The Internet As An Open Library – Why Are The Young Ones Evidently Enjoying It While We The Old Ones Are Largely Ignoring The Hidden Treasures?

The Internet is an open door to any kind of information, or dis-information. We adults eveywwhere via the Internet should be learning more while the children are all scrolling & schooling!

What’s missing in the above image of young ones focused on their individual digital spaces in the Internet, no crowding? (image from sg.images.search.yahoo.com). The Search for Entertainment is obviously there, if invisible; the Search for Knowledge is anything but obvious.

If you ask me, what’s missing is an adult with his/her gadget roaming the vast spaces of the digital “universe” – not simply “world” – pursuing one’s own agenda of knowledge.

And the above image, which I now title “Internet Youth,” you can view it this way:

You see how I look at the same scene as the person selling any of those gadgets? I’m selling knowledge while s/he is selling devices!

The Teacher that I am says: “Today, Learning is not simply Schooling. It is roving the vast digital world of knowledge and determining for yourself what is True and what is False – or Maybe.

Scrolling is exploring the vast, largely unexplored universe of the Internet – and you don’t know what you learn until you do!

The Internet companies are not really targeting the families, only the ones whose members they believe would be most interested in modern gadgets: young son, eldest daugther, young daughter, eldest son… not to mention friends from faraway places.

At first glance, the top image is a welcome scene – everyone busy in one’s own world, not disturbing anyone else!

Do we now have enough gadgets in the Philippines? Says our source:

“In the Philippines, “households with access to the Internet rose to 13.56 million nationwide last year, or 28.8 percent, from the 17.7 percent in 2019, according to a survey conducted by the Philiippine Statistics Authority and the Department of Information and Communications Technology.“

Here is the news, “No Internet Access,” Philippine Star 21 July 2025:

Households with access to the Internet rose to 13.56 million nationwide last year, or 28.8 percent, from the 17.7 percent in 2019, according to a survey conducted by the Philiippine Statistics Authority and the Department of Information and Communications Technology.

While any improvement is a positive development, it’s still disheartening to know that more than half of households nationwide still lack Internet access in the digital age. This lack of access to one of the basic learning tools can only aggravate the education crisis that the country faces.

To this digital hound, I am more concerned about cultivating the soil with those who have gadgets and yet use them merely or mostly to talk to people and while away the time.

Schoolteachers have to teach beyond the classroom!

And local governments have to assist families so that they can have Internet anytime!

What the teachers can teach in terms of excavenging the wealth of the Internet is how a student can discover one’s wished-for riches in terms of knowledge and skills!@517

“Let UP Lead” – Lead Us To What, I Wonder? Our Dear Alma Mater Has Not Been Leading Us Anywhere Except Here And There!

“Let UP Lead” is our friend Charlz Castro’s Facebook sharing of 12 July from Rolando Jose Felipe Mallari. Our alma mater University of the Philippines (UP), born 117 years ago, is ancient – and now is the time we are telling her, “Let UP Lead”?!

The UP Diliman image above is from Getty (gettyimages.com). I see, “With the dark light of Farmer Poverty, in PH Agriculture, that is all the brightness that we can see!”

So, there has been a surge of Latin honors – “that over 60% of UP Diliman’s graduating class were awarded Latin honors” – and that called for “sashes upon sashes flowing like a river of gold and crimson across the amphitheater.” All deserved, yes.

And here lies the heart of the matter: UP is being called to attention not because it has faltered, but because it leads.

Yes?

But not in Agriculture!

I must blame the UP Los Baños economists ever since 19-forgotten for not studying their science and therefore coming up short in their agriculture!

Is it: “Too Late The Hero!”?

Remember: UP was born in Los Baños in March 1908; note that the latest news is that farmers are among the poorest (31%) in 2024 according to the Philiippine Statistical Authority. As a farmer;s son. I know you cannot be lazy as the son or farmer himself!

Our alma mater UP has been no help at all in solving Farmer Poverty!

“When Everyone Shines: A Personal Reflection on the Surge of Latin Honors” at UP by Rolando Q Mallari – I say: “Some graduates shine, but none of the farmers do!”

There was a time when to be a cum laude at the University of the Philippines meant something almost mythic. I remember it vividly – those grueling years in UP during the late 1970s and early 1980s. We wore our weariness like a second skin. There was no Internet to search for quick answers, no mental health breaks, no asynchronous lectures to replay when we faltered. Just books we had to hunt for in the Main Library, professors who pushed us to the brink, and long nights when the only light came from the flicker of a desk lamp and the distant hum of the electric fan.

Today, the academic honors come – all too easily to too many students and academicians all too fast?

