Every time somebody drowns in the waters off Bonuan Beach, I always hear people say that that beach takes lives every year, as if the sea water is a living monster that preys every so often on unsuspecting beachgoers.
.
With the drowning last Saturday of four teenagers in Bonuan Beach, I heard that statement again not just from one but from many people. It suddenly dawned on me that with the frequency the statement has been repeated and told to several people, it has somehow acquired a semblance of truth that more and more people tend to believe in it now than simply ignore it.
I wondered if somebody has thought of building a database on the drowning incidents in the area and have it analyzed by experts. This is not, of course, to establish whether the beach is a monster or not, but to find out if there is a pattern that can be drawn from these incidents and come up with a scientific explanation on why the drowning happened.
Doing this will not only change people’s superstitious beliefs about the beach but it will also enable us to adopt measures to prevent drowning in the future.
For instance, if from the database we are able to pinpoint areas where these drowning incidents occurred, then we can mark the area to warn the swimmers to take the necessary precautions just like what we do in accident-prone areas of highways.
Also, by knowing the water behavior during the dates and times the incidents happened, we will be able to caution the beachgoers about it, effectively preventing them from possible death.
With the city government’s development of the Tondaligan to make it more attractive to tourists, part of it should be the deployment of trained and fully equipped lifeguards. These lifeguards will be there not just to react when somebody is drowning, but to constantly watch over beachgoers and swimmers and warn them if they are no longer within the designated swimming areas.
While this will entail additional expenses to the city government, the lifeguards’ presence will enhance the image of the Bonuan Beach as a safe area, luring more tourists to the city because of it and increasing economic activity in the process.
It may be worth the city government’s investment in the long run.
*****
The last time I entered the Saint Louis University campus in Baguio City was in June 1981, when I accompanied a cousin to enroll there. At that time, the campus was already impressive and imposing, standing tall to assert its superiority as the biggest university in Northern Luzon.
I was there last Friday and I found out that the campus has expanded with the addition of some buildings and the expansion of the others. I was particularly surprised to find out that the men’s dormitory, where I stayed for four years while I was a student there, has been literally annexed to the Sacred Heart Hospital beside it through an overhead walkway connecting the two buildings’ third floors.
Being one of the first residents of that dorm when it opened in 1976, seeing it being converted into a hospital made me somewhat nostalgic and sentimental and the memories of the days and nights I spent in that dorm immediately came to mind.
I had thought at first that the university administration has completely dropped the idea of running a men’s dorm. But to my surprise, it did not. It has instead built a new four-story building at Assumption Rd., just outside the hospital driveway -- a bigger dorm that can accommodate up to 250 residents, compared to the 200 residents that the old dorm housed.
I learned later that the same amenities were there – rooms roomy enough for four students, one locker and study table for each resident, a spacious bath and wash room in each floor, a mess hall and reception areas.
The house rules we dreaded are still there and they have been modified to plug loopholes and ensure that its residents achieve “academic excellence.” I remember that it was during our time when the open-door study period from 8:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. began. This was imposed after the dorm masters discovered that many residents did not study their lessons and had failing grades at the end of the semester. During the study period, dorm masters would go from one room to another to see to it that its occupants are really studying.
To parents, this is instilling discipline and developing students to be responsible while they are away from their parents. This is also a reassurance that inside that dorm, the students are safe and secure.
QUICK QUOTE: Never worry about numbers. Help one person at a time, and always start with the person nearest you. -- Mother Teresa
Tuesday, April 19, 2005
Tuesday, April 12, 2005
Four-day work week
Yesterday, the city hall opened at 7:30 a.m. and closed at 6:30 p.m., longer than the usual 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. working hours. It was the first day of the implementation of the four-day work week this summer, based on a directive of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.
Although most city hall offices will now open Monday to Thursday (frontline services, such the Waste Management Division, police, etc. are exempted), each government employee will still be working 40 hours a week as mandated by law.
