By F Sionil Jose

In the past 100 years, three important events have tested us as a people — the revolution of 1896 and the Philippine-American War; the Japanese Occupation in 1942; and the declaration of martial law in 1972 by Ferdinand Marcos. We failed all three; in the process, after each climactic event, our moral fiber was frayed. READ FULL STORY

By Pepper Marcelo

Unknown to many, the Philippines is a major hub and outsourcing center of the global animation industry for decades. Local artists have literally had a hand in developing and producing world-renowned, beloved cartoons such as Scooby-Doo, The Jetsons, Popeye, X-Men and Dragon Ball Z.

Locally, animation is $105-million industry, with approximately 50 small and medium-sized animation studios employing some 5,000 people. Industry players are service providers, local sub-contractors and non-commercial producers. Specializing mostly in 2-D animation, the Philippines once controlled 90% of animation outsourcing in the world.

The country’s comparative advantages are many – cheaper production cost, the Filipinos’ proficiency in English, and understanding of American culture and nuance – which have attracted American clients such as Walt Disney, Warner Brothers, Hanna- Barbera, Marvel Comics, and the Cartoon Network.

“The Filipino is quite close to western culture, in terms of language, sense of humor – we’re able to capture those things more than our counterparts in the region,” says Miguel del Rosario, president and CEO of Toon City Animation, one of the country’s leading animation studios.

Operating for 15 years now, Toon City specializes in animation production services for feature animation, direct to video (DTV), TV series, and short programs for Walt Disney, Nickelodeon, Warner Bros. and Universal Studios, among others. Some of the popular programs they’ve worked on include Tom and Jerry, Curious George, Kim Possible, and Lilo and Stitch.

The company, with a staff of up to 1,000 animation artist and technicians, is housed in a huge 30,000-square-foot warehouse-like studio in Mandaluyong City in Manila. It offers complete production services, including traditional, hand-drawn 2-D animation, layout, animation, clean up, and inbetweening, computer generated and traditional background services, and digital ink paint.

“Our latest success is a preschool TV show, Curious George,” Del Rosario tells Planet Philippines in an interview. The program, based on the popular children’s book, has been nominated five times for the prestigious Emmy Award in the US, winning once. Unfortunately, the program is not televised locally. “The local networks don’t carry it,” he says.

With the rise of rise of computer-generated, three-dimensional animation (3-D), however, local animation companies have found it difficult to compete with other countries due to budgetary constraints. The necessary tools required to produce quality 3-D animation, principally the cost of the software, is beyond the budget of small and medium-sized local animation houses. Other Asian nations, like South Korea and India, have steadily lured away interest from local studios.

“As far as quality is concerned, we’re ranked way up there, [but] in terms of volume, unfortunately not, because Korea and India are there. India, because of the advent of CGI. They’re a technical people, so they know how to manipulate the computer, so they’re good in their discipline. They persevere in getting it right. What the Indians lack is in animation, meaning the movement of people, the expression. That is the advantage of the Filipino,” Del Rosario explains.

As a response to foreign competition, local animation companies have begun to ramp up their own 3D facilities, while still plying 2-D-style cartooning. Toon City itself is planning to hire more than 200 artists, animators and digital technicians this year to provide Flash and 3-D animation services for Disney and other major foreign film studios.

“As for Toon City, we have been a 2-D studio. We remain in that nice for a long time,” ads Del Rosario. “With the advent of CGI and 3-D, we thought it would be wise for us, business-wise, to grow in CGI. Our advantage is that we’re offering training to our 2-D artists to embrace CGI. If we perfect this, I think we’ll have a winning combination.”

The global economic recession of 2008 hit the local industry hard. Although Toon City had contracts to finish that year, by 2010, overseas-based animation studios were eventually affected as well. “Animation was hit, so we had to retrench. It was a dry spell for us,” says Del Rosario. Toon City had to scale back to a minimal “skeleton crew,” but has been gradually building back its staff since last year. But it had difficulty retraining its staff, since many of the old ones had left for other jobs, mostly in call centers.

Del Rosario says the government must be take a more active role building infrastructure, providing funding and supporting animation in schools. “In Korea, the reason why animation is big is because they have a domestic market. In the Philippines, it’s not much,” he says.

Consequently, he continues, because the market is big in Korea, their artists and animators have the necessary training and skills, and there are enough funds and resources to service global clients. “Unfortunately, The Philippines has no government program to help promote animation, but that’s something we would like to work on.”

To be sure, there have been remarkable strides in the local scene as evidenced by the production of Urduja, a traditional, hand-drawn 2-D feature, and RPG Metanoia, a full-length 3-D CGI film. Local animation companies, however, still have a long way to go, particularly in terms of training and upgrading the skills of local animators to make them up to par with current techniques and technology in developed countries.

Foreign companies have made available animation courses in local schools. La Consolacion College Manila (LCCM), for example, offers a two-year, 3D digital animation course related to computer programming, thanks to Digimation UK, an animation school based in Great Britain.

