Anxiety, Phobia and Depression take away the joy of living

Anxiety, Phobia and Depression

take away the joy of living

“Do not anticipate trouble or worry about what may never happen. Keep in the sunlight.” Benjamin Franklin

Dr Abe V Rotor

1. What are the common signs of Anxiety (in increasing intensity).

1. Uneasiness, lightheadedness, clumsiness
2. Shaky nerves, sweaty and cold palms and feet
3. Palpitation, racing heartbeat
4. Profuse perspiration, shortness of breath or choking
5. Dizziness, blurred vision, chest pain
6. Nausea, panic, fear of losing control or dying

2. Who are victims of anxiety?

All of us are invariably victims of anxiety. What do we worry or anxious about? Our aging parents, retirement benefits, sex life, health – name it, real or imaginary – and you have it, irrespective of sex, age, domicile, profession, work, race, creed, etc. While we worry for certain things and situations, other people simply don’t - they simply don’t care. All animals for that matter, especially the small, scurrying kind, appear to feel anxiety – an instinctive response necessary for survival. Rats and chicken freeze in place momentarily when subjected to sudden fear stimulus. The opossum feigns dead which is actually an involuntary fear response.

3. Is anxiety necessary then as a survival mechanism?

Yes, anxiety helped in human evolution. Records of anxiety show how humans shared the planet with saber-toothed tigers. Without it few of us would have survive, if at all. But now we live in a particular anxious age brought about by modern civilization, so that anxiety has developed into a more complex kind. For example, we are worried for 1001 reasons as individuals, but we are also affected collectively. Take the case of the effects of the two world wars on mankind. Then came the Cold War which lasted for nearly half a century, creating an uneasy kind of world order imposed by fear of Armageddon, should the US and USSR and their allies engage in final confrontation. Such mass anxiety was revived by terrorism with its baptism in the 9/11 attack on the Twin Towers of New York.

4. When do we say anxiety is good and when it is not?

There is something mysterious about anxiety, its dualism. It is a normal response to physical danger so that it can be a useful tool for focusing the mind where there’s a deadline looming. But anxiety can become a problem when it persists to long beyond the immediate threat, which leads to anxiety disorder. It affects 19 million Americans, 25% not having any medical treatment. It is steadily rising in all countries where Western influence is getting stronger.

5.What are the two major forms of anxiety?

According to Sigmund Freud, One is more biological in nature and the other is more dependent on psychological factors.

6. What are the stages in the development of anxiety – and depression?

1. Stress – any external stimulus from threatening words to a gunshot, that the brain interprets as dangerous.
2. Fear – The short-term physiological response produced by both the brain and the body in response to stress.
3. Anxiety – A sense of apprehension that shares many of the same symptoms as fear but builds more slowly and lingers longer.
4. Depression – Prolonged sadness that results in a blunting of emotions and sense of futility; often more serious when accompanied by an anxiety disorder.

 7. Of the 12 anxiety conditions listed in the psychological diagnostic, what are the most common?

1. Panic disorder – This is recurrent, unexpected attacks of acute anxiety, peaking within 10 minutes. One finds himself in a situation such as in a crowded elevator. If extreme anxiety symptoms appear, the person may be suffering of anxiety disorder that needs medical consultation, even if this is occasionally experienced.
2. Specific Phobia – This is characterized by consuming fear of a specific object or situation, often accompanied by mild to extreme anxiety symptoms. It may just be plain hate, or fear, say heights. Behavioral therapy – gradual introduction of the cause, until enough courage is built; and cognitive therapy – re-orientation of perception or behavior, may be needed independently or jointly.
3. Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder - a preoccupation with specific thoughts, images or impulses, accompanied by elaborate and sometimes bizarre rituals. Even if they are irrational thoughts, repetitive ritual (e.g. hand washing, prayer), time consuming – researchers are certain whether of not OCD is genuine anxiety. Whatever it is, it does respond to treatment.

"Sometimes the strongest people are the ones who fight battles you know nothing about." - John Green.

4. Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder – repeated, anxious reliving of a horrifying event over an extended period of time. It is not anxiety if the experience fades away steadily, but if it may persist, and sometimes PTSD will not appear until six months after the event. This is caused by recurrent recollection or dream of the event, feeling the even to be still occurring, experience reminding you of the event, and difficulty in avoiding thought associated with it.
5. Generalized Anxiety Disorder – Excessive anxiety or worry for days or months, but does not affect quality of life. Characterized by restlessness, difficulty concentrating or sleeping, irritability, fatigue, muscle tension. Have three or more of these symptoms confirm a person is suffering of GAD.

8. Is anxiety inherited?

Yes, some people seem to be born worriers. Some anxiety disorders are known to run in the family. If the genes involved are reinforced by environment, the expression become more distinct. (Nature-nurture) But there is a good note to this: heritability is only between 30 to 40 percent, according to researchers at Virginia Commonwealth University. Identical twins more likely show stronger tendency to suffer from generalized anxiety disorder. However, even one with low genetic vulnerability could develop a fear of something that may even be greater than one with high genetic vulnerability.

9. Is it true that children suffering of anxiety are most likely candidates of depression?

Yes. But it is also true that many kids outgrow their anxiety disorder to become well-adjusted adults. Anxiety and depression have similar underlying biology. Anxiety may surface early in life and depression later. But researchers are divided in this observation.

 

10. Anatomy of Anxiety - how do we explain it to the ordinary citizen?

First, let’s start with the senses picking up a threat – a scary sight, aloud noise, a creepy feeling – the information takes two different routes through the brain.

A. The shortcut – the brains automatically engages an emergency hot line to the fear center – the amygdale, which sends an all out bulletin that alerts the brain structures resulting to classic fear response as cited in symptoms, notably increased blood pressure and burst of adrenaline. All these happen before the brain is conscious of the event – before you know you are afraid. Now the second paths takes place.

B. The high road - After the fear response is activated does the conscious mind acts; the information takes a cu\circuitous route, stops first at the thalamus (processing center) to the cortex (outer brain layer which serves as data analyzer) to the senses, deciding whether there’s need of fear response. If yes, cortex signals amygdala and the body stays alert. (Amygdala is a small part of your brain, but it has a big job. It's a major processing center for emotions. It also links your emotions to many other brain abilities, especially memories, learning and your senses. When it doesn't work as it should, it can cause or contribute to disruptive feelings and symptoms.)

 11. How does the body respond to anxiety stimuli?

The amygdala triggers a series of changes in brain chemicals and hormones and puts the body in anxiety mode, characterized by the following:

• Stress-hormone boost – the hypothalamus and pituitary glands pump out cortisol, the stress hormone (Too much cortisol short circuits the cells in the hippocampus making it difficult to organize the memory of a trauma or stressful experience.

• Racing heartbeat – The sympathetic nervous system responsible for heartbeat and breathing shifts into overdrive.

• FFF (Fight, Flight, Fright) - Adrenaline shoots into the muscles preparing the body to do the appropriate action.

• Digestion Shutdown – Brains stops thinking about things that bring pleasure, conserve energy otherwise wasted on digestion, hence vomiting, defecation, urination may occur.

