The Immortal Centavo and Disappearing Coins

Rewrites of Jottings: The Immortal Centavo and Disappearing Coins

Rummaging through some junk-filled boxes slated for disposal to the trash heap, my last minute scrutiny chanced upon a cache of centavo coins denominated in tens, fives and mostly ones (there were no peso coins then). The misplaced coins were overlooked and overtaken by the legal fiat declaring them non-legal tender.

I vividly recall at the time my last minute attempts to beat the deadline that would condemn the discs from their status as medium of exchange into pieces of tarnished metal, worthless even as mementos. Most of the tens and fives went with purchases, but still left a sizable number of one-sentimo pieces. Then a bright idea came to mind ─ donate to charity. The look on the beggar’s face when he saw the cause of the clanging rain of coins on his alms cup made it quite clear that the idea was not so bright.

The sentimo may no longer be legal tender nor revered for its sentimental value, but it is vibrantly alive in the books of accountants who perform daring acrobatics in balancing the books because of the pesky sentimo. They are even cluttering the computerized ledgers, eating up memory space in big bytes.

If it is no longer legal tender, where are all those sentimos coming from? One suspect culprit is the unbending rule of mathematics where a dividend or product resulting from a math operation that is less than a whole number must be expressed as a decimal. Because many money transactions end up in fractions of a peso, the tiny dot preceding the fractured whole number is inevitable. The threat of technical malversation looms large if custodians of ledgers ignore the sentimos.

The abomination can obviously be rectified by a simple change of rules. The math can be programmed to round the second figure to the right of the dot into a five or a zero whichever is closer. If the books do not balance thereafter, let the computer do the worrying.

Another amazing quality of the sentimo is its ability to materialize at unexpected moments. There was an instance when a top official of the Education Department reassured anxious parents of prospective Grade 1 pupils that when their child enrolls “they will not be charged a single centavo”. The statement turned out to be only too true ─ the parents were not charged one sentimo, it was more like 200 or 20,000 sentimos.

The technical malversation threat may also be solved in novel fashion: place all those sentimos into a special kitty whose sole purpose is to fill the discrepancies at audit time, then put the kitty in the custody of the Immigration Department who then automatically place erring treasurers on hold departure order status to head off absconding.

There are ominous omens that may not bode well for our local economy. Particularly disturbing is a strange phenomenon. In the early hours when the community is just starting to stir into the usual hustle and bustle, the supply of coins in the hands of the public transport sector is zero or its equivalent. Try paying with a paper bill to a taxi or jeepney and you create a minor crisis.

The shortage of coins in circulation is even apparent in banks. Withdraw cash from a bank and ask for an amount in coins to facilitate transactions in the informal sector or the underground economy and, most often, the request is denied, with some curt excuse that none is available. Being a persistent person when denied what I feel is one of my rights, I transform into a tenacious and assertive individual. Only then is the truth revealed that the coins are still locked up in the vault, and it requires a tedious process to override the time lock or to disturb the busy bank manager.

Unbelievably, even the Banko Sentral, the entity that prints our money and mints our coins, refuse to disburse the coins to a private citizen. I once called the Bank by phone and asked if they would exchange my paper bills into coins. The polite voice at the other end was almost apologetic. The reply, in a barely discernible and condescending tone, is that the Banko Sentral does not engage in such (low-level inferred) transactions ─ only private banks are entertained. So much for government transparency and service.

I suspect that the coin phobia might be one of the strategies of government in its anti-gambling campaign, particularly masiao and jueteng that use coins as the betting medium. The trick is to reduce the coins in circulation, drive the betting level up to paper bill level, and urge bettors towards the casinos.

Banks will lend you money if you can prove you don’t need it. Mark Twain

An Open Letter to the Filipino People

Rewrite of Jottings: An Open Letter to the Filipino People

A friend sent me this forwarded email:

Subject: An Open Letter to the Filipino People

>Date: Thu, 12 Feb 2004 21:02:08 -0800 (PST)

Last year, Fernando Poe, Jr. said he wasn't going to run for president; last December, President Gloria Arroyo said she wasn't going to run for president. I don't know how they make their decisions, but it sure sounds like they do it on a whim because today both of them are talking about their "sacrifices" - how hard the next six years are going to be for their families, how they have to give up their privacy, how they have to deal with the criticism and mud slinging and how much they love this country. Oh please. You're all beginning to sound like Kris Aquino.

Watching the news on Wednesday when FPJ announced his intention to run, I panicked when I saw Susan Roces looking alarmingly like Imelda as she cried on TV and said that her husband was running because he just wanted to help the people, so why is everybody so mean to him? I kept thinking, oh my God, is she going to break into Dahil sa Iyo?

That scared the hell out of me. That and the clip where FPJ mumbled through his one-on-one interview with ABS-CBN wearing shades. Did he perhaps misplace a wristband? Or when he was asked about his economic policies and he said

... what did he say? Nothing, that's what. You'd think if you were going to announce your presidential ambitions you would have at least prepared something - anything - on how you were going to lead the country aside from the overused line about being the savior the masses need.

