Panorama

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Part of Panorama

Title: Panorama
Issue Date: Volume XXll (Issue No. 2) February 1970
Year: 1970
Language: English
Rights
extracted text: MISSING PAGE/PAGES XXII TH! PHILIPPINE MAGAZINE OF GOOD READING Eat«r«d m lacand elaaa mail matter at the Manila Poet Office an Dee. 7, 1H( Dr. M. Carreon cor. A. de las Alas. Sta. Ano, Manila MANILA, PHILIPPINES No. 2 GETTING PARENTS INVOLVED Anyone who has ever been connected with a school has had the frustrating and discouraging experience of trying to get the parents involved in what the school is trying to do with their children. Erroneously, most parents seem to think that once they have sent their children off to the classroom school and have paid their tuition, then that’s all. The school shouldn’t be bothering the parents any more with such impertinent questions as: "Why are your children absent so much? Why do they always come late for class? Why do they escape from class? Why are they failing in their subjects? And why are they not paying the tuition money you said you gave them?” But now that so many thousands of students are "going to class” in the streets, the parents are beginning to wake up, I hope. Yes, the parents had better get involved in the streets (since they avoided the classroom school) — in order to protect their own children and to find out just who is leading them now and where. — Paul Sheehan in The Philippines Herald lformation RP Cash Deficit Budget Commissioner Faustino SyChangco has ad mitted that there is a cash deficit in the government coffers in the amount of P900 million. He estimated that collections this year will be £400 million short of original estimates. Blaming the Congress (Sixth Congress) for the gov ernment's financial mess, the budget official cited the passage of several measures raising the salaries of teach ers, the subsistence allowance of AFP enlisted men, pur chase of numerous equip ments, infrastructure projects, and a host of other appro priation measures. He also said it may have been caused by government overspending (during the first term of President Marcos). Constitutional Convention Measures Both the Senate and the House of Representatives got busy during the month con sidering or compiling bills that would insure a consti tutional convention free of partisan politics. The Senate Committee on Constitutional Amendments headed by Sen. Emmanuel Pelaez continued conducting public hearings on bills concerning the Scheduled 1971 Constitution al Convention. Meanwhile, Senator Arturo Tolentino has urged his colleagues in Congress to postpone the scheduled elec tion of constitutional dele gates in November this year, as well as of the consti tutional convention. Washington lectures CPU United States state depart ment officials, reacting sharp ly to an attack on the US embassy by student de monstrators in Manila, said that revisions to treaties should be worked out at the negotiating table and not by demonstrations. The comments came after Philippine foreign secretary Carlos P. Romulo, in apo logizing for a mob attack on the embassy, invited "the American embassy to pon 2 Panobama der such legitimate grievan ces as were made manifest” in recent peace demonstra tions against the US. ‘‘There must be cause for public indignation,” Romulo was quoted as saying. Foil Measures The House special commit tee on electoral reforms and the Commission on Elections agreed to give priority to the passage of bills designed to eliminate poll overspend ing and terrorism. The agreement was reach ed at a conference attended by Comelec Chairman Jaime N. Ferrer and Commissioners Cesar Miraflor and Lina M. Patajo. Reform Plans Radical changes relevant to present needs of the peo ple were suggested by Senate President Gil J. Puyat, Sena tors Gerardo M, Roxas and Senator Salvador H. Laurel who spoke yesterday in a special convocation at the University of the Philippines on the theme ”1971: Three Perspectives of the Constitu tional Convention.” Senate President Puyat said that Congress should meet any number of days and not limit the regular sessions to 100 days and 30 days for every special ses sion. Senator Roxas said that Congress should be allowed to hold sessions more than 100 days according to the discretion of the members. He said that 100 days ol sessions are conducive to rail roading of bills. Senator Laurel proposed the immediate abolition of parity amendments in the Constitution even before 1974. He further proposed that only 100 percent Filipi no corporations be allowed to exploit the natural, re sources of the country. He also proposed that rights to work and to counsel be in cluded in the Bill of Rights. The three senators agreed on the synchronization of the elections which are held too often and are becoming more expensive every year. Elec tions should be held every three years instead of two, Senator Roxas said. Cabinet Revamp President Marcos has sworn in six newly-appointed members of the Cabinet and February 1970 3 one official of lower rank in a partial revamp of his official family. Sworn in were: 1) Former Defense Under secretary Alejandro Melchor, as executive secretary. 2) Former Justice Secretary Juan Ponce Enrile, Jr. as secretary of national defense. 3) Chairman of the Board of Investments Cesar Virata, as secretary of finance. 4) Former Solicitor General Felix V. Makasiar, as secre tary of justice. 5) Director-General Placido Mapa, Jr., as concurrent ly chairman of the National Economic Council. 6) Administrator Constancio Castaneda of the Office of Economic Coordination, as secretary of general services. 7) Newly-appointed Court of Appeals Justice Felix An tonio, as solicitor general. The President also an nounced the appointment of Brig. Gen. Florencio Medina (ret.), nuclear physicist, as chairman of the National Science Development Board. Car From Domestic Materials How long will it take the Philippines to reach the stage where it can manufacture a motor vehicle completely out of local raw materials? A decade from now would be a conservative estimate, according to the automotiveindustry itself which, al though it has prepared a program for such an even tuality, still entertains somedoubts on its workability. The problem areas center mainly on the lack of tech nical skills for plants which would manufacture the com ponent parts. Training -could be accelerated but it must involve both governand the private sector. The 'Floating' Rate There is nothing in the Central Bank Act (Repub lic Act No. 265) which ex pressly authorizes nor pro hibits the Monetary Board from adopting what is known as the "floating ex change rate” system. Because of this, the legal ity of Circular No. 289 of the Central Bank embody ing the said monetary measure is open to varied in terpretations. But granting that the net effect of the floating ex 4 Panorama change rate scheme is de valuation, still the issuance of the controversial circu lar seemed legal even with out congressional approval in the light of Section 49 of the Central Bank Act. According to this provi sion, “if there should be an emergency which, in the opinion of the President, is so grave and so urgent as to require immediate ac tion, the President may modify the par value of the peso without the prior ap proval of Congress.’’ Worry on Loans If there is anybody who should worry about the new floating exchange rate, it should be President Marcos. For the Philippine govern ment, from March up to the end of the fiscal year, has to pay an estimated $58,948,718 in obligations with various financial institutions abroad. Payments for foreign loans are to be computed at the old rate of P3.90 to $1. Favors to US Military in Customs Ended The Philippine govern ment has ended the privileges enjoyed by the US military in the Bureau of Customs. Acting Commissioner of Customs Rolando G. Geotina recently explained the bu reau’s 'Stand on the matter at a conference in his office with representatives of the US embassy and military bases. He said beginning March 1 all shipments, in cluding military, consigned to US bases here (and their personnel and dependents) shall be subject to customs examination. ERRATUM The article entitled "Charles Russell" on Page 15, in PANORAMA, January 1970 issue, was erroneously titled and we regret the in advertence. It should read: BERTRAND RUS SELL. — Editor February 1970 5 Opinion THE RASH OF DEMONSTRATIONS The rash of demonstrations in our country shows a pattern of action tending to sow mutual distrust between the citizenry and their constituted government. Hardly have the priorities for government actions for another administration term been set by national leaders, who have been elected by popular mandate for a definite tenure, than all sorts of obstacles are being strewn on their path to the point that all moves are suspected of bad faith by imputing ignoble motives on e^ery action. The trouble-mongers who incite our people tp fear and chaos have only one definite purpose: that govern ment resources he dissipated merely in dealing with pockets of trouble, that no meaningful government programs could be implemented and, therefore, our nation could never move along towards progress. The tragedy in Philippine political life is that very powerful foreign forces capitalize on the disenchanted elements of our country to sow hatred and confusion, divide the feelings of our people, retard our economic development, and prevent us from becoming united and strong as a nation. We should chart the future of our country by the lessons of history. All these years, we have innocently believed the myth of national tragedies and jinxes in our political system, such as the death in office of our more colorful Presidents as pre-determined by fate. We have never doubted a moment that such fate might have really been the handiwork of scheming and envious mortals who will rue the day when the Philippines shall have become an economically self-sufficient nation, and enjoying social, political, economic and cultural progress and prosperity. 