Creating a Better World, Oppan Onyot Style

I want to be a lawyer because, for me, it’s a good way not only to earn a decent living but to help mankind at the same time.

My family is poor. My father never had a stable job. He used to work as a truck driver, a passenger-jeepney driver, and a taxi driver. My mother is not rich either. Although she inherited a small piece of land from her mother, she sold it to pay for my sisters’ college tuition fees. She also tried her hand selling native delicacies like suman, puto, and biko. She also peddled detergent soaps and viands. Now she runs a small laundry business that she’s struggling to keep alive. Our family is so hard up that I was able to finish college only because I got a scholarship that required me to work in the library in the morning and study in the evening.

If you live this kind of life that I live, you’d think of nothing else but a way out. To become a lawyer is my choice of a way out because, well, lawyers tend to be better off among the professionals, if not among the really rich ones. The idealist in me, however, finds becoming a lawyer merely for profit too small a dream. For sure, we need to aspire for the creature comforts because if the body is weak, we couldn’t possibly perform even the simplest of tasks. Yet I believe that our responsibility is not only to make ourselves better off, but, as Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. said, also to “share the passion and action of his time.”

That makes the profession of law most fascinating. No other profession is so immersed in the passion and action of life than the practice of law. Sadly, however, lawyers get such a bad rap from typical portrayals of them as bad guys in movies and books. Even so, there are a few lawyers who are truly admirable. There are lawyers whose concern is not so much about making a nest-egg from their profession but about leaving a legacy.

To my mind, Antonio Oposa, Jr. of the Philippines is one such lawyer.

Having seen the wanton plunder of the environment in our country, Mr. Oposa decided to use the law—the only available weapon in his arsenal—to defend and protect its forests. He sued Fulgencio Factoran, the then Secretary of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, to demand, among others, the cancellation of all the timber-license agreements that the Philippine government had been wantonly giving. The case, which came to be known as Minors Oposa vs. Factoran, was the first of its kind in the world, for its plaintiffs are thegenerations yet unborn; it used the principle of “intergenerational equity,” a concept developed by Georgetown Law Professor Edith Brown Weiss. The Regional Trial Court dismissed the case on the ground that the unborn generations didn’t have a legal standing. In 1993, however, the Supreme Court reversed the lower court’s decision.

The Supreme Court said in its judgment: “...[E]very generation has a responsibility to the next to preserve that rhythm and harmony for the full enjoyment of a balanced and healthful ecology...the right to a sound environment constitutes, at the same time, the performance of their obligation to ensure the protection of that right for the generations to come.”

Protecting the environment is just one of the many battles that Mr. Oposa has been valiantly carrying out, and his efforts have not gone unnoticed. In 2009, he was awarded the Ramon Magsaysay Award—the Asian counterpart of Nobel Prize—for “his path-breaking and passionate crusade to engage Filipinos in acts of enlightened citizenship that maximize the power of law to protect and nurture the environment for themselves, their children, and generations still to come.”

Mr. Oposa belies the popular belief that lawyers are crooks and liars. I believe that like Mr. Oposa, there are many more self-abnegating men and women of law out there. They may not drive fancy cars. They may not hold office in high-rise buildings. Instead, what they seek to leave behind is far more lasting: a better, safer, and just world.

I myself aspire to become a crusading lawyer like Mr. Oposa. I have no illusion, though, that the problems of the world will go away instantly simply because I decided to become a lawyer and a good lawyer at that. For indeed, what can one individual like me do? My answer is this: A great edifice is built not by a single person but by many people working side by side. Alone, I may not be able to build the edifice for a better world. But by being a good lawyer, I will help construct that great edifice brick by brick until it becomes a reality.

An armchair environmentalist

[caption id="attachment_2133" align="aligncenter" width="720" caption="Tree planting is one of the requirements of the fourth year students of Stella Maris Academy of Davao. (Photo courtesy of Herica Tiu.)"][/caption]

Even if I flunked one grading period of my high school Chemistry and even if Science is a subject I don't particularly have a strong affection with, I know what global warming is. It is partly caused by human activities. We released too much greenhouse gases---carbon dioxide and methane are some examples---into the atmosphere, so that they form a kind of blanket that traps the heat that entered the planet instead of being bounced back out of the planet.

There is no panacea to global warming, but the most common, one that has in fact done by many people in many places, is to plant trees. For, trees sequester carbon.

I've done tree planting before, and I could tell it's exhausting.

But to those who want to help Mother Earth but have no time to go out and plant trees, one can blog. Yes, in lieu of planting is blogging.

