MikeLigalig.com

8. You can see the big picture.

As we age, we’re better able to take the measure of a situation. An experiment published in the journal Neuron in 2005 provided a very literal demonstration of this ability: Psychologist Allison Sekuler, PhD, of McMaster University in Canada, presented younger and older subjects with computer screens showing moving images of varying shapes and shades. When the shapes were small and gray, younger people were able to point them out more quickly. But when they were large and high contrast, older individuals performed the task faster. Sekuler notes that young brains seem to be better at focusing on details to the exclusion of their surroundings, and more mature brains are able to take in the whole scene.

7. You’re always adding to your knowledge and abilities.

There are some kinds of information we learn and never forget. Take vocabulary: Studies show that we keep adding new words to our repertoire as we age, giving us ever richer and more subtle ways to express ourselves. Job-related knowledge also continues to accumulate, meaning we keep getting better and better at what we do.

6. Your priorities become clearer.

“Studies of the way adults perceive time suggest that we become increasingly aware that our years on this Earth are limited,” notes Michael Marsiske, PhD, an associate professor of clinical and health psychology at the University of Florida and an expert on aging. “This awareness helps explain the choices that older adults tend to make: to spend time with a smaller, tighter circle of friends and family, to pay more attention to good news than to bad news, and to seek out positive encounters and avoid negative ones.”

5. Your people skills are constantly improving.

Mature adults understand themselves wellâ€"and they also understand other people, research shows. In a study published in the Journal of Gerontology in 2007, older and younger adults were presented with a series of hypothetical everyday problems (say, for example, an emotionally needy relative calls to talk just as you’re leaving to meet up with friends, or you’ve won a free vacation, but the travel dates would mean missing a long-planned family party). The older adults were especially good at solving such interpersonal dilemmasâ€"often by choosing a path that skirted direct conflict. “As we get older, our social intelligence keeps expanding,” explains Gatz. “We get better at sizing up people, at understanding how relationships workâ€"and at not getting into an argument unless we mean to.”

4. You can focus on the upside.

Our outlook grows rosier as we get older, as demonstrated by a study published last year in the journal Psychology and Aging. Laura Carstensen, a professor of psychology at Stanford University and director of the Stanford Center on Longevity, asked a group of subjects ages 18 to 94 to record their emotional states at five randomly chosen times each day for a one-week period. She repeated the procedure with the same participants five years later, and then again five years after that. With the passage of time, the study subjects reported more positive well-being and greater emotional stability. That may have been partly due to changes in how the brainâ€"in particular, the emotion-processing center known as the amydgalaâ€"responds to positive and negative events. In a 2004 study, Carstensen scanned the brains of younger and older volunteers as they looked at cheerful, distressing, and neutral photographs. The amygdalae of younger subjects (ages 18 to 29) were activated equally by both the cheerful and distressing images, while the brains of the older subjects (between 70 and 90 years old) reacted much more strongly to the positive pictures.

3. Your reasoning and problem-solving skills get sharper.

This is evident not only in laboratory studies but also in examinations of choices made in real life. For example, according to a study prepared for the Brookings Institute by Sumit Agarwal, an economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, the middle-aged make smarter money decisions than their younger counterparts. In particular, they are better at financial transactions like managing their credit card balance and avoiding excess interest rate and fee paymentsâ€"with the best performance notched by those in their early 50s.

2. Your brain never stops growing.

Scientists once believed that some of our brain cells died off when we got older. But it’s now clear that we not only hang on to our neuronsâ€"we grow new ones, too. Throughout a person’s lifetime, the brain is continually reshaping itself in response to what it learns. Even something as silly as a clown trick can alter its structure: In a study published in The Journal of Neuroscience, German researcher Janina Boyke and her colleagues taught 60-year-old adults how to juggle. Afterward, scans of the subjects’ brains showed growth in a gray-matter region that processes complex visual information. In another experiment, Swiss neuroscientist Lutz Jäncke studied people who were learning to play a musical instrument. After they had been practicing for five months, Jäncke noted significant changes in the regions of the brain that control hearing, memory, and hand movements, even in participants who were 65 or older.

1. Your hemispheres sync up.

The brain is divided into two hemispheres, with each side specializing in different operations. Brain scans show that while young people often use only one side for a specific task, middle-aged and older adults are more likely to activate both hemispheres at onceâ€"a pattern known as bilateralization. By involving both sides, older people bring the full spectrum of the brain’s power to bear, allowing them to make more fruitful connections among the disparate parts of a problem or situation.

http://ideas.time.com/
By Annie Murphy Paul





As we age, the brain‘s processing speed begins to slow, and memory may sometimes slip. But there are other ways that our mental powers grow as we get older. In the current issue of the journal Psychological Science, researchers report that older people (over 65) showed less variability in their cognitive performance across 100 days of testing than did younger people aged 20 to 31. The older adults’ greater consistency “is due to learned strategies to solve the task, a constantly high motivation level, as well as a balanced daily routine and stable mood,” notes one of the scientists, Florian Schmiedek of the Max Planck Institute for Human Development in Germany. A colleague of Schmiedek’s, Axel Börsch-Supan, adds that his research shows that older workers are more productive and reliable, and less likely to make serious errors, than are their younger colleagues.

Other researchers have made equally surprising discoveries about what’s really happening in our heads as we age:  “We are identifying ways in which older minds hold their own against younger ones and even surpass them,” says Margaret Gatz, PhD, professor of psychology, gerontology, and preventive medicine at the University of Southern California. Here, ten such ways:

JovanaMilanko/Photos.com

The divers fled, fearing pirate ghosts, but they returned with backup.


