RH is unreasonably expensive!

By Fr. ROY CIMAGALA, roycimagala@gmail.com
October 6, 2011

NOW it can be told. And it needed Senator Lito Lapid who is supposed to be not known for his speaking prowess to get this data. The budget for the implementation of RH for the year 2012 alone is – hold your breath – P13.7B!

According to experts, that figure is even higher than the individual budgets of the departments of energy, finance, foreign affairs, justice, labor, science, tourism and trade. It’s even bigger than those proposed for the Office of the President and Congress, and the entire Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

OMG! What a waste of tax money that would be! What distorted sense of priority! And to think that the RH Bill does not even pass the preliminary smell test of morality, and the fact that many of its provisions are redundant since they are already covered in many other laws of the land!

We cannot help but suspect there’s something serious that is hidden under the beautiful features with which the RH is marketed to the public. We have to look more closely at this initiative now forcefully pushed by women senators with radical feminist agendas.

We already know that US Secretary Hillary Clinton admitted that RH by definition includes abortion. So even if our version does not include abortion yet, we can suspect that it would just be a matter of time before this evil gets legalized under RH. In fact, there are now many people in the country openly voicing their support for abortion.

We also know from some declassified document that the US has been eyeing the Philippines for quite sometime now for birth control. It’s part of the geo-political game that the US is playing.

That’s why our Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile is suspicious about the RH Bill as being not so much for reproductive health as a tool to effect birth and population control.

And under the current American leadership, there is also a strong lobby for RH not only in the US but also all over the world. In the US alone, part of the Obamacare program forces everyone to get medical insurance that includes paying for sterilization, contraception and even abortion – all against Catholic moral teaching.

This has led American bishops to call this Obamacare provision as an “unprecedented attack on religious liberty.” It is forcing Catholics to support something that is against their religion. It is not anymore tolerating people to do what they like, even if it is against religion. It is forcing them to support what is against their religion.

The current American scene seems to be drifting toward creating a welfare state, with the government taking a bigger role in people’s lives, clearly going against the social principles of common good, solidarity and subsidiarity. It is not only spoiling people. It is forcing people to get spoiled.

And to think that the American political leaders pride themselves of being the first promoters of democracy and religious freedom and teach other countries to follow them! They have to be clear about these in their own country first.

The Philippines would be in a funny situation if it would just blindly follow the American model of RH. That is why, we need to closely monitor the proceedings of the proposed legalization of the RH Bill. This issue has gone beyond the field of group advocacy. It has become a concern for all of us.

I would suggest that the true picture of the RH Bill be shown, discussed and, if need be, debated upon in schools, parishes, offices and even in families. We have to be warned about a subtle but persistent campaign to change the concept of morality itself and to recast the social principles that should govern our national life.

We are now entering a stage of world history where the issues that we need to resolve are not anymore strictly social, economic or political in nature. They now have a fundamentally moral character and they call for a fundamentally moral resolution.

We need to stop and reverse this slippery slope to a deeper secularized world culture that tackles human affairs from a restrictive frame of economics and politics alone, and ignoring the most basic aspect of religion and our inner beliefs.

I must say that we have been had for a long time by this questionable kind of culture that tends to separate reason from faith, science from religion, our human affairs from God. The state is made to conflict with the Church.

While there is distinction, there is also inherent connection between them!

Privilege Speech of Senator Alan Peter Cayetano
World Teacher’s Day
October 5, 2011

“For I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans to prosper you, and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

Mr. Senate President, distinguished colleagues, at sa lahat ng ating mga guro sa buong bansa, isang pagbati sa inyo ng magandang hapon, at Happy Teacher’s Day.

In Jeremiah 29:11, it talks about plans to prosper us. And when we talk about plans of prosperity, we talk about the future.

What future do we have to choose from? Do we choose this picture of a future where the family is together, where people are graduating, where people have jobs? Or, do we choose an alternative future – a future of poverty, of flooding, of people without jobs, and of children having to beg for food?

I don’t believe in crystal balls, in asking people to read your palms to know the future, Mr. President. But I do know that there is a means for us to find out what kind of future we will have. If we look at the teachers today, we will have our answer.

The kind of society we’ll have tomorrow will depend on the kind of teachers we have today.