PHINMA Properties Holdings Corporation, the mother company of Toon City, is introducing animation courses in some of the schools it owns and operates, which include the University of Pangasinan, Auraullo University in Nueva Ecija, Cagayan de Oro College, and the University of Iloilo.

Del Rosario hopes animation becomes the next big industry, akin to call centers and other BPOs (business process outsourcing companies). “I hope animation makes the Philippines a creative capital of the world, and there’s no reason why not. We have fashion designers, car designers – how I wish Filipinos could be recognized. I hope the Philippines could be a significant player.”

How do we move our government leaders and other public servants so they may give their best and work very hard every day until they find the solution to our nation’s ills? READ FULL STORY

By KC M. Abalos

When we post the highlights of our days online, we are informing the whole world. Yes, the whole world. Such is the power of the internet. So when Jay Jaboneta posted a status on the most popular social networking site, Facebook, about a story which tugged at his heart, the whole world listened or read and commented and donated.

When we like, comment or post anything on our wall, we rarely think about the consequences of our virtual actions. Jay is the New Media Head under the Presidential Communications Operations Office which is responsible for leading the team that manages President Noynoy Aquino’s official website and Social Media presence. So yes, one can say that Jay is in the social networking business. It is no wonder then that it is the tool that he utilized to make it all happen.

“I am really passionate about using social media or digital tools that impact communities and make a difference for our country and Filipinos everywhere,” Jay says.

Of course, he never imagined that a simple Facebook post can really make a significant impact on people’s lives.

Post it

But let us begin at the very beginning. Jay was at the Mindanao Blogging Summit last October 2010 when he heard a story about a bunch of kids in Mampang, Layag-Layag in Zamboanga City who literally wades their way across a shallow body of water every day to get to Talon-Talong Elementary School. Every day.

He relates: “I was really touched by the story.  We often hear of affluent kids in Manila who skip school to go swimming and here were kids who go swimming to go to school.  They are the true heroes of this story.  I didn’t expect anything to happen. I just wanted to share it.”

And share it he did. It wasn’t even that difficult a process. Instead of writing about what he had for breakfast that morning or posting some funny video, Jay posted about the Zamboanga children who inspired him to do something, anything. And the internet being the way it is, no one can really predict where one click can lead.

“We just started posting a call for donations in our Facebook account.  Surprisingly, a community of my friends pitched in to raise funds and build them a boat,” he shares eagerly.

Friends pitch in

Having lots of friends on any social networking site is usually a point of pride for some and sometimes even becomes a competitive thing among friends. But in Jay’s case having lots of friends resulted in more people wanting to get involved and simply wanting to help. Because more often than not, people do want to reach out no matter how little they themselves have in terms of material possessions. But because of the lack of information, they don’t really know where to begin in how they can share a part of themselves to others in their community. Social networking sites serve a big role in connecting people in general—why not connect for the purpose of really helping out?

The trend is catching. When the Ondoy tragedy happened, people went online to see how they can help others who were not as fortunate as they were. When the tsunami struck Japan, even online games did their bit. One can buy a virtual plant or animal, for example, and the proceeds will go to organizations which helped the victims.

The internet is a cheap way of communicating and it is so easy to organize and mobilize people through blogs, SNS (Social Networking Sites), messaging, and the like. It is no wonder then that it is an essential tool for literally and figuratively reaching out to others.

New hope

After posting a simple status, the boat project snowballed. Jay’s post paved the way for the Zamboanga Funds for Little Kids. They were able to raise US$1,600, more than enough for a new school boat.

Last March 27, Jay saw and met the community he was able to help for the first time when they turned over Bagong Pag-Asa or New Hope, the customized boat they built for the kids. The boat had to be built specifically for their community since the children live in an islet where mangroves make it difficult for larger water vessels to travel in. Needless to say, the community was grateful.

“They welcomed us with open arms and they are also part of the solution by volunteering to maintain the boat and spend for its upkeep,” Jay recalls the experience.

As for the people who have helped Jay, his own friends and network buddies, “they also felt surprised that our little fundraising campaign in Facebook helped built a boat for the little kids who swim to school. They now want to help more. Helping is really easy. We just have to keep trying.  Pray. Pursue. Persevere.”

He continues, “We didn’t really know we will end up building a boat and now we’ve raised enough to build two more boats!”

More projects

Because of its unexpected success, there are now more projects on the way. The group—yes they are now a group and you can join them via Facebook—is in the process of helping the kids’ parents improve their seaweed farming operations that is their main livelihood.  According to Jay, there are about 500 families living on houses on stilts in Layag-Layag and the group would like to help them provide for their families and also keep their projects environment-friendly as they live in a mangrove area.

“We have connected with other individuals and groups who are willing to provide scholarships for the kids, school supplies and books,” he shares.

Last May, Jay was featured on Facebook Live, the official live streaming channel of the popular networking site. Jay was interviewed by the Facebook team because of their group’s inspiring story. Such stories are indeed amazing. Even those who were involved are surprised that doing the littlest thing can actually make a world of difference.