6 Panorama But such is the game of international power politics which, sadly, many of our distinguished leaders have failed or refused to understand. Let us awaken to the fact that any sustained, firm national leadership in our country will always be prevented from materializing by powerful foreign interests whose con suming desire is to keep us divided, weak, and a backward nation. We must always bear in mind that since the turn of the last century our hapless country has been regarded merely as a “commercial base of all the East . . . and beyond the Philippines arc China’s illimitable markets” — Irineo P. Goce CONTROL MUST REDOUND TO GOOD OF MAJORITY The business community seems to be at a loss over the wisdom of enacting another price control law. Pre sumably the sad experience of the government with a similar statute in the past still rankles in the memory. For what good are controls if these are circumvented through the incompetence or dishonesty of officials, who are supposed to enforce them? As has been seen before, a repentant Congress that had conferred upon the Execu tive department the authority to regulate prices was prompted to reconsider its action. Surprisingly, prices levelled off to normal after the withdrawal of controls. Now, another price control bill that seeks to prevent the hoarding, monopoly and manipulation of the costs of such basic commodities like food, construction materials, drugs and household articles, is under Senate considera tion. At the hearing of the committee on commerce and industry, under Senator Almendras, however, business execu tives were at cross-purposes over the bill. February 1970 7 One businessman was keen about such legislation "but showed concern over its implementation. Drug and tex tile manufacturers voiced their objection. As a reassurance that it is not their intention to encourage profiteering, they offered to police their own ranks. Only the lone represen ative of the consumers supported controls with out any mental reservation. However, other leaders of the business community, who preferred to remain silent at the hearing, seemed similarly disposed as shown in their statements to the press. Since it is difficult under the present circumstances to ascertain the business consensus, the burden now falls upon Congress to use its better judgement. Evidently, anti cipating the eventual assertion of legislative discretion, provincial governors and other local officials, up for re election next year, want Congress to-think of the political repercussions. Whatever is the ultimate decision of the lawmakers, it is assumed that this will redound to the benefit of the majority, rather than enhance the political survival of a few worried officials. — Saturday Mirror, 28 Feb. ’70 THE EVIL OF MARTIAL LAW The revelation that “secret orders” have been given to the highest military officers of the land to take over in the tragic event that anything untoward happens to the CJhief Executive and that presidential advisers have been consulted on the advisability of imposing martial law to carve out an enforced peace out of a seeming and welladvertised chaos casts a grave doubt on the reality of the equanimity of Mr. Marcos and on his adherence to the orderly processes prescribed by law. It may well be that in the induced excitement of the moment, the President has forgotten that his lawful suc cessor, as dictated by the charter of the land, is the Vice 8 Panorama President. The lapse of the presidential memory about the uses of the Vice-President is understandable. But at the very least, he should have remembered that the law of succession mentions the President of the Senate as a pos sible successor, and if this personage is not available for any reason, there is the Speaker of the House, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, and then the Secretary of Foreign Affairs, and so on until the last member of the Cabinet. This line of succession was deemed proper and im perative by the framers of the Constitution, for in their sovereign wisdom, they felt the necessity of placing civilian above military authority whatever its eminence. They have inscribed in the highest law the proper place of the military in the scheme of things, and that is, several rungs below those occupied by the lowest civilian of rank. To think, therefore, even in a most cursory fashion of placing the armed forces in a position above those of the Senate President, the Speaker of the House, the CJhief Justice ol the Supreme Court, etc. is an act that does not reveal the truthfulness of the President’s profound respect lor the Constitution. Now, the question that is necessary to ask is whyshould the instructions be secret? It would have been more proper for the President if in obedience to his sound instincts and intelligence and not a sop to his innate fears, he had given open instructions to the members of the military organization, from the Chief of Staff, who is a disciplined man, to the lowest non-commissioned officer, that their primary duty, their duty above any other, is to lend their whole-hearted cooperation to the duly constituted officials, subject themselves to their lawful orders and, with them, bring forth a regime of law and cordial rela tions among the branches of the government in an at mosphere of sincerity. This is the basic concept upon which our democratic society, imperfect though it may be, is founded and who knows that in the near future, in a future which we shall February 1970 9 still witness, every fount of power will find its place, ready to contribute its share to the furtherance of the common welfare. We have every respect for the military. But in a democratic society such as ours is supposed to be, they have their proper place, and more, we have the proper civilian officials who shape and draft policy and on whose shoulders repose the ultimate fate and well-being of the Republic. For the President, then, to think of the military be fore he thought of the civilians other than the VicePresident, whose constitutional right and obligations are to take his place, is to negate the political principle and the philosophical foundation of the government our fathers have instituted for us. And why even think of martial law, the last resort of Chief Executives who are palpable failures, of leaders who can no longer lead? The Administration has deplored publicly and with ample elaboration the destruction of win dow panes, the burning of private cars, and the minor in jury of heavily armed officers and enlisted men. The admittedly senseless destruction, inevitable in times of severe stress, has been condemned and the blame has been placed squarely on students who are just bursting out of their nonage. Their rowdiness and the blunt and incendiary but essentially factual speeches their leaders have been delivering are now under close study for any sign of incitement to sedition. And incidentally, has the President ever called to account the uniformed killers for the fatal violence they inflicted on the four students? The President must be reminded that the imposition of martial law at the present time when everything is under control and when the authority of the State has not been eroded is an eloquent demonstration of the truth of the charges aired by the students — the charges that our society is shot through and through with iniquitous relationships among the factions which compose it. The 10 Panorama duty, therefore, of a wise and just President is to remove the causes which undermine the social structure. He can not do so by the rash and ill-advised act of imposing a necessarily cruel and ruthless martial law. But however all this m^y be, the deeds of the stu dents — the cowed conservatives who dawdle over the nonessentials and the reckless radicals who dwell on the funda mentals — and the violence which has been sumptuously described in papers who stand for the status quo are purely minor in character, minor compared to the violence of a society which has permitted the widening of the gap be tween the rich and the poor and which has tolerated acts of injustice on the poor and the helpless in the name of peace and order. The most unfortunate development of all is that the President who is separated from the first President of the Republic by almost two generations has descended to the unfairness and plain injustice of raising the Communist bogey to justify the repressions of dissenters — as distin guished from dissidents — and to invoke the safety of the state as the justification of the imposition of a cruelty which has gone out of fashion in all civilized countries as much for its immorality as for its ineffectiveness for fer reting out the real threats to national security. We have no intention here of asking the President to forget that the danger of Communist activities exists. On the contrary, we ask him to be vigilant. But to be vigilant in a civilized and just manner, his accusations that persons whose views he cannot understand and approve are Com munists out to dislodge him from Malacafiang and take over the government should be presented in court and there, on the basis of the rules of evidence, proved or disproved. To go about muttering about the Communist leanings of his critics is to resort to the favorite pastime of political fishmongers and market vendors. We deeply sympathize with the President in his pre dicament. After all, it has been rumored that a seeress February 1970 11 of tremendous occult powers has predicted that some de mented citizen might transport him to the Great Beyond even before his term is ended. But while we cannot do anything about this passionate adoption of a practice of a primitive era when the fate of empires was decided by the dream of kings and queens or by the throw of the dice or card, we make the humble supplication that prophecies and portents should not be the cause of the institution of martial law or the suspension of the writ. We make this supplication for the reason that we believe that President Marcos, properly guided and advised and rid of his primitive fears, can still make a chapter rather than a footnote in the history which will be written by the survivors. — Editorial, Manila Chronicle, 21 Feb. ’70 Features DR. JOSE P. LAUREL: ON THE PROBLEMS OF OUR YOUTH ‘‘We must help our youth before it is too late.’’ These were the prophetic words of the late war-time President Jose P. Laurel in the early 1950’s. Tomorrow, as we observe his 78th birth anniversary, it is meet to remember some 6,000 placard-bearing college youth that staged a demonstration of student power in a massive rally in front of the Congress building at its opening session on January 26, this year. The Congress rally by members of the National Union of Students of the Philippines supported by other youth organizations was reportedly peaceful. Demonstrators car ried posters denouncing graft and corruption, the crime situation, plight of the teachers, Philippine General Hos 12 Panorama pital personnel, aside from the peace and order situation in Central Llibn, prevailing economic conditions, health and education services and other gripes. At about 5:30 that same afternoon, another group of demonstrators damaged a Metrocom car. The following day about 5,000 students and youth leaders from 14 colleges and universities held rallies in Malacanang and in Congress. They demanded among other things the passage of the Magna Carta for Students, the bill reducing the voting age from 21 to 18. Another militant nationalist youth movement also proposed to make the election for the delegates to the constitutional convention in 1971 non partisan. All these problems of our youth are encompassed in the ten-word injunction of Dr. Jose P. Laurel, the Sublime Nationalist who was himself a dedicated educator. This writer, as a former student and assistant attorney in his law firm, had the chance to hear Dr. Laurel with deep concern say that the only way we can solve the prob lems of our youth is "to help them before it is too late, and give new hope to our people of a future of tolerable peace and prosperity with some dignity and honor.” The revered and respected Filipino jurist, statesman, educational leader and Doctor of Laws from Yale Univer sity minced no words when he said 17 years ago: "The government cannot evade that challenge; the adult citizens of this young republic cannot evade their responsibilities. It is true, perfectly true, that the youth is the ‘fair hope of our fatherland,’ but if the government does not lift a finger to open opportunities for that youth, if nothing is done to help the young realize the great potentialities that are in them, the ‘fair hope’ can turn into a crushing disappointment, a bitter, angry mass, swelling into a mighty force that can engulf us all.” There is the consensus that the significance of the present radical, not to say revolutionary, tendencies or movements in our country to borrow the phrase of the Febrvary 1970 13 late President Laurel is that they mark the eve of political renaissance, that our people, especially the youth or the “new breed,’’ are groping for the means and weapons with which they may effect liberal an I progressive socio-economic reforms in a government more worthy of their trust, faith and confidence — an administration whose heart, so to speak, is responsive to the needs and weal of the masses. As it should be, the orientation of our people, accord ing to the Batangas jurist, is getting clearer after their long disillusionment through the years since World War II. Within our youth the spirit of bold inquiry is assert ing itself. Young students in colleges and universities are asking pointed questions about the causes of and remedies to our national dilemmas as a result of which an in telligent dialogue is carried between the students and the faculty-administration members with objectivity, mutual un derstanding and awareness of the nature, scope and causes of our nation’s difficulties. Our student power is the new force in our national life which Dr. Laurel had admonished our leaders must learn to manage and channel into sound and constructive ends. It is the force, he said, ‘‘that, so managed and so channeled, shall bring us salvation, and shall enable us, in time, to be able to quote Rizal’s Tai Pueblo, tai govierno with pride and self-respect as Filipinos, not with shame and humiliation.” The difficulty in life, it is said, is the choice. Some times, the wrong way always seems the more reasonable. Our present society, including its political, civic, econo mic and educational leaders, are conscious of the fact that the great business of life is “to be, to do, to do without, and to depart.” To paraphrase Rousseau, those who would treat poli tics and morality apart will never undent*, ul the one oi the other. Dr. Laurel believed that the sufferings of our masses could not be solved by “glowing promises and flowery press releases.” 14 Panorama It is .he youth who, with all their eagerness to serve, with an their burning desire to work, to build, to con struct, yet can find no opportunities for earning a living. This hard fact calls to mind the current exodus of our young professionals and skilled manpower resource to foreign lands aptly denoted as “brain drain.’’ In his book Bread and Freedom, Dr. Laurel pointed out that the problems of our youth find no solution in stock press releases under any government administration. Our young men and women cannot live on promises, however beautiful and alluring such promises may be. They need to have admonitions to work hard, to be diligent, to be law-abiding, to be truthful, to be honest. The majority of them are God-loving who have no desire or inclination to disobey and flout reasonable laws of society. In their idealism, our youth spurned the example of many of their elders, high officials of the government, who not only set aside the law to suit their convenience, but have repeatedly defied the Constitution itself. Our youth condemn dishonesty and crookedness; they abhor vice and wastefulness, the extravagance and pompo sity of their elders. “Given half a chance,’’ the late lamented Dr. Laurel wrote, ‘‘they caji embark on the quest of the Holy Grail of good government and peaceful and, prosperous existence.’’ — Excerpts from an article by Efrain E. Carlos, in the Manila Chronicle, 1969 ‘THE CONFLICT OF GENERATIONS’ From the book, The Conflict of Generations by Lewis S. Feuer, we quote the following pertinent paragraphs: “We may define a student movement as a congregation of students inspired by aims which they try to explicate in a political ideology, and moved by an emotional re February 1970 15 bell ion in which there is always present a disillusionment with and rejection of the values of the older generation. Moreover, the members of a student movement have the conviction that their generation has a special historical mission to where the older generation, other elites, and other classes have failed, “Generational conflict, generational struggle, has been a universal theme of history. Unlike class struggle, how ever, the struggle of generations has been little studied and little understood. Labor movements have a continuous and intelligible history. Student movements, by contrast, have a fitful and transient character, and even seem lacking in the substantial dignity which a subject of political sociology should have. The student status, unlike that of the workingman, is temporary; a few brief years, and the quantum-like experience in the student movement is over. Nevertheless, the history of our contemporary world has been basically affected by student movements. Social revolutions in Russia, China, and Burma sprang from student movements, while governments in Korea, Japan, and the Sudan have fallen in recent years largely be tause of massive student protest. Here, then, is a ret or ient phenomenon of modern times which challenges om untierstanding. “Generational struggle demands categories of under standing unlike those of the class struggle. Student move ments are born of vague, undefined emotions which seek lor some issue, some cause, to which to attach them selves. A complex of urges — altruism, idealism, revolt, self-sacrifice, and self-destruction — searches the social order for a strategic avenue of expression. Labor movements have never had to search for issues in the way student movements do. The wage demands and the specific grievances of workingmen are born directly of their con ditions of life. But the conflict of generations derives from deep, unconscious sources, and the outlook and philo sophy of student movements are rarely materialistic. If 16 Panorama labor seeks to better its living conditions as directly as possible, student movements sacrifice their own economic interests for the sake of a vision of a nobler life for the lowliest. If historical materialism is the ideology of the working class, then historical idealism is the ideology of student movements. If ‘exploitation’ is the master term for defining class conflict, then ‘alienation’ does similar service for the conflict of generations. “A STUDENT movement, moreover, tends to arise