Rey Saludar: Our Third Gold Medalist in the Asian Games

Bowling. Billiards. Boxing.  The three sports that gave us one gold medal each in this year's Asian Games.  Rey Saludar won the gold in the 52kg division besting a Chinese bet!  It was to be the final gold medal for our country.  That is not a surprise since our country has a rich history of champion boxers!  I just hope this win could help Rey Saludar parlay it into a more profitable career as a professional boxer in the future!

Dennis Orcollo: Guangzhou Asian Games 2010 Second Filipino Gold Medalist

It's not surprising that we won our second gold medal in billiards.  In the 9-ball Men's Singles, the gold was contested between two Filipinos, with Dennis Orcollo winning the gold and Warren Kiamco, the silver.  Unfortunately, billiards is not an Olympic sport so that elusive Olympic gold is still a pipe dream.

On Heroes Like Zhao Lianhai

He's not Filipino but I've always wanted to feature people who are heroes, regardless of their nationality.  I read an article today about what this guy did - he took up the cudgels of all the parents whose children figured in that melamine tainted milk in China.  His efforts paid off as the milk was recalled and the people behind it were jailed.  However, when Zhao stepped up his efforts and now started asking the government for more compensation for the children affected, that's when the Chinese government put its foot down and jailed the poor Zhao.  That thing also happens here in the Philippines - especially during the Marcos and Arroyo administrations.  The whistleblowers get shot themselves!  Nevertheless, like Zhao, I praise them for their courage and I hope those on the sidelines can take the cudgels for him and pressure the normally tightly clenched Chinese government to see that Zhao indeed also has a point - precisely because Chinese children were affected in this case - their country's greatest asset.

Greenpeace's Rainbow Warrior Visits Manila

I myself am sometimes turned off by the shock tactics employed by Greenpeace to further the cause of the environment, but I realized later that it's all for our own good anyway, and at least, there's a group of people who really care for the environment, and if a shock tactic is something that can get the attention of normally, staid governments, so be it.

Here in the Philippines, the group is campaigning for a targeted 50% renewable energy source use by 2020 - a target, I think, which is achievable, since our country is rich in natural resources.  We can use solar power, wind power, hydroelectric power and geothermal power - in a way, we have it all!  If we only have the government will power to harness all of them, then, we are on the road to meeting our renewable source energy targets. 

It's A Shame That It's Our Poor Who Are Sustaining Our Economy

The past administration have called our OFWs 'heroes', which they rightly are, but it is a great shame for our society to face that it is our poor who are actually sustaining our economy and keeping it afloat - since we don't have a strong manufacturing or industrial sector.  I don't know how strong our agriculture and fishing sector are - but gauging from how many of the young want to go in that direction - I don't think it's something we can be proud of.  It is the monthly padala of our OFWs that have kept everything up and about - and at least now - with more confidence in PNoy's government - foreign investors are once again eyeing us in terms of capital inflow in our stock market and investments in our economy.  We are just too dependent on the OFW remittances and it's time we slowly build a stronger economy, that which actually makes things or at least offer services that the world needs - something that today's BPOs are currently doing.