How to be rich in Singapore?

How to be rich in Singapore 100218

In Asia News Channel, a study conducted by Mediacorp revealed the following facts – to be rich in Singapore, one must have three things going for him/her, namely: connections, education and hard work.

Connections refers to the people you know, who could push you along to your path of success.  Education refers to specialized knowledge that one attained via a college education (or even an advance degree such as a masterate degree or a doctorate degree).  Hard work refers to the willingness of the individual to go beyond the normal eight (8) hours of work, of sacrificing holidays and important personal dates and anniversaries just to produce the necessary work outputs.

There were two classes of respondents that were tested.  Those that belongs to the upper class and those that were categorized as lower class.

For the lower class; the ranking of the criterions were:  education was number one, followed by hard work and connections.  For the upper class, the ranking was connections, education and hard work.

Now since this was a research based in Singapore, I will not attempt to extrapolate conclusions and recommendations of the said research.  Suffice to say that this particular research stated three elements/criterions on making it big in Singapore and by extension, how to be universally rich in any country.

Being an educator, I cannot overemphasize the importance of education.  Centuries from now, when humanity have finally licked the problem of poverty, education would prove to be one of the main bullet that slayed and ended the horror of poverty.

Hard work is hard work.  There is no substitute for hard work.  Hard work refers to the willingness of an individual to roll up his sleeve and do whatever is necessary to make things happen.  I have yet to meet a person who is rich and successful who is not a hard worker.

Now, I have some reservations about connections.  Because one cannot actually plan and produce notable work that is geared towards connections.  Personally, connection is just an accident or just an incidental factor.   Having the right environment (like the right school, right church, and right geographic origin) however, open doors that is usually closed to anyone who does not share the same element of similarity.

So, there you have it, such is true in Singapore and by extension – such is also applicable in the Philippines.

Courtship

Courtship in the Spanish Era 100218

In every town in the Philippines, whenever there is a church, there is always a plaza nearby.  And inside that plaza, there is always a fountain.  Nowadays, it is a big question whether such fountain is still working, but during the Spanish colonial times, that fountain served as a venue for a daily promenade for men and women of marriageable age.

Every afternoon, usually from 4:00 PM to 6:00 PM, young women of marriageable age walk around the fountain in a clockwise direction while men walk around the fountain in a counter-clockwise direction.  This affair is strictly regulated by the priest of the nearby church.  And any men or women who deviate from this routine are punished by being banned from the promenade (temporarily) or expelled (permanently) immediately.

For decades and centuries of Spanish colonization, such was the way where men and women of marriageable age greet and meet one another.

If one were to fast forward the hands of time, one could pose a silly question whether such a promenade still occur in the current day Philippines?  And though there is no longer a fixed promenade of men and women walking and circling the fountain inside the plaza and in front of the church.  Current Filipino men and women still walk (as if in a promenade) in a mall.

In every town or municipality where there is a mall, Filipino men and women strut their way to meet, to greet, and find temporary or long-lasting connections or affairs.

The venue may have changed, but the need to socialized is still there, regardless whether it was during the Spanish colonial times or in the age Duterte and his tokhang.

Negative Psychology

Negative Psychology (082318)

Theoretically, this is based on the Operant Conditioning of BF Skinner, specifically, the negative reinforcement.  People follow rules or conform, not because they like to be good but rather because they are afraid of punishment.  Rules and regulations tells them what do to but at the end or such rules and regulations, there is the penalty clause where the punishment is stipulated for those who will not follow.

Negative psychology is about failures.  It is about how one leap over failure and how one turn failures (which is negative) into a glowing success.  Failure is just a dress rehearsal for success, as they say in show business, hence instead of shunning failure, one must embrace failure.  One ought to own failure and shortcomings, learn from it and aspire to do better in the next round of opportunity.  Because opportunity is just around the corner if one knows to look for it.

Negative psychology is not the opposite of positive psychology, though a balance could be maintained so as to extract the maximum effect for behavior manipulation.  Negative psychology could be a tool in business psychology (increasing efficiency), academic setting (reverse psychology), and cognitive psychology (changing motivation and adding a layer of meaning to what one is currently experiencing). 

Negative psychology is not negative thinking, in fact, negative psychology changes the dynamics of thinking where things, people and events – that are initially deemed important, are not really that important as it was initially thought to be.  Negative psychology could even serve as an extension of existential psychology.  It is all a state of mind.