Anhedonia is the inability to experience joy or pleasure. You may feel numb or less interested in things that you once enjoyed. It’s a common symptom of many mental health conditions like depression. Treatment is available to help you regain interest in life’s activities, like being around loved ones or listening to music.

12. What are the ways to relieve anxiety?

• Behavioral therapy – Best for phobias, obsessive-compulsive disorder. Panic disorder is to expose patients to a tiny bit of the very thing that causes them anxiety.

• Cognitive therapy – rethinking, behavior modification through proper advice.

• Antidepressants – Prozac, Paxil, Zoloft are best known among the antidepressant drugs.

The newest group is norepinephrine which control emotion and stabilize mood.

• Minor tranquilizers – examples are Xanax, Valium, Klonopin serve temporary relief and therapy under doctor’s supervision.

• Exercise – talk therapy, simple exercise (at least 30 minutes), brisk walk Exercise releases natural opiates called endorphins,

• Lifestyle Changes – cut back or eliminate the use of sugar, caffeine, alcohol, and recreational drugs

• Alternative treatments – yoga, meditation, guided imagery, aromatherapy, massage

Audience Participation
• Cite an anxiety episode you actually experience.
• How did not overcome your anxiety.

References: The Science of Anxiety Time July 8, 2002
Lost Lives Time November 10, 2003
What Scares you? Phobias Time April 2, 2001
Acknowledgement with gratitude: References, internet  images, UST, DLSU-D faculty

Gross National Happiness (GNH) Index - Measure of People's Happiness and Joy in Life

Gross National Happiness (GNH) Index

- Measure of People's Happiness and Joy in Life

Dr Abe V Rotor

Gross National Happiness (GNH) Index has recently gained a place in measuring the level of development of a country by inputting an elusive parameter which is happiness.  GNH Index can be downsized for local application, individually or by group or community that is closely knit.

  Relationship is the Number One source of happiness

However, the standard development index remains: Gross National Product (GNP) Index, the annual total value of goods and services generated by a country within and outside its shores, as differentiated from Gross Domestic Product (GDP) which is the total value generated within the country only.

This was modified to include Human Development (HD) Index, in order to determine how a country's wealth and earnings are used for the  welfare of its citizens in terms of health, education, housing, and the like.

Parameters of Happiness of GNH Index:

1. Psychological Well-Being

2. Health

3. Time Use

4. Education

5. Cultural Diversity

6. Good Governance

7. Community Vitality

8. Ecological Diversity and Resilience

9. Living Standards

10. Family

11. Spirituality

12. Sense of Achievement

 Preserving native language and culture

Upon reading Time's feature story on The Pursuit of Happiness (October 22, 2012 issue), what came to my mind was to rank the nine parameters, and add three to the list, namely, Family, Spirituality and Sense of Accomplishment or Achievement.  

Individual perception of course, varies, so that it is suggested that a kind of self-evaluation be conducted using the Likert Scale: 1 Very Poor, 2 Poor, 3 Fair, 4 Good, and 5 Very Good. 

Compute the average by adding the values of all the parameter, and divide it sum with 12.  This is the general perception of happiness of the person concerned. What is equally - if not more important - is in being able to find out the main source of happiness, at the same time, the least. This exercise therefore, is aimed at re-affirming our sense of values in the pursuit of happiness. So does a community or country.

Author's family outing to scenic Patapat in  Pagudpud, Ilocos Norte  

We say we are happy, or a little happy. Or unhappy. Or sad. But how can we quantify happiness like in a grading system?

Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid (People's School-on-Air) found a good reference. It came from the works of the founding father of happiness research, Dr Happiness himself - Dr Edward Diener of the University of Illinois.* He calls this technique The Satisfaction with Life Scale.

In the radio program Ka Melly and I used this technique to impart a lesson about Happiness. We find that Dr Diener's test can be used in the classroom, in meetings and conferences, or just for the sake of bonding with friends and associates.  Reference: The New Science of Happiness, Claudia Wallis, Time February 28, 2005

Get a piece of paper and rate yourself in each of the following items. Use a scale of 1 to 7, where 1 is not true at all, 4 is moderately true and 7 absolutely true. The scale allows you to approximate closer to your self-judgment.

Here are the criteria:

1. In most ways my life is close to my ideal.

2. The conditions of my life are excellent.

3. I am satisfied with my life.

4. So far I have gotten the important things I want in life.

5. If I could live my life over, I would change almost nothing.

Compute for the total score by adding all values from the five questions.

·         Here is the interpretation of your score.

·         If you got 31 to 35, you are extremely satisfied with your life. Kudos!

·         If you got 26 to 30, you are very satisfied with your life. My co-host Melly Tenorio got 28; I got 27. Three program participants got Very Satisfied scores, too.

·         If you scored 21 to 25, you are slightly satisfied. Two participants got scores on this level.

Those who scored 15 to 19 (slightly dissatisfied) will have to perk up and unload some reasons. Get to the neutral point which is 20, and thence move up the happiness ladder.

It's not hopeless if you got low. The idea of this exercise is to create awareness that there are avenues of happiness, and that there are basic levels of happiness that one can cling to, and say, "Oh well, that's life." And still manage to laugh. And the world laughs with you.

Here is Ella Wheeler Wilcox's masterpiece which projected her to world fame as author and poetess.

 The Way of the World

Laugh, and the world laughs with you,
     Weep, and you weep alone;
For the brave old earth must borrow its mirth,
     But has trouble enough of its own.

Sing and the hills will answer,
     Sigh, it is lost on the air;
The echoes rebound to a joyful sound
     And shrink from voicing care.

Rejoice, and men will seek you,
     Grieve, and they turn to go;
They want full measure of your pleasure,
     But they do not want your woe.

Be glad, and your friends are many,
     Be sad, and you lose them all;
There is none to decline your nectared wine,
     But alone you must drink life’s gall.

Feast, and your halls are crowded,
     Fast, and the world goes by.
Forget and forgive – it helps you to live,
     But no man can help you to die;

There’s room in the halls of pleasure
     For a long and lordly train,
But one by one, we must all march on
     Through the narrow isle of pain.

Psalm of Life

Psalm of Life is the perhaps the most important poem written by America's darling poet, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.

The poem is among the world's most quoted and recited pieces of literature; in fact, it is a prayer by and in itself. It speaks of universal values, feelings and compassion, of valor and sacrifice, and of victory over ones own battle.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882)

Longfellow himself, a victim of a family tragedy, rose to further fame and dignity. After the death of his wife in an accidental fire he went on raising his young children, and teaching in the university, experimenting with new forms and styles of poetry, producing Hiawatha and Evangeline that revolutionized poetry.

I found a very old publication, Longfellow's Evangeline (copyright 1883)with the author's biographical sketch. In describing Longfellow's trial in life, allow me to quote, "More than a score of years remained with the poet, and he had the love of his children and the comfort of his work, but the grief was so deep and lasting that he could not trust himself to speak the beloved name of his wife."

