UNIVERSITAS February 2011 by University of Asia and the Pacific

An official publication of the University of Asia and the Pacific

February 2011

Center for Research and Communication

Our future’s past ✽✽✽✽✽✽✽✽✽✽✽✽✽✽✽✽✽✽✽✽✽✽✽✽✽

Tambuli Awards Values: Rizal’s Path The Indelible Mark BIGGKAS’ big winners

on ti ca du E of t if G e th e iv G Help tomorrowâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s leaders fulfill their dreams today. The University of Asia and the Pacific provides scholarships for up to 25% of the students it accepts. An ambitious scholarship program is the only way to give quality education to deserving students regardless of their financial situation. We offer merit scholarships and financial aid on the basis of studentsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; entrance exam results, high school academic performance, and financial status. // Through the years, UA&P has partnered with individuals and corporations to establish scholarship grants that changed the lives of many students. Because our mission is to make a social and economic impact through education. And this is your opportunity to join us in that mission. To help in any way you can.

Editorial

An official publication of the University of Asia and the Pacific ✽✽✽✽✽✽✽✽✽✽✽✽✽✽✽✽✽✽✽✽✽✽✽✽✽

CRC: seeking new knowledge for the common good

Editor: Ms. Boots Ruelos Managing Editor: Mr. Daryl Zamora Contributing Writers: Mr. Carlo Cabrera Dr. Bernardo M. Villegas Dr. Paul Dumol Dr. Maria Caterina Lorenzo-Molo Dr. Jose Maria Mariano Mr. Daryl Zamora Ms. Camille Diola Mr. Jonathan Alforte Ms. Richelle Hernandez Isha de Vera Mr. Emmanuel Rentoy Gab Asuncion Ms. Vanessa Jimenez Jonathan Latuja Bea Vergara Mr. Charles Lawrence Ching Dr. Emilio Antonio Jr. Ms. Ma. Roscelle Teotico Johann Dale Diaz Contributing Photographers: Mr. Carlo Cabrera Mr. Daryl Zamora Chai Ramos Mr. Carlos Creencia Ms. Ma. Roscelle Teotico Contributing Staff: Ms. Beth de Castro Graphic Design: Jerry Manalili/Chili Dogs Printing: Apple Printers, Inc. ✽✽✽✽✽✽✽✽✽✽✽✽✽✽✽✽✽✽✽✽✽✽✽✽✽ You may contact us at: Corporate Communications Office University of Asia and the Pacific Pearl Drive, Ortigas Center, Pasig City Telephone No.: 637 0912 local 301/342 Fax No.: 637 0912 local 342 E-mail: universitas@uap.asia www.uap.asia Find “uapasia” on Twitter and Facebook Schools/Institutes: College of Arts and Sciences (CAS) School of Economics (SEC) School of Education and Human Development (SED) School of Management (SMN) School of Communication (SCM) School of Sciences and Engineering (SSE) Institute of Political Economy (IPE)

Featuring the Center for Research and Communication as the main story in this issue speaks of the high value the University attaches to its foundational goals. The University’s founders espoused the importance of pursuing knowledge and wisdom through world-class research. As a think tank starting the late 1960s, CRC—UA&P’s mother institution—gained renown for its sound approach to solving the economic and buiness problems of the day. It is well accepted that research and communication are closely linked: research produces fresh or updated knowledge, and teaching (communication) is a vital outlet of research undertaken. It is through research that confidence in teaching is enhanced and papers and books, written. More important, a university’s reputation as an academic institution is determined greatly by the quality and relevance of its research programs. There is a need to constantly seek new knowledge to impart, to push the frontiers of knowledge, and to better understand and address the challenges to society that have become more complex in order for us to help the University fulfill its mission and achieve its vision. Therefore, those in the academic community have to learn hand in hand with CRC “to enter with daring”—as UA&P President Jose Maria Mariano would say—“into the intricate paths of research with a generosity that does not shirk effort, and with a passion that is both free and confident.”

UNIVERSITAS February 2011

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UNIVERSITAS February 2011

An official publication of the University of Asia and the Pacific February 2011

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Tambuli Awards 2010 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Tambuli Awards Conference 2010 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . IMC at Spikes Asia 2010 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Agriculture secretary speaks at UA&P . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Civic educators seek joint democratic efforts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Teacher development as top education agenda . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . SED conducts human capital planning and dev’t seminar . . . . . . When love rings true . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The interdisciplinary wisdom of the Church’s social doctrine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Individual, society and citizenship: an economist’s perspective . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . CRC: Our future’s past . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Multidisciplinary research in universities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Values: Rizal’s path . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Gloom in Glee and a bunch of happy Bradys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The indelible mark . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Cyd Montebon ascending . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sound of Drip . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 attend IESE Business School’s International Faculty Program . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Catalyst medical mission serves 150 Auxiliary staff . . . . . . . . . . . Students conduct English Fair for kids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . UA&P president hosts lunch, shares stories with employees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . UA&P lauds loyal employees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Service Awardees 2010 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2010 Research Awards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Team BIGGKAS grabs grand prize in UNILAB Ideas-Positive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Reaching out . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . SEB, SABIO hold first Scholars’ Conference . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . School of Economics Week 2010: A celebration of struggle, solidarity, and success . . . . . . . . . . . I went to Harvard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 days in Korea . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Testing PolEco skills in a Prague conference . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . UNAV student flies 7,000 miles and takes the jeepney . . . . . . . . . Artists in our midst . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Keeping her in the light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Christian “X” Vallez wins another Palanca . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . UA&P Lady Dragons conquer ISM invitational games . . . . . . . . .

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UNIVERSITAS February 2011

News

Tambuli Awards 2010

Heavy rains and power failures couldn’t stop the Tambuli Awards 2010 held last July 14. Once again honoring the year’s best advertising campaigns that have valued both business results and socially relevant marketing communications, the awards have finally become an annual event after garnering momentous success in the media and industry since its launch in 2005. This year proved no different for the awards, which received over a hundred entries vying for the opportunity to prove that the campaigns resulted not only in increased profitability but also in the betterment of society.

The big winners

The night’s top prizes went to Monde Nissin Corporation whose “Kainang Pamilya Mahalaga” campaign earned them the Carmencita Esteban Platinum Award as well as the Effectiveness Advertiser of the Year Award. The company’s agency, on the other hand, Publicis JimenezBasic was named Effectiveness Agency of the Year for the same campaign on top of seven other winning entries. Other big winners were Tribal DDB’s “Ako Mismo” campaign for PLDT-SMART Foundation, McCann Worldgroup’s “Open Happiness Multi-Serve Campaign” for Coca-Cola Export, and Leo Burnett Manila’s “Earth Hour 2009” for WWF Philippines. Two new categories were added to this year’s agenda: “Best Fashion Brand Campaign,” which recognizes integrated campaigns that promote clothing and accessories including shoes and perfumes, and “Best Media-Produced Campaign” for campaigns initiated by media entities. This year will also introduce a new special award, “Best in Creative Idea and Execution.” To showcase Tambuli Awards’ belief that promoting virtue need not be mundane or passé, this award focuses on the creative approach taken to endorse societal values and the degree in which it is successfully effected.

The big names

Since last year, the organizers have chosen to complement the message of the awards with a preceding conference featuring some of the biggest names in the advertising industry, both local and regional. Sharing valuable insights this year were Arlene Amarante (Yahoo! Philippines Country Sales Director), Raymond Arrastia (Leo Burnett Manila Managing Director), Shakir Moin (Coca-Cola Export Corp. Marketing Director Asia-Pacific), Lisa Ransom (McDonald’s Marketing Senior Director for Greater Asia), and Shawn Warren (Kraft Foods Vice President for Marketing Asia-Pacific). After their respective talks, the speakers participated in an open panel discussion moderated by Margot Torres (Golden Arches Development Corp. Vice President for Marketing). Mr. Arrastia, Mr. Moin,

[The Tambuli Awards’] success through the years has helped establish its benefactor, the UA&P School of Communication, as “the leader in IMC education in Asia.”

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UNIVERSITAS February 2011

Carmencita Esteban Platinum Award: Lucky Me’s Kainang Pamilya Mahalaga

Effectiveness Agency of the Year: Publicis JimenezBasic

Effectiveness Advertiser of the Year: Monde Nissin Corporation

P H OTO S C O U R T E SY O F T H E S C H O O L O F C O M M U N I C AT I O N

Mr. Warren, and Ms. Torres also lent their expertise as part of this year’s Tambuli Awards Board of Judges. Joining them were luminaries Randy Aquino (O&M Country Head), Bobby Barreiro (TV5 EVP and COO), Javier Calero (Full Circle Communications Chairman and Tambuli Awards Chairman), Vicente Dinglasan (IDS Philippines, Inc. Relationship Partner), Third Domingo (Ideasxmachina Managing Partner), Blen Fernando (Alaska Milk Corporation Vice President for Marketing), Angel Guerrero (Adobo Magazine Editor-in-Chief), Mariles Gustilo (Lowe, Inc. President), Robert Labayen (ABS-CBN Broadcasting Corporation Creative Communication Management Head), Noel Lorenzana (Southeast Asia Food, Inc. President and COO), Gina Lorenzana (Unilever Regional Category Vice President), Eleanor Modesto (ESM Training Consultancy Owner), and Joey Ong (Bates 141 Executive Creative Director). The participation of these esteemed individuals only goes to show how much support the Tambuli Awards receives from the industry, and its success through the years has helped establish its benefactor, the UA&P School of Communication, as “the leader in IMC education in Asia.”

The big idea

Following a case study entry

approach, the Tambuli Awards aspires to be the benchmark and resource for effective integrated marketing communications programs. However, with the Tambuli Awards as the first and only award-giving body in Asia of its kind, equal measure was given to both profitable integrated marketing communications campaigns and the simultaneous promotion of societal values. Entries submitted must prove that the campaigns resulted not only in increased profitability but also in the betterment of society by portraying values such as, but not limited to Family values Respect for human dignity Environmentalism Respect for privacy Virtues like hard work, punctuality, sincerity or honesty, humility, charity, modesty, respect and love for elders, optimism, perseverance, orderliness, responsibility, and moderation, and concern for others, especially the needy, poor, sick Spirit of service towards others Intellectual honesty The Tambuli Awards 2010 was organized by the UA&P School of Communication in partnership with the Marketing and Opinion Research Society of the Philippines and BusinessWorld. For more information, visit www. tambuliawards.com.

UNIVERSITAS February 2011

Tambuli Awards

Conference 2010

Providing a touch of added value to each installment, the Tambuli Awards has made it a tradition to accompany the awards ceremony with a preceding conference featuring some of the biggest names in advertising, coming together to discuss the hottest issues facing the industry. Last July 13 the Tambuli Awards Conference 2010 saw a number of industry luminaries from the world over sounding off their ideas on “Social Media: Marketing to Tweens and Teens.”

Mr. Arrastia

With the exponential growth of technological advancements the world has seen in recent years, cracks have begun to show on the surface of today’s multimedia landscape, while a much sought-after demographic left slipping in between. The Conference aimed to rectify the situation and bridge the generational divide. An enraptured audience of industry veterans, tyros, and aspirants packed the Dizon Auditorium to listen intently to the lineup of speakers, a veritable who’s who of advertising experts from around the globe. Taking a closer look at “The Myths and Realities of Connecting with Teens” were Mr. Shakir Moin (Marketing Director for

UNIVERSITAS February 2011

Coca-Cola Philippines, Marketing and Strategy Director for AsiaPacific, Coca-Cola Company), Mr. Raymond Arrastia (Managing Director, Leo Burnett) and Ms. Lisa Ransom (Marketing Senior Director for Greater Asia, McDonald’s). The illustrious trio debunked certain misconceptions preventing ad agencies from being given a moment’s notice by the highly-stimulated youth market, and outlined strategies to help spur creative ideas that could reach out to audiences on every level of the age bracket. Mr. Shawn Warren (Vice President for Marketing AsiaPacific, Kraft Foods) rounded out the esteemed group with his talk, “Marketing Excellence Driving Results in Kraft Foods Asia-Pacific.” Mr. Warren shared years of experience and insider knowledge pertaining to his own company’s recipe for success. Though not originally a local brand, Kraft Foods has gained significant ground in the Philippines by leveraging its achievements in the foreign markets with a very precise approach based on analyzing the lay of the land. Also on hand was Ms. Margot Torres (Vice President for Marketing, Golden Arches Development Corporation) who moderated an open forum involving all the speakers engaging a very enthusiastic audience. As in the past, it was a fitting prelude for the industry to an awards program that is continually setting the standards for the way business is done.

Mr. Carlo Cabrera  Corporate Communications Office

Ms. Ransom

Ms. Torres

Ms. Amorante

Mr. Moin

Mr. Warren

News

IMC at Spikes Asia 2010 Spikes Asia Advertising Festival 2010 took place in Singapore last September to celebrate and inspire Asian creativity in advertising. Building on the illustrious Spikes Awards, the Festival is organized by the international media conglomerate Haymarket Group’s Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival, the largest gathering of worldwide advertising professionals, designers, digital innovators and marketers. Spikes Asia provides the region’s growing creative and advertising industry with a platform to network and exchange ideas, bringing together some of the finest creative thinkers from across the region and around the world. Of course, such a gathering wouldn’t be complete without mention of the UA&P School of Communication (SCM) and its Integrated Marketing Communications program (IMC). Providing verisimilitude to SCM’s claim of being “the leader in IMC education in Asia,” quite a few of the prestigious awards handed out at Spikes went home with a number of graduates from the program:

Ryan Rubillar (Batch 2006) TBWA/Santiago Mangada Puno, Copywriter Silver Winner, Craft Category: “West Wind” Campaign – AyalaLand Louie Sotto DDB dm9jaymesyfu, Creative Director Gold Winner, Media Category: “Bruise” Campaign - Gabriella Bronze Winner, Outdoor Category: “Bruise” Campaign - Gabriella Bronze Winner, Direct & Sales Promotion Category: “Bruise” Campaign - Gabriella Joey Ong Bates 141, Executive Creative Director Gold Winner, Media Category: “Vote for Kids” Campaign – Tulakabataan Reggie Ocampo (Batch 2004) TBWA/Tequila Singapore, Art Director Silver Winner, TV/ Cinema Category: “Africa” CampaignStandard Chartered Bank A delegation of 43 IMC graduating students were also in attendance as part of SCM’s

For the win: Students of the School of Communication and Dean Jerry Kliatchko witness some of the School’s alumni receive the top awards at the Spikes Asia Advertising Festival last September.

Agriculture secretary speaks at UA&P

efforts to internationalize the IMC program. By exposing students to international conferences and giving them the opportunity to learn from experts in the industry from around the globe, SCM aims to provide a global perspective on how marketing communications is coping with challenges facing today’s highly competitive business environment while exposing them to the job market in the region and elsewhere in the world. Spikes Asia is the region’s oldest and most prestigious awards for creative advertising. It benefits all individuals involved in creativity and communications, including art directors, creatives, copywriters, media agency executives, clients, account managers, agency heads, producers and directors from the region and around the globe. The Festival offers a challenging program of seminars and workshops focusing on creativity and learning, exhibitions of creative work from Asia, networking events, the Young Spikes Competition for creatives under 28, and the Spikes Asia Awards Ceremony. Six juries of leading international and regional creatives judge the work in Singapore during the Festival week. Mr. Carlo Cabrera  Corporate Communications Office

Department of Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala addressed top members of the agriculture sector during the Midyear Food and Agri Business Conference at UA&P last July. The new government official called for support for the new president and for greater attention to the needs of provincial farmers. Among the topics the secretary commented on was the hybrid rice production implemented by the previous administration. “I have no quarrel with hybrid rice production,” Sec. Alcala was quoted as saying. “But my thinking is that it shouldn’t be that it’s hybrid rice production or none at all. We should give farmers more choices.” A July report by ABS-CBN News says that only 10 percent of farmers practice hybrid rice production, 30 percent use certified seed varieties, while 60 percent are into other rice seed varieties. Alcala, according to the report, explained that “farmers are not keen on using hybrid rice seeds despite [their] proven higher yields because production costs are higher, and [their] only good for planting during the dry season.” Center for Food and Agri Business Executive Director Rolando Dy also spoke about current trends in the agribusiness industry, along with leaders of the fisheries, broiler, and feeds sectors of the Philippine agriculture industry. Organized by the CFA, the conference was conducted with the theme: “Philippine Agriculture and Fishery: Moving Towards a Balanced Growth.” Mr. Daryl Zamora  Corporate Communications Office

UNIVERSITAS February 2011

News “Journalists themselves must be trained to see their own civic commitment and participation in democratic processes and to think of their audiences not as consumers but as citizens,” Khan said. Khan added that social media have presented a venue for healthy exchange where “everyone’s commenting on events.” Although she saw Twitter users to be mostly “reactive,” Facebook is a channel citizens can use to participate in the “process of collecting, reporting, analyzing and disseminating news and information.”

Award-winning filmmaker Marilou Diaz-Abaya comments on the media coverage of the Quirino Grandstand hostage-taking, while Dr. Esther Esteban (leftmost) and Dr. Bett Ramirez look on

Sharing values

Gawad Kalinga founder Antonio Meloto encouraged conference participants, mainly composed of public school educators and administrators, to create a “shared value” among learners, particularly in their love for the people. “The reason why our country is poor and corrupt is that we did not receive a patriotic education… It’s only patriots who can make things happen,” Meloto said. Meloto also said organizations should not hesitate to partner with government as long as contribute to the development of intentions are kept upright. civic consciousness with “objecTagbilaran City Mayor tive, truthful and useful” reports “about government and citizenry.” Dan Neri Lim, however, said that the difficulty in joint efforts someDiaz-Abaya said the jourtimes lies in a “one-sided” sense nalists’ duty is to “perform their of responsibility. mandate,” to “raise and enable “We have citizens who depeople,” and not to exercise mand so much accountability from “commercial greed.” the state but little accountability She gave as a counterexfrom themselves. Unless we move ample of responsible media the full media coverage of the Quirino the bar to the center, the imbalGrandstand incident, which com- ance will break us,” Lim said. Marikina City mayor promised the safety of victims and Malou Fernando pointed out stability of diplomatic relations. the role of families in molding Veteran broadcaster and UA&P Corporate Communications responsible citizens. “Civic education should start Director Chi-Chi Fajardo- in the homes, after which they Robles stressed the need should be complemented by for quality training of future more knowledge in the schools,” media practitioners. “We have so many graduates Fernando said. The Philippine Center for Civof mass communication who end ic Education and Development, up in call centers,” she said. which organized the conference, Multi-awarded journalist and professor Rachel Khan said media was started by several faculty practitioners have to be a “catalyst members from the School of for change” by listening to “public Education and Human Development and the Institute of Political opinion, not media opinion.” Economy of UA&P. “The reason why our Other conference speakers country is poor and included respected economist Bernardo Villegas, American civic corrupt is that we did education advocate Margaret not receive a patriotic Branson, and former Bukidnon education…It’s only representative Nereus Acosta. patriots who can make

Civic educators seek joint democratic efforts Speakers from education, media, and government sectors appealed for long-term, multisector engagement to address what Senator Edgardo Angara called a “façade democracy” during the National Conference for Civic Education and Democracy in UA&P last August 25 and 26. Responding to President Benigno Aquino III’s call for private-public collaboration, Angara and the conference

Ms. Khan

Ms. Robles

speakers such as former Finance Secretary Jesus Estanislao and TVI Resource Development Vice President Felice Yeban expressed the need for an informed, proactive citizenry to make Philippine democracy genuine. Dr. Estanislao and Yeban said this can be achieved by having concrete performance indicators relative to strategic priorities that citizens can track for the next six years.

