Grants and loans for Filipino inventors

CREATING new value added is the key to building a bigger and stronger economy. Not unless we create our own new value added as a nation, we will always remain as a trading economy, meaning that as a nation, we will always be limited to buying and selling the goods and services of other countries.

There is no rocket science behind this reality. Creating new value added is just like investing in agriculture. Not unless we cultivate the land and plant seeds in, no crops will grow, and there is nothing to harvest.

Same way with inventions. Not unless we produce new patents, we could not produce our own new products, and therefore we could not create new value added.

In that sense, our inventors are similar to our farmers. Not unless our inventors will create new products, we will have nothing new to sell to the rest of the world.

Of course, we could always make products for other countries, but not unless we own the intellectual properties in the form of patents, trademarks and copyrights, we will not have much to earn.

Going straight to my point, the only way to create our own intellectual properties is to support our own inventors with grants, loans and other financial incentives.

Aside from the financial support, we should also provide them with technical assistance in terms of building their prototypes, and providing them with marketing assistance by way of providing them with buyers and distributors.

DETAINEES VERSUS PRISONERS

I am not an expert i n the interpretation of laws, but even as a layman, I know for a fact that prisons are not the same as jails and that prisoners are not the same as detainees.

Moreover, I also know that minors are not supposed to be mixed with adults in the jail cells.

And correct me if I am wrong, but is it not wrong to put minors in jails? That they should be in detention centers instead?

There should be no confusion about putting prisoners in the prisons because that is really the place for those who are convicted of major crimes, “convicted” being the operative word.

However, there appears to be a lot of confusion about putting people in the jails. I do not think there is anything wrong about putting those who are convicted of minor crimes in the jails, but why also put in those who are not yet convicted, meaning those who are still awaiting trial?

And why also put in the minors there? What does the law say about the overcrowding in our jails? Who could be held accountable?

Of course, the government could say that nothing could be done because of budgetary constraints. If that is the case, why not add to the budget of the BJMP?

And why can’t local government units augment these budgets, considering that these jails are within their jurisdictions? I know that there is a parole system at the national level, but is there a parole system at the local level? That could be worth looking into./

The only way to create our own intellectual properties is to support our own inventors with grants, loans and other financial incentives.