Come on, give me a smile!

WED, OCTOBER 18, 2017 BY THE MINDANAO DAILY MIRROR LEAVE A COMMENT

IN MY OPINIONKlaus Doring

I am writing columns for several papers from all over the world since the early 1980's. Sometimes, while writing, I am indeed not in a good mood. I rewrite and rewrite – and then the moment comes, I am asking myself: “Do the readers of this publication really like to read my columns?”

Anyway, I try my best. It’s actually a sweet day today, so sunny, so calm, so bright, it’s like the bridal of earth and heaven.  The grandeur  of  God flames out like shining from shook foil. I feel like as the waves make towards the pebbled  shore.

I observed again a multinational couple somewhere in my neighborhood fighting each other. Gosh. Stupid people have an uncanny way of hitting the right nail on the head with the wrong hammer!

Maybe, you are angry also right now, while reading this. You are angry for others even it’s a beautiful day. You are angry? It’s okay. We are all battling against one of the most powerful emotions known to man – anger! Anger. A day rarely goes by without us feeling angry. Or,  maybe seldom a days goes by without feeling anger….

Anger is the main part of our daily life. That’s why it’s really important to talk about this phenomenon. What is anger, what does it do and how does it affect our lives? Where does it come from and how can we learn to handle it in a constructive instead of destructive way? Only, if the roots of our anger exposed and explained, we can defuse its explosive and dangerous potentials.

As I said earlier, anger is one of the most basic emotions. Everyone can get angry. You and me? Now, later, tomorrow…! It’s a feeling of being against something or someone.

Anger is a hostile emotion that sets people against one another, or even themselves. By its nature, anger involves opposition, hostility, hatred and dislike. It happened between Filipinos, and between Filipinos and foreigners as well, living here in the Philippines. It even happened at political level right nowadays.

Anger, however, is simpler to define than to identify. Emotions of antagonism can take a wide variety of faces. Expressions of anger range from the overt, in-your-face brand of open hospitality to the cold indifference of a silent individual. At times, anger can be felt like an inner fire….

Millions of defense, not a damned penny for tribute, as Charles Pinkney stated…. Anger between people: the one side remains cold as ice while the opposite plays meek as a lamb. Sige, burn the midnight oil! And what the result at the end? A shadow of doubts remains after each fight getting its origin out of anger.

The silent withdrawal and lack of understanding  and innumerable shortcomings of one or both partners are often an indication that one is angrily punishing the other for not doing things his or her way.

We are all selfish! Yes, me too! That’s why we see the cause of anger as something outside of ourselves. Life is unfair! Life is hard!

German Film Week October 20-24 in Davao City

MON, OCTOBER 16, 2017 BY THE MINDANAO DAILY MIRROR 

A carefully selected lineup of contemporary German Cinema, many of which are already receiving numerous awards in international film festivals, highlighted the 2017 German Film Week beginning September 27 at the SM Supermalls.

Organized by the Goethe-Institut Philippinen in partnership with SM Retail, SM Lifestyle Entertainment Inc., SM Cinema and with support of Film Development Council of the Philippines, the German Film Week offered a diverse selection of films for audiences, with the goal of promoting German language and Culture.

“We are truly excited to unveil this year’s film and new voices to Philippine audiences,” said Goethe-Institut Philippinen Director and Head of Cultural Programs Dr. Ulrich Nowak. “Whether mainstream, romantic comedies, or micro-budget indies, we made sure our festival attendees will be entertained and pleased.”

The German Film Week opening night recently took place at the SM Mall of Asia Cinema 4 with German filmmaker Markus Goller as its special guest.  Goller, who is the director of My Brother Simple/Simpel, which opens this year’s festivities, had a Q and A session after the film’s screening.  The succeeding film screenings ran from September 28 to October 5 at cinemas at the SM Mall of Asia and SM City North EDSA for Metro Manila.

Aside from the Manila leg, the German Film Week will move on to other Philippine locations: at SM City Clark from October 8 to 12; SM City Cebu from October 14 to 18; and SM City Davao from October 20-24.