Popular aphorism that gives a glimmer of negative psychology:

Why commit suicide? You are eventually going to die anyway, just wait.

Everything changes, nothing last forever.

Why wake up? If you just intend to sleep the day away.

The pain tells you that you are alive.

These things will pass us by.  And you will remain standing.

If you think this is expensive now, just wait another year.  It is going to cost you more.

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Liberty (052218)

In the 19^th century, for the immigrants who are just entering the coast of New York, the statue of the Lady Liberty symbolizes freedom. For these weary immigrants, the search for the truth, happiness and wealth is over, one is now in the USA, and everything now is possible and attainable.

The immigrants in the middle ages were persecuted in Europe.  They were persecuted by the virtue of their beliefs, pursuit of happiness and opposing political and religious beliefs.  With nowhere to go, they found and migrated to the Americas and created their own piece of heaven (in whatever shape and form) and up to this date, the USA remains the symbolic bastion of liberty and freedom.

There is a creeping dictatorship in the Philippines.  Whether this is confirmed or obvious to people is irrelevant.  The fact is that the current occupant of the office of the presidency, is an advocate of taking short cuts, and the very core of check and balance is being challenged.  The dynamics is being changed.  From a democratic model we are now shifting to dictatorial model.  For all intents and purposes, the current occupant is a tyrant, he intends to be a tyrant and he wants to perceived as a tyrant.

Despite his protestation that he is not, is irrelevant, his actions speaks louder that his deplorable words.

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Character

It is what essentially makes us unique from other individuals.  Our character, whether it is subjectively considered good or bad by other people, is what defines us as a person.  Though I really do not mind the opinion of others, since there is really nothing that I can do to change it, but surprisingly, there is something that what one could do to shape it.

Opinion is of the cheapest commodity around, everybody has one.  More than anybody else’s opinion, your own opinion about yourself is the most valuable opinion.

A person’s character is always dependent on perception.  Being predicated on perception means that such is always influence by subjectivity.  The equation here being that there is always a 360 degrees’ perspective of looking at things.  There is your own personal view, there is the view of other people and there is the objective perspective on what actually happened.

PRRD with his trademark callous disregard for manners and decorum, crossed the imaginary line of decency ages ago, there was even a time that such was an advantage.  While Erap encourage the proliferation of Erap jokes at his expense, the advantage was that tales of his stupidity endeared him to the masses.

The support base of Erap is a ghost of what it was at its peak.  The applause and buy in for the tough guy image of PRRD is waning.  Cussing your way to the presidency and maintaining the hold on presidency via cussing are two different things.  And the audience are getting tired of the usual excuse that such was only a joke.

Character is what makes us unique as an individual.  While some are aware that such is their public image, others are still struggling for their own emergence of character that they could truly claim as their own.  Some are originals by their own right, while some are pathetic replicas.  The challenge really is how to find your own defining character and shape it further from being generic to something that is specific.

A character is supposed to related to values, so what values do we represent that defines our character?  Subjectivity is all around us and a person’s character is a dime a dozen, or in this inflation laden era, lima piso.

Ang Mapagmurang Pangulo

Ang mapagmurang pangulo

Matapos ang halalan sa lupalop ng mga ungas, tinalo ng mapagmurang kandidato ang kanyang mga kalaban sa politika at halalan, at sa kauna unahang pagkakataon – ang kandidato mula sa Mindanao ang nahalal na pangulo.

Nag bunyi ang mga ungas, sa pagkakataong ito, ang nanalo ay kanilang kandidato na nagmula sa masa at hindi elitista.  Isa syang dating alcalde sa isla ng Mindanao at meron talagang karanasan sa pag papatakbo ng gobyerno.  Nagsaya at nag diwang ang karamihan, maraming nag babala na magiging maka saysayan ang bagong halal na pangulo.

Halos walang gawang mali ang bagong halal na pangulo, pero isa isa ay lumalabas na ang kanyang kapintasan.

Sa simulat sapul na ay talagang mapag mura na ang pangulong ito.  Habang kandidato palang ito, ay naipit sa mabigat na trapiko na dala ng pagbisita ng Santo Papa ng simbahang katolika, at ano ang kanyang nalat halang komento?  Minura nya ang Santo Papa.

