Panorama

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Title: Panorama
Issue Date: Volume XXl (Issue No. 5) May 1969
Year: 1969
Language: English
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extracted text: THE PHILIPPINE MAGAZINE OF GOOD READING 50 Centavos MAY, 1969 PANORAMA needs intelligent readers of: 1. Informative materials 2. Interesting ideas 3. Enlightening opinions 4. Broadening views 5. Controversial thoughts 6. Critical comments 7. Idealistic suggestions 8. Humorous remarks 9. Serious statements 10. Meditations on life and work. All these are either original productions or selective adap tions and condensations from Philippine and foreign publica tions. Usually brief and compact, lasting from two to ten minutes to read, each article offers a rewarding experience in one’s moments of leisure. Relax with Panorama. We say this to the busy student and the teacher, the lawyer and the physician, the dentist and the engineer, the executive and the farmer, the politician and the breacher, the employer and the employee. PANORAMA is specially designed for Filipinos — young, middle-aged, and old, male and female, housekeeper and houselizard. Special rates on November 1, for new and renewal 1966: subscriptions to begin 1 copy ..................................... 1 year ..................................... 2 years ................................... Foreign rate: .......................... 50 centavos P5.00 P9.00 $3.00 (U. S.) For one year’s subscription of 5 pesos, a person receives the equivalent of 12 compact pocketbooks of lasting value and and varied interest. COMMUNITY PUBLISHERS, INC. Inverness, (M. Carreon) St.. Sta. Ana, Manila, Philippines THE PHILIPPINE MAGAZINE OF GOOD READING Entered u aecend elan mail matter at the Manila Poet Office on Dec. 7. 1958 Dr. M. Carreon cor. A de los Alas, Sta. Ana, Manila Vol. XXI MANILA, PHILIPPINES No. 5 REDUCING CLASS TIME IN EDUCATION * In American secondary schools the dreadful legacy of the Carnegie unit and the persistence of the assign-studyrecite method of instruction inhibit intellectual pleasure for both teachers and students. Both notions preclude the development of the school as a center of inquiry. Earn ing credit for a “solid” requires the payment of five periods per week of sitting time, and many of these hours the captive student must idly listen to the halting recitals of his fellows, foregoing the potential joy of pursuing a subject in his own fashion. If pupils are to inquire into the substance of what they study, we “have to remember,” with Whitehead, “that the valuable intellectual development is self-development.” What is the mysterious difference between the senior in high school and the freshmen in college that the lat ter may stretch his mind in libraries, museums, and labo ratories as well as when he listens to instructors? If it be feared that many high-school students are not sufficiently disciplined for self-directed learning, then surely we should recognize that Some schools may require other types of per sonnel in addition to teachers. — From “The School As A Center of Inquiry” by Robert J. Schaefer 1967. ■ The improvement of the educational institutions of the Philippines depends greatly upon the ini tiative and knowledgeable leadership of Filipino leaders. A GLIMPSE OF THE STATE OF PHILIPPINE EDUCATION Education has become a common commodity and a popular dream in this coun try soon after Mr. William McKinley, the President of the United States, had an nounced his decision to sub jection in order that Ameri can military, political, edu cational, and religious mis sionaries would be able to “civilize and Christianize” them. Consequently, public education was at once started on a national scale of some significance right at the com mencement of the present century. Before that event instruction for literacy pur poses was not uncommon, but secondary education was a rare article and activity, being confined only to the sons and daughters of the small body of this country’s social elite. Higher educa tion was open only to a few; and it was largely equated to professional education such as the education of the lawyer, the physician, and the priest. For almost three centuries, there was only one established university, the University of Santo Tomas, which existed in Manila with only a few students from af fluent families. There were a few colleges which also at tracted but a limited num ber of young people mostly from privileged families. The system of education introduced by the Americans had to be basically American in conception, in organiza tion, and in methods and goals, that being the only way to convert the Filipinos into good believers of demo cracy. The system has undergone some modifications during the last sixty and more years, but it still retains much of the original American basic background and fundamental 2 Panorama tradition. The reasons for t'his are not difficult to dis cover. One of them is that the men and women who succeeded the Americans in both the policy-determining and other critical posts in the educational structure have been products of Ame rican colleges and universi ties and, in addition, text books and other publications used in the training of teach ers and school administra tors were and, to some ex tent, still are the works or American professors, writers, and publishers. We have been told that American political ideas taught in our public schools have produced in many Fi lipinos a stronger feeling of pride and love of country which has been translated into a growing spirit of mili tant Filipino nationalism. In my view this sentiment of national self-pride and na tional self-awareness began to stir the hearts and move the minds of a small but se lect group of Filipino stu dent’s and visitors in Europe years before the arrival of the American soldiers in this distant land. Rizal, Plaridel, Lopez Jaena, and a number of other young Filipino ad venturers in Spain and other European countries struggled with great difficulties during the last quarter of the 19th century to become familiar with Western ideas of na tionhood, to learn the free and liberal notions of the Enlightenment, and to ac quire the ardor and the va lue of the evolution and the revolution of national move ments. They absorbed them through their senses and imagination and spread them among their countrymen through personal contacts and publications with grave danger to themselves and their relatives and friends. The study of significant events in American history and the reading of lives of American patriots, Washing ton, Jefferson, Franklin, Ma dison, and other American heroes, in our schools served as an additional stimulation to the growth of Filipino nationalism. There is some reason, therefore to believe that our American-oriented educatio nal system has somehow as sisted in strengthening the faith of the Filipino people in democracy and its institu May 1969 3 tions. There is, of course, considerable truth in this be lief; but formal lessons in schools are not necessarily effective ways of teaching institutional conduct and na tional action. These mat ters are better learned in ac tual practice and example to give reality to theories, specially the theory of free dom, order, and democracy; and for this purpose, the holding of popular elections for government officials and the exercise of individual freedom of expression, orga nization, and belief have been invaluable and indis pensable factors in the ac tual introduction of demo cratic procedures. No other country in Asia has had a long and relatively success ful history of national de mocratic practice as the Phil ippines. Not a single case of coup d’ etat has so far .marred the image of demo cracy in this country. This is the result of more than half a century of the study of democratic precepts and their pragmatic implementa tion in various degrees. At the same time, how ever, neither nationalism nor democracy could have been brought to some degree of robust growth if they had not found a favorable mi lieu and a friendly atmo sphere of receptive readiness in the community and the people. These factors need to be overemphasized for the na ture of the organization and administration of the Phil ippine public schools were pointed out in the 1925 Mon roe Survey Report — one of the most thoroughgoing re ports on the Philippine edu cational system — as so high ly centralized and regimented that it failed to encourage individual initiative and ori ginality among the teachers and supervisors. It is thus obvious that the policies and methods of the education authorities in this country could hardly be said to have served as an example of a democratic system and pro cedure. Fifteen years after the Monroe Report appeared, one of the last American officials in charge of the Phil ippine educational system, Dr. Joseph Ralston Hayden, Vice-Governor and Secretary of Public Instruction, admit ted the validity of this cri ticism; but he tried to jus 4 Panorama tify it by saying that a sys tem of regimentation was imperative to establish ha bits of promptness, precision, and orderly activity, qualities which the Filipinos had not much chance of developing for over three hundred years. As if anticipating this ex cuse and rationalization, however, the same Monroe Report asserted that "ability in self-government can only be developed by its exercise.” But Dr. Hayden shoved this dictum aside with the state ment that "the administra tive process cannot be safely democraticized” until the people who are intrusted with the service have ac quired “self-reliance, initia tive, responsibility, and a do zen other necessary quali ties.” It may thus be said that the administration of the public school system has not directly served as a la boratory for demonstrating democratic practices and pro cedures to the Filipinos. The last survey of the pub lic schools undertaken by a mixed American and Filipi no team headed by Prof. J. Chester Swanson in 1960 still repeated the same plea and excuse expressed by Dr. Hay den twenty years before. The education of the peo ple has been one of the chief concerns of the government of the Philippines during the last sixty years. This atti tude may be always expec ted as long as this gbvernment rests on democratic principles and adopts demo cratic methods, for under such conditions the selection of its chief officials has to be made by a large propor tion of the country’s popu lation. This group must ne cessarily have a sufficient amount of the right kind of education adequate for a free and democratic nation. Tho mas Jefferson’s trenchant words on this point are: "If a nation expects to be ig norant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be.” With this idea in mind, our present Constitution em braces diverse provisions on the subject of education. To begin with, one of the clauses in one of its chapters en titled “Declaration of Prin ciples” contains the follow ing: "The natural right and May 1969 5 duty of parents in the rearing of the youth for civic effi ciency should receive the aid and support of the Govern ment.” This is a basic rule which dispels the notion en tertained by some people that education is exclusively a state function. It is a recognition of the idea that education itself is a matter of individual concern. The aid and support of the gov ernment mentioned in this constitutional provision for the education of the youth may take the form of free public schools for the youth established by the govern ment to private educational institutions possessing the conditions and the capacities to offer adequate education to the youth or it may take the form of free scholarships to be given to the youth who are able and deserving. One thing is certain: That under these constitutional provisions, the civic educa tion of the Filipino youth is not entirely left to the government to decide as to how and where it should be given and what it should cover. The Constitution re cognizes it as a natural right and duty of parents who should be aided by the Gov ernment in their perform ance. The purpose of this principle is obviously to up hold the freedom of a per son to develop himself as an individual in a democra cy. To give the government exclusive power to determine the education of the youth might well lead to the es tablishment of a Spartan-like system of education to be pursued every inhabitant re gardless of his personal pre ferences. Such a system may develop loyal and obedient citizens but not a people who are free to think for them selves. By recognizing the natural right and duty of parents to educate their children