STRAIGHT FROM THE BIG CITY

Ike ‘Ka Iking’ Seneres
Distance learning and indigenous peoples

MANILA -- It is interesting to know that Australia is using radio as a tool for distance learning, to reach out to remote locations that could not even be reached by the internet. Here in the Philippines, radio is hardly used for distance learning, and the use of the internet for this purpose is just barely starting.

The Department of Education is reportedly planning to put up a broadband network supposedly to be used for distance learning. While that may be a noble purpose, perhaps it should consider more affordable options such as radio. Datu Didilusan Arroyo, the Supreme Datu of the Talaandig Tribe in Mindanao has started a project that merits the support of international development organizations. Now in its startup stage, the Rizal Internet Based Distance Education System aims to reach out to the members of his tribe that are spread out all over Bukidnon, Misamis Oriental and Agusan Del Norte. Together with former Assemblyman Ric Abian and with international chef Abdulatif “Tato” Sangcupan, Datu Didilusan is also going to offer online courses in basic Halal cuisine, in cooperation with a Halal school that was pioneered by Ric and Tato. The latter just returned from a long stint in Saudi Arabia after working there as a chef for the Saudi royal houses.

Mark Mazzarella, an American resident of Angeles City has a project that the American Thomasites would be proud of. Mark has founded Mabuhay Learning, an online school that will enable all Filipinos to get a high school diploma if they don’t have it yet. He is now looking for non-profit organizations who could partner with him in putting up learning centers nationwide.

Unlike Datu Didilusan who is using Pyton freeware for his online school, Mark has developed his own online learning software that is close to being free, but has the advantages of more functional features, continuing upgrades and guaranteed technical support. Knowing Mark, I am sure that he would also want to include the indigenous peoples in his project.

Lawyer Fortunato Fermin “Jun” Viray, an accomplished trial lawyer based in Manila, has found another worthy cause aside from giving free legal assistance to indigent clients. He is now helping Aeta families in putting up their own livelihood by planting mango trees. While doing this, he found out that many among this indigenous tribe do not have social security. A long time friend, Jun has asked me to find ways to deliver this basic service to the Aetas.

Jun and his partner Zenaida “Ida” Galdiano are helping the Aetas in Zambales so that they benefit from their ancestral domains. They are among the founders of the Mining Association of the Philippines, a group that is helping independent miners including the Aetas who have gone into small scale mining. Going back to my friend Ric, he is actually an Ilocano who became a Mindanaoan by circumstance, and eventually converted to the Moslem faith. Perhaps out of his love for the people of Mindanao , he is now helping the indigenous tribes there in developing their ancestral domains, so that they could directly benefit from it, instead of being exploited by outsiders. The Talaandig tribe is only one of the many tribes that he is helping.

It must be my good fortune that gives me friends that actively helping our indigenous tribes. Another friend, Atty. Mel Sagado is also helping the Higaonon tribe in the Misamis provinces to directly benefit from their ancestral domains. Putting together the work of Ric, Jun, Ida and Mel, I could see a good future ahead for our indigenous peoples.

In my conversations with Datu Didilusan and Ric, we have come up with plans to develop model communities in the ancestral domains of the Talaandig Tribe, where all households would have access to all basic needs. Ida also wants to do this in Zambales, and Mel also in Misamis.

Working with a group of experts, we are now putting our minds together, in an attempt to make this work. The online learning school project is only just a start, because a community has many other needs. Can anyone help? Email iseneres@yahoo.com or text me at +639293605140. Watch my TV show “KA IKING LIVE” every Friday from 930 to 1030 PM in Destiny Cable Channel 3. Form your own Inter Charity Circle and build our Nation. Tune in to “KAPIT-BAYAN” in DWIZ 882 KHZ 5 to 6 PM Mon to Fri.

STRAIGHT FROM THE BIG CITY

Ike ‘Ka Iking’ Seneres
Welcome the waste warriors

After many years of trying to make waste segregation work in this country, we are still far away from successfully implementing it at the household level and even at the commercial level. I do not find pleasure in singling out Baguio City as an example, but since their mounting garbage crisis is now in the news, it should wake us up to the reality that most of our cities are in the same mess that Baguio is in.

If you are thinking that the war against waste is already a lost battle, think again, because a virtual green army is now forming to tackle this old problem with a new approach. How and why did this new group emerge? Just like any group with a good purpose, it started with the firm commitment of its organizers, and let me tell you how and why.

The Lassalian Institute for the Environment (LIFE) is an institution that was born out of the firm desire of the Christian Brothers to do something about the environment in a more meaningful and scientific way. LIFE is the 17th member of the La Salle system. Although it is not a school strictly speaking, it was given the same status as a member of the system, an indication of how serious the Christian Brothers are about this cause.

LIFE is now in the process of organizing the Waste Warriors. It will start as a student organization with chapters in all the 16 schools of La Salle all over the country. Hopefully, the organization will spread out to the other schools as well, powered by its new approach to waste segregation.

