MikeLigalig.com

Lima ka rason ang akong pagdala-dala ini: una, makapakatawa ug smile kini sa mga bata nga wala kasabot ug naguol sa mga panghitabo, ang uban nawad-an na og minahal sa kinabuhi o nabiyaan, ika duha, makatabang kini para makig higala sa mga bag-ong kaila; ika tulo, makapa “feel good” sa mga nangaluya na nga relief workers nga way puwas 24-oras nag-atiman ug nagtan-aw sa mga angay tabanganan ; ika-upat makatambal sa akong kagutom kung wala nay laing maka-on ug wala pa’y kasayuran kung anus-a ko sunod maka kaon ug labaw sa tanan, ika lima, makapatak-op sa baba sa mga hinawayon ug tsismosa apil ang saba-an nga walay laing nahimo kun dili ang pagpanglibak, ug pana-ot sa uban nga dili makatabang ug makapaluya.

Mao kini ang gahum sa akong tam-is nga “Power Lollipops”, usa ka candy nga na-a sa tumoy sa stick, pagay-gamay lang apan daghang nahimong gamit ug tabang sa mga na-a sa lisud nga kaghimtang.

Tungod ining akong ta-as nga kasinatian, nabansay-bansay sab nako akong kahibalo ug nahimo ko’ng “All-in-One” worker sa DSWD-7. Panahon nga mag field work ko, mahimo kong manunuwat ug reporter para motaho sa mga lab-as nga mga balita, manguha’g picture sa mga kadaot sa katalagman og tabang nga nahatag, mag-document sa mga kalihukan nga nahimo sa mga nanabang, mag organisar og press conference sa mga dagkong opisyales, magpahigayon og critical incidence stress debriefing (CISD) sa mga biktima sa kalamidad nga kasagaran mga bata nga na-ilo na tungod sa mga panghitabo o kaha nabiya-an sa ilang kabanay.

Panahon nga ipadala ko ining mga disaster areas, dala nako kanunay akong pula nga vest ug emergency nga trolley nga akong dali’ng mabitbit bisag asa ko ilabay. Sulod ini ang flashlight, posporo, kandila, banig, habol, mga gaan nga sinena , tambal, first aid kit, rubber shoes, camera, notebook, cellphone, ID, igong cash, crayola para sa mga batang biktima ug denosenang chocolate ug lain-laing color nga mga lollipops.

Akong mga kauban sa buhat mahibulong nganong magdala- dala ko og daghang lollipops sa akong bulsa sulod sa akong pula nga vest kada adto nako sa mga lain-laing tent cities ug Evacuation Centers.

Power Lollipop
SuperBalita Cebu
Kukabildo
Ni Jaybee Binghay
Friday, October 25, 2013





SA pangidarong 20 anyos, sayo ko nahimong trabahante isip usa ka relief worker sa Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).

Dili na maihap ang mga lugar nga akong na-abtan para motubag sa mga biktima sa lain-laing katalagman dinhi sa Pinas gikan sa pagbuto sa Mt. Pinatubo sa Central Luzon kapin 20 na ka tuig ang milabay, makalilisang nga bagyong “Ruping” dinhi sa Central Visayas, nakamatay nga landslide sa Guinsaugon Southern Leyte, pagkalunod sa mga dagkong barko sama sa MV Princess of the Stars ug MV St. Thomas Aquinas, linog sa Negros Oriental sa miaging tuig ug ang pinakabag-ong 7.2 magnitude nga linog nga grabeng nakapatay-og sa mga karaang simbahan, ma-anindot nga tourist spots ug nakapabakwit sa kapin 100 mil ka mga Boholanos.

Gibraltar? Hmm, amgid jud hinuon pero pundol ra ang naa sa imaginary world. Motuo ko nga ang Rock ni kon naay daghang macaques...

Quote from: islander on October 28, 2013, 01:02:22 AM
ayaw lang god hurota imong salin nga bilib, bai hubs...

Sakto. Patuboon ang salin nga bilib aron modaghan, unya ihatag na pud nimo sa sunod nimong coup...

He returned to the point later asking "should we allow the Chinese to live?" The boy who had suggested all the Chinese be killed in the first place, stuck to his answer.

Kimmel wrapped up saying "this has been an interesting edition of Kids Table: The Lord of the Flies edition."

But not everyone took it as lightly.

Some in China were offended by the sketch, while others are non-plussed. From Shanghaiist.com:

The clip is creating buzz on Weibo as well, with some users writing that the skit was in bad taste and that "Chinese are probably the only people that the U.S. mainstream media are free to publicly insult".

Other users, however, felt that Kimmel meant no intentional harm and that "people should not be too serious" about the moppy-haired little boy's comments.

There has also been a petition to the White House asking that the show be investigated. The petition stated that "  It is extremely distasteful and this is the same rhetoric used in Nazi Germany against Jewish people." It also asks that ABC "cut the show and issue a formal apology." The petition has already gathered 26,524 signatures and needs 73,476 more by Nov. 18.

A thumbnail for the segment is still up on ABC though the video appears to have been removed. The entire segment can however be viewed online by watching the full Oct. 16 episode.

Jimmy Kimmel's 'Kids Table' Suggests The US Kill Everyone In China Instead Of Repaying Its Debt
MAMTA BADKAR OCT. 24, 2013, 12:51 PM 41,010 477





During the Oct. 16 episode of ABC's "Jimmy Kimmel Live," host Kimmel held a "kids table" segment on the government shutdown.