UNIVERSITAS February 2010

With such measures, it would be “incumbent upon the different sectors of our nation to look for ways and means by which they can positively and substantively contribute,” Dr. Estanislao said in his keynote address. For Dr. Estanislao, education is logically the means to have active, responsible citizens working together toward nation-building. “Civic education, as is the case of any type of education, to be most effective cannot be dissociated from the immediate environment where specific challenges need to be met,” Dr. Estanislao, founding president of UA&P, said. Yeban added that civic education should be informed by research and designed “in a way that the people become the state.” She pointed out, however, government’s lack of visibility in remote parts of the country that has resulted in low democratic participation among citizens. “The state is practically absent in far-flung areas,” she said.

Traditional and social media for civic engagement

Aside from formal schooling wherein educators ought to prepare students to fulfill their roles as citizens, for filmmaker Marilou Diaz-Abaya, the mass media must

things happen,”

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Ms. Camille Diola  Corporate Communications Office

TEACHER DEVELOPMENT AS TOP EDUCATION AGENDA Government should prioritize improvement of teaching skills over the extension of basic education in public schools, two professors from UA&P said in a press conference last July. UA&P College of Arts and Sciences Assistant Dean Antonio Torralba, PhD explained that most of those who entered the teaching profession in recent years belong to the bottom 25 percent of high school graduates, affecting the quality of education in the country.

Dr. Torralba

“Even if you add two more years to schooling, if the teaching quality remains the same, then you will have the same results,” Torralba said, commenting on the proposal to extend the current 10-year basic education in schools, which he still considered “worthwhile” and “workable.” Caterina Lorenzo-Molo, PhD from the School of Communication said, however, that the extension policy can be an excuse not to work on the improvement of teaching and educational materials. “If they put up one more year but they don’t work on forming better teachers, it’s not going to work,” she said. “In private schools, I don’t see it as necessary at all.” Molo also stressed that developing competencies of teachers is urgent since they have a considerable influence on young students even outside the classroom. “The number one problem of Philippine education is the quality of teachers, not just in technical expertise, but in all aspects,” Molo, a mother of three, said.

“Even if you add two more years to schooling, if the teaching quality remains Rethinking teachers’ training the same, then you will Besides drafting new have the same results.” schemes to attract good high

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school graduates to pursue

teaching, Torralba proposed that bachelor’s degrees in secondary and elementary education be reworked. He said practitioners must have instruction on character formation, thinking skills, and communication skills, which for Torralba are “the three major thrusts of education.” The educator also proposed that college training for future teachers be mostly contentbased instruction on their field of specialization, while allotting only one or two years for pedagogy. Continuing education, at the same time, should be focused on specializations while promoting leadership and management skills required of school principals, he said.

Wage hike not a solution

For Torralba and Molo, raising salaries to motivate public school teachers is almost out of the question, even when the lion’s share of the national budget is rightfully allotted for education. “With a blanket increase, for every peso increase in teachers’ salary, (government) has to raise around two billion pesos,” Torralba said. Molo, on the other hand, suggests tax cuts for educators. “I know there are professions…that have very, very strong

Dr. Molo

“Instead of increasing [teachers’] salaries, why not make [them] tax-free?”

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tax shields. Instead of increasing [teachers’] salaries, why not make [them] tax-free?” Molo said. Although Torralba considers wage hike proper, such a benefit can adversely affect diocesan schools that see instructors leaving to instead work for higher pay in public schools. “We have to make teaching more attractive, even to those who might not have to teach—those who don’t have to rely on teaching for survival,” Torralba added. Ms. Camille Diola  Corporate Communications Office

SED conducts human capital planning and dev’t seminar Human resource personnel from various Metro Manila companies attended the Human Capital Planning and Development seminar organized by the School of Education and Human Development (SED) last August. The seminar aimed to give participants a firm background on the concept of human capital and how it can be applied to their respective companies. The revolutionary concept of human capital is believed to increase the productivity of employees and, ultimately, a company’s profits. The topics covered include work-life integration, employer branding, and the balanced scorecard. The seminar was part of SED’s efforts to provide continuing formation to human development professionals. Mr. Daryl Zamora  Corporate Communications Office

UNIVERSITAS February 2010

News

W W W.U S C C B .O R G /C A R I TA S I N V E R I TAT E /

When love rings true

Notes from “God and Country: An Interdisciplinary Conference on Caritas in Veritate” “Love in truth” We might have heard of it, but it’s not some cliché from pop songs and movies. It is in fact the subject of an interdisciplinary meeting of minds. The God and Country Conference hosted by UA&P and CRC brought together academicians, public servants, and other professionals from diverse fields to discuss the country’s development in the light of a simple yet charged phrase. The conference was among the first of its kind to be initiated by a nonsectarian academic institution. “Love in truth” in its original Latin is “Caritas in Veritate,” the title of Pope Benedict XVI’s third encyclical and the first on Catholic social doctrine after two decades. Unlike the typical love letter, Caritas in Veritate provides a formidable, universal framework for true human progress. Reviews say the encyclical couldn’t have been timelier as a keen redirection of arguments on the recent recession, increased connectivity of the global community, poverty and hunger. But the Holy Father did more than point out today’s defects. In reminding key players of the significance of ethics in free markets and in addressing the world’s social concerns, he writes about individuals’ inherent interconnectedness beyond communication tools. Former White House official Joseph Wood wrote, commenting on the encyclical from the perspective of someone versed in foreign policy, “What is common to all is that anything that is open to, and includes, God’s

UNIVERSITAS February 2011

love in truth will aid integral development. Anything without that love destroys such development. This is the central message.” Taking off from this message were speakers and presenters at the God and Country conference. UA&P President Jose Maria Mariano opened the event with a testimony on the astute relevance of Catholic social teaching across fields of knowledge, necessarily transforming debate on social issues into fully reasoned discourses “that open the possibility of an encounter with God and the perspective of eternal life.” (read the full text on page 13) The extensive scope of Dr. Mariano’s opening address was complemented by the keynote speech of UA&P founding President Jesus Estanislao who discussed the vocation of individuals to integral development, which is not a “magic bullet that can propel peoples and nations from a state of backwardness to one of prosperity” over a short period. Development only reaches its fullness with a transcendent vision of the man. Another key address by Professor Yihteen Lee from IESE Business School in Spain underscored the role of dialogue in building social capital—the “actual and potential resources embedded within the network of relationships of an individual.” This holds true most especially in today’s context of globalization wherein intercultural activities abound. A self-proclaimed global native, Prof. Lee promoted the Pope’s challenge to have a cultural identity that embraces diversity balanced with a sense of membership and responsibility.

But perhaps the main ingredients of the conference were the papers delivered by the faculty and their co-authors that represent the ever-widening fields of study within the UA&P community. Dr. Rolando Dy and Ms. Annette Dacul from the UA&P Center for Food and Agribusiness examined government agricultural policies in the recent years. Their paper calls attention to the skewed priorities in resource allocation that has contributed to poverty in rural areas. In studying the trend toward microfinance and social entrepreneurship, economy professors Bienvenido Nito and Benjamin Dy recognized how such ventures help the multifaceted development of people, especially the poor. UA&P Institute of Political Economy’s Dr. Lloyd Bautista presented his case study of a collaborative project of towns in North Cotabato in the practice of network governance in keeping with the principle of subsidiary and therefore allowing the freedom and power of small, shared initiatives. Dr. Roberto de Vera of the School of Economics put forward a thesis for a family development bill to counter the much-disputed Reproductive Health (RH) Bill. Dr. de Vera commented on how the latter does not contribute to a sustainable human development. Looking at the RH Bill from the Church’s perspective, Mr. Gino Trinidad, a political scientist from Ateneo de Manila University, and Mr. Varsolo Sunio from the UA&P School of Sciences and Engineering teamed up to argue against popular misconceptions of why the Catholic Church opposes the proposed policy. They instead recommend a more secular approach in examining the Church’s stand on the issue, using the notion of integral human development. Mr. Dean Edward Mejos from the Philosophy Department examined a pro-life group against Benedict XVI’s framework of love, truth, and the common good and indicated how sound, effective efforts toward development can be further given character by truth. The director of East Asian Educational Association based in Hong Kong and UA&P alumnus, Mr. Richard Roque, gave a closing testimony on how global and local projects and social enterprises enable authentic humanism to thrive even as profit-seeking ventures. Calmly conducting the bustling event was Dr. Ma. Victoria Caparas of the UA&P School of Management who led the organizing committee of the conference with, in her own words, “a clear idea about the University’s contribution to a greater understanding of the teachings of Caritas in Veritate. The planned conference must articulate its relevance in Philippine realities.” It was, indeed, a contribution—blessed by the Pope himself. In a letter from the Vatican secretariat, Monsignor Peter Wells wrote Dr. Caparas on behalf of the Holy Father, “His Holiness prayed for you and the conference on Caritas in Veritate, invoking upon you joy and peace in our Lord Jesus Christ, he cordially imparts his Apostolic Blessing.” Ms. Camille Diola  Corporate Communications Office

Feature

The interdisciplinary wisdom of the Church’s social doctrine Jose Maria Mariano, Ph.D. University President

he one common premise underlying our discussions on Caritas in Veritate is probably best illustrated by an episode of G.K. Chesterton’s detective-story hero, Father Brown, a provincial parish priest who solves the most intricately accomplished crimes. In the story, the notorious thief Flambeau masquerades as a priest attending a Eucharistic Congress in England. Father Brown seeks him out and engages him in theological small talk. Flambeau: “Ah, yes, these modern infidels appeal to their reason; but who can look at those millions of worlds and not feel that there may well be wonderful universes above us where reason is utterly unreasonable?” Father Brown: “No, reason is always reasonable even in the last limbo, in the last borderland of things. I know that people charge the Church with lowering reason, but it is just the other way. Alone on earth, the Church makes reason really supreme. Alone on earth, the Church affirms that God Himself is bound by reason.” Flambeau: “Yet who knows if in that infinite universe—?” Father Brown: “Reason and justice grip the remotest and the loneliest star. …you can imagine any mad botany or geology you please. …But don’t fancy that all that frantic astronomy would make the smallest difference to…reason...” Flambeau: “Well, I still think that other worlds may perhaps rise higher than our reason. The mystery of heaven is unfathomable, and I for one can only bow my head.” Immediately afterwards, Father Brown exposes the thief. Flambeau is astounded. How did he find him out? Father Brown: “You attacked reason. It’s bad theology.” Increasingly alone among the more visible institutions in society, including institutions of learning, the Catholic Church continues to assert the capacity of human reason to discover the existence of unchanging, universally binding moral truths that should frame public debate about social issues. In doing this, the Catholic Church is increasingly becoming the chief obstacle to the project of a thoroughly secularized public life—where reasoned discourse on man’s advancement no longer admits dimensions that open the possibility of an encounter with God and the perspective of eternal life, and where the public role of religion is limited to “charitable” activities.1 When Benedict XVI argues for a charity that “demonstrates the persuasive and authenticating power [of truth] in the practical setting of social living,” (CIV, 3) he is continuing that tradition of resistance. It is not the first time Benedict XVI argues for religion and morals a place in public life. On September 12, 2006, in his memorable address Faith, Reason and the University: Memories and Reflections at the University of Regensburg, he had said: If…the specifically human questions about our origin and destiny, the questions raised by religion and ethics, …[are] relegated to the realm of the subjective…[then] ethics and religion lose their power to create a community and become a completely personal matter. This is a dangerous state of affairs for humanity, as we see from the disturbing pathologies of religion and reason that necessarily erupt when reason is so reduced that questions of religion and ethics no longer concern it. One might think that in the Philippines, a predominantly Christian country, there is less danger of such extreme secularism. Certainly, long before corporate social

responsibility—CSR—became a catchphrase, civil society, led by religious groups, was at the forefront of social development. The massive neglect of agriculture in the countryside, made more pronounced by devastation wrought by frequent natural calamities, thrust upon civil society a big burden artificially laid on it by the blurring of roles of government and private sector. As early as the 1960s Caritas Manila and several religious groups have been going to the rescue of marginalized communities in the countryside and in congested urban human settlements. In the 1970s, finding itself in a society increasingly racked by social unrest, big business banded together through the Philippine Business for Social Progress. Confronted by strong leftist sentiments that spurred university students to march on the streets and blame affluent capitalists for the nation’s poverty, many Philippine corporations began to move, if only to protect their legitimacy and interests, and corporate social responsibility began to have more structure. Their initiative paid off eventually. After more than four decades, the Philippines is being singled out among the world’s developing countries for the vigorous sense of social responsibility in its business sector. But notwithstanding many otherwise excellent forums tackling social issues, there is increasingly a deficit of hard and sustained reasoning on the Church’s social doctrine—reasoning that can support reasoned conversation in civil society that

W W W.C C. D U C TA P E G U Y. N E T

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Feature that business has on modes of production and consumption is solidly grounded on the single most important value the and lifestyles, on technological advancement, and on natural Church insists on when confronting the realities of our stewardresource use. This influence implies major responsibilities for ship of society: the truth about the dignity of the individual huthese actors in their developing, managing, marketing and comman person in all its dimensions, including religious and moral, municating activities, particularly those enterprises that exercise and how this truth impinges on his authentic development. a major impact on social realities, including the environment. The result is that increasingly we refer to the beneficiary of The CRC has been indefatigable in underscoring the real “insustainable development in the abstract—we talk about protectconvenient truth” that those who contribute least to climate ing “society”, of ensuring the welfare of “mankind”, and looking change will be affected the most because they have the least out for “future generations”. According to the now accepted forcapacity to cope or to escape, and that the underprivileged and mula derived from Our Common Future, the Report of the World the disenfranchised are most likely the ones to pay the price of Commission on Environment and Development—more comunwise decisions or of our inaction. monly known as the Brundtland Report2 —the term “sustainable When the South East Asian Science Foundation converted development” means “development that meets the needs of the into the University of Asia and the Pacific Foundation and set up present without compromising the ability of the future generathe UA&P, it became possible for the institution to contribute to tions to meet their own needs.” Understood in the proper conthe education of youth in the field of political, civic, and social text, the present generations would have to ensure that we have activity. It also became possible to widen its research in the way laid in place systems and policies that are humane. These should that John Paul II marked out in Ex Corde Ecclesiae: include development programs for the underprivileged: providing Included among its research activities, therefore, will be a work to make them productive; tapping energies from technology study of serious contemporary problems in areas such as the and talents derived from the exercise of human skill. It may even dignity of human life, the promotion of justice for all, the quality include room for the relational, the directly human dimension of of personal and family life, the protection of nature, the search work—the ability to listen, to smile, to work together, to dedicate for peace and political stability, a more just sharing in the oneself to satisfying both clients and employees. world’s resources, and a new economic However, when documents such as and political order that will better serve the Brundtland Report begin to speak the human community at a national and of specific social issues such as populainternational level. (ECE, 32) tion and the planet’s carrying capacity, With the establishment of departalleviation of poverty and unemployments in the natural sciences, in the ment, reproductive health, and so on, humanities, in political science, commuthe tendency is to apply the “equitable” nication, management and education, it approach—that is, to seek the greatest has also become possible for the UA&P good for the greatest number of people. to heed the call for an interdisciplinary apIn the end, they forget that the common The Church’s social proach to social issues that Paul VI made in good, as Benedict XVI reminds us, is the Populorum Progressio,4 and which Benegood of “‘all of us’, made up of individudoctrine…allows faith, als, families and intermediate groups dict XVI confirmed in Caritas in Veritate: theology, metaphysics, and who together constitute society,” (CIV, The Church’s social doctrine…allows science to come together in 7) and not just of the majority. In societfaith, theology, metaphysics and science a collaborative effort in the ies such as ours where the values of to come together in a collaborative effort service of humanity. Western-style democracy are being more in the service of humanity. It is here above forcefully pressed on matters of national all that the Church’s social doctrine dispolicy, the specifically moral dimension of plays its dimension of wisdom. (CIV, 31) social responsibility is increasingly set aside, with the result that It is this interdisciplinary dimension in the Church’s social the “dignity of the individual human person” is dismissed as a doctrine that makes the University a fitting ally in the develop“religious” value that has no place in the deliberations of interment and application of the doctrine’s principles in as wide a national, regional, or even national development. spectrum as possible of intellectual and professional fields. The university cannot remain far behind in making sense of Certainly the University Conference on Caritas in Veritate marks these developments. The dynamics of business and society are a significant effort to draw together professors in business and now compelling institutions of learning not only to learn the rudi- economics, in political science and governance, and in educaments of corporate social responsibility, but, more importantly, tion, communication and the humanities. We believe that by to address the question whether the dignity of the individual harnessing a wide range of expertise, we can create a new and human person is a reality that human reason can discover, and immensely effective curiosity about the social doctrine of the which a university can defend rationally, with academic serenity, Church and the light it sheds on all social realities, and thereby even with openness to people of other religious backgrounds. attract many partners in the private and public sector who can Our University’s Conference on Benedict XVI’s 2009 encyclical collaborate with us and contribute to the integral human develCaritas in Veritate has this one purpose. We see the singular im- opment of the peoples of the Asia-Pacific region. portance of reasoned conversation on the social doctrine of the At the same time, Benedict XVI’s insistence that the interChurch, and we would like to address the need to work more disciplinary approach is a dimension of wisdom presents to us energetically to have this social doctrine occupy a prominent in academe certain challenges. I shall briefly outline three such niche in the deliberations of civil society, particularly academe. challenges. We are happy that we in the University of Asia and the First, scholarship is the bread and butter of research in Pacific (UA&P) have had the benefit of learning from our parent a University. But in Benedict XVI’s reflection on John Paul II’s institution, the Center for Research and Communication (CRC), encyclical letter Fides et Ratio,5 he warns against a type of which did not operate merely sub species aeternitatis—lost in scholarship that will have the effect, not of discovering the truth, the contemplation of ethereal realities—but has always insisted but of fleeing from the truth. The Pope quotes from C.S. Lewis’ on keeping the institutional walls porous to the current realiScrewtape Letters, where a senior devil is advising a novice in ties surrounding it. In this sense, a common but false reading the work of leading men astray. The younger devil is concerned of Newman’s principle that knowledge is an end in itself was that intelligent people might read the classical books and stumnot allowed to limit the institution’s character.3 As the public ble on the track of truth. Screwtape reassures him that intellectuals are solidly entrenched in the “Historical Point of View”, a authorities undertake more and more sustainable developmasterpiece of diabolic invention, and which means in fact that ment initiatives, the CRC continues to point out the influence

