Tuesday, October 06, 2009
Thursday, August 20, 2009
Chronobiology: Rhythms in life
I was already teaching for eight years when I decided to temporarily leave the Philippines for a Ph.D position here in The Netherlands. It was a difficult decision to make not only because I already had then a six-month old daughter, but also and more importantly, because of my active role in AGHAM, a national organization of advocates of science and technology for the people.
Working for AGHAM means believing that the current backward state of science and technology in the country can only be improved by working closely with the Filipino people especially those from poor communities. Leaving the country for a Ph.D position abroad meant leaving behind the people whom our science and technology must serve. It cannot be denied that my decision is comparable to those seeking greener pastures abroad—a selfish decision that puts the individual over the society.
Whatever my specific justification, I still carry the same dream of contributing to the uplifting of the state of science in our country. I can list many ways of how this dream can be made real even by Filipino scientists like me who are away: I know many Filipinos overseas, scientists and not, who are helping the country in their own way. Let me do my part by writing about the science that I am studying.
Chronobiology is a branch of biology, which is not widely known, perhaps, even among Filipino biologists. It is the study of rhythms observed in plants, animals, and other organisms. An example of these rhythms is our sleep-wake cycle which takes place within a period of around 24 hours. This is the reason why such rhythms are called circadian (“circa” = around, “diem” = day).
Other rhythms observed in nature are called circatidal, circalunar, and circannual; each type of rhythm corresponds to a cyclic behavior of the Earth. Circatidal rhythm includes, for instance, hatching behavior of some species of crabs: they tend to synchronize with the cycle of alternating low and high tides. Menstruation cycles exemplify a circalunar rhythm. For circannual rhythms, we can cite a four-year study in the 1980s, which revealed that testosterone in boys at prepuberty peaks around July, suggesting a circannual hormonal rhythm. As you can see, circannual rhythms are the most difficult to study and thus least understood among the four biological rhythms mentioned—your experimental data for one year is not enough statistically to conclude that there is indeed a rhythm. Besides these four Earth-synchronized biological rhythms, there are also biological rhythms that have periods ranging from milliseconds to decades.
A practical question about chronobiology: what is the use of knowing these biological rhythms? There are several practical uses of chronobiology ranging from biological timers to drug administration. Linnaeus’s flower clock is based on the difference in timing of opening and closing of different plants. Imagine a garden with plants whose flowers open at 6 a.m. and at 9 a.m., at 12 noon, and at 3 p.m. and at 6 p.m. Besides the difficulty of maintaining such a garden, this may also be not of much use to many people since we can buy cheap China-made watches nowadays, which may be of the same precision as flower clocks but are definitely more portable.
In medicine, chronobiology can help in determining the right timing of drug administration. As an example, studies have shown that our blood pressure is not really constant, but follow cycles throughout the day which peak around 6 p.m. This also varies per individual depending on circumstances. Thus, it is also very likely that blood-pressure-lowering medicines have different efficacy across the day, and it would be wise for doctors to determine the correct timing for a specific individual. Chronopharmacology is the field of medicine that deals with how the effects of drugs vary with biological rhythms.
A scan of scientific journals in chronobiology and conversation with chronobiologists will give you an idea how wide-ranging the topics are in this not-so-popular field in biology: detection of mood disorders based on sleep patterns; the link between night-shift work and cancer; zoo management (there was a study on the feeding schedule of koalas in a zoo); physiological effects of low-gravity; timing in the brain, etc.
Chronobiology can also be applied in the agriculture sector. For fisherfolk, it would be very useful to know the abundance of fish and their types at a given time, day, or month. For farmers, knowing when pests thrive would save precious time for other activities. It is possible that fisherfolks and farmers actually have these knowledge in crude form that local scientists might help refine. After all, science is the product of the accumulated experience of the people throughout history.
An active member of Agham, Kim obtained his physics bachelors and masters degrees at MSU-IIT and UP-Diliman, respectively. He is now pursuing doctoral research in chronobiology at the University of Groningen, Netherlands.
Prom.bound@gmail.com
Working for AGHAM means believing that the current backward state of science and technology in the country can only be improved by working closely with the Filipino people especially those from poor communities. Leaving the country for a Ph.D position abroad meant leaving behind the people whom our science and technology must serve. It cannot be denied that my decision is comparable to those seeking greener pastures abroad—a selfish decision that puts the individual over the society.
Whatever my specific justification, I still carry the same dream of contributing to the uplifting of the state of science in our country. I can list many ways of how this dream can be made real even by Filipino scientists like me who are away: I know many Filipinos overseas, scientists and not, who are helping the country in their own way. Let me do my part by writing about the science that I am studying.
Chronobiology is a branch of biology, which is not widely known, perhaps, even among Filipino biologists. It is the study of rhythms observed in plants, animals, and other organisms. An example of these rhythms is our sleep-wake cycle which takes place within a period of around 24 hours. This is the reason why such rhythms are called circadian (“circa” = around, “diem” = day).
