“Free-market capitalism is a network of free and voluntary exchanges in which producers work, produce, and exchange their products for the products of others through prices voluntarily arrived at.”
-- Murray N. Rothbard
By Alex P. Vidal
NEW YORK CITY -- Government, back off.
If it is better for business, by extension it is better for society as a whole.
Under the principle of laissez-faire, a French economic theory, business will be better off if there is less government involvement in free market capitalism.
Politicians in Negros Occidental, Philippines, composed mostly of sugar planters, are up in arms against Coca Cola, a beverage behemoth that manufactures Coke.
No less than Negros Occidental Governor Alfredo Marañon Jr. has ordered the banning of Coca Cola products during the "Panaad Festival" on April 22, 30, 2017.
Taking cue from the governor's bold move, Hinigaran Mayor Nadie Arceo followed suit by issuing an executive order banning Coca Cola products during the “Hinugyaw Festival" on April 20-30, 2017.
Unless Coca Cola will use local sugar instead of High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) as sweetener in its products, the ban will stay, it was reported.
MESSAGE
Their message was loud and clear: they wanted to bring Coca Cola down on its knees.
They first signified their strong intention to lock horns with the softdrink company on March 20, 2017 when sugar planters led approximately 6,000 protesters in a rally in front of the offices of Coca-Cola Philippines in the province to denounce the company's use of HFCS, which they said is killing the sugar industry.
The Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) has issued Sugar Order No. 3 which places a cap on the entry of imported HFCS into the country and imposes stiff tariff and duties on the commodity.
Sugar Order No. 3, however, was countermanded by Department of Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol, who quipped: "I did not ask for the scrapping of Sugar Order No. 3 but simply recommended that it be held in abeyance pending the resolution of the issues raised by Coca-Cola and Pepsi Cola which are legitimate businesses operating in the Philippines for so long now."
He added: "I believe that if things could be worked out, the sugar industry could get a bigger share of the sugar requirements of both Coca-Cola and Pepsi Cola, thus getting a better deal."
PRICE
Coca-Cola and Pepsi have heavily relied on the use of HFCS when the prices of local sugar doubled compared to that of sugar coming from other countries for the past five years.
The underlying beliefs that make up the fundamentals of of laissez-faire economics include first and foremost that the natural world is a self-regulating system, and that natural regulation is the best type of regulation.
Laissez-faire economists argue that because of this there is no need for the complicating involvement of government.
Government involvement, according to this economic theory, would include any type of regulation, minimum wage, taxation, or oversight.
Laissez-faire economists see taxation on companies as a penalty for production.
Thursday, March 30, 2017
My love affair with Big Apple's Central Park
"And the most unusual and surrealistic place in New York City is Central Park."
--Christo
"I just want to go through Central Park and watch folks passing by. Spend the whole day watching people. I miss that."
-- Barack Obama
"A great day in New York would be to wake up, get a cup of coffee and head up to Central Park for a nice walk. Then I'd go down to the East Village and stroll around. After that, maybe I'd go check out a museum or catch an indie film at the Angelika."
-- Emmanuelle Chriqui
"My favorite place is Central Park because you never know what you're going to find there. I also like that when I look out the windows of surrounding hotels, it's seems like I'm looking out over a forest."
--Haley Joel Osment
"Go for a walk through Central Park and stop at the Met. It's the best way to get a feel for what makes New York so special."
--Ivanka Trump
"It means a lot to be back in New York. Particularly since one of the last senior event scheduled in the States was supposed to be here in New York. We were supposed to play in Central Park right after 9-11 and when 9-11 happened obviously things changed."
--John McEnroe
"If you circle above Central Park at night in a helicopter, you're looking down at the most expensive real estate in the world. It's the American Monopoly board."
--Ridley Scott
By Alex P. Vidal
NEW YORK CITY -- Everybody loves the Central Park.
State leaders, beauty queens, sports icons, journalists, film makers, students, religious voyagers, rock stars, Hollywood heartthrobs, photographers, gangsters, comedians, ordinary folks.
I also fell in love with the Central Park. It was in the Central Park where I officially played my first serious tournament in chess -- active chess.
It was in the Central Park where I wrote some of my most memorable articles.
For a while, Central Park was part of my life. I love the trees, the tall buildings that surround the area. I love the birds, the lakes and green grass. I can spend my time in the Central Park any day of the week if I am not busy.
It was on July 21, 1853 when the New York State Legislature enacted into law the setting aside of more than 750 acres of land central to Manhattan Island to create America's first major landscaped public park; they would soon refer to it as "the Central Park."
Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux, the winners of the 1858 design competition for Central Park, along with other socially conscious reformers understood that the creation of a great public park would improve public health and contribute greatly to the formation of a civil society. Immediately, the success of Central Park fostered the urban park movement, one of the great hallmarks of democracy of nineteenth century America.
DECLINE
By the early 20th century, vicissitudes of the social, political and economic climate reportedly threatened the fabric of the Park and caused its first serious decline.
Robert Moses, park commissioner from 1934 to 1960, reportedly received federal funding for the restoration of many eroded landscapes and crumbling structures, and embarked on massive public programming for the post-Depression populace.
When he left office, however, there was no management strategy for maintaining those improvements or educating Park visitors in proper stewardship, and for the next two decades the second -- and most devastating -- decline took its toll on the fragile 843-acre Park, the Central Park New York City disclosed.
Physically the Park was reportedly in a chronic state of decay. Meadows had become barren dustbowls; benches, lights, and playground equipment were broken, and the one-hundred-year-old infrastructure was crumbling.
Socially, the Park bred a careless, even abusive attitude towards the Park evidenced by unchecked amounts of garbage, graffiti, and vandalism. Positive use had increasingly been displaced by illicit and illegal activity. The perception -- and in many cases, the reality -- of Central Park was of a lawless and dangerous ruin. Despite a workforce of over three hundred Parks Department employees assigned to Central Park, there was no accountability. New York City had abdicated their responsibility as Park stewards and, as a result, this national treasure became a national disgrace.
To help remedy this troubled situation, George Soros and Richard Gilder, under the aegis of the Central Park Community Fund, underwrote a management study of Central Park in 1974 by E.S. Savas, who was at that time the Columbia University School of Business, Professor of Public Systems Management.
STUDY
It was learned further that the groundbreaking study proposed that two important initiatives be implemented to ameliorate the conditions in Central Park: one, that a Chief Executive Officer be given "clear and unambiguous managerial authority" for all Park operations, and two, a Central Park Board of Guardians be created to oversee strategic planning and policy, thereby instituting private citizen involvement in their public park.
The study's first proposal reportedly resulted in the appointment in 1979 of Elizabeth "Betsy" Barlow (now Rogers), a Yale-educated urban planner and writer, who became the newly created Central Park administrator, charged with overseeing all aspects of the Park's daily operations, in essence the Chief Executive Officer recommended in the Savas study.
For four years before her appointment, Betsy had been overseeing the Central Park Task Force's program for summer youth interns, eventually becoming the head of that small, private organization, financially separate from the City but existing under the aegis of the Parks Department.
Given her new official status and responsibilities as administrator, Betsy first conceived of and then helped to create a revolutionary public/private partnership with the support of then park commissioner Gordon Davis that would bring private monies and expertise in partnership with the City of New York to manage and restore Central Park.
MERGE
In 1980, the two most prominent private advocacy groups -- the Central Park Task Force and the Central Park Community Fund -- merged to become the Central Park Conservancy -- the citizen-based Board of Guardians that the Savas study had essentially recommended.
Under a Conservancy-funded master plan, the gradual restoration of those decrepit landscapes evolved, and success bred success. As the Conservancy showed its ability to protect and maintain its investment, many more private individuals, foundations and corporations put their trust and their money into the restoration of the Park.
To date, the Conservancy has had three successful capital campaigns towards rebuilding Central Park. The first campaign was launched in 1987; the second, "The Wonder of New York Campaign," was launched when Richard Gilder made a challenge grant to the Conservancy and the City in 1993.
The work was continued in the "Campaign for Central Park," which ended in 2008, ensuring the completion of the Park's transformation. Most importantly, for the first time in the Park's turbulent history, the Conservancy has created an endowment that will ensure a sustainable green and healthy future for Central Park.
In 1998 a historic management agreement between the Conservancy and the City of New York formalized the then 18-year public-private partnership. With that contract Douglas Blonsky, who began his career in 1985 in the Conservancy's Capital Projects office as a landscape architect supervising construction projects, assumed Betsy's title of Central Park administrator.
In 2004 he assumed the additional role of president of the Conservancy and CEO, responsible for not only the Park's management but also all fundraising and administrative duties.
Blonsky created innovative management practices to ensure that those healthy new landscapes would have a skilled and dedicated staff to maintain them in a professional manner.
VISION
His clear vision for a well-managed and well-maintained Park took the Conservancy's design and restoration vision one step further with the implementation of Zone Management System, which brought accountability, pride of workmanship, and clear and measurable results to the Conservancy and Parks Department staff under his jurisdiction.
Under this pioneering system, the Park is divided into 49 geographic zones for managerial purposes, each headed by a zone gardener, who in turn supervises grounds technicians and volunteers.