To the national government, the scheme means energy savings. Millions of pesos. To most government employees, it will be longer weekends this summer.
To the people, they can now transact with government offices earlier. Hopefully. That is, if government employees will really report on time. As radio commentator Orly Navarro rightly observes, even if offices open at 7:30 a.m., but its employees or department heads report at 9 a.m., the four-day work week will not mean anything.
If the national government really wants to save energy, then it has to think of measures more than just the four-day work week scheme. Although it has been relentlessly urging people to save energy in its radio and television ads, the message do not seem to sink in. Maybe, this is because the people do not see the government adopting energy-saving measures.
For instance, the use of government vehicles has not been very strict. Even on weekends, we see several red plates in malls, public markets, beaches, cockpit arenas – in places where they should not be. These vehicles consume gasoline paid for by the people’s money.
In offices, there have been lights-off and aircon-off times, but these were hardly observed. And what about the street lights and water faucets for public use? These are but small details that need the government’s attention.
In other words, if the government wants the people to save, then it should be the first one to do it for the people to see. Leadership by example.
By simply seeing to it that the lights are turned off at the proper time in government offices, leaking faucets are repaired and government vehicles are used properly, millions of pesos of energy would already be saved.
*****
It’s fiesta time. Any town you go this summer in Pangasinan, there’s a festive mood.
Just last week, Bayambang and Mapandan were celebrating. Bayambang had its fiesta in honor of its patron, St. Vincent Ferrer. Ten days of fun and celebration.
Mapandan had its Pandan Festival, a week long festivity. We were there last Wednesday to witness the inauguration of several buildings around the town square.
In Bayambang, when we saw Mayor Leo de Vera on the day the cycling race he sponsored was circling the third district, he was a picture of a happy man. His residence at Barangay Bical was a place everybody admired. Not so much for the imposing landscaping being completed but for its kitchen that doesn’t seem to run out of food.
Anyone who enters his compound eats. And in a day’s time, his staff may have fed thousands of people. For 10 days.
Whew!
ENDNOTES: Third district Rep. Gener Tulagan was in Mapandan with presidential son, Pampanga Rep. Mikey Arroyo, when the news about his ailing and aging mother’s death came through that Wednesday morning. He was very calm, as those who have learned about it condoled with him. Manong Gener, the strong and religious person that we know, may have long prepared for it and just left everything to God. He knows that in finally meeting her Creator, his mother is in now safe hands. Interment will be on Thursday, April 14.
QUICK QUOTE: The human heart feels things the eyes cannot see, and knows what the mind cannot understand. --Robert Vallett
Although most city hall offices will now open Monday to Thursday (frontline services, such the Waste Management Division, police, etc. are exempted), each government employee will still be working 40 hours a week as mandated by law.
To the national government, the scheme means energy savings. Millions of pesos. To most government employees, it will be longer weekends this summer.
To the people, they can now transact with government offices earlier. Hopefully. That is, if government employees will really report on time. As radio commentator Orly Navarro rightly observes, even if offices open at 7:30 a.m., but its employees or department heads report at 9 a.m., the four-day work week will not mean anything.
If the national government really wants to save energy, then it has to think of measures more than just the four-day work week scheme. Although it has been relentlessly urging people to save energy in its radio and television ads, the message do not seem to sink in. Maybe, this is because the people do not see the government adopting energy-saving measures.
For instance, the use of government vehicles has not been very strict. Even on weekends, we see several red plates in malls, public markets, beaches, cockpit arenas – in places where they should not be. These vehicles consume gasoline paid for by the people’s money.
In offices, there have been lights-off and aircon-off times, but these were hardly observed. And what about the street lights and water faucets for public use? These are but small details that need the government’s attention.
In other words, if the government wants the people to save, then it should be the first one to do it for the people to see. Leadership by example.
By simply seeing to it that the lights are turned off at the proper time in government offices, leaking faucets are repaired and government vehicles are used properly, millions of pesos of energy would already be saved.
