Korean teachers here to learn English teaching

For several years now Korean kids have been coming to the Philippines to attend English camps. On board my flight from Seoul last week I counted about 100 Korean kids all wearing blue T-shirts and with ID cards hanging from their necks. One teacher was carrying all the passports. I took photos while they were boarding. The kids looked like they were from elementary school.

Now it is the Korean teachers’ turn to come and learn how to teach English and use English for teaching. The first batch of Korean teachers arrived Tuesday last week for a month-long training in English teaching. Education and tourism officials call this “education tourism”. There is environmental tourism, medical tourism, rest/recreation/retirement tourism and now you have education tourism.

Sure, we’re supposed to have been left behind by our Asian neighbors in the academic department but there’s still English we are good at and could teach. And I hope this does not go the way of agriculture. Many years ago the Thais came here to study agriculture, but look now, they’re the world’s biggest rice producer and we are the biggest rice importer.

Fifty teachers from elementary and middle school from Busan, South Korea are now participating in the Specialized Training Program under the National English Proficiency Program (NEPP) of the Department of Education. The program’s duration is from July 23 to August 23.

In exchange, I was told, the local government of Busan will donate $6 million worth of learning equipment to the Philippines.



Of the 50 teachers, 39 are teachers in English proficiency, the rest are mathematics and science teachers. The program will help increase their oral and literary competence in English. They will learn pedagogical or teaching skills that they can apply in Korea. They will also be introduced to the Philippines’ basic curriculum for English, Math and Science.

The program is the result of several memoranda of understanding (MOU) between the Busan Metropolitan City of Education (BMCOE) and the education agencies of the Philippines.

The Korean teachers chosen to come to the Philippines had to pass two difficult tests, supervisor Lee Eun Kyung told the Inquirer. Korean teachers have also been sent to the US and Canada, she added.

Middle school teacher Kim Seong Hwan had trained in Canada but the Philippines could offer something different, he intimated, because in the Philippines he could learn “teaching English through English.”

Kyung Soon of Haesong Elementary School had trained in the US but she wants to learn more from the Philippines. For Park Kyung Soon, this is her fourth visit to the Philippines. She had been here as a tourist.

The first week of the program will consist of classroom-type training that will assess the teachers’ English proficiency. The sessions are held at the hotel where the Korean teachers are billeted. In the second to fourth week the Koreans will do class observations, co-teaching and solo teaching. There will be evaluation and feedback at the end of the program. A follow-up program for these same teachers in February 2009 is being planned.

Some of the schools where the Koreans will have their practicum are the Rizal High School, the Philippine Women’s University, Quezon City Science High School, Rizal Science High School, Marikina High School, St. Paul University, Manuel L. Quezon Elem. School, Aurora Quezon elem School, Gomez Elem. School and Esteban Abada Elem. School.

“This program is part of ‘Filipinnovation’ and ‘Tourism Plus’,” Presidential Assistant for Education Mona Valisno told the Inquirer. “Tourism Plus involves bundling tourism with education, health, recreation and retirement,” she added. “The Philippines has competitive advantages in these fields.”

There are few reasons to be homesick, Valisno told the Koreans, “as there are many Koreans here who are also learning English and doing business.”

We learn from you, you learn from us.

Last week a group of seven from the Philippines, me included, joined delegations from five developing Asian countries to learn from Korea’s economic success. We were in the good company of Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Mongolia and Vietnam. I couldn’t help smiling to myself and saying, “Here we are, the laggards.” It takes some humility to accept that.

We attended a five-day learning program on “knowledge-based economy” in Seoul, Korea, sponsored by the Korean Institute of Development and the World Bank Institute. Before that we had to do sessions via teleconferencing and learn by moodling via the internet.

Knowledge economy, in layman’s language, is using knowledge to create wealth. It was sort of disconcerting to know how far behind the Philippines has become, that we have a lot of catching up to do. But it was also good to learn from the experience of Korea, how it zoomed, faltered then pulled itself up again from the dumps during the economic crisis in the late 1990s.

I will write more about knowledge economy another time. It’s all swimming in my head and I need some time to let it all sink in. The Philippines has what it takes. Let no one out there say, (to paraphrase an English-challenged celebrity’s words to her detractors), “Magaling lang kayo mag-Ingles.” (You’re good only in English.)

Baseco worries, Juana Tejada rejoices

When you are poor you think of yourself as vulnerable, you consider changes in the landscape of your life that is not of your doing as threatening. Will the changes mean being thrown about again like flotsam and jetsam on one’s native shores? Where to move, where to live and where to find livelihood? Will so-called industrial and commercial development take over, leaving the vulnerable to fend for themselves?

