The Great game: Look squirrel propaganda in the US MSM ignores the big picture

She starts with analyzing how Rubio is working with local governments to stop the powerful drug cartels that threaten these governments.

Number of overdose deaths are down in the USA, but then the picture moves to Canada's shennanigans that include drug labs and Chinese using US/Canada trade agreements to get their cheap shoddy goods into the USA and bypassing tariffs.

 as for Canada: how does  Canada join the EU with a single person in the EU saying it's okay? 

 

and then she discusses the Greenland treaty.

Remember the MSM ridiculing Trump saying he was worrying about Greenland and might have to take it over?

Backstory: This is about the air defense of the USA, keeping the sea lanes in the Arctic open, and keeping China from grabbing their ports and rare minerals via Chinese companies (like was done to the Panama canal and in central Africa). No one believes the companies are just companies, but proxies for the Chinese government policies.

so expect the MSM to pretend this is just the ssame as the old treaty, while ignoring that tthis defense treaty includes provisions that are new, and will stop China's economic takeover and let the US defend a weak Denmark/Greenland from Russia.

now one hopes someone in the USA MSM will notice that China is increasing aggression against the Philippines. inside the Philippines economic zone.

The reason China was allowed to dig up the seabed to make artificial islands in the West Philippine sea is because Obama pressured PNoy not to interfere, but to rely on the UN court. So the Philippines won, but China ignored the courts.

And China is pushing against the Philippines to try to get the Philippines to back down and not try to stop them from taking over Taiwan, which would allow them to block shipping from West  Philippine sea to the Pacific ocean via the Luzon strait.

and of course no one in the US MSM seems to be aware of how China and Russia  are part of the great game in Iran...

If the Democrats win thanks to Islamicist and socialist propaganda, then the real winner will be China, who not only will again have access to Iranian oil, but will be emboldened to push more aggression against the Philippines figuring the US is too weak to stop them.

Rain rain go away

Phil Star Article: No don't blame all the money supposed to be used for flood control that disappeared, it is the heavy rains causing this.

Actually we have had heavy rain/thunderstorms almost every day so this is true.

and now maybe a typhoon is coming:

MANILA, Philippines — The massive flooding that hit parts of the country was caused not only by issues involving flood control projects, but also by the unprecedented volume of rain brought by recent weather disturbances, President Marcos said yesterday. After a situation briefing with Central Luzon local officials in San Fernando, Pampanga, Marcos said heavy rains had overwhelmed the country’s flood management programs.

 

Marcos noted that the government is also eyeing long-term flood control projects, including the construction of river dams in Nueva Ecija and a long dike that could extend to Bataan.e.

Al Jazeera's Jamela Alindogan reports from the northern Philippines, where inundated communities are demanding answers. Residents say they are ready for the potential for monsoon flooding, but are angry that flood control measures they say were paid for seemingly do not work. pic.twitter.com/eeQ3mXcAQU

— Al Jazeera English (@AJEnglish) August 22, 2026

.....

WATCH: Barangay officials found undersized and allegedly substandard steel bars in a damaged flood-control project in Claudio Salgado, Sablayan, Occidental Mindoro.

Several sections collapsed last week following continuous rains brought by the southwest monsoon or Habagat. | via… pic.twitter.com/3PaSyuGiSO

— GMA News (@gmanews) August 23, 2026

....

but it's not corruption, garbage blocking the sewers and drainage systems, or the substandard flood control projects that used shoddy cheap construction instead of paying for decent materials and construction: It's climate change. DUH.

The floods that submerged many parts of Luzon due to the southwest monsoon are indeed a result of climate change, as President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Monday stressed that these are not only due to anomalous flood control projects.https://t.co/l30POY0bwg

— Politiko (@Politiko_Ph) August 24, 2026

more hereL

Drones anyone?

 China is sneaking into the Philippine economic zone trying to steal a shoal to make an island, meaning that if this is done thcy could say the entire area is owned by the Chinese.

So I keep an eye on what is going on.

Here is one video about drones:

one thing we have in common with the Ukraine is a bunch of kids who love computer games and other high tech stuff.

