What New Year is to Me

I have always wondered if there is any meaningful difference between December 31 (last day of the "old" year and January 1 (first day of the "new" year), the two days that straddle New Year's Eve.  The New Year period, of course, includes the last week of December and the first week of January.

When I was a little boy, my mother, uncles, aunts, lolos, and lolas. and older siblings always reminded me that New Year's Day is the first day that I should practice what I have resolved to do for the next year as per my new year's resolution.  Of course, when one is young and a bit restless, the meaning of the new year's resolution is largely incoherent in spite of good intentions.

When I was a bit older, school, church, and family always combined their forces to remind us, youngsters, that the New Year symbolized the beginning of a new life that we all had to cultivate so that we would live in prosperity the next year; and life the year after would be governed by another set of new year's resolutions.  That didn't work well either.  We always slid back to normal life right on New Year's Day.  As it turned out, our New Year's Resolution was simply a dream at the dawn of New Year's Day.

When I became a young adult, New Year's Day became less important and less meaningful.  We forgot largely what it was all about.  But we did learn about social issues and social evils.  We even began questioning a lot of contemporary norms.   We learned a lot of these but we were short of the real solutions to real social problems.  As young adults, apparently our job was to identify what we would call social issues and complain about them even as we didn't offer appropriate solutions.

As professionals, we added experience to our stock knowledge and tried to solve social problems.  Strangely. in spite of applying what we learned from school, from being government workers, from being members of the NGO community, from being elected local and national officials, from being high level government officials, from being followers of our respective religions,  from having been members of the international bureaucracy, and in spite of international aid, we have failed big time in solving our problems.

We sure have learned a lot.  We have learned to be global thinkers, and we have identified all the social issues besetting our only country.  And we have failed spectacularly.

                                                                      ###

Five on my Bucket List for 2017

Many would refer to this exercise as writing a New Year’s Resolution, but I’d simply call it listing of the possibilities for me.  I wish to call them my bucket list for 2017.   Not all of them are completely within my own power to undertake and complete, but let’s just say they are my expectations that I will try to work hard to achieve.

One.  Stay alive and healthy.  I hope to have a healthier life in 2017.  On this matter, I’d like to quote Woody Allen.  He once said, “I’m not afraid of death.  I just don’t want to be there when it happens.”

Bottom line is, I wish that I would not only be alive but must be able to function as I did, say, a couple of decades ago.  I sure hope that would be enough for me to do the things I still feel I need to do.  

Two.  I hope to be able to continue doing the things that I did in 2016 that provided me with some resources to continue living my life.  It is important to me to be able to provide for my needs as an ageing man, including that for my partner in life.  It is absolutely very important to me that I know and feel I'm still useful to myself and to those I love.

Three.  I hope that more friends will have access to my forthcoming book titled, Agcom-Devcom Crossover, A Participant-Observer’s Journey. I certainly would enjoy being invited to various HEIs to talk about the book and about the Devcom academic program at UPOU.

Four.  It is definitely my hope to be able to put into writing other things that I have not been able to do these past few years.  It certainly would be useful to be able to write about my experience as Chancellor of UPOU.  Up until now, I haven’t been able to write my memoirs.  Is this worth pursuing?  I wonder.  But I guess I would need a URA for this.

Five.  I hope I would gain more time to research and write about my life in Batanes.  More importantly, I would like to write about the farming system in Itbayat, Batanes.  This would entail some funding.  I hope I will be able to discover how this project idea could be pursued and completed.  

Christmas 2016

Published by Lex and Jegs Librero

Why This Newsletter?

More than a decade ago, a family newsletter titled similarly ceased publication.  It was a case of “we just dropped it because the editor (which was Lex) started having too many things to attend to.”  Since then, there have been major changes in the family, like Lex had become widower and got married again after some years, and King himself got his own family.  Over the years, friends have been asking where that “Newsletter” is.  Besides, we have not been able to share with friends what had been happening in our lives.  Hence, we are reviving the “newsletter.”

The basic difference with this “newsletter” is that it shall now focus on the major activities of Lex and Jegs, although we would mention special things about the Libreros and the Garcias (Jegs’ family side) every now and then.

We don’t have to elaborate on this.  Just take a peep into our lives up to the point we can permit you to do so. 

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Lex Slowed Down on Activities

For 2016, Lex reports having completed the manuscript of his latest book titled Agcom-Devcom Crossover, A Participant-Observer’s Journey,  an account of his professional growth and development in the field of agricultural communications and development communication.  The book has just been submitted to the UPOU as an output of his project as Professor Emeritus.   He hopes that this book would be useful to students of development communication not only at UPOU and UPLB, but in other universities and higher education institutions as well.  Of course in previous years, he had various publications and research projects.

This year, he has slowed down having retired some 8 years ago (he’s now 73). 

He continued to serve as President of the UP Open University Foundation, Inc., a position he was elected to under two years ago due to  the requirement that the Chancellor could not legally serve such position concurrently with the Chancellorship.  He took over from then UPOU Chancellor Gigi Alfonso.    Lex was awarded in 2008 by UP the honorific title of Professor Emeritus, a lifetime title from the University of the Philippines System.

Beginning this year, Lex has been appointed Chief Editor of the International Journal on Open e-Learning (IJODeL), the official online academic publication of the UPOU.

Of course, as Professor Emeritus, Lex continues to serve as adviser or member of the academic advisory committees of graduate students at UPOU, on top of teaching one doctorate course per semester.