And the segment has now raised all sorts of problems.

Kimmel posed this question to four kids: "America owes China a lot of money, $1.3 trillion. How should we pay them back" he asked.

Right away, one child suggests "killing everyone in China."

Kimmel laughed off the comment, joking "that's an interesting idea."

換句話說,你應該屬於æ™,é–"

Kuyaw pud og pangalan modela...

Once again Mo has become a target on Chinese social media.

“WTF, really whoever breastfeeds you is your mother huh?!” a commenter posted on Weibo.

Another wrote, “Your mother is really young, just like your daughter.”

While some people condemned Mo for her shameless self promotion, others asked if her behaviour not only violated moral standards but also broke the law.

“Doesn’t this count as prostitution in public? What is the police department doing?” a commenter from Zhenzhou wrote on Weibo.

Cui Xinjiang, a lawyer from Henan province said, “This case violates laws regarding acts of prostitution, but it is not a criminal offence. However, both the businessman and the model should be jailed for 10 to 15 days and fined, according to The Regulations on Administrative Penalties for Public Security.”

He also explained that whether the local police took any action depended on the motivation for circulating the photos. If the aim was only to promote the model and create a sensation, usually the police department wouldn’t get involved.

Jiangxi businessman pays model Mo Lulu 100,000 yuan to breastfeed him
Keira Lu Huang
PUBLISHED : Monday, 21 October, 2013, 7:33pm
UPDATED : Wednesday, 23 October, 2013, 12:52pm


http://www.scmp.com/sites/default/files/styles/486x302/public/2013/10/21/molulu.jpg?itok=vYQNnQzk
Mo Lulu, a singer and model, became famous after circulating a series of “body mooncake” photos online in September. Photo: SCMP Pictures


A businessman offered a young model 100,000 yuan (approx. Php707,000) to breastfeed him during a group dinner in Jiujiang, Jiangxi province. And, astonishingly, she accepted.

Mo Lulu, a young singer and model, gained nationwide notoriety after circulating a series of "body mooncake" photos online in September, in which she had men eating mooncakes off her nude body.

She grabbed eyeballs again at the Jiujiang automobile show on Friday, standing next to luxury automobiles in alluring poses and scanty underwear. She then lay on a stage and allowed people to place fruit on her body.

This time, she has gone one step further. China National Radio reported on its website that at a private dinner after the automobile show, Mo breastfed a man who paid her 100,000 yuan. According to the report, the businessman called Mo “mom” every time he took a sip. Other people at the dinner took photos and uploaded them online.

Quote from: hubag bohol on October 25, 2013, 06:09:15 AM
A “ground rupture” pushed up a stretch of ground by up to three metres (10 feet), creating a wall of rock above the epicentre, Maria Isabel Abigania, a geologist at the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology, told AFP.

Kining Bacolcol's fault ni Bay Chongks pwede pud nganlan og Maria Isabel's crack...

Wow! Hurot akong bilib nimo, Madame. Pero ihatag nako nimo ang salin sa nahurot kon kaila pud ka sa bukid sa background...

Causing accused the city mayor of lying in his Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth or SALN while he was in office from 2004 to 2012.

He added that while Hagedorn denies owning the 59 real estate assets with a total land area of 133 hectares in Puerto Princesa, the properties are "all registered in his name during his incumbency as mayor."

Causing submitted certified true copies of tax declarations of the said properties issued by the city assessor showing Hagedorn's name in them.

Hagedorn only declared four properties in his past SALNs, the lawyer said.

In the 15-page complaint, Hagedorn is also charged for violating Republic Act 6713 or the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees for the misdeclaration.

In a previous interview, Hagedorn said his family also owns a Jollibee franchise in Rizal, Palawan but denied that the business was built using illegal means.

"We loaned money from the bank," he said.

The mayor has also earned criticisms for allegedly ordering the killing of wrongdoers and political opponents without due process.

"I must admit that sometimes you have to use strong arm to implement the law, pero never nagkaroon sa'min ng salvaging or killing just because he is a political enemy," Hagedorn said.

By Camille Diola (philstar.com) | Updated October 24, 2013 - 10:15am



Puerto Princesa Mayor Edward Hagedorn ran for senator as an independent in the 2013 elections but lost the race. Edd Gumban


MANILA, Philippines  - Former Puerto Princesa City Mayor Edward Hagedorn is facing charges of perjury and falsification of public documents as well administrative violations for allegedly failing to declare 59 properties that he owns.

Lawyer Berteni Causing, president of civic groups Hukuman ng Mamamayan Movement and Alab ng Mamamahayag, filed on Wednesday seven counts of perjury and nine counts of falsification of public documents against Hagedorn before the Office of the Ombudsman.

"But soon we shall die and all memory of those five will have left earth, and we ourselves shall be loved for a while and forgotten. But the love will have been enough; all those impulses of love return to the love that made them. Even memory is not necessary for love. There is a land of the living and a land of the dead and the bridge is love, the only survival, the only meaning." --Thornton Wilder, The Bridge of San Luis Rey, last lines

Hinaot unta nga wa nay kawatag manok, unya wa na puy mopatayg kawatag manok, kana kon aduna pay isog nga mobuhat sa ingon...