From sorrow rises a great triumph, and this is the testimony to greatness - to share not how the world should end, but how it must begin again. Not how one closes himself in, but opens himself to others. Not to "Go Gentle into the Night", but stand sentry to the "Light of Dawn".

Psalm of Life is dedicated to victims of Typhoon Odette, other calamities - force majeure and man-induced, circumstances beyond control, and all those who find life difficult to bear. May they find comfort, hope, and new meaning of life in Psalm of Life. ~

Psalm of Life

Tell me not, in mournful numbers,

     Life is but an empty dream!

For the soul is dead that slumbers,

     And things are not what they seem.

Life is real! Life is earnest!

     And the grave is not its goal;

Dust thou art, to dust returnest,

     Was not spoken of the soul.

Not enjoyment, and not sorrow,

     Is our destined end or way;

But to act, that each tomorrow

     Find us further than today.

Art is long, and time is fleeting,

     And our hearts, though stout and brave,

Still, like muffled drums, are beating

     Funeral marches to the grave.

In the world's broad field of battle,

     In the bivouac of life,

Be not like dumb, driven cattle,

     Be a hero in the strife!

Trust no future, how'ver pleasant!

     Let the dead past bury its dead!

Act - act in the living present!

     Heart within, and Good o'erhead.

Lives of great men all remind us

     We can make our lives sublime,

And, departing, leave behind us

     Footprints on the sands of time.

Footprints, that perhaps another,

     Sailing o'er life solemn main,

A forlorn and shipwrecked brother,

     Seeing, shall take heart again.

Let us then, be up and doing,

     With a heart for any fate;

Still achieving, still pursuing,

     Learn to labor and to wait. ~

                 “Yes, I have a successful married life.”

Dr Abe V Rotor

 - On getting married and your friends are around, and you tell to the whole world, “Here is the person I will always love.”

- On having your first child and see the image of both of you and your spouse? (“Look he got my eyes, and chin of his dad.”)

- On having a third child and the economy has not recovered? (“I haven’t any increase in pay since last year.”)

Author and wife visit a museum

- On driving the kids to school, then attend to chores you say, “It’s like a storm had left all the things out of their places.”

- On having your in-laws around and other relatives coming for weekends, then you realize you have an extended family.

- On having a home of your own, and say, “What I paid for rent, I now pay for amortization.” And it is investment.

- On having family disagreements now and then and you say, “Well, if everything is yes, you are sure only one is thinking.”

- On leaving your present job (or his) and start anew, even when you start again at square one, and say, “Tighten your belts.” Even so, you think you are happier now, so with my family.

- On winning an award, and say, “I owe this thing to all of you, especially to my family.”

- On going to other places and call up, “I’ll be home on Christmas.” It is only spring though.

- On experiencing a tragedy in the family, and find a strong shoulder to cry on, “He was meant to be with us only for sometime. He is our angel now.”

- On discovering a life threatening illness and you realize how each day passes with greater meaning and resolve. (“Each day is a bonus - my life is not mine anymore.”)

- On surviving and your hair is now gray, and the children have learned to adapt to life, the way you wish them to be.

- On receiving an award your children earned, and this time a sweet voice says, “This is you.” A drop of tear rolls on your wrinkled face. Words are not enough.

- On being alone; the children had left home and your spouse (bless his soul) had left something for you to live the rest of your life.

- On having grandchildren. “You naughty one you got my nose, and your chin is your grandfather’s.”

Success in married life - yes, it is the greatest success a man or woman can achieve. It is success that makes the world go round. It is the very foundation of a family and therefore of human society.

- It is a kind of success no one is denied to aspire for, irrespective of race, creed, education, or culture. Yet it is one many people failed to achieve in spite of their wealth and power.

- Success in family life is primordial. Between career and family, many people have chosen the latter, and say with a sigh, “Well, you cannot have the best of two worlds.” And they chose family.

- Success is not always equated with money or power. But it is always associated with happiness. A philosopher once said, “Happiness is the only commodity, which if you divide it, will multiply.” Try this formula, and it will tell us, “A happy family is successful.”

- Family life to be successful does not depend on one formula though. It thrives on new frontiers. There are always new things to discover. It is the discovery itself that is important, that makes it original and unique. And it must be always mutual. Joy to one is joy to the other.

- Success cannot be kept in a treasure box and locked. They say, “You cannot rest on your laurels.” Trophies are symbols; they are not an end. In Greek mythology Jason, after his adventure with Hercules in search of the Golden Fleece, spent the rest of his life beside his ship, the Argon, which fell into pieces with age killing the great warrior.

- Success in married life is neither abstract, nor merely spiritual. It is real. It is to be shared. It must be contagious. Let it be expressed with the children. It must be felt and celebrated in one way or the other minus the pomposity of the Romans. It must be exemplified. It must strive to be a model.  It should be able to pass as a paradigm of not only what life really is – but what it should be. “Life,” according to Reader’s Digest, “is the most difficult art, yet it is the finest.”

- Asked what the great British Prime Minister and hero, Winston Churchill wanted if he were born again. He said with twinkle in his eyes looking at Mrs. Churchill. “I’d like to be Mrs. Churchill’s next husband.” Success in married life has an imprimatur. It leaves a mark. That mark even glows on the dead man’s face, and on the shine of his epitaph, and flowers that grace it.

- Trials are not enough to weather success. Yes, to a courageous person, who when asked, “Were you not afraid?” He simply said, “I was afraid, but I did the brave thing.” He picked up the pieces together and his family is once more solid and whole.

When I was invited to talk on this topic before faculty members and students, I said to myself. “Gush, I should know I am successful in my married life.” For whatever I have done so far – through thick and thin - I know my family has always been with me – on the stage, on camping trips, painting exhibits, on visitation of the tombs of our departed, in the church, on my sickbed, lectures, at the mall, workshop, at the farm, on rosary hour. Seldom do I encounter the four “Ws” and one “H” – the very things that make our life complex and uncertain – without my family helping me answer these questions. Life is truly worth living for.

As we switch on the vigil light and retire in the night, we are one happy family looking forward for the next day. For indeed, success must be lived with day after day, season after season, year after year.

At the end, we come to submit our credentials to the One who made us all, who gave us that star that guides our life, who welcomes us at His throne when we shall then have reached it. ~

“The greatest gift that we can give to our children and children’s children is Happiness. Happiness is one commodity, which when you divide it, will multiply.” AVR   

Usapang Bayan: World Rural Development Day July 6, 2025* Green Revolution at the Grassroots (Green Revolution OF, FOR and BY the People)

Usapang Bayan: 2-3 pm, Friday July 4, 2025

In celebration of World Rural Development Day July 6, 2025*

Green Revolution at the Grassroots

Green Revolution OF, FOR and BY the People

          Ms Melly C Tenorio, host, and Dr Abe V Rotor, Guest

Dr Abe V Rotor

[avrotor.blogspot.com]

Part 1 - Sustainable Productivity: Key to Profitable Agriculture and Balanced

             Environment
Part 2 - Build a Homesite (Bahay Kubo Concept)

Part 3 - Village Biotechnology: Let's regain biotechnology industries on the village level
ANNEX 1 - Dr Juan M Flavier: "Doctor to the Barrio" Leaves a Legacy
ANNEX 2 - Features of Development Communication

* On 6 September, 2024, the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) unanimously adopted a resolution proclaiming July 6 every year as the “World Rural Development Day”. Rural Development is a process, which aims at improving the well being and self realization of people living outside the urbanized areas through collective process. Internet 

Part 1 - Sustainable Productivity: 

Key to Profitable Agriculture and Balanced Environment

I learned these practical farming techniques from old folks at home, and from successful farmers, here and abroad, which inspired me to look into their scientific explanation in college.