Now showbiz people are complaining of the criticism FPJ is receiving. Their loyalty is fascinating. I can watch their display on TV all day and be alternately amazed and confused about whether part of their brain goes on auto pilot when they're talking about FPJ. It's the same kind of loyalty for Erap, which led Senator Tessie Oreta to do that little jig in the Senate during the impeachment proceedings. Look where it got Erap.

You don't know whether their loyalty to FPJ comes from personally knowing he has the brains to lead the country or simply because they belong to the same profession. There must be something about show business that creates this strong bond, this persecution complex that leads them to think that because they are actors people think they're stupid.

In this country that has elected showbiz people and made them mayors, councilors, governors and senators barangay captains, and hell, even president - why do they still complain of a bias against their profession? You don't hear electricians saying, "Oh they'll never elect us into office!" And you certainly don't hear economists fanatically defending GMA just because she is one. We all know there are many accomplished actors whose achievements go beyond their profession. You see their every move in newspapers every day, for God's sake.

The biggest bias against FPJ is not that he is an actor, but that he may lack the skills, temperament, and attitude to become a leader. People say he has such a kind heart, unquestionable sincerity and that he has helped a lot of people through the years - shouldn't this be enough? No, it's not. I need my president - whoever he or she is - to be better than the average Juan. I want him to know history and poetry as well as economics, to be able to quote Shakespeare and argue with Allan Greenspan, to stand shoulder to shoulder with the world's most powerful leaders, to make me proud - not to make me laugh- when I see him on TV.

I want to love my president and I want to respect him. I want a president who doesn't have to surround himself with economists to know how to run the country. I want him to know these things on his own and listen to advice but not be influenced by people who have a different agenda. I want to talk about my president to foreigners without being embarrassed, without shaking my head and saying, "Well, Filipinos aren't the most mature electorate in the universe." I don't want to hear that Filipino doctors are now studying to become nurses just to apply for jobs abroad or college students choosing their courses based on what the most popular jobs are in other countries.

Sincerity is a beautiful thing, but it's not the only thing that makes a president great In 1998, when Erap was elected, I was hoping he would succeed, that since he was wildly popular and beloved, he was going to do good. But look what he did.…

…He blamed the rich, played to the poor and completely forgot about the middle class who didn't cheat on their taxes or steal other people's land. Like Erap, FPJ polarizes people. It's the kind that creates so much anger and distrust on both sides. This early, the people surrounding him are far from reassuring. Tito Sotto? After showing his fantastic grasp of economics, of what drives foreign exchange? Hello?

This is not Eat Bulaga, sir. Nobody is laughing. Somebody should pinch FPJ and tell him this is not the movies. That he cannot fight off our Asian neighbors for measly investment with his magic sword. Erap and now Ang Panday. It's so depressing I want to cry.

A friend warned me about pissing off FPJ. She said, "Be careful what you write about him, he may be your next president."

What's he gonna do, drop an anvil on my head?

PLEASE PASS IF YOU LOVE YOUR COUNTRY

My Reply

Subject: Re Open Letter

Date: Sun, 15 Feb 2004 04:11:25 +0800

Thank you for sharing with me the "Open Letter to the Filipino People". I do adore this country, although it's starting to waver a bit.

It is remarkable how election fever has stirred emotions and agitating uncivil language. So many messages forwarded on email and mobile text are coarse, at times gross, and no longer couched in sarcastic humor, but rather in ridiculous falsehoods. It pains me to read statements by literate Pinoys using rude and vulgar language.

The letter portrayed some of the nation's travails. Nevertheless, there are a few items I wish to add to balance the picture.

Showbiz people do seem to excel in the political voting arena due to their wide exposure to the public. Fortunately, rare are stories about their filching public coffers, perhaps for fear of smearing their pogi image.

People biased against actor FPJ as being unprepared to lead the nation should recall that two decades ago, opponents said the same of Cory Aquino. A president, by his lonesome self, is not capable of running the country's affairs. He needs a team to do this. Even a parliamentary system has a team of ministers headed by a prime minister.

To blame an immature (read injudicious) electorate for electing to office an ill-prepared person is, in itself, injudicious. Voters who have lost all hope for a better life will cast their votes for the person they perceive can save them. Else, violence is the alternative.

Doctors are highly educated individuals. If a doctor decides to take up nursing, he chooses to pursue a career which can provide a better life for him, probably overseas. Inference of idiocy is inappropriate. In the same vein, I disagreed with the top official of Higher Education who proposed the closure of all nursing schools in the country because graduates take overseas jobs, thus wasting the nation's money in educating them. (Where are these subsidized government schools, I'd like to know).

Knocking the future émigrés who choose a career abroad is the unkindest cut of all. Philippine jobs are as rare as hen's teeth. Graduates who took courses that are dead-end job-wise become parasites to society, but could be valuable assets (some say heroes) as OFWs. Many third-world governments have set up formal plans to educate their youth targeting jobs overseas.

The bureaucracy today desperately needs a little less grafting and a little more pruning. Perhaps Erap honed his sticky-finger skill in that institution.

If God had intended us to vote, He would have given us good candidates.

Planning Precautions

Rewrites of Jottings: Planning Precautions

Preparedness

The cost of preparing for critical events that do not occur is generally very small in comparison to the cost of being unprepared for those that do. It is less costly to try to prevent a problem from happening than it is to react to it after it has happened. ─ Russell L. Ackoff

An essential technique to increase chances of success in an endeavor is planning. Big business has fine-tuned the art to something approaching science.

