UNESCO/Keizo Obuchi fellowships

Director-General invites young researchers to apply for UNESCO/Keizo
Obuchi fellowships

Editorial Contact:
Ali Zaid, Chief of Section a.i., Fellowships, Tel: +33 (0)1 45 68 15 07,
Fax: +33 (0)1 45 68 55 03
email: l.zas-friz@unesco.org

19-08-2004 3:50 am
UNESCO is calling on young researchers with advanced degrees (M.A., M.Sc.
or equivalent) in developing countries to apply to the UNESCO/Keizo Obuchi
Research Fellowship Programme for fellowships ranging from US$ 6,000 to
US$ 10,000. The amount varies according to duration and place of study.
The Programme is financed by Japan through its funds in trust programme
for capacity-building of human resources.

The Programme is named after the late Japanese Prime Minister Keizo
Obuchi, who was known for his commitment to furthering development. It
grants a total of 20 fellowships a year to researchers in four areas:
environment, intercultural dialogue, information and communication
technologies, and peaceful conflict resolution.

UNESCO Director General Koïchiro Matsuura has written to UNESCO National
Commissions, Permanent Delegations to UNESCO and to the Organization's
regional offices asking them to invite young researchers to apply for the
fellowships through their country's National Commission. The deadline for
applications to arrive at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris has been set for
January 14, 2005. This will be the fifth time that the fellowships are
awarded since the launch of the Programme in 2001.

A maximum of two researchers, no older than 40, will be chosen by each
National Commission. A selection committee made up of experts in the four
study areas will then examine the applications and make preliminary
recommendations to the Director-General.

From: hazelmarie@yahoo.com

OFWs' Kids Want To Work Abroad, Too - Research Study

MANILA, September 25 , 2004 (STAR) By Nikko Dizon - Most children of
overseas Filipino workers intend to be OFWs themselves in the future,
according to a joint research project conducted by the Catholic Bishops'
Conference of the Philippines migrant office, the government and private
sector.

"The children's responses indicate that overseas migration will
continue. This early, the children are already entertaining thoughts of
migrating and working abroad, and their career plans are very much shaped
by what would be marketable abroad," the 2003 Children and Family Study
revealed.

"This has implications not just for the family but for the
country as a whole," it said.

The study was undertaken by the Episcopal Commission for the
Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People/Apostleship of the
Sea-Manila, Overseas Workers Welfare Administration, and the Scalabrini
Migration Center from October to December last year.
The study had a total of 1,443 children of migrant and
non-migrant workers as respondents. Surveys were conducted among children
10-12 years old in public and private schools. Older children
participated in the Focus Group Discussions.

Of the respondents, 47.3 percent said they had entertained
thoughts of working abroad. Of this figure, 60 percent were children of
OFWs.

Young as they are, the children cited "economic need" as the
dominant reason for their desire to work abroad.
Close to half of the respondents who said they want to work
abroad preferred to work in the United States, followed by East Asian
destinations.

A majority of respondents also said they want to work as
doctors, nurses, and engineers abroad.
The study also showed that parental absence caused
"displacements, disruptions, and changes in caregiving arrangements"
involving the children.

However, technology such as the use of cell phones has helped in
maintaining "a feeling of solidarity among the family members across the
miles." The study noted that OFW families invest heavily in maintaining
communication.

Although most children of OFWs experience "emotional
displacement," as one or both parents have to leave them to earn a
living, the study discovered that they are not "disadvantaged vis-a-vis
the children of non-migrants in many dimensions of well-being."

The study said the children of migrant workers are "markedly
better off compared to the children of non-migrants" in terms of
socio-economic variables, an observation shared by children of OFWs
themselves.

For example, more OFW children are enrolled in private schools.
They are also more likely to participate in extra-curricular activities
such as camping, field trips, and school programs.

Children of OFWs who are in their elementary years in school are
also performing well academically, the study said.

