LATIN AMERICANS BREEDING LESS, YET SERVICES SLOW IN COMING

LATIN AMERICANS BREEDING LESS, YET SERVICES SLOW IN COMING

Erle Frayne D. Argonza

Latin America’s population growth has been slowing down. This could be part of the broad trend of demographic transition, where population growth finally slows down as economic growth moves up.

The bad news though is that Latin America’s peoples don’t seem to get access to services as quickly as one gets in economically growing countries. Which means that, in the short run, there will still be many folks mired in the hovels of poverty, thus delaying the achievement of the Millenium Development Goal for poverty alleviation.

Below is a World Bank report on the subject.

[Philippines, 14 December 2011]

Source: http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/NEWS/0,,contentMDK:23037599~pagePK:34370~piPK:34424~theSitePK:4607,00.html

Latin America's population growth slows but region's services still insufficient

WASHINGTON, October 31, 2011 – Will the planet be able to sustain more than 7 billion people? The answer will begin to become apparent today with the birth of Danica May Camacho in the Philippines. She was named the world’s seven billionth inhabitant by the United Nations.

Health, environmental and urban planning experts took advantage of the global event to warn about the challenges of a growing, aging population, which can have different consequences in each country.

In Latin America and the Caribbean, fertility rates have been declining since the 1960s –when women had an average of six children– although, paradoxically, the population has tripled. Among other factors, this increase is due to improved health care services and rising life expectancy in the region.

“The population continues to grow, but at a much slower pace than it did a century ago. By 2050, the growth rate is expected to approach zero and the population will stabilize at 800 million, 8 percent of the projected global population,” said Joana Godinho, the World Bank’s human development sector manager for Latin America.

For Godinho, the region is still experiencing a demographic benefit since most of the population is economically active. However, the population will rapidly age given the declining fertility and death rates, just as has occurred in developed countries. “This has an impact on public spending in health and pensions, as well as on poverty, inequality and economic growth,” said the expert, who stressed that the level of impact will depend on government actions to address the change.

Some measures to prepare for the region’s new demographics include the promotion of healthy lifestyles and lifelong learning for a long, productive life.

A dangerous concentration

Currently, more than 75 per cent of Latin America’s 590 million inhabitants live in cities, a record for the developing world.

This trend is global: in 1950, just 730 million people lived in cities; by 2009, the figure had risen to over 3 billion. In the region, Mexico City, Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Buenos Aires each have populations of over 10 million. In Argentina, according to the most recent census, nine of every 10 inhabitants live in cities.

“The population not only grew, it also became more concentrated, often in areas without sufficient capacity to manage this increase,” said Niels Holm-Nielsen, World Bank risk-management specialist. This aspect of population growth involves risks. For Holm-Nielsen, two disturbing trends have emerged in Latin America over the past two decades: a change in land use and the settlement of millions of people –in many cases as a result of migration— in areas unsuitable for large populations, such as hillsides.

“People living in poverty have fewer possibilities for managing risks and are more likely to be victims of natural disasters such as earthquakes, floods and landslides,” added Holm-Nielsen. In response, the World Bank is providing assistance to prepare for and recover from these types of disasters, applying a broader risk-management approach and incorporating projects for disaster prevention, mitigation and reduction of vulnerability.

“The region has made advances in recent years in managing risks of natural disasters. Yet Colombia, one of the countries that has most improved its risk monitoring systems and integrated risk in its land use planning, recently experienced the worst flood in its history,” said the specialist. In the region, the World Bank also works to strengthen urban development through 59 projects in cities and towns.

These projects seek to reduce poverty, increase access to basic services and promote economically-productive and environmentally-sustainable cities.

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POPULATION IMPACTS CROPS LARGER THAN CLIMATE CHANGE

POPULATION IMPACTS CROPS LARGER THAN CLIMATE CHANGE

Erle Frayne D. Argonza

I have no fondness for Malthusian bogey perspectives about population outstripping food production. And I do scorn such fear-mongering neo-Malthusians as Paul Erlich’s nauseating ‘population bomb’ thesis.

Albeit, there is indeed validity to the pressure exerted by burgeoning population on limited arable lands. A study done in Africa shows the demographic factor as having greater impact on crops than the much ballyhooed climate change. However, the study didn’t go to the extent of prescribing genocide and population decimation strategies in order to return the food security situation of the past, as such mad prescriptions belong more to the Malthusians and the eco-fascists hiding under the rubric of ‘environmentalists’ or ‘greens’.

Below is a special report on the subject coming from the SciDev.net.

[Philippines,

Source: http://www.scidev.net/en/agriculture-and-environment/farming-practices/news/population-has-bigger-effect-than-climate-change-on-crop-yields-study-suggests.html

Population has bigger effect than climate change on crop yields, study suggests

Bernard Appiah

4 October 2011 | EN

Climate change and population hike might mean smaller maize yields in the future

Population pressure will be as significant a factor as climate change in reducing crop yields — and thus increasing food insecurity — in West Africa, according to a modelling study.

