20110711

Conservation and Energy Independence

I want us to be a forward-thinking nation!

Absolutely speaking, how we practice conservation effectively as a people will affect our energy future.

To what extent we exercise a common ownership of our natural environment as individuals NOW will determine our long-term energy independence as a nation.

Our goal is to go green by 2045.

How we dispose of garbage, how we buy our food, how we go to work, how we treat the well-being of animals and plants, etc. - all these things are directly related to the way we think about conservation.

And the way in which we understand conservation collectively will affect our national policy-making in our Republic with regards to our long-term energy independence as a nation.

It's a free Country so let us be prudent with the way in which we use our liberty.

With regards to energy, our national mantra shall be - "everything is related to everything."

And with regards to conservation, at this late hour, let us also permanently attach the adjective "wholesale".

Because if we do not go all the way today - it will become progressively more and more difficult for us as a nation to achieve a measure of energy independence.

Conservation in the context of the paradigm shift (from War to Peace) in our national thinking becomes a necessary element of our national strategy.

My fellow Filipino compatriots, energy independence may sound highly ambitious but it is also highly necessary. And it is just as well that we think about these things sooner than later.

Later might be one moment too late.

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Spratly and the Common Defense

The Spratly issue is contentious.

We are getting into the thick of it. But let us not get the notion - here and now - that this dispute is, in any way or form, the primary motivation that informs and impels our will of common defense for this one Republic of ours.

We are to continually develop our defense capabilities (on our own as well as in coalition with our allies) at present out of a necessary love of God and Country as a matter of course.

For we are no longer part of the last great age of War, my honorable compatriots - its paradigm is past. We should learn to discard also the thinking that the defense exists because of a threat that compels it to exist as in the last great age of War.

The defense exists and have always existed whether there is a threat or not.

We are not defending out of a need to shield ourselves from other Countries. We are defending now because building up an effective defense is an integral part of our undertaking of Country and this defense shall be informed by the depth of our belongings to each other and nothing else.

We will defend what we love.

My noble Filipino brothers and sisters of the Promise, do not overextend yourselves as regards to the Spratly issue. Every nation here in our world is broken, each to a degree, and all are War-weary. All present indications are that, if we should exercise patient as well as prudent understanding with all parties involved, this issue shall be resolved not by force of arms, but by the overarching requirements of these present times - this greater season of Peace.

Therefore, I am still holding out for an equitable solution to the dispute in question - a solution that will do adequate justice to the sovereign right of all claimants.

I say "adequate" because I recognize that in such a dispute, one who is skillful in diplomacy must draw a middle course between two evils.

In the meantime, let us focus most of our national energies into filling out what is necessary in our nation to make our one Republic more and more ready to face the challenges of this new age.

We must become aware also that our region belongs to a greater (continental) belonging and that this nascent continental belonging too will flounder divided against itself.

In the thick of this dispute therefore, let us try to place ourselves within our own belongings in Asia to which we are all part that we may at least take notice of the calm of a greater good that exists as clear skies above the storm which is (in this case) this Spratly dispute.

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Think about it -

It is not Man's nature to wage war, it is War's nature to wage war.

If we bandy about with evil words one to another and in our nations do the same, if we are indecent and respect not the dignity of other individuals, let alone nations, we are sowing the seeds of new conflicts.

But if we speak like Men should speak and not debase our humanity into the level of brutes, all men - rational men and not evil men who have already slept in their souls with War - listen to reason and would try to avoid harming themselves or others like themselves.

Life as a whole is not inimical to itself but sadly, my brothers and sisters of the Promise, we live in an everyday world of contradictions; of lies, half-truths and malice - the veritable atmosphere of hell.

We can ill afford to conform to it and hope to remain human.

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Mabuhay ang Pilipinas! God bless us all.

Others Like Yourself

Bangon Pilipino

Kaya mahirap ang Pilipinas ay dahil mahirap ang Pilipino. Ang bansa po natin ay naghihirap dahil napakarami pong Pilipinong mahihirap.

Paano po natin malulunasan ito? Babangon po tayo.

Marahil ito ang unang sasagi sa ating mga pag-iisip: Imposible! Nakakahirap po bang isipin ang isang maunlad na Pilipinas? Kapwa ko mga kapatid sa pangako, mas kawawa po tayo kung hindi tayo matututong maniwala muli at bumangon.