From: lquesada@newsflash.org

Face The Fats

MANILA, September 15, 2004 (STAR) AN APPLE A DAY by Tyrone M. Reyes, M.D.
- I still don't know what kind of oil to buy," says Editha Senupe, of
Marikina City. "Some people recommend monos, like olive or canola oil.
Others say polys, like soybean or corn oil, are better. With advice about
fats changing so frequently, I'm confused."
Ms. Senupe isn't the only one to get that glazed look whenever
she's in the oil aisle. Who wouldn't be confused with the steady stream
of mixed messages?
Diet books range from virtually fat-free (Ornish) to high-fat
(Atkins). The media publish conflicting reports on saturated,
monounsaturated, polyunsaturated, trans, omega-3, and other fats. Ads plug
fish oil, DHA, and flaxseed oil supplements to boost immunity, memory and
healthy circulation. Here's what you need to know about fats - and what
you can ignore.

Oil In The Family
Strictly speaking, all fats are a mixture of saturated,
monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fatty acids. However, we usually call
them by the name of the fatty acid they have the most of. The bad fats
are saturated and trans. The better fats are monos and polys. And the best
fats are the omega-3s. The good oils are those with the least saturated
fats and a good mixture of mono, poly and other fats (e.g. safflower,
canola, flaxseed, sunflower, corn and olive oils).
Polys lower cholesterol, while monos only lower cholesterol if
you eat them in place of saturated fats. Linoleic acid and
alpha-linolenic acid are examples of polyunsaturated fats. Alpha-linolenic
acid is an omega-3 polyunsaturated fat that may protect the heart.
Canola, soy and flaxseed oil are good sources. Linoleic acid is
polyunsaturated omega-6 fat. Many researchers recommend a mix of
alpha-linolenic acid and linoleic acid. If you don't want the details,
just stick with canola for cooking. It's among the lowest in saturated
fat and it has a good mix of alpha-linolenic and linoleic acids.

Bad Fats : Saturated And Trans
Saturated fat occurs naturally in nearly all fatty acids, but
mostly in meats, dairy products, and tropical oils like palm kernel and
coconut. Most trans fats are created when manufacturers turn liquid oils
into more solid fats like shortening and margarine.
The evidence against both fats is strong. "It's not a question
of choosing which artery-clogging fat to avoid," says Meir Stampfer of
Harvard School of Public Health. "People should cut down on both
saturated and trans fat."
"Technically, trans is worse than saturated fat, because
saturated fat raises both LDL ("bad") cholesterol and HDL ("good")
cholesterol, while trans only raises LDL," explains Alice Lichtenstein of
the Human Nutrition Research Center at Tuft's University in Boston. "But
if you have to target one fat for modification, there's a greater
potential for change by cutting saturated fat," she adds. That's because
only 2 percent of our calories come from trans fat, while sat fat
contributes 13 percent. Avoiding sat fat is a tough job because it's in so
many popular foods, from pizza and hamburgers to steak, tacos, ice cream,
lasagna and cheese. But Lichtenstein admonishes, "The message needs to be
loud, it needs to be clear, and it needs to be unequivocal: Limit your
intake of both saturated and trans fats."

Better Fats : Monos And Polys
In the early 1970s, corn oil was king. Researchers then found
that highly polyunsaturated fats (like corn, soy and sunflower oil) could
lower cholesterol. In contrast, highly saturated fats (like butter and
beef) raised cholesterol, while highly monounsaturated fats (like canola
and olive oil) were neutral. But by the1990s, the pendulum swung towards
monos. In part, the enthusiasm was fueled by lavish conferences for
researchers and the media sponsored by the olive oil industry. The
science looked promising, too. For example, it was found that unlike
polys, monos don't lower HDL, the so-called good cholesterol.
Subsequently, however, researchers rediscovered that polys have more power
to lower cholesterol than monos.
Does this mean that people should spill out all their olive and
canola oil and rush to the store for soy oil? Not quite. First of all,
some dishes taste better with certain oil. "At home, we use olive oil for
salad dressing because the taste matters," says Stampfer. "We bake with
canola. And we also use sesame, peanut and safflower, depending on the
dish."
Taste aside, if you're like most people, the oil you buy is just
a small fraction of the fat you eat. What's in your bottled salad
dressing and mayonnaise? What's in the spaghetti sauce, muffins, cookies
or other foods in your pantry? And don't forget restaurants. What oil
does your favorite Chinese takeout use? What greases the griddle when you
order chicken or shrimp fajitas? What went into that spicy peanut sauce,
vinaigrette or clam sauce?
The odds are it's soy. A growing body of evidence suggests that
it makes sense to balance all that soy by using mostly canola at home. "I
buy about three bottles of canola for every bottle of soy," says
Lichtenstein. Why? The soy oil adds cholesterol-lowering polys. But
canola is the mainstay because it's very low in saturated fat and has a
good dose of polys (more than olive oil). What's more, canola's omega-3
fats may help protect your heart, though the evidence is stronger for
omega-3 fats that come from fish.

