Reflections on the Bangsa Moro

While surfing the web, I was quite surprised to see my words in another man’s article. This guy’s post was even published in another website, an Islamic one. There is no question that he plagiarized from my posts. But what irritates me is that he cited several sources but not mine.

I first posted my article in the late 1990s (1996-98). I used free webhosts. Later, either the webhosts removed my sites or they themselves folded up. Or, I just abandoned them. Some of the articles could still be accessed through the cached files.

This guy is not a Filipino. He cited all foreign sources. I hope the reason he did not cite me was not because I am not a Westerner like him and his cited sources. It could be that he wanted to cite my article but could not access it anymore. I saw at least two webposts which cited my articles but used URL’s which are not accessible anymore.

Or, this guy simply didn’t know how to cite web posts. The following is the standard format for citing web posts:

Author (year), Title of Article, Title of site or blog (optional), retrieved from URL of site, on Date of retrieval.

Example:         

Abbas, Datu Jamal Ashley (2007)  Richaed Gere’s and Shilpa Shetty’s “kiss”, Reflections on the Bangsa Moro blog, retrieved from http://jamalashley.blogsome.com/2007/04/28/p106/ retrieved on April 30, 2007.

And the rule is, instead of just changing a word or two, better put it in quotes and copy it verbatim. And then cite the source. If you copied it verbatim or changed just a word or two and you didn’t put them in quotation marks, then you would be guilty of the crime of  plagiarism.

I don’t want to make a fuss by contacting the other website that posted this guy’s article or even by contacting his own website. After all, he is also a Muslim and simply wanted to write a good article on the Bangsa Moro. 

I really am glad that people disseminate my ideas. But the problem of plagiarizing is that people might think I was the one who plagiarized. In this case, I posted the articles in a couple of websites during the period 1996-98 AND AGAIN IN 2000-2001. This guy posted his article in 2002. Then I re-posted my article in a couple of websites and a couple of blogs, including this one, in 2006. If somebody reads his 2002 post and my 2006 post, he would think that I copied from the other guy. That somebody would not know that I first posted my article in the mid to late 1990s.

SPREADING MY IDEAS

I realized the power of the written word through my web articles. When my eldest brother saw my site, he got ideas from it and even cited me in some of his works. He also downloaded a photo of the 17^th  century world map which showed Mindanao and Palawan but not Visayas and Luzon. He printed many copies of this and distributed it in one of the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) meetings as part of the official Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) brief.

I also wanted to promote the use of the term Moroland instead of Bangsa Moro homeland or Mindanao, Sulu and Palawan. Moroland was the name used by the Americans during their occupation of the archipelago. Since 1980, I don’t know of any writer who used the word Moroland until now. After I used Moroland in several websites, I saw a number of Moro websites using that term. In fact, one Moro group bought the Moroland domain name. Other people also bought the Moroland domain name in different extensions but these domain names are unused.

Moros and Indios

I also use the terms Moro and Indio to differentiate one another. Filipino writers very rarely use the term Indio. They are not comfortable with it. I have written a number of articles in national dailies, in addition to my webposts,  using Moros and Indios.

Saying Muslim Filipino and Christian Filipino to distinguish one from the other is quite misleading. There are Muslim Filipinos who are not Moros, e.g., the Christian converts. And there are Moros who are either Christian or pagan Filipinos, e.g., the Badjaos. Using Moros and Indios represent more correctly what I wanted to say.

Gladly, I’ve seen quite a number of web posts using the terms Moros and Indios lately. This is quite a big departure from before. Not so long ago, I remember the shock of some Muslims and Christians every time I used the term Indio.

For centuries, the Story of the Moro (except in salsilahs or genealogies) has been written by non-Moros. The Moros started writing their own story only recently – in the late 1960s. But these books, pamphlets, newspaper and newsletter articles are not very accessible. Many great articles are already lost forever. Thanks to the World Wide Web, the Story of the Moro can be told by more Moros and is accessible to almost everyone in the world. All one needs is a computer with Internet access.

Richaed Gere’s and Shilpa Shetty’s “kiss” has now been blown out of proportion. Or is it? BBC (or is it CNN?) is asking the viewers for their comments on this controversial kiss. Instead of sending it to BBC or CNN, I’m blogging my comment.