Death of large scale agriculture in agrarian societies 

1. East-to-west orientation Arrange the rows of plants on an east-to-west orientation. This allows better and longer sunlight exposure which enhances photosynthesis. There is less overshadowing among plants compared to north-to-south, or any direction, especially when inter-cropping is practiced. You can increase crop yield to as high as 10 percent by this technique lone.

Have a compass at hand, and remember that an-east-to-west orientation of rows does not only increase yield of your regular crop, but allows you to practice layered or storey cropping as well - thus, enabling you to increase the effective area of your farm. Incidence to pest and diseases is greatly reduced by this practice. Crop quality is likewise improved such as sweetness and size.

There's one drawback though. When it comes to sloping terrain, it is advisable to observe the rules of contour farming that minimizes soil erosion and conserves soil moisture. Consult your nearest agriculturist. Learn from local farm models.

2. Inter-cropping and alternate cropping. In peanut-and-corn alternate planting, peanut is a nitrogen fixer and provides nitrate fertilizer to its companion crop - corn. Corn on the other hand, is a heavy nitrogen feeder. When planted alone and repeatedly, the tendency is that the soil becomes depleted of nitrogen. Peanut benefits from irrigation given to the corn, and gains protection from excessive wind and dryness from its taller companion. And to the farmer, having two crops is like doubling the effective area of his farm, not to mention the maximum use of space in double cropping, which also benefit the animals with corn fodder and peanut "hay."

Massive erosion leads to irreversible low productivity  

Here are some common combination of crops.

• tomato and pechay
• sugarcane with mungbeans
• coconut and coffee or cacao
• coconut and lansones
• stringbeans (pole sitao) and rice
• papaya and pineapple
• peanut, corn and sweet potato
• pigeon pea (kadios) and rice
• grape on hedge and cabbage or cauliflower

3. Non-cash technology principle. Don't spend, save on farm input and labor cost through practical means. Here are proven practices.

• Follow recommended use of the land, the crops to plant, cropping system to follow. Consult local agriculturists, successful farmers.
• Go with the seasons and be part of community farming - when to prepare the seedbed, plant, irrigate, harvest. Off-season planting is expensive and risky, and is done only for special reasons.   

Wastes clog rivers and irrigation canals, destroy soil fertility and deposit toxic chemicals.

• Fallowing. Give your farm a break. Nature takes a rest usually in summer. You can hear the land breath, the cracks harbor aestivating frogs, fish, crustaceans, snails and other organisms. Break the life cycle of pest and disease organisms. Give yourself too, a break.
• Plow after the first heavy rain to turn over the weeds, converting them into organic fertilizer, and keeping their population down.
• Plant native varieties, they are sturdier and simpler to take care. Less fertilizer, less pesticide, if needed. There is a growing market for native crops and animals. People are avoiding pesticide and antibiotic residues, more so, genetically modified crops such as Bt Corn.
• Avoid hybrids as much as possible. They are heavy soil nutrient feeders. They are genetically unstable, you cannot make your own binhi (planting material) out of your harvest.

4. Practical Postharvest technology. Avoid crop loss in all stages - from planting to harvesting to manufacturing. At all cost avoid wastage. It defeats your goal and objective. And remember there are millions of people around the world whio have little to eat.

• Harvest on time and promptly
• Know the shelf life of your harvest. For perishables, sell or process immediately.
• Use proper tools and equipment
• Have your harvest properly dried, packaged and stored, specially if you plan to keep it for some time. Keep it away from the elements and pests.
• Consider quality, not only quantity.

5. Processing increases value added. Why don't you do the processing yourself, rather than sell your harvest directly. Milled rice rather than palay. You can go for second processing - or manufacturing - rice flour. puto (rice bread), suman, bibingka (rice cake), rice wine (tapoy). , Promote local industry, generate employment for the family and locality.

6. Use by-products efficiently. Farm wastes are converted into many useful products.

• Rice hull and sugarcane bagasse for fuel.
• Corn stover, rice hay for livestock feeds.
• Rice and corn bran for poultry and piggery feeds.
• Crop residues, and weeds for composting.
• Banana leaves, rice hay for mushroom growing
• Tobacco stalk for pest control (spray or dust)
• Coconut shell for charcoal (activated carbon)
• Rice hay for mulching (bed cover of garlic, onions, other crops)
• Manure as organic fertilizer and composting

7. Multi-commodity or diversified farming. Grow two, three or more crops, with animals and fish, and other commodities.

• Palay-isdaan (rice and tilapia, hito, dalag, gurami)
• Sorjan farming - alternate upland and lowland culture. Field is divided into strip, alternately elevated and depressed.
• Piggery and biogas digester for biofuel. Biofuel to run your own generator.
• Poultry on range, feedlot for cattle, fishpond, field and vegetable crops.
• Agro-tourism. Combine farming with ecology. Make farming attractive to tourists, specially children. Let them experience planting, harvesting, catching fish or butterflies. Have you farm suitable for camping.

Farming is as old as civilization, and for thousands of years has been the mainstay of economy and well-being of man and his society. Farming is the root of festivities and rituals. It keeps the family working, playing and living as a unit. It in turn, sustains communities Farming is food security, it gives the sense of independence and self-sufficiency.

Practical farming is the answer to many problems we encounter today such as

• High cost of production
• Pollution from farm chemicals
• Loss of farm productivity
• Decreasing profitability
• Harmful residues in crops and animals
• Loss of soil fertility, soil loss due to erosion 

Community Gardening, San Juan,

 Metro Manila

• Idle farms, abandonment of farms
• Desertification - farm land to wasteland
• Unemployment and underemployment
• High dependence on mechanization and expensive input
• Technology transfer gap

These and other practices flourish in many farms all over the world. Let's preserve them, they are the fallback to today's modern agriculture.

-------------------------

This article is dedicated to the memory of my professors, Dr Eduardo Quisumbing, Dr Deogracias Villadolid, Dr Rufino Gapuz, Dr Juan Aquino, Prof Francisco Claridad, Prof Leopoldo Karganilla, Prof Emiliano Roldan, Dr Nemesio Mendiola, Dr Juan Torres, Dr Fernando de Peralta, et al, advocates of natural farming and acclaimed leaders of the so-called Old School of Agriculture. 

Part 2 - Build a Homesite (Bahay Kubo Concept)

This article was adjudged one of related projects that won the Ist Oscar Florendo Awards for Developmental Communication.  Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid (School on Air) 

Home gardening is fun, exercise, and source of food and medicine - and a source of income. Study these models and find out which ones are applicable in your area. Share your experience with the members of the family, school and your community.

