• One of the world’s biologically richest countries, home to the greatest number of species of plants, animals and fishes found nowhere else except in the Philippines
• Known as the world’s “Center of Marine Life”, with the richest concentration of marine species
• Among the most extensive, most beautiful coral reefs on earth
• The underground river of Palawan, the centuries-old rice terraces in Mountain Province, Mayon volcano with the perfect cone in Bicol . . .
• The 5th mineralized country in the world; 3rd in gold reserves, 4th in copper, 5th in nickel

The more than 7100 islands stretch from north to south, with the South China Sea bordering the west and the Pacific Ocean facing the eastern shores. The islands lie smack across the typhoon belt, are part of the Pacific Ring of Fire, with 17 active volcanoes. The occasional volcanic eruptions and earthquakes, and the yearly 18 to 21 typhoons that bring havoc, floods and landslides have made Pinoy’s ancestors a hardy people. The rich fishing and hunting grounds and fertile fields have made them easy going and peace-loving.
As early as the 10th century, Pinoy’s ancestors already had their barangays with their datus and rajahs, their anitos and Bathala. Many seaside barangays served as trade centers for their Japanese, Chinese and Malay neighbours who came in their junks, paraos and catamarans.
The “. . . infrastructure projects undertaken during the 19th century put the Philippine economy and standard of living ahead of most of the Asian neighbours and even many European countries at that time.” The elegant European-style architecture and parks in Intramuros earned Manila the name “Paris of the East”. Until the 1970’s, the Philippine economy was second only to Japan. Today it is second from the bottom dweller Bangladesh.

Under Spain for Almost Four Centuries, Pinoy Wore a Small Crucifix on his Chest, Bore a Big Cross on his Back
Ferdinand Magellan was trying to find a new route to the Spice Islands when he “discovered” the islands in 1521. For the next hundreds of years, Pinoy watched the Spanish colonists, together with the friars who came to convert him to Catholicism, grab his lands until he became a peon, a servant in his own home.
The Spanish injustices, bigotry and economic oppression finally led to the Philippine revolution which started in 1896. By June, 1898, the katipuneros had taken control of all of Luzon, had the Spaniards surrounded in the walled city of Intramuros. Then Spain turned around and sold the Philippines to the United States under the Treaty of Paris, 1898, for US dollars 20,000,000.

Under the Americans for Four Decades, Pinoy Learned Everything about his Rights, Nothing about his Duties and Responsibilities
U.S. President McKinley justified the annexation of the Philippines that since “they were unfit for self-government, there was nothing left for us to do but take them all, and to educate the Filipinos, and uplift and civilize and Christianize them.” Perhaps President McKinley was ignorant of the facts that Pinoy already had a civil society five centuries before Columbus discovered America, that Pinoy had been Christianized more than a hundred years before the Pilgrim Fathers set foot on American soil, and as far as education was concerned, Pinoy had the University of Sto. Tomas 25 years before the Americans established Harvard University, and Pinoy was among the best educated in Asia at that time. What Pres. McKinley did not say was that the islands would be a good supplier of sugar for American industries, and that Pinoy would be a good captive market for American products.
Anyhow, probably the American mass education was not efficient enough at teaching democracy. Pinoy learned his rights but not his duties and responsibilities. Pinoy would later go demo-crazy, with demo here, demo there. The demonstrations and labor problems scared investors from putting up new factories and businesses. And many of those who had been operating here for years transferred their production operations elsewhere. Consequently, with the dwindling number of jobs, thousands of Pinoy’s relatives now have to go overseas to earn a living for their families.