Even the ordinary person can benefit from knowledge of the planning process and the awareness that other people apply the technique to prevail over adversaries or victims. Like people engaged in business, criminals also plan their moves, even the seemingly opportunistic snatching of adornments from pedestrians. They study people’s behavior, preferably the easy victims ─ females, elderly, children. They select the ideal site of their operation to achieve a fast accomplishment and speedy escape.

You, the potential victim, must devise a plan to avoid being a victim of snatching robbery, rape, mugging, and other threats to your person. However, there are minor crises whose occurrence is more probable which you should anticipate to avoid coming to grief.

What would you do if …

… while walking on the sidewalk, a hanging cablewire is in your path.

… a motorbike encroaches on the sidewalk and threatens to run you down.

… you are in line in a queue and someone inserts ahead of you

… after waiting politely to be served at a shop counter, a new arrival is served first

… you are a non-smoker in an air-conditioned eating place and some customers suddenly light up.

… when riding a public jeepney, the driver drives at an excessive speed and reckless manner.

… a drunken person or an idiot harasses you

… a persistent beggar pesters you

Precautions to avoid rape

(Issued by the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation)

v Lock up. Keep all entrances closed and do not let unidentified strangers in for any reason. Do not let callers know that you are alone.

v Stay alert. If you sense anything out of the ordinary when entering or leaving your own house, take immediate precautionary measures.

v Do not be isolated. If possible, always have a companion when going out of the house but if you need to be alone, stay in well-populated areas and avoid secluded spots.

v Familiarize. Get acquainted with the friends and companions of your children, especially if they are left alone with them at home.

v Choose where you stay. Rape can happen anywhere, but it is far more likely to occur at certain places and times. Stay off the “mean streets” in your area particularly at night.

v Chin up. Do not be the perfect victim type by looking vulnerable. Avoid skimpy clothing.

v Protect yourself. Try to learn some basic self-defense techniques or bring some chemical repellents (mace, tear gas).

Women who are alone, isolated from public view and appear vulnerable to the assailant are the three highest risk factors. Almost two thirds of all attempted and committed rapes were perpetrated not by strangers but by close acquaintances ─ a family member, a neighbor, a co-worker or a friend.

Amusing note: The female octopus has her vagina in her nose. If the male octopus approaches the female when she is not ready for mating, the female octopus will bite off his penis and swim away with it. Fortunately, the male still has seven left.

How To Behave If Taken Hostage

While the idea of being taken hostage may seem farfetched, it does happen in some big cities, especially in banks, stores and airplanes. To get through it safely:

Concentrate on following instructions exactly during the first 15-45 minutes. This is the critical period, when the terrorist is emotional and trigger-happy.

Keep quiet, and speak only when spoken to. Don't try to be friendly, phony, argumentative or hostile.

Don't make suggestions. Captors will suspect a trick.

Be wary of attempting escape. If it fails, it's likely to bring violence.

If you are released ahead of others, closely observe everything that goes on in order to help police.

Treat the hostage takers like royalty, but try not to be overly condescending.

Expect to be frisked or even treated roughly by police when released. Advise: Cooperate fully; police aren't sure who is who and don't take chances.

(Source: New York City Police Hostage Negotiating Team.)

KIDNAPPING AVOIDANCE

1. Avoid predictability of movement. Vary time of departure and arrival 2--3 hours daily. Vary route; occasionally skip travel entirely.

2. Obtain emergency communications (Cellphone, mobile radio). Pre-arrange with police and law enforcement agencies.

3. Practice extreme alertness: for following vehicles; at stoppage points, esp. at home and office; at traffic intersections. Proximity detection at end points.

What you cannot enforce, do not command. ~ Sophocles

If all else fails, read the directions.

Don’t make up your mind until you have to.

Of Polluted Beaches, Niños and Global Warming

Rewrites of Jottings: Of Polluted Beaches, Niños and Global Warming

In a statement issued recently by the World Health Organization warned swimmers that some beaches in Asia are contaminated with sewage. Pathogens in contaminated water can cause diarrhea and fever, and in extreme cases even kidney infection, hemorrhage and death, the WHO warned. The editorial of a national daily expressed elation that the advisory did not mention the Philippines.

But the Philippines does have polluted coastal waters that pose a risk to the health of humans and to marine life. A prime tourist spot, Boracay, was embarrassed by a report of coliform contamination in the 90’s, and a similar report, of Macajalar Bay adjacent to Cagayan de Oro. In a letter to a Congressman (not of our City), I wrote: “The urgency of protecting water supplies and coastal waters cannot be over emphasized. Boracay’s septic crisis some years back was solved only by natural means (tidal currents), but jolted frightened businesses into positive action. Macajalar Bay adjacent to this city was also found heavy with coliform bacteria in the mid-90s, but with only mild tidal currents and unrelenting flow of sewage the bay could by now be one huge cesspool.”

Untreated sewage of CDO still flows to the Bay and, except for Delmonte that has a wastewater treatment facility, all other manufacturing plants along the coast of CDO discharge raw effluents directly into bay or river waters. A decade ago I warned all members of my household not to swim in Macajalar Bay.