This is a floor plan of a homesite you can build, adjustable in area, design and components.  Shift your efforts and finances into an investment, short to long term.  Be healthy and happy with your family.  Learn to live within your means, with less and less food to buy, simple technology, recycling, and many other advantages. Redesign this model to your own situation and need.

These gardening models have been developed from studies and observations of successful projects locally and abroad. They serve as guide to participants and listeners of Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid (School-on-Air) to help them in their projects, particularly in times of food scarcity, such as the present situation caused by the El Niño phenomenon.

But even during normal times, these models are useful to gardening enthusiasts, especially children and senior citizens who find this hobby highly rewarding to health and leisure, and as a source of livelihood, notwithstanding. Those who are participating in projects in food production and environmental beautification, such as the Clean and Green Movement, and Green Revolution projects, will find these models similarly valuable.

One however, can modify them according to the peculiarity of his place, and in fact, he can combine those models that are compatible so as to develop and integrate them into a larger and more diversified plan.

One who is familiar with the popular Filipino composition Bahay Kubo, can readily identify the plants mentioned therein with those that are cited in these models. And in his mind would appear an imagery of the scenario in which he can fit these models accordingly.

Here is a plan of a Homesite - an ideal integrated garden around a home in a rural setting. Compare this with Bahay Kubo. Update it. Innovate it according to your concept, situation and needs. Allow innovations as long as these do not lose the essence of the plan. You can even expand the area, adding more features to it.

In effect, this Homesite model becomes a model farm, a Homestead - one that has economic and ecological attributes that characterize the concept of sustainable productivity cum aesthetics and educational values.

Part 3 - Village Biotechnology 

Let's regain biotechnology industries to the village

"Many village industries bowed out to companies that now control the production of commercial and imported brands, such as patis, suka, puto, nata, bihon, to name a few. The proliferation of many products and the inability of local products to keep up with the growing sophisticated market have further brought the doom of these originally village products. Definitely under such circumstances the small players under the business parameter of economies of scale*** find themselves at the losing end. Bigness is name of the game. Can we regain the lost village-based biotechnology industries?"

 My father, a gentleman farmer, was a brewer. He inherited the trade from my grandfather and from previous generations. I still use today the good earthen jars in producing the same products – basi, the traditional Ilocos wine, and its by-product, natural vinegar - using the same indigenous formula. (PHOTOS)

  

The making of basi and vinegar, as well as a dozen other products of sugarcane, like panocha, pulitiput, kalamay, sinambong, and kinalti, is a traditional cottage industry in the Ilocos region which is traced back to the Pre-Hispanic era when hundreds of small independent brewers like my father lived comfortably on this once flourishing industry.

Things appeared simple then. But time has changed. We know that sugarcane has long been planted with rice, legumes and vegetables, but it sounds like new in modern parlance with terms like crop rotation or crop diversification. Making of wine, vinegar and confectionary products are under agro-industry. Because the process generates profit, we call this value-added advantage. So with the tax that is now slap manufactured products. To determine the business viability of a business we determine its internal rate of return (IIR) and its return on investment (ROI). Brewing today is agro-processing and an agribusiness. And my father would be called not just a proprietor, but a business partner since family members and relatives share in the operation of the business. Possibly his title today would be general manager or CEO.

Things in my father’s time had become outdated, shifting away from traditional to modern. But it is not only a matter of terminology; it is change in business structure and system.

Big business is name of the game

Like many other village industries, the local breweries bowed out to companies that now control the production of commercial and imported brands. The proliferation of many products and the inability of local products to keep up with the growing sophisticated market have further brought their doom. Definitely under such circumstances the small players under the business parameter of economics of scale find themselves at the losing end. Bigness is name of the game.

Monopolies and cartels now control much of the economy here and in other countries. Transnational companies have grown into giants, that one big company far outweighs the economy of a small country. Total business assets of North Carolina is more than that of Argentina, which is one of the biggest countries of the world in terms of land area and population.

Today agribusiness and biotechnology are corporate terms that are difficult to translate on the village level and by small entrepreneurs.

All these fit well into the present capitalistic system that is greatly under the influence of IMF-WB on borrower-countries, and terms of trade agreements imposed by GATT-WTO on its members, many of which reluctantly signed the its ratification. Under the capitalistic system there has been a shift of countryside industries into the hands of corporations, national and transnational. Take these examples.

Coffee PHOTO is raised by millions of small farmers all over the world, but it is monopolized by such giant companies like Nestle and Consolidated Foods. Cacao is likewise a small farmer’s crop, but controlled by similar multinationals. So with tea, the world’s second most popular beverage.

Unfortunately this inequity in the sharing of the benefits of these industries is exacerbated by the absence of a strong and effective mass-based program that emphasizes countryside development through livelihood and employment opportunities. Multi-national monopolies thrive on such business climate and biased laws and program in their favor.

We import rice, corn, sugar, fruits, meat and poultry, fish, fruits and vegetables in both fresh and processed products, when in the sixties and seventies we were exporters of the same products. We were then second or third in ranking after Japan in terms of economic development.

“Small business is beautiful” (PHOTO: EC Schumacher, author) 

There must be something wrong somewhere. But while we diagnose our country’s ills, we should make references to our own successes, and even come to a point of looking on models within our reach and capability to imitate. There are “unsung heroes” in practically all fields from business, agriculture, manufacturing to folk medicine and leadership. Perhaps for us who belong to the older generation, it is good to feel whenever we recall old times when life was better – and better lived.

Biopiracy and technopiracy

Ampalaya (Momordica charantia) is a source of medicinal substances registered iunder exclusive brand names by drug companies here and abroad.

“The biggest piracy that is taking place today is not at sea and on the rich. It is stealing people’s resources – from herbal medicine to indigenous technology – stolen by rich countries and big corporations. Biopiracy and technopiracy constitute the greatest violation to human rights and social justice in that the people are not only deprived of their means of livelihood; they are forced to become dependent on those who robbed them.”

(Biopiracy is a situation where indigenous knowledge of nature, originating with indigenous peoples, is used by others for profit, without permission from and with little or no compensation or recognition to the indigenous people themselves.Informal or “underground” economy.  Internet)

Informal or “underground” economy is the lifeblood of rural communities. They are the seat of tradition, rituals, barter and other informal transactions. They link the farm and the kitchen and the local market. They are versions of agro-processing and agribusiness on the scale of proprietorship and family business. They strengthen family and community ties.

It is for this reason that the NACIDA – National Cottage Industry Development Authority – was organized. And truly, it brought economic prosperity to thousands of entrepreneurs and families in the fifties to sixties.

South Korea for one in the late sixties, saw our PRRM and NACIDA models and improved on them with their SAEMAUL UNDONG development program which ultimately brought tremendous progress in its war-torn countryside. In Tanzania, one can glimpse some similarities of our program with LAEDZA BATANI (Wake up, it’s time to get moving) rural development program. The Philippines stood as an international model, recognized by the WB and ADB, for our countryside development program – cottage industries, farmers’ associations, electric cooperatives, rice and corn production program, which made us agricultural exporters. So with our biotechnology in farm waste utilization through composting with the use of Trichoderma inoculation, and in natural rice farming by growing Azolla in lieu of urea and ammonium nitrate. Another area of biotechnology is in the retting of maguey fiber, which is a work of decomposing bacteria.

