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Categories: Article, culture, development studies, economics, globalization, history, News, peace, politics, social science, sociology
Tags: Aljazeera, Arab states, clash of generations, conflict, Erle Argonza, google.com, insurrection, Kadhafi, Libya, NewsAsia, North Africa, Qadhafi, social movements, social turmoil, technorati, turbulence

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FILIPINOS 104 MILLION STRONG: 94 IN PH, 10 OVERSEAS

February 12, 2011

Erle Frayne D. Argonza

Magandang gabi! Good evening from PH’s suburban boondocks!

The Philippines just conducted a census last year, 2010, and the result shows a sum total of 94 Million heads in the archipelago. The population growth of 2 Million heads per year is also indicated, showing an increase from the 1.7 Million heads annual increase ten in the year 2000 (when the last census was conducted).

The 2 Million annual growth is already a total result in itself. Accordingly, about 500,000 fetuses are aborted every year in the country, a figure that has alarmed population and health experts. Never mind if the national charter bans abortion, women who commit unwanted pregnancies simply decide to go abortion.

94 Million Filipinos, at a time of economic boom and rising incomes, is a cause for celebration. With a rising middle class at hand—who form the demand base of consumption-led growth—we expect a steadily growing number of Filipinos who comprise the family income bracket earning U.S. $6,000-$30,000 annually. 20 Million Pinoys are in that category today, which will expectedly rise in the next couples of years.

Thus, PH qualifies as an ‘emerging market’. It has first of all a large population, and millions of people falling within the middle class spenders with incomes ranging from U.S. $6,000 to $30,000. Many heads working and earning well translates into economic wellness for a country, so we should welcome this development.

Now, let us not forget the Overseas Filipinos or OFs who comprise an estimated 10 Million heads across 200 countries more or less. These OFs earn an aggregate income of U.S. $400 Billions annually, $20+ Billions of which is remitted to the Philippines as Net Factor Income from Abroad or NFIA. Of the $20+ Billions, only around $18 entered legally established channels of remittance annually.

That means the OFs remit 5% of their earnings to the motherland, and that is good enough. No matter what misery-inducing policies the global elites would slap Pinoys with via the World Bank-IMF-WTO Group, the most demonic being the austerity policies of the IMF, the Philippines can survive thanks to the OF remittances. Let the evil elites shackle PH with crippling low credit ratings and low entry of ‘smart money’ and investments by them, we will still survive thanks to the remittances and our own domestic investments.

The signs are pretty clear that fecundity, the capacity to give birth, is high among Filipinos. This for me is a cause for celebration. Let us sustain our high birthing capacity and increase the number of middle class people by the year, and we will all the more exude our economic and social power as a people.

Contrast that high fecundity to the trends in Japan and Russia, where their populations are falling by the year. Russia has been alarmed a decade ago yet about falling population, and identified the phenomenon as the top national security problem. Japan just began to experience a falling population, and this early look at how alarmed and panicked the Japanese stakeholders are of the consequence of diminishing population.

Not so for my beloved Philippines. We will be producing 2 Million+ Filipinos annually in the archipelago and overseas for many years to come yet, and we shall use the burgeoning population as leverage in negotiating with other nations and regions. The global oligarchs can no longer be fooling us at this time, whacking us with oppressive policies that produce deplorable conditions for our poor folks.

Abroad, our own Kabayans are now crystallizing a consciousness as an Overseas Filipino Nation, and I do welcome this progressive development. United by culture, language, and shared experience, the OF Nation will wield the stick to leverage vis a vis governments, market players, and interest groups in their host countries. They can no longer be fooled in the negotiating tables, much more enslaved and butchered like unwanted pests by sociopathic monsters without responding in a pro-active way.

Clearly, the days when White Americans sang “Brown monkeys have no tails” in the archipelago, a sordid racist song they popularized upon invading the Philippines, are over. The figure of 200 Million Pinoys can be breached by 2050, at a time when PH will be a wealthy nation, huge and wealthy to lead the ASEAN Union.

In sum, 104 Million Filipinos should be welcomed as good news. It is the leveraging power of Pinoys in the new era of Urban Philippines, whence 68% of Pinoys are residing in urban communities here.

[Philippines, 11 February 2011]

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Come Visit E. Argonza’s blogs anytime!

Social Blogs:

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Categories: Article, biology, culture, development studies, ecology, globalization, News, social science, sociology
Tags: Asia, demography, emerging markets, Erle Argonza, google.com, Manila, NewsAsia, overseas Filipinos, Philippines, population, public policy, technorati

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RE-ECHOING CLEAN ENERGY

February 12, 2011

Erle Frayne D. Argonza

In the province of Ilocos Norte, in northern Philippines, is a pilot project for wind energy… Hydraulics application has already seen the rise of dams that generate at least couples of thousands of megawatts of power… Geothermal energy will be breaching the 3,000 megawatt level soon, making PH the world’s top geothermal power producer.

There are more such narratives of nascent and maturing power producers that tap alternative energy sources, or energy other than fossil fuel. We have vast reserves of natural gas in the country, which is fossil-related though clean energy in classification.

Solar power is a sunrise industry, and the good news is that our engineers here have exceeded the capability level of those in California and elsewhere in producing state-of-the-art solar panels. Ocean power research & development is proceeding at rapid pace, with installations projected in pilot areas in the short run.

