THE LOST RIVERS AND LAKES OF PAMPANGA, Abacan River- Angeles to Mexico

TARLAC, AND BULACAN - Turns towards Minalin and Sto.

“pampang”- riverbank
“Kapampangan”- people from the riverbanks
Ancient lakes and swamps:
 PINAC DE CANDABA
- Candaba, San Luis, San Simon, San
Rafael, San Ildefonso, San Miguel de
Mayumu, Balioag, Cabiao
 PINAC DE HAGONOY
- Apalit, Calumpit, Hagonoy, Pulilan,
Paombong, Plaridel, Malolos
- Where Angat River and Pampanga
River meet via Bagbag River
 PINAC DE SAN ANTONIO
- located north of Mt. Arayat in
Nueva Ecija
 CANAREM LAKE
- Located in Victoria, Tarlac
- Now a wetland and bird sanctuary
- Formerly known as Catanglaran
(where Tanglad plants grew
abundantly)
These 4 lakes and swamps are located in a
depressed area that runs from Nueva Vizcaya
down to Manila Bay known as PAMPANGA
RIVER BASIN
- Where 2 big rivers Rio Grande and
Rio Chico meet
Tomas
Pasig-Potrero River and Porac-Gumain River-
head towards Guagua River Basin
Sapang Matulid- also known as San Fernando
River or Betis River
Guagua-Pasak River- known as Dalan Bapor
 1762-64 British Occupation, Spaniards
escaped from Manila to Bacolor
through the Guagua-Pasak River
 1899- Spaniards retreating from
Aguinaldo’s Revolutioinary Army
boarded ships that took them to Manila
via Guagua-Pasak River
“Palapawan”- place in Macabebe which means
place where water overflows
“Tacasan”- place where water escapes
Sapang Pari- the priest’s creek
Our ancestors knew the cycle of flood and built
planting and harvesting seasons accordingly.
- Welcomed flood with festivals such
as Libad (fluvial parade)