After a quick rescue operation and a stint in a decompression chamber, Okene emerged back in the land of the living, as good as new. Divers all over the world marvel at his tenacity, as those depths can only safely be dived for about 20 minutes at a time. Meanwhile, Hollywood screenwriters are still trying to wrap their heads around the fact that a dude who was just about to get married actually survived a disaster.

Except that he totally did. In fact, he managed to stay alive for 62 hours. Here's how:





That little beauty is called Boyle's law. It states that when you increase atmospheric pressure (say, by sinking 100 feet underwater), gases become denser. This meant the tiny air pocket actually contained a lot more oxygen than it would on land. Meanwhile, that lethally cold water aided Okene by absorbing the murderous carbon dioxide he was breathing out, so the CO2 levels never built up to toxic levels, either.

When the company finally got around to sending a recovery team (they had, understandably, been assuming everyone was dead), Okene gave a diver the shock of a lifetime: The second he heard human sounds, he announced his presence by pounding the s*** out of a wall with a hammer.

Stock Free/Photos.com

That dissolved gas is oxygen, right? Right?!


Okene ended up bunking in a 4-foot air pocket under the surface, holding back the water as best he could and stacking mattresses as the cold water rose to keep dry. To make things worse, sharks and barracudas soon started roaming the ship's interiors in search of a meal. He could hear them fighting for the remains of his shipmates in other rooms and swimming in the water just below him. He had no food. The salt water and the bumps from the accident were wearing his skin raw. There was far too little air for him to breathe, and he was ruining it with every breath by puffing out carbon dioxide. He would not last beyond a couple of hours.

Of course, said mission turned into the most terrifying disaster movie this side of the SS Poseidon. In the early morning of May 26, 2013, Okene had just gotten up and was in the bathroom. Suddenly, his ship was hit by what a spokesman later called a "sudden ocean swell" (which is presumably corporate speak for "s***, we accidentally summoned Cthulhu again").

Okene could only watch helplessly as his daily life turned into a trip to Rapture. The tugboat capsized and plummeted 100 feet below the surface, with him still inside. Trapped in the dark abyss with no one else in sight and wearing nothing but his boxers, Okene waded through the ship's corridors (which were slowly filling with icy water). He managed to locate a source of light, some Coca-Cola, and a few tools, and he made it to a relatively safe corner of the ship.

http://www.cracked.com/



Konstantins Visnevskis/Photos.com


With hindsight, Harrison Okene probably should have seen the signs. All of the ingredients were in place: He was young, happy, and gainfully employed as a cook on a Chevron service tugboat. Also, he was about to get married in a few days. All he had to do before his wedding was finish this one ... last ... mission.

Quote from: islander on August 25, 2013, 10:40:11 AM
why the name?

Ambot ngano bitaw nga mao ni ang pangalan. Wa man untay unggoy didto.

Quote from: islander on August 25, 2013, 10:40:11 AM
so where are the monkeys?

Maldita, ay. Kahibawo jud na siya kon asa ron ang maong mga linalang...

Yes, he he, quite difficult to forge.

It's technically a thumbprint, er, pawprint...

Quote from: diablo on August 08, 2013, 11:26:38 PM
OMG we have the same taste. umberto eco is one of my favorites. along with brad thor, eric lustbader, james rollins

Wow. What an intellectual...

Hmm, unsa kahang isdaa ang ilang mapukot...

Residents use a mosquito net to catch fish along a flooded alley in a residential district in Bacoor, Cavite near Manila, August 20, 2013. REUTERS/Erik De Castro


Cool. Moskitero pay gigamit...

Radical Buddhist monk Wirathu, who has been accused of stoking the unrest with anti-Muslim and nationalist speeches, posted a message about the incident on his Facebook page.

Using the term "kalar" -- a highly derogatory word -- he blamed Muslims in general for the unrest.

"Kalars are troublemakers. When a kalar is there, the problem will be there. If every time a kalar made trouble and people responded with violence, both Buddhists and Buddhism will be harmed," he said.

Two outbreaks of conflict in the western state of Rakhine in June and October last year left about 200 people dead, mainly Rohingya Muslims who are seen by many in Myanmar as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh.

In March sectarian strife in Meiktila killed at least 44 people -- although many observers fear the toll was much higher -- and thousands of homes were set ablaze.

The UN's rights envoy on Myanmar, Tomas Ojea Quintana, last week slammed the government for allowing an angry crowd to surround his car and beat on the windows during a visit to Meiktila.

He said the incident gave him an "insight into the fear residents would have felt when being chased down by violent mobs". Myanmar has said the envoy was not in danger.

Attacks against Muslims -- who make up at least four percent of the population -- have exposed deep rifts in Buddhist-majority Myanmar, casting a shadow over widely praised political reforms since military rule ended in 2011.

The latest violence is the first anti-Muslim incident reported in Sagaing amid signs that the unrest is continuing to widen.

It began in the far west of Myanmar last year and has erupted in areas across the country since bloody riots in the central town of Meiktila killed dozens in March.

Last week watchdog Physicians for Human Rights said Myanmar risked "catastrophic" levels of conflict with "potential crimes against humanity and/or genocide" if authorities failed to stem anti-Muslim hate speech and a culture of impunity around the clashes.

Rights groups have accused authorities of being unable or unwilling to contain the unrest, which has left about 250 people dead and more than 140,000 homeless. Myanmar has rejected the claims.

Many of the incidents have featured retaliatory violence against Muslim communities in response to accusations of seemingly isolated criminal acts.

A regional police official, who asked not to be named, said the latest conflict broke out after the Muslim suspect allegedly approached a 25-year-old woman, "grabbed her hand and attempted to rape her".

No injuries have been reported in the violence, but the ministry statement said at least 20 homes were destroyed as well as over a dozen shops and a local rice mill.

Ten fire engines battled the blazes and the ministry said security had been stepped up since early Sunday "to restore peace there".