Residents of the Baseco compound in Manila’s Tondo district are anxious that proposed changes in the place where they had been settled will mean they could be moved out. The government agencies concerned should be forthright with the poor and not leave them to speculate about their fate.

Some 6,000 to 10,000 poor families have been residents of Baseco since 2001. Baseco is 56 hectares in area. In the beginning it was frequently underwater but improvements on the reclaimed site were done. In 2002, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo declared that the 56 hectares should indeed be for the homes of the poor. That same year, four major fires hit the area which led to the reclamation of five more hectares. This area was divided into lots for about 1,000 families.

In 2004, the President introduced Gawad Kalinga (GK) and Habitat for Humanity, which built about 2,000 row houses. The people were happy with the housing and wished for more homes of that type.

Not long afterwards, a soil test was made and the results supposedly said that Baseco is at risk if a strong earthquake (8 on the Richter scale) hit. The ground on which the homes stood would turn into mud.

In 2007, this risk was brought up again. Manila Mayor Alfredo Lim asked GK and Habitat to stop building.

After that, the Philippine Reclamation Authority (PRA) announced that an additional 10 hectares west of Baseco would be reclaimed. The people were worried. Will they be moved out of the 56 hectares and moved to the reclaimed 10 hectares?

Meetings with PRA and a visit from President Arroyo made the residents conclude that the government will indeed reclaim 10 hectares as proposed and the families on the 56 hectares will be moved there. A mini fish port will be built in the area, and 35 of the 56 hectares (the poor’s original home) will be used for commercial purposes.

That is cause for worry. The people have not seen a clear and detailed plan. Here are some of their concerns:

There are between 6,000 and 10,000 families in Baseco. If 3,000 families will be moved to the 10 hectares, where will the rest go? Will the resettlement apply only to the original censused families in 2001?

Will the new units be affordable? A survey by the Ateneo de Manila University’s Institute of Philippine Culture found the average family income in Baseco was P6,000 to P7,000 in 2002. Will the GK and Habitat homes be demolished? Where will financing come from? Can a place that had been declared as residential area for the poor be declared commercial?

The people want homes like those built by Gawad Kalinga and Habitat because, they said, these “encourage the formation of peaceful, neighborly communities.” They want some space for children to play and for old people to sit and watch them, space for daycare centers, chapels, clinics and job training centers. In other words, they want a simple but decent place for human habitation.

* * *

Here’s great news on caregiver Juana Tejada in Canada from Oswald and Mila Magno who launched the petition on her behalf. Excerpts:

“To all of you 2,551 caring and compassionate people who signed the online petition and opened their hearts to Juana:

“We are pleased to confirm that Juana’s dying wish to be given permanent residency status in Canada has been granted by Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC). At a press conference held July 18, 2008, Juana’s lawyer, Rafael Fabregas, announced that CIC has found Juana eligible for permanent residency status and will grant her visa application once all landing requirements have been met.

“This is great news for Juana and all her supporters. The threat of deportation … has been lifted. As Juana stated during the press conference, she can now focus on fighting her deadly medical condition.

“On Juana’s behalf, we thank you for signing the online petition. Without a doubt, your strong show of support for Juana helped persuade the authorities to reverse the deportation order.

“We thank Prime Minister Harper and Minister of Citizenship and Immigration Diane Finley for listening to Juana’s appeal for humanitarian consideration and acting accordingly. They have restored our faith in the innate goodness of Canadians.

“We thank Juana for remaining steadfast in her fight against the deportation order. She has said that she is fighting not just for her rights but also for the rights of caregivers like her. Her resolute determination to pursue her case until the end has, in our view, paved the way for the precedent-setting decision that will likely benefit many of the thousands of caregivers in Canada… The CIC decision on Juana’s case may lead to the removal of the requirement for a second medical examination as a condition for obtaining permanent residency status for caregivers, an onerous and unfair requirement that applies only to the caregiver class of temporary workers….

“Juana has Stage 4 cancer that has spread to her lungs and is taking morphine to ease her pain. Please lift her up in your daily prayers and ask the Almighty for her speedy recovery so that her joy will be complete.”

(For photos, video, statement, etc. log on to http://juana-tejada.weebly.com/.)

46664

Say “four, double six, six, four” and remember.

46664 was Nelson Mandela’s prison number when he was in prison for 27 years on Robben Island, off Cape Town in South Africa. He was prisoner number 466, imprisoned in 1964. Like other prisoners, he was referred to not by his name but by his prison number. Mandela was 46664.