where political apathy or a sense of helplessness prevails among the people. The young feel that the political initiative is theirs, especially in countries where the people are illiterate. The educated man has an inordinate pres tige in a society ol illiterates. Throughout human history, whenever people of a society have been overwhelmingly illiterate and voiceless, the intellectual elite has been the sole rival of the military elite for political power. “This brings us to what is most significant for the theory of social change — namely, the consequences of the superimposition ol a student movement on a nationalistic, peasant, or labor movement. Every student movement tries to attach itself to a ‘carrier’ movement, analogous to the harmonic waves superimposed on the carrier wave in physics. But the superimposition of waves of social movements differs in one basic respect from that of physical movements. The student movement gives a new qualita tive character and direction to social change. It imparts io the carrier movement a quality of emotion, qualities of feeling, w'hich would otherwise have been lacking. Emo tions issuing from the students’ unconscious, and deriving from the conflict of generations, impose or attach them selves to the underlying political carrier movement, and channel it in strange directions. Given a set of alter native paths — rational or irrational — for realizing a so cial goal, the direction of a student movement will tend toward the most irrational means to achieve the encl.” — Alejandro R. Races, in The Manila Chronicle, 18-Fe6.-70 Feuh.ary 1970 17 DEVELOPMENT IN THE 1970’S IF ANYTHING is clear about “development” it is that foreign assistance alone will not bring it about. The process of modernization is far more difficult and complicated than it seemed 20 years ago, when the United States began its aid programs in the developing nations. As President Nixon said recently: “For years, we in the United States have pursued the illusion that we alone could remake continents. Conscious of our wealth and technology; seized by the force of good intentions; driven by habitual impatience; remembering the dramatic success of the Marshall Plan in postwar Europe, we have some times imagined that we knew what was best for everyone else and that we could and should make it happen. Well, experience has taught us better.” “It has taught us,” Mr. Nixon said, “that economic and social development is not an achievement of one nation’s foreign policy but something deeply rooted in each nation’s own traditions.” A great deal has been learned about “economic dev elopment” in the 20 years since the United States began its aid programs in the lower-income nations. But little has been learned of the “social” development referred to by the President. In fact when the development programs were begun the word “social” was seldom if ever used. It was more or less assumed that as money, goods and skills were trans ferred from the industrial nations, living standards would rise around the world and gap between the rich and the poor would be closed. The flows of funds and resources from government and private sources in the richer nations of Western Europe, Canada, Japan and the United States to the poorer nations are now running about 13,000 million dollars a year, with the United States furnishing almost one half of the total. 18 Panorama But results have not matched expectations in either the developed or the developing nations. Economic progress has been made, and according to the Pearson Commission Report on international develop ment to the World Bank, it has been “better than general ly realized." The average rate of increase in Gross National Product reached about five percent in the 1960’s. Many officials in the United States, other donor nations and international institutions and commentators believe that far too much stress has been placed on the “economic" aspects of development and not enough on the social, moral and cultural causes and effects. Robert S. McNamara, the president of the World Bank, believes that while a rising GNP is necessary far more attention must be given to the problems arising from malnutrition; rapid population growth; the flow of peasants to the cities; the unemployed and pollution of the air and water. He said recently, “Our ultimate goal is to help build the world into a more habitable home for mankind, and to help create a political, social and economic environment in which individual men and women can more freely develop their own highest potential.” Mr. McNamara offers no simple answers or solutions or timetable for reaching the “goal.” The Pearson Commission Report, which has been described as “the most comprehensive study of development ever made” is now being studied at the World Bank, in the United States and in other nations. In addition, Pres ident Nixon is awaiting a report due next month on in ternational development. He said in his Foreign Polity Report, that after studying the report he will propose a “fresh American assistance program,” more responsive to the conditions of the 1970’s. However, the President has already given his views on international assistance. He stated in his Foreign Febhuaby 1970 19 Policy Report, “It is a means of helping and supplement ing the efforts of nations which are able to mobilize the resources and energies of their own people. There are no shortcuts to economic and social progress.’’ — Gerard A. Donohue, IPS Columnist ASSYRIAN RUINS OF DILMUN: CRADLE OF CIVILIZATION? A British-born archeologist says recent finds on the shores of the Persian Gulf have confirmed the existence of an ancient land which may have been the true cradle of civilization. Geoffrey Bibby, curator of a museum in Aarhus, Den mark, said explorations in Bahrain, Kuwait and Oman have uncovered the ruins of Dilmun, previously known only through a few mentions in Assyrian documents. In a book titled “Looking for Dilmun,’’ Bibby said discovery of a city site that may have been in existence as long ago as 5000 B.C. convinced him that Dilmun was older than Sumer, generally regarded as the land where civilization began. “One thing was clear,’’ he said. “Civilization was over a thousand years older in the Gulf lands than we had believed, and somehow that thousand years of history had to be filled.” Bibby ranks Dilmun — which flourished on the trade routes between the Middle East and northern India — with Egypt, Babylon, Sumer and the lands along the Indus valley among the great civilizations of the ancient world. The archeologist’s interest in the area dates back to the late 40s, when his curiosity was aroused by the sight 20 Panorama of many square miles of desert mounds on the island of Bahrain, where he was working for the Iraq Petroleum Co. Later, he was able to obtain a grant from the Danish Scientific Foundation to excavate the mounds, which proved to be Dilmun graves. Further exploration of the area uncovered the ruins of a temple which apparently was built about 3000 B.C., making it contemporary with Sumar. Some features of the structure suggested Sumerian influence. Over the past 15 years, some 80 other archeologists — most of them Danish — have participated in explorations of South Arabia which uncovered the ancient city site 60 miles north of Dhahran, Saudi-Arabia. According to Bibby, Babylonian and Sumerian literature indicate that the ancient inhabitants of southern Mesopo tamia (Iraq) believed their Gods lived in Dilmun at the dawn of time. Dilmun was a holy land to the Sumerians. He theorizes that the peoples ol the Persian gulf may have brought their Gods into Mesopotamia along with the agriculture that helped their civilization to prosper. — From Saturday Mirror, 28 Feb. 1970 DRIVER EDUCATION KEY TO TRAFFIC IMPROVEMET It is not unusual to see two drivers in Manila bawling at each other especially during peak hours of the day. or to see a car which, while it is on the wrong lane, refuses to yield or give up the right-of-way, thus causing a long traffic jam compounded by curses and unnecessary blowing of horns. We can attribute the cause of this situation to the terrible lack of driver education — a thing still unknown February 1970 21 in the Philippines, or if known somethng that is derided. By driver education, we mean an organized instructional program whereby the principles and practice of safe driving, or accident avoidance training is properly integrated with the development of driving skills and knowledge of traffic rules and regulations. The refusal to give up the right-of-way even when it is absolutely necessary has been the cause of a great number of road accidents. Add to this the “legal blame” system of traffic investigation — that is, we are more in terested of knowing who the culprit is rather than trying to find out how the accident could have been prevented in order to avoid repetition. Why the need for a driver education? For purposes of traffic safety, driver education is a must. Studies con ducted in the United States where driver education is offered by almost all high schools and a great number of private companies and government agencies, show that those who took the course have less accident records. Here are some significant findings: In Oregon, drivers who took up the course had a superior record of 48.2 per cent with respect to accident; in Deleware, 37.8 per cent, in Pennsylvania, 66.7 per cent better, in West Virginia, 80.7 per cent and in New Hamp shire, 75.3 per cent. In San Fernando, California, studies made in 1967 showed that among 391 traffic violations, 330 were com mitted by untrained drivers while 61 were done by those who took up driver education, or a ratio of five-to-one. In 1958, of 339 violations, 302 were