351 Media Movement- Preparing The Filipino Youth

Leaders of 351 Media Movement, Preparing The Filipino Youth, in the Philippines. L-R: Delfin Diezmo, Ruby Tan, Manny Lumba, Ian Barcelona, Zonny Lerum, Jr., Joey Lina, Butch Belgica, Jojo Gonzales, Lloyd Luna, Pocholo Gonzales

The 351 Media Movement logo and emblem

NEW JERSEY, USA—Without doubt, the youth is the hope of tomorrow. But it is the older generation that is the hope of the youth. The 351 Media Movement will call for the older generation here in the United States and other parts of the world to rally behind the youth. Our target is the youth in the Philippines, because we want to change the Philippines from a nation of poverty to a nation of prosperity like Japan. We also want to change the present array of politicians with the youth who are yet in universities and colleges and high schools that we are going to pick and select from and then train and mentor. We will hold youth conferences, fora and group discussions and from there we will select the most promising youth, to make them speakers and leaders and send them out to business places, government places, and church places, to speak and motivate all people in all walks of life. In other words, Preparing The Filipino Youth Program, from the Resolution 351 Media Movement will take care of these chosen youth and mentor them to see to it that they carry the true ideals of leadership and how to be able to govern properly. Without training people fail. Without training the youth will also fail.
The good news is, now, Resolution 351 Media Movement, through the founding president, Dr. John A. Ayudtud, and the founding Chairman, Architect Zonny Lerum, will campaign for helps in the United States and Canada, and other parts of the world to support the many youth movements that are already in place in the Philippines. We have three youth leaders in mind that we are going to be rearing up with financial backing and they are: Lloyd Luna, Ian Barcelona, and Pocholo Gonzales. Their names are frequently used now here in the United States as the three top ranking youth leaders in the Philippines. We are raising up members here for the movement, and we believe that we will be able to raise millions of dollars for our youth projects in the Philippines; aimed at raising potential leaders in the future.
We will also raise up youth here in the United States who will become speakers to youth conferences in the Philippines, and likewise, we will try to bring youth from the Philippines to speak to youth conferences here in the United States. Everyone that we talk to about Preparing The Filipino Youth Program exclaims with excitement. I spoke to a doctor friend in Florida and he gets so excited to join in.

We want to encourage all youth groups in governments, in churches, in the schools, and in businesses to get into our website and apply for recognition. We need as many youth organizations that we can tap. One day, we will get the Araneta Coliseum to have our youth conference. And we will get speakers from the United States and Canada, young people, who are also Filipinos, and who are challenged and poised to change the Philippines in a big way.