Quote from: bugsay on October 27, 2013, 03:50:13 PM
wa nay mangawat ug manok didto..

Nahimo diay intawon nga iksampol...

Catedral de Marmol (the Marble Cathedral), Lago General Carrera, Patagonia, Chile
Erosion has created beautiful caverns in the marble of these mineral formations. You just need to take a small boat to see it in person. -- http://www.huffingtonpost.com/

http://www.oxalis.com.vn/

http://a1el.blogspot.com/

Photograph by Peter Carsten


Hand of Dog stalagmite in Hang Son Doong Cave

A spelunker takes a close look at the Hand of Dog stalagmite in Hang Son Doong Cave. The "Mountain River Cave", in a remote part of Vietnam's Annamite Mountains, was first explored in 2009 and boasts caverns large enough to hold a 747 airplane. In fact, though explorers have only scratched the cave's surface it may be the world's largest with continuous passages as wide as 300 feet (91 meters) stretching more than 600 feet (183 meters) high. -- http://science.nationalgeographic.com/

To test this, in our knocking-on-wood experiment we asked some people to knock down on the table and away from themselves, while we had others knock up on the underside of the table, toward themselves. Those who knocked up engaged in an approach action, not an avoidant one. Despite knocking on wood, people who knocked up failed to reverse the perceived jinx; if anything, their concerns were made worse compared with people who did not knock at all.

Next we tested whether avoidant movements would have the same effect in situations free from the baggage of superstition. Instead of having participants knock down on wood after jinxing themselves, we had them throw a ball (also an avoidant action, but not one associated with a superstition). We conducted two studies, one in Chicago and another in Singapore. We found that the act of throwing a ball also reduces people’s concerns following a jinx, in either culture. Even pretending to throw a ball has the same effect as actually throwing it.

While almost any behavior can be turned into a superstitious ritual, perhaps the ones that are most likely to survive are those that happen to be effective at changing how we feel. We can seek to rid ourselves of superstitions in the name of enlightenment and progress, but we are likely to find that some may be hard to shake because, although they may be superficially irrational, they may not be unreasonable. Superstitious rituals can really work â€" but it’s not magic, it’s psychology.

Knocking on wood may not be magical, but superstition proved helpful in understanding why the ritual was effective. Across cultures, superstitions intended to reverse bad luck, like throwing salt or spitting, often share a common ingredient. In one way or another, they involve an avoidant action, one that exerts force away from oneself, as if pushing something away.

This pushing action turns out to be important, because people’s beliefs are often influenced by bodily feelings and movements. For example, other research shows that people tend to agree with the same arguments more when they hear them while they are nodding their head up and down (as if they were saying “yes”) rather than shaking it from side to side (as if they were saying “no”).

Because people generally push bad things away, we suggest that they may have built up an association between pushing actions and avoiding harm or danger. This led us to speculate that when people knock on wood, or throw salt, or spit, the ritual may help calm the mind, because such avoidant actions lead people to simulate the feelings, thoughts and sensations they experience when they avoid something bad.

That makes sense intuitively. What’s less intuitive is how a simple physical act, like knocking on wood, can alleviate that concern.

In one study, to be published in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, one of us, Jane L. Risen, and her colleagues Yan Zhang and Christine Hosey, induced college students to jinx themselves by asking half of them to say out loud that they would definitely not get into a car accident this winter. Compared with those who did not jinx themselves, these students, when asked about it later, thought it was more likely that they would get into an accident.

After the “jinx,” in the guise of clearing their minds, we invited some of these students to knock on the wooden table in front of them. Those who knocked on the table were no more likely to think that they would get into an accident than students who hadn’t jinxed themselves in the first place. They had reversed the effects of the jinx.

http://www.nytimes.com/
By JANE L. RISEN and A. DAVID NUSSBAUM
Published: October 4, 2013

SUPERSTITIOUS people do all sorts of puzzling things. But it’s not just the superstitious who knock on wood. From time to time, we all rap our knuckles on a nearby table if we happen to let fate-tempting words slip out. “The cancer is in remission, knock on wood,” we might say.

In fact, it’s so common we often don’t think about it. But it’s worth asking: why do people who do not believe that knocking on wood has an effect on the world often do it anyway? Because it works.

No, knocking on wood won’t change what happens. The cancer is no more likely to stay in remission one way or the other. But knocking on wood does affect our beliefs, and that’s almost as important.

Research finds that people, superstitious or not, tend to believe that negative outcomes are more likely after they “jinx” themselves. Boast that you’ve been driving for 20 years without an accident, and your concern about your drive home that evening rises. The superstitious may tell you that your concern is well founded because the universe is bound to punish your hubris. Psychological research has a less magical explanation: boasting about being accident-free makes the thought of getting into an accident jump to mind and, once there, that thought makes you worry.

Grabe. Giseguro man jud nga matodas. Pilahay ra gud untay hiniktan...

Sumala pa ni SPO1 Batusil nga nakabantay ang biktima nga nakit-an siya sa suspetsado ug misulay kini og dagan palayo apan naapsan kini sa suspetsado.

Gidunggab sa suspetsado ang biktima gamit ang usa ka butcher knife sa makapila ka higayon nga maoy hinungdan sa iyang kamatayon.