“It really gave me a great sense of fulfillment that a single Facebook post can make a difference like this.  We’ve given the community hope.   When I went to sleep that night, it was as if I saw God smile back at me.”

If God had a Facebook page, we’re pretty sure He is “liking” Jay and all his friends.

By Jason Gutierrez                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     Agence France-Presse

Benigno Aquino III won the Philippine presidency on a battle cry to crush corruption and ease deep poverty, but a year into his term he is seen by many to be straining under the weight of his own promises.

At a creek-side slum in the outskirts of Manila’s financial district where Aquino was hugely popular during last year’s election, residents said his vow to lift them out of their misery appeared to have fallen by the wayside.

“We thought we had found a savior, but one year after we voted for him to win, what do we have? Nothing,” said Jennifer San Gaspar, a 36-year-old mother of nine children.

San Gaspar said she remained an Aquino supporter until a few months ago when she and her neighbors were turned away from a government welfare scheme that distributes billions of pesos to poor families on condition they get health checkups and the children go to school.

“They did not tell us why we were disqualified, the social worker who interviewed us never came back,” she said. “So here we are, nothing has changed. We are still poor.”

San Gaspar’s sentiment is apparently shared by many across the impoverished nation as the 51-year-old bachelor president marked 12 months in office last June 30 with his popularity still high but dropping steadily.

After recording the biggest landslide win in Philippine election history, Aquino’s popularity rating dropped from a peak of 74 percent in November to 64 percent in June, pollster Social Weather Stations said.

While his ratings are still relatively strong, analysts said the slide reflected disappointment that he had not done more to fulfill his chief campaign promises of eradicating corruption and ending poverty.

Nevertheless, they pointed out that it was impossible for anyone to quickly fix the enormous economic and corruption problems that festered under his predecessor, Gloria Arroyo, during her nine years in power.

“The bar was set very high for him, and from the very start the cards were stacked against him,” said Antonio Contreras, a political scientist at Manila’s De La Salle University. “He was painted as a symbol of clean government, a hope for a country after a disastrous administration.”

Contreras said that while he was disappointed overall with Aquino’s first-year performance, the president had at least brought back a sense of ethics and professionalism in public service.

Aquino remains almost unanimously regarded as personally incorruptible and voters feel comfortable he will not use his six years in power to build a personal fortune.

This holds particular importance in the Philippines where leaders from national to village level have for decades sought to pilfer state coffers for personal benefit.

Global corruption watchdog Transparency International, which ranks the Philippines as the 44th most country in the world, rated his administration’s first-year efforts an eight out 10.

He has also proved his leadership mettle for many by standing up to the powerful Roman Catholic Church and backing a controversial reproductive health bill that seeks to promote the use of contraceptives for the poor.

On the economic front, Aquino’s team has so far been given credit as solid managers, with global rating agencies Fitch and Moody’s recently upgrading their investment outlooks for the Philippines.

Economic growth has slowed but remained strong with an expansion of 4.9 percent in the first quarter, while two interest rate hikes have for now put the brakes on inflation.

Nevertheless, Contreras and other analysts said Aquino had not yet started to tackle the roots of the country’s corruption and poverty problems, and those were the issues he would ultimately be judged on.

“All he has done is to start off his year with symbolic stuff, crushing corruption, but nothing really concrete yet,” Contreras said.

Political analyst Ramon Casiple said the public should have patience and realize that a president’s first 12 months in office were a learning curve, a time to consolidate power and lay the foundations for the next five years.

“However, people will want to see real progress from the second year,” said Casiple, executive director of Manila-based think-tank Institute for Political and Electoral Reform, giving Aquino a pass mark of six out of 10.

“What people are waiting for is a real programmed of governance. He needs to focus.”

By Pepper Marcelo

With rising oil prices and worsening air pollution, Filipinos are looking into clean and green technology as the only viable option for the country’s transport industry. This is gladly manifested in the people’s growing fascination with and acceptance of the electric jeepney, or e-jeepney, that environmentally-friendly version of the iconic, World War II-era public vehicle.

Spearheading the move to propagate the e-jeepney is the Institute for Climate and Sustainable Cities (iCSC), a non-government, non-profit organization working on sustainable energy solutions and fair climate policy. iCSC is the proponent of the pioneering Climate-Friendly Cities (CFC) initiative, which integrates waste management, energy generation and sustainable transport programs for sustainable, climate-resilient city and community development.

The e-jeepney is a central part of the CFC initiative. After the e-jeepney’s debut in the Makati financial district in 2007, iCSC has widened the deployment of electric public utility vehicle transport alternatives in the country through the development of eTrike, eQuad and eCoach applications as well as different e-jeepney models.

“We chose the electric jeepney not because we’re fixated with jeepneys, but because we wanted to start with something that makes us go the distance. That means choosing a vehicle that has iconic status in the minds of public, realizing that there could be other applications in tricycles and buses,” says Red Constantino, iCSC Executive Director Red Constantino.

