Philippine May flowers and Sakura envy

 Cherry tree in full bloom. (photo taken from the internet.)

Many Filipinos are aware of the Cherry blossom season in Japan and they usually envy the Japanese for having such a great and beautiful flower.

As for me though, while I also admire the great beauty of cherry blossoms even if just through pictures, I think we have the capacity of creating our own local attraction with our native or nativized flora. 

Dona Aurora plant, just one of many native flowering plant in the Philippines

What people should reaize is that it while the cherry blossoms are beautiful in themselves, it is what the Japanese people did, planting thousands of trees, planting strategically with a view to how it can look in the future and taking very good care of the trees that enhanced the beauty of the flowers and enabled a tradition to grow around it.

Holiday ideas

1. Science Day
2. UN Day
3. WPS victory day
4.

The first battleground in fighting poverty is in the mind

Fighting the mentality of poverty wip

Filipino Can Workers Coop

Finding good reliable labor in the country is always a big problem. Most skilled workers are under the employ of contractors and labor middle men that unnecessarily jacks up cost of any construction work. And often, the work does not end up satisfactorily.

As a remedy, an idea occurred to me to gather tested skilled workers and organize them into a collective where they can be assured of continuous jobs and at the same time, fair compensation for the work that they do.

Already I know several good people and using modern social media instruments, their services can be promoted on line.

Since I am thinking of marketing this idea to ex pats living abroad but mainly in Canada, I thought that an appropriate name for the coop would be Filipino Can something something.

But this idea needs much much more thinking.

Science Day Parade idea

November 10 has been designated by UNESCO as world science day. One of the activities that we can hold to observe this occasion is a parade depicting the history of our universe, the ascent of man and development of societies, the birth and growth of science and celebration of science heroes

Social entrepreneurship vs Cooperative entrepreneurship

wip

This letter from the Spanish Embassy

After a long wait I finallyt got a hard copy of the official response of the Spanish Embassy to my letter inquiring how I may possibly forge a sister town partnership between Pateros, my hometown and Arrasate/Mondragon in Spain with a view to adapting the successful corporate cooperativism pioneered in that Spanish town.

This history of cooperativism in Mondragon is very interesting.  wip

The letter disclosed that the embassy can only support public and official exchanges but not person-public ones. I am a little disappointed but I fully understand and respect this protocol.

Still, I am hoping and determined that this response will not be the end but the beginning of my dream for Pateros.

Autophagy: Can hunger be the best medicine?

A history of hunger and deprivation may have given people a fear of being hungry or the habit of constant eating with a belief that being hungry makes us weak and ill.

But recent studies actually point out to the opposite direction. Going hungry and food deprivation for periods of time can be good for us. The reason is 'autophagy' which came from the greek word 'auto' meaning self and 'phagy' meaning eat - self eating. And one researcher who found an explanation for this body process even won a Nobel Prize for it in medicine in 2016.

The theory goes that when we deprive ourselves of food for an extended period of time, our body begins to get nutrition from unwanted and waste material in our system thus effectively cleaning and making our body healthier.

If this theory holds up to more studies and becomes better understood, then indeed, going hungry when we are sick may turn out to be the best medicine.

False values lead to false targets

Truth based values are not materially quantifiable. But in a materialist world, many people have come to embrace false values that lead them to pursue unworthy goals.

Our education culture is one of the saddest example for this. In most of our public and even private schools, students can go through the motion of schooling for years without really learning anything.
It is said that some teachers are afraid to fail students because they are afraid that it will reflect badly on them as a teacher.

Instead of mastering how to read, write, speak articulately and calculate they go for grades and honors which at times can be spurious. 

True learning should be its own reward and can be recognized in the simplest of rites. But lately there is even a trend of holding noisy and very public graduation ceremonies in malls even if this is a completely unnecessary exercise.

In the end, students may earn a "diploma" even if in reality they are still virtually illiterate and innumerate.

Thoughts on the recently held National Food Fair

Every year, I look forward to the trade exhibits organized by the Department of Trade and Industry to get an idea of what our people are up to from around our country. More often though my expectations are way over what I find and I go home consoling myself that next time, things can be better.

For this year, my most interesting take home from the National Food Fair held in Mega Mall last 14-17 March 2019 was a sea food crackling called 'kibit' from Quezon. I had seen it before but it now comes in better packaging. It is quite unusual but does not really taste special. Not something to ook forward to buying again.


Another thing that caught my eye was the attractive packaging of chocolate from Mindanao. I am hoping that our local chocolate industry continues to improve and become competitive with international brand chocolates.

In this kind of exhibit, I see opportunities in areas of condiments and sauces, instant foods, innovative foods, etc. However, the success of our food industry depends on how we support and strengthen our agricultural sector. My question then is if we are doing enough for it.