The chapters of the Waste Warriors will be soliciting donations from students, parents and alumni, not in the form of money, but in the form of recyclable paper. All types of recyclable paper will be accepted, from tiny paper receipts to bulky paper bundles. All donations will be weighed, and all donations will be credited to the student members who will bring these in. there will be a contest, and prizes will be given to those who brings the most. to “KAPIT-BAYAN” in DWIZ 882 KHZ 5 to 6 PM Mon to Fri.
***
It does not make us happy to live in an underdeveloped country, but if we try to look at the good side of our predicament, we could be happy with the thought that in a country with many needs and problems, there are many opportunities for the “not so needy” people like us to help and serve the many people around us who are more needy than we are.

How would you like to take a journey with me, on board a SHIP that will take us to a better country? No, we are not going to leave the Philippines, we are just going to set sail on this SHIP, so that our country will become a better place to live in, where the needy will have more access to the basic services that could improve the quality of their life.

Sickness, Hunger, Illiteracy and Poverty (or SHIP for short) have always been with mankind since the beginning of civilization. As a matter of fact, even the developed countries still suffer from the collective effects of SHIP, except that they are probably doing a better job in keeping it at bay.

I understand that in the Philippines, there are many other problems that are confronting us, but going down to the bottom line, the four problems of this SHIP are perhaps the most pervasive, and are the most pressing, to say the least. Not that the other problems can wait, it is just a matter of relative importance.

I do not propose anything new, except for the idea of convergence and concentration, meaning to say that we should converge and concentrate our resources and energies on these four problems, so that we get these out of the way, in such a way that we could begin to face our other problems.
As a matter of policy and strategy, the Inter-Charity Network (ICN) will now focus on addressing these four problems head on. With new possibilities of receiving donations for charitable purposes, ICN will now invest in social enterprises that would hopefully help us win the war against these four social enemies.

As I have previously written in my previous articles, we need to build specific infrastructure to address our social needs, within a framework of development that is both doable and sustainable. Without this, we would still be running around in circles with no direction in sight.

To be able to address the problem of sickness, we need to build or rebuild our health infra at the community level. To be able to address the problem of hunger, we need to build or rebuild our distribution infra, also at the community level. All the infra we need to build or rebuild has to be at the community level, and the same goes for the schools infra that we need to build or rebuild to address the problem of illiteracy, and the farms infra that we need to build or rebuild to address the problem of poverty. I say that we need to build or rebuild, because there is really no need to build a completely new infra if there is already an existing infra to start with, no matter what condition it is in.

Putting up food stores or grocery stores is the most logical step in building our distribution infra to address the problem of hunger. Rather than give away food, we are going to experiment with the social enterprise of selling food at the lowest possible prices, backed up by our own production. Of course, we shall always be ready to give away food to the extremely needy who could not afford to buy food.

Creation of livelihood is the most practical solution to the problem of poverty, and there is no question that going into agriculture or food production is the easiest and the quickest way to create livelihood. Besides, food production gives us the extra bonus of being able to address the problem of hunger as well.

The high price of medicines is actually one of the biggest problems in the delivery of health services. As a way to address this problem, we are going to include high quality generic medicines in the offerings of our groceries.

Again, I am issuing my call to well meaning people out there to form their own Inter-Charity Circles. As soon as two Circles are formed in a locality, they could already organize their own local Inter-Charity Club.

Email iseneres@yahoo.com or text me at +639293605140. Watch my TV show “KA IKING LIVE” every Friday from 930 to 1030 PM in Destiny Cable Channel 3. Form your own Inter-Charity Circle and build our Nation. Tune in to “KAPIT-BAYAN” in DWIZ 882 KHZ 5 to 6 PM Mon to Fri.

STRAIGHT FROM THE BIG CITY

Ike ‘Ka Iking’ Seneres
Welcome the waste warriors

After many years of trying to make waste segregation work in this country, we are still far away from successfully implementing it at the household level and even at the commercial level. I do not find pleasure in singling out Baguio City as an example, but since their mounting garbage crisis is now in the news, it should wake us up to the reality that most of our cities are in the same mess that Baguio is in.

If you are thinking that the war against waste is already a lost battle, think again, because a virtual green army is now forming to tackle this old problem with a new approach. How and why did this new group emerge? Just like any group with a good purpose, it started with the firm commitment of its organizers, and let me tell you how and why. The Lassalian Institute for the Environment (LIFE) is an institution that was born out of the firm desire of the Christian Brothers to do something about the environment in a more meaningful and scientific way. LIFE is the 17th member of the La Salle system. Although it is not a school strictly speaking, it was given the same status as a member of the system, an indication of how serious the Christian Brothers are about this cause.

LIFE is now in the process of organizing the Waste Warriors. It will start as a student organization with chapters in all the 16 schools of La Salle all over the country. Hopefully, the organization will spread out to the other schools as well, powered by its new approach to waste segregation.

