Musings of Don Kishote….

That’s the vision founders of OFW Net Foundation and OFW International Holdings shared to invited guests and community leaders in Jeddah who attended its first meeting in Harry Ramsden Restaurant on Thursday night.

The OFW Bank, when in operation in 2006, will be “fully owned and patronized by OFWs themselves… it is envisioned to be the ’sweetest fruit and nectar’ of the sweat, and sacrifices of Filipinos who ventured to work outside of their mother country because of economic hardships.”
http://www.theofwonline.com/STORIES/z_ofw_bank.htm

A leader of an umbrella organization of licensed recruitment agencies on Monday asked lawmakers to carefully study the proposals to put up a bank for overseas Filipino workers.

Lita Hizon, chairman of the Federated Association of Manpower Exporters, expressed her reservations to the pending bill at the Senate and House of Representatives for an OFW bank.

Hizon said she fears that the propose OFW bank would suffer the consequence that befell other commercial banks that collapsed due to bad loans.
http://www.gmanews.tv/story/84166/Recruitment-leader-raises-fear-on-OFW-bank-creation

“The government-controlled Land Bank of the Philippines has expressed interest in managing the proposed OFW bank that will be known as the …
http://globalnation.inquirer.net/news/breakingnews/view/20080310-123935/Recruiters-back-OFW-bank

A big group of recruitment agencies has expressed its support to the proposed a bank exclusively for overseas Filipino workers.

Jackson Gan, vice president of the Federate Association of Manpower Exporters (FAME), said it is right time to create an “OFW Bank” to protect the remittances of OFWs as the US dollar getting weaker against the Philippine peso.
http://kakammpi-news.blogspot.com/2008/04/ofw-bank-gains-support-among-recruiters.html

Roque, who rose from the ranks at the OWWA, was responsible for a number of service improvements involving the special needs of more than eight million overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) whose yearly remittances have been helping shore up the national economy.

Notable among these service improvements are repatriation of thousands of OFWs, including undocumented ones, from strife-torn host countries, and the transformation of the Philippine Postal Bank into an OFW Bank.  
http://www.owwa.gov.ph/article/articleview/190/1/8

Jinggoy seeks establishment of OFW bank

TO help overseas Filipino workers save on costs of remittance transactions and to enable them to manage their money more effectively, opposition stalwart Senator Jinggoy Estrada is seeking the establishment of the Philippine Overseas Workers Bank.
http://www.senate.gov.ph/press_release/2007/0715_estradaj1.asp

VILLAR: CREATION OF OFW BANK, LONG OVERDUE
Has long sought for the creation of the Philippine Overseas Workers Bank through Senate Bill 639

Senator Manny Villar, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Finance, says that its about time the government finally establish a bank that will cater solely to the financial requirements of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs).
http://www.senate.gov.ph/press_release/2006/0410_villar1.asp

LBP, DBP eye OFW Bank
By Eileen A. Mencias
Land Bank of the Philippines and the Development Bank of the Philippines are interested in taking over the management of Philippine Postal Savings Bank, which Malacañang wants to repackage as the OFW Bank.
http://www.manilastandardtoday.com/?page=business01_may13_2006

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) supports the idea of putting up a bank that would cater to the needs of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs).

Monetary Board member Vicente Valdepenas urged the OFW groups that intend to enter into a banking business to prepare all the necessary requirements.
http://www.newsflash.org/2004/02/be/be003188.htm

Lamberte proposed setting up an OFW Bank which, he said, is not a bank only for OFWs, but a regular bank that provides financial services to both OFWs and non-OFWs. http://www.philippinestoday.net/May2002/prelease3_502.htm

After 300 years of colonization, the only legacy Spain left to us is our indolence and doubtful national identity. The Americans, in just a quarter of a century, did better in introducing us to the modern world and paved the way for mass education of Filipinos, and allowed the rise of Indio politicians and businesses.

The Americans would have like to keep us a protectorate or commonwealth like Guam, if not for some meztisos who thundered aloud that it is better to have a nation run like HELL by by the natives… And that is exactly what we got a century hence — HELL. a government run like hell by corrupt, greedy politicians.

Nationalist Filipinos (Americans call them leftist and communists) fought hard — from the mountains, to the streets, to the parliament —- to oppose American imperialism. This culminated in the Mt. Pinatubo-induced evacuation of American presence in the Philippines. Our nationalist brethren are such rabid anti-americans — and only anti-americans — that they can smell american imperialism 10,000 miles aways.