The Park's restorations gradually fostered important social changes in public behavior that returned the sanctity of public space to Central Park and ultimately to New York City at large.
The American ideal of a great public park and its importance as a place to model and shape public behavior and enhance the quality of life for all its citizens once again defines the measurement of a great municipality.
Towards this goal, the Conservancy was first in its demonstration of zero tolerance for both garbage and graffiti. An immediate call to action came when even the slightest sign of vandalism appeared in the Park -- a busted lamppost or broken bench, for example -- and became the tipping point, that turned public opinion of Central Park from one of dire repulsion to one of deep respect.
Today Central Park has never been more beautiful or better managed in the Park's 156-year history, and the Conservancy is proud to be the leader of the Park's longest period of sustained health and beauty.
To date the Conservancy has raised over $875 million towards the restoration, programming and management of Central Park and is responsible for 75 percent of this year's annual operating budget of $67 million.
Furthermore, just as Central Park was the leader in the birth of urban parks, so today Central Park, through the Conservancy's innovative care and expertise, is the leader in the rebirth of urban parks, public spaces and the quality of life movement.
City officials and park professionals from across America and around the world come to the Central Park Conservancy Institute for Urban Parks to learn of its best practices to restore and manage their local parks.
--Christo
"I just want to go through Central Park and watch folks passing by. Spend the whole day watching people. I miss that."
-- Barack Obama
"A great day in New York would be to wake up, get a cup of coffee and head up to Central Park for a nice walk. Then I'd go down to the East Village and stroll around. After that, maybe I'd go check out a museum or catch an indie film at the Angelika."
-- Emmanuelle Chriqui
"My favorite place is Central Park because you never know what you're going to find there. I also like that when I look out the windows of surrounding hotels, it's seems like I'm looking out over a forest."
--Haley Joel Osment
"Go for a walk through Central Park and stop at the Met. It's the best way to get a feel for what makes New York so special."
--Ivanka Trump
"It means a lot to be back in New York. Particularly since one of the last senior event scheduled in the States was supposed to be here in New York. We were supposed to play in Central Park right after 9-11 and when 9-11 happened obviously things changed."
--John McEnroe
"If you circle above Central Park at night in a helicopter, you're looking down at the most expensive real estate in the world. It's the American Monopoly board."
--Ridley Scott
By Alex P. Vidal
NEW YORK CITY -- Everybody loves the Central Park.
State leaders, beauty queens, sports icons, journalists, film makers, students, religious voyagers, rock stars, Hollywood heartthrobs, photographers, gangsters, comedians, ordinary folks.
I also fell in love with the Central Park. It was in the Central Park where I officially played my first serious tournament in chess -- active chess.
It was in the Central Park where I wrote some of my most memorable articles.
For a while, Central Park was part of my life. I love the trees, the tall buildings that surround the area. I love the birds, the lakes and green grass. I can spend my time in the Central Park any day of the week if I am not busy.
Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux, the winners of the 1858 design competition for Central Park, along with other socially conscious reformers understood that the creation of a great public park would improve public health and contribute greatly to the formation of a civil society. Immediately, the success of Central Park fostered the urban park movement, one of the great hallmarks of democracy of nineteenth century America.
DECLINE
By the early 20th century, vicissitudes of the social, political and economic climate reportedly threatened the fabric of the Park and caused its first serious decline.
Robert Moses, park commissioner from 1934 to 1960, reportedly received federal funding for the restoration of many eroded landscapes and crumbling structures, and embarked on massive public programming for the post-Depression populace.
When he left office, however, there was no management strategy for maintaining those improvements or educating Park visitors in proper stewardship, and for the next two decades the second -- and most devastating -- decline took its toll on the fragile 843-acre Park, the Central Park New York City disclosed.
Physically the Park was reportedly in a chronic state of decay. Meadows had become barren dustbowls; benches, lights, and playground equipment were broken, and the one-hundred-year-old infrastructure was crumbling.
Socially, the Park bred a careless, even abusive attitude towards the Park evidenced by unchecked amounts of garbage, graffiti, and vandalism. Positive use had increasingly been displaced by illicit and illegal activity. The perception -- and in many cases, the reality -- of Central Park was of a lawless and dangerous ruin. Despite a workforce of over three hundred Parks Department employees assigned to Central Park, there was no accountability. New York City had abdicated their responsibility as Park stewards and, as a result, this national treasure became a national disgrace.
To help remedy this troubled situation, George Soros and Richard Gilder, under the aegis of the Central Park Community Fund, underwrote a management study of Central Park in 1974 by E.S. Savas, who was at that time the Columbia University School of Business, Professor of Public Systems Management.