Hence Pax Silica, to use the local talent.

of course my youtube channel is full of videos by Chinese trolls complaining, and there are local complaints also probably worrying about it.

The worry about China ignores that China is slowly stealing the resources of the West Philippine se and next step, making one of their islands withing the EEZ off of Luzon.

Note: China has lots of trolls to pretend these things are bad, but China is hated.

heh. illegal mining, like all the farmers who are mining for gold etc in their fields since they can't make a profit since the rich guys import cheap rice that depresses the price.

Stuff around the internet

 So if Elon pays someone to make another version of the Odyssey, which one would you watch?

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Someone on line mentioned the movie Quigley down under, which I had never watched, and so I found it on Internet archives and while checking it out found a lot of louis L''Amour type westerns there too.

ah, remember when movies had people you liked trying to do the right thing and the films actually had a plot?

...........................

big meeting of Gov Shapiro and Trumpieboy et al to announce investments in the Pennsylvania industries including reopening the Philadelphia Naval yard. However it doesn't seem to have gotten a lot of publicity for some reason.

gee, wonder why.

but if you do a search on youtube for the Phila shipyard you will get lots of videos for the hoax Philadelphia experiment.

Which says a lot about what Youtube thinks I am interested in.

------------------------------------------

Rubio is in Manila for a big ASEAN meeting and has this pithy answer to the never ever biased MSM:

QUESTION: Have you made any progress on Ukraine today? Is Russia serious about peace this time? SECRETARY RUBIO: I mean, you think we settled the war in Ukraine in our 30 minutes here in Asia?

 there   is a  big push for technology in the Pax Silica plan, ere is a including an AI site, using the old Clark AFB site, so the usual environmentalists who never complain about China destroying fishing in the west Phil sea are complaining about it in the SCMP> which used to be a good news source before China took over Hong Kong and it's media.

The state of the nation address will give more information and I probably should post more about this, but it is to the west of our area: Our area is more famous for the huge solar energy farm to supply electricity to Manila.

In the meanwhile, because Rubio is here, China decided to attack another Philippine vessel in the West Philippine Sea, just to show they can cause trouble.

Sigh.

-----------------

Finally, there seemed to be a big astroturfed series of attacks against JD Vance, including one report in a major US MSM complaining he missed a meeting (luckily X added a content explanation: He wife was having a baby).

In addition one of his SSA was leaking information on his location to one of the MSM news sites. Even I am aware he had to move to a military housing for protection.

But anyway, I was wondering WTF was causing the hysterical and coordinated attacks at this time. Maybe because as a  veteran he has questions about the war in Iran pointing out that people there do not think like Americans.  

Then my automatic feed that I was listening to (I run discussions and podcasts in background when I sleep)  sent me to his interview on Joe Rogan. I awoke to this part with a discussion on unions HERE. About unions and the minimum wage and how Europe pays new employees below minimum wage as apprentices, but it is illegal in the USA. 

Imagine a discussion without empty rhetoric. 

And he is also on other non MSM podcasts discussion his latest book in which he goes into losing and then finding his religion. 

the MSM is absolutely hating it of course.

but the alternative media is out there now so we can learn what it is about:

No I haven't read it yet, but will keep an eye out if it gets posted on Scribd//Everand in the near future.

Scientist testified vs China is now dead

 From Rappler:

American biologist who testified for PH in South China Sea arbitration killed

  (1st UPDATE) Dr. Kent Carpenter provided expert written records on the environmental harms of China’s reclamation and destructive fishing practices in the West Philippine Sea

a robbery or a hit job?

future of farming?

 I can't find a link, but in season five episode 3 of Clarkson's farm is about the supermechines and high tech farming of the future.

When I fist visited the Philippines, the planting was with waterbuffalo and our staff took off to harvest their fields by hand. We supplied a small thresher to separate the seed from the stem, so that was a help.

But slowly the farmers who now own what was once Lolo's farthers farm, were gifted it by land reform, are now getting older and their kids don't want to work. So they are selling the land to returning overseas workers who rent it out to tenant farmer, often from poorer areas of the Philippines. And now many have sold or rented their fields to the company putting up a huge solar farm in our area.