He adds: “Compared to private vehicles, mass transport by itself – whether it be rail or individual vehicles like the jeepney – already reduces pollution. But of course, they even out because most of the jeepneys in Manila are terribly inefficient, which also means they produce a lot of pollution.”

iCSC’s studies have shown that every liter of diesel avoided results in a reduction of 3,140 grams of CO2 (carbon dioxide) and 16 grams of NOx (nitrous oxide) that are released to the atmosphere. At excessive levels, these harmful emissions could result in climate change that has recently been blamed for the typhoons and floods that wreak untold havoc and destruction all over the world.

iCSC believes that sustainable transport should not be driven by technology, but by city planning and systems. In other words, their initiative is more than about the inventions themselves, but rather their application.

E-jeepneys comprise one-third of a far bigger project in iCSC’s Climate Friendly Cities Program; the other two being a “biodigester” that is fed with biodegradable solid waste and decomposes it into gas, as well as a depot and terminal that transforms the gas into electricity which then powers the public vehicles.

Already, more than 30 e-jeepneys are operating in Makati City and Puerto Princesa City in Palawan. Launched in July 2007, the Makati Green Route (MGR) project is expected to help reduce noise and air pollution in the country’s central financial district.

The e-jeepney is powered by lead acid batteries which takes approximately eight hours to charge. It can run for about 65 kilometers at a maximum speed of 35-40 kph after every full charge. Though it might seem slow, Constantino argues that speed is relative, especially commuting within a typically congested area.

“Say you live in Metro Manila and drive a Porsche or the latest Audi. I drive an e-jeepney, with a maximum speed of 40 kph. Let’s go out at the same time, 8 a.m. to go to Makati. I might even get there before you if I drive well,” he points out.

E-jeepneys can comfortably seat 14 passengers and have a dwell time of only 10 seconds per stop, so as not to contribute to traffic. Aside from being emission-free, the e-jeepney offers a far more comfortable ride because it has less noise and vibration than the traditional jeepney.

“It’s very easy to ride. Because it’s lighter, the jeepney drivers who are so used to the heavy diesel engines will feel a little weird at first, but it only takes a short while to get used to it,” said Panch Puckett, president of Solar Electric Co., manufacturer of the lead acid batteries that power e-jeepneys, at the launch of Makati’s MGR project.

“You do not hear the engine running. It’s very silent and there’s even a radio for you to check if it’s on,” noted Joey Salgado, Makati city’s information and community relations department chief, on the same occasion.

As with any new and game-changing concepts and projects, e-jeepneys face a number of obstacles. For one, there is the matter of numerous administrative and bureaucratic regulations in registering them. “It took us two years just to get registration plates because the papers required [the vehicle] to have a tailpipe and an engine number, which electric vehicles don’t have,” Constantino says.

Ultimately, iCSC worked patiently with government to come up with regulations catering to the new model. “We started with classification categorizing them as low-speed vehicles. That’s just the start, because there are a whole lot of regulations that need to be revised over time,” he adds.

E-jeepneys also carry an enormous tag price that many divers and operators may scoff at: ranging from Php350,000 to 400,000. But Constantino argues that over time the savings of switching to electric will eventually add up. “A typical driver would be paying Php450 in gas for every 100 kilometers. For electric jeepneys, you only pay Php150. That’s the savings you get.”

He adds: “People have grown used to a certain way of dong things. Economics are skewed towards things that harm us. For instance, when you drive a vehicle, the big costs are off the books – health costs, the pollution, the noise, fuel price fluctuations. Maintenance is staggering. People are so used to things that are artificially cheap, because the companies that involved in these efforts have passed on the costs to the consumer.”

Constantino emphasizes that the e-jeepney should not solely be looked at as an environmental option, but a financial opportunity that could provide great dividends to businesses and the government willing to invest in a sustainable public transport.

“We’re trying to focus on telling people we have economic alternatives. Green alternatives, that’s an add-on. Even though we’re an institute for climate change, we would like these transport options to be seen as making commercial sense. If it helps the environment, that’s a bonus, he says”

He adds that utilizing the new technology can potentially benefit many sectors of society. “It can boost income in the locality, whether it be tourism, or a better workplace for professionals and working class Filipinos.”

Now more than ever, eco-friendly vehicles such as the e-jeepney are the “steady green hand” that can confront the escalating problems of a “jittery oil market,” Constantino concludes. “We face a future that is more constrained. With the kind of resiliency a locality needs in the face of uncertainty like energy security, we feel that the time of electric-powered vehicles has come.”

By Nathalie Tomada

The Freeman

Former President and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is nicely adjusting to a less stressful and hurried life even as she embraces the housewife role she said she never had before.

In her first media interview since leaving the presidency last June, the congresswoman of Pampanga’s second district looked relaxed in a light blue dress, smiling and seemingly at peace with herself and the world despite the controversies that continue to hound her.

Arroyo talked about the more domestic role she has just embraced. She welcomed this writer into her Quezon City home and showed their family portrait that showed her as a young wife and mother at 22, with husband Jose Miguel and eldest son Mikey, taken at the garden swing that is still on the front lawn.