Before I go further, I want to quote an article from Ms. Tarra Quismundo of the Philippine Daily Inquirer entitled “Latest pay hike, no relief for public school teachers” published last June. In this article, Ms. Quismundo narrated the sorry plight of a public school teacher, who, after dedicating almost three decades of his life to teaching, lived a life of financial struggles and difficulties. This, albeit the implementation of the latest round of salary increases that was approved during the Arroyo administration.

Mr. Rolando Malicdem has been a public school teacher at the General T. De Leon Elementary School in Valenzuela for 28 years. Now a widower, after his wife, a fellow teacher, died of breast cancer in April last year, he is now single-handedly raising his five children with a meager salary of a public school teacher. Indeed, after the P6,500 total pay increase, his gross salaries as reflected by his pay slips is P14,266. But after deductions, he is taking home a mere P5,252.

Mr. Malicdem tries to augment his salary by taking a sideline supplying snacks to the school canteen, which may make him earn P500 on a good week.

P5,252, plus P500 extra income per week, the total amount has to be divided among the needs of a family of six. Struggling to make both ends meet, the family of six lived in a cramped two-bedroom house.

Two of Mr. Malicdem’s children have already dropped out of college.

Clearly, non-wage incentives like MediCare, decent housing, education for their children and tax incentives are just a few things that we try to do but fail to amply provide for a public school teacher.

While this is just one story published in the Philippine Daily Inquirer, we have thousands and thousands of stories from our public school teachers all around the country. They all tell us the same thing.

I like this quote that goes “A good teacher is like a candle. It consumes itself to light the way for others.”

Unfortunately, in our country, this is both figuratively and rhetorically true. Ibig sabihin, Your Honor, ibinibigay ng isang guro ang sarili niya sa pagtuturo. This is the dismal situation of our teachers, while the great minds of our country owe their greatness to the teachers who gifted them with the knowledge to reach beyond what is average, our teachers struggle to live a decent life.

Your Honor, ang kinikita ng isang guro ngayon ay sapat lamang para buhayin ang sarili niya. Pero hindi po kaya ng isang sweldo ng teacher na buhayin at pag-aralin ang kanilang mga anak.

Just like Mr. Malicdem. Two of his children had to drop out of college.

What an irony. A person who is giving his life to teaching cannot even send his own children to school.

Teaching is the profession that teaches all other professions. Shouldn’t the great, if not the greatest importance be placed on it?

I’m biased, Mr. President, not only because my grandmother, Juliana Luna Cayetano, was a public school teacher all her life in Pateros Elementary School, or because my mother was a school directress and a teacher at the Ann Arbor Montessori School and other preschools in our country, but also because the Lord has used our teachers to make us what we are today.

Whether they taught us to be street smart, or they taught us science or mathematics, utang natin sa ating mga naging guro, sa labas man o sa loob ng classroom, kung sino po tayo ngayon.

We have at least 600,000 teachers.

According to the World Bank, in a study in 1998, the single most influential factor behind a student’s performance is the teacher. Teachers are shaping the minds of our elementary and high school students.

Ironically, Mr. President, again, the teachers are the victim of their own strength. Napakarami nating guro, kaya kung itataas ang sahod nila, parating ang sinasabi ay kulang ang pondo.

If you look at their salary now, based on the Salary Standardization Law 3, the average starting pay of a public school teacher is P17,099. Estimated take home pay after mandatory deductions such as PAGIBIG and GSIS, is P13,000.

Mr. President, kwentahin po natin.

Kung sa Metro Manila nakatira ang teacher na ‘yan, siguro pinakamura na ang P5,000 para sa isang bahay na isa lang ang kwarto. Buenas na siya kung dalawa ang kwarto. Ang matitira sa sweldo niya ay P8,000.

If they are six in the family, at a meager P50 a day for six people who will have to eat three times a day, that’s an additional expense of P4,500 in a month. Magkano na lang ang natira sa sweldo niya? P3,500 na lang. Walang pamasahe, walang pang-matrikula, bawal magkasakit at nagiging bawal bumili ng mga gamit ang mga bata.

Doon lang sa tubig, kuryente, pabahay at pagkain, ubos na ang P13,000 na binabayad natin sa isang guro.

Ngayon, pati ba naman chalk, ay kailangan sagutin pa din ng teacher? Binibigyan siya ng P700 yearly allowance para sa chalk, that’s only P3.50 a day.

