Rotary Update: Philippines town receives Rotary baseball donation | Sun Journal

Philippines town receives Rotary baseball donation | Sun Journal: "Four or five years ago Gary Kennedy, a Rotary Registered International Volunteer, convinced his Lewiston/Auburn Rotary Club that one of the greatest things the club could give for an international project was sports to a worthy village in Southeast Asia.

Since the beginning of this mission Kennedy has started a Rotary club in Hallowell and became its charter president. However, he never lost sight of his previous club's donation and its intended use.

When telling this story in Southeast Asia, Kennedy stated, 'In Rotary we live by a moral code known as the Four Way Test. 1. Is it the truth?; 2. Is it fair to all concerned?; 3. Will it build goodwill and better friendships?; 4. Will it be beneficial to all concerned? How could I possibly live within the constraints of this test if I didn't fulfill my assigned mission, given by my previous club, The Rotary Club of Lewiston/Auburn,' he said.

Although it has taken some time to complete this mission it has been accomplished in a grand manner. The recipient of all the equipment is the hamlet of Amadeo Cavite, Philippines. Also, Kennedy promised them that he would make every effort to continue to support them and others in their area so the sport would grow. There was enough equipment given to allow for two teams both in baseball as well as softball after The Rotary Club of Hallowell contributed softball equipment."

Rotary Update: Photoworld Asia 2012 Chairman guest speaker in today's meeting of Rotary Club of Zambo City

Zamboanga Today Online, the most read newspaper in Zamboanga City | Photoworld Asia 2012 Chairman guest speaker in today's meeting of Rotary Club of Zambo City: "For the past 20 years George Cabig, Photoworld Asia 2012 Chairman has photographed for the country’s top corporations and magazines, such as Caltex Philippines, Equitable Bank, and the Department of Tourism. He has produced stirring images under the harshest conditions for calendars, annual reports, and brochures. He has also contributed photographs for eight books by three of the country’s most renowned writers—Nick Joaquin, Manny Duldulao and Achilles Mina. He has had eight one-man exhibitions, and has won numerous awards in national and international photo competitions."

Wellness in Trade & Industry: Kasadyaan Trade Fair a success | The Manila Bulletin Newspaper Online

Kasadyaan Trade Fair a success | The Manila Bulletin Newspaper Online: "TACLOBAN CITY, Leyte, Philippines (PIA) — The Kasadyaan Trade, Science and Industry Fair held here generated a total of P810,210 sales surpassing the P115,000 figure targeted by the Department of Trade and Industry’s Leyte office.

The Fair was held at the Pintados-Kasadyaan Festival Park, at the RTR Plaza here. Of total sales, processed food contributed P356,165 or 44 percent while P386,245 or 48 percent came from gifts, decors and handicrafts. The remaining P67, 800 (8%) were generated by furniture products sales."

Children's Causes Update: Disadvantaged kids in Mindanao get Japanese-sponsored education | The Japan Times Online

Disadvantaged kids in Mindanao get Japanese-sponsored education | The Japan Times Online: "Tomo Matsui first set up Tomo Library in 2000 in nearby Davao Oriental Province, followed by the Library Fund for Asian Children in 2002.

MCLF currently has more than 500 students from elementary school to college, comprising Christians, Muslims and members of indigenous tribes like the Manobo. Around 80 of them are housed in the foundation, given free food and other basic necessities.

Supported by benefactors from Japan, the foundation has already produced around 50 college or vocational school graduates, including MCLF President Asrie Sabil Hussain."

Labor Update: Continuing Labor and Employment Education Program (CLEEP)

Fifty-eight participants from different companies attended the first batch of 10-day session on Continuing Labor and Employment Education Program (CLEEP) at Department of Labor and Employment Batangas Provincial Office (DOLE-BPO) in Lipa City recently.

Started in 2008, CLEEP was conducted with the active participation of Batangas Tripartite Industrial Peace Council (BTIPC) held every second and fourth Fridays of each month until October 2011.

"Participants who will complete the 10-day sessions are expected to be equipped with learning on basics of Philippine labor relations system; labor organization; rules in disposition of compulsory arbitration cases; collective bargaining and administration of agreement; labor standards enforcement, among others.
The training program also included fundamentals of overseas and local employment, health, safety and welfare benefits and productivity improvement.
Resource speakers were experts from DOLE BPO, Bureau of Labor Relations (BLR), National Conciliation and Mediation Board (NCMB), Regional Wages and Productivity Commission (RWPC) and Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA)."

Wellness in Tourism: Aquino confident the country will regain reputation as top tourist destination

Aquino confident the country will regain reputation as top tourist destination: "The Department of Tourism (DOT), Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) and the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) welcomed a delegation of around 500 tourists courtesy of the Philippines’ Foreign Service Posts in North America for the tour.

