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December 4, 2011
Reasons for falling birth rate worldwide
Burnishing “Bona Fides”
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n Sunday’s Inquirer, Columnist Randy David recalled the “Mang Pandoy” tragedy. On a 1992 TV show with 11 squabbling presidential contenders, this dirt-poor gardener offered a startling swap: his life for cash. His kids could then finish studies and break free of poverty that sapped his own life.
The nation was haunted by a man whose unspeakable despair stood as an indictment of the sharp inequalities and poverty in our society, David wrote. President Fidel Ramos hired the gardener as his anti-poverty program icon. Mang Pandoy’s circumstances never improved. He died as poor as he was before plucked from anonymity. Multiply Mang Pandoy by thousands of “lumads.” There are roughly 12 million plus of indigenous people in 19 provinces. Many of these 18 tribes cluster in conflict-torn Mindanao: from the B’laan in Davao del Sur and South
Cotabato, the Manobos in Agusan del Sur, Davao and Bukidnon, to the Suban-ons in the Zamboanga peninsula. There, they assert—or used to—native title over swathes of land as their ancestral domain. Waves of migrants spurred by resettlement programs over the years, shoved “lumads” into eroded uplands with thin forest cover. Their predicament is carved into “Timbang Tungkay’s” face. He heads a T’boli village of 14 families by the Allah River in South Cotabato. “Hunger defines Turn to page 13
T JOHNY M ERCADO
(E-mail: juanlmercado@gmail.com )
he worldwide total fertility rate (TFR) – the number of children the average woman will have during her lifetime – fell from 5.0 in the mid-1960s to 2.7 today, a decline of some 50%. This has caused 59 countries, with 44% of the world’s population, to have below-replacement birth rates. Specific countries like Italy, France, and Singapore have birth rates well below replacement.
To what can we attribute this demographic phenomenon which can have dire consequences on the social and economic landscape of these countries affected? We can point to the following: abortion, contraception, divorce and unmarried couples living-in; children born out of wedlock; the quest for small families; and finally, homosexuality and same-sex marriages. This departure from conventional social mores and traditional Christian teachings
A Journey Through Cancer
he Spartans at Thermopylae knew they faced certain death but they never wavered. When told that, “…Persians’ arrows will blot out the sun,” the Spartan commander Leonidas responded, “Good; we will fight in the shade.” These warriors faced five to one odds, yet slaughtered tens of thousands before being betrayed and butchered. Their sacrifice is a tribute to courage and honor and is respected around the world. There have been two ma- enemy before they were over jor blockbuster movies about the run and butchered. Their sacgallant battle for freedom at the rifice is a tribute to courage Alamo. Two hundred eighteen and honor and is respected Texans held Santa Anna’s 6,100- around the world. man army mired in blood and There has never been a battle for thirteen days. Those movie about the Battle of Tirad thirteen precious days gave Sam Pass. A young 24-year old FiliHouston time to gather an army pino boy named Gregorio Del and eventually defeat the Mexi- Pilar commanded a sixty man can invasion. platoon of volunteers. His misThe Texans at the Alamo sion was to prevent the 3,000knew they faced certain death man troop 33rd Infantry Regibut they never wavered. The ment (Texas) from capturing cry “Remember the Alamo” President Aguinaldo and crushhas been an American call for ing the Philippine struggle for bravery and courage ever freedom and independsince. These warriors faced ence. twenty seven to one odds yet Facing certain death, slaughtered thousands of the To page 11
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on’t forget to smell the flowers. Its fragrance can make most people happy and romantic. Experiment revealed that a room with floral scents may trigger more happy thoughts compared to the non-scented room. Experts say that floral scents promote a better mood, thus produce happy memories. These plants can be natural fragrances from your garden or bottled ones that may come in handy. They say that the positive feelings that we derive from them make us propagate them more profusely in our gardens. Smell is powerful. about aromatherapy, essential oils and emotional response says, “It is interesting to note that the olfactory cells are the only place in the human body where the central nervous system is in direct contact with the external environment. When we detect the smell of something, there is a direct contact between the molecules of scent and our own receptors.” Scents that are known to have uplifting or refreshing effects are mint, eucalyptus, Turn to page 11
MUFFET DOLAR VILLEGAS e-mail: blue_bell57@yahoo.com
Spirit of Advent
JAMES “KOJAK” HUGHS U.S. Army, Cpt (ret)
Footsteps and Fingerprints
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HE season of Advent is once again with us. The preparation for Christmas is now entering its final stretch. But Advent means much more than just decorating our houses and offices with the frills of December. Advent, more than any- meant to participate in God’s thing else, is a reminder for us very own life. While God created all that we need to prepare for us without us—to paraphrase St. the second and final coming of Augustine—he cannot complete Christ. It reminds us that we that creation without us. God have to look forward to that com- does not impose his love and ing, with efforts to make Christ goodness on us. We need to “all in all” in us, or “everything to correspond to it, too. everyone.” This religious dimension This is the more impor- and purpose of our life needs tant meaning of Advent. We to be re-emphasized again have to rescue this liturgical and again, since we tend to season from the dustbin of forget it or take it for granted. obscurity and oblivion into As a result, many have already which many of us have thrown developed an anti-God or antiit. We need to remember that religion mentality, perhaps not our life here on earth is a pil- so much out of malice as of grimage, a work in progress, ignorance, confusion and erwhose destination and com- ror. pletion is Christ, the Alpha Let’s hope the media can and Omega. help in this effort to remind and We have been created in clarify things in this regard. It’s his image and likeness, and with understandable that they go full his grace made children of his, Turn to page 11
AMB. JOSE V. ROMERO, JR., PH.D.
Courage
Powerful Fragrance
Our olfactory receptors bring the smell sensation to that primordial part of our brain called the limbic system first before it reports the message to the cortex, where recognition occurs. The name of the fragrance comes only after that deepest area of our brains has been stimulated, awakening some poignant and pleasant memories in our childhood, or from the deep recesses of our past. The limbic system is believed to be the seat of all emotions. D.S. Braun, who wrote an article
began in the United States and was followed by many countries, like the Philippines, in the sixties with the introduction of oral contraceptives. This was accompanied in many countries, especially in the United States, with the legalization of divorce and abortion in the seventies, which gave rise to cohabitation, illegitimacy and single-parent families to the legalization of same-sex marriage in recent years. Indeed, it has been a Turn to page 19
Contentment Despite Confusing Contradictions ife has many confusing contradictions. We want to give our children more than the little that we had. We scrimp and save to send those to better schools, and then wonder why they do not appreciate our ‘sacrifices.’ It is what we owe them, they say. We let them stay at home while in their first job, so they can save money toward their own home, then wonder when they ask for even more money because they feel they need a better wardrobe to impress their bosses. What has happened to gratitude? Why does it seem that people are less satisfied with what they have, are less contented today than when I was young?
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FR. ROY CIMAGALA
Growing up on a small farm in rural and mountainous Vermont, USA, we lived a simple life. We never had much, but we never lacked for what we really needed. When I graduated from high school, my dad, with tears in his eyes, took me aside to explain that he could only give me $300.00 for my college education; it was the only money he could spare. So I worked my
way through a 2-year college that cost me about $2,200/year. How did I do it? I begged for a personal loan from my aunt, I worked a minimum of 20 hours a week in the college library, I babysat for faculty members, I ran errands, I worked full time during summer break. Did I begrudge giving up my spare time and weekend To page 11
NANCY RUSSELL CATAN
e-mail: nancy.catan@yahoo.com