But why are our nationalist so quiet about another form of invasion or imperialism by a new breed of foreign powers?

I am talking about the blighting and suffocating presence of Chinese and Koreans in the Philippines.

First on the Chinese:

I can understand why our usual ‘anti-imperialism’ nationalists are quiet about Chinese commercial invasion of the country. You know why, it’s the ‘great leap forward’ camaraderie.

But how come that even the government is in cozy accommodation with the Chinese? In the name of foreign investment? How many Chinese-owned companies were accused of anti-labor practices and abuses? How many underground pirated CD machines were Chinese-operated? Triad? Illegal fishing? Shabu lab? NBN? ZTE?

I don’t understand why we immediately howl ‘imperialism’ against the US, and show apathy at the abuses we suffered from the Chinese-posing-as-investors in our own country.

Where are our nationalist to defend us against this oppression and modern day invasion by the power of investment that has reduced our nation to below-minimum-wage labor force, killed our retail trade and indigenous businesses, crafts and inventions…

The Chinese and Korean commercial imperialism are far more successful than the Japanese, American and Spanish combined.

Just look at African nations, where hordes of Chinese businesses overwhelmed the homegrown economy by dumping cheap, smuggled chinese goods into the unwitting nation, killing its local manufacturing capability and made it dependent on chinese products.

Now on the Koreans.

You know that Korea was Japan’s Worl War II colony. And their soldiers were conscripted into the Imperial Army and sent to the Philippines.

After the war, with American aids pouring and by the grit and determination of the Korean people, and unselfish contribution by their industrialists, the people’s patronization of their homemade products, they rose from the proverbial ashes of destruction to become one of Asia’s leading industrial economy, side-by-side with former colonizer Japan.  Koreans have overcome their colonial mentality and came out of two wars like roaring tigers in rebuilding their economy.

I have nothing, really, about the Korean’s love for our country. In some ways, their investments and tourists contribute something by 0.001 percent to our economy. the Koreans are poised to dislodged the Chinese in being the urban blight in our towns and cities.

The first presence of Korean big business in the Philippines started in the 70s (i assume) under the construction company Green Trans-Asia Engineering. They specialized in doing business in Mindanao.  They built most of the Mindanao highways, starting from Cotabato highways. Later on, GTA disappeared in public infrastructure scene. When it came back, it carried a new name - Hanjin. It became the favorite roads-and-bridges contractor because it is the only one that can offer the lowest bid. And it is the only foreign construction company that is lovestruck with Mindanao

Both Hanjin and GTA were hounded by rumours about its side project — treasure hunting. there were stories about the company taking on a project at lowest bid. Then it will build side projects like some diversion roads and do some excavation, Later, the excavation will be abandoned and the diversion road left unfinished after they have supposedly recovered something in the side project.

Koreans have also abused our immigration law by using religious cover in bringing Koreans in the guise of missionary workers.

Take for example this Emmanuel Mission School. This is a Korean-run missionary project. At first, Korean missionaries come and preach and establish their local community members.They usually build small schools and churches. Then they acquire some properties under the church name and built into this, hostel for visiting Koreans. They even have a school bus.

Sure, there is nothing wrong with it. But wait, since when did a religious mission school hosted Koreans whose obvious objective into the country is purely tourism? You will see the bus full of Koreans going into the mall or into the golf course. And not doing any preaching at all. Just plain tourists. And their local members? Servants…

Then there is the chicken-pox-like growth of Korean-owned retail stores stocked with Korean consumer goods, from electronics, to textiles, to food items. These reminded me during the heyday of the barter trade. Now our markets our flooded with cheap Chinese and Korean goods, effectively killing our small manufacturers and local producers. These Korean businesses operate with impunity that they can maltreat their employees —- sub-standard working and living condition and utterly low salary which is often delayed for 3 months —- with neither LGU, DTI or DOLE doing something against it.

They also overtook the Chinese and Japanese when it comes to dumping of old (used) cars in the country. In every city in the country, you will see a lot of open garages selling used Korean cars. Was there any revenue to the government on this dumping?? We didn’t hear any whimper from Customs and DTI about these cars They might as well build a car factory in Mindanao, or operate a junk metal recycling factory.

Such is the impunity of the Koreans in flaunting their influence in our midst that they can abuse government officials and ignore ordinances, like those incidents in Davao City.