Wind power potentials of the Philippines itself is projected at past the 70,000 megawatt level, which is a whopping figure that is over five (5) times the current electricity needs. Already, over 3,000 megawatts of wind power projects are in the pipeline, either as on-going or soon-to-start-installation projects.

In Manila, shuttle vehicles powered by electricity ferry shoppers at the Araneta Center and the Mall of Asia or MOA. Jeepneys in Makati using electricity are also shuttling shoppers as well as employees around the classy Ayala Central Business District, the country’s financial center. Tricycles powered by electricity are also rising, while motorbikes powered by electricity are now in use in Palawan.

The news about the usage of alternative energy is increasing by the day in the Philippines. Hopefully, the industrialized Northern countries will move ahead in shifting towards clean energy despite the economic downturns they are now experiencing. Emerging markets are surging ahead in this very dynamic field, and this phenomenon is causing me a sense of fulfillment and happiness being a habitué of the ASEAN.

In previous articles, I already shared the information about China’s perfection of the nuclear fusion technology. The news first reached my attention in 2007, and at that time it was projected that the first commercial prototypes for fusion breeder plants will be out in 10 years time. That means that as early as 2016 China will launch nuclear plants powered by fusion technology.

So dynamic is the field of alternative energy R & D that the sources of ideas for it are like oceans of thought. There simply are too many options for deriving alternative energy, so that in the not-so-distant future the starships for traversing space will be fueled by clean-recyclable-inexhaustible energy.

Let’s take the planet itself and its constant motion. As the planet moves around its axis, torque is generated. Torque is a potential source of energy, and for as long as the Earth revolves around its axis, torque will be inexhaustible. This is one area that I wish to be involved in the R&D phase itself.

Airplanes, airships, rockets and satellites can be fuelled in the future by torque among many options. By airships I mean maritime ships of today that can be retrofitted and re-engineered to be able to fly in the air, though at low altitudes, thus turning into a more efficient passenger vehicle more than today’s airplanes.

Another planetary source of energy for tomorrow is albedo. Around 1/3 of the heat that gets to the Earth from the Sun and other celestial sources escape as albedo. My thesis is that the escaping albedo can be tapped as an inexhaustible source of energy.

Necessarily, the policy environment and institutions that will propel clean energy and make it the sole energy source in the future should be prepared and strengthened early enough. Incidentally, the Philippines is among the countries with an exemplary policy environment for clean energy, and so industrialized and emerging markets can emulate the experience of my country in this line of endeavor.

The long-term goal, of course, is to rid the planet of fossil fuel. At some point in the future, extraction of oil & gas should be put to a stop. Prolonged extraction is causing imbalances in the geological structures of the planet, imbalances that can be irreparable in the long run. It would be best to carve out a global policy architecture to cease all fossil fuel extractions in the future, and enforce this strictly.

I would be celebrating the day when fossil fuel will cease to be the source of electricity and vehicular power in the foreseeable future. As far as electricity generation is concerned, the Philippines is almost there. But I shall wait a bit till electricity will be totally clean and using non-fossil energy sources.

[Philippines, 09 February 2011]

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Come Visit E. Argonza’s blogs anytime!

Social Blogs:

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Categories: Article, development studies, ecology, economics, engineering sciences, health and wellness, natural resources engineering, News, science and technology, social science
Tags: biofuel, clean energy, energy, Erle Argonza, google.com, NewsAsia, Philippines, public administration, public policy, solar power, technorati, wind power

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IS THE PHILIPPINES ALREADY INDUSTRIALIZED?

January 14, 2011

Erle Frayne D. Argonza

Let me continue with the reflections on my beloved Philippines’ economy. This effort is often part of my self-accepted duties to update myself and my compatriots about the state of the Philippine economy at the start of every year.

Just a week ago, I came across an article writ by one of the stock market columnists in the Philippine Daily Inquirer of PDI, that re-echoed an emerging perception in the international business community concerning the Philippine economy’s being ‘industrialized’ today. Coming from the business community itself, this evaluative perception is replete with many implications for the country. It bodes well for the country in fact.

I wish that the perception will resonate with greater power by the day so that those in academic and ideological circles will rethink their positions about the Philippine ‘mode of production’. As far as the Maoists are concerned, PH will always remain as semi-feudal/semi-colonial, backward, agrarian economy. Some academic circles will re-echo the same old worn out “PH is a service economy, with mixed economy features.”

This analyst still recalls very well the ‘mode of production’ debate that reverberated the halls of the University of the Philippines in the 1980s. I graduated from this university in October 1980, then came back to take up graduate schooling in sociology from Nov. ‘83 to April ‘89, and so I was able to flow with the discussions and debates ensuing. The debate centered largely on whether the Philippines is semi-colonial/semi-feudal (Maoist) or capitalist mode (moderate Marxists, populists, social democrats).

By the mid-90s, the debate was already faltering and dying out. It was a dead debate when the year 2000 rang a sonorous beacon of the new millennium. But if you ask any of the competing ideological blocs today about their perceptions of Philippine reality, you will notice that they will churn out the same lines that they’ve been saying for decades.

As regards the perception that PH economy is a ‘service economy’, the criterion is largely based on what sector—agriculture & forestry? industry? services? –contribute the greatest to the gross domestic product or GDP. Since services contribute 55% to the GDP, then PH is a ‘service economy’.