Kung titingnan po natin ang sweldo ng mga guro natin, kung ikukumpara sa ating mga kapitbahay na bansa, mas mataas lang po tayo sa Cambodia at Indonesia. Lamang ang Japan, Korea, Malaysia, and, to a certain degree, mas mataas ang Thailand sa atin pero sa starting lang. Kapag 15 years na sa pagtuturo, naiiwanan na rin tayo.

Kaya, huwag tayong magtataka kung bakit sabi ng POEA noong 2010 na 882 na guro ang nag-desisyong tumigil sa pagtuturo at pumunta sa ibang bansa upang maging domestic helpers.

In addition to this perennial problem, the DepEd hired 22,000 additional teachers to teach preschool for the K+12 program. 3-4 hours lang ang pagtuturo nila kaya tinatawag din silang volunteers. But they’re only given P3,000 monthly allowance. Malayong-malayo sa P13,000 na sweldo ng mga guro.

The present number of preschool teachers is 29,615. Of this, only 2,200 hold permanent positions. That’s according to DepEd.

Sasabihin ko sana na dapat magpasa tayo ng batas para tulungan ang mga teachers. Pero ang RA 4670 o Magna Carta for Teachers, ay nandiyan na noong 1966 pa. At imbes na napaganda ang kalagayan ng ating mga guro, makalipas ang apatnapung taon, mukhang napapasama pa.

Ito ang sinasabi ko na nagiging biktima sila sa sarili nilang numero. Napakarami nating mga guro, halos 600,000. More than 500,000 are under DepEd alone. They’re about 1/3 of the members of the GSIS.

Teachers are required no more than six hours of actual classroom teaching a day, except when more hours is needed of them. Even then, it must not exceed 8 hours. Kung lalagpas, kailangan may additional compensation. However, at present, the average public school teacher, sometimes teaches up to four classes a day without additional compensation.

Mayroon namang na naiipatutupad sa Magna Carta: indefinite sick leave, study leave for teachers, overtime pays, special hardship, and one grade salary increase upon retirement. But why is it that despite the fact that the law has been there for more than 40 years there are still a lot that are not being implemented, like the transportation expenses for transfer, additional compensation for co-curricular and out of school activities, overtime pay for service rendered in excess of 8 hours a day, which should be at least 25% of their regular renumeration, medical examination and treatment of P500 a year, compensation for employment injuries, and reimbursement for travelling expenses in cases where there’s scarcity of medical facilities.

Mr. President, more than 500,000 public school teachers share the P41,935,000 that DepEd has for the medical and dental benefits promised in the Magna Carta. That’s only P83 for every teacher in a year.  Hindi pa sapat yan para sa x-ray na nire-require sa kanila taon-taon.

Mr. President, of course, the question is: what can be done?

I know that our committees are working overtime to make sure that the teachers get their benefits. Alam ko ang DBM, DepEd, naghahanap ng pondo. But, Mr. President, why can’t we see to it that what’s in the Magna Carta alone – the basic rights of public school teachers, are upheld?

Sa K+12 program, bakit natin pinayagan na kumuha ng ganoon kadaming preschool teachers kung ang ibibigay lang ay P3,000 na allowance?

From the government’s point of view, naiintindihan ko na walang pera ang DepEd para paswelduhan ng tama ang ating mga guro. Pero hindi ko din maintindihan kung bakit ang gobyerno na dapat pumoporotekta ng karapatan ng teachers ang siya na ring nagva-violate nito sa pamamagitan ng pagbibigay ng P3,000 lang na allowance. Why can’t we find the money to pay them correctly?

In Senate Bill 2353 and in the committee report last congress based on all the bills filed by almost all senators, we are calling for the increase in the pay of the teachers.

Kahit saan natin tingnan, kahit tingnan natin sa EDCOM, which came out with a recommendation more than ten years ago, dapat salary grade 17 ang mga guro. Sa lahat ng mga forum at international experts natin, ang sinasabi, sa ilalim ng Magna Carta, dapat katumbas ng isang tiniyente sa militar ang sahod ng isang guro. Yet, they’re still stuck in their present salary grade.

I know this will take some huge amounts, and I know that all of us here are concerned about teachers. But allow me, Mr. President, to be one with our colleagues to express our love for our teachers today.

Teachers are the backbone of our country’s future. Today on teacher’s day, I urge the Senate to work overtime and to look at the plight of our teachers. Hanapin natin – maging monetary or non-monetary – ang mga benepisyo pa na puwedeng maibigay sa ating mga teachers.