The chapters of the Waste Warriors will be soliciting donations from students, parents and alumni, not in the form of money, but in the form of recyclable paper. All types of recyclable paper will be accepted, from tiny paper receipts to bulky paper bundles. All donations will be weighed, and all donations will be credited to the student members who will bring these in. there will be a contest, and prizes will be given to those who brings the most.to “KAPIT-BAYAN” in DWIZ 882 KHZ 5 to 6 PM Mon to Fri.
***
It does not make us happy to live in an underdeveloped country, but if we try to look at the good side of our predicament, we could be happy with the thought that in a country with many needs and problems, there are many opportunities for the “not so needy” people like us to help and serve the many people around us who are more needy than we are.

How would you like to take a journey with me, on board a SHIP that will take us to a better country? No, we are not going to leave the Philippines, we are just going to set sail on this SHIP, so that our country will become a better place to live in, where the needy will have more access to the basic services that could improve the quality of their life.

Sickness, Hunger, Illiteracy and Poverty (or SHIP for short) have always been with mankind since the beginning of civilization. As a matter of fact, even the developed countries still suffer from the collective effects of SHIP, except that they are probably doing a better job in keeping it at bay.

I understand that in the Philippines, there are many other problems that are confronting us, but going down to the bottom line, the four problems of this SHIP are perhaps the most pervasive, and are the most pressing, to say the least. Not that the other problems can wait, it is just a matter of relative importance.

I do not propose anything new, except for the idea of convergence and concentration, meaning to say that we should converge and concentrate our resources and energies on these four problems, so that we get these out of the way, in such a way that we could begin to face our other problems.

As a matter of policy and strategy, the Inter-Charity Network (ICN) will now focus on addressing these four problems head on. With new possibilities of receiving donations for charitable purposes, ICN will now invest in social enterprises that would hopefully help us win the war against these four social enemies.

As I have previously written in my previous articles, we need to build specific infrastructure to address our social needs, within a framework of development that is both doable and sustainable. Without this, we would still be running around in circles with no direction in sight.

To be able to address the problem of sickness, we need to build or rebuild our health infra at the community level. To be able to address the problem of hunger, we need to build or rebuild our distribution infra, also at the community level. All the infra we need to build or rebuild has to be at the community level, and the same goes for the schools infra that we need to build or rebuild to address the problem of illiteracy, and the farms infra that we need to build or rebuild to address the problem of poverty. I say that we need to build or rebuild, because there is really no need to build a completely new infra if there is already an existing infra to start with, no matter what condition it is in.

Putting up food stores or grocery stores is the most logical step in building our distribution infra to address the problem of hunger. Rather than give away food, we are going to experiment with the social enterprise of selling food at the lowest possible prices, backed up by our own production. Of course, we shall always be ready to give away food to the extremely needy who could not afford to buy food.

Creation of livelihood is the most practical solution to the problem of poverty, and there is no question that going into agriculture or food production is the easiest and the quickest way to create livelihood. Besides, food production gives us the extra bonus of being able to address the problem of hunger as well.

The high price of medicines is actually one of the biggest problems in the delivery of health services. As a way to address this problem, we are going to include high quality generic medicines in the offerings of our groceries.

Again, I am issuing my call to well meaning people out there to form their own Inter-Charity Circles. As soon as two Circles are formed in a locality, they could already organize their own local Inter-Charity Club.

Email iseneres@yahoo.com or text me at +639293605140. Watch my TV show “KA IKING LIVE” every Friday from 930 to 1030 PM in Destiny Cable Channel 3. Form your own Inter-Charity Circle and build our Nation. Tune in to “KAPIT-BAYAN” in DWIZ 882 KHZ 5 to 6 PM Mon to Fri.

STRAIGHT FROM THE BIG CITY

Ike ‘Ka Iking’ Seneres
Cooperation at the local level

MANILA -- The multilateral cooperation model that was developed by the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Forum provides us with a working example that could serve as the basis for promoting cooperation at the local level between and among local government units (LGUs).

I have a personal fascination for the APEC model since I have seen it worked with my own eyes, when I headed the team that managed the information and communications technology (ICT) support for the round of meetings that was held here in Manila many years ago, when I was still concurrently the head of ICT for the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA).

The APEC model evolved around the legal fiction that civilizations are formed around great bodies of water, and that the economies of these civilizations could cooperate within a forum that would meet and address their common needs and concerns.

The idea for economies to cooperate within a forum is very much appropriate for APEC, because from the very start, it was intended to be an economic forum and not a political forum. This intention is born out of the legal fiction that there are no countries in APEC, only economies. It was necessary to pursue this legal fiction, because the geopolitical conditions in the region prevented its members from meeting as countries.

In the context of APEC, the Pacific Ocean is the great body of water that binds its members, serving as its common denominator. This is now the model for a local economic cooperation forum that will be created in the Laguna area between 24 communities that are bound together by the Pagsanjan River as their common denominator. Just like APEC, the Laguna forum will have Technical Working Groups (TWGs), Senior Official Meetings (SOMs) and Leader’s Meetings. I am looking forward to similar forums formed around other great bodies of water in the Philippines.
***
The proposed economic cooperation forum that I wrote about in the previous issue is being organized as a joint effort between the La Salle Institute for Governance (LSIG), the La Sallian Institute for the Environment (LIFE) and “IN BUSINESS”, my forthcoming TV show at Flip Channel.