The Saemaul Undong, also known as the New Village Movement, Saemaul Movement or Saema'eul Movement, was a political initiative launched on April 22, 1970 by South Korean president Park Chung-hee to modernize the rural South Korean economy. The movement is being revived today as a model for developing countries such as Cambodia, 2015 (photo)

Today there are many opportunities of biotechnology that can be tapped and packaged for small and medium size businesses and organized groups of entrepreneurs and farmers. These opportunities also pose a big challenge to the academe and to enterprising researchers in government and private institutions.

Important organisms for biotechnology

• Spirulina (blue-green alga or Eubacterium) - high protein, elixir.

• Chlorella (green alga) – vegetable, oxygen generator

• Pleurotus and Volvariella (fungi, mushroom) – anti-cancer food.

• Azolla-Anabaena (eubacterium with fern)– natural fertilizer

• Porphyra, red seaweed, high-value food (“food of the gods”)

• Hormophysa (brown alga) – antibiotics

• Eucheuma (red alga) – source of carageenan, food conditioner

• Gracillaria (brown alga) – source of agar, alginate

• Sargassum (brown alga) – fertilizer and fodder

• Saccharomyces (fungus, yeast) – fermentation

• Aspergillus (fungus) – medicine, fermentation

• Penicillium (fungus) – antibiotics

. Caulerpa (green alga) – salad 

• Leuconostoc (bacterium) – nata de coco, fermentation of vegetables

• Acetobacter (bacterium) – acetic acid manufacture

• Rhizobium (bacterium) – Nitrogen fixer for soil fertility

• Nostoc (BGA or Eubacterium) – bio-fertilizer

• Ganoderma (tree fungus) – food supplement, reducer

• Halobacterium and Halococcus (bacteria)- bagoong and patis making

• Lactobacillus (bacterium) lactic fermentation, yogurt making

• Candida (yeast) – source of lysine, vitamins, lipids and inveratse

• Torulopsis (yeast) – leavening of puto and banana cake

• Trichoderma (fungus) – innoculant to accelerate composting time.

Before I go proceed allow me to present a background of biotechnology in relation with the history of agriculture.

Three Green Revolutions

The First Green Revolution took place when man turned hunter to farmer, which also marked the birth of human settlement, in the Fertile Crescent, (PHOTO) between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers where the present war in Iraq is taking place.

The Second Green Revolution is characterized by the improvement of farming techniques and the expansion of agricultural frontiers, resulting in the conversion of millions of hectares of land into agriculture all over the world. This era lasted for some three hundred years, and marched with the advent of modern science and technology, which gave rise to Industrial Revolution. Its momentum however, was interrupted by two world wars.

Then in the second part of the last century, a Third Green Revolution was born. With the strides of science and technology, agricultural production tremendously increased. Economic prosperity followed specially among post-colonial nations - the Third World - which took the cudgels of self rule, earning respect in the international community, and gaining the status of Newly Industrialized Nations (NICs) one after another.

Towards the end of the last century, the age of biotechnology and genetic engineering arrived. Here the conventions of agriculture have been radically changed. For example, desirable traits are transferred through gene splicing so that trans-generic – even trans-kingdom – trait combinations are now possible. Bt Corn, a genetically modified corn that carries the caterpillar-repelling gene of a bacterium, Bacillus thuringiensis, exemplifies such case. Penicillin-producing microorganisms are not only screened from among naturally existing species and strains; they are genetically engineered with super genes from other organisms known for their superior production efficiency.

Biotechnology for people and environment

The need for food and other commodities is ever increasing. Together with conventional agriculture, biotechnology will be contributing significantly to the production of food, medicine, raw materials for the industry, and in keeping a balanced ecology. This indeed will offer relief to the following scenarios:

1. World’s population increases from today’s 8 billion to 10 billion in 10 years.

2. Agricultural frontiers have virtually reached dead end.

3. Farmlands continue to shrink, giving way to settlements and industry,
while facing the onslaught of erosion and desertification

4. Pollution is getting worse in air, land and water. (Photos: right, garbage clandestinely exported by Canada to the Philippines)

 

5. Global warming is not only a threat; it is a real issue to deal with.

These scenarios seem to revive the Apocalyptic Malthusian theory, which haunts many poor countries - and even industrialized countries where population density is high. We are faced with the problem on how to cope up with a crisis brought about by the population-technology-environment tandem that has started showing its fangs at the close of the 20th century.

Now we talk in terms of quality life, health and longevity, adequate food supply and proper nutrition - other human development indices (HDI), notwithstanding.
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As scientists open the new avenue of genetic engineering to produce genetically modified organisms for food, medicine and industry, entrepreneurs are shaping up a different kind of Green Revolution on the old country road – the employment of veritable, beneficial microorganisms to answer the basic needs of the vast majority of the world’s population.

Green Revolution for the masses

This Green Revolution has to be addressed to the masses. The thrust in biotechnology development must have a strong social objective. This must include the integration of the mass-based enterprises with research and development (R&D). Like the defunct NACIDA, a program for today should be cottage-based, not only corporate-based. Genetic engineering should be explored not for scientific reasons or for profit motives alone, but purposely for social objectives that could spur socio-economic growth on the countryside, and the improvement the lives of millions of people.

Alternative Food

These lowly organisms will be farmed like conventional crops. In fact, today mushroom growing is among the high-tech agricultural industries, from spawn culture to canning.

Spirulina, a cyanobacterium, has been grown for food since ancient times by the Aztecs in Mexico and in early civilizations in the Middle East. Its culture is being revived on estuaries and lakes, and even in small scale, in tanks and ponds. Today the product is sold as “vegetablet.”

Seaweeds, on the other hand, are being grown extensively and involving many species, from Caulerpa to Nori. (PHOTO below)  Seaweed farming has caught worldwide attention in this last two decades, not only because it offers a good source of food, but also industrial products like carageenan and agar.

Environmental Rehabilitation

In the remote case that a nuclear explosion occurs, how possible is it to produce food and other needs in the bomb shelters deep underground? Fiction as it may seem, the lowly microorganisms have an important role. For one, mushrooms do not need sunlight to grow. Take it from the mushroom-growing termites. Another potential crop is Chlorella. While it produces fresh biomass as food it is also an excellent oxygen generator, oxygen being the by-product of photosynthesis. But where will Chlorella get light? Unlike higher plants, this green alga can make use of light and heat energy from an artificial source like fluorescent lamp.

Sewage treatment with the use of algae is now common in the outskirts of big cities like New York and Tokyo. From the air the open sewer is a series of reservoirs through which the sewage is treated until the spent material is released. The sludge is converted into organic fertilizer and soil conditioner, while the water is safely released into the natural environment such as a lake or river.