*****
It’s fiesta time. Any town you go this summer in Pangasinan, there’s a festive mood.
Just last week, Bayambang and Mapandan were celebrating. Bayambang had its fiesta in honor of its patron, St. Vincent Ferrer. Ten days of fun and celebration.
Mapandan had its Pandan Festival, a week long festivity. We were there last Wednesday to witness the inauguration of several buildings around the town square.
In Bayambang, when we saw Mayor Leo de Vera on the day the cycling race he sponsored was circling the third district, he was a picture of a happy man. His residence at Barangay Bical was a place everybody admired. Not so much for the imposing landscaping being completed but for its kitchen that doesn’t seem to run out of food.
Anyone who enters his compound eats. And in a day’s time, his staff may have fed thousands of people. For 10 days.
Whew!
ENDNOTES: Third district Rep. Gener Tulagan was in Mapandan with presidential son, Pampanga Rep. Mikey Arroyo, when the news about his ailing and aging mother’s death came through that Wednesday morning. He was very calm, as those who have learned about it condoled with him. Manong Gener, the strong and religious person that we know, may have long prepared for it and just left everything to God. He knows that in finally meeting her Creator, his mother is in now safe hands. Interment will be on Thursday, April 14.
QUICK QUOTE: The human heart feels things the eyes cannot see, and knows what the mind cannot understand. --Robert Vallett
Tuesday, April 05, 2005
On tourism
When I was with the City Information Office, a Canadian backpacker was accompanied to my office one afternoon by a City Mayor’s Office receptionist. The Caucasian woman, who must have been in her mid-60s, was visibly mad.
And even before I could ask her what her problem was, she said, “I hope this time, I will get the right direction. Nobody in this city seems to give the right directions.”
“What happened?” I asked.
“Well, when I got off this bus, I took a tricycle and told the driver to take me to a pension house. You know where he took me?” she said.
“Where?” I asked.
“To some insurance company!” she said. (The poor lady was apparently taken to the Pension Plan Inc. office, I would learn later.)
I have actually shared this story over and over again to friends to drive home the point that Dagupan City has to do a lot of catching up in terms of putting in place tourism support structures if it wants to establish itself as a major tourist destination in Pangasinan.
Now that summer has begun, for instance, and tourists will be trooping once again to our beaches in Bonuan, there should be an office where these tourists can go to for assistance. If they want information about hotels and lodging houses, restaurants, Internet cafes and even about the details of the Bangus Festival in the city, someone authoritative should provide them the answers.
While it is true that the Tondaligan management office, now headed by a colleague, Dino Zabala, is in the area, it may not be the right office because it was created for a completely different task. It may not also be ready to provide all the “right directions” that tourists would want.
Except for the City Tourism Office, which, by the way, is based at the city hall, tourists visiting the city have no one else to turn to if they want access to tourism facilities and attractions that the city has to offer. Especially for first timers, finding the way to the Bonuan beaches, for instance, may be very frustrating and traumatic.
In short, it is now high time for the city to establish tourist information and assistance centers in strategic places of the city where visitors can go to get some assistance. Tourists usually feel safer and reassured if they get help from a government office or from a tourism organization (like the City Tourism Council) than, say, from a tricycle or jeepney driver. Tourists would feel, too, that they are being warmly welcomed to the city if they find it easy to get help.
Regular seminars for frontline sectors, such as transport groups and food servers, on their role in the tourism industry should also be conducted. This sector should be well-informed about the city’s attractions and its tourist facilities. Teaching them to be polite and hospitable will also help.
Then, of course, a website would be helpful. Today, people intending to visit a certain place would first surf the Internet for any information about it. It is usually in the websites where prospective tourists get telephone numbers of hotels and restaurants, suggested itinerary, and even roadmaps.
Unfortunately, Dagupan City’s website is still under construction.