Ang insidenteng ito at nag mula nuong sya ay kandidato pa, pero nuong sya ay mahalal na, maraming beses at madalas pa itong nag mumura sa publiko.  Mura dito, mura duon, mura hanggang sa SONA.  Sa labis ng kanyang pagmumura, marami na rin ang gumagaya sa kanya.  Pati ang mga mababang opisyales ng gobyerno ay mapagmura na rin.

Sa labis ng kanyang pag mumura, na mura na rin nya ang may likha.  Humingi sya ng dispensya sa Santo Papa at sa ibang pang pangulo o lider na kanyang namura.  Humingi sya ng kapatawaran sa diyos sa pagsabing hangal ito.  Pero ang hindi nya alam, ay nakarating na ang kanyang paboritong mura sa dapat makarinig.  At sila ay nagalit.

Ang mura ay isang pautang na dapat bayaran.  Sa ayaw o sa gusto, mag babayad ang me utang na mura.  Mamumura din kayo at ang mas masakit na mura ay iyong mura na hindi binabanggit ng labi ninuman.

UTS 033018

Understanding the self (033018)

Why spend another semester or fifty-four hours just to understanding oneself?  Don’t you understand yourself?  If you in fail this particular subject, does it mean that you are a stranger to yourself?

These issues are certain to crop up when taking this particular subject.

We need to understand ourselves, not because there is a grade attached to it, but rather because we need to answer the riddle of Plato, of that of “knowing oneself”.  Knowing oneself seems to be a basic issue but an individual unable to hurdle such a riddle is destined to a life of contradiction.  A person who doesn’t know where he wants to go and similar to a scenario of playing basketball without a ring or playing darts without a dart board.

Such a person would always be at war with himself and he would most certainly be wasting his time because he would always be ambivalent with what he wants.

If you do not know yourself, you would be consigned to a wasted life.  You might be venturing to an enterprise that would cost you a lot and at the tail end of the race, a realization comes that such is now worthless  because you do not want it at the first place. 

If you do not know yourself, you mimic a lost soul that doesn’t know where he is headed, where he came from and why is he going in such a direction?  One is consigned in chasing things that are deemed important but are discarded later on since there is always a change of what is deemed valuable.

And yes, the quest for knowing oneself at an early stage of one’s life is important.  Similar to answering the riddle of knowing oneself, things are simpler, things are easier and values are rational when there is a basic understanding of oneself.

Take the case of Duterte.  The man is a walking contradiction.  He wants to be loved, he wants to be recognized, he wants to be admired, and yet everything that he does is the exact opposite of what he wants.

He wants to be taken seriously, and yet he jokes most of the time.  When he becomes offensive and gutter language takes the center of attraction, he will just say that he was just joking.  His jokes are inappropriate and somehow, becomes his blanket excuses for his un-presidential behavior.

When one does not know himself, he is always at war with himself.  Ambivalence becomes his middle name, and claims of poor jokes becomes his refuge for excusing himself.

No president will ever admit openly that he has killed a person, and yet, Duterte openly claims such.  And why is this?  The man is bothered unconsciously by his conscience and like a fallen catholic, wants to confess and seeks absolution from anyone willing to listen and willing to award such a symbolic absolution.

I tell you, the man is lost, the man is directionless, the man is a contradiction and the man seeks forgiveness above all else.  The man simply does not understand himself.   

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Lenten Break (033118)

The Lenten break arrived a little bit early this year, usually the season happens around April, but since the basis a lunar calendar instead of the usual solar calendar, the break, as I said arrived earlier.

I tried driving around the city during this break and believe you me, there was virtually no traffic.  Almost everyone who is not important or needed in the city, left the city, to spend their Lenten break somewhere else.  I got to savor, the absence of traffic, because in case the government have not figured it out, lesser people means lesser traffic.  That is why if you want to lighten the traffic, you lessen the people on the road by reducing their reason of being on the road.

Driving around the city was a breeze.  How I wish that such a situation could last a little bit longer, unfortunately, such is not the case.  By tomorrow, there will be a massive influx of people who would be trekking back to Manila, to begin another grind of a workweek.  Somehow, people would be lesser since the start of summer is upon us, and students which is 50% of the reason why there is a colossal traffic in the city, would commence with their summer break.