STUDY
It was learned further that the groundbreaking study proposed that two important initiatives be implemented to ameliorate the conditions in Central Park: one, that a Chief Executive Officer be given "clear and unambiguous managerial authority" for all Park operations, and two, a Central Park Board of Guardians be created to oversee strategic planning and policy, thereby instituting private citizen involvement in their public park.
The study's first proposal reportedly resulted in the appointment in 1979 of Elizabeth "Betsy" Barlow (now Rogers), a Yale-educated urban planner and writer, who became the newly created Central Park administrator, charged with overseeing all aspects of the Park's daily operations, in essence the Chief Executive Officer recommended in the Savas study.
For four years before her appointment, Betsy had been overseeing the Central Park Task Force's program for summer youth interns, eventually becoming the head of that small, private organization, financially separate from the City but existing under the aegis of the Parks Department.
Given her new official status and responsibilities as administrator, Betsy first conceived of and then helped to create a revolutionary public/private partnership with the support of then park commissioner Gordon Davis that would bring private monies and expertise in partnership with the City of New York to manage and restore Central Park.
MERGE
In 1980, the two most prominent private advocacy groups -- the Central Park Task Force and the Central Park Community Fund -- merged to become the Central Park Conservancy -- the citizen-based Board of Guardians that the Savas study had essentially recommended.
Under a Conservancy-funded master plan, the gradual restoration of those decrepit landscapes evolved, and success bred success. As the Conservancy showed its ability to protect and maintain its investment, many more private individuals, foundations and corporations put their trust and their money into the restoration of the Park.
To date, the Conservancy has had three successful capital campaigns towards rebuilding Central Park. The first campaign was launched in 1987; the second, "The Wonder of New York Campaign," was launched when Richard Gilder made a challenge grant to the Conservancy and the City in 1993.
The work was continued in the "Campaign for Central Park," which ended in 2008, ensuring the completion of the Park's transformation. Most importantly, for the first time in the Park's turbulent history, the Conservancy has created an endowment that will ensure a sustainable green and healthy future for Central Park.
In 1998 a historic management agreement between the Conservancy and the City of New York formalized the then 18-year public-private partnership. With that contract Douglas Blonsky, who began his career in 1985 in the Conservancy's Capital Projects office as a landscape architect supervising construction projects, assumed Betsy's title of Central Park administrator.
In 2004 he assumed the additional role of president of the Conservancy and CEO, responsible for not only the Park's management but also all fundraising and administrative duties.
Blonsky created innovative management practices to ensure that those healthy new landscapes would have a skilled and dedicated staff to maintain them in a professional manner.
VISION
His clear vision for a well-managed and well-maintained Park took the Conservancy's design and restoration vision one step further with the implementation of Zone Management System, which brought accountability, pride of workmanship, and clear and measurable results to the Conservancy and Parks Department staff under his jurisdiction.
Under this pioneering system, the Park is divided into 49 geographic zones for managerial purposes, each headed by a zone gardener, who in turn supervises grounds technicians and volunteers.
The Park's restorations gradually fostered important social changes in public behavior that returned the sanctity of public space to Central Park and ultimately to New York City at large.
The American ideal of a great public park and its importance as a place to model and shape public behavior and enhance the quality of life for all its citizens once again defines the measurement of a great municipality.
Towards this goal, the Conservancy was first in its demonstration of zero tolerance for both garbage and graffiti. An immediate call to action came when even the slightest sign of vandalism appeared in the Park -- a busted lamppost or broken bench, for example -- and became the tipping point, that turned public opinion of Central Park from one of dire repulsion to one of deep respect.
Today Central Park has never been more beautiful or better managed in the Park's 156-year history, and the Conservancy is proud to be the leader of the Park's longest period of sustained health and beauty.
To date the Conservancy has raised over $875 million towards the restoration, programming and management of Central Park and is responsible for 75 percent of this year's annual operating budget of $67 million.
Furthermore, just as Central Park was the leader in the birth of urban parks, so today Central Park, through the Conservancy's innovative care and expertise, is the leader in the rebirth of urban parks, public spaces and the quality of life movement.
City officials and park professionals from across America and around the world come to the Central Park Conservancy Institute for Urban Parks to learn of its best practices to restore and manage their local parks.
Tuesday, March 28, 2017
Chinua Achebe and our own 'Digong'
"Remember that politics, colonialism, imperialism and war also originate in the human brain."
--Vilayanur S. Ramachandran
By Alex P. Vidal
NEW YORK CITY -- "You crazies and sons of a whore leave us alone. Don't impose your culture on us."
