Category: Development

Foreign capital will not solve Filipinos’ inability to apply capital profitably

June 3, 2011April 26, 2018 benign0 41 Comments

In my 2006 book Get Real Philippines Book 1, one of the key solutions I cited to the challenge of effecting fundamental change in the path we have (rather consciously) set for ourselves to chronic impoverishment is to re-evaluate the content of our mass media. I highlighted that it is an easy solution, because much…

Development, Economy, Media

The key dysfunction of the RH Bill ‘debate’: leaving out the ‘being’ from the ‘human’ equation

May 24, 2011 benign0 59 Comments

A lot of the “debate” around the issue of Reproductive Health in the Philippines revolves around the notion of the “human” life at stake during various stages of pregnancy from the time of conception. According to Fr Joaquin Bernas in his now famous Inquirer.net column, “The Constitution commands that the life of the unborn be…

Development, Religion, Science, Society

Iran: model of successful population control and an inspiration to Filipinos

May 23, 2011July 23, 2013 benign0 9 Comments

The Iranian experience in implementing a successful population management program has become a model for many countries that seek to overcome the debilitating burden overpopulation presents to development aspirations. The most remarkable aspect of Iran’s program is in how what was once a religious directive to go forth and multiply had been repealed by the…

Development, Economy, Education, Media, Religion, Society

The RH Bill: Economic growth alone will not solve overpopulation

May 20, 2011May 24, 2011 Ilda 23 Comments

I cannot say in absolute terms that I am a strong advocate of the proposed Reproductive Health bill (RH Bill). In a perfect world, we wouldnâ€™t need to introduce such legislation. But we do not live in a perfect world and if one’s intention is to seek flaws in the proposed bill, one will surely…

Development, Economy, Education, Environment, Government, Politics, Religion

Over-population is not just a problem of poor countries

May 20, 2011May 20, 2011 benign0 19 Comments

Think of what it takes to sustain human civilisation at the standards of living we believe that everyone is entitled to. Have we stopped to think what it would mean for a billion Chinese people, say, to have access to a standard of living equivalent to that enjoyed by Western Europe and North America today?…

Development, Economy, Environment, Society, Technology

RH Bill debate: PacMAN not KO’d by LagMAN but beaten on points

May 19, 2011May 19, 2011 benign0 11 Comments

Unfortunately, the much-promoted “debate” between boxing champ Manny Pacquiao and House Minority Leader Edcel Lagman — billed “PacMAN vs LagMAN” — aired on ABS-CBN’s Harapan (literally “face-off”) was inaccessible from Australia. But it does not really take a genius to imagine how such a spectacle might have transpired. Blogger Joe America in a recent comment…

Culture, Development, Education, Media, Religion

Philippine-style religion equals Philippine-style poverty

May 18, 2011May 18, 2011 benign0 13 Comments

Over at ProPinoy.net, blogger Doy Santos presents a comprehensive statistical picture of religious fervor in the Philippines. According to Santos’s figures the Philippines counts itself among the Top Ten countries with populations that have the highest rated “confidence in their church”. This Top Ten is predominantly Islamic. Tanzania is reckoned to be 50-50 Christian/Islamic and,…

Culture, Development, Religion, Society

Manny Pacquiao violates God’s Laws while preaching against Philippine Reproductive Health

May 17, 2011May 17, 2011 benign0 29 Comments

A short time ago, I recall how the sport of boxing was described by no less than Bishop Dinualdo Gutierrez of Marbel, South Cotabato in the Philippines as “un-Christian” and that when one boxes with a person he may as well be “boxing the Holy Spirit.” Bizarre as this analogy may be, that is a…

Development, Religion