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| ON THE OTHER HAND |
| Minimum Wage as Weapon
By Antonio C. Abaya Written Jan. 07, 2007 For the Standard Today, January 09 issue Yes, the minimum wage is being used as a Weapon of Mass Delusion. By a vote of 153-0, the House of Representatives passed last Dec. 20 a bill mandating a P125 increase in the minimum daily wage, to be staggered over a three-year period. If you remove the oppositionists, that vote was curiously similar to the 161-25 vote by which the Lower House struck down on Dec. 5, its own House Rule no. 15 (or was it House Rule no. 5? Media reports vary.) which required that �resolutions proposing amendments to or revisions of the Constitution shall follow the procedure for the enactment of bills.� Meaning, such resolutions must be approved by BOTH Houses of Congress, before being submitted to the President for signature and promulgation into law. In place of House Rule no. 15 (or no. 5), the Lower House rushed the following new Rule during the wee hours ( 3:00 a.m. ) of Dec. 5: �Proposals to amend or revise the Constitution shall be by a resolution filed at any time by any member.� Meaning, the participation of the Senate in the discussion and approval of such amendments or revisions would have been totally unnecessary and irrelevant. Thus did the trapos of Speaker Jose de Venecia attempt to convene themselves into a constituent assembly or Con-Ass, with a specific intent of railroading Charter Change towards a unicameral parliamentary form of government, without the participation of the contrarian Senate in the debates and discussions. It was only the howls of protests and public outrage at the shameless brazenness of their maneuver that forced Speaker De Venecia and his trapos, as well as the malevolent manipulators in Malacanang, to retreat from their self-serving agendas. (If the shameless maneuver had prospered, as they obviously believed it would, President Arroyo would have been given a blank check to remain in power indefinitely, as prime minister, beyond 2010, when her presidential term ends. De Venecia would have been installed interim prime minister from 2007 to 2010, a leadership position he knows he cannot win under a presidential system. And the trapos of the Lower House would have morphed into members of the interim parliament, there to remain as members of parliament for life after 2010, since they also had the gall to spare themselves the inconvenience of term limits.) Filipino trapos are indeed the best argument against liberal democracy. Have we now seen the end of this charade of brazen shamelessness? Not by a long shot. One of the sponsors of the recently junked (by the Supreme Court), unlamented People�s Initiative, the group calling itself ULAP (Uma-asang Laging naka-Angkla sa Poder) has given notice that it will soon launch (recently denied publicly) another signatures campaign for a second People�s Initiative to amend the Constitution, this time towards a unicameral presidential system. The immediate tactical goal is to abolish the obstreperous Senate. But after achieving that goal, there is every reason to believe that the Lower House would then re-launch the original advocacy of a shift to the parliamentary system, with its promise of permanent and unlimited powers for President Arroyo, Speaker De Venecia, and the salivating trapos of the Lower House. It is in this light that one must view the House vote increasing the minimum daily wage by a hefty P125. The vote (153-0) mandating that wage increase is suspiciously similar to the vote (161-25) that struck down House Rule no. 15 (or no.. 5) which paved the way for the maneuver, subsequently aborted, of removing the Senate from being part of Con-Ass. In her column of Jan. 06, Winnie Monsod mentioned that, according to UP Professor and ChaCha oppositior Rene Azurin, there were only 19 congressmen present when the minimum wage increase bill was voted on. It is very likely that those 153 congressmen and women who voted for the minimum wage increase were also the 161 who voted for the maneuver to maneuver the Senate out of Con-Ass. It is inconceivable that the 153 who voted unanimously for the minimum wage increase did so out of genuine concern for the plight of minimum wage earners. It is also unlikely that they did so with any expectation that this bill was going to become law anytime soon. Most, if not all, of those 153 congressmen and women own business enterprises that would be hard put to comply with their own proposed minimum wage increase. Their unusually swift, suspiciously unanimous advocacy would be easier to comprehend if it were assumed that they did not expect their own bill to become law. In my opinion, this is just another cynical trapo maneuver to put the Senate in a difficult position, to