Teodoro Brawner Baguilat Jr, How About Leading The “Enrich The Rice Farmers Movement”?

 

Mr Baguilat, I am looking for a kindred spirit, and reading the Wikipedia page on you, I am heartened that among other things, you belong to two indigenous tribes: Tuwali in ifugao and Gaddang in Nueva Vizcaya. And you are President of the Global Consortium for Indigenous and Community Conserved Areas (ICCA Consortium), an advisory body to the United Nations.

Now then, Mr Teddy, how about you and I initiating a digital group we can call “Gulat Baguilat” – Surprise! Native intelligences can be used to enrich Pinoy farmers!

It will have to be digital at the start because right now you are young, 58 years old today, 30 July 2024 – Happy Birthday, Sir! But I have 1 bad back and 2 bad ears! I am mobile only mentally and digitally – I roam the world of knowledge every single day with my laptop. I have been doing that since 1991, when the Internet came to the Philippines.

Sir, as you are President of the the Global Consortium for Indigenous and Community Conserved Areas (ICCA Consortium), an advisory body to the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity, via “Gulat Baguilat,” together digitally we would like to elevate the goal of the ICCA from “conservation” to “enrichment” of not only the conserved areas but also the commercial areas.
(Image sources: top, from Twitter, x.com; bottom from achieversrule.com)

In the first place, it is the commercial areas of agriculture that are contributing much to Climate Change, generating greenhouse gases that come back to us as the destructive “El Niño” and “La Niña.”

What we need to propagate is called “Regenerative Agriculture,” which comprises these familiar practices:

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
13, Trash Mulching.

If you are interested, you can contact me via Facebook, where I have a page. In the meantime, you can browse 2 of my active blogs:
“Communication For Development Of Vibrant Villages (blogspot.com)
“The Editor In Chief” (blogspot.com)

Of course, we need financing, and that is where you come in. Initially, we could use PH 1M to create the group, assign a physical office, designate people’s jobs, and purchase digital workhorses. Start with 10 people?

I will be The Editor In Chief, in charge of all media communications, to make sure they confirm to what I call “THINK! Journalism” –

Is it
True? If True, is it
Helpful? If Helpful, is it
Inspiring? If Inspiring, is it
Necessary? If Necessary, is it
Kind? THINK!

No Sir, not the kind of journalism that gave Maria Ressa the Nobel Peace Prize in 2021, which is called “TRUTH Journalism”. I don’t mind that I never get the Nobel Peace Prize – I mind that I will get the People’s Peace Price!

Yes Sir, Mr Baguilat. Our everlasting gift to the Filipino people, not the least the indigenous tribes, would be to enrich all Filipino farmers!@517

“Ille Imperium”, A Solo Art Exhibition Of Paul Hilario – A Challenge To Leaders And Citizens, Both

Ongoing, 06-31 July 2024, “Ille Imperium” is a solo painting exhibit of Paul Hilario at the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) Gallery, 633 General Luna St, Intramuros, Manila.

I, father of the painter, note that what Dennis Montera, head of the National Committee on Visual Arts (NCVA), says at the opening of the solo exhibit, is a good summary of Ille Imperium’s intentions: “fostering innovation and societal improvement through art.”

MB Lifestyle says (15 July 2024, Manila Bulletin, mb.com.ph):

The National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) Gallery unveiled the "Ille Imperium" exhibit (of) Filipino contemporary visual artist Paul Hilario on July 6. Laya Boquiren, curator of Ille Imperium, shared a few points about the exhibit. Dr Dennis Montera… “encouraged visual artists to submit proposals for the NCCA 2025 Competitive Grants, emphasizing the commission's commitment to fostering innovation and societal improvement through art.”

Yes, we can view my son Paul’s “Ille Imperium” paintings as “fostering innovation and societal improvement through art.” I know Paul is conservative in real life but not when it comes to paintings: among others he borrows from impressionist painters Paul Gauguin (French) and Vincent Van Gogh (Dutch). (I happen to love impressionism myself.)