Over the years, the water buffalo were replaced by handthreshers ((a small roto tiller) and in more recent years, we rent a huge harvester thresher to bring in the crop. We still plant by hand but give it some time and there are machines that do that.

We are organic, and with fertilizer prices going up (first the Ukraine war stopped potash exports and now the increased price of diesel and petroleum based fertilizer) the price of organic fertilizer, mainly from the local chicken and pig farms, is also going up.

So how do we make a profit? We barely make one: and it was made worse when one of the rice buyers absconded after buying it with a check that bounceed.

Sigh.

So yes we are still growing rice in our area, but what is also going on is looking for gold in the subsoil. Not much gold there, but hey when farmers earn less than ten dollars a day, every little bit helps.

I am not sure how many rice paddies are now no longer growing rice, but you have to remember that the Philippines imports food. Of course, the rich businessmen make oodles of money importing cheap rice so they benefit. This keeps the price of rice low which is good for the poor and working class in the cities, but is discouraging for local farmers.

So although I doubt we will ever go as mechanical as the European farm machines shown to Mr Clarkson, what worries me is that their prices will be another blow to local farmers. This happened a few years ago, when cheap imported onions from Europe undercut local farmers prices.

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update;

article about the farm they visited:

In episode three, Jeremy Clarkson and his team cross the border into the Netherlands and Belgium. There, they visit Rotterdam, among other places, where they take a look at the futuristic Floating Farm. A floating farm, in other words. We see Clarkson look skeptical at first, and then become amazed by technology he doesn't actually believe in.

Starlink to the rescue

 this is an AI answer to how Starlink is helping with local telecoms to help the earthquake victims in Mindanao.

AI Overview\\

Satellite lifeline: 

Globe turns to Starlink to keep Mindanao ...

Starlink is actively aiding emergency workers and affected residents in Mindanao following the recent magnitude 7.8 earthquake in the region. \

Satellite internet and direct-to-device technologies have been deployed by government agencies and local telecommunications providers to restore essential communications, support disaster response, and run emergency command centers. politiko.com.ph +3 

Key Starlink Emergency Services in Mindanao 

Direct-to-Device Access: Globe and Starlink have partnered to pilot direct-to-mobile satellite text and messaging services in hard-hit areas like South Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat, and Sarangani. 

This provides coverage to hundreds of thousands of local users without needing specialized satellite dishes. 

 BusinessWorld - BusinessWorld Online +2 Command & Control Hubs: 

The Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) has deployed Starlink kits to disaster-affected local plazas, evacuation centers, and the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction Management Office in Alabe. 

 Critical Medical Support: Starlink broadband facilities have been installed at the Sarangani Provincial Hospital and Malungon Provincial Hospital to ensure uninterrupted frontline medical services. 

 Facebook ·Negros Daily Bulletin +1 Government Deployment: President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. personally turned over a Starlink unit to the local government of Glan, Sarangani, to strengthen local disaster coordination and relief operations. ]]

Philippine News Agency Free Public Wi-Fi: 

Local telecommunications firms like PLDT and Smart are operating command centers in General Santos City using Starlink backups to provide emergency personnel and affected residents with internet and mobile charging stations. politiko.com.ph 

Updates regarding these disaster relief efforts are regularly posted by the Department of Information and Communications Technology and major telecommunications providers like Globe Telecom and PLDT.

I am posting this because all the socialists want Musk to give money to NGOs to help the world. Presumably give money to NGOs who pay six figure salaries and have a high overhead and often divert money into woke projects.  

biolab: yup the conspiracy theory guys and the Philippine watchdogs were right

three years ago, I noted that Ecohealth was tryin to build a biolab here in the Philippines, but was stopped when a Solon noticed it wasn't funded by HHS but by the Dept of Defense.

 even after the HHS stopped funding all ecohealth projects apparently Ecohealth was getting money from the Dept of Defense. (Ecohealth connected with the Wuhan lab covid scandal).

But the Phil gov't noticed the source of the money and refused it....   the money was never used according to the website that tracks govt grants, and the grant time ended. 

PhilStar has the 2022 story:

The lawmakers warned that the US-DRTA is the official combat support agency of the US for countering weapons of mass destruction: chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear and high explosives.