Of Global Warming and El Niño

Global warming and El Niño are buzzwords that conversant Pinoys have inserted into their vocabulary. But for various reasons, El Niño is used much more often, despite its decade long interval, and global warming is treated with disdain or ignored completely.

Perhaps the reason El Niño is heavily favored is that it is a great motivator. Whenever it is conjured in official circles, it can elicit funding (in drooling amounts) “to minimize the ill-effects”. It is a convenient justification for doling out a sack of rice to farmers nearing starvation, or during its La Niña reverse, when sudden downpours induce roofs to leak and wet some home floors it gives cause for barangay bleeding hearts to plead for a calamity declaration, the” open sesame” that opens the calamity fund coffer.

The GMA administration geared up to face the El Niño that it says will begin in October 2002 and last until June 2003. The timing seems a bit stretched ─ Niños are known to begin at Christmas time when the Christ child (El Niño de Navidad) arrives. These oceanic phenomena occur yearly but are usually mild. However, about every tenth year or so (nine Niños were recorded during the past 40 years), a severe one occurs (the canonical El Niño), bringing extreme weather globally. Heavy rains fall in coastal South America and elsewhere, but drought in other regions such as Southeast Asia.

Rainfall and drought are atmospheric phenomena that are linked to oceanic El Niño in the weather cycle. Insolation energy from the Sun absorbed by the Pacific Ocean produces the convection currents and wind patterns in the air, which in turn generates rain (or lack of it). When the pattern of prevailing winds and ocean currents is exceptionally disrupted and leads to an El Niño, it also perturbs the rhythm of life. Predicting an onset of this climatic disturbance would be useful in agricultural planning, especially in anticipating food reserve needs and good water management.

It seems we have yet to learn from experience if we include cloud seeding as one of the relief measures. It would constitute a case of “too little, too late”. Given the 10-year cycle of Niños (which is being studied if it has correlation to the 10½-year sunspot cycle), the 2002-03 Niño could have been anticipated. The U.S. NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) started giving warnings when prevailing winds began weakening in May 2002. It would be interesting to find out how Napocor managed the water usage in the Agus and Pulangi generators.

In contrast, what can global warming stimulate? At best, a few palm-leaf fans. Why do Filipinos not take it seriously? How did the term become a scare word? A bit of historical background might provide an insight.

The alarm attained grave proportions when a scientist from NASA (the U.S. Space Administration) while giving testimony to the U.S. Senate hearing on global climate change, stated that “the Earth is warmer in 1988 than at any time in history”, and said further that “the greenhouse effect is changing our climate now.” The publicity reverberated around the world.

Why would Pinoys who are used to year round warm weather even care? The bad news is that warmer global climate would expedite the melting of the polar ice caps which, if completely melted, would raise the ocean level 200 feet. The Philippine archipelago would lose thousands of islands to the sea and submerge coastal regions of major islands. The good news is that this process will take hundreds of thousands of years.

The Earth gets almost all its energy from the sun, except for a very negligible amount from volcanic eruptions and geothermal sources. About 45% of incoming insolation is immediately reflected by clouds back to space. The energy reaching the surface is re-radiated back to space at night (after doing work evaporating water into clouds, moving winds in the atmosphere and waves in the ocean, and a tiny amount on photosynthesis.) However, the greenhouse effect traps some heat, preventing it from escaping to space.

A major contributor to the greenhouse effect is carbon dioxide (CO2). Although CO2 is a common component of the atmosphere, man’s rapid progress in the 20^th century ─ moving about in vehicles and operating factories that burn fossil fuel oil ─ has made substantial contribution to the increase in atmospheric CO2. In parts per million by volume, CO2 in the atmosphere was 285 in 1860, jumped to 340 in 1981, hurdled 375 in 2000 and is projected to be 540 in the year 2040.

Two recent studies predict that the average global temperature will rise as much as 5.5º F. because the atmosphere concentration of CO2 prevents the earth’s heat from radiating to outer space. The adverse effects of rising temperature includes a shift in desert and agricultural belts, the spread of pests and tropical disease, and as ice sheets melt, a 15 – 24 feet rise in sea levels that would displace shoreline inhabitants.

Another major greenhouse gas is methane, produced by cows, sheep, goats and other ruminant animals. Billions and billions of termites also produce methane. Forest denudation also increases the concentration of CO2, but only to a slight degree, since only one-tenth of the total CO2 consumption is due to grass, bushes and trees, the other nine-tenths being accounted for by phytoplankton (algae) in the ocean. (The Japanese whale-meat diet helps reduce the whale populations that consume the plankton in huge ton-size gulps.)

Some factors that inhibit the heat build-up from insolation are the reflectivity of clouds and the albedo effect of air particles floating in the atmosphere. Further into the future, the probability of another ice age (in ten to fifteen thousand years) would help cool things down, but that’s another story.

The common element of both greenhouse gases CO2 and methane is carbon, but this should not detract from its value to humanity. Carbon is also a component of trees, crude oil, synthetic rubber, steel, graphite in pencils, strengthener of composite materials, and girl’s-best-friend diamonds. And let us not forget, proteins, the essence of life.

