29 Filipino young leaders to join SSEAYP-Japan
by: Minerva BC Newman
CENTRAL VISAYAS, Oct 16 (PIA) -- Twenty-nine Filipino young leaders will represent the PHL as Philippine youth ambassadors to the 38th Ship for Southeast Asian Youth Program (SSEAYP).
More than 300 young delegates from Japan and the 10 ASEAN member states are expected to participate in this program to promote and strengthen friendship and cultural understanding among the ASEAN countries.
SSEAYP is a diplomatic and cultural exchange program among and between emerging youth leaders in Asia sponsored by the Government of Japan.
For fifty-two days, the delegates will be on board the cruise liner MS Fuji Maru from October 26 to December 16, 2011, visiting Japan , Philippines ( Manila ), Brunei Darussalam(Muara), Indonesia ( Jakarta ), Malaysia (Port Klang) and Vietnam (Ho Chi Minh).
According to the national Youth Commission (NYC) release, this year’s SSEAYP itinerary is exceptional since the Philippines will be one of the ports of call and venue of thefirst Country Programme, presenting the Philippine contingent, “PintigPinoy.”
During ports of call, the delegates will interact with the local youths and will be on a home-stay program.
They will also respond to courtesy calls of dignitaries and will do institutional visits in order to learn more about other Southeast Asian cultures and traditions.
The Philippines will serve as the venue of the first Country Program since it is also the first port of call of the Ship.
Here, the Philippine Contingent dubbed as ‘PintigPinoy’ along with its partners from both the government and public sectors will get the chance to showcase the Philippine culture and heritage as well as the development of the country’s industries.
In order to ensure that we are adequately prepared to participate and represent the country in this international undertaking, PintigPinoy is set to undergo a month-long series of seminars, trainings and preparatory activities focusing on diplomatic affairs, youth leadership, personal development and social decorum, culture and the arts in preparation for the cultural exchange and discussions they will have while aboard the Ship.
The PHL contingent will also prepare country papers to feature the best local practices in education, youth development and traditional culture among other activities.
Official delegates of the Philippines , along with their National Leader, were selected by the Office of the President, through the National Youth Commission. (PIA-7/MBCNewman & NYC-Visayas)
===========
29 Filipino young leaders to join SSEAYP-Japan
by: Minerva BC Newman
CENTRAL VISAYAS, Oct 16 (PIA) -- Twenty-nine Filipino young leaders will represent the PHL as Philippine youth ambassadors to the 38th Ship for Southeast Asian Youth Program (SSEAYP).
More than 300 young delegates from Japan and the 10 ASEAN member states are expected to participate in this program to promote and strengthen friendship and cultural understanding among the ASEAN countries.
SSEAYP is a diplomatic and cultural exchange program among and between emerging youth leaders in Asia sponsored by the Government of Japan.
For fifty-two days, the delegates will be on board the cruise liner MS Fuji Maru from October 26 to December 16, 2011, visiting Japan , Philippines ( Manila ), Brunei Darussalam(Muara), Indonesia ( Jakarta ), Malaysia (Port Klang) and Vietnam (Ho Chi Minh).
According to the national Youth Commission (NYC) release, this year’s SSEAYP itinerary is exceptional since the Philippines will be one of the ports of call and venue of thefirst Country Programme, presenting the Philippine contingent, “PintigPinoy.”
During ports of call, the delegates will interact with the local youths and will be on a home-stay program.
They will also respond to courtesy calls of dignitaries and will do institutional visits in order to learn more about other Southeast Asian cultures and traditions.
The Philippines will serve as the venue of the first Country Program since it is also the first port of call of the Ship.
Here, the Philippine Contingent dubbed as ‘PintigPinoy’ along with its partners from both the government and public sectors will get the chance to showcase the Philippine culture and heritage as well as the development of the country’s industries.
In order to ensure that we are adequately prepared to participate and represent the country in this international undertaking, PintigPinoy is set to undergo a month-long series of seminars, trainings and preparatory activities focusing on diplomatic affairs, youth leadership, personal development and social decorum, culture and the arts in preparation for the cultural exchange and discussions they will have while aboard the Ship.
The PHL contingent will also prepare country papers to feature the best local practices in education, youth development and traditional culture among other activities.