No, Mr Mallari says, “Because I know UP. And UP does not give away excellence.”

How about UP does not give away poverty?!

As a teacher myself, BSA Ag Ed 1965 and son of a farmer:

“This generation – these young minds – came of age not in a time of peace and stability, but during a global reckoning. They studied while the world shut down. They learned while mourning. They kept going amid a pandemic that redefined human existence. Their classrooms were not shielded spaces – they were battlegrounds of resilience.

I want not simply resilience but excellence, not simply high incomes but conquest of poverty for all farmers!@517

Philippine Agriculturists! Where Are You Where (And When) We Need You Most?!

My country the Philippines is celebrating its “Agriculturists’ Month” the whole of July, and the foreseeable & progressive aim is to transform Philippine Agriculture from low profitability to high profitability, “Beyond Sustainable, Towards Enhanced Nationwide Agricultural Productivity And Competitiveness.”  (image “Transformative” from sg.images.search.yahoo.com) This is all-of-July celebration.

Philippine agriculturists are celebrating the “Agriculturists’ Month” with the theme, “Beyond Sustainable, Towards Enhanced Nationwide Agricultural Productivity And Competitiveness.”

Careful there now! Our agriculturists are and/or I am assuming that their agriculture is already “enhanced” so much as to produce so much. I don’t blame them – but that’s it: The productivity of modern agriculture can only multiply so much – that is, without degrading the soil, without debilitating the crops via chemical fertilizers and chemical pesticides – and can never be self-sustaining. Sustainable, but not self-sustainable – there is a great difference!

Here are alternatives, and any of the 13 practices of Regenerative Agriculture (RA) – name & scheme borrowed from the American Rodale Institute – is highly productive and highly self-sustaining:

(1) Cover Cropping,
(2) Crop Rotation,
(3) Farm Crops + Tree Crops (Agroforestry),
(4) Green Manuring,
(5) Intercropping,
(6) Multiple Cropping,
(7) No-Till Farming,
(8) Organic Fertilization,
(9) Ratooning,
(10) Rotational Grazing,
(11) “Three Sisters” Planting,
(12) Trap Cropping, and
(13) Trash Mulching.

Wow!

July is “Philippine Agriculturists’ Month” as declared by President Ferdinand “BBM” Marcos Jr (Proclamation 544, 10 May 2024) (see top image):

WHEREAS, Republic Act No 8435 or the "Agriculture and Fisheries Modernization Act of 1997" declares it a policy of the State to enable those who belong to the agriculture and fisheries sectors to participate and share in the fruits of development and growth in a manner that utilizes the nation's resources in the most efficient and sustainable way possible by establishing a more equitable access to assets, income, basic and support services, and infrastructure…

I am a teaching agriculturist – BSA Ag Edu 1965, UP Los Baños – now then, I’m eager to “participate and share in the fruits of development and growth in a manner that utilizes the nation's resources in the most efficient and sustainable way possible…”

In fact, as one of The Editor In Chiefs hanging around (about me, you can ask any member of the Philippine Journal of Crop Science), I am more interested in this; at home I can produce the reading & viewable materials:

“The celebration of the Philippine Agriculturists(‘) Month will engage professional agriculturists in agricultural advocacy, policy research and formulation, and provide an avenue for enterprise-building, communications training, and community development.”

Agricultural advocacy – as an agriculturist, I hereby advocate that RA be taught in all barangays in the Philippines immediately! None of those practices are sophisticated, none requires new varieties and new ways of growing them – See easy list above.)

”Whereas, the celebration of the Philippine Agriculturists(‘) Month will engage professional agriculturists in agricultural advocacy, policy research and formulation, and provide an avenue for enterprise-building, communications training, and community development.”

Filipino farmers, here comes me with RA! Here is science to fall in love with!

To say is to believe!@517

Farmers! & Chemical Fertilizer Manufacturers! & Chemical Pesticide Makers – Why Blame The Typhoons? As Well As Farmers, We Free Citizens Are Our Own Worst Enemies When It Comes To Climate Change!

Above image (Pixabay, pixabay.com): Yes, as of now, we primates are all observers, essentially unmoving. What’s the spectacle? Wrong spectacle! You don’t know? To those of us who are Roman Catholics: “What is Saint Peter going to say to us when we die?”

This: “We primates are the sorry spectacle of the world! We should all be looking into ourselves – to correct in each of us when it comes to the good of the world!

Yes, all over the world, from Albuquerque to Zenya, we are all contributors to Climate Change! To stop Climate Change, let the world start Primate Change – before it’s too late for us primates!

