William Dar, Ipagpannakkel Dagiti Ilocano!

Ilocanos are very proud of him!

He was born on a Friday, 10 April 1953, or 67 years ago today. He is the 45^thSecretary of Agriculture of the Philippines. Why does William Dar prefer to be referred to as “Manong Willie”? Because that address of respect is Ilocano; in English  it means “Brother Willie,” a term of endearment. He wants you feeling at ease in his presence.

While he is humble, he has an outstanding record as an international leader. He was the Director General who brought the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics, ICRISAT, based in India, from #15 to #1 while he was DG from January 2000 to December 2014.

I observed him well as international consulting writer for ICRISAT, work-at-home, from January 2000 to his retirement. He stayed at ICRISAT as DG for 15 years, up to December 2014.

Having known him, yes, I can characterize him as all-in-all through-and-through I.L.O.C.A.N.O.

Inclusive Ideas.In Manong Willie’s mind, the ultimate aim of development is the poor farmers liberated from the shackles of poverty. The whole idea is inclusive market-oriented development, IMOD, which is different from the World Bank’s sponsored inclusive growth, where “growth” means the poor have higher incomes, while IMOD means the poor are set free from poverty being actually & actively assisted up to marketing their produce.

Local Language.A scientist; he knows the technical side of things. A pragmatist, he speaks the non-technical language of the locals. After all, he was born poor in Danuman West, Santa Maria, Ilocos Sur. His parents could not afford to send him to high school – one of his uncles did, seeing promise in the boy.

Organic-Obliged. Literally and figuratively. As DG of ICRISAT, he encouraged the women to earn for their families by vermicomposting. He also inspired the Kothapally Watershed that turned a poor, water-deprived village into a vibrant, organic community. This became an international success, the BBC noticing.

Collective-Conscious. In ICRISAT, he considered himself the Team Captain, and the management staff worked as the Team Members. Fiercely working out their slogan, “Science with a human face,” the Team earned many awards and distinctions, bringing the institute from dead last to first among the 15 international agricultural research centers, IRRI included, under the CGIAR. It’s the leader; it’s the spirit.

Age-Aware Agripreneur.He knows that farmers must cultivate business-mindedness. He is especially interested in enticing creativity in youth to become entrepreneurs in agriculture.

Nationalist.Even before he retired from ICRISAT, he caused the formation of the InangLupa Movement, which is non-profit and dedicated to the good of the MotherLand (InangLupa). No doubt he loves his country.

Original.When he became Secretary of Agriculture on 05 August 2019, he brought into office the innovative holistic concept he calls “The New Thinking for Agriculture” that encompasses “Eight Paradigms” or avenues for the advancement of PH Agriculture. And so, this agricultural disquiet, we shall overcome.

Yes, as the 45^th Secretary of Agriculture, he stands tallest because he is Ilocano, an original aboriginal.

Manong Willie, Happy Birthday, Intrepid Innovator and Illustrious ILOCANO!@517

Nikola Tesla, Misunderstood By The World, Misunderstood By Himself!

Nikola Tesla was a genius many times over. And Robert Lomas gave him the ultimate tribute in his book The Man Who Invented The Twentieth Century. In the book review, Anonymous says[1]:

Everybody knows that Thomas Edison devised electric light and domestic electricity supplies, that Guglielmo Marconi thought up radio and George Westinghouse built the world's first hydro-electric power station. Everybody knows these 'facts' but they are wrong. The man who dreamt up these things also invented, inter-alia, the fluorescent light, seismology, a worldwide data communications network and a mechanical laxative. His name was Nikola Tesla, a Serbian-American scientist, and his is without doubt this century's greatest unsung scientific hero.

Now therefore, Mr Tesla had the unparalleled right to tell the world, as quoted by Reddit[2]:

The mind is sharper and keener in seclusion and uninterrupted solitude… Originality thrives in seclusion free of outside influences beating upon us to cripple the creative mind.

…Be alone, that is the secret of invention; be alone, that is when ideas are born. That is why many of the earthly miracles have had their genesis in humble surroundings.

But not quite, Mr Tesla! This is another genius speaking. Your genius lies in inventing mechanics and machines; my genius lies in inventing new or improved ways of thinking and talking of words and ideas in the English language. In my blog Creative Thinkering, I have the 5-year claim as the “World’s creative genius online, most prolific writer of non-fiction[3].” As you may have noted, I invented that word thinkering, whose meaning is obvious but whose mechanics is not.