The authors inserted different climate change, land use, and demographic change scenarios, into an internationally validated model to estimate maize yields in Benin from 2021–2050.

They found that, as the population increases, farmers frequently cultivate cropland without allowing adequate resting periods for the soil to regain its fertility — thus reducing crop yields.

Overall, they found that various land use scenarios reduced maize yields by up to 24 per cent over the period, whereas climate change scenarios reduced them by up to 18 per cent.

But beyond 2050, "climate change is most likely to be the predominant driver for crop productivity", they concluded.

"Our main assumption [before conducting the study] was that the low-input fallow systems (which allow resting periods for ploughed, but un-seeded land) in Benin and other West African countries would not change in the near future," said Thomas Gaiser, lead author and a researcher at the University of Bonn, Germany.

"If governments in the region introduce policies such as the promotion of the use of mineral fertilisers, then the decrease [in the amount of land left fallow] will not be as serious as that without fertilisers," he added.

Gaiser said farmers should use mineral fertilizers or intercrop with leguminous crops to promote soil fertility and increase yields.

He added that the findings are relevant to many Sub-Saharan African countries relying on leaving land fallow for soil fertility, like Ghana, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo.

"I am not surprised by the findings," said Brian Keating, the director of Sustainable Agriculture Flagship of the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), based in Australia. "It is important to look at all the factors that contribute to agricultural productivity output, and not just on climate change."

But Keating told SciDev.Net that many farming systems in West Africa yield only 20–30 per cent of what would be possible if better practices and technologies were adopted.

Temi Ologunorisa, director of the Centre for Climate Change and Environmental Research at Osun State University, in Nigeria, said African governments should adopt climate change adaptation strategies.

"Agriculture in Africa is about 80 per cent rain-fed, and this must change given the declining amount of rainfall," Ologunorisa said.

The study was published in the August edition of Agricultural and Forest Meteorology.

Link to abstract in Agricultural and Forest Meteorology

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FEED PEOPLE WITHOUT DESTROYING EARTH: CASSAVA OPTION

FEED PEOPLE WITHOUT DESTROYING EARTH: CASSAVA OPTION

Erle Frayne D. Argonza

Earth’s peoples aren’t shrinking size-wise, demographics rise unabaited yet. Till we breach the 10 Billion warm bodies count by 2050, or 4 decades away. Can we feed all of our peoples without destroying the planet’s life support system?

A tremendously inflated challenge faces the generations yet to come. At the heart of that challenge is the shift to biodiversity and concurring the most productive option in staples. Cassava seems to offer the best staples option, as research has proved so far, which should make policy makers today treble the cassava production before it’s too late.

Below is an update report about the cassava option for sustainable food production.

[Philippines, 09 September 2011]

Source: http://www.scidev.net/en/opinions/how-to-feed-the-world-without-destroying-the-planet.html

How to feed the world without destroying the planet

Source: Nature

28 July 2011

By 2050, there will be another two to three billion people on Earth, and the planet's population will consume twice as much food as now. For 50 years farmland has grown at the cost of natural habitat and biodiversity, and already more than two-thirds of agricultural land is either in use or protected.

As a result, we need to develop the technology to double the output of the 10–15 main calorie crops, particularly if we are alleviate the burden on developing countries of feeding a rapidly growing population, argues Jason Clay of the WWF in the journal Nature.

He makes eight strategic suggestions — described as "food wedges" — for Africa, the continent that faces the greatest challenge of increasing food production.

Clay believes the responsible use of genetics is one of the keys. He suggests that mapping the genomes of staple food cropssuch as yams, plantains and cassava, andselecting useful genetic traits, can both increase production and improve drought tolerance, disease resistance and nutrient content.

Improving agricultural inputs and practices is also essential, he argues. It currently takes one litre of water to produce one calorie of food. Even if we halved water use and doubled production, food deficiency would still increase fourfold. Technologies already exist to achieve this, but in Africa they haveoften not been taken up. Mulching, for example, can help rebuild soil fertility and reduce water usage, and is suitable for use even in household gardens, without need for high-tech tools.

Even within nations some producers are ten times more efficient than their producers. We gain the most by improving the poorest performing producers.

Other strategic goals and research gaps include rehabilitating degraded land; reducing food waste — currently one out of every three calories is wasted — and improving property rights so that by 2020, half of African households can own the land they cultivate.

Clay notes that work to reform global food production is underway. For example NEPAD (African Union's New Partnership for Africa's Development), the food company Mars, and WWF are working with experts to sequence the genomes of staple crops. These will be made public within three to five years.

There is no silver bullet for increasing food production. However Clay concludes that, with the correct reforms and the right partnerships, feeding the world without destroying the environment may be achievable.