MB Lifestyle says about Paul Hilario’s paintings not only in that exhibit (15 July 2024, Manila Bulletin, mb.com.ph):

Hilario’s works are known for their satirical take on the nation’s current challenges, addressing themes such as governance, societal decay, and corruption. "Ille Imperium" is a reflection of our times. Through his visual narratives, Hilario invites viewers to confront critical issues and reflect on the nation's journey. His art serves as a mirror to society, urging contemplation and dialogue about our collective future.

On the word, Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org) says:

Imperium originally meant absolute or kingly power – the word being derived from the Latin verb imperare (to command) – which became somewhat limited under the Republic by the collegiality of the republican magistrates and the right of appeal, or provocatio, on the part of citizens.

Curator Laya Boquiren Gonzales says (MB Lifestyle, above cited):

The exhibition features fourteen paintings and two installations, each bearing Hilario's unique approach to figuration and palette.

On Facebook, the NCCA says:

Paul Hilario's solo exhibition offers a satirical exploration of a nation in decline. His visual allegories are thought-provoking meditations on the state and its governance. The artist prefers to wage his battles through symbols, which are enigmatic provocations that elicit contested responses from different people. The narrative of an ailing government echoes through our collective memory, a stark and urgent reminder of the cyclical pattern of inequity, violence, and patronage politics.

“Satire exploration,” “narrative of an ailing government… inequity, violence and patronage politics…”

For the good of the Philippines, our country, my son Paul engages in symbols; his father engages in blogging, with an image or two for each article. Visual artist, creative writer – both God-believers, aspiring to inspire Filipinos, both indefatigable:

"Pray as though everything depended on God. Work as though everything depended on you." – Saint Augustine.@517

Writing A Long Speech Or Report – Vision & Subdivision. The Un-Scholarly Example Of BBM’s SONA 2024

I just published The Editor In Chief’s review on Pres BBM’s “SONA 2024” (see 24 July 2024, “BBM’s 3rd SONA Under Scrutiny By The Editor In Chief – Where Is The Vision?,” The Editor In Chief, blogspot.com) – I’m not happy. The title itself of my article gives you a summary of the SONA: No Vision! Is BBM without Vision for his country, only eyes for rice?

You cannot lead a country with 119 million people without a Vision! You can, but where will your leadership lead you when you don’t have a good idea where you want your country to go as one, to prosper all citizens?

For the needs-improvement SONA of BBM, I am blaming the Presidential Press Office (PPO). Wake up, PPO!

The above image is for composing a thesis, but looking at the whole image by itself indicates that if you want your long article (such as a SONA) to have Divisions, Sections and Sub-Sections, you should get from the image even just the idea of partitioning!
(image from libguides, search.yahoo.com)

I have never seen a long SONA like it that tackled so many topics and yet was presented as one continuous read – well, there’s always the first time.

And so, without Vision, BBM (and/or the Presidential Press Office) speaks/writes blindly!

Without Vision, BBM misses considering the poverty of millions of Filipino farmers. I am sure he wants prosperity for them, not for them to remain in poverty – but without Vision, there is nothing to push him to do something. So his eyes remain locked onto the price of rice.

If BBM asked the proper experts, like former Secretary of Agriculture William Dar, he would have been presented with a whole program for agriculture for the whole Philippines.

As a matter of fact, when Pres Rodrigo Duterte appointed Mr Dar as Secretary of Agriculture in 2019, he came in with a “New Thinking For Agriculture” (see article, “Dar Advocates Strategic, Sustained Investment In Agri For Sustainable, Inclusive Growth,” 25 Sept 2019, DA, da.gov.ph):

“New Thinking for Agriculture” as a science-based and inclusive development strategy built around eight paradigms, namely, 1) modernization, 2) industrialization, 3) promotion of exports; 4) farm consolidation, 5) infrastructure development, 6) roadmap development, 7) higher budget and investments, and 8) legislative support.