Best Fats : Omega 3
Unlike polyunsaturated vegetable oils, polyunsaturated fish oils
have always had a stellar reputation. And two years ago, the news got even
better. "Three new studies showed that omega-3 fats in fish oil protected
people from sudden death," says Stampfer, who co-authored two of them.
(In sudden cardiac death, which causes half of all heart disease deaths,
the heartbeat goes awry and then stops. Most victims have clogged coronary
arteries.)
Exactly how fish oils work isn't certain. The leading theory:
When the heart is under severe stress, a key fish fat stabilizes heart
cells, which allows the heart to maintain its regular beat. (The fat is
likely to be eicosapentaenoic acid, or EPA. DHA, or docosahexaenoic acid,
is the other key fish fat.) "When there's trouble, EPA is released from
the cell membrane and it suppresses the extra heartbeats," says William
Connor of the Oregon Health and Science University in Portland. At higher
doses, omega-3 fats may also protect the heart by lowering triglyceride
levels and preventing blood clots.
In any case, the take-home message is to eat more seafood. The
American Heart Association now recommends at least two servings per week,
preferably of fatty fish. But if you want to make sure you're getting
enough omega-3 fats, shoot for between 1/2 and 1 gram (500 and 1,000 mg)
a day. If you don't eat seafood, there are other options. Among them:
Alpha linolenic acid and omega-3 that's largely found in flaxseed, canola
and soy oils as well as walnuts and soybeans.
"The best alternative to seafood is to get both DHA and EPA from
fish oil pills or from fish oil that's been added to other foods," says
omega-3 expert Bruce Holub of the University of Guelph in Canada. But be
careful. Fish oil pills can cause side effects. For example, getting more
than three grams (3,000 mg) of EPA and DHA a day from foods and
supplements may raise the risk of hemorrhagic stroke.

The Bottom Line
1) Cut your intake of saturated plus trans fat to less than 10
percent of calories or about 20 grams a day of both combined.
2) At home, use canola oil as your main oil with a variety of
others for taste.
3) Shoot for between 1/2 and 1 gram (500 and 1,000 mg) a day of
omega-3 fats (DHA and EPA) from one of the following:
. Consume seafood two to five times a week.
. If you take fish oil pills, there's no reason to take more
than 2 gram a day of EPA and DHA combined. More than 3 grams may increase
the risk of bleeding or hemorrhagic stroke.
. If you're a vegetarian, you can get DHA (but not EPA) from
supplements made from algae. Or you can get alpha linolenic acid from
walnuts, soybeans, or flaxseed, canola, or soy oils, though the body
doesn't convert much of it into EPA and DHA.
. Lastly, remember this about fats: When it comes to obesity,
all fats are suspect because all are equally high in calories. When it
comes to cancer, no fat appears to be at fault. And as far as heart
disease and stroke are concerned, it's not how much fat that matters. It's
how much of which fat that is crucial!