That evaluative perception has a kindergarten undertone to it, as it relies on simplistic assumptions. Just because the industrial sector, which churns out barely 30% (manufacturing + infrastructure combined) of the GDP, looks diminutive than services, doesn’t merit an economy to be judged as ‘services’ or ‘non-industrial’ economy.

To be fair to those opinion quarters who have their own paradigm that churn out specific evaluative judgements, the term ‘industrializing’ was used to label Philippine development since the 1980s. At one point, PH was included among the NIEs or ‘newly industrializing economies’, and so the reference point was industry more than services.

Let’s go back to the USA in the year 1900 when it was already adjudged as industrialized. Industries began to enable the imperialistic pursuits of the USA then, if you recall your history well. But at that time, agriculture was still employing over 90% of the workforce, and nary an evidence can be shown that industry had out-stripped agriculture at that juncture as the main contributor to the national income (today’s GDP) perentage-wise. Yet the USA was already adjudged as ‘industrial’ at that time!

If the criteria would be largely the (a) prevalence and (b) impact of capital goods or ‘reproducible goods’ industries, then the market players have clear evidences to show such increased prevalence and impact. Save for integrated steel and castings & forging industries, every vital capital goods are already being manufactured in PH today. Unless of course that the ‘services economy’ judges are blind to these developments.

The emerging perception and judgement about PH economy should be impetus enough to cause a re-tooling by the analysts and ‘best practices’ innovators. It would prove beneficial for everyone if coteries of opinion-makers, business executives and capitalists themselves would begin the ball rolling by publishing their emerging perception about the ‘emerging markets’ such as PH to be already ‘industrialized’.

As a related event, I just signaled the young Prof. John Ponsaran, head of the development studies program in the UP Manila, about the emerging perception. I once taught in the UP Manila’s department of social sciences, where development studies is niched, so I know the temper of the faculty there that goes for debating on anything under the sun. I hope the emerging perception will be tackled in that campus.

[Philippines, 08 January 2011]

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Come Visit E. Argonza’s blogs anytime!

Social Blogs:

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Categories: corporate social responsibility, development studies, economics, engineering sciences, globalization, News, science and technology, social science, sociology, Urban/regional planning
Tags: Asia, business, emerging markets, Erle Argonza, google.com, growth, industrialization, Manila, NewsAsia, Philippines, prosperity, technorati

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WESTERN ECONOMIC SHRINKAGE A REALITY AS ASIA RISES

January 14, 2011

Erle Frayne D. Argonza

Magandang araw sa kapamilyang global! Good day to fellow global citizens!

For three decades already, I have been echoing a prognostication that was already current stock within sociology, about the ‘decline of the west’. Let me return to the same theme, as the rapid decline of the West and the fast rise of Asia is now a reality of the current historical juncture.

Just a couple of days ago, the Philippine Daily Inquirer’s or PDI’s opinion pages published an article by the past recent premier of the UK, Gordon Brown (PDI, 7 January 2011). Titled “Reviving the West,” it was a rather straightforward admission of the techno-economic decline that the West had undergone and the rapid ascent of Asia as the global economy’s growth driver.

As Brown succinctly stressed, “Time is running out of the West, because both Europe and the United States have yet to digest the fact that all the individual crises of the last few years—from the sub-prime crisis and the collapse of the Lehman Brothers to Greek austerity and Ireland’s near-bankruptcy—are symptoms of a bigger problem: a world undergoing a far-reaching, irreversible and, indeed, unprecedented restructuring of economic power.”

That was the former premier speaking, a technocrat and economic manager prior to his premier stint, so it does carry weight as much as those of the globe-trotting former US president Bill Clinton. Gordon went on to demonstrate his deep knowledge of the rising middle class consumers of Asia who altogether will make the greatest consumers the world over in the foreseeable future.

Said Gordon:

Of course, we all know of Asia’s rise, and that China exports more than America and soon will manufacture and invest more as well. But we have not fully come to terms with the sweep of history. Western economic dominance—10 percent of the world’s population producing a majority of the world’s exports and investment—is finished, never to return. After two centuries in which Europe and America monopolized global economic activity, the West is now being out-produced, out-manufactured, out-traded, and out-invested by the rest of the world.

That indubitably is an empirical substantiation of the thesis long held by Western social forecasters about the ‘decline of the West’. Oswald Spengler, Arnold Toynbee, Daniel Bell, Alvin Toffler, and John Naisbitt have churned out voluminous prognosis and forewarnings about the same thesis within a century’s span…and that thesis is now a reality.

In the middle and last portions of Brown’s article, he admonished Americans in particular to re-invent the ‘American dream’. The way to the revival of the West, with the USA showcasing the compass, is to re-structure the economy altogether. Accordingly, the nascence of over a billion middle class Asian consumers is a huge opportunity for America to re-invent itself and revive a strong economy.

Brown also forewarned America’s politicians, notably the Right, about criminalizing external forces, such as China’s currency, as culprits behind the decline of the US economy. Intervention measures such as currency wars are flawed, precisely because they fail to address the internal factors that are truly the causes of the economic decline.

