Welcome Back, Bicol Express

 

Los Baños, Laguna, July 1, 2011, 5:00 a.m.  It's the first of July now in the Philippines (we're GMT+8 here), and something absolutely pleasant happened this morning.  For the first time in the last two decades, I heard once more the sound of the horn of the Philippine National Railways coach plying the route between Manila and the Bicol Region Naga City).  It’s nice to hear again the horn of the PNR Coach known as the “Bicol Express.” The PNR has revived the railyway transport system between Manila and the Bicol region in Southern Luzon.  For many years, the railroad was practically abandoned and its rehabilitation began only a couple of years back.

Many UPCA Alumni have felt sad not hearing the train’s horns everytime they stayed overnight in Los Baños the last couple of decades.  For UPCA Alumni, that sound has always connected them with their memories of having studied in the premier agricultural college in the Philippines and the region.  Today, of course, the former UPCA (now UPLB) offers a lot more varied experiences for its students, faculty, and guests.  But in the 50s and 60s, the Bicol Express horn was always part of the experience.  

Rehabilitation of the railway system is part of the government’s program to improve public transport in the country.  Well, from a personal point of view, the railway system should have never been abandoned in the first place.  I’m glad the appropriate agencies of government and officials have come to their senses.  Let’s hope this time we’re going to see a much improved and modernized railway system throughout the Philippines.  We understand that all the coaches are new and airconditioned.

Considering that the Philippines is an archipelagic country, the “RORO” (Roll On, Roll Off) interisland ferry system should also be improved.  Perhaps new ships should be put into service.  It’s known that all the ships used in the RORO system are old ships bought from Japan through ODA Funds.  Some of these old ships have been de-commissioned. 

A much improved railway system connecting with an improved interisland ferry system would certainly provide greater opportunities for travel throughout the archipelago.  This could improve transport of food commodities and other commercial merchandise throughout the country from various food production areas such as Mindanao and Central Luzon.

Let’s hope also that the revival of the railway system would somehow lead as well to a reduction of cargo trucks plying the highways and make the national roads more pleasant for motorists.  Conceivably, this could also lead to reduction in the number of vehicles on the road and help resolve the perennial traffic gridlocks in various parts of the country.

There’s another phenomenon we need to watch with the revival of the railway system between Manila and the Bicol region.  In years past, social scientists of UPCA had established that in the many informal settlements along PNR railroad tracks there were far more births compared to communities far from the railroad tracks.  Why?  Well, according to UPCA researchers then, when the train rushes by very early in the morning everybody would be shaken awake.  As those living in these railway informal settlements were not farmers they didn’t have to go to the farms and they could no longer go back to sleep.  The more interesting thing for them to do then was make babies. 

Are the bishops listening?

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Dave deBronkart: Meet e-Patient Dave | Video on TED.com

Dave deBronkart: Meet e-Patient Dave | Video on TED.com

To DEVC 263 Students: Comment on the manner in which scientific information is introduced in this talk.

Just a Thought

Of the 92M Filipinos today, eleven are among the billionaires of the world.  That’s a staggering proportion of 0.00001% of the country’s population.  The top three are all Chinese: Henry Sy ($7.2B) of SM malls fame, Lucio Tan ($2.8B) of Eton City realty group and PAL, and John Gokongwei ($2.4B) of Robinson’s chain of department stores.

The SM Malls of Sy, of course, are visited by the common people even if they can’t afford to buy anything in there.  SM malls are worth visiting, especially during the hot days of Summer.  Robinson’s Malls offer similar services.  In the case of Tan’s Eton City along SLEX, one observes a difference.  The Lake City within Eton City, within Sta. Rosa City is a case in point.  Earlier on, when the price was still introductory, I inquired, out of curiosity, from Eton City’s display centers in one of the gasoline stations on SLEX.  I was informed that the smallest lot in Lake City was 600 sqm, and the cost of that lot was, by my calculation (I had a calculator with me then), a staggering P12M. 

Had I bought such piece of land (that’s an expression of an impossible wish), I  would have had to build my house on it within one year (policy of the Land Development Company, I was informed) or I would have forfeited the land rights.  Now, that made a difference.  One doesn’t build hurriedly a house worth P25,000 on a lot worth P12M if one doesn’t want to be labeled “informal settler.”  More likely, a house on that kind of land right in the middle of a man-made lake along the most expensive expressway south of Manila would likely cost P50M or more.  If you own that house on that piece of dirt (read: land, well, actually, an island), you have to have a motor display center to park your convoy of Lamborghinis and Porches, and a “ship yard” where your fleet of leisure boats and probably amphibious cars would also be parked.