“Now, I’m getting a life that I did not have even then,” she begins. “I married and I lived in this house with my in-laws. My mother-in-law would cook and was very tolerant, up to my last toilet paper she provided, and then she had a terrific mayordoma (housekeeper) who had been the yaya (nanny) of my husband since he was born. She helped in my career because she took care of the house and everything. I didn’t have to be a housewife. I was a wife.”

“My mother-in-law died when I didn’t yet enter politics and my mayordoma died when I was president,” she continued. “So, when I left the presidency, I came back to this house without a mother-in-law and mayordoma to run it. So I entered now the life of a housewife which I never had before.”

Her staff says that she notices everything, from flies to dust in the windows. Running the household, Arroyo says, “is very therapeutic; whenever I’m idle that’s what I do.”

10 pounds slimmer

There’s another change that has gone largely unnoticed. She just lost over 10 pounds, but she has not gone vegetarian, contrary to speculations on her new look.

“This just came about because of exercise and diet because I don’t have socials at night and I don’t have many breakfast meetings now. It’s still the same basic two hours of high-intensity exercise, and then I added 15 minutes for three days. I also eat only one full meal a day. Unless we’re socializing, my husband and I only have soup for dinner.”

Arroyo, who turned 64 on April 5, adds, “I decided to have a new hairdo for my new life.”

She just bought an iPad to download books, finished reading Game Change, a politically-themed book on the 2008 US elections, opened a Facebook account, watches American Idol, and joins the carpool to send her grandchildren to school.

Arroyo’s chief-of-staff Elena Bautista-Horn said the congresswoman’s pace is still very much like her workhorse pace when she was president.

“But she’s been adjusting to her now less punishing schedule and lean staff of six, among other things,” said Horn.

When asked if she might return to her first job as teacher, whose former students included President Benigno Aquino III, she said: “Maybe one day. Of course, I have many things to share now, all the economic theories that I actually applied and worked.”

The Arroyo house is decorated with photographs, including one taken of her as daughter of former President Diosdado Macapagal with then former US President John F. Kennedy at the White House – a gift from present US President Barack Obama.

The Arroyo residence is just a stone’s throw away from Ateneo de Manila University where she worked as a professor after graduating with an Economics degree from Assumption College.

“I chose teaching because it was a way of having a good balance between motherhood and career. The good thing about it was that for 12 hours of teaching a week and then some very flexible research time, there was plenty time to be with the children. Also, I would take the semester off after I gave birth. I read at that time that what an individual learns in his whole life he learns half of it before the age of 5. So I wanted to make sure I will be able to give them a lot of time before the age of five,” she said.

Spacing of children

Arroyo said that the birth of her children Mikey, Luli and Dato were well spaced, which had largely influenced her present responsible parenthood policy.

“I stress spacing rather than the number of children. It’s good for the health of the mother, of the baby, and of the relationship between mother and baby, mother and other children, mother and father, and the whole family.”

Explaining why she doesn’t link the issue of population with development, she said: “During the last global crisis, which were the economies that not only survived but also came out very strong? These were the big population countries with a good per capita income, one of which is the Philippines. So, of course, if you have a big population but the per capita income is very poor then it is still bad or you have high per capita income but your population is very small like Singapore, you also suffer. You really need those two ingredients. The Philippines had those two ingredients. In the last year before the economic crisis, we had 7 percent growth rate; we had already graduated to the middle class per capita income. That’s why I don’t tie up population policy with development.”

This should clearly hint at where she stands as the battle lines are being drawn on the Reproductive Health Bill in Congress. “At least it didn’t pass under my term. It’s going to be a tough fight. We shall see.”

“I’ll tell you something, my father, when he was telling me about public service, for the public servant, the priority should be God first, then country, and family last. I used to think ‘what do you mean by God first and then country?’ then analyzing it, I came to realize because when thinking something good for the country, there are different policies, and some are more faith-based than the others, like pro-life. But fortunately also, [my parenthood policy] is grounded on reason and economic logic.”

Keeping emotions private

Asked whether the challenges of the presidency were responsible for this faith and religiosity, she says, “No, no, I’ve always been religious. I learned it from the nuns in school. Not from my family because my mother was not particularly religious.”

From her mother Eva Macaraeg, nevertheless, she inherited the sternness and know-how in languages and learned that whatever is private – like emotions – should remain private.

It was also perhaps her mother who provided her first connection to Cebu, which famously delivered her 1 million votes during the 2004 presidential elections. “You know, my mother said she spent the best years of her life in Cebu. She was the carnival queen of Cebu at the age of 16.”

She also fondly recalled an acting stint in a Cebu soap opera when she was senator. “It was done in Carcar. I played a mother of a rape victim. They didn’t require me to cry but they required me to be sad. But the one who played my daughter was so good that I actually cried.”

While she was recruited to enter politics in the late 1970s for the opposition ticket, Arroyo says that it was only when she topped the senatorial elections in 1995 that her father, who passed away in 1997, began to think of the possibility that she might follow in his footsteps.