Official delegates of the Philippines , along with their National Leader, were selected by the Office of the President, through the National Youth Commission. (PIA-7/MBCNewman & NYC-Visayas)
=============
2,000 youth join 3rd run of heritage tour for students in Cebu
CEBU CITY, Oct 16 (PIA) -- More than 2,000 students from the University of San Carlos (USC) most of them in Filipiniana costumes, walked and rode tartanillas (horse-drawn carriage) and buses to the various museums and heritage sites in Cebu City during the “Kabataan, Kultura ug Kabilin” (KKK) Heritage Tour in September.
The Ramon Aboitiz Foundation Inc. initiated the event in partnership with the Cebu City Government, USC-Department of Anthropology, Sociology and History, 14 barangays and nine museums.
The 14 barangays included Cogon-Ramos, Day-as, Pari-an, Sambag II, San Antonio, San Roque, Tinago, Santo Niño, T. Padilla, Tejero, Zapatera, Pahina-Central, Santa Cruz, and Mabolo.
These barangays provided mini-buses for transport of participants and deployed barangay tanod to insure security in the tour route.
The participant museums included Casa Gorordo, Museo Parian sa Sugbo, University of Southern Philippines-Rizal Museum , Cathedral Museum of Cebu, Basilica Minore del Santo Niño Museum, Fort San Pedro, Museo Sugbo, Cebu Normal University Museum , and Cebu City Museum .
These museums and heritage sites are located in the city’s downtown and midtown districts that manifest the various periods of history—pre-Spanish, Spanish and American Colonial, Commonwealth, and World War II.
“Through the KKK, we were given an opportunity to see and visit the places that showcase our rich culture. This added to my knowledge about the past,” Aldrich Noble, a USC student said.
Volunteer tour guides from USC-Department of Anthropology, Sociology and History and RAFI’s partner barangays acquainted students on the museum exhibits and steered the flow of students in the tour route.
The tour ran from 2 to 5:30 p.m. A culminating program was held at the Casa Gorordo Museum at 6 to 7 p.m.
Magbabalak (Cebuano Poet) from Cordova and fire dancers from Barangay San Roque entertained the students.
Awards for best male, female and group costumes were also given to the participants.
The “Kabataan, Kultura ug Kabilin Heritage Tour” aims to provide the youth expanded learning on cultures from different periods by visiting local museums and heritage sites.
It was patterned after the “Gabii sa Kabilin” (A Night of Heritage) that RAFI organized every May for tourists.
KKK is an initiative under the Culture & Heritage focus area of RAFI, believing that a confident community begins with a strong sense of identity..
For more information on KKK, please contact 418-7234 loc. 703 and look for Karl Hegel Damayo.(PIA-7/MBCN & RAFI)
==========
RAFI encourages Cebuano kids to appreciate their heritage
By: Minerva BC Newman
CENTRAL VISAYAS, Oct 16 (PIA)-- To develop children’s appreciation of Cebuano culture and heritage, the Ramon Aboitiz Foundation, Inc., a leading NGO in Cebu initiated a program called “Kids at the Museum.”
Casa Gorordo Museum curator Florencio Moreño II, said in an interview over DYLA program ‘Pagtuki’ said, Kids at the Museum is an activity that allows children ages six to 12 years old from different barangays in Cebu City to gain more knowledge about Cebuano culture and heritage through visits to museums and heritage sites.
These museums and heritage sites included in the program are Casa Gorordo Museum , Yap-San Diego Ancestral House, Cathedral Museum of Cebu, and Heritage Monument of Cebu.
Moreno explained that during visits at museums, the children also got to play Filipino or Cebuano games.
The children will also undergo literary workshops in writing Cebuano poems or ‘Balaks’, and storytelling of Cebuano stories.
“Kids at the Museum” runs every Saturday for the whole of October, Moreno said.
Carmella Sanchez, gender and development officer of Barangay Sto. Nino in Cebu City noted that children look forward to playing Cebuano games during museum visits. Barangay Sto. Nino is one of the partner barangays of the project.
"Gagmay naman gud ang mga kalsada karon maong dili na kaayo sila kaduwa og labang-labang o dakop-dakop,” (The roads we have now are narrow so our children could not play labang-labangor dakop-dakop) Sanchez explained over the radio program ‘Pagtuki’.
With the advent of the Internet, do children still appreciate Cebuano culture and heritage? Moreno asked. He pointed out that there is a need for schools and parents to initiate teaching children the Cebuano culture through playing Filipino games.
“Among others, the children should be allowed to play Cebuano games, such as shatung, dakup-dakop, tumba-lata, and labang-labang.
He said it is okay to learn news things but “we should also know our culture.” Knowing one’s roots could improve the children's appreciation for Cebuano culture and heritage as well as make them proud as Cebuanos.
"Importante nga mintras bata pa sila, aduna na silay appreciation sa atong culture aron ila sab ma-share sa uban, hilabi na karon nga gitawag ang Cebu City og ASEAN City of Culture,” (While they are still children, it is important that they already develop a sense of appreciation of our culture that they could share with others, especially now that Cebu City is declared as an ASEAN City of Culture) Moreño explained.
The ASEAN Ministers Responsible for Culture and the Arts + 3 has selected Cebu City to be the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) City of Culture because of its creative industries. (PIA-7 & RAFI)
==========
Feature: DSWD’s ‘cash for work’ promotes grassroots commerce
By: Minerva BC Newman
CENTRAL VISAYAS, Oct 16 (PIA) -- The last weekend of September 2011 was an unusual scene to remember at the Mabinay town market.
DSWD-7 Pantawid Pamilya regional coordinator, Aileen Lariba could not forget the images she had recorded on still cam those two days.
Droves of farmers and fisher-folks, mostly fathers were seen bargaining on the prices of a kilo of fresh and salted fish; some bundles of Kangkong; vegetables; sacks of rice and most of all a little or two delicacies for their waiting children either at home or at the roadside with their mothers or some family members.
September 24 and 25 were the days that the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD-7) in Central Visayas paid out some P13M cash to 4,462 small scale farmers and fishermen of Mabinay town in Negros Oriental for their 11-days work under the “cash for work, cash for training” program.
Lariba said, instead of mothers and or women marketing she saw men haggling for prices and sacks of rice disappeared from counters to their shoulders or to a waiting Pedicab.
“Most of those men received nearly P3,000 each under the DSWD’s Rice Subsidy Program and most of them are also Pantawid Pamilya beneficiaries,” Lariba added.
Lariba noted on those days that “contrary to what we hear that when men have cash and goes out in groups, they end up drunk or broke due to betting on cockpits but those fathers in Mabinay put this belief to mere hearsay.”
Reneboy Kadusale, 35, from Barangay Pandanon has three children and he said; “Na-anad raba akong mga anak nga lami mi ug sud-an sama sa preskong isda or baboy kung na-a miy madawat sa gobyerno sama sa Pantawid Pamilya diin mupalit gyud dayon ilang mama ug gatas ug pan tam-is. Ug akong asawa maghuwat pud to nga magdala ko ug bugas. Maghuwat pud to sila nako.” (My children are now used to expecting something good for dinner such as fresh fish or pork whenever we receive something from the government such as during Pantawid Pamilya pay-outs wherein their mother always buys them milk and sweet bread as something nice. My wife now is also expecting that I bring in a sack of rice. They are all waiting for me.) he said excitedly.
Reneboy added, “ingon akong asawa nga gi ingon sa ilang meeting nga di gyud kuno na pakalimtan nga gahinan ug pagkaon ang mga bata para saktong panglawas labi na ang utan.” (My wife said that during the meetings, it is emphasized not to forget about food for good nutrition especially vegetables) said Reneboy as he picked up a bundle of kangkong.
Reneboy is just one of the nearly 4,500 fathers swarming the market place that day and all of them with a common goal of buying something good for their waiting wife and children.
Opportunities abound everywhere not just for the beneficiaries but also for small time entrepreneurs who were seen excitedly waiting by the entrance and exits of the municipal gym where the pay-out was held.
The vendors were there with their rice cakes, bread, ice water and juices, house wares and clothing. They were not disappointed at the end of the day because commerce was really brisk.
Habal-habal (motorcycle) drivers too got their share of good news as they made thrice their normal boundary as they ferried fathers to the market place and to their respective homes.
More than P13M was distributed on those two days (September 24-25) that increased opportunities for commerce as sacks of rice disappeared one by one from the counters straight to the shoulders of fathers or a waiting pedicab. Goods were also sold out!
Most of all more than 4000 families in those week nights shared a happy and healthy meal strengthening family bonds they needed to face the challenges in crossing poverty threshold together. (PIA-7 & DSWD-7)