So Many Events, So Little Time (to Blog)

In more or less two weeks' time, several "bloggable" events happened, I can barely keep up with them.

First, there was the spate of typhoons that decided to visit the Philippine Area of Responsibility almost simultaneously.

Lando (international code name: Hagibis) was the first to make landfall in the Philippines by entering through the backdoor in Surigao. Then it moved in a west-northwest direction, hitting almost all parts of the Visayas.

Under normal circumstances, typhoons entering the country from the East usually cut through either Eastern Visayas or the Southern Tagalog Region first before wreaking havoc on other parts of the country. However, Lando was an interesting one. It not only visited areas rarely hit by typhoons (Cebu included): it even loved the Philippines so much that it made a U-turn back into the country through what was called the "Fujiwara effect." There were even fears that Lando would be uniting forces with typhoon Mina (international code name: Mitag) which also hurtled through most of Luzon. It's a good thing Mina subsided before Lando could combine forces with her.

Lando's quickie visit through Cebu sent mixed reactions among Cebuanos. Since I come from Leyte which usually takes the full brunt of typhoons when they enter the Philippines, I found Lando to be a wimp. However, many of my Cebuano officemates who aren't used to storms lashing through their place were ooohing and aaahing at the intensity of Lando's wind and rain. ("Wala yan sa Lolo ko..." I was thinking to myself.)

It took only a little more than an hour for Lando to unleash his fury on Cebu, then by the time we left our office at 6 pm, it was all over. However, in that short span of time, Lando managed to uproot trees and electric posts, and destroy many billboards. Even the Christmas tree on Fuente Osmeña was in ruins after Lando's visit. Many areas in Cebu were without light and water, and I had to make "igib" for water on the other side of my boarding house compound in the darkness the night Lando hit.

The crazy thing about Lando's visit to Cebu was PAGASA's late weather forecasts. Just before noontime when strong rains began to fall in Cebu, several of us visited the PAGASA online bulletin for the latest on Lando's whereabouts. It stated that Lando hasn't made landfall yet, and that it was still several kilometers off the coast of Surigao. When the ferocity of the storm was at its worst at a little past 3 pm, the PAGASA online bulletin still didn't say anything new. They said they were going to issue a new bulletin by 5 pm, but up to the time that the rain and wind ceased at just before 6 pm, PAGASA still didn't mention anything new.

It was only on the next day that I realized from the news that Lando's eye did grace Cebu at about 3 pm the day before. PAGASA's ineptitude in properly tracking the storm's whereabouts caused Cebuanos to be caught flat-footed.

So...what else is new?

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Then there was the Manila Peninsula siege on the eve of Bonifacio Day.

I find it hard to get mad at Antonio Trillanes IV, despite his gung-ho attempts at changing the world through coup attempts and hotel sieges. He is the image of a soldier fed up with the corruption and excesses of a government that he is pledged to obey. And since he has the conditioning of a military man, he's fighting back in the only way he knows how: through military might.

So he loves staging his gimmicks in five-star hotels like Oakwood and Manila Pen. Then tell me: where do you expect him to implement his plans against the Arroyo administration? In Camps Aguinaldo or Crame? In Malacañang? Or in Victoria Court? He'll be committing suicide if he and his sparse loyalists storm through the first three. That's not good for a military maneuver. As for the last suggestion, what the heck are we thinking?!

Oakwood and Manila Pen are located in the heart of the Philippines' business/financial district: Makati. I'm no genius in the art of war, but if I'm to debilitate a country, I'll go for places where it will hurt the most -- like where all the country's riches are being generated. Besides, hotels are the easiest to evacuate potential crossfire victims from, and also the easiest to conquer. Okay, I admit: their food and drinks are also impeccable...

I also admit that Trillanes' foolhardy takeover of the Manila Pen was wrong, no matter how noble his intentions may have been. But the government's reaction to his siege was -- to quote Charie Villa of ABS-CBN News and Public Affairs -- an "overkill."

By golly, I could barely term Trillanes' hotel siege as a coup attempt. However, government soldiers literally crashed through the Manila Peninsula lobby, wielding any imaginable firearm one could think of. They lobbed tear gas canisters left and right, and -- horror of horrors -- handcuffed everyone in sight, even the media people covering the situation! What in the world were they thinking? It was the Manila Peninsula, for Chrissakes, not Basilan!

My suspicion is this: if only the top dogs in the AFP had their way, Trillanes, his supporters, and everybody else who was inside the Manila Pen that afternoon could have been easily killed. Then the AFP could just issue a statement saying that they were only forced to do so because Trillanes' group fought back and the rest were caught in the crossfire. They've done that many, MANY times before, and more blood on their hands can be washed off in a jiff with a few press statements and Gloria Arroyo's assurance that they will always have her support.