“I would say that among all the historical figures that I’ve come across with either personally or vicariously, my father has been the biggest influence on me. Everything about the family and private life was my mother, and everything about public service was my father. He didn’t meddle on how we were raised, and he expected my mother not to meddle also in his governance,” she said.

“He had said that the presidency is a position not to be enjoyed but you have to work hard for the good of the people and necessarily, you have to suffer. And he suffered because he worked 20 hours a day. He had a silent heart attack when he was president, which we didn’t know until much later on.”

“I got that focus from my father, although I didn’t work for 20 hours when I was president. I did about 12 because I had to make sure I would have one-hour exercise twice a week and seven hours of sleep.”

Asked how her father would think of her now if he were still alive, she says after some pause: “For my father, he thought we were the worthiest people. He was a very, very affirming father. Our choices were his choices. Before, when I was about to do something, he would advice. But after I’ve done something, his concern was if I did the right thing.”

Proud of accomplishments

Amid controversies that beset her presidency and which prompted the lowest approval ratings upon her exit, Arroyo still believes that she had accomplished what she set out to do.

“Considering that our political culture is so negative, what’s more important is that the progress that we worked for speaks for itself. From day one that’s what I tried to do – tried to have permanent change in the economy of the Philippines so that it can have our growth sustainable and move into the first world within 20 years,” said Arroyo.

“And I feel that I was able to do a lot in that direction. First of all, we had unprecedented 38 quarters of consecutive growth, never, never happened before. And then I left the economy with a 7.9 percent growth rate, better than what I started with. And at 7.9 percent, what does it mean? Nine million new jobs, more people with healthcare and education, especially for those who didn’t have access to it before, there’s the RORO (roll on-roll off ships of the nautical highway) that connected our nation like never before, and from almost nothing, we have become a BPO (business process outsourcing) powerhouse, all the while we were paying our financial obligations. And then if you just look at the skyline of Manila and of Cebu, how they have changed in the past 10 years. There are more buildings, malls, small businesses.”

Asked to react to criticisms that these gains have not trickled down to the poorest of the poor, she said: “First of all, the poverty rate has gone down in my administration compared to the previous years. But of course, if you’re talking about from 49 to 23 percent of whatever it is, there’s still that number that are poor.”

Unwilling to offer any criticism to her most vocal of critics, she explains, “What for? I’ve never returned the negative feelings. I’m only matapang (stern) to people accountable to me. I get mad because of what they did, not the person.”

Choosing battles

Horn, who is also Arroyo’s current spokesperson, adds, “Even now, we will speak when we need to speak. We choose our battles. We choose issues we comment on. Why glorify them?”

There were times when the urge to engage was strong, but Arroyo says, “Maybe because as what St. Paul said, ‘Let God be your lawyer’… I don’t get out of my way to reach out; on the other hand, I don’t do an aggressive act.”

Looking back, does she feel she has been under-appreciated and unfairly judged?

“Well, I would have wished that there was less negativism. That’s part of what I’ve been saying about how I see the Philippines. We’re not one country but we’re like two countries with the same name. There’s the one Philippines, that’s the economy, which after many years of cumulative effort, we’re taking off. Then there’s the other Philippines, which is the political system, after many years of degeneration also, it’s becoming a hindrance to progress.”

“I tried to be philosophical about it,” she summed up her experiences, including the crises, the sacrifices, and the tumult. “You know, it was a big honor to serve the Philippines, I am gratified because I was able to deliver what I wanted to do.”

Asked if she looks forward to the day when history will cast her in a more positive light, Arroyo said: “Of course I care, but most importantly, I let God take care of the rest.”

PHOTO: GMA and family members attending a Mass.

By Pepper Marcelo

It’s graduation time again. In a country where one’s worth is often measured by his educational attainment, finishing college is one of the highly anticipated milestones. Never mind that the graduate is at the bottom of the class or that he came from one of those diploma mills. What matters most to many Filipino parents is that are able to send their child though college; whether the graduate gets to practice what he studied or lands a job afterward is another matter.

But the celebratory mood is short-lived. Soon after, reality sets in: many of the graduates will have a hard time finding decent jobs, much more jobs that are suited to their studies. Thus we see marketing graduates answering phones and filing records, or mass communication majors taking on contractual jobs hawking credit cards in malls. The luckier ones end up as call center agents and bank tellers, jobs that require only three to six months training in developed countries.

Clearly there is a mismatch between the types of graduates our schools produce and the kinds of skills that the labor market needs. As a result, years of studies and the concomitant cost of college education are wasted. Labor statistics show that roughly half a million graduate are unable to get work in their chosen field each year. Despite numerous vacancies, local and overseas employers often complain about the lack of employable college graduates. Phil-job.net, the official job search site of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), shows that some 125,000 local and overseas job vacancies are still open and have yet to be filled by qualified applicants. (See related story.)

