ANL November-December 2012 Issue

          [Belatedly published for reasons seen at bottom of this issue] 

                                                                                  

E D I T O R I A L

Rundown of 2012’s last two months

Our commitment to “write to serve” compels us to leave no space in covering the whole year and dish out to our valued readers relevant and timely articles for their consumption and perusal. Hence this issue to fill up the two-month period November-December 2012.

The last two-month period of 2012 was rather “catastrophic”. Here at the home front, “political catastrophe” spilled all over the land soon after the October 5 filing of certificates of candidacies of politicians running for positions in the country’s May 2012 mid-term elections. It sickens to see traditional politicians wagging their tongues and tails realigning forces, switching parties ala political butterflies [“balimbing”], expanding and strengthening family-based political dynasties in the tradition of the 3-G’s [gold-guns-goons].

 

In the United States, Barack Obama was put to an acid test November 6, 2012, barely winning his second term against challenger Mitt Romney. Tragically though, Obama’s reelection euphoria failed to buoy up the economic downslide of his country even as the US is still reeling on its knees from hurricane Sandy’s battering late September.

In the middle east, Syria is tottering into the brink of collapse as rebels are gaining grounds in their battle to oust a corrupt and dictator-president. Still in the “traditionally hot” region, US-backed Israeli military artillery units and combat planes bombarded for days mid-November the Palestinian and Hamas populated Gaza strip in an overkill retaliation to sporadic light artillery attacks by dissidents from the other side of the “ethno-religious fence”. This recent flare up of a prolonged and lopsided war of attrition rendered some 32, 750 injured or wounded civilians, 161 dead including 71 women and children. Wide areas were leveled off to the ground of their homes, offices and other important buildings.

In other hot spots--in Pakistan, Iraq, Afghanistan, Yemen and Somalia--US unmanned planes called “drones” continue bombing so-called Al Queda targets incurring more and more civilian victim-fatalities at a time. No thanks to hi-tech and inhumane warfare. Lest we forget, the US abhors both North Korea’s and Iran’s  quests at developing nuclear armaments. But the atomic bomber of Hiroshima and Nagasaki continues to stockpile and tests nuclear arms until now at its Nevada site      as recently as the first week of December 2012.

In and around Southeast Asia, China continue escalating its bullying tactics against its smaller neighbors including the Philippines and five other claimants by audaciously claiming the entire South China Sea and all the islands thereat solely as its own  which  the bully have not  pronounced so at any point in the past. New printed passports issued to its citizens were designed with a map that includes the totality of the contested area indicating ownership of the same. A separate but similar island ownership dispute with Japan is heating up towards yearend with China displaying equally undeterred arrogance.

Back home in the Philippines—aside from the seething cauldron of dirty and costly politicking—yearend 2012 saw a “double whammy” for the country. The country’s pride and legendary boxing icon Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao lost via a rare crashing knockout December 9 to a much older [and supposedly weaker] Mexican Juan Manuel Marquez in what was seen as a monumental upset as the former holds a Guinness record of eight title-belts all at one time. Pacman was 33 and Marquez 39 during the fight.

But even more tragic to end the year was a “repeat performance” for southern Philippines in suffering a killer cyclone named “Sendong”  in December 2011 that harrowed down northern Mindanao; and then a more terror one named storm “Pablo”  struck December 2012 on the eastern board.  Devastatingly record-high, “Pablo”  victimized over 2,000 dead or missing;  over 10,00 injured;  and tens of thousands rendered homeless and hungry. Damages to crops and properties were estimated to reach a whooping five billion US dollars.

Priceless damages can be seen around like floating and rolling logs from illegally cut trees; damaged mountainsides scraped by surface runoff, erosion and landslides; and the resultant siltation of water bodies and croplands downstream; the dislocation, illnesses, and the eventual slide to deeper poverty that come with every calamity that roars by. Quite a downside, too, is the glaring fact that not quite a few learns quite fast in the midst of repeated disasters.  editorial board . anl . nov-dec’12  

[ REJOINDER:  Why this belated ANL November-December 2012 Issue?  1. Third week October when the Editor-In-Chief of ANL got sick while visiting his small farm in Pangasinan.   2.Incidentally,  the Photo/Lay-out Artist got stuck with both field and office tasks during the last quarter of the year as Administrative and Finance Officer of a health service NGO [non-government organization] that she is serving.  3. Indeed, there we felt an apparent difficulty coming out for a monthly issue due to reasons of manpower and personal job pressures. Manpower as when the EIC is out, no one takes over the task.  4. As such, ANL shall be coming out bimonthly [once in every two months] beginning year 2013.  5. Committed to “write-to-serve”, we are dishing out this editorialized rundown for the last two months of 2012 as the year’s last issue].

E  d  i  t  o  r  i  a  l     B  o  a  r  d

MEMBERS:  Rudy D. Antonio [Canada Correspondent];  Engr. Silver Casilla  &  RN Merly Grospe-Mayo [U.S. Correspondents];  Ronilo R. Corpuz [Vienna Correspondent];  Fely Dumaguing-Malgapo [Milan Correspondent];  Engr. Joe  L. Sevilla [Asingan Correspondent];  Col. Lalin Layos-Pascual;  Ross C. Diaz;  Engr. Lorie  dG.  Estrada;  CPA Rod A. Layco;  Wena Agaton-Balino [Photo & Lay-out Artist];  Ruben “Bencio” Balino [ Editor-In-Chief].