The Barefoot Scientist

Program Reformatting

2011-02-11T04:32:00.001+08:00

Due to the lack of stuff to write in my blog related to the original purpose of the site, I've decided to convert this blog to a sort of travelogue/personal blog instead of a niche blog. Hopefully, I can churn out a lot more stuff in the coming days because of this.

A Tale of Three Students

2010-03-28T12:35:00.001+08:00

(Writer's note: This is my piece for Kabataan's Blog Action Day for quality and accessible education. For more information on Kabataan partylist, please visit www.kabataanpartylist.com)

Who is the Filipino student?

These are all based on real stories, taken from the people I've interacted with as a volunteer in various organizations. These are all reflections of the state of Philippine education - low budgets, bad governance, poor development planning, elitist perspectives.

So, who IS the Filipino student?

Is it the grade school student who walks to school for an hour each day, every morning? Who sits down on a creaking chair in a dilapidated, musty classroom the size of a small bedroom with about forty-nine other emaciated kids? Who must share a tattered book with six other children and a pencil with one other? Whose teachers thought would stand a chance at the school's quiz bee, only to not show up when he fell sick due to an sickness he contracted while gathering trash in their neighborhood?

Is it the young girl held in contempt by her teachers in her high school for working as a sex worker in a seedy back-road bar at nighttime, and then falling asleep in class during the day? Is it this girl who pays for her siblings' tuition, materials and nutrition because of their school's lack of support programs for youngsters?

Is it the college student who, after seeing how much the state had failed to fulfill its duties - and in fact, actively shifted those burdens to the student body - decided to join progressive student movements, participate in forums and demonstrations, and eventually run for a seat at the student council? Is it this person who was detained more than once, fighting for the right of allies and critics alike to accessible and quality education?

I suppose that any one of them is a Filipino student. But my country's leaders think otherwise.

Other opinions, other perspectives

"No," says the councilman, "that boy is a vagrant - a smelly, filthy ruffian fit to live among mice and dogs! He will not gain anything from a better school - he would only scribble on the seats, break the windows, and cost us more money to feed"

"No," says the governor, "that girl is a prostitute - one who has sold her dignity with shameless disregard to the values and norms of this great nation! How would subsidizing her siblings' education benefit her, or us, even?"

"No," says the president, "that student is a communist - a rebel! See how he goes about marching in the streets, uttering vile words against my mandates! Educating them further would only make them haughty and bold. To think that they actually think that they can change the world?"

Aye, these are the perspectives of those grasping firmly onto power. These are the perspectives of those who believe that it is the rich, the powerful, the gifted, the conformist and the few who are worthy of any form of education that leads to empowerment. The rest, they believe, are worthy of no more than an education that teaches one to count and spell their own names (for indeed, how is one to sign a contract with the devil without knowing how to spell one's own name?).

These are the perspectives that many are learning to shrug off. Recently, students from the Polytechnic University of the Philippines, one of the few truly accessible State Universities left in the Philippines, rose up against a proposed tuition fee increase (from Php 12/unit to Php 200/unit) for incoming freshman students. This marked concern to maintain the mass-oriented nature of PUP from the present student body, as well as the involvement of outside organizations, caused the Commission for Higher Education to pledge to maintain the Php 12/unit tuition fee that current students enjoy at this time. And indeed, as enrollment for this school year begins for PUP freshmen, we must note that they all are paying the same equitable fees that they deserve.

Yet apathy and indifference remain. Many segments of the youth still choose to ignore the coming storm. In contrast to the First Quarter Storm and the Diliman Commune, where the majority recognized the role that universal education has on the nation's development, today I am hard-pressed to find people who would take a solid stance against the commercialization and exclusive nature of education. I am indeed sad to say that some of my batchmates from the Philippine Science High School acted ambivalently towards the issue of this year's proposed TOFI in PUP and the 2006 TOFI in UP. This bodes ill for the fate of the PSHS, itself a government funded institution, which has recently seen seasoned teachers leave for greener pastures due to poor salaries (and which in fact caused a number of employees to picket a few years ago).

I now challenge my fellow students, especially those who call themselves "Iskolar ng Bayan". Will you live up to the title invested upon you by the nation, whose citizenry entrusted you with the hopes and dreams of their children, or will you deny them that right to enjoy the same rights as you do today?

The answer is in your hands.

Epilogue

As all stories are spun, so must they end. The kid grew up to be a beggar who resides in Rizal Park, where I had the chance to interview him. I never found out what happened to the girl from Marikina, where I suppose she still has to sell her flesh in order to pay for her and her sibling's schooling. At the same time, her mother works in the same industry to pay the bills. I lost track of the college student some time ago - a good friend of mine whose efforts I will say are not lost to me.