Handwriting on the Wall

Rewrites of Jottings: Handwriting on the Wall

Graffito, an inscription or drawing scratched on a wall or other surface started with early human etchings on boulders and cave walls. Egyptians later refined it into a system of writing called hieroglyphs (somewhat resembling a modern day doctor’s prescription). In modern times, graffiti ─ amateur inscriptions and decorations in public places ─ can be regarded as an intolerable nuisance or untrammeled self-expression.

Not all graffiti are the nuisance variety. Some are merely announcements of their existence (“Kilroy was here.”), a few even profound (“The clash of ideas is the sound of freedom.”). The anonymous authors also offer postscripts on formal signs, such as the handwritten comment

below the sign of BANKERS TRUST: not me they don’t.

However, many are of the save-the-world type one-liner ─ "Despite the increase in the cost of living, the demand for it continues" and “Make it idiot proof and someone will make a better idiot.” or “The gene pool could use a little chlorine.”

Cagayan de Oro also displays the educational level of its youngsters who spray-paint public and private walls and billboards with graffiti. But these are unique. They are expressed with neither art nor wisdom, not with vulgarity, not even with gibberish, which at least hints of a smattering of language, but with random incomprehensible markings. The scribbles strongly suggest the creativity of the scrambled mind of idiots. (In America though, a sort of idiocy is tolerated, even admired, with the advent of neo-abstract art. The new art fad is an agglutination of spontaneous and random forms painted or spilled on canvas and displayed in museums.)

The nuisance of graffiti did raise a storm of displeasure in various sectors of the community led by property owners, and an over-zealous security guard shot a teenager in the act of inscribing his adornment skills. Nevertheless, those who may be enraged by graffiti, whether property owner or guard securing the property, should first reflect before acting, on pain of losing more than their temper following an impulsive act. For there are better ways than venting anger to address the problem.

Graffiti can be contained, not by penalties or threats of sanctions, but by a simple solution: coat the original surface with a special substance from which markings can be removed easily. The U.S. National Bureau of Standards undertook a study for the Dept. of Housing on the problem of graffiti and found first that there are commercially available products (in the U.S.), all of them liquid paint removers, that erased the largest variety of spray-paint markings from common surfaces. Next, they looked at preventive coatings and found three products broadly successful in resisting permanent bonding of the common types of marking: spray paint, crayon, felt-tip pens and lipstick. The three products are generally classified as a urethane, a dimethyl silicone and a styrene acrylonitrile terpolymer. The coatings cost just slightly more than a coat of paint but make graffiti defacement easier to clean up.

The writing on the wall, just as with Nebuchadnezzar’s wall 2,500 years ago, literally and figuratively does not bode well for the image of the city. The absence of wit, wail, railing or sense should be viewed as more worrisome than the vandalism aspect of local graffiti. For childish vandalism can be outgrown, but vacuousness could last a lifetime.

Ignorance is nine tenths of the law

Good judgment comes from experience

And much of that comes from bad judgment

Professionalism and the Work Ethic

Rewrites of Jottings: Professionalism and the Work Ethic

Long ago, Aristotle said, “Pleasure in the job puts perfection in the work.” Much later, after the human activity called work was given dignified status, Frank Tyger averred, “Professionalism is knowing how to do it, when to do it and doing It.” and the professional manager was born. Recently, a business management consultant cum author claimed that management is the oldest profession ─ people have been directing other people for millennia. However, in the same breath he admitted that another profession could be older, probably alluding to the popular belief that prostitution may be the oldest profession. (Puffed-up lawyers aver that law is considered one of only three traditional professions, the other two being medicine and priesthood. priesthood protects the soul, medicine protects life, and law protects freedom.)

Nonetheless, because prostitution is considered a lowly undertaking, it is regarded as belonging to the underground economy, is not taxed, and the Professional Regulatory Commission does not bother to control the occupation. It comes as no surprise that no professional title is conferred to any of these professionals.

Taken in the context of business management, the endeavor has all the components of a legitimate enterprise. It has a niche in commerce (the service sector), has a hierarchical organization ─ with a proprietor, manager (bordello madam), salesmen (pimps), and the line workers (whores) who service regular and general clientele. It has the elements of a normal business transaction ─ compensation for service rendered. This commerce sector would definitely create some of the million jobs that Gloria promised and failed to achieve.

Very lately, the concept surfaced from the underground when human rights advocates, academics and women in the flesh trade put forward the idea that prostitutes are workers and their services should be considered work. The concept was embodied in a statement by the Asia-Pacific Consultation on Prostitution in Bangkok attended by 50 participants from 20 countries in the region. Rejecting the view that prostitution by itself was exploitation, they said that, intrinsically, prostitution is not a social problem, and that the acceptance and recognition of prostitutes as workers will “validate the reality of women” in the sex industry.

Some countries have opted to legalize prostitution as a means of controlling related social problems arising from an underground flesh trade such as venereal disease, criminal protection, police extortion and the like. The legalization option provided collection of revenues as a bonus. However, the Swedes have added a novel twist to the treatment of the sex trade. They passed a law that punishes buyers of sex.