Link to full article in Nature

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IN AID OF CITIES: REGIONAL BANK SHOWCASE

Erle Frayne D. Argonza

Tapping Official Development Assistance or ODA by city administrators is no easy task to do. Often than not, a central/national government does the job of assessing local needs and recommending ODA allocations to specific towns and cities.

However, there are showcase cities in Asia that were able to tap World Bank funds directly for their development needs. One of them is Marikina for their infrastructure development. Another one is Quezon City, with a $300 million fund tapped for the development of North Triangle into a commercial hub. The two cities are component cities of the metropolitan Manila which is among the 35 or so ‘global nexus’ cities.

Such showcases of expertise and initiatives coming from the local government units or LGUs is surely a highly appreciable feat of self-reliance and good governance. Below is another showcase city in Asia, that of Tianshui City of China, moving along the same track as the Manila component cities.

[Philippines, 3 July 2011]

Source: http://beta.adb.org/news/adb-100-million-loan-upgrades-urban-services-western-prcs-tianshui-city

ADB $100 Million Loan Upgrades Urban Services in Western PRC's Tianshui City

Date

30 Jun 2011

Countries

China, People's Republic of

Subjects

Environment; Urban development; Water supply and sanitation

MANILA, PHILIPPINES – The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is extending a $100 million loan to upgrade urban services and improve living conditions in Tianshui City in Gansu―one of the poorest and least developed provinces in the People’s Republic of China (PRC).

The ADB Board of Directors yesterday approved the loan for the Gansu Tianshui Urban Infrastructure Project, which will fund new roads and bridges, strengthen flood control facilities, and introduce a new environmentally friendly heating system using recycled wastewater. The project will deliver health and environmental benefits to around 670,000 residents in and around the city and create hundreds of jobs.

Tianshui lies along the ancient Silk Road trading route and has, like many cities in western PRC, lagged eastern and southern counterparts in terms of economic growth, investment, and poverty reduction. The PRC government is moving to redress that imbalance under its current five-year plan through to 2015.

Upgrading the existing district heating network to improve service quality and reduce harmful pollutants from coal-fired boilers and stoves is a key goal of the ADB project. A new transmission network will also be funded to carry recycled wastewater to a combined heat and power plant with the resultant hot water then piped back for heating needs.

“Reusing wastewater for district heating will improve air quality, reduce the need for municipal subsidies and improve affordability for the poor,” said Barry Reid, Senior Finance Specialist in ADB's East Asia Department.

A flood control embankment more than 10 km long will be built to combat seasonal overflows from the Xi and Wei rivers while the road improvements will help make the city’s transport system safer and more efficient. The project will also support government efforts to turn the Guanzhong-Tianshui Economic Zone into a key area of sustainable growth and investment for the northwest of the country.

Along with ADB, the China Development Bank is extending over $68 million and the Tianshui Municipal Government over $61 million, for a total project cost of nearly $230 million. The Tianshui Municipal Government is the executing agency for the project which is due for completion in December 2016.

COÑO PALACE LOTHARIOS, REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH BILL: BEDFELLOWS?

Erle Frayne D. Argonza

The Coño regime is up, and certain coño palace officials are true to their coño colors: lotharios who would play with girls and even pass them on to their pals after using the sex goddesses for some time. A top level official unabashedly exhibits his true colors in the presidential palace, disturbs palace workers at night to prepare delicacies for drinking session, and may we not add some girls in his company or so?

Did I not forewarn the public of the lothario side to the then presidential candidate Noynoy Aquino, who today behaves like a “student council officer” (to use Sen. Arroyo’s sarcastic description of his government) while in office? Well, the lothario president has a flashy car going, worth millions of bucks. Doesn’t he go about seeing girls behind the scenes, with some secretive “girl scouts” or so, together with his pal cabinet coño?

Such must be the most exemplary behavior one can make of a president and his beloved crony officials. Is it really a coincidence that the coño president is supportive of the reproductive health bill? Do the cabinet coño kids truly understand responsible parenthood, or are they merely quacking a nice advocacy to conceal what truly is theirs: pro-active gonads seeking actively for pro-creation with sex maniacs of loose moral women?

Let’s take a look at a related note I wrote about last year.

[Philippines, 20 April 2011]
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NOYNOY’S REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH, PRODUCTIVE LOTHARIO?

Prof. Erle Frayne D. Argonza

Magandang hapon! Good afternoon!

Noynoy Aquino of the Liberal Party, the country’s emerging conservative-to-fascist pro-global elite political formation, had delivered his piece about reproductive health. I wonder how deep is the senator’s knowledge about the issue, given the fact that his academic prowess and empathy are mediocre. He never had graduate schooling, did he? And does he not suffer from low emotional intelligence, being ill-tempered as his former classmates describe him?

