Davao de Oro celebrates “Thanksgiving Day “

Davao de Oro Province (Dec. 8, 2019, 11 AM)--- Grateful for all the triumphs received by the golden province for the entire year of 2019, Davao de Oro celebrates its annual interfaith “Provincial Thanksgiving Day” held at the Provincial Capitol Grounds on December 8, 2019.

The celebration came a day after the plebiscite was held for the renaming of Compostela Valley province to Davao de Oro. As of this writing, election returns have yet to be completed and submitted to the Provincial Plebiscite Board of Canvassers (PPBOC) at the New SP Session Hall, Provincial Capitol in Nabunturan.

The “Thanksgiving Day” aims to nurture universal values to all constituents to direct the institutionalization of the spiritual development as well as values restoration program implementation from provincial down to the barangay levels. The celebration was attended by all LGU officials from the 11 municipalities, different barangay officials together with the stakeholders in the National Government Agencies.

With the theme “Through him then, let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God that is the fruit of lips that give thanks to his name” Davaweños,  with different religions were united as one during the event.

The Thanksgiving Day also gave way to help identified beneficiaries of calamities and crisis affected individuals through the offerings given by all attendees during the event. “For the last 21 years, more or less 22 years, maskin unsa man ang muabot nga delubyo o problema sa atung probinsya nga tan-aw nato lisod kaayo sulbaron pero ato gihapong na solusyunan as a province mao na nga diha nato makita ang true meaning sa atuang ngalan sa probinsya isip Davao De Oro.” said Governor Jayvee Tyron L. Uy. 

(Jasteen P. Abella, ID COMVAL)

Gift Giving

A day after the plebiscite for the renaming of Compostela Valley province to Davao de Oro, the Provincial Governor’s Office gives cheers and well wishes as they  visited the Gawad Kalinga Village in Nabunturan and the PDLs (Persons Deprived of Liberty) at the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) in Montevista on December 8, 2019.  (fem, ID Comval)

Our limited time on earth

My column in Mindanao Daily, BusinessWeek Mindanao and Cagayan de Oro Times

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MOST of us tend to think of time as linear, absolute and constantly “running out” – but is that really true? And how can we change our perceptions to feel better about its passing?

While becoming 66 already, I use think about my age. Yes, it's only a number. I know.  “Time” is the most frequently used noun in the English language. We all know what it feels like as time passes. Our present becomes the past as soon as it’s happened; today soon turns into yesterday. If you live in a temperate climate, each year you see the seasons come and go. And as we reach adulthood and beyond, we become increasingly aware of the years flashing by.  

While keep on thinking about age and its consequences, I came along with Claudia Hammond, author of Time Warped: Unlocking The Secrets Of Time Perception.

She wrote that although neuro-scientists have been unable to locate a single clock in brain that is responsible for detecting time passing, humans are surprisingly good at it. If someone tells us they’re arriving in five minutes, we have a rough idea of when to start to look out for them. We have a sense of the weeks and months passing by. As a result, most of us would say that how time functions is fairly obvious: it passes, at a consistent and measurable rate, in a specific direction – from past to future.

Of course, the human perspective of time may not be exclusively biological, but rather shaped by our culture and era. The Amondawa tribe in the Amazon, for example, has no word for “time” – which some say means they don’t have a notion of time as a framework in which events occur. (There are debates over whether this is purely a linguistic argument, or whether they really do perceive time differently.) Meanwhile, it’s hard to know with scientific precision how people conceived of time in the past, as experiments in time perception have only been conducted for the last 150 years.

Physics tells a different story. However much time feels like something that flows in one direction, some scientists beg to differ.

In the last century, my very favored Albert Einstein’s discoveries exploded our concepts of time. He showed us that time is created by things; it wasn’t there waiting for those things to act within it. He demonstrated that time is relative, moving more slowly if an object is moving fast. Events don’t happen in a set order. There isn’t a single universal “now”, in the sense that Newtonian physics would have it.

It is true that many events in the Universe can be put into sequential order – but time is not always segmented neatly into the past, the present and the future. Some physical equations work in either direction. Here, I strongly agree with Claudia Hammond.