In the news recently is a report of “Australian prostitutes worn out by war-stressed U.S. sailors.” The prostitutes at a well-known Perth brothel are left reeling following an influx of U.S. gobs from three warships, 5,500 strong, stressed from their time spent on duty in the war against terror. That’s a lot of Yankee dollars for Perth.

In Cagayan de Oro, prostitution is illegal, and officially does not exist since no report has been put forward. Still, it is implied when certain types of occupation in the entertainment field are required to obtain a health certificate and fees are exacted.

Accepting the principle that prostitutes are workers can stimulate certain business prospects for entrepreneurs: a prostitutes’ labor union, pimp agencies, a red-light district for hard-core whores, a pink-light district for higher priced call girls, a Health Maintenance Organization catering exclusively to bawds and their customers, a trade school for apprentice hookers, and many more for the imaginative individual. The only inhibition would be the prudes.

Once upon a time, five-star hotels employed a specialized public relations female expert who looks after the comfort of hotel guests. These specialists were respected members of the management staff with the title of Guest Relations Officer (GRO). Then many sleazy establishments which are virtual fronts for prostitution, beer joints and Karaoke bars among them, adopted the term GRO. These “watering places” call their comfort girls the euphemism “GRO”. The girls, I understand, are required to obtain a health certificate from city hall and thus regarded as sex workers (harlots). Unofficially, of course.

In politics, stupidity is not a handicap -- Napoleon

Flies Spread Disease. Keep yours zipped.

Letters to Community Movers and Shakers

Rewrites of Jottings: Letters to Community Movers and Shakers

Letter to a Rotarian Realtor

Your article caught my eye when it applied medical analogy to describe (your firm’s) support for the sell-Cagayan De Oro campaign. The health metaphor aptly articulates the perception that the city is not ailing, but is exposed to unhealthy influences that discourage confidence on security and evokes uncertainty ─ and in business, uncertainty is certainly bearish.

As a CDO denizen, I applaud the move to attract investments and tourists that will make the city prosper as a counter to misery and crime in the community. This then becomes my own personal interest. So, with your indulgence, here are some of my views:

J The One-Stop-Shop is a desirable concept ─ if it is sincere. Past disincentives, according to investors, are: (1) the hated changing rules, (2) the severe hassle in licensing and (3) the “social responsibility” requirement, the top three among many others.

J Collaboration of PR firms in the campaign is a nice first step, but the drive would only gain momentum when the bleeding-heart civic clubs (Rotary, Lions, JC, others) forgo their rituals and go promoting.

J Media and journalists could do effective promoting whenever they rise to a higher plane (above the coarse tabloid-style trash).

J The drive should project a cosmopolitan image, not lumad. Emulate the admirable artistry of the TV ads of our ASEAN neighbors. Malaysia’s TrulyAsia theme and Thailand’s Refresh Your Senses slogan are sophisticated and subtle lures. I realize the effort would need talent and imagination, qualities perhaps rare here, but there might be one or two out there waiting to be discovered. (Author’s update: Dick Gordon’s WOW Philippines recently joined this sophisticated company.)

L Checkpoints and full-battle gear are dismal images.

L City Hall needs to stimulate more, and dole out less.

L Remember past campaigns (convention city, sister-city) and improve on them. These feeble attempts by politicians did not endure, perhaps due to an intrinsic flaw. It is widely known that politicians are long on promise, but short on performance. Maybe the present drive is more promising. (Pardon the pun.)

In my youth, at about the age when I knew everything, I heard that the motto of a merry group called Rotarians is: Blessed are they who go around in circles. I later learned that this was not true; not entirely, anyway. I also learned that there were a few things I didn’t know, one of these being the fact that this merry group was not gay, and some of them cannot visualize a straight circle. Further exposure to Rotarian friends taught me that they too are human beings, possessing a bit more polish and swagger perhaps, being leaders in their line of work, but still mortals that can catch the flu and sin soon after Sunday Mass.

On the topic of leadership and the prestige it brings to those that reach the pinnacle, there is a certain pride in one’s profession, its impact on the community, how long it has served society and whether it is the oldest. There is widespread belief that prostitution is the oldest. Nevertheless, if we consider the dominant male in primate apes, then managers must be the oldest. Still, this is disputed even today. Accountants claim that Adam and Eve were the earliest bookkeepers ─ they invented the loose-leaf system.

Then there is this story about three men arguing ─ a doctor, an engineer and a politician ─ about whose profession was the oldest. The doctor said his was the oldest since God created Eve out of Adam’s rib and in fact performed a surgical operation. The engineer said his profession was the oldest since God, like any engineer, in creating the world, made it out of chaos. “And who,” asked the politician, “created the chaos?”

Whatever the government gives, it must first take away. John S. Coleman

P.S.

From who else but we poor taxpayers!

An Open Letter toDelMonte

Food security is much more than being able to produce enough rice to feed the country’s population. It also means increased private initiatives, and all segments of the food community have important roles to play:

v Manufacturers and producers have the responsibility to see that food is produced safely and that it is accurately labeled.

v Wholesalers and retailers have the responsibility to see that food is made available conveniently and at a fair price.

v Government’s responsibility is to see that this system provides adequate protection to the public from the health and safety standpoint.