This, of course, is beyond my appreciation.  Hence, I’m not going to spend my millions there.  Oh, the millions will come from my lotto winnings.  I’m planning on buying a lotto ticket tomorrow, or day after tomorrow, or sometime later.

As rich individuals, Sy, Tan, and Gokongwei (Sitago – sounds like breakfast as in sinigang na tapa sa goto), could have, among the three of them, brought agricultural production to new heights and made the Philippines self sufficient in food and still became filthy rich at the same time, but they chose malls and high-end residential enclaves because they were able to rake in billions over a relatively short period of time and with the least amount of risk. 

To make even prime agricultural lands produce enough rice for the millions of Filipinos is increasingly becoming difficult, it has been observed.  It obviously is quicker to make billions from converting prime agricultural lands in the lowlands to urban communities with concrete lining the sky line.  In the process, of course, we sacrificed food production for high-end urbanized communities.  Then we resorted to rice importation as we no longer produce the rice we need.  Having established the rice importation industry, we institutionalized corruption at the highest levels of government as well as the private sector.

Could this phenomenon have actually contributed greatly to the increase in poverty and hunger in the country?  I don’t know.  Just asking.

To be fair, I’m not saying that our situation now, hopeless as it seems, is the fault of the Big 3 (Sitago).  I’m just baffled by the mere fact that it is possible to amass such unfathomable wealth in a poverty-stricken country like the Philippines. 

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Dateline Calamba City

The other day, June 19^th, was the 150^th birthday anniversary of Dr. Jose P. Rizal, the national hero of the Philippines.  In the last six months, I had suspected that Calamba City was up to something in celebration of this year’s birth anniversary of the national hero.  One hundred fifty years is something to celebrate about, I think. 

In connection with Rizal’s birthday, there’s this bill filed by Congressman Timmy Chipeco of the Second District of Laguna making June 19^th a national holiday.  This bill, I’m informed, is “languishing” in Congress.  No congressional action, which is not really staggeringly surprising given the record of Congress through the years. 

Until this year, the death anniversary of Rizal, December 30^th, has always been celebrated as national holiday.  But his birthday, which by any measure should be the more important date than his death, has always been celebrated only in Calamba initially and then later in Laguna in the ;ast decade or so.  Such has always led to soul searching among Filipinos who know their history with the fundamental question, “why is it that Filipinos prefer to celebrate Rizal’s death rather than his birth?” 

Well, this year President Aquino proclaimed June 19^th a national holiday.  Such proclamation, however, is good only for this year.  Suppose there’ll be no proclamation next year?  We’ll have to return to June 19 as an ordinary day in our national life.  When Congressman Chipeco’s bill gets approved and becomes a law, then June 19^th becomes a permanent National Holiday for the Philippines.  That’ll be a fitting tribute to Rizal, who probably has been turning in his grave disturbed by where our country is heading today.

The new Rizal monument, constructed at the new Rizal Park across from the new City Hall of Calamba, is a 22-feet structure.  No one is saying how much the total cost is, but it’s well over the one-million peso mark.  In fact, it could be more than 10M given that the statue itself is made of bronze.  The bronze statue is mounted on a pedestal 15 flight of stairs high.  What are the significances of these figures?

The fifteen steps of the stairs, are supposed to symbolize the fact that President Aquino, who was present in the other day’s inauguration of the Rizal Monument, is the 15^th President of the Philippines.  The 22 feet, which is the entire height of the monument was supposed to symbolize the 22 languages and dialects that Rizal spoke in.

 In this photo, Rizal's body is facing southeast to the direction of the present Calamba City Hall, across Chipeco Avenue, in Bgy. Licheria.  Chipeco Avenue serves as a by-pass route to MetroManila to avoid the traffic jam at Calamba Crossing. Photo by LL.

Originally, the monument was supposed to be 18 feet in all, but when City Mayor Jun Chipeco learned that there’s a Rizal monument in Nueva Ecija that’s 18 feet tall, he decided to increase the height to 22 feet, which just happened to be the number of languages and dialects Rizal spoke in. 

Anyway, the Rizal Monument in Calamba City is now the tallest Rizal monument anywhere in the world.  Indeed, the structure is imposing.  Most of the people I happened to have asked regarding their opinion about the new Rizal Monument said they’re happy with it.  Seems Mayor Chipeco struck a goldmine of a public relations event right there, too.  It’s beginning to be a tourist attraction just a couple of days after it was inaugurated on June 19^th 2011. 

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Larry Brilliant makes the case for optimism | Video on TED.com

Larry Brilliant makes the case for optimism | Video on TED.com

To: DEVC 263 Students. View this lecture. Any comments from the point of view of science communication?