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…when a learned man is presented with any statement in an ancient author, the one question he never asks is whether it is true. He asks who influenced the ancient writer, and how far the statement is consistent with what he said in other books, and what phase in the writer’s development, or in the general history of thought, it illustrates, and how it affected other writers, and so on.6 I raise the issue because unlike the natural scientists, the teacher of humanistic studies and those of the social sciences that have not yet reached the condition of the natural sciences must look elsewhere for standards of validity than those found in mathematics. Such standards of validity do exist; they have existed for centuries—Aristotle’s Posterior Analytics discusses the standards of scientific truth for the non-mathematical disciplines. But in the contemporary intellectual climate, it is easier to take refuge in a clever pitting of one reading against another, one school of thought against another, comparing and contrasting, finally producing a synthesis of opinions that is no better than a conjecture. We in academe need to resist this kind of Socratic questioning gone astray, and know the moment when it is appropriate to ask what the truth of the matter is, that is, to respond as John Paul II did in Fides et Ratio: The interpretation of this word [he was talking of scripture] cannot merely keep referring us to one interpretation after another, without ever leading us to a statement that is simply true. (FR, 84) The second challenge is in the area in which human reason feels most at home—the area of civic morality, or the good of human action in society. Ironically, it is also in this area where relativism makes its most aggressive appearance, as an “occupational hazard” for those who live in a pluralistic society. Years before he assumed the papacy, Cardinal Ratzinger has warned against relativism—specifically moral relativism—becoming a “central problem”, no longer styling itself simply as reason’s “resignation in the face of the unfathomable nature of truth,” but as the “basis of democracy.”7 Indeed, relativism now deploys a formidable array of philosophical and political concepts— existential epistemology, civil tolerance, liberality—in order to defend the free society, which, it claims, can remain free only on the condition that the “democracy of truths”—which is really no more than a compendium of partial conclusions, no matter how scientifically established—is not restricted by anyone’s asserting a “guiding synthesis” (CIV, 31) that can steer the compromises of political activity. That synthesis, in fact, can only emerge from a clear recognition that not all fields of learning are on the same plane, and that some exercise over the others a directive and normative influence. Benedict XVI urges such an acknowledgement in his Regensburg Address: Modern scientific reason quite simply has to accept…the correspondence between our spirit and the prevailing rational structures of nature as a given, on which its methodology has to be based. Yet the question why this has to be so is a real question, and one that has to be remanded by the…sciences to other modes and planes of thought—to philosophy and theology. In other words, we in the University need to restore to philosophy and theology their rightful pre-eminence in the hierarchy of knowledge, and their roles in directing truth-oriented discourse on social issues. The third challenge for someone who wants to dialogue fruitfully with the real religious and ethical problems of contemporary society and the professions is to connect with culture: Cooperation for development must not be concerned exclusively with the economic dimension: it offers a wonderful opportunity for encounter between cultures and peoples. If the parties…fail to take account of their own or others’ cultural identity, or the human values that shape it, they cannot enter into meaningful dialogue… (CIV, 54) Dialogue with other cultures cannot be other than dialogue between cultures, between the shared moral experience of one’s own culture and another’s. This means that one’s own sense of cultural identity must be alive and vigorous. In large

part, this is the reason for the study of the humanities—literature, history, the fine arts—which is to reach into the religious and moral imagination of persons through the shared memories of the community and to facilitate the communication of this moral experience down the generations. To many generations of students of the humanities, the Athenians and Spartans, the Stoics and the Epicureans, Michelangelo and Raphael, Mozart and Beethoven were “not only names of people long dead, but also permanent possibilities interpreting the life and duties of man”.8 That may no longer be true. The contemporary teacher will probably discover that the problem of communicating moral experience through the traditional menu of classical humanities isn’t only books. It isn’t only language. It is experience. There is no amount of reading, remedial or advanced, no amount of study of any kind, that can substitute for the fact that humanistic studies, which is sometimes still called “general knowledge”, is knowledge that is in fact no longer part of general experience— not when contemporary media feeds our minds daily with a set of imagery that threatens to degrade the moral insights of the Iliad, the Odyssey, and the Divine Comedy to infertile fantasy. And so the challenge: from what tradition can we now dialogue? We may have encountered the facetious remark that in the study of the humanities as we find it in contemporary academe the criteria of what is to be avoided is white, male, European, and dead. The fact of the matter, however, is that much of the cultural imagery by which Christian truths have entered into our moral imagination is in fact mediated by the white, the male, the European, the dead. The challenge is to revive the old metaphors, or to search for sources of metaphor among the non-white, the female, the Eastern, the contemporary. Allow me to end with a quotation from the encyclical that to my mind summarizes the triple challenge facing a university in the light of Caritas in Veritate: The significant new elements in the picture of the development of peoples today…demand new solutions. These need to be found together, respecting the laws proper to each element, in the light of an integral vision of man, reflecting the different aspects of the human person, [and] contemplated through a lens purified by charity. Remarkable convergences and possible solutions will then come to light, without any fundamental component of human life being obscured. (CIV, 32) This speech was delivered as opening remarks during the Caritas in Veritate Conference last June 2010. Editor’s note: The printed version contains errata that are corrected in this website version. See Caritas in Veritate, no. 11. United Nations, 1987. See The Scope and Nature of University Education, (New York: E.P. Dutton & Co., Inc., 1958), especially Discourse IV, “Liberal Knowledge Its Own End”. In this celebrated series of lectures, John Cardinal Newman argues that knowledge is a good per se of the intellect, not per accidens; that utility is an acceptable criterion for evaluating knowledge, but only one of many such, and arguably not the most important; and that the University is the one institution in all of society whose task is to embrace the entire universe of knowledge primarily as the good per se of the intellect. The reading that he is therefore arguing for an ivory tower of purely academic values is, to my mind, false. 4 See PP, no. 45. 5 Benedict XVI, “Culture and Truth: Some Reflections on the Encyclical Letter Fides et Ratio”, in The Essential Pope Benedict XVI, ed. John F. Thornton and Susan B. Varenne (New York: Harper One, 2007), pp. 367 ff. 6 C.S. Lewis, Screwtape Letters, XXVII. 7 See Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, Truth and Tolerance (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2004), especially “The New Questions that Arose in the Nineties: The Position of Faith and Theology Today”, pp. 115-137, where the context is more directly that of faith and religion. See also Fr Joseph de Torre, “The Dictatorship of Relativism and Its Impact on Culture,” Occasional Papers on Education and Culture, (Pasig: University of Asia and the Pacific, 2000). 8 See E.H. Gombrich (“The Tradition of General Knowledge,” in Ideals & Idols: Essays on values in history and in art, (London: Phaidon, 1979), pp.9-23), whose sentiments I echo here, regarding the gap between the content of classical education and contemporary culture. Arguably, this gap is more sharply felt in our local and regional context. 1 2 3

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Academics

University Day Lecture, 13 August 2010

Individual, society and citizenship: an economist’s perspective Emilio T. Antonio Jr., Ph.D. School of Economics 

Traditional framework: Citizenship by circumstances

The topic assigned to me is “Individual, Society and Citizenship.” Since I am an economist by training, I will approach the topic from the perspective of my discipline. ….The first problem that an economist confronts in trying to understand the concept of citizenship is in its traditional definition. It is in terms of given circumstances and not of choices. Citizenship is an individual’s membership in a society. Traditionally, this is framed by the place of birth and/or blood relationship. ….(T)here are costs to being a citizen. These costs come in the form of the duties a citizen must assume. The labels for these duties sound nice: patriotism, civic responsibilities, and other romantic concepts a citizen is expected to internalize. Once we focus on the costs, it becomes easy to see that the traditional definition of citizenship opens up a Pandora’s Box of questions. Clearly, the definition has a very weak link to the duties citizenship entails. Why should I be responsible for my place of birth? Why should my blood relationship with a particular race of people impose a set of responsibilities on me?

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Citizenship by choice

Recent developments have added a new wrinkle to these realities: citizenship by choice. In an increasingly globalized community where physical and virtual travel has become easy, more people seem to have realized this possibility. What makes these individuals choose to belong in a society, disregarding the origin of their blood and the space on earth where they were born? What makes them accept the new set of rights and responsibilities definitely different from what they were leaving behind? From a purely economic standpoint, the answer to this question of choice is clear: the rewards involved in assuming this new citizenship are bigger than the cost of giving up their old status. Emotional attachments defined by relationships in their countries of origin give way to the promise of economic gains in the promised land of their choice.

From choice to commitment

It might be helpful to break down the choices that an individual makes in relation to citizenship into two steps. The first step is the choice to belong

or be a part of a society. Perhaps, this can be easily justified by the circumstances of birth and the lure of economic gains from membership. The second step is the choice to commit to the society where one belongs. That is, accepting and fulfilling with passion the responsibilities that this membership entails. What we want to understand better is the link between membership and commitment. The question we need to address, therefore, is: “What could drive citizens to passionately embrace not only the rights but also, more important, the responsibilities that go with citizenship?” To help us answer this question, we need to … explore the roles and relationships among individuals, society and citizenship: At the core is the individual. He is the one who has a soul with intellect and will and who can therefore make things happen. As an individual, he has a definite vocation clearly articulated in the recent encyclical of Pope Benedict XVI Caritas in Veritate: he has a vocation for development. But he lives and is expected to carry out his vocation in a society. In this society, he must recognize that there are other individuals undertaking the same journey and who have the same rights and responsibilities to be able to reach their final destination. From these, it is clear that a society exists for the individual. ….Society’s existence is defined by the need of the individuals to be able to fulfill their vocation for development. Therefore, the yardstick for society’s success is if society helps its individuals reach their final end. Clearly, the individual and society are linked by a common objective: the vocation for development of the individual. Their developments, therefore, are intertwined. Society’s progress can only make sense if it results in the development of individuals…. (H)is development must help society open up more possibilities to make the development of other individuals in that society also possible. In short, there is a clear need for reciprocity…. The reciprocity I am talking about here, however, is not that variety where—“You scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours.” The reciprocity has to be moral. This moral reciprocity can be a potent force to convert membership into commitment. If the individual can see, feel, and touch that his development and society’s progress are closely intertwined, he is more likely to be concerned with how he can be of help to society. Behind that concern would be the reciprocal expectation that when the community prospers, so does he. For citizenship to become a strong driving force for individuals to develop their commitment to their responsibilities in a society, the following conditions are clearly important: • The individuals must be free to exercise their choice;

• Moral reciprocity between the individual and society must reign. That is i. Society makes it possible for individuals to reap the costs and rewards of their choices; ii. Society benefits from the individual choices in terms of how these reinforce society’s capability to help its citizens in fulfilling their vocation to development. • There is an opportunity to participate in society’s governance. This is needed to help citizens recognize, internalize, and reinforce the sense of commitment that true citizenship entails. Viewed from the opposite perspective, these are the same forces that would erode the sense of commitment to these responsibilities. When society irresponsibly restricts freedom of choice, the sense of responsibility is suppressed. Responsibility, after all, can be assumed only when there is freedom of choice. When moral reciprocity is undermined, the drive to act as responsible citizens also is stifled. This happens i. when society cuts the link between individual choices and their consequences; and ii. when individual choices tend to undermine society’s capability to perform its responsibility to the other members of society iii. when opportunities to participate in society’s decisions are severely limited either by society’s structure for governance or the abuse of these structures by some individuals. When a clique, for example, monopolizes governance and hangs on to power over long periods of time, other individuals lose their opportunity to experience leadership… (and) the chances to be fully connected to society are undermined.

The framework vs. Philippine realities

Let us now use these concepts to explain, anticipate, and examine how we can influence the sense of citizenship that Filipinos have. What do we usually blame for this poor quality of choices? Lack of sense of nationhood combined with lack of education, the role of media, and the influence of financial power are what we consider as the usual suspects. Definitely, all these play a role. But from the perspective of what we have previously discussed, could the reason also be the failure of the individuals to see, or even more important, to strongly feel, the link between their choices and the consequences of their decisions? The challenge then to keep the fire of citizenship burning seems to lie in how the three C’s of citizenship converge: how circumstances and choices are linked and transformed to commitment. Circumstances and economic choices

easily fan membership. Converting membership to commitment requires that individual and society’s decisions be aligned to serve the common good. Alignment requires appreciation of moral reciprocity, which, in turn, requires structures that enable the frequent practice of bringing to life the potential reciprocal and moral benefits of individual choices. It is always appealing to resort to the famous exhortation of Kennedy in his inaugural address: that we should not ask what the country can do for us but what we can do for the country. In the real world, the realities confronting ordinary citizens do not prompt them to ask this question. In fact, it is the opposite that is more likely to be asked. Can this be changed? If we use the same framework, we need to work hard on two things: (a) developing the sense that individual and society’s fates are closely intertwined; and (b) making this sense real through participatory practices of governance that gives opportunities to everyone to lead and to follow…. (T)hese are difficult to achieve specifically when one deals with the national level. What then can be done? Perhaps a more realistic strategy is to work on the smaller “societies” that make up the nation. Moral reciprocity would be easier to touch, see, and feel in the smaller units— the home, school, and the place where one works. As the sense of citizenship in these smaller societies is developed, the intertwining of an individual’s fate with those of the other members of these societies is brought to the fore through actual experiences. Moral reciprocity becomes a living concept that could help them develop the sense of responsibility and commitment to bigger societies where these smaller societies belong. It will help develop values, structures, and practices that can convert circumstances and choices forming the initial foundations of membership in a society into passionate commitment to contribute to society’s goals. Let me consider the possibilities at the level of family, school, and workplace. Passionate commitment to these smaller societies can be stimulated or under-

The yardstick for society’s success is if society helps its individuals reach their final end.

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mined depending on whether or not moral reciprocity between the individual and these societies is a living reality.

Citizenship in the family

…(C)ommitment to the family can be strengthened or weakened by the presence or absence of moral reciprocity in the acts of the family members. We did not choose to be born in the specific family but we feel obliged to take care of the members of our families. Nevertheless, fulfillment of family duties become harder whenever a member feels that the development of the family as a whole does not mean anything for his own development.

Citizenship in schools

Most of the time, it is parents who choose the children’s school. Nevertheless, the sense of belonging grows when the sense of moral reciprocity is reinforced. How they treasure the experiences that they had matter. If the experience is good, the bond is likely to be strong. And if the bond is nurtured after they have left the school premises, the alumni could remain committed citizens of the school.

Citizenship in companies

In these societies, you could either have workers who have jobs or have “citizens” who are committed to their responsibilities. If we want our employees to work with passion, their personal objectives must be aligned with the company’s mission. This would be more probable if the employees strongly feel that their fate and the fate of their company are strongly intertwined…. (A)lignment of personal objectives with corporate mission develops a culture where the search for personal excellence is disciplined by the need to contribute to the company’s goals because if the company progresses, so would he. ….The commitment of the workers blossoms when commitment of their companies to the workers is practiced, not just preached.

Conclusion

Converting family membership into citizenship. Converting students and teachers into committed citizens of schools. Converting employees into citizens of the companies. In all these, the individuals get to see that they belong to a society, which is there to help them reach their ultimate end. The probability that the sense of belonging to these societies could be converted into commitment increases when moral reciprocity is seen, touched, and felt. These become apparent in the values that the society believes in, the structures for decision-making, and the participatory practices that allow the citizens to become leaders and followers. This sense of citizenship in smaller societies could be a more solid foundation for the sense of citizenship in terms of the nation.

UNIVERSITAS February 2011

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Our future’s past >> UNIVERSITAS February 2010

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t’s true what they say: the more things change, the more they stay the same. After decades of steady growth in scope and ambition, the Center for Research and Communication (CRC) was granted university status in 1995, and UA&P emerged to take over the reins of its progenitor’s academic endeavors. CRC, soon after, became a separate body unto its own, keeping on with the pursuits that gave design to its inception. The rest, as they say, is history. The two had become all but separate entities, embarking on their own sets of trails to blaze. The thing about history is that it has a stubborn tendency of repeating itself. When UA&P President Dr. Jose Maria Mariano addressed last year’s General Assembly, he outlined steps that defined a vision for the future—steps which, ironically enough, are deeply entrenched in the past. The announcement of CRC’s return to the homestead came with bold new aspirations, and a defining chapter in the University’s history has come full circle.

History is now

“Following agreements recently forged by the governing bodies of the Center for Research and Communication and our University,” Dr. Mariano said, “we can now jointly pursue our university research and communications agenda, and, by CRC’s vigorous collaboration with research institutes that pursue a parallel research agenda, it shall be known as the Asian counterpart of similar endeavors in the Americas and in Europe.” “CRC shall represent a focus for the UA&P hallmark of ‘Research and Communication,’ and ensure that the edge their forty-three year experience can give our research—data-gathering and incisive analysis of concrete professional issues and current social needs—will remain strong,” he said. Dr. Mariano was referring to one of the University’s three hallmarks: the commitment to high-level, interdisciplinary research for the good of society and to communicate the results of such research through various media and to varied audiences. “At the same time,” he added, “we shall expand the scope that the CRC has hitherto been known for and shall pursue team effort and a multidisciplinary approach. We shall do this so that, while deploying the most technical expertise in solving a problem, the results never fail to cast light on the human condition.” On that note, Dr. Mariano echoed the mission taken up by UA&P from CRC: the fullest development of everything that is human in the individual. That mission holds true now as it did then.

“CRC shall represent a focus for the UA&P hallmark of ‘Research and Communication,’ and ensure that the edge their forty-three year experience can give our research— data-gathering and incisive analysis of concrete professional issues and current social needs—will remain strong,”

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UNIVERSITAS February 2011

UA&P Research Agenda Education Education and knowledge-based professions Child education Values education Gender-specific education Family, Work and Society Demographic studies Overseas Filipino Workers Threshold family income Family-oriented business policies Professional Ethics Business ethics Media ethics Information Technology ethics Advertising ethics Citizenship Philippine history and culture Good governance Corporate social responsibility Family-oriented legislation

CRC’s Brand of Research - Rigorous - Scientific - Relevant - Down-to-earth - Multidisciplinary - Open to philosophical and theological reflection

CRC’s Mission-Based Relationships CRC partners with people and institutions with a genuine desire to learn from them, and no less genuine desire to win them over to its cause. CRC wants to give its partners the opportunity to experience, assimilate, identify with, and spread the positive and universal spirit of UA&P. In this way, CRC shall contribute to the integral human development of the peoples in the Asia-Pacific region.

