Monday, March 29, 2021

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Editorial: Greening Davao City

Posted: 29 Mar 2021 05:28 AM PDT

AFTER controversies surrounding the cutting of trees around Davao City in the previous years, it is good to know that the City Council is making progress when it comes to creating policies for the "greening" of the city.

Last week, the City Council passed the Treeline Ordinance, which seeks to integrate urban canopy in the city's traffic islands on highway roads and along pavements, parks, playgrounds, and areas of public right-of-way.

In a SunStar Davao report on March 29, Councilor Edgar Ibuyan Jr., committee chairperson on public works and highways, said the landmark ordinance encourages both government agencies and private contractors to integrate urban canopy with an aim to add more trees in the city's main road to add more shade to pedestrians and motorists. The ordinance also targets planting more trees in parks and playgrounds and highways.

"Mainly, we are encouraging everyone, especially the government agencies such as the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) and City Engineer's Office (CEO), na when times nga naa projects sa kalsada (that there will be road projects), we must integrate trees to lessen the heat index o ginabati nga init samtang gasubay sa atong kadalanan (or the heat we feel while traversing our roads)," the councilor said in an interview on 87.5 FM Davao City Disaster Radio.

According to the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), trees and other vegetation can lower "surface and air temperatures by providing shade." It added that shaded surfaces, for example, may be 11°C to 25°C cooler than the peak temperatures of unshaded materials.

Aside from cooling the city, the addition of trees can also improve how we live in the city. People will opt to walk more because of how shady some areas are.

While it may not be easy to add trees to the central business district of Davao City, the new ordinance allows the city and its urban planners from developing other areas to be greener and cooler.

If implemented properly, the city will be able to balance progress and the environment.

The Treeline Ordinance is the second environmental landmark ordinance passed by the city council under Vice Mayor Sebastian Duterte. When he took office in 2019, the vice mayor has stated that environmental policies will be among the priorities of the city council.

The other environmental policy the city council passed was the Single-Use Plastics Ordinance of 2021. It was passed on March 2, 2021, and was authored by Councilor Diosdado Mahipus Jr., committee on environment chairperson. Mahipus and his committee are also working on an ordinance for the protection of heritage trees in the city.

As the city grows, environmental policies play an important role in ensuring that the development of the city is sustainable. However, we also hope that these ordinances will be implemented effectively and not simply stay as "landmark ordinances."

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Uyboco: Hacking Homeschool

Posted: 29 Mar 2021 05:27 AM PDT

THE homeschooling movement has been in the Philippines has gained a lot of traction in the past decade, and especially last year with schools closed and lockdowns in place.

The most common method of homeschooling is the structured method (also called traditional homeschooling). This is literally just bringing school to home. You enroll with an accredited provider who sends over materials and the child either studies on their own or the parents become the teachers. One parent I know even bought many materials from the school system he was using and now has a mini-school at a corner in his house. This is not a method that I recommend.

It doesn't matter who the provider is, or how good the material/curriculum is. The fact that you are following a curriculum sends a message to the child that someone else dictates what they ought to be studying or learning.

The other method of homeschooling is called independent or "indie." Here, parents and kids can choose which materials they like, and can even do activities not normally in the scope of things one does for school, like go trekking, climbing trees, or playing computer games.

I am more for indie except if the parent dictates too much what the child ought to be learning. They may be mixing and matching stuff but if it's according to the parent's preference more than about the child's, then that sends the same message to the child: that they are really not in control.

That is actually the key issue here for homeschooling parents to understand. You hold in your hands a very powerful opportunity to reclaim your child's education from the outdated system that, like Frankenstein's monster, we have been patching and reviving for decades, when it ought to have been buried and replaced with a better philosophy and paradigm.

I hope you do not waste that opportunity and simply think to bring school to your home. The problem is not with the material nor the method. The problem is with thinking that our kids need us to tell them what to study and learn.

Your kids are learning machines (as are we adults). People never stop learning. As I am typing this, I am learning. As I chat with my friends, I am learning. But the difference is that we adults have the capacity to choose while children in the school system merely follow whatever the curriculum dictates.

Why would we waste so much of our children's time on that, now that we can actually give them the chance and space to explore what it is they really want?

This is how to hack homeschool. Give your kids time and space. If they want to "waste" time (and remember that wasting time is from your point of view), let them. This is their time to explore, make mistakes, to learn and to grow.

Email me at andy@freethinking.me. View previous articles at www.freethinking.me.

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Mendoza: Who is a real leader?

Posted: 28 Mar 2021 05:40 AM PDT

WHILE I was looking for something to write for this regular column of mine, I came across this very touching story of a young leader who realized at his young age how a real leader shall behave and act properly to be called as such. He realized that leadership is not all about individual prowess but how a team delivered the goods that benefit and give credit to where credit is due -- to the team. This is the story of Jonathan Yabut, which I am going to share with you in toto:

When I was 25 years old, I started becoming a boss of my own with two brand managers reporting to me. I sent and replied to emails fast. I executed projects on time and within the allotted budget. I hit my sales target every year. I made money for the company. People praised me. I was your typical model employee.

