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MANILA: Of course you can make responsible business out of climate change, such as in producing, processing and pushing any or all of these: drought-resistant and flood-tolerant crop varieties, irrigation-saving technologies, water-harvesting technologies, and building watersheds. So I was interested in reading, just now, early morning of Tuesday, 03 May 2016, when I saw the "Responsible Business Forum" Facebook post of Bruce Tolentino, the roving IRRI Deputy Director General for Communication & Partnerships, on "Recommendations of the Responsible Business Forum (Jakarta, April 25-26) on RICE." So I clicked the link – http://asean-csr-network.org/c/responsible-business-forum  – and read the final recommendations. I was thinking of my own idea of  development agriculture  (visit my  INA DAGA,  blogspot.com ). But first, what is it all about? The webpage says ( asean-csr-network.org ): The Asean Responsible Business Forum (is) a regional platform that (brought) to

MANILA: Global warming. Look at the image above; this is the Bad Earth. You and I feel the heat, and you can't help it. The rice farmers feel the devastating effects of the drought, and they think they can't help it. They can, but they don't know how – nobody is teaching them. Not the Department of Agriculture (DA). Well, I don’t know why the DA isn't teaching the farmers what can be done to make a Good Earth. To make a Bad Earth like that, it's easy: just neglect it. (Image from Keith Bacongco, 08 April 2016,  ucanews.com ) The clue is this: It's May, and in the Philippines we expect the rains this month. And when the rain comes, we must harvest the rainwater. Then we will see the Good Earth. Not today. It's too late for the crop that could have been harvested this month or last. Because the farmers whom we failed to teach did not anticipate the devastating effect of the drought. On record, as early as May 2014, the weather bureau Pagasa warned of the comin

MANILA: No, what Mar Roxas said was not a misquote – read on and improve your vocabulary today, courtesy of a supporter of Mar Roxas & Leni Robredo. (Image from  Post Midnight Thoughts,  wordpress.com , but which I posterized.) Miriam Defensor-Santiago: "In all these years, you have been shaped by the elitist background from which you come and in which you operate. Do you not think that the path has been too narrow to be able to become the President of the Philippines?" Mar Roxas: "As Batman said, it is not important how you came into this world. What is important is what you did with your life." The exchange occurred during the presidential debate  PiliPinas  on Sunday, 24 April 2016 at the PHINMA University of Pangasinan in Dagupan City (ANN, 25 April 2016,  Coconuts Manila,   manila.coconuts.co ). ANN (author not named) says in the title of the news item, "Mar Roxas misquotes Batman in presidential debate, this is the correct version." Right after t

MANILA: Raissa Robles I believe does not believe in Mar Roxas, to say the least, but I thank her for the photograph above ( raissarobles.com  dated 2014). Thank you Raissa for the photo – it's a perfect image with which I wish to say, "Mar Roxas has been happily carrying the burden of agriculture since at least August 2014." But before that, let me quote Raissa on a positive as well as a negative note: On the face of it, Mar Roxas has the intellectual credentials to run a complex government in the 21st century. He is Wharton-educated. He was once an investment banker who put together successful deals... But let's face it. Mar Roxas is not exciting. The majority who are poor cannot relate to him, perhaps because he lacks a believable narrative for them. Thank you Raissa for saying Mar Roxas has the intellectual credentials to be President! Mar Roxas is not exciting. No Raissa, he isn't. He isn't grandstanding. He isn't lying through his teeth. He doesn'