The festival will screen 12 films that tackles issues of family, romance, journey, society, terrorism, German history and more.

The opening film My Brother Simple/Simpel directed by Markus Goller, a film based on French bestseller about two brothers – one mentally handicapped – who try to find their long-lost father. Other family related films include Toni Erdmann directed by Maren Ade follows the story of Winfried and his career woman daughter Ines; and Daniel Levy’s The World of Wunderlichs about a single mother accompanied by her family on her casting journey.

There are also films about modern romance. Karoline Herfurth’s You’ve Got a Message/SMS für Dich is about love in the digital age; while The Bloom of Yesterday/Die Blumen von gestern by Director Chris Kraus is a love story set in the world of academic discipline. Return to Montauk directed by Volker Schlöndorff relives a great but failed love affair.

The German Film Week also brings us to the world of punk rocker Fussel as he struggles between therapy and real life in Happy Burnout; and Marija, a young woman who fights to live a freer, self-determined life. On the other hand, Mark Rothemond’s My Blind Date with Life, on the other hand shows how Saliya Kahawatte loses his  eyesight, yet succeeds in his career.

There are also films that we can say are ripped from the world headlines. Robert Thalheim’s Old Agent Men/Kundschafter des Friedens is about how Jochen Falk and two further former Stasi agents embark on a dangerous mission to rescue the kidnapped president of Katschekistan; while Welcome to Germany/ Willkommen bei den Hartmanns tells the story of Diallo, a Nigerian asylum seeker who is taken in by a family in a posh district of Munich.

German Film Week also presents the screening of Captive directed by acclaimed Filipino filmmaker Brillante Mendoza. Captive will be screened during the week-long festival in SM Mall of Asia and SM City North EDSA. Captive was screened in competition during the prestigious 62nd Berlin International Film festival, the prestigious Berlinale.  This will be followed by a film appreciation video.

“The Brillante Mendoza screening is an addition to this year’s program,” said Dr. Nowak. “Our goal at the institute has always been to promote cultural exchange between Germany and the countries we support. And this is one way to achieve that goal—to share German features and highlight Filipino creativity.”

Tickets to the 2017 German Film Week are priced at P100 for all German films and P200 for Director Brillante Mendoza’s film. The opening screening on September 27 was free and open to all on a first-come-first-served basis.

Tickets may be purchased at the cinema counters of participating SM malls. The German Film Week is made possible through the partnership with SM Retail, SM Lifestyle Entertainment Inc. and SM Cinema with the support of the Film Development Council of the Philippines. For more information, visit www.goethe.de/Manila.

88 Percent of Filipinos ...

... support war on drugs —Pulse Asia

Published October 16, 2017 10:09am 
Updated October 16, 2017 12:40pm

By JOSEPH TRISTAN ROXAS, GMA News

More than eight in 10 Filipinos support the government's war on drugs, but a majority believe alleged extrajudicial killings (EJKs) are taking place in the course of its implementation.

In the third quarter survey conducted on September 24 to 30, Pulse Asia said 88 percent of Filipinos support the war on drugs while only two percent oppose the campaign. Nine percent said they may or may not support it.

Ninety-four percent of respondents in Mindanao said they are backing President Rodrigo Duterte's key agenda, followed by Luzon (88 percent), Visayas (85 percent), and the National Capital Region (84 percent).

The campaign enjoys an 89 percent support among Class D, and 88 percent among Class E. With regard to Class ABC, 80 percent support the anti-illegal drugs campain.

However, 73 percent of Pulse's 1,200 respondents aged 18 and above said they believe EJKs are happening in the war on drugs, up by six percentage points compared to the survey results last June.

Most Filipinos who suspect the presence of EJKs were located in NCR (78 percent) and Luzon (75 percent). The awareness rate in Visayas and Mindanao were at 68 percent and 67 percent, respectively.

A majority of respondents in Classes ABC, or 77 percent, said EJKs are present in the war on drugs, followed by Class D at 72 percent, and Class E at 70 percent.

Twenty percent said they do not believe in EJKs while only seven percent refused to answer.