                                                              

After the “kissing” incident, there were demonstrations in India against Gere. The crowd burnt his effigy. The Indians demanded Gere’s apology to Shetty and to the Indian people. Shetty announced that Gere called her up and apologized to her. She defended Gere’s action as merely playing up to the crowd.

 

Now, a New Delhi Court has issued an arrest warrant for Gere and has asked Shetty to appear in court. According to the Court, Gere and Shetty had “transgressed all limits of vulgarity”. Gere publicly apologized and asked the media to “put a stop to this circus.”

 

What’s a kiss? Surely, Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty had been kissed before.

 

Upon seeing the news report, a friend of mine said, “India is really backward.”

I said, “India is a nuclear power.” Before I could add, “India and China are now the fastest growing economies in Asia, and even the world”, she said, “Oh yeah, it must be cultural.”

 

When I saw the pertinent video footage, I was quite shocked. I had always been a fan of Richard Gere. I’ve seen all his movies. I thought that he was a refined broad-minded gentleman because he was well-traveled, apparently well-read and claims to be a Buddhist. What I saw in the video clip was a white man who views the East in Orientalist terms.

 

The late Edward Said explained to the world how the typical Orientalist sees the East – something as feminine, passive, ready to be dominated and even sexually abused.

 

Gere’s antics were totally uncalled for. For his 30 or more years in show business, Gere never did to any Western film or TV actress what he did to Ms. Shetty.

 

Even just the kissing of Shetty’s hand was already uncalled for. The first thing that came to my mind was, “Good God, Gere is turned on by Shetty.” When he embraced Shetty and showered him with kisses, it was not funny. Everybody could see Shetty’s reactions – she was not thrilled at all. I felt ashamed for Gere. Even his character in “Shall We Dance?” was quite refined and would not do what Gere actually did to the Bollywood actress. He must have taken his roles in Breathless and American Gigolo too seriously.

 

Gere and Shetty were there to promote AIDS awareness and prevention. So why did Gere think that acting like a sex maniac was proper for the occasion?

 

Judge Dinesh Gupta described the video footage as "highly sexually erotic". I disagree. It was not erotic at all. On second thought, maybe it was erotic – for sado-masochists. But I agree with the judge that it was extremely “vulgar”.

 

Gere must have thought that he was in a circus and he was just acting the part of the clown. Well, nobody is laughing.

 

 

Gere kiss sparks India protests

 

 
Gere Wanted by Indian Authorities…for Kiss

From late January this year upto a few weeks ago, the Philippine military had been trumpeting its victories against the Abu Sayyaf Group. They had been supposedly killing the group’s remaining leaders one by one. 

 

And now, all of a sudden, from out of nowhere, the Abu Sayyafs are back! And with very brutal acts to boot — no less than decapitation of seven hostages.

 

If the military had been busy searching and killing the Abus all these months, how in the world did this happen?  And how come, despite being killed by the military, the Abu Sayyaf keep on  getting new members? And even new leaders!

 

And really, did the Abu Sayyaf truly expect to get a ransom of P 5 million pesos (more than US$ 100,000. 00) for poor unskilled construction workers? Nobody in the Philippines would ransom them even for five hundred thousand pesos. Even the Abu Sayyaf are not that dumb.

 

So what is happening? Looks like it is the same old farcical play (or moro-moro) written and directed by the Philippine top brass for the consumption of media people, the foreigners and the public at large.

 

This new play serves many purpose. First, by linking the Abus to Malik, it helps discredit Malik. Second, it draws public attention to the Abus and away from Malik. Third, the military might just get more budget from the government and its allies abroad.

 =====================

 

FROM : 

THE MORO BLOG 

 

MNLF’s Malik calls for Jihad, OIC says stop fighting, RP gives 1 Million peso bounty

The Philippine Revolution of 1896 was in reality a Tagalog Revolution. Andres Bonifacio, the acknowledged Father of the Revolution, and his Katipunan called for independence of the Katagalugan state.

 

Manila was the center of Katipunan but after a few weeks of fighting, the Manileños suffered heavily. Center stage was then occupied by the Caviteños. As in today’s Philippine politics, factions were established. The Magdiwang faction continued to support the leadership of the Katipunan founder, Andres Bonifacio but the Magdalo faction wanted a change of leadership.