Lex is also serving as volunteer writer for BUHAY, the revived newsletter (online and printed) of the UPLB Alumni Association.

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Multiple Achievements for Jegs

One, in June, Jegs received officially her PhD degree in environmental science from the UPLB.  This newsletter is proud of such achievement.  Her dissertation was on ecotourism in Batanes, which she visited four times from 2012 to 2015.

Two, one of her photographs (of a bug) was used in a book titled  The Class Lady Bug, A Polka Dot Winner.  This book, authored by Luz Enriquez-Lombos, was published in the USA during this year. 

Three, in November, Jegs published a book of photographs about Panyesanan, the farm of our late Kuya Flor in Bgy. Rizal, Lipa City.  It’s a beautiful coffee-book type publication, which, incidentally, has caught the attention of some friends and have actually started inquiring if they could buy the book.  Jegs is doing it step-by-step.  She did not do it for commercial purposes initially, but that could be included as one of the objectives now.

Four, in the previous year (2015), Jegs presented a paper in the First National Conference on Integrated Natural Resources Management, held at UPLB.  The title of her paper was Biodiversity in Key Ecotourism Sites as Potential Priority Conservation Target in Small Island Settings.  This was later accepted for publication in the JESAM Journal, published by the School of Environmental Science and Management (JESAM), titled as From Baseline Data to Improved Biodiversity Knowledge and Conservation: the Ecotourism Trail Experience in Batan Island.

Five, the year before last, she passed the professional Board Exam for Environmental Planners.  That made her a licensed environmental planner in the Philippines.  

                            

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Updates on the Extended Family

Jegs assisted Marjo Duritan, our niece, in organizing a get-together of members of the Librero Clan on October 16^th, the 82^nd birthday of our late Kuya Flor, who died on September 24, at 11:16 p.m.

***

Al attended various conferences in Europe and Asia during the year.

Vani (Librero) presented a paper in an international conference on breast-feeding in Vietnam in December.

As a family, they have travelled to Europe and Asia during the year.  It’s a good thing that the Apo, Aidan, is experiencing international travel early.

***

Both Jay and Blanche (Garcia) have found work in Pampanga.  Jay, however, is trying to seek a new work in Laguna.  Basti, their son, is growing up well.

***

Danyelle (Garcia) is doing very well at school, Xavier Nuvali, where she has a scholarship grant.  She’s now a young lady, and is growing up an independent teener.  It’s nice that every now and then she consults with her Tita Jegs on school matters.  Binay is doing well in guiding her daughter grow up.

***

For now, Nonie (Garcia) is very busy with his two pet cats.  Of course, he knows that taking care of cats can be expensive and time consuming.  He’s obviously enjoying them, though.

***

Sis Nita (Juanillas) and her children have been doing well.  Ja, the eldest, is back to school.  She’s pursuing her MS at UPLB.  Jon, a licensed  chemist, is enjoying his work at San Miguel, and has been travelling quite frequently.  Kin, a civil engineer, has transferred to the private sector from UPLB.  Fatima is working in Kuala Lumpur where she undertook her OJT.  Nita, who just retired, is still working part-time with the LSPU, enjoying the perks of being member of the Accrediting Committee of PASUC.

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MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL

One

I’m starting a series in this blog, each post being identified simply numerically.  Hence, this first article is titled ONE.  The next one shall be TWO, and so on.  Why am I doing this?  Well, I shall be writing about a particular topic but most likely it shall not appear in this blog regularly.  I shall continue to write about the usual stuff that I have been writing about previously, which is, really nothing specific.  But for this series I wish to talk about my random thoughts on my personal views about passing through this dimension.  I must confess that much of what I’ll probably blabber about is pseudo-philosophical, and might not even make any sense to many readers.

At the outset, I’d like to clarify where I’m coming from.  Many talk about passing through, or simply dying, as a philosophical orientation.  As many would say that they’re ready to die anytime, anywhere, any way; that they’re not afraid to die.  Well, I’m not that committed to the philosophy.  Perhaps you’ll find out later what my own thoughts are about the whole thing.

To the question, are you ready to die?,  I’m neither scared nor embarrassed to admit I’m not ready to die.  I don’t know when I’ll be ready.  May be I will never be.  I know I will die anytime, but ready?   Heck, I’m scared of the darn thing.

To me, if one says one’s ready to die, that’s up to the fellow … but I consider that as a philosophical orientation.  But really ready?  That’s not my personal feeling; not my orientation at all.  I am scared to die, may be for various reasons that I am not prepared to talk about now.  So, don’t push it.  Just wait as it unfolds, possibly in future articles in this series.

This is where I’m coming from.  I’m scared to die, and may be I’ll stop being scared to die when I’m dead.

Bonding Time for the Librero Clan

October 16, 2016 was my Kuya’s (Dr. Flor Librero’s) 82^nd birthday, but he could no longer be physically present.  He set for a new journey at 11:16 p.m., September 24, 2016.  However, to honor him on his 82^nd birthday, Jegs helped our nieces and nephews conceptualize, plan, and implement a clan bonding where said nieces and nephews shared with one another their experiences with Kuya Flor when he was still in this world.  What I tried to do was simply relate stories about Kuya’s younger years that his nieces and nephews didn’t know about, as well as provide stories that served to piece together the otherwise incoherent and unrelated stories.  Essentially, therefore, we're talking here of the Shepherd of Panyesanan.  