The war on drugs registered a 100 percent awareness nationwide.

Sought for comment, Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II recalled telling some members of the European Union, the American press and some ambassadors when he met them in Washington D.C. last April that the “Filipinos overwhelmingly support the war on drugs.”

“That what they [EU, US representatives]  read in their newspapers are disinformation, misinformation and outright lies all calculated to destabilize the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte,” he said.

Asked if the Filipinos’ continued support for the campaign against illegal drugs can be seen as a slap in the face to its critics, Aguirre said: “Definitely.”

Pulse Asia conducted the survey using face-to-face interviews with an error margin of ± 3 percentage points at the 95 percent confidence level. For the geographic areas (Metro Manila, rest of Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao), subnational estimates have a ± 6% error margin at the 95 percent confidence level.

Among the key developments that were in the headlines during the survey period were the filing of murder charges against policemen allegedly involved in the killing of Karl Angelo Arnaiz and Reynaldo de Guzman.

The statements of Duterte and Philippine National Police chief Director General Ronald dela Rosa denying that killing drug suspects were included in its national policy were also issued at the time the survey was taken. — with Virgil Lopez/KG/RSJ, GMA News

German Legacy in Davao City (II)

By Antonio V. Figueroa

Scaling Mount Apo

The Mount Apo expedition of Schadenberg and Koch is well documented by Otto Scherer in his 'Alexander Schadenberg, His Life and Work in the Philippines' (1923), published in Manila.

"By December [1881] ... the two fiends had established themselves beyond the pale of civilization, in the Bagobo village [of] Sibulan, south of Mount Apo, where, in exchange for some coils of brass wire, they had purchased the handsome bamboo cottage of one the headmen. During their stay here of about six months they mace the tribe among which they lived, and which was notorious for the practice of human sacrifice, the object of a close ethnographic study, drawing up also a vocabulary of the language."

The Rafflesia schadenbergiana, a parasitic plant, is endemic to Mindanao. It has a diameter of 51-80 centimeters and is the second largest flower in its genus. The flower was first collected in the vicinity of Mount Apo but was considered extinct until 1984 after another specimen was discovered in South Cotabato. (Rafflesia is named in honored of British Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles, the 'founding father of Singapore'.)

Heinrich Friedrich Conrad Sander

Born in Bremen, Germany, Heinrich Friedrich Conrad Sander (1847-1920) was a nurseryman who moved to Saint Albans, England and founded the monthly publication on orchids, Reichenbachia, named in honor of Heinrich Gustav Reichenbach of Hamburg. He never visited the Philippines but his studies of orchids have become the benchmark in global orchidology.

Dr. Otto Koch, a German naturalist residing in Cebu, on the other hand, stayed long enough in the country to find his niche, but was only known to a limited circle of savants engaged in linguistics, botany, and geography. His name appears in official colonial records in a deed dated October 31, 1897, after he leased the estate of the Convent of the Holy Infant of Cebu.

The estate, covering 7,454.6 hectares, was divided into two parts, one within the municipal jurisdiction of Talisay town and the other one within the municipality of Minglanilla, both in Cebu Province. The property was originally sold by an Augustinian company to Don Juan Castro y Martin but was redeemed under the one-year repurchase clause.

(To be continued!)

German Legacy in Davao City (I)

By: Antonio V. Figueroa

European legacy in Davao City history is an under explored subject, especially when discussions turn to the less-known contribution of Germans in the region historiography.

By Europeans, it always points to the Spaniards who colonized the Philippines and converted most of the archipelago into a Catholic enclave; the Portuguese, who predated Spain into the proselytizing of Davao; and the Dutch, who opened trade links with the fiefs around Davao Gulf in the 17th century.

But the Germans, too, have their unique contributions to the region's natural history. In fact, two German naturalists have immortalized their names after two of the most important flower finds in Davao area, the Rafflesia schadenbergiana, known to the Bagobo as the 'bo-o', and the Vanda sanderiana, or the waling-waling, are named after the Germans. 

