Loren: I told you.

An oft-repeated question is what position Sen. Loren Legarda is angling for in the 2010 election: president or vice-president? Loren is saying nothing, only displaying her winsome smile, but the word being spread around (not by her) is that she has agreed to slide down from her original presidential aspiration to that of running mate to Sen. Francis Joseph “Chiz” Guevarra Escudero. Chiz and Loren. That seems like a good match that will have other candidates make a run for their money.

The matchmaking has not subsided with the receding of Ondoy’s floodwaters.

The floods, heavy rains and howling winds accompanying typhoon Ondoy were of such magnitude that some people thought the end days had come, that the senator was a modern-day Noah, the ark builder whose warnings about the Great Flood of the Old Testament had gone unheeded, and some such unkind remarks.

But truth to tell, Loren for a long time has been calling attention to global warming and climate change. Founding chair of the environmental organization Luntiang Pilipinas and later as the United Nations’ Asia-Pacific Champion for Disaster Risk Reduction and Climate Change Mitigation, Loren has been speaking for years about the dangers of increasingly becoming powerful typhoons, earthquakes, landslides and floods as well as droughts hitting the country.

She has been saying all along that on the issue of climate change, everyone should reduce the level of carbon emission in the atmosphere, which is partly blamed for global warming. The use of fossil fuels like oil and coal, she said should be minimized and in their place are used green energy, such as those generated by wind, water and sun.

She had been saying that the government must come up with geohazard maps that pinpoint dangerous areas where structures should not be constructed. She has moved for the enforcement of the Building Code so that structures, like houses and school buildings can withstand typhoons and earthquakes. She has also been batting for well-thought out community planning, taking into the need for immediate drainage of flood waters.

Loren asks, “How many disasters do we need to fall victim to before we are awakened and jolted to the reality that the dangers of climate change and global warming is as real as the volume of water dumped by Ondoy which was even more than that unleashed in the southern American state by Hurricane Katrina?”

We can expect Loren as vice-president, to put climate change and global warming as her priority agenda.

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New Day Publishers (trade name of the Christian Literature Society of the Philippines, Inc.), which suffered from typhoon Ondoy’s destructive force, needs help. New Day is a small, non-profit, non-stock organization whose mission and ministry is to address the scarcity of books about the history, culture and literature of the Philippines and books written by local authors. Its pioneering work of publishing Filipiniana produced some of the most important Philippine publications. It is solely dependent on income from sales for its daily operational needs.

The flooding submerged and destroyed all of New Day’s computers, copies of new books freshly delivered from the press, important documents, desks, cabinets, among other things.

Donations may be sent to New Day Publishers, Bank of the Philippine Islands, West Triangle Branch, 1587 Quezon City. For dollar deposits, the account number is 3054-015967 (with the Swift Code BOPIPHMM), and peso deposits, account no. 3051-0463-49.

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Makati Regional Trial Court Judge Jenny Aldecoa Delorino, who I believe is one of the country’s finest singers, will hold a concert on October 11, 6:30 p.m., at the Union Church of Manila in Legaspi Village, Makati City. The concert is her “offering of talent to the good Lord for sustaining me for the 50 years of my existence.”

Also featured will be the Trumpets’ presentation of the musical play “The Happy Prince.”

Proceeds of the concert will go to the church’s Feeding the Multitudes project and for relief and assistance to flood victims. Tickets may be purchased by calling Union Church of Manila and at the front door.

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Huge throngs of children in Luzon are out of school because they do not have the wherewithal to go to school, as well as the conversion of school buildings to evacuation sites. In Mindanao, so many children are out of school because of the continued armed conflict.

Gabriela Women’s Party List Rep. Luz Ilagan expressed concern over the alarming increase in the number of children who are not able to go to school and who cannot read or write as a result of the conflict.

A statement coming from Rep. Ilagan’s information officer Abby Valenzuela said that in a study by E-Net Philippines, a Kidapawan city-based network of organizations aiming to reform education the Philippines, it was found that four out of ten children and youth in SOCSKSARGEN (Region 12) are missing school due to the armed conflict in Mindanao. This number is three times higher than the 14 percent national average.

In North Cotabato and Maguin-danao, amost 5,000 children have been forced to stop schooling when fighting broke out between the members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front in August last year.

According to the E-Net report, some of these children and youth, aged 3 to 25, cannot read and write, raising the number of illiterate Filipinos to 15 million or 27 percent higher than in 2003. The Philippines ranks 53rd out of 154 countries in the 2008 United Nations Development Programme Report on literacy with a score of 92.6.

Ilagan, a former professor of the Ateneo de Davao University, said there is no sign that the government intends to stop the war soon. “The greatest impact of war has always been on children. Aside from denying them the right to education, the existence of the military in civilian areas also puts their health, their future, and even their lives at risk,” Ilagan said.

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My e-mail: [email protected]