AFP 8 hours ago


About 1,000 anti-Muslim rioters burned shops and homes in a fresh outbreak of communal unrest in Myanmar, officials said Sunday, as the former army-ruled nation grapples with spreading religious violence.

Police fired warning shots on three occasions as a mob tried to set property ablaze and attacked fire engines that were attempting to put out fires in a village at Kanbalu, in the central region of Sagaing, according to a statement on the Ministry of Information website.

"The local security forces stepped in to stop a group of approximately 1,000 people as they tried to torch a house. But the crowd kept shooting with slingshots and the situation became uncontrollable," the statement said.

The unrest erupted after a Muslim man was arrested on suspicion of attempting to rape a Buddhist woman on Saturday evening, it said.

A crowd of about 150 people and three Buddhist monks gathered at the police station demanding that the accused be handed over to them.

When the authorities refused, the mob attacked Muslim property in the area and the crowd grew in size and ferocity as the night went on.

The Philippine military is acquiring three decommissioned US Coast Guard cutters, two of which have already been delivered; and 12 F-50 jet fighters from Korea Aerospace Industries costing a total of US$440 million.

But with a defence budget of only US$1.9 billion, much of it going to personnel salaries and allowances, there are serious doubts the Philippines will ever be able to attain its own credible minimum defence capability.

Resting comfortably under the US defence umbrella may be one thing, but that has its limits, too. US officials are known to have advised Manila to tone down the anti-Chinese rhetoric.

It goes a long way towards explaining why President Benigno Aquino's state of the nation address last month made no mention at all about the conflict with China on its western doorstep.

That will mean sending large numbers of new-generation F-22 Raptor and F-35 Lightning II fighters and B-2 stealth bombers to Thailand, India, Singapore and Australia for exercises to improve interoperability and integration.

The jets will operate out of the Australian air force's Tindal base, south of Darwin, Singapore's Changi airbase, Nakhon Ratchasima in Thailand and possibly, Philippine bases at Cubi Point, adjoining Subic and Palawan, the closest large island to the Spratlys.

Carlisle makes it clear that the air force is not planning on building large infrastructure in addition to the nine permanent bases it already has in Alaska, Guam, Japan and South Korea.

The fickle public mood in the Philippines is notoriously difficult to gauge, but some analysts believe China's belligerence means those in favour of a stronger US presence have gone from a significant minority to about 50-50.

The realignment of US forces in the Asia-Pacific already involves the rotation of 2,500 Marines through bases in northern Australia, the stationing of new littoral combat ships in Singapore and an US$8 billion (Bt240 billion) expansion of air and naval facilities on Guam.

It is understood that the US is seeking unilateral access - dispensing with prior clearance for troop movements - to Philippine bases, similar to the agreement on Marines training in Australia. For all of China's bullying, that may not go down well in the Philippine Congress or with the public.

The US continues to insist it isn't trying to contain China, but it sure looks like that with US General Herbert Carlisle, chief of air operations in the Pacific, saying the air force will dramatically expand its presence in the region.

The Philippine Constitution forbids foreign troops from being permanently based in the country, but a 1999 agreement with the US does allow for temporary visits. Since the 2001 terrorist attacks, "temporary" has quietly evolved into something a lot more flexible.

Indeed, for the past decade, Western Mindanao Command has played host to US Joint Special Operations Task Force-Philippines (JSOTF-P), which has helped Philippine troops hunt down Abu Sayyaf militants across Mindanao and the Sulu archipelago.

Comprising army special forces, navy Seals, Marine special operations and air force commandos, the 500-strong JSOTF-P is credited with preventing Abu Sayyaf from growing into a dangerous al-Qaeda offshoot.

But contingency plans for winding down the operation are still very much up in the air. As one source involved in the programme puts it: "The political considerations are more complex than the military ones."

Philippine officials say giving US forces an increased "rotational" presence will help the country attain a minimum credible defence while it struggles to strengthen its own military, one of the weakest in Asean.

The presence of foreign forces has always been a sensitive issue in the former US colony, underscored by the Philippine Senate's landmark decision to shut Subic and Clark in September 1991.

After Pinatubo erupted, the US Air Force advised Armitage that it had written off Clark and not to worry about trying to retain it. But the loss of Subic, a deep-water port with major ship-repair and munitions-storage facilities, was a major blow to the US 7th Fleet's operations.

While US warships have been calling at Subic over the past decade, the new talks offer the prospect of lengthier stays and a new manifestation of President Barack Obama's pivot to Asia policy after prolonged US engagement in the Middle East and South Asia.

It was not long after dawn and without giving it a lot of thought, I told the man who would later become President George W Bush's deputy secretary of state that I was pretty sure Manila would go along with an extension. It wasn't one of my more insightful moments.

Pinatubo complicated matters, its heavy volcanic ash-fall wiping out Clark as an effective base and collapsing more than 150 buildings across Subic. But in the end, public opinion prevailed and the Americans were shown the door.

Fast forward to August 2013 and I'm reading a headline which says "US, Philippines Open Talks on Larger Troop Presence". It brings to mind legendary American baseball player Yogi Berra's now-famous quote: "It's deja vu all over again..."

It is not so much the passage of time that has altered the complexion of the love-hate relationship, but the growing influence of China as a maritime power and its less than subtle designs on the disputed Spratly Islands.

John Mcbeth
The Straits Times August 26, 2013 1:00 am



The Philippine Navy ship BRP Ramon Alcaraz approaches the Alava Pier, Subic Freeport Zone in Olongapo City, north of Manila, during its arrival rites on August 6. Philippine President Benigno Aquino III led the welcoming rites for the high endurance Hamil


Bullying behaviour by Beijing and its none-too-subtle designs on the Spratly Islands has opened the door to a ramping up of defence ties between the US and Manila


What a difference 20 years make. I still recall watching the Stars and Stripes being lowered for the last time at Subic Bay Naval Base in November 1992 - to the glee of Philippine nationalists and to the dismay of the Corazon Aquino government, reeling from the destruction wrought by the Mount Pinatubo eruption.

