UPOU Celebrates 16th Anniversary This Week

I take this opportunity to thank the UPOU for acknowledging our efforts in institutionalizing open and distance learning in the Philippines in the past years.  During the opening ceremonies of UPOU’s 16^th Anniversary Celebrations earlier this evening, UP President Pascual and UPOU Chancellor Alfonso presented to me the Hon. Rolando R. Andaya, Sr. Award for Open and Distance Learning, for our cumulative efforts in promoting and institutionalizing open and distance learning in the Philippines since the decade of the 90s.

The Andaya Award has been given only four times (I’m the fourth awardee).  The first awardee was Dr. Asuncion San Juan (1999), UPOU’s Learning Center Coordinator at the Catanduaness State College in Virac, Catanduanes in the initial years of the UPOU.  In 2007, former UP President Emil Javier and former UPOU Chancellor Ma. Cristina Padolina were given the award, and this year I’m the lucky recipient.

Other significant awards that the UPOU gave out yesterday were the following:  Gawad Chancellor (Faculty) to Prof. Pat Arinto, Gawad   Chancellor (REPS) to Larry Cruz, and Gawad Chancellor (Administrative Staff) to Mike Lagaya.  This year was the second year that the Gawad Chancellor (Faculty) was awarded.  The first time it was given out was in 2007, and Dr. Ma. Lurenda Suplido-Westergaard was the recipient.  The Gawad Chancellor for REPS and Administraitve Staff were given out this year for the first time.

Dr. Sheila  Bonito, Program Chair of the MAN Program, was awarded the UPOUFI Professorial Chair, and Dr. Prime Garcia was awarded the Faculty Grant from the UPAA-DCMD-VA (UP Alumni Association-District of Columbia at Maryland-Virginia).  Funds for this Faculty Grant were donated by UP Alumni now settled in the District of Columbia area in the USA.

Congratulations to all the awardees.

I wish to emphasize that these awards are very difficult to come by.  For example, the Gawad Chancellor may be given annually but the criteria are very stringent and the competition very intense.  This is why the Gawad Chancellor of UPOU is prestigious.  On the other hand, the Andaya Award is given only every two or more years.

The Andaya Award was launched by UPOU, with the approval of the UP Board of Regents, in 1999 in recognition of the great efforts of the late Camarines Norte Congressman Rolando R. Andaya, Sr. who, through his efforts in Congress, paved the way for a Congressional Fund for the UP to be able to establish the UP Open University.  The establishment of the UPOU was through the efforts of then UP President Emil Javier. 

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“The UPOU has my full support,” thus declared UP President Alfredo Pascual in yesterday’s opening ceremony of the week-long 16^th anniversary celebrations of the UPOU.  That was what everybody was waiting for.  Earlier during the day (morning) UPOU Officials, with the support of Former UP President Emil Javier, briefed Pres. Pascual on the mandate and operations of the UPOU.  In his message during the evening program, Pascual said that the UPOU was already actually implementing, at least partly, his vision of the UP, especially that part where the UP shall become more active in providing leadership in the development of more innovative quality educational opportunities for the Filipino people.

I’m not speaking for the UPOU Officials, but on my own personal behalf, I wish to thank Former UP President Emil Javier for making himself available to help brief President Pascual.  I’m told that with UPOU Chancellor Gigi Alfonso and former UP Pres. Javier, Pres. Pascual got perhaps the best briefing he would ever get regarding the UPOU.  Pres. Pascual will not regret having said that the UPOU has his full support because I know first hand that the UPOU’s programs are practically tailor-made in support of the President’s vision for the UP.

From a personal point of view, perhaps I can say that if there were any surprises during Pres. Pascual’s visit to the UPOU Headquarters during its 16^th Anniversary, it might be that he found UPOU already doing what he has planned to do during his term as President insofar as higher education in the Philippines may be concerned.

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Normally, policy research is easy to do.  Frequently, it involves secondary data analysis which  leads principally to appropriate policy formulation.  Or so I thought.  Experience has taught me that this is easier said than done.  In this country, it’s next to impossible doing policy formulation using secondary data mainly because there are too many data bases that do not provide the same figures.

