Happy Independence Day, Philippines! Long live the nation and the President!

This early, a group of Filipinos belonging to the Left-wing organizations, like Bayan, whose cells operate in the United States, are already finalizing plans for holding rallies and protests against President Arroyo when she visits that country for talks with President Bush. They call it a meeting of a colonial master and a puppet. They expressed false concerns that the continuing link between Philippine and US military forces in Mindanao have caused disappearances, murder and destabilization in the area.

The truth of the matter is that these two forces are sharing information on the more effective manner of fighting the dreaded al-Queda forces whose presence is most pronounced in Southern Philippines. Bush and Arroyo will discuss the Philippines’ position on counterterrorism, food security and the crisis in Myanmar, which is an Asean member.

These are only a sample of the issues tabled for discussion, and we must be thankful that the two heads of state are talking on a frank and productive manner.

Shame on you! You should be out there helping the marginalized families find a decent life in a fast-changing world. Many of our unsung heroes are those who have initiated programs for the good of the community, helping children cope with the financial burdens of education, sharing their expertise in creating livelihood and making life a joy to experience.

Rallying against our President in a foreign land only shames us all.

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The move of the Chief Justice to push for the release of overstaying inmates is a humanitarian objective. This also dovetails the President’s policy to release from prison inmates 70 years old and above after a review by the Board of Pardons and Parole.

This policy will give relief to overpopulated jails, give those whose sentences have already been served a chance to be with their families and their children, and start a new life, as a free person, a human being.

The Department of Justice has been pursuing this program, vigorously resulting in the increase of released inmates 70 years old and above. On the other hand, those who have already served their sentences and are overstaying behind bars have no business being jailed, and it is for the justice system that fairness and equity must be observed.

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Oil-price increases are unstoppable, as last week’s price adjustments show. It is a reality that we must all face. But we can reduce our oil and electricity use if we start looking at alternatives used by our forefathers, like wood and other scrap materials that could be utilized for better use.

Oil-price increases are a worldwide phenomenon that we can cope with if only we can put our minds to it. It was reported that the King of Sweden is doing it, using cars powered by biofuels, using pellet boilers instead of those powered with crude and exploiting seawater farms, making coastal areas arable lands.

The investment price on these technologies may be high, but math shows that it becomes cost-effective in the long run. What we have is a profusion of solar energy, unused and unexploited. On one hand, we can design our homes to accommodate more windows to bring in cool air. There are a thousand things we can do if we try to look closer at our predicament and our opportunities.

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In her quest to ensure rice supplies in the future, the President signed a memorandum of agreement with the government of Vietnam for rice imports from 2008 to 2010. Before the hecklers again find an issue to brandish, let us put the nation to rest that the transaction is perfectly legal under Republic Act 9184, since the transaction is an executive agreement and, therefore, not subject to the bidding process.

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We talk about freedom, our democracy that drives this nation with intelligence and resolve. But freedom can be seriously considered only in our search for peace, because we cannot be free while others in this world are enslaved by their own countrymen. The great Adlai Stevenson said of this subject:

 “We travel together, passengers on a little space ship, depending on its vulnerable reserves of air and sail; all committed for our safety, to its security and peace; preserved from annihilation only by the care, the work, and, I will say, the love we give our fragile craft. We cannot maintain it half-fortunate, half-miserable, half-confident, half-despairing, half-slave to the ancient enemies of man, half-free in a liberation of resources undreamed of until this day. No craft, no crew can travel safely with such vast considerations. On their resolution depends the survival of us all.”

We are assured that our President and those in her Cabinet are working together to preserve our freedoms, and from their work, we can safely plan for the betterment of our country, tomorrow and beyond.

SHOULD we go nuclear?

Energy Secretary Angelo Reyes raised that possibility on Saturday when he said the government is studying the option, including the opening of the mothballed Bataan Nuclear Power Plant (BNPP)—if it is still viable—to boost the country’s energy supply.

When we last looked at the Bureau of Customs (BOC), while we admired its extraordinary successes in running after smugglers through a USAID-funded campaign, we lamented that its prosecutorial powers were severely constrained by a dysfunctional structure the bureau had, over the years, developed under.

I’ve attended so many financial seminars in my two decades in the financial services. From the now-defunct PCI Bank’s famed Core Credit Program to American College’s LUTC, APLIC, financial-planning courses, conferences, Registered Financial Planners, etc. Too many, if you ask me.

The Entrepreneur: A test for the Philippine economy

THE economic slowdown should serve as a test of our capability to surmount the difficulties facing us these days.

I am referring to the not-so-good news that our economic growth—as expressed in terms of gross domestic product (GDP), or simply the total value of goods and services we produce, excluding income from abroad—had slowed down to 5.2 percent in the first three months of 2008, compared with 6.9 percent in the first quarter of 2007.

Coast-to-Coast: JFC’s grilling; SBMA’s haul

Those who are suggesting that the grilling of the officials of the Joint Foreign Chambers of Commerce (JFC) at the Senate on Friday was an “overkill” are more interested in pleasing members of that lobby group and their cohorts, in and out of government, than seriously searching for ways to lower the unconscionable cost of our electric rates, which is now second only to Japan, the world’s second-biggest economy.

Reflections from the Mirror: The Filipino, together forever for peace

Happy Independence Day, Philippines! Long live the nation and the President!

This early, a group of Filipinos belonging to the Left-wing organizations, like Bayan, whose cells operate in the United States, are already finalizing plans for holding rallies and protests against President Arroyo when she visits that country for talks with President Bush. They call it a meeting of a colonial master and a puppet.