Shall I permit stories like these to recur throughout my lifetime?

Not while I'm still alive.

Filipino Freethinkers Film Festival

2010-02-21T15:15:00.000+08:00

The Filipino Freethinkers, a group of Filipino atheists, agnostics and skeptics (among other denominations) is sponsoring the very first Filipino Freethinkers Film Festival with the theme of "Challenges Religion, Celebrates Reason". This will be held on February 27, 2010 from 1-8 PM at the Cine Adarna (UP Film Institute).

The schedule of films to be shown is as follows:

1:00 - 1:10 Opening: Challenge Religion
1:10 - 2:20 Fun for Heretics
2:20 - 3:10 Root of All Evil Part 1: The God Delusion
3:10 - 4:20 Imagine No Religion
4:20 - 5:10 Root of All Evil Part 2: The Virus of Faith
5:10 - 7:20 Letting Go of God
7:20 - 7:50 Filipino Freethinkers: Year One
7:50 - 8:00 Closing: Celebrate Reason

Admission is free.

More information available from the event's Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=279619108129

Back Up and Running

2010-02-20T12:44:00.001+08:00

Sorry for the unexpected hiatus. Personal issues hindered my blogging schedule for the past month or so. Regular posting to resume shortly.

Pambansa-Demokratikong Paaralan (PADEPA) is Back Online

2010-02-16T23:45:00.001+08:00

Blogger Tonyo Cruz of www.tonyocruz.com reports (http://tonyocruz.com/?p=2784) that the Pambansa-Democratikong Paaralan (National-Democratic School) is back online at http://www.padepaonline.com/

PADEPA Digital provides activists who consider taking a National Democratic slant a very good resource for educational documents and learning aids (including several hard-to-find works on the historical and contemporary Philippine NatDem movement), a structured curriculum and training guides, and audio-visual multimedia supplements.

The site itself is in Filipino, but a notice on the site hints of English translations to be released in the future.

The League of Filipino Students 2010 (Political) Wishlist

2010-01-02T05:37:00.000+08:00

On new year's eve Terry Ridon (currently the Secretary-General of the League of Filipino Students) posted on his Twitter page his take on the classic wishlist, echoing the sentiments of both the organization and many Filipinos here and abroad.

LFS Political Wishlist Top Ten: Abrogation of the Visiting Forces Agreement
LFS Political Wishlist Top Nine: Legally Binding Carbon Emissions Reduction post-Kyoto for Developed Countries
LFS Political Wishlist Top Eight: Victory for Kabataan Partylist, Satur Ocampo ang Liza Maza in the 2010 Elections
LFS Political Wishlist Top Seven: Actual Holding of 2010 Elections without GMA Forever Scenarios
LFS Political Wishlist Top Six: Moratorium on Tuition Increases
LFS Political Wishlist Top Five: Junking of the Oil Deregulation Law
LFS Political Wishlish Top Four: P125 Across the Board Wage Increase and Genuine Land Reform
LFS Political Wishlist Top Three: More LFS members, more student leaders in pursuit of the national democratic struggle.
LFS Political Wishlist Top Two: Prosecution for Plunder and Other Political Crimes of GMA post-June 2010.
LFS Political Wishlist Top One: A Philippines free of GMA and cohorts, a reversal of all anti-people policies in the last nine years.

Poor Face Greater Health Burden Than Smokers or the Obese

2009-12-23T07:41:00.000+08:00

ScienceDaily reports (article here) that according to a study published in the Dec. 2009 issue of the American Journal of Public Health, in the United States those who are poor or are school dropouts face lowered life expectancies comparable to that experienced by smokers.

The average low-income person loses 8.2 years of perfect health, the average high school dropout loses 5.1 years, and the obese lose 4.2 years, according to researchers at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health. Tobacco control has long been one of the most important public health policies, and rightly so; the average smoker loses 6.6 years of perfect health to their habit. But the nation's huge high school dropout rate and poverty rates are typically not seen as health problems.

The study was conducted by Peter Muennig, Kevin Fiscella, Daniel Tancredi, and Peter Franks and is titled "The Relative Health Burden of Selected Social and Behavioral Risk Factors in the United States: Implications for Policy" The full study is available in PDF form here. (subscription required)

It looked at the individual behaviors and activities of people in advantaged and disadvantaged social groups as well as looking into policy goals directed towards these individuals in the fields of "smoking prevention, increased access to medical care, poverty reduction, and early childhood education".