PINOY NAMED HARVARD SCIENTIST OF 2007

PINOY NAMED HARVARD SCIENTIST OF 2007
MANILA , MARCH 15, 2007 (STAR) By Doreen G. Yu -


A Filipino molecular biologist has been named by the Harvard Founda tion as 2007 Scientist of the Year. Dr. Baldomero M. Olivera, son and namesake of a former STAR columnist, will receive the distinction at an honorary luncheon on Friday at Harvard's Pforzheimer House, which opens the annual Albert Einstein Science Conference sponsored by the Harvard Foundation. The foundation is observing its 25th anniversary this year. Olivera, who was nominated by the Harvard Foundation's Student/Faculty Advisory Committee, is being honored for his contributions in the field of biology, in particular for his groundbreaking research on neurotoxins produced by venomous cone snails found in Philippine waters. The toxins that he and his team identified are now widely used in neuroscience research. He is a leading figure in the emerging field of neuropharmacology. Although based in the US , Olivera maintains a laboratory in the Philippines that continues research work on neurotoxins that target specific ion channels in the central nervous system. His work has led to the development of a drug, now in clinical trails, that appears to be more effective against chronic pain than morphine. Knowledge provided by his basic research studies may also shed light on conditions, such as schizophrenia and epilepsy, which involve the function of receptors and ion channels in the nervous system. "Dr. Olivera is widely respected as a biological scientist for his excellent work in neurotoxicology and his dedicat ion to students in the field," said Dr. S. Allen Counter, director of the Harvard Foundation and associate professor of neurology and neurophysiology. "In his research, teaching, and social commitments, he is a distinguished role model whom we honor for his fine example," Counter added. Olivera is Distinguished Professor of Biology at the University of Utah . He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemistry, summa cum laude, from the University of the Philippines and a doctorate in biochemistry from the California Institute of Technology . He did postdoctoral work at Stanford University with Dr. I Robert Lehman. Last year, he was appointed a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Professor. Olivera has published over 250 scientific papers on the biological sciences. Each year, the Harvard Foundation and members of the science community present a special award to an internationally acclaimed scientist for his or her contributions and achievements in the biological and physical sciences, and particularly their efforts to advance minorities and women in the sciences. Olivera will receive the award from the dean of Harvard College and the president of Harvard University . Olivera will speak about his life as a scientist and deliver remarks to encourage college students to pursue careers in the sciences. On Saturday, Olivera will join some 30 Harvard undergraduate students and a hundred boys and girls from Boston and Cambridge public schools for the foundation's annual Partners in Science program, which features lectures and demonstrations by Harvard science faculty at the Science Center for inner city junior high school students, and interactive science experiments with Harvard College students. Last year's Harvard Foundation Scientist of the Year awardee was Dr. P. Uri Treisman, Professor of Mathematics at the University of Texas in Austin , who was recognized for his efforts to improve math and science education, particularly for minorities. Past Harvard Foundations honorees include Nobel Laureate in chemistry Dr. Mario Molina, US Secretary of Health and Human Services Dr. Louis W. Sullivan, former chair of the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission Dr. Shirley Ann Jackson, astronauts Dr. Ellen Ochoa and Dr. Mae Jamison, mat hematician Dr. Jonathan David Farley, and distinguished mathematics teacher Jaime Escalante of the Stand and Deliver project. The annual Harvard Foundation Albert Einstein Science Conference: Advancing Minorities and Women in Science, Engineering and Mathematics aims to bring together a diverse group of professors and students with interest in the basic, applied, natural and biological sciences. It is named after the distinguished scientist who visited historically black colleges to demonstrate his commitment to equal education and civil rights, and who spoke out against racism and anti-Semitism in American and around the world.

THIS LOOKS LIKE BRIBERY

Bribe It Was
By Antonio C. Abaya
Written Oct. 15, 2007
For the Standard Today,
October 16 issue



Is there no end to our despair, our despondency, our humiliation over our politics and our politicians? .

Some 190 congressmen and women were summoned to a breakfast meeting in Malacanang with President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo last Thursday, Oct. 11. At the end of the meeting, envelopes were allegedly given away to the attendees, each one supposedly containing P200,000 to P500,000 in cash., as "send-off gifts" or "a remembrance" or "help"(See the Philippine Daily Inquirer, Oct 12.)

In addition, each attending congressman and woman was allegedly promised pork barrel allocation of up to P70 million.

The cash envelopes were given away apparently without any vouchers to be signed by the recipients, without any indication from which department the (presumably public) money was coming from, without any instructions on how or for what purpose the money was to be used for, and without any indication that the amounts were to be accounted for or liquidated at a certain date.

In other words, each recipient was free to use the cash, partly or fully, for the coming barangay elections or other local community project, or for his or her own personal needs. Which would be a working definition of a bribe.

Especially since the cash were being given away just before a showdown looms in the Lower House over the possible impeachment of President Arroyo over the scandal-racked national broadband network project..

It is hard to avoid the conclusion that President Arroyo is buying the loyalty of some 190 congressmen and women, to either reject an opposition-launched impeachment resolution, or to support an administration- launched resolution deemed so weak and flawed as to suffer an inevitable rejection

Either way, President Arroyo would emerge unscathed for another 365 days, as only one impeachment resolution can be filed against a sitting president in one year.

At P200,000 per envelope, the total cash bribe to 190 congressmen and women add up to P38 million. At P500,000 per envelope, the total reaches P95 million. So between P38 million and P95 million in cash were given away by Malacanang last Oct. 11 to insulate President Arroyo from a possible impeachment for the next 365 days.