This clan bonding was neither a celebration nor mourning, just coming together to talk about brief encounters with the honoree.  There were two aspects of this: first, each had a letter that she/he burned after which the ashes were placed in zip lock bag attached to two big balloons that were released into the sky; and second, each had a chance to relate his/her story about his/her experience with Kuya when he was still alive.

Kuya Flor never talked about himself in public, only in very private conversations with specific individuals.  Consequently, each individual knew only an aspect of Kuya’s private life, that which may be relevant to the individual and nothing much more.  I had the honor of providing the vignettes that served to tie all these experiences together that ultimately resulted in a complete story.

Obviously, we can’t provide that story here and now, but it has been conceptualized as a volume of narratives about brief encounters with Ka Tinong Librero.  To be sure, most of the stories related by the nieces and nephews were of recent vintage, stories they have experienced while visiting Panyesanan in Lipa City.  My wife, Jegs, sister Nita, and I provided the “missing” links from the past and even in contemporary times focusing on many philosophical aspects of Kuya’s beliefs and private life from our perspectives.

What happened in this clan bonding activity was well beyond Jegs’ and my expectations.  We realized that the visits of his nieces and nephews were not only of the “tourist” type.  Such visits were more anchored on highly meaningful experiences such as knowing more about Kuya’s philosophy of life, and pieces of advise which may not have meant much then but which have turned out to be extremely meaningful and prophetic. Kuya, myself, and our sister, Nita, may have stuck to our traditional clan value system of a strict hierarchical relationship, but whatever love, concern, happiness, sadness, consideration for others,  etc. there may be we all share internally.  Only when one passes away that we realize the depth of the emotional ties that have bound us together.

The activities for this clan bonding included burning of letters to Kuya.  The ashes were placed in zip lock bag, attached to big balloons, then released into the sky.  The second major part of the clan bonding activity was the sharing of experiences with Kuya Tinong by his nieces and nephews.   

  

Word of Thanks From the Family

To express our heartfelt gratitude to all of you who have  condoled with us in the passing away of a loved one, we find no word or phrase deep and meaningful enough.  Suffice it to say that, indeed, we are all grateful for your expressions of grief and sympathies with us in this time of extremely difficult and sad moments.

In the context of our traditional clan value system in Itbayat, we call our brothers older than we are as kaka.  Hence, I used to call Kuya Flor as Kaka Tinong, but had to upgrade that to Kuya Flor given the circumstances of improved social conditions in Los Baños when I joined him there in 1963.  Having known Kuya Flor from my earliest years in Itbayat to times until today, I can say with very high confidence that he was of a different kind.  He was, indeed, acknowledged by our clan as one of a different kind of human, clearly different in terms of intellectual capacity compared to other members of our clan.  His philosophy of life was, “others first before myself.”  But he never spoke of it, he just did it without fanfare, not even a slight mention of it at any time.  He always said, “people will know you by your deeds, not by what you talk of.”

I was holding his hands and stroking his forehead in his final gasps and with a slight grip he asked me to tell those he had encounters before, “I did all my best as an individual but I was never perfect.  Whatever my shortcomings, please forgive me as I have forgiven those who happen to owe me something.”  I’m now relaying that message to all.  Kindly respond positively to such message so he can rest in peace.

I repeat, Kuya Flor was a good man, but he was not perfect.  When the plusses and the minusses cancel out I am certain that there would still be more than enough plusses left to remind all of us that sometime in the past we have connected with this man so highly generous, so intellectually active, and who was actually ahead of his time. 

I think one of his traits that many of us shall find difficult to forget is his willingness, belief, and wish to resolve problems of others because he didn’t like others to have any problem that he could have helped resolve.  “I don’t like to leave behind problems,” he did say in his last couple of weeks in this world.

On behalf of his wife, Ate Aida, who is herself having a battle with health problems at the moment, and both the Librero and Recto families, I wish to express our very deep gratitude to all of you who have condoled with us and who are saying prayers for the repose of Kuya’s soul.  I am not able to mention the names of everyone, but Kuya loved all the brothers and sisters of Ate Aida and their children and grand children as much as he did his own siblings and their children and grand children.

To all of you who are here now, and those who could not be here and yet have expressed their condolences, thank you from the bottom of our hearts for condoling with us.  I wish we were gathered here now for a much happier moment, but then again this is part of our life’s journey in this world.

Kuya is now on his next journey, but I know he is still around us here and has seen everything.  So, Kuya we are all happy to feel that you are now proceeding with your journey.  Don’t worry about us, you already have solved our problems, and we will be all right.    

Kuya, now you will see only a pair of foot prints behind you.  Those are the foot prints of the one carrying you.

Kuya,  I know I will see you again.  Good bye.

Funeraria Paz, Lipa City

27 September 2016

Have You Experienced Saying Good Bye to Your Pet?

Here’s a very short story I wrote on 31 May 2012.  I came across this when I was trying to check on some old flash drives earlier today.

I should have written this piece last Friday (29 May 2012) evening, but at that time I wasn’t ready to write about how Buddy (our pet Labrador) and I parted.  He passed away at about 2:00 pm and I had to bury him about 4:00 pm last Friday.  King, my son and Buddy’s rightful master, wasn’t around – he’s in Europe for his honeymoon and will be back on June 9^th yet.  Buddy’s been sick the past few months but this has been on and off.  We’ve always attributed it to his age.  For a Labrador, 14 dog years is quite long life since most large breeds like Labradors last usually from 12-15 years.  He’s been suffering from arthritis and has had difficulty walking and moving around but always made sure he would be greeting us every morning (upon waking up and tending the small garden at the backyard) and afternoon (when we come home from work) with a wagging tail and happy facial expression.  He was always cheerful and playful.