for civic efficiency, the Constitution merely pro hibits any policy or action of the government which may result in regimenting the Fi lipino youth and preventing them from developing dif ferent ideas and ways of do ing things. This practice discourages individual initia tive and, therefore, under mines the democratic way of life. On the subject of instruc tional objectives, the Con stitution provides that “all 6 Panorama schools shall aim to develop moral character, personal discipline, civic conscience, and vocational efficiency, and to teach the duties of citizenship.” This is a mix ture of subjective values and practical aspirations intended for the creation of a vigorous motherland. These aims disclose a very broad conception of the role of the school, supplanting the family, the church, the industrial and social institu tions. The enumeration seems to overlook the prima ry or basic object of the school, which is development of the mental faculties of the individual. To entrust to the school the develop ment of the moral character and personal discipline of a child could be risky; it may cause the family to neglect its basic duty towards its children, for the moral up bringing and discipline of the youth is the primary concern of parents and guar dians. Unless they faithful ly perform their obligation in these matters, the school is bound to accomplish ve ry little, considering that the child stays in it for only a small fraction of his life-time. The school can do very little in developing civic conscience, which is an im portant factor for good ci tizenship, unless the commu nity itself, through its lead ing citizens, its public offcials, the courts, and the po lice force, is self-disciplined, orderly, and law-abiding. Even if schools spend time and attention inculcating in the youth lessons of citizen ship and civic virtues, they can hardly turn out an army of good citizens if govern ment officials and leading persons in society, business, or the profession are corrupt, dishonest, and shameless. We know that verbal admoni tions and moral preachments not reflected in the way their authors live are worse than useless. They have no prac tical value to stop smuggling and gambling; they have no force to prevent men from getting rich by crooked and vicious methods; they have no power to arrest the lazi ness of teachers and clerks; they have no power to pun ish dishonest executives, con gressmen, and senators; they have no value to produce individual dignity and com munity pride and civic con May 1969 7 science. They silence the voice of conscience as they raise false hopes for the cre dulous. Vocational efficiency is hardly attainable through school training alone. A system of apprenticeship in shops and factories is a more practical means of preparing young' people for efficient vocational work. Special schools may be able to give some vocational training but hardly vocational efficiency. A critical examination of this constitutional provision may lead us to the conclu sion that its ideas express an unrealistic conception of formal education which in nocently ignores the practi cal limitations of the role of schools in a modern and plu ralistic society. To avoid this conclusion, educational authorities should permit school administrators and teachers to adopt schedules and programs to make these general principles workable and realistic. The Constitution places all educational institutions, public as well as private, un der the supervision and re gulation of the state. This broad authority places in the hands of the government a corresponding broad respon sibility in regard to the de velopment of all schools, from the elementary school to the university. But this does not mean powers to di rect the policies of a school, to control its activities, to deprive it of initiative, and to subject it to minute rules that could hamper its deci sion to choose what it may consider most desirable fdiits own improvement. At this moment when a constitutional convention will soon be held in our country, the first since the declara tion of independence, the following questions may be raised: Should the educa tional system of this country, which is practically the same system that was established in the first years of this cen tury by the American, be retained in spite of the change of the political status of this country from that of a colony to that of an in dependent republic? Is the system adequate to the needs of the Filipinos? Is the structure of the public school system not too expensive for a still underdeveloped coun try that needs immediate so Panorama lutions of its food and other economic and social prob lems? Has the system as a whole sufficiently developed in the people a sense of na tional consciousness and res ponsibility? Has the system of higher education helped the country’s government and people to raise standards of intellectual achievement and to»adopt a superior code of values? These are some of the vital questions that the leaders and the intelli gent citizenry of the nation should squarely face. The answers have to involve both quantitative and qualitative considerations. In the report of the 1960 survey of the public schools of the Philippines undertak en by a mixed team of Ame rican and Filipino educators, the following concluding comment and query appear: “Much of the education of the Philippines is simply not good enough to justify the great faith of the people. What will happen to this unquestioning faith in edu cation when the people learn that it is not solving their problems? Will they lose faith in education or in those who are responsible for their educational services?” ‘‘Educators must work to provide a public school pro gram good enough to prove that faith in education is justified. This will require not only providing good schools, but also creating in the public an understanding of the difference between good schools and poor schools." In the recently published work (1968) of Jencks and Riesman entitled “The Aca demic Revolution,” we are informed that “during the seventeenth, eighteenth, and early nineteenth centuries, American colleges were con ceived and operated as pil lars of the locally establish ed church, political order, and social conventions;" but they were not considered ve ry important pillars. It is said that an American “col lege" was in some respects more like today’s secondary schools. It was far from be ing similar to today’s uni versities. “It did not employ a faculty of scholars. In deed, only one or two preJacksonian college teachers exercised any significant in influence on the intellectual Mat 1969 currents of their time. An always upright and usually erudite clergyman served as president. He then hired a few other men (usually young bachelors and often themselves aspiring clergy men) to assist in the teach ing.” The early American col leges did not have much im pact on the character of the rising generation. Only a minority of those who con trolled the established Ame rican institutions sent their children to college, and an even smaller minority had itself been to a college. Those early colleges ‘‘in fluenced neither the intel lectual nor the social histo ry of their era.” To avoid any suspicion of partisanship in discussing this interesting subject, I will let Jencks and David Riesman do the talk ing. They say that “it could be argued that America over-invested in higher edu cation during the pre-Jacksonian years. Perhaps the resources devoted to colleges might have been better al located to libraries, scientific societies, or primary school ing. But like other more recent victims of colonialism, Americans during these years were eager to have the out ward trappings of equality with the mother country, even if these trappings were neither relevant to the Ame rican setting nor notably pro ductive in the mother coun try itself. Many argued that America should go its own way and that social priori ties and institutional ar rangements had to vary from one country to another. But in America as in Africa to day. Collegiate promoters could and did charge such critics with selling their country short and perpetua ting subordination to Eu rope. England had a few colleges, so America had more.” Perhaps we in the Philip pines now find ourselves in the same situation and with similar attitudes as the Ame ricans of the early 19th cen tury. And so why should we not develop our own col leges and universities suit able to our needs and pro tective of our ideals and dreams as Filipinos living and struggling to make our 10 Panorama country a valuable and proud unit of the world community? This should be the objective of every insti tution of higher learning planned, organized, and ope rated by Filipinos for the advancement of Filipinos as a free and democratic na tion. —Speech delivered by Dr. V. G. Sinco at Founda tion University, June 2, 1969. BOREDOM AND CRIME “Crimes that are committed in growing num ber are not <he crimes of poverty but of affluence. The criminals are sometimes men whose enterprise has had no other outlet. Juvenile crime, increasing yearly, is not caused by any lack of schooling but specifically by a schooling which is too prolonged. A wave of drug-addiction and gambling is due to boredom, not unemployment. The Utopia built on wage-packets, dental clinics and dishwashers be gin to fall apart before it has been completed. For while a world of social security has something to recommend it to the middle-aged, it offers little, by contrast, to the Mods and Rockers, the Beat niks and Crooners. For the young of any period in history, the quest for comfort is not enough.” — From the Left Luggage by C. Northcote Par kinson May 1969 11 ■ A major problem which is being ignored by to day’s national leaders who have not been able to think beyond the next election. POPULATION GROWTH IN THE PHILIPPINES A boom in babies is rock ing the country to its very foundations. The boom is so strong that the major, perhaps overwhel ming, issue for the Philip pines in the decade ahead will not be President Mar cos or nationalism or even sieve-like civil service exam inations. The issue will be babies — thousands of them — and how to feed, clothe and edu cate them. Modern health programs have slashed rates so drasti cally and improved pre-natal care so well that today we hold the world record for birth. We have a crude birth rate of 3.5 per cent. What this deceptively small figure means in our popula tion, which stood at 32 mil lion in 1965, will reach 54 million by 1980, If this rate of growth con tinues — and respected de mographers like Dr. Merce des Concepcion of U. P, and Fr. Francis Madigan, S. J., of Xavier University foresee no change — the Philippines will join the 10 largest na tions of the world popula tionwise within two decades. By 1895, this country will be more populous than ei ther France or the United Kingdom. It will have a po pulation bigger than Brazil, the largest Latin American country, by the year 2000, Figures drawn from the U. P. Population Institute and Xavier University trace this skyrocketing growth thus: In 1877, the Philippine population stood at 5.5 mil lion people. At the start of the Ameri can regime, in 1903, this had risen to 7.6 million. 12 Panorama When World War II erupted population had al ready reached 19.2 million — or double the 1903 level. Growth continued and by 1960, population was 27.4 million. 