One aspect of time perception many of us share is how we think of our own past: as a kind of giant video library, an archive we can dip into to retrieve records of events in our lives.

But psychologists have demonstrated that autobiographical memory is not like that at all. Most of us forget far more than we remember, sometimes forgetting events happened at all, despite others’ insistence that we were there. On occasion even the reminder does nothing to jog our memories.

Several years ago, I started writing my biography. With Beethoven under palms. The great German composer and me under palms. Wow.  Meanwhile, I found out: as we lay down memories, we alter them to make sense of what’s happened. Every time we recall a memory, we reconstruct the events in our mind and even change them to fit in with any new information that might have come to light. And it’s much easier than you might think to convince people that they have had experiences which never happened. The psychologist Elisabeth Loftus has done decades of research on this, persuading people they remember kissing a giant green frog or that they once met Bugs Bunny in Disneyland (as he’s a Warner Bros character, so this can’t have happened). Even recounting an anecdote to our friends can mean our memory of that story goes back into the library slightly altered.

So we shouldn’t curse our memories when they let us down. They’re made to be changeable, in order that we can take millions of fragments of memories from different times of our lives and recombine them to give us endless imaginative possibilities for the future.

Thank you very much Claudia Hammond. I changed my opinion when it comes to time. My limited time on earth.

Comval Gov encourages voting “Yes” for Davao de Oro’s plebiscite on December 7

Compostela Valley Province--- Governor Jayvee Tyron L. Uy encourages everyone to go out and vote “YES” for the upcoming plebiscite on December 7, 2019.

The Plebiscite is for changing the name of Compostela Valley Province to the Province of Davao de Oro.

(Early morning) December 5 during a net-teleradio program “Radio De Oro” hosted by Executive Assistant IV Alfonso L. Tabas Jr. at the provincial capitol, the governor encouraged the people of the province to go out and support the plebiscite on December 7 (Saturday) by voting for “YES” or “OO” and to be part of the biggest history in the province.

“As per official ballots question “Pumapayag ka ba na palitan ang pangalan ng lalawigan ng Compostela Valley at gawing Davao De Oro alinsunod sa Batas Republika bilang 11297?”  “Your YES can change our province’s history. Make it count this December 7, 2019. Mag-yes ta ninyo ha, the governor said.

On the other hand, On November 28, 2019 President Rodrigo Duterte through his Executive Secretary Salvador C. Medialdea issued and order declaring December 7, 2019 a special non-working holiday in Compostela Valley.

This is to give the people in our province an opportunity to vote in the plebiscite on the aforementioned date,” said governor Uy.

Meanwhile, the governor explained how to cast your vote by simply follow the instructions.

Who can vote? All qualified and duly registered voters of the province as of May 13, 2019 national and local elections.

Step-1, Go to your designated voting precincts. This may be the same precinct you went to vote during the May 2019 local and national elections.

Step 2, Look for your name on the voter’s list posted by your precincts. Here, you can verify your registration and assigned room.

Step 3, Follow the instruction set by the officer-in-charge and get your ballot.

Step 4, write “Yes” or “Oo” on the blank beside the question, and submit your ballot accordingly.

“Busa adto nata sa atong tagsa-tagsa ka presinto aron makabuto, makapartisipar, ug mamahimong kabahin sa usa sa mga giilang labing bililhon ug halandumong kasysayan sa probinsya,” said Governor Uy. (Rey Antibo, ID Comval)

Comval romps awards in the “Digital Governance Awards 2019”

Compostela Valley Province--- ComVal garnered two National Awards in the recently concluded “Digital Governance Awards 2019” held at Jose Rizal Hall, Philippine International Convention Center (PICC) Complex, Pasay City on November 26, 2019. 

In a plaque signed by DICT Sec. Gregorio B. Honasan II, DILG Sec. Eduardo M. Ano and National ICT Confederation of the Philippines (NICP) President Jonathan D. De Luzuriaga, the province was recognized for “Best In Government Inter-operability Award (G2G) Provincial Level” and 2^nd Place in the “Best in Business Empowerment Award (G2B) Provincial Level.’

