Saturday, November 30, 2002

Salamat Musika



Salamat Musika
by Gary Granada

Paano mo patatahimikin
Ang isang bunsong iyakin
Huhunihan ni inay ng la-la-rin-la-rin
Paano mo patatahanin
Ang pagtatampo ni Neneng
Pasalamat ka't may awit na kakantahin

Sa mga indayog tayo'y napapasayaw
At sa labis na galak ay napapasigaw
Ang mga kirot sa puso ay lumilipad
Ang mga mithi ay natutupad

Salamat, salamat musika
Lahat ng panahon maaasahan ka
Salamat, salamat musika
Itong munting mundo ay napapasigla

Ang mga bituin sa langit
At mga katha ng isip
Ay hindi sapat upang mabuhay ang daigdig
Ang magagandang tanawin
At mga tulang malalim
Kukulangin din upang tayo ay aliwin

Aanhin ang kayamanang di madadala
Aanhin ang kagandahang pansamantala
Ang katahimikan ba ay may magagawa
Upang ihayag ang nadarama

Salamat, salamat musika...

Napapasaya!

Salamat, salamat musika...

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Saturday, October 26, 2002

Dismantle CGIAR, IRRI, and all anti-people research institutions

Manila, Philippines - 26 October 2002

We the patriotic scientists and technologists in the Philippines, would like to call for the dismantling of all anti-people research institutions, specifically the Consultative Group of International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) and the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI).

In the 1960s IRRI was created supposedly to achieve food productivity and food sufficiency. Eleven years after that, CGIAR was created to contribute to sustainable improvements in the productivity of agriculture, forestry and fisheries in developing countries in ways that enhance nutrition and well-being, especially of low income people, through international research and related activities, and in partnership with national research systems.

The governments that adopted IRRI programs, under the direction of the CGIAR, imposed upon their farmers a scheme that shall increase harvest though the heavy use of chemical inputs. After the so-called "Green Revolution" farmers are more impoverished and poisoned by the very chemicals they used. Our farmlands have been devastated and our rice gene pool depleted. After years of following IRRI programs, the country is nowhere near establishing its own rice industry, and is in fact importing increasing amounts of rice every year.

The 16 international institutions under CGIAR, despite its monopoly of agricultural R&D, has also failed to contribute significantly to the development of agricultural industries where it is most needed, contrary to its aim of delivering sustainable improvements and productivity in developing countries. In the Philippines, we are nowhere near establishing our own livestock industry, dairy industry, and other agricultural industries.

In actuality IRRI, through the direction of CGIAR , developed technologies that is owned and controlled by agro-chemical transnational corporations. This monopoly of technology enslaved farmers to be dependent on agro-chem TNCs for seeds and chemical inputs in their farming. In the end, it is the agro-chem TNCs that benefited most from the devastation wrought by the failed Green Revolution of the 1960s.

In its 42-year existence, IRRI has done nothing but enslave farmers, and threaten health and the environment. The creation of CGIAR in 1971 even broadened the control of agro-chemical TNCs in other fields of agriculture-including livestock, forestry, and fisheries.

In this light, both IRRI and CGIAR are failed research institutions. We believe that a genuine, farmer-centered research institution should develop technologies that shall liberate farmers from dependence on any agro-chemical TNC, promote sustainable agriculture, conserve the environment, and protect the health of farmers.

On the occasion of the People's Street Conference on 30 October 2002, coinciding with the Annual General Meeting of CGIAR in the Philippines, we call for the dismantling of IRRI and CGIAR with the theme: Uphold People's Control Over Agriculture! Assert Farmer-Centered Research And Development! ***


REFERENCE:
Trixie Concepcion
Secretary-General
Samahan ng Nagtataguyod ng Agham at Teknolohiya Para sa Sambayanan
Email: agham@edsamail.com.ph
Originally posted in http://www.geocities.ws/resist_agtncs/pr8.htm

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Sunday, May 26, 2002

Stories from my Martian friend

the never-ending intelligence(?) report
i was having my usual overnyts when one of my close friends send me a txt message, asking me to be with her ryt away. i was shocked to see her in panic. kulang na lang musolod sa ilalom sa katre. y? a txt message had been circulated about the MILF attacking the city at 2 am. with all the assuring words and the eyebags, the MIs remain as ghosts until now. nagwoder lang ko, with all the eyebags, how much work had been sucrificed the next day... ( pastilan, samot kalate ako assignments. :) ).

sosyal na pobre?
at gaisano iligan, two students (obviously, IITians) were standing infront of the mineral water section. they wre fighting over whether to buy a mineral water and just skip a meal, or not.

"Unsaon man daw nimu pagkaon beh kung wala kay mineral water? tangent!", said one student. its the budget.

Ows? sosyal na d i ang mga studyante karon? mineral ha. then my cel rang. msg? "maris pls dont drink tap water. rumor is the MIs are going to poison the whole city thru it. pls pas to the people u care." with matching tawag p para maaware daun daw ko. IC.

Ikaw? kaya nimung magtubig na lang bisag gutom na?

Buti na lang di na ako pobreng estudyante ng IIT. :)

the kandila issue
sumo! nakakita na ba ka ug pinkagagmayng kandila na ang price kay P5.00? ( = 1 serving rice) kesyo magbrown out daw kay bombahan sa mga MIs ang NPC. panic daun. pasakay daun ang mga tindahan. tsk tsk tsk...

god bless us... spare the innocents!
i was havng my last-minute internet tutorial with a friend. as i was about to leave, my friend asked me with all the innocence, "Te, kabalo ka sa email ad ni pres. bush?". curious. anyway i said, "its time to use the 'power' of the internet.". we were barely 3 minutes bfore her history class. "kadyot lang 'te ha." she looks really so innocent for me.

i was touched. i never intended to sneak-up but i couldnt hold back when i accidentally saw she really addressed it to the president. it goes..

dear mr president,

"what have you done to your people? you are selfish. just be sure that what you have been doing is for the common good of all of us people and not for yourself alone.

that's all. "

and yet, shes only a first year college student.

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