King’s prognosis might be right.  It probably didn’t help Buddy psychologically that suddenly there were no people at home and he might have felt alone and lonely.  Jegs and I started moving out of the house on May 5^th, and King and Vanie left for Europe on May 24^th.  During that time, his health deteriorated quickly.  On Friday, May 25^th, a day after King and Vanie left, Buddy visibly became a little lonely but was always alert, always wagging his tail when he saw Jegs and me.  Everyday, Jegs was in the house fixing the things we needed to fix before King and Vanie would be back.  Jegs observed that on May 27^th, Buddy suddenly had no interest in food.  In fact, for two days (28^th and 29^th) he didn’t eat, but took some water when Jegs kind of “force-fed” him with water.  Jegs and Buddy had become very close friends, not as pet and master.

On May 28^th, Jegs, on my suggestion, contacted her high school classmate who is now  a veterinarian (faculty member of the UPLB College of Veterinary Medicine).  Dr. Andrew Bernardo visited Buddy on the 29^th.  The moment he saw Buddy, Dr. Bernardo’s face became sad.  He told us that Buddy was very sick, and he diagnosed him to also have some parasites from which he might not be able to recover because apparently the parasitic condition has so quickly advanced and in consideration of his age he was just waiting to go.  I asked Dr. Bernardo if it was still possible to treat Buddy and he said that his prognosis was that Buddy would be lucky if he lasted two more weeks.

I didn’t like to see Buddy suffer the way he did.  I talked to him (Buddy) and he looked at me like he never did before, as if pleading for help.  He looked so helpless.  I’ll never forget the way he looked at me straight in the eyes.  It was then that I asked Dr. Bernardo who was beside me, “Doc, is there a way to end his suffering quickly?”  Then I mentioned the term “euthanasia” to which the Vet said, “at this point that’s the most humane thing to do.”  But I immediately said, “I can’t make that decision just yet.  I need to consult my son.”  He said, he’d be prepared to do it any day.  During the day, I emailed King and told him about the situation.  I got his response the following day 30 May 2012.  He said, given all considerations, he agreed that euthanasia was the best option Buddy could be given.   So on May 30^th I asked Jegs to contact his veterinarian-friend again and tell him that we’d be ready on May 31^st.  I didn’t like the idea of putting Buddy to permanent sleep on the 30^th, which was my birthday.  We agreed on the 31^st.  Dr. Bernardo said he would be there at 1:30 pm, and he was.

While the Vet was preparing the injections, I was talking to Buddy.  I told him, “Buddy, I’m very sorry but you’ll have to go into a long sleep.  May be we’ll not see each other again.  Al and Vanie are not here right now but Al knows everything that’s going on.  I’m sorry that you’ll not see them before you sleep.  But this is the best to relieve you of whatever suffering you’re having.  Bye, Buddy.”  Then I stroked his head.  He responded with a weakly-wagging tail and a lonely look in the face.  I knew, however, that he understood he was going to sleep permanently.

First, the Vet injected Buddy with a sedative to put him to temporary sleep.  When Buddy was asleep, Dr. Bernardo tried to locate Buddy’s veins for the next injection but couldn’t find any because Buddy’s legs had swollen.  He hasn’t changed position in the last 48 hours.  The Vet couldn’t find Buddy’s veins on the hind legs and the front legs.  Ultimately, the Vet asked me, “I need your permission to go straight to the heart” and I said “go ahead.”  In a couple of seconds, Buddy had his last two gasps of air. Slowly his head turned upwards and then he was gone.  Slowly, the Vet pushed his head downwards.  His tongue was very pale, but he looked serene.

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There Otta be a Law

What’s your driving behavior? Have you been texting or talking to a friend on your cellphone while driving?  Those days are now numbered, not only for you  but for everybody else.  It’s time to stop such bad habit, else you could be flagged down by the police and cited for violating RA 10913, otherwise known as the Anti-Distracted Driving Act, which became effective August 16^th this year.

All drivers think that they’re good and can handle very well these two things: driving and texting or talking on the phone at the same time.  Well, the first time you do it, you could be lucky, even the second, or third time.  But you won’t be lucky forever.  Sooner or later (I strongly believe, sooner) you can get into a road accident (and this road accident will probably not be only a simulation but real one).

If cited for violation of RA 10913, you’ll pay a fine of P5T (first offense), P10T (second offence), P15T and suspension of Driver’s License for 3 months (third offense), or P20T and revocation of Driver’s License (fourth offense).  How will they know you’ve made multiple offenses? I suppose this will be based on a database search under your name.  In other countries, police will simply call data center to find what’s in your record, and presto they get the information in a couple of minutes.  You probably won’t be able to argue with the police, but you can make your arguments in court.  All these are based on the assumption that things would get efficient soon in all of our government system.  Ah, that guy Du30, he’s got so many things to do – or worse, we’re all expecting him to do everything himself.  But that’s exactly why he has subordinates all over government to do the things he says need to be done.  And pronto!

Anyway, in coordination with the Philippine Information Agency (PIA), DepEd, DILG, PNP, and private agencies and organizations, the Department of Transportation shall undertake a massive nation-wide campaign to inform and educate the public about RA 10913 for six months from the effectivity of the Act, which is August 16, 2015.  Through this write-up, I’m making my personal contribution to the dissemination of information about RA 10913. 