Whenever Noynoy talks about the issue, one wonders whether he is unconsciously speaking from where he is situated women-wise. His verbiage reveals how he perceives and treats women, in other words. He does project a reduction of reproductive health to being healthy enough to procreate with women, with the subtle message that, for bachelors and single women, be careful enough to avoid unwanted pregnancy no matter how much you consummate sex.

The public knows for a fact that the father of Noynoy—the late Ninoy Aquino—was a lothario. Given the fact that Noynoy hasn’t married yet, and he isn’t getting any younger, observers are behooved to think that this senator regards women as mere toys who should be circulated among men, more so the men he knows.

It just doesn’t sound nice to talk about the private life of politicians, but since the issue of reproductive health and women’s issues are among the raging public issues, we cannot avoid scrutinizing the way political candidates have manifested their relationships with the opposite set.

A liberated man perceives a woman as co-partner in family, community, society. In contrast, a machismo or feudal man regards women as mere subordinates, as objects for man’s control and manipulation. A sociopathic man would normally beat a woman so sadistically, and a such a man is the stuff that makes up an ‘authoritarian personality’ or fascist.

I just wish that women’s groups would do their job to administer a ‘gender relations audit’ on the top political candidates to check out whether each one of them makes to the grade of normal, gender empowering kind of persons. A person like Noynoy, who suffers from psychiatric maladies as per reports filtering out as internal information, is hardly any man who would fit into a normal gender-empowering partner.

Let’s take that narrative about Charlotte Datiles, a graduate of Miriam College (she was my former student in ’84 when I taught in Miriam). Datiles was having an amorous relationship with Noynoy when she tragically died during a coup attack by the RAM-YOU in the late 80s. Just what sort relationship was that one, women should ask? What was the circumstance that led to that tragic event? Wasn’t Charlotte one of those being circulated among men (bless her departed soul)?

Now, how about Korina Sanchez, whose nuptials with Mar Roxas finally ensued (thanks God!)? Didn’t Korina got involved in an erotic bond with Noynoy Aquino for some time? And after Noynoy, didn’t Korina get involved with another Aquino, a brother of Butz, for eight (8) years or so? After that affair (to remember? to forget?), Ms. Sanchez finally landed in the hands of the Don Quijote d’ Cubao estate, Mar Roxas?

If you’d complete the jigsaw that comprises Noynoy’s women, notably their circulation among men, one would think that they are akin to the indigenous women of Brazil that were studied by the late social anthropologist Claude Levi-Strauss. Prof. Levi-Strauss theorized that the “circulation of women” explained the complex kinship and marriage structures among his subjects.

Quite revealingly, Noynoy and the men that he represents seem to have more in common with ‘primitive’ men of Brazil than with the post-modern, urban men of the present. And yet here is Mr. Aquno exuding the image of a contemporary man, isn’t he?

For an unsolicited advice, the women’s groups led by Gabriela should better investigate the ‘gender relational performance’ of Noynoy. And investigate now, before it would be too late. That test should be done in addition to administering Noynoy the ‘Adorno scale’ to test his level of ‘authoritarian personality’ (scale of fascistic behavior).

If Noynoy is manifesting pro-choice and pro-population control standpoints, and he is not passing in psychiatric health and shows fascistic (authoritarian) tendencies, then his behaviors dovetail on the manner of his handling of women.

Noynoy is nobody’s Mr. Clean woman-wise, he is no Mr. Clean for that matter even as he is no spiritual seeker who had quite ascended in the Path. As I articulated in a previous article, his moralistic inquisitionism is a manifestation of fascistic tendencies, akin to the fascistic tendencies of the ancient Knights’ Templars and Teutonic Knights (Nazis’ exemplars for their hubris, sadism, arrogance).

I wonder what the pro-Noynoy women’s groups (are there any true feminists there?) will counter if the mass media will pick up the questions raised, do investigative journalism, and expose the true nature of Noynoy in his handling of women. For now, they are lucky that no howl has been raised yet about the matter by Noynoy’s political adversaries.

[Philippines, 25 April 2010]
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FILIPINOS 104 MILLION STRONG: 94 IN PH, 10 OVERSEAS

Erle Frayne D. Argonza

Magandang gabi! Good evening from PH’s suburban boondocks!

The Philippines just conducted a census last year, 2010, and the result shows a sum total of 94 Million heads in the archipelago. The population growth of 2 Million heads per year is also indicated, showing an increase from the 1.7 Million heads annual increase ten in the year 2000 (when the last census was conducted).

The 2 Million annual growth is already a total result in itself. Accordingly, about 500,000 fetuses are aborted every year in the country, a figure that has alarmed population and health experts. Never mind if the national charter bans abortion, women who commit unwanted pregnancies simply decide to go abortion.

94 Million Filipinos, at a time of economic boom and rising incomes, is a cause for celebration. With a rising middle class at hand—who form the demand base of consumption-led growth—we expect a steadily growing number of Filipinos who comprise the family income bracket earning U.S. $6,000-$30,000 annually. 20 Million Pinoys are in that category today, which will expectedly rise in the next couples of years.

