Here it is: I hate the brand of activism happening in Philippine streets, though I love freedom of speech and freedom of organization. It's mainly because of the issues they raise there: protracted information, myopic agenda, and unverifiable cases which in most times results to misinforming the public and making a fool out of them. I believe that before one can really become an activist, he/she must really has done the homeworks, i.e. studied the issues first and start from there.
The Philippine midterm elections of 2007 was chaotic as usual. Now the GO (Genuine Opposition) party is leading the senatorial race with 8 of them currently gaining momentum of the 12 posts. I am not against them of course, most have dignity and leadership that we can trust. The thing is, I hate when people hurl bad things against each other. As we know, the 11th and 12th positions are the most contested. And I expect the candidates involved will really bash each other. Mostly, Filipinos are quite mature politically, for not voting for the most popular personalities (i.e. actors) who have no track record or it can be that simply the people vote for candidates who are vocal against the president or the administration.
As of this afternoon of Friday May 25, the votes from Mindanao (Maguindanao, Davao, and Lanao) have yet to be counted, and knowing that these are Team Unity's bailiwicks, changes for the 10th to 12th places will maybe favor the TU's . So what goes? Well, as I say, lets hear/watch the news.
Friday, May 25, 2007
Tuesday, May 1, 2007
geography, why oh my
I have been thinking to make this blog for quite some time. As you can see, geography is an interdisciplinary discipline that people don't really care for reasons mostly leaning to "taken for granted" and "that's easy science as NatGeo".
According to wikipedia: Geography is the scientific study of the locational and spatial variation in both physical and human phenomena on Earth. The word derives from the Greek words γη or γεια ("Earth") and γραφειν ("to write," as in "to describe").
See, any phenomena that happens over the surface of the Earth, no matter if it's your house or the entire lithosphere; no matter if it's the rain or a bombing in Iraq---all falls into the science and I say, the art of geography.
The title of this blog, heografix, a wordplay on geographics shows the context of this blog: heo is a Filipino prefix equivalent to geo (Spanish geografia, g pronounced as h, that's why) makes the distinction that this blog is by a Filipino blogger and deals primarily with Philippine geography. The "fix" in heografix is English, I'm afraid. It may serve to fix some of the miseducation and the ignorance of those people who are the "power players" in Philippine society. How lofty! Nah, don't get the impression that this blog is heavy, seriously nerdy stuff. As it aims also to entertain me, ye and them.
All I wish is to express my thoughts on the why's and the "oh my!" of Geography as expressed, as used (or misused), for the time being, in the Philippines. I am from the Philippines, a country that is, I say, lost in space (and time).
No matter how small or insignificant, as few surfers may even stumble upon this Web page, and yea, I bet no power player may even spend his/her time to read this blog, I will try to change the world.
P.S. geographics as a term is almost nonexistent. It's a nightmare if the concept of geography is replaced by this term, as what happened to demography, which is replaced by demographics (browse wikipedia articles, the term is ubiquitous).
According to wikipedia: Geography is the scientific study of the locational and spatial variation in both physical and human phenomena on Earth. The word derives from the Greek words γη or γεια ("Earth") and γραφειν ("to write," as in "to describe").
See, any phenomena that happens over the surface of the Earth, no matter if it's your house or the entire lithosphere; no matter if it's the rain or a bombing in Iraq---all falls into the science and I say, the art of geography.
The title of this blog, heografix, a wordplay on geographics shows the context of this blog: heo is a Filipino prefix equivalent to geo (Spanish geografia, g pronounced as h, that's why) makes the distinction that this blog is by a Filipino blogger and deals primarily with Philippine geography. The "fix" in heografix is English, I'm afraid. It may serve to fix some of the miseducation and the ignorance of those people who are the "power players" in Philippine society. How lofty! Nah, don't get the impression that this blog is heavy, seriously nerdy stuff. As it aims also to entertain me, ye and them.
All I wish is to express my thoughts on the why's and the "oh my!" of Geography as expressed, as used (or misused), for the time being, in the Philippines. I am from the Philippines, a country that is, I say, lost in space (and time).
No matter how small or insignificant, as few surfers may even stumble upon this Web page, and yea, I bet no power player may even spend his/her time to read this blog, I will try to change the world.
P.S. geographics as a term is almost nonexistent. It's a nightmare if the concept of geography is replaced by this term, as what happened to demography, which is replaced by demographics (browse wikipedia articles, the term is ubiquitous).