To a great extent, I do agree with the evaluations and interventions of Brown. Fact is, I have already begun to echo the theme that America and Europe ought to reverse the policies of liberalization, privatization, and deregulation that led to de-industrialization, agricultural decay, infrastructure decay, and the rise of a ‘virtual economy’ based on predatory finance (vulture funds, derivatives or hedge funds). As I had been saying all along, the West should go back to the principles of the ‘real economy’ where wealth is produced from agriculture, manufacturing, infrastructures, transportation & communications, and science & technology.

As a matter of fact, I have been among Asian analysts and development practitioners who have urged the Americans to go back to the economics of New Deal propounded by the late Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Likewise should the tried & tested policies upheld by Alexander Hamilton, Abraham Lincoln, Frederick von List, and John F. Kennedy, policies that impelled the rise of the physical economy and brought bountiful prosperity to Americans (read: created a predominant middle class), be put to the fore in rebuilding America.

Gordon resonates somehow with the ‘physical economy’ framework, even as he heralded the need for a new Marshall Plan for the world. Accordingly, the Plan could help to recast the banking system that was dirtied by its engagements in speculative financing and contributed to creating financial bubbles. The Western peoples should better listen to him, more so the youth who will be tomorrow’s Western leaders.

Let me re-echo the same message I have been saying all along: that prosperity should be a win/win phenomenon. No one here in Asia would ever want the USA and Europe to go back to the era of ‘cave man’ economy of hunting & gathering. I’d be happier many more times if the West should re-invent itself, cease from playing the destructive game of win/lose logic in order to prosper, and move back to reconstruct its physical economy altogether.

Asian spiritual masters, who incidentally also discoursed on economic doctrines (i.e. Baha’ullah, Gandhi, Vivekananda, Sarkar, Sri Aurubindo), left us all the legacy of building prosperity through the way of peace, cooperation, and mutual-help. It’s time for the Western peoples to retool themselves, by throwing away the binary and destructive thought system they inherited from their forebears, and by learning from Asia’s spiritual and intellectual giants.

[Philippines, 09 January 2011]

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Come Visit E. Argonza’s blogs anytime!

Social Blogs:

Wisdom/Spiritual Blogs:

BRIGHTWORLD: http://erlefraynebrightworld.wordpress.com

Poetry & Art Blogs:

Mixed Blends Blogs:

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Website & Mixed Blogs:

http://asiafinest.com
http://clpl-india.com
http://humanitariannews.org
http://newestnews.net
http://pul.se
http://sociology.alltop.com
http://thedailyreviewer.com
http://topcityblogs.com
http://www.nonprofit.org

Categories: development studies, economics, history, News, peace, politics, science and technology, social science, sociology, Urban/regional planning
Tags: Asia, China, development, Erle Argonza, google.com, growth, NewsAsia, Oswald Spengler, prosperity, urban, West, White Man

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PROF. ARGONZA SURGES YET ON WORLD ALLTOP BLOGS!

December 22, 2010

PROF. ARGONZA SURGES YET ON WORLD ALLTOP BLOGS!

A pleasant day and Happy Holidays to fellow global citizens!

Yuletide season is now at our doors, and the spirit of fellowship has been harboring glad tidings of good news as Prof. Erle Frayne Argonza, a social analyst and self-development guru from Manila, has been continuing to gain mileage in his magnanimous efforts to enlighten humanity about the current social and cosmic issues. To date, dozens of online newspapers and magazines across the globe have featured Prof. Argonza’s writings on their very own websites.

Another very warming development most recently was the conferment by the Philippine Blog Awards of FINALIST-BEST SOCIETY, POLITICS & HISTORY BLOG on Prof. Argonza’s Ikonoklast. Thus, Prof. Argonza is indubitably among the Philippines’ top bloggers today, buttressing the earlier recognitions of him as one of the world’s top sociology bloggers.

For your reads and exchange of notes about Prof. Argonza’s blogs, please visit:

SOCIAL WRITINGS:
Unladtau: https://unladtau.wordpress.com
Ikonoklast: http://erleargonza.blogspot.com

WISDOM WRITINGS:
BrightWorld: http://erlefraynebrightworld.wordpress.com Cosmicbuhay: http://cosmicbuhay.blogspot.com

ART & POETRY:
Artblog: http://erleargonza.wordpress.com
Argonzapoem: http://argonzapoem.blogspot.com

Join now the growing numbers of global citizens who find Light in Prof. Argonza’s englightening blogs!

Argonza & Associates Consulting
December 2010

TOP BLOG SITES:

CONFERRED ‘FINALIST-BEST SOCIETY, POLITICS & HISTORY BLOG’ ON PROF. ARGONZA’S IKONOKLAST:

http://www.philippineblogawards.com

CITED ARGONZA BLOGS FOR DIVERSE THEME DISCUSSIONS & ANNOTATIONS:

Categories: communications, culture, ecology, economics, globalization, health and wellness, history, international business, mass media, News, peace, politics, psychology, social science, sociology, sports
Tags: all top blogger, blogging, Erle Argonza, google, NewsAsia, Philippine Blog Awards, Philippines, technorati, top blogs, top sociology blogs

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ARGONZA’S IKONOKLAST FINALIST IN PH BLOG AWARDS

December 16, 2010

Erle Frayne D. Argonza

Good evening from the suburban boondocks east of Manila!

