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LINK: ‘Note Verbale‘, Manila Times (Sunday-Career Section) – 4 May 2008 

With the age of information technology at the center stage of human interaction, there is an emerging global consensus for collaboration in providing access to learning and knowledge and developing a wide range of educational resources in cyberspace that are free and open for everyone to use outside of the traditional models. It is referred to as ‘open education’.

The Cape Town Open Education Declaration in September 2007 and now signed by over 1,500 individuals and more than 150 organizations all over the world urges educators and learners participation in the open education movement, and the promotion of open education resources and open education policies.

Open education operates on different framework from open university, e-learning, open content to wikis, e-books, legal commons or open coursewares. And these methods are not necessarily mutually exclusive.

Sir John Daniel, President and CEO of the Commonwealth of Learning (COL), in a speech before the William Flora Hewlett Foundation Grantees Meeting in a symposium on Open Learning Interplay at the Carnegie Mellon University on March 12, 2008 said:

“Open education broke open the iron triangle of access, cost and quality that had constrained education throughout history and had created the insidious assumption, still prevalent today, that in education you cannot have quality without exclusivity.”

“Open as to people, open as to places, open as to methods, and open as to ideas. That is a good framework to think about open education.” quoting and paraphrasing a 1969 address of ‘The Economist’ editor, Geoffrey Crowther, an early advocate of open education whose speech was still probably written in a typewriter.

In the first forum dubbed as “Open Education: Are we ready and where are we?” held on April 23, 2008, the Philippine Commons and the e-Law Center of the Arellano University School of Law advanced the idea that ‘open education’ should refer to any scholarly, academic or guided initiative that promotes access to learning and knowledge in a free, open and collaborative environment using the tools and infrastructure of information technology.

Open education is an initiative whose time has come.

In the words of Kristine Mandigma, editor-in-chief of Vibal Foundation: “In leading economies technology and knowledge are the critical factors of economic growth.” She emphasized though that innovation is the key.

Greg Moreno of Bayanihan Books believes that open education would eventually fill the gaps in the educational system as technology attempts to address the issue of content quality and commercial viability.

Lawyer Michael Vernon Guerrero of Philippine Commons submits that open education empowers people. He thinks that open content is the first step toward collaboration as international endeavors in this respect continue to grow, develop and mature.

Miriam Coprado of the Department of Education shares the view that while government continues to pursue the integration of information technology in the educational system, the contribution of the private sector remains a most important element.

But the societal significance of open education was best expressed by Siegfried Herzog, resident representative of the Friedrich Naumann Foundation in the Philippines, during the forum when he said:

“Remember, knowledge is power. Whenever access to knowledge is restricted, there is an issue of power behind it – a ruling elite will control knowledge in order to maintain power. If we truly believe that power should be vested in people, not in elites, anything that increases access to knowledge and deepening of knowledge is welcome. Open education is thus not just a nifty tool to enhance skills. It is a way to build a freer society.”    

Certainly, open education empowers because it is built upon a platform of collaboration, equal opportunities, and open access to knowledge that could shift the paradigm of conventional educational systems that are perceived to be discriminating.

LINK: ‘Note Verbale’, Manila Times (Sunday-Career Times) – 27 April 2008 Issue

In romance, they say that the easiest way to a man’s heart is through his stomach. And in the life of a nation, the idea is equally true. Depriving the people of the food on their table is a concededly a threat to national security.

For several weeks, news reports on the inevitable rice crisis and the constant rise in the prices of basic food commodities have been persistent. If there is any consolation at all, this country is not alone.

Experts note that the world is actually facing a food crisis that could reach a boiling point. In Haiti for instance, people held angry and violent protests against their government because of soaring food prices and cost of living.

In a recent survey, pollster Pulse Asia revealed that 71 percent of Filipinos consider themselves as poor, with two out of every three Filipinos believing that the economy has deteriorated in the last three years despite the phenomenal economic growth being proclaimed by the government.

