Look Homeward, Angel Locsin!

Why is Angel Locsin, Filipina movie superstar, looking up? Let’s see what she sees!

Lily Grace Tabanera writes in Cosmo.ph 19 May 2020, “Angel Locsin Is Raising Funds To Help With Mass Testing In The PH[1]:”

Real-life (Wonder Woman) Angel Locsin is going non-stop! In April, Angel set up the #UniTentWeStandPH campaign to provide more than 28 hospitals with specialized tents for their Covid-19 patients, raising almost P11 million. This time, she has a new goal: to purchase test kits and help poorer sectors get tested.

Ms Angel is “pushing the TEST-TRACE-ISOLATE/TREAT formula… the only proven way to defeat the virus.”

Let us grant, Ms Angel, using the 4T Formula, in the Philippines, you are talking of 109,500,000 warm bodies[2] – as of midnight today, Tuesday, 19 May 2020 – so, how are you going to apply 4T to the millions?! It’s crazy! If you targeted only 20%, that would still be 21,900,000 (million), so I can see you will never finish. It’s insane!

Earlier, 18 May 2020, President Rodrigo Duterte’s spokesman Harry Roque said, “Mass testing only possible in an ‘ideal world’; PH resources limited[3]” quoted by John Ezekiel J Hirro (PressONE.ph). I agree! “Test kits were hard to acquire, as other countries such as mass-producer China and the United States were prioritizing the use of testing kits on their citizens.”

Above everything: Diagnostic testing is not fail-safe!

Jennifer MacLachlan writes, “The Positives And Negatives Of Mass Testing For Coronavirus[4]” (15 May 2020, The Conversation):

Among the shortfalls of diagnostic testing is the possibility of false negatives (failing to detect a condition when it’s present) and false positives (detecting a condition when it’s absent).

And when you are done testing 20 million – when will that be?! – you are going to repeat the process with the same people because of false positives and false negatives!

But I am not one to surrender. "But above all the din, came the cry no surrender. ‘Twas the voice of James Connolly, the Irish rebel[5].” My rebel “No surrender” cry is this:

Treat The Threat Thru
Good Food Vs Bad Vibes!

“Eating For Everyday Wellness[6],” says WebMD. For everyday, you need good food.

I say: Good food is the simple, non-threatening, non-chemically laden, non-pesticide-bathed, non-exclusive eatables to achieve health. Ergo:

Good Agriculture, Better Food, Best Bodies!

Look homeward, Angel Locsin, visit your kitchen and cook yourself a good meal!

Meanwhile, let us dine on these food for thought, from the Web:

Good food is all the sweeter when shared with good friends.
Nothing brings people together like good food.

“You don’t need a silver fork to eat good food!” – Paul Prudhomme

“One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well.” – Virginia Woolf.

“One of the very nicest things about life is the way we must regularly stop whatever we are doing and devote our attention to eating.” – Luciano Pavarotti.

What makes food tastes good?
“The secret ingredient is always love.” – Dreamstime.@517

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[1]https://www.cosmo.ph/entertainment/angel-locsin-shop-and-share-mass-testing-initiative-a2520-20200519?utm_source=Facebook-Cosmo&utm_medium=Ownshare&utm_campaign=20200519-fbnp-entertainment-angel-locsin-shop-and-share-mass-testing-initiative-a2520-20200519-fbfirst&fbclid=IwAR2Ypp9cbkFfVE744tFljGVM1DWug32prTdLkzKfNHuVSEd2UvHzk6flY5M

[2]ttps://www.worldometers.info/world-population/philippines-population/

[3]https://pressone.ph/mass-testing-only-possible-in-an-ideal-world-ph-resources-limited-roque/

[4]https://theconversation.com/the-positives-and-negatives-of-mass-testing-for-coronavirus-137792

[5]https://www.facebook.com/GlasgowRepublic/photos/a.307291062975191/411128679258095/?type=1&theater

[6]https://www.webmd.com/food-recipes/features/eating-everyday-wellness#1

Balik Probinsya Si Frank A Hilario: How? WFH!

Here is the latest news from the Official Portal of the Department of Agriculture, DA: “Balik Probinsya” Paves Way To Agri Industrialization – DA Chief.” Great!

Yes, I have read the BusinessMirror news of 06 May 2020 by Samuel P Medenilla: “Duterte Issues EO To Institutionalize Balik Probinsya Bagong Pag-asa Program.” BP2, which I translate freely as Return to Country Return to Hope. Yes, I support the DA supporting the BP2 program of President Duterte.