“A civilian laboratory was constructed using funds of a foreign military agency, which has the responsibility of managing and integrating the US defense department’s chemical and biological defense science and technology programs,” the measure reads.

 

The resolution stressed that the task of civilian cooperation on bilateral agricultural concerns lies with the US department of agriculture and not on agencies under the defense department.

 I kept an eye on the webpage for the grant money, and eventually the date expired and it was removed.

well, anyway, there also has been a lot of conspiracy theories about biolabs, including those in the Ukraine.

I didn't follow it so no opinion on it except biolabs in countries are needed for tularemia, anthrax, brucellosis, q fever etc and other animal diseases that can destroy farm animal and spread to humans. 

The  detection by monitoring farm animals is routine to prevent epidemics (see last year's All Creatures Great and Small, which included plots on TB testing of cattle, and later Brucellosis was discovered: And infected one of the vets).

so anyway I figured biolabs were legitimate...except a small nagging problem, i.e. that the Lab in the Philippine had it's goal to collect and seek possible pathogens not in farm animals but in wild animals that could crossover and infect people.

In other words, looking for possible infectious stuff not checking for diseases that are actually infecting animals and hurting people.

So why worry? Uh, they are seeking out these diseases, collecting samples, and then doing investigations on the germs...does this include to collect it and investigate it (including gain of function research) so they could either start an epidemic or evolve it for biowarfare?

So anyway, Tulsi Gabbard, who was a Democrat who won more votes in the primaries than Kamela and then promptly got onto a terrorist watch list for air travel, which made her mad enough to change   parties and Trump put her in charge of the various intelligence agency stuff. 

She is leaving due to her husband having cancer (in our prayers) but has posted some stuff about the corruption in those agencies including this post about biolabs:

Today, I’m releasing never before seen intelligence revealing new evidence of past US government funding for more than 120 biolabs in over 30 countries, including Ukraine.

In support of President Trump‘s Executive Order to end federal funding of dangerous gain of function… pic.twitter.com/RkPHnAbka9

— DNI Tulsi Gabbard (@DNIGabbard) June 12, 2026

...>

check out the thread if you are interested.

So monitoring diseases that could decimate agriculture and spread to humans is good... but who checks if these labs are doing basic public health, or maybe searching for diseases to use as bioweapons? that is where the conspiracy theories come in. After Covid, the trust in the world wide public health system has gone down, and this is leading to deaths because parents won't vaccinate their kids  

and I won't get into the corruption in the many governments and even in western  NGOs. 

By the way: The US is not the only one funding such labs: global biolab interactive map

This article is about Chinese labs in Ethiopia and this article discusses biolabs in Africa   funded by China etc. 

the AI center fight is about the future and the Philippines is part of the plan

I am not up on what is going on in the USA except that the left hates anything Trump is doing, and now is busy pushing outrage against AI Centers in the USA.... which of course would let China become the lead for the AI Future.

From Instapundit:

I’ve been lurking in anti-AI, anti-data center activist facebook groups just to understand what their arguments are

Guys it’s really not a good sign that they are borrowing the same tactic of framing non-violent things as violence. During the woke cultural revolution, innocuous… pic.twitter.com/EDb3CwKUoy

— Melissa Chen (@MsMelChen) May 19, 2026

.....

I had no idea about this until I read @amuse https://t.co/feIVBBrMIx

— Melissa Chen (@MsMelChen) May 20, 2026

,,,,,,,,

so what does this have to do with the Philippines? 

Cue up to the Pax Silica plan to industrialize the Philippines.

.. ..Pax Silica is the US outreach to other countries including the Philippines.

This historic declaration hails a new economic security consensus ensuring aligned partners build the AI ecosystem of tomorrow—from energy and critical minerals to high-end manufacturing and models.,,,

We recognize that the technological revolution in AI is accelerating, increasingly reorganizing the world economy, and reshaping global supply chains. We believe that economic value and growth will flow through and across all levels of the global AI supply chain, driving historic opportunity and demand for energy, critical minerals, manufacturing, technological hardware, infrastructure, and new markets not yet invented.

