Metro Infanta Foundation

May I share with you the other side of "Max V.Soliven"; not the veteran journalist whose column in The Philippine Star became daily readings for those who would like to know the "news behind the news" in Philippine politics as well as in world affairs; but "the Max as an ordinary person", as a family man and good friend who was fond of collecting stamps, fossils and historical vignettes.

I admire him because of his sense of humanity and friendship. Even if I am already retired and no longer in the diplomatic service, he never fails to call or get in touch with me whenever he visits Chile.

Rudy
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VIGNETTE - THE OTHER MAX

By Rodolfo A. Arizala
27 November 2006

Eulogies will be heaped in memory of our departed friend journalist, publisher and columnist Max V. Soliven and rightly so. Many good things and sterling qualities could be said about Max which he richly deserved. But suffice to mention here that he was a humble person, thoughtful and loyal to his family and friends. As a friend, he never fails to call or get in touch with me (although I am retired already from the diplomatic service) whenever he is in this part of the world in the course of of his journalistic activities. With reference to his family, I recall during one of his visits to Chile while taking him around looking for souvenirs to bring home, he was so delighted when he saw at a store some fossil of crustacea from the Atacama desert of Northen Chile. According to a story Atacama desert was once upon a time under water or part of the Pacific Ocean. Max exclaimed excitedly: "Rudy, my wife Precious loves collecting these kind of things." And he immediately bought some unconcerned whether he would have "excess baggage" or not.

The other interest of Max was in collecting rare stamps or postage especially those having to do with history and geopolitics. I remember during one of his visits to Santiago, I gave him a set of Chinese stamps with postmark at the People´s Republic of China´s station in the Antarctic which I acquired during the time my wife and I visited that part of the South Pole.

Max reluctantly accepted said stamps saying: "Rudy, I do not like to deprive you of your collection of stamps." I replied: "Yes, I value these stamps, but I think they would be in better hands if they become part of your collections." He smiled and accepted said stamps saying: "Rudy, you know I am a pure-blooded Ilocano. But when you are in Manila, please ring me up for I would like to invite you for a cup of coffee while we browse over my other stamp collection."

Aside from collecting fossil and rare stamps, he was also fond of visiting historical places. So, one day when he called me from Buenos Aires saying he was going to Santiago, I suggested to him that instead of taking the plane, he better travel by land from Buenos Aires up North to the wine City of Mendoza near the border of Argentina with Chile to see for himself the "pampas" of the Argentine plains and grazing lands. And then from Mendoza to travel by land across the Andes mountains following the route taken by Argentine leader Gen. San Martin and his cavalry when Argentina decided to help the Chileans under Gen. O´Higgins liberate themselves from the Spanish forces in Chile. It may be recalled that Gen. San Martin and his men crossed the Andes mountains on horseback with their artilleries and ammunitions and combining its forces with that of Gen. O´Higgins, defeated the Spanish forces in the decisive "Battle of Maipu" at the toothills of the Andes, Chilean side of the Cordilleras.

To make the story short, Max, indeed, traveled by land across the Andes mountains and I met him at the border of Chile and Argentina up the Cordilleras. When he arrived at the border, I jokingly told him: "Max, now you could say you traced the footsteps of Gen. San Martin and his cavalry across the Andes mountains." He laughed then being historically-minded, he told me he would like also to see where the famous "Battle of Maipu" took place. Luckily, such place in Chile was well-preserved and as a matter of fact there is a monument constructed on said spot commemorating said battle of Maipu. I took a photo of Max on the spot where there is a monument at Maipu. And then posing with arms akimbo like a general, Max looked down to the plains of Chile around Santiago City and commented: "Rudy, this is really a very strategic place."

"You say so, Gen. Max Soliven," was my comment. And he again burst into a loud laughter.

His sense of patriotism was intense. When I mentioned to him that in Santiago there is a place called "Plaza Filipinas" where a bust of Dr. Jose P. Rizal was installed as part of the commemoration by the Philippine Embassy of the Centennial Celebration of the Proclamation of Philippine Independence, he said: "I would like to see the place also." And so after checking in at his hotel, we went to Plaza Filipinas in Comuna Las Condes. Max posed beside the bust of Rizal and requested me to take a photo of him.

That was Max, more known for his penetrating, informative, sometimes hard-hitting columns as a journalist. But perhaps few people know the "other Max" - the ordinary person, stamp and fossil collector; the man with Napoleonic interest in history; and above all, with high sense of patriotism or love of country.

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* The author is a lawyer and retired Filipino diplomat.