Both awards were received by Gov. Jayvee Tyron L. Uy together with the Information Technology and Communication Development Division (ITCDD) Division Head Joyzel R. Odi, Provincial Voluntary Blood Services Program Coordinator Leonardo Merced and Information System Analyst Wilfredo M. Galagala.

The “Document Management System” developed by George Dan Hill (Computer Programmer) got the winning entry for the “Government to Government (G2G) Award” and the “Blood Distribution Management System” developed by Kent Vincent Gonzales (Computer Programmer) won the “Government to Business (G2B) Award”.

The Digital Governance Awards is annually celebrated which aims to search for best practices among local government units through the use of ICT in promoting effective and efficient public service. In line with the Provincial Government of Comval’s 4Ps+ Program, both systems were developed to provide convenience for the Comvaleños’ as well as for the good governance in the province.

"Thank you for the support and leadership Gov.Jayvee Tyron Uy and Vice Gov. Maricar Zamora, and to my team, the ICT ManCom and ITCDD, we made it again. I would like to specially mention George Dan Gil Duran and Kent Vincent Gonzales, the developers of the the systems. " said Joyzel Odi, the ITCDD Division Head. (Jasteen P. Abella/ID COMVAL

Deutsche Botschaft Manila: Krisenvorsorge Taifun Kammuri (lokaler Name Tisoy)

Taifun Kammuri soll über Catanduanes, Albay, oder Sorsogon (Region V, Visayas) am Abend des heutigen Montag, 2. Dezember oder am frühen Dienstag  Morgen, 3. Dezember, auf Land treffen und weiter nach Westen ziehen. Bewohner, die sich im Einzugsgebiet des Taifuns befinden, müssen mit orkanartigem Sturm und sehr starken Regenfällen rechnen. Mit Überflutungen, Erdrutschen und gefährlichen Verkehrsbedingungen muss insbesondere von Dienstag, 3. Dezember, bis Mittwoch, 4. Dezember, gerechnet werden.

Beachten Sie die lokalen Wettervorhersagen, insbesondere die Taifunwarnungen wie beim Joint Typhoon Warning Center (https://www.metoc.navy.mil/jtwc/jtwc.html) oder beim philippinischen Wetterdienst „Pagasa“ (https://www.metoc.navy.mil/jtwc/jtwc.html).

Treffen Sie persönliche Krisenvorsorge, beispielsweise:
•       Vermeiden Sie Reisen in die vom Taifun betroffenen Gebiete.
•       Informieren Sie Freunde und Verwandte über Ihre Sicherheit und Erreichbarkeit.
•       Halten Sie Ihre Reisedokumente griffbereit.
•       Überprüfen Sie Ihre eigenen Evakuierungsmöglichkeiten.
•       Halten Sie sich bei Sturm und heftigen Regenfällen in gesicherten Gebäuden auf.
•       Verfolgen Sie die lokalen Medien.
•       Folgen Sie den Anweisungen der lokalen Behörden.

Weitere Informationen finden Sie auf der Homepage der Botschaft unter https://manila.diplo.de/ph-de/service/elefand.

Sie erreichen die Botschaft per E-Mail unter info@mani.diplo.de und unter der Telefonnummer +63-2 8702 3000, außerhalb der Öffnungszeiten in dringenden Notfällen unter der Mobiltelefonnummer +63-917 867 3000.

Bitte beachten Sie, dass die Botschaft ab Verkündung von Signal Number 3 für Metro Manila geschlossen bleiben wird.

156th Bonifacio Day

Impressions from the commemorating the 156th Birth Anniversary of the Great Plebeian, Gat. Andres Bonifacio at the Bonifacio Circle, corner C.M. Recto and Magallanes Street in Davao City.

Thank you very much for the invitation City Government of Davao City thru City Administrator Attorney Zuleika Lopez.

The Honorary German Consulate in Davao City joined also by participating in the floral offering.