United States negotiator Richard Armitage had called me from Washington two years earlier, inquiring whether I thought the Philippine government would extend the leases on Subic and nearby Clark airbase, which US forces had used since the early 1900s.

Holding hands till the end and forever...

The Philippine Stock

Exchange was closed on Monday and Tuesday because of heavy rains and flooding in Metro Manila and nearby provinces caused by typhoon “Maring” and the southwest monsoon. There was also no trading on Wednesday, which was a public holiday.

The stock index fell to as low as 6,074.02 during the two-day trading week before managing to pare down losses to close the week at 6,161.21 on Friday, down by 5.6 percent from last week’s level.

Accord Capital Equities Corp. trader Justino Calaycay said the release of the second-quarter gross domestic product figure later this week could lend optimism to the market when trading resumed Tuesday.  Today is also a holiday. -- http://manilastandardtoday.com/

By Jennifer Ambanta | Posted on Aug. 26, 2013 at 12:01am


Share prices are expected to track the downtrend of Asian markets this week, amid concerns over the US Federal Reserve’s plan to reduce the bond buying program later this year.

BDO Unibank Inc. chief market strategist Jonathan Ravelas said the Philippine Stock Exchange index might drop to as low as 5,650 points, if it broke the 6,000 psychological level.

“Chartwise, the index tested the 6,000 level and fell below the 200-day moving average. A break below 6,000 may signal further losses toward the 5,650 to 5,800 levels,” Ravelas said.

He said any pullback would be limited to 6,250 to 6,350 levels.

The PSEi plunged by nearly 6 percent to 6,136.73 on Thursday, the first day of last week’s trading halted by the massive flooding that hit Metro Manila.  The stock market followed the movements of Wall Street and the regional markets.

In Dauis, one bite case, specifically one of the three bite cases in Mayacabac proved to be from a positive rabid dog. The bite cases involve one in Poblacion, 3 in Mayacabac, one in Songculan, one in Totolan and another in San Isidro.

In Panglao, documented bit cases include two in Sitio Das-ag, Poblacion, which proved to be positively from a rabi dog, another suspected case in Poblacion and two suspected cases in Doljo.

With cases clearly more than enough to suspect a threat, the OPV then sent its workers to conduct focused group discussions in Panglao, upon seeing the bite incidence tracking, Dr Lapiz reported.

Generally the activity aims to determine the presence and ecology of feral dogs in Panglao Island, determine their presence and exact location, get an estimated population of feral dogs and know the attitude of people towards these dogs as well as learn the feeding habits and sources of food of these dogs. (RAC)

Several biting animals often end up killed, depriving authorities of the proper confirmatory tests, Provincial Veterinarian and Bohol Rabies Prevention and Elimination Program action officer Dr. Lapiz said.

In cases like this when the animal is not available for confirmatory tests, we immediately tag the case as rabies suspect to be safe, she added.

Seeing this as a major setback in the anti-rabies campaign especially when the problem is right smack into the top tourism destination here, local advocates hope the island-wide dog population control in Panglao will contain the threat of rabies that dogs in the island could be carrying all along.

Of the 12 cases too, seven of them happened in Dauis town, on the northern part of the island. Five of the remaining cases happened in Panglao, specifically in the areas where there is a huge tourist population.

Authorities also hope this could reduce the exponential increase in dog population, while separate operations are set for dog registration, vaccination, stray dog population management as well as the spread of responsible pet ownership (RPO) information.

In Bohol, a provincial ordinance on rabies has been strengthened with an executive order from the governor implementing the Paralegal System to enforce responsible dog ownership and empower communities to implement the penalties set for failure to abide by the mandates of PRO.

Since January to mid-July, there have been 12 recorded cases of dog biting here, three of which have been positively confirmed to be from rabid dogs, according to sources at the Office of the Provincial Veterinarian (OPV).

Of the 12 cases too, some could not be confirmed as some of the biting animals could not be subjected for rabies confirmatory laboratory tests.

Sunday, August 25, 2013


Saving Panglao island and its tourists from the risks of rabies gets complicated as authorities plan to implement an island wide rabies mass neutering and spaying of dogs.

Dr. Stella Marie Lapiz said this is to control a burgeoning dog population and isolate identified stray dogs with the authorities have noted living in some uninhabited areas of the island.

Set to be implemented with a private and public partnership with non-government organization called Humane Society International, the move is also in relation to an alarming increase in dog bites recorded in Panglao Island alone.

On the activity, authorities would conduct house to house dog neutering and spaying, (except for dogs nurtured for breeding purposes) which will render dogs incapable of reproduction.

Hmm, history repeats itself...

The Commission on Audit’s special audit on the 2007-2009 PDAF is by no means the first and only audit of pork barrel money.

A string of special audits on the CDF more than a decade ago had also uncovered “scams” involving legislators and government agencies, and the demand to abolish pork had been resounding for years.

But these have had little impact. In 2000, then President Joseph Estrada turned back on his campaign pledge to abolish pork and simply converted the CDF into PDAF. His bureaucrats were quick to assure the public that safeguards against abuse and corruption would be put in place.

Obviously, the safeguards have failed.

On Monday, anti-pork Filipinos have vowed to gather a million people at Luneta to demand the scrapping of the “pork barrel system.” One can only hope that they will see through Malacanang’s doublespeak.

(VERA Files is put out by veteran journalists taking a deeper look at current issues. Vera is Latin for "true.")