hasten its demise as it dilly-dallies on the minimum wage issue as the Second People�s Initiative gathers momentum towards a unicameral presidential system, after which, with the Senate out of the way, it would be a cake walk to the ultimate goal, a unicameral parliamentary system and the unlimited powers that it promises for President Arroyo, Speaker De Venecia and the salivating trapos of the Lower House. The minimum wage increase is, therefore, just being used as a weapon of mass delusion, to delude the squealing masa that the Lower House trapos are concerned about their welfare, and, conversely, that the Senate is not and should therefore be abolished.. And, irony or ironies, the Lower House trapos will use the communists, who are the most vocal advocates of the P125 pay increase, to carry this message to the squealing masa and become their unwitting instruments for the abolition of the Senate and the permanent empowerment of the trapos whom the communists love to hate, as investors prepare to move their investments somewhere else. Such as Bangladesh . One day after it was announced that Mohammed Yunis had been chosen for the Nobel Peace Prize last year, for his innovative Grameen micro-credit lending scheme, tens of thousands of Bangladeshi garment workers went on strike to protest that their newly mandated minimum wage - the equivalent of US$ 28 a month, or a little more than one dollar or P49 a day � was still too low. There are any number of investors in the Philippines � including possibly 153 congressmen and women - who would gladly relocate their enterprises there for even double those wages, if the proposed P125 daily pay increase here were to become law.***** Reactions to [email protected]. Other articles since 2001 in www.tapatt.org OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO Reactions to �Minimum Wage as Weapon� In the Philippines , if there is a congressman who is poor, I would say that he is a poor congressman. Bombing Moll, [email protected], Jan. 09, 2007 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww The motivation of these lying congressmen in approving the minimum wage increase is highly questionable. Matagal na hinihingi yang increase na yan, but it was never settled. WHY ONLY NOW??? Until now, election na naman kasi. I hope matalo yan si JDV, Cagas, Pichay, Nograles, Villafuerte, Lagman, Abante, Baterina, Susano, Antonino, Zubiri and other suckers. I don�t like the opposition either, but in this predicament, I will go with them nalang. We people should know that the Philippines has one of the highest wages for workers in the Asian region. We will be eaten alive by China if we don�t arrest this curve. Plus the fact that the costs of utilities such as electricity, transportation and others ( red tape, harassment at the Customs by broad-daylight thieves, political instability, police inefficiency, and other problems will greet any businessmen, local or foreign. And now, the minimum wage increase? I think one solution is opening up the free market for electricity. At the end of the day, kahit anung reklamo natin, ke Meralco parin tayo magbabayad. Competition will make them decrease their price and may increase the quality of service. Me kalaban na eh. Anyway, motivation is suspect for the congressmen. Michael Delgado, [email protected], Jan. 09, 2007 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Tony, With regards your observation below (color green), all I can say that it is purely speculative depending on the biases of the individual. I for one do not believe PGMA will remain in power after 2010, regardless of whether we turn parliamentary or not. And I am willing to make a P100 bet with you on that. As to the P125 wage hike, i side with the business sector, that this piece of legislation should not become a law. How about that? We finally agree on one issue. hah-hah. Bobby Tordesillas, [email protected], Jan. 09, 2007 �(If the shameless maneuver had prospered, as they obviously believed it would, President Arroyo would have been given a blank check to remain in power indefinitely, as prime minister, beyond 2010, when her presidential term ends. De Venecia would have been installed interim prime minister from 2007 to 2010, a leadership position he knows he cannot win under a presidential system. And the trapos of the Lower House would have morphed into members of the interim parliament, there to remain as members of parliament for life after 2010, since they also had the gall to spare themselves the inconvenience of term limits.)� wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww HELLO TOKS!!! HOW ABOUT SENDING THE CONG "ASSHOLES" MEN .TO IRAQ AND HAVE THEM SADDAM -MIZED OR HUSSEIN-NIZED! WELL, ANYTIME YOU WANT TO UNBURDEN YOUR MIND WITH THE "IMPOSSIBLE DREAM" OF REFORMING OUR ASS HOLES, COME TO POLO CLUB THIS SUNADY JAN 14, ANY TIME AFTER 4 P.M. WATCH A FEW CHUKKERS OF THE POLO GAME, AND PARTAKE IN THE COCKTAILS (OPEN BAR RED AND WHITE WINE AND BEER) AND LOTSA FOOD, IN THE BUFFET THAT IS SERVED BY 5:30 P.M. Tony Oposa, [email protected], Jan. 09, 2007 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww I hope the Senate approves, implements and monitors efficiently the minimum wage increase, to elevate the purchasing power of salaries for local Filipino workers. The backbone of our economy is the labor force. We are basically a country of agricultural and factory workers. Consumer confidence helps factories and farms produce and deliver more goods when there is a continuous increase of item orders which can only be possible if population can afford to purchase them. Entrepreneurs must understand that they will profit more if the economy is healthy when more people can afford to buy goods. In a society that spreads the wealth can achieve stability and peace and order. Nonoy Ramos, [email protected], Pennsylvania , Jan. 09, 2007 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww I really believe that the imposition of a minimum wage is an inefficient government�s way of passing on to the business owner its responsibility of delivering social services to low-wage, blue collar, and unemployed workers. In our group, RockEd Philippines (www.rockedphilippines.org), we always discuss this issue among ourselves, especially since the primary role of our group is to help alleviate poverty in the Philippines (in line with the 8 MDGs of the UN). The question always is whether mandatory increase in minimum wage is a viable way to alleviate poverty. In my opinion, a great bulk of this question rests on what the government uses to define the value of minimum wage. According to the government, a minimum wage must be able to sustain a family of 5 with ONE parent working. Already by this definition, the government implies that only with only one working parent, the family must be able to sustain itself. By setting this up, it excludes itself from the duty and urgency to provide adequate social services for population. Having one parent at home practically relieves the government of its need to provide day care center, bussing services, adequate water, and all other services that should be available directly to the homes of the children. This is because, in practice, these roles can be taken ( sundo, igib, luto, alaga) on by the parent at home (usually the mother). It also indirectly reduces the need for a police force because it guarantees that each household is populated by at least one adult (bantay). As unemployed people are not affected by any type of minimum wage, they and those that fight for their causes might find this topic of minimum wage irrelevant. On the contrary, their plight is made doubly painful by the government�s move to have the family units absorb the responsibilities that the government should take on. This is because the taxes of those who can work, should be the basis of spending for the delivery of basic services. These same basic services are then passed on to those who temporarily cannot find work. In other words, because government is not pressured to provide these services to those who do work (andyan naman si Inay or si Inday), there are no basic social services to be passed on to those who cannot find work. Those who have raised a hue and cry over the minimum wage have always spoken from the point of view of the jobs lost. But the reality is, that those who have skill based jobs will eventually find employment either here or abroad. What no one speaks of is that the minimum wage may have more insidious effects, which is the denial of basic services to those who need it most. Jaime Garchitorena, [email protected], Jan. 09, 2007 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Folks: The article below appeared in Business World (top, page 5), Dec 28, 2006 issue. You may find it interesting as yet another example of politicos serving special interests and not the general welfare. Cheers, Rene B. Azurin, [email protected], Jan. 09, 2007 DID THE POLITICOS WHO RAISED THE MINIMUM WAGE PROMOTE THE GENERAL WELFARE? By Ren� B. Azurin Ask the man on the street what is 2 plus 2 and he will invariably answer, �4�. Ask a politico what is 2 plus 2 and he will, sometimes after a furtive look over his shoulder, answer, �what do you want it to be?