Under Japan for Four Years, Pinoy Came to Know Brutality, Cruelty and Depravity
Much of these barbarities would rub off on Pinoy. And Pinoy learned how to steal, first from the Japanese, but later even from his neighbours. Before the war, Pinay could walk the streets any time without fear of being robbed, mugged, raped or killed.
When Gen. Douglas McArthur “returned” to Manila in 1945, perhaps military intelligence failed to inform him that Japan’s Gen. Yamashita had already brought his main force to Baguio, leaving only a ragtag band of sailors, marines and soldiers under a rear admiral to defend Manila, and that a million city residents remained in their homes, fearful of meeting the bayonet-ready Japanese in the streets. Gen. McArthur’s artilleries and bombers pounded Manila, levelled it in one month. Manila was the most devastated city, next only to Warsaw, with hundreds of thousands of civilian casualty, in World War II.
Barely 10 months after Japan surrendered, the United States gave war-crippled Pinoy his independence. Manila, with the rest of the Philippines, was left wallowed in the ravages of war. Meanwhile, Gen. McArthur was already busy, officially overseeing the reconstruction and rehabilitation of Japan.

Under Martial Law, Pinoy Watched as One Man, and a Woman, Do Whatever He Wanted, Take Whatever She Liked
Crooks learned that they could get away with big time larceny. Now Pinoy’s public servants have become his over-bearing lords and greedy masters. They would “invite” Pinoy to their chamber, then insult and ridicule him, under full media coverage. They would overturn “final” decisions of the highest court of the land for whatever consideration. They would award themselves atrocious remunerations in public corporations.

Is Pinoy Hopeless?
I thought that nothing less than a cathartic bloody revolution could save Pinoy. But when I read “The Tipping Point”, a book by Malcolm Gladwell, I felt I had to write, to shout out that there is hope for Pinoy! The book presents case after case of “how little things can make a big difference”. One example was the crime wave that hit New York in the 1980’s. No matter what the authorities did, criminality kept surging – until a consultant got people to clean up the graffiti in the New York subways and to replace the many broken windows in a poor section of the city. That reversed the rising crime trend almost immediately.
What could be a “tipping point” for Pinoy? The death of Ninoy started working as a “tipping point”. It triggered the people power, followed by the toppling of Marcos, the installation of Cory as president. But President Cory failed to control the Kamaganak Inc. That tipped it back the other way. Graft and corruption have since gone out of control.
Pres. NoyNoy’s “matuwid na daan” might have worked. He had the people behind him. But he failed to walk the talk, did not have the backbone to kick out erring “Kaibigans”. However, he still has years to go, can still salvage his matuwid na daan, if he starts acting like the son of his father – Ninoy with the strongest of backbones, Ninoy with the greatest love of country. If PNoy fails, the future looks even darker.
But, hopefully, one day there will come a “tipping point” for Pinoy. Maybe a grass roots movement can get all voters to vote wisely, not to sell their votes, to choose not the popular but the most capable and principled candidate, to choose only candidates with clean and proven track records.
Or maybe the department of education may come up with a system to instill discipline in the school youths. Or maybe . . .

(11) Amazing Universe   *   (10) In the Big Bang Beginning . . .   *   (9) Seeing the Past   *   (8) The Falling Apple   *   (7) E.T.s and UFOs   *   (6) Black Holes   *   (5) The Way the World Ends

(4) On Retirement   *   (3) Biogas and Maya Farms   *   (2) Social Moron   *   (1) The Pen and I  

OBIASes of San Jose Grand Reunion 2007

He was called Capitan Miguel, head of the community. But we did not know much else about him. Who were his forebears? Where did he come from? Considering that practically anything can now be found in the Internet, I thought I’d try my luck, try to trace the origin of the Obiases. Here’s what I found:   The earliest entry in the International Genealogical Index is 

               Trijntie Obias Nauta, married 1680, Netherlands

Then    Manuel Lorenso Obias Adame, christened 1793, Mexico

              Jose Leandro Obias, christened 1827, Mexico

              Jose Nestor Obias, christened 1827, Mexico

followed by 299 Obias entries, birthdates 1839 and onwards, from Bicol, mostly San Jose and Tigaon, Cam. Sur.

From the above, it would seem that the Philippine Obias may have originated from Mexico. The long running Manila-Acapulco Galleon Trade lasted until 1815. A young Mexican trader named Obias could have sailed on one of those trading galleons to Manila. He met a pretty Bicolana, married her, raised the first Pinoy Obiases in her hometown of San Jose. Several generations down came our SuperLolo Miguel. My father Mirar was the youngest of his 24 offsprings.