Thus, PH qualifies as an ‘emerging market’. It has first of all a large population, and millions of people falling within the middle class spenders with incomes ranging from U.S. $6,000 to $30,000. Many heads working and earning well translates into economic wellness for a country, so we should welcome this development.

Now, let us not forget the Overseas Filipinos or OFs who comprise an estimated 10 Million heads across 200 countries more or less. These OFs earn an aggregate income of U.S. $400 Billions annually, $20+ Billions of which is remitted to the Philippines as Net Factor Income from Abroad or NFIA. Of the $20+ Billions, only around $18 entered legally established channels of remittance annually.

That means the OFs remit 5% of their earnings to the motherland, and that is good enough. No matter what misery-inducing policies the global elites would slap Pinoys with via the World Bank-IMF-WTO Group, the most demonic being the austerity policies of the IMF, the Philippines can survive thanks to the OF remittances. Let the evil elites shackle PH with crippling low credit ratings and low entry of ‘smart money’ and investments by them, we will still survive thanks to the remittances and our own domestic investments.

The signs are pretty clear that fecundity, the capacity to give birth, is high among Filipinos. This for me is a cause for celebration. Let us sustain our high birthing capacity and increase the number of middle class people by the year, and we will all the more exude our economic and social power as a people.

Contrast that high fecundity to the trends in Japan and Russia, where their populations are falling by the year. Russia has been alarmed a decade ago yet about falling population, and identified the phenomenon as the top national security problem. Japan just began to experience a falling population, and this early look at how alarmed and panicked the Japanese stakeholders are of the consequence of diminishing population.

Not so for my beloved Philippines. We will be producing 2 Million+ Filipinos annually in the archipelago and overseas for many years to come yet, and we shall use the burgeoning population as leverage in negotiating with other nations and regions. The global oligarchs can no longer be fooling us at this time, whacking us with oppressive policies that produce deplorable conditions for our poor folks.

Abroad, our own Kabayans are now crystallizing a consciousness as an Overseas Filipino Nation, and I do welcome this progressive development. United by culture, language, and shared experience, the OF Nation will wield the stick to leverage vis a vis governments, market players, and interest groups in their host countries. They can no longer be fooled in the negotiating tables, much more enslaved and butchered like unwanted pests by sociopathic monsters without responding in a pro-active way.

Clearly, the days when White Americans sang “Brown monkeys have no tails” in the archipelago, a sordid racist song they popularized upon invading the Philippines, are over. The figure of 200 Million Pinoys can be breached by 2050, at a time when PH will be a wealthy nation, huge and wealthy to lead the ASEAN Union.

In sum, 104 Million Filipinos should be welcomed as good news. It is the leveraging power of Pinoys in the new era of Urban Philippines, whence 68% of Pinoys are residing in urban communities here.

[Philippines, 11 February 2011]

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PHILIPPINES AS FRIENDSTER CAPITAL: SOCIAL & SPIRITUAL FACETS

Bro. Erle Frayne Argonza

Magandang hapon! Good afternoon!

A gladdening news just filtered out recently about the Philippines having now capped the Top Friendster end-user notch. Accordingly, there are today 30 Million end-users in the Philippines of the top social networking platform, the Friendster, out of a total of 85 Million users worldwide. Just couples of months back, it was at 24 Million Filipino ‘ka-Friendsters’ that represented 1/3 of the world total.

This development reveals couples of very significant insights about my beloved compatriots, the Filipinos, as well as that of the host network, the Friendster Inc. In Max Weber’s language, there is ‘elective affinity’ between the economic structure’s templates (Friendster as economic service provider) and the Filipino’s ‘superstructural templates’ (values, value-relevance). In Jung’s language, the demands of the world structures have manifested synchronicities with the ‘symbolic structures’ of the Filipinos.

Let me then share some notes to you about what this topnotch end-user behavior of Filipinos exhibit in regard to the world’s top web-based social networking. I will sum up the revealed insights in two (2) categories, namely: (a) social, which refers to the economic and behavioral facts involved; and, (b) spiritual, which refers to those core elements of the human psyche & soul revealed by the behavior.

SOCIAL FACET

· 30 Million is 30 Million, it is awesome and potent a social force to reckon with.
· Internet Users Up: 30 Million ‘ka-Friendsters’ means that millions of Filipinos now have access to the internet, the minimum of which is 30 M. My estimate is that the figure goes up to 40 Million, which is double the badly underestimated statistics from marketing and state agencies (18-20 Million).
· Warm, friendly, hospitable traits of Filipinos. These are among the value assets of the Pinoys. They can never be underestimated. They invite as many contacts on the Friendster as possible, regardless of whether they know that contact personally.
· Internet Facilities: Telecom infrastructures have now made web accessibility higher among Pinoys. Combined facilities are: (a) New Generation for DSL & related services, in all cities and town centers nationwide; (b) Wireless Broadband, present in commercial hubs; (c) Rural Interconnectivity, platform for countryside, innovation by engineers from the University of the Philippines.
· Graphics & Writing/Reading Up: Pinoy’s mind is largely attuned to graphical-intuitive, that is why they’d love to view pictures and graphic creatives. However, Pinoys are also developing writing & reading habits, which the content blog spaces offer.
· Urban Filipinos, which represents 60% of domestic population, lead the locals in propelling the islanders to ‘global citizen’ status, thru web-based platforms. My estimate is that 85% of Pinoys on Friendster are urbanites.