In the Philippines, from Aparri to Jolo, in the Americas from North America to South America, to Thailand to Vietnam to Zimbabwe – we primates must change in our farming if we are to save us all primates – Americans, Thais, Vietnamese and Zimbabweans – from Climate Change!

No more excuses! No more chemical fertilizers, no more chemical pesticides!

And to help our people in the Philippines decide, all people in the United Nations must decide on this:

Stop Chemical Agriculture!

Step in to Regenerative Agriculture!

Stop in the name of Love! Then we will have healthy episodes of the environment.

I am thinking all that from reading the advice of Ramon Ike V Senerez, that we Earthmen must limit our “unlimited rice” (Facebook post, 05 July 2025).

Mr Senerez’post refers only to “Rethinking Our Rice Consumption” – but if we follow his advice, we must be rethinking all of our agriculture 100%!

“The bottom line: We need to reduce our rice consumption and embrace a more diversified food culture. Doing so is not only good for our health and environment but is also a step toward safeguarding our nation’s food security. Unlimited rice may be tempting today, but if we don’t rethink this mindset, tomorrow’s plate might be empty.”

In short, the longer time we customers safeguard the rice in the market as our staple food supply, the shorter time it will get away from us!

And no, for Filipinos, rice is not our only food agriculture. There are these:

Coconut,
Eggplant,
Corn,
Onions.
Poultry
Rice, Indigenous.
Sugarcane,
Taro (Gabi)
Tomato
Watermelon.

It doesn’t have to start with a national movement. Just one small dedicated farming family in each of the regions of the Philippines.

Wikipedia says (en.wikipedia.org):

“As of 2024, the Philippines is divided into 18 regions. Seventeen of these are … (each) provided by the president of the Philippines with a regional development council (RDC)…

Mr Senerez again:

“The bottom line: We need to reduce our rice consumption and embrace a more diversified food culture. Doing so is not only good for our health and environment but is also a step toward safeguarding our nation’s food security. Unlimited rice may be tempting today, but if we don’t rethink this mindset, tomorrow’s plate might be empty.”

Empty as in …….@517

My country the Philippines is celebrating its “Agriculturists’ Month” the whole of July, and the foreseeable & progressive aim is to transform Philippine Agriculture from low profitability to high profitability, “Beyond Sustainable, Towards Enhanced Nationwide Agricultural Productivity And Competitiveness.”  (image “Transformative” from sg.images.search.yahoo.com) This is all-of-July celebration.

Philippine agriculturists are celebrating the “Agriculturists’ Month” with the theme, “Beyond Sustainable, Towards Enhanced Nationwide Agricultural Productivity And Competitiveness.”

Careful there now! Our agriculturists are and/or I am assuming that their agriculture is already “enhanced” so much as to produce so much. I don’t blame them – but that’s it: The productivity of modern agriculture can only multiply so much – that is, without degrading the soil, without debilitating the crops via chemical fertilizers and chemical pesticides – and can never be self-sustaining. Sustainable, but not self-sustainable – there is a great difference!

Here are alternatives, and any of the 13 practices of Regenerative Agriculture (RA) – name & scheme borrowed from the American Rodale Institute – is highly productive and highly self-sustaining:

(1) Cover Cropping,
(2) Crop Rotation,
(3) Farm Crops + Tree Crops (Agroforestry),
(4) Green Manuring,
(5) Intercropping,
(6) Multiple Cropping,
(7) No-Till Farming,
(8) Organic Fertilization,
(9) Ratooning,
(10) Rotational Grazing,
(11) “Three Sisters” Planting,
(12) Trap Cropping, and
(13) Trash Mulching.

Wow!

July is “Philippine Agriculturists’ Month” as declared by President Ferdinand “BBM” Marcos Jr (Proclamation 544, 10 May 2024) (see top image):

WHEREAS, Republic Act No 8435 or the "Agriculture and Fisheries Modernization Act of 1997" declares it a policy of the State to enable those who belong to the agriculture and fisheries sectors to participate and share in the fruits of development and growth in a manner that utilizes the nation's resources in the most efficient and sustainable way possible by establishing a more equitable access to assets, income, basic and support services, and infrastructure…

I am a teaching agriculturist – BSA Ag Edu 1965, UP Los Baños – now then, I’m eager to “participate and share in the fruits of development and growth in a manner that utilizes the nation's resources in the most efficient and sustainable way possible…”

In fact, as one of The Editor In Chiefs hanging around (about me, you can ask any member of the Philippine Journal of Crop Science), I am more interested in this; at home I can produce the reading & viewable materials:

“The celebration of the Philippine Agriculturists(‘) Month will engage professional agriculturists in agricultural advocacy, policy research and formulation, and provide an avenue for enterprise-building, communications training, and community development.”