"While public health policy needs to continue its focus on risky health behaviors and obesity, it should redouble its efforts on non-medical factors, such as high school graduation and poverty reduction programs," according to Peter Muennig, MD, assistant professor of health policy and management at the Mailman School of Public Health and principal investigator of the study.

Reproductive Health Resource - Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health Toolkit for Humanitarian Settings

2009-12-20T23:57:00.000+08:00

While browsing the United Nations Population Fund website, I came across a recent news item detailing a new reproductive health toolkit for social development workers. From the blurb,

This Toolkit is intended to guide humanitarian programme managers and healthcare providers to ensure that sexual and reproductive health interventions put into place both during and after a crisis are responsive to the unique needs of adolescents.

With the recent debacle on HB 5043, otherwise known as the Reproductive Health Bill here in the Philippines, I thought that this document would be an interesting read for social workers engaged in providing maternal and reproductive health services in the country. Dubbed the "Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health Toolkit for Humanitarian Settings" toolkit, the PDF document (available from this page) is a useful guide in the planning, implementation, execution, and assessment of reproductive health programs. Also included in the document are links to documents relating to reproductive health program planning for special sectors such as migrants, youth, and people in crisis situations. This document may come in handy whether or not the future leaders of this country will include reproductive health in his or her priority list of programs to implement.

Copenhagen Climate Change Talks Likely to End On A Sour Note - What Now?

2009-12-20T12:10:00.000+08:00

Bulatlat News reports that a tentative agreement has been reached between the major countries participating in the Conference of the Parties 15 (COP15) Climate Change Conference. (read the article here)

Last night a tentative agreement was reached between major parties at the COP15 climate change talks in Copenhagen, but will need to be approved by the 193 nations at the gathering. Initial word is that the “Copenhagen Accord” falls short of the already low expectations set for the talks.

The 12-point draft agreement (PDF file) mostly focuses on the need to limit the increase of global average temperatures to 1.5 degrees Celsius, and for countries to begin major adaptation strategies (and some mitigation as well) in light of this increase. Furthermore, the draft proposes a cash pool amounting to $30 B to be created by developed nations before 2012 that would fund "balanced allocation between adaptation and mitigation, including forestry".

GMA News also reported that Gloria Macapagal Arroyo has returned from Copenhagen bringing along "$310 million worth of funds for 'green' projects".

Of these funds, a bulk – at $250 million – came from the Clean Technology Fund, a program jointly funded by both the World Bank (WB) and the Asian Development Bank (ADB).

...

The fund intends to invest in renewable energy projects, including those involving solar, wind, hydropower, geothermal, and others, the ADB said in its Web site.

The fund will also increase efficiency and cut emissions of the Philippines’ “existing gas plants," improve public transportation in major metropolitan areas, improve fuel economy standards or switch to cleaner fuels, and assist in the adoption of energy-efficient technologies in buildings, industries, and agriculture.

At the same time, Press Secretary Cerge Remonde, speaking upon Arroyo's return to the Philippines, hinted that a binding treaty was not reached at the time of Arroyo's early departure from the talks.

While the summit was a step in the “right direction," the results were still “not enough," Remonde, who accompanied Mrs. Arroyo in the trip, said on government-run dzRB radio.

“The Philippines will continue to do its part through advocacy and support for a global treaty for the reduction of gas emissions," Remonde said. “This is the only way forward if we are to make a real difference."

What will be the implication of the possible failure of the Copenhagen talks on social development practitioners here in the Philippines? For one, the lack of a non-binding international agreement shifts the pressure to plan and implement concrete environmental solutions away from national governments towards the institutional and community levels. With resources being managed and allocated by the national government however, this might just be an uphill battle for new and existing projects for the environment. Then again, the 2010 Elections might be an opportunity to ease the tension between the government as a funding agency and NGOs and communities with regards to allocating resources for projects effectively.

Another implication that a botched international agreement on us would be a repeat of recent natural calamities here in the Philippines. As such, community workers and social development specialists will now need, more than ever, to come up with innovative disaster risk and damage management plans. We already know this by experience = typhoons Ondoy and Pepeng demonstrated the severe impact of climate change-induced shifts in weather, and the effect of not preparing for such calamities. The Philippine Blog Awards has come up with a bloggers' network they call TechTanod. This project has the potential to form a network of empowered bloggers capable of working in their communities to teach - and learn - information advocacy. Eventually, I envision those same bloggers/community organizers mobilizing for change as well.

