Food or Fuel?

Last June, we had a forum on "Food or Fuel, friends or foes?"

With the present economic condition of the country, our university has been and will always be aware of what is happening and doing actions to help alleviate the problems. Among these are the fora in different issues. Several government agencies attended together with the researchers and scientists in the university. The students were also there to hear both sides of the issue and ask for questions.

One of the speakers said that there is nothing to argue whether food or fuel even with the present situation because it should be food and fuel. We need fuel to cook our food. We need food to survive. There was also a speaker who said that the results of his research proved that Jatropha should not be used as bio fuel. There was one who suggested that we can ask for our indigenous people to plant Jatropha in their areas and they will sell it to us for lower price because these people are not hungry of money. My seatmate reacted to that and he told me that we will be exploiting our indigenous people if we will do that suggestion which is not really good.

Another spokesperson said that we have plenty of fuel resources, the government only needs to tap these. Also, it had been said in the news that our agricultural lands are being replaced by bio fuel plants and that is why many are against bio fuels. The speaker corrected that issue and said that they will not be using agricultural lands, instead they will utilize the unused lands to plant Jatropha.

Oil price hike leads to increase in fare and prices of other commodities. With the increasing price of rice in the market, it looks like there is rice shortage but many are saying there is rice hoarding. The prices are high but the salaries and wages are not going higher. The typhoons happening in the country just worsened the situation.

Again, it should not be food or fuel, indeed it should be FOOD AND FUEL.

Incentives

In economics, there is theory of incentives on solving social and economic issues like giving incentives to small size families to alleviate population problem, giving free green bags to shopping center customers to promote environment protection, and deduction on taxes to taxpayers who pay on time.

Incentives do not only work in economics. These are very effective in enhancing the academic performance of the students in class. When teachers give extra points for students with no late and perfect attendance, the students will be encouraged to comply to these requirements. In attending seminars and fora, without bonus points, there will only be few students who will have the willingness to attend such events. in that way, they will not only earn bonus points, they will also learn new insights and acquire more knowledge aside from what they learn inside the classroom. If the teacher announces beforehand about the forthcoming exam, more students will be prepared and their grades are better than the unannounced exam. However, there are times that these incentives are not good like when the student knows that the teacher will give bonus points, he will not study more because he depends on the incentives, that he will pass the exam because of the bonus points. Other teachers also give bonus problems related to the topics and those can not just be mere bonus problems because those need some effort. Another teacher, for the bonus questions, asked what is her full name, age, room number, and address.

Lastly, incentives are also useful at home. When parents motivate their children to do well in school, they use positive reinforcement rather than punishments. They will reward their children to inspire them to do well and to do more so that they will receive more and more benefits. An example of this is the parents will promise to their child that they will give her the doll she wants to have if she will get a high score in her exam. Or if the child is an adolescent, the parents may offer him for a new phone if he is among the top students in class.

Incentives are very useful. However, these must be use in a right way and right time for these to be effective.

Tourism of today

The country spends much for advertising the beautiful spots in the Philippines, to promote tourism and attract the foreigners, and to uplift the economic status of the country. In a TV commercial, it was said that the tourism industry provides many jobs... the hotels, restaurants, resorts, and others. In Boracay alone, many people invest in hotels and bars.

Few years back up to present, there are countless incidents that threatened the foreigners and as well as the economy. The peace and order, the lack of understanding among government officials, and the cases filed against high ranking government authorities are just some of the reasons why investors and tourists refuse to go to our country. On the television, we can see journalists being kidnapped and these are not only local journalists, these are also foreign newsmen.

Graft and corruption is rampant. Dishonesty. Lies.

How can they trust us if some of our fellowmen can not be trusted?

How can we promote that our country, filled with natural resources, is the best place to live in?

With the present economic status and the peace and order situation in the country, the question is, do we need to spend more on advertising our country?