Nakaangkon og  samad dinunggaban ang biktima sa iyang lawas ug naigo usab ang iyang kidney ug ang tinai sa biktima.

Sumala pa ni SPO1 Batusil nga mibutyag ang Municipal Health Officer sa Medellin nga si Dr. Jude Palilio nga ang samad sa dapi-dapi, tiyan ug sa wala nga dughan sa biktima maoy hinungdan sa iyang kamatayon.

Midugang  si SPO1 Batusil nga sa miaging semana adunay nitaho sa ilang buhatan nga gilungkab sa biktima ang usa ka videoke machine.

Ang suspetsado dali ra usab nga mitahan sa iyang kaugalingon sa kapolisan ug ang 13 ka pulgadas nga kutsilyo nga maoy gigamit niini sa pagdunggab sa biktima. (BANAT NEWS)

Ni Bryner Diaz/WC (Banat) | Updated October 27, 2013 - 12:00am


CEBU, Philippines - Gidunggab  patay  sa caretaker sa poultry farm ang  usa  ka   lalaki nga naaktohan nga nangawat  didto sa sitio Tawagan, Barangay Poblacion, lungsod sa Medellin sa alas 9:00 sa miaging gabii.

Ang biktima naila nga si Ian Despacio, hingkod, molupyo sa sitio Tawagan, Barangay Poblacion, lungsod sa Medellin.

Samtang ang suspetsado naila nga si Eulino Pasu-it alyas Linoy, 23, kasamtangang nagpuyo sa sitio Tawagan, Barangay Poblacion, lungsod sa Medellin apan lumad nga taga Masulog II sa dakbayan sa Kanlaon, sa Negros Oriental.

Si SPO1 Orlando Batusil nga nahinabi sa Banat News miingon nga ang biktima mitastas sa pukot nga gikoral sa Jake & Jean Farm aron makasulod.

Matud ni SPO1 Batusil nga naaktohan ang biktima sa suspetsado nga nagbitbit sa manok nga igtatari nga gibantayan niini busa gigukod dayon niya kini.

http://www.sweatygooch.com/

Kini siya, kaila mo?

Quote from: hubag bohol on October 27, 2013, 05:27:37 AM
Our perception of the life span of other species is based on our own perception of our life span. Other species don't see it the same way. From a fly's perspective, their 15 to 30 days is just as long as our 75 years. Your dog and cat feel the same way about their 15-20 years.

Cool...

Electron Micrograph of Fly’s Eyes

(Image credits: Shirin Pocha)

The critical flicker fusion (CFF) is the lowest frequency of a flickering light that is perceived to be a constant light. Some refer to this as the refresh time necessary to process visual information. For humans, this period of CFF is 60Hz or 60 times a second. This is the same refresh time for the image on a TV screen so we see it as a constant image rather than a series of images that are occurring at 60 images per second.

Dogs have a CFF of 80Hz. When they watch TV is like watching a group of rapidly changing still photographs. This is why most dogs do not enjoy watching TV. This may be bad news for the DOGTV people.

Flies have a CFF of 250Hz. When you swat at them they perceive the flyswatter as moving in extreme slow notion. They easily escape our swat. Now you know why they win most of the time. But this could also mean they perceive their lives moving in the same slow motion. Their perception of their lives could be longer than our perception.

Mr. Healy was intrigued by this possibility. He suspected that the determination of an animal's CFF was it size and metabolic rate. The smaller the animal the less distance was required for signals to reach the brain. A higher metabolic rate meant that there was more energy to process this neural information.

It is known that the smaller the animal the higher the metabolic rate. This means that all body functions occur faster as the size of the animal decreases. This also typically correlates with life span. Animals with lower metabolic rates tend to live longer than those with higher metabolic rates. Mr. Healy compared size, metabolic rate and CFF.

He found that there is a correlation between animal size, metabolic rate and CFF. He concluded that evolution favors animals to view their world in the slowest possible time.

Our perception of the life span of other species is based on our own perception of our life span. Other species don't see it the same way. From a fly's perspective, their 15 to 30 days is just as long as our 75 years. Your dog and cat feel the same way about their 15-20 years.

by Dr. Ken Tudor | petMD.com â€" 6 hours ago





Have you contemplated whether your pets see their lives a being as short as you do? Did you ever wonder why it is so difficult to successfully swat a fly? Why do they always know when you are going to strike? It turns out that the answers to these questions are hidden in the differences in the way different species of animals "see" the world.

Kevin Healy, a Phd student at Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland, wondered the same things. His research in the recent edition of Animal Behavior suggests that animals perceive the length of their lives as no shorter than our own. Why? The experience of time is subjective, not objective, so the individual perception is the basis for the way we look at the length of things. However there is an objective measure of visual perception.

Aw, kini na lang kaha...





Bwahaha!

Quote from: islander on October 27, 2013, 12:53:02 AM

Why the sweet smile?





Aha!

Bwahaha! TB supercutes...

Cat stealing dog as a bed...

Quote from: Lorenzo on October 26, 2013, 10:34:45 PM
i want to adopt this little thing! haha!

He he, he's mine. Kini na lang imoha...

Redeems the song somehow--and perhaps the original recording artist as well...

Mrs. Robinson, the proto-cougar...

Wear a parachute or pen a last will and testament, or both...

