TACLOBAN CITY– The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA)-8 reported that they are offering the ‘Balay Silangan’ reformation center for drug user surrenderers.
The Balay Silangan, funded by local government units, gives temporary shelter to reform drug users into competent and law-abiding members of society, Rogelette Urgel, PDEA regional information officer, said.
“Currently, there are 20 existing Balay Silangan in the region. This is a reformation center to change their thinking that there are other solutions other than selling drugs to have an income,” she said.
The program gives training interventions, moral recovery activities, and livelihood skills programs which they could use after completing the 6 months reformation, among others.
“Completers will still be monitored by the PNP and PDEA and when caught involved in drugs again, Balay Silangan will no longer grant chances,” Urgel emphasized.
The 20 existing Balay Silangan in the region are located in the municipalities of Daram, Jiabong, Hinabangan, Gandara, Tarangan, Pagsanghan, Sta. Margarita, and in the cities of Catbalogan and Calbayog, all in Samar; Biliran; Padre Burgos, Anahawan, and Sogod, all in Southern Leyte; Abuyog, Barugo, Bato, all in Leyte; and Laoang in Northern Samar. (HAZEL LLANETA, LNU Student Intern)
CLEMELLE L. MONTALLANA,DM, CESE
ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR III
CLEMELLE L. MONTALLANA,DM, CESE ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR III
Very expensive brainstorming! This is how Senator Aquilino Pimentel III described the Maharlika Investment Fund in a hearing conducted last February 15, 2023. Brainstorming as an adjective is an indication that not much has been put in the threshold of finality. In local parlance, pinag uusapan at pinag dedebatehan pa lang!
The good senator although pegged as an opposition was not alone in that adverse observation.
Senator Win Gatchalian was flabbergasted to know that there are Trillions of Investible funds in the Landbank but these funds are not plowed back to the agriculture sector, rather it was parked and idle when it can impact that hard hit sector.
Landbank executive admitted that the huge balance sheet is deposit driven and most assets and funds are in guaranteed T Bills and government financial storage.
In which, Senator Gatchalian said that noting the Risk Averse nature of Landbank s mentality why are they in a hurry to invest the trillions worth of funds on something vague as the Maharlika Fund?
In all the hearing buttressed the obvious.
The Fund is not clear on a lot of things. Even, the quite Senator Nancy Binay asked a simple question; do the Maharlika Investment Fund armed with that of having a business plan to know the possible chances of profit?
As i cringed and watch the obvious, I felt sad.
Would we bleed our investible fund on something as vague as this just because it is something that the present administration are keen on having?
These in spite of a lot of things unclear, undefined and half baked?
This in spite of the unclear , vague and obviously subject for brainstorming provisions that can , that may put our government banks in peril.
A scenario that we all must dread to be into.
Calixto Chikiamco, President of Federation for economic Freedom said that the Maharlika Investment Fund qould light a fire in the banking system and would also create a financial contagion. For a prudent man. Fire is not merely symbolic word but a destructive reality. Contagion is dangerous its equal is sickness, malady and really bad for our collective financial health.
The open minded Senate could not help but feel sad about the measure because of many red flags and obvious vagueness on its surface and even its core.
And the taxpayers, the REAL investors are being led to the possible financial loss and God forbid, the malady that comes after.
With the numbers and the push that the powers that be exert , it may pass the proverbial eye of the needle and be approved.
But be reminded that some mistakes are more painful than the others and that we may be bending over backwards to please and break our backs in the process. This is Taxpayers Money after all and we pay taxes deligently, too!
“IF one strikes thee on thy right cheek, turn to him also the other: and if a man will contend with thee in judgment, and take away thy coat, let go thy cloak also unto him. And whosoever will force thee one mile, go with him other two.” (Mt 5,39-41)
Scary words, no doubt. They surely run counter to what we may consider as common sense. But that is what Christ told his disciples and is also telling us now and always. To top it all, he also said: “Love your enemies: do good to them that hate you: and pray for them that persecute and calumniate you.” (Mt 5,44) Oh no! We mostly likely would react.
But Christ was also quick to reassure his disciples, and us, that if we manage—with God’s grace, of course—to follow by this divine advice, we would truly be the children of God “who makes his sun to rise upon the good and bad, and rains upon the just and the unjust.” (Mt 5,45)
And he concluded this particular episode by telling his disciples: “Be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect,” (Mt 5,48) somehow telling us that abiding by this teaching is the mark of Christian perfection.
This is obviously a very intriguing part of our Christian faith. Not only should we love our enemies, as Christ taught us, but we also need to drown evil with an abundance of good. This was specifically articulated by St. Paul in his Letter to the Romans where he said:
“Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: ‘It is mine to avenge; I will repay,’ says the Lord. On the contrary: “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.” (Rom 12,17-20)
We have to try our best to erase whatever disbelief, doubt or skepticism we can have as we consider this teaching, since most likely, our first and spontaneous reaction to it would precisely be those conditions. We can ask, even if done only interiorly, “Is Christ really serious about this? Can this thing that Christ and St. Paul are telling us, possible, doable?”
When these reactions come to us, it is time to remind ourselves that we just have to follow our faith that definitely contains a lot of mysteries and things supernatural that we are not expected to understand fully. Like Our Lady and all the saints, we should just believe and do what we are told because it is Christ who said so, and because it is the Church that teaches us so.
That’s what faith is all about. By believing first, then we can start to understand things that are hard to explain in human terms. We should not waste time trying to understand everything at once or at the beginning. Let’s be game enough to go through some kind of adventure that, no matter how the outcome would be, we know that God is in control of everything.