Something is obviously wrong with the country’s food production policies. It begins with the lack of serious national land use plan where certain areas would be deemed as protected areas devoted solely for food production. Any agricultural land is expected to give way to the demand of commercialization, industrialization and urbanization at any time. The economic prosperity of localities especially in rural areas is seldom measured in terms of bountiful food production. Lands are better left idle because landowners still gain from speculative pricing. And even with the introduction of the agrarian reform program, lands are still under the control of a few.

Hardly would this country find among the ranks of the youth who would be interested or attracted to pursue a career in agriculture. Students would rather pursue a course or a skill that would land them a job overseas at once. It is difficult to expect children of farmers to carry on the same tasks. But in a country highly populated by young people totally disinterested in farming, who would be expected to take care of producing the food on their table in the future?

It is indeed a Herculean task to convince the youth of today to become farmers. Typical farmers here are typecast as being poor. Typical farming, next to begging perhaps, is the last alternative for economic survival. Every small farmer is imposed the burden of finding viable support for farm inputs, credit facilities, fiscal incentives, support services, and against unfair competition and trade. There is no reason therefore to blame the Filipino youth for not looking at farming as an option for their future. These are just among the problems, there are more.

But despite the gloomy state of agriculture, the country is still fortunate for its very rich natural resources. Even at this time when the country is stricken with hunger, the food shortage is apparently not yet the result of inadequate food supply but the affordability of food on the table of many Filipinos. This is due to the unrelenting escalation in prices of staple food, basic commodities, and fuel prices when family income remains the same. Raising wages to cope up with rising prices would drive prices higher. Prices need to be raised because capitalists need to protect their profits.

The root of the problem that drives the vast majority of Filipinos to forced starvation is the systemic uneven distribution of wealth, with the rich getting richer and the poor becoming poorer, and not the adequacy of food production or supply.

For instance, people line up for their daily rice requirements to partake of government supply not because there is no rice in the market but because the price government offers is the only rice that they could afford. It is a case where people get hungry because they could not afford their family requirements within the limits of their earnings.

It is easier for people to understand and sacrifice if the earth no longer produces the food that they need because everyone is similarly situated. But in a situation where starvation is forced because people do not have the wherewithal, a social volcano is just waiting to break loose.

LINK: ‘Note Verbale’, Manila Times (Sunday-Career Times) – 24 February 2008 Issue

Tomorrow is the 22nd anniversary of the so-called ‘people power 1’ that toppled the authoritarian regime of former president Ferdinand E. Marcos and brought the country from a brief revolutionary regime to a constitutional democracy. Certainly, it was a fine moment in human history that the country can be proud of.

More than seven years ago, the strong political clamor to remove former president Joseph E. Estrada on charges of corruption gave rise to ‘people power 2’. Following a constitutionally-defined succession in which the Supreme Court gave its stamp of approval, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo assumed the post of chief executive.

While both versions of people power are being held in high esteem by the international community for the bloodless takeover of political regimes, there is no dispute that they would have not succeeded without military intervention. People power 1 and 2 were peaceful and bloodless because the top guns of the military hierarchy chose to shift loyalties to a new regime.

The sad reality is that no amount of public expression and demonstration of protest and condemnation even by a majority of the citizenry would topple a political regime without military intervention. Political leaders are naturally driven by the desire to preserve authority and power until all the avenues are closed, which only the armed forces could bring about.

Take the case of the ensuing ‘people power 3’ to restore the Estrada presidency. It failed not because it had no popular support, as in fact, Estrada obtained the most convincing and strongest mandate of the electorate in the country’s history when he got elected to the office. It failed because former president Estrada no longer had the organized support of the military generals.

In the current political controversy hounding the administration of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, the shifting of loyalties of the military hierarchy seems close to impossible. The commander-in-chief is astute enough to make the military leadership tow her line. Should the disgruntled junior officers in the military establishment decide to take matters in their hands, ‘people power 4’ would certainly be bloody and does not deserve to be called one. It would either be a rebellion, a mutiny or a coup d’etat.

The only constitutional mechanism to replace a president who betrayed public trust is the process of impeachment. But then again, this political process would not have any chance to even take off because of the president’s political dominance of the House of Representatives.