Lastly, climate change will cause organizers and communities to reassess the current direction of sustainable environmental projects and community-based resource management plans. In coastal regions for instance - where increasing sea levels, rising water temperatures, decreasing fishing yields and declining social conditions are likely to be more pervasive in the next few years - there will be a sudden need to reassess the viability of the local community and its populace. While the effects of a failed climate change treaty aren't likely to be seen or felt immediately, they will be as soon as global temperatures hit the 1.5 degree threshold mandated by the draft agreement. And that's not going to be very pretty for those coastal communities. How will these communities survive?

In light of all of these possibilities, I ask one more question: what else can we do from here?

(Credits to darkly_seen from Flickr for the photo)

Simbahang Lingkod ng Bayan Offers Training for Voters' Education Trainors

2009-12-18T18:00:00.001+08:00

I am reposting in full an invitation I received from the Simbahang Lingkod ng Bayan (SLB) or "Church that Serves the Nation", a "non-partisan, Church-based organization that functions as part of the socio-political ministry of the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits)" according to its website. SLB is extending an open invitation for community workers and interested individuals to attend their voters' education trainors' training session in January (see below).

While I would take SLB's claims of non-partisanship with a large pinch of salt (this is a church-sponsored establishment, mind you,) I can't discount their role in bringing voters' education services to the grassroots level. Shortly after my birthday in 2006, I joined the one day training session and was happy to learn that many of the participants worked and learned directly with their constituents in their parishes and communities. And I was even happier to find out later that the program did have an impact in redefining voters' perspectives on the value and power of the electoral process.

And without further ado, here is the text of SLB's invitation:

In a few months’ time the entire nation will be thrown into the midst of election frenzy. We can get lost amidst all the campaign jingles, taglines, slogans and promises. Thus we need to search for a firmer foundation on which to ground our vote – the self.

PVA 2010 Edition: Ang Bagong Botanteng Pinoy (BBP) is a political education program that shifts the focus from the candidate to the voter. It consists of the following modules:

MODULE 1 - Ang BBP: Kumikilos sa isang Konteksto

Oftentimes, our choices and decisions are done out of context and thus we end up adding to the problem rather than solving it. Thus, the voter must be aware of the current national social, economic and political situation which will serve as the context for his/her vote.

MODULE 2 - Ang BBP: Karapatan Kong Tunay

The voter has an important responsibility to protect our democratic institutions. To carry this out, s/he is given the power to choose public officials and his/her power to choose is protected by rights.

MODULE 3 - Ang BBP: Hi-Tech Na!

The voter must be familiar with the automated process to ensure that his/her vote and those of the rest of the electorate are correctly counted.

MODULE 4 – Ang BBP: Gusto Ko ‘To!

Political engagement does not end with casting one’s vote. The Filipino Voter actively engages in the socio-political affairs of the country even beyond elections. This module will show how!

By January 2010, Simbahang Lingkod ng Bayan (SLB) is planning to conduct the 1st of a series of Trainers Training for the PVA 2010 Edition. Hence, we are calling for volunteers to make these endeavors of ours possible.

We invite everyone to take an active part in our campaigns for the coming elections. We will be deploying facilitators, speakers and volunteers to help out in the cascading of the voters’ education.

Should you be interested to participate in the PVA 2010 Edition Trainers’ Training on 23 January 2010, please send us an email indicating your name, affiliation, address, and contact information at slb@admu.edu.ph.

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Contact

2009-12-18T09:57:00.000+08:00

If you want to get in touch with the me, you can:

Leave a comment on this page with your contact details, if you want me to contact you directly. Else, I'll reply to your post over here.
Catch me over at Twitter.
Send me an e-mail. My address is es[dot]ilaga[atsign]gmail[dot]com

Welcome to the Barefoot Scientist!

2009-12-17T17:00:00.000+08:00

"The Barefoot Scientist" is the brainchild of a one-time scientist turned community worker/social development activist who has a penchant for emerging technologies and bringing those same technologies to the masses. Thus, this blog will focus on how science, technology and public policy affect the marginalized sectors of society.

The moniker "barefoot scientist" was once ascribed to the Soviet-era agronomist Trofim Lysenko who once embodied the concept of the peasant genius - one who used his or her knowledge in the pursuit of the proletariat revolution. While his methods of agriculture were eventually discredited and rejected as being fraudulent, the ideal of scientists using their knowledge to improve the lives of the most downtrodden people lives on.

In keeping with the ideals of the barefoot scientist, this blog is unabashedly highly political and the ideas presented here may not sit well with a number of people. With that in mind, I do moderate the comments here for the sake of cutting out profanity and spam, but do know that I allow all other comments otherwise. It may take time for you to see your comments, so please be patient.