Protesting travel advisories won't make Philippine security problems go away -- dumbass!

Before protesting the negative travel advisories against the Philippines, you first have to ask: What is the problem?

If you think that the problem is the negative travel advisories per se or the implied idea that bigger, more prosperous countries are being unfair to the Philippines, then congratulations! You've got all it takes to be President Noynoy Aquino's adviser.

If you think that the problem is that tourists cannot be adequately protected in the Philippines or that criminality runs rampant or that after decades of peace talks, the Philippine government has yet to really make peace with armed communist rebels and Muslim separatists, then all is not lost.

Cheering President Aquino's protest against negative travel advisories will just lead other countries to confront the Philippines with its glaring incapacity to protect even its own citizens.

It's time we got our country in order first before criticizing the policies of other countries whose only objective is to PROTECT its citizens.

Edvee Cruz: Sensible vs. Quirky

Intelligence reports on terrorist threats in the Philippines and a fresh round of negative travel advisories has got the Aquino Administration fumbling for the right answer among an array of what appears to them as right answers.

Edvee Cruz registers this opinion:

When friendly neighbors tell someone, "Hey, I've asked my family not to hang around your house first til we sort out the intelligence info we've gathered of a planned attack on your place." How would a sensible person react to that? Most likely, he would immediately inform of his own family pronto about the report and ask them to be on guard and also, instruct his security people to reconnoiter his home and investigate anything suspicious pertaining to the information given by his neighbors in case the reports prove to be accurate. He would not risk the possibility of harm being inflicted on his own family. And if he were courteous enough, he would thank his neighbors for sharing the information they had gathered. SENSIBLE.

Now, how would one with a quirky and somewhat skewed way of thinking respond to that? He might get pissed and tell his neighbors that they are being unfair in saying that and that they should continue to allow their families to be guests at his house and also inform them that he and his own security people (the laughing stock of the neighborhood due to a recent incident) have not heard of such a scenario and insist that what has been reported by his neighbors security intelligence people is pure balderdash. QUIRKY, PECULIAR, and rather BIZARRE.

And just as the online community seems to have had enough of Assistant Secretary Mai Mislang's whinery (she tweeted "wine sucks" at a banquet honoring President Aquino), it seems the APEC Summit in Japan will play host to what may be a new gaffe.

The Philippine Star reports that President Aquino intends to take up the issue of negative travel advisories against the Philippines at the APEC Summit.

President Aquino will take advantage of his upcoming trip to Yokohama, Japan for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) leaders’ summit on Nov. 12 to 15 to persuade fellow heads of state to go slow on issuing travel warnings on the Philippines. 

 “We will be meeting with a lot of them for the APEC summit next week. I’ll probably course the dialogue with a lot of them as much as possible,” Mr. Aquino told Palace reporters at Malacañang’s Heroes Hall.

As far as I know, there is a lot of protocol that rules APEC and there are no chance meetings between Heads of State where matters of a crucial nature can be discussed productively.

I am not saying that President Noynoy Aquino won't be able to sidle up to the leader of France and say, "Bonjour, pouvez vous s'il vous plaît lever l'avis négatif à l'encontre Voyage aux Philippines. Ce n'est pas gentil."

Barangay leaders should build Zero Waste Communities

The Association of Barangay Councils is listed as one of 14 government sectors that compose the National Solid Waste Management Commission.

Perhaps, instead of just sitting in, it should be mandated with a more important role of implementing a Zero Waste Program in communities all throughout the archipelago.

It could be a self-funding program which provides people in the community incomes while unburdening the municipal or city government with the cost of waste disposal.

A large part of waste generated at the community level is organic waste which can be turned into organic fertlizer, which can either be used by establishing a communal vegetable garden or processed and sold to partner communities in countrysides where farmers can make use of the organic waste.

Recyclables can be recovered by the barangay.  Bulk sales of cleaned plastics, metals, and other recyclables fetch better prices than those merely scavenged by roaming junk collectors.  Perhaps barangays can even forge deals directly with recyclers themselves and cut out the middlemen -- eliminating the scourge of unsightly and potentially dangerous junk shops.