Quote from: Lorenzo on October 26, 2013, 10:09:58 PM
he he he. the loss of planck is acceptable, considering the wealth of information gathered...

The wealth is patent; its constancy, though, may still need to be proven...

Quote from: Lorenzo on October 26, 2013, 10:07:40 PM
in a theological point of view, could not one argue that this so called cosmic microwave background is but an imprint of God's light?

Call it His thumbprint, if you will...

Hadlok sa kasayon ipahamtang ang some kind of final solution...

Summary of actionable steps

I think The Disaster Council is getting better at managing post-disaster response. I may not like the committee approach, but they have enough case studies under their belt that they seem to have a good idea of how to deal with organization and funding of relief.

Sure, it can always improve. But recovery is not going to save lives as well as good pre-planning and preparation.

From the discussion, we have identified the following possible action steps:

- A national publicity campaign to place responsibility for preparedness with the people. For trash disposal discipline and awareness of evacuation steps.
- A deep discussion for what “safe distance” in the national building code means, with stringent standards applied consistently across all municipalities.
- Separate the building code particulars from the national law so that it can be flexibly revised and strengthened without returning to Congress for amendments. Enforce the code rigorously.
- Develop a national standard for the required level of flood protection: against a 100-year flood? A 500-year flood? I’d say, at minimum, a 300-year flood.
- Develop a national zoning code. This should require restrictions on construction along the coast, or on vulnerable river banks and hillsides.
- Introduce mandatory evacuation orders to be implemented when storms approach.
- Establish safe, well-stocked evacuation centers. Enforce orders with fines.
- Relocate vulnerable informal settlers whether they like it or not.
- Dedicate ships, helicopters and medical gear to the battle, on standby 24/7.
- Continue to learn and build rescue and rehabilitation resources and skills.

Compile local playbooks and issue commands. Committee consensus is not required.

Zero tolerance for loss of life is the correct approach.

Develop policies by committee, fine. But fight the battle with individual accountability, a clear chain of command, and decisive action. Tolerate mistakes made in the heat of battle. Learn from them.

Complacency and equivocation are not acceptable when the next disaster is on the march and heading in our direction. â€" KDM, GMA News

Joe America is a blogger who writes about the cross-cultural experiences and observations of an American living in the Philippines. He is based in Biliran Island. This piece originally appeared in his blog on October 21. We are re-posting it here with his permission.

3) Develop a playbook

How many natural disasters have we been through that teach us the same lessons?

1) We do not have rescue teams that can get quickly to remote areas with medical teams or supplies. No dedicated ships or helicopters.

2) Disasters wipe out doctors and hospitals and schools and water.

3) Officials are loose with their lips.

We can see from responses to recent storm, and last week’s Bohol earthquake, that steps to upgrade rescue and rehabilitation have helped immensely. The disaster agencies were in place, at work, quickly. Provincial leaders immediately declared states of calamity to freeze prices and open up avenues for funding rescue and repair work. Rehabilitation will likely be well-funded and move fairly quickly.

There is more to be done, though, and lessons to be learned and applied. I envision the time when every local government will have a playbook that provides a checklist of exactly what needs to be done. He will know who his lieutenants are and issue orders, not seek their guidance at committee meetings held in the heat of disaster.

I envision a large disaster relief organization standing by, not pulled together on the fly, with large Chinook helicopters ready to fly and loaded with medical gear.

I envision a large ship standing by as a rescue platform and hospital, a few hours away from anywhere on the Philippine islands.

2) Mandated evacuations

If buildings are deemed to be safe for a 100-year flood, and a 100-year flood is possible with an approaching storm, evacuation from unstable slopes, river banks, or flood zones should be mandatory. Residents should know their assigned evacuation centers, and these centers should be safe and stocked with food and water for three days. The barangay structure of local governance is ideal for managing evacuations.
The Philippines requires a “Civil Defense” system as intense as was America’s effort to protect citizens against possible nuclear war in the 1960s. Instead of bomb shelters, the Philippines needs well-protected, well-stocked evacuation centers. Many likely exist already, like schools or civic buildings in safe locations. What is needed is the regimen mandating that people in vulnerable areas move to the shelters ahead of a storm’s strike.

Fines against violators should be steep. Guards against looting should be provided. Looters should receive very long prison terms.

National investment - buying ships, planes, and medical equipment: If we adopt a military model that says we need to be in a national defense mode, then we need the equipment, too.

Which one is costing us more lives now: China sitting on rocks in the Philippine seas, or attacks by national disasters coming at us every few months? We buy boats and planes to counter China? But where is the hospital ship? Where are the Chinook helicopters and MASH hospital units?

One of the big problems in Bohol now is that roads are cut off and access must come from the sea. We ought not let it happen again. I’m saying lets fight a better, more equipped, battle.

Local investment - relocating residents and building infrastructure: Some projects take time because they require big money. It is hard to sustain interest and a sense of urgency. We can see this is the slow efforts to upgrade Manila’s drainage system.

Again, we are fighting a battle, and certain defenses MUST be in place before the next enemy attack:

- Alternative housing and relocation of informal settlers
- Flood control barriers and seawalls
- New drainage channels

Wealthier communities such as Puerto Princesa are taking proactive steps to close down squatter villages and provide alternative housing that is safe. Poorer communities struggle to do this. The forces at play are difficult to work out sometimes -- the poor wanting their government to do more for them or refusing to move, government officials wanting the poor to be more understanding of their mandate to protect lives.