        “time is all you have . . . and you may find out one day that you may have less than you think”

in print, sank deeper. With a heart problem, I may well have less time than I think.

Randy P.,  Carnegie Melon University professor, was diagnosed with terminal cancer. With three months to live, he gave his Lecture at Carnegie Hall. He addressed his “Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams” to his three young children.

Unlike the professor, I do not have to worry about my kids. They are all grown up. All on their own, with their own families. Instead of a last lecture, let me share some thoughts re that last day.

Am I ready to go? I’ve had a good life. Enjoyed school. Enjoyed work. Have enjoyed retirement since 1994. I’ve done what I ought to do, gone where I want to go, seen what I care to see. I’ve made  my peace with the world. No loose ends left. I can go any time. No regrets.

How would I want to go? For me, to sleep and not wake up is best. Else, any quick exit, as from a massive heart failure, stroke or whatever, is fine. I hope to be spared a lingering illness. No interventions whatsoever please.

Lastly, I would rather go before my eyes are dimmed, my ears deaf, or my brain addled with Alzheimer’s. Fortunately my veins must already be clogged with lots of junk by now. I may go any time soon.

Ias was the youngest of five brothers. I was fourth, next to the youngest. Ias passed away March 19, 2011. At the wake, his 3 yr old apo Sofia said to her Mom in her young innocent voice, “Lolo Yats is funny.  .  .  He is smiling!”

I thought I was the only one who had noticed the hint of a smile on Ias’ lips as he lay there. It turned out that many others did. Was that smile due to a slip of the mortician’s hand?

Of course not. That was Ias telling us that he was happy. It was his expressed wish to have a few days wake before cremation to give his friends and family a chance to come and bid him good-bye. And come they did, from all over, from Bicol, some from abroad, to see him off.

Ias was always a straight talker. He would let you know when he was happy. When he was not pleased, he would let you know too. I should know Ias well. We were roommates for the longest time. From early childhood through our high school days we shared the same room. When we took engineering, he mechanical, I chemical, at the University of the Philippines, we had the same room at the UP North Dorm. And when we started working, we still shared a room at our brother Naning’s house in Philam Homes.

Of course he had to move out to the other room when I got married. But then when time came for me to have my own home, Ias said, “Lo’, I’ll go with you. Anywhere. Let’s build a duplex.”

So we had the duplex at White Plains. He was still single then. He stayed with us, had his meals with us, used his side only as sleeping quarter. Later he would marry Olive. Our children grew up together practically as one family. . . until Ias went ex-pat to Jakarta, Director for Manufacturing, Pfizer, Inc., and later on to Dalian, China. However, when it was time for Bingo and Diane and Oboy to enter college, Ias sent them back to us at White Plains to study at the Ateneo de Manila University.

Sure, I know Ias. That smile on his lips was no accident indeed. I know he was happiest when he was with friends and relations. In fact, the saddest I ever saw him was back in 2009. He was seriously ill at the Asian Hospital. His doctor had ordered ‘no visitors allowed’. Being his brother, I was exempt. I visited daily, saw him grow sadder and miserably sadder. One morning, his doctor said, “I’m sorry. We’ve done all we can. There’s nothing more we can do. You can go anytime.”

I watched Ias listen impassively. Then he asked, ‘”Doc, can I have my visitors now?” He had just received his death sentence, and the first thing on his mind were his visitors! When the doctor said yes, his eyes lit up. “Lo’,” he said, “ikaw na ang bahala. Call them all!”

Early the next morning, he had the shock of his life. He said when he woke up, there was this figure, white haired, all in white, standing beside his bed. “I thought I was already dead and this angel had come for me.” But the man said, “Don’t you remember me? Willy, high school, Ateneo. I got the call last night. I’m a lay minister. I’ll give you Holy Communion.” Willy was the first of the stream of visitors, old Ateneo barkada and Betan brods, young apos, nephews and nieces, ex-pat buddies, golfmates. They came all day, day after day. He joked, laughed, exchanged old stories with them. And he lived on for two more years.