Without much publicity, LIFE has done a lot of ground work among the 24 local communities in the Laguna area where the forum will be formed, under the leadership of Engineer Ben Eusebio. LIFE is an independent institute within the La Salle system, formed by the Christian Brothers who are deeply involved in the restoration and the preservation of the environment.

Meeting Ben is actually like a sentimental reunion for me, since he was one of the foreign consultants brought home by the Transfer of Knowledge thru Expatriate Nationals (TOKTEN), a program of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) that I managed when I was still with the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA).

Ben is now a Balikbayan scientist that is back for good, with the clear intention of helping his mother country. To me, he is like a national treasure that we have re-acquired, having served in the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) of the US government for 30 years. We are lucky to have him back, and there is no one better qualified to lead this initiative than him.

Joining us in the team is Dr. Francisco Magno, Executive Director of LSIG, and a well known political scientist. Also with us is Professor Louie Montemar of LSIG, another well known political scientist and my active partner in a political think tank group many years back. The last but not the least, we have with us Dr. Ric Javelosa, another Balikbayan scientist from the Netherlands who is an expert in water management. If you are wondering why we have 2 political scientists in our team, that could be explained by the fact that this is really all about good governance.

Email iseneres@yahoo.com or text me at +639293605140. Watch my TV show “KA IKING LIVE” every Friday from 930 to 1030 PM in Destiny Cable Channel 3. Form your own Inter Charity Circle and build our Nation. Tune in to “KAPIT-BAYAN” in DWIZ 882 KHZ 5 to 6 PM Mon to Fri.

STRAIGHT FROM THE BIG CITY

Ike ‘Ka Iking’ Seneres
Advocacy for unity

MANILA -- No one doubts the power of the student sector when it comes to activism. As a matter of fact, there is really no need to empower the sector because we have seen its power many times before, notably during the First Quarter Storm. Nowadays however, the power of the student sector seems to have no meaningful direction.

A new initiative of the La Salle Institute for the Environment (LIFE) and the La Salle Institute for Governance (LSIG) holds the promise of waking up the power of the student sector this time not for political reasons, but for environmental reasons. Nowadays, everybody complains about the bad state of our environment, but not everybody does something about it. This new initiative of La Salle could change all that.

I am privileged to be part of this new experiment. I attended the first meeting as a representative of Sama Kabuhayan. In a recent development however, Sama Kabuhayan has joined Magkaakbay, a new alliance for national development. I will therefore be attending the succeeding meetings as a representative of Magkaakbay. I am also privileged to be invited as a TV anchor for “In Business”, a new TV program that will be shown on Flip TV, “In Business” is aimed at young adults, including of course the student sector as an audience. The show will feature contests among schools in the fields of investigative journalism and good governance.’

Participating schools will be asked to form teams of students who will be asked to make an investigative TV report about a social problem that they themselves will research on. Another team will be asked to assist a local government unit in preparing a program plan that would address a social problem. The TV report will be shown live in the show. The program plan will be presented in the show and will be judged by an expert panel.
***
I have long wanted to form an alliance of development oriented organizations for the purpose of being able to coordinate and to consolidate our efforts towards our common goals. In this connection, I would like to report to you some new developments regarding this goal.

A group former Ministry of Human Settlements (MHS) employees and officers is now forming for the purpose of reviving the human settlements development (HSD) approach, along with the integrated area development (IAD) approach and the minimum basic needs (MBN) approach. The name United National Integrated Development Alliance (UNIDA) seems to be more appropriate for this group, so we are giving them the option to use this name.

Having bequeathed the UNIDA name to the new MHS group, the emerging alliance of development oriented groups will now use MAGKAAKBAY as its new name, denoting its purpose of working shoulder to shoulder towards a common goal.

Organizations that will affiliate with MAGKAAKBAY will retain their own identities, because it is an alliance and not a coalition. As originally envisioned, the alliance will coordinate and consolidate its programs and projects so that the usual shotgun approach will be avoided.

Schools are welcome to join the alliance either as individual corporate members or through the University Consortium for Resource Networking (UNICORN). We have found new ways to strengthen UNICORN, with the entry of new school members.

The inclusion of inter-school investigative journalism and good governance contests in my TV show “In Business” is also expected to generate new memberships in both MAGKAAKBAY and UNICORN.

Email iseneres@yahoo.com or text me at +639293605140. Watch my TV show “KA IKING IVE” every Friday from 930 to 1030 PM in Destiny Cable Channel 3. Form your own Inter Charity Circle and build our Nation. Tune in to “KAPIT-BAYAN” in DWIZ 882 KHZ 5 to 6 PM Mon to Fri.

STRAIGHT FROM THE BIG CITY

Ike ‘Ka Iking Seneres
Environment and livelihood in tandem

MANILA -- It is really just a matter of perspective. Restoring the environment is a distinct goal by itself, but looking at it another way, environmental restoration could open up a lot of livelihood opportunities for the poor and the unemployed. As to which one is more important or more beneficial is perhaps an academic question only, because the bottom line is the same. These two goals both serve the public interest, and everyone benefits from the attainment of these goals.