I was just recently informed by the officiating committee of the prestigious Philippine Blog Awards that my IKONOKLAST blog landed among the finalists to the BEST SOCIETY, POLITICS & HISTORY BLOG category (see http://erleargonza.blogspot.com). The news ignited an instantaneous elation in me that bordered euphoria.

A social scientist, development expert and spiritual guru for some time, I found blogging as a perfect platform for the conduct of my messenger mission in advancement of the Light of truth, knowledge, wisdom to our fellow citizens of Planet Earth. Being a late-comer in the cyber-field, I began to blog and do social networking only in late 2007, so any news today of recognition as a top blogger, both nationally and internationally, is awesomely euphoric for this humble servant of the Almighty Creator.

Fact is, I wasn’t a born writer. A born warrior-leader, intellectual and healer I am, this I openly admit, avocations that were already optimized and practiced with fulfillment. But as a writer, I had to learn the hard way, struggling from my basic education grammar days up through my professional career era.

I came to discover the passion for writing along the way, as I was also learning the crafts of dancing, acting, story-telling, and musical presentation (song, composition, acoustic guitar rendition). No matter how flawed my writing was at the start, I was never discouraged by acerbic critics about mistakes. Love for the craft simply led me to work hard to perfect the art and practice of it….Until I got to where I am, scribbling notes and recondite peregrinations with erudition and skill.

But even then, my bent for technical-academic writing dominates my style. This makes me exude a truly humble mien when I contrast my writing to those of other writers and thinkers. The winners of the very prestigious Ramon Magsaysay for literature, National Artist for literature, National Scientist awards, Palanca Award (Filipino, English) appear as truly talented, born writers whose works I genuinely appreciate. Eminent persons they all ended up, some of them even became members of the very prestigious international writers’ organization PEN.

I would never imagine myself as being an all-top writer of sorts like the awardees of those aforesaid accolades, though I do envision myself as reaching out to enthused souls very efficaciously through the pen. So it surely comes as a surprise, sufficient to ignite elation, that certain online media sites would recognize my writings as among top sociology blogs.

And that was what happened over the last twelve (12) months of consistent blogging. Never mind the months when I rested from the craft for a while, for one reason or another. As soon as I resumed writing, dozens of internet sites cut-and-paste and discoursed on my social writings, while couples of others openly assigned certain articles of mine to the alltop sections of their online magazines, newspapers, or related media.

Amid such open recognitions, I would never imagine my writings as landing in the Philippine Blog Awards, a prestigious accolade-granting institution of late (see: http://www.philippineblogawards.com.ph). That is like winning a National Artist award to me, and I’d be humble enough to reckon with my blog’s status. Until one fine day this last quarter, when some benignly appreciative souls from my beloved Philippines brought my Ikonoklast blog—as official nomination—to the attention of the Philippine Blog Awards.

That nomination alone was ample cause to wobble my heart with thunderous beats of delight. I thanked the Almighty Creator profusely and endlessly for the nomination-type recognition as it already is proof enough that my advocacy campaigns have been achieving the desired results. It caps the profusion of subtle recognitions, as hundreds of internet sites today have already been discoursing on my writings. Most notable of those that recognized my writings are the following:

v http://asiafinest.com

v http://clpl-india.com

v http://humanitariannews.org

v http://newestnews.net

v http://pul.se

v http://sociology.alltop.com

v http://thedailyreviewer.com

v http://topcityblogs.com

v http://www.nonprofit.org

The latest news about the Finalist status is a multiplier effect on my elation, and I do anticipate that I would go euphoric over it before Christmas Day. I likewise feel happy for my fellow Finalists, and for the one who will be declared winner among us. Win or lose in the championship, all finalists are already top bloggers, the cream of the country’s bloggers.

So I would conclude by extending my thanks to the avid supporters, the Philippine Blog Awards, and the Almighty Providence for this top blogger feat. This development has made my Yuletide holidays enormously wonderful, rendered as another milestone event in my making as a writer and messenger of Light-filled causes.

[Philippines, 14 December 2010]

[See: IKONOKLAST: http://erleargonza.blogspot.com,

COSMICBUHAY: http://cosmicbuhay.blogspot.com,

BRIGHTWORLD: http://erlefraynebrightworld.wordpress.com, ARTBLOG: http://erleargonza.wordpress.com,

ARGONZAPOEM: http://argonzapoem.blogspot.com]

Categories: development studies, ecology, economics, education, history, News, politics, science and technology, social science, sociology, Urban/regional planning
Tags: appreciation, awards, blogging, celebrations, Erle Argonza, marketing, NewsAsia, Philippine Blog Awards, Philippines, promotions, public relations, recognition, technorati, top blogs

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GLOBALIZING CHRISTMAS

December 9, 2010

Erle Frayne D. Argonza

Christmas is now nearing as of this writing. Christmas bell tolls, kids’ carols, merry songs & dances are now up in the air, inviting everyone else to share the spirit of fun and camaraderie.

A Christian and sectarian holiday Christmas is, no one doubts this. Granted that Christmas is a sectarian affair, is it possible to transform it into a global/universal, multi-cultural event? There are apparently two (2) perspectives that clash concerning the matter.

From the point of view of fundamentalist, ultra-conservative church practitioners, whether Christian or non-Christian, Christmas is a sectarian affair and should not veer into cultural spaces not meant for its observation. A Muslim fundamentalist would throw monkey wrench at any attempt to globalize Christmas, and the same may be true for those fundamentalists of other denominations.