Again. Mr. President, we’re not doing this only for the teachers. We’re doing this for ourselves and for the future of our country.

The kind of future that we want to have tomorrow will be determined by the kind of teachers we have today.

Sa huli, gusto kong sabihin na wala sa atin na magsasabi sa ating mga anak: “Anak, huwag ka muna mag-aral. Kapag mayaman na tayo, saka ka na mag-aral.” Walang magulang ang magsasabi niyan. Baligtad nga ang sinasabi: “Anak, mag-aral ka nang mabuti para kapag nakapag-aral ka, aasenso tayo.”

How come our budget is not translating into that kind of principle? Why is it that our national budget is translating this message instead: “Huwag mo munang bigyan ng pera ang edukasyon, pabayaan mo muna naghihirap ang mga teachers. Kapag yumaman tayo, saka natin sila dagdagan ng sweldo.” Baligtad yata.

If we want our country to prosper, if we want a better future, then we have to start taking care of our teachers.

Magandang hapon at maraming salamat. God bless our teachers. God bless us all.

Thoughts on Sept. 21 and Sept. 11

By CHITO DELA TORRE, delatorrechito@yahoo.com
September 22, 2011

September 21 and September 11 have two commonalities: one, an event remembered yearly, and two, they struck uncertainty.

September 21 was yesterday, but it wasn’t about any of the big events that took place yesterday.  It continues to be remembered by Filipinos as the day when martial law in the Philippines was declared in 1972 by then President Ferdinand Edralin Marcos.  September 11 was more recent, and became more popularly referred to as the 9/11 attacks, on the United States of America.

In both, nobody was immediately certain why either of the events was happening and what would happen next.  Many hours afterwards, thoughts brewed up terrorism as behind each event, but even that thought was not intelligently acceptable.  Questions pummeled panic.

What I still couldn’t find answer to is how yesterday in 1972 constables and soldiers suddenly appeared in the streets shortly after martial law was proclaimed (in a document which was known as Proclamation1081)?  Did all the military commanders, up to the smallest unit, possess a communications unit such as our present cellular phone, which the chief of the armed forces had access to tell them all what to do with the civilian populations all over the Philippine archipelago?

Marcos’ command to the military was: “President of the Philippines, by virtue of the powers vested upon me by Article VII, Section 10, Paragraph ('2) of the Constitution, do hereby place the entire Philippines as defined in Article I, Section 1 of the Constitution under martial law and, in my capacity as their commander-in-chief, do hereby command the armed forces of the Philippines, to maintain law and order throughout the Philippines, prevent or suppress all forms of lawless violence as well as any act of insurrection or rebellion and to enforce obedience to all the laws and decrees, orders and regulations promulgated by me personally or upon my direction.

“In addition, I do hereby order that all persons presently detained, as well as all others who may hereafter be similarly detained for the crimes of insurrection or rebellion, and all other crimes and offenses committed in furtherance or on the occasion thereof, or incident thereto, or in connection therewith, for crimes against national security and the law of nations, crimes against public order, crimes involving usurpation of authority, rank, title and improper use of names, uniforms and insignia, crimes committed by public officers, and for such other crimes as will be enumerated in Orders that I shall subsequently promulgate, as well as crimes as a consequence of any violation of any decree, order or regulation promulgated by me personally or promulgated upon my direction shall be kept under detention until otherwise ordered released by me or by my duly designated representative.”

Proclamation 1081 summed up the justifications for martial law, thus: “the rebellion and armed action undertaken by these lawless elements of the communist and other armed aggrupations organized to overthrow the Republic of the Philippines by armed violence and force have assumed the magnitude of an actual state of war against our people and the Republic of the Philippines”.

Martial rule dominated for 8 years, 3 months and 26 days (not 27 days, as others thought!).  The Catholic Church seat at Vatican city-state had a word to its final repose.  Pope John Paul II (Karol Józef Wojtyła, a Slavic or Polish pope who lived from May 18, 1920 to April 2, 2005: he died at age 84) wished to visit the Philippines only if and when martial law no longer reigned.  Thus, on January 17, 1981, Marcos signed Proclamation 2045 effectively ending martial law.  [The pope had been on a Pastoral Visit in Pakistan, Philippines, Guam (USA), Japan and Anchorage (USA) during the period of from February 16 to 27 in 1981 in what was dubbed as his Apostolic Voyage 9.  He returned to the Philippines in 1995 to personally attend the 10th World Youth Day in Manila where, on Jan. 15, he officiated the holy mass at Rizal Park before 5 million crowd.]

