I WONDER why there is so much graft and corruption in our country, despite the fact that we are claiming to be a Christian country.
Jokingly, I have often said that there is no such thing as a Christian country because countries do not go to heaven. Only people go to heaven, their souls I mean, if God wills it, that is.
Seriously however, the math simply does not compute, because if the majority of the people in this country is Christian, then only a minority of the people will be engaging in graft and corruption.
One possible explanation for this great contradiction is that the Christian people in this country do not see a direct connection between their faith, and the sins and wrongdoing that they are committing in their daily lives.
Either that, or they might have perfected their daily routine of committing sin and asking forgiveness from God, and then back to committing sin again.
But what if these Christians do not even consider graft and corruption to be a sin?
What if they think that it is simply just a way of life that they are so used to?
Strictly speaking, corruption is the cause of graft, because it is the act of temptation.
Graft, on the other hand, is the outcome of corruption, meaning that it is indirectly the outcome of temptation.
The bottom line is that graft is an act of stealing, therefore it is nothing else but sin. Since it is actually theft, the sinner needs not only have to repent, he or she also has to have remorse and then offer restitution.
GEOSPATIAL DATABASE MANAGEMENT
The good news is, the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) has already started the Geospatial Information Management Project for Hazards and Risk Assessment in the Philippines, also known as the GeoRiskPH Project.
The bad news is, there seems to be no mention of acquiring and integrating Geographic Information Systems (GIS) data from municipal, provincial and international sources.
To build or to buy is always the classic crossroads decision to make in database management. It is always the choice of building a database using internal sources, sometimes even creating the data from scratch.
The other option is to acquire existing data from external sources, either by buying it, or getting access to it through some kind of information sharing agreements.
In most access, the objective is not really to acquire data cheaper or faster, but to get data that is more accurate and more updated. In the case of geospatial data, the primary consideration is not really the cost of building it or buying it, but the cost of lives and properties that could be saved by having accurate and current data.
If I can be given the chance to help with the project, I will suggest to the Phiivolcs to open diplomatic channels so that they could acquire data from overseas sources such as the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, Association of Southeast Asian Nations and even the United Nations.
There are also excellent data that could be shared by Japan and the USA. It’s also good to integrate the GIS data from the local government units./PN