Posted by Mila Glodava at 01:19 PM | Permalink

Dear folks:

My friendship with Max V. Soliven started many years ago. We happened to both love collecting stamps. And during one of his visits to Chile, he was delighted when I brought him to a store which sells fossil of crustacea from the Atacama desert in Northern Chile. It was believed that said part of Chile was formerly under the ocean or part of the Pacific.

He bought several fossil and reluctantly accept the postage I gave him postmarked at the People´s Republic of China´s station in the Antarctic. I acquired said Chinese postage during the time Neneto and I visited that part of the Southern Pole.

Perhaps, unknown to many, Max was not only fond of gathering news but also of rare stamps and fossil.

Hereunder is what I wrote when I learned of his demise which I would like to share with you.

ODE TO MAX
By Rudy A. Arizala
25 November2006

M - ax, my good friend is now gone
A - way to that great beyond.
X - enophobia he was not

V - entured to foreign countries.

S - eeking what´s the truth always
O - r news that´s behind the news.
L - ike a veteran newsman
I - n field of journalism
V - isiting kings; world leaders
E - ven men in the streets.
N - ever tired until the end.

May his soul rest in peace.

Rudy

Posted by Mila Glodava at 09:07 AM | Permalink

Posted by Mila Glodava at 12:00 AM | Permalink

by Jeremaiah M. Opiniano

SAN FRANCISCO -- Inside a hall at the University of San Francisco where a roundtable on migrant philanthropy was held, people were surprised that something was underneath their chairs. Two pieces of paper, in fact, per chair and some 60 chairs had those pieces of paper underneath.

Those were some 135 printouts of the websites and lists of Filipino migrant organizations identified to be giving back donations and development aid to the motherland. The center of the world's migrant philanthropy basin, the US, had the most number of course, given the number of Filipino groups here helping the homeland. But something struck them.

The Faroese Philippine Services (see www.children.ph) is based in Europe and is in the Faroe Islands. "There are Filipinos there?" asked Consul-General Rowena Sanchez. Yes there are (some deployed as contract workers), and Faroe Islands is above Scotland and in between Iceland and Norway. FPS supports education programs of public schools in Aurora and Nueva Vizacaya provinces.

The US and Faroe Islands were among 46 countries worldwide identified by the Institute for Migration and Development Issues (IMDI) as sources of Filipino migrant philanthropy. Maybe donors here in the US have been supporting migrant philanthropy projects of Mexicans, Indians, and Chinese. But they are overlooking the Philippines -the world's most distributed migrant philanthropy phenomenon- and that's a source of pride for Filipinos, especially for Filipinos abroad. Even TNTs ("tago ng tago" or migrants "always in hiding") give back home.

The giving culture is Filipino, and while abroad, the giving starts with the family (hey, the balikbayan boxes are coming in) and then is extended to their birthplaces, to their favorite charities, to identified poor kids and families, among others.

In the flashiness of a November 11 fashion show here by Philippine International Aid (www.phil-aid.org), identified vulnerable children in Metro Manila have been getting the help of PIA and its donors. "Who wants to sponsor this child?" the fashion show emcee asked -and many were raising their hands left and right.

Migrant philanthropy also repatriates Filipino values. That's why there is a group named Pinokyos Welfare in Singapore, to address the needs of children so that they do not grow up as "liars" (thus, being like Pinokyo) while their mothers are overseas taking care of other kids. Admittedly, the officers and members of Pinokyos Welfare in Singapore are struggling at the moment over some issues as an organization, but many can attest their continued desire that Sunday days-off will continue to be "Pinokyo day".

Filipino migrants' hometowns are, to some of them, lifeless and need renewed socio-economic vigor. So we have groups like Save-a-Tahanan Inc. that has been funding community organizing and local development projects in five provinces; the Metro Infanta Foundation that has been funneling development resources for Infanta, Quezon; the Butuan City Charities Foundation of Southern California that has been handing over US$1 million in development and livelihood aid for Butuan City; and the Greater American Siquijorian Association which, despite what others think as "only" US$2,000 in annual gifts, is investing in human capital development for Siquijorian kids through youth leadership and education support. There are just too many groups like these to mention worldwide.

For others, the passion to give can't just be stopped and they try not to stop it. So from Germany, cultural performances and benefit events by Philippine Maharlika Folklore Tanzgruppe Kaiserslautern e.V. (in Pfinztal-Wöschbach, www.maharlika.de) and the Deutsch-Philippinische Freudnschaftsgruppe (in Burgkirchen) have been raising funds through special events for nonprofits and public schools in the country. And if you ask Feed the Hungry (www.feedthehungryphil.org), they have reached 77 of 80 provinces, and its members won't stop the passion.