The church is calling for a ‘communal action’ or for a more meaningful or a new brand of ‘people power’ whatever that means. Certainly, street demonstrations, prayer rallies, and similar expressions of public protests would not bring about a new brand of ‘people power 4’ and make President Arroyo give up her office, even if the cardinals and the bishops are able to physically gather a million Filipinos in Luneta to call for her resignation.  The minions of the president have mastered so well the Machiavellian art of ‘divide and rule’.

For people power 4 to succeed in the same context as people power 1 and 2, but without the usual military interference, there must be some collective political will on the part of Filipinos to show that they are the sovereign authority. This could be done perhaps by momentarily withholding government support in the form of taxes, or by exercising the framework of people’s initiative to constitutionally shorten the term of the incumbent president, or a mass resignation or leave of absence of government servants who still upholds morality in public service. All these would be done only to put pressure to the president to resign and allow the constitutional processes to take shape. But obviously these are arduous paths to take.

In the meantime, a long-drawn-out political deadlock is in the offing. This means some setback in the economy and some political instability and maneuverings here and there. The Filipino people need to sacrifice more in the ensuing tug-of-war because whoever of the opposing camps blinks first loses the game.

If there is still a chance for ‘people power 4’, it should be within the constitutional spirit that sovereignty resides in the people and all government authority emanates from them. Otherwise, people power 4 could be tragic.

LINK: ‘Note Verbale’, Manila Times (Sunday-Career Times) – 17 February 2008 Issue

In October 1918, former Manila Mayor Justo Lukban, with all the best intentions to rid the city of vices, ordered the segregation of some one hundred seventy women of ill repute and made them board two steamers, without their knowledge and consent, so they could be relocated to Davao.

In a habeas corpus petition, the Supreme Court did not “permit a government of the men instead of a government of laws” to be set up in this country. And this was the gist of the landmark case of Villavicencio vs. Lukban decided almost ninety years ago.

In the present state of political turmoil brought about by accusations of corruption involving high officials in government both the accused and their accusers cry for the rule of law, not trial by publicity and subsequently conviction by public opinion.

As citizens of this Republic, shenanigans in government are also entitled to the mantle of protection of the Bill of Rights. And this is what the rule of law is all about because like any malefactor, they are also presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.

In refusing to testify again before the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee on the controversial ZTE-NBN deal, Secretary Romulo Neri publicly invokes the rule of law especially after the Supreme Court granted him a reprieve from arrest. For his part, former Commission on Elections Chairman Benjamin Abalos challenged his accusers to hail him before the courts and prove their accusations. Critics of whistle-blowers and star witnesses, Rodolfo Lozada Jr. and Jose de Venecia III contend that no evidence has been presented thus far sufficient to convict those involved in the anomalous transaction.  Every one knows that a criminal conviction requires proof beyond reasonable doubt. Again, this is what the rule of law is all about.

Obviously, these legal standards have found their way in the country’s Bill of Rights and legal system because they are intended to safeguard individual liberties, particularly of ordinary citizens, from the enormous powers of the State. In the same token, public officials and employees proclaimed as servants of the people are entitled to the same mantle of protection.

The dilemma is ordinary folks are not similarly situated as public functionaries although they enjoy equal protection in the eyes of the law.

The rights of ordinary citizens to the secrecy of bank deposits or against any intrusion on privacy like wire-tapping or to invoke privilege communications in certain cases or not to be bound by certain evidences that are part of the ‘poisonous tree’, so to speak, are part of the processes to guarantee individual freedom, which the government could easily abuse.

But it is in a sense an irony of the rule of law if the same legal standards, system and processes are equally applied to public servants because the chance of getting them caught and convicted of their misdeeds becomes a mere fairy tale depending on the scale of the conspiracy and the level of official position they occupy. Sheer cover up, the ‘old-boys’ club’ attitude, and plain blind loyalties and obedience to powerful and influential men in government would make it almost impossible to convict government felons of grand corruption beyond reasonable doubt. And so they remain scot-free and continue to perpetuate themselves in power.

Thus, the rule of law intended to guarantee the rights of Juan de la Cruz could be the same rule of law that gives unscrupulous public officials the cloak of legal protection, perhaps just a strand short of immunity from legal prosecution.