And it did not end there. In a separate Malacanang meeting that day, Oct. 11, this time with mayors and governors, more cash – this time in shopping bags - was given away to the attendees. There were said to be 200 attendees, 48 of whom were provincial governors and the rest city and municipal mayors.

Again, no vouchers or receipts, no indication as to where the money came from or what purpose or purposes it was to be used for, and without any accountability at all as to how it is spent.. Again, the working definition of a bribe.

At least one provincial governor – Fr. Ed Panlilio of Pampanga – revealed that he was given a bag containing P500,000 in cash. Fr. Ed says that the man who gave him the cash told him he can use the money for the barangay elections or for other barangay projects. (PDI, Oct. 14, 2007).

Or, if he were so inclined, he could use it for his own personal agendas, as other recipients of Malacanang's largesse no doubt would, if they had no moral qualms about it as Fr. Ed did.

The Inquirer (Oct. 14) revealed that two more (unnamed) provincial governors, both from Southern Luzon , have revealed that they received similar bags full of cash It is inconceivable that the 45 other provincial governors, or the city and municipal mayors in attendance, received nothing.

Malacanang apologists are stumbling over each other claiming that these were not public funds but were more likely private donations from businessmen friendly to Malacanang who want to help in the barangay elections. That's a lot of bull, and they know it.

It is more likely that these bundles of cash were sourced from the so-called Intelligence Fund of the President, which must now amount to a few billion pesos a year, and which are not subject to any audit at all, and which a sitting president can use to bribe or reward not only loyal governors, congressmen/ women and mayors, but also cooperating senior bureaucrats, military generals and Comelec officials

The office of the Philippine president is probably the most corrupting and corruptible political position in this part of the world. When an utterly immoral and manipulative person occupies that position, even the angels in Heaven and the demons in Hell can be bought. The Intelligence Fund of the President should be abolished.from the National Budget. Now!.

Fr. Ed has been quoted by the Inquirer as saying: "Since that was public money and it belonged to the people, I decided to take it and use it in a beneficial way. I couldn't be blind to the needs of my constituents. That's public money anyway. What will matter is how I would use it and I intend to use it to answer the people's needs."

He has turned the money over to the provincial administrator for safekeeping. "My conscience tells me that whatever resources came my way, as long as these came from public taxes and honest means, I will utilize these for the people….."

I hope his conscience will also tell Fr. Ed that, yes, these P500,000 came from public taxes, but they are being used as private funds by unscrupulous individuals in power to promote their private agendas, such as immunizing themselves from impeachment, and staying in power indefinitely, contrary to all the moral scruples that Fr. Ed. has come to symbolize.

With the hundreds of millions of pesos that his honest governance stands to earn in the next 12 months from quarrying fees alone, Fr. Ed does not need the sordid half a million pesos from Malacanang, which will use his acceptance of it to clothe its bribes to everyone else with some veneer of respectability.

But we do not know if Fr. Ed will become another co-opted Romulo Neri, or will choose to be the heroic moral leader whom Filipinos have been longing for for so long..*****

Reactions to acabaya@zpdee. net or tonyabaya@gmail. com . Other articles in www.tapatt.org and in tonyabaya.blogspot. com.