Marine seaweeds are known to grow in clean water. Their culture necessitates maintenance of the marine environment. Surprisingly seaweeds help in maintaining a clean environment, since they trap particles and detritus, and increase dissolved Oxygen and reduce dissolved CO2 level in water.

Bacteria being decomposers return organic substances to nature. So with algae and fungi. Fermentation is in fact, a process of converting organic materials into inorganic forms for the use of the next generation of organisms. In the process, man makes use of the intermediate products like ethyl alcohol, acetic acid, nata de coco, lactic acid, and the like.

Speaking of sustainable agriculture, take it from Nature’s biofertilizers like Nostoc and other Eubacteria. These BGAs form green matting on rice fields. Farmers in India and China gather this biomass, and use it as natural fertilizer. Another is Rhizobium, a bacterium that fixes atmospheric Nitrogen into NO3, the form of N plants directly absorb and utilize. Its fungal counterpart, Mycorrhiza, converts Nitrogen in the same way, except that this microorganism thrives in the roots of orchard and forest trees.

Let me cite the success of growing Azolla-Anabaena (PHOTO) on ricefields in Asian countries. This is another biofertilizer, and discriminating consumers are willing to pay premium price for rice grown without chemical fertilizer - only with organic and bio-fertilizers. At one time a good friend, medical doctor and gentleman farmer, Dr. P. Parra, invited me to see his Azolla farm in Iloilo. What I saw was a model of natural farming, employing biotechnology in his integrated farm –

• Azolla for rice,
• Biogas from piggery,

• Rhizobia (photo) inoculation for peanuts and mungbeans,
• Trichoderma for composting.
• Food processing (fruit wine and vinegar)

His market for his natural farm products are people as far as Manila who are conscious of their health, and willing to pay the premium price for naturally grown food.

Genetic Engineering

It is true that man has succeeded in splicing the DNA, in like manner that he harnessed the atom through fission. Genetic engineering is a kind of accelerated and guided evolution, and while it helps man screen and develop new breeds and varieties, it has yet to offer the answer to the declining productivity of farms and agriculture, in general, particularly in developing countries. Besides, genetically engineered products have yet to earn a respectable place in the market and household.

Genetic engineering of beneficial organisms is the subject of research institutions all over the world. I had a chance to visit the Biotechnology Center in Taipei and saw various experiments conducted by Chinese scientists particularly on antibiotics production. But biotechnology has also its danger. One example is the case of the “suicide seeds”. These are hybrid seeds which carry a trigger enzyme which destroys the embryo soon after harvest so that the farmers will be forced to buy again seeds for the next cropping. It is similar to self-destruct diskettes, or implanted viruses in computers. This is how Monsanto, the inventor of suicide seeds, is creating an empire built at the expense of millions of poor farmers over the world.

Medicine and Natural Food

As resistance of pests and pathogens continue to increase and become immune to drugs, man is corollarily searching for more potent and safe kinds and formulations. He has resorted to looking into the vast medicinal potentials of these lowly organisms, as well as their value as natural food. Here are some popular examples.

1. Nori or gamet (Porphyra, a red alga) – elixir,
claimed to be more potent than Viagra (PHOTO)

2. Edible seaweeds - rich in iodine, vegetable substitute.
There is no known poisonous seaweed.

3. Seaweeds as source of natural antibiotics, much safer than conventional antibiotics.

4. Mushrooms have anti-cancer properties.(PHOTO: author with wild mushroom from the field)

6. Cyanobacteria prolongs life, restores youthfulness.

7. Yeast is a health food

8. Yogurt is bacteria-fermented milk, health drink.

9. Carica and Momordica extracts for medicine and health food

10. Organically grown food (without the use of chemical pesticide and fertilizer)

Dr. Domingo Tapiador (PHOTO), a retired UN expert on agriculture and fisheries, helped initiate the introduction of Spirulina in the country. He showed me the capsule preparation produced in Japan. “Why can’t we grow Spirulina locally?” he asked.

 

Today a year after, there are successful pilot projects. Spirulina is not only good as human food but feeds as well. Prior to obtaining his doctorate degree, Professor Johnny Ching of De la Salle University found out that Spirulina added to the feed ration of bangus improves growth rate. (MS Biology, UST). Similar studies point out to the beneficial effects of Spirulina on the daily weight gain in poultry and livestock. Earlier studies also discovered Azolla, an aquatic fern with a blue-green alga symbiont – Anabaena, as a valuable feed supplement to farm animals.

These lowly groups of organisms which cannot even qualify as plants, but instead protists with which protozoa are their kin, biologically speaking that is, are after all “giants.”

They hold the promise in providing food, medicine, clean environment, and as a whole, a better quality of human life for the people today and the coming generations.~
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*The 2021 Global Report on Food Crises (GRFC 2021) highlights the remarkably high severity and numbers of people in Crisis or worse (IPC/CH Phase 3 or above) or equivalent in 55 countries/territories, driven by persistent conflict, pre-existing and COVID-19-related economic shocks, and weather extremes. The number identified in the 2021 edition is the highest in the report’s five-year existence. The report is produced by the Global Network against Food Crises (which includes WFP), an international alliance working to address the root causes of extreme hunger.

** The theme for International Day for the Eradication of Poverty 2021 is “Building Forward Together: Ending Persistent Poverty, Respecting all People and our Planet”. How many people live below the international poverty line?
736 million people lived below the international poverty line of US $ 1.90 a day in 2015. In 2018, almost 8 per cent of the world’s workers and their families lived on less than US$1.90 per person per day. Most people living below the poverty line belong to two regions: Southern Asia and sub-Saharan Africa.

*** In microeconomics, economies of scale are the cost advantages that enterprises obtain due to size, output, or scale of operation, with cost per unit of output generally decreasing with increasing scale as fixed costs are spread out over more units of output.

ANNEX 1 - Dr Juan M Flavier: 

"Doctor to the Barrio" Leaves a Legacy

Special Topic in honor of the late Dr Juan M Flavier, Health Secretary and two-time senator. President, International Institute for Rural Reconstruction. True Filipino, hero.

Former health secretary and senator Juan M. Flavier. FILE PHOTO

Quoted from Doctor to the Barrios
" Dr Flavier is one of those rare persons who is actually at home in the barrio and among the leaders of the nation. In one day he may spend the morning discussing methods of family planning with barrio women; in the afternoon, he may confer with mountaineers from Vietnam about land reform; in the evening he may be found working with the Department of Social Welfare on strategy for national development." Quoted from the back cover of his first book Doctor to the Barrios 1970, New Day Publishers. Before his second book, My Friends in the Barrio, came out four years after, Doctor to the Barrio's printing reached 24,000 copies, and was translated in Indonesia and other countries. To date, 44 years after, Dr Flavier's books (7 major ones) are still in great demand.
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Quoted from My Friends in the Barrios
Dr Flavier introduces the reader to some of the friends in the barrios - and soon they become his friends also. They come alive as, with deft, down to earth strokes, the authors paints them on his canvas of rural life. Readers discover the answers to such intriguing questions as "Do eggs die?" "Why does operating a poultry lead to having many children?" "How does a rural swain woe his girl?" "Who gets rich in rice production?" "How do you explain the IUD in the barrio?"
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Quoted from Back to the Barrios
"For the sophisticated Metro Manilan or any other city-bred reader the stories about his friends in the barrios that Dr Flavier relates in his books are refreshing. We can all achieve fresh insights by every so often, going back to the barrios."
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Born in Tondo, Manila on June 23, 1935, Flavier grew up in Baguio City where he attended his elementary and secondary years. He attended medical school at the University of the Philippines where he graduated in 1960. 

