Archive for June 2008
Pesticide halts rescue efforts in Philippine ferry
June 28, 2008–Efforts to recover dead bodies in a Philippine ferry that capsized last week were halted after the discovery of endosulfan, a highly-toxic pesticide that can affect the nervous system, inside the sunken vessel. Here’s a report from NTDTV:
Divers found dead bodies on Philippine ferry
June 25,2008- Rescuers and divers found dead bodies and no signs of life in the capsized Philippine ferry. Here are reports from Al-Jazeera and Associated Press.
Meanwhile, The Philippine Star reported Wednesday that officials of the shipping company who owned the ferry, and some coast guard officials will be summoned in an investigation.
Hundreds still missing in Philippine ferry tragedy
June 24,2008-Hundreds are still missing after a Philippine ferry capsized last weekend. Here is a video from BBC.
Hundreds missing as ferry capsizes in central Philippines
June 23,2008-At least 700 passengers are missing as a ferry MV Princess of the Stars capsized as typhoon Fengshen swept the Philippine archipelago. Latest reports say that as of Monday, only 33 survivors have been found alive. The ferry tragedy is the worst maritime accident in the Philippines since 1987, when MV Dona Paz collided with another vessel and resulted to more than 4,000 deaths.
Here are the videos from Al-Jazeera , BBC and Reuters
New charter to improve UP’s competitiveness but more funds needed
By Jesus F.Llanto
Researcher, Newsbreak
June18,2008-The distinction as a “national university,” tax exemptions, a new composition of the policy-making body, more flexibility to manage the resources and freedom from the Salary Standardization Law (SSL) are among the promises of the new charter of the University of the Philippines.
Still, UP badly needs additional support from the national government to be at par with other universities in the region. Simply to increase the salaries of its employees, the country’s newly crowned “national university” needs to raise least P3.6 billion—an amount more than three times the income earned by the university in 2007.
UP professors cannot immediately expect higher salaries as a result of the passage of the new charter. Prof. Ma. Concepcion Alfiler, UP’s vice president for finance and development, said that the university does not have the enough resources for this.
The university, she said, needs to raise at least P3.6 billion to pay the salaries of its employees. The amount does not yet include the retirement and life insurance premium and is more than three times the income earned by the university in 2007.
Exemption from the SSL will also mean that UP faculty cannot avail themselves of the 10 percent salary increase to be given to government employees.
“We now have the legal basis for the pay scale but we have to generate the resources and that will take time,” Alfiler said. “The pay will stay but we can only add.”
The university, Alfiler said, can only augment salaries by offering professorial chairs, grants and though awards for published works in refereed journals.
National university
Republic Act 9500 (An Act to Strengthen the University of the Philippines as the National University), which was signed last April by the President in Cebu, gives the university more autonomy and replaces the outdated UP charter of 1908.
The new charter promises to bring more fiscal and institutional autonomy to the university. It also designates the UP as the country’s “national university.” (abs-cbnNews.com/Newsbreak)
Click here to read the rest of the article.
Photo Credit: www.up.edu.ph
Legislators push English as medium of instruction
strong>By Jesus F. Llanto
June 10,2008- Despite a number of studies confirming that learning is faster using the native language, government officials are still pushing for the adoption of English as a medium on instruction (MOI) in Philippine schools.
<A check on the bills filed in the 14th Congress shows that there are three bills—House Bills 230, 305, 406—seeking for either the re-instatement or enhancement of the use of English as a medium of instruction.
The three bills propose the use of English, Filipino or the regional languages as MOI in all subjects from pre-school to Grade II. They prescribe the use of English for all academic subjects from Grade III up to the secondary level.
Proponents of these bills claim that the decline in the English proficiency of the Filipinos and the deterioration of the quality of the education have eroded the competitiveness of the Filipinos.
Rep. Eduardo Gullas, author of HB 305, said in the bill’s explanatory note that the proposed legislation aims to correct the defects of the current Bilingual Education Program (BEP) of the Department of the Education, which was introduced in 1974.
The BEP mandated the teaching not only of Filipino as a subject in all levels but also the use of Filipino as MOI in Social Studies, Character Education, Values Education, Physical Education, Industrial Arts and Home Economics.
Gullas said learning of the English language suffered a setback when the BEP was introduced in 1974. “The use of Filipino as a medium of instruction in the subjects mentioned earlier has limited the exposure of the learner to English, and since exposure is basic to language learning, mastery of the language is not attained.” (abs-cbnNews.com/Newsbreak)
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Photo: www.abs-cbnNews.com