Tomorrow, July 18, Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela, freedom fighter and former president of South Africa, turns 90. He has been feted by artists and celebrities as well as people from all walks of life in the past weeks. The gathering of people was not just about him and his favorite causes but also about us, about this world we all hope could be a better place. After all, this man is the quintessential symbol of Everyhumanbeing’s quest for what is good—freedom, justice, equality, peace, prosperity for all. His personal suffering and triumph may not be every one’s lot but they had an impact on every citizen of this planet whether we felt it or not.



I pulled out Mandela’s autobiography “Long Walk to Freedom” from my book shelf and went over my favorite pages. The latter part of the book is about his struggles and victory on the political front which the world had watched and followed up to the day he walked out of prison and into a life of freedom. They day would come when apartheid in South Africa would become a thing of the past.

But it is Mandela’s account about his early life (“Part One: A Country Childhood”) that I found so interesting. He’s a good storyteller. Autobiographies of great men and women make for great reading but sometimes it is not the earth-shaking portions of their lives that shake me. It is their quiet, hidden existence as young individuals before they made their way into public life that I love reading about. Like, how did it all begin? To get biblical about it, could anything great come out of Nazareth?

“I was no more than five when I became a herd-boy, looking after sheep and calves in the fields. I discovered the almost mystical attachment that the Xhosa have for cattle, not only as a source of food and wealth, but as a blessing from God and a source of happiness. It was in the fields that I learned how to knock birds out of the sky with a slingshot, to gather wild honey and fruits and edible roots, to drink warm, sweet milk straight from the udder of a cow, to swim in the clear, cold streams, and to catch fish with twine and sharpened bits of wire…From these days, I date my love of the veld, of open spaces, the simple beauties of nature, the clean line of the horizon.”

I had marked “to drink warm, sweet milk straight from the udder of a cow”. I thought, how cinematic, how primal, how mystical indeed. Upon reading that paragraph, I went fast forward and imagined the adult Mandela in his dungeon, deprived of the veld, the open spaces he so loved as a child.

Here are excerpts from Mandela’s account about his first day in school. He wasn’t the cry baby that today’s boys are on school opening day.

“The schoolhouse consisted of a single room, with a Western-style roof, on the other side of the hill from Qunu. I was seven years old, and on the day before I was to begin, my father took me aside and told me that I must be dressed properly for school. Until that time, I, like all the other boys in Qunu, has worn only a blanket, which was wrapped around one shoulder and pinned at the waist. My father took a pair of his trousers and cut them at the knee. He told me to put them on, which I did, and they were roughly the correct length, although the waist was far too large. My father then took a piece of string and cinched the trousers at the waist. I must have been a comical sight, but I have never owned a suit I was prouder to wear than my father’s cut-off trousers.

“On the first day of school, my teacher, Miss Mdingane, gave each of us an English name, and said that from thenceforth that was the name we would answer to in school. This was the custom among Africans in those days and was undoubtedly due to the British bias of our education. The education I received was a British education, in which British ideas, British culture, British institutions, were automatically assumed to be superior. There was no such thing as African culture…That day, Miss Mdingane told me that my new name was Nelson. Why she bestowed this particular name upon me I have no idea.”

46664 is also the name of a global response to the global HIV/AIDS epidemic. Mandela wants to use the symbolic power of this number in the fight against the dreaded disease. Human beings are not mere statistics, they are human beings. In a reverse way, this is what 46664 is meant to portray.

The 46664 campaign began in 2003 when Mandela reached out to the youth and tapped their music, sports and celebrity idols in order to educate and empower. Top artists came together to launch the HIV/AIDS awareness campaign. In the recent run-up to Mandela’s 90th birthday, London was the venue for a big happening.

“Long Walk to Freedom” ends but not Mandela’s walk. “When I walked out of prison, that was my mission, to liberate the oppressed and the oppressor both…I have walked that long road to freedom. I have tried not to falter, I have made missteps along the way. But I have discovered the secret that after climbing a great hill, one only finds that there are many more hills to climb. I have taken a moment here to rest, to steal a view of the glorious vista that surrounds me, to look back on the distance I have come. But I can rest only for a moment, for with freedom come responsibilities, and I dare not linger, for my long walk is not yet ended.”

Rampant crime in the country’s NGO capital

Women working and living in the so-called NGO capital of the Philippines are up in arms because of the rampant criminality in the area.

