4
32
123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901212345678901234567890123456789012123 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901212345678901234567890123456789012123 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901212345678901234567890123456789012123 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901212345678901234567890123456789012123 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901212345678901234567890123456789012123 December 31, 2006 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901212345678901234567890123456789012123 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901212345678901234567890123456789012123
Editorial What if - - Volunteers will board A rocket to eternity? Jues Vernes wrote fiction in his time, and became reality in the 20 th Century namely the nuclear submarine ,the nuclear powered rockets, and the war of the worlds. And if Starship Enterprise the on-going fiction has already explored the conceivable universe with earthlings on board, then why can’t we also send a possible rocket ship to eternity? Yes, they have, and that’s NASA’s latest fiction Space Shuttle Odyssey 5 in which five astro nauts could not go back to earth because our planet simply exploded for still unknown reasons while the shuttle was on mission in outer space . So the Odyssey 5 crew had no choice but to explore the universe. But you have to watch the current series which is more thrilling than what meets the eye. At the close of the year 2006 today December 31, Sunday , and with the start of the new year tomorrow, what if - - -a crew of about say 50 well-trained volunteers will decide to board a giant rocket ship on New Year’s day tomorrow, and decide to live the rest of their lives exploring the vastness of outer space unto eternity! In short, retire in space! And why not! We are inspired by earthly adventurers who leave their motherlands, and decide to live in a strange country like the Philippines, like Tambobo bay to be specific, spending the rest of their lives in enjoyable retirement on board a simple catamaran or second had yacht . or those who leave London for good and retire along a beach hut in Calindagan. Who knows that someday by the end of a certain year in the 21st century, this group of well-trained volunteers will decide to live the rest of their lives on board a rocket ship called Eternity and simply proceed into the vastness of outer space and report the marvels that they have seen and experienced along the way, including the possible entry to another galaxy via a black hole! No this is not fiction, it’s just a question WHO are the willing volunteers. So instead of featuring a traditional old man to represent the old year 2006 and a young infant to represent the baby year 2007, we decided to feature a futuristic adventure of these 50 post-middle age volunteers who with eagerness, decide to simply set a voyage to the unknown and report what they have seen
Odyssey 2007 along the way, to us on earth. That could yet be the most-covered adventure in the whole of human history. Instead of just using the Habol to watch distant stars, instead of just voyagers to be sent alone on space exploration, it is possible to find human volunteers to probe the depthness of outer space without the thought of possibly coming back . Why, they could freeze in suspended animation and wake up at certain years in order to control the aging of the human body. (Forever Young, the movie.) It could yet be the noblest form of retirement, wherein man can contribute immensely to the knowledge of science and even perhaps our own history and genalogy. If qualified, this writer is willing to volunteer. So what’s the difference if a Filipino OFW decides to leave home and work outside his country for good? Or in outer space for good?There has yet got to be some group who will dare spend the rest of their lives as trail balzers into outer space. Just as there are those who dare conquer Mt. Everest without expecting to come back. There are those who sky jump from thousands of feet above the ground accepting the fact that anything can go wrong to both parachutes. There are un-manned crafts that were set to land on an asteroiods and join its yet unplotted journey. We have put a machine buggy into mars to tell us the story out there. Why not put the
“Let’s look at Vietnam” l
Dateline Manila by Bingo P. Dejaresco
T
hirty years ago in 1976, the Philippine Dictator Ferdinand Marcos was fiddling i k e Nero on the walls of Rome – hosting IMF meetings, Miss Universe Beauty con tests and “Thrilla in Manila” at the Araneta. He promised a New Society. America
prided the country as Asia’s showcase of democracy. Thirty years ago in 1976, Vietnam was just shattered into a country of chaos after the Americans and Vietcongs fought a war that neither won nor lost. Only Vietnam suffered; she decided to turn from communism to democracy. Three decades later today, the Philippines’ growth rate exceeds only that of Bangladesh in Asia; Vietnam shows an 8.4% growth rate, the second highest in Asia next to China and beating Malaysia, Thailand, Taiwan, South Korea and even powerful India. Vietnam has a booming textile industry in a population of 87 million Vietnamese which is almost that of the Philippines – while our textile industry is in
the obituary pages, despite the fact that Filipinos love to wear clothes. Vietnam, a small country now consumes more cement than France, her colonizer for ages which means the construction industry is booming like crazy. The Philippine banking system had just discovered – at least the three enlightened banks – that to spur the housing boom, it must give 25 year term mortgages, despite the banking industry’s bloated, inefficient liquidity. Thirty years after being a democracy, Vietnam is now the darling new tiger of Asia while the Philippines is still debating whether to shift from presidential to parliamentary – to be manned largely by the same people – oligarchs and dynasty members – who were respon-
sible in not making the presidential system work, in the first place. The pace of export growth of Vietnam to the USA exceeds that of China while our export growth is dominated by garments and electronics – which are heavily dependent on imported raw materials. International investors like Intel and Nike are sinking in billions of dollars into Vietnam while the Vietnamese who learned English, got entrepreneurial experience and technical skills abroad – fly home like conquering marauders and get their jobs in dollar values. The Philippines has the real Diaspora – 10 million Filipinos escaping this jobless country – while another one million of OFWs was added to the list this year 2006
most intelligent being instead? Scientists must now envy the vast knowledge of the Voyager-spacecraft which is now billions of miles away, still proceeding, and storing and possibly sending as much knowledge and information, but now, unable to reach such info to earth. Had a man been sent on board, it could yet be a different story. So there should be humans somewhere who are willing to be sent out into deep space forever proceeding, without the possibility of returning, but simply enjoy the ride and their role of reporting what’s really out there. So as we start the new year 2007, we imagine a group of earthlings volunteers who are tired of everything that man is doing, like self-destructing himself , and decide to board the starship Eternity, bound to undertake and endless journey into deep space, and simply be proud to report how far man can travel , and where present or future technology can bring them, just as if they have decided to retire on the starship and make it their actual vehicle as they enter into the everlasting spiritual realm . They would be real “Heroes of Tomorrow Today”. And this futuristic travel could yet be man’s greatest proof that aside from the body, the mind , heart and spirit, man can yet travel endlessly afar, even far beyond his own conceivable universe.
alone. Accountants, HR managers and other professionals in Vietnam are now getting 30 to 50% hike in pay due to scarcity of skilled labor while thousands of Filipinos flock at the Depart-
the
ment of Foreign Affairs to get employed: teachers as maids and doctors as nurses. Twenty five percent of the seafaring crew of the commercial ships in the world is manned by Filipino seamen. Turn to page 6 An artificial burst of activity at the Philippine stock market-buoyed by the socalled hot money – that disappears as fast
Negros Chronicle
33 YEARS OF COMMUNITY JOURNALISM
ELY P. DEJARESCO Editor-Publisher ATTY. JAY I. DEJARESCO Associate Editor
MARLEN I. DEJARESCO Business Manager
JUNNICK R. YAISO News Photographer
DEMS REY T. DEMECILLO Editorial Assistant
RUBEN G. LABARES Graphics
ALE P. GEQUINTO Legal Publications Officer
Pioneer BI-WEEKLY Newspaper in Dumaguete City and Negros Oriental. Address: E.J. Blanco Drive, Piapi, Dumaguete City. News and Advertising: (035) 225-4760 Fax: (035) 225-4760 E-mail: elydejaresco@yahoo.com Entered as Second Class Mail Matter in Dumaguete City on July 1, 1973.
http://www.negroschronicle.com
Member:
Philippine Press Institute National Press Club
Turn to page 14