I note that Mr Dar presents “Modernization” as #1 paradigm – of course! What we need to overcome farmer poverty is to much-decrease the cost of production of crops and much-increase the net income. And you cannot do that with the old-time “Chemical Agriculture” (CA) – you have to resort to modern “Regenerative Agriculture” (RA), as RA solves 2 problems simultaneously:

(1) RA reduces much the cost of farming. Therefore, farmers benefit much from their increased net incomes.
(2) RA does not produce greenhouse gases (GHGs) that CA produces; it is the GHGs that produce Climate Change that in turn produces “El Niño” and “La Niña.” Therefore, everyone benefits from RA, not only the farmers but whole communities surrounding the farms.

What else do we want?!@517

BBM’s 3rd SONA Under Scrutiny By The Editor In Chief – Where Is The Vision?

 

I The Editor In Chief am subjecting the “3^rd State of the Nation Address” (SONA) of President Ferdinand “BBM” Marcos Jr, today 23 July 2024, all of 8,700+ words (from Rappler, rappler.com/philippines/sona), and I find it is full of the necessary details – but lacks statement of Vision, sorry to say!

What I know is that “Vision” will tell you where you want to go and “Mission” is how you go there, what you have to do to achieve the Vision. (If you have no Vision, you have only DiVision among your followers, sorry to say.)
(images: top from freepik, freepik.com; bottom from bbmquotes.com).

Here is the very first paragraph, and BBM talks about his favorite subject “rice” –

The hard lesson of this last year has made it very clear that whatever current data proudly bannering our country as among the best-performing in Asia, means nothing to a Filipino, who is confronted by the price of rice at 45 to 65 pesos per kilo.

Aha! BBM’s success as President, as according to him, is nothing when it comes to rice for the Filipino consumers.

Ah, BBM Sir, the question of rice is not only about the price per kilo but about the poverty of the Filipino farmer.

As an agriculturist, I am looking for a Vision of how the farmers can rise from poverty to prosperity. (Well, all PH heads of state have failed in this regard, including BBM’s father, President Ferdinand “FM” Marcos with his famous “Masagana 99” rice program.)

What are we going to do with the millions of poor Filipino farmers?! BBM is still worried about “ating mga kababayang nabibigatan sa presyo ng bigas” (“our countrymen burdened by the price of rice”) –

What about the millions of farmers burdened by poverty?

BBM says:

Totoo, puwersa ng merkado – sa ating bansa at maging sa buong daigdig – ang siyang nagdidikta ng presyo. Bunsod ito, halimbawa, ng giyera, problema sa supply, at puwersa ng kalikasan, tulad ng El Niño na naranasan din sa ibang bansa. Subalit hindi na ito mahalagang alalahanin ng ating mga kababayang nabibigatan sa presyo ng bigas.

My translation – (True, force of the market – in our country and in the whole world – is what dictates the price. This is brought about by, for instance, war, supply, and force of Nature, such as “El Niño” that is also felt by other countries. But these are not important to be considered by our countrymen burdened by the price of rice.)

To BBM, the price of rice is paramount. He does not want his poor countrymen to be bothered by:Climate Change” – which he does not mention.

BBM does not connect the price of rice, and the havocs caused by “El Niño” and “La Niña,” with Climate Change – and Chemical Agriculture (CA) contributing much to Climate Change with the greenhouse gases (GHGs) generated by chemical fertilizers and chemical pesticides.

Stopping GHGs. We can do much combatting Climate Change and farmer poverty – with Regenerative Agriculture (RA).

RA? BBM’s advisers in Agriculture have much to find out!@517

Among The Outstanding Filipino (TOFIL) Awardees 2024, William Dar Is My New Agriculture Secretary!

Yes: Primate Change for Climate Change!