ANDRES BONIFACIO

Andres Bonifacio (November 30,1863 – May 10,1897)

Portrait of Andres BonifacioAndres Bonifacio was born on November 30, 1863 to Santiago Bonifacio and Catalina de Castro in Tondo located in Manila Philippines. He was a Filipino revolutionary hero who founded the Kataastaasan Kagalanggalang na Katipunan ng mga Anak ng Bayan (KKK) or Katipunan a secret society devoted to fighting the Spanish occupation of the Philippines. He was the first one to have a clear vision of what a Filipino nation should be—The Father of the Filipino Nation. He would later be known as Supremo; destined to change the history of the Filipino people.

Bonifacio was not born and raised a plebeian, his mother was half-Spanish and he was privately tutored by a certain Guillermo Osmeña. But things became tough for him when his parents died when he was 14 years old forcing him to quit his studies and look after his 5 younger brothers and sisters. He earned a living as a craftsman and seller of canes and fans and then he became clerk and agent for a foreign commercial firm, Fleming and Company. In spite of his lack of formal education, he taught himself to read and write in Spanish and Tagalog, and was actually so good at it that he later got a job as a clerk-messenger for the German trading firm Fressel and Company. It was said that Bonifacio was interested in Western classic rationalism and read the works of Victor Hugo, Jose Rizal, and Eugene Sue. He had a deep interest in reading books on the French Revolution and the lives of the presidents of the United States and acquired a good understanding of the socio-historical process. Although it must be argued that the main thing that made his later organizing activities successful would be his savvy to appropriate local consciousness and ancient Filipino concepts to the Katipunan—Inang Bayan, sandugo, kapatiran, kaginhawaan, and katimawaan or kalayaan. His passion for changing the plight of his countrymen under colonialism encouraged him to join La Liga Filipina. La Liga Filipina was organized in July 3, 1892 by Jose Rizal with the purpose of uniting the people under “one compact homogenous body” which is the nation, instituting reform, education and cooperation, building the nation in the grassroots.

Rise of the Katipunan

Four days after the establishment of the Liga, July 7,1892, the arrest and banishment of Jose Rizal the day before made it practically nonexistent as an organization. Andres Bonifacio along side Ladislao Diwa, Teodoro Plata and others decided to continue the struggle and formed the Kataastaasan Kagalanggalang ang Katipunan ng mga Anak ng Bayan (KKK) or Katipunan at the home of Deodato Arellano in Calle Azcarraga, Manila. A small room lit only by a table lamp they signed a solemn compact with blood drawn from their forearm to symbolized the birth of the Katipunan the sandugo was not just a blood pact but a pledge to love each compatriot as brothers and sisters as the ancients did when they consolidate the bayan—kapatiran.

Only when people have mabuting kalooban (good intentions, thus the Kartilya) for each other, will true kaginhawaan (total well-being) and kalayaan (freedom) be attained. Thus it must be said that the Katipunan was not just a mere organization that wanted to unite the people to topple the Spanish Empire, but wanted a true unity of mind and hearts among the Tagalogs (Taga-ilog, river people, referring to peoples/mga bayan from the whole archipelago) under one Inang Bayan seeking the enlightened and straight path, an original Filipino concept of the nation. After two previous Supremos, the humble founder of the Katipunan Andres Bonifacio finally agreed to be Supremo of the Katipunan.

An Excursion to the Mountains

As a theater actor himself, Bonifacio had a favourite character to play—Bernardo Carpio, the mythical Tagalog king trapped in between two mountains who will soon be freed to fight and free the people from the bondage of colonialism. On Good Friday of 1895, he went to the caves of Mt. Tapusi, Montalban, Rizal with his men. They wrote through charcoals on the walls of the caves “Naparito ang mga Anak ng Bayan, hinahanap ang Kalayaan. Mabuhay ang Kalayaan.” (The Sons of the People came here searching for freedom. Long live freedom!) Definitely, it was not a coincidence why he chose that time place for this, a declaration of independence: The Katipunan will be the Bernardo Carpio who will free Inang Bayan. They are willing to sacrifice their lives for the altar of freedom.