For years, September 11 also became an event to many Filipinos. For the Marcos family, it was an exciting day.  On September 11, 1917, Ferdinand Marcos was born in Sarrat, Ilocos Norte as the first son and first child of lawyer-assemblyman Mariano Marcos and marm Josefa Quetulio Edralin.  [He was baptized as a follower of the Aglipayan church by no less than the founder this religious group (the first Filipino independent Catholic church), Gregorio Labayan Aglipay of Batac, Ilocos Norte.  He died on September 28, 1989 in Honolulu, Hawaii, USA.  (Sidebar: Aglipay, ordained priest by the Roman Catholic Church in 1898, was excommunicated by the Vatican and the Catholic Church in 1899 after he incited the clergy to rebel against the Church authorities.  On August 3, 1902, he founded the Iglesia Filipina Independiente in which he was named as its first supreme bishop. His Iglesia had its constitution approved on October 1, 1902, and on October 27, 1902, he celebrated his first mass.)]   September 11 also became the Alay Lakad day for the youths [to Warays, Baktas para ha Kabataan o Baktas Kabataan], as directed by Marcos.

A few weeks after the September 21 martial law proclamation, in my own hometown, a military officer reported to the authorities, as friends and relatives would tell me later, that I had gone into “hiding” in Balilit. [Pursuant to a Presidential Decree (one of the earliest of 2,034 PDs authored by Marcos) Balilit officially became a barangay known as Villa Aurora on part of a land inherited by my father from his mother located up north of Buenavista in Basey, Samar.] The tale said further that I hid with those who were among my recruits into the revolutionary movement.  The yarn was based on the fact of my activities as a youth activist then (with the Cebu-based Samahang Demokratiko ng Kabataan or SDK, persuaded to become a member by Adolfo”Boy” Larrazabal, an Ormocanon, and Jose Salzos of Mindano, both fellow students at Southwestern University) which enabled me to help convert the convent of the Saint Michael the Archangel parish church in Basey into our “camp” – thanks to then Fr. Anastacio Labutin, the parish priest – which in barely one year became the final stage for planning the first biggest demonstration held in Basey, at Baybay, where I spoke out the argumentation of my idol senator, Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jr., Marcos’ arch critic.  Months later, I was detained at the Army camp in Lahug, Cebu, separate from all the detainees.  From the date of my release and until I resigned from the Marcos government, I was placed under military surveillance.

‘Hot’ events, in hotter days

By CHITO DELA TORRE, delatorrechito@yahoo.com
September 18, 2011

Basey, Samar, once and for long the mother town of Tacloban highly urbanized city when it was then Kankabatok (a sitio of barrio Buscada, today the entry point to the town proper of Basey) is “getting hotter and hotter” as it nears its 420th September 28-29 annual festivities that are supposedly done as its people’s way of elaborately venerating Saint Michael the Archangel, their patron “saint” who, according to old tales, had been performing miracles to save their town from disasters and calamities.  That’s apart from the hot event today in Tacloban when members of PARDSS in Basey will join their Tacloban counterparts this mid-morning to “welcome” Mama Mary and then partake of a banquet in a get-together, says Ricky Bautista (he said he resigned as president of the PARDSS in Catbalogan and is now Basey PARDSS commander).

The hotter days ahead are so magnetic that enthusiasts leave their homes in different places around Region 8 to spend exciting moments in Basey.  Even Basaynons living abroad have started flying back home. Uncle Miguel Espina, for instance, left “Kataghuman” (America) early this month and last Thursday, he personally supervised the hanging of buntings or karay-karay (in some areas in the region, the word equivalent is karaykay).  He bought varicoloured bunting materials, had them sewed onto a nylon twine, and caused the long string of attractive buntings to produce a neat zigzag display from his Espina Bldg. (obviously the most beautiful skyscraper as of date in the town) to the buildings across San Roque street in Baybay (business section of the town that lies close to the seaside on the northeast). A basketball tournament continues to unfurl at the town’s gym.