President Rodrigo "Digong" Duterte's curt message to the European Union (EU) and the United Nations (UN) is also an attack on a lingering colonialism in the criticism of his administration's bloody assault on narcotics by non-Filipinos.
Duterte wanted to emphasize his method to eviscerate peddlers and--to some extent--users of illegal drugs is none of the business of outsiders.
The Filipinos make their own laws, the Filipinos implement their laws.
The piling up of bodies in the streets is a byproduct of Duterte's all-out war against illegal drugs, his campaign promise that earned him 16 million votes in the 2016 presidential elections.
Duterte thus became the Philippines' version of Chinua Achebe. What Achebe is in literature, Duterte is in politics.
CRITIC
A well-known Nigerian novelist and critic, Chinua Achebe has produced numerous novels, short stories, and critical essays over the past decades.
His essay "Colonialist Criticism" is an attack on a lingering colonialism in the criticism of African literature by non-Africans. The African writer writes the text or 'they produce literature, their literature goes to Europeans for analysis. Every African literature has to get thought the grids of European writers.
Born on November 16, 1930 in Ogidi, Anambra and died on March 21, 2013 in Boston, Massachusetts, Achebe's best known critical essay is a discussion of racism in Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness, which he gave originally as a lecture at the University of Massachusetts in 1975 and is reprinted in Hopes and Impediments.
It evoked both high praise and strong antipathy on the spot and has given rise to further discussion and response as questions of racism and colonialsm have been more vigorously debated.
Given originally as a lecture at a meeting of the Association for Commonwealth Literature and Language Studies at Makerere University, Uganda, it is an attack on lingering colonialism in the criticism of African literature, mainly but not entirely by non-Africans.
CRITICISM
The faults of this criticism stem from implied assumptions that the African writer is a "somewhat unfinished European" and that somehow outsiders can know Africa better than the native writers.
These assumptions lead to, among other things, the specious man-of-the-worlds theory of the African intellectual and imply a continued European arrogance
Achebe's principal theoritical point involves his rejection of universalism, represented by critical statements that generalize the particularity out of African literature.
The two problems of universalism, according to Achebe, are, first, that the presumed universality that critics find is merely a synonym for the "narrow self-serving parochialism of Europe" and, second, that every literature must "speak of a particular place, evolve out of the necessities of its history, past and current, and the aspirations and destiny of its people."
UNIVERSAL
It would seem, then, that if there is to be a concrete universal in African literature it must stem from a much deeper human source than any parochial view can uncover.
But Achebe doesn't say this. Rather, his concentration in on the particular alone, for he puts literature, at least his writings, in service of the need to alter specific things in specific places, especially attitudes.
It is in this context that Achebe defends the "high moral and social earnestness" of Christopher Okigbo (the Philippines' version of Graciano Lopez-Jaena) against the charge of outspokenness.
Achebe's point is that earnestness is appropriate to Okigbo's and his situation and that a certain levity would be inappropriate.
--Vilayanur S. Ramachandran
By Alex P. Vidal
NEW YORK CITY -- "You crazies and sons of a whore leave us alone. Don't impose your culture on us."
President Rodrigo "Digong" Duterte's curt message to the European Union (EU) and the United Nations (UN) is also an attack on a lingering colonialism in the criticism of his administration's bloody assault on narcotics by non-Filipinos.
Duterte wanted to emphasize his method to eviscerate peddlers and--to some extent--users of illegal drugs is none of the business of outsiders.
The Filipinos make their own laws, the Filipinos implement their laws.
The piling up of bodies in the streets is a byproduct of Duterte's all-out war against illegal drugs, his campaign promise that earned him 16 million votes in the 2016 presidential elections.
Duterte thus became the Philippines' version of Chinua Achebe. What Achebe is in literature, Duterte is in politics.
CRITIC
A well-known Nigerian novelist and critic, Chinua Achebe has produced numerous novels, short stories, and critical essays over the past decades.
His essay "Colonialist Criticism" is an attack on a lingering colonialism in the criticism of African literature by non-Africans. The African writer writes the text or 'they produce literature, their literature goes to Europeans for analysis. Every African literature has to get thought the grids of European writers.
Born on November 16, 1930 in Ogidi, Anambra and died on March 21, 2013 in Boston, Massachusetts, Achebe's best known critical essay is a discussion of racism in Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness, which he gave originally as a lecture at the University of Massachusetts in 1975 and is reprinted in Hopes and Impediments.
It evoked both high praise and strong antipathy on the spot and has given rise to further discussion and response as questions of racism and colonialsm have been more vigorously debated.
Given originally as a lecture at a meeting of the Association for Commonwealth Literature and Language Studies at Makerere University, Uganda, it is an attack on lingering colonialism in the criticism of African literature, mainly but not entirely by non-Africans.