Ias was truly a people person. He loved people. And they loved him back. A sampling of this is shown in the following snippets from facebook and emails received on his passing:

Naning, eldest brother:   Indeed we will miss him. Like the saying goes – looks like we will miss our right arm – but here we feel like we will miss both arms, and our feet as well. We will certainly look for his intelligence, charm, friendliness, fun and humor, love for the family, friends and arts, etc. . . He was so helpful and caring to the detail. May his tribe increase.

To the very last he expressed all his thoughts to everybody. What will be ingrained in our minds is his last e-mail subject: YOU WILL GET OVER IT!!!  AND SOON!!! (His doctor had told him he could go anytime.) Very very hard, but we understand.

Nina:   Tito Yats is a very proactive lover. He shows his love by action, by serving others. We have heard so many stories about Tito Yats and one common thread comes out – he is a very caring person and he treats everyone with much respect.

Tito Yats helped me start a very fruitful and exciting career in travel. Almost all companies were freeze hiring at the time I graduated in 1984. I really wanted to work for Philippine Air Lines. It took only one telephone call from Tito Yats (to one of his former colleagues) and I was hired by PAL. That was a true blessing from God indeed. Tito Yats allowed God to use him to help and bless a lot of people.

Rica:   . . . He was a very wonderful and jolly uncle we all dearly loved . . . let us always remember the good days spent with him and his loving spirit that touched us deeply.

Grace:   You will forever be in our hearts!

Maricoy:   . . . We’ll remember him as a caring and unselfish person who was always concerned about the welfare of others.  He . . . was happiest when he was surrounded by relatives.

. . . he was all smiles. . . this is the image that comes to mind when I think of Tio Ias.

Malou: . . . Napungaw ako ki Tio Iyat. I will always remember him as a loving and caring person, fatherly and maki-pariente. Will include him in my prayers.

Titong:   . . . We will pray for Ias and include him in our intentions during mass. It was a blessing that we were able to be with him when we all had a sumptious lunch at his house in January. . .

Becky:   I am so very heartbroken to hear this. Manoy Ias and I were just exchanging emails over the recent months and I was hoping to visit him once I had the opportunity to visit Manila. . .

Noy:   . . . we join the rest of the Mgadys in prayer for the rest of Yats’ soul. We will miss him.

Danny:   We will always remember Manoy Ias as a warm and kind-hearted person. He was very natural and always positive in outlook. . .

Nini Lyd:   Napahibi ako na mayo na sato si Manoy Ias. Si Manoy Ias na padangat tang gabos ta maboot, perming maogma, maray na kaiba sa mga urulay ulay . . .

Dondi:   Well said, Nini Lyd. We will miss Manoy Ias.

Joy:   Manoy Ias’ presence was like the warmth of the sun and the comfort of a shade tree. His quiet and light spirit was affirming and brought so much joy. . . I always appreciated his calm, joyful and uplifting presence. He always made me smile.

Perlita:   We will include Ias in our prayers, may his soul rest in peace.

Ginny:   I have many fond memories of Manoy Ias. He always had a warm smile and was very kind to everyone.

Jo-Jo:   Please accept our condolence. . . We will miss him.

Peewee:   . . . He was my Godfather. We will miss him dearly.

Boboy:   Our deepest condolences to the family, especially to Olive and children. . .

Bong (son of cousin Ronnie):   I am sure Tito Ias is doing fine with my Dad welcoming him. (Ronnie, just months younger than Ias, died a month earlier.)

Faye (daughter of Ronnie):   I would like to think he’s having a cup of coffee with Daddy. . .

(12)   IAS and ME

For all the time we had together – roommates from toddlers through high school and college to young professionals, then duplex housemates with our families in White Plains – Ias and I never quarreled. It probably helped that we were opposites in many ways. He was a talker; I a listener. He was athletic. I was not. He liked parties and barkadas. I was a loner.

However, in academics we were matched. We were both high school valedictorians at Ateneo de Naga. When I graduated, I got seven gold medals for excellence in English, Math, etc. Ias, a year behind in junior high, had eight golds, the extra one for excellence in athletics. We both took engineering at the University of the Philippines.