Other rhythms observed in nature are called circatidal, circalunar, and circannual; each type of rhythm corresponds to a cyclic behavior of the Earth. Circatidal rhythm includes, for instance, hatching behavior of some species of crabs: they tend to synchronize with the cycle of alternating low and high tides. Menstruation cycles exemplify a circalunar rhythm. For circannual rhythms, we can cite a four-year study in the 1980s, which revealed that testosterone in boys at prepuberty peaks around July, suggesting a circannual hormonal rhythm. As you can see, circannual rhythms are the most difficult to study and thus least understood among the four biological rhythms mentioned—your experimental data for one year is not enough statistically to conclude that there is indeed a rhythm. Besides these four Earth-synchronized biological rhythms, there are also biological rhythms that have periods ranging from milliseconds to decades.
A practical question about chronobiology: what is the use of knowing these biological rhythms? There are several practical uses of chronobiology ranging from biological timers to drug administration. Linnaeus’s flower clock is based on the difference in timing of opening and closing of different plants. Imagine a garden with plants whose flowers open at 6 a.m. and at 9 a.m., at 12 noon, and at 3 p.m. and at 6 p.m. Besides the difficulty of maintaining such a garden, this may also be not of much use to many people since we can buy cheap China-made watches nowadays, which may be of the same precision as flower clocks but are definitely more portable.
In medicine, chronobiology can help in determining the right timing of drug administration. As an example, studies have shown that our blood pressure is not really constant, but follow cycles throughout the day which peak around 6 p.m. This also varies per individual depending on circumstances. Thus, it is also very likely that blood-pressure-lowering medicines have different efficacy across the day, and it would be wise for doctors to determine the correct timing for a specific individual. Chronopharmacology is the field of medicine that deals with how the effects of drugs vary with biological rhythms.
A scan of scientific journals in chronobiology and conversation with chronobiologists will give you an idea how wide-ranging the topics are in this not-so-popular field in biology: detection of mood disorders based on sleep patterns; the link between night-shift work and cancer; zoo management (there was a study on the feeding schedule of koalas in a zoo); physiological effects of low-gravity; timing in the brain, etc.
Chronobiology can also be applied in the agriculture sector. For fisherfolk, it would be very useful to know the abundance of fish and their types at a given time, day, or month. For farmers, knowing when pests thrive would save precious time for other activities. It is possible that fisherfolks and farmers actually have these knowledge in crude form that local scientists might help refine. After all, science is the product of the accumulated experience of the people throughout history.
An active member of Agham, Kim obtained his physics bachelors and masters degrees at MSU-IIT and UP-Diliman, respectively. He is now pursuing doctoral research in chronobiology at the University of Groningen, Netherlands.
Prom.bound@gmail.com
Link
Sunday, June 14, 2009
Bertolf and Miss Montreal
Napadaan ako kahapon sa Vismarkt nang napansin kong may concert pa pala. Mag-isa lang ako pero naisip ko matingnan nga kung gaano kagaling ang mga Dutch bands. Ang resulta: tinapos ko ang concert bago pumalit ang DJ at di ako nagsisi kasi magaganda ang kanta ng dalawang bandang tumugtog. See their sample music video below.
Link
Nakakaadik magbike
I have just finished another 1-hour of bike practice, am more confident now even with a bigger bike, can turn left or right smoothly, can pedal uphill (0.00001 degrees, hehe), and tumigil lang sa praktis dahil madilim na.
Link
Thursday, June 11, 2009
My first successful bike experience
- difficulty starting the bike,
- difficulty finding the pedal with my feet instead of my eyes,
- a threat of rain shower,
- being laughed at by passersby who readily cheered me up whenever I smiled at them
- success in starting and pedaling for 5 meters or so,
- difficulty in avoiding the waterfull sidewalk,
- bumping into two or three parked cars (luckily they didn't sound nor were scratched nor the owners were watching),
- being coached by Rohani who, I noticed from afar after several few meters of stop and go, was not always watching but never forgot to wave her hand perhaps to cheer me up when I successfully struggled to pedal for 4 or so meters before turning sharply and fall,
- a dirtladen khaki Zara pants (my precioussssss...),
- two very minor bruises, one for each leg,
- becoming a celebrity when teenagers on top of a building begun to applause for my successful strides,
- pedaling upwards to a sidewalk, going back to the road, and successfully regaining the pace without falling,
- riding on the heavier and bigger bike of Nichola,
- and successfully making it straight to few tens of meters involving three corners as shown in the map below.
It feels great to have done such a feat, but please don't tell that to kids here.
UPDATE 2012Sep7: Nakakahiya ang English ko sa itaas!
Link
Tuesday, June 09, 2009
John Desmond Bernal, an internationalist scientist
PROMETHEUS BOUND
By Giovanni Tapang, Ph.D.
J.D. Bernal: Science in History
In the Science and Technology STS) class during my undergrad in UP, we read about John Desmond Bernal. It immediately made me wonder if he was related to the acclaimed director of the same surname. It turned out that he was more related to my profession as he was a physicist in the 1930s.