1965, it topped 32.2 million. In little less than 600 years, population had quadrupled. Prospects for the 1970s, a j'ear and a half from now, are that population will soar to 38.4 million. Five years more, this will rise to 46.1 million and by 1980, popu lation will reach the 54 mil lion mark. In the decade ahead, about 16 million more Filipinos will be added to the popu lation. This represents a 40 per cent increase and it will almost total the equal popu lation of the 1948 census. The Philippines does not have, of course, an exclu sive monopoly on rapid po pulation growth. We are just topnotchers in an “in dustry” that is setting new records the world over. In an address to Filipino and other Asian editors and publishers assembled at the Press Foundation of Asia conference in Korea, George Rosen of the Asian Develop ment Bank said: “The total population of Asia from Iran in the ea$t to Japan, and from south of Siberia to Ceylon and Indo nesia, is expected to increase from 1,850 million in 1965 to 2,480 million in 1980 under moderate assumptions of growth. “The numbers may be difficult to comprehend — but putting it in other terms Asia will be adding a popu lation larger than India’s present population (550 mil lion) to its already very crowded area in the next de cade.” Obviously just to keep pace with the population growth, both government and the private sector have to marshall its resources. At the Second Population Conference last November, Adriana C. Regudo and Ed mund M. Murphy of U. P. noted: “Just to maintain current levels of service and facili ties, we can guess that the nation must provide between 1965 and 1975 almost 8% May 1969 13 million aditional jobs, 12,000 more hospital beds, 9,000 primary schools, 3,500 new churches, 4,700 restaurants and cafeterias, 1,900 more barber shops, 850 new cock pits, more than 20,000 more automobiles, 1.3 million ex tra carabaos, and over 1% million cavans of rice.” Another outstanding stu dent of the Philippines, Dr. Frank Golay of Cornell Uni versity, agrees and adds: Even assuming a slight de cline in the present birth rate, by 1990 — 21 years from now — the Philippines will have to increase its rice pro duction to about 250 per cent of present levels — 10 million tons in contrast to present production of 4 mil lion tons — that means 6 or 7 per cent every year. For irrigation alone nearly P5.5 billion will have to be spent during the next 15 to 20 years if the Philippines expects to feed its growing populatidn. This is more than twice as much as the current total annual national budget. In an address delivered at Cagayan de Oro, Oxford University’s Dr. Olin Clark said that even if by tomor row a thoroughly effective control program were imple mented immediately in the Philippines, its effects would not be felt until 15 to 30 years hence. President Marcos and other national leaders, therefore, will have to grapple today with the needs of the people who will be around by the 1970s — and these men and women are already here. It will be their job to lead in the calm appraisal at the situation, study the magni tude of the problem, pro pose and debate positions — without hysteria or overstate ment. Participants at the Second Population Conference devel oped the most sober ap proach to this problem when they declared: “There is no doubt that the very rapid rate of population growth will impose great strains upon the economic and so cial fabric of the Philippines during the decade of the 1970s. Yet there is nothing in history and little in theo ry to prove that these pro blems are insurmountable. 14 Panorama The greatest potential dan ger is that despair on the one hand or overoptimism on the other might prevent our attacking these problems with the energy and vision they demand.” The population explosion will unleash hunger and more poverty on this coun try — unless the government and private sector snap out of our traditional easy-going ways and buckle down to production. This is not the view of a wild-eyed alarmist; it is the sober warning of a respected scientist: Father Francis C. Madigan, S.J., of Xavier University in Caga yan de Oro. ‘‘The tremendous expan sion of population . . . now threatens to reduce the na tion to a chronic condition of malnutrition and impo verishment,” Father Madigan warned in an article pub lished by the prestigious quarterly Philippine Studies. Lack of public concern over the skyrocketing growth of population — “the para mount problem of the Phil ippine nation for the next 50 years” — arises from lack of information and illusions about the nation’s capacity to meet future needs, Father Madigan added. This complacency, how ever, is turning into anxiety. The work of scientists like Dr. Mercedes Concepcion of the U. P. Population Insti tute, the United Nation's Professor Frank Lorrimer and Father Madigan himself filter through to the public. These studies reveal that the need for lood, clothing, homes, water, schools, chur ches and other basic com modities and services stagger the imagination. Here are some dimensions of that need: The country must treble its 1960 production of rice if it were to feed the Fili pinos that will be around three decades from now. To meet this production target will require that Pl00 mil lion be poured into irriga tion alone yearly. Carmen LI. Intengan of Food and Nutrition Research Cnter told the Second Popu lation Conference: For 1970 May 1969 15 - that’s only one year away — production of cereals must increase by 15 per cent; beans and fats by 100 per cent; fruits and vege tables by 400 per cent; meat, fish and poultry by 14 per cent and milk by 15 per cent. Dr. Mercedes Concepcion, on the other hand, has warned: ‘‘Regardless of what happens to the birth rate, the number of students en tering high school will in crease to about 917,000 by L970 and 1,290,000 by 1980. ‘‘The number of persons in the labor force will in crease from nine million to almost 13 million between 1970 and 1980. Reducing fertility can not curtail that growth because it involves people who are already here. “Thus, the hints of a pos sible decline in fertility can give little comfort to those who must solve the problems of a growing population in the seventies.” A recent U. S. Government study also states that the 1968 housing shortage stands almost at 1,000,000 units. Over the next 20 years, the country must increase its building rate of two units per thousand of the popula tion to 12 units per thou sand. As these staggering tasks confront leaders who always tended to take things easy, a few grim realities emerge. First: They now start to see in the slums, the lack of adequate hospitals, power, water, transportation and classrooms, etc. the undenia ble signs of population pres sure. This pressure is evi dent too in the crime wave, the brain-drain and the un rest. Second: Massive emigra tion is not possible and will not reduce the pressure. Third: The most dedi cated of leadership and wide based popular support for increased production are needed. Otherwise too rapid a drop in living standards will usher in trouble. Those cheerful fellows who say that the Philippines can easily support a population as high as 50 million will have the chance to prove their point during the de cade ahead. 16 Panorama The population explosion will shove the boundaries of Greater Manila to Calamba (Laguna) in the south and to Baliuag (Bulacan) in the north all within two decades. Cebu, Iligan, Davao and other cities will also shatter their present city limits from population pressure — and probably leave governments lagging far behind in the provision of basic facilities. Men who have kept close watch on the galloping po pulation and the way it af fects urban areas draw this picture of Philippine cities in 1980. These men include Tho mas McHale, a lecturer at the University of the Phil ippines school of economics, Major Pedro de la Paz of the Manila Police Depart ment and R. Faithful, a U. P. population institute discussion leader. This is the way they see our cities of the future: Greater Manila’s popula tion, which stood at 2.7 mil lion in 1965, will soar to 7.1 or even 10 million by 1980. High birth rates and mi gration from rural areas will also jack up the population of Cebu, Davao, Iloilo and other urban areas. The 1948 and 1960 census already confirm the bloated city trend. In this 12-year period, about 3.7 million ad ditional people have crowded into the cities, many of them going into squatter colonies. Thomas McHale has note 1 that lack of economic oppor tunities in the rural area will speed the flow of peo ple into the cities. He wrote in Philippine Sociological Review: “The large urban complex appears likely to outpace the average growth of the nation as a whole. “It is not unlikely that 10 per cent of the total popula tion of Philippines will be concentrated in the expand ing Manila metropolitan area by the 1980s. “By the 1980s, it is also likely that half of the popu lation will be living in either Manila or those concentrated population points where the only opportunities for find May 17 ing a socio-economic niche off the land will exist. “The new heavy industry will seek locations near raw materials, cheap power or convenient transport. The first industrial complex out side of Manila is Iligan. It is the likely precursor of several similar areas that will emerge as significant population centers.” This explosive growth will obviously increase the pres sure on the cities and jack up demands for water, sew age, health, housing, police, etc. “The problem of refuse collection and disposal will plague Manila throughout the seventies,” Major de la Paz told delegates to the Second Population Confer ence. The 750 tons of gar bage that are accumulated daily today will probably increase fourfold. Manila’s sewers, built at the turn of the century and damaged during World War II, will simply not meet the need. The number of cars that already clog Manila’s roads will double. By 1980, the cities oi Cebu, Lapu-Lapu and Mandawe will be one sprawling metropolis. Iligan City will be a ma jor port requiring huge new deepwater piers. In all these cities, the pro blem of squatters and slums will increase if present ef forts to provide housing re main at current levels. Unfortunately, the job of preparing for this future ex pansion metropolitan growth rests on men like Mayors Antonio Villegas, Norberto Amoranto of Quezon City, Macario Asistio of Caloocan and Eulogio Borres of Cebu — who obviously have not been able to think beyond the next election. Many of today’s leaders may not be around by 1980. But their success or failure in providing for the founda tion of future growth of our cities will be visited upon their children. Old myths of vast un tapped resources mask the grim fact that the Philip pines is, in fact, running out of land to feed its ex ploding population. 18 Panorama Studies conducted ar three universities — Xavier, Cor nell and U. P. — all point to a complacency-shattering conclusion: The food that s needed to feed the one mil lion more Filipinos added every year will have to come from sharply increased pro duction, not from opening new lands. There just isn’t enough land left. •“The illusion of a large frontier of open agricultural land awaiting the adventu rous homesteader either in Mindanao or Cagayan ... is one reason for the lack of public concern about the high population growth,” Father Francis C. Madigan, S. J., of Xavier University has noted. Statistics reveal that un tapped lahd in Cagayan Val ley can cover only some 40,000 homesteaders — and no more. In Mindanao, migration has thoroughly peopled its land. The remaining agri cultural land is in isolated areas and would be enough only for 200,000 new farms — far too short for what the population needs. Out of a potential 10 mil lion hectares of arable land, the Bureau of Agricultural Extension estimates that 8.2 million have been cultivated. In a paper delivered at the Second Population Con ference at the National Science Development Board, Dr. Thomas R. McHale agreed with Father Madigan and asked: What do you do about the millions of job seekers that cannot be ab sorbed by agriculture? By 1970, there will be 12 million people looking for jobs; 14.2 million by 1975 and 1G.8 million by 1980. Some 10 million Filipinos or over half the labor force are likely to be seeking jobs outside agriculture by 1980. The sharp increase in the number of people looking for jobs arise from the fol lowing factors: Life expectancy at birth has increased from 37.5 years in 1904 to approximately 52.5 years in I960. For 1960 to 1965, life ex pectancy at birth for Filipi nos is 58 years. In the 1980 to 1985 period life expectancy at birth for May 19 the average Filipino is ex pected to reach 70 years. With the increasing sur vivals into adulthood, the Philippine population will become older. Half of the population wil continue to be in the eco nomically pre-active ages un der 20 for several decades to come. This aging process in the population means that for the next several decades the economically active adult seg ment of the population will be growing at a faster rate than the population. A corollary of this fa^t in the parallel growth of the age segment that is most actively involved in the la bor market and as decision — makers in investments and in consumption. Although land is running out, many policy planners continue to assume that agriculture will continue to provide the basic source for growth and labor in the de cades ahead, Dr. McHale noted. "Unfortunately the arithmetic of the situation shows there is no hope in this area.” Industry and commerce must furnish the jobs and to do this there is a need to raise P5 billion a year in capital — increasing to about P6 billion in the latter part of the 1970s. This is about double what the country saves at the mo ment. Dr. McHale said: "These problems are not a function of population size. Chang ing population policy is not going to be the solution to the economic development problems in die Philippines. "The labor force of the 1970s is already born, no matter what we do with the birth rate this year or next year or the year after.” Obviously, the skyrocketing population confronts Pres ident Marcos, national lea ders and every citizen with a job that can not be de layed: To restructure the economy decisively that pro duction can be raised shaiply while institutions capable of grappling with the birth rates problem within moral ly acceptable frameworks may be set up. 20 Panorama The population explosion has wiped out hard-won pro duction gains in most sec tors of the Philippine eco nomy. Dr. Mercedes B. Concep cion, population institute di rector at the University of the Philippines, made this observation in the course of briefing for economic writers. She based her lecture part ly on a paper prepared by Edmund Murphy, also of UP. Fifteen business editors and reporters are attending a two-day Philippine Press Institute workshop in this city. Dr. Concepcion told the PPI workshop that the Phil ippines’ population was growing at a rate over 5 per cent higher than the world average. It is also triple the rate of the in dustrialized nations of Eu rope and Japan. About one and a half mil lion babies are born every year, she told the editors. By the year 2000, if present rates of growth continue, there will be 110 million Filipinos. “Philippine population will double in less than 22 years,” she said. “At Japan’s cur rent growth rate, its popula tion will take 80 years to double.” Dr. Concepcion said that between 1956 and 1964, die Philippines established a world record by increasing food production by 26 per cent. “In that time, however, population increased by a little more so that per ca pita and food production was about the same as it was eight years earlier,” she said. “Despite this great increase, therefore, the average Fili pino had no more to eat than at the beginning.” Half of the trade-deficits come from food imports alone, she added. The same pattern of production-being-chased-by-popupulation appears in all sec tors of the economy, Dr. Con cepcion said. Production in creases are not felt because bigger outputs are needed to keep pace with population. Population density is 110 persons per square kilometer and is already high, Dr. Con Mat 1969 21 cepcion noted. The U.S. has 21 per square kilometer; Ar gentina, eight and Canada, two. “The Philippines is, indeed, a crowded nation,’’ she added. She told the assembled editors that just to keep pace with population increases — without raising living stan dards — will require tremen dous capital and efforts. From 1965 to 1975, popu lation will shoot up by 40 per cent, she added. The prospects for a de cline of population growth in the near future are un certain, she said. Taiwan and Japan have been able to keep rates of population growth manage able while India and Pakis tan have not, she noted. What the Philippines will do is one of the most sig nificant decisions in the de cade ahead, she concluded. The rapid growth of po pulation is cutting deeply into your chances of landing a good job, sending the kids to a better school or the wife buying nutritious food at reasonable prices in the near future. Basilio Aromin, a Filipi no demographer now work ing with the United Na tions in Bangkok, presents this conclusion in a new analysis of the population explosion. The study, prepared for the University of North Ca rolina, is entitled: “The population base of econo mic development problems in the Philippines." Economic writers from me tropolitan papers and wire agencies analyzed the 141page study at a Philippine Press Institute workshop in this city. Earlier, Drs. Mercedes Con cepcion and Wilhelm Flieger of the University of the Phil ippines’ Population Institute told the editors: within 23 years, population here will double since the Philippines has one of the highest growth rates in the world. Aromin said there were already strong indications that the high population growth rate was placing in creasingly-felt pressure on the country’s scarce resources and starting to drag back eco nomic growth. 22 Panorama 1 hese indicators are tound in the latest data on land, food, income, employment, capital formation and sav ings, the study added. Rate of capital formation here is no higher than that of Europe 125 years ago, Aromin said. But popula tion density and rate of growth are two to three times as high as Europe of that day. Since investments are lack ing, Aromin expressed doubts if the Philippines can do two jobs that the high popula tion growth imposes: prevent consumption standards from back-sliding and increase pro duction radically to provide for the one-and-a-half million babies born yearly. “Improvement in standards of living in the Philippines can be attained only if eco nomic development is accom panied by a reduction in fertility," Aromin said. Among the indicators of population pressure cited by Aromin were: 1. Heavy consumption patterns of Filipino families. The Philippines has the big gest proportion (45.8 per cent) of children under 15 in all of Southeast Asia. “This unfavorable age structure compels the popu lation to support a far grea ter number of children who are not only non-productive but also heavy consumers,” Aromin wrote. “In Manila and suburbs, 47.5 per cent of the average family budget goes to food. In farm households, it is 69 per cent.” 2. Substantial increases in food production over the last decade have been wiped out by an equally sharp in crease in population. “From 1951 to 1960, food crops production increased by 71 per cent, ’ the Aromin study noted. “ This substan tial growth has not offset the effects of rapid popula tion increases will be noted in the almost stationary le vel of production per per son. . . ” The Philippines produced 7.1 million metric tons in 1960. This is only 81 per cent of its food requirements and nutritional levels are low, he said. May 1969 23 The country will have to raise more food — or import more in ever increasing quan tities as population shoots up. This means producing 7.7 million metric tons in 1970 and 20.5 million metric tons by 1980. 3. Under the impact of population increases, the number of new jobs needed will shoot up from 393,000 per year between 1960 to 1965 to 839,000 per year in period 1975-1980. “On New Year’s Day in 2000 A.D., what will Manila look like?” The Institute of Planning at the University of the Phil ippines has studied this ques tion. It has come up, not with a crystal bowl, but with a 47-page study entitled: ‘‘A Planning Strategy for Metro politan Manila A.D. 2000.” Metropolitan Manila’s po pulation will escalate from 2.9 million in 1960 to 11.6 million. “By the year 2000, Metro politan Manila will have ex panded to the north to in clude Malolos, Guiginto, Balagtas, Pandi, Angat, Norzagaray, Sta. Maria, Bulacan, Obando, San Jose del Mon te, Meycauayan, Valenzuela, Malabon, and Navotas,” the study predicted. Prof. Leandro A. Veloria, Institute Director, said Ma nila would also spread east wards. It will then include: Montalban, San Mateo, Ma rikina, Antipolo, Teresa, Angono, Taytay, Cainta and Pasig. Southward, the U.P. paper said, Manila’s growth would sweep in the following towns: Rosario, Noveleta, Kawit, Ca vite City, Bacoor, Las Pinas, Binan, San Pedro, Muntinlupa, Taguig and Pateros. As the city spills over, pressure on facilities, infra structures and industries will sky rocket. Water: the present expan sion program of the Natio nal Waterworks and Sewerage Authority will start to lag by 1975. Come 1980, the Angat-Ipo river will have to be tapped. It will pump in an additio nal 100 million gallons dai ly. By 1990, Marikina Ri ver will have to be brought into play. And when 2000 comes, Laguna de Bay will 24 Panorama have to be harnessed into a multi-purpose scheme: po wer, flood control, navigation and industrial uses. There will be need for housing, roads, cemeteries, sewerage, schools, markets, police and fire-fighting equip ment, etc. The needs will spiral on an ever-increasingly rapid basis and will not be met — unless the govern ment acts now, the study said. “Now is the time to con certedly tackle the problems of the Manila Metropolitan region on a more compre hensive and integrated ap proach,” Professor Veloria said. “Any other time will only prolong the uncertainty of the region’s rational and orderly growth.” The U.P. group said that assuming the present city ad ministration check the chao tic and “frightening” use of land and adopt a rational plan, the following picture in 2000 A.D. could then emerge: “Development corridors” along the region's seven ma jor transportation routes could be set up. These cor ridors will have industries and firms alongside them and siphon people and fac tories away from the con gested central city. The seven potential “de velopment corridors” are: North Diversion road up to Malolos; south road up to Binan; Cavite national road up to Rosario; the Taguig, Angono and Montalban roads in Rizal plus the Novaliches artery in Bulacan. “Guided growth along the north-south corridors will be stressed as these are the pre ponderant directions of ur ban growth flow,” the re port said. “It arises in part from the geography of the area, bounded on the east by the mountains and Laguna de Bay, on the west by Ma nila Bay, on the north by the plains of Central Luzon and on the south by the rich rolling terrain of the south ern Tagalog region.” Development corridors, by the year 2000 A.D., will re sult in more towns built on dominant industries, the re port predicted. Thus, Norzagaray will have cement, dairy and other re lated industries. Rosario in Cavite will be petro and May 1969 25 fishing-canning centers. Cainta, Taylay and Angono will be bustling with light and medium industries. The towns along the north diver sion road will be probably industrial estates. By the 2000 A.D., “most of the national offices will have moved out to the capitol site in Quezon City,” the report said. Manila and the old down town center will expand and be characterized as a port and office area. “It will be the principal commercial and office employment center of the entire region,” the report said. The swift expansion of family planning services in Manila and other cities will not curb the galloping po pulation growth of the Phil ippines. A Ford Foundation survey of population problems in the Philippines also adds to this prediction a warning: the government has no al ternative but to continue di verting scarce investment funds to support a popula tion that will double, again, within 23 years. Dr. Gordon VV. Perkin wrote the report after a sur vey of six Asian countries. The Philippine study was made available to Philippine News Service here. The Manila Health De partment and voluntary agencies like the Asian Social Institute (Catholic) and Planned Parenthood Move ment (Protestant) have in creased family planning sur veys “dramatically” over the last two years, Perkin said. He revealed that the 300 private agencies are located in separate places mostly in urban areas. Some 50,000 women have been served, Perkin reported, and about 60,000 pills are sold every month. “No more than two per cent of the eligible popula tion are being served,” Per kin reported. “Services have thus far remained largely, concentrated in Manila and the surrounding suburbs.” By the end of February this year, the 23 of Manila's 41 clinics offered intrauterine devices (IUD); the rest gave pills. Manila City’s latest budget provides funds for eight full 26 Panorama time workers in this program, Perkin said. “This repre sents the first overt use of public funds for family plan ning in the Philippines.” Government, church and private groups are cooperat ing in research projects, he added. Among the institu tions leading in this area are: Population Institution at U.P.; Santo Tomas Institute for the Study of Human Re production; Silliman Univer sity in Negros; Xavier Uni versity in Misamis; San Car los University in Cebu. Perkin said that data from the first surveys show Filipinas marry early: 19.3 years. The studies also reveal 46 to 85 per cent of women want smaller families. If present fertility trends continue, however, they will bear five to 16 per cent more kids than they want. Preparations for a national demographic survey are un der way in the census bu reau. The absence of a govern ment population policy has induced private voluntary groups to take initiative, he observed. Recent availabili ty of