Aquino has attributed the scandalous abuse of PDAF to the collusion among “a former President ready to trade favors just to remain in power, legislators, and members of the bureaucracy who were willing to conspire, enabled by a passive and indifferent citizenry.”

History has shown, however, that pork barrel allocations have been misused since they were first introduced in the country in 1922. No less than Aquino’s great-grandfather, Juan Sumulong, had assailed fellow lawmakers abusing this privilege. The year: 1925.

But no amount of hue and cry over the decades from within and without the halls of Congress would move governments to get rid of pork barrel.

PDAF’s predecessor, the Countrywide Development Fund (CDF), would, in fact, be introduced in 1990 by Aquino’s mother, then President Corazon Aquino, for “soft projects” in addition to the Public Works Funds and similar funds.

But, as important, what should be made clear is, PDAF is but one, albeit the most conspicuous, form of pork barrel.

Aquino’s speech is palpably silent on all other forms of pork barrel funds currently in the national budget that have likewise lent themselves to abuse and misuse: among others, the multi-billion-peso Public Works Fund (now called Various Infrastructure including Local Projects or VILP) in the Department of Public Works and Highways, those embedded in other government agencies such as the Department of Agriculture, lump sum appropriations and other discretionary funds.

These will remain intact simply because they have not of late been at the center of mind-boggling Napoles-like scams.

In short, PDAF will be abolished, but not pork barrel.

By VERA Files | The Inbox â€" Fri, Aug 23, 2013


COMMENTARY
By Yvonne T. Chua, VERA Files



Aug 26 anti-pork march


President Benigno S. Aquino III announced Friday his administration is set to “abolish” the infamous Priority Development Assistance Fund, or PDAF. But “pork barrel,” in reality, is staying.

In Aquino’s own words, legislators will retain the discretion to “identify and suggest projects” for their districts under a new mechanism the budget department and Congress will hammer out.

The epitome of transactional politics, pork barrel, or simply pork, refers to appropriations and favors obtained by a representative for his or her district. The funds are discretionary in nature.

The new setup Aquino is envisioning will, in effect, not abolish pork but simply centralize the district fundsâ€"PDAF will likely just be given another nameâ€"under the executive department.

Quote from: balong on August 24, 2013, 06:27:07 AM
FLATTERY will not get you anywhere. REPENT and be SAVED

It takes a tremendous amount of obtuseness to mistake sarcasm for flattery.

Monkey-ass ang resulta...

Clamoring for the restoration of funds for soft projects, Congress successfully lobbied for a share of P2.5 billion Lingap para sa Mahirap Fund, which was supposed to be channeled to poor families in the form of a package of assistance, including food, nutrition and medical assistance; price support for rice and corn; protective services for children and youth; rural waterworks; socialized housing; and livelihood development. The congressmen gained two-thirds control of the fund for their so-called projects.

Then came the comeback of the CDF â€" or as then President Estrada preferred to call it, the Priority Development Assistance Fund or PDAF. Given a ballooning budget deficit and rising criticism against pork at the time, though, a trade-off was inevitable: Legislators lost some of their discretionary power. Under the new system, at least on paper, congressmen would identify projects from a narrow set of project categories determined by the executive.

Today, the PDAF is still very much around. So are other special-purpose funds, especially the Public Works Fund and the School Building Fund.

(VERA Files is put out by veteran journalists taking a deeper look at current issues. Vera is Latin for "true.")

From CDF to PDAF

When he campaigned for the presidency, Joseph Estrada vowed to abolish pork barrel, which by then had been swirling in controversy after controversy. But once he got into office, the former action-film star did not entirely scrap the legislators' discretionary funds. He simply changed the system, taking pains to remove only the CDF-type of pork barrel and retaining the rest, such as the School building Fund and the CIAs. He even added his own type of pork barrel, the Lingap para sa Mahirap Program.

Estrada at first sought to limit the use of district funds to only hard projects, and created the Rural Development Infrastructure Fund or RUDIF, a facility that was exactly the same creature as the Public Works Fund. Each congressman was supposed to receive P30 million, but the amount was merely a gentlemen’s agreement. The 1999 national budget carried no special provision that indicated the amount each congressman would get, leaving legislators at the mercy of the executive branch, namely Estrada.

By and large, members of Congress do not acknowledge the School building Fund as pork barrel, but a special provision of the GAA clearly marks it as such: “The allocation of demountable school building shall be made upon prior consultation with the representative of the legislative district concerned.” Ramos restored the School building Program, which was administered by the education department during Aquino’s time, to the Department of PublicWorks and Highways in 1995 upon the strong lobbying of members of Congress. Close to P5 billion was appropriated that year for this purpose.

Congressional Initiative Allocations were not clearly provided in GAAs. Rather, they were items inserted to the budget of a government agency through the negotiations with the Speaker and the chairman of the appropriations committee. Legislators had the power to direct how, where, and when these particular appropriations were to be spent. Most of the funds were contained in the budgets of the Department of Public Works and Highways, Department of Education, Department of Interior and Local Government, and the Department of Health.

CIAs ran into billions of pesos as well. At one point, they even reached as much P28 billion, according to some accounts. But since they formed part and parcel of the budgets of executive departments, they were not easily identifiable and were thus harder to monitor. Those who knew the most about the insertions were the lawmakers themselves, the finance and budget officials of the implementing agency, and the Department of Budget and Management.

Enter Cory’s CDF

Four years after the fall of Ferdinand Marcos and the return of democracy, President Corazon Aquino restored the pork barrel of members of Congress. But it was rechristened “Countrywide Development Fund” or CDF. Pork was to go by that name for the next eight years.