In a Facebook post I saw Friday, 26 April 2024 on “The Outstanding Filipino (TOFIL) Laureates” (top image), William Dollente Dar was/is 3^rd on top. I was not surprised. What I have been surprised is that, even as I finalize writing this, this mid-morning of Sunday, April 28, some 2 days later, not a single one of the Philippine newspapers, including digital news media, has written of TOFIL 2024 – our media people are not interested in the world and works of outstanding Filipinos?!
Mum on TOFIL – Where are you
BusinessMirror?
BusinessWorld?
Manila Bulletin?
Manila Times?
Philippine Daily Inquirer?
Philippine Star?
Rappler?

PH Agriculture needs a Visionary Leader – and you are looking at him right now, framed in my photograph of 2018 when he was speaking before the crowd gathered in Pampanga by RiceUp, a group of level-headed activists dedicated to improving the lives of rice farmers. (He in turned invited me, that is why I was there.)

Above, intentionally, I took the lower image to dramatize the personality of Mr Dar as a leader: visionary, inspiring, directional, trusting.

He graduated with a BS in Agriculture major in Ag Extension from the Benguet State University. He earned a PhD in Horticulture from UP Los Baños.

Mr Dar knows human poverty – His family could not afford to send him to college but his Uncle Osting did; thank God for relatives who recognize potentials and demonstrate that they care!

Mr Dar knows institutional poverty – When he became Director General of the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) in 2000, based in India, ICRISAT was dead last among the international agricultural institute members of the CGIAR Group. He inspired his ICRISAT staff with his Vision, “Science with a human face” – and soon, ICRISAT was the #1 CGIAR member!

Mr Dar knows digital poverty – When he was still Director General of ICRISAT, more than 20 years ago, Mr Dar submitted a proposal he called Open Academy for Philippine Agriculture (OpAPA). OpAPA was meant to be worked on by Philippine agriculture bodies such as the Department of Agriculture, PhilRice, and UP Los Baños. I was a consultant of PhilRice at that time, and I was excited to write a digital book on how to make OpAPA a reality in the digital world; I titled my book The Geography Of Knowledge (TGoK). Nothing came out of OpAPA and TGoK – the Filipino agriculturists are not interested in teaching Filipino farmers digitally?

In the Facebook post of TOFIL, below the image, it proudly proclaims: “Planet vs Plastics: We are the Architects of Renewal.”

I agriculturist & teacher (UPLB Ag Edu 1965) believe that:

(1) It’s not “Planet vs Plastics” – rather, it’s “Planet vs Planters.” We humans have destroyed so much of Earth’s vegetation and are keeping our farms bare, absorbing and reflecting the sun’s heat.

(2) The leadership of the Department of Agriculture needs renewal right now! The Philippines needs a Secretary of Agriculture who thinks rich – rich farms, rich farmers, rich villages!@517

This Is An Emergency! So Why Are UP Professors Contented With A Book Of Warning?

“Ten years to climate emergency” is the overall message of the book Climate Emergency In The Philippines (Impacts And Imperatives For Urgent Policy Action) coming out next month, May 2024, edited by University of the Philippines’ professors Kristoffer B Berse, Juan M Pulhin and Antonio La Viña (SpringerLink, link.springer.com). Waiting for 10 years myself? No, I’m coming out with this call-for-action now!

“(Their) book provides a snapshot of the manifestations of the climate emergency in the Philippines from a wide array of disciplines including physical sciences, social sciences, arts and humanities, management, and law. Researchers and faculties at the University of the Philippines contributed to this compilation, where each chapter provides policymakers and the public a clear picture of why climate change must be confronted with a sense of urgency and near-desperation.”

I, an alumnus of the University of the Philippines Los Baños, am surprised that the 3 gentlemen’s book stops short of enumerating and discussing what may be done by us people right now! I say: “The heat is on! It’s an emergency!”

Differently & thankfully, non-Filipino Lisa Ray points out “Eco-Friendly Technology In IT” (22 July 2016, LinkedIn, linkedin.com, source of bottom image):

What is eco-friendly technology (as a whole)? … This technology basically helps to preserve our environment through gaining efficiencies in energy and reducing the harmful waste.