� This is an old joke but, like many old jokes, it was born out of old truth. That old truth may be that politicos have never been very good at arithmetic. This is why they always get extraordinarily high sums when they are adding up their votes and ridiculously low totals when they are tallying the votes of their rivals. Or, perhaps more fundamentally, that old truth may be that politicos always seem to feel that even objective reality is something they can shape to suit their desired ends. In any event, the moral lesson seems to be that truth is not usually what a politico says it is. In recent days, we have been treated to another example of politico arithmetic: 19 = 153. Last December 21st, the House of Representatives voted 153�0 to pass a bill mandating an increase of P125 per day in the minimum wage for private sector workers. How the vote on that measure suddenly became 153�0 when only 19 representatives were present in the session hall that afternoon is a mystery that expert mathematicians may have difficulty with but which, apparently, politicos steeped in parliamentary tactics have no problem understanding and explaining. Clearly, however, since their arithmetical formulations use propositions that even theory of numbers founder Fermat or calculus inventor Leibniz would have stayed well away from, we ordinary mortals should not even make an attempt at comprehension. Against all logic, we probably can, as the politicos want us to, merely accept the fact that 19 equals 153. Or we could, falling back on that hard-learned lesson of the ages, just listen to what the politicos are saying and immediately assign this to the right hand side of the True/False column of our beliefs. The raising-the-minimum-wage measure is actually just the latest in a series of legislative sleights-of-hand that politicos from the House of Representatives have recently sought to foist on an often distracted public. It might be thought to be less notable than the almost tripling of the legislative pork barrel to some P21 billion and the reported provision of an even greater amount in presidential discretionary funds. It is arguably less controversial than the House attempt to railroad charter change via constituent assembly. Still, this minimum wage bill will, if passed, have a potentially disastrous impact on the nation�s economy. As any freshman student of economics knows, a very simple �law of demand� applies in any market economy: raise the price of a good and demand for it falls; lower its price and demand for it rises. Now, notwithstanding the considerable powers that our legislators now possess (or imagine themselves to possess), these do not � at least, not yet � extend to repealing this inexorable economic law. Thus, it behooves (some politicos love this word) us all to presume that when the price of labor is raised, demand for labor will fall (and, vice versa, when the price is lowered, demand for labor will rise). Accordingly, when our learned legislators mandated that wages in our country must now be increased by P125 per day, they must have been fully aware that this will decrease the overall demand for labor in the country and that there will be fewer job opportunities overall. Many people who might have been employed at the current wage level will no longer be able to find employment and some people who are now employed � especially if they have only contractual or probationary appointments � can expect to eventually lose their jobs. In fact, a mandated wage that is set above the market rate for labor makes persistent unemployment endemic. This stems, quite straightforwardly, from the basic economics of the business firm: an entrepreneur hires an additional worker if the incremental revenue derived from the sale of the products produced by this worker in one day exceeds his wages. If it does not � that is, if the cost of the additional worker exceeds the revenue derived from his labor � the entrepreneur simply does not hire that worker. The entrepreneur stops hiring workers at the point where the incremental cost of hiring the next worker (which tends to rise) has become equal to the incremental revenue from the additional output obtained from that worker (which tends to fall). In the language of economics, he stops hiring when the value of the marginal product of labor is equal to its marginal cost. This is the rational decision rule. The above rule, by the way, governs the behavior not only of local entrepreneurs but of all rational entrepreneurs, including those foreign businessmen seeking to outsource part of their operations to low labor-cost countries. In that connection, labor costs are obviously the crucial variable and countries with appropriate skills and comparatively low labor costs � like China, India, Vietnam, etc. � will obviously offer the greatest attractions. What a mandated higher minimum wage means is that the Philippines becomes even less competitive than it already is in the global market for the outsourced operations of multinational firms. In concrete terms, it means that the Chinese, Indians, or Vietnamese will reap the material benefits of having actual jobs that pay actual (though lower) wages, while Filipinos will enjoy the empty distinction of having high theoretical wages but no actual jobs. One need not wonder very long as to who will be better off. The politicos who spearheaded the passage of the wage measure are those who say that they represent the interests of the labor sector. Clearly, however, they really do not since � as has been pointed out � the measure depresses demand for labor and thus reduces the number of jobs available in the country. Fewer people will be employed. How do these politicos explain and resolve this obvious contradiction? What do they say is 2 plus 2 in this instance? Strangely, their rhetoric is self-congratulatory which might indicate that they do not realize that what they�ve done will increase the number of unemployed in the country and thereby diminish the general welfare. Two possibilities actually suggest themselves: either these politicos do not understand the simple law of demand, or, they understand it but choose to promote interests other than those that they say they represent. Interestingly, most of the 19 pushing this wage bill now were part of the minority opposition to the House-as-constituent-assembly measure rammed through by administration-allied politicos just a couple of weeks ago. Then, they might have been seen as valiant warriors fighting for the general welfare of the Filipino people against the special interests pushed by self-serving politicos. Last December 21st however, that erstwhile embattled minority itself used parliamentary tactics (19 = 153) to finesse through a bill pushing its own special interests even when this is contrary to the welfare of the Filipino people as a whole. Is there a difference between this group of politicos and the other? Or is one politico�s arithmetic pretty much the same as any other�s? ***** (Dr. Ren� B. Azurin teaches Strategic Management at the University of the Philippines. He is founder of the �No to Parliament!� movement <www.notoparliament.net> and convenor of the �OneVoice� multisectoral citizens group <www.onevoice.org.ph>.) wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Good Morning Sir, I read an article from a former economic planner that we are making a paradigm shift (borrowing the term from Thomas Kuhn), from Keynesian Government protected market to a Free Market Economy. It appears that this action by congress is a clear intervention in a supposedly free market economy? Legislation should protect the interest of the workers, but this I believe does not amount to a legislated wage increase. KMU chair was voicing out in public that they will campaign against politicians who will go against the legislated increase. HOSTAGE! What they are doing...? This is not a simple Trip to Jerusalem but Russian Roulette! If the Senate will not approve this, then they would be the devils as far as the workers are concerned and the Saints from the perspective of investors. Alas, the Labor Unions have a bigger voting power. How can we compete with the labor force in China , Vietnam , Bangladesh and other Asian countries whose labor cost is dropped at ground level. We can not even boast of our literacy rates and mastery of the English Language which is deteriorating at a very alarming rate. Thank God they are putting back NCAE.. Regardless, this legislation remains a Damocles Sword that threatens our economy and the political existence of some of our statesmen. In the end they should watch out for the reversing tides of destiny.... what if, the senate approves the legislated wage increase... Then it is up to PGMA to do the balancing act and choose which sector she intends to lose. Mabuhay po kayo. Vonne Villanueva, [email protected], Jan. 10, 2007 Wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Reactions to �Polonium 210� ( Dec. 08, 2006) This was this reader�s original reaction to my article �Polonium 210� and my reply to his reaction Polonium 210 emits alpha particles which are easily stopped by a thin sheet of paper or clothing. Hence, they are not detectable by Geiger counters... Nash Toledo, [email protected], UK , Dec.05, 2006 MY REPLY. Please clue me in. Why would Polonium 210, with its surplus of neutrons in its nucleus, emit only alpha radiation, instead of the more common beta radiation? And if the alpha radiation can �easily be stopped by a thin sheet of paper or clothing,� how come it was able to contaminate other people as well an entire sushi bar, hotel rooms, a hospital room and aircraft cabins while it was inside the body of a fully clothed victim, or (presumably) inside a lead container while it was being transported by the assassin from Moscow to London? If not by a Geiger counter, how did the British police detect it in all the above places? I really want to know. And this is his response to