CRC through the decades: (Clockwise from top) Old CRC headquarters along Jorge Bocobo St. in Manila. CRC founders Dr. Jesus Estanislao and Dr. Bernardo Villegas during the Centerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s first few years. Early CRC publications. Current CRC staff (from left) Dr. Veronica Ramirez, Ms. Lily Grio, Ms. Louella Orque, and Ms. Mary Grace Caedo. Dr. Villegas talks in a recent forum. Dr. Celerino Tiongco (back) supervises an apprentice. Certificate granting university status to UA&P. A recent CRC forum on OFWs.

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UNIVERSITAS February 2010

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“Research at UA&P aims, above all, at a synthesis of humanistic, professional, scientific, and technical knowledge, inspired by a Christian view of man.”

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Then

In 1967, two brilliant Harvard graduates set out to fulfill a lifelong dream that, to this day, has remained part of the very fabric of the University. Dr. Jesus P. Estanislao and Dr. Bernardo M. Villegas, soon after their return from their doctoral studies, established CRC as a private, not-for-profit think-tank that catered to private sector businesses by analyzing developments in the business economic environment and translating their implications on business strategy. The venture started out small and inconspicuous, but gradually expanded as the team was joined by other economists. Together, they discovered a greater role in the grand scheme of Philippine society, and a need that this new endeavor was suited to fulfill. Traditional economics training in the country at that time was simply too focused on economic analysis for the purpose of government policyformulation while largely ignoring the concerns of businessmen. CRC, wanting to engage future economists with the tangible concerns and viewpoints of business, drew up a training curriculum that became the blueprint for the Center’s first foray into the world of academe: the Master of Science in Industrial Economics (IEP). The IEP program was, of course, just the beginning. Through the years, the Center diversified its academic interests especially in the fields of Education, Humanities, and Communications until it culminated in 1995 as UA&P.

Now

At its core, much has remained the same. CRC continues to function as UA&P’s central research office that is engaged in pursuing research and communication projects in line with the university research agenda. As the University Credo states, “Research at UA&P aims, above all, at a synthesis of humanistic, professional, scientific, and technical knowledge, inspired by a Christian view of man.” It also provides some essential services of university-wide application to support and encourage the development of the other academic units’ research agenda. Another key difference that distinguishes CRC’s work from that of other similar research institutions is the focal point of its thrust. The Center gives priority to areas of research that maximize the contribution to the common good of Philippine society, of those officials of government, business and civil society who will make use of the findings of research to design their respective policies and programs of action. To this end, CRC professionals conduct a number of continuing research on the roots of and solutions to Philippine poverty, socio-economic costs and benefits of exporting Filipino manpower abroad, the multiplier effects of the tourism sector, and similar topics related to the integral human development of Filipinos. CRC also aims to help form responsible citizenry that can judge policies on the basis of their wisdom rather than populist appeal. Remaining a non-stock, non-profit public policy research institution, the Center undertakes research with the purpose of making current issues understood by decision-makers in business, government, and civil society who can translate progressive ideas into action.

Mr. Carlo Cabrera  Corporate Communications Office

UNIVERSITAS February 2010

Feature MULTIDISCIPLINARY RESEARCH IN UNIVERSITIES Bernardo M. Villegas, Ph.D. University Professor 

n many Philippine universities, different “schools” or “faculties” are literally islands unto themselves having little interest in what is happening in other schools or faculties in the same educational institution. This “silo” mentality can be especially harmful to the academic community in the area of research, in which every university worthy of its name has to excel. There are numerous problems of Philippine society that cannot be diagnosed exclusively from the vantage point of one discipline alone, whether it be political science, economics, sociology, anthropology, etc. A multidisciplinary approach is essential and, therefore, would require the cooperation among practitioners of the various sciences. I was glad to receive a recent issue of Colloquy, the alumni quarterly of the Graduate School of Arts and Science (GSAS) of my alma mater, Harvard University. In the Summer 2010 issue of this publication, GSAS Dean Allan Brandt wrote about the great value of interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary research in an excellent university like Harvard. He started by quoting Harvard’s parlance, “every tub on its own bottom” which stands as shorthand for the proud independence of the ten faculties of Harvard and its other institutional units—and the distinctive cultures that flourish within each. I remember that, during my studies at Harvard in the early 1960s, the different faculties generally did not talk to one another. Economists talked only to economists. In fact, I distinctively remember that there was some kind of animosity between the Harvard Business School (considered the hotbed of conservatism) and the Economics Department of the GSAS (at that time considered too leftist by the HBS community). There was the reference to the HBS as being at the “right” side of the Charles River and the economists being at the “left” side of the same river. Through the years, there has been much more communication and interaction so that today, thanks to the efforts of professors like Michael Porter, there is a joint degree in Business Economics between the two institutions. There is a lot more interdisciplinary research among professors of economics and business. The same evolution has happened among the medical, law, architecture, sciences, engineering and other faculties. As Dean Brandt wrote: “Cross-disciplinary collaboration is everywhere at the Graduate School, no more vividly portrayed than in our 16 interfaculty PhD programs, which GSAS administers with other Harvard faculties. These include programs in the biomedical sciences (in collaboration with the Faculty of Medicine); in architecture, landscape, and urban planning (with the Graduate School of Design); in health policy (with the schools of government, law, business, public health, and medicine); and in political economy and government, public policy, and social policy (with the Kennedy School). Thanks to the origins of the University of Asia and the Pacific, which started in 1967 as the Center for Research and Communication (CRC), research is very much part of the culture of this academic institution in Pasig. The teaching load of the full-time faculty members is always limited so that they can find time to do research, which is part of their terms of reference with their respective schools or faculties. At the beginning of the University in 1989 (when it was still the CRC College

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of Arts and Sciences), there was also the tendency for the different departments (especially the economics department then) to ignore the other faculties in their research endeavors. Through the years, however, with constant prodding from the Office of the President, there has been a visible increase in interdisciplinary research, especially in matters that have direct relevance to influencing social or business policy. It is pretty obvious that research on Philippine poverty will involve economists, political scientists, historians, sociologists, and anthropologists, among others. The same can be said about the research on the Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) that cannot be limited to the economic benefits or costs but have to probe the social effects of separated families; the positive and negative repercussions on the practice of their religious faith when they are abroad; the political independence that the OFW families acquire as they are no longer beholden to the warlords in their respective regions; the educational trajectories of the children of the OFWs; and many other non-economic factors. This increasing trend towards interdisciplinary dialogue and research among the faculty members of UA&P redounds to the benefit of the students. They are being mentored by professors who are acquiring a broader view of Philippine society by leaving their respective preserves and looking at Philippine realities from the vantage points of the different sciences. Such interdisciplinary research also assures the continuing professional development of the teachers who cannot afford to stagnate intellectually in a rapidly changing world. UA&P, in fact, is the only university in the country that requires all students, whatever their specializations, to take courses on the history, culture, economics and politics of the countries in the Asia Pacific region. All students in their first two years of college studies have to accumulate a total of 18 credit units in various subjects that expose them to the various cultures, economies and polities of the Asia Pacific region. Referred to as the Pacific Rim Studies Program, this obligatory part of the liberal arts curriculum of the University is taught by an interdisciplinary team of professors coming from the different fields. As the economic epicenter of the world now shifts to the Asian region, it is important for the youth today to be steeped in their knowledge of countries like China, South Korea, Indonesia, Vietnam, and Thailand. This exposure to the history, culture, and other dimensions of the leading countries of the Pacific Rim should be another reason why high school students under the guidance of their respective parents should consider applying to UA&P. I foresee many of our graduates in the future landing high-paying jobs in such countries as China, Indonesia, Vietnam, and Myanmar.

This increasing trend towards interdisciplinary dialogue and research among the faculty members of UA&P redounds to the benefit of the students.

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This article first appeared in Manila Bulletin, 11 November 2010.

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Values: Rizal’s path Paul A. Dumol, Ph.D. Associate Professor  College of Arts and Sciences

I wish to talk about the place of values in Rizal’s theory of how a civil society comes to be. I want to contrast Rizal’s theory with a contrary opinion held by another national hero, Marcelo H. del Pilar. Del Pilar’s opinion is, to my mind, what Filipinos for the most part have followed up to the present. The point I wish to make is that Rizal is right and del Pilar wrong. I wish to take off from events that occurred at the start of the year 1891, 119 years ago. On January 1st, the Filipinos in Madrid met in Marcelo del Pilar’s office to elect a leader from among themselves. Thrice they voted with neither of the two candidates—Rizal and del Pilar— garnering the needed majority. The vote continued the next day: twice they cast their ballots and twice they still failed to produce a leader. Rizal walked out of the elections. Mariano Ponce then spoke to the adherents of del Pilar to inform them that del Pilar, who was all this time out on an errand, did not wish to hold the post; they then voted Rizal. Some days later when Rizal formally assumed the post, he singled out Eduardo de Lete and accused him of conspiring to topple his leadership; he also chided del Pilar for having failed to withdraw his candidacy earlier in the interests of unity. Rizal claimed the Filipinos in Madrid would have looked bad in the eyes of their financiers in the Philippines had they not upheld his leadership, as he was regarded in Manila as the de facto leader of the Filipinos. Del Pilar confided in a letter that he had to fight to keep a straight face at this point. Toward the end of the month, Rizal left Madrid never to return. He had made up his mind to withdraw from politics and, as soon as he had published the Fili, to return to the Philippines. This incident is not usually reported in our textbooks, and yet it has a good claim to marking the unraveling of the Propaganda Movement. After this, La Solidaridad was increasingly beset with money problems, and its writers gradually abandoned its editor, Marcelo del Pilar. Four years later it would fold up. Rizal left for Hong Kong October of that year, his ultimate destination being the Philippines. Lopez Jaena decided to abandon the Propaganda Movement as well and to run for office in Spain. This incident is rather disquieting as it apparently underscores a weakness in the Filipino that continues to afflict us today—factionalism.

Eight months after the incident Rizal received a letter from del Pilar, who told him he had been advised to patch things up with Rizal. However, del Pilar felt there was nothing to patch up. Rizal replied a few days later saying he agreed: there was nothing to patch up. A series of four more letters passed between the two of them. In his letter dated October 7, 1891, Rizal revealed to del Pilar his thoughts about the elections held ten months earlier: You will probably find me very touchy. I confess that I am, but when all one has done is harbor good will, love and self-denial for one’s friends and in return finds reproaches and attacks, believe me, one should change one’s conduct and modify one’s way of acting. Scratches inflicted by a friend hurt more than wounds from an enemy. I have decided on a norm of conduct, and that is to leave the Filipinos of Madrid to lead the way in politics, since they understand and know it so well. What can I do with my impatience and despotic hopes? I understand the desire of each Filipino to do what he wants, and I renounce my plans to form with my countrymen the tight bundle that I dreamed of. Perhaps iron with its compressed molecules is inferior to an air current of free and mobile molecules: I have erred and present my resignation. There is much to pause over in this passage, but I would like to concentrate on the last three sentences. First, Rizal accepted what had been obvious since the elections of January 1891: that there were Filipinos who rejected his leadership. He blamed this on himself, what he called his “impatience and despotic hopes.” Second, he defended himself: all he wanted to do was “to form with my countrymen [a] tight bundle.” “Tight bundle” or “apretado haz” is, I believe, Rizal’s translation of “bigkis.” Third, he mocked the preference of each Filipino “to do what he wants.” The comparison of iron and air currents is an instance of sarcasm. In a letter to Blumentritt written two days later, he gave more details of what he understood the opposition to him to consist of: I suggested many projects. They started a secret war against me: when I tried to make the Filipinos work, they called me a “false god.” They said I was a tyrant, etc. They wrote Manila twisting the facts and said that I wanted this and that, which was not exactly the truth… They

secretly set little traps for me over here, as if they wanted to destroy my small reputation… They say that Rizal has a very difficult character; alright, Rizal bows out… He seems to have accepted the claim that his personality and others’ clashed, but he refused to stop there. This was more than a case of bad chemistry. We get a hint of this deeper analysis in another letter written yet a few days later, October 13. Rizal told Marcelo del Pilar that, in retrospect, his not having won handily in the elections had been providential: There would have been no little conflict with Filipinos over failing grades, debts, gambling, and pawnshops. With my difficult and impatient character, I would have broken off with everyone before allowing a single rule to be violated! What Rizal had been impatient about with regard to Filipinos was their neglect of their studies, the debts they would contract, the gambling they engaged in, and their recourse to pawnshops for cash. This analysis of the problem may have been suggested by a letter from Tomás Aréjola, written not many days after he left Madrid: A short time after you left us, your absence was felt in our meetings… I speak of the colony in general, in the sense that not everyone agrees with you, a few because of old grudges, the effect of an immoderate pride, others because of antipathy that can only be explained by the spirit of envy overpowering hearts, and the greater number deceived by a strictness and authoritarianism mistakenly attributed to you by your opponents.

What Rizal had been impatient about with regard to Filipinos was their neglect of their studies, the debts they would contract, the gambling they engaged in, and their recourse to pawnshops for cash.

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“Mistakenly”? That strictness and that authoritarianism were on display the night before the elections of January 1891 during the New Year’s Eve party of the Filipino colony. Marcelo del Pilar tells us that the younger members of the group started the night by reading a resolution they had put together: that he (del Pilar) pay for the coffee for the evening,

UNIVERSITAS February 2011

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someone else for the cigars, and Rizal and Dominador Gomez for the champagne. What Rizal did, instead, was to start a collection for the champagne, to which only one side of the table contributed. The other side refused and instead grumbled about Rizal. Later in the evening, when someone made a toast and referred to students who were not diligent in their studies, what he said was so well put, the group broke into applause. Rizal remarked audibly that people should be regretful, rather than applaud. This provoked sour looks. To the Filipinos of Madrid, at least to some of them, Rizal was probably what we would call today a “party pooper,” a wet blanket, a killjoy. Del Pilar felt that it was precisely these two little incidents that provoked the conspiracy to embarrass Rizal the next day and show him that he was not the leader he thought he was. Rizal seems eventually to have learned about the two moments. In his letter to del Pilar of October 13, 1891, he remarked ruefully, “So what if the clay idol that has been melted by a glass of champagne disappears, if it is in fact made of clay?” Rizal reacted to his rebuff not only by admitting his faults, but also by defending his behavior. I believe we have what Rizal thought about the repudiation of his corrections in the last chapter of the Filibusterismo. This is a chapter that scholars believe was added to the finished manuscript at the last minute, if only because it is the lone chapter which does not bear a title. If you read carefully the long speech of Fr Florentino that is its climax, you will catch a subtle shift in focus—from the would-be leader of change in Philippine society to the ordinary people who make up Philippine society, a shift that is probably an indication of an insertion in the text. The Fili was heavily edited by Rizal to lower printing expenses, and this editing took place precisely in the months after the January 1891 elections. I think Rizal interjected his response to his detractors. Allow me to make a brief and rapid analysis of the passage which I believe to be Rizal’s response. In my analysis I will assume that a particular character, Fr. Florentino, is Rizal’s mouthpiece, that his sentiments and judgments are Rizal’s sentiments and judgments. The situation in which the passage occurs is the following. Simoun, the main character, is dying after having swallowed poison to avoid capture by the guardia civil. He has thrice attempted to destroy the Spanish government in the Philippines and has thrice failed. A Filipino secular priest, Fr. Florentino, in whose house by the Pacific he has sought shelter, attempts

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uselessly to save him. Simoun tells him his story, which is precisely the content of the novel. He has one question: Why did not God allow any of his three attempts to destroy the Spanish government to succeed? Fr. Florentino tells him that God could never have condoned the immoral and unethical means he used. Simoun then asks what should be done, given the corrupt government and the corrupted people of the Philippines. Fr. Florentino’s reply is: “Sufrir y trabajar,” suffer and work, or, we might say, suffer and continue working. Simoun lashes out at this reply: “What kind of God is that who wants us merely to suffer and work?” he asks. The passage I wish to examine is to be found in Fr. Florentino’s reply. There we read: “We tolerate vice and become accomplices to it. Sometimes we applaud it. It is just, very just, that we suffer its consequences and that our children suffer them also.” I think the reference to applause is a direct allusion to the New Year’s Eve party. For Rizal, toleration of vice is equivalent to becoming an accomplice of vice. Was Rizal guilty of exaggeration? Perhaps not. Vice is a habit, a bad habit. A habit if left unchecked becomes firmer, stronger; in this sense, we become accomplices to it if we do not check it. On the other hand, the sudden violent attempt to uproot vice does not usually succeed. The person may stop practicing his vice, but only for a time. When circumstances change and are more propitious, then the person resumes his vice. I would contrast Rizal’s usual behavior towards vice with Marcelo del Pilar’s own attitude. Marcelo del Pilar valued harmony, to the point, it seems, of tolerating vice. Here is del Pilar’s short speech on the value of harmony at the end of that last meeting of the Filipino community that Rizal attended: In the Filipino colony there should be no divisions, and there is none: the sentiments that move us are one thing, the ideals we pursue another: the abolition in the Philippines of all obstacles to our freedoms, and in its own time and when reasonable, [the abolition] of the flag of Spain as well. We go nowhere with divisions, and since it is only just that we deny ourselves in the interests of harmony, I do not beg for anything else other than that all of us set aside the bitterness that we would have felt as a result of the past disagreements. Del Pilar offers us a definition of harmony: the absence of “bitterness.” By “bitterness” I surmise he means “sama ng loob.” I surmise further that this is the reason why del Pilar himself was not a friend of correction: he probably did not

want to be the object of “sama ng loob.” This is illustrated, in my opinion, by the Filipino colony’s first meeting after Rizal’s departure from Madrid, as described by Tomás Aréjola: We met to elect a leader, and I do not know for what reason, but what happened was that Kanoy and Modesto started quarreling, with M. Rosario joining in and telling off the former to the point of fisticuffs. Proof that, in spite of Cabezang Tetoy as leader and of Lete as counselor, they are not enough to impose order where necessary nor to bring the colony the seriousness that its organization demands. What little intervention there was, was ineffective, and del Pilar is never mentioned. In del Pilar’s philosophy of harmony, order and seriousness are trumped by the absolute need for harmony defined as the absence of “sama ng loob.” Aréjola introduces his report of the first meeting of Filipinos after Rizal’s departure by saying, “Your moral influence on us is indisputable.” He follows his report with this observation: “The tact and persuasive virtue of a Rizal were needed so that everything we want for the common good of the homeland would come with propriety.” This is the issue: harmony at the cost of ethics or ethics at the cost of harmony? Rizal’s answer is harmony on the basis of ethics. Or unity rather. Rizal never uses the word “unity,” but his dream of Filipinos forming a “bigkis” is clearly a reference to unity. There is more, however. What Rizal is saying is that the debased conditions in which we find our society are, at least partly, our creation, because we tolerate vice and even sometimes applaud it. What vice did he refer to? Today we could cite many examples that make it to the papers and television news. There is no lack of instances of corruption and violence, as also during Rizal’s time. But Rizal did not stop with those. He included bad grades, debts, gambling, and wasteful extravagance with cash obtained from pawnshops. All these he considered alarming among people seeking to establish a civil society in the Philippines. The reason for this comes a few lines below in Fr. Florentino’s reply: “We have to win [our freedom] by deserving it, giving importance to reason and the dignity of the individual, loving what is just, what is good, what is noble to the point of dying for it.” What Rizal says is disturbing. Most people will claim that freedom is a right, something that everyone deserves merely by being a human being. Rizal does not seem to think so. Further down Fr. Florentino’s long speech, he gives the reason why he claims so: Why bother

KO M I K LO P E D I A .W O R D P R E S S .C O M

Social and political institutions that establish and defend freedom and independence are only as good as the values of the people those social and political institutions serve.