committed by un trained drivers while 37 only were committed by un trained ones. Also, Region I of the US Forest Service gave driver education to 2,250 of its personnel and saw its accident rate improved from six reportable accidents per million vehicle miles to 3.43. The Idaho Highway Department realized a saving of $43,000 in accident a id insurance 22 Panorama costs in one year after giving driver education to 1,579 drivers. In Wyoming, Frank Hicks, traffic safety coordinator, said that “the governor’s office of traffic safety estimated that if 100 per cent of Wyoming’s young people of driver age were properly trained, accidents in the state could be reduced by as much as 15 per cent each year — and an annual saving of $4-8 million a year — which is ten times more than the cost of their driver improvement program.” These are but a few of the so many proofs that driver education is an effective tool in minimizing road accidents. In our country, it would not only reduce accidents but would also minimize if not eliminate the “tong” cop. Driver education should become a standard or a more or less compulsory feature of public education. Judson B. Branch, president of the Allstate Insur ance, USA, said that “driver education taught by qualified instructors is the most parctical and effective way known to combat the growing menace of traffic accidents. To be capable of making the thousands of decisions necessary every day in traffic, drivers must be thoroughly trained bv professional educators before they take to the road, "training the new or even old drivers gives us our best opportunity to upgrade national driving standards from one generation to the next, since the training will eliminate much of the driver error and behavior mainly responsible for traffic accidents.” It must be stressed that ‘‘what the average driver knows, if any, about traffic laws, safe driving techniques and attitudes has been acquired in a woeful random man ner.” As such, it must be reiterated that driver education should now be started in the country and it should include, in addition to vehicle handling skills and knowledge of rules of the road, education on all aspects of highway safety, including the human, vehicle highway and com munity factors that play important roles in crash initiation, crash severity and post-crash response and salvage. February 1970 23 It is high time that the government saw to it that driver education courses, with emphasis on accident avoid ance, be prescribed and approved by an authorized agency competent enough to know what is traffic safety. — Leonardo Q. Belen in The Manila Times, 19 Feb. ’70 ■ The drawback of existing IQ or psychological tests as applied to Filipino children. CHILDREN’S IQ AFFECTED Bf EMOTIONAL DISTURBANCE The mental and emotional growth of a child depends on four major factors. Heredity, physical well-being, emotional state and environment. As to what single factor contributes most to the over all growth is still a question to be resolved. Dr. Miguela Flores, staff psychologist of the National Coordinating Center for the Study and Development ol Filipino Children and Youth opines that given an ample amount of fairly good genes from both parents, a healthy body, a pleasant if not luxurious environment, adequate schooling, a child’s mental growth will progress as scheduled if he is emotionally balanced. Obviously, parents play a key role in their child’s mental growth. Modern parents tend to over-emphasize the importance of a child’s Intelligence Quotient. If a child’s I.Q. is high, the child is likely to be pushed into studying hard to get into the honor roll or maintain his high grades. If his I.Q. is low, he is also likely to be pushed to study hard to “try and catch up with your classmates.” In both cases, the child develop a feeling of insecurity which could only stunt his mental and emotional growth, 24 Panorama instead of helping it. He himself begins to measure ac ceptance-success by grades and that nebulous thing called I.Q. What parents fail to understand is that I.Q. tests are not the ultimate authority, in measuring an individual’s capabilities. At best, the I.Q. rating is a sum of one’s aptitudes and personality. The physical condition or the emotional state of the one taking the I.Q. test can affect ihe results. Children who failed miserably in the tests were often those with minor ailments or had been scolded by their parents before leaving for school. Another drawback of I.Q. tests and other psychological tests we have in this country is that these tests were for mulated by and for Americans or Europeans. In different cultures, different mental capabilities may be developed. So a test for Americans would perhaps reasonably measure American aptitudes, but given to Filipinos may not produce the same results. As there is no one yet who has formulated psychological tests for Filipinos, our psychologists do the next best thing — revise existing standardized test to suit the Filipinos’ character. There is also a tendency among Filipinos today to neat psychology as a non-science and practice it themselves. Parents o^ even teachers become psychology buffs and their guinea pigs are the children. It is for this reason that results of psychological tests are rarely shown to parents or the children’s teacher. Dr. Flores would also like to see the day when our psychologists can come up with a test determining a child’s readiness for formal schooling. A child may be of school age as generally accepted, but may not be ready mentally. If this child is sent to school, he may lose interest, becom ing an early drop-out. On the other hand, a very young child, below school age may already be mentally prepared for school. If this child does not go to school at the time he is ready for it, he too may lose interest later on. February 1970 25 Love and care from parents are still the most im portant factors towards a child’s mental and emotional growth. For a child is never ‘trained’ he is taught. And he learns by absorbing from his parents their attitudes, outlook in life. If he has educated parents, he has a bet ter start in life than those who don’t have. — From the Manila Chronicle, Feb. 26, 1970 WHAT AGNEW DIDN’T WITNESS IN VIETNAM Spiro Agnew won himself a place in future histories of the Vietnam war recently by being the first American Vice President to risk spending a night in the country, although, according to President Thieu, over 90 percent of it is controlled by the Saigon Government. But with very little more risk, the Vice President might have carved out a considerably more prominent niche for himself by doing some of his travelling by road instead of helicopter. On New Year’s day, he could have driven some 30 to 40 miles out of Saigon to the area where he visited two fire support bases and seen nothing more bloody than a motor-cyclist who had driven into a ditch. It would have been an excellent and deserved bit of publicity for the American claim that Vietnam’s roads are getting safer. A journey like that was out of the question a year ago. Mr. Agnew would also have got a far better glimpse of the complexities of the war and have seen with his own eyes how, though Saigon has marked up some definite successes on the balance-sheet, a great many question marks remain. Even the roads, many of them excellently widened and resurfaced by US Army engineers, can be deceptive. At first sight the lorries that travel through this part of 26 Panorama the country, taking timber to Saigon, look splendid proof of the Vietcong’s inability to throttle the economy. But most of these lorries have been taxed by the Vietcong at a rate of up to £5 per cubic yard. Mr. Agnew could also have turned off the main road without much danger and visited a village not far from one of the firebases he called on. He would have seen a good deal to impress him. From 1959 to 1967, this vil lage was occupied by the Vietcong. The government took it back that year after very heavy fighting and a loss of some 100 killed and wounded. The dirt road which links the village to the outside world was then rutted with ditches dug by the peasants under Vietcong orders. To day it is in very good shape. Four government outposts protect the village now and local leaders believe that they have frustrated every Vietcong attempt to send in propaganda teams at night. This is obviously a government success story, a classic example of the way the Vietcong are being pushed out of areas they once firmly controlled. But few people in the village believe that the war is over for them. ‘‘In the days of the French there were two government posts here; now there are four,” an old man said. “Perhaps this time they will stay.” The peasants have long memories and few convictions about the future. They know that the neighboring village, also retaken by the government in 1967, is still heavily infiltrated by the Vietcong at night. They are luckier be cause they are cut off from Vietcong territory by a river which it is hard to cross unseen. Saigon’s problem is that it has not yet managed to balance its military success here with equivalent political gains. The chief of one of the two hamlets into which the village is divided explained that its wealth in the old days came from rice farming and fishing in an area that is now either a free fire zone or poisoned by defoliants. February 1970 27 Some of the chemical sprays have drifted across the river into the village, killing trees and vegetables in the peasants’ gardens. One man claimed to have lost this year crops worth £100, a lot of money for a Vietnamese peasant. The hamlet chief was worried about the poor peasants. He said that he had used the money the Saigon government is now giving villages to encourage