It is also perhaps a matter of semantics, because it is not that important whether the main benefit in environmental restoration is public health or a safer environment, because these two benefits could just practically be considered as by products of livelihood generation.
For example, on the question of cleaning our rivers, we have the potential of not just having a clean environment, but more important than that, it gives us the chance to have sources of clean water to irrigate our farms, and to have fresh water areas where we could commercially grow fish again.

Is it really possible to restore an urban area into a natural watershed, back to the original form it was in before urban development brought in its harmful effects? This is the challenge that the La Salle Institute of Governance (LSIG), the La Salle Institute for the Environment (LIFE) and the Sama Kabuhayan Association (SKA) has taken on, as it plans to return the La Salle Taft campus to the “status” of a watershed.

I hope that this experiment will succeed, because the idea could inspire a new environmental consciousness that could restore urban villages and urban centers into watersheds. This idea also holds the promise of cleaning the land in order to clean the rivers, the latter being a requisite to cleaning our bays and oceans. Truth to tell, water is the ultimate resource that could ensure not just good health, but also the sustenance of life itsef.
***
Government agencies seldom coordinate with each other in working towards the convergence of their policies and programs. This is true in the case of the Department of Health and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources as it is true in many other Departments. For sure, there are many potential policy and program areas where they could work together, if only they could put their acts together.

To cite an example, there is no doubt that dirty and polluted rivers pose a threat to the health to the health of everyone, not only to those who live along the riverbanks. Using this as an example, it is very well within the authority of the DOH to sanction the polluters of rivers for health reasons, aside from the sanctions that the DENR could impose upon them.

Citing a case in history, the Americans convicted Al Capone for tax evasion, because they could not gather enough evidence to convict him for his other crimes. Without going around the bush, I say that murdering a river is a crime and if we could not get the criminals for environment reasons, we should get them for health reasons, and why not?

The La Salle Institute for Governance (LSIG) and the La Salle Institute for the Environment (LIFE) are planning innovative programs to enable students to become more active in cleaning the environment. The program will help river polluters in developing corrective measures that would be good for all.

All drugs containing PHENYLPROPANOLAMINE (PPA) are being recalled in the USA . What is the DOH doing about this? Certain drugs allegedly contain this ingredient (Alka Seltzer, Dimetapp, Robitussin, Dexatrim, Bioflu, Neozep, Tuseran and Disudrin). It is reportedly linked to INCREASED HEMORRHAGIC STROKE (bleeding brain) among women ages 18 to 49 and seizures among children. Visit the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) web site www.fda.gov/cder/drug/infopage/ppa.

Email iseneres@yahoo.com or text me at +639293605140. Watch my TV show “KA IKING LIVE” every Friday from 930 to 1030 PM in Destiny Cable Channel 3. Form your own Inter Charity Circle and build our Nation.

Tune in to “KAPIT-BAYAN” in DWIZ 882 KHZ 5 to 6 PM Mon to Fri.

STRAIGHT FROM THE BIG CITY

Ike ‘Ka Iking’ Seneres
Private, public partnerships

MANILA -- It goes by many names, but the bottom line is the same, and it is the partnership of the private sector and the government in providing public services. Sometimes it is called outsourcing, sometimes Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT). As a bit of trivia, the BOT scheme was invented here, and is now a business model that is copied worldwide. The full name of outsourcing is Business Process Outsourcing (BPO), and it is a large industry now that includes the call center business.

The logic behind BOT and BPO is very simple. These are schemes that enable the government to provide services or to build infrastructure without any investment on its part. Although private business is supposed to serve the public interest in the first place, its participation in BOT and BPO is strictly business- because it earns money even as it provides business services.

For the record, the Local Government Code (LGC) provides the legal basis for Local Government Units (LGUs) to enter into contracts with BOT and BPO providers. This is based on the legal fiction that the LGC has in effect turned the LGUs into virtual corporations, meaning that it could practically do anything that private corporations could do.

For the most part, many LGUs are heavily dependent on their Internal Revenue Allocations (IRAs) for their budgets. The problem however is that the LGUs do not always get their IRAs on time. Either that, or their IRAs and their other incomes are not enough to fund the provision of services or the construction of infra. This is where the funds of the private sector come in handy, through the BOT and BPO schemes.

As an alternative to private investments, several banks are now offering development loans to the LGUs, using the IRAs as their collateral or guarantee. This way, the LGUs are able to earn revenues from their profit generating projects, enabling them to pay back the amortization of their loans.

Combining private investments and bank loans, entrepreneurial LGUs could now plan to go into projects that would improve or expand the service areas of their choice. The priority areas would really depend on the local needs of their respective jurisdictions. The general idea however is to earn revenues while providing services, therefore enabling them to sustain whatever facility it is that they would build.

Another aspect of outsourcing is the fee based method or the “user pays” method as it is also known. For example, one private company is now offering the installation of internet cafes to LGUs, at their expense, wherein the LGU and the private company share the income from the services. The LGU provides the location and the electricity, while the company provides the machines and connectivity.