And that’s exactly the bone of contention today, Mr Tesla. When you say, “The mind is sharper and keener in seclusion and uninterrupted solitude,” you are correct, but you are referring only to the exact moment of birth of that idea or invention – when you must be left alone until you have gotten all down the details of your Eureka Moment. (Today, you can write digital notes as fast as you can think them out.)

Yes, you need that quiet moment for your insight to be born – but only after much prior thinking, if unnoticed.

Your advice, Mr Tesla, is “Be alone, that is the secret of invention; be alone, that is when ideas are born.” Yes, great or original ideas are born when you are alone, but priorlyyour mind has been thinkering with a mix-match of facts, factors, facets, false leads – which if handled with free thought guarantees insight.

The sudden appearance of your insight is your genius, Mr Tesla, but was not necessarily engineered by your being alone. With group brainstorming and use of the Po method as espoused by Edward de Bono, there is no one “to cripple the creative mind.” With Po, even negative grounds are dug up until they yield whatever treasure they hide.

No Mr Tesla, creatives do not walk by their faith – they walk by their insight!@517

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[1] https://www.amazon.com/Man-Who-Invented-Twentieth-Century/dp/148122980X

[2] https://www.reddit.com/r/quotes/comments/egc32r/the_mind_is_sharper_and_keener_in_seclusion_and/

[3] https://creativethinkering.blogspot.com/

Exploring Zeta, Appreciating Bar Taste Of The Wine Called “Frank H’s Secret 7 Ex’s Of Creative Writing”

Help yourself!

This is all free. For columnists, journalists, preachers, speakers, writers – anyone who wants to be a creative writer, this is for you. Based on my writing experience of 46 years.

My “Secret 7 Ex’s of Creative Writing” was born 19 March 2020 (see my essay, “In The Midst Of Chaos, Frank A Hilario, Blogfather Will Help You Discover Your Heart, Not Hurt, For Writing[1]!” The Blogfather). I am now going to call the whole process of Frank H’s writing formula “Exploring Zeta.” Zeta is for Z; that’s for mnemonics; that’s also for richness in meaning. Above, look at the Z Bar image[2]; while you’re at Bar Z – cuisine, cocktails, music, media, private events whatever – imagine that!

Zeta is the sixth letter of the Greek alphabet[3] (Wikipedia). In Greek numerals, its value is 7. Isn’t that wonderful! I have the Secret 7 Ex’s of Creative Writing!

“The ‘Z’ or the zigzag is a common Native American symbol and motif[4]” (What’s-Your-Sign.com). I say, when you write, whenever you can, you must explore the life on the Earth (Ground Zero) and connect it to the Sky (Sacred Ground).

Z!

Z: “Yet what is an ending, but a new beginning[5]?” – Mateja Klaric, lady writer, photographer, and explorer of the inner worlds[6]. With my Exploring Zeta, you should be exploring the Earth, the Heavens, and their Connections.

So now, the 7 Ex’s – they are stepwise, so you have to follow them first things first:

1.     Explore: Expanding possibilities of content. It means you have to do diligent search for background materials, whatever the topic. What’s the Internet for?

2.     Extract: Expanding number of meanings of borrowed contents. Copy & paste, then express them in your own words when you can – or put in quotes.

3.     Exploit: Expanding power of Serendipity. “Serendipity,” says Horace Walpole, who invented the term, is “a happy thing happening when you’re not asking for it.” With practice, when you break your research, your mind will wander into pleasant territories!

4.     Express:
Expanding thoughts into words and ideas. From Step 3, it is time to write your first draft. Look at your research; look at your notes in between those texts – and write your first draft! Then stop. No matter how bad the first draft looks, stop! Relax. Enjoy the break however you want to enjoy. Your mind needs to get away from what it has been working on.

5.     Examine:
Expanding power of your language. Now you revisit Draft 1, review against your research and notes, and revise. After that, quit again.

6.     Excel:
Expanding quality of your writing by patiently revising some more. Me, I always reread and revise at least 5 times, sometimes 10 times – this one about 20 times!