But seriously, if you are really bent on reducing traffic, you reduce people on the road.  The world doesn’t have to coincide with the 8 to 5/9 to 6 schedule.  Business hours could be adjusted.  School schedules could be adjusted, to lessen the number of people on the road.  They say that the Philippines is losing 2 billion pesos a day because of traffic, I say that such could be reduced when we adjust the schedule of students in the city.  Just in the city only, it doesn’t have to be in the entire Philippines scenario.  An adjustment of school schedule in the capital would lead to a billion pesos a day savings for the country.

School doesn’t have to open at 7 am.  They could open at 5 am.  I could move as early as 4 am but for other consideration, a 5 am school schedule would suffice.  An earlier start means an earlier end of classes, freeing the road for other industries later on, leading a more manageable traffic flow.

The Lenten season is supposed to be a time of reflection on the ultimate sacrifice of the savior.  With the current rate of hedonism happening in the country, the reason for reflection is lost – cheapening and further devaluing the holy week.

People are in and around the beach, welcoming and savoring the start of the summer, forgetting the principal reason of the Lenten season.  By any other definition, that is hedonism by any other name.  But for this exercise, let us christened the yearly phenomenon as Lenten Hedonism.

Let us all drink, eat and fornicate, for tomorrow, we are all going to die and we might as well take advantage of the opportunity today and as often as we can.  Because the opportunity might not present itself again tomorrow.

Death is certain, the opportunity is not.  And while there is nothing wrong with this philosophy, there is something wrong with our hypocrisy.  Let us all call spade a spade and just come out in the open.  Let us not sugar coat our collective hypocrisy any longer.

From this day forward, it is Lenten Hedonism for the Philippines.

Grandparents 033018

Grandparents (033018)

My second son and youngest son will never experience the joy of having grandparents.  In their limited constellation of exposure to relatives, the role of grandparents is lacking.  They have tons of uncles, aunties, cousins and in-laws to go around but having a grandfather or a grandmother wouldn’t be one of them.

On the side of my wife, her parents died early, and on my side, my parents also died with a very limited exposure to my offspring’s.  They knew that they have grandparents, but the requisites of bonding are not one of them.

Commercially, there are Father’s Day, Mother’s Day and Grandparents day.  While I suspect the creation of such specific days and I suspect that they are just created to sustain a commercial underpinning, to get people to spend their limited incomes on days that are supposed to be inexpensive and should be celebrated all year round, a mall inspired celebration is just a ploy to get people in the mall and for them to spend their money.

While there is nothing wrong with this ploy, this scheme however, cheapens the original intend of the commercially initiated occasion.

Just like Christmas Day, Easter Sunday and Valentine’s Day – the commercial inclination ruins the very rationale of the intended celebration. 

My personal regret, is that my parents cannot be around their grandchildren since they already moved on.  The supposed transmission of culture is not complete, and I am a poor carrier of traditions.

Somehow, somewhere, I lost something from this equation.  And the biggest irony of all is that I just learned from the eldest daughter that she is now expecting a child and that me and my wife are soon to be transformed as grandparents ourselves.  This is just great.  This is just another failure in my many lists of regrets.

A young man like me, all forty-seven of summers, soon to become a grandfather?  We have failure and regrets all written at the start of a chapter.  A colossal tragedy all waiting to happen at the slightest provocation.

A simple denial would have been sufficient, but another role to play?  This is not included in my repertoire above average skills.  I am doomed to fail and comedy story that is waiting to evolved as a tragedy.  Considering that I am not liked as a father, I am certain to be hated as a grandfather.

My wife would surely fill whatever role that I would surely fare badly upon and that is my only consolation.  I do not want this role but life goes on, and this role is pressed upon my unwanted and ungiven consent.

                                                                          

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Driving Cars (032818)

Having car in the Philippines denotes that you are not poor.  In a country that is predominantly poor (or officially classified as a third world country), a possession of one means that in an economic race – one’s station is in the middle and is largely considered as a middle class.

I only had my first car when I was already in my 40’s.  Though I already own a string of motorcycles (a White Honda Bravo, a Green Yamaha Mio, A Red Kawasaki Rouser, another Black Yamaha Mio and current Red Honda Beat), my first car is an AT Silver Toyota Vios.

I have a lot of history with this car, aside from being my first car, symbolically, this signals that I am not getting behind the economic race but more importantly, functionally – I get to ferry my entire family where they are needed.

