January 1 - 20, 2019
PHILIPPINE ASIAN NEWS TODAY
Life etc.
by Jun Cordero
A classic quip of the time: “if God
made everything then He must be
from China!” Anywhere we look it’s
China here and China there - China
seems everywhere. If it’s not made
in China it must be from Mars - or
maybe from the moon.
Just the other day China did
what we thought in those days would
not be possible - they landed an
explorer on the moon. And to top
that, the seeds they sent along with
the mission had started sprouting.
After the Japanese sneak attack
on Pearl Harbor Admiral Yamamoto
was quoted saying “all we did was
awaken a sleeping giant”, the giant
referring to America. Today another
“sleeping giant” has awaken. One
notable quote from Napoleon was
“let China sleep, for when she wakes
up she will shake the world.” So now
we have two giants - the US and
China, but one giant seems to be
getting bigger than the other.
So how do we measure a giant?
I’m no economist but from my
limited Economics 101 notes a
country’s bigness can be measured
LOCAL NEWS
Fly me to the moon - Chinese style
based on its total amount of
products - something called GDP
or Gross Domestic Product. And
here’s a fact: in 2016 China’s GDP
was something like eleven trillion
US dollars, slowly approaching the
US’ eighteen trillion. So if the “Made
in China” trend keeps on going we
know who will top whom. We now
understand where President Trump
gets his motivation to curb Chinese
imports.
Talking about 2016 GDP you may
want to know that the Philippines’ own
GDP was 305 billion in comparison
(if there is one thousand billion in a
trillion, then gives you an idea how far
on the bottom rung the Philippines
is.)
There are other means to
measure giants - like infrastructure,
education, military spending and
how fast their computers are. Some
interesting facts: In a two-year period
China produced and used cement
equivalent to the total amount that
the U.S. used in a hundred years,
their supercomputer is now five times
faster than the one in Silicon Valley
- making it the fastest in the world
today, and their Tsinghua University
has already taken over the top spot
for engineering, beating MIT. On the
same year students in China ranked
6th in mathematics while US is in
39th.
Chinese construction engineering
has advanced so well in China that
they were able to build a 30-storey
building in 15 days and a 57-storey
skyscraper in in 19 days (our 8-storey
office building here in Vancouver
took two years to build.) It was also
reported that China now has more
high-speed rail tracks than the rest
of the world combined.
If these don’t prove that China is
Christmas... FROM PAGE 7
May more young businessmen and
executives follow your path. We also
cite Robert Lim Joseph, tourism and
environmental champion who started
a campaign to clean up Manila Bay.
In his capacity as the new
Commodore of the Manila Match Club,
he knows how badly polluted the bay
is. Now DENR secretary Roy Cimatu
is leading the cleanup campaign.
Cheers, gentlemen! To your success!
* * *
The Brave Warrior Kids Foundation
(BWKF) held their Christmas party
at O.B. Montessori Greenhills last
Dec. 15. The founders are Richard
Jacinto, Noel Lopez, Ernest Tagle,
Andrew Navarro, Adrian Ocampo, Ace
Barretto, Reyman Sy, Pocholo Razon,
and Gabby Eigenmann. The young
founders established Brave Warrior
Kids on Feb. 2016. Their mission is
to help kids with cancer and Spinal
Muscular Atrophy (SMA) by providing
financial assistance that improves the
quality of lives of their beneficiaries
and families.
The foundation partners with
other organizations to raise funds and
build awareness about the ordeal of
underprivileged
families battling SMA and
cancer. Since its founding, BWKF has
been able to provide much-needed
assistance to many families.
The gift-giving this year was
doubly touching with the presence
of Ernest Tagle, one of the founders.
Ernest was still in his wheel chair,
barely able to speak, but fully aware
of his surroundings. He had suffered
a near fatal stroke two months ago,
which left him half paralyzed and
unable to speak.
Through prayers and healing
sessions with Fr. Fernando Suarez,
Ernest can now write down simple
thoughts. He was excited during the
Brave Warriors affair and tried to
interact with the beneficiaries.
Ernest is almost like my son, as
his mother is my very good friend,
Elizabeth Sison Tagle. He regularly
joined our media forum, Bulong
Pulungan sa Sofitel. His father is
painter E. R. Tagle and his brother is
singer George Tagle of The Angelos.
Cheers to the Brave Warriors and
may their tribe increase!( Reprinted
from manila Bulletin)
WWW.PHILIPPINEASIANNEWSTODAY.COM
now a fearful giant, nothing else will.
When the Americans landed on
the moon all they brought home was
moon rock and left behind garbage.
The Chinese did more than that, they
sprouted seeds, and probably will take
home moon-made tofu. And guess
what’s next - expect designer items
made in the moon. Forget about the
Spratly’s, they would probably be
building their next military bases on
the moon, and Cathay Pacific would
be busy landing Chinese migrants
there, instead of Richmond.
5 x 3.75 Rainbow Travel