Wednesday, August 16, 2006
Hezbollah-Israel conflict
this blog is ported from my geogworks website
Just a short note on the war. At long last just this Monday August 14, a UN-brokered ceasefire materialized. It's good that Israel respected the UN, we know that Israel as a state, was created by the UN, reason enough for Israel to consider the UN ceasefire initiative, or else the UN may declare sanctions against Israel. I really haven't followed much on the conflict what with my busy schedule. It is on my opinion that the ceasefire should hold forever and that Israel be given the bulk of the job in restructuring and rebuilding the infrastructure.
As I can see it, the reason for Israel to bomb the infrastructure and hold hostage Lebanese cities and towns is a strategic decision to really cripple Lebanon, not to Hezbollah alone. Putting religion aside, this war has geopolitical underpinnings. Lebanon, a country of around 4 million is in the crossroads of trade and culure exchange since when, prehistoric times maybe. Its strategic location north of Israel, south of Turkey, west of Syria, and east of Cyprus really is an asset. Its religion is more or less 50-50 split between Islam and Christianity--supposedly the only country where two conflict-ridden religions coexisted peacefully. Israel aside, its the most Westernized country in the Middle East. On its natural resources, notable is the resource of water which is significant in a water-deficit region. For that, maybe Israel really wants to extend its sphere of influence to Lebanon. The Lebanese government as we know, is weak, what with the civil war in the 80s and the volatile governments of the 90s. Hezbollah is not a terrorist organization within Lebanon, though its mantra of pulverizing the state of Israel makes it indeed one (a terrorist organization) among the eyes of some. It is allied with Iran and Syria, yes, but who can blame them? If a government is weak, some factions of its society particularly the one with military resources will occupy the vacuum of power.
Just a short note on the war. At long last just this Monday August 14, a UN-brokered ceasefire materialized. It's good that Israel respected the UN, we know that Israel as a state, was created by the UN, reason enough for Israel to consider the UN ceasefire initiative, or else the UN may declare sanctions against Israel. I really haven't followed much on the conflict what with my busy schedule. It is on my opinion that the ceasefire should hold forever and that Israel be given the bulk of the job in restructuring and rebuilding the infrastructure.
As I can see it, the reason for Israel to bomb the infrastructure and hold hostage Lebanese cities and towns is a strategic decision to really cripple Lebanon, not to Hezbollah alone. Putting religion aside, this war has geopolitical underpinnings. Lebanon, a country of around 4 million is in the crossroads of trade and culure exchange since when, prehistoric times maybe. Its strategic location north of Israel, south of Turkey, west of Syria, and east of Cyprus really is an asset. Its religion is more or less 50-50 split between Islam and Christianity--supposedly the only country where two conflict-ridden religions coexisted peacefully. Israel aside, its the most Westernized country in the Middle East. On its natural resources, notable is the resource of water which is significant in a water-deficit region. For that, maybe Israel really wants to extend its sphere of influence to Lebanon. The Lebanese government as we know, is weak, what with the civil war in the 80s and the volatile governments of the 90s. Hezbollah is not a terrorist organization within Lebanon, though its mantra of pulverizing the state of Israel makes it indeed one (a terrorist organization) among the eyes of some. It is allied with Iran and Syria, yes, but who can blame them? If a government is weak, some factions of its society particularly the one with military resources will occupy the vacuum of power.
Friday, August 5, 2005
On Federalism
this is ported from my geog works website:
Here's one good recent development happening in the political state of the Philippines. Federalism is arguably the best suited form of governance for the country. Why? Because federalism acknowledges the ethnolinguistic variation of the Filipinos. Filipinos are regionalistic. People from the regions blaim the central governance emanating from Manila as one of the causes of the myriad of problems. This must stop. And federalism atleast upholds the promises made by Manila to the "province-folks". Federalism gives the "state" a chance to detemine its destiny. The present subdivision of the country into provinces must be changed when federalism is implemented. Some provinces are small like Guimaras and Siquijor, which if changed to a state, statehood may hamper development.
Here's one good recent development happening in the political state of the Philippines. Federalism is arguably the best suited form of governance for the country. Why? Because federalism acknowledges the ethnolinguistic variation of the Filipinos. Filipinos are regionalistic. People from the regions blaim the central governance emanating from Manila as one of the causes of the myriad of problems. This must stop. And federalism atleast upholds the promises made by Manila to the "province-folks". Federalism gives the "state" a chance to detemine its destiny. The present subdivision of the country into provinces must be changed when federalism is implemented. Some provinces are small like Guimaras and Siquijor, which if changed to a state, statehood may hamper development.
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