Frank And Healthy Minds

Thereby,  Bill Gates  is trying to wreak havoc on my meals! I love meat, especially pork, especially Philippine lechon. I also love vegetables. I love  pinakbet , the Ilocanos’ mix of  bitter  (bitter gourd),  slimy  (okra),  fish-salty  (bagoong),  earthy  (eggplant), and  salacious  (sauce having absorbed every single taste in the dish). I love it! An Ilocano, my father  Lakay Disiong  (God bless his soul) cooked pinakbet the way we all loved: with that wonderful flavor of pork! Meat can’t get away from me. I’m reading the article “Bill Gates: The Future Of Meat Is Vega n [1] ” I saw shared on Facebook today, Sunday, 18 July 2021, published by  Animal Equality 21  October 2012   ( animalequality.org ), saying: A video has recently exploded on the (Internet) of Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates speaking about the potential worldly benefits of veganism. Against worldly harm of  animalism  (my...

Did you know that July is “Cordillera Month”? Are we going to celebrate by giving away 10 ha public property to private people? Life is full of contradictions. The latest news from several Facebook posts of Robert Domoguen , Regional Information Officer of the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR), is that 10 hectares of the Baguio Animal Breeding & Research Center (BABRC), part of the Department of Agriculture (DA) , are being claimed by some private party and such claim is being enforced by the Dragon Knights Security Agency. The regional center of the CAR is Baguio City. I love Baguio as “City of the Pines,” so I see the above imbroglio as a public environmental problem with a private property twist. Today, Sunday, 18 July 2021, I visited the website claimed by PNEJ, http://www.pnej.org/ , and found it occupied by Marietta Roofing Company of Australia! I further pursue my search, and find that PNEJ has no website at all; it is just “advertising” itself at a webpag e [1] of...

SONA Awards 2021: “Outstanding Performance in Servant Leadership” – And the first-ever award goes to… the Department of Agriculture (DA) ! The trophy will be accepted by Secretary of Agriculture William Dar .” Today, Friday, 16 July 2021, I saw the above image titled “Duterte Legacy: Plant, Plant, Plant” shared on Facebook by the DA. I was in awe with its complexity behind its simplicity that I had to invent an award for this one. In itself, it is complete and compelling. (imag e [1]  shared on Facebook) Look at the image again. Titled “DUTERTE Legacy: Plant, Plant, Plant.” There are 8 tags: Record Palay Prod’n ·        19.44 M MT in 2020 ·        90% rice self-sufficiency ·        More affordable rice available Record Corn Prod’n ·          Highest production in 20 years at 6.01 M MT in 2020 ·        Lowest inflation ...

Clearly, I see that with the forthcoming “United Nations Food Systems Summit 2021” in September, each country will be forced to look into what a “food system” is and how to make it work in a country’s favor considering all other countries’ food systems. This is historic. Above, the “One Apple Image” indicates only that each of the countries of the world has its own food systems – but the image or symbol does not indicate the necessary and unavoidable direct & indirect interactions of those individual countries’ food systems. Is my country the Philippines any better in her view of her food systems? Let us look at the contents of the untitled speech delivered by PH Secretary of Agriculture William Dar at the closing ceremonies for the “National Food System Dialogue” on 14 July 2021 at the auditorium of the Bureau of Soils & Water Management (BSWM) in Quezon City. The BSWM is an agency under the Department of Agriculture (DA) , which is headed by Mr Dar ex-officio. Mr Dar is...

Above, note that I creative writer have revised the well-known maxim authored by Unknown that says, “The Mathematics of Life is NOT the multiplication of wealth, but the division of tasks, the subtraction of greed and the addition of true love and humility [1] .” Before I came up with my version, I saw “The Mathematics of Life” uploaded by Come Out & Shine on Facebook . Now that I have finally confronted it, I note that (1) there must be multiplication of wealth, (2) greed should not be emphasized; in fact, it should be suppressed individually, and (3) if you have true love, then you have humility. Given all that, my revised version is this (above image): “The Mathematics of Life is the Division of Wealth after all the Addition of Inspiration, Multiplication of Tasks, plus Subtraction of Disparity.” It is for the Social Good, for Wonderful Lives, plural. Addition of Inspiration: Inspiration is what is missing in this world – and each of us needs it in the first place. Eve...

Writing in Rappler , Juju Z Baluyot says, “The Media Is Struggling. Are Trolls Winning The Info War [1] ?” (12 July 2021, Rappler.com ). There are 3 wrongs there, let me count the ways: One: The media was the one that started “The Info War.” Two: The media is struggling in The Wrong War. Three: Also short-sighted to look at it as “The Truth War.” You want to bring someone down by your Truth Journalism? That is a legitimate exercise. But do not complain if that someone tries to bring you down first! Tit for tat is bad as part of waging The Media Class Struggle. Mr Baluyot writes about trolls and their business of countering, or counter-attacking, bad news, whomsoever it is referred to. There is plenty of bad news, which makes for plenty of business for trolls – Mr Baluyot reports one troll manager making P 210,000 at any one time! Mr Baluyot insinuates how trolls are hired and paid. He writes: On Friday, July 9, Presidential Communications Operations Office Undersecretary Kris...

This farmer’s son keeps dreaming of millions of Filipino farmers rising from their poverty and staying up there, mostly on OneDA partnerships, partly via their own initiative, and with our little encouragements. So, the news that Charissa Luci-Atienza shares, “DOST, UP Harvest Vegetables From PH’s First ‘Smart Farm ' [1] ”  (11 July 2021, Manila Bulletin ) I have read and re-read, in terms of its potentials for our small farmers. Green leafy vegetables have been harvested from the Philippines’ first “smart farm,” as according to Secretary of Science Fortunato T de la Peña , from the P 128-million Smart Plant Production in Controlled Environments (SPICE) Laboratory at the UP Diliman campus in Quezon City, on Tuesday, 06 July 2021. The high total cost is because everything is controlled, all high tech. Mr De La Peña said, “The project has also developed a centralized control system for its farm operations complete with technical documentation of its system design, installation m...