7.     Exhale:
Expanding your reach by releasing your intellectual output into the universe of knowledge. May the gods be pleased!

You don’t need a guru like me if you follow those 7 zealously, religiously. Happy writing!@517

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[1]https://frankhtheblogfather.blogspot.com/2020/03/in-midst-of-chaos-frank-hilario.html

[2]https://www.zbarchicago.com

[3]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zeta

[4]https://www.whats-your-sign.com/native-american-symbol-z.html

[5]https://therabbitisin.com/on-the-major-importance-of-letter-z-9af140714b4d

[6]https://www.matejaklaric.com/

Rolando Dy's 2019 Look At PH Agriculture Compared To William Dar’s As Seen By The Wizard Of Os

Even with Covid-19, the challenge is to look for the Opportunity beyond the Obstacle.

My photograph, taken 19 March 2019 showing demo farms for the 8^th National Rice Technology Forum, is from my hometown of Asingan, Pangasinan. Our farmers know modern farming – but have remained relatively modern poor.

Here comes Rolando Dy looking at “A New Management Structure For Agriculture[1]” – it’s old not because it’s dated 16 August 2019 but because, 11 days before that, on 05 August 2019, newly appointed Secretary of Agriculture William Dar/Manong Willie came out with his own “New Thinking for Agriculture” and its accompanying 8 Paradigms: Modernization, Industrialization, Promotion of exports, Consolidation of small- and medium-sized farms, Infrastructure development, Higher budget & investment, Legislative support, and Roadmap development. So, it’s Mr Dy’s vs Manong Willie’s. I will compare them using the formula I call Wizard Of Os[2], where there are 5 Os:

Obstacles, Opportunities, Options, Outputs and Outcomes.

As The Wizard of Os, I do hereby reinvent the review of management!

Obstacles

Mr Dy: “By many metrics, Philippine agriculture trails its ASEAN peers by a mile… Current levels of farm productivity, long-term productivity growth, crop diversification, and agri-food exports.”

I agree. Nonetheless, those are not enough. Mr Dy does not talk of increasing farmer incomes like Manong Willie does: “Masaganang Ani At Mataas Na Kita” (Bounteous Harvest & Bountiful Income, my translation).

Opportunities

Mr Dy: “The commanding difference in (ASEAN) farm productivity is not in rice but in tree-crops and aquaculture development.” I disagree. The difference in productivity is with rice and all other crops. We Filipinos are not maximizing, not even optimizing yields. And, we should be practicing multiple cropping.

Options

Mr Dy: “Agriculture has many structural challenges. Let us focus on one – management structure.” He recommends that we create 3 Departments: Annual Crops, Tree-Crops, and Fisheries. I agree with Fisheries. But the other 2 departments are emphasizing single crops and not multiple crops. Manong Willie is for crop diversification, and so am I, another agriculturist.

Mr Dy: “Thailand has invested well in higher agriculture education. Gone are the days when the country sent students to UP Los Baños.” He is over-simplifying agricultural education as the only or major factor in development.

Mr Dy: “Partnerships with local governments, peoples’ organizations and state universities can be explored.” Manong Willie has all that in his “New Thinking for Agriculture.”

Outputs

Mr Dy: Vietnam. “The Government… owns all the farm lands and does long-term leases to farmers and agri-processing factories.” Manong Willie is after land/operation consolidation, not ownership.

Outcomes

Mr Dy: “Rural poverty remains very high relative to ASEAN peers.” Our farmers are poorer than other Aseans? I don’t believe it.

But yes, poverty should be the main concern – productivity must contribute to the emancipation of the poor farmers, and agribusiness must contribute to that grand ambition.

If we do not aim ultimately to release the farmers from their shackles of poverty, what are we wasting our times, treasures and talents for?!@517

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[1]https://www.agriculture.com.ph/2019/08/16/a-new-management-structure-for-agriculture/?fbclid=IwAR0X3FDtIEXJbOo3W7CpDUI9KxW3uQXT4XRgigo8aZ3F9P8tNfCu5xOsxO0

[2]https://ithewizardofos.blogspot.com/2020/01/wizard-of-os.html

ADB Is Warning PH Against A Prolonged Lockdown, And FAH Is Complaining About A Prolonged Cashless Society Where He Belongs!