Those caught violating RA 10913 between now and February 15, 2017, the period of the informaion and education campaign, may probably be just cited and reminded that there is already a law against distracted driving.  I’m certain that during this information and education campaign period many will be apprehended, but  I’m guessing that they’ll just be cited and reminded of the law.  However, by February 16, 2017 those caught violating the law will have to pay fines.

Personally, I find this law appropriate.  I’m always pissed off by drivers texting or talking to someone else on the phone while driving.  This puts the lives of people at risk and I find this repulsive and inexcusable to say the least, especially when there’s no emergency involved.  I hope this law will be uniformly and efficiently implemented.

Motor vehicle drivers, good or bad, must always consider pedestrian behavior as driving variable that constantly changes.  Always drive defensively.  And avoid driving too fast.  Such behavior doesn’t exactly fit our roads that are always in traffic gridlock.

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CESO Eligibility for Doctorate Degree Holders, Anyone?

Have you heard of Senate Bill 261?  This proposed law was filed in the Philippine Senate recently by Sen. Panfilo "Ping" Lacson.  His reason?  To bring in more competent people in the government service.  Sen. Lacson is proposing that there should be a law granting CESO eligibility to doctorate degree holders.  In Lacson's bill, the doctorate degree would be equivalent to the entry level of CESO eligibility in the civil service.

To be sure, there are countless PhD degree holders who do not have civil service eligibility but RA 1080 granted these people civil service eligibility.  For executive positions, however,, civil service appointments and promotions require CESO eligibility.

I am not against this bill, but I would like to see some sort of procedure to measure the nature, level, and quality of decision making a doctorate degree holder might have prior to being awarded CESO eligibility.  Why?  I do have friends who say that having earned a doctorate degree doesn't make one a good decision maker.  As they say, there are doctorates and there are doctorates, "May mga mamiso, may mga mamera."  In various schools in the Philippines, doctorate degrees are awarded even to those not really qualified

The fact that Sen. Lacson filed said bill in the senate, to me is an indication that there are people in government who have looked at this particular situation and see that there is a problem in the availability of good people in higher levels of government service.  Why this situation?  Well, I also have friends saying that some of those in higher levels of government service are there because they were elected by idiots, or they have another eligibility: "connection."

I hope that when the bill is up for debate in the committees and floor of the senate, the senators would consider issues beyond mere numbers.  For example, must we start now to legislate requirements that ought to be determined through intellectual capacities and capabilities such as decision-making?

I will not, however, fight a proposal that I see can enhance the recognition of individuals who have proven themselves to be smart and highly intelligent by being able to hurdle the rigors of earning a doctorate degree.  By the way, would the doctorate degree be in the field of management, social science, or technical fields.  What are the rubrics that must be understood first?

Anyway, would highly qualified PhDs bite this?  Highly qualified PhDs can demand salaries as high as four times the salary of a CESO IV.  The issue is "patriotism," though.

First 18 Years of My Life were in Itbayat

At 73, it's not easy recalling everything that transpired some 55 years ago.  But here goes.

Dinem Island, sometimes called Diogo Island, is located between the islands of Batan and Itbayat in Batanes.  This island is solid rock, a coral uplift, hence devoid of sand beaches.  Instead, it is surrounded with huge boulders against which splashes the hydrological power of the great Pacific Ocean.

Now, a slight reorientation to the left to face the north-north-west, you'll see the faint figure of an island that looks like a caterpillar.  That is the island of Itbayat, and its lone municipality is called Mayan.

This island of Itbayat is a coral uplift and surrounded by high rock cliffs ranging in height from a low 30 to a high 100 meters.  Down below is 3-10 fathoms of sea (Western Philippine Sea to the west, and Pacific Ocean to the east).  On each end of the island is a couple of low mountains.  To the south-eastern end is Mt. Riposed, while to the north end is Mt. Karoboban.

At the western end of the island you'll see a small islet called Mavulis, which used to host a huge population of large coconut crabs.   On another island, Siyayan, used to live a huge population of sea turtles.  In recent years, however, these resources have practically gone because of poachers who have roamed the islets on daily basis.

This falowa plys the Basco-Itbayat route which is about 25 nautical miles of deep and rough channel.  This place used to be called the graveyard of Itbayat locals who use to cross this channel on smaller falowa which they row for at least 12-14 continuous hours.  Today, these falowas are larger and are run by small diesel marine engines so crossing time has been reduced to 4 hours.

A relatively new seaport is the Veranga Seaport, built by the DPWH 10-15 years ago, as alternative to Chinapoliran and Paganaman Seaports about 10-15 kilometers to the north.  The Veranga port has a wider disembarkation platform etched out of solid rock and reaches sea level.  Larger falowas and sea vessels can berth right along the rock so that they become very steady while unloading both passengers and cargo.

This is the disembarkation platform of Chinapoliran Seaport.  From this point at sea level, you have to walk up 100 meters at a gradient of 35 degrees to reach the rest station, them walk up again for another 100 meters at similar gradient of 35 degrees, then turn slightly rightwards for still another 100 meters at a gradient of 30 degrees.  Only then will you find the road to Mayan some two kilometers northwards.  If you're lucky, you walk; if not, you carry your luggage to town.  There are no passenger vehicles there.  If you have friends, perhaps they could provide cow- or carabao-drawn sled for your luggage and perhaps yourself.