The order of the day is for each government agency to have its own data base.  And the figures from these different data bases are never the same.  For example, let’s look at the problem of criminality.  The PNP has its own data base; the NBI has its own, too; DILG would have another one; the DSWD has another data base; etc., etc., etc.  None of these data bases, all dealing with the problem of criminality, would be able to provide the same figures on the same event or topic.  Worse, none of these agencies would accept the figures from the data base of another agency.  And you wonder why criminals cannot be caught?  Or personalities cannot be located?  For example, in the recent case of Sen. Ping Lacson, the NBI claimed they knew where Sen. Ping might be hiding, but the PNP didn’t know where such place was.

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You may already have heard about the fact that a very significant proportion of our S&T worker population has been leaving for greener pastures in other countries.  According to the Science Education Institute’s own study over the last decade, there’s been a 148% increase in the number of S&T workers who have opted to become OFW’s.  In 2009, 24,502 left for the proverbial “greener pasture” in other countries, compared to only 9,877 in 1998, for an increase of 148%.

This is brain drain.  These individuals have good S&T training from our universities.  But since the Philippine Government is unable to provide them decent jobs, they have opted to be expats in other countries.  That is to say, in simple logic, other countries are the beneficiaries of our high standard S&T training in the Philippines.

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Everybody's Talking Abnout EDSA I

I admire those people talking about EDSA I and their respective roles, or at least what they recall they did in those fateful three days 25 years ago.  Me, I’m not writing about what I did because I certainly don’t recall everything now.  Suffice it to say that I was asked about 15 years back to write about what little things I may have done to contribute to the revolution.  What I wrote may be found in the book, Introduction to Philippine Communication or something to that effect.  The book was authored by Dr. Crispin Maslog and published years back by the Asia Foundation.  Hence, I find no need to write another narrative.  Those who’re talking about their respective roles have good memories.  I do admire them.  Now that I’m senior, I find that sometimes my memory fails me.

Still, I do wish to ask some questions.  A general question is:  Have we not actually wasted the opportunities that were opened to us Filipinos by EDSA I?  Many would say “yes” and many would say “no.”  So let me ask more specific questions.  What improvements in governance were introduced after EDSA I, and were these sustained?  What have been the results of those improvements?  Why do we still have the same problems, 25 years after the event that changed our national life?  Why has corruption in government practically increased and become worse?  Why is it that the values among younger Filipinos today are worse than those prior to EDSA I?  These, and many, many more, are simple questions that can be easily answered, but who will answer them truthfully?  Not even the bishops of the CBCP, ever pontificating on how we should control our rapid population growth, can give us any appropriate answers.  Worse, our leaders certainly are the least qualified to give us the answers.

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February 23 is the 16^th anniversary of the UP Open University.  Since the week beginning on 21 February is EDSA I week (25 years), Chancellor Gigi Alfonso and her UPOU Cabinet decided to move the UPOU Anniversary celebration to the week beginning on Monday, February 28^th until March 4^th.  Good thinking, I’d say.   No less than the new UP President, Alfredo E. Pascual, will be the Guest of Honor.  This year’s theme is  “Learners in the digital age: knowledge creation using web technologies.”

The UPOU has come a long way.  It’s actual years of physical existence may still be short, but it has come a long way in terms of having blazed the trail and introduced innovations in the delivery of instruction outside of the four walls of the classrooms.

There are number of things you could enjoy at the UPOU Headquarters in Los Baños.  On Monday, the following will be open for the public: exhibit, student forum and poster presentations, briefing of the incoming UP administration on the operations of UPOU, and the inauguration of the Learner’s Hall. 

Other activities during the week include: forum on the Magna Carta for Women, launching of the digital Literacy for Women Campaign, exhibits on forest products in connection with the International Year of the Forests, among others.

This 16^th Anniversary is another opportunity for the UPOU to demonstrate its expertise being the only open university in the Philippines. 

Nearing the Point of No Return?

I just came across a very annoying, if not completely scary, news item.  Out from Washington, D.C., where recently the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) held its annual meeting, the Agence French Presse (AFP) reported on a research presented in the scientific meeting. 

The lead says:  “A growing, more affluent population competing for ever scarcer resources could make for an ‘unrecognizable’ world by 2050, researchers warned at a major US science conference Sunday.” 