It is easy to understand why a high position in government is a most coveted job. It is the easiest route to power, fame and wealth without the usual investment, except whom you know coupled with the willingness to cooperate.

In the Villavicencio case, the Supreme Court said that “Law defines power”. It was certainly decreed in 1919 in the context that this country is a government of laws and not of men. But nowadays the same statement could assume another import, in the negative sense.

Is there any other viable alternative to the bar of public opinion in a situation called the misrule of law?

LINK: ‘Note Verbale’, Manila Times (Sunday-Career Times) – 10 February 2008 Issue

In spilling some beans against the government in a privilege speech on February 4 prior to his ouster as Speaker of the House of Representatives engineered by no less than his own party mates, the motive, integrity and credibility of Jose De Venecia Jr. are suspect.

During his testimony in the on-going investigation of the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee on the controversial ZTE-NBN deal four days later, Rodolfo Lozada Jr. was grilled by Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago on what seemed to appear as his illicit activities while acting as head of the government-owned Philippine Forest Corporation.  And this also put his integrity and credibility to test.

In the law profession, impeaching the credibility of a witness is a usual line of defense to defeat the introduction, admissibility, or acceptability of testimonial evidence or simply to dilute its competence. Questions on credibility normally revolve around motive and reputation of the witness.

As it has been in the past, impeaching the credibility of De Venecia and Lozada would obviously be the official government course to defend itself from their expose of corruption. At the end of the day, every accusation should be judged in terms of credibility and motive, not on the basis of what is the truth.

It is as if only saints have the capacity to tell the truth. If this is so, there is surely no chance for truth to ever surface. The reality in today’s world is that no one can claim with all honesty that he or she has lived a clean life through and through. No one is spotless. It is even a big lie for one to even say that he or she has never lied.

But assuming just for the sake of arguments that there are still people who live a life of righteousness who could stand on his or her own credibility and integrity, the problem is for sure they would never be a part or participate in any illicit or immoral acts. And they would never be in the situation where De Venecia, Lozada and other whistle-blowers are in right now in the first place. Apparently, it takes one to know one.

The whole point is that sinners also have the capacity and opportunity for greatness.

Many great men in history had their own share of scandals and ill-reputation but they changed the course of history because at one point in their lives they decided to do the right thing regardless of the risk involved.

De Venecia may have all the evil motives to bring down the current regime of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo as a form of political retaliation. Never mind the motive. What is important is for the Filipino people to know the truth and nothing but the truth. 

Lozada may not be exactly clean when as per his admission during the Senate inquiry that as far as he is concerned there is such a thing for him as ‘permissible zone’ of corruption. Never mind if he used to condone malfeasance or used to be a part of it. What is important again is for the Filipino people to know the truth and nothing but the truth.

No one exactly knows where these confessions of De Venecia and Lozada would go.  Perhaps like any other scandals and investigations, they will just remain as news of today in the coming weeks and months, and simply forgotten in the pages of the country’s history.

De Venecia and Lozada, regardless whether their acts and motives are mere acts of personal survival or mere acts of heroism as Senator Gregorio B. Honasan would put it, have the opportunity for greatness.

What is not sure is whether the Filipino people would take the same opportunity for themselves, for their country, and for the next generation.

A person in contemplation of death may execute his own will, without need of lawyer’s assistance and the other formalities of a testament provided it is entirely written, dated and signed by the hand of the testator himself [Art. 810]. Under the Civil Code of the Philippines (R. A. 386 – approved: 18 June 1949), this is known as ‘holographic will’. It is subject to no other form, may be made in or out of the Philippines, and need not be witnessed.

LINK: ‘Note Verbale‘, Manila Times (Sunday-Career Section) - 27 January 2008 Issue

The congressional proceedings on the cheaper medicine bill are in the final stages. The deliberations on the measure have been controversial, if not emotional, among the stakeholders since last year. The primary objective of the proposed law is to address the popular clamor for a more affordable health care by bringing down the exorbitant costs or the overpricing of medicines in the market.

