Being deep in thought

My column in Mindanao Daily, BusinessWeek Mindanao and Cagayan de Oro Times

OPINION

 January 16, 2020

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VERY often - sometimes too often! - the thought is back! If we wake up in the morning (or even many times in the middle of the night), the thought is back. Sometimes, the thought will not let us sleep. The "act of thinking". the "reflection", the "opinion" or the "serious consideration", no matter, how we describe it - our memory and conscience is always with us as a permanent companion.

We brood over unsettled problem. Sometimes we bear unfair treatments, arrogance, ignorance, incompetent know-it-all-betters, and unbearable oddballs, who inexorable love to make our life a hell while living themselves a disorderly life.

We would not like to be distracted, but we're toying with some good ideas how we could throw overboard all that "human garbage". What will come next is a matter of conjecture.

Of course, I've got my ideas, but I'm not a mind reader. Too many trains of thought make us thoughtless and absent-minded especially in difficult and important daily life situations.

Does waiting and/or sleeping solve our problems? Or is it just again in time? Our life's central idea should not be, that while waiting, time solves all our problems. Thoughts should intensify, condense and deepen plans follow by actions.

It's good and helpful to carry thoughts in us all the time. Incomprehensible, or better unfinished and unmatured thoughts, no matter whether positive or negative, should be slept on, before tiredness outstrips us with supersonic speed.

Sometimes, we feel that our thoughts and ideas can't be fulfilled with life. Where the heart is willing, it will find a thousand ways; but where the heart is weak, it will find a thousands excuses. If doubts begin to take roots, we should rouse from pink-tinted idealism or wear down and annihilate nightmares and erase and wipe out such thoughts and ideas.

If our thoughts are good and have the chance to be fulfilled in action, especially if "the other side" is prepared and willing to step on to such a bridge of life, we might get a support and words of encouragement.

And, if not? No action? Maybe it is God's will to keep and protect us from a careless, rash, disadvantageous and uneasy action. Every new day gives us new inexhaustible possibilities to survive, to bear trials and to start a new beginning. We overlook and fail to notice many chances in lie through our sluggishness and laziness while thinking and dreaming of unequaled and unfulfilled ideas.

Modern-Day Heroes of Taal

By JESSICA PAG-IWAYAN and JULES VIVAS, Manila Bulletin

After over four decades of dormancy, Taal Volcano started to erupt on Sunday, Jan. 12, forcing thousands of people in the Batangas province to evacuate. In response to the ongoing disaster, more and more people are coming together to help those displaced and affected by this natural catastrophe.

Three such good Samaritans are Rio John Abel, Maximino Alcantara III, both 22, and Darwin “Dudong” Lajara, 26, young men, who in what proved to be an instinct to help, braved the calamity and headed straight to an evacuation center in San Jose, Batangas to deliver some relief goods.

On their way home in the wee hours of the night, however, an accident took their lives. According to a police report, the young men’s car crashed into a trailer truck as they were driving along the national highway in Banaybanay I, San Jose, Batangas, at around 1:30 a.m., Tuesday, Jan. 14. The report tells that the Mitsubishi Lancer driven by Maximo, collided with the parked trailer truck, which was on its way through the gates of a feed mill.

YOUNG HEROES OF TAAL Rio, Darwin, and Maximo finished delivering relief goods to the victims of Taal volcano eruption, and were on their way home when they got into this tragic car accident

Rio and Maximo were proclaimed dead on the spot, while Darwin, suffering physical injuries, was rushed to the nearest hospital, but was pronounced dead the following day, Wednesday, Jan. 15. Merril Patrick Morie Cobarrubias, a close friend of these three heroes, confirmed in a phone interview.

“Napakabuting tao ng tatlong ‘to. Basta alam nilang kaya nila at may posibilidad silang tumulong kahit sa maliit na paraan hindi sila naghe-hesitate (They were really good people. They wouldn’t hesitate to help anyone if they could),” Merril tells The Manila Bulletin.