It went on to say that the UN had earlier predicted global population to reach a staggering 7 billion this year and 9 billion by 2050, only 39 years from today.  And this population increase will happen in poor countries in Africa and South Asia, said John Bongaarts of the non-profit Population Council.

The world, to be able to feed this many people, will have to produce in the next 40 years as much food it has produced in the last 8,000 years, according to Jason Clay of World Wildlife Fund (WWF).  Wow!  Produce all the food that has been produced in the last 8,000 years in the next 40 years just to feed the expected world population of 9 billion in 2050!  Anyway you look at it, that’s simply staggering, nay, mind-boggling!

If this trend continues, Clay said, we’ll not recognize our planet by then. 

Bottom line: we have to control the growth of the world population. 

How do we compare in the Philippines? It’s been reported that this year the Philippines has reached a population of 92.5 million.  This brings back to mind an article I read sometime in 1972 saying that if Filipinos eat the way the Japanese do (that is, nothing is wasted, for example, from a vegetable plant like cabbage, from leaves to roots), the Philippines could feed about 70 million.  The presumption was that the Philippines would produce all its food requirements and will not share its production with others.  Today, there are 92.5 million Filipinos and we’re importing much of what we eat.

Population experts say that we must minimize population growth, and the only viable means of doing this is through effective family planning.  Now, this becomes problematic in the Philippines because what was supposed to be focused on this issue is the RH Bill, but the CBCP has been fighting it with all its might.  I didn’t realize that the bishops are also population experts.  Well, given the number of priests begetting children, they should somehow begin to understand that the increasing population isn’t easy to stop.

Nevertheless, the CBCP has withdrawn from its discussions with Malacañan regarding a counter bill since they don’t like the current RH Bill.  Their reason?  The discussions on the RH Bill in Congress is moving way too fast.   Meantime, if the current rate of population growth of the Philippines does not go down, we will definitely breach the 100 million mark much earlier than 2050.  And, to me, there’s no way you can stop that out of prayer like what the bishops want us to do.

Now, 2050 is only 39 years away.  Those born today will be 39 by then and they’ll have a hell of a life to live.   Our bishops today would probably have gone by then and so they wouldn’t live the kind of life to be lived in a decaying world in 2050.  Hope most of them will still be around to experience the hell on earth that will be the order of the day.  But they probably won’t live that long since the quality of life will worsen each year and to live that kind of life until 39 years from now is much like living very badly for eternity.  None of us will last that kind of eternity.  Even vampires would probably not tolerate it.  Imagine, a world of 9 billion people hardly surviving an “unrecognizable” world.  Living in such environment could drain one’s blood and life.  And, yes, the vampires wouldn’t have supply of blood so they probably would also die.

Back to you and me.  Knowing that this would be the kind of world there’ll be in 2050, are you still going to have more children who will be in their prime years in 2050 only to suffer in an unrecognizable planet?  May be?  For heaven’s sakes, what kind of parent are you?

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He ain't heavy he's my brother

What's the Limit to National Patience?

I have always tried to avoid dealing with politics, governance, or corruption.  There are enough discussions on these issues.  But it’s extremely difficult not to comment on what’s happening now because things are becoming so frustratingly difficult such that a culture of hate (ordinary souls like me beginning to hate their leaders and officials) seems to be hatching.  The ordinary Filipinos are becoming so very angry, particularly given the revelations regarding corruption in the AFP where the protagonists are clearly identified and appear to be guilty yet so arrogant in their denials.

We must understand that there’s a limit to human patience.  This limit, among Filipinos, is so close now given the succession of exposes about corruption in the AFP and other government instrumentalities.  I dread to see what could happen when we get to that ultimate limit, collectively the limit to the Filipino national patience.  Things could go way beyond the magnitude of EDSA I.  Necessarily this may have to happen because it appears we didn’t learn from EDSA I.  A more serious condition may have to happen so we can learn from it.  I dread what this condition might be.