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to give Filipinos freedom if Filipinos are not ready to put their lives on the line to defend a decent life in society; if they are too afraid to speak up against abuses and instead join others in mocking the abused; if they try to get a share of what has been plundered from others? “With or without Spain they would remain as they are, and perhaps, perhaps become even worse.” And then we have that chilling line that seems to be a prediction of what has become our history: “What is the use of independence if the slaves of today will be the tyrants of tomorrow?” I think we instinctively understand Rizal’s point, particularly after considering our own history the last hundred years. Nevertheless, the implication is disturbing—as though a parent were telling his twenty-one-year-old child that he cannot be given freedom because he has not shown that he can act responsibly. That would not be right. In contrast, del Pilar did not seem to see a link between a people’s values and the institutions needed to bring freedom and to maintain independence. I believe he saw civic institutions as things achieved, not because people deserved them, but simply because people used the right political and legal means to achieve them. That is also how most

people think. History seems to agree with del Pilar. The Americans granted us socio-political institutions without first finding out if we deserved them, and in 1934 they promised us independence within ten years without our having to prove in any special way that we would be ready for independence. The Great Depression convinced America to shake us off. Was Marcelo del Pilar right when he wrote his brother-in-law, Deodato Arellano, referring to the elections of January 1 and 2, 1891: “[My] man [referring to Rizal] was formed in libraries, and in libraries one does not take into account the environment in which one works”? In other words, that Rizal lived in a world of theories and did not know how to act in the real world. Today, the philosophy that prevails in our country and has been prevailing for more than a century is del Pilar’s: it is pragmatist, political in the sense of playing politics. Its central value is harmony, even if purchased at the cost of virtue. It is captured in that slogan, “Tama na. Sobra na.” This slogan implies a long period of toleration, until the point when people’s vicious behavior becomes intolerable. Then correction kicks in, but only to bring down the level of vice to tolerable limits. Nevertheless, when we consider how, despite the socio-political institutions we have inherited from the United States of America, we have managed to keep our rank in the World Bank survey of corruption year after year, then I feel we must entertain the possibility that perhaps Rizal, with his apparent rigorism, is right. Let us return to Rizal’s words at the end of the Fili: “We have to win [our freedom] by deserving it, giving importance to reason and the dignity of the individual, loving what is just, what is good, what is noble to the point of dying for it.” “What is just, “what is good,” and “what is noble” are values, the values of truth, goodness, and selfsacrifice for others. I think what Rizal is trying to tell us is that the social and political institutions that establish and defend freedom and independence are only as good as the values of the people those social and political institutions serve: if the values of a people are wrong, then the social and political institutions of their society would be undermined. They would lose their meaning. This is the point of his two rhetorical questions: “Why give them freedom?” “What is the use of independence if…?” For Rizal, the condition for a people to possess freedom and independence meaningfully—and I wish to underscore the word “meaningfully”—is values, the

right values. This goes far to explain what Rizal called his impatience and despotism. They were the impatience and despotism of someone who wished to fulfill as soon as possible what he believed to be the conditio sine qua non to obtain true freedom and independence. In the hands of a people without values, the best instruments, the best institutions end up corrupted, as we have sorely learned in the short history of our republic. Rizal was not alone in his manner of thinking: you will find similar sentiments in the writings of Bonifacio, Jacinto, and Mabini. Here is one of the more esteemed intellectuals of our time, Joseph Ratzinger otherwise known as Pope Benedict XVI, on the same topic: Even the best structures function only when the community is animated by convictions capable of motivating people to assent freely to the social order. Freedom requires conviction; conviction does not exist on its own, but must always be gained anew by the community. Today, we often hear the plea that we defend our institutions. I shudder because I do not hear the same pleas for values, but if we strengthen our institutions and do nothing with our values, we will achieve at best an illusion of stability, which is what happened in 1986 and in 2000 and even earlier in 1972. We cannot escape work on values. Values are crucial. They are at the heart of virtue and vice; they are the reason why we practice a virtue or a vice. The development of values is the right track. It is the road to unity and significant social and political change. The other road, the road of pragmatic compromise, is the road to social and political misery and stagnation. Rizal compares united Filipinos to iron. The comparison is not idle: what he means is that to achieve social or political change, you need unity, a unity based on ethical values. In contrast, he compares Filipinos who insist on doing what they individually want to an air current: what he means is that such a policy will get you nowhere socially or politically. Maybe it is time to give Rizal a serious hearing and attempt unity based on values. “Redemption presupposes virtue, virtue, sacrifice, and sacrifice, love”: this is not a quotation from Benedict XVI, but from Rizal, from the last chapter of the Fili, and the redemption referred to is the redemption of the nation. When Rizal mentions “love,” he refers to values, the object of love, which are at the heart of ethics. Revised version of a talk delivered at the 2009 Values Exemplars Awarding Ceremony, RCBC Plaza, Makati City on 18 June 2010.

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Feature

in Glee and a Bunch of Happy Bradys Why the free market model doesn’t always quite make us free

If ratings are to be trusted, then perhaps, one of the top shows on earth is a dark (yes, dark) musical satire about the absurdity of marriage, abstinence outside marriage, serious authority, and various other traditional norms. At first glance—with its high key lighting meant to accentuate bright colors, its fun-loving and highly emotive characters, and most important, the show tunes’ treatment and beautiful harmonies in their song and dance—Glee seems to be exactly as its name suggests—wholesome, attractive, harmless, and fun. In fact, according to Ryan Murphy, one of its creators, it is a family show that both children and adults can watch. But Glee is as dark as its level of escapism. Unlike the usual satire which shames society into improvement against vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings, Glee shames society for the absurdity of holding on to traditional values. It is ‘neo-tolerance’ where norms opposed to those presented in the show are absurd, thus, justifiably subject to ridicule and mockery. One of the main protagonists is presented as an innocent person of good moral character, unfortunate enough to have been locked into a marriage with a deceitful and, quite literally, crazy wife. His love interest is, like himself, innocent and good-natured; and their flirtations are innocent, wholesome, and even romantic. The message to impressionable young males is that wives are vicious and cruel, while mistresses are just wonderful. Thus, young women may be encouraged to aspire to be mistresses rather than wives. Then, there is the stark contrast between the celibate cheerleader and the cerebral free thinker, who happens to be the star of the famed glee club. The former is the antagonist who is hypocritical, selfish, and frivolous—made obvious by the fact that she

UNIVERSITAS February 2011

is a cheerleader (and blonde). To attach the idea of abstinence to such an unlikable character is clear proof of the show’s antagonism toward other modes of thinking. It makes one wonder how network television, even in societies deemed to be ‘conservative’ (i.e. the Philippines), gets away with ridiculing other points of view and lifestyles, particularly in an age where tolerance and political correctness have become staple slogans. In contrast to Glee is The Brady Bunch, a show that was launched in 1969 by Sherwood Shwartz, who conceived of the idea of a blended family after discovering that 40% of marriages in the U.S. had a child from a previous marriage. Thus, as the story went, a widowed man with three boys married a woman with three girls—and that’s how they all became the Brady Bunch. While Shwartz originally wanted the wife to have been a divorcee, the network rejected the idea; and with the way the show went, viewers assumed that she too, was widowed. While the show did not do as well during its time, it has become such a big part of American culture, largely attributed to the fact that it addressed situations that real families could understand

and relate to; and unlike other shows after its time, the Bradys were a harmonious family, rooted in good old Christian values. It became so popular that the producers had a form letter they sent to children who wrote stating their desires to run away from their own families and live with the Bradys. Today, it remains a great classic. Like Glee, the The Brady Bunch did exactly what the free market model said it should—to imitate life. But unlike Glee, it did not have a flare for the dramatics, nor did it have to accentuate characters and colors with outlandish storylines. For a show, which came about in a less politically correct world, the Bradys chose to inspire, rather than shame society to improvement. Ironically, however, the market did not reward it with viewership during its time. In fact, it was prematurely canceled because it did not quite lord it at the ratings game. Its real commercial success came decades later, perhaps as a reaction to the pervasiveness of other shows (i.e. The Simpsons, Married with Children) that depicted the family as a highly problematic and chaotic unit. But this article is not a comparison between old and new values. This article is about something bigger. It is about the bank rollers of the cultural industries and the very system that has governed them. Glee and The Brady Bunch are simply consequences of the flaw of the free market model, Adam Smith’s invisible hand, and its central theme of capitalism. While the main function of such a model is the allocation of wealth through the proper distribution of goods and services, its flip side is the risk that the moral foundation of society would be eroded because, under this model, the market is the arbiter of truth. While the invisible hand can be invoked to punish business that does not act as society desires, it can punish what is correct and reward what is wrong—after all, the decision to punish or not to punish does not rest on morality but on the market, which is fueled by money. One of the latest proofs of this: what is currently one of the top shows on earth is constantly rewarded with accolades from industry bodies because of what ultimately matters most to any industry—the reaction and opinion of the market, which translates to viewership, promotions, sales, and what they often refer to as the bottom line—profit. Thus, it would seem that, even in a world governed by tolerance and political correctness, ridiculing views not in consonance with one’s own is not only permissible, but honored and rewarded by all bank rollers of the cultural industries, from the promoters to the market. The usual argument that promoters of such industries often proffer is that they are merely pleasing the market and thus, their art imitates life. So while Glee might be escapist, its escapism addresses real issues and needs that have merely been made more appealing (exaggerated)—and so this is how the argument goes.

The free market model has another flaw: Under the model that seeks to please and serve the market, the power and influence of the cultural industries is downplayed. This is true especially when, instead of art imitating life, we see life starting to imitate art. As the typical argument goes, “It insults kids to suggest that simply watching characters behaving badly onscreen would make them think it’s permissible to do the same themselves.” Although the argument is valid and has merit, it seeks to discharge the cultural industries and their financiers from responsibility, because, after all, the human being is intelligent enough and free to make his own choice. It would, thus, seem that the argument helps emancipate and empower the human being, providing him with the opportunity to chart his own course. Downplaying the power of the cultural industries places man and society at high

for and consumption by majorities, punishing innovative or minority creativity. Fordism and Taylorism may have just become stronger than ever, further weakening the human being’s ability and impetus to exercise his freedom to choose and decide. Finally, this author would like to end on a personal note. As this author shopped with her children for pajamas and shoes a few weeks ago, she was reminded of the constant problem she has always had when purchasing clothes for her three young girls. While scholarly text and literature in her field of study claim that the world is amidst a cluttered market with a plethora of choices, her personal experience has perpetually proven quite the opposite. Moreover, with the phenomenon of globalization, discovering rare finds in different geographic locations has itself become rare. But what this author has found to be most disturbing is the singular

While the invisible hand can be invoked to punish business that does not act as society desires, it can punish what is correct and reward what is wrong.

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risk of mindlessness because audiences are told that the world is consumer-centric and market-driven. To highlight the power of the market may actually further weaken true free will in action. A famous social scientist once said that “the medium is the message.” While evidence and common sense can suggest that this is true, another truth also pervades—the sender is also the message because as the same social scientist said, “The media are extensions of men.” The cultural industries are a product of the very people who created and continue to maintain them. Thus, their lifestyles, ideologies, characters and very person are stamped onto their art, and inevitably communicated to various audiences. Moreover, according to a professor of communication from Madrid who specializes in the study of cultural industries in the digital age, pressures generated by high profit rates have provoked the general use of marketing and promotional tools designed to guarantee maximum returns and profitability. Thus, the final objective has become to produce what can be sold and not to sell what can be produced; and this has resulted in a clone culture, which replicates past successes, thus, standardizing the production

representation of the human being when it comes to the production of peripheral items and ideas, particularly in fashion. It seems vendors have decided to promote only one style—the ‘adulticized’ child. Vendors should not assume that all parents are agreeable to this notion of the child. There seems to be an imbalanced representation of the human child, in the same way as Taylorism, Fordism, and the McDonaldization phenomena have turned society into a community of factory workers, like residents of a communist country where everyone dresses and looks the same; and any attempt to differentiate is often peripheral, decorative, and nonessential. So while the free market model has merit, to deny its shortcomings is more dangerous than to recognize that we have a system that is clearly not about to relinquish control. After all, we do live in a highly postmodern world with a propensity for misrepresentation and deceit. As a popular cartoon from the 1980s often utilized as its main slogan, “Knowing is half the battle.” Caterina Lorenzo-Molo, Ph.D. Assistant Professor  School of Communication

UNIVERSITAS February 2011

P H OTO C O U R T E SY O F R I C H E L L E H E R N A N D E Z B A L B I E R A N

The Indelible

Mark A

Humble, quiet, yet authoritative— these are the traits that best describe him both as a friend and as a student. As early as his college days, he already had the makings of a servant of God.

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s one of the many friends of Mark Sese— Fr. Mark, that is—I feel privileged to be given the opportunity to share and talk about his life as a college student and his journey to the priesthood as I witnessed it. Humble, quiet, yet authoritative—these are the traits that best describe him both as a friend and as a student. As early as his college days, he already had the makings of a servant of God. He was punctual, disciplined, diligent, and orderly. Aside from that, he had a very composed demeanor. However, he still managed to crack corny jokes in the middle of stressful and nerve-wracking work toward meeting deadlines. He was both a good leader and a good team player. When Roni [Balbieran] and I worked with him in one of our school projects, he showed excellent leadership skills without undermining his understanding and tolerance of individual differences. In spite of his affluent upbringing (his family owned various businesses and was politically involved in Masbate), we never saw in him anything that would be intimidating to those with a different background from his. Ever compassionate to others, he had the capacity to understand and embrace individual differences that created this welcoming aura to his friends. When he started to teach me some Catholic prayers and the use of the daily Roman missal, I finally

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understood where he was drawing this unique capacity of understanding and compassion for others: it was his relationship with God. In 1994, during the Feast of the Holy Family, Mark saw his vocation to the priesthood. He wanted to enter the seminary, but he was told that he was too young and immature. Yet, he was really certain about his vocation and his purpose in life, which explains why his burning desire to serve God was not extinguished even after college. After completing his university education in UA&P, Mark entered Colegio Eclesiastico Internacional Bidasoa—an international seminary in Pamplona, Spain—on 2 August 2004. For his studies in Philosophy and Theology, he went to the University of Navarra, where he took up subjects like Advanced Metaphysics, Natural Theology, Gneoseology, History of Philosophy, Philosophy of Man, and Philosophy of Science while learning Spanish. After two years, he finished his bachelor’s degree in Ecclesiastical Philosophy. On 15 August 2006, Mark was asked to do the Rite of Admission to the Sacred Order, a recognition by the Catholic Church, through the bishop and the rector of the seminary, that a seminarian has the vocation to the priesthood. After a year, on August 4, 2007, he received the ministries of Lectorate and Acolyte at the Immaculate Conception Cathedral in Pasig. Then,

Homecoming: Fr. Mark Sese returns to UA&P to clebrate his first Solemn Mass at the Stella Orientis Oratory

on 15 August 2008, he received his Ordination to the Sacred Order of Deacons, when he became officially a member of the Clergy. He continued his studies in Theology and finished his Sacrae Theologiae Baccalaureateum degree or the Bachelor of Sacred Theology with licentiate in Ecclesiastical Studies on June 2009. He took subjects such as Canon Law, Sacramental Theology, Dogmatic Theology, History of the Church, Sacred Scripture, Anthropological Theology, Ecumenism, Moral Theology while learning the Greek, Hebrew, and Latin languages. Finally, on 1 May 2010, he received the Sacred Ordination to the Sacred Order of Priesthood in the same Pasig cathedral and celebrated his first mass in his alma mater, UA&P. I was so blessed because I was able to witness these memorable moments of his life (from Lectorate and Acolyte to Diaconate to Priesthood). And today I feel very fortunate and happy that it was he who baptized my first and precious child, Roesia, last May 22, which is also Fr. Mark’s birthday (not to mention Charice Pempengco’s baptism in the same Church). He administered the sacrament of baptism not only as a former groupmate, classmate, or friend, but as a priest who is ready to imprint an indelible MARK for the love of God. Ms. Richelle Hernandez Balbieran ‘03 School of Economics 

Alumni

Cyd Montebon ascending The view from the peak of the Philippine appliance industry is awesome. Just ask UA&P alumna Cyd Charisse Montebon. Now the Product Marketing Division head of LG Electronics Philippines, Ms. Montebon has already scaled much of Mt. Career even at her young age. It’s no secret why. In a recent LG Electronics Asia Great People Awards, the School of Management alumna received the Gold Prize for Best Performance in Home Entertainment Marketing. The company recognized Ms. Montebon’s steadfast dedication to her work and capped her most recent streak of achievements. At LG Electronics, she increased LCD sales by 667% in 2008, CRT and audio sales by 200% in 2009, and A/C sales by 280% in 2010. She was also responsible for LG’s exceptional

performance in the LCD market share rank in the Philippines: her company jumped from #11 to #2. Ms. Montebon says she’s enjoying her work at LG and the Philippine appliance industry. “I feel like I found my place here, so I can still see myself [in the same] industry in the next 10 years,” she says. Today Ms. Montebon takes charge of all LG Electronics products sold in the Philippine market. She gathers Filipino consumer insights, suggests to LG Global R&D what features Filipinos want from their appliances, and gives global headquarters market trends in the Philippine appliance industry. “In short,” she says, “I choose which LG product to sell in the Philippine market at what time.” But, like any achiever, she’s also planning to advance her career, taking her “scope of work to a larger

Bunch of joy: Ms Cyd Montebon on holiday with five-year-old son Cole

scale.” If she had her own way, she would do regional or global marketing for LG Electronics, come back to the Philippines, and bring back what she will have learned from the out-of-country experience. Enthused as she is to work, Ms. Montebon also strives to strike a balance between work and family life. “When I am not working, I enjoy going on nature and cultural trips to either clear my usually busy mind or get new insights from old things,” she says in her email message. “I also enjoy staying home to cook and eat : ) on short holidays.” Asked to look back to her years at UA&P, Ms. Montebon confides that the greatest lesson she got from university is that of “going back to basics—the most basic of which is going back to the nature of man.” And perhaps that’s what makes her good at what she does. She doesn’t work for work’s sake, but does it to perfect herself and her loved ones—that’s the nature of man (and woman)!