The town of Mayan is like a large vat.  All the residential houses are on the rim and slopes of the vat.  At the bottom are the important public infrastructure like the elementary school, municipal building, church, rural health unit, and the town plaza.  

The town is bisected by the national road north to south so that the plaza is halved right at the middle.

Itbayat Island is practically flat.

Coconut Crab Acrobatics 101

Coconut crabs (Birgus latro) are a delicacy in Batanes, especially on Itbayat Island, and other South Pacific Islands.   Ivatans called the coconut crab tattus. The coconut crab is the largest species of the terrestrial hermit crab, the only species of the genus birgus, but related to (as in pinsan) the species of the genus Coenobita.

Coconut is not their main food, so why are they called coconut crabs?  They eat fruits, nuts, and any organic mater.  People in Itbayat, long time ago, always saw these crabs, especially the large ones, climb coconut trees, get mature nuts, bring them down and crack them open (mainly with their pincers) so they could eat the meat.  The people of Itbayat thought coconut was the main food of these crabs, hence they called them coconut crabs.   (Got this from older generations years ago when I was a little boy.)

Handling coconut crabs looks and is actually easy. Make sure you take hold of them from their back rather than from the front, and fast, otherwise they can easily clip your fingers and hands with their tough and powerful pincers.

 Coconut crabs are much like pit-bulls.  They don't let go once they get hold of your fingers.  Otherwise, to free your fingers, either you break the crab's pincers, or  perhaps lose your fingers, or let go off the crab altogether.  You can easily catch it immediately once it lets go off your fingers.

Play with the crab.  Let go off the crab on its back and see how it gets upright.  Amazing capability.

Female species have whiskers underneath the belly.

Coconut crabs are excellent contortionists and acrobats.  They can climb trees and rock, even if they may not run swiftly.  They can even turn into ball-like object and roll downhill just to avoid being caught by hands.

That which looks like the crab's head is actually its belly which contains its delicious fats and aligge. Very delicious, and excellent source of cholesterol.  What the heck, if you have your coconut crab meal only once a month perhaps that's not too much for an asking.  The fat in the crab's belly is good mixed with boiled rice.  Try it.

Somersault completed.

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Challenges in Communicating Climate Change

Almost at the heels of the Adoption of the Paris Agreement on climate change in November 2015, I recall having addressed this issue in a keynote speech before the 3rd National Agriculture, Fisheries, and Natural Resources Extension Symposium of the Philippine Extension Network, Inc. held at the Heritage Hotel in Manila on October 13-14, 2009.

Without the contextual introduction of the speech, titled, "Challenges in Communicating Climate Change," I'm reprinting the body of that speech here because I find it still completely relevant today.

Challenges in Communicating Climate Change

By

Felix Librero, PhD

Professor of Devcom and Education

U.P. Open University

  

Challenge No. 1: 

Communicating Climate Change, a Scientific Phenomenon,

to a Largely Unscientific Audience

I did a very quick and crude survey among ordinary Filipinos and found some interesting data.  I have suspected this kind of data all along, but I still got surprised when I saw the numbers.   I shall compare these with data from the United States based on a poll conducted by Harris International from November 10-17, 2008. As you can see from Table 1, we do have an unscientific Filipino audience.

 Table 1.  What Filipinos believe in.

The Issue	Believe In (%)	Don’t Believe In (%)	Not Sure (%)
God	100	0	0
Heaven	98	1	1
Angels	93	1	6
Jesus is God or the Son of God	92	2	6
The Resurrection of Jesus Christ	92	4	4
Miracles	90	1	9
Hell	89	5	6
The Devil	87	4	9
The Virgin Birth	85	7	8
Creationism	83	7	10
Survival of the Soul After Death	83	8	9
Ghosts	68	11	21
Witches	43	21	33
Astrology	38	41	27
Darwin’s Theory of Evolution	34	41	25
UFOs	26	26	48

In table 2, we also see an unscientific American audience.  However, it would be much easier to educate American audiences about climate change compared to their Filipino counterparts.   This is probably one time that we Filipinos should imitate the Americans.  Even so, it appears there would still be a long way to go.

Table 2.  What Americans believe in.

The Issue	Believe In (%)	Don’t Believe In (%)	Not Sure (%)
God	80	10	9
Miracles	75	14	12
Heaven	73	14	13
Jesus is God or The Son of God	71	17	12
Angels	71	17	12
The Resurrection of Jesus Christ	70	18	13
Survival of the Soul After Death	68	15	17
Hell	62	24	13
The Virgin Birth	61	24	15
The Devil	59	27	14
Darwin’s Theory of Evolution	47	32	22
Ghosts	44	39	17
Creationism	40	31	29
UFOs	36	39	25
Witches	31	54	14
Astrology	31	51	18

Source: Mooney & Kirshenbaum (2009), Unscientific America.

We have here in the Philippines a decidedly “unscientific” audience who ranked Darwin’s theory of evolution 15^th out of 16, and prefer to believe in the presence of ghosts and witches. 

Interestingly, few also believe in astrology, and yet, there are hordes of people consulting the palm readers of Quiapo.  This could be taken to mean we have in our hands a confused audience, but an audience that probably has a strong belief system that is less than scientifically-oriented.  The question now is, how do we communicate scientific phenomena to an unscientific audience?  That our science communicators could do much to inform and educate the public about the ill-effects of climate change is a given, but they could also be overwhelmed by the very strong belief systems of their audiences.