At work, he chose the multi-nationals, Proctor & Gamble, then Pfizer. I, after a short stint teaching at UP,  went for nationalist headed corporations Henares & Sons and the Maramba led Liberty Flour Mills. At 60, I took the company option for early retirement. With my wife Nora and youngest son Dino, freshly graduated from college, we visited Ias in Dalian, China, where he was Director for Manufacturing of the Pfizer plant there. He took a 2-week leave. With his wife Olive and youngest son Oboy, also freshly graduated from college,  the six of us flew to the terra-cotta warriors diggings in Xian, walked the Great Wall, visited the Forbidden City in Beijing, Tiananmen Square, the Summer Palace . . . re-bonding all the while.

I wrote about the advantages of retiring, specially retiring early, in an article published in a national weekly ( see rehashed version below, (4)  “On Retirement”). I like to think that it helped Ias decide to retire soon as he qualified for Pfizer’s retirement program. He was able to enjoy over a dozen years playing golf with his buddies, poker with his brods, and precious bonding time with his growing family and friends.

Since then I was hooked. And the more I learned about those things up there, the more fascinated I got.

The universe is truly amazing. From its very beginning, an energy pinhead explodes with a big bang, mushrooming energy turns into matter, then lo and behold, a universe is born. Zillions of planets and 7,000 billion bllion stars are clustered in 100 billion galaxies. There’s the invisible dark matter whose total mass is even more than the visible matter. Also invisible are the billions of black holes roaming galactic space and devouring stars or whatever comes across their paths.

Some 13.7 billion years after the big bang, the universe is still expanding, at a still increasing rate. It presently measures about a hundred billion light-years across (one light-year is the distance light travels in one year, approximately 9.46 trillion kilometers). Distances are so vast that everything we see in outer space is in the past.

The Big Bang theory is a bit mind boggling. But I normally give science the benefit of any doubt. Nonetheless, I like to take the theory one step back. In stead of “In the beginning was a pinhead,” I prefer “In the beginning was God, and God said, ‘Let there be light!’ and forthwith a power-packed pinhead popped out of nowhere, and with a big bang, lit up all the heavens. . . “

God of course must be all powerful, for Himself to have no beginning, and to produce the energy pinhead from nothing. God, moreover, must be all wise to have designed and programmed the development from a pinhead to the grand universe, plus programming the whole evolution process from amoeba to primates to intelligent creatures.

I am more comfortable with “I believe in God,” rather than “I believe in a Pinhead.”

P.S.

Latest findings in science now indicate that the Big Bang began with a soup of energy concentrate, rather than the power packed pinheaqd. Nonetheless, “I believe in a Power Soup,” does not sound much better than “I believe in a Pinhead.”

When we look up the stars in the evening, we are seeing the past. We see the stars in the spaces they occupied years ago. Actually they are already billions of miles elsewhere in the heavens. A few of them may have already died, turned into invisible black holes thousands of years ago, but still we see them up there blinking at us. 

In January some astronomers excitedly reported that for the first time the death of a star was observed and caught on film from the very start as the star exploded into a supernova. That is indeed exciting as the supernova shines billions of times brighter than the star. But to me, a more fascinating fact, left unmentioned, was that the star’s death had actually occured 89 million years ago. Supernova 2008D was 89 million light-years away. The image of the exploding star had been travelling intergalactic space for 89 million years before it reached earth. The astronomers were watching and taping last January something that had happened in the long past, before even our ancestor primates appeared on earth.

“Everybody,” he said as he proclaimed his law of gravity, “must attract everybody else in the universe. The force of attraction between two bodies must be in proportion with their body weights and must decrease as the distance between them increases.”

Fortunately, everybody follows Sir Isaac’s law. It keeps us from falling up. It allows us to ride piggyback as the earth spins at 1,674 km/h over the equator. Wow, that means we are actually going merry-go-round at faster than sound! The speed of sound is only 1,236 km/h. But if you think that’s fast, here’s another think. We would all be left floating in space were it not for the earth’s gravity which gives us a joyride with the earth as it orbits around the sun at 107,218 km/h. Imagine zooming around at Mach 87 (87 times the speed of sound)! All that travelling and yet we are not aware of it because Sir Isaac’s gravity binds us and the air and everything else to earth.

