On social and political change
By Alvin d. C. Lopez
The Pelican Spectator
In one end I may advocate the ideals of federalism, but it is a self-serving purpose to push charter change forward without considering the consequences following its ratification. There is even an ever-present danger that the resolution is set in motion not because of urgent need, but because it is principally a creation of some personal interests.
Even though it has passed twenty-one years since its approval the 1987 Constitution is still in the stage of infancy, and there may come a time that it will per se realize its vulnerability and tolerance to corruption, and hence be amended to expediently curtail any abuse of wealth and power. It took many nations’ constitutions to attain aptness in close proximity, but none has ever been perfect. However in the Philippines it seems that only the character of the leaders complements the effectiveness of the basic law of the land.READ MORE
Was Shakespeare two different poets?
by Alvin d. C. Lopez
The Pelican Spectator
It is my interest for poetry which renders yesterday, April 23rd, a special day but a degree lower than my fiancée and I’s anniversary. April 23rd is both the traditional birthday and the death anniversary of the most posthumously controversial poet who ever lived, the “Great Bard” of the universe William Shaksper. Yes, the man Shaksper who supposedly wrote the most beloved plays Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, Macbeth, Othello etc., is the authorship rival of another contemporary poet mistakenly celebrated in his day as the same man. And his name was Shake-Speare.
I am not the only fool who doubts whether the bard we know today as William Shakespeare wrote the entire magna opera ascribed to the name “Shakespeare”. There is a long list of men who had expressed their disbelief that the peasant from Stratford-upon-Avon who went not farther than London could write about Venice, Denmark, and France and much of Europe. Among them are Walt Witman, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Mark Twain, Orson Welles, Henry James, Sigmund Freud and Tyrone Guthrie (Shakespeare Authorship Coalition).
It is overpopulation, basically speaking
A debate is flaring on whether or not we are really experiencing rice shortage in response to the continuing global food crisis today. Although it happens that most Third World countries are being hit with the similar dilemma the World Food Programme still praised the government for its immediate solution in our country.
Unfortunately the administration has been praised for the wrong method at all. Rice importation will aggravate our blown-up trade deficit. Philippine merchandise imports have already surged by 19.7% based on the National Statistical Coordination Board’s latest update in December 2007, while the February 2008 exports have only climbed by a mere 10.3%. Our GDP on the other hand, is 18.7% indebted to the agricultural sector in the former’s 5.37% increase recorded 2006, and rice is undeniably its largest contributor.
It is just luck for the Philippines that we have an inexhaustible rice supply, being one of the largest producers of the world and is supposed to be one of its largest exporters as well. But why the shortage?
Rice shortage may be due to these three factors:
1. Lack of proper distribution.
2. Corruption.
3. Overpopulation.
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