The greatest lesson she got from university is that of “going back to basics— the most basic of which is going back to the nature of man.”

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Mr. Daryl Zamora  Corporate Communications Office

P H OTO C O U R T E SY O F CY D M O N T E B O N

UNIVERSITAS February 2011

Alumni

SOUND OF

P H OTO : M U S I C B A N G . M Y X .T V

Meta-glamorous, a little dark, and experimental. Capable of giving you simulated bliss.

////////////// I first heard Beng CalmaAlcarazen’s electric, magnetic full vocals alongside the mesmeric synthesized tunes during the 2010 Tambuli Awards last July 14. I was enthralled by the showcase of passionate sound dripping from the auditorium’s sound system. Beng Calma-Alcarazen is not just our very own alumna, a 2001 graduate of the Integrated Marketing Communications program. Neither was she just a representative of the winning group—Publicis JimenezBasic—during this prestigious awarding. She was also the vocalist of the trip-hop band Drip that showcased their hypnotic music that same night. Trip-hop is the music genre referring to the musical trend that began in the mid-1990s of downtempo electronic music. It grew out of England’s hip hop

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and house scenes. This genre was described as a fusion of Hip-Hop and Electronica. They take this genre in its form while incorporating a combination of their other influences: rock, drum and bass, and jazz. This fusion creates the unique and ultimately refreshing sound makeup of Drip. The band has been described by music labels as a classic trip-hop set-up but explained its sound as meta-glamorous, a little dark, and experimental. “Capable of giving you simulated bliss,” wrote The Manila Times about the band. With that kind of plaudit, Drip hasn’t limited itself to local gigs; the band has also traveled to Europe, Kuala Lumpur, and Hong Kong. Although Drip was never interested in being mainstreamed, it remains strong in the music scene through its sponsors, Puma and Kate

Torralba. It has even appeared on AMP’s front cover and was given spectacular reviews by pulse.ph, The Manila Times, and various international blogs and music centered websites. Drip was born in December 2002. Its first EP (sample album) was released the following year. By 2004, the group released “Far Side of the World”—Drip’s first full-length album under Terno Recordings. Its second album “Identity Theft” was released in 2008. Currently, Drip is working on its third album—its first in Spanish, using the works of the famous Spanish writer Miguel Hernandez as lyrics. It is also active in the music scene—it plays in various cafes and events around the metro. Isha de Vera  College of Arts and Sciences 3rd Year

Campus Life UA&P lauds loyal employees page 38

page

Team BIGGKAS grabs grand prize in UNILAB Ideas-Positive

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Catalyst medical mission serves 150 auxiliary staff page 36

UA&P’s Team BIGGKAS won the grand prize in the UNILAB Ideas-Positive contest last June 2010, with their video entry “Buklod Bukid: Sowing Nutrition, Reaping Hope.” The competition sought ideas from students proposing ways to promote health and wellness for the betterment of a chosen community.

UNIVERSITAS February 2011

Campus Life

Class of 2010: Ms. Imelda Estillore (1st row, 2nd from right). Atty. Delia Tantuico (6th from right), and Dr. Peter Lee U (2nd row, 2nd from right) stayed in picturesque Barelona for IESE’s International Faculty Program

3 attend IESE Business School’s International Faculty Program Continuing what has become an annual faculty development effort, UA&P sent three of its administrators to IESE Business School’s yearly International Faculty Program in Barcelona, Spain. Vice President for Student and Alumni Affairs Imelda Estillore, School of Economics Dean Peter Lee U, and School of Management Operations Committee member Atty. Delia Tantuico were among the 37 international participants of IESE’s elite program for higher education leaders. IESE has consistently been ranked among the top five business schools in the world. The program, which lasted from May 30 to June 22, included classes on the Case Study Method, Institutional Management,

Operations Management, Adult Learning Methods, and other leadership and personal development courses. Participants also had excursions to nearby Montserrat Shrine and Monastery and the Bodegas Torres winery. According to Ms. Estillore the IFP had a “great impact” on her. “If worked on seriously, [the lessons I learned in the program] can really be life changing, because they entail a radical change of mental dispositions and attitudes.” She was particularly impressed with the program’s professors. One of them, she said, “told us that he is IESE. No one has to tell him ‘do this, do that’ because he is motivated from within (that is, he believes in what IESE believes in, and he wants to contribute as

much as possible to IESE’s mission). He told us that each faculty member has to be IESE, not only in IESE.” Atty. Tantuico, meanwhile, said that the IFP inspired her to “want not just to be a good teacher who teaches and explains well, but a great teacher who inspires and influences the students to be fully committed to whatever profession or endeavor they choose.” Previous IFP participants from UA&P include Dr. Jerry Kliatchko, Ms. Jodie Ngo, Dr. Anna Maria Mendoza, Ms. Lota Kristine San Juan, and Ms. Jesusa Bigay. The next IFP is slated for May 30-June 17, 2011. Mr. Daryl Zamora  Corporate Communications Office

CATALYST MEDICAL MISSION SERVES 150 AUXILIARY STAFF Student organization Catalyst organized a medical mission for UA&P’s 150 auxiliary staff members, including janitors, security guards, maintenance men, and their respective families. Held last July 31, the event had three volunteer doctors and numerous boxes of free medicines and supplemental vitamins provided by Natrapharm, Unilab and The Generics Pharmacy. Dr. Jesus Nazareno, Dr. Glen Magistrado, and Dr. Jun Malvar provided free consultations during the event. Dr. Malvar also distributed free reading glasses to adult patients.

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The Mission: Relatives of auxiliary staff receive free medicines during the medical mission

Students conduct English Fair for kids UA&P students welcomed 150 pupils from San Joaquin Elementary School during the English Fair last July 30. Dubbed “English Fair for a Delightful Share,” the activity was part of the English Week celebration. It conducted contests and games that help improve the participants’ English proficiency: a spelling contest, a story-telling session, and a film showing, among others. Organized by several English classes, the event ended with the children’s sing-along performances led by the Creative Writers’ Guild (CWG) officers. The CWG and student outreach group Catalyst also took part in the activity by setting up “fun booths.”

UA&P president hosts lunch, shares stories with employees UA&P President Jose Maria Mariano, Ph.D., recently hosted a lunch and get- together with some members of the faculty and staff. The first of a series, the “JAM Session” provided a venue for the University’s chief executive and employees of various ranks to discuss campus issues and get more acquainted with one another. The session’s name alludes to the president’s initials. Present at the session were some honorees of this year’s Service Awards: Ms. Asela Santiano, Ms. Edna de Castro, Mr. Celso Caparoso, Mr. Efren del Rosario, Mr. Bienvenido Nito, Ms. Ninfa Oriola, Ms. Lani Cervantes, Ms. Paulina Culaton, Mr. Dionisio Papelleras Jr., and Ms. Boots Ruelos. Dr. Mariano led the discussion, sharing insights about the University’s new eight-year strategic plan, the proposed multi-campus expansion, as well as tips to become more efficient.

The “sense or spirit of UNITAS” fostered by the JAM Sessions is “crucial in mobilizing the UA&P community toward the projected milestones of 2018.”

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According to Ms. Chi-Chi Robles, director of the Corporate Communications Office which organized the Session, the affair serves to forge stronger bonds among the University’s employees and management. She said the “sense or spirit of UNITAS” fostered by the JAM Sessions is “crucial in mobilizing the UA&P community toward the projected milestones of 2018.” JAM Sessions with the different academic units, as well as scholars and their parents, are already being organized. Mr. Daryl Zamora  Corporate Communications Office

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UA&P lauds loyal employees The UA&P community honored 30 faculty and staff members for their loyal service to the University last August. The annual Service Awards are given to employees who have served the University for 10, 15, 20, 25, and 33 consecutive years. Ms. Asela U. Santiano of the Don Emilio Ejercito Library (DEEL) received the highest award for her 33-year loyalty to UA&P. Her colleague at DEEL, Ms. Edna B. de Castro, was honored next for her 25-year service to the University. A total of 35 faculty and staff members received the Service Awards organized by the Human Resource Management Office. UA&P President Jose Maria Mariano and VP for Administrative Affairs Rolando D. Sison conferred the awards at the Dizon Auditorium among the honoreesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; peers and relatives.

33 Years

25 Years

Asela Santiago

Edna De Castro

15 Years

20 Years

Celso Caparoso

Efren Del Rosario

Dr. Ma. Lourdes Gonzales

Bienvenido Nito

Ninfa Oriola

Fr. Caesar Santos

Jason de Villa

Ma. Concepcion Del Valle

Dr. Paul Dumol

Dr. Jerry Kliatchko

Luigi Bercades

Lani Cervantes

Paulina Culaton

Dionisio Papelleras, Jr.

Dr. Cid Terosa

Dr. Corazon Toralba

Oscar Aban

Rachel Arabit

Reynaldo Aspera

Dr. Clement Camposano

Rosa Andrea Corvilla

Juliet Dela Cruz

Guillermo Dionisio

Felicidad Mallari

Dr. Ferdinand PiĂągul

Dr. Veronica Quilingin

Boots Ruelos

Benilda Sandaga

Michelle Monique Tomacruz

Art Vito Cruz

Arlene Idquival

Dr. Raymund Pangilinan

10 Years

UNIVERSITAS February 2011

Edwin Garcia

Campus Life SERVICE AWARDEES Ms. Asela Santiano: A family affair

UA&P is a family. She first saw it in her early days at the original office of the Center for Research and Communication (CRC) in 1977. Ms. Asela Ulanday Santiano, at that time, was a recent graduate of the University of the East. And now on her 34th year at UA&P, she is still ‘captive’ of the same impression. Smiling, she recalls the days when CRC’s lean team would still hold monthly gettogethers “with songs, dances, and games.” Inhibitions were left at the doorstep, and everybody celebrated each other’s company as if in a family reunion. Of course, CRC-turnedUA&P can no longer conduct such an institution-wide activity; the University has already grown. But, as Ms. Santiano says, the University’s familial atmosphere remains strong. She could sense it in her workplace, among her colleagues, and among students who swarm the library. It’s something she is grateful about, and the gratitude shows in Ms. Santiano’s little acts of service throughout the day. It was the same familial air which also spurred Ms. Santiano, now a head librarian, to outdo herself professionally. She attained her master’s degree in Library Science in 2008—after times of hesitation due to her demanding full-time job and the quality family life she wanted to foster with her husband and four children. Now, with her at 61 years old, all her children have already grown up, and personal satisfaction is more palpable than ever. Indeed, for Ms. Santiano, the years she’s spending at UA&P are truly a sort of family affair—what with the suave intertwining of her own family and the University, as well as the decades-long occasion to practice diligence, fortitude, and love. And now that her retirement is fast approaching, Ms. Santiano is musing on setting up a retail

store when that day comes. She wants to watch the flowers bloom and her grandchildren grow. Her schedule wouldn’t be as tight as it is now, but surely she will apply the same diligence, fortitude, and love that characterize her work ethic. The ‘family affair’ will rise to a new level.

Ms. Edna de Castro: Corporate culture Aside from the University’s focus on the person’s holistic development, its high regard for corporate culture attracted Ms. Edna de Castro to dedicate her professional competence to UA&P. Ms. de Castro was fresh out of college when she entered the University 26 years ago. With a library science degree from the Centro Escolar University, she began as a library clerk at what was then the Center for Research and Communication. “The school was very clean,” she observed, and it had a work attitude which she found attractive. High ambitions were palpable among her colleagues. Work was seen as something with intrinsic value. And soon Ms. de Castro would imbibe her peers’ positive outlook, which would stay with her for the rest of her career. If there is anything that Ms. de Castro considers most essential in any profession, it would be diligence, a profound love for work. She discovered this in UA&P’s ascription to St. Josemaría Escrivá’s teaching of “serving God through work.” It is no surprise then that Ms. de Castro keeps an extrastrict adherence to a particular “primetime” during her shift at the library. Work is extra intense in the early half of the day, for example. So, after a quarter-century of loyalty to UA&P, and with the University’s 2018 Vision recently served out, what does Ms. de Castro advise? She said in Filipino: “Work diligently.” Mr. Daryl Zamora  Corporate Communications Office

2010 Research Awards Three UA&P faculty members received honors and rewards for outstanding research published in renowned international journals. Given during the University Day Lecture last August 15, the awards testified to UA&P’s continuing commitment to serious research in the service of society, particularly the Asia-Pacific region. Ms. Jacques DM Gimeno of the Institute of Political Economy (IPE) was awarded for “The Internet and Mobile Technologies in Election Campaigns: The GABRIELA Women’s Party During the 2007 Philippine Elections,” an article she co-authored and published in the Journal of Information Technology and Politics. The study observed that “social networking sites such as Facebook, YouTube, and Friendster have provided interesting and effective uses for political communication.” It also noted how “these trends are now migrating from the West to Asia.” The article concluded: “The use of the Internet and mobile media should not be seen as a replacement for traditional campaign strategies, but as integral parts of a holistic political communication network.” Ms. Gimeno has a bachelor’s degree in psychology from the San Sebastian College - Recoletos and a master’s degree in mass communication from Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. Aside from teaching citizenship and research courses at IPE, she is also the lead investigator and head of research of the Development Academy of the Philippines. International scientific journal Aquaculture published a study co-written by School of Sciences and Engineering faculty member Ms. Chona del Castillo in 2009. The study is entitled “Enrichment potential of HUFA-rich thraustochytrid Schizochytrium mangrovei for the rotifer Brachionus plicatilis.” The study recommended a particular feeding concentration and enrichment period for B. plicatilis rotifers (minute multicellular aquatic animals eaten by fish larvae) in order to boost the rotifers’ fatty acid contents. The study found out that such rotifer intervention would “effectively ensure a reliable production of nutritionally superior rotifers at a minimal cost. This will ultimately contribute to the success of rearing marine ﬁsh larvae in the hatchery.” Ms. del Castillo earned her master’s degree in agricultural sciences from the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia. She also has a master’s degree in aquaculture from the University of the Philippines in Miag-ao, Iloilo. She graduated cum laude from the Iloilo State College of Fisheries with a degree in marine biology. In 2003, Ms. del Castillo was also among the winners of the Philippine Department of Agriculture Secretary’s Award for another research also published in Aquaculture. Dr. Eva Rodriguez, chair of the Department of Mathematics, co-authored a study entitled “A discrete Petri net model for cephalostatin-induced apoptosis in leukemic cells” that was published in Natural Computing. The study introduces a mathematical model for a particular type of cell death (apoptosis) seen among luekemic cells. “The marine compound Cephalostatin 1 is shown to induce apoptosis in leukemic cells using a novel pathway,” says Dr. Rodriguez. “The use of Petri nets in constructing, validating and analyzing a qualitative model for a complex process like apoptosis is a very convenient way to prepare for a quantitative model. Its graphical representation also facilitates the communication between experimentalists and modelers.” Dr. Rodriguez attained her doctorate in mathematics from the University of the Philippines (UP). With bachelor and master’s degrees in mathematics (also from UP), she also has a master’s degree in education from UA&P. Mr. Daryl Zamora  Corporate Communications Office

UNIVERSITAS February 2011

Campus Life

The big idea: (From left) Philippine Medical Association President Oscar Tinio, social entrepreneur Mr. Mark Ruiz, Team BIGGKAS Coach Anna Cecilia Alejo, UNILAB Corporate Affairs Director Alberto Manlapit; Team BIGGKAS members Grayson Yanez, Jean Reyes, Ina Capulong, Mina Rivera, Albertine Din, and Patricia Regalado

Team BIGGKAS grabs grand prize in UNILAB Ideas-Positive UA&P’s Team BIGGKAS won the grand prize in the UNILAB Ideas-Positive contest last June 2010, with their video entry “Buklod Bukid: Sowing Nutrition, Reaping Hope.” The competition sought ideas from students proposing ways to promote health and wellness for the betterment of a chosen community. Team BIGGKAS coach Ms. Anna Cecilia Alejo spearheaded the crafting of UA&P’s entry, “Buklod Bukid,” a sustainable way of urban farming in answer to the problems of malnutrition and unemployment in Barangay San Joaquin. Composed of freshmen Albertine Din, Patricia Regalado, and sophomores Regina Capulong, Carmina Rivera, and Grayson Yanez,

UNIVERSITAS February 2011

Team BIGGKAS got themselves a P100, 000 cash prize as their project’s seed money and an allexpense-paid trip to Boracay. The team’s project proposal was to start a “hydroponic farm,” a form of agriculture that does not need big land areas or expensive plant maintenance. The idea was perfect for Brgy. San Joaquin, which had malnourished children and

Screen captures of BIGGKAS’ video presentation

Now that they have been given the opportunity, the team is keen on growing their “Buklod Bukid” initiative with the money they have won. Aside from that, they are also bent on realizing more projects stemming from their winning piece.

//////////////////// congestion problems, factors that led UNILAB’s board of judges to favor the UA&P team. The project proposal bested entries from schools such as the University of the Philippines and the University of Santo Tomas. According to UNILAB’s director for corporate affairs Mr. Alberto Manlapit, the project “has great realism and is practical; above all, it is doable.” He added that what made Team BIGGKAS win was its dedication. “They were committed,” he said, referring to the team members. Now the team is keen on growing their “Buklod Bukid” initiative with the money they won. They are also bent on realizing more projects stemming from their winning piece. “This is just the first step,” said team member Grayson Yanez. To be monitored for two to three years, the project will help create more jobs for Brgy. San Joaquin residents, improve the residents’ general health, and reduce the risk of early childhood deaths. Of course, Team BIGGAS will do this in cooperation with groups such as the University’s Filipino Department and the country’s Department of Science and Teachnology. On September 30, Team BIGGKAS received their prize again at the PLDT Hall, after giving a repeat of their project defense, much to the delight of the audience. UNILAB’s representatives, including Mr. Manlapit, were there along with UA&P student leaders, academic department heads, and Brgy. San Joaquin residents. Mr. Manlapit ended the event with a succinct message: “Get it started.” Gab Asuncion College of Arts and Sciences 2nd Year 

Bravo! Kids from Brgy. San Joaquin perform a musical presentation during the outreach activity

OFFICE OF ALUMNI AFFAIRS + BIGGKAS

Reaching out “The pleasures of the mighty are the tears of the poor.” —Samuel Richardson in Clarissa

During the last few weeks of the year, everyone is in a shopping rush as well as in a dizzying round of parties. Overdrive had marked holidays past, and 2010 was no exception. I was about to be caught in it when I realized I had hardly started with my new job and would be paid only by the end of the year. So that plan crashed and I had to move on with my life. But that’s not it; the point is I completely forgot what I was meant to do. I guess, I was meant to do something more worthwhile... even for a really short while. Social injustice is a sad truth and would never go away. It exists in all forms and sizes, all classes and degrees, wherever and whenever. As long as people come together in groups, injustices somehow would arise...but that does not mean we should not do anything about it. Helping should be as natural to us as smiling or saying sweet words to a loved one, because at the end of the day, there is nothing more satisfying than being able to reach out to others.

