In Looking At The Crown Of Thorns, I Found The Clowns

We could use a surprise sense of humor! 

Yes, especially on the wide problematic fields of Agriculture.

There was this news that some high PH government officials wanted to probe Vice President Leni Robredo for “competing against” PH agencies in providing much-needed assistances during this coronavirus lockdown, and Marigs Laririt shared a picture-story on Facebook quoting Ms Leni as saying, “I didn’t know it was competition. I didn’t see any competitors!” Ms Marigs says, “Ay, parang friends ko kung sumagot si Mam.” (Ay, with Mam, it’s just like my friends answering back.) That is a two-handed backslap, and you can imagine the lady laughing! She is the humor-monger; they are the clowns.

Today is Friday, 03 April 2020 and in one account (Wikipedia), Friday the 3^rd of April was crucifixion of Jesus and his crowning of thorns[1]. (images: Crown of Thorns[2] from St Anthony Messenger, 1^stclown[3] from The Guardian, 2^ndclown[4] from Shutterstock)

About the living clowns I have been thinking of, there are at least 3 of them, all males as far as outer appearances are concerned. I did not know they were clowns with respectable clothes of different expertises. Off and on, they add to the thorns on the veritable crown of leadership of Secretary of Agriculture William Dar/Manong Willie. They criticize his moves, his decisions whatever. They especially and repeatedly bang the gong of the Rice Tariffication Law, RTL, which has wreaked havoc on the economy – the RTL has been a law required by the Philippines membership in the World Trade Organization whose passage has been postponed in the last 20 years.

As citizens of our country, they have the right to criticize anyone, including the President of the Philippines – but they must be joking when they criticize Manong Willie by looking at negative developments as if they were not part of the national problem!

Those clowns never mention it, so I have been mentioning it again and again:

Manong Willie is a Servant Leader, and already had for his country a national roadmap even before he was appointed Secretary of Agriculture. He refers to it as “The New Thinking for Agriculture,” that which is made up of “The Eight Paradigms” to bring The New Thinking into National Reality. The 8 are:

(1) Modernization

(2) Industrialization

(3) Promotion of exports

(4) Consolidation of small- and medium-sized farms

(5) Infrastructure development

(6) Higher budget & investment

(7) Legislative support

(8) Roadmap development.

The New Thinking is no joke; the Eight Paradigms are not one-liners in a stand-up comedy routine!

The New Thinking requires that the development of Philippine agriculture from poverty of many to prosperity for all farmers and fishers must be itself a partnership of 4 Ps: Public, Private, People, Peasants. The government contributes funds; the business sector helps develop agri-entrepreneurs; the people help link everyone; and with active financial and friendly supports, the peasants must help themselves to rise from poverty and stay up there! And all that, as you would notice, is not a joke!@517

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[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crucifixion_of_Jesus#Chronology

[2] https://blog.franciscanmedia.org/sam/jesus-crown-of-thorns

[3] https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2016/oct/31/the-great-clown-panic-of-2016-a-volatile-mix-of-fear-and-contagion

[4] https://www.shutterstock.com/search/clown

Coronavirus & Agriculture In Hot Water. I’ll Drink To That! Coffee

When you find it all confusing, find out some more!

I just found out the truth of that lesson myself after wondering silently in the last 7 days: “There is so much to learn about the coronavirus or Covid-19, and it’s all very confusing!”

(1) “Stay home!”
If staying at home will save me from Covid-19, why do people instinctively want to go out of their residences?

(2) “Don’t touch your face!”
If the virus is on my fingers, sooner or later it will find its way into my system.

(3) “Wash your hands often.”
How many times: 10 times? 20 times? “Often” is not enough!

(4) “Cough on your elbow.”
That’s assuming you already have the virus inside you.

(5) “Keep a safe distance.”
That’s assuming the virus already may be in or on the other fellow. A sudden cough may propel the virus in the direction of your face, and you may catch it.

Those 5 instructions – and longer lists I did not include down here – did not make me feel secure. I wanted to find out just one thing I could do that will stop the coronavirus from invading my body and causing harm, even death. If I had to remember all, what if I forgot one of those rules?