pig-farm ing, but even so this was only within reach of the richer people. Unable to work their old land, the peasants are being hit by prices that are rising far quicker than the figures issued in Saigon, based only on prices in the capital city, suggest. Saigon gives the village authorities little guidance on how to explain its new austerity taxes, one reason for the recent price rise, while the Vietcong have a crisp new slogan — “The austerity tax cuts the poor people’s throat.” “If the Vietcong did get back into the village,” said the hamlet chief, “they would find some of the poor peasants ready to listen to them.” And if the Vietcong did come it would not be entirely as strangers. Even today, a good marry of the peasants do not use Saigon’s hostile term for the guerrillas, ‘‘the Vietcong” but talk of “the Front” (the National Liberation Front) or “the other gentlemen.” Most of the poor families have had sons who joined the Vietcong and perhaps two-thirds of them are still in the field. The seeds of the classwar that the Vietcong has always made the basis of their struggle are still in the village, and here, as elsewhere, Saigon has shown little of the will or the imagination needed to remove them. The village’s problems are in some ways unusual. Above all, because it has lost most of its old farming land. But if Mr. Agnew had visited it he would have been nearer to seeing how the Vietcong has survived all these years by approaching the war from the opposite direction to Saigon. — Mark Frankland in The Observer 28 Panorama TASK OF THE SEVENTH CONGRESS The Seventh Congress opens the 100-day regular ses sion today faced with serious and urgent problems which have upset our economy and have roused the students into organized demonstrations and other forms of activism. About 200,000 students, the largest assemblage of the more aggressive generation, to be swelled by militant labor groups, are poised to turn out today in omnibus protest against a number of guidances including alleged unful filled presidential promises. It is an disenchantment among the youth and the working segments in our society that happily is vented through peaceful processes. It dramatizes the challenges faced by the Seventh Congress in the early weeks of the ’70s. This will be the first regular session of Congress under a reelected President who by the exigencies of the country’s constitution, would not look forward to a third term. He is therefore, expected to deal squarely with the problems of the country solely on the basis of national interest without fear of any political reprisal in future elections. Whenever Congress goes into its annual session, the national spotlight shifts from Malacanang, which is usually the' repository of broad powers, to the bicameral body on Padre Burgos. Law-making gives life and power to the two chambers of Congress and the myth of co-equality and (hecks and balances becomes a brief reality. Congress shares with the President the power of ap pointments, screens and deliberates the various Malacanang measures including the proposed budget. It could, if only to show its capacity for abusive action, suppress or abolish items of government officials in the proposed budget who displease the honorable solons. President Marcos has exercised tremendous influence in both chambers. Despite his avowal of neutrality in the F’ebruary 1970 29 power struggle in both houses, Mr. Marcos however, figured prominently in the choice of a Speaker and a Senate Pres ident. In the Lower House, Mr. Marcos was earlier reported to have supported Rep. Cornelio T. Villareal for the speakership. But when Speaker Laurel won the vote ol confidence of the NP junta, political watchers claimed that the President (hanged his mind and backed up Laurel instead of Villareal. In the Senate, Senator Jose J. Roy, who lost out to Senate President Puyat for the leadership in the Upper Chamber, bitterly denounced the alleged interference of the President in the intramurals of the Senators. “I lost to President Marcos,” Roy fumed. “It was President Mar cos who decided the Senate presidency question. The President apparently relied on Puyat’s performance in the past, including his first term when he sided with the Liberals.” It was evident that the bitter infighting and the power struggle in both chambers have inflicted some wounds among the aspirants and their followers and would take time before these would heal to enable the two houses to buckle down to the serious business of lawmaking. However, these hassles for the leadership of both cham bers only dramatized the power that Mr. Marcos wields over the senators and congressmen. But Senate President Puyat and Speaker Laurel are capable and independent-minded congressional leaders. They have proved by their past records that they have the gall and the guts to take issue with the President. Their reelection to their positions of leadership in both houses augurs well for a viable and constructive partner ship between Malacanang and Congress that in spite of the massive power lodged in the President, the two cham bers would not be mere Marcos rubber stamps. President Marcos will open the regular session this afternoon with his state-of-the-nation address before a joint 30 Panorama session of the two houses of Congress. It is a traditional ritual copied from the American system. It is expected that if the President will confront Con gress with the real state of the nation, he will touch on the serious foreign exchange problem which has devalued the Philippine peso in the free money market in Hong kong. He will also have to inform the lawmakers of increasing threat of Huk dissidence which reportedly has spread to Quezon City and the Negros provinces in the Visayas. With these grave problems, the people hope that our solons will seek to meet the challenges they face. They should do away with their traditional horse-plays and absenteeism during the early part of the 100-day regular session. They should tackle immediately the problems as the President presents them or which the legislators know from their own knowledge. There should be a minimum of time-consuming privilege speeches especially those deli vered purely for personal or political reasons. Our legislators should not put off for tomorrow or for the last days of the regular session or for the expected special session what they can do at the moment. One hundred days of regular session are enough if they are actually made use of. For even the 365 days in one year would appear inadequate if the legislators would indulge in unnecessary procrastination through absenteeism and through the failure of a working quorum. — Francisco de Leon, Manila Chronicle, 26 Jan. 1970 YOUTH: A NEW APPROACH TOO MANY PEOPLE get their impression of American youth from a vocal but very small minority — the yippies and the hecklers and the hot-heads. February 1970 31 Certainly, these young radicals must be dealt with and not frozen out. But it must be clearly understood that they are not representative of American youth. The vast majority of young Americans are accessible to understanding. At the same time, a great many of them are restive and disappointed. Many feel alienated. Not a few refuse to identify themselves with a society they believe is immoral and unjust. Too many of America’s finest young people feel over powered, over-patronized, over-protected. Overpowered in this way: they feel little or no par ticipation in the decisions that affect their lives. Too often, they feel, government tells them what to do, the schools tell them how to do it, and their parents tell them what not to do. No wonder so many feel powerless and frustrated. Over-patronized in this way: far too few of us really listen to what young people are saying. We defend their right to speak up and to dissent, we smile self-righteously at our own tolerance, and then w’e pay no attention to their message. Over-protected in this way: the old leadership has offered no challenge, no cause to inspire young people to take as their own. Understandably, an older generation tries to shield youth from repeating its own mistakes; we don’t want youth to suffer the hardship we had to suffer. Sometimes we over-react by sheltering and coddling; some young people come away feeling that the world owes them a living. What we really owe everyone is a hearing. Looking at the first problem — of overpowering our youth — student leaders in high (secondary) school and college, for example, too often have no real weight with school administrators. Students aren’t fooled by mere trap pings of democracy that have no substance. 