Time to Walk the Talk

   

As I operate professionally within the education sector, I find it extremely tempting and difficult to avoid making comments on developments in said sector.  The education sector has been my stage in all of my professional life – which is more than four decades. 

In a news story written by Jocelyn Uy, published in the PDI (June 6, 2011, p. A4), a couple of bishops were quoted as having said that the DepEd’s program, K-12, is “no answer to education woes.”  The K-12 concept, which is Kindergarten plus 12 years of basic education, as practiced in the USA, doesn’t seem to be a bad idea.  This has been explained sufficiently well by Dr. Isagani Cruz in his columns.

Bishop Dinualdo Gutierrez of Marbel, Cotabato was quoted as having said that “instead of adding two years to basic education, the government should work to provide for more schools, competent teachers and high-quality textbooks to boost the quality of education in the public schools” (Uy, 2011).  The bishop was also quoted as having said “the two-year addition to basic education will not help improve the quality of education in the Philippines but more schools and skilled teachers.”

Historically, the Philippines has adopted the 10-year education cycle (6 years of elementary and 4 years of high school), which, today, is two years less than the education cycles in all but one other country in the world.  All our neighbors have adopted the 12 year cycle.

The issue of good teachers is a valid issue and has been for a long time now, of course, and I shall not argue with the bishops about it.  When I was in elementary and high school (both public schools), I experienced, first hand, excellent public instruction.  Teachers then had unquestionable commitment to public education and public service even at the expense of their own well-being. They were highly skilled teachers.  At the same time, we, students then, had our own commitment to get educated and practice good manners and right conduct.  We learned by heart and practiced what good Filipino values were.  That experience is with me until today.  Well, that’s digressing a little bit.

Now back to the issue at hand.  The bishops might well be correct, but I still believe that we should let those people responsible for specific aspects of national life do their job.  Never mind if they haven’t done well in the past.  I happen to believe that if you have a responsibility to perform, you’ll always strive to do it right, even if it may not end the way you want it all the time.  In other words, one can’t be consistently bad performer in all one’s undertakings.  So let’s give everybody the benefit of the doubt. 

In our society, there are three institutions that have important functions in training good citizens.  This was what I learned from public schools when they were still considered worthy of their name.  These institutions are the home, school, and the church.  Why include the church?  In those days, people believed in all that the church said.  For the most part, the church was giving people good examples of morality by deed.

Do you have a clear idea of what’s going on now?  Well, the church has practically given up its job and responsibility to insure that people grow with appropriate morals, and the homes have ceased being the fountainhead of good values.  Not only that, both the church and the home, which have both given up on their respective responsibilities, are now ganging up on the schools, trying to tell the schools what to do. Don’t we have a saying in Philippine society that says, “clean your backyard before telling others what to do”?  Still, I believe that the church and the home can still redeem themselves and begin doing right what they’re supposed to be doing right.

In the last few months, however, the bishops have been medical experts (so they’re against the RH Bill), and now they are education experts (they’re against what education experts in the DepEd think ought to be done to improve the quality of our education system).  They’ve always been political experts, and very soon they’ll probably be military experts, too (given the row with China in the Spratleys).  The bishops seem to be experts in everything except in the areas they’re supposed to be experts, in promoting moral values for Filipinos today. 

Some of my friends have pointed out to me that I seem to be openly against pronouncements of bishops.  Well, I don’t disagree with the bishops simply because I want to. I do have an axe to grind.  When I was a little boy, I was a “muchacho” of a priest in our town.  I was also an altar boy (manacillo or sacristan).  In fact, due to that experience, I wanted to be a priest then.  But then again, when the priest I was serving, and who had become my idol then, impregnated a married woman in our town (he had twins with this woman, completely against the teachings of the Church) I began questioning my trust in the priest.  Unfortunately, that wasn’t the end.  Today, we have numerous priests who have children outside of wedlock (of course).  Many of these women have been abandoned by the priest-gigolos.  So, what about these priests who’ve conveniently abandoned the women they’ve gotten pregnant?  They’ve lost the authority and credibility to be moral sentinels.  As they say, one rotten apple damages the entire basket of apples. 

Now, having lost the moral high ground to preach on social morality, the bishops and priests have found it much more convenient to interfere endlessly with the education sector, health sector, etc. in the name of “god’s” teachings.  Oh, please.  That’s a disservice to God. 