Bernal was born in Ireland in 1901 and studied mathematics and science in Cambridge University. As a scientist, he worked out how the molecules in different substances were arranged in a crystal. He used his knowledge of mathematics to deduce these structures from X-ray images, becoming one of the pioneers of X-ray crystallography. He figured out the structure of substances, such as graphite, and biological compounds, such as vitamin B1, D2, pepsin, sterols and even the tobacco mosaic virus.
Given the nickname “Sage” in Cambridge, JD Bernal was an accomplished scientist in his own right, pioneering in the exploitation of the techniques of X-ray crystallography in biology.
X-ray cystallography is now a routine procedure in diverse fields from chemical analysis to geology.
After his stint at Cambridge, he worked under William Bragg at the Royal Institution in London and with other prominent scientists such as Rosalind Franklin (who eventually worked on the structure of DNA) and Nobel laureates such as Aaron Klug, Max Perutz and Dorothy Hodgkin.
Another interesting aspect to Bernal’s personality was his involvement as a political intellectual of his times. He was reportedly a card-carrying member of the Communist Party of Great Britain (but literally lost the card later, according to some accounts). He attended the famous History of Science and Technology meeting in 1931 and met Soviet scientists, sharing their world view on the role of science and its functions in society. This spurred him and his colleagues such as Joseph Needham to engage in, as Helena Sheehan describes it, “a vigorous movement for the defence of science against all forces threatening it and for social responsibility in all areas of scientific endeavour.”
He was a prolific writer on the dialectical relationship of science and technology and society. He published texts such as “The Social Function of Science” and the influential four-volume work collectively known as “Science in History.” As its title says, “Science in History” traces the emergence of science and technology and its socio-political context through the ancient era, the Renaissance, the Industrial Revolution up to the modern era.
In writing about the science of science, he described how science was intertwined with other social activities of humans: from the economic, social to the political spheres. His detailed analysis of the role of science in each era of advance from the communal stage of hunters and gatherers to the current monopoly capitalist stage is an eye opener. It stresses the social nature of scientific endeavor and tells of the irony that science is being used mainly by the elite in each economic stage to advance their own interests. As such, the advance of science is tied more to the advancement of these groups status rather than for the general welfare of all peoples.
JD Bernal worked during the economic crisis leading up to World War II—a time very much like our own. In his introduction to “The Social Function of Science,” he describes his motivation saying (in 1939) that “the events of the past few years have led to a critical examination of the function of science in society. It used to be believed that the results of scientific investigation would lead to continuous progressive improvements in conditions of life; but first the War and then the economic crisis have shown that science can be used as easily for destructive and wasteful purposes, and voices have been raised demanding the cessation of scientific research as the only means of preserving a tolerable civilization. Scientists themselves, faced with these criticisms, have been forced to consider, effectively for the first time, how the work they are doing is connected around them.”
Bernal points to an alternative direction in which science is to be used for the upliftment of the majority in which the social products of scientific endeavor is shared by all. He sketches the potential for society from automation, energy and other benefits from science as well as the economic system that can bring this together—socialism. He said in “Marx and Science” in 1952 that “if capitalism had built up science as a productive force, the very character of the new mode of production was serving to make capitalism itself unnecessary.”
In seeing nature as a whole and as a process, John Desmond Bernal showed that science and society should be studied similarly as well. With a clear historical approach to science, his intellectual and political efforts during his lifetime makes him one of the 20th century’s most influential scientists.
Dr. Tapang is the chairperson of AGHAM.
By Giovanni Tapang, Ph.D.
J.D. Bernal: Science in History
In the Science and Technology STS) class during my undergrad in UP, we read about John Desmond Bernal. It immediately made me wonder if he was related to the acclaimed director of the same surname. It turned out that he was more related to my profession as he was a physicist in the 1930s.
Bernal was born in Ireland in 1901 and studied mathematics and science in Cambridge University. As a scientist, he worked out how the molecules in different substances were arranged in a crystal. He used his knowledge of mathematics to deduce these structures from X-ray images, becoming one of the pioneers of X-ray crystallography. He figured out the structure of substances, such as graphite, and biological compounds, such as vitamin B1, D2, pepsin, sterols and even the tobacco mosaic virus.
Given the nickname “Sage” in Cambridge, JD Bernal was an accomplished scientist in his own right, pioneering in the exploitation of the techniques of X-ray crystallography in biology.
X-ray cystallography is now a routine procedure in diverse fields from chemical analysis to geology.
After his stint at Cambridge, he worked under William Bragg at the Royal Institution in London and with other prominent scientists such as Rosalind Franklin (who eventually worked on the structure of DNA) and Nobel laureates such as Aaron Klug, Max Perutz and Dorothy Hodgkin.
Another interesting aspect to Bernal’s personality was his involvement as a political intellectual of his times. He was reportedly a card-carrying member of the Communist Party of Great Britain (but literally lost the card later, according to some accounts). He attended the famous History of Science and Technology meeting in 1931 and met Soviet scientists, sharing their world view on the role of science and its functions in society. This spurred him and his colleagues such as Joseph Needham to engage in, as Helena Sheehan describes it, “a vigorous movement for the defence of science against all forces threatening it and for social responsibility in all areas of scientific endeavour.”