Shortly after he obtained his medical degree, he chose to be an educator through the Philippine Rural Reconstruction Movement (PRRM) and the International Institute of Rural Reconstruction (IIRR), organizations which served Filipinos in the provinces through education and training. He later led the organization from 1977 to 1992.

As health secretary, Flavier introduced effective public health campaigns such as curbing smoking and combating HIV/AIDS.

After leading the PRRM and IIRR, Flavier was designated by former president Fidel V. Ramos as the health secretary. By being the health secretary, Flavier was known as “Mr. Let’s DOH It!” which was derived from the DOH campaign slogan under his term.

He instituted campaigns such as the “Yosi Kadiri” campaign, ‘Sangkap Pinoy”, a campaign addressing micronutrient malnutrition, and the “Oplan Alis Disease”, a nationwide immunization campaign.

Under his helm, the Department of Health became an active government agency and became the number one government office under the Ramos presidency. Flavier is a two-termer senator who championed health and rural development issues.

After serving as the nation’s health secretary, Flavier won as a senator in 1995. As a neophyte senator during the 10th Congress, he was recognized as the senator who attended the most number of committee hearings and did not incurred any absences in Senate sessions.

He won a second term as senator and served until 2007.

Some of the landmark legislations he authored and sponsored include: 

• the Traditional Medicine Law, 
• Poverty Alleviation Law, 
• Clean Air Act, 
• Indigenous People’s Rights Act, 
• Anti-money Laundering Act, 
• Dangerous Drugs Act, 
• Philippine Nursing Act, and 
• the Tobacco Regulation Act.

He was once called an “agent of Satan” by Manila archbishop Jaime Cardinal Sin.

When he was the health secretary, Flavier implemented the first anti-HIV/AIDS campaign in the country. Part of his campaign includes the distribution of condoms to Filipinos. Due to this particular effort, he was described by then Manila archbishop Jaime Cardinal Sin as an “agent of Satan”

Sources: Reprint from the Internet; Inquirer archives, Senate website, DOH website

ANNEX 2 -  Features of Development Communication

"Lawin endeavors to elevate writing from journalism to authorship; and arts to humanities - the highest level the intellect can reach: philosophy - love of knowledge, and wisdom distilled through experience and time. " - avr 

The lawin circles and cries up high above our community: a cry calling for self-reliance and self-identity; a cry of joy in simple and practical living; and a cry of relief, a catharsis, freedom from within, where peace-of-mind and true happiness reign. Painting of a lawin on a backboard by the author.  Excerpt from a speech delivered by the author as president of Lawin (association of writers) before LGU and NGO officers, members and guests, Barangay Greater Lagro, QC 2022

What really does the lawin symbolize?

One early morning my granddaughter pointed at the bird in the sky. I explained what I know about the bird. Lawin symbolizes the young generations. It brings in the morning sun, it connects us grownups with the young generations. It gives our children a break from iPads and TV. .

One time children in the neighborhood in our place could not play their favorite game basketball. Somebody rebuilt their backboard, and games resumed. There's one difference: the other player on the back bard is a big lawin with outstretched wings seemingly playing with the kids.

Nearby a garbage dump began to transform into a vegetable and herbal garden. The children called it Lawin Garden. It is a local version of the Phoenix bird rising from the garbage ashes.

The lawin has a peculiar cry while in flight - clear and loud whistle of two notes. But most often, it is a silent flyer with panoramic and telescopic vision.

It can see like a satellite monitor what is happening over its broad area of vision, yet able to focus on the slightest movement - a prey or an enemy.

Writers and artists to a great degree are like the lawin. Like the lawin, true writers and  artists are a vanishing breed, they are an endangered species victim of instant and unguided social media, and worst assassination of journalists. The Philippines is compared to worn-torn countries like Syria and Afghanistan for having the highest number of killings in mass media.

The Lawin writers and artists have "eyes for news and the arts," Their aerial perspective is holistic and contiguous. They see the multiplicity and unity of space and time, people and events. And they never veer away from their community which they watch over.

At the onset of organizing LAWIN, we did some research on our trust and functions, and on the long run - our projected goal.

Our reference is the our own Gazette. Lawin is DEVELOPMENT COMMUNICATION. DevCom recognizes the power of communication as a catalyst for social development. It utilizes the tools and principles applicable in the community they serve for the advancement of society.

In an outline DevCom is

• Information dissemination and education
• Social Marketing - ideas, knowledge and wisdom
• Purposive communication - it sets targets
• Social mobilization - involvement and militancy
• Community improvement mainly on felt needs
• Positive change (social, political, economic, moral, environmental, etc)
• Participatory development - bottom-up approach
• Humanities development - applied aesthetics
• Sentinel and vanguard of code of media 
• Pathfinder - pioneering and visionary

Development Communication as the INTEGRATION OF STRATEGIC COMMUNICATION IN DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS, based on a clear understanding of real and down-to-earth situations, with people's participation and shared equitable benefits.

What then would be our guiding principle in our program? It can be summarized as follows, for an anonymous source:

"If it is of high quality, people will respect you;

  If it is relevant, people will need you; 

  If it is measurable, people will trust you; 

  If it is innovative, people will follow you." 

If you were the lawin up in the sky over Greater Lagro, you are likely to see these
the need to reduce waste by not being wasteful, and in making use of waste through recycling.

• the need to motivate people towards common goals, reinvigorate those in their senior years,
• the need to clean our streets and sidewalks - and our homes
• the need to train students in our schools not only in the field of mass media and applied art to run their school paper but to help then attain their chosen careers. 
• the need to take care of the trees, and plants more tree, to make Lagro an extension of the shrinking wildlife.
• the need to expand outdoor activities, participate in wholesome games and sports, creative activities.
• the need to guard Greater Lagro from the incursion of bad elements, vices, violations of human rights, peace and order.
• bringing in honors and prestige to the community through the talents of its citizens, particularly the young.
• unifying relationships of families, strengthening bonding, making the community senior citizen friendly, grandchildren friendly as well.

There are one-thousand-and-one other visions that challenge the organization LAWIN and its members giving meaning to their membership, above all, building a legacy for the next generations.

When we hear the lawin cry up in the sky, let us heed its message.

• A call for self-reliance, self-sufficiency. self-identity;
• A cry of joy to remind us that simple and practical living makes a full life; and
• A cry of relief that takes away the tensions of living, liberates us more than freedom symbolized by our flag, because it is freedom within where peace of mind and true happiness reign.

But we can only attain our goal with the support of our community, the various organizations, and networking of all sectors of society, and if our commitment is not only for our own generation but that of our children - and children's children. ~