In the meantime, guided by our faith, let’s begin to develop the appropriate attitudes, practices, habits and virtues. We have to learn the intricacies of charity, like being patient, magnanimous, compassionate and understanding, merciful, always friendly with everyone even if not everyone is friendly with us. We should be willing to suffer for the others and to bear their burdens.
The anticipated passage of bill creating the Philippine Virology and Vaccine Institute (VIP), should be a come-on for foreign pharmaceutical firms to invest in the Philippines “to help the country expand its science and technology base given the potential in manpower training it will also bring in, and participate in the manufacture of medicines especially those against viral and bacterial diseases.”
The entry into the country of the virus-borne COVID-19, caught the government off-guard causing the resultant panicky sourcing of funds to buy vaccines from foreign pharma companies. The situation drove the country to the brink of economic bankruptcy, purchasing vials upon vials of the appropriate vaccines against COVID-19, at exorbitant prices – always at the mercy of the foreign pharmaceutical firms.
According to a leading Philippine pharma firm said “. . . local drug manufacturers are seeking to improve government-to-government (G2G) engagement with countries that have a higher livelihood of forging technology transfer relationships.” The same source cited Japan “. . .there is a push on the part of the Japanese government for its population to use generic medicines. We all know it’s expensive to produce not just medicine, but any other product in Japan and therefore, there is a thought that perhaps you can invite the Japanese to come over, establish their facilities in the PEZA (Philippine Economic Zone Authority), especially for the Japanese market . . .”.
Also, Taiwan and Cuba are potential partners, through G2G arrangement, in the manufacture of medicines because of their advance science and technology programs. Let alone the benefit of Filipino manpower being trained by experienced pharma workers. Indeed, the Philippines have everything to gain by inviting foreign pharma companies to situate there pharma facilities in the country’s PEZA.
MY COMMENT:
I go for inviting foreign pharmaceutical companies to locate their facilities in the country’s PEZA for reasons above-stated. The invitees, through G2G arrangement, should include India known as one of the leading countries in the production of vaccines, medicines against virus and bacteria carried diseases.
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Teachers are supposed to facilitate knowledge, make it available to learners, and make sure its transfer to the latter is effectively done, resulting in the students’ fuller grasp of the lessons and the development of target skills. But what if a teacher does otherwise? Could it happen that a teacher becomes an obstruction to knowledge acquisition, instead?
Such a question is worth researching, indeed. For sure, it could happen. Very likely, in fact, it has been occurring everywhere since the instruction was institutionalized by formal education. Thus, we occasionally hear some students complaining about the inappropriate, oppressive, and sadistic teaching styles that certain teachers are using. Instead of learning, they stagnate and bog down mentally. Instead of being challenged and taking an interest in serious studies, some of them quit school and join the dropouts.
Teachers would not admit that, of course. The concerned ones may not even be aware that, by adopting certain styles or by imposing self-made policies, they are already blockading the supposed transfer of knowledge. Moreover, some may justify their obstructive style by claiming that it’s their way of avoiding the idea of spoon-feeding their students.
Accordingly, they do not want to spoil their students. They want them to exert much effort in acquiring knowledge by not making it readily available to them.
In a way, such justification makes sense. Spoon-feeding students with the lesson under study is not good and should be discarded by all means. But this idea is not also what we mean by facilitating knowledge. As a knowledge facilitator, a teacher need not open the student’s minds and pour in the knowledge they are to learn. Rather, the teacher ought to simply guide the students to the sure sources of knowledge. These could be the books that a teacher had chosen beforehand, the learning activities that she gives to the students, the educational tour that they had organized, the experimentation that the students engage in, or the observation that they are made to do. That’s facilitating knowledge.
Far from the claim of challenging students to learn, there really are teacher factors and practices that hinder knowledge acquisition on the part of the students. But these are not for the concerned teachers to divulge, as it would be embarrassing and suicidal. Rather, it’s for the students under them to identify. What are those factors and practices? It’s the students who are in the right position to give the answers as it forms part of their learning experiences. Not all students, though. Only those who have been under the tutelage of such teachers. And they have to answer objectively, without hatred or bias.
The challenge now is to look for those students. Where on earth could they be found? Well, the quest could become easier—try scouting for such teachers and you will find their victims: the poor students who could best answer the question, “what are the teachers-factors and practices that interfere with or hinder the students’ knowledge acquisition? That’s the research question to transform into a research problem.
Amid the increasing tensions in the West Philippine Sea between the Chinese and the country’s coast guards, former National Security Adviser Clarita Carlos is already pushing the government to go on the offensive after years of exercising patience.
Over the years, the Chinese coast guard patrolling the area has been known for aggressive moves against their deemed “enemies” like the Philippines. Technically, we are not at war with China, but this giant bully tends to regard claimant countries surrounding the West Philippine Sea as foes such that, the moment they see that the latter are patrolling in the contested waters, they resort to offensive attacks.
We can be more diplomatic in saying that such offensive moves are merely decided by the Chinese coast guard on duty without the consent and knowledge of the Chinese national command and do not affect our friendly relations with China. But it is doubtful that the higher Chinese authorities do not know anything about these; they should know, with standing orders to do what the coast guard on duty is exactly doing. The Chinese government is still to blame for the hostile behavior of its maritime forces on duty.
Of course, China is quick to defend its actions as a normal monitoring procedure for protecting “their territories”. But how come they “protect” a territory that is well within the territorial jurisdiction of the Philippines? It’s their right to do so if a piece of territory forms part of their legally occupied territory. But if it is a territory that they merely claim for it belongs to a rightful owner, then they have no right to “protect” it; they must go home.
The suggestion of the former NSA secretary to go on the offensive against China’s illegal presence in the country’s territorial waters is just one of desperation, knowing that we seem to have already exhausted our patience. We’ve had enough of China’s bullying. We are no match against this military giant, but at least, we fight it out.