I know the bishops would tell me, “well, that’s only one of many.  Learn to separate an individual person’s acts from the institution’s teachings.”  For heaven’s sake, if you, bishops, can’t control the actuations of your priests who have the same training as you do, why should you expect the greater majority of ordinary people who do not have your training to believe, much less, obey you?  C’mon, get real! 

Another point that the good bishop, Bishop Dinualdo Gutierrez, raised was the issue of more schools and more skilled teachers.  I agree with the Bishop completely.  We need more schools to accommodate a very large population of students and more skilled teachers to teach them.  There’s just one hitch here, though.  There’s a limit to how many schools the government can build and maintain.  And there’s a limit to how many teachers it can pay.  Why?  Because there’s a limit to the government’s financial resources.  Seems that the good bishop forgot the fact that school maintenance and salaries of teachers are recurring financial obligations.  You need to have the money assured every year and not just for one year.

Even if assuming that government is able to construct enough schools for this year, one must consider the fact that by next year there’ll be more children of school age, who’ll need additional schools, too.  Every year, the government will have to construct new schools to accommodate an ever increasing children of school age.  Can’t the good bishops see the simple arithmetic here?  There is a limit to everything. 

***

I will change my opinion about the bishops, priests, and the church if they change their ways.  This can be easily done.  I have two suggestions.

First.  Each parish must put up and manage an elementary school and a high school and teach the students the highest quality education the Philippines can aspire for.  They should not depend on government funding.  After all, the church is probably the richest institution in the Philippines, and even perhaps the world.   The bishops should stop denying the fact that the church is rich.  C’mon, my friend, the Church doesn’t pay any tax.  So it has a lot of tax-free money.  This brings me to my second suggestion.

Second.  The church should pay taxes, like everybody else.  What?  They’re afraid the tax they pay will only go to corruption?  Well, paying taxes will give you enough reason to help run after the corrupt officials and institutions, if you’re not one of them.

To the Bishops and the Church:  why don’t you begin doing what you’re telling your parishioners to do from your pulpits?  Time to walk the talk, I believe.

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Some Activities This Summer

 

On May 7^th, the UPOU held its 15^th Graduation Ceremonies at the UPOU Oblation Park, in front of the UPOU Headquarters in Los Baños.  The graduation ceremony itself was held early evening, so it wasn’t completely hot, although admittedly it has been very hot this summer.  We had described said graduation in past postings, but we simply would like to show a picture of the crowd that gathered on the UPOU Oblation Park amphitheater steps to watch the proceedings that evening.

Yes, indeed, graduation ceremonies at UPOU are a bit different in that they're held right in front of the UP Oblation before whom graduates pledge their allegiance to the UP as an institution.  The graduates also pledge their allegiance to UP as new members of the UP Alumni Association.  Absolutely symbolic and sentimental.

***

In Los Baños today are four medical facilities (and some small clinics).  We’ve written about the UPLB Health Services and the Los Baños Doctors’ Hospital in past postings.  We haven’t written about the St. Jude Family Hospital, though. 

While we've  mentioned of the HealthServ clinic before, we haven’t reported about the new physical structure.  The recently-completed HealthServ Medical Center is, indeed, an imposing three-level medical facility, complete with appropriately-landscaped frontage.  It’s much larger than the LBDH, although practically the same set of medical doctors and professionals serve in both facilities.

President/CEO of HealthServe Medical Center is Dr. Rhodora D. Ocampo.  Medical Director is Dr. Lafayette R. Ang-Santo, and Chief of Clinics is Dr. Ma. Isabel B. Romana-Jamias.  All these top-rate medical doctors have one in common: all are related to professors of UPLB

While LBDH is located along Lopez Avenue, close to Grove and the UPLB Gate, HealthServ is located at Crossing behind the old HealthServ building along the National Highway.

By the way, for those who still can recall how this place looked like in years past, where the old HealthServ facility stands today used to be the exact place where Doce Theater, one of three third-class movie houses in Los Baños in the 60s, used to be.  (To complete the recollection, Robinson’s Town Mall now stands where Gerry’s Theater used to be, and a small shopping mall across from the Junction Wetmarket now stands where Chit theater used to stand).

***

Those of you of who’ve visited UPLB recently must have seen the new marker on the place where the Department of Humanities used to stand.  The Arch has been restored and the area landscaped.  This is part of UPLB’s restoration of historical sites on the campus.

Viewed from the ground floor of the Physical Sciences building (which houses the Departments of Chemistry, Physics, and the Computer Center, one can see structures behind the Humanities Arch.  Those buildings are the Post Office, and the UPLB Foundation Inc. building.