...

so yes the Philippines is pushing this plan: 

We have the resources of our workers, who right now are forced to migrate to other countries to find work. This will allow this talent to stay here and find jobs.

Under this framework, the country is advancing the proposed AI-Native Industrial Acceleration Hub in New Clark City, a flagship project that brings together AI, infrastructure, and high-value industries.

Yup.  Clark city, where there was a US base until politics asked the US to close it and Mt Pinatubo covered it with ash.

Our lovely ex president Gloria comes from that area and has been investing in roads, and infrastructure for years.

Clark industrial zone, was created, roads and rail connected it to other areas, and an alternative airport was opened there in Pampanga, which was traditionally a very poor area of the Philippines.

so what about our area?

well, we grow rice, and thanks to land reform small farmers now own their fields. 

The problem? They remain poor but educated their kids, and the kids don't want to be small farmers. 

So to work our fields we imported workers from Joy's area in the Visayas.

But for several years even though we are organic, profit is small because of the high  price of fertilizer   (after 2022, the prices went up because of the Ukraine war, and potash comes from the Ukraine) and now things are worse, with oil prices up, meaning the price for fertilizer going up, and diesel for farm machinery also going up, and unlike 25 years ago when I first came here, we no longer have farmers willing to plow with water buffalo (they are used for milk now) or harvest by hand (we rent a harvester thresher to bring in the crop).

Allowing people to own large amounts of land and mechanize it using modern seeds and machines would be the answer, but the Govt policy is to encourage small farmers to grow organic rice, which can be sold at a higher profit than traditional rice, which is in competition with other countries that have lower wages for farms.

this preserves the culture and is better for the land of course, so Joy is involved in this outreach in nearby Bulacan.

The good news is that the Philippines is wise enough to promote policies that benefit the small farmer while pushing modernization.

But things are changing.

 

Since farmers can't make much of a profit due to the high price of diesel and fertilizer, some are not planting, especially for the winter dry season harvest where you have to pay for irrigation fees.

so what is going on here is that a lot of local farmers were digging and panning for gold in the unused fields rather than lose money planting winter rice... whether or not they will plant for the main harvest is a big question: We will plant our low lying fields that don't use irrigation, but probably let the higher fields lie fallow. Sigh.

 which brings up another economic change in our area.

The large solar farm is being built on fields here. And yes, what this commercial says is true: many of our farmers and local folk are busy working for this project.

          

so lots of optimistic propaganda out there looking for investments:

 The main problem is corruption of course, but one can only hope workers used to honest work (e.g. working overseas or belonging to Evangelical churches that stress honesty and hard work) will be able to support their families.

S

another day another volcano

south of Manila, not near us. But hard for people in the area. https://t.co/Lf7ydvSs7b

— tioedong (@tioedong) May 3, 2026

The Japanese are back

For the first time since World War II, Japanese soldiers will be training in the Philippines in the yearly Balikatan exercize with the US military and the Philippine Armed forces

LINK

A reciprocal access agreement between Manila and Tokyo, which took effect in September 2025, allows JSDF and Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) personnel to operate in each other’s territory for exercises and other missions.

so far I haven't seen helicopters, Warthogs or other planes going over us: We are near to FtMagsaysay, where usually the AFP teach jungle warfare and survival techniuest to the visiting iliatry.

philippine news

prices here are going up for everything,

and many local farmers are digging for gold instead of preparing their fields for rice, because the imported rice undercuts the selling price and because the price of diesel and fertilizer makes it more expensive to grow and harvest.

We are green and sell organic rice, but since we no longer have waterbuffalo and use a harvester thresher instead of harvesting by hand and then using our small thresher, you can see the problem: Modern agriculture needs oil.

well, anyway, last year there were reports about economic zones and investment in Luzon. Clark and Subic are two areas this is being done.

from last year:

from today:

the full US announcement is HERE. 

Excerpt:

 Under Secretary of State for Economic Affairs Jacob Helberg today announced the United States’ and the Philippines’ plans to establish a 4,000-acre industrial hub to secure inputs vital to American and global supply chains. The site is located in the Luzon Economic Corridor of the Philippines. The site—the first of its kind—is being designated by the Philippines as an Economic Security Zone, a new model for AI-native investment acceleration hubs being developed under the Pax Silica Initiative.