This scenario would've been possible if not for the recent report made by Phillip Alston, Special Rapporteur of the UN Human Rights Council, stating that the Armed Forces of the Philippines is responsible for many extrajudicial killings in the recent past. Of course, AFP Chief Hermogenes Esperon Jr. is in denial, but who would be the more credible entity to believe? An AFP general who coddles cold-blooded henchmen like Maj. Gen Palparan -- or a UN special rapporteur?

With that UN report retracting their trigger-happy fingers, the soldiers simply had to be content with gassing Trillanes, Brig. Gen Danilo Lim, and everyone else present in the Manila Pen, then leading them out like crazed dogs -- cuffs and all.

If the AFP thinks that they have shut Trillanes up once and for all, they only managed to provide this aggressive freedom fighter with more supporters, not only among the soldiers but also among ordinary civilians. Even if Trillanes gets killed fighting against them, there will only be many more Trillaneses to come out of the AFP ranks. Soon, the AFP top brass may just find themselves overwhelmed by soldiers who are truly fighting for fellow Filipinos.

Esperon and his butchers should be shaking in their boots right now.

The Oil Debacle

Recently we have experienced another round of debilitating oil price hikes. According to the Philippine Daily Inquirer, over the weekend gasoline prices have gone up by 50 centavos a liter, while prices of liquefied petroleum products now have an additional 56-centavo increase. Various transport groups like PISTON (Pinagkaisang Samahan ng Tsuper at Operator Nationwide) -- the largest group of jeepney operators and drivers in the Philippines -- are now planning to stage a series of transport strikes to air their demands for a one-peso increase in jeepney fares.

Meanwhile, Filipinos are once again faced with the debacle of making ends meet with the rising costs of basic goods and services -- a typical after-effect of oil price hikes. What a way to greet the Christmas season.

The people so comfortably seated in Malacañang are now trying to appease poor Juan dela Cruz by saying that the situation with the oil price hikes could have been worse had not it been for the "strong economy" we are experiencing right now.

What an irony: our local foreign exchange says that the Philippine peso is now at 42 against the dollar, but I have yet to see Filipinos dancing in the streets because of its effects. C'mon, Malacañang hotshots: stop pulling our leg! The only time I'm going to believe in a Philippine economic recovery is when there are no more reports of children like Marianet Amper committing suicide over hunger and extreme poverty.

Going back to the issue at hand, local oil firms are only reacting to the continuing rise in the prices of oil, or the so-called "black gold" in the world market. As of late, world oil prices have already soared at an all-time high of $100 a barrel. The Philippines is a major oil importer since it cannot generate its own oil resources. Thus, it becomes prone to any price fluctuation in the world market.

In the meantime, members of the OPEC as well as non-OPEC but oil-producing nations garner a windfall over the plight of numerous oil-importing countries -- the Philippines included. Such is the vicious cycle of dependence between these oil-rich countries and the Land of Pinoys.

In fairness to the Malacañang people, one of them managed to share a nugget of wisdom in the light of recent events. Palace Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye stated last Friday that -- well, maybe I should quote him verbatim: "...Now is the time to pool our collective patriotic efforts to intensify the search and development of alternative energy sources, as well as provide the appropriate legal environment to accelerate such initiatives." Nice quote. Whether there's a follow-up to that or not is another story.

Once and for all, we must face the fact that this dependence on a non-renewable resource like fossil fuel -- oil being one of its by-products -- is causing all of us Earthlings more harm than good. On the global scale, oil is now becoming a politically and economically viable bargaining chip in the race for supremacy. He who owns the oil has the oil-driven machines and weapons at his disposal. And oil eventually becomes a tool in the quest of some quarters for world domination.

On local shores, some government solons still insist that oil is the lifeline that keeps the Philippines alive. In fact, inspite of several environmentalists' warnings that it could destroy marine life and habitat, the government through the Department of Energy (DoE) proceeded with its project to drill for oil off the coast of Aloguinsan and Pinamungahan (Cebu).

It shocks me that DoE Secretary Angelo Reyes himself is supportive of such a move. Once again, it has boiled down to a question of economics versus the environment. And we know what this government chose. Apparently, Reyes and Bunye are not seeing eye to eye with regard to this issue.

And so Filipinos are back to another round of belt-tightening, especially this holiday season. Plans of having roast pig (lechon) for Noche Buena may well end up with roast chicken (lechon manok). Others may not have anything for Noche Buena or Media Noche at all.

Oh well, come to think of it: we won't be the only ones in this world to suffer this Yuletide. Take solace in this fact -- if there is any.

The Horrors of An Inconvenient Truth

"By far the most terrifying film you will ever see."

This is the tagline used by one of the most controversial documentary films to date. Its title: An Inconvenient Truth.

