important than the goal. The journey is more important than the destination. Sister reminded Joel of the parable of the talents. She said the talents God gave you are not for yourself. They are for others. Your career and business skills are the same. They are not for you, that was why Joel was bored with himself at the top. Even your empire is not for you.
Sister started probing, "Do you have God in you?"
"Not really, Sister. I hate novenas. I go to mass only as a habit to accompany my wife. It is nothing to me. No, I am not the religious type."
"Your spiritual energy has no outlet. It is all bottled up inside you”, Sister added.
Joel did not realize it but Sister was opening up a whole new world to him. She was laying out a trap to catch him and bring him out of his dilemma of success and boredom all at once. The meaning of life that he was looking for, more spiritual than material, was staring him right on the face.
After her short sermon that made Joel think hard, she asked, "O saan ka ngayon?" (Where do you stand?)
Instinctively, after his instant catharsis, after all the misery of his success, he instantly shouted, "Kay Hesus. Kay Hesus ako, sister." (I am for Jesus.)
Joel embraced instantly the answer to his dilemma, his spiritual vacuum, his spiritual vertigo. And in his reply, his physical vertigo vanished instantly. Joel stood up and brushed aside his aides. His sense of balance was back. He could suddenly walk. The Lord he turned to after all these years healed him instantly. Many cannot understand that there are spiritual solutions to physical problems, as in Joel’s case. By instantly placing himself in the hands of the Lord, after all these years of being on top, there was meaning and fulfilment.
Healing sessions at the Mother Ignacia Healing Center are every Wednesdays and Saturday; 857 Bagumbong Road, Novaliches. Inquire by email, are just ask around. People can guide you to the place.
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BAGOONG RICE
By Bernie Lopez
’Bagoong’ rice is an exotic fine-dining entrée which has actually been in existence since pre-Hispanic times. It is the food of the very poor in lean months when there is only rice and seasoning of salt, patis or bagoong at the dinner table. The exotic variety was a product of creative packaging and restaurant marketing.
Alternatives to bagoong rice during the lean months include patis-rice, pancit sandwich and other forms of creative pure-starch menus. With shortages and expensive rice and bread, pancit sandwich might evolve into ‘bread sandwich’, if you know what I mean. But alternatives may veer towards non-starch experiments. There will be new creative dishes, I am sure, learning a lesson from Mangyans of Mindoro who eat ‘stones’ in the lean months. It is actually mineral-rich hardened mud-pack found along rivers and creeks, quite nutritious, but you cannot eat a lot of it even if you are very hungry.
I remember the days I covered the Mangyans in Mindoro . There was a big conference at Abra de Ilog which was ‘over-attended’ by about 400 people. ‘Over-attended’ meant 80 Mangyan heads of families were invited but 300 came because they could not leave behind their wives and children at home. So there was panic in the kitchen. The Mangyans said they would take care of breakfast the next day. They woke up at 3 a.m.
When I woke up at 6 a.m., I saw the largest bagoong rice plate of my life, something for the Guinness Book of Records. They laid out huge banana leaves for 30 meters along the school corridor and poured the rice from one end to the other, looking like a white replica of the Cordillera mountain range. On top of the mountain, they poured pure unadulterated bagoong, dark snow-caps on white mountains. There were no utensils, no plates.
The conference attendees lined up on the sides of this bagoong-rice superhighway and we started to eat with our hands. We simply took lumps of bagoong rice and set it in on the free space of the banana leaf along the sides. After breakfast, it was as if the mountain range was hit by a nuclear blast.
It was a noisy spirited breakfast. Everyone was talking. There was a much-appreciated pandemonium. It was one of my best breakfasts for a long time and the ethnic spirit was inspiring. The lesson I learned then was – you can be poor and happy anytime you want, a matter of will power. But there are new lessons to learn today – you have to fight poverty and hunger.
Looking back, if that conference was done today, it would be disaster because there would be less rice and more bagoong, or just boiled kamoteng kahoy or gabi with sugar, the dinner of Mangyans in the lean months. Creative menus are a challenge today not so much on how to prepare but what to prepare.
GLOBAL FOOD CRISIS
With a world food crisis emerging and climate change further undermining food production, Man today is faced with a looming crisis. He must find ways of dealing with a new situation never before encountered in history. He must deal with the planet and with himself at a deeper plane all at once. He must address global warming which must necessarily affect food production. It is a planet dilemma.
One of the main culprits in the world food shortage is the U.S. Africa , which triggered food riots.
The heightened awareness of global food shortage has triggered food export bans everywhere, as in India , Vietnam , Indonesia and Brazil
As for rice, Thailand and Vietnam
The Philippines
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