Meanwhile, Rio’s teacher, Noel Datingaling Arasula, posted a statement on social media, saying, “Mas pinili nya ang magbigay tulong sa mga nangangailangan sa oras ng gabi, sa mga taong naapektuhan dulot ng pagputok ng bulkan kesa manatili sa kanilang bahay. Kahanga-hanga ang iyong ipinakitang kabayanihan anak. (Instead of staying at home, he chose to be of aid to the people in need, in the wee hours of the night. Your courage is truly admirable)”

Their loved ones, friends, and the people they had helped are in mourning. Rio, Maximo, and Darwin and their good deeds will never be forgotten.

Grau in grau

Alles grau in grau! Nur die Kleidung der Frau und die Statue des Jesuskindes, die sie in Sicherheit trägt, bringen etwas Farbe in die Aschewelt der Provinz Batangas (Philippinen). Der seit Tagen tobende Vulkan Taal hat die ganze Gegend mit einer Decke aus Asche und Geröll überzogen, über 45000 Menschen mussten bereits ihre Häuser verlassen und flüchten.

Governor Tyron Uy set to deliver State of the Province Address on January 20

Nabunturan, Davao de Oro- Davao de Oro Governor Jayvee Tyron L. Uy is set to deliver his State of the Province Address on January 20, 2020, 1 PM at the new session hall of the Legislative Building at the Provincial Capitol Compound, Nabunturan, Davao de Oro. This is the first major event after the renaming of the province last December 7, 2019.

The governor is expected to outline the accomplishments of the provincial government under the Bayanihan 4P’s Framework, which stands for Planet (Environmental Management and Disaster Preparedness), People (Social Protection and Human Development), Prosperity (Economic Development), Peace (Peace, Justice, and Security), and Plus (Good Governance).

Governor Uy is expected to highlight the advancements of Davao de Oro, especially its rise in the business competitiveness index, its low malnutrition incidence, the ongoing campaign against illegal drugs, and many other achievements.

The governor quipped that his state of the province will adopt a simpler tone this time.

“We will deliver a report that is short, simple yet substantial. We will be more transparent. We’ll do away with glitz and glamour. We will focus on reporting on the milestones we achieved together and the things we are still yet to realize,” he said.

The State of the Province Address will be shown through Facebook. Viewing stations will be mounted in all eleven municipalities so that many can listen and access the governor’s report.

Governor Uy also mentioned that the province’s new seal and hymn will be launched on the same date as his State of the Province Address. Last year, heformed the Davao de Oro Transition Committee to lead the creation of the new corporate seal and hymn of the province.

The new name of the province was ratified overwhelmingly last December 7, 2019 in a plebiscite supervised by the Commission on Elections.(AJC, DDO Info)

Taal volcano: Lava spews as 'hazardous eruption' feared

• enger

 

A volcano in the Philippines has begun spewing lava, as authorities warn that a "hazardous eruption" is possible "within hours or days".

In the early hours of Monday weak lava began flowing out of Taal volcano - located some 70km (45 miles) south of the capital Manila.

It comes after it emitted a huge plume of ash, triggering the mass evacuation of 8,000 people from the area.

Taal is the Philippines' second most active volcano.

Situated on an island in the middle of a lake, it is one of the world's smallest volcanoes and has recorded at least 34 eruptions in the past 450 years.

Image copyrightPHIVOLCS

Image captionWeak lava has began flowing out of the Taal volcano

"Taal volcano entered a period of intense unrest... that progressed into magmatic eruption at 02:49 to 04:28... this is characterised by weak lava fountaining accompanied by thunder and flashes of lightning," the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) said in a statement.

But Phivolcs director Renato Solidum said that signs of a hazardous eruption, including "flows of ashes, rocks, gas at speeds of more than 60 kph horizontally" had not yet occurred, according to CNN Philippines.

Phivolcs has now raised the alert level from 3 to 4, out of a maximum of 5.

Authorities have also warned of a possible "volcanic tsunami", which can be trigged by falling debris after an eruption, pushing the water and generating waves.

• Taal volcano provides backdrop to wedding photos

'Covered in ash'

On Sunday, the volcano emitted a giant plume of ash, with rumbling sounds and tremors also reported.