I have a LandBank ATM card that cannot yield my monthly remuneration for digital work because the office has not deposited that because of the Luzon Lockdown. Unhappy.(“cashless” image from Beth[1])

I belong to one of the “lucky” families because we are not starving yet. How many million families are having problems with their daily subsistence because of the Lockdown? The Luzon population was 63 million in 2015 (Wikipedia[2]); if you have an average of 6 members per family, that’s 10.5 million families – if you halve that, the number who belongs to the cashless society is least 5 million families! Did those who favored the Luzon Lockdown consider that? The Lockdown is further impoverishing the impoverished!

So I’m complaining for the cashless society created by the Luzon Lockdown.

Given that, today I learned of an “ally,” the Asian Development Bank, ADB, which has headquarters in Mandaluyong City in Metro Manila, 6 km from Malacañang Palace, the power of morefunds vs the power of more politics.

What does ADB want? A “prosperous, inclusive, resilient, and sustainable Asia and the Pacific[3].” As far as this amateur economist is concerned, those countries who have declared lockdowns are prosperous andinclusive but neither resilient nor sustainable. That is why ADB has come out with an urgent press release:

ADB Warns PH Against Prolonged Lockdown[4]

That news has been brought to us by Ben O De Vera (04 April 2020, Inquirer.net).

Anyway, the Lockdown is not resolving the problem of the coronavirus – otherwise, everyone on Facebook will tell us to “Rejoice and be exceeding glad, for your deliverance is at hand!”

Says Mr De Vera:

If the Philippines can contain its local COVID-19 outbreak by midyear, the economy will still grow (but) by a slower 2 percent in 2020, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) said Friday. ¶ (The ADB) warned that economic recovery might lag if (the economy’s) engines – the supply chain, businesses and their workforce – could not be jumpstarted as soon as possible… A less-desirable U-shape recovery is possible if disrupted supply chains are not restored quickly, workers are not rehired immediately or business are slow to restart operations.

Stated as positives, the ADB is saying that the supply chain, businesses should be jumpstarted and their workforce rehired as soon as possible. Otherwise, PH will experience a “less-desirable” economic recovery.

I don’t want that “less-desirable” recovery – I insist, I want beyond full recovery.

Not only because I’m cashless, but also because the Lockdown has not shown that it is efficacious against the spread of Covid-19 – as the experiences of countries in the world show. We will never conquer Covid-19 because we are only trying to slow down its spread, not really looking for a cure. Or a prevention.

What if that cure happens to be also the one that prevents the attack of the virus in the first place? I am thinking of vitamin C.

Meanwhile, I belong to the Cashless Society!@517

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[1] https://bethkobliner.com/personal_finance/cashless-business-cash/

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

[3] https://www.adb.org/who-we-are/about

[4] https://business.inquirer.net/294136/adb-warns-ph-against-prolonged-lockdown

To Covid-19 Threat, PH Media Overreact & UP Diliman Underreacts

Be careful with your digital power!

This time, I will talk about what (1) the world’s media as one is doing to the world of digital citizens, and (2) what the University of the Philippines College of Education, UPCE, is doing for and to the children. Neither is a sight for sore eyes!

World Media as Enemy of the People:If you look at Larry Spelcher’s sharing of the data on “Global Deaths,” you will note that between 01 January 2020 and 30 March 2020, there were only 35,000 deaths worldwide from the coronavirus, but there are 2 times more deaths of mothers during childbirth, 3.4 times more from seasonal flu … and 297 times more from abortions. So, our media have been scaring the shit out of us in terms of this virus but not giving a damn on maternal deaths, flu… and abortions!

In a national emergency, the first best use of the media is to calm the people, to reassure them.

UP Media as Failed Educator of the People:Now, we talk about the UPCE Dictionary For Children: What Is COVID-19? Alexandria Dennise San Juan writes about it in the Manila Bulletin, “UP Creates COVID-19 Dictionary For Children[1],” where the entire book contains 10 terms defined very briefly with graphics each, published 03 April 2020. Here are the terms:

(1)  Covid-19 (shown in the superimposed image above).

(2)  Virus

(3)  Coronavirus

(4)  Symptoms

(5)  Cough

(6)  Fever

(7)  Sore throat

(8)  Shortness of breath

(9)  Tiredness

(10)  Ventilator

Dean Jerome Buenviaje of the UPCE said:

We simplified definitions provided by scientists so children will more easily understand COVID-19 and how it could affect them.