 

The Magdalo was supported by the Ilustrados, the Philippine native elite. The Magdiwang enjoy the support of the masses, who idolized Bonifacio.

 

The Magdalos claim that Bonifacio was just as dangerous as the Spaniards because he wanted a monarchical form of government. Proof of this was the title the Magdiwang supporters gave to Bonifacio – Hari ng Bayan. Like the Roman senators Brutus, Cassius and Casca, the ilustrados were afraid that Bonifacio wanted to be a Caesar, an emperor.

 

Bonifacio, despite the press that the present-day leftists have given him, knew that the masses wanted a hero-king. He was, after all, the Supremo. With one eye on mythology and dramatics, Bonifacio visited the cave where the Tagalog legendary hero Bernardo Carpio was supposed to have resided.

 

According to the Tagalog myth, which was derived from a Spanish story, the great Bernardo Carpio would one day re-emerge from the cave and save the Tagalogs from foreign tyranny.

 

The ilustrados had no taste for mythology. And so when the inevitable showdown between the two camps occurred in Cavite, the Supremo was stripped of his title and office and a member of the principalia, Emilio Aguinaldo, a local politician – turned – brilliant general, was named President of the Republic.

 

The principalia was a class just beneath the ilustrados. They were the petty politicians – the alcaldes, gobernadorcillios, tenientes del barangay, etc. They were usually subservient to the ilustrados who, in turn, were subservient to the Filipinos, the term used exclusively for Spaniards in the Philippines. There were two categories of Filipinos – the Insulares or Spaniards born in the Philippines and the Peninsulares or Spaniards born in Spain but residing in the Philippines.

 

CHANGING NOMENCLATURE

 

Today, the names have changed. The term Filipinos now refer to the natives of the country. The Insulares have been replaced by the Tsinoys like the Fil-Chinese tycoons (Sy, Gokongwei, Lucio Tan, etc.) and the Fil-Ams like the Ayalas, Zobels and Sorianos. The Peninsulares are now called Expats. The ilustrados and principalia remain the same.

 

The Magdiwang cause was adopted by the Communists / Leftists. Bonifacio is called the Great Plebeian. Calling him the Great Proletariat would have been too obvious. Aguinaldo’s reputation was maligned. The leftists called him the Killer of Bonifacio.

 

But it is not easy to destroy the name of the young man who defeated the Spanish colonial might, who established the first republic in Asia and who dared fight two-thirds of the entire armed forces of the powerful United States of America.

 

THE RETURN OF THE MAGDALOS

 

In 2003, a group of young Filipino soldiers took over a few posh buildings in Makati and denounced the Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo administration. They alleged that the Philippine president was the real Terrorist and that her administration was actually doing the bombings.

 

The mutineers called themselves the Magdalos. They soon surrendered and are now incarcerated.

 

One of its ringleaders is a young navy lieutenant named Antonio Trillanes. While taking his M.A. at the University of the Philippines, he wrote a thesis on Corruption in the Philippine Navy. He is now running for the Philippine Senate under the Genuine Opposition (GO) party although he is still behind bars.

 

He is hoping to be another Gringo Honasan who became a senator after his failed coup d’etat attempt against then President Corazon Aquino. Honasan is back in prison and is again running for the Philippine Senate in this election.

 

In the late 1980s, Col. Gringo Honasan was a dashing fellow who captured the imagination of many Filipinos. Lt. Trillanes did not achieve as much fame although the things that he exposed deserved more public notice and indignation.

 

Although my principles prevent me from voting for rightists (and soldiers are ipso facto, rightists) or extreme leftists (a.k.a. communists), I hope only the best for the new Magdalo hero. The Philippine Senate will be more colorful if the young idealistic Trillanes will be there.

 

See related post,

The Magdalos are back!

 

 

 

I just saw the political advertisement of Opposition senatorial candidate lawyer Coco Pimentel. The ad focused on his being a bar topnotcher, and therefore, intelligent. Topping the bar, it seems, is his only claim to fame.

 

Actually, he is a senatorial candidate because his father, an incumbent senator, wants him to be one. His claim to fame is his being his father’s son.