CRITICISM
The faults of this criticism stem from implied assumptions that the African writer is a "somewhat unfinished European" and that somehow outsiders can know Africa better than the native writers.
These assumptions lead to, among other things, the specious man-of-the-worlds theory of the African intellectual and imply a continued European arrogance
Achebe's principal theoritical point involves his rejection of universalism, represented by critical statements that generalize the particularity out of African literature.
The two problems of universalism, according to Achebe, are, first, that the presumed universality that critics find is merely a synonym for the "narrow self-serving parochialism of Europe" and, second, that every literature must "speak of a particular place, evolve out of the necessities of its history, past and current, and the aspirations and destiny of its people."
UNIVERSAL
It would seem, then, that if there is to be a concrete universal in African literature it must stem from a much deeper human source than any parochial view can uncover.
But Achebe doesn't say this. Rather, his concentration in on the particular alone, for he puts literature, at least his writings, in service of the need to alter specific things in specific places, especially attitudes.
It is in this context that Achebe defends the "high moral and social earnestness" of Christopher Okigbo (the Philippines' version of Graciano Lopez-Jaena) against the charge of outspokenness.
Achebe's point is that earnestness is appropriate to Okigbo's and his situation and that a certain levity would be inappropriate.
Monday, March 27, 2017
Iloilo businesses can't fire workers yet
"Labor disgraces no man; unfortunately, you occasionally find men who disgrace labor."
-- Ulysses S. Grant
By Alex P. Vidal
NEW YORK CITY -- The desire of the man is for the woman, but the desire of the woman is for the desire of the man. Thus was one of Germaine Necker de Stael-Holstein's most famous quotes.
From her detention cell, Senator Leila de Lima continued to actively participate in public discussions involving critical issues in government by distributing hand-written notes to media and other concerned agencies.
De Lima reminds us of Germaine Necker de Stael-Holstein, daughter of the French statesman Jacques Necker, whose dismissal as director of finances by Louis XVI led to the fall of the Bastille.
Like De Lima, Madame de Stael, as she was usually called, was involved in politics through her affairs with famous men, her spirited opposition to Napoleon (which earned her banishment from Paris), and her own writings.
ACTIVE
De Lima continued to fiscalize the modern Napoleon--President Rodrigo Duterte--behind bars; she is still very much active in national debates through her hard-hitting hand-written notes.
A child of the Enlightenment, de Stael saw the relation of literature and society as one of mutual influence under the presumption of "the slow but continual march of the human mind in philosophy and its rapid but interrupted progress in the arts.
In her time, de Stael saw the French Revolution produce violence, tyranny, and eventually Napoleon, whom she wrote about critically in Considerations on the Principal Events of the French Revolution (1816).
She remembers first meeting Napoleon: "...when I was somewhat recovered from the confusion of admiration, a very strong sense of fear followed."
Nevertheless, it was de Stael who years later, after Napoleon had exiled her, warned him of a plot on his life.
-o0o-
UNDER the law, Iloilo businesses aren't supposed to lay off workers if the reason is primarily to cushion the impact of the new wage increase, which took effect on March 16.
If the wage increase is under appeal, business establishments can't fire their employees yet.
Iloilo Business Club (IBC) Executive Director Lea Lara reportedly considered as a "heavy burden to businesses" the P15 to P25 daily minimum wage increase for private sector workers in Western Visayas and Negros Occidental.
The National Wages and Productivity Commission (NWPC) has approved Wage Order No. 23, which was submitted by the Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board (RTWPB-6) to the commission on Feb. 15, as announced the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE-6) on March 1.
Because of this, the only way to cut costs and to survive is for employers to lay off at least two in every 10 employees mostly in service-related businesses, Lara stressed.
In the same breath, Lara disclosed that Iloilo businessmen filed an appeal before the RTWPB-6 on March 10.
MANDATORY
Under the law, it shall be mandatory for the Commission to decide such appeal within sixty calendar days from the filing thereof.
From March 10, sixty calendar days falls on June 9, 2017.
Art. 123 on Wage Order on DOLE's Conditions of Employment states, to wit: "The filing of the appeal does not stay the order unless the person appealing such order shall file with the Commission, an undertaking with a surety or sureties satisfactory to the Commission for the payment to the employees affected by the order of the corresponding increase, in the event such order is affirmed. (As amended by Republic Act No. 6727, June 9, 1989)"
During the public hearings and consultations, representatives from the workers and the Iloilo businesses had all the chances to demand from the Regional Board to consider some relevant factors in the determination of such regional minimum wages.