From: "lee quesada"

FVR's Dimensions Of Reform

MANILA, September 14, 2004 (STAR) HINDSIGHT By Josefina T. Lichauco - On
August 11, former President Fidel V. Ramos was the guest speaker at the
monthly meeting of the Philippines-Finland Association (PFA). He is the
only honorary member of the PFA, and was chair of the P/F trade mission
to Helsinki in 1999. I was privileged to chair the succeeding one because
by then, Finland's Nokia had become a big factor in the accelerated
telecom development thrust of the Philippine government.
We had an unusually big crowd that day. I guess the audience was
eager to find out what he had to say about the country's current state of
affairs, in the aftermath of the national elections. President Arroyo had
not yet declared a state of "fiscal crisis" for the Philippines.
Actually, the chairman of the PFA, Ramon K. Ilusorio, had provided him
with a short list of topics to choose from. We were of course not
surprised that the caption of his speech was "President Arroyo's Tough New
Mandate."
It is still fresh in my memory when FVR ordered a stronger push
toward the de-monopolization and liberalization efforts in the telecom
sector. It was in fact during his incumbency when the fundamental law for
telecom development and de-monopolization was issued in 1995.
There was also the fact that at many international conferences
that we government functionaries had attended, our heads were held up
high, proud that the Philippines had been named the "new tiger cub" of
Asia.
It was FVR who made sure, very strictly in fact, that the
members of his Cabinet performed their functions rigidly. One memory
stands out for me. During the strike of the Metro Transit Organization
workers (which operated the first light rail transit line from Baclaran to
Monumento), he asked me: "Are you sure you can handle this?" I said yes,
instantly. It was my fear of what he would scribble to me in blood red
ink, which impelled me to make sure that the strike would be resolved in a
timely manner - in fact, at 3 a.m., after the rail paralysis that lasted
just a couple of days.
Since I was privileged to do the honors of introducing him, my
reference to FVR's red ink was done certainly more than once.
Before an eager audience (led by the incumbent president of the
PFA, Simo Hoikka; the incoming president, Atty. Ed Tarriela; and quite a
number of Finnish and Filipino businessmen led by Claus Karthe, chairman
of Wireless Services Asia), FVR started by mentioning the 4 Cs that
President Arroyo's leadership should give top priority to: 1) consolidate;
2) continue; 3) compete; and 4) clean up. I think however that beyond the
rhetoric of the 4 Cs, his underscoring of the problems spanned by an
enormous fiscal deficit and the consequent crippling public debt burden,
as well as the need therefore to raise state revenues and stabilize the
macro economy - though oft-repeated by the public and media - caught the
audience's attention.
Today, just a little over a month after his speech was
delivered, President Arroyo's declaration of a state of fiscal crisis and
the call-to-arms for belt-tightening and austerity measures, formalized
the assessment by almost all sectors that indeed the Philippines is going
through an extremely difficult and critical time. FVR said, "Not only are
these problems choking the economy, they are also eroding investor
confidence, our credit-worthiness and our country's global
competitiveness."
He referred to the Asian Development Bank (ADB) who now sees the
Philippine economy as caught in a "vicious cycle, where capital scarcity
implies low incomes, low incomes imply a limited capacity to save, and
limited savings leading to limited investment and capital scarcity."
He stressed that the bottom line is that our economy must begin
to surpass itself, since growing at its normal rate would not be good
enough. This has to happen within a period of at least 10 to 12 years
consecutively, because the alternative would be for our country to be
reduced to a backwater in the world's fastest growing region.
He underscored the fact that the 11th and 12th congresses had
lapsed into history leaving a lot of reform legislative measures undone.
These include, among others, the indexing of excise taxes for alcoholic
drinks and tobacco; the conversion of the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR)
into a National Revenue Authority; also a new law that would rationalize
and simplify the incentives the state awards to investors.
He pointed to the fact, which I think is very important amid our
problems today, that foreign perception of the defects in the EPIRA law
which have allowed cross-ownership among the generation, transmission and
distribution components of electric power, creating an uneven playing
field in favor of entrenched local interests, has militated against the
early privatization of Napocor.
Yet, according to him, we must waste no time in confronting the
issue of Napocor's continuing losses and our high-cost private power
providers. Of course, the Transco bill still has to pass the Senate.
"There are other measures," FVR stressed, "that are urgent to
enhance peace and order, ease mass poverty, mobilize knowledge, and raise
national productivity." He emphasized the urgent need to "right-size" (not
down-size) the bureaucracy.
After opening up the communications sector formally in 1995, he
advocated the further opening up of the air, maritime and land transport
sectors that are sectors within the jurisdiction of the Department
Transportation & Communications.
FVR's rhetoric reached maximum levels of emphasis as he tackled
the reforms pertaining to political patronage; the fact that monopolists,
cartelists, and political entrepreneurs have historically been more
influential in this country than elsewhere in East Asia; the fact that
"cleaning up" must not only involve the environment including garbage,
but especially "the messy things and undesirable practices that have
eroded the people's faith in government."
Corruption, tax evasion, red tape, electoral fraud, complacency
and the lax enforcement of laws, he alluded to as "corrosive
disincentives to investors that our country's strategic location in the
middle of the South China Sea and the Pacific Ocean, and our
high-quality, and very trainable workers are hard-put to offset."
A fundamental postulate that FVR spelled out was the concept of
"Limited Government," a concept especially attractive to the young members
of his audience. Young executives like Marco Yuchengco Santos,
vice-chairman of the International Property Ventures Group (IPVG), and my
son, Martin Lichauco, country manager of Walden International, both in
their thirties, holding responsible business positions who made sure to
attend and listen, are familiar with government bureaucracy and are very
aware of business repercussions should the fiscal crisis not be
controlled.
I myself subscribe to the former president's views on this
concept: "Our foremost economic principle should be to reduce
government's power to decide winners and losers in business, by curtailing
its authority to award or withhold incentives, concessions, franchises and
monopolies." According to him, government's role is to provide the
framework of political stability, the rule of law, the sound macro
economic policy, and the physical and human infrastructure within which
enterprise can flourish, leaving all the rest to individual and corporate
effort.
Attacking corruption as a degenerative disease of government, I
totally subscribe to his view that political corruption may cause
authority to disintegrate and the state to collapse.
It was therefore very appropriate when he ended with a quote
from Dr. Jose Rizal who, about a hundred years ago said, "The time has
come to tell ourselves that if we wish to be saved we must redeem
ourselves."
* * * Thank you for all the e-mails you sent through
jtl@info.com.ph.