(Members of the Diplomatic Corps during the commemorating)

Photo Courtesy: Pibi Ann Neri Balcom, German Honorary Consulate, Davao City.

Comval celebrates “1st Comval Coconut Summit”

Compostela Valley Province--- a total of 300 Coconut Farmers and stakeholders attended the “1^st Comval Coconut Summit” held at the Provincial Capitol of Compostela Valley on Novemeber 27, 2019.

Targets of the newly commenced Coconut Summit is to “REVIVE, VALUE ADDING and R&D Market!” for the Coco industry. It also serve as the convergence of the different National Government Agencies such as the Mindanao Development Authority (MinDA), Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), Department of Science and Technology (DOST), Compostela Valley State College (CVSC) and the Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA) to pool their resources in order to revive the industry.

One of the main highlights of the summit was to directly link the  Coconut Farmers to different investors giving them a good pricing opportunity. Three big markets attended the summit that day; Franklin Bayer, First in Commodities Marketing, Inc. (FIC) and Legaspi Oil in Maco.

According to the OIC -PCA Administrator Ruel Rosales, the government is currently working to address the concerns of Coconut Farmers through the different Component Ventures namely; Coco Hybridization, Farm Venture, Agri-Biotech Venture, Bio Fuel Venture and the Food and Non-food Ventures as part of the “New Thinking in Coconut Industry” in the Philippines.

The DOST thru its R & D Program offers to add value to local products and processes thru Science and Technology interventions such us product quality improvement, SET-UP program (acquisition of equipment for processing), cost minimization, and other operation-related activities.

Land Bank of the Philippines also presented its Coconut Production and Processing Financing Program that offers a loan even to small farmers (below 5 hectares) for coconut planting and development projects.

The event was also attended by the MinDA new Chairman Manny Piñol who supported the event and made it sure in supporting the Coconut Framers thru market-linkaging.

“Coconut Farmers should be involved in added-value production, dapat matudloan sila ug  buhat ug virgin coconut oil ug uban pang value added products.” And aside from that, Minda, since we are involve in marketing promotions, nagapangita pud mi ug merkado for our matured and young coconut, but at the same time makatabang sa atuang advocacy nga madala sa barangay level ang processing facilities para makabuhat ang mga farmers ug produkto nga high-value,” the MinDa chief said. (Jasteen P. Abella, ID COMVAL)

A total of 300 Coconut Farmers and stakeholders attended the “1st Comval Coconut Summit” held at the Provincial Capitol of Compostela Valley on November 27, 2019. (Photo by: M. Lasaca, PS Comval)

Gov. Uy delivers Local State of the Children’s Report

Compostela Valley Province---“We made significant progress in promoting the core rights of our children- the right to survival and development, the right to protection and the right to participation. Our aspiration is simple to have a gold life for all most especially to every child in the province,” this was part of the message of Governor Jayvee Tyron L. Uy as he deliver his Local State of the Children’s Report (LSOCR) at the Arresgado Auditorium, Tagum City, Davao del Norte on November 26, 2019.

The activity is in line with the “27^th National Children’s Month Celebration” with the theme: “KARAPATANG PAMBATA: Patuloy na Pahalagahan at Gampanan Tungo sa Magandang Kinabukasan.”

Attending the program were the Provincial Officials, Municipal Mayors together with their child development workers of the eleven municipalities, municipal social welfare and development officers (MSWDO), child development learners, parents of the learners, sulong dunong beneficiaries and from the Provincial Social Welfare and Development Office (PSWDO).

Governor Uy reported that there are 503 functional development centers in the province, nearly half of which are accredited by Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD). This means that they have passed standards set by the national government. These centers are functional due to hard-work of the 505 child development workers; 51 percent of which are accredited by DSWD and the centers cater to nearly 18,000 learners all around the province.

The governor also expressed his gratitude that he was given the opportunity to deliver his State of the Children's Report in front of the children, parents and child development workers. “We shared the milestones we achieved recently- lowest child malnutrition incidence in Davao Region, Seal of Child Friendly Governance, schools built in a matter of days etc.”