These are: The demand for living wages; wage adjustment vis-à-vis the consumer price index; the cost of living and changes or increases therein; the needs of workers and their families.
Also, the need to induce industries to invest in the countryside; improvements in standards of living; the prevailing wage levels; fair return of the capital invested and capacity to pay of employers; effects on employment generation and family income; and the equitable distribution of income and wealth along the imperatives of economic and social development.
-- Ulysses S. Grant
By Alex P. Vidal
NEW YORK CITY -- The desire of the man is for the woman, but the desire of the woman is for the desire of the man. Thus was one of Germaine Necker de Stael-Holstein's most famous quotes.
From her detention cell, Senator Leila de Lima continued to actively participate in public discussions involving critical issues in government by distributing hand-written notes to media and other concerned agencies.
De Lima reminds us of Germaine Necker de Stael-Holstein, daughter of the French statesman Jacques Necker, whose dismissal as director of finances by Louis XVI led to the fall of the Bastille.
Like De Lima, Madame de Stael, as she was usually called, was involved in politics through her affairs with famous men, her spirited opposition to Napoleon (which earned her banishment from Paris), and her own writings.
ACTIVE
De Lima continued to fiscalize the modern Napoleon--President Rodrigo Duterte--behind bars; she is still very much active in national debates through her hard-hitting hand-written notes.
A child of the Enlightenment, de Stael saw the relation of literature and society as one of mutual influence under the presumption of "the slow but continual march of the human mind in philosophy and its rapid but interrupted progress in the arts.
In her time, de Stael saw the French Revolution produce violence, tyranny, and eventually Napoleon, whom she wrote about critically in Considerations on the Principal Events of the French Revolution (1816).
She remembers first meeting Napoleon: "...when I was somewhat recovered from the confusion of admiration, a very strong sense of fear followed."
Nevertheless, it was de Stael who years later, after Napoleon had exiled her, warned him of a plot on his life.
-o0o-
UNDER the law, Iloilo businesses aren't supposed to lay off workers if the reason is primarily to cushion the impact of the new wage increase, which took effect on March 16.
If the wage increase is under appeal, business establishments can't fire their employees yet.
Iloilo Business Club (IBC) Executive Director Lea Lara reportedly considered as a "heavy burden to businesses" the P15 to P25 daily minimum wage increase for private sector workers in Western Visayas and Negros Occidental.
The National Wages and Productivity Commission (NWPC) has approved Wage Order No. 23, which was submitted by the Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board (RTWPB-6) to the commission on Feb. 15, as announced the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE-6) on March 1.
Because of this, the only way to cut costs and to survive is for employers to lay off at least two in every 10 employees mostly in service-related businesses, Lara stressed.
In the same breath, Lara disclosed that Iloilo businessmen filed an appeal before the RTWPB-6 on March 10.
MANDATORY
Under the law, it shall be mandatory for the Commission to decide such appeal within sixty calendar days from the filing thereof.
From March 10, sixty calendar days falls on June 9, 2017.
Art. 123 on Wage Order on DOLE's Conditions of Employment states, to wit: "The filing of the appeal does not stay the order unless the person appealing such order shall file with the Commission, an undertaking with a surety or sureties satisfactory to the Commission for the payment to the employees affected by the order of the corresponding increase, in the event such order is affirmed. (As amended by Republic Act No. 6727, June 9, 1989)"
During the public hearings and consultations, representatives from the workers and the Iloilo businesses had all the chances to demand from the Regional Board to consider some relevant factors in the determination of such regional minimum wages.
These are: The demand for living wages; wage adjustment vis-à-vis the consumer price index; the cost of living and changes or increases therein; the needs of workers and their families.
Also, the need to induce industries to invest in the countryside; improvements in standards of living; the prevailing wage levels; fair return of the capital invested and capacity to pay of employers; effects on employment generation and family income; and the equitable distribution of income and wealth along the imperatives of economic and social development.
Google it, kapitan
"Social media is not about the exploitation of technology but service to community."
-- Simon Mainwaring
By Alex P. Vidal
NEW YORK CITY -- We won't be surprised if President Rodrigo Duterte will next invite detained Senator Leila de Lima to dinner after Vice President Leni Robredo.
The President might also invite in the future his chief critic, Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV, and all those who have tasted real terror from his cussing and threats.
It's another story if they accept the invitation.
After all, Judas dined with Jesus. Voltaire had a sumptuous meal with Catherine the Great.
The President has always been unpredictable.
Let's give him the benefit of the doubt.
The right had accused him of siding with the left when he allegedly made a "sweetheart deal" with Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) founder Jose Ma. Sison during the campaign period.