SPIRITUAL FACET

· ‘Friend’ dominates the word ‘Friendster’, which jibes with the Filipinos deep devotional attitude. Devotion is the cementing force of society, and the first impulse to reach out to the Almighty Providence and Divine Beings.
· ‘Friend’ in Friendster jibes with the Water element among Pinoys. This element is manifested as love for building social networks, artistic-graphical creatives of Pinoys (Pinoys are Asia’s top musicians), and the healing prowess of the islanders (note our top healers, top nurses/doctors overseas).
· The letters F-I-R-E (Fire) and F-R-I-E-D (Fried), which signify the Fire element, another powerful element of Pinoys, is also found in Friendster, though is subdued. It is indicative of Pinoy’s conscious efforts today to do everything to tame their Fire element, use this for more beneficial purposes, and permit the Water element’s positive aspects blend with Fire.
· Public life in the Philippines is mired in Negative Fire: Insurgent groups, politicians, civil society all wanting to overthrow established authority. Pinoys, via platforms such as Friendster, would want to somehow balance this Fiery disposition with the more constructive, creative disposition presented by Water, though they also ride and direct the Fiery caldrons of public life.
· Interestingly, the Water element is also shown in the Philippines’ maritime prowess. 28% of international seafarers are Pinoys, while the country is beginning to manufacture ships as huge as 10,000 Tonners, and it won’t be a surprise if in 15 years’ time the Philippines will be a global ship-building power. Almost all Pinoy seafarers surf the web while aboard their ships, and many use patronize Friendster (including my cousin-in-law, a maritime engineer).
To the endeared readers, choose your wilds: social facet, or spiritual facet. I chose both, as I’m both (a) a social scientist and (b) a mystic-healer-Guru of the Teaching.

For the Friendster Inc, it has no other choice than to root itself more in Philippine life. The corporate honchos cannot afford to offend the Filipino end-users, no Sirs, for that would flip the Water side of Pinoys to the Fire side. Fire is the ‘overthrow syndrome’ of my kabayans (compatriots), they’re so good at it, insurgencies here can last as long as nine (9) decades such as Tamblot Revolt.

And, to the Friendster corporate people, please don’t ever offend Filipino women. Let you be reminded that we are the ‘6th Top Gender Empowerment’ country worldwide as of today. We’re known for Filipina warriorship prowess, and that warriorship is seen in our feminist leaders and advocates reforming policies with Firepower, and overthrowing corrupt regimes with blazing thunder. Inside Filipino homes, the Mother is the Boss, this is a fact of life. No Sirs, I implore you never ever to offend the women of this country.

Let me congratulate both the Filipino ‘ka-Friendsters’ and the Friendster Inc. for the stunning success of the Friendster platform. Mabuhay!

[21 November 2008, Quezon City, MetroManila]

36 MILLION DEAD BY AMERICA’S AGGRESSIONS, WHAT SAYETH OBAMA?

Bro. Erle Frayne Argonza

Magandang hapon! Good afternoon!

In just a couple of weeks’ time, the US voters and electorate will make their decisions about who should be the next American chief exec and vice-president. As a US observer (from Manila), I can now advance my own forecast, based on survey polls and the emerging ethos in the USA, that Barak Obama is the man of the hour, the next president of the USA.

I would now wish to bring the matter of US aggression and its toll to the American voters and the Obama camp, this being a most urgent agenda for international peace and cooperation. As per latest count, since after World War II, when the USA was transformed into a World Power status politico-militarily, over 36 Millions of peoples worldwide already died as aggregate casualties of all the US offensives and related military initiatives. What sayeth Obama and his team about the matter?

For an outside observer, it hardly matters what foreign policy architecture were periodically installed by the US administration to justify aggression of every type. The much hyped ‘global cop’ cliché no longer bites the dust, nobody believes today in the rationale for any further US aggression across the oceans save for fascistic elements that profess sympathies for US imperialistic violence and conflicts. What matters is that (a) the aggressions were committed by (b) an imperialistic power, (c) under the guise of performing a global police role, (d) resulting to a staggering 36+ Million deaths!

Will the Obama leadership finally put a reversal to the policies of global carnage and infernal destruction of nation-states by the US military juggernaut machine? Will the new presidency at least put a break to the pedals of the unstoppable destructive deus ex machina within the next four (4) years?