Climatic change is a very sophisticated scientific phenomenon, and we must communicate this to a largely unscientific audience.  That is a challenge, indeed. 

Perhaps our pollsters should consider doing more surveys to find out the magnitude in which Filipinos appreciate scientific knowledge so we can at least try to figure out how we could communicate more effectively and efficiently the topic to the public, and perhaps bother less with who will win the presidency today since the elections would not be held today, anyway.

Let us try to recall past thinking on the topic of climate change.    Those of us who have been trying to communicate climate change know that we are dealing with a public that tends to reject the idea that change in climatic conditions is due to human activity.  Our public has always been of the belief that any changes in the climate has always been the handiwork of God.

This is hardly the time for a side comment, but I find this difficult to pass.  One can always  suggest, at least in jest, that those victims of Typhoon Ondoy who are claiming that  their insurance companies are not willing to underwrite the cost of repairing their cars damaged by Typhoon Ondoy, may probably have to line up in church for loan because in this country, as provided for by insurance rules, an act of God is not covered by insurance. 

In any case, to believe that climate change happens because of the activities of humans is absolutely a different pattern of thinking.  It is a major shift in paradigm.  And we all know that paradigm shifts always take a long time to gestate.

For example, it has been some 150 years after Darwin published his book, The Origin of the Species, and a large proportion of both the American and Philippine publics remain unable to grapple with the theory of evolution.  In America, less than half of the population believes in the theory of evolution, but that means that more than half of Americans do not really believe in it.  For Filipinos, the dividing line is also very clear.   Only 34% believes in it, while 66% does not.

Here is how Simon Donner, Professor of Geography, University of British Columbia, explains why it is a challenge, indeed, to communicate climate change in a largely “unscientific” world:

From Galileo to Darwin, science is full of examples where new discoveries challenged traditional beliefs.  If history is a guide, it can take decades or centuries for the new science to become the new orthodoxy.  The battle over public acceptance of natural selection is still being fought 150 years after the publication of  Darwin’s The Origin of Species.  The potential for human-induced climate change may not belong on a list of the most fundamental scientific discoveries of last 500 years.  Like those discoveries, however, it does challenge a belief held by virtually all religions and cultures worldwide for thousands of years.  This long view of history needs to be reflected in campaigns to educate the public, who do not have the benefit of years of graduate training in atmospheric science, about the science of climate change.

Challenge No. 2: 

Climate Change is not a Breaking News but an Oozing Phenomenon

Science communicators, particularly science journalists, have found it very difficult to report on climate change because it is a phenomenon that is incrementally unfolding and the evidences are only trickling in.  In other words, from the point of view of mass media news parlance, the story is not breaking (except in the case of Typhoon Ondoy and other similar cases), it is simply oozing or very slowly flowing.  Such was how it was described by Boyce Rensberger, director of the Knight Science Journalism Fellowships at the MIT (Chandler, 2008) during a panel discussion on “disruptive environments” held last year. 

Panellists were tackling the theme “communicating climate change: science, advocacy and the media.”  Perhaps it is not only a question of how the phenomenon unfolds that is making it difficult for journalists to cover; it is probably partly because the scientists also are finding it difficult to explain why climate change is happening the way it does – oozing, instead of breaking.

An important concept that is always hammered into the heads of aspiring reporters in college is the concept of “breaking news,” which means “it is happening now.”  Climate change is happening now, all right, but why does it not carry the same urgency as, say, breaking news about an ongoing bank heist?  The big difference is that the bank heist happens in just a few minutes if not seconds, while climate change happens anywhere from decades to millions of years.   From the point of view of the public, climate change, unless it translates itself into catastrophic typhoons and floods like Typhoon Ondoy was, appears to be a long, long way into the future and so the urgency is not even perceptively felt.  Scientists, however, feel it is an issue that is absolutely urgent and something must be done now.  Looking at the long-term trend based on data collected over so many years, experts are seeing a quickening of the rate at which climatic conditions are changing.  What they are seeing, based on scientific models and means, is making them more scared.  But the public, not knowing the workings of science, does not appreciate this situation and, therefore, does not feel the same level of urgency so it is not significant information that warrants action right away.  In other words, as it is considered to be act of God, so shall it be.

Do we have a choice in this situation?  It appears we do not have much choice for now.  We will have to continue with efforts at informing and educating the public about the significance of our changing climatic conditions.  There are ways of doing this, such as focusing on the public’s experience with, say, the El Niño and La Niña phenomena because these are events directly affecting the daily lives of people.       

One of the panellists in last year’s discussion at MIT was MIT’s Kerry Emanuel, professor of atmospheric science who attracted worldwide attention when, just a few weeks before Hurricane Katrina slammed into New Orleans last year, he published a paper predicting the increased intensity of hurricanes due to global warming.   Emanuel’s comment in the panel discussion rings loud and clear when he said, “when it comes to explaining complex scientific work to the media and the public, scientists are ‘not very well trained’.”  Still, Emanuel said, it should be pointed out quite clearly that science, indeed, is built on incremental progress and could be explained only in terms of simplified metaphors, which also invites criticisms from other scientists because metaphors are not exact (Chandler, 2008).