What makes the current exposes so devastatingly frustrating is the magnitude of indifference and lack of human concern among AFP officials for their subordinates dying in the battlefields.  While incompetent and corrupt officials, notably the Chiefs of Staff and Comptrollers of the AFP, have been pocketing hundreds of millions of pesos from the operating funds of the AFP, thousands of soldiers are being killed out there in the fields.  For example, the soldiers who are dying to protect us so that we can enjoy our lives have to subsist on fifty pesos per day while their superiors are wallowing in millions.  For heaven’s sake, fifty pesos is even less than what the informal settlers of Metro Manila subsist on.

We must remember that these AFP officials, who are stealing the money of the people, even graduated from the PMA, a government institution.  And while studying at PMA, free, they even received salaries.  They never had it so good.  On the other hand, the soldiers who are exposing themselves to great danger in the field to defend us ordinary Filipinos have never had the privilege of studying at PMA, that’s why they can’t be promoted to Non-Commissioned Officer status.  Incidentally, this organizational structure in the military is a systemic means of keeping the juicy perks in the military to the PMAers.  In the history of the Philippine military establishment, there has been only once that the CS was not a PMA graduate or a graduate of some other Military Academy in the US.  That was when the CS was Gen. Romeo Espino, who was a graduate of advanced ROTC course from the then UP College of Agriculture way back.

During the Senate hearing on the plea bargaining arrangement between Carlos Garcia and the Office of the Ombudsman, it was very clear that Garcia was hiding something and refused to talk.  He invoked his right against self-incrimination so wantonly even if he did not have any case to incriminate himself in.  His behavior in the Senate hearing was a catastrophic symbol of arrogance against the Filipino people.  He’s treating the senators with kid gloves, and I don’t know if the senators felt so.  The other previous AFP Comptroller, Ret. LtGen Ligot was of the same stuff.  He could recall events more than two decades ago but could not recall major events just eleven years ago.  Such sudden amnesia is clearly a tactic to hide something.  These two guys were lying through their teeth, everybody listening to the radio coverage and watching television coverage could feel it to their bones.  Sen. Trillanes appears to have been proven right.

Let's not forget the juicy part.  Col. Rabusa claimed he gave P160M in monthly increments of P10M, (Garcia refused to admit or deny this) which was supposed to have been kept by Maj Gen Carlos Garcia until the total amount of P160M was  raised so he could give the lumpsum amount to CS Diomedio Villanueva. upon his retirement as CS.  But Villanueva, in an earlier statement, denied knowing the "pabaon" much less received the P160M that Gen. Carcia was supposed to have given to him.  Similarly, Gen Cimatu was supposed to have received P80M, but he, too, denied earlier having any knowledge about the "pabaon" system much less received P80M.  Now, where's the P240M?  Well, Garcia would say, "With due respect, your honor . . ." always refusing to give any information on the grounds he might incriminate himself even he was advised he could no longer incriminate himself having pleaded guilty to a lessor offense.

Then, of course, there’s the Ombudsman, who has clearly made a mistake (intentionally or not) and standing pat on her decisions that practically penalized the Filipinos in general.  I believe she was trying to show toughness, but that was in the wrong place at the wrong time.  She should have demonstrated toughness in the numerous other cases involving the past administration but she cowered before the corrupt and powerful then.  I think the Ombudsman has lost the privilege to serve as Ombudsman because she has clearly demonstrated ineptness and bias.  Her major decisions have been practically against the ordinary Filipino.  All her “right” decisions have been against the small fry and the big and wrong decisions in favor of the criminals disguised as officials of government and the AFP.

I think Ret. LtCol George Rabusa and former Auditor Heidi Mendoza are both credible witnesses.  Col. Lim, who has come out in support of Rabusa, is another credible witness.  We should listen to them.  And the Government and the Filipino people must protect them.  The past CSs, who have benefited from the “pabaon” and “pasalubong” programs of the AFP are saying they’re not aware of the whole thing and Garcia and Ligot are not helping us understand the whole phenomena, but everything is clear in the public’s mind.  The Filipinos are very frustrated.  Nay, they are angry, very angry.

What more can I say but quote Sen. Trillanes.  As he so sarcastically told off Gen. Angelo Reyes in the Senate hearing, “No, you may not speak.  You have no integrity to protect.”

What’s this telling us?  Are we going back to the era of the “tooth for a tooth.”  This is what I dread most.