So I googled some more – which was easy, as the WiFi connection is now excellent at the Hilarios because it is now PLDT Home Fibr 1299 running at 20 MBPS. And that was when I found Snoopy. (Image above; the source I can’t find but it was shared by Jessica Jessica.)

With his dark glasses on, what’s Snoopy brightly saying? I had forgotten Peanuts, where Snoopy is a sane member of the population. Here he is insinuating his sunny disposition, saying:

What to do about the corona virus.

Drink Coffee
Put On Some
Worship Music
And Let God
Handle It!

No joke! That’s the best bundle of advice I have ever heard since the Luzon Enhanced Community Quarantine in the middle of last month, March.

I’ll drink to that!

Right now, I’m drinking hot coffee, because I know that hot water is 10 times good for me! With or without the coronavirus. Kathryn Watson of Healthline tells me there are 10 ways drinking hot water may benefit me[1]:

(1)     Relieves nasal congestion

(2)     Aids digestion

(3)     Calms central nervous system

(4)     Helps relieve constipation

(5)     Keeps you hydrated

(6)     May aid in weight loss

(7)     Improves circulation

(8)     Can decrease stress

(9)     Can help reduce toxins

(10)  Relieves symptoms of achalasia.

There is of course the advice of New York Dr David Price of Weill Cornell Medical Center, as reported by Victor Garcia[2]:

(Dr) Price went on say the virus is primarily transmitted by touching someone who has the virus and then touching your face.

Nah. Touching someone is automatic, touching my face is automatic. Snoopy is my man. I will follow him; I will drink hot coffee to get rid of any toxin, and trust God above all!@517

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[1] https://www.healthline.com/health/benefits-of-drinking-hot-water

[2] https://www.foxnews.com/media/doctor-david-price-coronavirus

A Study Of Doughnuts As Perceived By The Wide-Eyed And The Cross-Eyed

Metaphor is the writing lesson for today.

And yes, it’s applicable even if you were writing about sex, the coronavirus, or agriculture.

Love of reading led me to literature, among other things. Since high school in my hometown of Asingan in Pangasinan, as I was fond of reading among other publications the Reader’s Digest, not because we could afford to subscribe but our high school, Rizal Junior College (HS Dept), founded & owned by the Eleazars of Tayabas, Quezon, had an excellent library for a voracious promdi reader like me, I became an admirer of Abraham Lincoln and Oscar Wilde, to name 2 geniuses, one American and one British.

Beyond the Gettysburg Address that I memorized, 272 words in all, according to Cornell University[1], I have loved and memorized this short verse of 20 words by Irish poet Oscar Wilde:

Between the optimist and the pessimist,
The difference is droll.
The optimist sees the doughnut,
The pessimist sees the hole!

Why am I telling you this? Because every now and then I come across Facebook sharings by a persistent someone, never mind who, and some kindred souls, journalists and columnists, who only see the negative news in what is happening in the Philippines in terms of Agriculture, under the leadership of Secretary of Agriculture William Dar/Manong Willie. For one, those gentlemen cannot go down from their self-exalted positions and present themselves as friends of the Filipino people, especially the farmers.

Look at the image again[2], and read these revised lines:

Between the wide-eyed and the cross-eyed,
The difference is droll.
The wide-eyed sees the doughnuts,
The cross-eyed sees the holes!

I am now dedicating my revised Oscar Wilde to the critics of Manong Willie.

I always write it thus: Secretary of Agriculture William Dar/Manong Willie, because Manong Willie wishes to be and acts familiarly with the people, no airs of superiority, He is an Ilocano; wishing to be referred to simply as “Manong Willie,” which means “Brother Willie” in the language, which is both a title of respect and term of endearment. This Ilocano assures you Manong Willie has no atmosphere of arrogance around him. I have known him since January 2007 when based on one blogpost he appointed me international consulting writer for ICRISAT, where he was Director General from January 2000 to December 2014.

Even before President Rodrigo Duterte appointed him Secretary of Agriculture on 05 August 2019, Manong Willie had masterminded what he called “The New Thinking for Agriculture,” a Scientific Revelation with 8 Commandments that he called “Paradigms,” set on a Tablet of Digital Stone:

(1)   Thou shalt modernize.