I missed watching the movie when it first came out in movie theaters in the middle of this year. However, the buzz about it was just so strong it made me curious enough to consider buying a DVD. When this movie garnered two Oscars and a Golden Globe, it made me even more curious. Then when I found out that former US Vice President Al Gore -- the main character in this movie -- won the highly-prestigious 2007 Nobel Peace Prize, I made it top priority to get myself a copy of the movie ASAP.

An Inconvenient Truth didn't have spectacular special effects, nor did it have a stellar cast of characters. In fact, this film was simply a slide show presentation made by Al Gore pertaining to the worsening problem of global warming. Yes, it's quite "academe schmacademe" as an officemate of mine would put it -- so to those of little or no minds, better stick to watching dense superhero movies or risk getting a nosebleed from too much brain activity.

Watching An Inconvenient Truth not only made me realize how large a threat we people are to our own habitat. It also made me look back at the 2000 polls and consider this philosophical question: could a vast majority of Americans have been so wrong in choosing who to sit in the White House?

I could only theorize how much better the world would've been had American voters chosen Al Gore over the incumbent president. US foreign and economic policies would change under the Gore administration. Instead of American taxpayers' money getting siphoned off toward military reinforcements in the so-called "war on terrorism," it could be realigned toward science and technology so that the world can better address the problem of global warming.

With this new focus in American policies, a trickle-down effect could ensue:

• The US could have taken part in ratifying the Kyoto Protocol, and our country would have taken a stronger stand in the global thrust to save our planet.


• More studies and breakthroughs can be made in the area of finding and harnessing more cost-effective sources of energy instead of continuing our overdependence on fossil-based fuels.


• There would be more concentration into the study of nuclear power as a source of energy instead of using this phenomenal power as a means for creating weapons of mass destruction.


• The US will probably be lessening its interference in the affairs of the Middle East and other countries. In effect, lesser military troops will be deployed overseas and countries like Iraq will have more elbow room to decide on their respective fates.


• The US can organize and/or more actively participate in international conventions pertaining to climate change and other environmental issues. Considering our nation's influence as a so-called superpower, we can easily bring countries together to rally behind moves to curtail the effects of global warming.
  
• Since Gore emphasized in An Inconvenient Truth that there simply cannot be a choice between economics and the environment, I'm sure that he will personally see to it that all present economic policies will have to be rethought and -- if needed -- rewritten, taking into account the current status of the environment.


• The "war on terrorism" could've been the "war against global warming," and more countries could've been more eager to participate in the latter.


• There would be stricter laws for companies, groups, or individuals who continue to contribute to the devastation of the environment, and America could set an example so that other countries can do the same.


• This may be a longshot, but considering Gore's emphasis on saving the environment rather than on meddling in other countries' affairs, there is a possibility that 9/11 may not have happened.


• Disaster preparedness and the installation of more improved early warning devices would be considered top priority, and the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina, the California wildfires, and other calamities could be kept at a minimum.

But alas, all we could do now is to dream of "what-ifs" with regret because many Americans were apparently impressed by George Bush's savvy talk and empty promises as compared to Al Gore's doomsday warnings that the sky is falling.

Sigh.

Why is America so intent on glossing over the fact that global warming is a real threat and not just a theory conjured in a science laboratory? Is it because of a cover-up by the present administration to hide the fact that the US is the biggest contributor of carbon dioxide emissions in the atmosphere -- and that there are no clear indications that they are doing something about it?

This is the "inconvenient truth" -- in fact, one of many inconvenient truths -- that Al Gore exposed through this documentary film. He noted that the situation will only get worse in the next 50 years or so, and only if we all accept this as a fact and do something about it can we avert this environmental crisis. And he made his point clear through well-researched data, graphs, statistics, photos, and mini-movies. Memorable segments included the Futurama segment that explained in the most basic terms how global warming occurs, as well as the 3D segment depicting a swimming polar bear looking for solid ice to climb on. Al Gore's voice was heard over the 3D segment, explaining that there already have been reports of drowned polar bears because they grew exhausted from swimming for miles and not finding ice masses to climb onto.

Al Gore himself has already come up with his own book with the same title to complement the movie, and it has already landed on the New York Times bestseller list in the paperback non-fiction category. In fact, as of July 2, 2006, it snatched the No. 1 spot in the said list. (See: Wikipedia for An Inconvenient Truth)

I'm seriously thinking of letting the teachers at my daughter's school borrow my DVD of An Inconvenient Truth so that they can organize a film showing there. I guess this is my way of helping Al Gore in his personal crusade to save our environment. This is truly a must-see movie that would surely jolt us into action.

But like I said earlier, if you do have the brains (and the concern) of a pea, then go rent a superhero movie instead. And bring George Bush with you.