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- Ombion: Leaders must level up their game
- Sigue: Disruptive education
- Hofileña: The Cantonal revolutionary government of Negros
| Ombion: Leaders must level up their game Posted: 25 May 2021 05:49 AM PDT FOR a purpose greater than life, nobler than feeding ego and superior to the ways of animals. Sad to say, not a few of our leaders today, and some of the aspiring ones, are nowhere better than I said because they have been chained and blinded by their blinkered concept of life and self-image imposed upon them by our society's iniquity and decadence. It's true that we live in a modern, more organized, and structured society, labeled under various forms of modern republics, where people are the sovereign, ideas and mindsets flourish freely and programmatically, culture and ideas blossom and fused, leaders govern by the will of the people, and where behaviors and activities of citizens and leaders are regulated by defined laws, contracts, obligations and ethics enforced by social institutions. Even wars and battles in modern republics are humanized to prevent wanton bloodshed, to ensure that sufferings and damages inflicted are not bigger than the objective and conduct of wars and battles. Yet many of our leaders seem to live the ways and rules of the barbarians, not in the ways of modern republics, much less in the ways of humanity. Dog eat dog environment, survival of the fittest, pulling down those given the chance to lead and rule, cutting each other's throat, treachery and traitorship, party vs party battles, machoism, advancing not humanity's wellbeing but vested interests, and so on – are the characteristics of the kind of life and society many of our leaders today are indulged. Day in day out, year to year, term to term, the leaders struggle to outdo and outlive each other, weaken and destroy each other - continue unrelentless, and each time, rearing their ugly and dreaded heads and brains, often worse than the barbarians of the dark times yet they seem to enjoy it like having a constant foray in a festival of spoils. As a result, our governance is in continuous disconnect, programs fragile, development unstable and not sustainable. It is true that the terms of office of our local chief executives, from governor down, is short, two terms or 6 years, or depending on the outcomes of elections every 6 years. Whereas the growth maturity process of programs and projects take longer than 6 years, and whose impact on people's lives could only be felt or tangible 6 years and longer. The problem is not only short term governance but the culture of political barbarism of our leaders, where newly elected leaders are already beaten and bruised by their losing opponents on the first day of their office, and onward and unrelentless if they survive the onslaughts. While still trying to prove their worth and development agenda, others already judged them like this and that. And worse, little errors and shortcomings are blown up not proportionately and use as weapon of mass destruction instead of helping correct or find better solutions. In this, I challenge everyone, that it is time to level up the game. For those in authority and power, have a clear purpose and goals in governance, have focus, learn to communicate one's thrust, policies and programs more effectively, trust the people you govern, be attentive and responsive to their sentiments and needs, keep flexibility and innovations in concepts and approaches; listen and learn from the wisdom of those who came ahead of you; get rid of fears; practice openness, humility, and gratitude to everyone. Don't confuse your authority and powers as entitlement, but as gifts and vehicles for providing humanity the best service, respect, and love they deserve. For those aspiring to be in such a position, or to return to the same, extend your arms and hearts to help the governance, instead of rushing your personal agenda by waging campaign of vilification, demonization, fault finding and demolition. Don't fan other's frustrations, discontentment, hate, biases, prejudices, because you will end up in the same losing end like them. Instead, help clarify their issues and concerns, put them in order, and have them reach the minds and hearts of those in power for answers. Critique as you may and you should, it is your right and it is necessary at times, but don't work always, on the contrary, never counterflow; just struggle and unite and struggle and unite again and again until the greater good for broadest citizens are achieved. Be a humanist, not an animal in your thinking and ways. When your time comes by God's grace, you will just be surprised by the outcomes of your political maturity and endurance, the requisites for leveling up the game. And don't forget, live for something that is greater than life. That will make all the difference.  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Posted: 25 May 2021 05:49 AM PDT THE Philippines is currently caught again in a debate between face-to-face or online classes. Or probably a hybrid mode of teaching that combines tradition and virtual teaching. Sadly, I feel this debate will not resolve the labor mismatch that our country has been facing for years due to an educational system that has always highlighted theories and recognized unapplied information as knowledge to practical skills and knowledge based on the actual application of it. We are still stuck in a zone and not moving as fast as other countries in seriously institutionalizing what needs to really be done to ensure a knowledge-based economy. Progressive countries have long been creating strategies found to decrease labor-skills mismatch and to scale economic complexity in order to cater to the requirements of their national industries. My almost twenty years of driving and focusing on innovation gave me the opportunity to visit and observe the innovation ecosystems of ten countries and attend and participated in hundreds of innovation and knowledge development fellowships, seminars, and workshops. I feel so sad that the focus of our debate today is still about the mode of teaching instead of modes of learning. For many years, we have already shown how our educational system has not been at par with other countries even before the pandemic. Time and again, we have seen how our economic complexity is low compared to other countries because the competence and skillsets of our human resources are not aligned with industry requirements. For the innovators and schools who are already doing this, let's not quarrel. The innovation must be for the whole country, not just a few schools. This call is to put an end to our "to each his or her own" mentality. How I wish I am a national policymaker of this country. In the meantime, I will just share some of the strategies aligned with