There are those (like Patrick Moore) who say that nuclear power is the only technology which can be implemented on a scale that can replace oil and coal. I haven’t studied the science of it so I’m withholding judgment. If we decide to go nuclear, from a contingency planning standpoint, we better train up a couple of hundred thousand volunteers for dealing with a Chernobyl-type disaster. Half of Europe is still inhabitable because of the hundreds of thousands of Soviet army and reservist personnel who were enlisted into preventing the melting core from seeping into the water table.

Every government we had since Cory did not have a vision for our country’s energy-independence. It seems that they just accepted the fact that we’ll be forever dependent, counting on WB loans and such to tide as over as our dollars are drained to buy more foreign oil. The conspiracy theorist in me see the hand of Big Oil in our energy policies since Cory, and that policy could be summed up in 2 words: Bahala and na.

In any case, by their brave opposition, the Kalinga’s and other cultural minorities have taught the rest of the Filipino people a practical lesson on why we need a deliberative democracy.

By the way, has there been any independent account on the ante-dating of the Martial Law proclamation? What I keep reading is that Marcos ante-dated it to the 21st because of some mumbo-jumbo, hokum and hex, numerological reason, which sounds pretty urban-legendish to me. Makes much more sense to have actually signed the proclamation on the 21st then announced it later after all his opponents have been neutralized. It might be a case of some people’s readiness to believe any weird theory about Marcos than to actual events.