Don’t have a loose change for beggars

I don’t exactly know if this is the first in the country but a resolution has been passed by the City Council of Cebu City aiming to curve the problems of beggars around the city particularly the children along Colon Avenue, the oldest street of the Philippines.

I have been away from Cebu City for two years now. I was always abreast, really abreast, with the local news and stuff – local politics, police matters, etc. when I was there.  I attended a seminar this month in Cebu and a certain social worker of the city spread the good news that a resolution had been passed by the council punishing people/pedestrians giving money to beggars. I was not able to ask for the resolution number or its title. But it really exists because I have seen posters plastered along Colon Street regarding it.

I am not sure if citizens of Cebu City know about the resolution. I’m sure many tourists are not aware of it. But man, if you happened to be in Cebu and caught giving money to these beggars? You’ll be fined one thousand pesos (P1,000.00). That is huge, my man!

The fine is quite high to some but it is sufficient enough to deter people to do this little religious or generosity act. Imagine giving a P5.00 barya and having to pay the government with P1,000.00 once caught? You will surely learn a lesson.

I really appreciate that such kind of resolution exists. I just wish that Local Government Units will have their version across the country. How peaceful it would be walking the streets without beggars following you. My fiancée actually has a fear of them. I couldn’t blame her for there are really some who looks like criminals or rugby boys.

The resolution actually educates people to channel their help to the right avenue or institutions. The social welfare volunteer pointed out that a family of beggars is better off than us. On the average, a beggar can actually get as much as P300.00-P500.00 a day. Simple arithmetic, four beggars in a family equals an income of P1,200.00 to P2,000.00 net per day. In short, we are not helping this people but are tolerating their laziness. They are even earning more than the minimum wage earners of the city.

With easy money, would they look for work?

Now, I have a change of heart. I will no longer give money to these beggars, even the handicapped, on the streets. I give it instead to charity organizations. There are many established charity or social work organizations in our country. These are the institutions that have capacity to attend to their needs. This is also a right time for the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) to enhance its services. Of course, with our little generosity.

Gardening

Buhat ng ako ay magkabahay ng salari ay natotong maghardin ako. Nakakagaan pala ng loob sa panahon na meron kang maani sa inyong mga tinanim.

Sa totoo lang yong mama ko lang ang gumagawa nito. Meron kasing malaking nakatiwangwang na lupa sa harap ng bahay naming doon sa probinsya ko. Napaansin ko lang na sa apat na bahay na pinaglipat-lipatan namin noong maliliit pa kami ay palaging may mag gulay at namumulaklak na halaman na pinagkakaabalahan alagaan ng mama ko sa aming bakuran.

Nang ako na ay namuhay dito sa kabilang ibayo ng Mindanao at pinagpalang magkaroon ng maliit na bahay ay napag-isipan ko rin magtanim ng gulay at bulaklak sa bakanteng parte ng bakuran. Sa kasamaang palad lang ay tatlong puno lang ng bulaklak ang nabuhay. Sino naman kasing halaman na kakatanim lang ay di madiligan ng dalawang linggo. Palagi kasi akong nasa byahe dahil sa utos ng trabaho.

Sa kabilang banda naman ay nabuhay yong gulay at yong isang herbal na mabisa panggamot ng ubo. Sa katunayan nga ay nakapagharvest na ako noong nakaraang araw. Napakasarap ng feeling na galing sa pinaghirapan mong hardin ang gulay na nakahanda sa hapag-kainan mo.

Naiisip ko tuloy ngayon na magdagdag ng uri ng gulay sa hardin. Pero nag-aalangan ako kasi baka mamatay dahil sa el niño na nananalasa sa atin ngayon. Yon din kasi ang dahilan na namatay yong mga bulaklak na panamin ko. Yong cypress tree ko nga na tanim ay sunog na sunog na yong dahon sa init ng araw.

Nagbabalak din ako magtanim ng mint plants sa gilid ng bahay. Babango kasi daw if meron kang ganon sa hardin. Pinagpipilian ko ngayon yong choco mint, spearmint o java mint na uri. Dobleng purpose kasi ito: pampabango ng hardin at pampalamig o ginhawa naman ng lalamunan. Masarap kasing gawing tea, panhalo sa tubig na inumin at panluto din.

Pagkatapos ng el niño ito ay bibili at magtatanim na ako ng Korean grass sa paligid ko. Maganda at pinung-pino kasi siya kupara sa natib na Bermuda grass. Masarap sa paa.

The Mindanao Power Crisis

It has been predicted a decade ago that our country will undergo energy crisis unless the government can’t find a solution to the increasing demand of eletricity. Mindanao was predicted to be the most hit by the power crisis. 