For BP2, I am willing to relocate to my hometown of Asingan in Eastern Pangasinan. It will be easy for me, even at 79 years old – all I have to bring with me is my backpack where I have my Lenovo Core i7 14-inch touchscreen laptop, external hard disk, Lumix FZ100 digital camera superzoom, some clothes – and wife Ampy. With just those, I can work anywhere for you: All I would need is a fast WiFi connection.

And what could I offer the DA under Secretary of Agriculture William Dar/Manong Willie? The same things I have been offering since at least 13 years ago when I began work-from-home, WFH, for the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics, ICRISAT, when Manong Willie was Director General; he was DG from 2000 to 2014.

For you, given all that, I can do any of these virtual/visual/real/unreal mental/intellectual works via Work From Home, WFH. That is to say, “home” to me is where the heart is and where I sit at the moment, being:

Mentor.
My mentoring is limitless, depending on what I see you need – no extra charge if I give more than you bargained for, because mine would be the pleasure!

Co-Author.
If you want to write something of any length, including somebody’s biography or your own, I can be your co-author.

Author’s Editor.
I will guide your writing in any manner except write a paragraph.

Ghostwriter.
I can write in your name following your style of writing – and faster!

Technical Editor.
Extraordinary! In the late 1990s, I helped Editor In Chief OK Bautista achieve for the Philippine Agricultural Scientist world-class or ISI status. In the early 2000s, as Editor In Chief of The Philippine Journal Of Crop Science, I brought the journal to ISI status, which the previous editors of 25 years failed to achieve.

Desktop Publisher.
Yes, I desktop-published my 7 books of articles on the aims and accomplishments of ICRISAT that the Institute paid for commercial printing, from 2008 to 2014.

Book Producer.
In October 2016, I compiled notes, edited and layouted a book on Philippine native animals for the National Swine & Poultry Research & Development Center, which is under the Bureau of Animal Industry, more than 170 pages.

Earlier, in 2012, I produced the Silver Anniversary coffee-table book for the Agricultural Credit & Policy Council. I wrote the text, including title, The Filipino Farmer Is Bankable, 198 pages, with about 50% of the total photographs taken by me using my new Lumix FZ100 digital camera.

So, Manong Willie, which more of me would you like to help more of DA?@517

Real & Virtual – 2 Worlds The PH DA Must Struggle In To Win The War

The press release from the Department of Agriculture, DA, was titled “DA Proposes Measures To Revive, Reboot PHL Agri Sector[1].” Now: 

Revive – to restore to life physically;
Reboot – to restore to life virtually.
2 different worlds contained in 1 linear titular sentence.

Did someone in the DA mix metaphors?

Looking at the above image, my “global sunset” giving life to a dull scene, taken 08-Dec-16 with my Lumix FZ100 digital camera:

The mixed metaphor is welcome – it gives light to a sleeping giant!

Yes. The title “DA Proposes Measures To Revive, Reboot PHL Agri Sector” is excellent! It:

(1) realistically refers to the resuscitation of physical measures needed for PH agriculture to spring back to its feet; as well as  

(2) digitally refers to the renewing & revitalizing of virtual measures necessary to bring PH agriculture from inaccessible science to knowledge at your fingertips.

And so Secretary of Agriculture William Dar/Manong Willie has formally asked from the PH government a total of P66 Billion for the new Agriculture “Plant, Plant, Plant Program,” Agri 4Ps. Nobody asked, but it is a Dream Budget to me because it covers the real world less of cities and more of countryside, and covers the virtual world of science (knowledge) and technology (tools & systems).

The interventions comprise 6 components; I rearranged the listing to combine the real: (1), (2, and (3): and the virtual: (4), (5), and (6).

(1) Food logistics/food markets project;
(2) Strengthening of price monitoring and enforcement system;
(3) Agricultural and fisheries commodity exchange system; 
(4) Communications support to Agri 4Ps;
(5) Expanding extension support to the provincial local government units; and
(6) Digital agriculture.

(4), (5) & (6): I’m into digital support systems for Agri 4Ps communications, extension, and digital agriculture.

This excites me because I am a science writer seeing the Agri 4Ps as “Science seeking the human face.” History: In 2007, I became international consulting writer for the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics, ICRISAT, when William Dar was Director General; he was DG from 2000 to 2014. ICRISAT’s slogan at that time was “Science with a human face.” To modify it for today, I say that what Manong Willie is pursuing as Secretary of Agriculture is “Science with a farmer’s face.”