From the vantage point of a non-fundamentalist, cosmopolitan person, Christmas is one occasion that Christians can share to others. It is a multi-cultural affair, and it belongs to the whole of humanity for that matter. Ergo, everyone on Earth better attunes to the Christmas spirit and feel the ‘family of mankind’ fraternal bonds that the affair espouses.

As to where I stand in that polarity of perspectives, I am among those who wish to share the Christmas spirit as a multi-cultural blessing. Born a Catholic, but now a freethinker who espouses post-church spirituality, I remain attuned to the Christmas holidays just the same for the reasons stated above.

Christianity is a cult of Jesus, and I will have nothing to do with following or propagating such a cult. Esoteric Christianity, however, isn’t the same as the folk Christianity of the flocks who regard Jesus as a cult figure, and I squarely stand on the grounds of this mystical version of Christianity.

Esoteric Christianity teaches universal brotherhood among its core lessons. Universal brotherhood, a battle cry of cosmopolitan esotericists, is still a very valid principle to stand up for. It is the ethos that permits a soul to go beyond the bounds of sectarian precepts, embrace fellow humans as co-family members, and build a culture of dialogue across the planet.

I do hope that the more cosmopolitan Christians would consciously invite non-Christians to be part of the holidays, truly embrace their non-Christian brothers and sisters, and allow the latter to participate in such year-end party rituals as gift-giving. And, invite the non-Christians to 24^th of December midnight gathering, where they can sit by the Christmas tree and partake of the food blessings for the occasion.

Non-Christians who may not be invited by Christians in their homes on the 24^th & 25^th of December can also go ahead and celebrate the affair with their families and friends on the said dates. Nothing is wrong for them to put up a Christmas tree at home and party on the 24^th midnight and on the 25^th of December. And, at the end of the month, celebrate New Year’s Eve too.

In the Philippines, the transformation of Christmas into a multi-cultural event has already been going on in the 60s till 1972. Unfortunately, the Mindanao War came, a Christian-Muslim schism was propagated, and Muslims became reluctant to celebrate Christmas with their brethrens among Christians.

I just hope that the tide of cleavages is now ebbing and ceasing. We formally recognize Muslim and Chinese occasions in this country, and so it would be fitting for all Filipinos including Chinese and Muslims to celebrate Christmas as well. By Chinese I refer to those Chinese who are Buddhist, Daoist, atheist, or non-Christian.

The occasions for Christmas parties are now going on, from one organization to another, and so it is best for us all to participate in these events. And, comes the 24^th-25^th of the month, celebrate Christmas at home as a ritual occasion to solidify family bonds. Then, comes the New Year’s Eve, celebrate with a Big Bang accompanying a party or gathering.

Peace be with you! Advanced Happy Holidays!

[Philippines, 08 December 2010]

[See: IKONOKLAST: http://erleargonza.blogspot.com,

COSMICBUHAY: http://cosmicbuhay.blogspot.com,

BRIGHTWORLD: http://erlefraynebrightworld.wordpress.com, ARTBLOG: http://erleargonza.wordpress.com,

ARGONZAPOEM: http://argonzapoem.blogspot.com]

Categories: culture, development studies, economics, education, globalization, health and wellness, history, News, peace, psychology, social science, sociology
Tags: arts, Asia, Asian Christmas, Christmas, Christmas tree, cnn news, culture, Erle Argonza, global event, Jesus, NewsAsia, Philippines, Santa Claus, technorati

Comments: 1 Comment

JUDICIAL OVERSIGHT IN DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS & BUSINESS

December 6, 2010

Erle Frayne D. Argonza

A relatively pleasant month it is in Filipinas this month of the year, though it showers intermittently as cold winds up north converge with warm equatorial winds. As the air becomes cooler, let us reflect on a raging issue worldwide concerning the extent of judicial power in economic & business concerns.

Filipinas is mired right now in questions about the said powers of our magistracy (Supreme Court) in regard to interventions in franchises and business operations. The executive (presidency) is particularly getting peeved at the seemingly Draconian powers the magistracy has been exhibiting, powers that could obstruct presidential initiatives in pushing through the new investments in big ticket projects.

There is now a perception peddled by the president’s spin doctors that the magistracy is turning into an obstructionist. Recognizing that the Supreme Court is no perfect institution, as the Justices’ decisions on business and project concerns could be tainted with corruption, to declare that it is obstructionist (i.e. it makes decisions for the sake of demonstrating its powers over the presidency) demands deeper reflections and deconstruction.

Presidential prerogatives could turn into bad curves every now and then, as they are used to favor certain market players over and above the Law. This is where our reflections should begin. The presidency (executive institutions) in the Philippines is particularly very corrupt and inept, and favors certain market players at the expense of fairness and constitutional regulations.

The abuses of presidential prerogatives on business franchises during the time of President Ramos, among others, have seen onerous franchises and contracts executed. The energy sector in particular became infested with greedy power producers who were favored over other players, palpable acts of felony that should have incarcerated the president himself.

But that’s not all. There were the Malaysian investors known for notoriety, who cornered whatever state companies and business concerns there were available in the 1990s for their portfolio investments to gobble up. The National Steel Corporation landed in the hands of the Hottick Group that never introduced any internal development in the company but which, in fact, closed the company up and sold it at five (5) times its purchase price much later (with state intervention in the transaction) to the Indian group Global Steel.