(2)   Thou shalt industrialize.

(3)   Thou shalt promote exports.

(4)   Thou shalt consolidate small- and medium-sized farms.

(5)   Thou shalt develop infrastructure.

(6)   Thou shalt have higher budget & investment.

(7)   Thou shalt have legislative support.

(8)   Thou shalt develop a national roadmap.

With “The New Thinking for Agriculture,” how can we lose the war for The New PH Agriculture!?

We can if we stay stubborn and negative!@517

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[1] https://rmc.library.cornell.edu/gettysburg/good_cause/transcript.htm

[2] https://www.food.com/recipe/best-baked-doughnuts-ever-73315

DA Budget Adds P31-B: More For Food Security, Or Food Sufficiency?

Yes, PH should now be emancipated from food sufficiency to food security!

The Department of Agriculture, DA, has good news: “IATF Approves P31-B Add’l Budget To Increase Food Sufficiency Level[1].” The IATF is the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases, IATF-MEID. The news is that the approval was reached among the members of the IATF in a videoconference – via visual count, not simply physical. Beyond social distancing, as the Covid-19 quarantine requires.

It is also time to graduate from journalistic sufficiency to journalistic security! Of meanings.

Secretary of Agriculture William Dar/Manong Willie said:

We thank the IATF-MEID, led by Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles, for approving our P31-billion supplemental budget to bankroll a national Plant, Plant, Plant Program during our teleconference on March 27.

The full name of the DA’s proposal – Plant, Plant, Plant Program, the Agri 4Ps – is deceptively simple and yet covers not only planting of crops, but also poultry & livestock, and fisheries. Crop covers rice, coconut & corn; poultry covers chickens; and livestock covers “small ruminants” (such as goats) – “fish” was not specified in the DA report. (To be correct, I suggest a new name: Raise, Raise, Raise, Raise; because you raise plants and animals – and spirits.)

The P31-B is now under consideration by President Rodrigo Duterte. Manong Willie says the Agri 4Ps is also referred to as “Ahon Lahat, Pagkaing Sapat (ALPAS) Kontra sa Covid-19.” Ahon is Tagalog for “safe out of the water,” lahat is “all,” pagkaing sapat is “enough food,” kontra is “against,” and Covid-19 is the coronavirus that is disrupting the world. Itself, alpas is significant; it means “break loose” – to break loose from insufficiency.

Sufficiency is different from Security.

Did I not tell you Manong Willie is an Ilocano genius? Without much ado, his P31-B supplemental agriculture budget is for Food Security, not Food Sufficiency. To rise from food insufficiency, you have to reach the level of food security. PH is food-sufficient if it can or does produce enough of its own; PH is food-secure if its farming produces enough funds to import the food that it does not produce. The added DA budget includes palay procurement, aid & recovery, insurance, social amelioration, upscaling of rolling stores for farm produce, poultry & livestock production, urban agriculture, and acquisition of protective personal equipment in relation to Covid-19.

Sufficient for Security!

To differentiate food sufficiency from food security is not only important but necessary not only in aggie journalism but more so in aggie management. I am sure Manong Willie knows that very well. After all, he was Director General of the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics, based in India, for 15 years, from January 2000 to December 2014 – and food I’m sure was always on top of the table, literally and figuratively! (security image from Telappliant[2])

Aiming for Food Sufficiency? I wish you luck.
Aiming for Food Security? God bless you!
In food, PH should be more secure than sufficient!
“Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.”@517

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[1] http://www.da.gov.ph/iatf-approves-p31-b-addl-budget-to-increase-food-sufficiency-level/?fbclid=IwAR1nOX3FIe2SDLf57U9HtMIZNr-vIQH3pu-OidWWap4FXOxbpYQpDkNsu-4

[2] https://www.telappliant.com/blog/improve-cyber-security/

PH Soybeans For Export To Japan: It’s A Deal! Or Is It?

Excitedly, Joel Mapiles of PNA wrote last month, 26 February 2020: “Farmers Urged To Plant Soybean To Meet High Export Demand[1].” I quote from 3 of his first paragraphs:

Department of Agriculture Secretary William Dar (center) leads the harvest of edamame or young soybean in Barangay Talipapa, Cabanatuan City, Nueva Ecija on Tuesday (Feb. 25, 2020). This is the first harvest of edamame in the country. 