... Enhanced Operational Certainty: The Economic Security Zone is intended to fuse American expertise in institutions and legal regimes – internationally enforceable contracts, transparent regulatory standards, and expert dispute resolution – with enhanced access to the Philippines’ outstanding workforce and talent, mineral endowments, energy resources, and strategic position at the crossroads of Indo-Pacific trade.

...more at thee Pax Silica website of the US State Dept:

If the 20th century ran on oil and steel, the 21st century runs on compute and the minerals that feed it. This historic declaration hails a new economic security consensus ensuring aligned partners build the AI ecosystem of tomorrow—from energy and critical minerals to high-end manufacturing and models.

,,,,

the problem is corruption. 

Don't tell the Chicago style pope that he needs to preach thou shalt not steal, not vote Democrat so we can keep our pedophile protecting bishops rich.

(sorry, Three Hail Marys for my snide remarks)

Of course the problem is the IMF is threatening the Philippines because they have a big debt.

and this story says: Watch where you invest.

...

StrategyPage has a summary of what's happening in the PHilippines LINK 

 Major events last year include improvements in infrastructure with many new roads and upgrades to airports and shipping facilities. This comes after years of little improvement. The difference has been noticeable to most Filipinos. Problems remain including high unemployment, escalating inflation, the local currency, the peso losing more value versus the dollar and general economic stagnation.

this video explains what is going on (is it accurate? I don't know, but we are seeinng Japan moving businesses into the Philippines.

And remember: China and Chinoy families run the economy here. Second thing to remember: Taiwan was once Japanese.

What's going on? Peace?

 So while checking local headlines (still trying to impeach Sarah, an ongoing story), I saw this story:

US President Donald Trump said Thursday Washington and Tehran were “very close” to a peace deal and insisted that Iran had agreed to hand over its enriched uranium, a key sticking point in negotiations....

At the same time, a ceasefire came into effect between Israel and Lebanon — a 10-day truce — with Trump saying he expected the two countries’ leaders at the White House within “four or five days.”

.....

on the other hand, the Inquirer has an editorial that is happy that Filipinos lowered their birth rate:: 

Among poorer families, the fertility rate translates to 2.8 children per woman, compared to those from richer households, with a rate of only 1.1 child. The highest fertility rate of 3.1 children is seen among those with lower education levels, the same situation in adolescent girls who become mothers at ages 15 to 19.

so most of the lower birth rate is among the growing middle class: But the poor are still having fewer children (3 instead of seven as in the past).

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in other local news, the cost of gasoline/diesel is going down.

Good news for the farmers.

--------------------

and organ harvesting is the next big thing.

Euthanasia and Organ Harvesting Reveal Western Medicine’s Utilitarian Drift

"The clear message sent by conjoining euthanasia and organ harvesting—with the active support of organ transplant medical associations, I am sorry to report—is that the deaths of the sick, disabled, and…

— Epoch Times Opinion (@EpochOpinion) April 16, 2026

...

Organ harvesting in the Philippines:. From last year.

In a harrowing turn of events, the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) has unveiled a chilling network of organ traffickers operating in Bulacan. The alleged leader, still at large, is reportedly a head nurse at the National Kidney and Transplant Institute (NKTI)

read the whole article.

Then there is this: 

planting rice? Nope. Making electricity in Luzon

Putting solar panels on rich paddies to generate electricity for Manila.

Lots of local folk are working there, and many farmers (many of whom are aging and their kids don't want to be farmers) are renting out or selling their fields to these guys.

in other news, the price of diesel and LPG and gasoline has skyrocketed thanks to the Iran kerfuffle. This is affecting everyone here in Asia, including China,  

another thing going on: Lots of people are digging and panning for gold.

The fields are standing idle until the monsoon hits and the fields can be prepared to plant rice, so why not.

The Japanese are back and other local news

In recent days, I have seen a few Apache helicopters going over and yes, it is time for the joint Philippine military/US military exercizes, the Balikatan 2026. 

Usually this helps practice coordination for disasters etc. and usually includes not just the US training the Philippines for cyberwar and fancy stuff, but the Philippines special forces train the US troops in jungle warfare.