He was a prolific writer on the dialectical relationship of science and technology and society. He published texts such as “The Social Function of Science” and the influential four-volume work collectively known as “Science in History.” As its title says, “Science in History” traces the emergence of science and technology and its socio-political context through the ancient era, the Renaissance, the Industrial Revolution up to the modern era.
In writing about the science of science, he described how science was intertwined with other social activities of humans: from the economic, social to the political spheres. His detailed analysis of the role of science in each era of advance from the communal stage of hunters and gatherers to the current monopoly capitalist stage is an eye opener. It stresses the social nature of scientific endeavor and tells of the irony that science is being used mainly by the elite in each economic stage to advance their own interests. As such, the advance of science is tied more to the advancement of these groups status rather than for the general welfare of all peoples.
JD Bernal worked during the economic crisis leading up to World War II—a time very much like our own. In his introduction to “The Social Function of Science,” he describes his motivation saying (in 1939) that “the events of the past few years have led to a critical examination of the function of science in society. It used to be believed that the results of scientific investigation would lead to continuous progressive improvements in conditions of life; but first the War and then the economic crisis have shown that science can be used as easily for destructive and wasteful purposes, and voices have been raised demanding the cessation of scientific research as the only means of preserving a tolerable civilization. Scientists themselves, faced with these criticisms, have been forced to consider, effectively for the first time, how the work they are doing is connected around them.”
Bernal points to an alternative direction in which science is to be used for the upliftment of the majority in which the social products of scientific endeavor is shared by all. He sketches the potential for society from automation, energy and other benefits from science as well as the economic system that can bring this together—socialism. He said in “Marx and Science” in 1952 that “if capitalism had built up science as a productive force, the very character of the new mode of production was serving to make capitalism itself unnecessary.”
In seeing nature as a whole and as a process, John Desmond Bernal showed that science and society should be studied similarly as well. With a clear historical approach to science, his intellectual and political efforts during his lifetime makes him one of the 20th century’s most influential scientists.
Dr. Tapang is the chairperson of AGHAM.
Link
Sunday, June 07, 2009
Lack of industries causes broken families
This is one of the sad realities in the Philippines. If only our government is really sincere in pushing genuine industrialization, Filipinos would not have to go abroad to make a living. Sadly, the control of imperialism on the Philippines financially, politically, culturally, and militarily has prevented the country's industrial development. With very minimal domestic industrial activity, lack of local jobs drives many Filipinos to migrate for work, causing families to be broken and other social problems to arise.
When mom is away, the whole family goes astray
MARK JOSEPH UBALDE
GMANews.TV
Article posted May 09, 2009 - 07:29 PM
MANILA, Philippines - Every night, Cathy’s sleep would be interrupted by a knock on her door. But she doesn’t complain. Since her eldest daughter left for Saudi Arabia to work as a nurse, her two grandsons have been more inquisitive than usual.
“My grandsons would cry to me and ask: ‘Why did Mama leave?’"
Cathy would give out the usual answers: “Because she has to work and she loves you." But there are nights when even she asks the same question.
When Karen left her family in Manila, her marriage turned sour. Her husband spent her earnings and fled their home with a mistress. Meanwhile, their two sons performed poorly in school and were always being taken to the guidance counselor’s office for disturbing behavior. Three years later, Karen was forced to return home to a broken family and a long list of bills to pay.
When fathers took most of the jobs abroad, it only had a little dent on the Filipino family. But when the mothers left, the entire family needed to adjust.
The departure of the mother redefines her traditional role as the primary caregiver by taking on the position of the father as the main provider. Meanwhile, the father is often unprepared to assume the mother’s care-giving function, which in turn, affects the entire family, especially the children.
Since 2004, the number of women working overseas has steadily increased. The Commission on Population (Popcom) attributed the feminization of labor to the growing demand for health workers, particularly nurses and caregivers, who are mostly women.
The World Bank reported that close to half of the migrant population in the world are women. Andrew Morrison, WB’s Gender Group lead economist, said the more women migrants there are, the more positive effects to the development of the economy it will have.
“Women are sending lots of money to their families back home, and evidence from rural Mexico shows that their migration leads to positive effects for the homes they leave behind," Morrison observed.
But Dr. Lourdes Arellano-Carandang, a renowned child psychologist who published a book about absent mothers, begs to differ.
“They remit more money because they are more faithful in remitting than the men, but that’s on the side of the money only. The emotional and social costs are not talked about but the money. But we have to consider the entire [OFW] phenomenon holistically," Carandang asked.
When the 'light of the house' is gone
Carandang conducted a case study where she interviewed 10 migrant families, who like Karen, left their families behind to work abroad. For a year, they studied each of the family’s backgrounds, their insights and feelings about the mother leaving the household. They discovered that there is a “pervading feeling of sadness in the family and a deep longing for the mother to come home."