And to top it all, even our mass media was also successfully invaded by the jewel of the Palace thru the charm of Dae Jang Geum. Colonial mentality.

The big question is, Will our economy collapse without these Korean and Chinese investments and tourists?? Are we that desperate for their investments and tourists that we can turn a blind eye on their excesses and abuses?

Why are we afraid to slap the full force of the law on these erring tourists and illegal foreign-owned businesses, or travel agency-masquerading-as-missionary-work?

If Chinese and Koreans, or any other nationality, would want to do business in the Philipines, they must do so by complying with our laws. After all, if they are located on designated economic/industrial zones, they are amply protected and liberally given business privileges.

We have become insecure, and even abused, right in our own backyards. Bombarded with this ‘foreign-is-better’ mentality, we are steadily losing our sense of national pride and patriotism. It has come to the point that we are more proud as Filipinos when we are overseas, than when we are back home. Now, i understand why a college-grad filipino would endure abuse and humiliation working for 200 USD overseas — to escape the same abuse and humiliation from foreigners in the Philippines.

And so, the exodus continues…

We have become a nation of ‘used’ products. ‘Used clothings’, ‘used cars’ and ‘used’ national identity.

After you read this blog, count how many retails stores are operated wholly by Koreans and Chinese in your town. Ask how they pay and treat their employees…

According to some bar revew centers, there is. And they call it the Lex Pareto Notes, using the Pareto principle. Thanks to Atty. Zodiac and Atty. Pareto for contributing this info in the original Pinoylaw.com Message board.

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LEGAL ETHICS

Did you know that 34 % of the bar exams in legal ethics for the past 15 years, is taken from the Code of professional responsibility ?

Did you know that 78 % of the questions asked in the Code of Professional responsibility comes from Chapter 1 and Chapter 4 of said code ?

Did you know that out of 52 questions taken from the Rules of court, 29 are asked from RULE 138 for the past 15 years ?

Did you know that the “COMPLAINT” is the most favorite form asked in PRACTICAL EXERCISES, and that it has been asked for 20 times in the past 15 years ?

CRIMINAL LAW

Did you know that 77 % of the criminal law exam is taken from the revised penal code, 19 % from Special penal laws and other matters compose only 4 %

Observations on book 2 of the revised Penal code:

Book 2 has a total of 253 articles of which only 75 are asked (About 30 %)

These 75 Articles are asked 211 times

Out of the 211 times these articles were asked 178 (84 %) were taken from those articles that were asked at least twice.

The most asked crime was on murder, followed by homicide, estafa, robbery with violence against persons.

REMEDIAL LAW

GENERAL OBSERVATIONS ON QUESTIONS TAKEN FROM CIVIL PROCEDURE FOR THE PAST 15 YEARS:

1.) Civil procedure has 56 Rules. Out of these 56 Rules, 33 were asked.

2.) About 150 questions were taken out of these 33 Rules

3.) Of the 150 questions asked, 82 % were derived from only 14 Rules.

4.) These 14 Rules represents only 25 % of the total number of rules in Civil
procedure.

5.) The most asked article was on Rule 9 entitled “Effect of failure to plead” followed by Rule 6 “Pleadings”, Rule 3 “Parties to a civil action”, Rule 2 “Cause of action”, Rule 39 “Execution of judgment” and so on. It can be noticed that there is a very good reason why such rules were those that were frequently asked. These rules walks you to the process of a civil action. (Pleadings, parties, cause of action etc.)

CIVIL LAW

Did you know that the most asked book in the Civil law exam is Book 4 ? Book 4 (Obligations and contracts, Special contracts) consist of about 46 % of the exam in civil law ?

Did you know that 14 % of the questions asked in book 4 is about obligations ?

Did you know that 77 % of the questions taken from Book 1 are taken from the Family code ?

TAXATION

Income taxation, Remedies and General principles constitutes 85 % of the exam in taxation for the past 7 years.

MERCANTILE LAW

The corporation code, Negotiable instrument, Insurance code, securities regulation code, transportation laws, banking laws, maritime commerce and the civil code make up 85 % of the exams on mercantile law.
The other 15 % is composed of other special laws namely:

Asked more 9 times or more for the past 15 years:

- Intellectual property law
- Bulk sales law
- Insolvency law
- Chattel mortgage law
- Retail trade liberalization law

Asked less than 5 times for the past 15 years:

- Trust receipts law
- Letters of credit
- Anti-dummy act
- Flag law
- Electric power industry reform act
- Public service law
- Foreign investment act
- Investor’s lease act
- Constitution
- Other applied provisions of the code of commerce.