I felt just like that when a fellow alumna invited me to the very first Alumni Outreach Project at the elementary school of San Joaquin (Pasig City), UA&P’s adopted community. The project allowed me to reach out to others. Being with the kids (and my fellow alumni) made me see that there are things we should never neglect. It is a responsibility that would always give us the highest form of satisfaction. Getting a kid all giddy and happy even for three hours is a reward that’s hard to forget. Oftentimes, people whom we seek to help end up giving us confidence boost and ego massage. On hindsight, however, people with the ability to help owe the helpless more than they could ever imagine.

It is true that there is no monetary value to volunteer work. After all, CSA-BIGGKAS volunteers who helped plan, arrange, and manage the whole event through the Office of Alumni Affairs were smart enough to expect no bills—just plain old fun and frills with jolly little kids. The University is young and so are many of the alumni, and expectations are building high. Even so, I see that the school manages to keep its word to its adopted community. I just hope that many of us would lend a helping hand and support. We basically help not just because we can but because we ought to as well.

Ms. Vanessa J. Jimenez ‘08  Institute of Political Economy

UNIVERSITAS February 2011

Campus Life SEB, SABIO hold first Scholars’ Conference The College of Arts and Sciences Student Executive Board (SEB) and the new scholars’ organization SABIO conducted the first UA&P Scholars’ Conference at the Telengtan Hall last July 28. The seminar aimed to acquaint freshman scholars with UA&P culture, as well as to meet University President Jose Maria Mariano. According to humanities student and SABIO President Patrick Zeta, the conference was “free-flowing,” more like a get-together with the university president who actively asked for questions and comments from the new scholars. Zeta said Dr. Mariano really wanted to get to know the scholars personally.

“We must remember that we must give back to UA&P, and show others that they can also do well.”

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SEB President Jolo Valdez and Internal Vice President Lean Santos, both scholars, also shared experiences and insights about being part of UA&P’s top students. SABIO, a new member of the University’s many student organizations, revealed its plans as well. These include an outreach program, a sports fest, a scholars’ ball, and a seminar for top high school students. Highlighting the privilege and responsibility of UA&P scholars, Zeta told his fellow scholars in his address: “We must remember that we must give back to UA&P, and show others that they can also do well.” UA&P’s scholarship program attracts some of the brightest students in Metro Manila and some provinces. It received a recent boost with management allotting 100 scholarships per freshman batch, the most generous offering of the University so far. Gab Asuncion College of Arts and Sciences 2nd Year 

UNIVERSITAS February 2011

School of Economics Week 2010:

A celebration of struggle, solidarity, and success The 41st anniversary of the School of Economics started with a bang and ended with a look at the IEP generations to come: the continuation of tradition and distinction of the Industrial Economics Program. In lieu of the School of Economics Foundation Day on August 13, faculty, students and friends came together for a weeklong celebration of different activities spearheaded by the Business Economics Association (BEA). With the theme of “ECOmpetition: The IEP Advantage,” the commemoration of the roots and the past of the Industrial Economics Program, along with the University, proved to be an event worth remembering. August 9, 2010 was the grand opening of SEC Week at the CAS Garden where the festivities had an electrifying launch. Along with this was the unveiling of the photo exhibit, showcasing the growth of what is now considered UA&P’s flagship course—the Industrial Economics Program. From its birth at the Center for Research and Communication to its present status as one of the best economics programs in the country, the Industrial Economics Program has flourished by staying competitive through time and exemplifying the values espoused by our University. The talks given by IEP alumni— Mr. PJ Garcia, Head and Chief Investor of ING Investment Management, and Ms. Mel Chan, who held Senior Executive and Associate Managerial positions and is now a Research officer of Jollibee Foods—about their experiences as UA&P students and in their current jobs gave the pres-

ent IEP students an idea of what it really means to “be IEP” in the real world—to embody a holistic combination of corporate excellence and character formation. Part of SEC Week was the University Lecture delivered by Dr. Emilio Antonio Jr. last August 13. He delved on the core principles of Philippine culture and civilization from the focal lens of a genuine

economist, ever vigilant of the underlying reasons that explain man and the world around him. Moral reciprocity, as Dr. Antonio explains, is one of the key factors in understanding better not simply what man is, but what man ought to be. The SEC Night was a culmination of the creativity and the competitive spirit that mark IEP. The SEC Sportsfest was an exercise of strength, both intellectually and physically, but most of all, of the camaraderie and solidarity of all IEP students and faculty. Finally, the back-to-back

lecture of Dr. Emilio Antonio and Dr. Bernardo Villegas imparted not only knowledge but wisdom. Their lectures focused on the macro perspective of economics in the Philippine setting. Since economic competency, along with critical analyses and up-to-date knowledge, has always been the comparative advantage of all IEP graduates, Dr. Antonio and Dr. Villegas delivered excellent briefings on our society, evincing the skills, talents and optimism that were in the nature of true Filipinos . One of BEA’s external activities in line with SEC Week was the get-together of the first batch of IEP. One of them is Dr. Vic Abola, an esteemed faculty member of the School of Economics and a premier economist in the Philippines. The occasion was graced by the new National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) secretary and IEP alumnus, Cayetano Paderanga Jr., along with other top-notch IEP graduates from the corporate, business, and government sectors. Overall, it is important to memorialize achievements by carrying out activities that make programs like IEP shine. But what is more important is that organizations and the university community as a whole strive for excellence in all their endeavors. This entails not only maintaining, but improving existing skills, relationships, and values not over others, but for one’s self. This is the essence of being competitive.

Johann Dale Diaz  School of Economics 4th Year

Student Life I went to

HARVARD

Testing PolEco skills in a Prague conference page 46

UNAV student flies 7,000 miles and takes the jeepney page 48

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Differences

I went to

There was also a diversity of views among the participants, who were schooled in different disciplines and came from a variety of cultures and backgrounds. The robotics student from Japan, the German student taking up Asian History, and the Economics student from Malaysia each had a different viewpoint. As a student of Political Economy, I thought that there was a certain understanding that all of their opinions mattered, because I had been taught that science, history, and economics were tools of development as important as a country’s politics and culture. Paths to development are different for every country; it is the right mix of policies, capacities, and knowledge on different areas that can contribute to a nation’s growth. It was also refreshing to hear someone speaking from personal experience, saying,“In my country, this is what’s happening,” leveling the theories discussed with doses of reality. Being trained in a multidisciplinary setting beforehand helped me open my mind to these things. As much as IPE exposed me to this setting, however, I was overwhelmed when I saw three-fourths of the class raise their hands the second they heard the words “open forum.” I learned to get used to it in the following days.

Fan girl, friend-seeker

There’s nothing like saying that phrase and also saying that’s not what I really meant. On 18-21 February 2010, I was a delegate in the annual student conference of the Harvard Project for Asian and International Relations (HPAIR) held in Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts. It was in the middle of a hectic second semester and I was in the throes of reviving my thesis, yet I said to myself that I couldn’t pass up on a great opportunity. The conference was titled “Asia Ascendant: Seizing New Heights,” with five panels that discussed various issues on peace and security, economics, education, environment, regionalism and leadership aiming to explore the causes and effects of Asia’s rise globally. There were over 300 delegates from all over the world—among others, China, Malaysia, Indonesia, India, Germany, Austria, France, and the United Kingdom. The Philippines, including myself, had four delegates; the others are from the Ateneo de Manila University and the University of the Philippines. The conference began with the keynote speakers, Professors Jorge Dominguez and Dale W. Jorgenson, shedding light on the global financial crisis and its impact on Asia. This was followed by the faculty lectures in the different panels. I chose to take part in the “Asian Leadership” panel, which greatly discussed the role of leadership and government in the development of Asia, focusing on China, Singapore, North Korea, and India. I found the lectures and discussions very en-

UNIVERSITAS February 2011

P H OTO C O U R T E SY O F B E A V E R G A R A

There was also a diversity of views among the participants...As a student of Political Economy, I thought that there was a certain understanding that all of their opinions mattered, because I had been taught that science, history, and economics were tools of development as important as a country’s politics and culture.

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gaging, as they tackled the countries’ path to development and how it was affected by their governments, the values of their leaders, and the culture of their peoples. What added interest to the discussions was that the lecturers were professors who had their own advocacies. For example, Dr. Suzanne Scholte is a founding member of the North Korea Freedom Coalition and President of the Defense Forum Foundation, while Dr. Gwendolyn Stewart is a photojournalist specializing on political leaders in Russia, China, and the US.

The conference concluded with a plenary session with two speakers: the Consul General of Japan in Boston Mr. Masaru Tsuji, with a lecture entitled “Japan-US Relations and the Future of East Asia,” and Harvard Prof. Theda Skocpol, who talked about the Obama administration’s foreign policy in Asia. Seeing “Ms. State Capacity” in the flesh was a little exciting, a proof that she’s real and alive, and not only a figment of my readings. I wanted an autograph, yet part of me got discouraged as students flocked around her after she spoke, probably to also do the same. So I just took a picture of her from afar. Aside from the academics of the conference, it was also a great way to know people of all kinds. Although I was mostly with the Filipino delegation, I took time to know the other delegates as well. It was wonderful to know people of my age who also had the same interests as mine—such as helping communities and raising political awareness among the youth. I met a young doctor who was recently awarded “New Zealander of the Year,” a white South African studying in New Jersey, and some friendly Indians and Bangladeshis. Also, I now have a friend whose name is Mohamed. The conference was even more memorable with their company. Sometimes, saying “I went to Harvard” can be a great conversation starter—despite having to explain three things: that I meant it literally; that I went there only for a conference; and that though I learned a whole lot, my IQ is still less than what you pay for a Starbucks latte. Nonetheless I found it the experience of a lifetime.

Bea Vergara  Institute of Political Economy 5th Year

11 DAYS IN

KOREA I

was among the fortunate School of Management students who visited South Korea for the 2010 Korea Government Invitation Program for University Students from Major Partner Countries. Other UA&P students who participated in the event were Mara Tuason and Ton Rivera. Organized by the National Institute for International Education and sponsored by Pai Chai University, the program provided us with the opportunity to experience life in Korea. Although we stayed there for only 11 days, the duration of the program seemed much longer as I recall and reflect on the myriad of scenes from that unforgettable journey. The trip began on the 13th of July when we departed at midnight. During the flight, I was filled with anticipation and anxiety. I did not get enough sleep because my mind was filled with all sorts of thoughts and worries. But when we arrived at the Incheon International Airport at five in the morning (4:00 am in the Philippines), all those worrying thoughts were immediately dispelled. Walking toward the arrival gates, we saw the welcome sign of our Korean guides (or “pilots”, as we should call them) who are students themselves of Pai Chai University. Their energy and friendliness instantly created an air of ease and familiarity. However, I felt nervous again when we learned that the other participants would be coming from various countries, something that we didn’t know and therefore made me apprehensive—it would be my first interaction with people who are culturally and geographically alien to us. Then, hours later, the other participants arrived. Aside from us Filipinos, there were 57 participants from Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Singapore, Brunei, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, India, Bhutan, China, Ukraine, Nepal, and Bangladesh. The first students we met were from Vietnam, and our exchange of information with them broke the ice for us. We cheerily introduced ourselves to the students from other countries, although there was a slight difficulty in understanding each one’s English accent. The organizers prepared for us a schedule filled with itineraries, each packed with interesting activities that certainly increased our appreciation of Korea. After the opening ceremony held on day one, the following days included trips to glimpse Korea’s well-known tourist attractions, universities, malls, festivities, and cultural activities. We also had lectures about Korean language and history. The systematic creation P H OTO C O U R T E SY O F J O N AT H A N L AT U J A

of their language and the country’s sudden economic progress are only some of the things truly admirable of Korea. The best part, in my opinion, was the chance to live with a Korean family in Daejeon, a large city 167 kms. from Seoul. It definitely imprinted in us a positive opinion of the Korean people. More than being informative, living with the family provided us with the opportunity to know them at a

The best part of the program, in my opinion, was the chance to live with a Korean family. It surely imprinted in us a positive opinion of the Korean people. More than being informative, living with the family provided us with the opportunity to know Koreans at a personal level.

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personal level. An Indonesian participant and I were lucky to be assigned to a wonderful family of four—the parents and their two sons who were about my age. At our first meeting, we found out that the parents were not fluent in English so their two sons, who are learning the language from school, served as our translators. Initially, I thought that this set-up would

be problematic. But the family was so affectionate and charming that we ended up laughing, responding, and reacting to every story we shared with one another. We even comfortably called our homestay parents as “mom” and “dad” while their sons we familiarly called “bros.” We were with our homestay family only for two days. Moreover, we would get to their home after a whole day’s activity, which ended at 5:00 pm. Aside from the sumptuous meals they had prepared for dinner, we got to play football with dad along with his sons, exchanged thoughts regarding things such as culture, politics and even showbiz, learned of Daejeon’s geography, sang popular songs, and other activities characteristic of a tightly knit family. Mingling with the other participants, on the other hand, was a learning and enjoyable experience too, especially during the latter part when we transferred to Pai Chai University’s dormitory. Though there was constant puzzling out of accents during conversations, it was never a hindrance in forming friendships. Perhaps it was the vigorous nature of youth and the racial commonality that we all share as Asians that helped us cut through the distinctly differing cultural upbringing we brought with us. We clearly understood one another’s ideas, expressions, and even inside jokes. Most important of all, I realized the worthiness of valuing ourselves as Filipinos. In this era where the world is conceived as becoming flat again, one should be deeply gratified in having an identity that sets him apart from the rest of the world. This, I realized, during those times I stayed in a foreign country and in the company of foreign people. Jonathan J. Latuja  School of Management 3rd Year

Anyong!: The author (leftmost) with his Korean foster family

UNIVERSITAS February 2011

Student Life

Testing PolEco skills in a Prague conference

uring my first years in Political Economy, my International Relations professor forwarded to me an invitation to attend the International Youth Leadership Conference (IYLC). The IYLC is a biannual conference that brings together to Prague (Czech Republic) youth delegates from all over the world for an exchange of ideas and a deeper understanding on several global issues. The event also allows its participants to converse and interact with foreign ambassadors and officials from other countries. Being only a third-year PolEco Student, I thought that I was not ready to attend an international conference of such caliber. Two years later, however—during my “thesis year”—I decided to revisit the conference’s website. At first I was hesitant: the last thing I needed that year were distractions for my thesis work. Cutting the long story short, on 11 July 2010, I arrived in Prague as one of four Philippine representatives chosen to attend the IYLC. Prague is a wonderful city, and my stint there was worth every peso spent. Its splendor took my breath away, and I knew that I

UNIVERSITAS February 2011

was in for the time of my life after one look at the city’s preserved heritage. And I also knew I made the right decision after meeting the other delegates, as we gathered in the lobby of the conference venue. The basis for choosing the delegates was an essay that each submitted. The delegates were of diverse backgrounds, ranging from Political Economy to Media to Law to Engineering. For better simulation and interactions, we were all broken up into smaller groups of some 10 delegates each. I was placed in a group composed of delegates from Australia, Namibia, South Africa, USA, Sweden, and Indonesia. We were facilitated by an alumnus delegate from Puerto Rico. The group spent 90% of the time together and thus formed a friendship deeper than with the other delegates. The unique component in this Conference was the simulations in lieu of the regular lectures and presentations. Three simulations were done—the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), International Criminal Court (ICC), and the European Parliament. They were meant to engage the delegates by requiring them to play assigned roles

in each simulation. Apart from a set of general guidelines, the delegates were free to interpret their roles and devise their own arguments even if they were unlike those in the real thing.

Simulations

The UNSC simulation was meant to tackle the issue of a nuclear Iran. Culling facts from news articles, we were asked to represent the countries of the UNSC. Through drawing of lots, I became the UNSC representative from Japan. In the beginning we were all given a general guideline about the interests and perceived threats of the respective countries in the UNSC. Hence, I was guided by a general principle of Japan being anti-nuclear, given its past and its fears of a nuclear Iran translating to a nuclear North Korea. Considering that I was given the role only minutes before the actual simulation, I had to rely on previous knowledge imparted by the teachings of the Institute of Political Economy, i.e., my classes in International Relations, International Political Economy, and Theories of Political Economy. Knowing the power structure of the UNSC beforehand was a bonus as I was able to start negotiations with the five veto-wielding states in order to push for the interest of Japan before the others. What really tested our skills and background, however, was the third simulation—the EU Parliament. Unlike all other activities, which had been done within the group, the EU Parliament simulation was designed for cross-group interactions. It

was extra challenging for my group since luck gave us the ultra-conservative, highly unpopular, and very controversial political party—the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR). Our ideology alone was enough to sway other parties to disagree with us even without presenting our bill. In addition, among all the parties represented in the conference, we were the most Euro-skeptic (that is, skeptical of increasing the powers of the European Union). In order to appreciate fully the EU institutions, we were immersed in the legislative process of the EU as we were tasked to pass amendments on an existing bill. Thankfully, IPE had a pseudo-European subject—Comparative Politics I. Consequently, I was volunteered to assume the researcher job rather than the spokesperson task. Through the help of Ms. Abby De Leon, I had been exposed to the debate of European state sovereignty over EU regionalism and thus was able to quickly spot the clauses and paragraphs in the bill that are in contradiction to the ECR’s ideology. With the spiritual voice of Ms. de Leon in my ear, we were able to save time with the research and focus more on the strategy for lobbying. Armed with the knowledge of our unpopularity, we were able to bargain with only one resource—our numbers (surprisingly, there were parties that did not recognize the importance of block voting as they continued to vote separately). We had taken logrolling to another level by promising other parties that the ECR is a block voter. We either all vote for the bill or vote against the bill. This, combined with our use of Australian charm, convinced the first

council to pass two of our three amendments. Thus, our party had at least a solid chance to participate in the EU parliament proper. After editing our bills, we were subjected to another round of debates in the EU Parliament forum. Unlike the prior forum, every single member of the house (which meant the conference) was allowed to vote separately rather than through a selected representative. What surprised me the most was the very strict decorum required at that stage of the deliberations. Even though lobbying and strategizing were still allowed at that stage of the legislative process, only the party whips could communicate with other parties while debates were going on. With the alliances we made the previous night and with our show of sincerity by voting for the other parties’ amendments, we were able to pass ours albeit narrowly—by a margin of less than five votes. I should thank Mr. Mir Tillah’s class on Theories of Political Economy for that.