As in pork’s initial years, the budget provided just a lump sum. Beginning 1992, however, amid widespread clamor among congressmen for equitable distribution, the General Appropriations Act (GAA) adopted the Batasang Pambansa's practice of allocating members of Congress equal amounts. Initially, each congressman got P12.5 million and each senator P18 million.

Basically, no limitation was made on the legislators’ CDF-funded projects. A congressman or senator could identify any kind of project, from hard or infrastructure projects such as roads, bridges, and buildings to soft projects such as textbooks for schools, medicines to each household, scholarships for constituents and financial support to some seminar.

But the CDF was by no means the only type of pork the lawmakers could partake of. During his administration, Fidel V. Ramos, a minority president, fashioned other forms in an attempt to ensure continued support for his legislative agenda from Congress. Among these were the Public Works Fund, restored in 1996; School building Fund; Congressional Initiative Allocation or CIA; El Niño Fund; and the Poverty Alleviation Fund.

Each assemblyman received P500,000 in SLDP. But pork barrel items no longer just came under the form of public works projects, or “hard” projects as they are called these days. Sure, legislators still allocated their SLDP to capital outlays and infrastructure projects like schoolhouses, municipal buildings, roads, and the like. But they also used the money for what are now known as “soft projects”-- the purchase of medicines, fertilizers, fumigants and insecticides, paints, and sports equipment, or for scholarships for constituents.

The SLDP worked this way: The assemblyman expressed his project preferences to the Ministry of Budget and Management, which had been delegated by the Office of the President to approve projects. The MBM, in turn, released the allocation papers to the Ministry of Local Governments, which would issue the checks to the city or municipal treasurers in the assemblyman’s constituency, who then paid project suppliers.

Martial-law pork

Public work acts lasted a good 50 years, interrupted only by the outbreak of war in 1942, and then in the mid-1960s, when stalemate between the House of Representatives and the Senate resulted in no pork barrel legislation getting passed. Martial law was another pork barrel legislation spoiler, pulling the plug on it, albeit only temporarily. By 1982, the Batasang Pambansa introduced a new item in the annual general appropriations act’s National Aid to Local Government Units: the Support for Local Development Projects or SLDP.

Journalist Belinda Olivarez-Cunanan would write three years later, “The SLDP is closest thing that today’s assemblymen have to the controversial pork barrel fund of the old glory days. In fact, the SLDP may be said to be truly one of the carryover practices from the old Congress, which contradicts the claim of the Batasan to being the parliamentary system based not on patronage, but on programs and principles.”

In an apparent bid to make pork barrel more palatable, Congress also segregated the legislative-sponsored projects from other items in the public works act and christened them “community projects”â€" “miscellaneous community projects” for projects of congressmen and “nationwide selected projects” for those of the senatorsâ€"and then “short-term rural progress projects under the socio-economic program.”

During this period, the pork barrel process began with local government councils, civil groups, and individuals asking congressmen or senators for projects through formal resolutions or verbal communications. Petitions that were accommodated formed part of a legislator’s allocation. The majority then convened a caucus, which determined the amount each legislator would get. The amount was built into the administration bill prepared by the Department of Public Works and Communications (DPWC), although the pork barrel section was left unfilled but for the words “to be inserted in the House…” The Senate and the House of Representatives then added their own provisions to the bill until it was signed into law, the Public Works Act, by the president.

Interest groups pushed for the funds’ release as soon as the law got approved, even though the president still got to decide when to release the money. When funds were approved for release, the budget commissioner transmitted an allotment advice to the DPWC, which in turn routed a sub-allotment advice to the city or district engineer. The engineer’s officer would then inspect the site, prepare a program of work, and schedule construction either by the department or private contractors or, in some cases, by barrio councils, parent-teacher associations, or civic organizations.

Act 3044, the first pork barrel appropriation, essentially divided public works projects into two types. The first typeâ€"national and other buildings, roads and bridges in provinces, and lighthouses, buoys and beacons, and necessary mechanical equipment of lighthousesâ€"fell directly under the jurisdiction of the director of public works, for which his office received appropriations. The second groupâ€"police barracks, normal school and other public buildings, and certain types of roads and bridges, artesian wells, wharves, piers and other shore protection works, and cable, telegraph, and telephone linesâ€"is the forerunner of the infamous pork barrel.

Although the projects falling under the second type were to be distributed at the discretion of the secretary of commerce and communications, he needed prior approval from a joint committee elected by the Senate and House of Representatives. The nod of either the joint committee or a committee member it had authorized was also required before the commerce and communications secretary could transfer unspent portions of one item to another item.

Pork barrel took on a somewhat different form in 1950. First, the public work act passed that year ended the practice of releasing the amount in lump sum, meaning the law did not specify projects. Second, it transferred the discretion of choosing projects from the secretary of commerce and communications to legislators. For the first time, the law carried a list of projects selected by members of Congress, they “being the representatives of the people, either on their own account or by consultation with local officials or civil leaders.”

American origins

Pork barrel has American origins. In 1823, the U.S. Congress enacted the first appropriation for rivers and harbors for the different states, promptly drawing criticisms from opponents that it was purely political in purpose. The measure was branded pork barrel legislation, supposedly after a pre-Civil War custom in the U.S. South in which landowners set aside a definite portion of pork salted in barrels for their black slaves. In 1919 a U.S political pundit wrote, “Oftentimes, the eagerness of the slaves would result in a rush upon the pork barrel, in which each would strive to grab as much as possible for himself. Members of Congress, in their rush to get their local appropriations…behaved so much like Negro slaves rushing to the pork barrel.” (Parreno 1998)

Other texts meantime suggest that the term “pork barrel” originated from a practice of American farmers who preserved pork in barrels in anticipation of the hardships of winter, when the pork is shared with their needy neighbors. A third version says the term simply comes from the old adage, “Bring home the bacon.”