A total of 75 earthquakes have occurred in the Taal region, with 32 of these earthquakes ranking 2 and higher on the earthquake intensity scale, said Phivolcs.

The Official United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said more than 450,000 people are estimated to live within the 14km danger zone of the Taal volcano.

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OCHA Philippines

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Over 450,000 people are estimated to be residing within the 14 km danger zone of the Taal Volcano. On 12 January, alert level 4 was raised and surrounding towns were evacuated. As of 6 a.m. today, @NDRRMC_OpCen reports that over 7,700 people are in 38 evacuation centres.

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Ash fell on several areas nearby with residents advised to wear masks. One resident in metro Manila said shops had begun to run out of masks.

"When I went to my car, I saw it was covered in ash. I hurriedly went to buy a mask from a drugstore but they had run out," Angel Bautista, a resident of Paranaque told Reuters.

The government has warned retailers not to hike mask prices amid the surging demand.

'Grey and lifeless'

By Howard Johnson, BBC News, Tagaytay, Philippines

As we approached the Taal volcano area this morning we saw local residents shovelling thick wet ash from the roads. Pineapple groves, normally verdant and luscious, now looked grey and lifeless.

In the distance Taal continued to billow ash and smoke miles into the sky. As the morning went on the ash clouds became darker.

Police manning a 14km exclusion zone stopped people from travelling into the area close to the volcano, but there was a steady flow of cars and trucks moving out.

On the back of one pick-up truck, I saw a large family with their treasured household possessions. They were moving in the direction of the Philippine capital Manila, where many people are choosing to stay with relatives.

Image copyrightAFP

Image captionCars, buildings and roads have been left covered in ash

Image copyrightEPA

Image captionEven birds have been blanketed by ashfall

The volcanic ash also forced Manila's international airport to suspend all flights on Sunday. Phivolcs had warned that the "airborne ash and ballistic fragments from the eruption... posed hazards to aircrafts".

• The popularity of volcano tourism
• The privately owned volcano that is always active
• Tsunami hazards from volcanoes 'underestimated'

The Civil Aviation Authority announced later on Monday that it had resumed "partial operations" as of 10:00 local time (02:00 GMT) for flights departing the airport and 12:00 for arrivals.

The Philippine stock exchange also announced it would halt all trading on Monday.

Image copyrightREUTERS

Image captionAsh from the Taal volcano has affected thousands of residents in nearby areas

President Rodrigo Duterte's office has also ordered the suspension of government work in Manila and the closure of all schools in the capital.

Earthquakes and volcanic activity are not uncommon in the Philippines, which lies along the Ring of Fire - a zone of major seismic activity, which has one of the world's most active fault lines.

Taal: 'A very dangerous volcano'

Image copyrightGETTY IMAGES

• The active volcano is at the centre of the 230 sq km Lake Taal, formed by prehistoric eruptions
• Taal is a "complex volcano", which means it doesn't have one vent or cone but several eruption points that have changed over time
• The head of Phivolcs calls Taal "a volcano within a volcano" and says as such it is "very dangerous"
• Taal has erupted in different ways more than 30 times in the past 500 years - most recently in 1977
• A 1911 eruption killed about 1,500 people. A 1974 eruption lasted several months

So much the better!

My column in Mindanao Daily, BusinessWeek Mindanao and Cagayan de Oro Times

OPINION

By KLAUS DORING

 January 10, 2020

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WE could spend all year living healthier, more productive lives, so why do we only decide to make the change at the start of the year? Why do we all make (and break) New Year resolutions?

Many of us will start 2020 with resolutions – to get fit, learn a new skill, eat differently. If we really want to do these things, why did we wait until an arbitrary date which marks nothing more important than a timekeeping convention? British psychologist Tom Stafford asked this. And not only he. The answer tells us something important about the psychology of motivation, and about what popular theories of self-control miss out.

Today is a very cool and rainy day. I am lazy. Not on the mood to do anything. It's even difficult to write this column. But my motivation gets bigger and bigger while writing. New Year resolutions? Many writers discussed about this topic already. Here are my two cents in.