Will there be no more US aggressions of whatever type beginning in January 2009, when the new president takes his oath of office? Will the unilateralism that was shamelessly and arrogantly exhibited—that alienated the USA from the entire world community for the past eight (8) years—be finally put to rest, and that the USA thereafter go back to multilateralism whereby all military initiatives will be concurred within the framework of the United Nations at least?

How about those victims of all the US aggressions, those men, children, women, disabled, blind, deaf, and humble folks-–will they be indemnified by the United State if ever? Isn’t it time that those demonic aggressors within the US Establishment, who were responsible for those carnages, be brought to international justice to answer for their war crimes?

How about those 1,000,000+ Filipinos who died during America’s invasion of my beloved Philippines in the years 1898-1900, during that war of US imperialistic expansionism in East Asia, will their families and descendants ever get to be indemnified if ever? Or maybe it hardly pays to consider those Filipinos as humans, because anyway they aren’t homo sapiens but were rather “brown monkeys with no tails”?

While the Philippine-American War was going on, American soldiers were quick to compose and popularize songs that condescendingly denigrated the islanders to the level of animals. One particular song says “monkeys have no tail in Zamboanga” which captures the American campaign in the Mindanao island that was then predominantly Muslim. The genocidal campaign there was among the most horrific of destructive events, surpassed only by the Batangas and Samar campaigns where entire towns were leveled and razed down the ground, bringing their populations down to zero.

The song summarizes the intent and content of US aggression a full century ago. Invaded populations were no human populations anyway, so it hardly matters to observe civility or protocols of war on the subjected peoples. The explicit order is: do anything necessary to neutralize and destroy them, including razing entire towns and cities to the ground, and do the tasks without compunction. For those warm bodies are not of humans’ but of “monkeys with no tails.”

Did US aggression (in the generic sense) ever change its underlying theme and tone from a century ago to the present? That all those conquered lands outside the US borders, whatever names and cultures they represent, are not of humans’ but of Things other than human? “Take them at all cost pronto!”

Does the more human face exuded by American troops today suffice to conceal what could be an insidious, evil, demonic theme behind every imperialistic-fascistic aggression? When will true civility and ‘rule of reason’ ever govern the use of instruments of aggression by the US military juggernaut, now that such a juggernaut had grown to a complexity unparalleled anywhere in human history?

Like many members of the world community, I am sympathetic to the Man of the Hour, Barak Obama. Like everybody else, my expectations are very high that his regime would deliver the goods and reverse the trends of imperialistic aggressions and carnages. I hope this regime won’t let me down, as my exasperation over American doublespeak had already reached its limits.

I’ve raised my questions, and I’ll assign myself four (4) years to watch. What sayeth you, Fellows out there?

[Writ 21 October 2008, Quezon City, MetroManila]

DEPOPULATION, GENOCIDE: GLOBAL OLIGARCHY’S POPULATION AGENDA

Bro. Erle Frayne Argonza

Good morning from Manila!

Those more aware fellows on Earth may be reflecting right now about the long-term agenda of the global oligarchy regarding population. We note the rise of the neo-Malthusians within and outside the UN and international bodies from the 70s onwards, their position buttressing the toxic ‘greenies’ demonization of humans as the cause of the planet’s predicament.

The greenies’ and Malthusian’s causes do tie up, as they are among the paid Pied Pipers of the global oligarchy for the long-term agenda of depopulating the planet. The global elite’s disdain of masses of humans, who they refer to as ‘useless Eaters’, do make sense when we reflect about the wars, pandemics, induced cyclones and earthquakes, and many more phenomena that tend to reduce the populations en masse at any given instance.

Below is a summary of the said long-term agenda, culled from the database of the Executive Intelligence Review. See also: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ylIoU_Hnt4k

[28 July 2008, Quezon City, MetroManila]

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WORLD DEPOPULATION IS TOP NSA AGENDA: CLUB OF ROME
A Timely Repost:

The Haig-Kissinger depopulation policy by Lonnie Wolfe

Special Report EIR (Executive Intelligence Review) March 10, 1981

Investigations by EIR have uncovered a planning apparatus operating outside the control of the White House whose sole purpose is to reduce the world's population by 2 billion people through war, famine, disease and any other means necessary. This apparatus, which includes various levels of the government is determining U.S. foreign policy. In every political hotspot -- El Salvador, the so-called arc of crisis in the Persian Gulf, Latin America, Southeast Asia and in Africa- the goal of U.S. foreign policy is population reduction. The targeting agency for the operation is the National Security Council's Ad Hoc Group on Population Policy. Its policy-planning group is in the U.S. State Department's Office of Population Affairs, established in 1975 by Henry Kissinger. This group drafted the Carter administration's Global 2000 document, which calls for global population reduction, and the same apparatus is conducting the civil war in El Salvador as a conscious depopulation project.