The publicity and goodwill generated by the tour provide a tremendous boost for the DOT’s efforts to invite overseas Filipinos to come home in the next five years.

Recently, the President signed Proclamation No. 181 declaring 2011-2016 as Pinoy Homecoming Years, aimed at tapping the huge potential of the balikbayan market as a source of tourism arrivals, especially the second- and third-generation Filipinos abroad.

Joining the Tour this year are Philippine Ambassador to the United States Jose Cuisia Jr. and Philippine Charge d’Affaires to Canada Minerva Jean Falcon, as well as six consuls general and four tourism attachés stationed in both countries."

Congress Update: 23 more priority measures bared - The Philippine Star » News » Headlines

23 more priority measures bared - The Philippine Star » News » Headlines: Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. bared an additional list of 23 priority measures for the House of Representatives during its second regular session that opens on Monday. He said the measures would cover the areas of good governance, agriculture, human rights, cultural communities, land administration and ecology, education and anti-terror policies.

"Of the 23 LEDAC measures, four bills and one joint resolution were already signed into law by the President. Of the 84 original House priorities, 15 have been approved on third reading and are now awaiting Senate action.

The additional priorities include the Terrorist Financing Suppression Act of 2010; amendments to the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002; reorganizing the Philippine Statistical System; strengthening the Animal Industry and Veterinary Quarantine Services and providing for the modernization of the state weather bureau."

Other priority measures include the elimination of Gender Bias on Adultery and Concubinage Act; providing for a Maritime Code of the Philippines; amending Republic Act 7877, or the “Anti-Sexual Harassment Act of 1995; amending the Women’s Higher Education Act; providing for a nationwide Scholarship Program for Indigenous Peoples; expanding the coverage of the Science and Technology Scholarship Program; extending the charter of the Land Bank of the Philippines; Land Management Bureau Survey of Cadastral Lots in the entire Country; providing for the delineation of the specific forest limits of public domain; banning asbestos and asbestos-containing products; establishing number portability for mobile telephone service; regulating the placement of billboards; Telecommunications Accessibility Act; Anti-Prostitution Act 2011; prohibiting the use of the words “Muslim” and “Christian” in mass media; debts-for-MDGs swap; creating a Center for Studies on Indigenous Cultural Communities; and FilipinoVolunteerism in National-Building Act.

From the original LEDAC/President’s honor list, the following, among others, have been approved by the committees to which they were referred, including establishing the archipelagic sea lanes, prescribing rights of foreign ships; providing a definite targeting strategy in identifying the poor by amending RA 7875; providing mandatory healthcare coverage; amending the Witness Protection, Security and Benefit Act; the Whistle Blowers Protection Act; and the National Land Use and Management Act of the Philippines.

The creation of the Department of Housing and Urban Development and the measure instituting a Land Administration Reform Act are both pending with the Committee on Appropriations for its comments on their respective funding provisions.

Wellness in Education: DepEd address malnutrition through school vegetable garden

Vegetable gardens to help improve nutrition of public school children | The Manila Bulletin Newspaper Online: "To scale up “Gulayan sa Paaralan,” DepEd estimates an initial cost to start a school garden to cover the cost of seeds, fertilizer, garden tools and farm implements, farmer’s hut, nursery and fencing in all of the country’s 42,076 public elementary and high schools involving 1.8 million students in the Gulayan Project, constituting 15 percent of all public schools in the country.

East West Seed Co. is OMG’s implementing partner in this program, providing technical expertise in modern vegetable farming.

The OMG advocacy program, aims to address the problem of hidden hunger among school children. It is an advocacy program to create awareness about the nutritional value of common vegetables and encourage families to include these in their diets."

Wellness in Environment: Yahoo Phils' "Pitong Pinoy Modern Hero awardee"

Reluctant environmentalist | The Manila Bulletin Newspaper Online: "

“This kind of co-existence with nature contributed greatly in being an environmentalist, because there is greater motivation to protect things and places that you have fallen in love with,” says Anna Rosario Oposa, one of the Pitong Pinoy modern-day heroes picked by Yahoo Philippines who have remarkable contributions to society and made a difference.

Anna, whose dad is Ramon Magsaysay Awardee and Philippine environmental law pioneer, Atty. Antonio Oposa, Jr,. is currently involved with The Law of Nature Foundation, Inc., a non-stock, non-profit foundation established by Anna’s father to promote environmental law education and enforcement. She is also one of the people behind Save the Philippine Seas, a blog that post stories on marine and marine wildlife protection."

Peace Update: Prince Kiram | The Manila Bulletin Newspaper Online

Prince Kiram | The Manila Bulletin Newspaper Online: "Malaysia’s adventurism into the Philippines’ Kalayaan Islands is due to geographical occupation of another of our territory “Sabah” proximate to said Islands. This is best explained by Prince Omar Kiram (in behalf of Sultan Fuad Kiram I of Sulu & Sabah), “that the Spratly Islands owned by the Royal Sultanate of Sulu since 1405, is recognized by China via a ‘most favored nation treaty’ with Sulu in 1417. Malaysia has no right to claim the Spratly Islands because its stay in Sabah is illegal, and Sabah is owned by the Royal Sultanate of Sulu."