my reply: . Nuclear particle physics is not my field of expertise so I can't elaborate on why polonium decays primarily by alpha radiation. I know that it does and I know a little about what alpha radiation can do. Alpha particles are highly energetic, hence the short half life of polonium-210 (138 days). These highly energetic particles can directly cut/nick DNA or produce free radicals which attach to DNA. This screws up protein expression in the cell and can either lead to cell suicide (apoptosis) or tumour growth. Yet, one, two, five, or ten faulty cells won't be enough to harm us because we have highly evolved repair and recovery mechanisms to correct for such ionising radiation damage. However, there will be a threshold radiation dose which if exceeded will definitely cause massive problems. Going back to Polonium-210, Litvinenko would have had to ingest or inhale it for it to do any real damage. Outside the body, it's practically harmless. Even inside the body, it would have to be above a threshold quantity such that the biological repair and recovery mechanisms are overwhelmed. As far as I can recall from articles regarding this real-life spy thriller, ~120nanograms of polonium-210 is fatal. It is suggested that Litvinenko ingested microgram quantities. The Italian contact Scaramella is reported to have been contaminated with 1/20th of the fatal dose that killed Litvinenko. In solution, as a salt (nitrate/citrate), polonium-210 is tasteless and can easily be poured in Litvinenko's drink/food. The assassins knew polonium-210, in whatever quantity, wasn't immediately toxic outside the body. The fact that the airplane cabin, flight attendants, sushi bar staff, hotel bar staff etc. tested positive for contamination meant the poison was casually hand carried. They were literally carrying the polonium-210 "salt-shaker" in their pockets ready to jump on the most opportune moment to spike Litvinenko's food. They would have spilled quantities of it in the process, hence the contamination. In fact, it cannot be established if Litvinenko got ONE massive dose of poison or quantities on several occasions. And no, they would not have carried this in a lead container as all hand carried luggage is x-rayed at the airport. Indeed, lead does not allow x-rays to pass but this will in fact emphasize its presence as weird blank object on the x-ray monitor. This would raise suspicion (assuming the x-ray checker was attentive.) No special container was needed. It could simply have been inside a bottle of vodka or in a make-up kit. (We all know the best assassins are female.) The British investigators are checking for polonium-210 AFTER the fact, hence they are using alpha particle detectors (presumably silicon surface-barrier detectors/passivated implanted silicon alpha detectors. Practically it's similar to how a solar panel works.) to retrace the journey of polonium-210 from Moscow to London . Isn't this such an interesting flashback from the cold war? It would make Robert Ludlum, John le Carre, and Tom Clancy shake with excitement. As a result of this sensational killing, Anglo-Russian diplomatic relations are strained, the language centre of the British Council in Moscow has been ordered closed by the Kremlin (half of the Brit Council officials in Moscow are spies anyway. This is also true for the US Embassy in the Philippines . Those 'diplomats' with 'weird' job titles are actually CIA field agents), and Russia is loathe to admit that for $10M or less one can buy radionuclides from their cash-strapped research centres. As if to make things interesting, Scaramella was arrested yesterday in Naples by Italian agents on suspicion of arms smuggling. It's truly a tangled web. Going back to alpha particle spectroscopy, the decay of this particular polonium-210 will definitely leave a 'unique' fingerprint. It is actually possible to determine where it came from and how it was made. (I had one nuclear scientist verify that this statement is true.) The Brits know this. They know that the Russians know this. The Russians know this. The Russians know that the Brits know this. Both will not admit anything more and we, the public, will unlikely be told full details of this case. We can only speculate. (Another fodder for conspiracy theorists/writers with fertile imaginations.) The assassins probably didn't expect Litvinenko to have survived poisoning as long as he did and were hoping the short half-life of polonium-210 would prevent its detection. Now for some fun trivia: polonium-210 is naturally occurring and has a high affinity for protein allowing it to be passed up the food chain. We do ingest it naturally from seafood. (Very small doses, nothing to be worried about.) More malevolently, it exists in cigarette smoke and is deposited in the lung tissues. Depending