large funds from the Agency for International De velopment (AID) for these programs have complicated coordination efforts, he add ed. Even if family planning services were to become rea dily and widely available, it would not slice deeply enough into population growth, Perkin cautioned. Over the last eight years, increase in food production (26 per cent) barely kept pace with population growth, the report observed. Edu cation alone eats up onethird of the budget. Perkin wrote: “The com bined activities of these insti tutions are unlikely to have any measurable effect on the birth rate in the foreseeable future^ “The Philippines must therefore prepare to assimi late a 100 per cent increase in its population in a single generation and to accept the fact that a major share of its investment capital conti nue to be diverted to expan sion of social and educatio nal programs,” he concluded. — From a pamphlet by Juan L. Mercado. May 1969 27 I Romulo, the immediate predecessor of Lopez, claimed he was better than all his predecessors. UP PRESIDENT SALVADOR LOPEZ IN RETROSPECT UP President Salvador Lopez was sworn into office on January 23, 1969. Part of his statement clearly de fines the direction of his ef forts: ‘‘I shall have con stantly before me the poli cies and programs of my dis tinguished predecessors, and will endeavor to build upon their achievements. God willing, and with the sup port of the faculty, the stu dents, the alumni, the Re gents and the Government of the Republic, we shall strive to make the Univer sity of the Philippines an institution more hospitable to the positive idealism of our youth and more relevant to the true priorities of our national life, an instrument more responsive to the irre pressible clamor of our peo ple for the rapid transfor mation of our society so that all may enjoy the blessings of a better life in larger free dom.” BARS TO PUBLIC OFFICE It is a sad commentary on our contemporary politics in this country, that it is getting harder and harder for poor but decent and capable men to run for public office and win. — Jaime Ferrer, Chairman, Commission on Elections 28 Panorama ■ It will be a question involving color and heredi tary factors, apart from other considerations. SEX ORGAN TRANSPLANTS POSE RACIAL PROBLEM A Select Committee of the South African Parliament has been warned that racial complications can arise if the new science of organ trans plants is extended to include reproductive organs — or “gonads” as they are known. The Committee was told that although a successful gonad transplant resulting in procreation had not been performed anywhere yet “it is not impossible that it will be performed in the future.” Some authorities even think a gonad transplant would not be as difficult as a kid ney transplant. Gonad transplants — of ovaries in women and testes in men — would throw up the whole question of reci pients of one colour receiv ing reproductive organs from donors of another colour. For example, if testes from, a black man were transplan ted into a white man, the child which the white man “fathered” with a white wo man would be coloured — because the black man’s ge nes would be transferred with the testes. The impli cations of this happening in a racially-structured country like South Africa are ob vious. The question of gonad transplants was raised before the Select Committee by Professor S. F. Oosthuizen, chairman of the South Afri ca Medical and Dental Coun cil. Professor Oosthuizen discussed transplants of tes tes in men and ovaries in women. Gonad transplants could benefit women — admitted ly, there is only a small number of them — who are unable to have babies either because they lack ovaries, or because their ovaries are de fective. The implantation of new ovaries, or even of May 1969 29 ovarian tissue, might enable them to raise a family, Si milarly, the transplantation of testes would enable a ste rile man to impregnate a woman. The Select Committee was appointed primarily to draw up legislation covering organ transplants, following the pioneering of heart trans plant operations in South Africa by Professor Christian Barnatd. Professor Barnard was one of a number of leading doctors who testified before the Committee. The question of gonad transplants arose almost as a side-issue. The Anatomical Donations and Post-Mortem Examinations Bill, which the Select Committee drafted, and which has just been passed by the South African Parliament, contains a clause referring to such transplants, which reads: “...the use of any gonad without prior authority granted by the Mi nister (of Health) in writing shall be unlawful where the result of such use may be procreation, and such use without such prior authority shall constitute an offence..’’ The penalty for an infringe, 3C of this clause could be a £250 line or six months’ imprison ment. Professor Oosthuizen told die Select Committee: “As far as the man is concern ed, transplantation can be justified only on two grounds, namely sterility and impotence...) “Personally I am naturally totally opposed to the trans plantation of gonads. The testes are related to the gene and the chromosome. In this regard there are endless dif ficulties.’’ Pointing out that genes determined colour, racial characteristics as well as ill nesses, like haemophilia, dia betes etc., Professor Oosterhuizen said: “In other words, they determine colour, sickness and also the personal conduct of a person.” This placed an “immense responsibility” on the doctor and it would be advisable, declared Professor Oosterhuizen, to leave the decision to the Minister of Health. “These things, in my opi nion, are too dangerous. It is not only the colour aspect but it is also dangerous as Panorama far as illnesses and perso nality are concerned. There are literally hundreds of genes, of which one for exam ple can determine colour. Others determine racial char acteristics, the colour of hair, intelligence, physical build, baldness, wavy hair, etc. “Who of us can say with any certainty that in our an cestry one or another event did not occur? I am no po litician. I am not expressing an opinion on anything ex cept science. I can make out a case for being opposed to this... too many possibi lities could flow from it.’’ Professor J. N. de Villiers also representing the South African Medical and Den tal Council, said sometimes a perfectly healthy ovary was removed from a woman. “If, for example, a patient has carcinoma of the breast, then the ovaries are removed prophylactically to exclude her hormones. Such ovaries would then be very suitable for transplantation. The transplantation of gonads is not something which is very practical at the moment. It is however not impossible that it will be performed id the future, if the prob lem of blood supply can be overcome.” The Chairman: For what purpose would it be done? Professor de Villiers: Mainly with a view to pro creation. The ovary which is transplanted would then discharge a female eggcell, which could be fertilized and enable the patient to pro create. The Chairman. As soon as procreation becomes the intention, the permission of the Minister should be ob tained? Professor de Villiers: Yes. There should be very strin gent precautions when an ovary transplant takes place. For the reasons already men tioned by Professor Oosterhuizen, namely that all the hereditary factors would come into operation. That child would receive all the hereditary factors from the donor and none of her (host mother’s) own. The Chairman: Does this not amount to a sophistica ted form of insemination? Professor de Villiers: Exactly. Only in reverse. May 1969 31 Insemination occurs when the woman is normal and the semen is obtained from a donor. Here it is just the opposite. In this case it is the woman who does not have a gonad. This type of case occurs very seldom. There is a condition known as Turner’s Syndrome where a woman is born without any ovaries. She has tubes, a uterus and a vagina, but no ovaries, while the rest of her procreative system is perfectly normal. They lead a perfectly nor mal life except that certain growth processes are changed and they are tall and thin. This would be the type of patient in which one would consider such an organ trans plant. Continuing his evidence, Professor de Villiers said it would be of great value to such a patient. She would then be able to give birth, which she would otherwise not have been able to do. . . “I think one would be justi fied in transplanting an or gan in such a patient. Her alternative would be to adopt a child.” Professor De Villiers said that such a transplant would have to be preceded by a thorough inquiry into here ditary factors. The donor’s family history could be in vestigated, and even an an alysis of the chromosomes undertaken. This would en able the Minister of Health to decide whether there were any undesirable hereditary factors. The Chairman: Would this not create a new world for barren women? Would this type of transplant not become one of the most po pular transplants? Professor De Villiers rep lied that no successful gonad transplant had yet been per formed. Referring to artificial in semination by a donor (AID), Professor De Villiers said that he had never pro cured it for any of his pa tients because he was not sure that it was legal in South Africa. He felt all AID cases should be chan nelled through a central do nor-control institution, be cause of the problem of he reditary factors. 32 Panorama Objections to gonad trans plants were submitted to the Select Committee by Monsignor Galvin, represent ing the Roman Catholic Church in South Africa. He said: “The problems that would arise after an ovary, for example, has been trans planted, have not yet been satisfactorily answered. Ac cording to medical opinion, •all the ova are present in the ovary from the time of birth. Hence, if an ovary is transplanted one could not call a child conceived after the transplant the child of the woman who bore it, since the ovum would not have been hers, but would belong to the woman from whom the ovary was taken. “Such a transplant would as a consequence lead to dif ficulties in establishing the true parents of the child ’n matters of heredity and claims under parents’ wills. There would also be th; possibility of marriages tak ing place between half-bro thers and half-sisters. If a testis were to be transplanted similar difficulties would al so arise.” Monsignor Galvin said the term “gonad” in the new Anatomical Donations and Post-Mortem Bill did not in clude “semen” in its defi nition. But the definition given of “tissue” in the Bill seemed to be wide enough to include it, hence the Bill appeared to be permitted “artificial insemination.” Artificial insemination, in side or outside marriage, was immoral in the Catholic Church’s view. The hus band and wife alone had a reciprocal right over their bodies to engender new life. His right was exclusive, un transferable and inalienable. Also, the normal method of collecting semen appeared to be by masturbation, which was contrary to divine law. — By Stanley Uys in The Observer. May 1969 33 H Problems besetting Tokyo and other Japanese cities. Manilans might as well study them. BIG CITY CONGESTION AND FUTURE CITY PLANNING Tokyo and other big cities in Japan present a dramatic sight that seems symbolic of the nation’s economic pros perity. The construction of high-rise buildings, express ways and subways continues in high gear day in and day out, while projects which are opening more residential lands and building more houses are gathering momen tum day after day. But a closer look at every day life in these big cities reveals that their substance is not yet as perfect as their outer appearance suggests. It must be admitted that the big cities of present-day Ja pan are beset with a host of problems, which tend to im pede the smooth development of the economy and the growth of industry while, at the same time, ignoring the welfare of the people. The urban problem is now call ed one of the biggest domes tic issues confronting the Ja panese Government. Over the past decade and a half, the Japanese econo my has achieved a degree of rapid growth with few pa rallels in die world. In the process, there de veloped a massive concentra tion of central administra tive functions in the big ci ties. Head offices of private enterprises, governmental ad ministrative agencies, mass communications media, cultu ral, educational and informa tional institutions, distribu tive and banking organiza tions, etc. established them selves in rapid succession in the urban centers as if in a race against time. This is because Tokyo