Agricultural advocacy – as an agriculturist, I hereby advocate that RA be taught in all barangays in the Philippines immediately! None of those practices are sophisticated, none requires new varieties and new ways of growing them – See easy list above.)

”Whereas, the celebration of the Philippine Agriculturists(‘) Month will engage professional agriculturists in agricultural advocacy, policy research and formulation, and provide an avenue for enterprise-building, communications training, and community development.”

Filipino farmers, here comes me with RA! Here is science to fall in love with!

To say is to believe!@517

Climate Change – Who’s To Blame? All People Who Walk The Earth! The Farmers Are Lucky, As They Can Do Regenerative Agriculture To Regenerate Their Lives – If We Teach Them How!

Why does Climate Change happen? Even if they don’t know, the farmers have to contribute to the fight – they are causing much climate damage by their farming systems of chemical agriculture!

On Facebook 30 July 2025, Climate Change shares this info:

“The richest 1% of the global population are responsible for more carbon emissions than the poorest 50% combined.”

Yes! The rich are guiltier of the Crime of Climate Change! What about the farmers? Wikipedia says (30 July 2025, en.wikipedia.org):

The amount of greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture is significant: The agriculture, forestry and land use sectors contribute between 13% and 21% of global greenhouse gas emissions.

Surprised? If you trample the Earth, you are also contributing to Climate Change even if you don’t know or realize it! (image from Pixabay, pixabay.com)

No, farmers would contribute zero to Climate Change if they practised Regenerative Agriculture (RA). Yes, with RA, they would become much richer than they are now – instantly!

And there is a farmer surprise from RA – every single time a farmer practices RA, he’s a winner! These RA practices have very low costs and therefore very high returns:

(1) Cover Cropping,
(2) Crop Rotation,
(3) Farm Crops + Tree Crops (Agroforestry),
(4) Green Manuring,
(5) Intercropping,
(6) Multiple Cropping,
(7) No-Till Farming,
(8) Organic Fertilization,
(9) Ratooning,
(10) Rotational Grazing,
(11) “Three Sisters” Planting,
(12) Trap Cropping, and
(13) Trash Mulching.

With RA, farming is no longer a crime against humanity – it’s a boon for all mankind! If only for these 2 reasons: (1) RA’s very low cost (VLC) and (2) RA’s very high returns (VHR). In high contrast, Chemical Agriculture is VHC and VLR.

Consider: Urea per sack, PhP3,000 (May 2022 (Business Mirror, businessmirror.com.ph). Now then, if you did not use any chemical fertilizer, you could save so much money!

So we go back to any and all of the Regenerative Agriculture practices.

(1) Cover Cropping: Another crop completes soil cover.
(2) Crop Rotation: Next crop is leguminous.
(3) Farm Crops + Tree Crops (Agroforestry).
(4) Green Manuring: First crop enriches the soil.
(5) Intercropping: 2 crops are better than 1.
(6) Multiple Cropping: More crops are better than 1!
(7) No-Till Farming: You don’t cultivate the soil.
(8) Organic Fertilization: Apply organic fertilizer.
(9) Ratooning: The ratoon is your “2^nd crop”.
(10) Rotational Grazing: Patches take turns feeding cattle.
(11) “Three Sisters” Planting: Literally 3 crops.
(12) Trap Cropping: One crop harbors the enemy.
(13) Trash Mulching. Surface materials enrich soil.

If you notice, in Regenerative Agriculture, with any of those 13 practices, you are literally all over the place! You will want to visit your farm every single time to see what’s happening!

Well, any and all those 13 practices work up the soil naturally so that richness is reached at any time and all the time.

Unending returns to natural richness is the unique promise of Regenerative Agriculture – zero in Chemical Agriculture!@517

NEDA, If You Have No Objections, I am self-appointing me The Editor In Chief Of Your 2025 Annual Report Up To A 3^rd-Party Digital Printing Of Distribution Copies

News – 2024 NEDA Annual Report is out now, July 2025 (depdev.gov.ph). The Editor In Chief (TEIC) in me says that’s five (5) months late! Digitally, NEDA & I could have desktop published that report mid-January 2025 yet. To say is to believe!