 

Personally, I don’t think that he can lay claim to intelligence because he was a bar topnotcher, or that he is his father’s son. Intellectually, the older Pimentel is no match for his former rival, Homobono Adaza. It is a sad reflection of the state of Philippine politics that a brilliant man like Homobono Adaza fails while a mediocre fellow like Aquilino Pimentel rises from being a lowly mayor to a nationally elected senator. And now, he is even creating his political dynasty.

 

Today’s Topnotchers

 

Some days ago, I watched Tina Monzon-Palma’s TV show, TALKBACK. The guests included this year’s topnotchers – the No. 1 who comes from the University of the Cordilleras, the 2^nd and 4^th (or 5^th) placers who come from Ateneo de Manila and the 10^th placer who comes from the University of the Philippines College of Law.

 

The UP alumnus was simply head and shoulders above the others. How the Cordillera and Ateneo topnotchers could rank above that UP alumnus boggles the imagination. In terms of their English, their diction, their arguments, their line of reasoning, etc. , the new UP lawyer was just a cut above the three. It is clear proof that being no. 1 in the bar exams does not mean that s/he is the most intelligent.

 

A few years ago, the bar topnotcher was what is called a “take 2” guy. In the previous year, he failed the Bar. In his second take, he topped it. So, was he stupid in one year and became brilliant in the next year?

 

It is truly fascinating how the Filipinos are so hung up with Bar exams or the lawyers’ Bar exam ratings.

 

My father, the first Moro lawyer

 

In the early 1980s, I met a Moro gentleman in his late 50s, Mr. Gumoc, in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. He told me that he had met my father. I asked when. He said he saw him just after my father passed the Bar. I laughed. My father passed the Bar in 1935.

 

He then told me that as a kid, he was so impressed with my father. He recounted how the Maranaos rejoiced when he passed the Bar. There was a huge celebration, with the ancestral cannons being fired to celebrate the occasion. And then he said, “And I remember your father’s Bar rating.” He mentioned the grade, somewhere in the 80s. I was incredulous.

 

My mother had told me about the grand celebration for my father’s passing the Bar. He was, after all, the very first Moro to do so. My mother also said that the Maranaos were so happy that my father got a higher grade than Tomas Cabili, the lawyer-politician whom the Maranaos chose to represent them in the 1935 Constitutional Convention.

 

(Tomas Cabili is famous for being the only delegate who refused to sign the 1935 Constitution. He said the Constitution did not protect the interests of the Moro peoples, especially the Maranaos.)

 

Meeting somebody who remembers my father’s bar exams rating after 45 years or so was quite incredible.

 

My brothers, the lawyers

 

In a family of academic achievers (all my 11 siblings and I were honor students), it is quite a wonder why my two brothers did not become bar topnotchers.

 

Everybody thought that my eldest brother, Macapanton, Jr. would top the Bar. He was after all, the Number One in the Roll of Leadership in the list of the UP Register (at that time edited by Miriam Defensor). He was a very popular student leader and a campus figure.

 

But I can understand that he must have been under tremendous pressure. First and foremost, he had the responsibility of carrying our dead father’s name. He was our clan’s standard bearer. Also, he was leader of so many student organizations including the National Union of Students of the Philippines (NUSP), the Sigma Rho Fraternity, etc.

 

This year’s 10^th placer, the UP alumnus mentioned above, said that being the Class Valedictorian, there was tremendous pressure on him to top the bar. He said he actually did not expect to land even in 10^th place. He just wanted to pass the bar.

 

My second brother, Firdausi, on the other hand, made a career of being the black sheep of the family that no one really expected him to top the Bar. Later, when he took his MA in Industrial Relations, he made sure he would get a very high GPA to earn him a membership to the Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society.

 

But bar topnotcher or not, there is no denying that they are brilliant lawyers. If I were a betting man, I would wager that my brother can beat both Pimentels in a debate.

 

The elder Pimentel was reported as saying that the Moros do not need representation in the Senate because he is already there and he speaks for Mindanao. Firdausi had stated on TV that Pimentel could never represent the whole Mindanao because he could never represent Muslim Mindanao.

 

So there is ground for a debate. Pimentel and son can be on one side and my brother on the other side. I could join, too but that would be tipping the scale too much. I am sure my brother can handle both of them alone.

 

Lawyers and the Senate

 

Aside from his remark on Pimentel, my brother said something else on that TV talk show which I find amusing. He said senators should be lawyers so they can debate well and push for their proposed bills.