While celebrating during New Year's night, my family and friends found out, that what we want isn't really straightforward. At bedtime you might want to get up early and go for a run, but when your alarm goes off you find you actually want a lie-in. When exam day comes around you might want to be the kind of person who spent the afternoons studying, but on each of those afternoons you instead wanted to hang out with your friends. Believe me - I heard it many times from my students.

You could see these contradictions as failures of our self-control: impulses for temporary pleasures manage to somehow override our longer-term interests. One fashionable theory of self-control, proposed by Roy Baumeister at Florida State University, is the 'ego-depletion' account. This theory states that self-control is like a muscle. This means you can exhaust it in the short-term – meaning that every temptation you resist makes it more likely that you'll yield to the next temptation, even if it is a temptation to do something entirely different.

A corollary of the 'like a muscle' theory is that in the long term, you can strengthen your willpower with practice. So, for example, Baumeister found that people who were assigned two weeks of trying to keep their back straight whenever possible showed improved willpower when asked back into the lab.

But, and more importantly, that theory doesn't give an explanation why we wait for New Year's Day to begin exerting our self-control. If your willpower is a muscle, you should start building it up as soon as possible, rather than wait for an arbitrary date.

Another explanation may answer these questions, although it isn't as fashionable as ego-depletion. George Ainslie's book 'Breakdown of Will' puts forward a theory of the self and self-control which uses game theory to explain why we have trouble with our impulses, and why our attempts to control them take the form they do. The virgin page of a new calendar marks a clean break between the old and new you - a psychological boundary that may help you keep your resolutions.

And, so to speak with Tom Stafford again, Ainslie gives us an answer to why our resolutions start on 1st January. The date is completely arbitrary, but it provides a clean line between our old and new selves. The practical upshot of the theory is that if you make a resolution, you should formulate it so that at every point in time it is absolutely clear whether you are sticking to it or not. The clear lines are arbitrary, but they help the truce between our competing interests hold.

Let me ask you now,  my dear readers: How about your 2020 resolutions!

Davao LGU sets aside P54M to build USEP annex

By Antonio Colina IV 

DAVAO CITY – The City Government of Davao will set aside P54 million to construct an annex buildings of the University of Southeastern Philippines (USEP) in Barangay Malabog, Paquibato District to get more children from poor families to proceed to higher education, Mayor Sara Duterte said.

Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte
(FACEBOOK / MANILA BULLETIN FILE PHOTO)

Duterte said that the budget for the construction of the building would be sourced from the 2020 budget of the City Government, which she hopes to see being completed by next year or 2022 at the latest.

She said that the expansion came after Task Force Peace 911, which was created to take the lead in the implementation of a comprehensive peace-building program of the local government for conflict-affected areas of the city, found out that there is a need to put up a college in Paquibato to get more senior high school graduates to study college.

It is high time to put up higher education institution in Paquibato, as its presence would encourage more students, who are constrained financially to afford the expenses of going into college in downtown, according to Duterte.

She added Paquibato was chosen to host the USEP-Annex as it aligns with the university’s mandate to reach out to the students in conflict-affected areas.

“It’s on track, and this project – the USEP-Annex- is already moving,” she said.

The Peace 911 was the successor of the defunct Davao Peace Committee, the local peace panel created to hold localized peace initiative with the New People’s Army operating in the hinterlands of the city.

On December 23, 2019, the mayor asked the Duterte administration to exclude the city from the coverage of the GRP-NDFP peace talks, as it would only dampen the gains of the “Peace 911” in all 13 barangays of Paquibato District and Barangay Dominga in Calinan District.

“To be covered by the ceasefire or the peace negotiations will only disrupt and threaten the gains of our process of peace and development in these communities formerly controlled by the terrorists,” she said.

She claimed that Peace 911, a comprehensive peace-building program of the local government for conflict-affected areas of the city, had successfully removed the remaining communist guerrillas operating in Paquibato District and Barangay Dominga.

She said the civilian-led Peace 911 capacitated the Lumad farmers on farming and marketing, and linked them directly to buyers for their produce through the so-called “Peace Economy.”