The Rafflesia schadenbergiana, the largest flower among the species found in the Philippines, was discovered in 1882 by naturalists Alexander Schadenberg and Otto Koch, while the Vanda sanderiana , worshipped by the Bagobo as a goddess and one of the country's national flowers, got its appellation from Heinrich Friedrich Conrad Sander, a noted German orchidologist.

Berthold Stein, also a renowned German botanist, was honored in 1885 after a small tree, R. apoanum Stein, discovered at Todaya, Santa Cruz, Davao del Sur, was named after him.

Schadenberg, Rizal's pen pal

Born in Breslau, Germany, Alexander Schadenberg (1852-96) was a medical doctor trained in pharmaceutics and botany. in 1879, he visited the Philippines to study the Negritos but first worked in a German pharmacy in Manila before deciding to go home to marry his countryman and arrange a temporary separation from his spouse while finishing the researches. 

Upon his return, Schadenberg brought with him all the needed instruments and articles of exchange necessary in dealing with the natives. He then linked and worked as a team with Otto Koch, another German naturalist in the country. Their most famous work together, published in a book a year later, was in 1882, when they discovered the new species of the Rafflesia later named after him, and conquered Mount Apo.

Discovered in 1885, the burrowing skink, scientifically known as Brachymeles schadenbergi, found in Davao and some regions of Mindanao, was also named in his honor.

Dr. Schadenberg, in his personal life, was a pen pal of Dr. Jose Rizal, the national hero. In his correspondence to Dr. Ferdinand Blumentritt dated December 19, 1893 and postmarked at Dapitan, Rizal mentioned Schadenberg's letter to him saying "the History I sent to [Adolf Bernhard] Meyer [a respected German anthropologist, ornithologist, entomologist, and herpetologist] has been sinking of the Normandy."

(To be continued!)

Safe and sound

MON, OCTOBER 9, 2017 BY THE MINDANAO DAILY MIRROR LEAVE A COMMENT

IN MY OPINION

After several days staying in Manila with an amazing schedule, I am finally back in my beloved Davao City. Thank you Lord.  Right now, while writing this piece, I am  in “safe mode”.

Innumerable meetings in the German Embassy but also invitations from different diplomatic institu-tions made me really breathless. On the other hand, I also did enjoy every single minute. But now, I am in safe mode indeed!

From time to time I love silence. I love quietness.  Do you observe that we live in a real frightful loud world? At every corner of our daily life is innumerable chances of being covered up with sometimes unbearable din and noise. The loud outcry gives us the needle. We don’t have nerves of steel forever.

I am not really a fan of going out at night. My stay in Manila was packed full with night events. I was invited to as German Honorary Consul to the island of Mindanao. It’s indeed amazing how many countries and business people are getting more and more interested in Mindanao. Very good!

Right now, I am enjoying the nicest occurrence which is the silence, the intimate taciturnity, which can even “weld” people or partners together. It might sound just like an idiomatic expression, but believe me; not being forced to talk is great! No, I don’t mean that we have nothing to say to each other any more – or, he or she won’t listen to a special reason…. I am talking about a deep understanding between people, who are together and are able to share time in quiet and silent happiness.

After those long and strenuous days in Manila, it is a real big comfort to sit and lean back, read all the (old!) newspapers and magazines from the last days and weeks while enjoying a glass of wine and a handful peanuts while having a smooth radio program in the background, instead a “roars to hell” television show.

Try it. It’s indeed relaxing after traffic woes, the heat and dust of the day, telephones’ ringing, and machine rattlings….

Feeling safe and secure, inseparable, indestructible with peace in         our minds and our surroundings, this is what we really mean to each other, understanding without words. At home, maybe somewhere in the garden, at a beach – there are many wonderful places. And, suddenly out of the blue from the bottom of our heart and from the depth of comfort and ease, we might be able to speak about things, which couldn’t be discussed earlier. A good talk grows – but without compulsion or constraint or obligation, desperate or being forced.

Try it, and might feel like walking hand-in-hand on a lonely sand beach, such as “once upon a time” with our first partner. And, unexpectedly: we become silent again AND thankful for it.

We really seldom take a break. We spend too much time in this terrible and frightful loud world…