This car was bought on credit and after paying off this car, this will not be for resale, in fact, I would purchase another car for my wife which in turn would be given in time to our youngest son.  The Toyota Vios would be given to my second son.  And in my retirement years, I would be buying a Sports Utility Vehicle (SUV).  For the record, this is still to happen in the future, I still have to pay the first car for another year, but hopefully, this long-term plan would come to fruition.

To date, I have already driven 8 variety of cars, all automatic transmissions since I do not know how to drive a manual transmission.  Aside from the Toyota Vios, I have already driven a Toyota Yaris, a Toyota Wigo, a Honda City, a Hyundai Accent, a Mitsubishi Mirage, a Nissan X-Trail, a Mitsubishi Montero and very recently, a Toyota Fortuner.

My benchmark is my own Toyota Vios.  I judge and measure cars according to the standard set by my own car.  And I must confess, except for Toyota Fortuner, I held my Toyota Vios above the other enumerated vehicles.

Toyota Fortuner was above my Toyota Vios because it was really such a muscle car.  One’s manhood is literally elevated with this SUV.  Maybe my Toyota Vios was aging and maybe I was riding a brand-new SUV and the comparison is simply a no contest.  But my current attainable vehicle is a Toyota Fortuner. 

The feel, upgraded accessories, the elevation, the power, the size…based in my limited test driven cars, Toyota Fortuner is tops.  The king of the hill, the attainable dream ride.

Some might even argue that the Toyota Fortuner is a wrong choice for being a SUV, while the other were cars, my estimation however remains the same, my conclusions concrete (for now).

Daily Grind 040118

Daily grind (040118)

Today is April 1, 2018, some history buff would say that today is also considered as an April’s fool’s day.  Meaning, people would be pranking other people because historically, such have been the tradition even during the medieval times.  The prank however was brutal, people were killed and downright executed on this day but as the tradition was watered down, no more deaths rule was implemented, though people were still being consciously fooled.

Based on the lunar calendar, today was also an Easter Sunday.  

For the Catholics, the implication was that he is risen and the act of human salvation from sin is complete.  Mankind is now saved from the clutches of sin and people are now out of the darkness.

But more than anything else, people by tomorrow, would be trekking back to their daily grind.  Work will have to continue (though there is another long weekend because of National Heroes Day) and people need to be productive again.  The difficulty here lies when people have lost their momentum of daily grind and have to re-start their mindset, coming off a long vacation and travelling back from the province.

And once you have groove, once you are over the hump, there is another long weekend, breaking again the momentum of actually working.  Traffic would be light by virtue of the start of the summer where majority of classes are suspended and only irregular students would have to undergo a summer class, either for students who are behind or trying to advance and or catch up with their projective graduation dates.

This thought or idea have been forwarded before, but we really need to lessen our holidays, comparatively speaking, we have one of the most number of official holidays in the planet.  We are festive, we celebrate so many days, and we even suspend work and classes just to celebrate these days.

Our productivity is already affected, we need to shape up, catch up and work more to produce more.  Be it in the business of manufacturing goods or providing services, we as a country needs to carry our load and soldier on for productivity.

Besides, every time there is a holiday, there is an upswing or increase in the number of crimes being committed.  Check any DILG or PNP data, and they will show and confirm that after every holiday (regardless of rationale for such), there is increased number of crimes being committed.

The solution really is quite obvious, lesser celebration, lesser crime and this in turn leads to increased productivity.  Unfortunately, the culture is quite soft is not downright damaged in this issue.  People want the perpetuation of the status quo, people want to retain the unproductive calendar and the continuation of laziness via the celebration of so many holidays.

Someone really needs to break this cycle or the status quo would continue to damage the next generation of Filipinos – believing that in order to properly celebrate any occasion, disruption of whatever calendared work ought to be suspended or delayed.

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Blackhole (032718)

A giant of science died recently, in the person of Stephen Hawking (March 14, 2018).  His worldwide bestseller, A Brief History of Time, gave an abbreviated and simplified tale of time and space from the perspective of physics.  By profession, he was a theoretical physicist but his contribution far exceeded his field of expertise.

From a cameo appearance (on non-appearance) in the sitcom series of “The Big-Bang Theory” to the animated series of “The Simpsons”, Stephen Hawking gave birth to giant ideas and brought them to the level of the masses and that of the non-scientific minds. 