Gravity keeps order in the whole universe. It keeps the stars clustered in galaxies. It keeps the planets orbiting around the suns. It keeps our feet firmly planted on the ground. Thank heavens, Sir Isaac’s law is unbreakable.

The Roswell Incident in 1947 aroused the widest interest on aliens and UFOs. The Roswell Army Air Force had recovered some crashed debris from grounds near Roswell, New Mexico. The US Aif Force explained that it was a weather balloon. However, years later, some witnesses came out saying that it was actually an alien spcecraft, that the weather balloon story was a cover-up. A retired mortician even claimed that aliens were recovered from the wreckage and autopsied at the Rockwell air base.

EXTRATERRESTRIALS

Can there be aliens or extraterrestrials in outer space?

There can easily be, not one or two, but thousands of E.T. civilizations out there. This may be implied from the mind boggling number of planets in the universe. The number of planets is estimated at 1 to 3 times the number of stars, which a recent study places at 30 sextillion (30 followed by 21 zeroes!). Astronomer van Dokkum who led the research said the same discovery increases the number of planets that might harbor life, “There are possibly trillions of Earths orbiting these stars.”

In a 13.7 billion years old universe with trillions of planets that can harbor life, how can we possibly claim to be the only intelligent inhabitants? The oldest known planet is 13 billion years old while our planet earth is only 4.5 billion years old. Homo sapiens has evolved only in the past half million years! There must be hundreds of E.T. civilizations  much older than our own civilization, with technologies far more advanced than ours.

Religionwise, why would God create such a wonderful universe, then wait 13 billion years before bringing in intelligent beings, the only creatures who can appreciate his creation? Most likely, He has been creating intelligent beings in worlds separated by great distances. Most likely, we are just among the latest of his creatures.

If there are hundreds of E.T. civilizations with more advanced technologies, where are they? We have been searching the heavens for them. We have set up listening posts to catch any signals since the 1960s. We have transmitted cosmic messages in the past decade. So far, no communication. No contact. Nothing.

THE GREAT BARRIER

The problem in getting in touch with extraterrestrials is the barrier of great distances. For instance, the nearest galaxy to earth is 25,000 light-years away. Assuming that we can generate a strong enough laser transmission, the fastest possible, it would still take 25,000 years to reach any planet in the nearest galaxy. Other galaxies are millions and billions of light-years away. Communication with the E.T. in other galaxies seems highly improbable.

Even within our own Milky Way, which is 300,000 light years wide, less than a million of the billions of Milky Way planets may be near enough for practicable communication. Unless extraterrestrials inhabit any of the nearer planets, we may remain isolated from other intelligent beings in the universe.

UFOs, FACT OR FICTION?

From 1947 to 1969, the US Air Force investigated UFO reports and sightings under a program called Project Blue Book. After going through 12,618 UFO claims, Project Blue Book declared that there was no evidence that the sightings were extraterrestrial vehicles.

Yet extraterrestrials must have their spaceships. If we have our exploratory Voyagers, the older E.T. civilizations with more advanced technologies must have faster and longer-ranged explorers. Could it be that some of those UFOs were indeed alien crafts?

Galactic space, which hinders communication with the E.T. is an even more formidable barrier to spacecrafts. Helios 2, the fastest man-made flying machine, attained the top speed of Mach 227.3 as it orbited near the sun. Even assuming that a technologically advanced E.T. spacecraft could travel at Mach 1000, or 1000 times faster than the speed of sound, it would still take 9000 years to cross the distance of 10.4 light-years. This is the distance between earth and the nearest planet outside our solar system. The farthest known planet, within our Milky Way galaxy, is 17,000 light-years away.

THERE  MAY be thousands of E.T. civilizations out there. Many of these E.T.s are much older than ours and most  probably are much more intelligent and have developed far advanced technologies. Fortunately or unfortunately, great distances separate us. They may never communicate with us, much less visit or invade us, in flying objects, unindentified or otherwise.