Most fathers unfortunately do poorly with house management, including taking care of household chores and being sensitive with their children’s needs. The team suggested that the men should accept their new roles not as the breadwinner of the family.
Depending on their age groups, children also have different understanding of their situation.
Carandang later published her study as a book entitled, “Nawala ang Ilaw ng Tahanan: Case Studies of Families Left Behind by OFW Mothers" in 2007. In it she noted a startling discovery:
“While the young children simply miss their mother and don’t really understand why she has to be away, the adolescents are in conflict because they appreciate the necessity and benefit of working abroad (in that they can go to school and buy more things), but they also feel sadness," a part in Carandang’s book read.
Interestingly, children of migrant parents also become the “tagasalo" (burden-bearers) of the father when he doesn’t perform his patriarchal duties well. That’s why there are kids who would volunteer to cook the family’s meal, do the laundry, perform household chores, and even cheer up the father who they sometimes see as “sad and helpless."
But the mother’s absence poses a more serious threat to the family, according to Ellene Sana of the Center for Migrants’ Advocacy. Sana said incest is present in OFW families, particularly when the mothers are away.
“Incest relationships are being talked about among OFWs communities, but the figures aren’t there," Sana said. “It’s an open secret but no one wants to talk about it. It’s embarrassing."
Substitute spouses
Sana explained that if an incestuous relationship happens in a family where the mother leaves the home early in the morning to sell goods in the market — leaving the father and the daughter at home — how much more if the mother works thousand of miles far away from home?
“It’s gut feel. You know it’s happening but no one wants to talk about it," Sana observed.
Erwin Puhawan, a paralegal of the Kanlungan Center Foundation, shared Sana’s observations that families tend to be discreet about problems of incestuous relationship.
He said it is an “open-secret" among OFW communities and they talk about it in private.
In 2007, Senator Pia Cayetano expressed apprehension on the emerging problem of the growing number of women working abroad.
While the number of mothers abroad has been increasing, the number of daughters (especially the eldest) who take on roles at home left by their mother, is also increasing, Cayetano said.
“Sometimes to the point of being subjected to sexual abuse and forced to become substitute spouses by their father," she said.
"This disturbing phenomenon of the girl-child being turned into a substitute spouse has been happening in our country along with the feminization of labor migration," the lady senator lamented.
She described the phenomenon as one of the most damaging social impacts of labor migration, which she said can never be measured by any of the government's socio-economic indicators or captured by statistics on labor export.
Home remedy
Carandang and her team suggested several measures for members of the family to implement to lessen the emotional burden on the children and even the fathers left behind.
According to them, children should be allowed to have an outlet where they can cope with their situation. Letting the kids play enables them to “‘re-enact’ what is happening to them in order to make sense of what is going on around them." Expressive activities like art, music writing, drawing, or just observing nature’s beauty will enable the child to deal with the absence of their mothers.
The advent of modern technology has also made the communication lines more accessible, convenient and cheap. Regular communication is vital not only to the fathers but more importantly to the children.
“A simple act of asking how they are, what happened to them during the day, etcetera, can boost children’s feelings of being loved and cared for," she said.
Simple gestures such as asking, “Kamusta ka na? Kamusta pag-aaral mo?" can have a tremendous impact on the child.
In order to lessen the spending sprees of the family left behind, the absent parent must explain thoroughly to her family the reason why he/she is leaving. This will ensure that the family members won’t be lured into overspending or splurging their loved one’s hard-earned money.
It is also crucial for the fathers to know that their change in roles in the household does not necessarily demean his identity “or his perception of himself as a male — that doing the responsibilities of the mother does not make him less of a man."
While the government hails overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) as the new unsung heroes of our time, families like Cathy’s think heroically of their loved ones for sacrificing life and limb, defying war and travel bans just so they could eat three times a day, despite being hardly ever present at the dinner table.
“If only we had enough, I wouldn’t wish for my daughter to leave. I don’t even aspire to be rich anymore. I just want to see my family whole," Cathy said. - with Fidel Jimenez, GMANews.TV
RELATED NEWS: Groups Stage Protest vs Global Forum on Migration
When mom is away, the whole family goes astray
MARK JOSEPH UBALDE
GMANews.TV
Article posted May 09, 2009 - 07:29 PM
MANILA, Philippines - Every night, Cathy’s sleep would be interrupted by a knock on her door. But she doesn’t complain. Since her eldest daughter left for Saudi Arabia to work as a nurse, her two grandsons have been more inquisitive than usual.
“My grandsons would cry to me and ask: ‘Why did Mama leave?’"
Cathy would give out the usual answers: “Because she has to work and she loves you." But there are nights when even she asks the same question.
When Karen left her family in Manila, her marriage turned sour. Her husband spent her earnings and fled their home with a mistress. Meanwhile, their two sons performed poorly in school and were always being taken to the guidance counselor’s office for disturbing behavior. Three years later, Karen was forced to return home to a broken family and a long list of bills to pay.