32 Panorama We have to be honest with students. They are entitled to a voice in school affairs, not control of school affairs; they have a right to take part, not a right to take over. More school administrators have to wake up to the healthy new needs of student participation, and incorporate that activity into the learning process. Unless effective student leadership can be exercised by elected student officials, the leadership will be seized by a noisy and un representative minority. As to the problem of over-patronizing, by this I do not mean the boys-will-be-boys condescension of the past, bad as that was. I mean the cold, smug, dangerous patronizing of today. On one extreme, it dismisses dissent by its refusal to pay attention; on the other extreme, it caves in to dis ruption with a smothering permissiveness. Youth today has a right to demand that an older generation live up to two responsibilities: to guide and to listen. We fail our youth when we let a university be shut down; we fail our youth when we permit a peaceful dis senter to be shut up; we fail our youth when we permit wonderment and impulsiveness to be shut out. We must listen to the voices of dissent, sometimes strident, sometimes cool, because the protestor may have something to say worth listening to. We must firmly guide the anarchists away from dis ruption, not because we get any satisfaction out of re pression, but because free inquiry can exist only in the framework of order. But if we dismiss dissent as coming from ‘'rebels with out a cause,” we will soon find ourselves becoming leaders without an effect. We must replace patronizing with respect. There will be more respect for law when young people know that justice is not limited to those who are respectable. We February 1970 33 will see youth respect its elders when we show some respect for the opinions ol youth. The problem of over-protection is a kind of put-down by pacification. Young people today, more than ever before, need a challenge. If an established order cannot provide a worthy challenge, the established order itself becomes the challenge. Our leadership must provide young people with a cause to be for a commitment to the right to be unique; a dedication to social responsibility on a person-to-person basis. I am not talking about a way to work off youthful enthusiasm. I am talking about a way to work in a sense of idealism and meaning that will grow throughout a person’s life. For example, student involvement in local community problems should become a way of college life. This would add realism to their education while bringing needed ser vices to their communities. In the last analyss, it is not for the older generation to be patient with young people, waiting for them to grow out of their exuberance and settle down; it is for the older generation to ally itself with their impatience, helping them to build the kind of world they want to like in. — From a speech by Richard Nixon ■ The Challenge of Open Admissions. FOLKLORE OF SELECTIVITY In my judgment, the model of selective admissions based on test scores and grades is inappropriate for insti tutions of higher education. Presumably, educational insti tutions exist in order to educate students. Their mission, then, is to produce certain desirable changes in the stu34 Panorama (lent or, more simply, to make a difference in the student's life. Given these goals, they should strive in their admis sions practices to select those applicants who are most likely to be favorably influenced by the particular edu cational program offered at the institution. Instead, the typical admissions officer today functions more like a handicapper: he tries merely to pick winners. He looks over the various candidates, evaluates their respective talents, and attempts to select those who are most likely to perform well. Handicappers, it should be stressed, are interested only in predicting the horse’s performance — not in improving his performance, in trying to make him run better and faster. The problem here is that an edu cational institution is supposed to function less like a handicapper and more like a jockey or a trainer: it has a responsibility to improve the performance of the in dividual, not just to identify those with the greatest potential. In another sense, college admissions officers have tended to operate like personnel managers in a commer cial enterprise rather than like educators. Picking win ners is an appropriate activity for businesses and industries, since their goal is to hire the very best talent so as to maximize productivity and profit. The mission of the college is not simply to maximize its output of distinguished alumni by maximizing its input of talented students. Such a status view puts the college in the role of a kind of funnel, where what comes out is purely a matter of what goes in. Colleges and other educational institutions exist in order to change the student, to contribute to his develop ment, to make a difference. Whereas the personnel manager is looking for applicants who can help the com pany, the admissions officer should be looking for appli cants who can be helped by the institution. In short, the use of the college admissions process to "pick winners” is not consistent with the educational misserious re-examination of the entire rationale for admis sion of the institution. What seems to be needed is a February 1970 35 sions and increased research to assist each college in iden tifying those students who are most likely to benefit from its particular educational program. in this way, institu tions can better fulfill their responsibilities to both the individual and the society. — By Alexander IV. Astin, from the Saturday Review, Dec. 20, 1969 ’Alexander W. Astin is director, Officer of Research, American Council on Education, and is author of Predicting Success in Col lege, to be published by the Free Press next spring. The article is adapted from a chapter in the Campus and The Racial Crisis to be published by ACE in March. TOURISM AS A DOLLAR EARNER One of the unique phenomena, perhaps, of the 20th century has been the development of tourism as a major industry in the nations of the world. The sense of a world made smaller and more accessible by the discoveries in air travel and technology has served to develop among peoples a kind of travel fever. Today, tourism is generally recognized by nations all over the world as a major tool for economic develop ment and for stabilizing their foreign exchange. In the Philippines, the recognition of this fact was slow in coming, but today it has finally dawned on the government and the private sector as a major area of con cern and opportunity. This fact is evident in President Marcos’ recent pro nouncements to the effect that this administration will do all it can to develop and support our tourism industry in the decade of the seventies. He has initiated the im plementation of an “open skies” policy, the creation of tourist courts and a tourist police, the improvement of various airports and ports of entries in the islands, the 36 Panorama waiving of the visa requirement for tourists, as well as a massive campaign to promote the image of the Philippines abroad. The feeling that the government has finally commit ted not only its rhetoric, but its resources to the develop ment of the local tourist industry has resulted in a kind of tourism fever in the country. Various civic groups have initiated and expanded their efforts to beautify key areas of interest to tourists. The Hotel and Restaurant Association has commenced a program of expansion and improvement of their trade to attract and accommodate more tourists. The nation’s major airline, the Philippine Airlines, has stepped up its campaign to attract the Expo ’70 visitors in Japan into the country through the massive publication and distribution of brochures featuring Philip pine scenic spots, tour itineraries, information about the country, and other tips and incentives to prospective tourists. The sudden activity and interest in the development of tourism in the country has led the Tourism Commis sioner, Mr. Gregorio Araneta II, to predict a tourism boom within the next four years. His optimism, and the optimism of many who arc participating in the development drive, may not be un warranted considering that the tourism industry today is the number seven dollar-earner for the country. This is an advance from its former number nine position several years ago. Central Bank statistics show that the industry earned over 41.95 million dollars spent by 121,821 tourists who visited the country last year. It should be noted that this increase in earnings was achieved minus a massive development drive on the part of government and the private sector. Following this line of reasoning, it is reasonable to expect that the new and bold policies of the government in regard to tourism, coupled with the active participation of various private groups, will usher in a bigger tourist traffic into the country and sustain the same in the ensuing years. February 1970 37 But, how does the tourist dollar affect the economy of the Philippines? it may be asked. “In economic terms,” says the Tourism Commissioner, ‘‘the multiplier effect of the dollar is 3.25. It means that for every dollar spent by a tourist generates as much as three to four dollars in economic activity. It is reported that because ol increased tourism, one town in Laguila has developed the sampaguita fiower industry and is one of the main sources of livelihood in the town.” The success of any tourist industry depends on the successful implementation of four basic elements, namely: facilitation, accommodation, promotion, and tourist plant development. All these elements must be developed simultaneously in order to achieve the larger goal of enhancing tourism as a dollar earner. And the success of the same efforts can only be measured in terms of the number of tourists visiting the country and the amount of foreign exchange earned in proportion to investments. — By Dr. Rebecca E. Panlilio ■ Statement of the Government of Japan on the occasion of the Signing of the Treaty on the NonProliferation of Nuclear Weapons on February 3, 1970. JAPAN ON THE NON-PROLIFERATION OF THE NUCLEAR WEAPONS The Government of Japan, believing that the proli feration of nuclear weapons would increase the danger of nuclear war, has always been in favor of the spirit under lying this Treaty, since the prevention of the prolifera tion of nuclear weapons is in accord with its policy with regard to the maintenance of world peace. 