From: "lee quesada"

The Chinese Way Of Viewing A Crisis

MANILA, September 2, 2004 (STAR) By Wilson Lee Flores - "When written in
Chinese, the word 'crisis' is composed of two characters - one represents
danger, and the other represents opportunity."- John F. Kennedy
"The optimist sees opportunity in every danger; the pessimist
sees danger in every opportunity."- Winston Churchill
How can our fiscal crisis actually be the prelude to possible
long-term economic good news?
When President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo unsettled the
international business community by confirming that the Philippines is in
"fiscal crisis," the foreign media published a lot of negative news.
However, almost unnoticed was the fact that Chinese-language newspapers –
from Manila's World News and Chinese Commercial News in Binondo to Hong
Kong, Taipei, Singapore, Kaohsiung, Kuala Lumpur, Shanghai, Guangzhou,
Bangkok, Beijing, Xiamen, Nanjing, San Francisco, Vancouver, New York and
other cities - used the Chinese phrase wei-ji for its headline news.
Unique to the Chinese language and cannot be fully translated in other
languages, the phrase wei-ji meaning literally "crisis" is actually made
up of two characters - "wei" meaning "danger" and "ji" meaning
"opportunity." The phrase "we-xien" in Mandarin or "hwi-hyam" in Hokkien
is "danger," while the phrase "ji-hwey" in Mandarin or "ki-hwe" in Hokkien
is "opportunity."
In the Chinese psyche and cultural ethos, the concept of "crisis" has two
intrinsic features - in every crisis there is danger as well as
opportunity!
The Chinese way of viewing crisis as part-opportunity is not
naïve optimism, but almost similar to what that American Jewish
psychologist Martin Seligman described as "learned optimism." Florence
Foods Corporation CEO Henson Tiu Laurel recently told this writer that
learned optimism is totally different from naïve optimism of fools or
liars.
For example, naïve optimists in Nazi prison camps would keep
believing that they will gain freedom by the coming December on the Jewish
Hannukah but would every year be disappointed and die heart-broken, while
people who have learned optimism fully recognized the brutal realities of
life, but had an invincible hope that they will eventually triumph.
Laurel said, "Learned optimism is learning to explain crisis and
problems that come our way in a positive manner, how we explain our set
backs to ourselves can make a big difference between overcoming defeat and
surrendering to it. Seligman had documented the power of optimism in
promoting achievement and improving health. I think the Philippines as a
whole needs this kind of positive thinking, not only for economic progress
but also to boost national morale." Crisis To Trigger Creative Destruction
America's life insurance management guru Bill Goodwin said, "The highest
form of insanity is doing the same things over and over, expecting
different results. The point is, if you want different results - you have
got to make some changes." In this fiscal crisis confronting the
Philippines due to years of irresponsible government spending, excessive
corruption, low national savings, high foreign borrowings and meager
foreign investment inflows, can we and our political leaders seize the
opportunities for decisive national renewal and economic regeneration?
Would this crisis be able to puncture the arrogance of our
bureaucrats and politicians, and compel them to heed the call of President
Gloria M. Arroyo to tighten our belts, pursue draconian austerity
measures? Would GMA have the guts to punish those who do not toe the line,
those who cannot slash unnecessary government expenditures like too many
foreign trips/junkets, fancy government cars/vehicles being used for
private purposes, lavish state offices, officials acting like datus?
Instead of raising taxes that might fan socio-political
instability and weaken struggling businesses, why not proclaim an
across-the-board 20 percent cut-down on government budget problems sourced
from lesser corruption, then publicly cut off a few political heads so
that GMA can set a chilling example that she and the government mean
business?
This writer recommends using lethal injection as punishment for
government officials, military/police officers/generals and high-ranking
politicians who derail Philippine economic recovery with plunder,