In the case of public housing, the government provides the lot, while the private company constructs the building. In the meantime that the cost of the building is not yet recovered, the company shares the rental income with the government, until it is turned over later on to the government once the investment is fully recovered.

The idea of building inter-modal transport terminals provides us with a good example of the usefulness of outsourcing. The costs of building these huge facilities are too much for the LGUs to bear, but there is no project that is too big for private investors or lenders as long as the return of investments or the interest incomes are good. The building of these terminals provides the LGUs with a win-win solution. The problem of vehicular traffic is solved, the transport service providers are happy, the passengers are happy, and the LGUs are even happier because they earn extra revenues.

Rather than be dependent on IRAs forever, it is a bright move for the LGUs to leverage on these assets by borrowing against it. This way, they could add to their sources of income, at the same time reducing their IRA dependence. I could provide tips on this to interested LGUs.

Email me at iseneres@yahoo.com or text me at +639293605140. Watch my TV show “KA IKING LIVE” every Friday from 930 to 1030 PM in Destiny Cable Channel 3 (Windows Media Player MMS://202.128.41.99/gnn). Read my column “KA IKING REPORTS” published by 24 local newspapers nationwide. Visit my website http://intercharity.blogs.friendster.com. Form your own Intercharity Circle and let us build our Nation as one people.

STRAIGHT FROM THE BIG CITY

Subjects of Conversation
IKE ‘KA IKING’ SENERES

MANILA -- This is a continuation of my previous column, where I invited everyone to have a conversation with me, about giving charity to others, and about nation building. It may be difficult to establish a connection between these two topics, but suffice it to say that development is all about giving access to public services, and giving access to others as a way of sharing is both an act of charity aside from contributing to nation building.

I will leave it up to the Circles and Clubs to choose their own beneficiary targets. As a matter of fact, they could also choose needy individuals as their direct beneficiary targets. Preferably however, it would be best for them to provide assistance in any of the five main programs, so that we could support them at the national level.

It is part of human nature not to talk about our own acts of charity, which we usually keep close to our hearts. This is not a problem, but since we need to hear about what each of us is doing, we should encourage the members of the Circles to talk about what they are doing as a group, or what their friends are doing as individuals.

As part of our conversations, I am going to talk about individuals who have come to me for help. I will also talk about groups that apparently need help, even if they have not approached me. I will list down these individuals and groups, and the members of the Circles could choose which ones they would want to help.

In order to be able to keep track of all our conversations, let us all agree to post our comments in the following website, listed below. In order to limit the number of conversations in our website, let us avoid talking about our plans to help. Instead, I would encourage the Circles to talk about their experiences and the problems they are encountering in implementing their own programs. The internet is already full of loose talk; let us be different by balancing our talks with our actions.

In a manner of speaking, our public services do need the charity of our citizens, because of the usual reason that government budgets are always lacking, not to mention that these public funds often fall victim to graft and corruption, thus leaving very little to actual public expenditures.

Charity to persons is almost always urgent in nature, and would always need urgent actions. While it is good to respond to subjective needs, let us balance our actions with objective purposes, and we could do that by helping our local institutions with their physical and material needs, that way we could help more people as they are able to service more people in need.

Examples of local institutions are the local governments, the court systems, the prosecution offices, the police units and the health services in your own villages. Examples of infrastructures are roads, bridges, buildings and other physical facilities, including school buildings and hospitals, among others.

It’s not a very easy goal, but I am now trying to integrate what I am doing in my TV show, in my website and in my syndicated column. The purpose of my TV show is to bring out “The news behind the news”, but since I am a practitioner of developmental journalism, I always try to pick issues that have something to do with national development and nation building.

Generally speaking, we could say that the purpose of mass media is to inform the public about issues and events. Practitioners of developmental journalism however would like to also use the mass media as a tool for national development. The challenge I think is to make the mass media participatory, so that readers, viewers and listeners could get involved in issues, not only to comment, but also to do something to solve national needs and problems.

I know that I could not convince everyone to do something for others or for our country, but I am sure that there are many individuals out there who would like to do something, or are in fact doing something already. Let these be the subject of our conversations, what we do as individuals or as groups of friends who are doing something for others and for our country.

Email me at iseneres@yahoo.com or text me at +639293605140. Watch my TV show “KA IKING LIVE” every Friday from 930 to 1030 PM in Destiny Cable Channel 3 (Windows Media Player MMS://202.128.41.99/gnn). Read my column “KA IKING REPORTS” published by 24 local newspapers nationwide. Visit my website http://intercharity.blogs.friendster.com. Form your own Intercharity Circle and let us build our Nation as one people.

STRAIGHT FROM THE BIG CITY

The subjects of our conversation
IKE ‘KA IKING’ SENERES

MANILA -- This is a continuation of my previous column, where I invited everyone to have a conversation with me, about giving charity to others, and about nation building. It may be difficult to establish a connection between these two topics, but suffice it to say that development is all about giving access to public services, and giving access to others as a way of sharing is both an act of charity aside from contributing to nation building.