“Daghang salamat sa atong mga social workers, atong mga municipal local social welfare officers, mga day-care workers, atong mga ginikanan ug sa PSWDO sa tanan nilang ginabuhat aron tagaan ug maayong kaugmaon ang atong kabatan-onan,” the governor said.

Meanwhile, right after the LSOCR they immediately proceed to the part two of the program the "Provincial Bulilit Festival" which is showing and competing the different talents of every learners for the 11 municipalities such us the Song Solo, Tula, Folk Dance, and a fun games for Bulilit Goes to Child Development Center and Shoe lacing.

The event was spearheaded by the PSWDO headed by Ms. Josephine Frasco - PSWDO Officer in collaboration with the provincial government of ComVal together with the DSWD. (Rey Antibo, ID Comval)

Being old fashioned?

My column in Mindanao Daily, Businessweek Mindanao and Cagayan de Oro Times

OPINION

By KLAUS DORING

 November 29, 2019

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MOST students take a laptop or smart phone with them to lectures. My students too. Although, these units are not allowed most of the time during my classes. I think, there are times when they might be better off taking a pad and pen? And honestly, more and more do so.

Writer Claudia Hammond (I don't know her age, but I think age matters if we come to today's topic) says, " These days many people can type faster than they can write by hand, particularly if they’ve grown up using laptops. This is a hugely useful skill of course and allows you to take copious notes, quickly and easily, which must surely be a good thing, right?"

Maybe not. In an experiment, run by Pam Mueller at Princeton University published in 2014,  students were given Ted talks to watch and were told to take notes.

Half were given laptops and half took notes with a pen and paper. You might expect little difference in the notes, since students are so used to using a keyboard these days. In fact, there was. The students using a keyboard were more likely to type the lecturers’ words verbatim, while the students writing more slowly by hand had no choice but to engage with the information in order to allow them to summarize. Afterwards the students were given some tricky intelligence tests to distract them, and were then quizzed on the content of the lecture.

Verbatim note-taking involves a shallower form of cognitive processing. You can even do it without thinking about the content at all should you choose to. But when using a pen and paper you process the information more deeply because you can’t possibly write it all down. The other advantage of using a pen and paper is that you can move around the page very quickly, circling, underlining or adding extra information in the margins.  

When it comes to set and note new appointments or different scheduled work to do, and very import deadlines to be remembered, laptops are convenient, but turn out to be not the best option some of the time. My offices are full of note pads. ... Yes, I might be old fashioned... .

Following Claudia Hammond, who says: surely in the long run if your notes are more complete,  help, when it comes to revision?  Maybe not. When the students were allowed to revise from their notes before being tested a week later, the pen-and-paper group still did better. The reason is that cognitively processing material more deeply while you listen, helps you both to understand it and to remember it later on. Even if you never refer back to your notes again, the process of creating them can be useful. The exception is with learning simple facts. Then taking notes on a laptop can work just fine.

The advantage of not having to take notes is that you can focus your full attention on what’s you’re being told without worrying about writing it down. A more passive way still of keeping track of information from lectures is to record them so you can listen again or re-watch them later. But is there a risk that because you know everything is there for when you need it, you might not concentrate properly? Or does it free you up to concentrate fully on what’s happening because you’re not distracted by trying to take notes?

Within psychology when a task like this is outsourced to technology, it’s known as cognitive off-loading. But does it help?

If you want to remember your notes, research suggests you should be reaching for a pen. That's why, most of my students are asking for a minute to re-write such things, I pinned before at the white board.

On the other hand the advantage of not having to take notes is that you can focus your full attention on what’s you’re being told without worrying about writing it down, because they can always listen again later. But the benefit of taking notes is that it forces you to process the information and think about it in order to work out the best way of summarizing it.  

But there was one surprise here. When the students knew they could see the video later if they wanted to, they actually took more notes and drew more diagrams, which was something of a mystery.

Of course, if you can type fast and you want a transcription, then a laptop is ideal, but if your aim is to understand the material better and not just to create a record of the material, then take notes by hand.

And the other lesson from all of this, of course, is to make your notes concise.