Understandably, every time government is confronted with a pressing public demand the usual response is to come up with a law to respond or as a political reaction to the issue. Fortunately for the government, the cacophony would subside momentarily. But unfortunately to the public, the predicament almost always remains unresolved. Ironically, the law in many situations consequently aggravates the issue or becomes the source of a much bigger concern.

One of the promises of the proponents of the Generics Act of 1988 was to accomplish almost the same purpose as the cheaper medicine bill. Two decades after this law, the Filipino people are still suffering from same much higher prices of medicines.

Ten years ago, Congress passed the Downstream Oil Deregulation Act of 1998. The promise is to ensure a truly competitive market under a regime of fair prices, adequate and continuous supply of environmentally-clean and high-quality petroleum products.  Price control of fuel products, which have been blamed by some quarters for higher prices, became deregulated. But still, fuel prices are unreasonably high and worse, oil companies are accused of predatory pricing under a monopolistic arrangements disguising as deregulation.

Overseas Filipino worker Flor R. Contemplacion was executed in Singapore for the murder of another Filipino domestic helper. In response to the weeks of consistent public protests over the issue and the plight of Filipino workers abroad, former President Fidel V. Ramos pushed for the passage of the Migrant Workers and Overseas Filipinos Act of 1995. The promise was to reform the overseas employment industry, provide better protection to the overseas workers, and pursue a state policy of deregulation. Twelve years after, another law was passed setting aside the deregulation policy and still the victims of illegal recruitment and exploitation continue to grow in number.

In 1989, the Magna Carta for Countryside and Barangay Business Enterprises (Kalakalan 20) was passed by Congress. In 2002, an almost similar law was also enacted called the Barangay Micro Business Enterprises Act. The promise of both statutes is to promote entrepreneurship outside of urban centers by providing a package of tax and credit incentives, simplifying business regulations, and hopefully, to ease poverty and unemployment. Judging from the almost a million Filipinos seeking employment abroad in last couple of years, it is doubtful whether these programs even got off the ground.

Time and time again, government professes that foreign investments are needed to spur economic growth. But even all the packages of government incentives accorded by various laws to foreign investors did not seem to really attract them. Otherwise, this country would not be talking now about poor economic conditions and President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo would not be breaking her back campaigning to foreign businessmen that the Philippines is an ideal haven for their investments.

Twenty years ago, landless farmers and farm workers were promised a more equitable distribution and ownership of lands through the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law of 1988. With the law about to expire in June 30 and Congress talking about its extension, farmers remain poor and locked in a tug-of-war with landowners.

Labor’s demand for higher wages and the turtle pace legislative reaction brought about the Wage Rationalization Act of 1989. But the nagging issue on minimum wage fixing and implementation before the enactment of said law remains.

Other countries should envy the Philippines for having one of the best Government Procurement Reform Act, Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees, and Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act in the world. But corruption in government is a never-ending story.

And the list of these “false hope statutes” could be never ending.

As in most regimes, government’s stance to public issues is always reactive. Good, if the reaction provides the appropriate and lasting solution. What is worse is if the reaction simply offers a false hope.  

Sometimes it is a source of wonder why government still exists.

LINK: ‘Note Verbale’, Manila Times (Sunday-Career Times) – 13 January 2008 Issue

 There is probably no mass media technology that could compete with cyberspace in terms of propagating and circulating ideas and human expressions. The Internet is now the leading repository of music, video, photographs, live journals, books, presentations, documents, and other forms of artistic, literary, educational and even scientific creations.

The existing copyright regime applies, and provides legal protection, to this intellectual property works expressed in digital form. The arrangement is of course perfect especially so that in many countries copyright attaches to the work from the moment of creation. But this legal safeguard could also stifle creativity, public exposure, and in a sense impose some restraint on the creator’s freedom of choice particularly on the manner on how the netizens could use, exploit or distribute the work. And this is what Creative Commons seeks to address.

Creative Commons, a non-stock, non-profit global movement of prestigious organizations and stakeholders now existing in more than fifty countries, provides free tools that let authors, scientists, artists, and educators easily mark their creative work with the freedoms they want it to carry. They can use CC to change copyright terms from “All Rights Reserved” to “Some Rights Reserved”.