corruption, wastage, crimes or other nefarious activities.
This crisis might be the lightning bolt that will force radical
socio-economic reforms in our society. Couldn't this crisis – like
corporate bankruptcies cleansing and ridding the economy of inefficient
firms or the vultures eating away the carcass of diseased dead animals as
a way to cleanse the jungle of a possible widespread plague - begin the
necessary yet painful process of creative destruction to purge Philippine
society?
Can this crisis purge our society of so many bad habits and
anti-entrepreneur cultural values inherited from our Spanish colonizers,
as well as shatter the age-old stranglehold of sloth and corruption?
Taipan John L. Gokongwei Jr. of JG Summit Holdings offered
several short-term suggestions to reverse the tide of pessimism in the
Philippines. He proposed:
"We need reforms in lowering electric power costs, improving the
labor situation, peace and order and other factors affecting inflow of
investments, but I suggest an immediate short-term project to boost our
economy, which is for government to construct a good airport near Boracay.
"If an entrepreneur like me plans a factory, it will take five
years to have an impact on the economy, but an ordinary airport near
Boracay as big as those in Bacolod or Iloilo will take only the government
one year and not too much costs. If this airport is built, our Cebu
Pacific airline can fly many thousands of tourists from Singapore, Hong
Kong, Seoul, Tokyo and other places direct to Boracay - no need to pass by
Manila - and other airlines can also do so. This will bring hundreds of
thousands of tourists to Boracay and boost our foreign exchange earnings.
"We should develop our other infrastructures in tourism in
Pagudpod in Ilocos Norte, the Hundred Islands in Pangasinan, places in
Cebu, Mindanao, Visayas. We need willpower to do all of these things
immediately, not just talk, talk and talk."
Taipan Lucio C. Tan said that apart from depending on overseas
Filipino workers (OFWs), the Philippine economy should pin its high hopes
and encourage the robust expansion of small and medium enterprises (SMEs)
nationwide. He offered his Allied Bank and the Philippine National Bank as
lenders to SME entrepreneurs, urging people to invest more in globally
competitive ventures that will create new jobs and be export-oriented. No
Regrets Of Yesterday, No Fears Of Tomorrow There is a wonderful little
book authored years ago by Spencer Johnson entitled The Precious Present.
He wrote there: "Regret over yesterday and fear of tomorrow are the twin
thieves that rob me of today."
Indeed, the leaders of the Philippines cannot afford to daydream
or keep romanticizing about the American colonial era - when we had
Southeast Asia's most modern economy with its strength enduring up to the
postwar years, when the Americans built perhaps Asia's best public schools
here, the nicest roads, when our sugar, copra, gold and other exports had
almost unlimited access to the US market. We also cannot afford to waste
all our time blaming all our ills on 333 years of backward Spanish
colonial policies, cultural subjugation and their economic exploitation.
The Christian survivor of Nazi death camps, Corrie Ten Boom,
wrote: "Worry does not empty tomorrow of its sorrow, it empties today of
its strength." The Philippines should not fear tomorrow - the irreversible
crashing down of trade barriers, the startling onslaught of globalization,
the instability in world oil prices, or the rise of other Asian economic
powers.
We have no time to waste on regrets, on fears, on worries. We
should immerse ourselves on non-stop and unrelenting hard work, unwavering
pursuit of national discipline and indomitable hope. We should reexamine
the woeful and decaying state of the national economy, purge it of
inefficiencies and exorcise all anti-business ghouls. Use heavy doses of
bitter medicine immediately on the Philippine economy, not false
palliatives like aspirins which will only bring about good politics but
lousy economics. We should put a stop to all cosmetic measures for
political pogi points. We should not flinch with undertaking major
surgery, cutting away the diseases and gangrenes like corruption, sloth,
bureaucratic red tape and political ennui, no matter how much blood
letting or pain are necessary!