The Department of Agriculture (DA) has encouraged farmers to plant edamame or young soybean, citing its fast-growing demand in the export market.

DA Secretary William Dar said edamame is the best alternative high-value crop from which farmers can earn high income.

I have been formally trained to be a teacher in agriculture and have trained in digital journalism on my own, with my blogging I have pledged to support The New PH Agriculture under Secretary of Agriculture William Dar/Manong Willie, and just 4 days ago started this new blog PAJacks – with the long name Philippine Agricultural Journalists Advancing Agriculture Aided By Community Knowledge & Science – in earnest to help PH journalists help PH Agriculture survive the hard times and win in the war for Masaganang Ani At Mataas Na Kita (Bounteous Harvests & Bountiful Incomes, my translation), I will now point out some PAJacks lessons in accuracy, where many journalists fail.

(1)   Titles: William Dar is not the “Department of Agriculture Secretary” – he is the Secretary of Agriculture and, ex-officio, Department Head of the DA. That’s 2 mistakes. Please check the facts, so that we can trust you with your report.

(2)   Planting soybeans:The DA “has encouraged farmers to plant edamame or young soybean…” A biological mistake. Instead of edamame, you plant soybean seeds and harvest the pods youngwith the stem; that is what is referred to as edamame – eda refers to the stem and mame refers to the beans (Wikipedia[2]).

(3)   Demand for soybeans:“… fast-growing demand in the export market.” You have no report referred to for this claim. You cannot encourage farmers to plant soybeans commercially for the edamame without showing them data on “export demand.”

(4)   Alternative high-value crop:The Secretary said “edamame is the best alternative high-value crop from which farmers can earn high income.” He is talking of alternative crops – now, which ones are those so that any farmer can compare?

(5)   Earning high income:
What do you mean “high income”? You have to give some exact comparative figures to be believable.

And now the context of the report.

Manong Willie was talking of edamame in relation to crop rotation – that is to say, planted after rice. Crop rotation is a huge deal in agriculture.

He also said, “We are in full support (of) this endeavor because farmers will be given the chance to get rich.” Did you notice? “Given the chance to get rich” – with the likes of private investors like Top Shelf Corporation, North Luzon Farmers’ Cooperative, and Golden Beans and Grains Producers Cooperative.

Without such partnership, there is no edamame export from Cabanatuan City!@517

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[1] https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1094882

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edamame

Writers (Wanting To Improve Their Writing) Wanted! – The Blog PAJacks, By Frank A Hilario

If you want to improve your writing, write for this blog PAJacks. It is an acronym, but it is also a plural word I have invented, pronounced padyaks, English plural of the Tagalog padyak, which means stomp one’s feet, or step heavily. I want PAJacks to stomp all over the Philippines with a thousand authors published coming from Aparri to Jolo. The language, I must insist, is (American) English. (Images: “Writers Wanted” from The Wellie Project[1], stomping foot from 123rf.com[2])

Topic, subject, or field? Any of the arts & sciences – as long as you can relate it to agriculture.

So, whoever you are, I invite you to email something you have written, in soft copy and in 500 words more or less: frankahilario@gmail.com.

By the way, who am I?

Surprise:
Yes, I am the one and only recipient of the UP award “Outstanding Alumnus For Creative Writing” (2011) – nobody else within the UP System units has such an award.

Another Surprise:
Yes, I am self-taught! In digital creative writing. I am a BSA graduate major in Ag Education from UP Los Baños. Which tells me, since I am a teacher, I must be an outstanding teacher myself!

Still Another Surprise:
Yes, I am a senior citizen, 79. Age doesn’t matter if you don’t mind! In the last 7 days, I blogged 14 essays.

And you, what should you be writing about? Almost anything, but:

Write, write, write – always to show that the Filipino is worth writing for!

Of course I’m coming from Agriculture – as you will note that PAJacks means Philippine Agricultural Journalists Advancing Agriculture Aided By Community Knowledge & Science – but you don’t have to be a bonafide or certified or published journalist to be part of the PAJacks Community – you just have to be able to write.