On 10 April 2003, Rita T Dela Cruz reported that the ICRISAT DG proposed “the creation of an open academy… empowering farmers and fisherfolk with the latest technology developed through research and development, R&D.” This became the Open Academy for Philippine Agriculture, OpAPA[2], and PhilRice took over. In December of 2003, I was engaged as a PhilRice consultant, and I came out with a complete proposal on how to construct and communicate OpAPA, a 198-page inspiration/instruction book titled The Geography Of Knowledge. Alas, that was the end of it!

Nonetheless, thinking of the Agri 4Ps, I will submit my knowledge-defining-geography book again, even as I hope the scene will become a beautiful sunrise!@517

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[1]https://pia.gov.ph/press-releases/releases/1042027?fbclid=IwAR3xe5wg4QfOrmklnB4hFav9rWtuBtuGn4EopX7JjPNpo1RXKINchvK6asE

[2]https://www.bar.gov.ph/index.php/test-archive/407-april-2003-issue/3103-da-creates-open-academy-for-philippine-agriculture

Agriculture & Norman Borlaug: The Relevance Of Science & Geniuses

How relevant is the old biotech genius Norman Borlaug today? 

Facebook sharing, below Ben Peczon’s name in the above image, the text reads:

This article is a bit long but at this time, more than ever, Homo sapiens must use science. We must find effective ways to overcome the efforts of people who do not adhere to the tenets of good science.

Counting via Word 2016, it’s about 1,400 words long, but I am a very fast reader (absorber); I want to challenge myself with your challenge of using “good science” to solve any of the world’s bad problems. And so, with that article by Marshall Matz & Nina V Fedoroff[1], I find that I can summarize the authors’ points using their own 2nd-to-the-last paragraph, and it is this:

We ignored our experts and our public health system wasn’t prepared for a long-predicted pandemic. And we ignore Borlaug’s wisdom about food and population at our peril. The breeding practices that brought Borlaug success have done what they can, yet can’t assure crops yields to feed an even modestly larger population as the climate grows harsher. Nor will the critics’ nostalgia about traditional crops and farming methods make up the growing shortfall.

“We ignore Borlaug’s wisdom about food and population at our peril.” What the authors are saying is simply this: “Food production will always outrun population growth no matter what we do.” This is otherwise called the “population bomb” – and, as far as I know, it has not exploded in any country, except those at war against vested interests.

And no, it is not production that is the problem – it is distribution of & access to food. Do you know that the United States dumps so much food into the ocean for its economy’s sake?

That way, your science Mr Matz & Ms Nina, will never work because it is patchwork science, not holistic. It does not belong to a network of solutions that are designed to bring about one and only one common result:

Prosperity for all.

That is why we need in the Philippines Secretary of Agriculture William Dar’s “The New Thinking For Agriculture” because as in baseball, it covers all the bases! His genius. (About “The 8 Paradigms” covering all the basics, read this genius[2]!)

Yes, we need more science – but not only crops that continue to be improved and continue to yield even more – more & more science to modernize production, industrialize, promote exports, improve small-scale production, improve infrastructure, and overall roadmap development!

Norman Borlaug was a genius, but he failed to grasp what another genius earlier did, Albert Einstein – the relevance of insight.

“All great achievements of science must start from intuitive knowledge[3],” Einstein told a friend (Psychology Today). He also said, “The only real valuable thing is intuition.” (superimposed image from pondot.com). If truth be told, “My now-automatic call for intuitive knowledge is the secret of my extraordinary creativity” – Frank A Hilario.

My insight today is:
Science will not save us from ourselves – intuition will!@517

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[1]https://geneticliteracyproject.org/2020/05/14/viewpoint-norman-borlaug-knew-technology-could-fight-hunger-in-the-biotech-age-we-ignore-his-wisdom-at-our-peril/?fbclid=IwAR2HYccmTWuCDgOD8X_OBplzNqVoV83PPb3vAOhXvgrXo4A1-Swv3yjQLII

[2]https://puckinsights.blogspot.com/2020/05/ph-aggie-mechanization-ernesto-m.html

[3]https://www.cnbc.com/2017/06/29/steve-jobs-and-albert-einstein-both-attributed-their-extraordinary-success-to-this-personality-trait.html

ABS-CBN Delivering Hope (NeGOsyo) By Delivering Gardening Lessons (Department Of Agriculture)

Today, Joey Concepcion is himself a voice crying in the wilderness for media freedom.

No, Mr Concepcion is not redefining media freedom – he is redefining how we moderns should look at media. ABS-CBN has myriads of offerings: variety shows, dramas, game shows, talk shows, memory-lane shows, and replays of old movies.