Peace Update: China, Asean to Agree on ‘Incomplete’ S. China Sea Rules - Businessweek

China, Asean to Agree on ‘Incomplete’ S. China Sea Rules - Businessweek: "“This is an important milestone document on the cooperation among China and Asean countries,” China’s Assistant Foreign Minister Liu Zhenmin said yesterday, referring to the guidelines on the 2002 declaration. “We have a bright future and we are looking forward to future cooperation.”

The 2002 Asean-China statement calls on signatories to avoid occupying disputed islands, inform others of military exercises and resolve territorial disputes peacefully. In addition to the guidelines to implement that declaration, Asean ministers are seeking a legally binding code of conduct with China, they said in a July 19 statement.

“Unless the code of conduct is a treaty, there will be no difference except it will be new words,” said Carlyle Thayer, a politics professor at the Australian Defense Force Academy in Canberra. “Asean shies away from enforcement. What they would put into a code of conduct that would make it more binding is a statement specifying which body can resolve disputes that arise between signatories.”"

“The necessary elements to make the guidelines succeed are still incomplete,” Philippine Foreign Secretary Albert F. del Rosario told reporters late yesterday in Bali, where he is attending a regional security forum. The failure to deal with competing territorial claims in the waters means “the problem hasn’t gone away,” he said.

The Philippines and Vietnam have pushed Asean to formalize a set of rules to avoid clashes with China, which claims most of the South China Sea as its own. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who angered China last year by declaring a national interest in the waters, arrives in Bali later today after urging India to play a greater role in policing Asia-Pacific waterways.

The U.S. has a mutual defense treaty with the Philippines and has boosted military relations with Vietnam. Both countries reject China’s map of the South China Sea as a basis for joint development of oil and gas resources and have pushed ahead with exploration work, prompting Chinese patrol ships to disrupt those activities in the past few months.

Peace Update: Spratlys' peace and sovereignty mission: What difference did it make? - Home » Other Sections » Breaking News

Spratlys' peace and sovereignty mission: What difference did it make? - Home » Other Sections » Breaking News: "Though not officially sanctioned by the Philippine Congress, the mission of the four Congressmen namely Walden Bello (Akbayan Party List), Kaka Bag-ao (Akbayan Party List), Teddy Brawner Baguilat (Ifugao) and Ben Evardone (Eastern Samar) was accompanied by no less than the Commander of the Western Command of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), Lieutenant General Juancho Sabban, Palawan Governor Baham Mitra and Kalayaan Mayor Eugenio Bito-Onon.

The Office of the President said that the mission was “unofficial” and should not heighten the on-going tensions in the Spratlys. Funding of the said mission came not from the national coffer but from the private pockets of “patriotic” Chinese-Filipino businessmen including Starbucks king, Jun Lopez of the Tantoco family."

There are academic talks in Beijing that while the Philippine government did not officially sanction the mission, the presence of the Palawan Governor, the Kalayaan Mayor and even the Commander of the Western Command of the AFP delivered a message that the visit was “officially tolerated” to assert Philippine sovereign rights in the West Philippine Sea and territorial integrity in the Kalayaan Island Group (KIG).

But what difference did the mission make insofar as Philippine positions in the KIG was concerned?

The mission did make a difference.

First, the mission took place despite the stern warning from China. The recent visit to Spratlys by Filipino lawmakers aptly demonstrated that the activity was an internal affair of the Philippines that China had nothing to do about, except to express its disdain through a diplomatic protest. The mission also delivered a message that China should not interfere to the domestic affairs of the Philippines.

Second, the mission indicated that the Spratly issue is strongly becoming a civil society concern in the Philippines with the involvement of the private sector that funded the said visit, not to mention the participation of two Congressmen representing the Akbayan Party with a strong civil society backing. The visit, therefore, meant that official claims of the Philippine government over the Spratlys are getting the ownership of the wider Philippine society.

Third, the raising of Philippine flag, the singing of Philippine national anthem and the reciting of Panatang Makabayan (Pledge of Nationalism) by lawmakers, local government officials, military personnel and officers, and residents of Pag-Asa Island were strong symbols of growing Philippine unity to defend Philippine ownership of the KIG.

Fourth, the mission took place while China and members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) were crafting the guidelines on how to implement the 2002 Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea (DOC). The mission conveyed a message that while the Philippine government has embraced multilateral cooperation to resolve the Spratly Disputes, it reserves its sovereign rights to act unilaterally to protect what it deems as part of its national territory.