38 Panorama The Government of Japan is signing this Treaty on the basis of its fundamental position which is stated below. The Government of Japan is convinced that this Treaty will serve as a first step towards nuclear disar mament and hopes that as many States as possible will adhere to this Treaty to make it effective. The Govern ment of Japan hopes, especially, that the Governments of the Republic of France and the People’s Republic of China which possess nuclear weapons but have yet to express their intention of adhering to this Treaty will become Parties thereto at an early date and pursue negotiations in good faith on nuclear disarmament and that they will refrain, even before that, from taking such actions as are contrary to the purposes of this Treaty. This Treaty permits only the present nuclear-weapon States to possess nuclear weapons. This discrimination should ultimately be made to disappear through the elimination of nuclear weapons by all the nuclear-weapon States from their national arsenals. Until such time the nuclear-weapon States should be conscious of the fact that they have special responsibilities as a consequence of this special status. The prohibition under this Treaty applies solely to the acquisition of nuclear weapons and other nuclear ex plosive devices and of control over them. Therefore, this Treaty must in no way restrict non-nuclear-weapon States in their research, development, or implementation of the peaceful use of nuclear energy, or in their international cooperation in these fields, nor must it subject them to discriminatory treatment in any aspect of such activities. The Government of Japan wishes to state that it has a deep interest in the following matters in the light of its basic position stated above. This Government stresses that it will also concern it self most vigorously with these matters when it decides to ratify the Treaty as well as when it participates in February 1970 39 the review of its operation in the future as a Party to the Treaty. I. Disarmament and Security 1. Under Article VI of the Treaty each State Party “undertakes to pursue negotiations in £ood faith on ef fective measures relating to cessation of the nuclear arms race at an early date and to nuclear disarmament, and on a treaty on general and complete disarmament under strict and effective international control.” The Govern ment of Japan believes it essential for the attainment of the purposes of this Treaty that, above all, the nuclearweapon States should take concrete nuclear disarmament measures in pursuance of this undertaking. As a member of the Committee on Disarmament, Japan is also pre pared to cooperate in the furtherance of disarmament. 2. The Government of Japan deems it important that in the Preamble of the Treaty there is a provision stating that “in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations, States must refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity pr political independence of any State, or in any other manner inconsistent with the Purposes of the United Na tions.” It also wishes to emphasize that the nuclearweapon States must not have recourse to the use of nuclear weapons or threaten to use such weapons against non nuclear-weapon States. 3. The Government of Japan also attaches great im portance to the declarations of the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union affirming their intention to seek immedate Security Council action to provide assistance, in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations, to any non-nuclear-weapon State, party Of the Treaty, that is a victim of an act of aggression or an object of a threat of aggression in which nuclear weapons are used, and hopes that the nuclear-weapon 40 Panorama States will continue their studies with regard to effective measures to ensure the security of non-nuclear-weapon States. 4. The Government of Japan, pending its ratification of this Treaty, will pay particular attention to develop ments in disarmament negotiations and progress in the implementation of the Security Council resolution on the security of non-nuclear-weapon States and continue to make a close study of other problems which require con sideration for the safeguarding of her national interests. 5. The Government of Japan takes note of the fact that Article X of the Treaty provides that: “Each Party shall in exercising its national sovereignty have the right to withdraw from the Treaty if it decides that extra ordinary events, related to/ the subject matter of this Treaty, have jeopardized the supreme interests of its country." II. Peaceful Uses of Nuclear Energy 1. The safeguards agreement to be concluded by Japan with the International Atomic Energy Agency ih accordance with Article III of the Treaty must not such as would subject her to disadvantageous treatment as compared with the safeguards agreements which other States Parties conclude with the same Agency, either individually or together with other States. The Government of Japan intends to give full consideration to this matter before taking steps to ratify the Treaty. 2. The Government of Japan greatly appreciates, as a measure supplementing this Treaty, the declarations of the Governments of the United States and the United Kingdom, which are both nuclear-weapon States, that they will accept the publication of safeguards of the Inter national Atomic Energy Agency to all their nuclear activi ties, excluding only those directly related to their national security, and earnestly hopes that these assurances will be faithfully implemented. It also hopes most earnestly that the other nuclear-weapon States will take similar action. February 1970 41 3. Safeguards should be subject to the principle that they should be applied at certain strategic points of the nuclear fuel cycle, and the procedure for their application must be rational when considered from the point of view of cost-effectiveness and made as simple as possible by making the maximum use of material control systems of the respective countries. Furthermore, adequate measures must be taken to ensure that the application of safeguards does not cause the leakage of industrial secrets or other wise hinder industrial activities. The Government of Japan hones that the International Atomic Energy Agency will make constant efforts to improve safeguards in the light of technological developments with the above aims in mind. This Government is prepared to cooperate in such efforts and hopes that the States concerned will also co operate to achieve this end. 4. The Government of Japan understands that no unfair burden ip connection with the cost of applying safeguards will be imposed on the non-nuclear-weapon States to which such safeguards are to be applied. 5. The Government of Japan considers that, when safeguards are applied in accordance with the safeguards agreement to be concluded by Japan with the International Atomic Energy Agency under Article III of this Treaty, steps should be taken to arrange that such safeguards supersede the existing safeguards which are being applied in connection with Japan’s cooperation with the United States, the United Kingdom, and Canada in the peaceful use of nuclear energy. 6. Concrete measures should be taken to promote the implementation of the provisions of Articles IV and V of the Treaty relating to international cooperation for the peaceful use of nuclear energy and for the peaceful ap plication of nuclear explosions. In particular, no peace ful activities in non-nuclear-weapon States shall be pro hibited or restricted, nor shall the transfer of information, nuclear materials, equipment, or other material relating 42 Panorama to the peaceful use of nuclear energy be denied to non nuclear-weapon States, merely on the grounds that such activities or transfers could be used also for the manu facture of nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices. — From Information Bulletin, Vol. XXV, No. 2, FebjlQ ■ Will our solotis heed challenge? SELECTING THE RIGHT MEN FOR THE CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION The Congress opened its sessions this year amidst popular and nationwide clamor for a non-partisan election of delegates to the Constitutional Convention. Will our legislators heed the challenge of our people on the manner of electing our delegates to the 1971 con vention to amend our fundamental law? In the few weeks to come, the people will know whether our members of the Congress are guided by patriotic sentiments or by selfish political interests. In the formulation of the amendments to the Philip pine Constitution, it is vital that the delegates to be elected by the electorate must be possessed of high academic at tainment, of demonstrated patriotism, of selfless dedica tion to duty, of high morality and unquestioned integrity, and of broadmindedness. Let us not elect delegates who think only of their self-centered desires, who are beholden to vested interests, who are capable merely of giving out political outpour ings, who are easily cowed by political threats and who are under the influence of extreme conservatism. Let us not elect mediocres who normally lack the essence of statesmanship and who cannot intelligently react in times of crisis. February 1970 43 Let us not elect politicians who crave merely for power and honor and the glory that go with an office. Let us elect men who can rise above political and personal motivations; men who have sincerely at heart the welfare of the people and our country. For in the election of delegates to the Constitutional Convention, we should not be guided by what the delegate will do for a group of people or for the district or for the province; rather, we should be guided by what the delegate can do for the entire country and the Filipino people. In selecting the delegates to the Constitutional Con vention, our voters must be guided not by selfish local interests but by legitimate national sentiments. — Jose N. Nolledo 44 Panorama MISSING PAGE/PAGES