ENDNOTES: In just a span of seven days, while he was acting city mayor, Vice Mayor Alvin Fernandez turned over some P300,000 worth of medicines, which he received as donations, to the City Health Office. The first shipment worth P200,000 of assorted medicines, came from Social Welfare Secretary Dinky Soliman. The rest was from Sen. Mar Roxas.
QUICK QUOTE: We hang the petty thieves and appoint the great ones to public office. -- Aesop (~550 BC)
And even before I could ask her what her problem was, she said, “I hope this time, I will get the right direction. Nobody in this city seems to give the right directions.”
“What happened?” I asked.
“Well, when I got off this bus, I took a tricycle and told the driver to take me to a pension house. You know where he took me?” she said.
“Where?” I asked.
“To some insurance company!” she said. (The poor lady was apparently taken to the Pension Plan Inc. office, I would learn later.)
I have actually shared this story over and over again to friends to drive home the point that Dagupan City has to do a lot of catching up in terms of putting in place tourism support structures if it wants to establish itself as a major tourist destination in Pangasinan.
Now that summer has begun, for instance, and tourists will be trooping once again to our beaches in Bonuan, there should be an office where these tourists can go to for assistance. If they want information about hotels and lodging houses, restaurants, Internet cafes and even about the details of the Bangus Festival in the city, someone authoritative should provide them the answers.
While it is true that the Tondaligan management office, now headed by a colleague, Dino Zabala, is in the area, it may not be the right office because it was created for a completely different task. It may not also be ready to provide all the “right directions” that tourists would want.
Except for the City Tourism Office, which, by the way, is based at the city hall, tourists visiting the city have no one else to turn to if they want access to tourism facilities and attractions that the city has to offer. Especially for first timers, finding the way to the Bonuan beaches, for instance, may be very frustrating and traumatic.
In short, it is now high time for the city to establish tourist information and assistance centers in strategic places of the city where visitors can go to get some assistance. Tourists usually feel safer and reassured if they get help from a government office or from a tourism organization (like the City Tourism Council) than, say, from a tricycle or jeepney driver. Tourists would feel, too, that they are being warmly welcomed to the city if they find it easy to get help.
Regular seminars for frontline sectors, such as transport groups and food servers, on their role in the tourism industry should also be conducted. This sector should be well-informed about the city’s attractions and its tourist facilities. Teaching them to be polite and hospitable will also help.
Then, of course, a website would be helpful. Today, people intending to visit a certain place would first surf the Internet for any information about it. It is usually in the websites where prospective tourists get telephone numbers of hotels and restaurants, suggested itinerary, and even roadmaps.
Unfortunately, Dagupan City’s website is still under construction.
ENDNOTES: In just a span of seven days, while he was acting city mayor, Vice Mayor Alvin Fernandez turned over some P300,000 worth of medicines, which he received as donations, to the City Health Office. The first shipment worth P200,000 of assorted medicines, came from Social Welfare Secretary Dinky Soliman. The rest was from Sen. Mar Roxas.
QUICK QUOTE: We hang the petty thieves and appoint the great ones to public office. -- Aesop (~550 BC)
Friday, April 01, 2005
Graduation woes
Every year, closing exercises, especially in public schools are hounded by controversies. If it’s not about graduation fees, it’s on the selection of honor students.
We cannot understand why these problems still crop out when the Department of Education had always made clear its policies, especially on the holding of graduation exercises.
For this year, for instance, Education Secretary Butch Abad issued DepEd Order No. 8, s. 2005 last February 28, which stipulates, among others, the following:
“No non-academic project shall be imposed as a requirement for graduation;
“Public schools are not allowed to collect any graduation fees or any kind of contribution for graduation rites;
“PTA/PTCAs may solicit voluntary contributions from their members for graduation ceremonies and celebrations. Teachers and principals should not be involved in the collection of these contributions. PTA/PTCA members should be informed about the use of any contribution for graduation;
“No extravagant special attire or extraordinary venue for the ceremonies should be required; and
“Contribution for the annual yearbook shall likewise be on a voluntary basis.”