Marahil sa lalim ng mga sugat sa puso ng Pilipino ay minarapat ng marami sa atin na tumalikod muna sa mga sakit ng ating Inang Bayan. Ngunit bago na po ang panahon ngayon. Ang lahat po ay hindi na katulad dati. Ang bansa po natin ay nagigising na sa kanyang sarili at marahil ito po ay inyo na ring nararamdaman sa inyong mga puso.

Marami sa ating mga Pilipino dito sa Pilipinas at sa buong mundo ay may mga parang hinahanap dahil ang ating Inang Bayan ay tumatalima na po sa tawag ng Diyos niyang May Likha: Tayong lahat po ay hinahamon na nitong bagong panahon na bumangon.

Marami pong problema ang Pilipinas. Hindi natin mapagkakaila ito. Kaya sa mga epektibo at makabagong solusyon po sana tayo maniwala ng buong loob at hindi sa dami ng mga problemang ito. Dahil tayong mga Pilipino lang po ang pwedeng magbigay ng lubos at makahulugang lunas sa mga ito para na rin sa bayan nating Pilipinas, wala na pong iba.

Ang katunayan po nito ay ang solusyon ay nasa atin din. Kaya nating bumangon, kapwa ko mga kapatid sa pangako, tapang lang po ang kailangan. Tapang na maniwala muli sa Pilipinas at sa isa't isa. Pananalig lang po sa tawag ng Diyos at pagsisilbi sa tawag ng Inang Bayan.

Bangon na Pilipino: Mayaman, mahirap, bata't matanda, lalaki o babae - lahat po ng nagmamahal sa Diyos at sa Pilipinas. Lahat ay magkakapatid sa Pangako dahil ito po ang lupang ipinangako.

Mapalad ang Bayan na ang Diyos ay ang PANGINOON.

Mabuhay po tayong lahat.

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The Roots of the Problem

My fellow Filipino compatriots, to begin to understand the essence of the challenges that we as a people must presently overcome, we must understand the roots of the problem.

Here are the roots of the problem. They all feed into the one tree - the wrong one - which is the tree of the desolation of war. It shall certainly bear its fruit, but not for us, my dear people.

If we are wise, my nation Philippines, we shall begin now to lovingly tend to our own undertaking of Country - that we might work to bear the good fruit of our peace for ourselves and for others as ourselves which are those fruits pleasing to God and edible to all of humanity in time and unto eternity.

Here are the roots of the problem as regards to our Philippines:

Luzon - Corruption - diminish corruption in Luzon, spiritual - individual. Bind this evil in Luzon and its tide shall diminish all over the Country, bringing honor back to politics and integrity to our seats of government.

Visayas - Geography - unite the Visayan Islands, technological - national. Bind this evil in the Visayas and it shall act as a bridge that shall further unite the nation, consolidating the spirit of our people.

Mindanao - Division - build the peace in Mindanao, human - social. Bind this evil in Mindanao and we shall obtain from God, the strength to bring down the blessings of His peace all across our one Republic whole.

To uproot these problems from their roots is to also liberate each of the three stars in our Old Defiant to shine all the more brightly for each other. It shall make our Republic progressively stronger as Old Compliant (the false image of ourselves) becomes progressively weaker.

Palawan, we shall consider as a separate challenge distinct from the main challenges specific to Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao:

Palwan - Conservation - promote the national conservation of Palawan, ecological - political. Bind the twin evil of the rampant exploitation of the natural systems of Palawan beyond their ability to sustain and regenerate themselves as well as the resulting displacement of the indigenous peoples who are its rightful stewarts and we shall as a nation obtain for our generations a natural sanctuary; a place of spirit and rest where everything is connected with everything.

The challenge of Palawan concerns all the three stars together: It is here in Palawan where we shall as a nation learn the first principles that will lead us towards Energy Independence in 2045.

If we dislike something that is not ours as a people. Let us all the more perseveringly cling to our Old Defiant, imploring the efficacious aid of our one Almighty, instead of clinging to those things that shall soon be swept away by the rise and fall of the darkness of exile time.

If we are to be left holding on to what is ours, we must first learn to let go of those things that should in no-wise belong to us.

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Mabuhay ang Pilipinas! God bless us all.

We will be described as human beings by promise of our birth,

citizens of the one Republic of the Philippines by will of national destiny,

believers of each our own honorable religious tradition by light of each our own individual faith and human reason,

common peers from among common peers in common creation by purpose of divine design,

and kindred beings belonging to the one family of humanity by nature of our common good will for all the nations of Mankind.

A Filipino is the heart that loves the Filipino nation.