In these times, where the railroad is digital, I don’t see any excuses why the big, huge, giant NEDA should be 5 months late (June 2025) in coming out with its annual report (Jan-Dec 2024)! I Frank A Hilario, as The Editor In Chief (TEIC) in many a public and private publications in the last 25 years, here and abroad, notably starting with the nternational Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) when Filipino William Dar was the Director General (DG), 2000-2015, for which/whom I wrote and desktop-published 8 books of ICRISAT accomplishments from 2005 when, 7 books of which were printed by ICRISAT (except the would-be 8^th book, 2010, when Mr Dar had to retire because of bureaucratic age). I’m pointing this out to you to show that I am The Editor In Chief (TEIC) you have been looking for – the kind of TEIC that NEDA should have been looking for!

What about your office/group?

I suppose it’s not easy being The (Digital) Editor In Chief, but it is to me because I love it! The doing of it, I mean. (No, ICRISAT did not make me rich in the pocket but it did in the experience. Thanks, ICRISAT!)

So! If NEDA or any other PH government department invites me to demonstrate everything that I am saying here, you’re welcome! No, I don’t have to be physically present in the office premises – digital is all we need. I just have to have a few of those component reports to edit and convert into pdf for printing into an annual report. You will get the drafts for the would-be book as they come along.

You have the right to say, “How dare you insinuate that we in government offices cannot do what you in the private sector can in terms of writing for & editing publications, not the least the annual rerpot!?”

In case you are in doubt, next month I will be 85 years old. Ah, ladies and gentlemen, if you want to try me, I can do it gratis et amore! Please email me a draft report of your office, with image/s to put it, and within the week, I will be done – for the 3 reports, I will have sample pages for you to print, and I will not charge you anything!

I repeat: “No charge.”

How come I am that bold in stating the above. Because I love being TEIC – the pleasure is mine, the treasure is yours!

So, NEDA (whatever you are called now), as The Editor In Chief, I am offering you an editing job you cannot find anywhere else: 1 month for a completely new NEDA 2024 annual report!@517

Leni Robredo Will Make A Really Good Naga City Mayor, I Say. And An Excellent Philippine President!

First, I say: “This is being Mayor!”

Happy and emboldened, I am reading Jason Neola‘s article, “Leni Robredo Takes Oath As Naga’s First Female Mayor, Unveils Agenda For Inclusive, Sustainable City” – 30 July 2025 (Facebook sharing).

”NAGA CITY --- Mayor Maria Leonor Gerona Robredo assumed office today, June 30, 2025, with a bold and comprehensive development agenda centered on inclusive growth, environmental resilience, and citizen-centered governance.

Inclusive, environmental, citizen-centered – what else do we want from the Naga City Mayor? (From the Philippine President!?)

“In her inaugural address, Mayor Robredo unveiled a city roadmap built on eight priority goals – or “2028 Finish Lines”– that aim to raise the quality of life of every Nagueño, strengthen the city’s reputation for good governance, and make Naga a happier, more livable, and forward-looking city.”

“2028 Finish Lines” – I see in them “The beginnings of the total roadmap to the Presidency of the Republic of the Philippines.

“Among the major thrusts of her administration are the creation of an inclusive local economy; stronger environmental stewardship; walkable, orderly, and secure neighborhoods; efficient social protection systems; preservation of cultural identity; and the institutionalization of open and digital governance.”

She calls them “Finish Lines,” the road being “ to make Naga a happier, more livable, and forward-looking city.”

I look forward to this woman as President of the Philippines, my country!

Women!

“Strong women don’t have ‘attitudes,’ we have standards” – Marilyn Monroe

“We’re here for a reason. I believe that reason is to throw little torches out to lead people through the dark” – Whoopi Goldberg

“There are two powers in the world; one is the sword and the other is the pen. There is a third power stronger than both, that of women.” – Malala Yousafzai

“It doesn’t matter how strong your opinions are. If you don’t use your power for positive change, you are, indeed, part of the problem.” – Coretta Scott King

“The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don’t have any.” – Alice Walker

“Power can be taken, but not given. The process of the taking is empowerment in itself.” – Gloria Steinem

“Hope is often misunderstood. People tend to think that it is simply passive wishful thinking: I hope something will happen but I’m not going to do anything about it. This is indeed the opposite of real hope, which requires action and engagement.” – Jane Goodall

(The above are FAH’s selections from “92 Best Quotes By (And For) Strong Women.” goodgoodgood.co.)

Concluding her address, Mayor Robredo assured her constituents of her unwavering commitment to public service. “Rest assured, this mandate you have given me will not go to naught. Together, we will build a Naga that is not only admired across the nation – but truly loved by its own people.”

“With purpose and unity, we declare the kind of city we are determined to build together– anchored on the promise made many years ago by Jesse (Robredo+, her husband): to make Naga a happy place for every Nagueño.”

Filipinas, here we come!@517