From the order, it is clear that the kind of graduation ceremonies to be held – whether it’s simple, quite extravagant or simply festive -- is in the hands of the Parents-Teachers Association. But the problem is, although all parents of students enrolled in a school are automatic PTA members, not all of them attend its meetings. So, when an agreement has been reached on the kind of graduation ceremony to be held, as well the amount of contribution, complaints begin to mount.
Many parents want to see their children in a graduation ceremony that is solemn and memorable. After all, as one mother said, graduation is not a yearly exercise for her daughter and she would also want to make her daughter remember and enjoy it as her reward for completing her high school education.
But then again, even if other parents would want the same for their children, the economic factor sets in. In public schools, especially, many students patiently attend their classes, even if it means skipping some meals for them, just so that they can finish high school. Parents, too, despite their financial limitations, push their children to go to school, hoping that by finishing something, they would have better jobs in the future – maybe, better than scavenging or doing laundry work.
But many of them no longer attend the graduation program because they really cannot afford to buy even the barest necessities – like a pair of shoes, pants and shirt -- for the program. What about the toga rental and other incidentals?
But really, graduation programs need not be expensive. It should not burden those who really don’t have money to spare but who want to see their children march up the stage to receive their diplomas. DepEd think tanks should now sit down to come up with a standardized graduation exercises. Something simple yet memorable; festive yet solemn.
*****
Two of my young daughters attend a private school in Calasiao town. It’s called the Señor Tesoro Academy. (No, it’s not an expensive school; otherwise, I wouldn’t have enrolled them there.)
Aside from its competent faculty members, who are setting the high standard for the school, I am impressed at the way the Parents-Teachers and Community Association is run and managed. (Well, I don’t attend its meetings. With my workload, I can only find time for school activities where my two young ones are participants.)
I said it’s impressive because I have yet to hear a complaint from any parent about PTCA decisions, especially when it comes to school activities that require contributions.
Okay, I hear you -- parents there can afford to pay whatever contributions there are. But that’s completely beside the point because I have seen instances in other organizations where its members complain even if they have all the money in the world.
As I said, it is the way an organization is run that matters. Even if my wife and I do not attend its meetings, we are notified about it and we are told of the agenda that will be discussed. The notices have been in fact so detailed and polite that even if you did not attend a particular meeting, you would know what had transpired.
I guess this makes the big difference. And this sets apart the Señor Tesoro Academy PTCA above other PTCAs that I know. Properly informing the parents about school activities really makes the difference.
Oh, by the way, its president, I was told, is Simone de Vera.
ENDNOTES: Tomorrow, Bayambang begins celebrating its nine-day fiesta, in honor of its patron saint, St. Vincent Ferrer. With Mayor Leo de Vera himself as hermano mayor, this year’s celebration introduces new events, which will all be a good treat to every Bayambang resident. The Binasuan Night, for instance, revives a traditional folkdance that originated from the towns many, many years ago. Likewise, this year’s Miss Bayambang Beauty Pageant chaired by Vice Mayor Boy Ramos, promises to be a delightful show for everyone with its new choreography and presentation concepts. On the religious aspect of the fiesta, Libot na Saray Sasanto will be held for the first time, featuring all the patron saints of the towns 77 barangays.
QUOTE: Every day you may make progress. Every step may be fruitful. Yet there will stretch out before you an ever-lengthening, ever-ascending, ever-improving path. You know you will never get to the end of the journey. But this, so far from discouraging, only adds to the joy and glory of the climb. -- Sir Winston Churchill (1874 - 1965)
We cannot understand why these problems still crop out when the Department of Education had always made clear its policies, especially on the holding of graduation exercises.