Ms Alexandria wrote: “The college head also urged parents to talk about the contents of the dictionary with their children for them to also learn how to protect themselves from the disease.”

Sorry, but there is nothing in the Dictionary for Children – total 10 pages in pdf – that tells the children, or their parents, how to protect themselves from the disease!

Perhaps that was the Outlook, but that is not the Output.

I don’t know what happened, but let me now establish some credentials. This is a UP teacher speaking, BSA major in Ag Education, UP '65. I passed the very first Teacher’s Exam in 1964, with a grade of 80.6% The next year, in the Pangasinan Teacher’s Entrance Exam, I got a grade of 90.5%, co-#1 with a UP Diliman teacher and her 90.6%. I am also the only recipient, in the entire 100-year UP alumni history, of the award “Outstanding Alumnus for Creative Writing” given by the UPLB Alumni Association in 2011. So, I should know whereof I speak, right?

If I were UPCE, I would have written a book for the parents, not the children. And it would have been how to protect the family by building everyone’s immune system – that is, building the defenses of the body.

The best time to fight a disease is before it happens, not when it is already there!@517

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[1] https://news.mb.com.ph/2020/04/03/up-creates-covid-19-dictionary-for-children/

Aggie Journalists On Self-Lockdown Of Creativity, And I Have Been Thinking Of The Sweetest Sweat

Don’t contribute to the lockdown of 

aggie journalism in the Philippines:
instead, Write!

Even before the coronavirus lockdown, our aggie journalists had unknowingly locked out themselves from “The New Thinking for Agriculture” that is encapsulated in Eight Paradigms. (images: Lockdown from Shutterstock[1], grunge image 8 from OnlyGFX.com[2])

The New Thinking was brought out by Secretary of Agriculture William Dar/Manong Willie even before his appointment by President Rodrigo Roa Duterte on 05 August 2019.

Some 8 months later, about 1600 hours today, Monday, 06 April 2020, I wake up from a reverie with this single thought: “The sweetest sweat, from Mechanization.”

Ha, ha! I have never had a lockdown in my creative thinking since 1974 when working for Pacifica Publicity Bureau under Nonoy Gallardo as Creative Director, my friend Orli Ochosa gifted me with Edward de Bono’s book Mechanism Of Mind, which proposes and propagates the mental stratagem – gem! – that De Bono calls Po, which is the Power of the Positive in brainstorming alone or with a group:

Saying Yes even to the Negative

which is how to turn an Obstacle into an Opportunity.

Optimism, not Pessimism. Now you know that even in my stupor, I have been thinking of “The New Thinking for Agriculture” with its 8 mantras to create the reality of a Progressive Philippines Inclusive of the Poor:

(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.

Explain each of the 8? Exactly. We need to expound on those 8 paradigms some more.

I have been thinking of producing a Bible of Community Agriculture understandable by a high schooler. Bible because it is a guide to godly behavior; Community because it is the whole community in location in the villages that must commonly work out their agriculture towards inclusive development. We learn from the Coronavirus Pandemic:

We are all in this together!

Now, to start the ball rolling, since I am a writer, teacher, desktop publisher, photographer, book producer, that is, a one-man band – and fully digital in skills, to boot:

I propose to produce that Bible of Community Agriculture within 30 days – if any individual or institution, friend or family, is willing to shoulder the expenses.

I will need of course a battery of experts as brothers in popularizing The New Thinking, 8 apostles. (We can talk details in private, digital; PM me at Facebook, Frank A Hilario.)

The Community Bible will be written primarily to assist the state colleges and universities, SCUs, as well as the aggie journalists, in understanding “The New Thinking for Agriculture” and the 8 paradigms relating with each other.

The Bible of Community Agriculture will descend as if from a celestial place of enlightenment to the terrestrial place of selfish habits of thinking and doing.

The Community Bible will deliver us from evil – if the SCUs educate, journalists deliver knowledge, and the whole community do what is good for all!@517

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[1] https://www.shutterstock.com/search/world+countries+icons?sort=newest&image_type=photo&page=2

[2] https://www.onlygfx.com/8-grunge-yes-no-icon-png-transparent/