Collectively, there was a trend of do-it-yourself (DIY) practice in almost every field of human endeavor, that trend could even be attributed to his genius.

Statistically he should have died in his twenties, if not in his thirties, but fortunately, he ended up being blessed with a long scientific life (all of 76 summers).

Among the many ideas attributed to him, Stephen Hawking articulated the possibilities and realities of blackholes.  Of what they are, of what they could be, of how they could be and what they mean in the vast expanse of the universe.  Just recently, someone postulated (or mused) that our universe may be located inside and blackhole and we have just not realized it yet.  Now that is an intriguing thought.

Blackholes are literal holes in the universe where the gravitational pull is so great that even light cannot escape.  And surprisingly, blackholes are expanding, eating and devouring stars in the process.  Just imagine a gravitational pull where even light cannot escape?  And imagine that such a hole is ever expanding, consuming stars, planets and eventually galaxies in the near future.  Our solar system may be near an undiscovered blackhole somewhere or an ever expanding blackhole somewhere.

Some theoretical physicists are even postulating that at the rate the universe is expanding and at the rate that the thousands (is not millions) of blackholes are expanding, the universe might be eaten by a blackhole.

Upon closer studies of blackholes, it was also attributed to Mr. Hawking that there are hundreds, if not thousands of blackholes in our galaxy alone.  Ever expanding blackholes might even fuse with other blackholes creating a bigger blackhole that is now capable of consuming more stars and heavenly bodies.

Mr. Hawking is also attributed to had discovered that blackholes also give out a radiation, and this radiation is now named after him, this is now called the “Hawking Radiation Effect”.  Now what is the implication of this? Though there is a massive gravitational force inside the blackhole, there are struggles beneath it (or inside it) and these struggles are producing a radiation effect.

Considering that Stephen Hawking suffers from a medical condition that renders him an invalid, his contribution to science, physics and pop culture in general is beyond measure.  When Albert Einstein died, the world needed another face to symbolize intellect.  After Einstein, Hawking took that role. I would postulate that somehow, somewhere, somehow, there is a vacancy in this role of symbolism.

Just as nature abhors a vacuum, I am certain that someone would fit the role nicely in the near future.  That is if the blackhole that does not get him first and trap him perpetually with his massive gravitational pull.

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Martial Law (032418)

When Martial Law was first declared on Mindanao last year because of the Maute aggression, the justification for the so called Martial Law was already shaky in terms of legal basis.  The only justification were rebellion, invasion and lawlessness.

All three were possible justification were not crystal clear and solid hence the declaration was questioned before the Supreme Court.  Surprisingly, the Supreme Court agreed with Executive contention and they simply said that it was a clear case of executive prerogative.

When the Maute group was inevitable repelled and its leaders finally killed by the military, and extension for another year was sought by the executive department up to this date, the Supreme Court have not yet made a ruling on the legality of the Martial Law extension.

Considering that there is an impeachment trial that would commence in the Senate, and with the Chief Justice as the main subject of the imminent impeachment trial, the ruling on the legality of the Martial Law extension in Mindanao would be superseded by the impeachment process.  In my personal estimation, the impeachment trial would have to dealt with first before any ruling on the legality of the Martial Law extension would come out.

And by the time that such ruling would come out, the duration of the extension is already consumed, making the petition for the legality of such an extension moot and academic.

With the integrity and independence of the legislature already compromised, the next target is the judiciary.  A successful impeachment on the Chief Justice would serve notice that no one is untouchable and safe from bullying from this administration.  Just bend to the perverted will of the Chief Executive and there would be less trouble for everyone who matters in the government.

Even the opposition, will have to take notice, since the PDAF mastermind Janet Lim-Napoles is admitted to the Witness Protection Program of the Justice Department and more controversial names would surely surface for potential prosecution.  And guess what? These names would predominantly contain the names of known opposition leaders.  A classic case of a legal blackmail.  Temper your opposition or suffer the legal harassment.

From the Marcos burial, to the China territorial sell-out, to the ICC withdrawal, and Martial law in Mindanao, these are all red flags of a looming and an impending dictatorship in the republic. 

Duterte have his millions of followers, but just like any political reality, what goes up – must come down.  Sooner or later, dissatisfaction with this current administration would multiply exponentially, and there would be an ugly reckoning for the republic.

