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Permalink Reply by F. Lastname on September 12, 2011 at 8:05am

Czar, projects of this scale (or more importantly, type) will exceed Oas' best efforts. These are just not typically done through voluntary giving, they must raise large sums just for the planning and thinking stage, and more when the spending on materials, labor and equipment comes. What more if it was something huge, like an environmental disaster, how will the town now cope?

 

Unless the offer to help me with the energy savings licensing is taken seriously, Oas has just to give up on these kinds of projects. That challenge to any Oasnon to get MECO to be the partner (for the Philippines) instead went to an already very wealthy family (kin of the current President), to whom I gave it because there were just no takers. Lazy, no determination, or passivity, take your pick, but Oas certainly will lose millions on it based on what is now turning out (that even I did not understand before), that MECO's franchise area catches 80 % of all large industrial electricity consumers, and every one of those will buy this technology. Don't say you weren't given the chance.

 

Until, that is, when a project that I have been working on since the mid 90s finally gets adjudicated, will there be funding of the magnitudes that will make these flooding and water problems seem like nothing. I can't put in details because it is now entering a very sensitive phase, with negotiations with a major government now reaching a head. I don't want to promise before my partners lock it up, but the chances of it closing before end of the year is getting brighter. Folks should be warned, though, that having all the money you need will never solve a country's (or community's) problems because it is not for lack of resources but lack of daring and imagination and perseverance that causes problems to fester. This is exactly the reason why, the fact that my challenge in this forum has never been seriously taken, makes me not disappointed (for I know Oasnons) but not very hopeful that this town will rise up from where it is now mired. Read a recent column in the Philstar.com by the venerable writer F. Sionil Jose ("Why we are Shallow" in Arts and Culture) to understand why poverty is caused by lack of ability to think critically and act resolutely. 

 

This is something to think about to avoid disappointment once this humanitarian funding becomes available. 

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Permalink Reply by Cesar Redito on September 12, 2011 at 10:28am

vic, you are quite right at that. 

if i have all those connections, as some of our kababayans have, i would make use of them to help oas. as you know, your dear friend, greg conde is one of those with connections.

my side is only to provide this medium for oasnons to browse if you will and try to feed them with titillating "ideas" but only in so far as they can be titillated and/or "amused".

i know this "project" is gargantuan i could only even think of it as a virtual reality. i am not a prime mover myself: all i do is just this. if nobody picks it up, what can we do?

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Permalink Reply by F. Lastname on September 12, 2011 at 6:45pm

That may be true at this time (this is actually easier compared to the magnetics venture because it will only require looking for prospective dealers or sublicensors in an area or state). But the reason I keep pounding on this is because I want to see evidence that there are Oasnons (or even Albaynons) who are willing to get out of their usual way, ask questions, seek out contacts even ones they have not known before, so that this thing can be realized to help Oas. Your help in maintaining this website is more than enough - without communications nobody will know what is going on. Everyone has a role to play, even those giving only what they can afford, but there are others who can give more, if they just weren't so self-concerned.

 

It is true that most Oasnons don't have those kinds of contacts, that is what poverty and isolation is all about. But that's why you got to help break up that cycle; where did I also come from? From a barrio in Oas, that's just for starters. When I was growing up we would have never dared to dream these kinds of things because, to put it mildly, we were a big family depending only on a teacher's and councilor's earnings which were meagre. But through dint of hard work, smarts and daring, we leaped over those problems and now, I would not hesitate to say that I can access anybody whatever his position or status, who I think can help with any project I need help on, in at best two or three calls. Some of these deals I work on are too huge that I find Oas and even RP too small to pursue these activities. You are even lucky that I don't crave these things for myself because I don't find possessing and obsessing on them particularly delightful. I'd rather read a good book and keep looking at the scenery. But because perhaps I got a bit luckier than most in being exposed to these things, there is an obligation to spread these things around, and I am just getting started. Naturally I would need to find out if there is material here that can be developed to take on. Is there? Where are they? Are they the types who can deal with potentially the wealthiest man in the world (who I advise and his name is not Bill). So when will this person or persons come out of the woodworks? What will it take? 

 

Did I bother anybody to coddle me up going there, after finishing school? Did I say I cannot approach so and so because he may snub me for I am nothing? No, as long as I know how to present my case, and why he needs me, I can get him to move. These experiences I am now putting before you - more will come if you respond, but don't expect me to come down to your level and pick you up. It aint gonna be happening because if somebody did that for me, you can bet I wouldn't be helping you in this way.

 

This is all that's behind this: we can't help anybody let alone Oas if we just stay within what's comfortable. You got to sweat it out, bleed sometimes, conquer your egos, be ready to fail and get ridiculed, if you want to help. Otherwise just stay comfortable and help however you can but don't say that you wished you can still do some more, because you don't really want to do it. That's just how it is when it comes to these things - you got to provide what is needed to get out of the rut.

 

But I will keep trying.

 

None of these came easy.

 

 

 

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