By September 27, via the Banigan-Kawayan Festival 2011, the town will launch the first PAHINUNGOD – a tribute to Bungansakit, the beautiful (mabaysay, in the dialect) maiden from whose beauty Basey was said to have gotten its name (although this is debatable as some Basaynons had tried to clarify years ago) – in riverine village Magallanes.  There priests (Ely Solis and Andy Pacoli) will officiate the blessing of the so-called legendary and historical Bungansakit Well and Pamintu-ogon Tree, Magallanes punong barangay Lourdes Viojan will give a message, town officials (led by mayor Igmedio Junji E. Ponferrada, vice-mayor Raul Sendic Bajas and the sangguniang bayan members) will offer flowers to Bungansakit, Suguijon and the legendary/historical family. The floral offering will be followed by the unveiling of Bungansakit Well Development Plan, posoting of a copy of the Bungansakit Well Historical Landmark Ordinance 2011 of Basey, inspirational message by mayor Junji, formal presentation of the Guibaysayi and Suguijon pageant candidates, ceremonial coin-throwing to the Bungansakit Wishing Well by the general public, and closing remarks by vice-mayor Sendic.

Of course, Department of Tourism regional director Karina Rosa Tiopes and party will attend the elaborate ceremony.  Part 2 of that event will be the banquet on native delicacies – iraid, sinahog, put nga may kape, tableya (aw, tsokolate) o luy-a.  In the evening of Sept. 29, from 6 to 9, BARANDAHAY HA BASAY will wow audiences coming from all over the world. That‘s when music bands from various parts of Eastern Visayas will compete in the first regional open battle of the bands for Waray-Waray, local autonomy and environmental songs.  The event, to be held at the gym, was originally slated for tomorrow, Sept. 19 but had to be reset to fiesta day, Sept. 29.

Right in Basey last Thursday and Friday, as Baktas Kabub’wason Rural Workers Association officers discussed preparations for its September 27 annual general assembly, Baktas prexy Teodorico D. Porbus and second Tuba-Tuba advocate Domingo Oñate noted the extreme temperatures experienced during the passing week, that kept them and other agrarian farmer beneficiaries like them from toiling in their farms.  They noted the temperature rising between 32 and 39 degrees celsius by daytime, and lowering to an average of 30 by midnight.  Temperature from 1 a.m. to 3 a.m. last Friday played between 31 and 32 degrees celsius.  One noted the room temperature sticking up at 37°C then took the temperature in the open road at 3 p.m. – it was 40!!! and at the second floor of a relative’s house, it went much higher to 49!!!! and complained he got a severe headache after his head went awfully hot!

Baktas prexy Dioring remarked some people braving the hot days in the bald mountains would suffer from dehydration, such that they should be advised to take extra precautions by limiting their hard work or trek under the hot sun or by bringing plenty of drinking water.  For part, Doming said he could not imagine how the heat wave could affect Filipinos.

A Yahoo user remarked last Friday as the question was posed whether summers are getting hotter: "That is definitely happening here in Texas! Last winter was one of the snowiest, and this summer has had record breaking temperatures."  Meanwhile, OurAmazingPlanet posted in its blog site: "Sprawling Cities Getting Hotter Faster", saying: “The number of extreme hot summer days is increasing around the world with global warming, but sprawling cities are racking up these sweltering days faster than more compact cities are, a new study finds.

“This finding could be important to city planners, particularly because heat waves are a killer worldwide (heat waves kill more U.S. residents than any other natural disaster) and the number of hot days is expected to increase as climate change ramps up.”

Last Monday, Stephens said in the internet: “It doesn't occur to our team of scientists that the earth is preparing for the final days of history as we know it. It is preparing for millennial conditions – the bottomless pit is the same place as the deep void in the beginning.

“The earth is heating from within. Evidenced by increasing magma flows beneath Yellowstone. Evidenced by the increasing temperature of Kilimanjaro. And of course, evidenced by what is reported here.

“If you want to understand what is happening here, I suggest going to the source of information most true, The Holy Bible, King James preferably.”

Weather in Tacloban was reported at 33 degrees celsius last Friday and forecast on the maximum to be only 31 this morning but going higher to 32 this afternoon and decreasing to 27 tonight (September 18).  Tomorrow and the next day (Sept. 19 and 20), it is placed on the same level.

To a few watchers, the temperature could be much, much higher by mid-October.  That belief may be stronger among those who believed in Harold Camping’s prediction of the world’s end by Oct. 21, 2011.

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