So what does the “Pareto principle” really mean ?

The 80/20 Rule means that in everything there is a “vital a few” (20 percent) that results in the “trivial many” (80 percent) For Pareto it meant 20 percent of the people owned 80 percent of the wealth. In Juran’s work he identified 20 percent of the defects causing 80 percent of the problems Project managers know that about 20 percent of the work consume 80 percent of time and resources. 80 percent of company sales will come from 20 percent of the sales people. 20 percent of the employee will cause 80 percent of the problems. The 80/20 Rule applies to almost anything, from management to science. So why can’t we apply it in preparations for the bar exam?

How can observing the Pareto principle in the bar exam help you ?

The value of the Pareto Principle for a bar candidate is that it reminds you where to focus your study on. Of all the laws that you have studied and read, only 20 percent really matter in the bar exams. Those 20 percent make up 80 percent of the bar exam questions. With this in mind a bar candidate should spend 80 % of his time studying the vital 20 %.

Some people say that we should not study hard but that we should study hard. Definitely that is true, however we should remember that it is more important to study smart on the right things.

Does the bar exam have a pattern ?

“Quantum mechanics is certainly imposing. But an inner voice tells me that it is not yet the real thing. The theory says a lot, but does not really bring us any closer to the secret of the Old One. I, at any rate, am convinced that He does not throw dice.” – Albert Einstein

Whether we agree or not, we live in a world of order. Our world follows a set of rules and principles. The sun and moon just does not rise and set randomly, it follows a certain pattern. Seasons goes through certain cycles. What goes up must come down, and for every action there is always an equal and opposite reaction.

Even how chaotic a system might be, there is always a certain “order” to it. Einstein’s quote above is often paraphrased as “God does not play dice with the universe”

To recognize the existence of such patterns and to make use of them will be certainly to our advantage.

In our study of law it cannot be denied that the preparations for the bar exams is given primordial concern. Preparing for the bar is not an easy task. Wouldn’t it be great if we would know in advance what particular article or subject area we should study? Is it even possible to know this?

The answer may be a yes or no. The science of probability and statistics is not an exact science. However it more or less gives us a general idea on things on what would be, though not what should be.

For this reason a group of lawyers and law students has developed a five volume reviewer for the bar exams called the “LEX PARETO NOTES”

What is the “Lex Pareto notes” and why call is called such ?

A famous bar reviewer once said, that only 25 % of the articles in the Civil code are going to be asked in the bar exams. The rest of the 75 % will never be asked or if they will be, they will seldom be asked. He quipped “Magiging ka tawa-tawa ang bar exam pag kinuha sa 75 % sa civil code ang mga questions.”

Prof. Abelardo Domondon, a very well known bar reviewer said that he topped the bar because he studied the previous bar exam questions and saw a “pattern” in the questions that are being asked. He even showed evidence concerning this matter.

This is what the Lex Pareto Notes is all about. The Lex Pareto Notes is based on the foundation laid down by Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto. If Pareto were alive today he could say that 20 % of the law are the questions that will most likely be asked in the bar exams, while approximately 80 % of it will rarely be asked or never asked at all.

Who is Pareto anyway ?

Vilfredo Pareto is an Italian economist. In 1906 he observed that twenty percent of the people owned eighty percent of the wealth. Through that he created a mathematical formula to describe the unequal distribution of wealth in his country. After Pareto made his observation and created his formula, many others observed similar phenomena in their own areas of expertise. In the late 1940s, Dr. Joseph M. Juran a quality management pioneer based in the U.S attributed the 80/20 Rule to Pareto, calling it Pareto’s Principle. Dr. Juran reduced this universal principle into writing and gave another term for it the “Vital few, trivial many” principle.

So what does the “Pareto principle” really mean ?

The 80/20 Rule means that in anything a few (20 percent) are vital and many (80 percent) are trivial. For Pareto it meant 20 percent of the people owned 80 percent of the wealth. In Juran’s work he identified 20 percent of the defects causing 80 percent of the problems Project managers know that about 20 percent of the work consume 80 percent of time and resources. 80 percent of company sales will come from 20 percent of the sales people. 20 percent of the employee will cause 80 percent of the problems. The 80/20 Rule applies to almost anything, from management to the science. So why can’t we apply it in preparations for the bar exam?

How can observing the Pareto principle in the bar exam help you ?

