PeaceTech: Waging Peace Through Technology

In this little corner of the world called the Philippines, a lot of wars have been waged. Since time immemorial, Filipinos have witnessed the blood of its own people being shed for the wrong reasons. Brother going against brother just because of differences in the way they see the world, because of differences in faith, because of different ways of life. With this blood shed, a lot was lost. We saw mothers losing husbands, sons, and daughters. We saw children losing memories of what could’ve been a pleasant and sunny childhood.

In this little corner of the world, a lot has imagined. What if we could stop this blood shed for good? What if people weren’t bound by their allegiances and creeds? What if people treated each other as equals in the eyes of God – as human beings? A lot has tried to put their imagination in reality but never to a lasting extent.

An Intensive Look at the Philippine Navy

The Philippine Navy used to be Southeast Asia’s most equipped naval force. In fact, its more powerful neighbors such as Indonesia and Malaysia once looked up at the Philippines for assistance in developing their own navies back when they were just emerging nations in the 1960s.

But now, more than 40 years later, the Philippine Navy is one of the weakest forces in the region.

With an old, decrepit fleet and a formidable yet ill-equipped marine corps, the Philippine Navy cannot stand a chance against the emerging and evolving security threats in Southeast Asia. It has been left behind by neighbors it once trained, who have now emerged as the regions most adept naval forces, capable of thwarting threats not only internally or regionally but also beyond their reach.

I just received reports that the Royal Malaysian Navy has freed a hijacked tanker off the coast of Somalia securing both ship and hostages without the loss of life.

Insensitive

Timing is everything in politics. Whether you opt to make a speech, file a bill in legislature, or run for public office, timing play a vital role in all these actions. A public official ought to be consulting his peers and advisers on the timing of his/her actions lest s/he faces the consequences it may incur. In politics, observance of good timing can be a tool to build up trust and confidence, even integrity; the lack of which only spells catastrophe especially for novice politicians.

The New Mile High Club

George Francis, the baby left in a Gulf Air toilet.

There is a new mile high club in the skies these days. And no, I'm not talking about couples doing funny and explicit stuff in airplane toilets.

I went to the barber this afternoon to get my long overdue haircut. As I watched my hair being trimmed by skillful hands, my eyes caught glimpse of the TV screen behind me through the mirror. What was on the news this evening didn't surprise me anymore: a 5-6 month old male fetus found in the trash bin of an airplane toilet. Airport officials at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) said that airline cleaners found the fetus in the waste bin of an Etihad Airways flight from Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. It was likely that the mother of the fetus had an unwanted pregnancy while working in the Gulf countries and had the child aborted and disposed of in midair to avoid relatives in the Philippines from finding out. You can read more of this news here.

The Great Leap Upward

SM Sea Residences in Pasay City

Walking along the brightly-lit alleys of SM Mall of Asia with my girlfriend, I noticed the construction going on in the other side of the street -- the SEA Residences. It is a really big real estate property composed of three huge buildings, each around 12 to 15 stories I guess. Because of its size, I found myself asking, where will SM get the tenants for this huge property?

I asked my girlfriend if she wants to live in a condominium. She said that she wanted a house and lot better since you can have it remodeled and hand it down to you descendants. We started discussing about how we plan to raise money to buy our future house, either we really save up for it or we get a housing loan from Pag-Ibig or SSS. It is from this incident last night that I decided to write an article about land and its value to us Filipinos.