and the other big cities are centers of in formation and management. Private enterprises expand their survey, research and publicity activities parallel to 34 Panorama increases in their production scale. In this case, they place emphasis upon the big cities where it is easy to keep in close touch with administra tive authorities and to ga ther relevant information, both internal and external. Moreover, it is evidently ad vantageous to set up head quarters in large urban cen ters if sales efficiency is to be enhanced by making the most of mass consumption trends. Therefore, concen tration in big cities may well be called a law of economics. Furthermore, i n d u strial concentration spells popula tion concentration. In the decade from 1955 to 1965, the population of three me tropolitan areas — Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya — and their vicinity (within 50 kilo meters of the urban center) rose by 41.8, 34.8 and 25.3 per cent, respectively. In the same period, Japan’s to tal population increased by only 10.1 per cent. As a result, the population density in the big cities now stands at 6,000 per square kilometer (average of seven big cities) or nearly 30 times as high as the national aver age. Such an excessive concencentration of industry and population has given rise to numerous urban problems that are prone to harm the health and the cultural well being of the city residents. First, the accumulation of industries has upset the ba lance of land supply and de mand, bringing about a land price spiral. Then there are the so-called “industrial pub lic hazards,’’ such as air pol lution by smoke issuing from factories, contamination of rivers and the sea water by waste from manufacturing plants, noise and vibrations from construction and heavy traffic, and the sinking of the ground level due to the pumping up of underground water. The population concentra tion, meanwhile, has created a serious shortage of residen tial land and housing, and produced tremendous amounts of sewage and gar bage that are beyond the disposal capacity of the big cities. Furthermore, the ex pansion of residential areas into suburban and neighbor May 1969 35 ing areas has drastically in creased the number of peo ple who must travel a con siderable distance to offices or schools in the urban cen ter. This has created daily traffic jams on streets and highways and fantastic crowd ing on the public transporta tion systems, especially in the morning and evening rush-hours. The heavy concentration of motor vehicles has brought the so-called “automobile public hazards,” such as noise, exhaust fumes and traffic accidents. Urban improvement pro grams in Japan started later than in Western nations. Therefore, the accumulation of social overhead capital is still far from adequate. Moreover, with the sharp rise in urban population in re cent years, most of Japan’s big cities can hardly be call ed ideal places for the enjoy ment of a cultural life. For instance, major West ern cities are covered by ci ty-wide sewerage disposal net works. But the sewerage co verage ratio in Japan is still only 30 to 60 per cent even in the seven big cities. Moreover, park areas in West ern cities average out to a per capita figure of 10 to 15 square meters. In Japan, however, the per capita fi gure is only 0.9 square me ters in Tokyo and 2.6 square meters even in Nagoya, which has made relatively fast pro gress in urban improvement. The ratio of streets (that is, the ratio of street area to total urban area) in Japan is also estimated to be less than half of the ratios in Western countries. The shortage of social overhead capital in general does more harm than merely making daily life inconve nient and unpleasant. For instance, the shortage of resi dential land housing invites a qualitative deterioration of housing soon or later, result ing in the congestion of small houses. Therefore, once a fire breaks out or other ac cidents occur, large numbers of people are bound to suf fer. As residential areas expand into the suburbs, relatively low-priced land is sought out and numerous houses are built without regard to city planning. 36 Panorama This is very uneconomical from the viewpoint of mak ing the most of available land as well as for improv ing urban facilities. Children’s parks are also indispensable for fostering athletic nimbleness, sociality, spontaneity and originality. But, it is said, a shortage of such parks is partly the cause for a high incidence of obesity, autism and the refusal to attend school among city children. In ma ny cases, a shortage of play grounds causes children to enter undesirable places, re sulting in juvenile delinquen cy. Meanwhile, a shortage of day nurseries has given rise to the so-called “key child ren,” whose parents entrust them with keys to their apart ments while they are out to work. It is evident that the untended, unnatural life of these children adversely af fects their character forma tion in the vital years of their mental growth. Not only to traffic accidents and public hazards harm hu man lives, but also daily long-distance commuting by electric trains crowded to May 1969 twice or three-times their ca pacity serves to intensify both physical and mental fatigue and thereby lower producti vity. The worsening of the ur ban living environment re sults from policies which have in the past given pre ference to the development of the economy and industry over the improvement of the citizen’s welfare. To be sure, the expansion and growth of the economy is a basic requisite for improving the people’s living standards and well being. In this sense, it was only natural to at tach importance to economic growth. Nevertheless, now that the adverse effects of urban con gestion have become more and more pronounced even to the extent of obstructing a smooth advance of industry beyond the present level, the problem of how best to rec tify such defects has assumed great urgency and impor tance. The problem of promoting social development in order to remove the backward as pects in the urban living en vironment and to improve 37 the people’s welfare has been a major political slogan since around 1964. Urban redevelopment plans have been mapped out to elevate the degree of urban land use, improve and ex pand roads, parks and other public facilities, build houses systematically, relocate facto ries to mitigate public ha zards, etc. At the same time, pertinent laws for readjusting land and reconstructing ur ban centers have been en acted or revised. Urban re development projects of the past were far too limited in scale to resolve the growing severity of urban problems. In retrospect, they were in the nature of inefficient “af tercare” investments. Recog nizing the defect of this ap proach in the past, the va rious urban renewal projects currently under way are marked by large-scale and comprehensive planning. One of these projects is the Comprehensive National Development Plan now being revamped by the Economic Planning Agency. The se cond draft plan as announced in December last year envi sages in its chapter on cities a set of new measures as part of overall national land development — for instance, a thorough dispersal of in dustries, reorganization of ur ban centers, strengthened steps against urban disasters, and construction of suburban “new towns” geared to pro viding adequate housing. There are also two laws designed primarily for urban development in the context of national land develop ment. One of them is the City Planning Law, which was wholly revised last year. The other is the Urban Re development Law, now being formulated. The City Planning Law, aimed at curbing unsystema tic urbanization, prohibits any development projects in designated urban areas un less they are accompanied by the construction of roads, sewerage and other urban fa cilities of certain standards. The Urban Redevelopment Law is intended to encour age the construction of joint, multi-story buildings through the joint use of land and to use surplus land thus crea ted for parks, roads and other public facilities. Panorama Tokyo perhaps best illus trates this new trend in ur ban renewal. Last October, the Basic plan for the Im provement of the Metropolilan Region which sets forth guidelines for the city’s de velopment underwent a wholesale revision. The previous basic plan for Tokyo’s redevelopment tend ed to lay primary emphasis upon preventing the concen tration of people and busi ness in the heart of the city. Moreover, concern for im proving the people’s well being was liable to be subor dinated to the goal of pro moting smooth industrial de velopment. The revised plan, reflect ing an awareness of these ne gative aspects, avoids making any forcible attempt to stem the trends of urban concen tration. Rather it calls for positively guiding such cen tripetal moves to reasonably selected areas with a view to encouraging systematic urban construction on the basis of a “greater sphere” concept. Under the plan, Tokyo and seven surrounding prefectures (Kanagawa, Saitama, Chiba, Ibaraki, Tochigi, Gumma and Yamanashi) are regarded as an “ntegrated giant re gional complex” with a total population of 30 million. And various functions cur rently concentrated in Tokyo will be distributed within the region so that the exist ing urban centers, suburban areas and adjacent “develop ment areas” may be improved and developed further, each with its appropriate function. The area within a 50-kilometer radius, centering on 23 wards of Tokyo, is to be considered a complete “oneday life sphere.” As for the use of land in the area, efforts will be made to form a “multi-core center” for the Metropolis. To that end, functions presently con centrated in the heart of Tokyo will be redistributed to those areas now called “sub-hearts of the Metropo lis,” such as Shinjuku, Shi buya and Ikebukuro, and other adjacent areas, includ ing Yokohama. In the suburban areas, giant "new towns” will be constructed in southern Iba raki Prefecture, western Sai tama Prefecture and eastern May 1969 Chiba Prefecture, for in stance, in addition to exist ing projects, such as Tama New Town, Kohoku New Town and Kita-Chibu New Town. It goes without say ing that these new towns are to be something more than a simple collection of houses. In the areas adjoining these new towns, various cen ters will be organically dis tributed and developed, such as “urban development dis tricts based on the greater sphere concept,’’ industrial regions, tourist centers, and academic cities. At the same time, prosperous agricultural districts with high standards of living will be fostered, while efforts will be made to preserve the beauty of nature. The plan also calls for constructing about 4,400,000 housing units and securing 40,200 hectares of residential land by 1975. Besides, the per capita park area in the urban centers of the Metro politan Region will be raised from the present 1.6 square meters to three square me ters, while the coverage ra tios for service water supply and sewerage in the cities of the region will be in creased to 90 and 50 per cent, respectively. Urban reconstruction in line with these laws and plans is already taking con crete shape. In the heart of Tokyo, streetcar lines are being stea dily removed, while the sub way network is being rapid ly expanded. High-rise buildings are being planned and built one after another, and underground shopping centers and parking areas, which have become deeper and wider, are being succes sively opened. Big private enterprises are showing signs of removing factories and offices to adja cent areas, now that they have realized that the ear lier advantages of concentra tion are being more than nullified by the adverse ef fects of congestion. For in stance, the automobile in dustry, one of the most pro mising “strategic industries,” appears willing to build as sembly plants in vast, lowpriced sites away from exist ing urban centers. 