So many big ticket projects during Ramos’ incumbency were akin to the National Steel fiasco, while others were mired in corruption in the granting of the franchises. Ramos himself became a very wealthy man after he left office, yet he remains free amid the questionable presidential prerogatives his Office exercised then.

It is within the context of abusive presidential prerogatives that one should comprehend the exercise of judicial oversight with high-level intervention. The judiciary is a last bastion of fairness and rationality in project contracts and business franchises in a country with weak governance institutions, and so it flexed its muscles as provided for any way by the national charter as the Philippine case exemplifies.

No matter how well meaning the executive department may be, it has no monopoly of powers and wisdom to decide prudently about projects and franchises. President Aquino’s coterie of aides is pregnant with greedy and corrupt elements that include those who served as cabinet members in previous regimes. So why should the public leave everything to the presidency, when the presidential office is a classic nest of graft?

When the judiciary commits flaws that must be addressed, then they can be cited by a vigilant civil society and be addressed properly. One case in point is the issue of plagiarism hurled against a Justice by the professors of the University of the Philippines College of Law, with the concomitant demand for resignation by the plagiarist concerned.

While the magistracy continues to strengthen its own internal weaknesses, it must just the same exercise its oversight powers concerning developmental projects and business franchises. It will prove catastrophic if the incompetent presidential aides will hatch an operational modus aimed at destroying constitutional powers of judicial oversight, as such will become a new monstrosity that will lead to new rounds of corrupt acts by state and business mafias.

[Philippines, 04 December 2010]

[See: IKONOKLAST: http://erleargonza.blogspot.com,

COSMICBUHAY: http://cosmicbuhay.blogspot.com,

BRIGHTWORLD: http://erlefraynebrightworld.wordpress.com, ARTBLOG: http://erleargonza.wordpress.com,

ARGONZAPOEM: http://argonzapoem.blogspot.com]

Categories: development studies, economics, history, News, politics, social science, sociology
Tags: al jazeera, bbc news, business, cnn news, Erle Argonza, franchise, governance, Hottick group, judiciary, magistrate, Malaysia, NewsAsia, Philippines, supreme court, technorati

Comments: 1 Comment

WIKILEAKS ERODES REMAINING U.S. CREDIBILITY, WORLD POWER BULLYING IS OVER!

December 4, 2010

Erle Frayne D. Argonza

Dusk has begun to envelop my space as I write this piece. The WikiLeaks has been receiving a crescendo of publicities recently, as the leaked secrecies of the US diplomatic community has reached the big media players, eg. The Guardian. The devastating impact of the WikiLeaks on US credibility is now gnawing at the morsel of US governance itself, further exacerbating the already fragmentary situation of US governance institutions.

As I’ve been elucidating in articles of mine, the new millennium opened up with a context of multipolar world order, an emerging context that demanded re-carving of foreign policy architectures and the actual diplomatic dealings of world and regional powers with other nations. Sadly, the United States faired very badly in adjusting to the emerging context, as it chose the hawkish path of brinkmanship, unabashedly exhibited superpower arrogance, and bullied other nations into submitting to its diktats.

Take the case of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Rather than use the United Nations as the platform to contemplate and decide on the fates of the so-called “rogue” states, the US bamboozled its allies into submitting to its hawkish diktats, compelled them to join the “coalition of the willing,” or be identified with those who are “against us.” The hubris and arrogance of America’s leaders was captured emphatically in the finger-pointing George W. Bush whose madness exudes a demonically behaving sociopath.

The WikiLeaks disclosures have revealed to the world the true and honest perceptions of Americans towards the leaders and peoples of other nations. America’s diplomacy is but putting superficially sweet-looking mascara on top of the real thing: Saxon condescension on all peoples and nations of the planet. For Americans are truly of Anglo-Saxon psyche: the same marauding, pillaging, plundering, and destructive Saxons of antiquity whose very culture and psyche the Americans have inherited en toto.

Over a hundred years ago, upon America’s invasion and occupation of the Philippines, its leaders and negotiators already manifested the sordid duplicity that is markedly demonic. Presenting themselves before then president Aguinaldo as allies who’d help the Filipinos flash out Spain’s imperial forces, the Americans eventually ended up showing their true intentions by invading the country, an invasion that led to the deaths of almost a million Filipinos nationwide.

Having planted themselves well on Philippine soil deep up through the hinterlands, the conquering Americans than sang with gusto “Brown Monkeys with No Tails in Zamboanga” everywhere they went. So demonically condescending, you’d wonder whether the Anglo-Saxon Americans have ever truly modified their behavior across time.

It now seems, as the WikiLeaks aptly reveal, that America’s leaders and probably seconded by most of its people regard all other leaders and peoples as ‘monkeys with no tails’. For even those White leaders of the West do not escape the derision and philistine condescension of the Americans, coming at a time when the USA’s own western allies need them badly to help salve their ailing economies and stave off the possibility of a continent-wide protest movement that could lead to a new round of Spartacist anti-oligarchic revolution.