Thankfully, Ms Lisa enumerates:

Eco-friendly technology includes recycling of biodegradable material and producing goods with a material that can be recycled. Use of material which is plant-based has also gained momentum. There has been reduction in use of polluting substances by replacing them with environment-friendly alternatives. The manufacturers and industries have reduced the emission of greenhouse gases to serve the purpose. Renewable energy and energy efficiency are the focal points for all environmentalist(s) and nations at large.

Attaboy, Lisa! I repeat: “Renewable energy and energy efficiency are the focal points for all environmentalist(s) and nations at large.”

In the meantime, I appreciate much Leo Appleton & Nick Woolley’s book, The Role Of Academic Libraries In Climate Action

(15 July 2023, Taylor & Francis Online, tandfonline.com). I quote:

This (material) has been written to serve as a stimulus for discussion and as a call to action for our profession, academic and practitioner, to take stock and reflect if we are doing everything we can in response to the twenty first century climate emergency and the wider opportunity and challenge to embed environmental sustainability into our practice of academic librarianship.

And here is for the academic libraries of the University of the Philippines:

Academic libraries, through their centrality are ideally placed to be the place and platform where discussion, debate and knowledge exchange around sustainability takes place. We already have the information and knowledge infrastructure, and given the growing focus and commitment on place and civic role of universities, this can be extended beyond our university communities where we already may have significant membership. Academic libraries are well placed to function as multi- and inter-disciplinary platforms…

Academic libraries should not be merely academic!@517

Double Great Sunsets! How Great Can You Create A Coffee-Table Book, Anyone?

Anybody wants to produce a coffee-table book? I could tell you all about how to before you make the very first of a thousand steps!

Above, you are looking at either a sunrise or a sunset, depending on your mood. Actually, they are the same photograph that I took probably in 2017; it’s the same photograph from my Lumix FZ100, but viewed in 2 separate monitors – the left on the monitor of my Lenovo laptop, the right on the bigger monitor ViewSonic 20-inch LED.

I love taking photographs, among other things. I love writing, rewriting, editing, re-editing. I love desktop publishing (DTP), DTP being the one you do before you print your magazine or book.

You have to love what you’re doing to be doing great!

How do you do a wonderful coffee-table book for your group or office? You start with a wonder-promising script! That is to say, you start with someone who has been writing for years and years – or someone who shows promise.

How do you write a coffee-table book? First, you have to know the background story of the office and of the officers. Then how the office came to be what it is now. As much as possible, look for the exciting part of the story and begin the book from there!

I bought that Lumix FZ100 from the cash advance I got from the Agricultural Credit & Policy Council (ACPC). I’m talking of early 2012. I started collecting photographs from the field on the many successful loan projects of the ACPC, to produce its 25^th anniversary coffee-table book titled “The Filipino Farmer Is Bankable” – 150 pages, each reading page with a photograph. To collect more images, I travelled to Northern Luzon, mid-Visayas (I cancelled Mindanao at the last minute). Now then, about half of the images came from my FZ100.

A silver book for a silver anniversary, I dare say!

Where did I get my photo perspectives? In 1967-68, when I taught at Xavier University College of Agriculture in Cagayan De Oro City, I frequented the Xavier library, and studied the paintings of the masters: wide angles, cropping, lighting, highlighting etcetera. I probably was the first-ever photographer anywhere to report that I learned my photography much from paintings!

January to March 2012, I was on a journey to collect information, ideas and images to put into the inspirational coffee-table book that I produced for the ACPC, having been engaged by its Executive Director Ms Jovita Corpuz to produce the volume for the silver anniversary celebration of the ACPC in April. I had only 3 months to produce that book. With my decades of writing experience in science, and with that Lumix camera, I delivered!

I don’t remember being so happy doing a project for somebody else whom I met for the first time. (See also my essay, “The Old Man And The C. Or, How To Produce A Coffee-Table Book In 8 Weeks,” (27 April 2012, Frank A Hilario, blogspot.com). When you are happy doing, you do great work!@517