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The H1N1 flu virus has triggered some sort of global panic. Governments issue serious warnings about the need to take efforts to prevent and detect early symptoms of persons suspected of suffering from the virus. But last Friday when I traveled to Ilocos Norte, I noticed how little attention we give to protecting ourselves. Airline passengers weren’t wearing face masks, perhaps because we believe the virus could only come from someone traveling from abroad, especially from countries where there are already cases of H1N1.
A handful of people were wearing protective masks but not much attention was given to them. Some say Filipinos don’t need to be so worried about catching the virus because we are used to moving around in an environment surrounding with dirt.
When we landed in Manila last Friday, I could clearly the smog hovering in the skyline of Metro Manila where air is no longer that safe to breathe. I fear that we’ll have the same experiencei in Cebu if we continue treating the environment the way we do.
If we continue to be complacent, our skyline will show that it’s no longer clean enough to breathe. We urgently need to be vigilant in order to protect our environment from harmful products and materials.
The trip to Ilocos Norte showed us how windmills and mini-hydro plants produce electricity. Mind you, these are two of the cleanest sources of power - what we called renewable energy. In Bangui, Ilocos Norte we saw at close range 30 windmills run by Northwind Power. We were impressed by the huge windmills only to realize that it is very expensive to build and fully depends on wind to produce electricity. In Bangui, we were told that the wind is intermittent and therefore not reliable. That the windmill company has to to network or connect with the National Power Corportation so that when there is not much wind available, NPC can immediately cover the shortfall.
Northwind Power took three years to test the wind velocity in the area. I think that should also be done in the two Cebu sites seen as potential locations for windmills. The mini-hydro power plant is a very good source of power but it needs a big source of water to make the project feasible.
The other potential source of renewable energy is solar power but today , it’s still very costly to use. It’s not the end of the world. I believe that with government assistance, NGOs may be able to manufacture solar panels with tremendouse capacity that makes it feasibile to tap the solar energy in households and offices.
All the alternatives we studied were costly options and thus may not be viable today unless the government steps up. In Pangan-an island off Mactan, Cebu, solar energy is so expensive the community pays a hefty sum for its use. I guess when it comes to the Cebuano public, the price for renewable energy is not yet acceptable.
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The controversy involving Dr. Hayden Kho and Katrina Halili has become a phenomenon. It seems everybody is looking for a copy of the video tape of their sex escapades. I have not seen the videotape and am not interested to see one in order not to encourage sick people from recording their trysts to the detriment of the women partner.
It’s been reported that Kho privately taped sex videos of many other women, including a classmate in medical school who is now a model and a Brazilian girl. Many wonder what drove him to do this, including recording intimate sessions with his ex-girlfriend Dr. Vicky Belo. If the reports are to be believed, Hayden has about 40 sex videos of him with different partners.
Some say he is psychologically distrubed to have done this. No right-thinking person would record his sexual encounters knowing fully well the danger that the tapes may fall into the wrong hands. The other important thing to remember is the right to privacy of the partners. Sex is a matter better left between couples in the room.
After the public frenzy was set off by the privilege speech of Sen. Bong Revilla, the next question is what are government agencies doing to protect women from the indiscretions of our macho men?
Women are helpless in a society where gender bias is so prevalent despite efforts of many advocacy groups to empower females and have them treated as human beings with dignity.
Viewing a copy of the Kho-Halili sex video is an example of the gender bias against women. Some quarters are blaming the actress for engaging in sex with Hayden Kho in the first place. That kind of attitude shows again our gender bias. We must bear in mind that women are the victims here.