Ambassadors all

The simulations were fun and educational but the cherry of the IYLC experience was the chance to meet with personalities that I could only dream of meeting. Throughout that fiveday event, I was able to shake hands with ambassadors from Israel, Indonesia, Kuwait as well as government officials from the Czech Republic and the American Embassy. In addition, it has been a great honor to be invited for lunch and mingle with the Philippine Ambassador and her staff in the Philippine Embassy. The highlight of this event, however, was the day my group sat in front of the Argentine Ambassador in an open session. The Argentine Ambassador was very candid as he answered our diverse questions. With the teachings of Dr. Nanette Dungo at the back of my head, I was able to compare one of Argentina’s past issues with one of the present problems that the Philippines is facing—mass labor emigration. The course taught by Dr. Dungo came in handy, considering that I was trying to come up with a challenging question for the Ambassador. After he explained how Argentina reversed that trend of migration, thereby stemming the outflow of skilled labor, I realized that there is still hope for the Philippines. On top of everything, his answer provided a good thesis topic in the future—a comparison between the Filipino and Argentine migration phenomenon. Aside from Dr. Dungo’s teaching, the Institute also equipped me with the proper skills to carry myself in the setting I was thrown in. Thinking back, if the Institute had not exposed me to as many out-of-the-classroom experiences as it did, such as the internship in the Department of Foreign Affairs and the magisterial lectures with senators and government officials, it would have been very intimidating to exchange words with such high-profile personalities. Hence, it could have turned out to be a truly embarrassing situation for me.

Enriching, memorable

Aside from attending the official portion of the Conference, the delegates were given time to explore and absorb the richness of Prague cultural heritage. It was a captivating backdrop to form new friendships and bonds. Even

P H OTO C O U R T E SY O F C H A R L E S C H I N G

Czechbook: The author (left) tours Prague with fellow IYLC participants

Thanks to knowledge, skills, and lessons learned from the faculty and staff of the Institute of Political Economy, I was able to fully appreciate and enjoy the IYLC. It was a wonderful way to close my schooling chapter as I begin to set foot in the working world.

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though Prague is magnificent in itself, the newly formed bonds with other delegates of different cultures and backgrounds made the experience simply priceless. Prague has a lot of pubs, and whenever the day ended, we would head down the nearest one and let our hair down. Chilling with newfound friends over Czech beer just brought the experience over the top. Czech beer is the best beer I’ve had in years. It is not bitter and goes down like fine wine. As a whole, the IYLC has been a very enriching and the most memorable experience I have had. The skills that the IPE had imparted to me allowed me to interact with the other delegates at a deeper level. Never in my wildest dreams did I think that I would be in Eastern Europe, sipping coffee with a South African delegate while listening to a Zimbabwean tell her country’s history. Nor did I ever imagine climbing up the steps of Prague Castle with a South African and Malaysian while being led by an Indian and a Mainland Chinese. Months after the event, I am still in touch with all the new friends I’ve made and, every now and then, wish that I would wake up in my hotel room in Prague and see them all again. Thanks to knowledge, skills, and lessons learned from the faculty and staff of the Institute of Political Economy, I was able to fully appreciate and enjoy the IYLC. It was a wonderful way to close my schooling chapter as I begin to set foot in the working world. It was most definitely the best graduation rites a person could experience. Even though I had to go to the Czech Embassy for my visa interview the morning of the thesis defense, the overall experience made every single hassle and peso spent worth it. Mr. Charles Lawrence Ching ‘10 Institute of Political Economy 

UNIVERSITAS February 2011

Student Life

UNAV student flies7,000 miles and takes the

jeepney

“Zelai Matamlay” became her first Filipino nickname when a new friend spotted her around campus a day after her plane touched down at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport from Madrid. Even with jet lag, adventurous Zelai Gonzalez Ayo would not pass up any chance to explore little known destinations, be it her new place of study or a remote Southeast Asian country. “I chose to go to the Philippines because Asia is the future,” said Zelai, a third-year advertising student of the prestigious University of Navarra (UNAV) in Pamplona, Spain. She decided to pilot test the foreign student exchange program with UA&P for an entire school year, setting off expressions of surprise and wonder among peers and family. But Zelai, who had never left Europe, was unperturbed. It was a clear choice for her. “My friends asked, why the Philippines?” Zelai said. “Most people

UNIVERSITAS February 2011

choose to go to the (United) States. And why not the Philippines? Being here is an adventure and is a good start to distinguish yourself.” It was, however, more than just a career move for her. “I also knew UA&P has a good (IMC) program, and it also shares the same spirit with Navarra so I can continue with my holistic formation,” she added. The Bilbao native admitted that she did not know much at first about the Philippines, except that it has pictureperfect beaches and that the English language, which she speaks fairly, is a main tongue. “I didn’t realize I had to learn

Tagalog to survive here,” Zelai said, who has so far only seen Luzon, its sprawling cities and neighboring provinces. In an instant, she let out some of the Filipino phrases she learned lately: “Quiapo, bayad po, dalawa po, para sa tabi, salamat po.” And when some driver mistakenly calls her ‘kana (colloquial term for “American”), she corrects him as if in fact: “Grabe, kuya, Pinoy ako!” So the UNAV student, who used to walk to class back in Spain, now takes the jeepney. She also knows the MRT routes with eyes closed and walks from the nearest station to the Ortigas campus.

“And why not the Philippines?” ///////////////////

“I don’t get late when I take the train, it’s pretty fast,” Zelai, a self-proclaimed expert commuter, said. Although she sometimes jostles her way through crowds of commuters, she takes it with zest and savors the time well-spent. “I treasure the experience,” she added. “I’ve learned many things since I got here, and even if it’s pretty ordinary, not many people get to see it the same way as I have.” Flying 7,000 miles to commute to school under the scorching sun evidently doesn’t faze a young woman who’s ready for the world. Ms. Camille Diola  Corporate Communications Office

P H OTO C O U R T E SY O F Z E L A I G O N Z A L E S AYO

Arts “Ano kaya ang hugis ng liwanag? Walang kulay nga kaya siyang dilim?”

Keeping Her in the Light page 54

Drought of Ideas by Dae Hyuk Lee

Christian “X” Vallez wins another Palanca page 55

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UNIVERSITAS February 2011

Artists in our midst

The lobbies of UA&P’s APEC Communications Building morphed into art galleries during a September exhibit dubbed “TAKE PART.” Organized by the University’s arts hub, Kultura, the three-week exhibit celebrated the artistic talents of UA&P’s students, faculty and staff, and alumni. Varied types of artwork were displayed, including charcoal drawings, watercolor paintings, and an installation made of bulbs and pipes. Poems written by students also accompanied some of the oeuvres. Below are some of the outstanding pieces displayed at the exhibit.

(Short intro here)

UNIVERSITAS February 2011

Arts Bloom

by Bea Mendiola Recall with me Those dreamy days I spent Upon my sanctuary Shielded by the tree of multicolored verdure Across the never-ending river overlooking the glorious hills beneath An unpredictable firmament Change Is In The Air by Maggie Yoingco

When, as child, I dreamt Ambitiously and gazed with awe at the remote stars, assembled rose wreaths as crowns And sighed at the sight of the distant hills Those youthful days I fought The river’s current And raced towards the hills The wind brushing against my face Sweat trickling from my forehead And, that day I finally reached the top Of the shimmering Majestic hills The sky was an amalgam of colors: Mauve, fuchsia, lavender, azure My tree so far so distant and my eyes moist with longing For the home That I called mine Then passed a soothing breeze And there I firmly stood. Tears no longer in my eyes For with the breeze came Fragrant little blossoms from my past sanctuary Now, I’ve gone so far Yet I still voyage further Soon, I’ll grasp the stars! —Those I used to gaze upon And the blooms of my past Tree shall blossom Wherever I’ll go

UNIVERSITAS February 2011

Arts

Trail at Soniaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Garden by Leny Sunico

Lavender Fairies by Leni Sunico

Pamumukadkad ni Elvin Monroy

Di kaya nahitik sa sikat ng araw O kaya nasilip ng ulan ang punla? Marahil nilila ng mga halaman Ang kubling dibuho ng bulak at sutla. My Dream Painting by Bett Ramirez

UNIVERSITAS February 2011

Lagusan

ni Jay-ar Mira Sa mga silindrong lagusan, naglalagos ang humahalimhim na dilim. Nakapikit siyang nakapiit sa sarili niyang palaisipan. Nakabitin sa loob nang nakapinid niyang labi ang pagtarok sa hantungan ng kaniyang mga katanungan. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Ano kaya ang hugis ng liwanag? Walang kulay nga kaya siyang dilim?â&#x20AC;? Sa pagsilip niya sa hangganan ng kaniyang pang-unawa, nakita niya ang sariling nahulog sa liwanag.

Drought of Ideas by Dae Hyuk Lee

Tubbataha by Paz Santos

Ignorance by Aaron Articulo

UNIVERSITAS February 2011

Arts

Keeping Her in the Light A 16-year-old writes a psycho-thriller about a murderer and his next victim Freshman Nicole Fuentes finished her first manuscript as a high school junior, after writing daily for three months, while her peers were occupied with preparations for the prom. After all, Nicole grew up an avid reader, preferring to be in the company of books. It was only a matter of time before she made it on her own as an author. Last year, a Canadian publishing house released Nicole’s novella. Keeping Her in the Light, a psychological thriller, involves a reclusive madman and his latest captive, a shadowy young woman who wakes up in an odd, bright mansion with a room of women’s corpses. Not intending it to be turned into a book at first, Nicole pursued the story aimlessly and kept her little project to herself. “While I was writing it, I didn’t know what was going to happen,” said Nicole, now a 17-yearold young lady who’s keen on planning her own future—such as taking up Humanities on her third year at UA&P—but not how her characters would play along as the story unfolds. This youthful spontaneity though is almost hidden in the book that methodically reveals the mind of a ruthless killer who alternately comforts and threatens his hapless prisoner to force a psychological complication (ever heard of Stockholm syndrome?). Pages and pages are dedicated to quasi-philosophical discussions between the two characters as they explore the irony of their bright, exquisite material surroundings where the dark prospect of death looms. The lengthy conversations of sociopath Hannibal Lecter and FBI agent Clarice Starling in Thomas Harris’ Silence of the Lambs influenced Nicole’s work. She said there were days when she would grow tired of writing and read off Harris’ prose for inspiration, so much so that their stories share some parallelisms. A case in point is how Lecter asks questions about Sterling’s troubled youth in exchange for useful information to aid her investigation—similar to Nicole’s moral hero who finds solace from her own grim past in Socratic exchanges with her captor. But what is perhaps more notable about the book, despite its morbid themes and graphic descriptions natural to a thriller, is its restraint. Caught in a horrific situation, the protagonist remains incredibly unstained, grounded by fleeting memories of her childhood in a loving household. This is contrasted by her abductor’s hazy past and indistinct motives. He kills for the sake of it, when he feels like it, while she’s incapable of inflicting any pain—a weakness at face value but, in fact, her greatest defense. “They say a writer’s first novel is often autobiographical,” Nicole remarked. There’s some truth to the claim when one thinks of Tolstoy’s Childhood or Joyce’s A Portrait of an Artist as a Young Man. But with Nicole’s suspense story, this is difficult to imagine. “In some ways, my book is [autobiographical],” she admitted. Nicole is the eldest of six children, and like her heroine, enjoys the company of her siblings. Her mom has encouraged her love for books while growing up, and her dad is the lead promoter—and number one fan—of her first work. No doubt this potent relationship with her family influenced her treatment of the characters. Even so, the young author doesn’t see herself straying from the genre anytime soon. “I’m interested in how criminals’ minds work,” Nicole said. “Maybe I feel sympathy for them, and I think deep down they still have some good.” Keeping Her in the Light, though generically violent and at rare moments fumbling, moves through a clear trajectory from despair to hope, between good and evil. Nicole obviously has the talent Ms. Camille Diola  to soon follow through, and a sequel seems promising. Corporate Communications Office

UNIVERSITAS February 2011

Christian “X” Vallez wins another Palanca Last September 1, Christian “X” Vallez won third place during the 60th Carlos Palanca Awards under the Filipino Full-Length Play category (Dulang Ganap ang Haba) for his Kapeng Barako Club: Samahan ng mga Bitter. The Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for Literature is the country’s most prestigious and longest-running literary contests. Kapeng Barako Club: Samahan ng mga Bitter is a comedy about a barkada whose members do not believe in love. It popularly identifies with the human experience of being in denial about love and the fear of rejection in love. This theme is carried through conversations between these friends over coffee. With the initial interest to spread the universal love for coffee, Christian mentioned that this play was more than three years in the making. He had intended to make this a series of plays

about coffee to be staged in coffee shops around the country. Christian specifically imagined an unconventional intimate theater to trend throughout the country as a new way of staging plays. Kapeng Barako Club: Samahan ng mga Bitter was inspired by his friends. All of the characters in the play are based on real people (just as most of his plays are.) His fixation on eros

Kapeng Barako Club: Samahan ng mga Bitter is a comedy about a barkada whose members do not believe in love. It popularly identifies with the human experience of being in denial about love and the fear of rejection in love.

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(romantic love) was first set off by his exploration in his first Palanca award-winning piece: Twenty Questions back in 2003. He considers Kapeng Barako Club: Samahan ng mga Bitter as his second exploration. Christian “X” Vallez graduated from UA&P in 2004 with the degree of Master of Science in Information

Technology under a scholarship from the Go Kim Pah Foundation. Christian has been influential in the art scene in the University and outside. He has written and directed several plays in Filipino and English. He was the recipient of the Kultura Award 2000, a UA&P award, for his contributions to the arts program of the university. Christian was also featured in Randy David and Jaime Zobel’s book Silence, which was published by the Ayala Foundation. His works were anthologized in three local collections of poetry and also included in “Megalopolis,” a production of Theater-der-Klaenge in Dusseldorf, Germany. Christian teaches Multimedia Arts at the UA&P and scriptwriting and production at the Marilou Diaz-Abaya Film Institute. He is starting ASTIG (Alagad ng Sining, Talino, Imahinasyon, at Galing), a theater foundation dedicated to bringing the arts to the Filipino masses. Isha de Vera  College of Arts and Sciences 3rd Year

UA&P Lady Dragons conquer ISM invitational games The UA&P Lady Dragons nipped the International School Manila (ISM) Bearcats, 53-52, to earn the championship title in the ISM Basketball Invitational 2010 last November 27. Sophomore Claire Capisonda of the College of Arts and Sciences led the team on break-aways and strong finishes, alongside team captain Syl Alcantara (4th year-SED) and co-captain Abbee Canlas (4th year-SCM). Sharpshooter Richela Solatorio (2nd year-CAS) also boosted the combined powers of Mariel Sison (4th year-SED) and Patti Regalado (1st year-SSE), who dominated the court with their rebounds and points in the paint. In the tournament, UA&P competed against three other invited participants: ISM High School, UP-Diliman Team B,

and Poveda College. The Lady Dragons grabbed their first win in their bout against Poveda College on November 26. They lost to UPDiliman the next day, but bounced back with victory over ISM in the elimination round. Other members of the UA&P team were Youn Jin Lee (‘10, SED), Ara Biolena (4th year-SMN), Vicky Quitiquit (4th year-SEC), Cel Anolin (2nd year-SMN), Bloss Villafuerte (4th year-SED), Dina Lee (1st year-CAS), Sunny Lucanas (1st year-CAS), Kath Ong (4th year-SMN), Krisel Marcelino (2nd year-CAS), and Camille Lim (1st year-CAS). UA&P Head Coach Julie Amos mapped the team’s victory, recording her second consecutive championship title with the Lady Dragons.

Ma. Roscelle Teotico ‘10  School of Communication

UNIVERSITAS February 2011

MEET THE JUDGES RANDY AQUINO Country Head, Ogilvy and Mather

EILEEN ARANETA Former VP for Marketing, Unilever

RAYMOND ARRASTIA LORENZO BARROS ANGELI BELTRAN Managing Director, Head of International Regional Senior Leo Burnett Manila Marketing Division, Director, Dentsu Asia United Laboratories, Inc.

BOBBY BARREIRO JAVIER CALERO Executive Vice President Chairman, and Chief Operating UA&P Tambuli Awards Officer, TV5

VICENTE DINGLASAN Relationship Partner, Li & Fung Management Ltd.

BLEN FERNANDO Vice President for Marketing, Alaska Milk Corp.

DONDI GOMEZ Vice President for Corporate Marketing, Jollibee Foods Corp.

ANGEL GUERRERO President & Editor-in-Chief, Adobo Magazine

MARILES GUSTILO President & CEO, Lowe Philippines

MERLEE CRUZ-JAYME ANDRE KAHN Chairman/ President, Chief Creative Officer, J. Romero & Associates DM9JaymeSyfu

ROBERT LABAYEN Creative Communication Management Head, ABS-CBN Broadcasting Corp.

FRANCESCO LAGUTAINE CHIQUI LARA Regional Head, President/CEO, Marketing & Customer Y&R Philippines, Inc. Experience Asia Pacific Citibank, N.A.

NOEL LORENZANA President & COO, Southeast Asia Food, Inc.

DAVID MAYO ELEANOR MODESTO President, Owner, ESM Ogilvy & Mather Training Consultancy Advertising Asia Pacific

SHAKIR MOIN Director, Brand Coca Cola Coca Cola Pacific; Marketing Director, Coca Cola Philippines

JOEY ONG Executive Creative Director, DDB Philippines

HERMINIO ORDOÑEZ Chairman Emeritus, Publicis Manila

TINA SABARRE Marketing Director, Johnson & Johnson (Philippines), Inc.

MATT SEDON Vice Chairman, Ace Saatchi & Saatchi Philippines

JEFFREY SEAH CEO, South East Asia/ Chair of Asia Digital Leadership Team, Starcom Mediavest Group

PETE HESKETT JWT SEA Planning Director, JWT Singapore Pte. Ltd.

CARMENCITA ORLINA Head Consumer Marketing, Globe Telecom, Inc.

JOSELITO ORTEGA JAIME PUNO Chairman, Former Chairman, JWT President & CEO, Dentsu Young and Rubicam-Alcantara

SANDRA PUNO Director for Communication & Marketing Services, Nestle Philippines

MECKOY QUIOGUE CEO, Group M

CALVIN SOH Vice Chairman/ Chief Creative OfficerAsia, Publicis

ED SUNICO Media Director, Unilever Philippines

LUCIEN DY TIOCO Vice President Advertising, The Philippine Star

MARGOT TORRES VP for Marketing, Golden Arches Development Corp.

PAMELA TAKAI Marketing Director, Kraft Foods Company

The value of a campaign is in its values. NONNA NAÑAGAS President, Dentsu Philippines

BEBOT NGO Joint Chief Executive Officer, Publicis JimenezBasic

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MARCH VENTOSA MATEC VILLANUEVA NANDY VILLAR Head of Cable Channels Chief Executive Officer, Managing Director & Print Media, ABS-CBN Publicis Manila McCann Erickson Broadcasting Corp.

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