Quezon City’s Teacher’s Village East and West and Barangays Central and Pinyahan and neighboring areas, home to dozens of national and international NGOs (non-government organizations), is a prime spot for criminals who prey mostly on women walking the streets to and from their offices or homes. This area is right behind Quezon City Hall!

Almost every female NGO worker in this prime address has a crime story to tell about herself, her co-employees, friends or neighbors. Cell phone and bag snatching, hold-ups, break-ins, carnapping, name it. Not a few had had not one, but several encounters with criminal elements in this Quezon City area. The perpetrators are mostly on motorcycles.



What a shame that in this place where civil society thrives the devil also thrives. And yes, the streets in this area have names that describe positive Filipino traits such as Malingap, Matahimik, Malakas, Maginoo, Mapagkawanggawa and the like. Look at the directory of civil society groups and when you read those Filipino street names you’d think of the place as special. And so it grates on the ears when one hears a friend say she was attacked on Matahimik St.

Last Friday representatives of NGOs met with officials of Quezon City hall and police and barangay officials of the area. Cristine Ebro of the Asia Europe People’s Forum and Susan Macabuag of the Bantayog ng Mga Bayani Foundation led the delegation to city hall to present their case while police and barangay officials also presented police efforts and safety precautions to the victims.

Ebro has been assaulted twice and is still recovering from a recent one. While walking on Matahimik St. two weeks ago at around 3:30 p.m., Ebro was assaulted by motorcycle-riding snatchers wearing full helmets. The snatchers failed to get the bag but Ebro fell and suffered a fractured finger and sprains. The first assault was near Matimtiman and Mahiyain Sts. and also involved motorcycle-riding men.

Last year, Akbayan secretary general Arlene Santos figured in two snatching incidents on Matahimik St. and Matalino St. respectively. In the second incident a man held a box cutter on her neck and grabbed her bag.

Baibonn Sangid, chair of Young Moro Professionals, fell and suffered bruises when a taxi driver stopped and snatched her bag. A month later, Sangid tried to save a young student from hold up men inside a jeepney cruising in front the Philippine Heart Center by offering her cell phone.

Monina Geaga of Sarilaya was a victim of bag snatching near her office on Masikap St. A man alighted from a white car and grabbed her bag. Karen, daughter of Nymia Simbulan of the Philippine Human Rights Information Center was attacked while walking along Mahinhin St. toward Mapagkawanggawa St.

Frances Lo of 11.11.11-Asia, a coalition of Belgian civil society organizations, suffered multiple fractures, torn ligaments and had to undergo surgery after a passenger of a car coming from Maginoo St. grabbed her bag and sent her reeling on the road.

A female foreign missionary was assaulted twice.

In Dec. 2002 I lost my car which was parked on Malakas St. Several readers wrote to say they lost their cars in the same area. To use police language, my car was SWP (stolen while parked), not FT (forcibly taken). Why, cars get stolen even while parked right in their owners’ driveways. I was told of a couple who saw their car being moved out of their garage in the dead of night. Because of that experience, I ended up researching and writing a three-part series on carnapping and I learned a lot about this crime—the how-tos, fake registration, chop-chop, resurrecting dead cars, connivance of insurance companies.

A statement “Women, Reclaim the Safety of Our Streets Now” signed by women representing 62 NGOs appealed to QC mayor Feliciano Belmonte and local officials to keep the streets safe. Boyet Montiel of the mayor’s office met with the women.

“Many of the victims are women who work for NGOs,” the women’s statement said. “They suffered from wounds and psychological trauma. These incidents have created a climate of fear… Our right to movement without fearing for our security and lives has been impaired.”

QC police officials led by Senior Supt. Magtanggol Gatdula invoked lack of police personnel and made a PowerPoint presentation showing the QC area and the police-to-citizen ratio. For an area of 166 sq. km, QC only has 2,700 policemen or a ratio of 16 cops per sq. km. The City of Manila which has only 38 sq. km. has 3,000 cops.

QC has 142 barangays with a population of 2.6 million. The cop-to-citizen ratio is 1:955. The ideal is 1:500.

To make up for their lack in number, police officers asked the women that they be given a chance to met with them again to present enabling and preventive ways. Gatdula said there are three elements in a crime: motive, opportunity and instrumentation. They motive will always be there, he said, but something could be done about the other two elements.

Republic Act 9344 which strengthens the protection of minors involved in criminal activities could pose a problem in prosecution, the police pointed out. Many perpetrators of street crimes are minors who have adults behind them.

Last Friday’s meeting resulted in the setting up of a task force to address this problem. The women and the local officials are working with the police to curb criminality in the area. I hope this works.