Mr Concepcion is an unexpected champion in this case, as he is Presidential Adviser for Entrepreneurship, and he is a businessman, founder of Go Negosyo, Go Business. I know he is also a champion of PH Agriculture, agri-business co-mentor with Secretary of Agriculture William Dar.

I wrote about the matter 07 May 2020, ”What If Duterte Unmuzzled ABS-CBN? Then He Will Be My Hero !” – Frank A Hilario” (Greenfields Asia). In that essay, first I quoted:

The University of the Philippines (Diliman) College of Mass Communication strongly decries the action of the NTC’s cease-and-desist order (vs) ABS-CBN operations. ¶ Again, the current (Duterte) Administration demonstrates the lengths it will go to silence critical media voices.

In reply, I said:

Using UP Think, I must decry NTC’s CDO against ABS-CBN: NTC took away ABS-CBN’s academic freedom.

Being a media person myself, now that I hear loud an entrepreneur talking about media freedom, I love it! Especially that this one is Filipino.

Says Mr Concepcion above in his Facebook sharing:

ABS-CBN, along with other networks, does so much in uplifting our people, bringing not only entertainment, but hope. In these tyring times where many of our people lose their jobs, their life savings, and their family members, the least we can do is to deliver HOPE to them.

Those are only 48 words, but since they are from one of the respected leaders of the private sector, they are as powerful as a declaration of faith in the media by PH business as well as a declaration of care to the people of the Philippines who love the programs that PH TV networks present to them. What do those programs do to the people who watch them? “The least we can do is to deliver HOPE to them.”

What we can do if we are not fully satisfied with what the networks are offering to the masses is complain via media, not shut down media.

ABS-CBN is not among the vociferous media critics of President Rodrigo Roa Duterte, no. I said there:

Differently, a senior citizen at 79, a self-taught journalist and a Facebook hound, with everyday half-a-day surfing the Web, I have not seen ABS-CBN among the “critical media voices” vs President Rodrigo Roa Duterte. A mislabeling I cannot forgive UP Diliman’s MassCom for!

For ABS-CBN to become a palpable Network of Hope, I suggest that the Department of Agriculture, DA, through Secretary William Dar, arrange with the network heads the holding of digital classes on urban, school, and home gardening following the example of SEARCA’s “School-Plus-Home Gardens (S+HG)” SOLVE Webinar (contact http://fb.com/seameo.searca). SOLVE is Searca Online Learning & Virtual Engagements. Engaged, henceforth, digitally, DA & SEARCA will help turn ABS-CBN into a network of hope!@517

The Flowers Of May Are Free, And So Is My Ebook Of Essays Advocating PH Agriculture: Greenfields Asia.

Lockdown or not, May is a beautiful month. In the Christian world, May belongs to Mary, a much-revered figure as Mother of Jesus, who is Christ, who is the Son of God and who became Man to save the sinful humans from the wrath of God the Father. It’s complicated, but that’s how I see it in my mind’s eye.

Figuratively, the flowers of May I expect growing this year are the journalists and columnists who care, or should, about Filipino farmers in general, and not only their media.

Images: beautiful May from Jack Hartmann[1]; PressFreedom from Twitter[2]: The silencing of a free press can be by government – or by the members of media themselves refusing to take the side of the millions. In the case of PH agriculture under the leadership of Secretary of Agriculture William Dar/Manong Willie, it’s the aggie journalists who have so far refused to exercise their media freedom and take the side of promoting PH agriculture – not demoting it as do a handful of aggie journalists or columnists, and farm leaders. If you do not promote the new agriculture, it’s because you are unable or refuse to see the flowers, not just the ones in your album. Like: Do you know “The 8 Paradigms” that accompany The New Thinking For Agriculture from Manong Willie?

On the other hand, I can easily see the beauty of May. The first murmur of rain, the first opening of flowers, are all welcome sounds and sights.

Personally, I am now welcoming May 2020 with the release of my book, in pdf, Greenfields Asia, 100 essays published in my blog, Journalism 4.0.

Uniquely, Greenfields Asia is how to think of PH agriculture creatively. And expansively.

The flowers of May I’m offering are the fields I cultivate belonging to The New PH Agriculture as I term it as espoused by Secretary of Agriculture William Dar, who assumed his position as Head of the Department of Agriculture, DA, on 05 August 2019. In his own words, Manong Willie is calling for “The New Thinking For Agriculture” that is embedded in what he calls “The 8 Paradigms” – read my book to find out what!