Creative Commons is not anti-copyright. On the contrary, it is based on, and works within the framework of, copyright and recognizes that every intellectual creation in the digital world is entitled to both legal and moral respect.

Certainly, Creative Commons does not deny the commercial use or distribution of works. Come to think of it, it can even open up better avenues for subsequent commercial opportunities.

Pure and simple, what Creative Commons provides the authors, artists, educators, and scientists is the option, to let the world knows exactly how they want their works or creations used, distributed or even exploited, as a legal alternative to the default regime called copyright. In short, Creative Commons is all about freedom, promoting free culture and knowledge sharing.

While copyright principles are almost uniform in every country that recognizes it since the 1886 Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works, some of its terms still vary.  Thus, Creative Commons embarked on porting its licenses in each country affiliated with it to make sure that local CC licenses conform to domestic copyright laws.

In the Philippines, this author is the legal and public lead of the project jurisdiction with the Arellano University School of Law, through its e-Law Center, as the lead public institution.

The country has successfully ported its local Creative Commons license last December 15, 2007 and is now available for pinoynetizens to use.

Tomorrow, January 14, the Arellano Law School will hold the official public launching of Creative Commons – Philippines and its ported licenses. The launch will be preceded by open sessions on free and open source software and e-learning. The event will be capped with a CC-PH concert featuring local bands and the Arellano Law Singers, who will perform their original works under a Creative Commons license.

Artists, educators, scientists, authors, bloggers and creators of works who use the Internet as a medium may now avail of the Creative Commons Philippines License Version 3.0 by visiting the website – http://www.creativecommons.org/ or http://www.philippinecommons.org/, and there they can choose their option or freedom.

With Creative Commons, it is perfectly legal to share, remix and share.

LINK: ‘Note Verbale‘, Manila Times (Sunday-Career Section) - 28 October 2007 Issue

Pending before the Philippine Senate for ratification is the Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement (JPEPA).

In general terms, the highlights of this agreement between the two countries include: (1) the elimination or comprehensive reduction of tariffs of industrial, agricultural, forestry and fishery products, (2) the facilitation of trade through simplification and harmonization of customs procedures and effective enforcement of measures against smuggling, (3) the liberalization of specific service sectors consistent, (4) the inclusion of provisions on protection of investment, national treatment, most-favored nation treatment and performance requirement prohibitions specifying all exceptions to these provisions, (5) the promotion of bilateral cooperation in human resource development, financial services, information and communications technology, energy and environment, science and technology, trade and investment promotions, small and medium enterprises, tourism, and transportation, (6) the enhancement of cooperation, protection and enforcement of intellectual property, (7) addressing anti-competition policies, (8)  facilitating trade in electrical products through a subsequent provision on mutual recognition, and (9) setting-up of a framework for consultation to further promote bilateral trade, investments and improvement of business environment in both countries.

In addition, JPEPA under the provisions on the “movement of natural persons” would allow the entry of qualified Filipino nurses and certified care workers to Japan. And this is seen or perceived by many as one of the immediate and significant benefits of the treaty because it would provide employment opportunities to Filipino health care professionals in lieu of the traduced export of Filipina entertainers to the “land of the rising sun”.

The demand for employment is backed up by statistics on Japan’s ageing population that necessitates the services of an estimated 7.5 million health care workers by 2010. 

The Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA), in supporting the agreement, pointed out that there is a ready pool of Filipino health professionals who could fill the prospect of the Japanese market, with the country’s nursing schools producing at least 950,000 graduates yearly and with the current registry of 22,580 certified care workers, 57 percent of whom are college graduates. This seems to imply that the country has excess supply of nurses and care workers readily available for overseas employment.

In his presentation entitled “Philippines: The Challenge of Managing Migration, Retention and Return of Health Professionals”, UP College of Medicine Professor Jaime Z. Galvez Tan cited recent studies showing that 85 percent of all the Filipino nurses are already working abroad in at least forty six countries, thereby making the country as the number one exporter of nurses to the world. For lack of nurses and doctors, at least a thousand hospitals have closed, fully or partially, as of November 2005. The nurse-to-patient ratio in provincial and district hospitals now stands at 1:40 and 1:60. The proportion of Filipinos dying without medical attention has reverted back to its 1975 levels of 70 percent of deaths unattended during the height of nursing migration in the year 2002-2003. 