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Speaking of relics of the past, recently Jegs and I visited once again the Pagsanjan Cathedral, home of Our Lady of Gudalupe, in Pagsanjan, Laguna.  The cathedral was founded in 1687, and its first curate was Fr. Agustin de la Magdalena.  Originally, the cathedral was made of bamboo and nipa, but was reconstructed three years later in 1690 under the direction of Miguel Guan-co and Alguacil Mayor Alfonso Garcia (that's what's on the marker). 

In 1853, the Cathedral was greatly improved through the efforts of Fr. Joaquin de Coria.  Further improvements were introduced in 1872 by Fr. Serafin Linares and Fr. Cipriano Bac.  The Pagsanjan Cathedral was damaged during the Second World War, but has been restored since and it looks great today.  It receives quite a number of tourist visitors annually, particularly devotees of Our Lady of Gudalupe.

***

On the other side of the street at the center of Pagsanjan is the Municipal Hall, which has been cleaned up and repainted. Viewed from the Cathedral’s parking area, this government structure looks clean and a lot more respectable than it used to.  By the way, fronting the main door of the cathedral is the church’s parking area.  This used to be a small park that could hardly accommodate more than twenty people.  Now, it looks spacious.

***

Introducing Waku, our family pet.  He’s a Shih Tzu, 15 months old.  In most of his first 12 months, however, he suffered from demodectic mites infection.  He has survived those terrible mites, although we’ve been warned by the vet that such condition usually recurs.  Waku is a survivor, though.  He’s not completely free of those mites yet, but we’ve been giving him the best veterinary care we possibly can manage, including a weekly medicated bath at the Hayop Kalinga clinic in Calamba City. 

Waku is highly intelligent, like any other Shih Tzu.  The Vets who've seem him are uniformly impressed by his "good boy" demeanor and friendly behavior.  When the attendants in the clinic cut his hair, he remains steady.  Of course, this changes when his hair is cut by Jegs.  Waku becomes much more playful and difficult to groom as he likes to play with his masters all the time.  Whenever we leave him behind (as in when we go to work), he becomes very silent and uninterested.  Like, he knows he'd be alone during most of the day.  This is a problem because Shih Tzus are known to be emotionally affected when left alone.  Such experience is very frustrating to them.  When we arrive home after a good day's work, he greets us with a wildly wagging tail, a playful mood, including what humans would normally call embraces.

When he sees some other creatures outside the window, he starts barking wildly, as if he's angry.  He also looks very quisically at new visitors in the house, although eventually he'll become uninterested.  In all, Waku's nice to be around the house.  We're enjoying him.

***

I had an ordinary B-day lunch on the 30th of May at the Hongkong Emperor Restaurant at the MOA in Pasay City.  My guests were Jegs (pix 1, below),

and Daniyelle and her Mom Ruby (pix 2 above), her Lola Lita, and her Tito (Papa) Nonie (both not in picture).  The group also went to watch the movie Panda 2 in 3D.  Nice treat for the day.

By the way, this was also our first "family" trip using the second hand L300 van we just purchased for our school service project.

***

On June 2, UPOU gave outgoing FEd Dean Terret de Villa a testimonial in recognition of her successful stint as Dean of the Faculty of Education.  In this pix, Dr. Baggy Bagarinao, UPOU Registrar and Associate Professor of Education narrated his professional experience working with Dean Terret.

I knew Dean Terret only recently, when she became Dean of FEd.  It so happens that her younger sister, Mitch de Villa, who's now residing in Australia with her family, was my student in development communication at UPLB years back.  In any case. Dean Terret has, indeed, been very good administrator and professor.  She'd be retiring sometime in September.  I understand that she's being recruited by a big university in Batangas.

Nothing wrong there.  She's from Batangas, anyway.

Effective 1 June 2011, the FEd has been operating with a brand-new dean in the person of Associate Professor Patricia B. Arinto.  Pat earned her Bachelor's degree from the UP Visayas (magna cum laude), her Master's degree from UP Diliman.  She's completed all the requirements for the professional doctorate, Doctor of Education, from the University of London.  She's just waiting for the results of the external review of her doctoral thesis.

To Dean Terret deVilla, thank you and God speed.  To Pat, welcome to the FEd Deanship.

Most of the faculty and staff of the FEd whom I've talked with believe that Dean Arinto would be an effective Dean.  Of course, they're all aware of her no-none sense, business-like demeanor, which, for some, can be unnerving at times.  I have no problem with such kind of management style.  In fact, I believe we also need this management style in order to gain clearer focus on what we need to do now and then.  My professional experience with Dean Arinto has been good. 

Again, Pat, congratulations.  We in the FEd are all behind you and ready to go the extra mile with you leading us.

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