The bigger question now is this, are we strong enough to survive a Duterte fallout?   Will this fallout unite us or further divide us?  This problem could be simplified by a removal of a head of state for health reasons or death, but we all know that such is just wishful thinking.

Duterte is already toying with the notion of changing the constitution, of shifting the government from presidential to a federal form of government.  His minions are already hard at work and from all indications are making headways.  There are dark clouds on the horizon and they appear to man-made and designed to benefit the current administration.

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Basketball (032618)

Personally, one of the greatest joy of being a father is playing basketball with your male children.  Some years back, I was able to play with my two kids, the joy of playing with them is beyond description.  There is something magical that happens when you give them pointers on how to make a simply shot, how to defend, how to position oneself in rebounding and how to play smart basketball as opposed to rigid type of play.

How I pity fathers who do not have male children to play basketball with.  Now after playing physical basketball, and just to keep current with the digital kids nowadays – I recently bought a playstation game of NBA.  The game is already dated, I bought two NBA games for year 2013 and 2014.  The players have already moved to another teams, some were traded and some were already retired.

But the game is still the same, the players may have changed but the game is still played according to the basketball philosophy that one subscribed to.

2014 is the year of NBA superstar Le Bron James.  The game was inherently made to showcase his talent.  If you have Miami Heat as your team, you give the ball to James and he will make things happen.  I tell you, the character couldn’t make a mistake.

Now, my youngest child, challenged me to a playstation NBA game and while browsing the possible teams to play with, I came across the Chicago Bulls team led by Michael Jordan in the 90’s and I selected this team as my playstation team.  My youngest child, who is now my opponent, picked the Minnesota Timberwolves.

The game was a riot, I easily burned the basket with the superlative plays of Michael Jordan.  My son, not knowing who Michael Jordan was, was asking my other son, how could this character make no mistakes.

Michael Jordan was unstoppable.  From the outside, to the inside, from defending to his magical jumpers, it was a joy to behold.  A time travel back in the 90’s via the mighty Chicago Bulls.

Long story short, I won the game with a margin of more than 20 points and ironically, introduced Michael Jordan to my two sons.  This was one of the rare moments where I get to play the digital superior and teach my arrogant sons the value of knowing basketball history. 

In the 1990’s, there was only one basketball god and one basketball team worth following; Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls.

My youngest son vowed to play harder and better next time, in fact, along with his brother, they were already training on how to dunk, how to defend, how to do an alley hoop and other basketball tricks.  And in silence, I fear that they indeed would get better and beat me sooner than later.

The joy however is mine alone, this is one of the perks of fatherhood.  Introducing new things, ideas, notions and concepts that would yield to a better version of mini-me’s.  I thoroughly enjoyed this one rare basketball moment, though this happen inside a gaming console with a dated NBA game.

On Duterte Presidency (032318)

Rodrigo Roa Duterte, a former mayor of Davao city was elected president of the Philippine republic with a winning vote of around 16 million.  He bested the administration bet then (Mar Roxas), a sitting Vice President (Jejomar Binay) and two sitting senators (Mirriam Defensor Santiago and Grace Poe).

Out of nowhere, a nobody from the poor island of Mindanao captured the presidency.  A politician perceived to be a thug, whose only claim to national exposure is his willingness to kill just to rid himself of drug personality low-lives.

When he won the presidential contest, the country was ecstatic, it was a grand display of a working and a functioning democracy.  He was from the opposing side and the administration used all the known tricks and methods in electioneering, and yet, - the underfunded, the provincial and a political outsider won the electoral contest.

Underfunded, because the campaign run on donations from supporters who believed in the brand of politics of the Davao city mayor and there was no national support whatsoever, all the national support were extended to the administration bet.  Provincial, because he came from the southern island of Mindanao and not from imperial Manila and was commonly regarded as not classy enough for a national office.  A political outsider because he was a long shot, compared to other candidates who have a national office to back them up, in terms of political organization and savvy.

History smiled kindly on this notorious mayor and he was elected and proclaimed president.  At the onset, there was universal support and acclaim.  The proverbial honeymoon was in effect, and just like any newlywed couples, all flaws were temporarily ignored though they were already manifested and telling during the run of the presidential campaign.