 

First, not all lawyers are debaters and vice versa. Second, lawyers may know all about laws, but senators and representatives need to know other fields of discipline in order to craft the best laws regarding those disciplines.

 

For example, in order to craft better economic laws, congressmen need to know about economics. It is the same in all fields.

 

What is happening in our country is that other people craft the bills and the congressmen, including senators, merely deliberate on them. Most of them do not even know what the law is all about.

 

The Downstream Oil Industry Deregulation Law is a good example.  The Department of Energy (DOE) was asked by Malacanang to draft the bill. The Secretary asked some of his people to do it. The ones in charge went to the people who usually draft our laws – the Americans. Shell did most of the drafting. Then the DOE passed it on to the Chair of the Energy Committee in Congress. The draft eventually was passed into law – a most stupid law, which the Supreme Court junked.

 

Nobody in both houses of Congress understood what it was all about. Even at the DOE, hardly anyone understood it. Some of the people there were asking me to give them a seminar so they could understand the law. But I could not because I was against that law. And the Secretary announced during a flag ceremony that anyone against that law should resign from the department.

 

The second Oil Deregulation Law is better than the first but it is still flawed. In fact, I call it an Anti-Deregulation Law. (See related posts  Oil Deregulation , Philippine Energy Sector )

 

 

I remember how a prominent economist-media personality who lambasted people who were against the first Oil Deregulation Law. She claimed that oil prices would go down if there was a deregulation law. She may be an economist, but she does not know the world energy industry. When the prices skyrocketed despite her favored deregulation law, she was uncharacteristically quiet about it.

 

Lawyers, Specialists and Generalists

Personally, I believe lawyers are best left in courts where they can hone their debating skills. The problem in our country is that lawyers are everywhere. With lawyers heading the Department of Energy and National Power Corporation, how could we expect to have cheaper electricity, transport fuels and cooking gas? And what about the other agencies?

 

Government agencies should be headed by people who are specialists in relevant fields. Agriculture should be headed by an agriculturist or agricultural engineer or agri-business expert. Banks and finance institutions should be headed by bankers and financial experts. Environment and Natural Resources should be headed by environmentalists, geo scientists, etc.

 

But the Senate should be left to people who are generalists – those who are well versed in many fields of knowledge – engineering, economics, history, humanities, philosophy, physical and social sciences, etc.

 

In a world grappling with Information Explosion, we can not progress if our country’s institutions are led mostly by lawyers whose knowledge is mostly limited to the Revised Penal Code and the Constitution. We need people who understand at least the basics of Einstein’s relativity theory, quantum mechanics, the philosophies of Plato, Locke, Marx, Husserl, Gadamer, Foucault, Derrida and the Frankfurt School, media studies, cultural studies, sociology, world and regional history, world literature, economics, computer and information technology, engineering science, comparative religion and of course, the humanities. Knowledge of a foreign language other than English is also important. A leader must be well-traveled and well-read. S/he must be broad-minded and cannot afford to be parochial. In other words, somebody like me.

Just attended the 2-day I-BLOG 3, the 3^rd Philippine Blogging Summit held at the UP School of Economics Auditorium organized by the UP Law Internet and Society Program.

 

I have been a ‘Netizen for about a dozen years now. I’ve had and still have several personal websites. I rarely engage in chatting so there was no chance for me to establish any friendly relationships through the Internet.

 

I started blogging only last year and I realized how much easier it is to maintain blogs than websites. Since there is so much buzz about making money through Google Adsense, I thought I’d give it a try. I put Google Ads on three (blogs) and in very prominent positions. After a few thousand unique visits to my blogs, my total Google revenue is just a bit over TWO DOLLARS.

 

Something was obviously wrong. Then I read about Technorati ratings. To my surprise, my blog (this one) ranks LOWER than the other blog even though this blog gets 4 times as many visitors as the other one. Obviously, something is wrong again.

 

When I got both blogs’ BLOG JUICE, both got the same value (3 or 4, I don’t remember exactly).

 

When I heard about IBLOG 3, I decided to attend. And well, I’m glad I did. I got several pointers, many of which merely confirmed my suppositions.