When fathers took most of the jobs abroad, it only had a little dent on the Filipino family. But when the mothers left, the entire family needed to adjust.
The departure of the mother redefines her traditional role as the primary caregiver by taking on the position of the father as the main provider. Meanwhile, the father is often unprepared to assume the mother’s care-giving function, which in turn, affects the entire family, especially the children.
Since 2004, the number of women working overseas has steadily increased. The Commission on Population (Popcom) attributed the feminization of labor to the growing demand for health workers, particularly nurses and caregivers, who are mostly women.
The World Bank reported that close to half of the migrant population in the world are women. Andrew Morrison, WB’s Gender Group lead economist, said the more women migrants there are, the more positive effects to the development of the economy it will have.
“Women are sending lots of money to their families back home, and evidence from rural Mexico shows that their migration leads to positive effects for the homes they leave behind," Morrison observed.
But Dr. Lourdes Arellano-Carandang, a renowned child psychologist who published a book about absent mothers, begs to differ.
“They remit more money because they are more faithful in remitting than the men, but that’s on the side of the money only. The emotional and social costs are not talked about but the money. But we have to consider the entire [OFW] phenomenon holistically," Carandang asked.
When the 'light of the house' is gone
Carandang conducted a case study where she interviewed 10 migrant families, who like Karen, left their families behind to work abroad. For a year, they studied each of the family’s backgrounds, their insights and feelings about the mother leaving the household. They discovered that there is a “pervading feeling of sadness in the family and a deep longing for the mother to come home."
Most fathers unfortunately do poorly with house management, including taking care of household chores and being sensitive with their children’s needs. The team suggested that the men should accept their new roles not as the breadwinner of the family.
Depending on their age groups, children also have different understanding of their situation.
Carandang later published her study as a book entitled, “Nawala ang Ilaw ng Tahanan: Case Studies of Families Left Behind by OFW Mothers" in 2007. In it she noted a startling discovery:
“While the young children simply miss their mother and don’t really understand why she has to be away, the adolescents are in conflict because they appreciate the necessity and benefit of working abroad (in that they can go to school and buy more things), but they also feel sadness," a part in Carandang’s book read.
Interestingly, children of migrant parents also become the “tagasalo" (burden-bearers) of the father when he doesn’t perform his patriarchal duties well. That’s why there are kids who would volunteer to cook the family’s meal, do the laundry, perform household chores, and even cheer up the father who they sometimes see as “sad and helpless."
But the mother’s absence poses a more serious threat to the family, according to Ellene Sana of the Center for Migrants’ Advocacy. Sana said incest is present in OFW families, particularly when the mothers are away.
“Incest relationships are being talked about among OFWs communities, but the figures aren’t there," Sana said. “It’s an open secret but no one wants to talk about it. It’s embarrassing."
Substitute spouses
Sana explained that if an incestuous relationship happens in a family where the mother leaves the home early in the morning to sell goods in the market — leaving the father and the daughter at home — how much more if the mother works thousand of miles far away from home?
“It’s gut feel. You know it’s happening but no one wants to talk about it," Sana observed.
Erwin Puhawan, a paralegal of the Kanlungan Center Foundation, shared Sana’s observations that families tend to be discreet about problems of incestuous relationship.
He said it is an “open-secret" among OFW communities and they talk about it in private.
In 2007, Senator Pia Cayetano expressed apprehension on the emerging problem of the growing number of women working abroad.
While the number of mothers abroad has been increasing, the number of daughters (especially the eldest) who take on roles at home left by their mother, is also increasing, Cayetano said.
“Sometimes to the point of being subjected to sexual abuse and forced to become substitute spouses by their father," she said.
"This disturbing phenomenon of the girl-child being turned into a substitute spouse has been happening in our country along with the feminization of labor migration," the lady senator lamented.
She described the phenomenon as one of the most damaging social impacts of labor migration, which she said can never be measured by any of the government's socio-economic indicators or captured by statistics on labor export.
Home remedy
Carandang and her team suggested several measures for members of the family to implement to lessen the emotional burden on the children and even the fathers left behind.
According to them, children should be allowed to have an outlet where they can cope with their situation. Letting the kids play enables them to “‘re-enact’ what is happening to them in order to make sense of what is going on around them." Expressive activities like art, music writing, drawing, or just observing nature’s beauty will enable the child to deal with the absence of their mothers.
The advent of modern technology has also made the communication lines more accessible, convenient and cheap. Regular communication is vital not only to the fathers but more importantly to the children.
“A simple act of asking how they are, what happened to them during the day, etcetera, can boost children’s feelings of being loved and cared for," she said.
Simple gestures such as asking, “Kamusta ka na? Kamusta pag-aaral mo?" can have a tremendous impact on the child.
In order to lessen the spending sprees of the family left behind, the absent parent must explain thoroughly to her family the reason why he/she is leaving. This will ensure that the family members won’t be lured into overspending or splurging their loved one’s hard-earned money.