I would like to emphasize that I can call my work THINK Journalism, following American guru Zig Ziglar’s THINK-ing – True? Helpful? Inspiring? Necessary? Kind? I do refrain from negatives.

Since my advocacy is virtual, essentially via online essays, it must also become visual, to lend evidence to the eyes and credence to the mind. Hence this pdf manuscript I’m sharing.

The book I have right now is all of 283 pages, yours for the asking (email frankahilario@gmail.com). I’m offering it also to the farmer leaders and/or advocates who occasionally speak up and only negatively. They better learn the concept of inclusive market-oriented development, IMOD, from Manong Willie, or they cannot keep up with him intellectually! I say, if they are looking for a single secret of success in farming, it’s not landownership but marketing!@517

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[1] https://www.pinterest.ph/pin/280278776794205509/

[2] https://twitter.com/supermantweets/status/594853966229438464

UP Researchers: Lockdown First, Food Security Later. SEARCA Director: Farmers Now!

The UP group is after flattening the curve first, that is, no new cases reported of Covid-19, before the lifting of the lockdown. The SEARCA Director is looking at the already flattening curve of the number of farmers, their income and GDP! A hole-istic view vs a holistic view.

The UP group is afraid that without a lockdown, the virus will become badder; the SEARCA Director is afraid the continued lockdown makes PH agriculture even badder! The UP group is thinking of thousands; the SEARCA Director is thinking of millions of food producers and millions more adversely affected by the producers adversely affected. The UP group is counting its big data; the SEARCA Director is counting the millions of farmers.

The UP people are happy in their offices – the Filipino farmers are unhappy in their fields and homes. The UP people forget that the human body’s first shield against disease is healthy food, and that if you lockdown agriculture, you are solving some problems and creating a million more!

The UP people want to help in theory, sooner or later; the SEARCA Director wants to help in practice today, now! (image of Modern Warfare from Activision[1])

Jonathan Cellona of ABS-CBN News says the UP group says[2]:

Prematurely lifting the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) in Luzon could spell catastrophe and might result in surge of coronavirus (COVID-19) cases in the country.

Melody Mendoza Aguiba reports in the 08 May 2020 of ABS-CBN News[3] what the SEARCA Director is thinking, that is, “Rethink agriculture interventions as Covid-19 lockdown reduces number of farmers, their income, and GDP”:

The government should “rethink” interventions in agriculture as the Covid-19 lockdown has further cut number of farmers and their income – resulting in depressed demand for goods, food insecurity, and declining Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

Onto the second month of the lockdown, a decline in Philippines’ agricultural production is being placed at 2.97% due to a decrease in the number of farmers tilling the land.

Due to lockdown, mobility restrictions result (in) quantity reduction in farm labor. If it continues longer, this would translate to reduction in agriculture productivity,

The UP researchers are 3: Guido David (Institute of Mathematics), Ranjit Singh Rye (Department of Political Science), and Ma Patricia Agbulos (OCTA Research). Their paper is titled, “Covid-19 Forecasts In The Philippines: Insights For Policy Making.”

I believe in The One, not The Three. I believe in The One’s insight for policy making now, not later!

SEARCA Director Glenn B Gregorio said:

The loss of income and economic slowdown would also result in decrease in demand, particularly among the farmers and farming families with no safety nets.

Ms Melody said the Director also said:

The downturn in agricultural production is worsened by farmers’ limited access to farm inputs and markets to sell produce. This has already resulted in profit losses and wastage of farm produce such as that in vegetable capital Benguet.

UP Theory versus SEARCA Reality. Over researcher Data, I choose farmer Reality. No, nobody can eat Data!@517

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[1] https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fblog.activision.com%2Fcall-of-duty%2F2019-11%2FModern-Warfare-Tactical-Map-Intel-Krovnik-Farmland&psig=AOvVaw3L1S3OKX4-AlWa3y1wiaOM&ust=1589312127642000&source=images&cd=vfe&ved=0CAIQjRxqFwoTCLj8y9DHrOkCFQAAAAAdAAAAABAD

[2] https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/04/23/20/university-of-the-philippines-up-study-on-enhanced-community-quarantine-recommendations

[3] https://growthfeatures.com/2020/05/08/rethink-agriculture-interventions-as-covid-19-lockdown-reduces-number-of-farmers-their-income-and-gdp-searca-chief/?fbclid=IwAR1oZIjvOx8L3N6F7lVGSnoIuJR7nVr1_3lP-l2SK7Y7Cji3d2bp-zIatOs