on where the tobacco was grown and how the cigarette was manufactured there will be different average activity concentrations of polonium-210. Philippine cigarettes have average polonium-210 activity concentrations of 10.7 mBq/cigarette while French cigarettes have 23.2mBq/cigarette (Kahter, J. Envi Radioactivity,71, 2004, pp 33-41). A sunog-baga who smokes one pack a day will be inhaling around ~123mBq of polonium-210 (among other things!) One British study shows raised levels of Polonium-210 in the teeth enamel of children living in a 10 km radius of major motorways (Henshaw, Lancet 345, Feb 4, 1995.) It was suggested that the Polonium-210 comes from with the exhaust fumes of unleaded petrol. I'm only saddened that this event has released another wave of radiation-phobia, paranoia, scare-mongering, and the unnecessary and misdirected spending of money for the so-called 'war on terror'. Let us not forget that the 'secondary' characters in this sensational spy case, the Chechens, are still suffering. Cheers, Nash Toledo, [email protected], UK , Dec. 27, 2006 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Hi Tony, Thanks for including my note (see above) in your "Reaction to My Favorite La Sallite" article but there is a little error that I must correct soonest (I just read this article a couple of minutes ago). I was tagged as a "La Sallite". While I would be most proud to be tagged as such, I do not deserve being part of such stratospheric group of people because I did not have the opportunity to study at La Salle . The closest I got to La Salle was when I took the Masters in Business Management Program that was a joint venture (or some such structure) between La Salle and Ateneo (U.P. was supposed to be part of it but, as I understand it, U.P.'s charter would not allow it to be part of a consortium). It was a true merger of the two schools and we had very good samplings of both Ateneo and La Salle graduates, except that we were housed in Ateneo Padre Faura and we received Ateneo diplomas upon graduation. The Ateneo/La Salle MBM Program was discontinued when it was taken over by the Asian Institute of Management. So maybe you can tag me as an Atenean but, heaven forbid, not a La Sallite! (Joke only!!!) Glicerio Sicat, [email protected], Jan. 09, 2007 Wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Reaction to �Population Boom or Broom?� Mr. Abaya, I enjoyed reading your article, �Population Boom or Broom�. Your criticism of Dr. Villegas and the Roman Catholic Church�s stance on �natural or rhythm method� as the only acceptable method of family planning, is a smack right on the topic. No amount of economic growth will uplift the poor in the Philippines if they continue to have large families which they cannot support. I also sent the articles to Dr. Villegas at UA&P. He has not acknowledged my e-mail. He probably chose to ignore it, because he toes the Catholic line and is blind to the sad economic reality that unbridled population brings. Since when have we found, in the developing Third World, a predominantly Catholic country that became economically advanced and its people enjoying a high standard of living? Just look at Central and South America and one will very easily arrive at an answer. The natural family planning method taught by the Catholic Church has failed in Latin American countries, and it has not and it will not work in the Philippines. Wishing you the best in 2007, Misael Balayan, [email protected], Hawaii, Jan. 07, 2007 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Dear Toni, You are perfectly right that the forthcoming Legislted Minimum Wage of Php125.00/day is an ultimate weapon, but not for Gloria. When passed and approved, 1. it will temporarily benefit the working people 2. with the law exempting or reducing the tax for the Minimum wage earners to at least 9% 3. more money will be used by the poor to buy consumer goods 4. with more money in circulation, the worst scenarios feared by Banko Sentral ng Pilipinas will happen- INFLATION, 5. Swooping-in again the excess money supply follows which will have an adverse effect on the economy, 6. with one strike of another MILENYO TYPE typhoon, coupled with eruption of some volcanoes 7. plus the political chaos made by political oppositions, when elections was rigged for the 2nd time this coming election 8. confusion among investors follows, and all previous economic gains of GMA will be wiped out, and the whole FILIPINO COMMUNITY WILL BE EVEN POORER THAN BEFORE, specially the Urban and Rural Poor, and the IP's! The opposition must support the move, for the Legislated Mnimum Wage Increase of P125.00. Who knows it could be the best way to topple GMA! Rodolfo Cada, [email protected], Jan. 19, 2007 OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO |