FREEDOM OF INFORMATION BILL

Great Eco Finds!

I'm so excited when I find great products. I'm particularly excited when "establishment' corporations like 3M begin to do something worthwhile. Biodegradable wipes and sponges at last! YAHOOOOOOO!!!! I found these at True Value. Of course you have to really be on the look out for certain key words--a skill I've developed over time--like biodegradable, green (but make sure you read why), organic, phosphate-free, non-toxic--to spot them. These sponges were practically hidden on a stand-alone shelf along the main aisle. But I've developed a sixth sense for these things and am often happily surprised at what I find.

I'm also happy that there's a new natural local detergent. I used to use Victoria but the residue it leaves on my machine leaves much to be desired. I use Messy Bessy now, but I have to go so far to get it, so I was excited to see this brand at the South Supermarket in Alabang. Yes, just there sitting beside its more toxic counterparts.

Ang saya!

Barre3

I've been a regular student of Barre3 since I tried it last May 13. A friend's Facebook status introduced me to it and I found the idea interesting. I was a student of ballet in my youth and spent a good part of my adolescent and teenage years in a dance studio. I was always working out as an adult, in the gym then in Pilates studios, but my workout life screeched to a halt as I dealt with major energy dips in my forties.

Still the urge to move was always there and I wanted to do something that was working at the cell level as well, so I got myself a good rebounder and started moving again. Pretty soon I was looking for something more. I was missing studio work, but couldn't see myself doing ballet again. Barre3 seemed like a good thing: pilates, yoga and ballet barre work in a one hour class.

So far, so good. I'm rediscovering my strength and enjoying the challenge. The classes in Alabang are still wide open and it's very nice to work out in the quiet. It's not a cardio workout, and I still have to add more of that to my routine, but for now it's just the kind of challenge I'm looking for. Check it out.

No to Fogging

Some residents of my village have been trying to put a stop to the useless and highly toxic practice of fogging against mosquitoes. This is done in the hopes of annihilating the dengue virus, but has been proven quite useless. The mosquitoes go away (imagine the size of the mosquitoes against the power of the mist so, yes, they are "blown" away) and then come back once the fogging is done. Those that remain more than likely mutate into even more virulent versions of their former, unsprayed selves.

After a lot of going back and forth, research on the practice, research on dengue, all it took was the DOH's official stand on fogging to convince the committee that we no longer need to do that here. Apparently, it is pretty clear that the Department of Health has a No Fogging Policy. So there. The only reasons they give are that it is useless and expensive. They do not talk about how toxic it is to all of life. Still, I am grateful that the dangerous practice will stop.

Chemical pesticides are designed to kill. That's what they are for. They do not target just mosquitoes. They will kill whatever is there--dragonflies, butterflies, frogs, you name it--everything that is in the environment that is part of creating a healthy ecology. Some of these insects we have to thank for naturally eating mosquitoes and helping us, but we're killing them as well, thereby helping to create the problem we are trying so hard to fight.

I am happy that my village has decided to follow the DOH policy, though I wish more people would see just how toxic pesticides are. The case against fogging is not just a case against uselessness and expense; it is a case against pesticides that kill. We are not there yet. Some people just shrug their shoulders, as if we were inventing what is already proven in so many parts of the world. Pesticides are toxic to all living things. They cause all types of cancers, skin, respiratory and endocrine diseases, etc.

We're so scared of dengue, we think fogging will prevent it (it doesn't), so we allow ourselves and everything living around us, to be exposed to chemicals that will give us serious, terminal illnesses instead. I don't get it at all. But with the end of fogging here, I am hoping that people will notice the restoration of life as well.

In the meantime, gratitude for the death of fogging is in order. YES!

Adios

Yes, I committed suicide. One of my first entries on this blog had to do with Facebook. It took me some time before I jumped in because I felt it was a waste of time, but D. and I thought it might be a good way to get our advocacies across. It turns out it wasn't. Not really. Though we enjoyed it when we were there, appreciating some connections made and fretting over others, we realized that the only time it was really a socially RELEVANT tool was during Ondoy. That was awesome use of Facebook.

From the get go I gave myself a May 10, 2010 deadline. There were times when I felt I would probably stay on but as the date loomed, I felt myself warming to the thought of freedom from Facebook. Part of me felt that it was too much of a false community and it was starting to take over actual human interaction. Facebook gives you a sense of connection that isn't really there. At least I don't think so.

A nephew joined one of those groups on Facebook called, "Yes we're Facebook friends so why is it so awkward in person ?". Or something like that. That sums it up for me. I see people in person and realize I know too much about them, without really knowing them. That gives me the creeps.

I was very careful about my privacy settings, but if you've been in Facebook long enough, you know there is no privacy there. Privacy on Facebook. A friend says that's an oxymoron. I have to agree. And if you're so worried about privacy, why are you on Facebook?

As May 10 loomed, I thought it might be too early to sign off. I wanted to see the after-elections updates. But did I really? On Facebook? Not really. So before I knew it, I left. And I haven't looked back.

I'm hoping 2010 will be a zero-catastrophe year so that I don't have to re-activate it, because Facebook makes it so easy to activate your account again. In the meantime, I'm free and loving it. I'm actually writing more--creating rather than lurking.

Isn't that something?

Not Sore Losers

I'm reposting this from the blog of Nicanor Perlas. Though some people call it sour-graping, I call it consistency. He is being true to what he has always fought for, for the principles he will always stand for. You can also view the statement here.

Evidence of Electronic Garci Mounting

JOINT PRESS STATEMENT JC de los Reyes, Jamby Madrigal, Nicanor Perlas Thursday, 13 May 2010 Since the 11th of May the media have been asking us why we have not yet conceded and why one of us retracted an earlier concession. The question is not whether we should concede to any particular candidate but whether to concede or not to the validity and integrity of an unproven and flawed automated election system. In the recent euphoria surrounding the perceived success of these automated elections we may sound like voices crying out in the wilderness, but ours is a voice of caution and reason, a stand based on principle rather than on personal politics and agenda. We have decided to put the Filipino peoples’ interests at the forefront. We have put our political agenda aside. There has been a constant and steady flow of reports from the field that have suggested that there were considerable problems with the automated elections. At this point, there are some questions that I believe need to be answered: How did the Comelec manage to recall, replace, debug and reprogram the 76,000 CF cards in a few days What happened to the supposedly recalled CF cards? Where are they? How sure are we that the same CF cards were not pre-programmed to favor particular candidates? Is the automated election system really fool-proof ? With the disabling of the UV lamps how sure are we that unused ballots were not filled up and counted in favour of certain candidates? With this in mind we cannot in principle and with a clear conscience concede to a system which is unproven, not transparent and which has been riddled with technical and security flaws. This is a national dilemma. This is why the COMELEC needs to prove to the Filipino people the transparency, accuracy and credibility of the system before we can make the correct moral and ethical choice. We are making this stand so that the Filipino people will not be rushed into thinking that the automated election system is a success when millions have been disenfranchised and millions of votes may have been incorrectly counted. This stand is not about winning or losing but about doing the right thing for the Filipino people at the risk of going against current popular public opinion. We must make sure that the current elections were clean, fair and accurate. We cannot allow the recent automated elections to become an ‘’invisible electronic Garci.’’ That would undermine our democracy.

Has New Politics Died?

Padaca lost. Not just to anyone, but to the same political dynasty she so valiantly won against just years before. Panlilio lost, too, and it looks like his situation mimics Padaca's. The old corrupt are back. As Carlos Celdran recently put it, we have not made history, we have simply repeated it.

A few friends are mumbling the word "migrate". It's just a word for now, but I wonder if it will ripen into deed or remain just that. Heartbreak weaves through those of us who have worked so hard so that 2010 would be a banner year for change.

I spoke about feeling like we had crossed a threshold as a nation on May 10. That nebulous feeling is beginning to take shape. We crossed a threshold, yes. And yet it seems we turned back. Our choices have created an impenetrable wall. We can't complain that it blocks the sunlight and keeps us in the dark, or barricades roads when we need to get across; we built it.

Yet a threshold WAS crossed. Because of our inability to understand what it takes to create change, we are now faced with the most daunting task of all--to face our role in this bloody stage we have reconstructed out of lessons never learned, out of our tenuous attachments to the familiar.

There can be no more finger-pointing. There can be no more blame. Now we need to work on creating incorruptible new shapes, forms and ways of moving in society--where pockets of integrity and uprightness can bloom, each creating a link to the next, working from the ground up.

More than ever, we must trust that committed individuals CAN make a change. If you believe that, then your work is cut out for you.

The only hope for the emergence of new politics is the birth of a new culture. That is our task.