The Philippines should not succumb to pessimism and implode like
Argentina did in 2001, but must fearlessly confront this monster fiscal
crisis head-on, resolutely grab the bull by the horns, and extract all
possible opportunities out of this crisis situation. There are still so
much positive good news in this archipelago - rich natural resources, vast
arable lands, great tourism potentials, large pool of young talent, the
best tropical climate, eight million overseas Filipino workers sending
foreign exchange back home and many other exciting possibilities waiting
to be tapped.
The Chinese phrase "wei-ji" for "crisis" is indeed wise in
reminding us about both danger and opportunity. A crisis can destroy us,
or it can actually strengthen and cleanse the Philippines - depending on
our response, our outlook and attitude. How many great persons in history
became strong-willed, tough-minded, resolute, disciplined and immovable in
their invincible dreams after going through the crucible of crisis? The
same fire that melts butter is also the same fire that hardens steel and
purifies gold.
We must demand that all our political leaders boldly push the
most far-reaching social, economic, cultural and even political reforms
and -if necessary, vigorously shake up and turn the whole Philippine
society upside down - today!

From: leeq@sympatico.ca

recognize a stroke

          I had a patient recently that came in with his wife because he was suddenly seeing double. He could not touch my finger accurately with his finger while either eye was covered (so he didn't see double). I referred him immediately to his primary care physician and to the emergency room for an MRI.
          He was in the process of "stroking". Fortunately he received the help he needed and avoided paralysis and/or death. It is important that when one suddenly notices change of speech, double vision, or loss of motor control; that impending stroke needs to be ruled out quickly. Sincerely Dr. Mike Wesson.
          Recognizing a stroke: This might be a lifesaver if we can remember the three questions!  It was sent to me by a nurse, whose husband is a medical doctor. I had never heard this advice before and hadn't a clue. Perhaps you hadn't either and would like to file it away in the back of your head. Sometimes symptoms of a stroke are difficult to identify. Unfortunately, the lack of awareness spells disaster. The stroke victim may suffer brain damage when people nearby fail to recognize the symptoms of a stroke.
          Now doctors say any bystander can recognize a stroke asking three simple questions:
          1  * ask the individual to smile.
          2  * ask him or her to raise both arms.
          3  * ask the person to speak a simple sentence.
          If he or she has trouble with any of these tasks, call 9-1-1 immediately and describe the symptoms to the dispatcher. After discovering that a group of nonmedical volunteers could identify facial weakness, arm weakness and speech problems, researchers urged the general public to learn the three questions. They presented their conclusions at the American Stroke Association's annual meeting last February. Wide spread use of this test could result in prompt diagnosis and treatment of the stroke and prevent brain damage."
          Remember the person you save may be your parent, your child, your spouse, or your friend.  Lets hope it never happens around you but if it does, will you remember the questions?

 

From:   larrainecriss@email.com