I will leave it up to the Circles and Clubs to choose their own beneficiary targets. As a matter of fact, they could also choose needy individuals as their direct beneficiary targets. Preferably however, it would be best for them to provide assistance in any of the five main programs, so that we could support them at the national level.

It is part of human nature not to talk about our own acts of charity, which we usually keep close to our hearts. This is not a problem, but since we need to hear about what each of us is doing, we should encourage the members of the Circles to talk about what they are doing as a group, or what their friends are doing as individuals.

As part of our conversations, I am going to talk about individuals who have come to me for help. I will also talk about groups that apparently need help, even if they have not approached me. I will list down these individuals and groups, and the members of the Circles could choose which ones they would want to help.

In order to be able to keep track of all our conversations, let us all agree to post our comments in the following website, listed below. In order to limit the number of conversations in our website, let us avoid talking about our plans to help. Instead, I would encourage the Circles to talk about their experiences and the problems they are encountering in implementing their own programs.

The internet is already full of loose talk; let us be different by balancing our talks with our actions. In a manner of speaking, our public services do need the charity of our citizens, because of the usual reason that government budgets are always lacking, not to mention that these public funds often fall victim to graft and corruption, thus leaving very little to actual public expenditures.

Charity to persons is almost always urgent in nature, and would always need urgent actions. While it is good to respond to subjective needs, let us balance our actions with objective purposes, and we could do that by helping our local institutions with their physical and material needs, that way we could help more people as they are able to service more people in need.

Examples of local institutions are the local governments, the court systems, the prosecution offices, the police units and the health services in your own villages.

Examples of infrastructures are roads, bridges, buildings and other physical facilities, including school buildings and hospitals, among others. It’s not a very easy goal, but I am now trying to integrate what I am doing in my TV show, in my website and in my syndicated column. The purpose of my TV show is to bring out “The news behind the news”, but since I am a practitioner of developmental journalism, I always try to pick issues that have something to do with national development and nation building.

Generally speaking, we could say that the purpose of mass media is to inform the public about issues and events. Practitioners of developmental journalism however would like to also use the mass media as a tool for national development. The challenge I think is to make the mass media participatory, so that readers, viewers and listeners could get involved in issues, not only to comment, but also to do something to solve national needs and problems.

I know that I could not convince everyone to do something for others or for our country, but I am sure that there are many individuals out there who would like to do something, or are in fact doing something already. Let these be the subject of our conversations, what we do as individuals or as groups of friends who are doing something for others and for our country.

Email me at iseneres@yahoo.com or text me at +639293605140. Watch my TV show “KA IKING LIVE” every Friday from 930 to 1030 PM in Destiny Cable Channel 3 (Windows Media Player MMS://202.128.41.99/gnn). Visit my website http://intercharity.blogs.friendster.com. Form your own Intercharity Circle and let us build our Nation as one people.

STRAIGHT FROM THE BIG CITY

A social experiment
IKE SEÑERES

MANILA -- This is the first issue of a new series of columns that will henceforth replace my previous “Essays in Development” series. Starting with this issue, I will now shift from the essay form to the narrative form, yet another experiment in literary forms.
**
In what could also be an experiment in journalistic forms, I will now try to jive the content of my new television show with the content of this column. My show, “Ka Iking Live!” now comes out in Destiny Cable Channel 3, every Friday from 9:30 p.m. to 10:30 p.m..
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My television show aims to bring out “The News behind the News”, using the one on one interview format that I perfected during my days at DZEC and Net 25. Having said that, I would like to thank my “discoverer”, trainer and mentor Ka Jerson Samson for helping me hone my skills in this format.
**
Needless to say, my television show falls within the genre of investigative journalism, not really a new journalistic form, but is still open to a lot of experimentation in its delivery. In my case, I am going to give a focus to development topics, giving it the same hot treatment as any other current news.
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My friend Professor Louie Checa Montemar of the De La Salle University’s Department of Political says that my show could be considered as a new social experiment, while at the same time it could become a venue for public service.
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As if things have turned full circle for me, it is actually one of the readers of my column who became my new “discoverer”. Mr. Mike Delgado happens to be an executive of Destiny Cable and he was the one who introduced me to the top management of Global News Network (GNN), the producer of my show.
**
If you want my show to come out in your area, please ask your provider.

STRAIGHT FROM THE BIG CITY

Reviving e-commerce
IKE ‘KA IKING’ SEÑERES

MANILA-- It has been almost eight years since the signing of the Electronic Commerce Act of 2000, but as of now, we could not even say that e-commerce has taken off in this country.

I recall that the ECA was supposed to be the “mother law” only, meaning that we were eventually supposed to produce “daughter laws” to support it, but nothing else really followed it.

Perhaps we could say that to some extent, mobile commerce or m-commerce has taken off, appearing to be a saving grace. At least, mobile commerce has put in place online payment systems that have sadly been very weak on the e-commerce side.