Any competitive worker like me expected to be promoted EVERY year. And so when another 12 months passed, I was expecting my name to be announced in the CEO's (chief executive officer's) email about promotions. For the first time, my name wasn't in it.

I clearly remember dashing to my boss's cubicle. "You asked me to finish projects 1, 2, and 3. And I did with flying colors. Why isn't my name there?" I was fuming with anger and confusion.

"Jonathan," my boss calmed me down. "Remember that day when you brilliantly aced a presentation to the CEO and I congratulated you for it? I asked you out for dinner and to tag along anyone you liked in the office. You brought nobody," she added. "I was expecting you to bring your two brand managers who painstakingly helped you prepare those slides. You didn't. And you never even acknowledged them."

I started melting with shame. I realized what I was missing all throughout.

"And this is why I'm not promoting you. You are insecure to share the limelight with other people. You refuse to share the stage. You don't wear a corporate hat. You think it's all about YOU." My boss snapped. "You are a brilliant executioner Jonathan, but you have a lot more to learn about leadership. You can't manage people yet," she added.

This is probably one of the biggest and most painful lessons I've learned in my corporate career about leadership. There is a big difference between being individually good at what you do versus being good at managing people to do what they ought to do. Those who get promoted to leadership and managerial roles possess the latter. When I was younger, I often wondered what kept me from being promoted faster than how I expected to be, and I was missing the value of leadership apparently. At work, I have so many work colleagues who fall into the same trap -- excellent individual players, but fail when they start working with teams or leading teams. They're like the folks in the picture. They sail with other travelers using the same ship with the goal of arriving at the same destination, but they insist to set sail on their own. They refuse to share the steering wheel or let someone steer it once in a while.

Leadership is "pullership," not "pushership." Leadership is about serving the people who work for you, and not the other way around. Leadership is putting the spotlight on your team, and not on yourself. For all you guys out there aspiring to get promoted this year, make sure you are confident to tick this box. It's not just about clocking the most time at work, submitting the best report, or hitting the most amount of sales for the company. Rather, social intelligence and the emotional maturity to lead are essential in promoting people to positions of higher power, and positions requiring people management. Because in the end, the real role of leaders is to make more leaders out of themselves.

This Corner hopes that all aspiring leaders will learn a lesson or two from this sharing of Mr. Yabut who selflessly shared his story for us to learn that leadership is not all about yourself as a leader but on how the team becomes better under your care and guidance.

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Editorial: The Metro Davao Development Authority

Posted: 28 Mar 2021 05:40 AM PDT

ON March 22, the House of Congress passed House Bill 8930 on the third and final reading creating the Metro Davao Development Authority (MDDA).

When news broke out, there are misconceptions about the MDDA. To some, the creation of MDDA puts Metro Davao under one governing body while some were quickly able to equate it to traffic management.

However, the MDDA, according to HB 8930 is neither a governing body nor simply a traffic management office.

Among the functions of MDDA includes the formulation of plans aligned to the Davao Regional Development Plan (DRDP) and the Philippines Development Plan 2017-2022; Set policies concerning traffic, waste management, and public safety and security; prepare and implement or manage metropolitan-wide programs and projects; review and recommend to the Metropolitan Davao Development Council policies regarding land development; monitor the implementation of metropolitan-wide programs and projects; install and administer a single ticketing system for traffic rules and regulations; and prescribe and collect services and regulatory fees, and impose and collect fines and penalties.

According to the bill, the services of the MDDA will include development planning, transport management, solid waste disposal and management, flood control and sewerage management, urban renewal, zoning, land use planning, and shelter services, health and sanitation, urban protection, and pollution control, and public safety.

In a nutshell, the MDDA is tasked to coordinate and promote socio-economic growth and sustainable development of Metropolitan Davao.

Metro Davao covers the cities of Panabo, Tagum, and Island Garden City of Samal (IGACoS) in Davao del Norte; Digos in Davao del Sur; and highly urbanized City of Davao; and the municipalities of Carmen in Davao del Norte, and Sta. Cruz in Davao del Sur as core local government units. Meanwhile, the City of Mati in Davao Oriental, and the municipalities of Maco in Davao de Oro, and Malita in Davao Occidental are its annex LGUs. The bill made it clear that the MDDA's power and functions will not diminish the autonomy of the LGUs.

The Metropolitan Davao Development Council (MDDC) is the policy-making body of MDDA and approves plans, programs, and projects for Metro Davao.

The MDDA has the opportunity to implement projects and spearhead development across the core and annex LGUs that will allow Davao Region to meet its full potential. In a way, it will allow Metro Davao to plan things properly in the coming years and align projects and programs.

On paper, it is an institution that can bring Metro Davao to new heights. However, the government will have to hire and appoint qualified leaders for the MDDA. Those who are hired for their skills, abilities, and knowledge and not by their connections.

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