A A A A A A

A fundamental food safety question of concern to consumers is the distinction between the roles of the Department of Agriculture and the Bureau of Food and Drugs that involve fresh versus processed foods. Who is responsible in cases involving chemical residues traced to agricultural operations? For food safety hazards involving animal feed additives? For the controversial GMO (genetically modified organism)?

Manufacturers or Producer’s role includes declarations of freshness and shelf life to avert spoilage, such as the open-dating system; thorough processing to prevent bacterial contamination and botulism toxins; appropriate packaging and descriptive labeling that includes nutrition data (resourceful food companies know “nutrition sells”).

The consumer’s role is to be alert to the numerous hazards existing in the marketplace. To protect the health of his family and his pocketbook, caveat emptor, Latin for buyer beware, must constantly be the guiding spirit of the consumer. Reading the label of goods would be prudent, looking out especially for flash messages. For durables, reading the warrantee or the proverbial fine print is a must. It would not hurt to read consumer tips from publications.

Being a giant in the food industry DelMonte has a social obligation to address the challenge of assisting in educating the consumer in making the right food choices. To be sure, the task is complicated by many formidable factors, a major one being the slim budget of a great majority of Filipino families that severely limits their range of food choices. Another factor is the prevailing government thrust of seeking cheaper sources of pharmaceutical medicines, a policy that stresses curative medicine to the detriment of preventive medicine.

Advanced societies now regard prevention as the most effective, wide-reaching and economical public health policy. Preventive medicine acknowledges the natural defense of the human body ─ the immune system ─ and takes a three-prong strategy: nutrition combined with personal hygiene and environmental sanitation. Vaccination to provide immunity to children’s diseases should complement the program. The intrusive curative medicine would then only come into play when natural defenses fail. Government should focus on prevention and leave healing medicine to the private sector.

A community whose members practice habitual hygiene and home sanitation, with a bit of help from an administration that practices a policy of clean air, clean water, and clean environment and, above all, a clean conscience ─ is generally healthy. It is in the area of nutrition where Del Monte can help, and join a host of trendsetters and visionaries. Microsoft Corporation chief Bill Gates, whose personal fortune of $80 billion matches Taiwan’s total reserve, has pledged $50 million to a five-year scheme to improve the health of children in poor countries by fortifying basic foods with vitamins and minerals. “The benefits to the children are quite phenomenal. We have seen great success with iodized salt.” Gates told a news conference held to launch the UN’s Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN). The aim of GAIN is to support efforts by low-income countries to fortify foods such as rice, flour, sugar and vegetable oils.

Much earlier, our own Senator Franklin Drilon, assisted by Alaska Milk, applied his ‘congressional initiative’ funds (a.k.a. pork barrel) to support a schoolchildren feeding program. (Incidentally, I wondered why bisaya chicken (backyard grown) is priced higher than mass-produced chicken until I was told the meat is tastier, probably because of the minerals ingested from its scratching on the soil. This claim is plausible, considering the finding of scientists that steaks containing high amounts of the mineral zinc are tastier.)

The well-established marketing tool Kitchenomics may now be reaching its peak, what with copycats’ ads ala kitchenomics sprouting all over. Yet, its potential may be enhanced with a simple addition to its format ─ insert nutrition in the recipes and promote the prevention theme. Vary the message occasionally with a subtle hint that disease is a matter of personal choice ─ shield with food nutrients or heal with costly drugs. Continue leading the pack and being the trendsetter, and thank the imitators for their exquisite judgment. Such a marketing move may burnish the DM Shield and its reputed quality image to the familiar scintillating aura.

Letter to a Councilor

I watched closely the City Council session on 18 February that tackled the problem of shortage of water, a vital but often taken for granted commodity. May I offer my views on this public issue that affects the entire community?

I expressed my views earlier in an article written in 1995, expecting no reaction to an invisible threat (people do not react until they feel pain). So now, an aroused public is wailing about poor water service. In the article, I broached the idea to develop a surface water supply system to supplement groundwater sources. About a year ago, COWD did present a tentative partner, Vivendi, a foreign firm that proposed a BOT scheme for such a surface water project. But nothing was heard since then until the 18^th Feb session. I do hope the Council would now be galvanized in pursuing the project.

On the subject of groundwater supplies, I am puzzled by some of the items presented by the guests:

z COWD employs consultants (five?) to solve profound problems, but they seem to have no comprehensive geological map of the aquifers (inferred from the dry wells they bored.). Perhaps some consultants may be no better than water-witch wizards.

z Consumer complaints of “cloudy” water are probably the result of human error by the service facility. Groundwater is naturally clear and aseptic, although loaded with mineral ions (which gives it the pleasant taste in comparison to the bland taste of pure or distilled water.) The cloudiness or murky quality complained of could only come from contamination.

Groundwater can be polluted from many sources: landfills, septic tanks, even nature via percolation. The various contaminants interact with the underground environment in different ways. In the aerobic zone, bacteria oxidize many of the organic constituents, but, in general, hydrocarbons are not metabolized under anaerobic conditions. Chlorinated organic compounds are more likely to be attacked in an anaerobic environment than under aerobic ones; chlorine atoms are removed.