Is a less populous Philippines beneficial?

No, said Fr. Gregory Gaston at the seminar titled "World Population Collapse: Lessons for the Philippines," which was held last night at the Sacred Heart of Jesus Parish.

I was not feeling well last night and yet I was able to take down notes.

But I think it would be better if you read the abstract of his paper World Population Collapse, so that you'll know why the Catholic Church is staunchly opposing the Reproductive Health Bill. Read it, and you'll know where the Catholic Church is coming from.

Where have I been these past three days?

DAY ONE: April 25 (Sunday) - Compostela, Comval Province

[caption id="attachment_1701" align="aligncenter" width="640" caption="L-R: Melay, Arvin, Elisa, Gracey, Lloyd, Wengkai, Etong, Chane, GR"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1702" align="aligncenter" width="640" caption="Lechon: The most delicious pig in the world, according to Time magazine. "][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1703" align="aligncenter" width="640" caption="What the eyes can't see, the mouth can taste. Brownout ani nga panahon. Pero wala mi magpapugong."][/caption]

DAY TWO: April 26 (Monday) - Bamboo Mountain Resort, New Bataan, Comval Province







DAY THREE: April 27 (Tuesday) - Sitio Panas, Brgy. Carcor, New Corella

[caption id="attachment_1710" align="aligncenter" width="640" caption="Panas Waterfalls"][/caption]

Succisa virescit

I wondered if those people at Wowowee can have a motto of their own, but barely follow it, why can't I?

Thus I figured that I, too, should have my own motto not just for today, but for the entire year. And my motto is: "Succisa virescit," or since Latin sounds archaic, I'll stick to the English translation "Pruned, it grows again."

One of the upside of having a motto is that it saves you a lot of time when you find yourself in a dilemma. For example, I was mulling over whether I'd throw the photocopies I've accumulated over the years. Later, I decided to dump them away. As my motto says, "Pruned, it grows again."

I know that by making it as my motto, I will be guided properly. After all, this is also the motto of no less than the successor of St. Peter, Pope Benedict XVI.

So if you can't decide whether to shave your pubic hair, or to cut your hair short, or to pluck that pesky armpit hair, or to leave that friend who always badmouths you, or to give those clothes you haven't used since you bought them, my advice:

Pruned, it grows again.

While watching Avatar...

...there's one word that kept on coming in and out of my mind. Afghanistan.

[caption id="attachment_1538" align="alignleft" width="576" caption="U.S. Marines patrol with Afghan soldiers in Helmand Province, Afghanistan, on Tuesday. Photo by CNN."][/caption]

A start of something new

It has become an S.O.P. for everyone to make a New Year's resolution---that list of "to do" that one must (highlight must) do for the entire year. And since we are a people afraid not to do what everyone else does, we do it with much gusto, though the truth is no one really takes it seriously.

Because, I'm told, I'm unique, I will not make a New Year's resolution. I will not list what things I resolutely want to accomplish this year:

• Read Bonfire of the Vanities by Tom Wolfe; Read at least one novel per week
  


• Pass the Law School Qualifying Test


• Write at least one article every month for the Mindanao Times


• I'm about to put "Do the household chores" here, but decided against it; I always do household chores anyway, New Year or not.

But if you've already made a New Year's resolution, please don't be obliged to throw it away just because it's a tradition gone awry.

Happy New Year everyone!

P.S. Lucky color of the year: Yellow and Blue. The astrologers who guested in Mel & Joey came close to admitting that Noynoy and Mar would win in the May elections. This could be the start of something new.

When do we say, 'This is it'?

Of course when we have already given all there is to it in us, whether we are doing a project, or joining in a singing competition, or washing the plates, or scrubbing the floor.

Take Michael Jackson. Michael Jackson is a perfectionist performer, and his being perfectionist can be seen in the rehearsals for his "This Is It" concert, which was made into a movie instead since he could no longer stage the concert---forever. The King is dead. Vive Le Roi!

I haven't seen the movie, so pardon me if I rely on Queena Lee-Chua's accounts of the movie. (See Lessons from MJ 1 and 2)

"In the movie “This Is It,” " Lee-Chua said, "we got a glimpse of Jackson preparing for what was to have been his final tour in July. Though almost two hours, it was still an all too brief glance at what went on behind the scenes.

"We knew Jackson had talent, but the movie was an eye-opener. Talent apparently was not enough. Jackson was at the top of his game because he worked hard, extremely hard."

She said that Jackson say "This is it" only when everything is perfect already.

