The San Miguel Corp. (SMC) through its food unit San Miguel Foods, has been religiously following the government’s corn buying program (CBP) since the advent of the pandemic season. Its food unit has brought directly from local corn farmers over 1.3 million metric tons (MT) of corn worth P23.9 billion since 2020.

The SMC’s food unit corn buying program started in 2020 initially benefitted 13 provinces nationwide including (Luzon): Batangas, Bicol, Bulacan, Isabela, Pangasinan, and Tarlac; (Visayas): Cebu, Iloilo and Ormoc; and in (Mindanao): Bukidnon, Cagayan de Oro, Davao, and Zamboanga.

The CBP targets to source raw materials for its food products directly from local corn farmers to help boost growers incomes, reduce the country’s dependence on imports, and help achieve food self-sufficiency to the farmers.

The SMC management announced that “through this program (CBP), we are assured of local corn supply for our food business, while our local farmers are guaranteed a steady market and fair prices for their crops. Buying directly from boosts their income and keeps their livelihood sustainable.”

In 2020, height of the COVID-19 pandemic, San Miguel Foods purchased 500 million kilos of corn to help farmers affective by quarantine protocols and supply chain disruptions that saw their produce going to waste.

MY COMMENT:
The SMC, like the Ayala and Lopez-owned corporations pride themselves for their successfully managed corporations. The SMC’s Food unit patronage of the local farmers corn produce is worth emulating.
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THAT’S what happens when we show compassion to anyone in need. We channel God’s love to others. We become more and more like God. We act out our being a person who by definition is meant to relate us with others. By being compassionate, we avoid getting trapped in our own world, putting ourselves in some kind of silo, isolated from God and from the others.

We are reminded of this truth of our faith in that gospel episode where Christ was moved to resurrect a dead man, the only child of a widow. (cfr. Lk 7,11-17) It did not take time for him to do what he did. He immediately took pity on the widow. He took the initiative without being asked.

This gospel episode teaches us the lesson that like Christ we should try our best to be quick in showing compassion to everyone, especially to those in great and urgent need. For this, we have to train ourselves in the art and virtue of compassion which is a matter of entering into the very lives and drama of the others with the spirit of Christ.

If we really want to be “another Christ,” we should be quick to show compassion to others who are in need of one thing or another. This is typical of Christ. Wherever he went, though he had to convey difficult and hard-to-understand messages to the people, since these messages were mainly spiritual and supernatural in character, he never neglected their more immediate human needs.

His heart always flowed with compassion, quick to notice the needs of others and to respond to them. And all this in all simplicity, telling the beneficiaries who were so bursting with gratitude that they wanted to broadcast what they received to the whole world, to keep quiet instead.

It’s an example that we should all try to imitate. One deep desire we should have is that of making as some kind of default mode that attitude of always thinking of the others, wishing them well all the time and doing whatever we can to help.

It’s obviously not easy to do, but we can always try. With God’s grace and with our persistent effort, we can little by little and day by day hack it, such that it becomes second nature to us to think and feel for the others. That’s what compassion is all about. We just have to learn to be tough to take on whatever effort is needed. We have to learn to be all things to all men. (cfr. 1 Cor 9,22)

Compassion starts in the heart, in our thoughts and desires. In this level, there is no limit in what we can do. Obviously, when we try to translate these prayers, thoughts and desires into action and material things, we can be greatly limited. But insofar as prayers and sacrifices are involved, the possibilities are unlimited.

We need to examine ourselves more deeply to see if indeed we are always thinking, praying and wishing others well. We have to be wary of our tendency to let our thoughts and desired be dictated only by self-interest, usually done in a most subtle but effective way. For this, we have to do regular examination of conscience.

Compassion should not be exclusively associated with the sweet and tender moments of pity, sympathy and empathy. It demands sacrifice and self-denial which we should be willing to give.

Are we alone in this wide cosmos ? For centuries we were told that we are . It seems that we are special and we are the only living race inhabiting the Earth or any Planet. Lately , these was proven to be false and that after all these years we were actually wrong.

People have pondered whether or not there are other intelligent beings in the universe for a very long time. One of science and exploration’s most exciting and contentious projects has been the search for extraterrestrial life. However, certain shocking findings in recent years have questioned our preconceived notions and raised the possibility that there may be other life forms present in this huge universe besides ourselves.

One of the most intriguing findings was the detection of a mysterious object that entered our solar system in 2017, named ‘Oumuamua. This object, which was dubbed a “scout” from the Hawaiian language, had a very unusual shape, size, and trajectory. It was also moving at an extremely high speed, faster than any known asteroid or comet. Moreover, it seemed to be propelled by an unknown force, as if it had some kind of engine or sail. Some astronomers have speculated that ‘Oumuamua could be an artificial probe sent by an alien civilization to explore our region of space1.

Another shocking revelation was the presentation of alleged alien remains in the Mexican parliament in 2023. A group of lawmakers claimed that they had obtained several specimens of humanoid creatures that were found in different locations in Mexico and Peru. They said that these beings had three fingers on each hand, elongated heads, and unusual internal organs. They also showed X-ray images that supposedly revealed the presence of eggs, ovaries, and implants made of rare metals in some of the bodies. They argued that these creatures were not related to any known life form on Earth, and that they were evidence of extraterrestrial visitation.

A third remarkable discovery was the observation of a potential ocean world orbiting a nearby star called K2-18. Using the powerful Webb Telescope, astronomers detected signs of water vapor, methane, and carbon dioxide in the atmosphere of this planet, which is about 17% larger than Earth. These are some of the key ingredients for life as we know it, and they suggest that this planet could have a liquid water ocean beneath its clouds. This would make it one of the most promising candidates for hosting alien life in our galaxy4.
These three examples are just some of the many indications that we are not alone in the universe, and that aliens may have already visited or even inhabited our planet. The implications of these findings are profound and far-reaching. They challenge our assumptions about our place and role in the cosmos, and raise new questions about our origins, history, and destiny. They also invite us to rethink our relationship with other forms of life, both on Earth and beyond. How should we react to the reality of alien life on Earth? How should we communicate and interact with them? How should we protect ourselves and our planet from potential threats or conflicts? These are some of the questions that we need to address as we face this new era of discovery and exploration.

Blaming others and their past actions had been the easy excuse for this administration’s failure to produce enough rice for its people. Top officials had identified many unidentifiable excuses that they thought could be blamed for the current situation. One thought had to do with the reduction of farmlands owing to the conversion of rice fields to commercial, industrial and residential uses. Many arable lands had in fact been developed into subdivisions to accommodate people whose want is to be home in areas near their workplaces. It is man’s want to get rid of strenuous travels from work to home that push them to look for home sites near their workplaces. In urban centers where work opportunities are aplenty, people would try utilizing the most accessible land even if not suitable for residential purposes.

There might be truth to such observation as many industries are established in what used to be agricultural lands. The natural offshoot is the establishment of home sites in such areas, taking up huge tracts to satisfy the need. But even with such developments, there still are so much agricultural areas left for farming. Our vast lands are still larger than those of our neighbor countries where we now depend for our rice supply. It seems not much a factor that some areas had been converted to other uses for in fact, there are still a lot of idle lands that are ideal for farming but are not being utilized for food production.

The conversion of farmlands into homesites to accommodate the housing projects of wealthy home developers had diminished the areas for rice production. There too are industrial areas had caused the land use for agriculture into manufacturing and factory sites in the guise of labor intensive enterprises that are gradually employing machines than workers. There indeed is a need to give a new direction to government programs and projects that would truly address the socio-economic condition of the impoverished lot instead of diverting public attention.

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