But this time there is a difference: Japan, who in the past has sent only observers, is now sending in soldiers to join the exercize:

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in other news, the big story of the day is the shortage of oil based products, needed for transportation and in the near future to plant the yearly rice crop.

But oil is coming from an unlikely source: the Philippines is one of several Asian nations buying that oil from Russia. Apparently, Russia was stopped from selling oil etc to Europe via pipeline, so stored it in ships and storage areas.

a behind paywall article notes that Trumpieboy sort of ignored this issue with China last year

And now is saying wink wink it's okay for Russia to sell this oil to Asia.

Hmm...

Dumb Trumpieboy or knowing what is coming and winking at Russia so they will be there to help Asian allies and China?

so anyway we have enough fuel for a month or so...but the price will go up which is bad news.

The Bodylanguage Venezuean guy explains what is going on.

,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

So what is happening to our area?

Well, Kuya just harveted the last field with our winter rice crop, but is having trouble finding people to dry it (usually we use sun drying, meaning put it on a flat surface such as a road, and then turn it periodically until it is dry enough to store..

But the reason he is having trouble finding someone to do this is twofold:

One, a lot of local folks are working to build the solar panel project here. this is a commercial of course, but gives you an idea of what is going on:

but this is not the only place our farmers are working:

There is a local gold rush.

People are renting back hoes to dig up the fields and then panning for gold.

I asked Kuya if they are finding gold, and he said enough to cover their expenses.

----------

One more item: the country is shut down for the Easter weekend, with folks headed to their home villages, and lots of processions and visita Iglesia and singing the Pasyon.

often people build small chapels for this: Emy used to do it up the street before she died, and one could hear the chant in similar small chapels constructed in side streets all over town. This expat explains it for you:

  

since covid it has not revived, maybe because the elders are dead ant the younger folks have work to do: I only heard singing from one such chapel this year.

Our barangay holds it in the local neighborhood chapel, and I donated a little money for food to feed the chanters and all the neighbors who came to the chapel to pray and get a free meal of course.

but today is Holy Thursday, so that singing is ending and today we visit the churches 

Philippines finds natural gas field

 

this is good news since a lot of money is spent importing LPG and diesel/oil.

Oil: Russia to the rescue

Lots of hysteria here about running out of oil.

But now Russia is coming to the rescue:

AI tells me: 

Based on reports from March 2026, the administration of Donald Trump issued a temporary, 30-day waiver allowing for the sale and handling of Russian oil already loaded on tankers, effectively lifting certain sanctions on Russian oil "stranded at sea".

Trumpieboy let Russia store oil in ships and now is letting them sell it. Hmm... it's almost as if he foresaw that Iran would block the strait of Homuz so did a slight of hand to undermine Iran's blackmail.

BBC site: that quotes the European experts who hate this since it helps Putin does admit this will help a lot of folk:

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the "tailored, short-term" policy move would reduce the economic impact of the US-Israel war with Iran.

 

Shipping news and other domino effects of the Iran conflict

 

there are links about these stories on the youtube site.

All I know about this is that I was working in Liberia when a previous war closed the Suez canal, and all the big tankers had to go around Africa. This was before container ships by the way. 

We had a contract with some shipping firms to treat sialors... many small ships would go around the hump to local ports, meaning first to Sierra Leone then to Monrovia, so most of those we treated were for diseases the sailors picked up from the nice ladies there. And since I spoke some Spanish (lots of Portuguese seamen could understand Spanish) and German (lots of Polish seamen could speak German) it meant I got to see a lot of these in our clinic.

since Monrovia's artificial port is small, it meant we had to go out to the larger ships to evacuate patients which I did a couple of times.

Things are now different: Container ships for example, and LPG not just tankers... 

The video discusses the money part, about insurance coverage, and about the dark fleet to get around sanctions. 

And don't forget China. LINK 

Tanker traffic through the energy chokepoint effectively halted after the US and Israel began a bombing campaign over the weekend that has prompted Iran to respond with strikes across the region. As the world’s largest oil and gas importer, China is among the most exposed nations — while it has ample reserves, almost half of its crude imports transited the strait in December.