Writer or would-be writer: How do I love thee? Let me count the ways, all gratis et amore:

(1)   Draft:
I will edit your draft. Revise at least 3 times, then email your Microsoft Word file. With an image or photograph if possible.

(2)   Improving the draft:
As an Author’s Editor, I will be your author friend, will help you improve your draft. Don’t worry, I will respect your originality. I will not rewrite you, just suggest how you can rewrite yourself if necessary.

(3)   Content:
I may request you, maybe even require you, to add background material(s) to what you have written. Example: Almost 100%, I quote somebody – a quotation always makes interesting reading.

(4)   Your pace, your time:
You are the writer, so you dictate your own rhythm. But when you begin to enjoy your creative writing, you will write faster, you will see!

(5)   Your space:
Do you need to be alone, undisturbed, to write successfully? Yes and No. You’ll get used to whatever when you begin to enjoy your creative writing – and with me as your Author’s Editor, you will be enjoying: You can bet on that.

So, write right now or submit your work now!@517

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[1] https://www.thewellieproject.com/2016/07/05/fitness-qa-with-haley-what-is-powerlifting/

[2] https://www.123rf.com/stock-photo/foot_stomp.html

Sadanga, Mountain Province – Hard Times & Hardy People, Pride Of Place & Pride Of Culture

“Agriculture & Culture” – In 3 words, that is the extraordinary little-big story I am about to tell, given the much-restricted movements of people and objects mandated by the Luzon Coronavirus Lockdown.  

As shared by SRO on Facebook with Glenda Susana Tombaga, above is a view (from Baguio City Digest) of Sadanga town in Mountain Province; my superimposed image is titled “Gong & Textile[1]” from the Throwback: Lang-ay FestivalApril 2019 (Gramho).

Looking at the images: Are the Cordillerans truly proud as people of the mountains? Read on.

In his open letter:

The Mayor of Sadanga is rejecting the free food packs for his people!

Here now is the full open letter of Sadanga Mayor Gabino P Ganggangan (249 words, with minor editing):

A Public Notice
(30 March 2020)

Today I was informed by our MSWDO that some relief food packs sent by the DSWD region are now available at the PDRRM office in Bontoc for LGUs that might be requesting.

However, I decided and instructed our MSWDO to relay our message that our municipality will not be availing of these food packs even if the lockdown will be extended.

Its not that we don't have poor and needy families, but I believe that we as tribal communities still have and should sustain our "built-in" and homegrown or indigenous social structure, values, and practices of taking care of our respective relatives or kin, neighbors or kailyan in distress during hard times or economic crisis.

It is during these kinds of economic hardships such as "food shortages", hunger and famine that the "richer or better off" (kadangyans) among a clan or village are expected to aid their needy relatives by lending their surpluses.

Should this crisis extend longer to the extent that our needy families really run out of their rice supplies, we shall mandate the kadangyans of every barangay to open up their rice granaries (agamangs) to sustain us through to the next harvest season.

I assure that no family shall go hungry in our municipality even during these hard times.

Let the Nat’l Gov’t feed those more needy urban poor in the cities and those less fortunate in other areas who can't sustain themselves, while we sustain ourselves while we can.

Culture Nurture!

Differently from what you can read in Facebook sharings, where food packs are welcome. (I am Ilocano; if I were Mayor of my town, Asingan, Pangasinan, I would have accepted the food packs – but made sure only the starving would receive them. Another Culture Nurture.)

Mountain Province, where Sadanga is, is the only predominantly Protestant province in the Philippines (Wikipedia[2]); our Asingan is predominantly Roman Catholic – but it’s not religion, it’s culture.

Roger Sacyaten writes of a “Sadanga Lad Feted For Being The Man Of The Philippines-Ambassador[3]” (27 December 2018, ZigZag Weekly). This is Basilio Falisong Jr, who urged his people “to be a dreamer, be an achiever, and to achieve whatever you dream through the heart.”

The Sadangans are dreamers and realists.@517

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[1] https://gramho.com/explore-hashtag/sadanga

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mountain_Province

[3] https://www.zigzagweekly.net/sadanga-lad-feted-for-being-the-man-of-the-philippines-ambassador/