www.soriano-ph.com

LINK: ‘Note Verbale‘, Manila Times (Sunday-Career Section) – 8 June 2008 Issue

Jessica Price is a nineteen year old lass from South Africa, a world-class and champion debater in her home country and participated in the World Schools Debating Championships in South Korea and Wales as part of her national team. Price is the daughter of the incoming Vice-Chancellor of the University of Capetown.

She visited the country as part of her educational tour before pursuing her college education in medicine. Before coming over, she knew of the Philippines but never had any particular impression of the country and its people except that perhaps this political territory is mostly rural in orientation.

After more than a week of stay, Price finds Filipinos as very family-oriented, hospitable and kind.  In the process, she was introduced and met new friends, hopefully to keep.

She was surprised with the enormous developments particularly in Metro Manila that at one point she gave up touring the malls and some entertainment centers feeling that she had enough of them..  She thinks that the average Filipino inulges more on consumer spending rather than on savings.

She finds Filipino dishes very much different from her home country, which were more European and American tasting. But the hamburger from this country’s very own Jollibee certainly suited her taste buds.  In fact, even her senses rated the smell of the metropolis in general to be like its food, sweet, tasty and spicy; although she did observe the heavy smog in the skyline during early mornings.

Like any other tourists who visited this country, Price had a taste of the rural areas and the beach front facing the South China Sea. For someone like her who loves to swim and scuba dive but lives in the landlocked city of Johannesburg, the sea puts a smile on her face.

Much as she wanted to visit the more than seven thousand islands of this beautiful country, she too got the caution from where she came from that Mindanao and some areas in the Visayas are not suitable for foreigner like her travelling alone because of the perennial terrorism tag brought about by kidnapppings for ransom of long ago.

She had been to historical places and museums particularly in Manila and saw first hand the richness of the country’s cultural heritage and traditions under colonial rule. After driving around some nook and corner of the Old City, she feels that it is still highly influenced by Spain.

Price shares her country’s problem on poverty and the quality of, and access to, public education which are almost akin here. She and her people are particularly proud of Nelson Mandela, a South African statesman who was released from prison to become his nation’s president during the first multi-racial elections in 1994. Old as he is, Mandela seems to be the moving icon of his country. Many of his countrymen like Price feels that his presence is something that continues to hold that nation together despite all the hardships a typical developing country have to brace. This country could only hope that it has a living icon like Mandela whom Filipinos would listen to like a father speaking to his children, especially in times of political uncertainties.
 
Except perhaps for our very humid weather, there was no doubt that Price finds the country and its people likeable. The Philippines is Price’s first taste of Asia and for sure she was not disappointed.

Jessica Price is a young tourist and her observations are as valid as any other foreigners who visited this country for the first time, many of whom in fact fell in love with it.

This nation may not be great in many respects. But certainly it is beautiful in many other aspects. And that is something Filipinos could be proud when they celebrate Independence Day this week.

LINK: ‘Note Verbale’, Manila Times (Sunday-Career Times) – 30 March 2008 Issue

Congratulations to the hundreds of thousands of Filipino youth who received or will receive their diplomas in various graduation rites this month of March and next month after completing their elementary, secondary or tertiary education for school year 2007-2008.

Special kudos to James Soriano and the rest of the Ateneo High School Batch 2008 as they officially bid farewell to high school life today.

Former US President John F. Kennedy once reminded his countrymen that “Our progress as a nation can be no swifter than our progress in education. The human mind is our fundamental resource.” 

US educator Horace Mann, the first great American advocate of public education in the mid-nineteenth century put it in this wise: “Education, then, beyond all other devices of human origin, is the great equalizer of the conditions of men, the balance-wheel of the social machinery.”

Everywhere in the world, there is no argument that education is a key element in emancipating individuals, families and nations from the bondage of poverty and misery.  This country in fact even ordained in its Constitution to give the highest budgetary priorities in government spending for education.

But it seems that the world, including the Philippines, is merely paying lip service to the vital role of education in human survival and progress.

Some global reports and statistics say that today, there are still 125 million children who never attend school. At least 150 million children of primary age start school but drop out before they read or write. The United Nations Millennium Development Goals Report 2007 notes that based on enrolment data, approximately 72 million children of primary school age in the developing world, 57 percent of whom were girls, were not in school in 2005.

One out of four adults in the developing world is illiterate. Nearly a billion people entered the twenty first century unable to read a book or sign their names. A child in Mozambique is fortunate to go to school for two to three years while European or American child spends at least seventeen years of formal education.

And yet, according to the magazine, New Internationalist, less than one per cent of what the world spent every year on weapons was needed to put every child into school by the year 2000 and yet it never happened.

In the Philippines, the enrolment ratio of children going to school seems high. Most of them though are in the public school system presumably because most families are unable to afford the exorbitant costs of private education. In fact, less than 20% of Filipino children are enrolled in private schools. And this aggravates the perennial predicament on the inadequacy of classroom and academic facilities, books, and qualified and competent teachers that necessitate huge public spending allocation every year. Worse, it is perceived, and the perception is most likely true, that there is a great disparity between the quality of education between private schools and public schools. 

The irony of it all is that the country’s educational system graduates hundreds of thousand of students every year many of whom obviously appear undeserving of the diplomas that they hang in the walls of their homes. It is a case of education for diploma’s sake and not for learning’s sake. Thus, it is no coincidence that the country still nurses a high rate of underemployment and unemployment. Filipinos use their diplomas simply as a passport to get a job period. Never mind if their employment is not necessarily what they prepared for after at least fourteen years in school.

Education does not guarantee success, wealth or fame. Education offers only the hope and the preparation for the attainment of human aspirations at the very least. In the scheme of things, getting educated is certainly most important than just having a diploma. 

The poverty of education looms. The world would not afford to have tomorrow’s parents and leaders out of today’s uneducated children and educated derelicts.

Today my eldest son, James, ends his three-day Annual Senior Retreat at the Sacred Heart Novitiate in Novaliches, Quezon City as part of the Ateneo High School formation program. As he comes out of the retreat house, I offer to him the following prayers:

Jesus, our Risen Lord, I dearly love my son but I know that You and Our Father love him more dearly.

As he goes through with his own life, guide him always in his mission and purpose in accordance with Your Will.

Make him, most especially, your disciple of peace, love and compassion in this world of conflict and indifference.

Every day of his life, keep him away from sins and protect him from all harm, temptations and anxieties.

Show him constantly that God’s Kingdom exists not only in Heaven but also on Earth.  Amen.

May God bless you always, my beloved son.

“To stand up against social injustice, it takes a man who will become the sacrificial lamb.” – James Soriano (culled from my son’s entry in his blog on 24 March 2007  which I personally find interesting because it captures the realities in our society today. You can view the entire entry by clicking http://crazy4this-girl.livejournal.com/89738.html)