 And he reminds people about the Houthis who are Iranian proxies, who will probably start shelling ships from neutral countries in the Red Sea.

Translation: This will cause many ships going to Europe to divert around Africa, and also impoverish Egypt since it won't collect fees from ships using the Suez canal.

 Another change: Huge numbers of Filipinos are seamen and in danger.

There are  over one million Filipino OFW in the Middle East, and over 1000 have asked for help to come back home, mainly from Dubai.

But trouble in the area has other implications for the Philippines.

and here in the Philippines, the gov't is worried that the price of oil/petroleum products will go up. This means higher diesel prices for those of us who farm (using hand plows instead of water buffalo), higher prices for fertilizer, (even organic chicken manure fertilizer needs to be bagged and transported to the fields), higher prices for anything that has to be transported, higher prices for people using public transportation to work, and higher prices for LPG to cook food (the alternative wood means deforestation). 

So use modern solar farms? Yup. We have them being placed all over our valuable rice growing areas here but they aren't on line yet.

we  are seeing a few e-bikes being used as tricycles (which is what ordinary people here use for transportation) But  you can't use solar energy for handplows.

Or for backhoes either. 

Right now, the winter harvest is almost done, and it's too early to prepare the fields for rice planting, so a lot of farmers around here are renting backhoes to dig up the soil so they can pan for gold. We hope this won't destroy the rice paddies, but hey poor people are more worried about eating today than about possible ecological problems in the future.

(Note: We are approaching hunger season, when the money from the last harvest runs out but no money until the next harvest).

Sigh.

the big procession in Manila

Protestants quote the Bible but Catholics attend fiesta masses and processions which is how they learn about God and the saint.

With the Black Nazarene, locals identify with Jesus as their personal savior, and as one who understands their sufferings because He suffered too.

Three Kings fiesta today, and other Filipino celebrations

 our city's main church has the Three Kings as their patron saint.

So tomorrow is the feast of the Epiphany, that celebrates the visit of the Magi to the Christ child. This older blog has photos and the story of the local church.

So we will have a big parade and parties in homes.

But we aren't the only ones celebrating:

in Manila they are preparing for the Black Nazarene procession. which essentially shuts down parts of Manila as millions join the procession.

  the Black Nazarene is a figure of Jesus carrying his cross, and people in the procession identify their sufferings with those of Jesus and ask him for help in their daily problems.

Wikipedia article.

secular video on the procession.

Later in the month: The El Nino celebrations,. 

The El Nino here is the Christ child, often pictured as a child with a hat. This depiction points to the legend of Christians jailed in a dungeon by the Muslim rulers of Spain. and a child brought them food. So this ElNino is also the patron of miners and POWs...this is from an AI summary but I don't know how to link it:

The devotion to "El Niño" in Spain centers on the Santo Niño de Atocha, the Holy Child of Atocha, a revered image of the infant Jesus depicted as a pilgrim in pilgrim's attire (hat, cloak, staff) who miraculously brought food and water to Christian prisoners in 13th-century Spain. Originating near Madrid under Moorish rule, this devotion highlights the Child's role as a protector of the vulnerable, pilgrims, and travelers, a tradition that spread from Spain to the New World, particularly Mexico and the Philippines. Key Aspects of the Devotion Origin Story: During the Moorish occupation, only children under 12 could bring sustenance to Christian prisoners in Atocha. A mysterious child, believed to be Jesus, appeared daily, carrying a basket and gourd that never emptied, providing hope and sustenance. Iconography: The image typically shows the Santo Niño in pilgrim's garb, often with a brimmed hat, cloak, staff, and a basket (sometimes of roses or food) and a water gourd, symbolizing his journey and aid. Patronage: He is the patron of pilgrims, travelers, prisoners, and children, invoked for protection, healing, and assistance in difficult times. Tradition: The worn shoes of the statue in Spain became a significant sign, as they were replaced but always found dusty and worn again, signifying his tireless journeys to help those in need. Spread: Spanish explorers brought the devotion to the Americas, where it flourished, especially in Mexico and the Philippines, becoming deeply embedded in local culture and traditions