A military approach brooks no hesitation. Cities and municipalities need to make investments for alternative housing and relocations, starting with the most dangerous locations. Many are already doing so. Governments also need to state and enforce building standards and not let the seeds of new squatter communities spring up.

Encouraging new tools are coming to the scene to help local officials identify high risk areas. The Australian government is helping with high-resolution mapping that identifies vulnerable locations in Manila and other population centers. The nation’s largest rivers are being mapped by the same system.

Responsive and responsible local governments will use such tools to invest in long-term projects to protect their citizens. These include: river retainer walls, higher bridges, relocation of homes, new drainage channels, sea walls. Negligent local governments will find reasons not to act: politics, budget, corruption, and no sense of urgency.

And finally, we discover that there is no national zoning law. Management of land use is relegated to local governments. Localities mix industry, commercial and residential uses and seem powerless to stop unrestrained consumption of agricultural land for other uses. Projects are looked at based on the merits of the project, rather than in a context of project within a community. They are almost invariably approved.

The “context” of a good zoning plan is particularly important to restrain development in areas susceptible to rising ocean tides. Or to identify “no build” zones along drainage channels, and on or beneath earthen hills.

Rising seas are coming. We know it. Zoning should push structures back from the coast, and/or mandate higher construction above the water line. It should provoke a discussion locally about construction of seawalls, drawing a future picture of the community with an ocean one-meter higher. Every coastal community should have a “rising ocean” plan.

The nation needs a national zoning law to mandate better community planning, better safety, and to step up protections in anticipation of more intense storms and rising seas.

Somehow, excuse-making needs to be taken out of the picture. No mayor should point to his predecessor, or to the national government, or to another agency, or to global warming, or anywhere but himself for accountability for the well-being of his residents and businesses.

I also flip through this long, detailed national law and see in it a flaw that seems to be common in Philippine lawmaking: mindless detail goes into the law proper rather than being assigned as a code for upkeep by a designated cabinet department. This makes the law very inflexible.

In this case, whenever a building material is deemed unsafe (asbestos), or new materials introduced (carbon fiber), or old standards deemed not protective enough, the whole law needs to go back to Congress for revisions. Delegate to ensure proper care of the code, right?

More stringent zoning and building codes: Building codes are set by national order (“The National Building Code of the Philippines”). This is another law I dare you to read and understand. It gets into mindless detail about construction.

The pertinent section for our inquiry, however, is in Section 1.01.07 (b)
" . . . [Buildings] shall be at a safe distance from streams or bodies of water" or volcanoes and the like.

The definition of “safe distance” is left to the interpretation of local officials. Implementation of the Law is assigned to the local “Building Engineer” and ”Building Official.”

So, if there are vulnerabilties at local levels, it is because of the LOCAL determination of what is “safe,” or local failures to inspect and mandate upgrades.

So, very clearly, the question arises: are local engineers and building officials clued-in to the rising dangers of global warming? Are they feeling the accountability for loss of life in their communities?

To the extent that [my blog's] reader Jocelyn expressed concern about Subic’s failure to protect residents, that failure rests squarely with local leaders: the mayor, his council, his engineers and his building officials. (his = her, where appropriate).

Better public awareness and accountability: It would appear that the broad masses are absolutely clueless about the connection between how their tossing trash out the bus window and a flood washing their grandmother or their aunt’s sari-sari store into the West Philippine Sea is connected.

They don’t see how trash makes the nation poorer by killing sea life, requiring someone, somewhere, to spend time and money to pick up their garbage, or make people waste money repairing their flooded home or business.

It's money that could be spent growing the Philippines.They are also inclined not to heed evacuation orders, with a “It can’t happen to me” mind set.

The Philippines needs a good public relations drive to expand awareness, and it should require citizens to police themselves and their neighbors. Fathers should scold children. Friends should scold friends. Everyone should be working together to change trash-disposal disciplines and clean-up the Philippines. They should be working together to know their best escape route and where their designated evacuation shelter is.

I have thought about fines levied against transportation companies whose riders litter the streets, but enforcement would be too difficult to allow that to work. But, certainly, transportation companies should be a part of the publicity push to clean up the Philippines.

Get an advertising guy on it, eh? Tourism Secretary Jimenez could put together a brilliant creative and media campaign strategy in about two weeks. Make trash his job, eh? It’s connected.

Here are the short answers: 1) Better pre-planning, 2) Mandated evacuations, and 3) Develop a playbook.

Lets go through some ideas in these areas. You can add your own suggestions in the comment section, or tell me where mine are impractical.

1) Better pre-planning:

This is the area where the Philippines is weakest: looking forward and getting ready.

There are four main areas to work on:

- Better public awareness and accountability
- More stringent zoning and building codes
- Local Investment: Relocating residents, building infrastructure,
- National Investment: Buying ships and planes and medical equipment

If we plan for the 100-year flood, and the 500-year flood comes ripping through, we will have major damage, no matter how good our preventive measures.

So, a good warning system is not enough. We know pretty well now when big wind or intense rain is approaching, but we can’t exactly peg the intensity in a specific local area yet.

We know for sure we can’t stop the storms from unleashing their fury anywhere, at any time. Given that global warming is a done deal, we can predict that we will get more 100-year, 300-year, and 500-year downpours as the years pass.