If the health care in Japan is alarming, it is worsening for the Philippines.

The phenomenon that many Filipinos, young and old, are lured into taking up courses in health care is actually driven by global demand and therefore motivated by the prospects of economic emancipation that is wanting in the country. Oversupply is thus an overstatement.

Through the JPEPA Filipino nurses and care workers would be allowed entry in Japan and work there up to three to four years but only after completing a language training and passing the Japanese national licensure examinations obviously in Japanese. For the Filipino professionals, this means additional burden in terms of time and resources that would make Japan as a less attractive destination for them. The argument therefore that the employment benefits under the JPEPA are immediate and significant could either be a hoax or imaginary.

Perhaps, it would serve the country better if government was able to negotiate with Japan for foreign employment opportunities that would not jeopardize and compromise the national interest.

LINK: ‘Note Verbale‘, Manila Times (Sunday-Career Section) - 7 October 2007 Issue

Moringa oleifera is the scientific name of ‘malunggay’ in the Filipino vernacular. It is also commonly known in the English language as the ben oil tree, the horseradish tree, or the drumstick tree.

For those not in the know, malunggay is an exceptionally nutritious vegetable tree and is considered as one of the world’s most useful trees. It grows best in dry sandy soil although it can survive even in poor soil and coastal areas. It is drought resistant and fast growing. Almost every part of the malunggay tree has its own share of usefulness and value.

Malunggay leaves, flowers and pods can be eaten as a vegetable. They have been proven as a good source of nutrition – seven times more potent than the Vitamin C found in oranges, four times the Vitamin A in carrots, three times the iron of spinach, four times the calcium in milk, and three times the potassium of bananas. Pounded up, the leaves can even be used for scrubbing utensils and cleaning surfaces.

They say that various laboratory researches have confirmed that malunggay is a natural energy booster, strengthens the immune system, has antibiotic properties, cures headaches, migraines and ulcers, reduces arthritic pains and inflammations, and restricted tumor growths.

Malunggay flowers boiled with soy milk have always been thought to have aphrodisiac quality. News reports say that studies of the Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI) showed that a steady diet of the malunggay fruit boosts the sperm count of men which improves their chances of fertilizing an egg.

The Los Angeles Times, quoting health book author, Sanford Hoist, reported that “Scientifically speaking, Moringa sounds like magic. It can rebuild weak bones, enrich anemic blood and enable a malnourished mother to nurse her starving baby. Doctors use it to treat diabetes in West Africa and high blood pressure in India…”

Its oil, also known as the ben oil extracted from flowers can be used as illuminant, ointment base, and to lubricate fine mechanics like clocks. For thousands of years, this oil has been used as a perfume base. They say that the ben oil can also be used as a fuel because it “burns with a clear light and without smoke”, according to J. H. Burkill in his 1966 work: “A Dictionary of Economic Products of the Malay Peninsula”.

Malunggay can also detoxify the body given its ability to purify water by attaching itself to impurities and harmful bacteria and allowing them to be expelled as a waste. “The result is long-lasting energy without hyperactivity…a nerve system at rest…a blood system not under pressure…a gland and hormone system in balance”, declared Hoist.

There is a growing global interest in the use of malunggay to address malnutrition because it is readily available and inexpensive. In Africa, it has become popular as a locally produced nutritional supplement for individuals infected with the HIV/AIDS virus. Nursing mothers have shown to produce far more milk and malnourished children gained more weight after the leaves were added to their diets.

Aware of its nutritional and medicinal benefits, India is notably the largest producer of malunggay. India’s ancient system of health care, ayurveda, believes that the malunggay leaves prevent at least three hundred diseases, which fact they say is confirmed by modern science.

Last month, Senator Loren Legarda urged a public campaign for the popularization of malunggay, which she incidentally credited for her youthful look, as an inexpensive means to combat malnutrition in the country.

Malunggay trees are abundant in the Philippines. It may be high time to start a conscious and no nonsense effort to use this gift of nature to provide some wonders for every Filipino.