To avoid future groundwater problems, it is obvious that pouring wastes into the ground be stopped. Combustion of organic wastes would change them into simple products (the Clean Air Act notwithstanding). Proper design of dumpsites and waste lagoons can guarantee that little of toxic substances escape to the environment.

z The answer to the question of “when will the groundwater run out?” may need more data than is apparently available. We know the extraction rate is 27.3 million tons (cubic meters) per month. Obviously, however, without a geological map indicating dimensions and texture of CDO aquifers, no one can even estimate the total volume available beneath us (“plentiful” is not reassuring). It is also doubtful if there is data on the locations of the recharge zones replenishing the aquifers and the recharge rates of each zone.

Again, I wish to compliment you on the civil, dispassionate and concise manner of your enquiry.

Letter 1 to Congressman A, 7 May 2000

The passage of the Clean Air Act … is indeed an impressive accomplishment for a neophyte Congressman from the boondocks of …(province) To be sure, browbeating the oil firms was not a simple task, but it finally boiled down to a matter of ensuring that the luster of lucre (theirs) was not tarnished.

It is now apparent you are taking on the more complex environmental challenge of salvaging our aquatic resources. The aquatic challenge may demand more versatility in dealing with squatter stubbornness and business cunning, the main polluters. Having encountered the complexities of water during the process of researching material for a paper I wrote, reviving the Pasig River, I surmise, would be a formidable undertaking and would serve as an ideal learning base for the Clean Water Act. I only pray the statute will reach beyond the Metropolis.

The urgency of protecting water supplies and coastal waters cannot be over emphasized. Boracay’s septic crisis some years back was solved only by natural means (tidal currents), but jolted frightened businesses into positive action. Macajalar Bay adjacent to this city was also found heavy with coliform bacteria in the mid-90s, but with only mild tidal currents and unrelenting flow of sewage the bay could by now be one huge cesspool.

The recent ABS-CBN Media Forum held at the Hotel Intercon had as its topic “Water, the Next Crisis”. Among the items brought up were the polluting synthetic detergents and the local availability of a biodegradable surfactant (no details divulged). I do recall reading an article in the papers about the development of an alkyl phosphate from coconut fatty acids by DOST and manufactured by COCOCHEM in Batangas. It is claimed the substance is a surfactant that can compete with commercial detergents and is biodegradable.

I am hoping you can add the Clean Water Act feather in your cap.

Respectfully,

Letter to Congressman A, 28 July 2001

Congratulations! Your re-election is auspicious, a glimmer of hope in this benighted nation. Although I am no longer a constituent of your district, please indulge me when I send my views to you as a respected leader of the republic, not to my own congressman (with whom I am not comfortable). I recall that one of your last initiatives in the past Congress was in relation to “clean water” and biodiversity to be followed (I surmised in jest) by clean conscience, a comment alluding to the Erap era dishonesty.

May I now, in all humility, mention some items of national scope that must be addressed urgently. My appeal stems from a disappointment over the President’s SONA that, to me, consisted of an inordinate amount of socialism and a tendency to foster mendicancy in our culture and psyche.

Foremost is the economy. No rational mind can question the troubled status of our economy, and Gatt/WTO tariff reductions will soon add to our woes. I believe government should seek all means to motivate the private sector, the growth engine, to exert extraordinary efforts to be productive and thus be globally competitive. The prevailing mode of dole outs helps only a few and fleetingly. A resourceful leadership can boost national productivity by eliminating waste. It can start with eradication of corruption and boondoggles, and dismantling feather nested turfs in the bureaucracy (note the recent turmoil in the Tourism Dept and SSS).

To attract and keep investors (the job givers), we must learn from the past and avoid the three main disincentives: the hated changing of rules, the frustratingly excessive hassle of licensing, and the “social acceptability” requirement on new industrial projects.

On agriculture, food security must be transformed from a mere slogan into hard sincerity. Our staples, rice for people and corn for feeds, need stability in price and supply ─imports should be a contingency, not the norm ─ and consumers should not be alienated in the process (they do constitute the entire population). In this regard, we should review the role of NFA as food stabilizer not just as employer and feather nester.

On education, an educated citizenry is a given, and 2-3 more years of formal schooling would be beneficial. But, it would cost less and be more effective if applied when the child is most absorptive at 3-6 years old (practiced by discerning parents and dubbed pre-school). It would be disastrous to legislate Tagalog as the medium of instruction at any school level (beware of “Edcom” Angara); the corrosive influence of Tagalog on Filipino English has mutated into Taglish gibberish. (I’m willing to bet that doctorate degrees, yours included, do not come by means of fluency in Tagalog.). English must be buttressed, it functions as a major contributor to our global competitiveness. English as a second language might be facilitated if devised as part of pre-school formal play. In academe, professionalizing teachers is a mishap ─ titles merely dignify mediocrity.

On health, the cry for cheaper medicines is more pander than compassion. Collective health is best achieved by a three-prong strategy of preventive medicine: hygiene, sanitation, and nutrition.

Respectfully,

If ignorance is bliss, Congress must be paradise.

The best executive is the one who has sense enough to pick good men to do what he wants done, and self-restraint to keep from meddling with them while they do it. ~ Theodore Roosevelt