A lot of things happened since the election of Duterte.  The former dictator was finally buried like a thief in the night in the Libingan ng mga Bayani.  Being a self-confessed Marcos admirer, Duterte paid the late dictator the ultimate honor of agreeing to his burial in a cemetery reserved for heroes.  The favorable ruling that the republic acquired was shelved and China got a foothold in the Philippine territory.  There will be no more protest just a joint exploration in the West Philippine sea.  Extra-Judicial Killing became an operative word in the press, and suddenly, people connected with the drug trade are fighting back, hence the necessity of killing them and executing them outright.  As the PNP used to say and proclaim as a rationalization, “nanlaban daw”.  As of this writing, the unofficial figure is around 10 000 deaths attributed to tokhang, but the official PNP will only acknowledge 3000 to 4000 deaths only.

Duterte, once acknowledged publicly that he regularly uses fentanyl, an addictive pain killer but when he realizes the contradiction of such (with his all-out drug war), doesn’t talk about this subject anymore.  He once boasted that he personally killed people but when asked who are these people, he clams up, fearing legal ramifications.  Now these things are facts, the internet is filled with videos where Duterte admitted to such and yet, people still supports him.  His trust rating is still high and waning is still far from the horizon.

Despite his many flaws, his brand of Filipinos still clings to the notion that he will bring the nation to the promised land, improved the economy, bring peace and order, eradicate illegal drugs and bring prosperity to all.

Marawi City, in Mindanao was captured by Muslim hardliners, declaring a caliphate state in the south.  Martial law was declared in the whole island of Mindanao.  A fierce war was staged to retake Marawi and after months of war, Marawi was inevitably won back by the military.  And yet, the big riddle of extension of Martial Law when there is no longer an actual threat is still upon the island of Mindanao.

The bigger question is that why does the Legislature allow such an illegal act to remain and why did the Supreme Court validated the such proclamation?  Mindanao is still under the military rule via the martial law, there is no basis but to humor and patronize a sitting president, an extension was upheld to satisfy the cravings of a sitting president. 

The legislature, both the Philippine Senate and the House of Representatives are already compromised and are in the dark influence of the executive, the judiciary is institutionally being bullied with the impeachment of the Chief Justice, the military is beholden to the occupant of the palace and the Philippine National Police is already paid for (with their current unreasonable salary increase).  The beauty of democracy is that there is a check and balance system in place to correct the excesses of either the executive, the legislature and the judiciary.  In this current equation however, there is no system.  The legislature and the judiciary is bullied to a pulp and there is just no fight in them, to challenge the bully, which is the executive.

Just where are we headed?  Duterte will continue with his unstated policy of extra judicial killing.  China will bite more chunk of the Philippine territory.  The opposition to his bloody rule will intensify and increase, there will be a push back resulting in more deaths for the poor while the rich and connected will largely remain untouched by the hated OPLAN Tokhang: Reloaded.

There will be more abuses on the side of the military and the police, but Duterte will be compelled to support them since his principal power emanates from the barrel of a gun.

Historically, there will be a movement that would oust this unfit Philippine ruler from his plum office.  Duterte would get his comeuppance in one way or another, sooner or later.  But if history taught us one great lesson, it is this, people with power covets more power.

Space

Space

In the beginning monologue of Star Trek, it is claimed that space is the final frontier and while other discipline would claim that their respective discipline is the final frontier, there seems to be a real validity that “space indeed is the final frontier”.

Historically and scientifically, our sun (or our star) has a life span of around 12 billion years, it is estimated to be around 4.6 billion years old and will not remain static forever.

1.1 billion years from now, the sun will burn 10% hotter, destroying Earth’s atmosphere and changing all life as we know of today.  3.5 billion years from now, the sun will be 40% brighter (and hotter) and this will boil and evaporate all our oceans, Earth will be like the planet Venus.  In fact, Venus is the future of Earth, 3.5 billion years from now.

The sun is currently burning hydrogen, but when it reached its 6 billionth year, hydrogen will run out and the sun now will burn helium, and the sun will become a red giant.  The sun will grow through expansion then after burning all of helium, the sun will now burn carbon and oxygen.

The sun will be transformed in as a white dwarf and will eventually cool down.  It goes without saying that if man wishes to survive as a specie, we must colonize space, find a more suitable planet with a relatively safe sun and after a billion of year, to search another hospitable place and repeat the process all over again.

But the question that begs answering is do we really want to live forever as a specie?