It is also crucial for the fathers to know that their change in roles in the household does not necessarily demean his identity “or his perception of himself as a male — that doing the responsibilities of the mother does not make him less of a man."
While the government hails overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) as the new unsung heroes of our time, families like Cathy’s think heroically of their loved ones for sacrificing life and limb, defying war and travel bans just so they could eat three times a day, despite being hardly ever present at the dinner table.
“If only we had enough, I wouldn’t wish for my daughter to leave. I don’t even aspire to be rich anymore. I just want to see my family whole," Cathy said. - with Fidel Jimenez, GMANews.TV
RELATED NEWS: Groups Stage Protest vs Global Forum on Migration
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Saturday, June 06, 2009
Missing relatives
Siguro matinding emotion talaga ang nagtutulak sa mga writers para magsulat ng kwentong napakalungkot. Heto nga ako ngayon napilitang magsulat tungkol sa napanood kong episode ng Torchwood tungkol sa mga nawawalang kamag-anak. Medyo nakakahiyang aminin na kailangan pang makapanood ako ng katulad na palabas para magsulat tungkol sa isyung ito samantalang matagal ng nangyayari sa Pilipinas (at malamang sa ibang bansa rin) ang mga katulad na sitwasyon.
Sa palabas, ang dahilan ng pagkawala ay ang tinatawag na "rift" sa time and space continuum kung saan hinihigop ang isang tao papunta sa ibang panahon at/o lugar. Itong episode na ito ang pinakakakaiba sa lahat kasi walang alien o kakaibang nilalang na kalaban ang grupong Torchwood. Nagsimula ang kwento sa isang teenager na pauwi ng bahay at nagtetext sa nanay nya. Sa isang iglap, bigla na lang itong naglaho at hinigop ng napakaliwanag na ilaw. Sa dulo ng palabas, pinaliwanag na napunta ang batang ito sa napakalayong future kung saan natutunaw na ang earth dahil sa paglobo ng araw. Mga 40 years din syang nabuhay dun bago nangyari ang pagsabog ng araw at muli ay hinigop siya ng isang rift na nagbalik sa kanya sa original na panahon 7 months after siya nawala.
Pinakita din ang pangangailangan ng mga kamag-anak ng nawawala na magsama-sama para, siguro, mabawasan ang kalungkutan ng bawat isa. Tama itong ginagawa ng mga kamag-anak ng mga Desaparecido; magkaisa at magsama-sama para hanapin ang nawawala at lutasin ng ugat ng problema; bakit may mga pagdukot at pagpatay?
Ang kaibahan ng sitwasyon dito sa totoong nangyayari ngayon sa Pilipinas ay ang elemento ng galit. Sa palabas, walang galit na involved kasi wala namang kalaban na pinakita. Basta na lang hinigop ng "rift". Samantala, sa mga pagdukot na nagaganap sa Pilipinas, malaking galit maliban sa kalungkutan ang dala ng sitwasyon. Ang kalungkutan ay dala ng pagmamaliw ng naiwan sa nawawala. Ang galit ay sa kawalang kalaban-labang pagdukot ng mga armadong grupo na, ayon sa mga witnesses at ebidensya, ay mga tauhan o bayaran ng gobyerno.
Kaya siguro ako napilitang magsulat. Naramdaman ko na parang may kulang sa palabas. Walang mapagbalingan ng galit sa nangyaring pagkawala. Pero yun na nga, fiction lang ito so hindi talaga makatotohanan.
Sa palabas, ang dahilan ng pagkawala ay ang tinatawag na "rift" sa time and space continuum kung saan hinihigop ang isang tao papunta sa ibang panahon at/o lugar. Itong episode na ito ang pinakakakaiba sa lahat kasi walang alien o kakaibang nilalang na kalaban ang grupong Torchwood. Nagsimula ang kwento sa isang teenager na pauwi ng bahay at nagtetext sa nanay nya. Sa isang iglap, bigla na lang itong naglaho at hinigop ng napakaliwanag na ilaw. Sa dulo ng palabas, pinaliwanag na napunta ang batang ito sa napakalayong future kung saan natutunaw na ang earth dahil sa paglobo ng araw. Mga 40 years din syang nabuhay dun bago nangyari ang pagsabog ng araw at muli ay hinigop siya ng isang rift na nagbalik sa kanya sa original na panahon 7 months after siya nawala.
Pinakita din ang pangangailangan ng mga kamag-anak ng nawawala na magsama-sama para, siguro, mabawasan ang kalungkutan ng bawat isa. Tama itong ginagawa ng mga kamag-anak ng mga Desaparecido; magkaisa at magsama-sama para hanapin ang nawawala at lutasin ng ugat ng problema; bakit may mga pagdukot at pagpatay?