But when President Duterte terminated the peace talks with the rebels, their doubts about his being a pro-communist were gone.
-o0o-
LEADERS of the smallest political unit in the Philippines are in the news nowadays now that there is a proposal that instead of electing them in October, President Rodrigo Duterte intends to just appoint 340,000 of them nationwide.
The number includes both the village chiefs or barangay chairs and council members.
The proposed appointment process is facing major legal obstacles, but whether they will be appointed or elected, it's certain, barring unforeseen circumstances, that we will have new or reelected barangay leaders before end of the year.
We suggest to all those aspiring to become village chiefs to at least study the rudiments of technology.
It may not be mandatory for them to have college degrees, but in this age, they have to be at least technology-literate. Especially those living in urban areas.
Everything is now operated by technology -- communication, transportation, monitoring systems, financial transactions, among other basic necessities and services.
They can expedite their transactions and important messages to their constituents, their mayors, and the police if they are updated with the latest wonders of technology.
SERVICES
Our village leaders will be left behind--and basic services will be delayed and stymied--if they don't even know how to use or operate a smartphone, a mobile phone that performs many of the functions of a computer, typically having a touchscreen interface, Internet access, and an operating system capable of running downloaded applications.
There are instances when village officials can't immediately rely on their secretaries like when a visitor suddenly goes directly to them to inquire about some important information.
With the use of Google in their laptops, tablets, or mobile gadgets, the matter is addressed with alacrity and dispatch.
It's understandable though that there are incumbent village officials in far-flung barangays, or in places with no electricity and concrete roads, who haven't even touched a computer.
-- Simon Mainwaring
By Alex P. Vidal
NEW YORK CITY -- We won't be surprised if President Rodrigo Duterte will next invite detained Senator Leila de Lima to dinner after Vice President Leni Robredo.
The President might also invite in the future his chief critic, Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV, and all those who have tasted real terror from his cussing and threats.
It's another story if they accept the invitation.
After all, Judas dined with Jesus. Voltaire had a sumptuous meal with Catherine the Great.
The President has always been unpredictable.
Let's give him the benefit of the doubt.
The right had accused him of siding with the left when he allegedly made a "sweetheart deal" with Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) founder Jose Ma. Sison during the campaign period.
But when President Duterte terminated the peace talks with the rebels, their doubts about his being a pro-communist were gone.
-o0o-
LEADERS of the smallest political unit in the Philippines are in the news nowadays now that there is a proposal that instead of electing them in October, President Rodrigo Duterte intends to just appoint 340,000 of them nationwide.
The number includes both the village chiefs or barangay chairs and council members.
The proposed appointment process is facing major legal obstacles, but whether they will be appointed or elected, it's certain, barring unforeseen circumstances, that we will have new or reelected barangay leaders before end of the year.
We suggest to all those aspiring to become village chiefs to at least study the rudiments of technology.
It may not be mandatory for them to have college degrees, but in this age, they have to be at least technology-literate. Especially those living in urban areas.
Everything is now operated by technology -- communication, transportation, monitoring systems, financial transactions, among other basic necessities and services.
They can expedite their transactions and important messages to their constituents, their mayors, and the police if they are updated with the latest wonders of technology.
SERVICES
Our village leaders will be left behind--and basic services will be delayed and stymied--if they don't even know how to use or operate a smartphone, a mobile phone that performs many of the functions of a computer, typically having a touchscreen interface, Internet access, and an operating system capable of running downloaded applications.
There are instances when village officials can't immediately rely on their secretaries like when a visitor suddenly goes directly to them to inquire about some important information.
With the use of Google in their laptops, tablets, or mobile gadgets, the matter is addressed with alacrity and dispatch.
It's understandable though that there are incumbent village officials in far-flung barangays, or in places with no electricity and concrete roads, who haven't even touched a computer.
Sunday, March 26, 2017
Alex P. Vidal Quotes (Mother)
Never marry a man who hates his mother, because he’ll end up hating you.
--JILL BENNET :
Only a freak will hate his mother. It’s better to marry a toothless comedian or a cross-eyed circus hooligan than to risk your future sleeping with a freak.
--ALEX P. VIDAL
--JILL BENNET :
Only a freak will hate his mother. It’s better to marry a toothless comedian or a cross-eyed circus hooligan than to risk your future sleeping with a freak.
--ALEX P. VIDAL
Alex P. Vidal Quotes (Communication)
I wish people who have trouble communicating would just shut up.
-- TOM LEHRER :
Without saying anything, nobody will notice our stupidity.
-- ALEX P. VIDAL
-- TOM LEHRER :
Without saying anything, nobody will notice our stupidity.
-- ALEX P. VIDAL
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