There is, however, something unsettling when Filipinos (well, not all, but some of us) say, "This is it," which is roughly translated to Filipino as "Tama na 'to." They say it not after giving their damndest best, but after exerting little or no effort at all. And they want to prove to the world Filipinos are world-class?

As my lolo (may he rest in peace) would say, baloney!

Quality teachers = quality education

Aside from the "No Prostitution Day," today, October 5, is also the "World Teachers' Day." This year's theme is "Build the Future: Invest in Teachers Now."

I think this year's celebration is well-themed. We should really invest in the teachers. We should give as much focus to improving their lot as we do to students. For what makes schools tick is neither air-conditioned classrooms nor nice textbooks. It's the quality of teachers.

A 2007 research done by McKinsey & Company argued that the reasons why some schools perform better than the others are that these schools: (1) get the right people to become teachers, (2) develop them into effective instructors, and (3) ensure that they are able to deliver the best possible instruction for every child.

The 21st century slavery

[caption id="attachment_1148" align="aligncenter" width="405" caption="On Tionko Avenue near the Central Bank, street-level prostitution is thriving."][/caption]

Among the places in Mindanao, Davao City is lucky enough to have been spared from the wars that continue to ravage its neighbors. But it has not been spared from what Nicholas Kristof, a Pulitzer prize-winning columnist in The New York Times, dubbed as the 21st century slavery—prostitution.

Today, October 5, Davao City is celebrating the “No Prostitution Day.” This is the fifth time that the city is celebrating it.

Does the celebration mark the end of prostitution?

The case for English proficiency

In the previous post, I have raised concerns why others---especially Filipinos---are scrambling to be proficient in English when other countries like China are making progress, economically, and yet their English is far from passable.

Over at Jose Carillo's English Forum, Jose Carillo, the English usage columnist in Manila Times, made the case for English proficiency:

Despite, not because of, their English

Last Saturday, I bought Fish Liver Oil Emulsion, a food supplement manufactured by a Chinese company named Qingdao Double Whale Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. A leaflet, which contains a little explanation of the product and an instruction on dosage, came with it.

"Fish Liver Oil Emulsion, composed of fish liver oil, concentrated frash orange juice, vitamins A, D and C," the leaflet said, "can improve health and promote growth, It is agreeable in taste, good for both women and infants, and will be more effective if administered frequently."

I've spotted only two errors in this passage: one, the word "fresh" was misspelled as "frash." Two, the punctuation that came after the first sentence should be a period, not a comma.

To hold or not to hold

When President Obama decided to release what is touted as the Torture Memos, he was faced with a dilemma: to hold or not to hold those who authorized the memos accountable.

There are those who argue that President Obama should, because it's an affront to the basic law of the land, the Constitution. On the other hand, there are those who argue that President Obama should not, because it just distracts the administration from dealing with more pressing matters, chief of which the battered economy.

On the January 11th edition of ABC’s “This Week, when asked whether he will "...appoint a special prosecutor...to independently investigate the greatest crimes of the Bush administration, including torture and warrantless wiretapping," the then President-elect Obama didn't give a black or white answer.

"We’re still evaluating how we’re going to approach the whole issue of interrogations, detentions, and so forth," he said. "And obviously we’re going to be looking at past practices and I don’t believe that anybody is above the law. On the other hand I also have a belief that we need to look forward as opposed to looking backwards. And part of my job is to make sure that for example at the CIA, you’ve got extraordinarily talented people who are working very hard to keep Americans safe. I don’t want them to suddenly feel like they’ve got to spend all their time looking over their shoulders and lawyering [up]."

But Paul Krugman, the Nobel Laureate slash economist slash blogger, begged to differ.

"I’m sorry," Krugman wrote, "but if we don’t have an inquest into what happened during the Bush years — and nearly everyone has taken Mr. Obama’s remarks to mean that we won’t — this means that those who hold power are indeed above the law because they don’t face any consequences if they abuse their power."

Why I'm bringing this up?

Because now that we are about to choose, among others, our next president (sana walang umaswang sa election), one question that we might find ourselves asking is, "Will the next president hold the past administration accountable for its many abuses?"

It's too early to say if someone will, but based on the presidentiables' earlier remarks, it seems that nobody won't.

Kakampi ni GMA ang Langit

"Great men talk about ideas; Mediocre men talk about things; Small men talk about people," said Admiral Hyman Rickover.

Was Rey Langit in the same league of small men who would rather inquire into what people think of other people when he asked both Presidents---Obama and Arroyo---about their impressions of each other?

Obama grateful to GMA. For what?