Indeed, Mindanao is greatly affected by lack of available eletricity supply as of the moment. Mindanao is suffering blackout of up to 8 hours a day being rotated accross the island. Mindanao is being supplied by hydro power plants. Fifty percent of its power consumption comes from these plants. And as the country continue to suffer from El Niño, which came way too early for the summer months, water levels in various dams that supply water to these eletric plants were hitting below the normal level. Thus, plants are forced to decrease their operation down to 80 percent or shut down thoroughly.

We were glad that the Iligan Diesel Power Plant which can generate 35 megawatts has been commissioned back by NAPOCOR. If not, Northern Mindanao will suffer more than 8 hours rotating brownouts.

The scenario is actually similar to the 90’s were rotating blackout was also in placed. The only difference now is more people especially the younger generation can’t live without their cellular phones and access to internet. It was as if they are not in touch with the civilization. But this is never a big deal to me. What worries me is if this phenomenon will lead to interruption of water supply. That would be hell!

The moral of this is we need to harness renewable energy. Mindanao is a strategic place for investment in this kind of energy-generation endeavor. We can harness the solar, wave, wind, etc energy sources. But we always had a problem in convincing people to invest in our island due to the bad image that are being paraded in the tri-media. This election time is a good venue for us to change the paradigm and perception of people regarding our beloved Mindanao. 

Mindanaons strongly believe that we are big force in the country and we can easily shape or shift how the country runs. To borrow the anecdote of one of the leaders in Region 10, he illustrates how powerful Mindanao is in breaking and unbreaking the course of our country. He said that there were only three big things that happened in our country last year. First, the naming of CNN Hero of the Year; second, the crowing of Manny Pacquiao; and lastly, the Maguindanao Massacre. Of the three big things, two came from Mindanao. Pacman brought the Philippines to greater heights in the eyes of the world. On the other hand, the Maguindanao Massacre, pull us back to the labyrinth of hostilities. And the third thing that happened to the Philippines is what keeping away investors from investing in Mindanao.

We our in great hope that the next president will focus on strenghtening peace in Mindanao and give priority on resolving the energy crisis. With power security, like a grease in the car’s wheels/gears, progress will smoothly follow.

The tsunami scare

I am an early bird, waking up regularly at 5:00 o’clock every morning. I was shocked when the first message I received was from my mother’s. My mother usually text me in the afternoon or evening. Then you’ll sense something’s wrong.

Her SMS registered at 4:06:37 AM in my phone. And she was telling me that they already had evacuated to higher ground since there was a tsunami alert or warning. I didn’t hear news about the Chilean quake. So the first thing that came to my mind that it was a hoax.

In the 90’s, there was a gossip about a volcano erupting in the Pacific Ocean and engulfing Mindanao in its series of huge explosions. Many of my neighbors actually had left for fear of such event.

I asked my mother if it’s the local government unit who issued the tsunami advisory. She confirmed it. I then asked my neighbors regarding the news, we were on our way to climb the mountain near our village, and they all had heard, from TV News, of the tsunami warning that was issued in the eastern part of the country in response to the Chilean quake.

In our small town in the part of Surigao del Sur, the alert was issued at 10:00 o’clock on the Saturday’s night, as relayed by my mother. They had started evacuation one hour before midnight.

It was the mammoth quake, 8.8 in magnitude, in Chile that prompted Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) to alert 19 provinces on the country’s eastern shores against the danger of a tsunami hitting between 1 p.m. and 2:30 p.m. Sunday (Feb 28, 2010).

The tsunami alert was issued for the provinces of Batanes Group of Islands, Cagayan, northernmost areas of Ilocos Norte, Isabela, Quezon, Aurora, Camarines Sur and Norte, Albay, Catanduanes, Sorsogon, Northern and Eastern Samar, Leyte, Southern Leyte, Surigao del Norte and del Sur, Davao Oriental and del Sur.

However, Phivolcs lifted the alert at past 3 p.m.

This tsunami warning was also being carried out in different countries in the Pacific. It was even observed in Hawaii that sea water had receded and exposed seabed. The coasts of Japan and Russia had been battered by it. Waves of up to of 2.0 meters in height were seen. Fortunately these waves were lesser to what was predicted by tsunami experts.

Thanks God that the prediction did not materialize. It would have cost number of lives and devastated the livelihood of the many people particularly in the poor provinces in eastern part across our country. My home province would have been severely affected by such catastrophic event.

The alert would have inconvenienced many people but it was also a good sign that people now are conscious of the government warnings. My family had to carry my grandmother who has an amputated leg. People immediately left after hearing the warning. It’s also a good start to improve the warning systems of the tsunami watch around the globe.

Remarkably, our government was not asleep!