"There is a single theme behind all our work-we must reduce population levels," said Thomas Ferguson, the Latin American case officer for the State Department's Office of Population Affairs (OPA). "Either they [governments] do it our way, through nice clean methods or they will get the kind of mess that we have in El Salvador, or in Iran, or in Beirut. Population is a political problem. Once population is out of control it requires authoritarian government, even fascism, to reduce it "The professionals," said Ferguson, "aren't interested in lowering population for humanitarian reasons.

That sounds nice. We look at resources and environmental constraints. We look at our strategic needs, and we say that this country must lower its population-or else we will have trouble. So steps are taken. El Salvador is an example where our failure to lower population by simple means has created the basis for a national security crisis. The government of El Salvador failed to use our programs to lower their population. Now they get a civil war because of it.... There will be dislocation and food shortages. They still have too many people there." Civil wars are somewhat drawn-out ways to reduce population, the OPA official added. "The quickest way to reduce population is through famine, like in Africa or through disease like the Black Death," all of which might occur in El Salvador. Ferguson's OPA monitors populations in the Third World and maps strategies to reduce them. Its budget for FY 1980 was $190 million; for FY 198l, it will be $220 million. The Global 2000 report calls for doubling that figure. The sphere of Kissinger In 1975, OPA was brought under a reorganized State Department Bureau of Oceans, International Environmental, and Scientific Affairs-- a body created by Henry Kissinger. The agency was assigned to carry out the directives of the NSC Ad Hoc Group. According to an NSC spokesman, Kissinger initiated both groups after discussion with leaders of the Club of Rome during the 1974 population conferences in Bucharest and Rome. The Club of Rome, controlled by Europe's black nobility, is the primary promotion agency for the genocidal reduction of world population levels. The Ad Hoc Group was given "high priority" by the Carter administration, through the intervention of National Security Adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski and Secretaries of State Cyrus Vance and Edmund Muskie. According to OPA expert Ferguson, Kissinger initiated a full about-face on U.S. development policy toward the Third World. "For a long time," Ferguson stated, "people here were timid" They listened to arguments from Third World leaders that said that the best contraceptive was economic reform and development. So we pushed development programs, and we helped create a population time bomb. "We are letting people breed like flies without allowing for natural causes to keep population down. We raised the birth survival rates, extended life-spans by lowering death rates, and did nothing about lowering birth rates. That policy is finished. We are saying with Global 2000 and in real policy that you must lower population rates. Population reduction and control is now our primary policy objective- then you can have some development."Accordingly, the Bureau of Oceans, International Environmental, and Scientific Affairs has consistently blocked industrialization policies in the Third World, denying developing nations access to nuclear energy technology--the policies that would enable countries to sustain a growing population. According to State Department sources, and Ferguson himself, Alexander Haig is a "firm believer" in population control. "We will go into a country," said Ferguson, "and say, here is your goddamn development plan. Throw it out the window. Start looking at the size of your population and figure out what must be done to reduce it."If you don't like that, if you don't want to choose to do it through planning, then you'll have an El Salvador or an Iran, or worse, a Cambodia."According to an NSC spokesman, the United States now shares the view of former World Bank President Robert McNamara that the "population crisis" is a greater threat to U.S. national security interests than "nuclear annihilation." "Every hot spot in the world corresponds to a population crisis point," said Ferguson who would rename Brzezinski's arc of crisis doctrine the "arc of population crisis." This is corroborated by statements in the NSC Ad Hoc Group's April 1980 report. There is "an increased potential for social unrest, economic and political instability, mass migration and possible international conflicts over control of land and resources," says the NSC report. It then cites "demographic pressures" as key to understanding "examples of recent warfare in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, El Salvador. Honduras, and Ethiopia, and the growing potential forinstability in such places as Turkey, the Philippines, Central America, Iran, and Pakistan." Through extraordinary efforts, the Ad Hoc Group and OPA estimate that they may be able to keep a billion people from being born through contraceptive programs. But as the Ad Hoc Group's report states, the best efforts of the Shah of Iran to institute "clean programs" of birth control failed to make a significant dent in the country's birth rate. The promise of jobs, through an ambitious industrialization program, encouraged migration toward "overcrowded cities" like Teheran. Now under Ayatollah Khomeini, the "clean programs" have been dismantled. The government may make progress because it has a program "to induce up to half of Teheran's 6 million residents to relocate, as well as possible measures to keep rural migrants from moving to the cities." Behind the back of the President Ferguson and others involved with the OPA and NSC group maintain that the United States will continue a foreign policy based on a genocidal reduction of the world's population. "We have a network in place of cothinkers in the government," said the OPA case officer. "We keep going, no matter who is in the White House." But Ferguson reports that the "White House" does not really understand what they are saying and that the President "thinks that population policy means how do we speed up population increase. "As long as no one says differently," said Ferguson, "we will continue to do our jobs. "