modes of learning. These are massive open online courses (MOOC), open universities, and quality apprenticeships following other models where industry training is incentivized and subsidized. In the international level, the term "quality apprenticeships" refers to a unique form of technical vocational education and training, combining on-the-job training and off-the-job learning, which enable learners from all walks of life to acquire the knowledge, skills, and competencies required to carry out a specific occupation. They are regulated and financed by laws and collective agreements and policy decisions arising from social dialogue, and require a written contract that details the respective roles and responsibilities of the apprentice and the employer; and they also provide the apprentice with remuneration and standard social protection coverage Other modes include industry expert mentorship, coaching, and calibration and industry immersions and work programs, roll out of discipline and skills-based certifications, and tiered or ladderized learning programs. Very effective ways of learning also include intensive research, publication and commercialization leading to intellectual property registration. The Philippines is one country with many research fellows but we still need to see a significant increase of numbers for Filipino patents and inventions. Creative ways also include group or learning peer learning and co-learning platforms, hackathons and practical competitions, ideation, rapid prototyping leading to learning Launch, customer validation exhibitions and commercialization. Instead of classrooms, our education system should create science and technology parks, incubation and innovation laboratories. Instead of debating about face-to-face classes, our educational system should design student and teacher exchange programs. Leaders should set the course for more jobs, create more strategies to ensure we have a skilled workforce necessary for the demands of Jobs of the Future. Leaders must help create a knowledge economy, where people build products and services of value to the global community. Leaders must empower stakeholders to understand and perform their respective roles in helping create more jobs. We cannot go on aimlessly as a country, feeding on daily national political drama without knowing exactly where we are heading. It is time to go into disruptive education mode.  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Hofileña: The Cantonal revolutionary government of Negros Posted: 25 May 2021 04:47 AM PDT THE very next day after the surrender of the Spanish forces in Bacolod on November 6, 1898, the Negrenses started consolidating their hold over the Island by creating a political organization relevant to their interests. They convened their first Assembly at the site of a former Recoletos School in Bacolod and gathered their delegates from the different towns including former presidents, other local officials and leaders. The first matter taken up was the election of a small Commission to sign the Acts of the Assembly and followed by the proposal submitted by Melecio Severino to elect the various positions of the new government which were approved unanimously as follows: President - Aniceto Lacson; Delegate of War - Juan Araneta; Delegate of Hacienda - Eusebio Luzuriaga; Delegate of Government-Simon Lizares; Delegate of Development- Nicolas Golez; Delegate of Justice – Antonio Jayme; Delegate of Agriculture and Commerce – Agustin Amenabar; Secretary – Melecio Severino; Sub-secretary - Fortunato Hugo; Military Commander – Rafael Ramos. The first act of President Lacson was to send a telegram to Katipunan President Emilio Aguinaldo; also another telegram to Roque Lopez of the Visayas Central Revolutionary Committee; and as friendly greetings, messages to the foreign consulates in Iloilo, especially to the Vice-Consuls of Germany, England, America, Switzerland and Portugal. From the beginning, Juan Araneta was in-charge of the new reorganization program and on November 11, Araneta called for the organization of popular assemblies in its town according to the instructions of the Negros Revolutionary Government. This was headed by a President, Delegate of Justice and Civil Registry, Delegate of Police and Internal Order, Delegate of Taxes and Property and a Headman in every barrio. Interestingly, Juan Araneta received a letter of appointment from President Aguinaldo to his Cabinet which Araneta politely declined explaining that he was already appointed to the Cabinet of the Negrense Revolutionary Government. The Provisional Government also sent out on its first session on November 27, a review of various directives of the Provisional Cantonal Government. An important message the Assembly sent was a decree to the Commandant of the American Squadron in Iloilo. This document showed the pragmatic act of the Negrenses of their desire to preserve their newly won independence and especially to clarify to the Americans that they were concerned of possible reprisals from the Spaniards in Luzon who had earlier proposed in the on-going Treaty of Paris that Spain wanted to continue to control the Visayas and Mindanao. Fortunately, the Americans did not agree to this proposal. On the first week of December 1898, the Negros Cantonal Government was already preparing for the election of Deputies of the new Government. As suggested by Juan Araneta, the Negros Assembly was to deputies to elect one deputy from every town of Negros Occidental. The Assembly also drafted an electoral code including qualifications of voters from all municipalities. The new Provisional Government was formally inaugurated on Christmas Day with festive activities including visiting officials from other areas. About one month after the inauguration, the news was announced that as part of the Treaty of Paris, the Spaniards had agreed to cede the Philippines to America for 20 million dollars. This prompted the Negros Cantonal officials to send an official commission including Jose Luzuriaga and Jose Ereneta to explain to the Americans that Negros should not be included in the turnover because the Negrenses had already driven out the Spanish forces in Negros on November 6, 1898 and had already declared itself an autonomous Provisional Government. Unfortunately, these developments did not help improve the relationships between the Negerenses and the Aguinlado Government or the American officials who were already taking over the Philippines. To briefly recall, the coming conflicts between the Aguinaldo government and the American occupying forces shortly led to the nationwide Philippine American war. Our coming columns will include developments on Negrense relationships with the Americans.  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
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