Bulacan- direction of flood

Arnedo Dike – built on the Pampanga side of

Pampanga River
- Keeps overflow water from
spreading in San Fernando

GUAGUA RIVER BASIN- large depressed area

where all rivers emanating from Mt. Pinatubo
collect
- Creates a second great river, the
Guagua-Pasak River
 HUMAN FLOURISHING IN SCIENCE AND
TECHNOLOGY
Human person- bearer and beneficiary of
science and technology
Science and technology- must be taken as a
part of human life that merits reflective and
meditative thinking
TECHNOLOGY AS A MODE OF REVEALING
The Question of Technology- Martin Heidegger
- Technology is a means to an end
(Instrumental)
- Technology is a human activity
(Anthropological)
Heidegger urged people to envision technology
as a mode of revealing.
- Technology is a way of bringing forth
ANCIENT GREEK CONCEPTS (according to
Heidegger)
● Aletheia- unhiddenness or disclosure
● Poiesis- bringing forth
● Techne- skill, art, or craft
Technology is a poiesis that discloses or reveals
the truth
MODERN TECHNOLOGY
- challenging forth since it is very
aggressive in its activity
- brings about a “setting upon” of the
land
- Ex: Mining- extracting minerals from
earth
With modern technology, revealing never
comes to an end.
Heidegger described modern tech as:
● Age of Switches
● Standing Reserve- sees resources as a
way to fulfill man’s needs
● Stockpiling
QUESTIONING AS THE PIETY OF THOUGHT
● Piety- obedience and submission
It is when we start questioning that we submit
ourselves to our thoughts.
ENFRAMING: WAY OF REVEALING IN MODERN
TECHNOLOGY
The way of revealing in modern technology is an
enframing
Enframing that challenges forth and sets upon
nature is a way of looking at reality
● Poiesis is concealed in enframing as
nature is viewed as an orderable and
calculable system of information
Calculative Thinking- one orders and puts a
system to nature so it can be understood better
and controlled
Meditative Thinking- one lets nature reveal
itself without forcing it
“But where danger is, grows the saving power
also.” - Holderlin
4 CAUSES:
● Causa materialis- the matter out of
which a thing is made
● Causa formalis- the form, shape into
which the material enters
● Causa finalis- the end or reason it is
made
● Causa efficiens- brings about the effect
Aition- Greek experience of cause
- indebtedness; responsible for bringing
forth
- The Greeks revere the sun because they
are indebted to it not because it is the
cause of energy
 HUMAN FLOURISHING AS REFLECTED IN
PROGRESS AND DEVELOPMENT
Forget developing poor countries, it’s time to
de-develop rich countries by Jason Hickel
 UN’s new Sustainable Development
Goals (SDGs)
- Main objective is to eradicate poverty
by 2030
- Main strategy for eradicating poverty is
growth
Growth- main object of development for the
past 70 years
1980- global economy has grown by 380%
- Number of people living in poverty
increased by more than 1.1 billion
Global hectares- standardized unit that
measures resource use and waste
Ghana and Guatemala- consumes 1.8 global
hectares per person
US and Canada- 8 hectares
Europeans- 4.7 hectares
Peter Edwards- instead of pushing poor
countries to “catch up” with rich ones, we
should think of ways to get rich countries to
“catch down”
US- life expectancy of 79 years; GDP of $53,000
Cuba- GDP of only $6000 and consumption of
1.9 global hectares
Similar claims by Peru, Ecuador, Honduras,
Nicaragua, Tunisia
Costa Rica- sustain one of the highest happiness
indicators and per capita income ¼ that of the
US
70% of people in middle- and high-income
countries- believe that overconsumption is
putting our planet at risk
THE MAGICIAN’S TWIN
1st half of the 21st century- 3 prophetic writers
warned us about the dark side of scientific and
technological progress
 G.K. Chesterton
 George Orwell
 C.S. Lewis
C. S. Lewis- best known for his Narnia stories
- had interest in growing power of
scientism
- critic of scientism
- compared science to something
ancient: magic
Scientism is the idea that the methods of natural
science should be the bar by which every other
intellectual discipline must be held.
Pursue science to have power over the world and
power over the people
Science and Magic
3 ways in which they are similar:
1. Science as religion - Ability to function as
religion
Belief of something higher than ourselves
Science can be an alternative religion
Cosmic struggle of evolution of HG Wells
People offer science as their religion-it is what
gives their life meaning
2. Science as credulity – encouragement of lack
of skepticism
In the modern world, people will believe almost
anything if it’s dressed up in the name of
science.
Examples according to Lewis:
 Freudianism
 Evolutionism – idea that matter could
magically transform itself into complex
and conscious living things through a
blind and unguided process
3. Science as power- quest for power
Much of modern science was actually devoted
towards power over the world
Power of science was its greatest virtue
Tendency to want to control things
Lewis thought that modern science was far
more dangerous than magic because magic
failed
- Wrote a book entitled “That Hideous
Strength”
By the end of his life, he was worrying about the
rise of what he called as Scientocracy- gov’t and
society based on the claims of modern science
Lewis did not deny that scientific expertise
might be necessary for good public policy in
many areas but he insisted that science alone
was not sufficient
Understand the limits of science
THE GOOD LIFE
Aristotle- Greek philosopher (natural
philosophy to logic and political theory)
Nicomachean Ethics:
 All human activities aim at some good
 Good- that at which all things aim
Good life- characterized by happiness that
springs from living and doing well
Eudaimonia- ancient Greek concept of living
well and doing well
- “eu”- good; “daimon”- spirit
Happiness- ultimate end of human action which
people pursue for its own sake
- Defines a good life
- Not the kind that comes from sensate
pleasure
- Comes from living a life of virtue, a life
of excellence
Virtuous actions require discipline and practice
Good life- marked by happiness brought about
by virtuous human actions
Virtue- plays a significant role in living and
attainment of a good life
- The constant practice of good
- The excellence of character
2 TYPES OF VIRTUE
 Intellectual virtue
 Moral Virtue