 

I got to know such things as Google’s Page Rank. This blog has a page rank of 3 while my other blog has a page rank of 1. Just shows that Google and Technorati don’t agree on rankings.

 

And I realized that the big difference with personal websites and blogging is that in blogging, you cannot make money out of your site if you are not part of a big community of bloggers unless you have tons of money to hire SEO services, pay for directory listings and pay for your advertisements.

 

And since this is a Moro blog, and there are few Moro bloggers, this blog would remain a blog in search of a community. Oh well, so what’s new?

 

After a dozen years or so in the ‘Net, this is my first ever Internet-related social affair. It was a nice experience. It was also free – including lunch and snacks although I had to take my lunch elsewhere because the food was always pork.

 

Incidentally, I had not been to UP in over two years. I had my lunch at my favorite eatery – KHAS Foodhouse – which serves Pakistani food. While eating lunch today, one of the cooks, a woman in her 50s, smiled when she saw me. She then went to me and said “Si sir, bumalik. Ang tagal na…” ( Sir came back. It’s been so long.) I was quite pleasantly surprised that she remembers me.

 

Back to the Summit, at the end of the first day, all the participants were invited to have some snacks and drinks at the UP hotel. I got to exchange notes with some bloggers – 

Jester, Lauren, and the guys of Technoville.net. They were all OK.

 

 

I was also introduced to Misteryosa and Kutitots. Seems like Pinoy bloggers are now known by their blog names or "brands".  It reminds me of the days of CB radio when CB enthusiasts were known by their call signs.

 

And to cap it all, I won P1000 – Rustan’s gift certificate from GLOBE. Not bad at all.

 

 

Congratulations to the 3^rd Philippine Blogging Summit!

 

 

 

FROM  

Mr. & Ms. Magazine, April 2007

 

=================================== 

 

 

The run-away favorite to win this year’s Academy Award (OSCAR) for Best Documentary is Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth. Like Farenheit 9/11, the box-office success of this film proves that film goers are also interested in documentaries dealing with important political issues.

           

Al Gore, the man who won the American people’s vote but lost the presidency in 2000, is a long-time advocate of environmental issues. After his presidential defeat, Gore went around the US and the world speaking on Global Warming, His multi-media presentation, which he calls his “slide show”, is quite impressive – with just the right amount of scientific data and humor.

           

The cartoon presentation of “What is Global Warming?” featuring Mr. Sunbeam and a gang of greenhouse gases is funny yet informative. It makes global warming understandable even to grade school children.

 

Mixing Gore’s “slide show” with stories and clips from his own life was the job of Davis Guggenheim, the director of An Inconvenient Truth. The result is an intimate, personal multimedia lecture on Global Warming.

 

GORE’S CREDIBILITY

            The documentary showed that Gore, unlike our own Energy officials, did not stumble on the Global Warming issue only lately. It showed that Gore’s interest in the subject started in his college days in Harvard with his professor, Dr. Roger Revelle. Revelle was the first to measure and study on a long-term basis the CO2 (carbon dioxide) levels in the atmosphere. The documentary then enumerated Gore’s actions in the House of Representatives and the Senate, as well as in the election campaigns regarding the issue of global warming.

 

            In 1992, Gore wrote a best-selling book, Earth in the Balance. He mentioned in the documentary that he pushed for bigger US role in the UN Earth Summit of 1992 in Rio de Janeiro. He backed the carbon tax which was partially implemented in 1993. He also pushed for the ratification of the Kyoto Protocol.

 

KYOTO PROTOCOL

            In December 1997, delegates from 160 nations agreed on a covenant now known as the Kyoto Protocol. The purpose of the Kyoto negotiations was to establish a near-term goal for more modest emission cuts in the next decade or so, going beyond the targets agreed to in the Rio Summit.

 

            As mentioned in the documentary, the US and Australia refuse to ratify the Protocol. When Gore went to Australia to promote the film, the Australian Prime Minister refused to meet him and was quoted saying, "I don’t take policy advice from films"

 

The Kyoto Protocol supports emissions trading where governments can buy and sell emission credits or allowances to meet their commitments.

 

            When I was a Manager at PNOC, I pushed for renewable projects that would not only help the world cut its greenhouse gas emissions but will also be profitable for the country. In the Kyoto Protocol framework, if the Philippines will embark on large-scale renewable energy projects, it can sell emission credits to industrialized countries. I got two giant Japanese conglomerates very interested but the company top brass went green – with envy.