Faint church presence in sea tragedy

I thought about this over and over.

I would probably be excoriated for saying this but I wish the zeal and over-eagerness of the nuns, priests and brothers who were falling all over themselves to support, surround and sustain (for weeks and months) NBN-ZTE whistleblower Rodolfo Lozada Jr. were also seen in the aftermath of the recent sea tragedy that claimed more than 700 lives.

Falling all over themselves, translated in Filipino, is nagkakandarapa.

I didn’t see that same zeal in the wake of the sinking of the Princess of the Stars and I felt let down. I thought the Catholic Church as an institution and as represented by its consecrated members (the clergy, the religious priests, nuns and brothers) was generally lukewarm to the victims and the bereaved after the sinking of the Princess of the Stars.



Sure, several days after the tragedy, there was a handful of nuns who went to comfort the grieving in Cebu. I commend the Sisters of St. Charles Borromeo who went out and reached out. Masses were held.

But I expected more. I expected the consecrated members of the church to be falling all over themselves, yes, nagkakandarapa, to be present to those in need.

The day after news of the tragedy came out, countless families came to the Manila and Cebu offices of Sulpicio Lines to inquire about the fate of their loved ones only to be met with a blank wall and a huge wave of rejection. There was no one to answer their questions. And even if questions could not be answered then, there was no one to face them right away. And to listen.

Not a few lost their composure. There was screaming and weeping and fainting. One man even climbed up a tower to amplify his pleas. Behold parents, spouses, siblings and children overcome with emotion, crouching on the floor, their legs turning into jelly and their wits taking flight.

In the beginning there was only the media for the families to vent their frustrations on. The media could only listen, record and report, but they were not expected to immerse themselves in the grief or find answers and solutions.

It was during that hour of sudden darkness and gloom that these families needed caring individuals to prop them up. A shoulder to cry on, a listening ear for their mountains of fears, a hand to hold as their knees gave way. These were not 10 people, these were in the hundreds and they were all crying for help.

Some came alone or with their next of kin bearing photographs of their missing kin—a wife and child, both parents, siblings, grandchildren, entire families. Many didn’t know where to start, where to go. They felt lost and betrayed. Their minds were blank, their hearts leaping out of their chests, their innards in knots.

Who was there to give the most basic emotional support? The indemnities and the legalities could come later. Rescue and retrieval operations were another matter. But behold the grieving who were by themselves and marooned on an island of sorrow.

Surely the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) would be there to set up shop. The grief experts will later be brought in. But it was during those initial raw moments when nothing made sense to the families, when even the ship owners were themselves in a mess, that persons of compassion were needed.

Gina de Venecia of Ina (Mga Inang Naulila) and wife of former Speaker Jose de Venecia went to the scene. She had known raw grief, having lost a daughter during a fire. She had known dread as she watched fire engulf their home and waited for news about her daughter who was trapped inside.

Public Attorney’s Office head Persida Acosta and her team would later also come. Overcome with emotion, Acosta broke into tears as she faced Sulpicio Lines officials.

It helps that one has experienced overwhelming grief, loss, failure and rejection in this life. It helps that one has known numbing shock and what it’s like to have one’s brain swirling and then to grapple with a pain that has no name. If one survives scathed but sane, one becomes more compassionate and empathetic.

But the Christian churches shouldn’t be strangers to suffering, Christ’s passion, death and resurrection being in the heart of the Christian faith. So please convince me that church response was not lukewarm.

Sure, the church laity could themselves have gone to the scene of pain. But well, you go there and you could be suspected as an opportunist, a cell phone snatcher or a budol-budol practitioner. The religious with their identifying symbols would be more credible. I know nuns who’ve shucked their veils but when their symbolic presence is needed in televised political activities, they search for their moth-eaten veils.

Why not a sea tragedy for a change? Missing out on a few episodes of a favorite telenovela wouldn’t hurt. (I know nuns complaining about fellow nuns who are addicted to telenovelas. Do these TV shows now take the place of Vespers and Compline?)

The Catholic Church in the Philippines has a so-called Apostleship of the Sea (apostolatus maris) which is supposed to look after the needs of Filipino seafarers working abroad. Its patron must be Mary, Stella Maris, Star of the Sea. With many big sea tragedies occurring here, this apostolate should also now look after the welfare of sea travelers on Philippine waters.

Again, I say, please convince me that church response was not lukewarm.

Last week I wrote about the heroism of the nuns who perished in the 1983 MV Cassandra tragedy. They should serve as examples to those on dry land, like a lighthouse on a darkened churchscape.