A recent study by the Bureau of Labor and Employment Statistics (BLES) of DOLE shows that 1.052 million, or 39.1 percent of the unemployed, are college graduates and undergraduates. “The large proportion (50.6 percent) of the recorded 2.6 million unemployed Filipinos are young workers aged 15 to 24 and are educated with a college diploma or are undergraduates,” the study says.

Unemployable graduates

In the nursing profession, for example, there are 80,000 nursing board passers each year, but there are only a handful of job openings, according to the Philippine Nurses Association (PNA) and the Alliance of Young Nurse Leaders and Advocates. Statistics on the total of unemployed nurses are estimated to number upwards of 150,000. Many of them have become call center agents due to the difficulty of finding nursing jobs at home and abroad.

Graduates of business administration, hotel and restaurant management, and information technology are in the same boat. Statistics show that only three out of every 100 new college graduates are hired yearly because of their failure to pass competitive qualifying exams. Thus many of the graduates – or at least those with a workable grasp of the English language – end up as call center agents or bank tellers.

“Even if they’re graduates, they might not have the qualifications, competency and experience that the job requires,” says Criselda Sy, Director of BLES. “A major concern is that we’re not educationally at par with the standards of the industry.”

Moratorium on popular courses

To address the oversupply of graduates in certain courses, the Commission on Higher Education (CED) has imposed a moratorium on the opening of new programs effective this year. The following undergraduate and graduate programs were declared suspended for an indefinite period: Nursing, Business Administration, Teacher Education, Hotel Restaurant and Management and Information Technology.

According to CHED, the top five major disciplines with the most number of graduates were Business Administration and Management related Programs (114,000), Education and Teacher Training (96,000), Medical and Allied Professionals (87,000), Engineering and Technology (63,000), and Information Technology (49,000).

The moratorium is the government’s response to the proliferation of specific programs, which if left unabated would further lead to the worsening of the quality of our graduates.  The mushrooming of certain courses, according to one study, has resulted in the weakening of the Business Administration and Teacher Education programs, as well as the decline in the passing rate in the Licensure Examination for nurses.

Improving education

CHED is focused on ensuring that Philippine educational institutions are developing a national qualifications framework to improve tertiary education. It is pushing for schools to attain proper accreditation. Although CHED prescribes schools to attain the minimum requirements, it nonetheless encourages and evaluates institutions to go above the minimum targets so as to make their standards comparable to foreign standards.

CHED is working in collaboration with a technical panel of experts from the academe, as well as business and industry leaders, via their Policy Standards and Guidelines (PSGS). The multisectoral panel shall formulate academic development plans and make recommendations for specific disciplines.

“That’s our mechanism,” says Vitriolo. “Before you offer a program you have to comply with established policies and standards, which are formulated by the panel. Aside from that, there is a public hearing process, where we invite everyone, including students and parents, to attend the forum. After that, we finalize these standards for schools to follow.”

CHED has designated Agriculture, Mining Science, Aeronautics, Geology and Software Engineering as undersubscribed collegiate programs for which there is a big demand for qualified graduates.

Jobs of the future

In 2010, DOLE held a forum with business executives and “captains of industry” to discuss future business trends and their corresponding requirements for the next ten years (2010-11). Some of the critical concerns raised in the forum included the need to improve the analytical and communication proficiencies of students and their corresponding information technology skills, as well as honing the managerial skills of college graduates.

Through consultation and research, the government and the private sector identified 12 Key Employment Generators (KEG): Agribusiness, Cyberservice, Health and Wellness, Hotel Restaurant and Tourism, Mining, Construction, Banking and Finance, Manufacturing, Ownership Dwellings and Real Estate, Transport and Logistics, Wholesale and Retail Trade, and Overseas Employment.

In Agribusiness, for example, some of the specific in-demand occupational titles include Animal Husbandry, Agricultural Economist, Aqua-culturist, Coconut Farmer, Entomologist, Horticulturist, Plant Mechanic, Veterinarian and Pathologist.

Career guidance needed

“The problem is even if we do that, it largely remains a choice of the students,” says Vitriolo. “For example, there are very few takers in agricultural education, because they don’t find it as something as attractive [as nursing]. There are few people now taking that, but we need it, because we’re an agricultural country.”

DOLE recommends that there needs to be an intensified focus on information dissemination regarding hard-to-fill and in-demand occupations, including college degree  courses with an oversupply of skills, so that students are able to make informed decisions about their career choices.

“The business community should alert the educational sector about its labor requirements, and figure out how to attract enrollees in those areas,” says Sy. “That’s where career guidance and orientation come in. A student should be aware of what is going on in the labor market and make an informed career decision, so that after graduation, they will know where they should go.”

About 34,000 people dead instantly and 24,000 dead or dying in the rubble. About 110,000 injured and needing immediate treatment. Five hundred fires raging simultaneously. Metro Manila faces these and several other horrific scenes should it be hit by a 7.2-magnitude earthquake, says a report by a multinational intelligence firm. READ FULL STORY

By Karl Malakunas

Agence France-Presse

PUERTO PRINCESA – For tourists the Philippine island of Palawan seems like paradise, but for environment activists it feels more akin to a battlefield.