 

NUCLEAR POWER LOBBY

            As a petroleum engineer, I was at first critical of the global warming theory. In the late 70s and early 80s, the Nuclear Energy lobby vigorously attacked fossil fuels (oil, coal and gas) as emitters of greenhouse gases which cause global warming. As a result, many countries went nuclear. About 70% of France’s electricity is nuclear-powered. Even then President Marcos bought the nuclear lobby’s propaganda and had the Bataan nuclear power plant built. The accidents at the Three Mile Island and Chernobyl nuclear plants put a stop to the intense nuclear lobby.

 

            With the nuclear lobby silenced, the Fossil Fuel lobby was unstoppable as there was no comparable industry to compete with. Small NGOs and advocacy groups could not fight the multibillion dollar fossil fuel industry.

 

            But with Gore’s documentary, it seems that the nuclear lobby is back. The chair of the US Senate Committee on Energy, Senator Jeff Bingaman has announced that “nuclear power has to be expanded.”

 

CONVINCING IMAGES

            Gore’s lecture-documentary does not only tell the viewers about the horrors of global warming but shows convincing images like the pictures of vanishing ice from Mt. Kilimanjaro to the Alps to Patagonia, which is at the tip of south America. Viewers get to see massive glaciers breaking down which may drive home the point that all these melted ice could have devastating effect not only on the now endangered Polar Bear but on our very homes and cities.

 

            Paradoxically, while polar caps are melting and sea level is rising, lakes and inland seas are drying up. Lake Chad in Africa, which used to be one of the world’s largest lakes, and the Aral Sea in Central Asia, which used to be the world’s fourth largest inland sea, have dried up. Hopefully, this would not happen to our two biggest lakes – Laguna de Bay and Lake Lanao.

 

POPULATION

            The documentary shows that global warming is caused by many things. Population explosion is also a culprit. According to Gore, in the lifetime of an average Baby Boomer like him, the population will grow from 2 Billion at the time that he was born to 9 billion at the time that his life is statistically expected to end.

 

            With such rapid increase of population, it would follow that greenhouse gas emissions would also have an exponential increase. All these new people would need more electricity, more gasoline and other fuels which would increase greenhouse gas emissions and would intensify global warming.

 

UNDERSTANDING GLOBAL WARMING

            Gore quoted Upton Sinclair who wrote,” It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends upon his not understanding it.” George Bush, Sr, is an oilman. And so is Vice President Cheney. Their salaries depend upon their not understanding Global Warming. President George W. Bush is a former governor of Texas. According to BBC’s Stephen Sackur, eleven coal power plants are planned to be put up in Texas. Fifty-two percent of electricity in the US is coal-fired. Coal is the biggest greenhouse gas emitter.

 

            Incidentally, the Philippine Energy Plan envisions more coal power plants for the country. In fact, coal is the Philippines’ primary fuel source for power generation.

 

            In a BBC talk show, Senator Jeff Bingaman said that he agrees that if nothing is done today, the effects of Global Warming in 50 years would be worse than the great wars or the Great Depression of the 20^th century. While he believes that there should be mandatory limits to greenhouse gas emissions, the problem is to get the agreement of others (in the Senate and the House of Representatives).

 

            It appears that the problem with Global Warming is not that it is not understood. The problem is that it is quite inconvenient for the powers-that-be. But what is inconvenient for this generation may be catastrophic for the coming generations.

 

A GREAT INTRODUCTION

            Al Gore’s documentary is a great introduction to the dangers of climate change.

The book of the same title by Al Gore is a good complement to the movie.

 

The next step would be to read the Stern Review: The Economics of Climate Change. This report was commissioned by the UK’s Chancellor of the Exchequer. Sir Nicholas Stern was the Chief Economist of World Bank and an official of England’s Treasury. He is a professor of the London School of Economics.

 

            Incidentally, the Stern Review recommends that Al Gore be a consultant to Her Majesty’s government on the issue of Climate Change. This is another proof of the credibility of Al Gore as the champion of climate change.

 

            When you think you have enough knowledge of Climate Change, then, as the documentary advocates, turn this knowledge into action – write, speak up, lobby or run for Congress!

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