Bishop Ef Tendero- Diplomat, Public Servant, Huge Church Leader

Bishop Efraim M. Tendero serves as national director of the Philippine Council of Evangelical Churches (PCEC)—the largest group of born-again Christians in the Philippines composed of 20,000 evangelical churches, denominations, parachurch organizations, and mission groups. He is also the pulpit minister of Kamuning Bible Christian Fellowship (KBCF) which he helped establish together with a pioneering team when he was still a seminary student.
Besides providing leadership to PCEC, Bishop Tendero is the chair of the board of the following organizations: Asian Theological Seminary, Back to the Bible Broadcast, Evangelism Explosion (EE) 3 Philippines, Philippine Association of Christian Education and Philippine Missions Association, Philippine Bible Society, and the Youth Commission of the Evangelical Fellowship of Asia. He is also a member of the Youth Commission of the World Evangelical Alliance. He was chair of the General Committee of the Metro Manila Franklin Graham Festival that spearheaded the festival of Franklin Graham in the Philippines in February 2006.
As national coordinator for the DAWN (Discipling A Whole Nation) 2000, he provided leadership for the mobilization of churches in the Philippines that made possible the accomplishment of the movement’s vision of seeing 50,000 local churches planted nationwide by 2000. At present, he directs the various strategies to achieve the goal of DAWN 2010 to see the Philippine churches become healthy, holistic, and harvesting.
Owing to his dynamic preaching, excellent leadership and rich ministry experience, he has become among the country’s favorite speakers on leadership, church growth and missions, and has been invited numerous times to speak not only locally but in 18 other countries. Furthermore, he functions as executive editor of Evangelicals Today—the longest-running Christian magazine in the Philippines.
He also served as one of the spiritual advisers of former President Fidel V. Ramos in his capacity as chair of the National Ecumenical Consultative Committee (NECCOM). He continues to be a part of NECCOM and is a member of the newly created Presidential Council for Values Formation. Bishop Tendero was also appointed by President GMA as one of the members of the 50-man Citizen’s Consultative Commission or Concom that went around the country to consult and gather input from various sectors and stakeholders of the nation so as to review and craft possible amendments to the present Constitution, for which he was awarded a Presidential Medal of Merit.Bishop Tendero earned his B. A. Theology degree from FEBIAS College of Bible in 1978, cum laude and was the recipient of that year’s Most Outstanding Student Award. He also went to Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, Illinois for his M. Div. (Pastoral Counseling) degree, graduating cum laude. He is listed in the 1989 “Who’s Who Among Students in American Colleges and Universities.” Just recently, the Febias College of Bible and the International School of Theology-Asia separately conferred an honorary Doctor of Divinity degree on him.
In recognition of his exemplary leadership in the body of Christ as he fosters unity and advocacy for national transformation, he was given the Distinguished Evangelical Leadership Award, making him the fifth person to receive this prestigious award in the 35 years of PCEC then.
Born in Calapan, Oriental Mindoro Bishop Ef is married to the former Sierry Soriano. The couple are blessed with four children, namely: Elizabeth Esther, Efraim Elijah, Ezra Emmanuel, and Elah Eunice.

New York/New Jersey Leaders for Knowledge Channel

Circle of Champions in New York/New Jersey: (seated from left) Benpres Rosan Cruz, Knowledge Channel president Rina Lopez-Bautista, Philippine DepEd Secretary Jeslie Lapus, New York Consul General Cecilia Rebong, Fiesta Philippines Mila Mendez, Robert Perez de Tagle, Chamber of Commerce president Butch Meily, Philippine Fiesta president Nanding Mendez, Moneyfast Remittance Lee Quimbo, NaFFAA-NY Joe Ramos Philippine Independence Day Council president Gani Puertollaño, and Metrobank NY's general manager and first vice president Alfred Madrid.

The Filipino-American community in New York pledged its support for Knowledge Channel Foundation, Inc. (KCFI), through the establishment of the Knowledge Channel Circle of Champions – NY Chapter (KC3, NY), a group that will actively advocate for the improvement of the quality of Philippine public school instruction through the Knowledge Channel, a curriculum-based all-educational channel available by cable and satellite in the Philippines.
At the organizational meeting of KC3, NY, the KCFI founder and president Rina Lopez-Bautista appealed to community and business leaders to champion the future of the Philippines by helping more schools gain access to Knowledge Channel. Out of the 42,000 public schools throughout the country, only 1,709 schools have been covered so far.
Lopez-Bautista pointed out that the Knowledge Channel has proven to improve retention and comprehension levels of students and has increased National Achievement Test (NAT) scores in schools. "The schools' use of the Knowledge Channel has resulted in improvement of the children's test scores. A school in Batanes increased its NAT scores by 107%. Knowledge Channel has improved the learning curve of Filipino youth," she said.
She added, "Especially in the more remote areas, KCh in the school is more than just a learning tool. It has become a source of hope to the principals, the teachers, the students and the community. It is a catalyst to galvanize the community in supporting the school and their children's education even more. And when parents, teachers and the community work together, magic happens."
Department of Education Sec. Jesli Lapus attended the event and stressed that government alone cannot solve resource gaps in schools and that it is crucial to "reverse the deteriorating trend as soon as possible." He also said that this year he relaunched the Adopt-A-School program, which includes Knowledge Channel as one of the programs to be supported.
Philippine Consul General in New York, Cecilia Rebong also attended the meeting and rallied attendees and the organizations to take up education as a cause, with Knowledge Channel as one of the main interventions that could create a big impact in Philippine education.
Attendees were Metrobank general manager and first vice president, Alfred Madrid, Fil-Am Chamber of Commerce president Butch Meily, Philippine Independence Day Council president Gani Puertollaño, Philippine Fiesta Nanding and Mila Mendez, Joe Ramos of National Federation of Filipino-American Associations, NY Chapter (NaFFAA-NY), Lee Quimbo of Moneyfast Remittance Services and Robert Perez de Tagle.
View the Knowledge Channel website at http://www.knowledgechannel.com.ph/ or email knowledgechannel@sky.pinoycentral.com. Donors may contact them through telephone at 1-800-527-2820 or 650-508-6118 or use our online form and click on Pay Pal.