Murders and threats on what is promoted as the Southeast Asian nation’s last ecological frontier are emblematic of a struggle across the country, where dozens of environment campaigners have been killed over the past decade.

Father-of-five “Doc” Gerry Ortega became the latest casualty in late January when a hitman shot him in the head while browsing in a second-hand clothes shop along one of the main roads of Palawan’s capital city, Puerto Princesa.

“He received a lot of death threats,” Ortega’s wife, Patty, 48, told AFP in an interview at a cafe just a few hundred meters from where he was killed.

The murdered Ortega, 47, a veterinarian, made many enemies via a daily radio morning show he hosted in which he lambasted politicians whom he accused of being corrupt and allowing the island’s natural resources to be pillaged.

“He was a very passionate man, passionate about the environment,” his widow said.

On the far western edge of the Philippines’ archipelago, Palawan has some of the country’s most beautiful beaches, stunning coral reefs and biodiverse forests — it is home to two UNESCO World Heritage-listed sites.

But environment campaigners say Palawan’s natural wonders could be destroyed within a generation amid the frenzy to exploit them, citing as an example the destruction of countless coral reefs from cyanide and dynamite fishing.

Its reefs supply more than half the nation’s seafood, plus millions of dollars’ worth of fish to other Asian markets.

Palawan also has vast amounts of nickel, cobalt and other valuable minerals, prompting hundreds of applications to mine about half of the island.

The applications have spurred a high-profile campaign to ban all forms of mining.

Meanwhile, 11 percent of the Philippines’ remaining virgin forests and 38 percent of its mangroves are on Palawan, according to government data.

“From the post cards it’s a great tourist area,” Robert Chan, a crusading environmental lawyer and executive director of Palawan NGO Network Inc, told AFP from his rundown headquarters in Puerto Princesa.

“But if you talk about the resources that really mean something for biodiversity or medicines eventually for our future generations, if you talk about its old growth forests, if you talk about mangrove forests, if you talk about its coral reefs, were losing it.”

While there are many laws to protect Palawan’s natural resources, they are no match for the lawlessness and corruption that permeates all of Philippine society, according to environment campaigners and some politicians.

“The biggest obstacle really is the temptation of money from big industries and (those involved in) illegal activities,” Edward Hagedorn, the long-time mayor of Puerto Princesa, told AFP.

Hagedorn, regarded by Palawan’s environment activists as one of their most important political allies, has banned mining and logging in Puerto Princesa which, although a city, has huge tracts of forests and white sand beaches.

“Outside the city destruction is happening very fast,” he said.

Hagedorn said powerful figures had often tried to bribe him to permit environmentally destructive practices, such as allowing truckloads of seafood that were illegally fished to be flown from his city’s airport.

“You’ll be surprised. Law enforcers, judges, come into my office (offering money and) asking for me to give them a chance,” he said.

Environment campaigners say that, amid this chaos, they have to perform functions that government bodies and law enforcers should be doing, which often pushes them into very dangerous situations.

Attorney Chan, 43, said four environment activists from local communities he had worked with over the past decade had been murdered.

Chan and his colleagues train communities to resist destructive environment practices by filing law suits, but also to confiscate equipment such as chainsaws used for illegal logging and even boats used for illegal fishing.

Under Philippine law, citizens are allowed to seize equipment used in illegal activities and arrest those involved.

Over the past 10 years, Chan said he, his colleagues and the communities they worked with had seized more than 360 chainsaws, two large ships, about 20 small outrigger boats and rifles.

But the successes are tempered by a sense of danger.

Chan, who is married and has a young daughter, recounted losing an activist in 2006 who had been working to oppose illegal logging and the cutting down of mangroves in his community.

“We found him in a shallow grave in a beach. He had been specifically buried there for us to find him,” said Chan.

“His testicles were taken off, put into his mouth, his tongue was cut out, his eyes were gouged out, his fingernails were taken out, he had around 16 stab wounds.”

Abdelwin Sangkula, another Puerto Princesa-based campaigner, said he had also received many death threats over the past few years.

“I’m worried about my safety and the safety of my family. But I will continue with my fight, said Sangkula, 39, who has three children and was a regular guest on the murdered Ortega’s radio show.

“I don’t know whether it’s just in my blood, but I see injustice and unfairness with what’s happening in this province.”

Abraham Mitra, the governor of Palawan who is also chairman of the province’s sustainable development council, did not respond to requests by AFP for comment on the allegations made by the environment campaigners.

The development council has run full-page advertisements in national papers recently rejecting claims that the local environment is being destroyed, and insisting that mining applications are being approved in a responsible manner.

In the case of Ortega, the accused gunman and four other people alleged to have been involved in the killing have been arrested.

His widow has filed documents with the justice department accusing a powerful local politician of masterminding the murder.

The politician, who has not been arrested, has gone on national television to deny any link to Ortega’s killing. Police investigations are ongoing.

SEE RELATED STORY