By the time the notion of pork barrel rolled into the Philippines, it was already 1922. That was when a public works act separate from the general appropriations act (GAA) was first passed. It didn’t take long, however, before the Philippine version of the pork barrel acquired a sleazy sheen, no thanks to the shenanigans of legislators.

But many have come to the defense of pork barrel legislation as well. Just like cholesterol, there is bad pork and good pork, they say. Without pork barrel, goes their argument, most of the countryside would have been neglected by the national government, being remote from the seat of power to wield much influence.

Pork barrel, or simply pork, refers to appropriations and favors obtained by a representative for his or her district. G. Luis Igaya of the Institute for Popular Democracy defines pork barrel legislation as “any attempt by Congress to divert national funds directly into their districts whether it be in the form of public works (such as highways or bridges), social services (such as education funds or public school buildings), or special projects (such as livelihood programs or community development projects).”

The difference between pork barrel and ordinary expenditures, explains Igaya, lies chiefly in the manner it is obtained. “Whereas the share of line agency budgets is based on annual financial reports,” he says, “pork barrel shares are based on lobbying efforts between and among members of Congress itself. Whoever can flex the strongest political muscle usually gets the largest share.”

The district funds are discretionary in nature. This means it is up to each congressman or senator to identify the projects of their pork barrel allocation and the beneficiaries. On too many occasions, however, lawmakers have exceeded their discretion, going as far as picking even the project contractors and suppliers.

By Yvonne T. Chua and Booma B. Cruz, VERA Files | The Inbox â€" Fri, Aug 23, 2013


(Note: The excerpt on the history of pork barrel in the Philippines was written by VERA Files trustees Yvonne T. Chua and Booma Cruz in 2004 for the book, The Rulemakers: How the Wealthy and Well-Born Dominate Congress.)


WHETHER they come in large or small amounts, pork barrel allocations have generated a lot of controversy since they were first introduced in the Philippines in 1922. In 1925, Senate Minority Leader Juan Sumulong stunned colleagues when, standing on a question of privilege, he charged that the ruling party had “misused public funds in the form of pork barrel appropriations.”

Legislators and citizens alike who have lobbied for the abolition -- or at least the taming -- of pork barrel over the years have proffered other reasons, ranging from the inequitable distribution of funds among the legislative districts and congressmen overstepping their mandate to make laws, to the failure of pork barrel-funded projects to respond to development needs, to the use of pork as a tool for political patronage.

Biliba. Naa man jud niya tanan...

Bwahaha!

Attaboy, Bay Tigs! Slay the evil oliphaunt a.k.a. you-know-who!

He he, kini ra ba kunong sobra kauwagan sa bata pa, inigkatiguwang mabajot...

Bwahaha! Wa bitaw uroy mauwaw sa iyang porma...

Nagsugod na kaklaro nga way unod ang mga panghulga...

He he...

According to the Queen, that is...

Bitaw, oi. Kon nagkayamukat ang imong kinabuhi, ayaw lang intawon ni ipasiatab, palihog lang...

Quote from: islander on August 25, 2013, 10:00:58 PM
hinaot unta nga apapangig ra niyay mobuto.  huwag lang sana ang vena cava kay simbako intawon, malooy mana gani tag iring...

...unggoy na ba...

OK bitaw ang sharing, pero kon ang i-share pulos na lang pagdayeg sa kaugalingon, pagkombinse sa magbabasa taman sa luod unsa kintahay siya kamalamposon, unsa siya kaangay kahadlokan kay usa siya ka gamhanan nga milyonir, puol pud tawon, oi. Bidli jamo, labi nag pakapinan og bidli nga mga hulagway...

Quote from: balong on August 25, 2013, 07:13:54 PM
mr. hubak is a very generous man. he donated a basketball board and ring para sa mga bata sa ijang native town kay aron dili mag drugs ang mga bata. pagka halangdon nga tawo ni si mr. hubak. di pareha ni balonglong nga maka hatag lang ug $100 e bandilyo na sa tibook kalibotan. continue your good work aron mahi langit ka mr. hubak. kay ako hapit na modawat sa ahong ganti. a few days more and i will
                 
                  Rest Internet Peace

Quoted above is a rant from a...





Bwahaha!

Hapit na molurang ang bagyo sa TB...

Quote from: taga tigbao on August 25, 2013, 07:00:51 PM
Boiling botbot. Puro ra bagutbot ug buhot buhot.

Bwahaha! Gipanuhot kay perming way suhot!

Bwahaha!

How picayune...

“Ako siyang gibadlong kay dili maayo iyang gipanulti ug gipahinumduman nga naa siya sa Pilipinas….Giingnan nako siya nga kung wala siya makauyon mopauli siya ngadto sa ilang lugar, dunay mireklamo niya maong amo siyang giimbitar,” ni Santos pa.

Si Graeb kagahapon gikatakdang pasakaan og kasong kalapasan sa Akta Republika 7610 kon “child abuse.” Sa laing bahin, si Jacquelyn Graeb, 31, asawa sa langyaw nga nahinabi sa Banat News kagahapon mibutyag nga ang iyang bana apektado sa ilang problema kabahin sa ilang negosyo.

Matud ni Jacquelyn nga ang iyang bana usa ka IT expert ug nagtrabaho kini kaniadto sa usa ka bangko sa Germany sulod sa pito ka tuig apan mi-resign kini tungod kay nagplanong anhi na lang sila mopuyo sa Pilinas ug magnegosyo na lang.