Filipinos In Hongkong

There are on average around 140,000 Filipinos in Hong Kong, of whom most find work as foreign domestic helpers. Filipino maids are known by the locals as feiyungs and the slang bun muis or bun buns. A Hong Kong work visa requires some amount of higher education; and in some cases Filipino women with university degrees and perfect command of English are willing to work as maids and nannies for the higher salary they will receive in Hong Kong than they could make at home.

On Sundays and on public holidays, thousands of feiyungs gather in Central, Victoria Park and around Hong Kong Cultural Centre to socialise.

Although Filipino domestic workers vastly outnumber other Filipinos in other professions, there are a notable number of Filipino professionals in Hong Kong. Some are architects and civil engineers, working on some of the more prominent buildings and construction projects in Hong Kong. Some are information technology professionals, and some are in professional services (accounting, law, finance)too. A significant proportion of those employed as domestic workers in Hong Kong have other professions in the Philippines, there are those with university degrees who work Hong Kong for more opportunities.

The first Filipinos to have worked professionally in Hong Kong were these groups who went to Hong Kong during the post-World War II years and following the fall of the Mainland to the Communists in 1949. Many Filipinos also work in service industries in the Central business district, and also in Hong Kong Disneyland as entertainers or other cast members.

There are also some Filipinos who have married expatriates, mostly from Western countries, and have settled down in Hong Kong.

Most Filipinos in Hong Kong communicate with the local population in English (usually a second language for both parties). However, they communicate with their own friends and community in Tagalog or in another Filipino dialect. Most of them also have picked up a few Chinese (Cantonese) phrases in everyday life. A few are adept at Cantonese usage.

Filipinos haven't settled long enough in Hong Kong to have a large number who know Cantonese fluently, unlike some of the other ethnic minorities such as the Pakistanis and the Indians who often speak Cantonese like locals. Typically, the 140,000 Filipinos are transients -- each year, a large number of these leave Hong Kong permanently, to be replaced by a different set of Filipinos who have to learn Cantonese from the beginning.

The World-Wide House arcade in Central is popular with the Filipinos, as many of the shops are run by Filipinos. The wide assortment of typically small shops caters to their needs, selling telecommunications and banking services, to food, and magazines.

On Sundays, one can usually encounter a large number of Filipino maids gathered at various spots in Central, including the ground floor of the HSBC Hong Kong headquarters building. Many maids in Hong Kong have Sunday as their fixed once-a-week working day off, during which they socialize, eat self-prepared food, sing, and even sell various items. This weekly gathering is such a long-standing practice that the "No littering" signs in the vicinity are written in three languages: Chinese, English and Tagalog.

Most Filipinos in Hong Kong are Christians, the majority Roman Catholic. There are also a sizeable number who congregate in Protestant and non-denominational churches. A minority are Muslims. Many spend at least a part of their Sunday mornings attending Mass and various church services. Numerous Catholic parishes in Hong Kong offer Masses in Tagalog or English geared towards the Filipinos, who make up a large part of the membership of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Hong Kong (2005: 353,000, but it is unclear whether Church statistics include them).