For this year, for instance, Education Secretary Butch Abad issued DepEd Order No. 8, s. 2005 last February 28, which stipulates, among others, the following:
“No non-academic project shall be imposed as a requirement for graduation;
“Public schools are not allowed to collect any graduation fees or any kind of contribution for graduation rites;
“PTA/PTCAs may solicit voluntary contributions from their members for graduation ceremonies and celebrations. Teachers and principals should not be involved in the collection of these contributions. PTA/PTCA members should be informed about the use of any contribution for graduation;
“No extravagant special attire or extraordinary venue for the ceremonies should be required; and
“Contribution for the annual yearbook shall likewise be on a voluntary basis.”
From the order, it is clear that the kind of graduation ceremonies to be held – whether it’s simple, quite extravagant or simply festive -- is in the hands of the Parents-Teachers Association. But the problem is, although all parents of students enrolled in a school are automatic PTA members, not all of them attend its meetings. So, when an agreement has been reached on the kind of graduation ceremony to be held, as well the amount of contribution, complaints begin to mount.
Many parents want to see their children in a graduation ceremony that is solemn and memorable. After all, as one mother said, graduation is not a yearly exercise for her daughter and she would also want to make her daughter remember and enjoy it as her reward for completing her high school education.
But then again, even if other parents would want the same for their children, the economic factor sets in. In public schools, especially, many students patiently attend their classes, even if it means skipping some meals for them, just so that they can finish high school. Parents, too, despite their financial limitations, push their children to go to school, hoping that by finishing something, they would have better jobs in the future – maybe, better than scavenging or doing laundry work.
But many of them no longer attend the graduation program because they really cannot afford to buy even the barest necessities – like a pair of shoes, pants and shirt -- for the program. What about the toga rental and other incidentals?
But really, graduation programs need not be expensive. It should not burden those who really don’t have money to spare but who want to see their children march up the stage to receive their diplomas. DepEd think tanks should now sit down to come up with a standardized graduation exercises. Something simple yet memorable; festive yet solemn.
*****
Two of my young daughters attend a private school in Calasiao town. It’s called the Señor Tesoro Academy. (No, it’s not an expensive school; otherwise, I wouldn’t have enrolled them there.)
Aside from its competent faculty members, who are setting the high standard for the school, I am impressed at the way the Parents-Teachers and Community Association is run and managed. (Well, I don’t attend its meetings. With my workload, I can only find time for school activities where my two young ones are participants.)
I said it’s impressive because I have yet to hear a complaint from any parent about PTCA decisions, especially when it comes to school activities that require contributions.
Okay, I hear you -- parents there can afford to pay whatever contributions there are. But that’s completely beside the point because I have seen instances in other organizations where its members complain even if they have all the money in the world.
As I said, it is the way an organization is run that matters. Even if my wife and I do not attend its meetings, we are notified about it and we are told of the agenda that will be discussed. The notices have been in fact so detailed and polite that even if you did not attend a particular meeting, you would know what had transpired.
I guess this makes the big difference. And this sets apart the Señor Tesoro Academy PTCA above other PTCAs that I know. Properly informing the parents about school activities really makes the difference.
Oh, by the way, its president, I was told, is Simone de Vera.
ENDNOTES: Tomorrow, Bayambang begins celebrating its nine-day fiesta, in honor of its patron saint, St. Vincent Ferrer. With Mayor Leo de Vera himself as hermano mayor, this year’s celebration introduces new events, which will all be a good treat to every Bayambang resident. The Binasuan Night, for instance, revives a traditional folkdance that originated from the towns many, many years ago. Likewise, this year’s Miss Bayambang Beauty Pageant chaired by Vice Mayor Boy Ramos, promises to be a delightful show for everyone with its new choreography and presentation concepts. On the religious aspect of the fiesta, Libot na Saray Sasanto will be held for the first time, featuring all the patron saints of the towns 77 barangays.
QUOTE: Every day you may make progress. Every step may be fruitful. Yet there will stretch out before you an ever-lengthening, ever-ascending, ever-improving path. You know you will never get to the end of the journey. But this, so far from discouraging, only adds to the joy and glory of the climb. -- Sir Winston Churchill (1874 - 1965)
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