Indeed, we’ll have to re-calibrate the intensity index.

Whatever shall we do?

If you want to drive fast, you will inevitably pay the piper at some statistical percentage of the whole, and if you live in a country with low cost of living, you must accept that many homes are made of bamboo and erected on free land on a river bank, near where land is cheap and day jobs may be possible or the begging is good.

They wash away now and then. It's a statistical event. Move on.

The other approach is that of President Aquino, who points to “zero fatalities” from storms. This mission has obviously not succeeded, if we believe "zero" is actually possible, but it has promoted improvements to early warning systems and to disaster follow-up, and some work is on-going, to rehabilitate Manila’s drainage system.

What ought to worry us is that the storms are now doing damage in areas that are normally spared the brunt of disatsers: Cagayan De Oro, Subic Town, Manila. Several times a year, at that.

All the warning in the world can’t protect businesses and residents from Manila’s outdated drainage system. Government agencies are actively working on that drainage system with little help from the people who, even after wading through several inundating floods, insist on tossing their plastic trash into the streets.

All the warnings in the world can’t protect against a lazy or uneducated public.

All the warnings in the world can’t protect Subic from huge, unexpected surges of water pushing hard down four rivers at the same time, and the resulting destruction of water systems, bringing in diseases that kill.

Conclusion: defense against natural disasters is: 1) reactive to events rather than proactive and pre-planned, and 2) operates via accountability-free committee rather than the more decisive and accountable (yes, and perhaps more risk prone) military model.

I also know what would happen if you put that disaster law on the table of a family living in a hut on the slippery slopes of a drainage channel and asked them what it means to them.

A fresh start

So let’s back out of the legal Act and the website lest we get trampled in the relentless pounding of lawyers’ words and meaningless detail, so that we can start fresh. Let’s discuss natural disasters, the reasons for them, and practical things that can be done to protect Filipinos better.

There are two approaches that can be taken, I suppose, that determines how much we are willing to invest in disaster protection and recovery. One is to consider these deaths much like Americans consider that nation’s 40,000 auto deaths per year. They come with the territory as an acceptable risk.

The “Roadmap” on the web site is a blank page. So your guess is as good as mine as to what they are working on to prepare for and prevent disasters. The “Assessment Tools for Early Recovery Strategic Planning” is also a blank page.

I couldn’t find financial information on the web site. I’m afraid these things cause me to turn almost violently cynical. The Philippines is a small country. It’s about the size of California but with more babies. Why are we making this so hard?

Follow-through on disaster warnings and recovery is managed using a deep and complex rolling set of committees rather than a military chain-of-command that assigns individualized responsibilities.

I suppose that is fairly typical of the way the Philippines operates. Meetings, committees, diluted responsibility, taking forever to get things right as every T is crossed and I dotted, and common sense is abandoned.

Is that what we NEED? An administrative parley rather than fighting a battle?

The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (I’ll just call it “The Disaster Council”, because all those initials drive me nuts) is established in the 2010 Act as the managing agency for disaster prevention and response. Based on the detailed lists of events and activities on its web site, the Council appears to be an operating unit dealing mainly with warnings and after-the-fact response to disasters. Setting up the managing committees, finding channels for contributions and money, orchestrating rescue and repair activities.

As always, I search through government web sites looking for the leaders, and the clear plans that demonstrate the agency has its priorities straight. Then, I look at the financials to see if they are spending money wisely.

The Office of Civil Defense central unit reports to the Department of Defense, and oversees the Disaster Council.

It’s governing committee has six officials:

- Undersecretary Benito T Ramos, Administrator of OCD and Executive Director of natural disaster response agency.
- Attorney Priscilla P. Duque, Officer in Charge and Civil Defense Executive Officer.
- Director Edgardo J. Ollet, Chief of the natural disaster response agency.
- Director Susana M. Cruz, Chief of the Office of Civil Defense operations.
- Ms. Crispina Abat, heading admin and finance division.
- Ms. Lenie D. Alegre, heading the planning division.

Here’s what I’ve learned, along with a few relevant deductions and opinions.

Who’s responsible?

The Senate is responsible for laws protecting the environment and the people who live and walk in it. Senator Loren Legarda chairs the Senate Committee on Environment and Natural Resources. This Committee oversees the Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Act of 2010.

This Act is a fine example of legalese run amok, totally incomprehensible legal language. I defy any sane human to try to read this law and figure out how lives will be saved. Any law that concerns itself with gender-balanced protection against storms is intoxicated with legal rectitude, not focused on saving people.

Read this and tell me if this is saving, or will save, lives:

“The civil defense officers of the OCD who are or may be designated as Regional Directors of the OCD shall serve as chairpersons of the RDRRMCs. Its Vice Chairpersons shall be the Regional Directors of the DSWD, the DILG, the DOST, and the NEDA. In the case of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), the Regional Governor shall be the RDRRMC Chairperson. The existing regional offices of the OCD shall serve as secretariat of the RDRRMCs. The RDRRMCs shall be composed of the executives of regional offices and field stations at the regional level of the government agencies.”

Well, we understand that the Philippines is situated at the dead center of Typhoon Alley. It rests on the unstable “Ring of Fire” where volcanoes blast forth magma from the Earth’s core, and rides earthquake prone tectonic plates as they slip against one another. It’s the most dynamic location on the planet, bar none, positively terrifying if you think too much about it.