40 Panoram* Other urban projects are also now under way: Senri New Town on the outskirts of Osaka, where the Japan World Exposition will be held next year; Kozoji New Town in the suburbs of Na goya; Tama New Town of Tokyo; an academic city in Tsukuba, Ibaraki Prefecture; replacement of old bridges with new ones: the construc tion of elevated highways and expressways in and around urban centers, etc. These may appear unrelated to each other at first glance. Actually, however, all of them form integral parts of comprehensive programs for the reconstruction of cities and adjoining areas to be completed 10 to 20 years hence. WORLD'S GREATEST PROBLEM The greatest problem the whole world faces is the tremendous gap in the wealth of nations. — Edwin O. Reischauer, professor at Harvard Mat I960 41 ■ The threatening spoliation of one of the natural resources of the Philippines. AS THE COUNTRY TURNS TO DESERT If nothing is now done to stop the wanton destruction of our public forests, water sheds and national parks, soil erosion will turn the Philip pines into a wasteland and a desert. And not for long too, for we have the fastest rate of forest destruction in the world, says a United Na tions report; and the Na tional Economic Council says that 172,000 hectares, or one hectare every three minutes, are destroyed annually. So, it is feared that the Philip pines will face a water crisis in the next decade that will affect the homes as well as the industrial and agricultu ral sectors. When this happens we will have little or no water at all for drinking, our food production will be set back because there will be no wa ter for irrigation; and our pigs, fowls, and cattle will die for lack of water and feed. Our industries will cripple and bog down for lack of electricity, and our cities and towns will be plunged into darkness, like Hades! “When the rainy season sets in,” the Philip pines Free Press reported on June 1969, “destructive floods will be the order of the day. Homes along river banks, bridges and other public works and private property will be washed away and thousands of human lives will be lost.” But the irony of it all is that when Uimmei comes we will have longer droughts: sweltering and oppressive. The Philippine News Ser vice reported that “the long est and worst drought re corded by the Weather Bu reau since 1885” as a result of the criminal destruction of our forests was primarily responsible for the following: Continuing destruction of rice and corn crops which 42 Panorama have been affected by lack of rain since October last year. The Bureau of Agri cultural Economics estimated a total loss of 7,697,200 sacks of palay as of December 1968; in Bataan, production would fall short by six per cent due to lack of irriga tion, and in Batangas the dry spell destroyed some 787,200 sacks of palay. Considerable losses suffered by the livetock and poultry industries. Production of milk and eggs had decreased by 10 and 20 per cent res pectively, the Bureau of Ani mal Industry reported. Meanwhile, the government has been spending P31,000 more ever)' month for cattle feed. Continuing loss of electric power and the immobilization of irrigation and waterworks systems in at least seven prov inces in different parts of the country as a result of the drying up of some ri vers and streams in those places. As a result of the long drought, vital sources of water dried up in the provinces of Bohol, Cebu, Samar and Leyte in the Visayas and Nueva Ecija, Tarlac and Bataan in Central Luzon. In Bohol, the water level at the reservoir of the Tontonan hydroelectric plant has gone down so much that there are frequent brown outs; the Bulalacao River in Cebu, which is almost dry ing up, has reduced the ir rigated portion of Cebu Ci ty from 76 to only six hec tares; in Leyte, the home province of the First Lady, water is rationed in some places like Tacloban City, and brought about losses of rice and corn crops; and the more than P21.5 million in waterworks system in Masbate was forced to shut off the precious water when the water level at the reservoir dropped to a record low, and Masbatenos were so alarmed that when the President vi sited Masbate, they greeted him with placards which said: “No Water, No Mar cos.” Alarming destruction of agricultural plantations, in cluding tree and crop seed lings, in coconut and, sugar producing provinces. The long dry spell has caused in calculable damage to the su gar industry, especially in May 1969 43 the northern towns, in Ne gros Occidental. And this despite the cloud-seeding operations by the National Federation o f Sugarcane Planters and the Philippines Sugar Institute. And the rice and corn crops were so seriously affected that the Irrigation Service Unit and the Presidential Arm on Community Development had to distribute more than 1,000 pumps to help the farmers save their wilting crops. In his Pakinggan Ang Pangulo program, President Marcos observed that the Philippines has a vegetative cover of some 30 million hectares, with 11,752,056 hectares as commercial fo rests. Of this 11,752,056 hec tares of commercial forests, 4,762,418 hectares are covered by logging permits. Fine. But what is really hap pening? Well, about 1,400,000 hectares of the nation’s watersheds have been denu ded, ostensibly through the clandestine activities of cer tain favored loggers, Nicolas Capistrano, Jr., president of the Philippine Lumber As sociation, revealed. And the Senate Committee on Natu ral Resources also reported that “some 30,392 hectares of the nation's 26 national parks all over the country are already denuded.” In the President’s Paking gan Ang Pangulo program, he asked — “What is a wa tershed?” Here, in his own words, is his answer: “A watershed is an area which, because of the vege tation, becomes a sponge. It catches and absorbs the rainfall during the wet sea son. And like a sponge, during the dry season too, it releases this water that it absorbed during the rainy season. “Thus, you see that where there is a lot of trees or thick vegetation, there is plenty of water. Once you remove the vegetation, how ever, the sponge turns into a tin roof, a hard tin roof. There is no vegetation to catch, absorb and hold the water. The water instead runs off the surface of the ground, just as water would if it fell on a hard tin roof. “So, you have floods, floods during the rainy season, but drought during the summer. Floods because there is an Panorama oversupply of water that runs off down into the valleys and into the lowlands. Du ring the rainy season, we in the lowlands catch this ex cess water. They are the floods that we worry about, and we suffer from. “During the summer, how ever, there is no water that can be released by the moun tains. The water that is supposed to be held there is no longer available, be cause the vegetation that holds it is no longer there. “And thus you have drought.” Amen. Who are to be mainly blamed, then, for this wan ton destruction of our fo rests? Obviously, not the kainginerosl For all the kaingineros in our country, working together, cannot possibly destroy 172,000 hec tares of our forests a year — with only their bolos! Which, then, inevitably points to these fatted cul prits: the illegal loggers. They must be stopped, and stopped now, in tneir indiscriminate deforestation of our watersheds and na tional parks — “lest, when an aroused people and gov ernment finally take drastic measures to stop ALL log ging as the country turns to desert. OF SOCIO-RELIGIOUS ACTION Catholic action is also social action because it promotes the supreme good of society. — Pope Piui XZ May 1060 45 ■ This paper shows how progressive and prosperous Norway and the Norwegians are in spite of their small size. ( A GREAT SMALL COUNTRY Today is Norway’s Con stitution Day, commemora ting one of the oldest exist ing organic laws — the Nor wegian Constitution which was signed on May 17, 1814. An intriguing fact about this Constitution is that during the one and a half centuries it has been in force, it has undergone only minor chan ges and modifications. But what is important for us to note is that the Nor wegians, today’s descendants of the fierce and ancient Vikings, may be a small na tion in terms of population but they are SMALL in no thing else. Norway is a country with only 3.8 million people living in the vicinity of the Arctic Circle in a land so mountainous and sparsely populated that there is — as one humorist put it — only “a quarter of an inha bitant to every mountain.” And yet, the Norwegians maintain the biggest whaling fleet in the world, one of the biggest merchant fleets (about 17 million gross tons), own at least 500,000 private cars and the same number of television sets. A country’s greatness, on the other hand, does not lie in private cars and television sets. For a nation with a population smaller than that of Greater Manila and the Southern Tagalog provinces, the Norwegians have made a large imprint on the civi lized world. The Spaniards particularly the citizens of Cataluna who claim Cristobal Colon (Columbus), may re sent it, but 492 years before Columbus set sail, a Norwe gian Viking named Leif the Fortunate, landed 35 men on Labrador and called it “The Land of the Flat Rocks.” (Some critics now refer to North America as the land of the Fatheads). Then he ventured onward to New Foundland and Nova Scotia. 46 Panorama A (ew years afterwards, an other Viking called Torfin Karisevne sailed into Hud son Bay with 160 men aboard his three ships. His son Snorre, born to his wife Gudrid, was the first European, born on the American con tinent. It was also a Norwegian, Roald Amundsen (1872-1928), the famed Arctic explorer who discovered the South Pole. (The Americans beat him to the North Pole). In 1911, with four men and a pair of dog-sleds he fought his way through blizzard, ice and snow to the South Pole where he planted the Nor wegian flag. Again, it was a Norwegian who discovered the leprosy bacillus — name ly G. H. Armauer Hansen (1841-1912), which is why le prosy is sometimes known as “Hansen's disease.” In re cent years, Thor Heyerdahl, sailed the Pacific in the raft Kon-Tiki and probed the mysteries of Easter Island. Then there was Fridtjof Nansen (1861-1930) who was both explorer, scientist, and humanitarian diplomat who resettled refugees after World War I. Finally, there is Trygve Lie who became the first secretary general of the United Nations. Not bad at all for a “small country.” What about us? With 37 million Filipinos, let’s stop thinking of our selves as “small.” — From the Manila Times, May 17, 1969, by Maximo V. Soliven. FACTORS OF SUCCESS Every success in life depends upon a man’s love of work and power of will. — Ignacio Villamor May 1969 47 BIRTH CONTROL NOW: A SURVEY In Asia, most countries are trying to contain popu lations which are increasing 3 per cent or more a year But finding effective ways is proving difficult. Two or three years ago, the intrauterine device was hailed as revolutionary — the cheap est easiest way to cut the number of births to reason able levels. Asia, with at least 2 million insertions, has become the largest mar ket in the world for the loops. Today; enthusiasm for the loops has waned. Results have been less than satisfac tory. Some programs have been supplemented with the more expensive, more con troversial pill. Experts ask, what are the alternatives? Older contra ceptive methods are unrelia ble. Injections and experi ments with "immunization” are inadequately tested. The conclusion now being reach ed by leaders in family plan ning: Induced abortion may be the only effective means of reducing population, particu larly in areas of the world where education standards are low and poverty is wide spread. In three Asian countries, abortion is already considered the most dependable check on spiraling populations. Japan pioneered, legalizing the operation in 1948. Abor tion by qualified doctors gets major credit for reducing the birth rate to a modest 1 per cent gain per year — one of the lowest in the world. In two neighboring coun tries, abortion is illegal but widely practiced. An esti mated one out of every three pregnancies in South Korea is now terminated by abor tion. The cost is $3 — is at least as important as the loop in curbing population growth. Panorama Family-planning programs have been under way in Tai wan since 1964, with the aim of reducing the popu lation growth rate from 3 to 2 per cent a year. Re sults of a program to insert 600,000 loops by 1970 have been mixed. Many women complain about them for one reason or another, and the retention rate is only 60 per cent after 18 months. The Republic of Korea has had comparable expe rience with a program begun in 1962. Over 1 million loops have been inserted, but at least 2 out of every 10 are removed for various rea sons. Both countries are supple menting their IUD programs with pills, a more complica ted and costly procedure. In South Asia, the world’s most critical area of popu lation growth, only three countries — India, Pakistan and Singapore — have na tional programs aimed at controlling births. Malaysia is beginning one. The Philippine Republic has no program, and is fur ther inhibited because about 85 per cent of its popula tion is Catholic and leans toward the “conservative” wing of the Church. Thailand, a relatively un derpopulated