The value of the Pareto Principle for a bar candidate is that it reminds you where to focus your study on. Of all the laws that you have studied and read, only 20 percent really matter in the bar exams. Those 20 percent make up 80 percent of the bar exam questions. With this in mind, a bar candidate should spend 80 % of his time studying the vital 20 %.

Some people say that we should not study hard but that we should study hard. Definitely that is true, however we should remember that it is more important to study smart on the right things.

The five volume work contains, graphs, statistics on how many times a question has been asked on a particular article. It will point out the applicability of the Pareto law in the bar exam questions. It also discusses the doctrines that were asked in the bar exams. The first four volumes corresponds to the subjects that will be given for the 4 Sundays of the bar exams. Volume 1 will be on Political law and Labor law. Volume 2 will be on Civil law and TAXATION. Volume 3 will be about Mercantile law and Criminal law while Volume 4 will be on Remedial law and Legal Ethics and Practical exercises. Volume 5 will be all about bar questions from 1990 to 2006 and other information on bar preparations.

For more information on where to buy the LEX PARETO NOTES 2007 edition and other information check out their website at www.lexparetonotes.8m.com.

REFERENCE:

Pinoylaw.com Message Board

Teen girl’s upside-down feet treated in NYC surgery

In my previous blogs, i was ranting about the government’s inefficent program on rice research towards self-sufficiency.

Ok, so now even Jollibee confirms the rice shortage by offering half-serving of of the usual rice. This is not a joke anymore. And with 100 million filipinos in the next five years, rice shortage, or food shortage, is looming specter.

Jollibee aside, the latest news on the government’s attempt to encourage filipinos to look for altenative to rice is by way of PGMA’s endorsement of the Cebuano’s saksak-sinagol food, a combination of rice and camote.

In Basilan and Tawi-tawi, the locals are using cassava, instead of rice, as the major staple food.

Outside of Philippine rural areas, urban Filipinos knows of camote only as camote cue, and cassava, being a poor man’s rice.

Here in Nigeria, a country of 141 million people, rice has never been an issue. While they eat rice, but their main staple food is the Yam (Dioscorea rotunda). Yam is a tuber, belonging to the family of gabi and ube. It can be stored for at least six months without spoiling.

Yam is a versatile tuber. In can be cooked (boiled), roasted/grilled, or pounded.

The one type of cooking yam that i like is the pounded yam. I ate 2 serving of pounded yam with vegetable stew for my lunch. I didn’t feel any hunger well into the night.  That’s how heavy the food is. It tastes good also. During Sundays, we will have yam chips (fried yam cut in small slices like potato fries) with Star or Gulder.

I think yam (aside from camote and cassava) could be a great alternative to rice consumption in the Philippines. It can be grown easily in the country and the productivity of the plant is far greater than the rice production. And it is also easy to plant and propagate. It does not need fertilizer or insecticide — unless the insecticide companies will start developing strains of pests that will attack yams… Walla.

Besides, African yam has more nutrients than the well-milled rice. According to Wikipedia:

Yams are high in Vitamin C, dietary fiber, Vitamin B6, potassium, and manganese; while being low in saturated fat and sodium. Vitamin C, dietary fiber and Vitamin B6 may all promote good health. Furthermore, a product that is high in potassium and low in sodium is likely to produce a good potassium-sodium balance in the human body, and so protect against osteoporosis and heart disease. Having a low level of saturated fat is also helpful for protection against heart disease.

Yam products generally have a lower glycemic index than potato products, which means that they will provide a more sustained form of energy, and give better protection against obesity and diabetes.

Another crop that should be given support on food processing is cassava. Aside from the way we usually it cassava in the Philippines (boiled), Africans pound it and then cook it into sticky mash they call “Eba”. Eba is as versatile as pounded yam when it comes to mixes with other food like various type of stews.

When i have enough money, i am going to put a ‘no-rice’ restaurant in my village that promotes yam (or any local variety), cassava and camote as the main menu to replace rice.

I tell you, eating sinugba or kinilaw with yam or eba should be more tasty and fulfilling than with rice. Estofado or pakbet with yam? paksiw and yam? menudo and yam?

Do you know why Africans are taller and have strong white teeth?? It is because of their diet which is heavy in yam, tomatoes and beans.

Seriously, i think the Dept of Agriculture should consider transplanting yam and promote its consumption, together with cassava and camote.

Yam, yum…

REFERENCE:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yam_(vegetable)