Ang kaibahan ng sitwasyon dito sa totoong nangyayari ngayon sa Pilipinas ay ang elemento ng galit. Sa palabas, walang galit na involved kasi wala namang kalaban na pinakita. Basta na lang hinigop ng "rift". Samantala, sa mga pagdukot na nagaganap sa Pilipinas, malaking galit maliban sa kalungkutan ang dala ng sitwasyon. Ang kalungkutan ay dala ng pagmamaliw ng naiwan sa nawawala. Ang galit ay sa kawalang kalaban-labang pagdukot ng mga armadong grupo na, ayon sa mga witnesses at ebidensya, ay mga tauhan o bayaran ng gobyerno.
Kaya siguro ako napilitang magsulat. Naramdaman ko na parang may kulang sa palabas. Walang mapagbalingan ng galit sa nangyaring pagkawala. Pero yun na nga, fiction lang ito so hindi talaga makatotohanan.
Link
Friday, June 05, 2009
MoodViews down for two weeks already
I attended a lecture yesterday by Maarten de Rijke on various things they do to utilize UGC (user-generated content) on the Internet. He announced that their MoodViews project, which I consider as a very promising information technology project, is down for two weeks already due to hardware problems (which is also mentioned in the website) and that two days after this problem started their lead computer programmer for the project resigned and moved.
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Wednesday, June 03, 2009
Menaker Lecture
10pm na ko kaabot sa balay gikan sa public lecture ni mike menaker. it's a public lecture meaning not so technical (supposedly although i think technical pa gihapon to for the non-chronobiologist). ikatulo na ni nga lecture nga ako naattenand nga 8pm nagsugod. the first one is by a sociologist (richard sennett) and second by an astrophysicist (robert kennicutt). mahilig sila diri ug public lectures sa gabii. siguro kay para daghan ang available. with the biggest audience was the lecture by sennett.
mao ni ako nadunggan sa lecture karun:
aside from the public lecture, maghatag pud ug lecture si menaker ugma sa biological center. mas specific iya lecture ugma--about rhythms sa ovary.
mao ni ako nadunggan sa lecture karun:
- mawala ang circadian rhythm sa langgam kung tangtangun iyang pineal gland
- mawala ang circadian rhythm sa mammal kung patyon iya suprachiasmatic nucleus
- mubalik ang circadian rhythm sa mammal kung balhinan sya ug suprachiasmatic nucleus sa laing mananap nga parehog species
- bisag patyon ang suprachiasmatic nucleus sa mammal ug i-knockdown ang iyang cryptochrome 1 and 2 genes, makapossess gihapon sya ug circadian rhythm kung tagaan sya ug metamphetamine
- similar ang rhythm sa tawo nga gitagaa'g metamphetamine sa usa ka tawo nga schizophrenic (nga walay metamphetamine)
aside from the public lecture, maghatag pud ug lecture si menaker ugma sa biological center. mas specific iya lecture ugma--about rhythms sa ovary.
Link
Sunday, May 31, 2009
Kasama sa Bawat Mayo Uno
Kasama sa Bawat Mayo Uno
Panoorin ang Bidyo-Komemorasyon para kay Ka Bel
Tampok ang pagkawala ni Ka Bel nitong nagdaang Mayo Uno (2009). Sa loob ng maraming dekada, kinatawan niya ang kilusang paggawa, at itinaas niya ang sulo ng pambansa-demokratikong kilusan at ng pandaigdigang pakikibaka laban sa imperyalismo.
Patuloy ang pagpupugay sa kaniya ng sambayanang Pilipino. Bawat pagkakataon na nangunguna ang uring manggagawa sa laban ng mamamayan, at nagkakaisa at kumikilos ang mga inaaping sektor, buhay ang kaniyang alaala.
== From May Day Productions
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Panoorin ang Bidyo-Komemorasyon para kay Ka Bel
Tampok ang pagkawala ni Ka Bel nitong nagdaang Mayo Uno (2009). Sa loob ng maraming dekada, kinatawan niya ang kilusang paggawa, at itinaas niya ang sulo ng pambansa-demokratikong kilusan at ng pandaigdigang pakikibaka laban sa imperyalismo.
Patuloy ang pagpupugay sa kaniya ng sambayanang Pilipino. Bawat pagkakataon na nangunguna ang uring manggagawa sa laban ng mamamayan, at nagkakaisa at kumikilos ang mga inaaping sektor, buhay ang kaniyang alaala.
== From May Day Productions
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Link
Monday, May 25, 2009
3.5-kilometer walk
Whew! Just arrived home from a 45-min walk from the lab. The combination of cool air and a bright sun was perfect for the walk--plus the green scenery with brown, white, black, and black&white cows is pleasant to the eyes; my first time since I got here, but I have walked a longer path before around the city. Below is the map of the walkpath from Google Maps.
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Saturday, May 02, 2009
http://www.kgargar.net
The image to the left is a two-hour rain forecast for The Netherlands. I find it useful especially before going out of the building.
Link
Goodbye Geocities!
This is my official parting message for the anticipated passing away of Geocities. I was using Geocities free hosting since 2000, during my last months in College, and that was also the time when the Internet started blossoming in Iligan. Together with Fortunecity and Tripod, Geocities introduced me to the world of html programming; it made me realize that page design can also be programmed.
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