The likes of WikiLeaks do speak of new innovative ways of tech-oriented non-conventional means to battle the global oligarchy, beginning with the Anglo-American oligarchs and their political, technocratic, and military subalterns. Not only the USA but other world powers as well will not be spared from the scrutinizing vigilant eyes of concerned citizens who will disclose internal defense, diplomatic, big business, and related classified information, the effects of which will deal devastating blows on the images, credibility, and institutional strengths of entities and powers concerned.

Not just world powers but, again, the financier oligarchy will be de-fanged by the non-conventional attacks that will be waged against them via unveiling WikiLeak-type information. For world powers are mere footstools of the oligarchs. How I wish that the same modalities of disclosures will reveal the evils of the global elites, led by the Houses of Rothschilds and Rockefellers. Sooner or later, the world’s peoples must be made aware of the real nature of the elites and the world/regional powers as their puppet footstools.

The time for world power bullying has finally come to be reversed, with the advent of info-tech platforms for guerilla-type attacks versus the rich and powerful. America’s last bits of credibility are now being pulverized by the WikiLeaks disclosures, and it will just be a matter of time before those of other demonic world powers’ will follow.

[Philippines, 02 December 2010]

[See: IKONOKLAST: http://erleargonza.blogspot.com,

COSMICBUHAY: http://cosmicbuhay.blogspot.com,

BRIGHTWORLD: http://erlefraynebrightworld.wordpress.com, ARTBLOG: http://erleargonza.wordpress.com,

ARGONZAPOEM: http://argonzapoem.blogspot.com]

Categories: culture, development studies, economics, globalization, history, peace, politics, psychology, social science, sociology
Tags: Assange, bbc news, cnn news, conspiracy, controversial, diplomacy, Erle Argonza, fox news, imperialism, NewsAsia, Obama, technorati, The Guardian, United States, WikiLeaks

Comments: 1 Comment

NATIONS FRAGMENT AS 1ST DECADE CLOSES

November 29, 2010

Erle Frayne D. Argonza

30 November 2010

A noble 30^th of November! We celebrate National Heroes’ Day in the Philippines as the month closes, so may the spirit of self-sacrifice and change-oriented mindset of our founding patriots be with us all!

As the year closes, we continue to witness the lamentable fragmentation of states across the globe. ‘Failed states’ has become a new standard term to label those former colonies that gained their independence after the 2^nd world war, but only to fragment later.

Not only that, governments of once dynamic nations have also been continuously battered by exceeding demands to salve ailing economies, sustain employment drives, and reduce poverty. The US government itself, notably its presidency, continues to see powerful forces that render its institutions as lame duck and weak. It has become more ungovernable than before, and this is an alarming development.

Civil societies are likewise eroding in potency, and fragmenting in ideological squabbles and internal weaknesses. Thus, human rights get to be violated all the more each day as the very vanguards of civility and people’s causes couldn’t grapple with the demands of emerging realities and turn out like nuisance entities in the growing dis-order, while fascistic state leaders and gendarmes clamp down dissenters like unwanted pests.

The serial liberal reform agenda have immensely contributed to the shackling of welfare and erosion of the general interest as a whole. With social services at the grassroots reduced to negligible levels by IMF-imposed conditionalities of austerity, protest and rebel movements at the localities have arisen, thus contributing more to the fragmentation and balkanization of once viable states.

The political landscape in the USA is soon to change as the quantitative equation of party representation had been altered. Protest movements have been flexing their muscles across Europe, fighting a diversity of causes such as garbage collection (Italy), nuke waste (Germany), and extension of retirement age (France). Institutional fragmentation is going on in the West/North right now, and few seem to observe them sharply.

Africa and Western Asia are the most vulnerable at this juncture to balkanization and fragmentation. Latin American countries are experiencing a parallel fragmentation too, owing to new global crime problems of drug cartels and drug-related conflicts. Such vulnerabilities render African economies flat on their backs, while Latin American countries will have to work out doubly harder to insulate themselves from the burning economies and polities of the North.

Fortunately, we see the light of the globe in the very positive developments that are going on in East Asia (ASEAN + India + China + Korea) as their respective economies soar the heavens and drive growth for the globe as a whole. Brazil’s socialist president Rousseff was just elected to power, thus sustaining a general welfare program begun by his very popular predecessor Lula.

Light for the globe is coming from the South, from Asia and the dynamic economies of South America. For as long as such growth exemplars abound, the planet is will not fall into the Hades of another Dark Age.

Clearly, it is the northern countries and their dirty operators that foment troubles across the planet, that are in dire straits. As they seemingly stretch out their hands to engage the dynamic South in cooperation, their leaders at the same time bad mouth China and countries of the South like dirty pests. Such doublespeak is sociopathic, and is indicative of the fragmentation and fascistic behavior brewing up North.

For as long as we have leaders and states that operate along a perspective of ‘dialogues of cultures’, the world will continue to be a livable place. The contagion of the ‘dialogue of cultures’ is powerful enough to make waves, neutralizing the demonic ‘clash of civilizations’ peddled by the intellectual prostitutes of the global oligarchy.

Sometime back, our own patriot Andres Bonifacio turned into a rallying banner for inventing a new nation-state. May each and everyone of us go back to the virtues taught to us by our founding patriots, and let us espouse their very own cause for creating strong nation-states while we also continue to enlarge our spheres of influence for a ‘dialogues of cultures’.

Mabuhay kayong lahat! Long live!

[See: IKONOKLAST: http://erleargonza.blogspot.com,