IRRI Pays Tribute to Women in Rice Farming

Wazzup Pilipinas!

The International Rice Research Institute honored the women who made breakthroughs in the rice farming industry as it welcomed lady farmers around the country and overseas in a special day at its headquarters in Los Baños, Laguna recently.

IRRI Board Chairwoman Emerlinda Roman welcomed the delegates. Agriculture Undersecretary Bernadette Puyat and PCW Administrative Chief Ana Liza Ragos also graced the event and gave opening remarks.

IRRI Deputy Director General Bruce Tolentino gave a simple talk about IRRI’s research agenda to cap the first part of the event.

Informal Settlers or Squatters : High Time to Bulldoze Them Out of the Esteros?

Wazzup Pilipinas!

"Not to sound like an elitist conyo, but every time it starts flooding like this, I'm tempted to think we should just bulldoze all those shanties blocking our esteros, and not give a flying f*ck over the ILLEGAL settlers."

Why is it always easiest to hit the most evil flavor of the season without really looking at how complex the problem is?

I doubt that the shanties along the esteros are the bulk of the problem. The squatters are a major cause of clogging but we're not exempt from blame either. It's not just the shanties anymore but also the neglected water ways and esteros, and those land grabbers titling themselves to floodways and building structures. 

We also have poor urban planning in general. Besides esteros being blocked by shanties, flooding in Manila is also sever due to bad urban planning. If you look meticulously at the Manila skyline, it looks like a badly-built lego set. Looking at the skyline makes you feel like you stepped on a lego though a hundred times over, and it does not get better when viewed from above. (I'd take a badly built lego set over Manila's sky line. At least colors of lego bricks are appealing to the eyes.) Seriously, condos are just popping up out of nowhere; especially in Taft. A mall in Quezon City for one has overwhelmed the sewerage infrastructure for a good chunk of Quezon City.

Janet Lim Napoles : Surrender Now or Else?

Wazzup Pilipinas!

"With so many angry Filipinos out to get her, my unsolicited advice for Janet Napoles is it might be safer for her to just surrender and be under the custody of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI). Worse that could happen is that she ends up getting herself killed by powerful people who want to protect their interests and all her "secrets" would go down with her to the grave. If she really is innocent as she claims to be then she shouldn't be afraid at all to face the music and prove to us that she is not guilty of all the accusations being thrown at her and her family." - Harvey Keh

That is one of the status message posted on my timeline from Harvey Keh of the Kaya Natin movement.

I have to agree with his plea or request to Janet Lim Napoles, but that may also work against Napoles because it may also become easy for those "people who want to protect their interests" to silence her as she has already become a loose end if she decides to spill the beans against those that benefited from the scam.