country by Asian standards, but one which is beginning to feel the pinch of population ver sus agricultural productivity, has no program yet Indo nesia, a nation of more than 110 million people and a high-density population in some areas, has no program worth mentioning. Pakistan and India — both growing rapidly — have had major birth control pro grams for years. But nei ther has made much of a dent in its birth rate. Pakistan aims to have 5 million couples of childbear ing age practicing birth con trol regularly by 1970. Right now, it looks as if the goal will be met. Some 2.4 mil lion couples have begun some form of birth control: the loop, the pill or conven tional contraceptives. In ad dition, 180,000 men and women have been sterilized. India’s program is 15 years old, but the population is nevertheless growing at a Mat 1969 49 rate of about 2.5 per cent a year — and threatens to climb to 3 per cent, which could mean disaster. At first, the loop was seen as the answer to India’s con trol needs, but results have been disappointing. Now, sterilization is being stress ed, and a “finder’s fee” of $1.33 is being offered to any one who brings a person to a clinic for the simple ope ration. — From U.S. News & World Report, March 17, 1969. For the salvation of our country and our na tional honor, let us fight while a grain of strength is left us, let us acquit ourselves like men, even though 'the lot of the present generation is conflict and sacrifice. It matters not whether we die in the midst or at the end of our most painful day’s work. .. — Apolinario Mabini 50 Panorama WHY MORE FILIPINOS BECOME TEACHERS There is a phenomenon in the choice of careers by Filipinos that cannot be ar rived at by simply looking at the composition of regis tered professionals in the Philippines. The list of re gistered professionals in the Philippines does not include thousands of college grad uates every year in the field of education, many of whom end up teaching in the coun try’s numerous elementary and high schools. Among those Filipinos who hold col lege diplomas, elementary and high school teachers are not numerically insignificant. At the beginning of the decade of the sixties, elem entary and high school teach ers numbered 140,000. In the mid-sixties, they grew to almost 200,000. Even now, teachers in the elementary and secondary schools out number all registered engi neers, physicians, lawyers, pharmacists, C.P.A.’s, plus some other selected profes sionals combined. There seems no end to the phenomenon of teachers in the Philippines unless choices of career courses of college students change. But if any change at all appeared in the sixties, it was a case of an increasing percentage of Filipino college students enrolled in teacher training courses. At the beginning of this decade, slightly more than a fourth of college graduates were teachers. In the mid sixties, education graduates were already more than half of total college graduates. It is estimated that among those who would be in their fourth year in school year 1969-70, at least 30% are in teacher-training courses. Teacher-graduates this school year should be more than 30% of all college graduates, since some fourth year stuMay 1969 51 dents, those in chemistry and engineering courses especial ly, would take at least one more year before they grad uate. A few reasons come up as explanations for the teach er-phenomenon in the Phil ippines. One reason is the continuing popularity and prestige the teacher enjoys, especially in Philippine bar rios and towns. Another reason is dictated by econo mic means and opportuni ties. It is relatively less expen sive, for instance, to send a child to a normal school to become a teacher than to a university to become an en gineer. It is also much easier for a teacher to find a job that pays a modest and re gular, oftentimes lifetime in come. Furthermore, a teach er does not need to stay in the city to earn a modest income that is pulled down by a higher cost and stand ard of living. Teaching op portunities are usually avail able in public barrio and town elementary school and in rural high schools (places where prestige is bound to be high and living standards and prices are low.) One consequence of the sharp rise in the number of elementary and high school teachers in the Philippines (their annual increase should be close to 10 per cent in the sixties) is the decreasing ratio of elementary and high school teachers. At the start of this decade, there were close to 70 elementary-schoolage children per elemental^ school teacher. In the mid sixties, this was down to 50. At the close of the decade, it should be no higher than 40. Similarly, there were some 120 high-school-age Filipinos per high school teacher at the beginning of the decade. In the mid-sixties, this ratio fell to 115 and should fall further down to 110 at the end of the sixties. There is nothing wrong with many Filipinos aspiring to become teachers. From the present trend of college enrollment, however, there is a danger that there will be too many Filipinos who are teachers, and very few Fili pinos who are good teachers. This would be a real pity — because a vast quantity of ill-trained teachers can produce ill-educated and ill52 Panorama motivated masses. What we need above all now are qua lified and highly-trained edu cators in our elementary and high schools, who can moti vate school children, who can train and prepare them pro perly for a higher standard of college education. It can be debated whether we should perhaps redirect the stream of college enroll ment each year away from the crowded teacher-training courses into engineering and technical fields which the stage of our economic deve lopment clearly demands. Whatever the resolution of such a debate, the solution would be for our system to have an appropriate balance between what the school sys tem needs in terms of both quantity and quality of school teachers. — Manila Daily Bul letin. OF MABINTS COURAGE It will surely take men with the courage and sincerity of the Sublime Paralytic to arrest the dis unity, immorality and greed gnawing at the roots of our society. — Cesar Majul May 1060 & K9 This is an exaggerated column based mainly on information later discovered as wrong. THE CORRUPT WORLD OF DIPLOMA MILLS The wailing of the elders and of the stockholders of the diploma mills can be heard above the shouting of protesting students. To what lowly state have the students degenerated? seems to be the common theme of the lamen tation. And the Philippine Association of Colleges and Universities, which is nothing but a syndicate of diploma mills out to preserve the high rate of profit of its members, has invoked peace and order and demanded that the needed permits for demonstrations be denied to the students. The syndicate has every reason to be afraid, for the first fruit of the student de monstrations was the disco very by government inspec tors of something which is known to all except to those who are born defenders of the profit-makers, and that is, the diploma mills in and around the center of Manila which go under the name of colleges and universities are declaring unconscionable dividends for the stockhold ers, granting huge salaries to presidents and stockhold er-administrators — all at the expense of the students and their miserably paid instruc tors and professors. According to the definitive audit made by government auditors, only one of the 15 institutions which had been subjected to scrutiny was found to be operating at a loss. The conservative esti mate is that most of the rest — certainly six — were earn ing an average of from one to two million pesos a year. One broke the record by claiming a net income of P9-million. If a college or a university were a sausage or soft drink factory, a profit of one or two million or even nine mil 54 Panorama lion is a badge of honor. It attests to the efficiency of the management and to the su periority of the inanimate product. But for an institution of higher learning to declare such a return on investment is a mark of disgrace. It would not be easy to find a better proof that the fa culty and the non-teaching staff are being exploited and the students cheated. The salary scale, as the government auditors must have learned by now, is one of the major sources of high profit. The usual salary per hour is from P5.50 to P6.75 an hour. If an in structor or professor is fa vored with a Pl0.00 rate or anything above, he has a right to consider himself ex ceptional. The salaries of Pl5.00 or P20.00 are reserved for the professionals who are either in the government or in well-known private enter prise. If the instructor or pro fessor is in the good graces of the all powerful dean, he is given a load of four or five classes a day, but whe ther he is in the good graces or not, the size of his class ranges from 60 to 85 stu dents. And this is the source of high profit. He is under pressure at all times to feel the humor of the owners, and he is under a severe compulsion, not so much to teach as to tolerate students. He cannot assign collate ral readings for the good reason that in the majority of instances, the libraries are rudimentary in nature’. If he teaches any of the natu ral or physical sciences, he is forced to confine himself mostly to the theoretical as pect of his subject because laboratory facilities are lack ing or incapable of being used. The environment into which he and the students are thrown are humid and primitive, and staying in it four or five hours is an un forgettable olfactory expe rience. But worst of all, the rat race he must run at the beginning of each semester — the race for class cards — either hardens him or des troys him. But to survive, he finds the ways and the means to be hardened. Mat 1969 55 In the meantime, the col lege or university president spends his time abroad or at home preaching the doc trine of sacrifice to improve higher learning. The press relations office, which did not exist when schools were really schools, is kept busy grinding out releases describ ing the civic spirit and dedi cation of university officials and stockholders, who are also stockholders of other mills and corporations. Consider all this and con sider the demands of mo dern industry and business on the student who must be prepared or suffer the conse quences of underemployment; consider further the real sa crifices that the student must make to be able to pay his tuition and the thousand and one hidden fees imposed on him; consider, above all, his helplessness after graduation in the intricate and compe titive world of the twentieth century, and you have some of the causes of the demon strations. — 1. P. Soliongco, Manila Chronicle, Feb. 9, 1969. WISDOM Wisdom is inseparable from knowledge; it is knowledge plus a quality which is within the hu man being. Without it knowledge is dry, almost unfit for human consumption, and dangerous in application. — I. I. Rabi 56 Panorama Panorama Reading Association PANORAMA invites the educated public to join its Association of Readers. PANORAMA READING ASSOCIATION is dedicated to men and women who appreciate the variety and quality of its articles as sources of liberal ideas. PANORAMA READING ASSOCIATION includes stu dents, businessmen, professionals, proprietors, employers, and employees. It is also open to clubs, schools, and other ac credited organizations. PANORAMA has been in existence for over Thirty Years. PANORAMA provides excellent material for classes in history, government, economics, political and social studies, lite rature, and science. It may be adopted for secondary and college use. PANORAMA is not a fly-by-night publication. It was horn in March, 1936. COMMUNITY PUBLISHERS, INC. Inverness, (M. Carreon) St., Sta. Ana, Manila, Philippines Contents Reducing Clan Time in Education 1 A Glimpse of the State of Philippine Education .... 2 Population Growth in the Philippines ................................ 12 UP President Salvodor Lopez ................................................. 28 Sex Organ Transplants Pose Racial Problem ............... 29 Big City Congestion and Future City Planning ............ 84 As the Country Turns to Desert ....................................... 42 A Great Small Country 48 Birth Control Now: A Survey 48 Why More Filipinos Become Teachers ............................ 51 The Corrupt World of Diploma Mills ........................... 54 THE COVER — Shown in cover photo is a cheese maker in action. The manufacture of more food, sufficient to feed a growing population, is a problem developing countries like the Philippines are being confronted with.