And it is about vision for others. The vision for a brighter future was seen in Padada, Davao del Sur, and Vriendschap voor de Filippijnen in Knokke, Belgium is a young five-year-old group envisioning sustained education-related projects in that Davao del Sur municipality. Another vision is co-development, and that's why Cebu City and the Dutch city of Haarlemermeer have been sisters: through this sisterhood, and the facilitation of Verenigin Haarlemmermeer-Cebu, over a million Euros in development aid have reached Cebu City.

Mind you, these are small groups (one member of these groups labels them as "mom-and-pop" groups, despite decades of development track records). Not much are helping them to make their philanthropy efficient and effective despite the transnational spread of this giving. While I am not against the splendid work of Gawad Kalinga, Ayala Foundation USA, ABS-CBN Foundation International, and many big ones, small migrant donor groups (and others that I may have not enumerated here, like migrant donor groups from Nigeria, Hong Kong and Macao) deserve attention, support and collaborative endeavors.

Migrant groups may be small donors, but if you lump them all together, they are the country's biggest donors. More development actors from abroad, and that's more hope for the country. And at least a thousand migrant organizations worldwide are supporting development projects in the Philippines.

Migrant philanthropy, to quote Inquirer columnist Juan Mercado, is innovative. And many of them have yet to operate like the non-government organizations in the Philippines. So what more if they are provided with the donor assistance services, in ways that understand their conditions as migrants? And what more if they are working together with trusted development organizations, especially in the countryside?

Filipino migrant philanthropy is "the future of Philippine philanthropy," says Rory Tolentino and Tina Pavia of the Asia-Pacific Philanthropy Consortium. Not only do these migrant donors have the accumulated resources and values, but migrant philanthropy holds a promise to hopefully make the Philippines realize a transition to modernity, as Randy David would say. If we give overseas Filipinos more support and encouragement, and we at home reciprocate that with support to their issues and needs as overseas Filipinos, I won't be surprised if the Philippines will see immediately the fullest potential of migrant philanthropy actualize quickly a promising Philippine future.

Comments are welcome at ofw_philanthropy@yahoo.com.
(Jeremaiah M. Opiniano of the Institute for Migration and Development Issues (www.filipinodiaspoiragiving.org) is in San Francisco, USA as a Yuchengco Media Fellow at the University of San Francisco-Center for the Pacific Rim. He is representing the OFW Journalism Consortium [www.ofwjournalism.net] during a three-month media fellowship that is focused on writing about overseas Filipinos.)

The above article was also published in the Nov. 14, 2006 edition of the Sun Star.

Posted by Mila Glodava at 02:54 PM | Permalink

With the continuing attempts to abuse the natural
resources of Sierra Madre mountains of Eastern Luzon,
we thought of requesting you to run the attached article
in your website. We had this article originally in
our Lansing rosary group bulletin a year ago and
thought it may still be a timely reading for all
concerned.

Pol and Sally Derilo

Download file

Posted by Mila Glodava at 05:28 PM | Permalink

Aside from making REINA a transhipment for logs, according to Manila Bulletin newspaper of 4 November 2006, illegal cutting of trees continue in REINA towns. Please see news item below.

Wonder when will we ever learn about the harmful effects to environment and people the indiscriminate or illegal cutting of trees. REINA not only a transhipment point of logs but also source of illegally-cut logs? The 2005 flashfloods which destroyed thousand of lives and million pesos worth of properties in REINA, already forgotten?

Rudy
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Reyes orders strict log ban in three towns in Quezon

Saturday, November 4, 2006, Manila Bulletin

Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Angelo Reyes yesterday ordered the strict implementation of the log ban in the municipalities of Real, Infanta and General Nakar in Quezon province following reports that rampant timber poaching has returned to these towns in the Sierra Madre mountain range.

In a department order dated Nov. 2, Reyes ordered the Department of Natural Resources (DENR)-Calabarzon executive director Antonio Principe to ban the cutting of trees and transport of logs, lumber and other forest products in the three towns, known collectively as REINA.

The DENR chief also banned the transport of retrieved logs, stumps and roots of fallen trees during the flashfloods in December, 2004.

However, Reyes said the transport of current stock of inventoried furniture made from drifted stumps or roots will be allowed under existing rules and regulations of the department.

Relative to the order, Reyes directed the DENR regional office to conduct an inventory of current stock of furniture manufactured out of retrieved stumps or roots to serve as basis for the issuance of transport documents.

Principe was also directed to establish more multisectoral monitoring checkpoints in the log banimposed areas and other strategic places and to strengthen the operation of the multi-sectoral monitoring checkpoint in Barangay Magsaysay in Siniloan, Laguna by providing more manpower as well as financial support.

Posted by Mila Glodava at 11:16 AM | Permalink