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Wishing the 20th UP President Well

On 20^th February 2011, there’ll be turnover ceremonies for the UP Presidency at the Quezon Hall Lobby at UP Diliman.  Alfredo E. Pascual, 20^th UP President, shall receive the UP President’s Mace from outgoing President Dr. Emerlinda R. Roman, 19^th UP President.  I’ve been invited to this turnover ceremony, having been member of the Board of Regents representing the UP Faculty in 2008.  Much as I wish to be present in this significant occasion, I have to attend to previous commitments.  However, I do wish the incoming President much luck and hope that he’ll succeed in what he has set out to do for the University of the Philippines System.

UP continues its journey into its second centennial.  To be sure, there have been a lot of ups and downs for this great university in its first hundred years, and President Pascual, having been President of the UP Alumni Association in the last few years, is quite familiar with the problems besetting UP.  It’s our hope that he’ll be able to respond to the needs of this institution.  Certainly, he alone can’t solve the problems of UP, but if he provides the needed leadership the UP constituency is ready to follow and do its share in getting UP back to its glory.

Outgoing UP President Emer Roman did well as UP’s Centennial and First Woman President.   Incoming President Fred Pascual has only to continue and perhaps improve upon the efforts.

Mr. President, I don’t have to overstate the fact that UP’s physical structures are almost completely dilapidated.  Perhaps the university, under your watch, might consider upgrading classroom and laboratory facilities.  In many of our classrooms, furniture are in state of disrepair, there are no equipment needed in classroom discussions such as LCD projectors and sound system.  They, too, are hardly ventilated, much less air conditioned.   UP wants to be world class university, but its facilities are for fifth class municipality in this country. 

Then, of course, there’s still the need to formulate the salary scale for UP, which, under the UP Charter of 2008, the UP Board of Regents can approve and implement.  The trick, of course, is that UP must be able to raise the needed funds.  Well, from my understanding, President Pascual has a lot of friends in private industry who could help the university.  Let’s see if those connections, which were effective in getting the position of the Presidency, will be helpful in upgrading UP as an institution of high standard education in this country.

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On February 22-24, 2012, the UPOU, the Philippine Society for Distance Learning, Inc. (PSDL), and the UPOU Foundation, Inc. shall organize the International Conference on Open and distance e-Learning.

A draft concept paper on this international conference states that said conference “aims to engage stakeholders in critically revisiting and exploring, using new lenses, the following:

            The state of the art and opportunities opened up;

            Best practices, trends, innovations and tools;

            Problems, barriers, reforms and solutions; and

            Future directions and possibilities in open and distance education and e-learning.”

Watch out for announcements regarding call for papers.  Keep on visiting the UPOU website: www.upou.edu.ph.

This international Conference shall coincide with the Anniversary of the UPOU, where the new UP President shall be invited as Guest of Honor.  Also being planned would be the presence of UPOU students who shall interact with UPOU faculty and guests.  These students shall also be given the opportunity to expound on their experiences as UPOU students.

Indeed, these events are something to look forward to.

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A few days ago, a female UPLB student was mugged near the 7-11 store at the Agapita Complex along Lopez Avenue going to UPLB.  The mugging happened rather early in the evening.  The student had the presence of mind, and, recalling what she has learned from her PE class (Aikido), she got herself free from the two men holding her and then she ran towards her boarding house shouting at the top of her voice seeking help from whoever.  The two men, of course caught up with her and they attacked her with a knife.  Fortunately neighbors heard her shouting and they came out just in time to prevent the two men from hurting her more seriously.  She had two knife wounds and since her neighbors decided to bring her to the nearby hospital (LBDH) the two men got away.

Mugging incidents near the UPLB have started only in the last couple of years.  We have talked to people around, and they believe the attackers are not natives of Los Baños.  They think these attackers come from a place near Los Baños where informal settlers in Metro Manila have been relocated.  I’m not sure about this and I don’t like to believe it, but the Barangay Officials of Batong Malake and the Los Baños Police must look into these incidents, with the view of preventing future ones.

I hope that Los Baños Mayor Anthony Genuino looks into this.  We’re talking about the safety of UPLB students and other residents of Los Baños.

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