US President Barack Obama, the ABS-CBN News Online reports, is grateful to GMA because "of the strong voice that the Philippines has provided in dealing with issues in Asia, ranging from the human rights violations that have too long existed in Burma, to the problems that we're seeing with respect to nuclear proliferation in North Korea."

Nice. But what about the killing of journalists, which have taken place under her administration? What about the extrajudicial killings in Davao City where her former adviser on peace and order, Rodrigo Duterte, is mayor?

And what about the human rights violations that, according to the Commission on Human Rights Chair Leila de Lima, "have escalated since she [GMA] took office"?

Empty

It's already May. And I haven't written a single word yet. Oops! I just did.

Ignore Social Science but...

The Federal Research Division of the Library of Congress released a report on September 1999, titled "The Sociology and Psychology of Terrorism: Who Becomes a Terrorist and Why?". One of its findings says

Al-Qaida's expected retaliation for the U.S. cruise missile attack against al-Qaida's training facilities in Afghanistan on August 20, 1998, could take several forms of terrorist attack in the nation's capital. Al-Qaida could detonate a Chechen-type building-buster bomb at a federal building. Suicide bomber(s) belonging to al-Qaida's Martyrdom Battalion could crash-land an aircraft packed with high explosives (C-4 and semtex) into the Pentagon, the headquarters of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), or the White House. Ramzi Yousef had planned to do this against the CIA headquarters.

And you already know what happened on September 11, 2001---two years after the report came out. It only shows how Social Science can provide a valuable tool in preventing large-scale mayhem, if only it is given due attention.

The President-eject

For political correctness's sake, President Obama, before he took his oath of office, was referred to as President-elect. Although it is obvious that there's no stopping Obama from taking the helm of US leadership, as Bush the Younger can not veto the inauguration day, and thus the former deserved to be called President, Obama is still addressed as President-elect until he is properly sworn into office.

But what do you call a person who has never been a President since 2004 but who acts like one, and whose mandate is severely questioned?

And yes, I am talking about GMA's staying in power. President-eject is perhaps an apt title.

'On the wrong side of history'

Amando Doronila used to preach in his columns  that there is a frosty relationship between RP and USA. And that "It will take a blast of diplomatic climate warming to defrost the deep freeze between Manila and Washington."

I also used to subscribe to his sermons. But that was before Obama delivered his speech. I do believe now, after hearing Obama's inaugural address, that the relationship between the USA and the Philippines remains unchanged. It is warm as usual. In fact, so warm is the relationship that President Barack Obama, the first black president in the White House, expressed his concern over GMA's staying on "the wrong side of story." (Up to now it remains a mystery to everyone when she'll cease to be our President.)

"To those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent," Obama said in his inaugural address, "know that you are on the wrong side of history, but that we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist."

That's what friends are for, offering pieces of advice to each other and extending help to a derailed friend. Obama is really our friend. He even offered redemption for those who are "willing to unclench" their "fist."

***

But this one's for "Bitoy's Funniest Videos."

"Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita gave this piece of unsolicited advice to the first black US president when asked if there’s anything Mrs. Arroyo could learn from Obama," Philippine Star reports.

“If there’s anything to learn, it would be President Obama learning from President Arroyo,” the paper quoted Ermita as saying.

"She is the model… probably in the face of adversity," Ermita added, "the new president can learn from other leaders, like the Philippine president, on how to face up to problems and challenges especially when there are constant attacks from the opposition and detractors."

But can he?

"Yes, Obama can learn from GMA," quipped Prof. Winnie Monsod in an interview with News on Q's Ivan Mayrina and Rhea Santos . "He can learn from GMA on how not to do things."

Adams Myth: No stopping for Pinoy world domination agenda

In response to the World Dominatrix's (i.e., Jessica Zafra's) blog post Adams Myth on the global financial meltdown: Bad news, good news, I asked the revered economist Adams Myth if the Pinoy world domination agenda will be adversely affected, given that "our yayas are coming home... their amos can’t pay them anymore...the most potent troops of the Philippines, dispersed all over the globe, have been trimmed down"?

One who sees beyond the cloud of gloom, Adams Myth 's reply is full of optimism. He said:

"The yayas, nurses, bellboys, mechanics, English teachers and TNTs won’t be sent home. The construction workers and seamen will. Musicians in cruise ships will be packing in. Musicians at hotels won’t. The rule of thumb is, the more cyclical (i.e. boom-bust) the industry is, the more prone to layoffs. But at the end of the day, whatever slowdown we may see in out-migration this year will be temporary. Our competitive advantage still lies in making babies and sending them off to work in countries whose leaders know how to create jobs."