But does that not mean we should be taking special care in strewing flimsy bamboo shacks across the muddy slopes of hills and drainage channels?

[One of my blog's reader's] Jocelyn, asked me to examine why the Philippines is so vulnerable to natural disasters. It has turned into a fascinating project.

Educational, for sure. The centuries-old Church of Our Lady of Light in Loon, Bohol is leveled to the ground as seen in this aerial photo taken from a Philippine Air Force helicopter on Wednesday, October 16. (Photo: PAF/PIO) The short answer is that, as in many things, the Philippine response is short-term reactive rather than long-term pre-planned. The lengthier answer follows. But let me say the single most important answer is the attitude one takes, the approach, the organization, the effort, and the COMMITMENT made to fight this battle as if it were a battle.

This is civil defense. And we ought to use a military approach.

GMA News Online â€" 6 hours ago


Other lands are better at destruction with bombs and guns, but the Philippines occupies the most dangerous land.

Indeed, the Philippines does battle with God. And He can smite awesomely.

The Philippines ranks number one in the world for deaths caused by natural disasters. Last year, 2,360 people lost their lives in the Philippines due to natural disasters.

China, in second place, was way back with 771. It was the same story in 2011.

This year is again proving to be on a similar scale of grief. You read the headlines as well as I do. We grow numb to the body count. It is so relentless.

In a posting on the Malaysiakini website, Koon Yew Yin says HELP is simply helping itself.

In the chase for students and profits but confronted by their low standard of their students and staff, private universities in Malaysia … have to look to other ways to publicize themselves and to catch the public eye.

This to me is the reason why HELP has bestowed what is for most universities their most prestigious academic award to a dictator and tyrant who presides over one of the most totalitarian and repressive regimes in our region. It is doubly scandalous that the honorary degree is in economics, a subject which the North Korean government has failed its people so miserably that many of its children are victims of hunger and malnutrition.

compiled by Araminta Wordsworth

Within six years, North Korea “will engage the world in many constructive ways,” predicts [Dr. Paul Chan, the president and vice chancellor,] in a statement that leaps from Socrates to Henry Kissinger to Malala Yousafzai.

“[L]et’s start with offering education opportunities to the people of this country with the support of their President,” adds Chan, who has an actual Ph.D. in economics. “Why deny them? Why punish them with sanctions? The people are hungry for education to change their lives. Give it to them.”

Assuming North Koreans are alive to take advantage of this opportunity.

Isaac Stone Fish, a blogger at Foreign Policy magazine who broke the story, provides some insights into the university, its philosophy.

Founded in 1986 to “provide affordable quality educational opportunities for Malaysians,” the private Kuala Lumpur-based college brands itself as the “university of achievers.” (HELP’s website brims with happy reports, noting, for instance, that the “lower foyer of HELP University was the scene of jubilation today” because of a “Dramatic Increase in Straight A’s” and its Team Legacy “emerged Champion in the prestigious Cheerleading Association and Register of Malaysia (CHARM) Cheerleading Championship.”)

The Daily Caller’s Robby Soave cannot restrain his sarcasm as he notes it’s easy to see why HELP picked Kim.

Under the dictator’s brilliant economic vision, North Korea has continued to languish as one of the poorest countries in the world â€" a veritable wasteland of non-productivity inhabited by millions of starving, miserable people. Its lack of economic output rivals the most destitute African countries, and though the government funnels every dime it has into military development, its armed forces remain outdated and its nuclear ambitions an embarrassment.

The optics though are beyond horrible. The North Korean ruler presides over one of the world’s poorest countries, where millions of people are starving â€" and dying â€" and thousands are held in ghastly prison camps.  In August, the United Nations said almost a third of children under the age of five suffered from chronic malnutrition. But most of Pyongyang’s budget is spent on the military and buying forbidden luxuries for the elite.

At least Kim’s first honorary degree will help to bolster his meagre C.V., notes Tom Mendelsohn at The Independent.

Although the youthful leader of North Korea has been credited with many feats â€" amongst citizens he is particularly beloved for the daily prayers he offers to persuade gravity to stay on â€" his official credentials have always been relatively few and far between.

However Kim Jong-Un’s slightly precarious grip on power will be perhaps now be strengthened by the fact he’s earned his first doctorate â€" in economics … He was reportedly handed the doctorate in recognition of his “untiring efforts for the education of the country and the well-being of its people.”

http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/
Araminta Wordsworth | 26/10/13 7:00 AM ET



Deep research: Kim rises a roller-coaster in Pyongyang
AP Photo / Korean Central News AgencyDeep research: Kim rises a roller-coaster in Pyongyang


Any subject would be better than the one an irony-free Malaysian university chose for an honorary doctorate for North Korea’s dictator, Kim Jong-un â€" economics.

The privately run HELP (for Higher Education Learning Philosophy) handed over its useless piece of paper in a ceremony at the North Korean embassy in Kuala Lumpur. In sucking up to the world’s last Stalinist regime, it’s clearly hoping for some favourable PR.

And maybe students, though this could be in doubt. Kim said this month privately funded study abroad was being curtailed as it led to tensions. (The dictator himself spent part of his high school years in Switzerland, but never mind.)