To some extent, we could say that the slow emergence of e-commerce in this country is largely due to the small percentage of credit card ownership. This problem has been partially solved in other countries due to the entry of debit cards and alternative payment systems, but these two solutions have also been slow in coming to our country.

Fortunately for us, the price of hosting websites has gone down considerably, so much so that anyone could now afford to have a site, for any purpose. To make the best use of this opportunity however, it would be good if users would put up real e-commerce sites, and not just any site.

What essentially makes an e-commerce site is a shopping cart that is coupled with a payment system. This is the other good news that the price of this software in tandem has also gone down, for the benefit of everyone. The United National Integrated Development Alliance has recently acquired this tandem, and will start offering it to all interested schools.

Introducing this software set to the schools is part of the strategy to revive e-commerce in this country, along with the hope that we will be able to raise up a new generation of online entrepreneurs among our youth. The software set will come with an e-commerce course that will be offered to all students.

E-commerce is part of the knowledge economy, also known as the services economy. As I see it, it is to our advantage to strengthen all our three economies, namely our agriculture economy, our industrial economy and our knowledge economy. We must win in all three global arenas in order to survive as a people. Actually not just to survive, but to excel and win in the global competition.

STRAIGHT FROM THE BIG CITY

The economics of rice production
IKE ‘KA IKING’ SEÑERES

MANILA -- It is still uncertain whether there is really a rice crisis or not, but what is certain is that rice is not the only staple food that our people could eat. Whether or not there is an officially admitted rice crisis, I am sure that there would be no food crisis, if only we could produce the other staples, to add to our present rice production.

The opposition on one hand says that the government is hiding the truth about the crisis, asserting that it is real. The administration on the other hand says that there is no crisis, citing as a defense its claim that it has two months of inventory in stock. I say that this is a rather shallow understanding of food security, because in order to be fully secure, we should have at least one year in inventory.

As a state policy, Israel bans the planting of rice, saying that it is not an efficient crop, because they could import the grains cheaper instead of planting it. The policy may be practical for Israel because rice is not a staple food there. Here in the Philippines , the issue appears to be moot and academic, because we are importing the grains even if we have the potential of growing it efficiently.

Korina Sanchez of DZMM says that the government made the mistake of promoting hybrid rice, because this variety requires the use of imported chemical fertilizers. I say that she has hit the nail on the head, because it is primarily the cost of chemical fertilizers, imported or not, that causes the inefficient production of rice.

It has already been proven that rice could be efficiently produced using organic fertilizers. In many cases, organic rice production has even surpassed records earlier made by chemical rice production. Given this reality, the government should now officially admit that organic fertilizers are better for the country, at the same time officially admitting that two months inventory already translates into a crisis.

What we need in this country is a sustainable mix of staple foods that could still be dominated by rice, but should be complemented by root crops that could be produced more efficiently, among which are potatoes, cassava, yam and even the native sweet potatoes (camote).

There are other grains that could be added to this sustainable mix, all of which could also be produced efficiently, among which are sweet corn, sorghum and even the native green gram mongo bean (balatong).

STRAIGHT FROM THE BIG CITY
A five in one solution
BY IKE ‘KA IKING’ SEÑERES

MANILA -- Believe it or not, there is a five in one solution that we solve the problems of hunger, poverty, unemployment, crime, and food security all at once. And believe it or not, the solution is not even new, because it has always been with us since the beginning of human history.

Agriculture is the solution that will solve all the five problems earlier mentioned. Agriculture will produce food for the hungry. The production and processing activities will create employment that will reduce the poverty. Higher employment and lesser scarcity will reduce crime and on top of all these, it will give us food security which is of the highest national interest.

Although agriculture by itself is not new, there are new organic farming methods that would now enable farmers to make more money from their time and resource investments. The long running problem ever since is that the high costs of farm inputs practically make it impossible for the farmers to make money in their small business.

Thanks to the efforts of Filipino Engineer Walther Alvarez, a technology has been invented that now enables our farmers to produce their own feeds and fertilizers at very low costs. This technology is now being promoted by Sama-Kabuhayan, the lead organization of the United National Integrated Development Alliance (UNIDA) for the agriculture sector.

As an added bonus, the feeds produced using the technology enables farm animals to reach market size faster, and also enables farm crops to yield more, aside from coming out as pure organic products.

For a long time now, we as a people have been bewailing the fact that our Asian neighbors are producing more farm animals and farm crops than we do, even if they have practically learned their modern agriculture methods from us.

Thanks to this new technology, we now have a chance to catch up with our neighbors, to win the race of regional competitiveness, at the same time possibly winning our other wars against hunger, poverty, unemployment and crime, on top of our goal to ensure our food security.

This technology is a treasure that has come to us like manna from heaven. We should not waste it, and we should make use of it like a blessing that come to our national life. Imagine the millions of our people who could have a better quality of life because of this blessing.
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Everyone agrees that there is a need to reduce the incidence of poverty (poverty reduction) and to lessen the sufferings of the poor (poverty alleviation). There are many charitable organizations that are implementing programs for poverty reduction or poverty alleviation or both, but there is always that problem of raising funds for the sustenance of these programs