The message is rather clear: climate change is an unfolding phenomenon, and communicating it to the public is always work in progress.  Given such a situation, therefore, the communication expert would now have to devise ways and means of making such a content much more understandable to the public and invite appropriate action to mitigate the phenomenon.  This is a process of informing and educating people, and everybody knows how slow and painstaking it is to educate people, especially when they refuse to be educated.

Challenge No. 3:

Reframing Climate Change as Communication Message

Framing is a concept focusing on building a storyline that sets “specific stream of thought in motion, communicating why an issue might be a problem, who or what might be responsible for it, and what should be done about it” (Nisbet, 2009).  Framing is a technique of focusing the message, and audiences usually rely on frames of messages to make sense of an issue.  Journalists use frames to create interesting stories and reports.  Framing also means making systematic and critical choices of the nature of information to be communicated giving greater weight to certain considerations and other elements over others.

In the last two decades, research in political communication and sociology has added more knowledge about the communication phenomenon of framing.  Research has helped explain how media portrayals of events and issues interact with cultural forces to shape public views of complex policy debates on significant topics like climate change.

With proper framing, climate change could be made highly relevant to public needs and concerns than it otherwise could be under normal situations.  For example, there was great opportunity during the Metro-Manila flash floods that accompanied Typhoon Ondoy on September 26, 2009 to explain that there was flood because the rainfall that normally would have fallen in 30 days was poured in six hours.  This was a result of global warming, of climate change.  Of course, explaining this situation in more understandable ways would mean we need more information to include in our explanation.

According to Nisbet (2009), it should be pointed out that not every individual cares about the environment or would defer to the authority of science.   However, if the message about climate change is framed according to certain beliefs without necessarily changing its scientific foundations, then perhaps the public might have another view of it. 

Nisbet (2009) suggests that we look at possible frames for the subject matter “climate change.”   These frames could include the “economic development frame” which would essentially mean recasting climate change as an opportunity to grow economically.  Hence, we could use phrases like “innovative energy technology” or “sustainable economic prosperity.”  We could talk about conditions where our agricultural production system was devastated by the typhoon and all rice fields were flattened by wind and water, and all the grains buried under water or mud.  Destruction of property was of a magnitude we could hardly describe. 

Another frame would be the “morality and ethics” frame which was used in Al Gore’s Inconvenient Truth.    Why is it, for example, that the developing countries that contribute less than one percent of the gas emissions that cause global warming, have to suffer the brunt of climate change catastrophes?  Not only that, they are also expected to spend as much in mitigating climate change.

Another frame has recently emerged.  This is called the “public health” frame, which focuses on health implications of climate change.  This frame was very clearly present in the aftermath of Typhoon Ondoy, and all other natural catastrophes.  The other way of looking at it is that changing climatic conditions affect adversely our biological conditions and cause health disruptions that could range from mild to serious and fatal.

Through appropriate framing of the message, it is possible to create interpretive storylines that can be used to “bring diverse audiences together on common ground, shape personal behaviour, or mobilize collective action” (Nisbet, 2009).

Concluding Statement

So, to review the challenges now, we have to do better in informing and educating our publics about a scientific phenomenon even if such publics may not be scientific in their thinking and actions.  We have to seek ways and means of explaining to people that climate change is not a one-time phenomenon that does not come back once it has happened but  a continuing phenomenon.  Also, we have to make sure that our angles of interpretation,  information, as well as education fit into the mind sets of people so that the message sinks in right away and people act immediately accordingly.

Let me conclude with a Chinese saying that has been made gender-sensitive.  It runs like this.  To be a dignified human, one has to sire an off-spring , write a book, and plant a tree.

My friends, siring an off-spring is probably not a mandatory requirement to stay alive.  Many have survived without off-springs, and the world has survived as well.  Much less write a book.  Most of us, in fact, wouldn’t bother to even think of it and the world will not perish.  Planting a tree would perhaps have the most lasting effect on this earth and on mankind.  So, isn’t it about time you started celebrating your being alive by planting a tree on your birthdays?

Thank you.

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References

Donner, Simon.  (2009).  Communicating climate change in an unscientific world.   Retrieved from http://simondonner.blogspot.com/2009/09/communicating-climate-change

Chandler, David.  (2008).  News that oozes: panellists tackle challenges of communicating climate change.  Retrieved from http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2008/climate-media-tt0416.html

Climate change in Asia: perspective on the future climate regime.  Retrieved from http://www.unu.edu/unupress/2008/climateChangeinAsia.html

Carvalho, Anabela.  (2008).  The challenges of communicating climate change.  Retrieved from http://www.lasics.uminho.pt/ojs/index.php/climate_change

Climate change.  Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climate_change

Retallack, Simon.  (2006).  Ankelohe and beyond: communicating climate change.  Retrieved from http://www.opendemocracy.net

Ward, Bud.  (2009).  Communicating on climate change.  Retrieved from http://www.metcalfinstitute.org/Communicating_ClimateChange.html

Nisbet, Matthew C.  (2009).  Communicating climate change: why frames matter for public engagement.  Retrieved from http://www.environmentmagazine.org/Archives/Back%201Issues/March-April2009/Niwsbet-full.html

Doster, Stephanie.  (2009).  Meeting the challenges of climatic change head on.  Retrieved from http://www.environment.arizona.edu/news/fws_report

Fabusoro, Enjola and F Hoi-Yee.  (2009).  Challenges of climatic change to pastoral system in rainforest zone of Southwest Nigeria.  In Climate Change: Global Risks, Challenges and Decisions.   IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science 6.  Tokyo: IOP Publishing Ltd.