Gibutyag ni Jacquelyn nga ang iyang igsuon kinsa presidente sa youth ngadto sa Quezon City maoy ilang gipadala sa puhonan  apan gikwestyon kini kay government employee kini maong gi-freeze ang P6 milyones nila nga kwarta sa bangko. (Brenda D. Batuto/EIM)

Si Supt. Resty Santos, officer-in-charge sa TCPS kinsa mitabang sa pagdakop sa suspetsado mibutyag sa Banat News nga sa wala pa mahitabo ang maong insidente si Graeb nag-inom kini uban sa laing mga foreigner.

Giingong nakita ni Graeb ang bata nga nagduwa-duwa diha dapit sa iyang sakyanan ug nagtuo ang German nga gibadlisan  sa bata ang iyang kotse hinungdan nga giduol niya kini ug gidapatan.

Ang inahan sa bata daling mi-report ngadto sa police station sa hitabo hinungdan nga ang mga polis uban kang Santos daling miresponde sa hitabo.

Matud ni Santos nga si Graeb mibuhi kini og dili maayong mga pulong nga nagkanayon “fucking Filipino, Philippines steal my money….corrupt government!”

Ni Lesley Caminade-Vestil (Banat) | Updated August 24, 2013 - 12:00am

 
CEBU, Philippines - Nagtingkagol sa Talisay City detention cell ang usa ka 56-anyos nga German national kinsa giingong namun-og og batang lalaki niadtong Huwebes sa hapon diha sa barangay Poblacion, dakbayan sa Talisay.

Ang suspetsado mao si Klaus Manfred Graeb, temporaryong nagpuyo diha sa San Jose Maria Village, Ward 4, barangay Poblacion, lungsod sa Minglanilla.

Ang biktima 5-anyos, residente sa barangay Poblacion kinsa na-trauma ug nakaangkon og bun-og sa suwang niini.

Sa imbestigasyon ni PO2 Violeta Godinez sa Women and Children Protection Desk (WCPD) sa Talisay City Police Station giingong gigunitan sa suspetsado ang sinina sa bata dayon giisa kini unya gibusdak ug naigo ang suwang sa bata diha sa sakyanan nga giparada.

He he, di proud kay sila ray kaedad...

I pity pretentious people with mediocre intellects, they who could not even distinguish sarcasm from earnest claims. Certainly, they could not be expected to distinguish sarcasm from ridicule.

Quote from: balong on August 25, 2013, 06:55:17 PM
i am a very good analyzer.

Kaluoy intawon. Siya ray dayeg-dayeg sa kaugalingon...

Yes, forgive yourself and move on...

A Poland court recently awarded over $500,000 to the families of three women, who were all involved in a switched-at-birth mistake.

When two-week-old twins Kasia and Nina were taken to a Warsaw hospital in 1984 with pneumonia, Nina was accidentally swapped with another child at the hospital named Adita. When the two girls sent home together began to show very different appearances, doctors told the family that they were probably not identical twins, as once believed, but more likely just fraternal twins. Seventeen years later, Kasia was told by a friend that she looked exactly like another girl who lived just across town. When they met, they had similar birthmarks, and their interests were even the same.

DNA later confirmed the switch, and the results have reportedly taken a heavy toll on the mother of the twins. -- http://listverse.com/

But...

And...

Palo’s annual income is now over P55 million and play host to various commercial and business establishments, IT park, government offices, schools, and residential subdivisions.

Palo Mayor Remedios Petilla earlier said they are accepting the challenge for Palo’s becoming Leyte’s next capital.

“Palo may still not qualify to become a city but it can qualify as provincial capital. And our town is continuously growing,” the mayor said.

The mayor added that the proposal to make Palo as the new provincial capital would entail a long process, but she said it is a good idea to transfer the provincial capital to further boost Leyte’s development. (Leyte Samar Daily Express)

Loreto said the decision still needs the approval of the Provincial Board.

“I say that Palo is already ripe for it. Historically speaking and economic wise, the town is ready to be Leyte’s next provincial capital. But the resolution has to be discussed by the body and go by whatever is the consensus of the majority,” Loreto added.

Loreto said various landmarks and other developments in Palo make its economic atmosphere more vibrant than it was before.

Palo was declared twice as provincial capital before Tacloban City. The first was in 1768 when Leyte and Samar were declared separate provinces, with Palo named Leyte’s capital. On April 22, 1901 when the civil government was established during the American occupation, Palo was Leyte’s administrative seat.

http://www.sunstar.com.ph/
Saturday, August 24, 2013


LEYTE Vice Gov. Carlo Loreto said that Palo town is ready to become the next capital of the province, considering its historical significance and improving economic condition.

Loreto was reacting to a proposal endorsed by Palo Councilor Wilson Uy to make the town as the next provincial capital considering that Tacloban City, the current provincial capital, has now ceased to be under the control and supervision of the Provincial Government.

Since its reclassification into a highly urbanized city in 2008, Tacloban is now administratively independent from the provincial capital.

Nagpabilib galing...

Wa magkuwang sa pagkaon ning mga iringa kay sagad nila mga boriring man...

Catsanova...

Quote from: TUBAGBOHOL.com on October 25, 2012, 05:46:23 PM
Palmones said it is provided in Section 20 of R.A. 8439 the appropriation of needed funds in the General Appropriations Act (GAA) of the year following its enactment into law under the budgetary appropriations of the DOST and concerned agencies.

Once pork goes, hopefully matagad na ni sila...

"Since, for a country, the most dangerous outcome of inappropriately loose global financial conditions is excessive credit growth, a sensible policy option is to monitor directly credit growth and leverage in each market," she said.

Terrence Checki, executive vice president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, charged with commenting on the paper, pushed back against the notion that rich-country central banks should start paying more attention to the international effects of their policies.

He said that, in keeping with conventional wisdom at the Fed, monetary policy should be aimed at domestic objectives.

"It's not clear we can control the financial cycle very well with monetary policy," Checki said. (Editing by Vicki Allen and Gunna Dickson)