Poor teacher training

WHEN it rains, it pours.

(LET) from the website of the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) and correlated these with other data complied by CHED.

When the late Senator Ninoy was assassinated in 1983, the Philippine economy was in dire straits with the massive outflow of dollars, by domestic and international businessmen, so much so the Central Bank could no longer have foreign exchange. Ongpin, as Minister of Trade and Industry, thought of a plan of having the police gather several well-known Chinese foreign exchange traders and threaten to send them to the stockade unless they followed his orders.

That gave birth to the well-known “Binondo Central Bank,” when Ongpin ordered all the foreign exchange traders to buy all the foreign exchange available in the market on behalf of the Philippine government to buy imported necessities for the people.

Ongpin dictated the rate of exchange everyday, and the BCB was very successful so much so the BCB saved the country’s economy from collapse.

This even impressed the World Bank so much it wanted Ongpin to save Egypt from economic collapse.

Egypt was suffering the same problems the Philippines had before Ongpin created the BCB.

For his role in preventing the economic collapse of his country, Ongpin made a name for himself in the history of the Philippines.

After the exile of FEM to Hawaii, Ongpin left the country and based himself in Hong Kong and became a consultant to many international conglomerates, primarily with American Insurance group (AIG) and Bobby’s friend Robert Kuok, a Malaysian billionaire who owned the South China Morning Post, the biggest English newspaper in the former British colony, now under the People’s Republic of China and made Ongpin his vice chairman.

But, Ongpin, a true Filipino, never lost contact with his friends in the Philippines.

He had set his eyes on a 500-hectare island called Balesin, jointly-owned by his former trade and industry undersecretary Ed Tordesillas and Baby Ysmael, an industrialist.

Being a visionary, RVO had plans for that island off the coast of Quezon province.

Bobby has had his own share of controversies.

He was demonized by former President Duterte, as an “oligarch that must be destroyed.”

This incident forced Ongpin to sell his Philweb, an online gaming firm causing him to lose P22 million.

He had to sell it to Greggy Araneta at a loss.

Ongpin was also accused of involvement in behest loans from the Development Bank of the Philippines and insider trading by the Securities and Exchange Commission.

But, Ongpin survived them when cases against him were dismissed.

After all these Ongpin went on to become one of the highest ranking tycoons, according to the Forbes ranking of rich Filipinos.

Oh yes, Bobby has his own Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) by having scholarship grants through the name of his late brother, Jaime explored, developed, and utilized only with the consent of the State.

V. Ongpin, who was once the finance secretary of Cory Aquino.

Bobby is a friend to most of the senators and to President Bongbong Marcos and the First Lady.

Years later, with Ashmore, an investment firm from London, Ongpin came back to the Philippines during the incumbency of Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.

He subsequently bought that island called Balesin from Tordesillas and made it an exclusive island club.

Ongpin has built a $2 billion fortune from scratch as a premiere paradise destination with 7.3 white sand beaches, 7 themed villages, almost 30 restaurants, 386 villas and unmatched amenities.

Balesin is the premier members-only go-to getaway for the rich, famous and the elite.

Ongpin’s debt-free Alphaland Corp, of which he was chairman and CEO, the visionary that he was, is expanding to nearby 732-hectare Balesin International Gateway, with five-star hotels, an 18 hole golf course and a 1,834 beach and golf course homes -- all at Patnanungan Island, now almost completed. His idea : attract the world’s high network individuals to enjoy the most unique beach resort and nature enclave as members or guests.

For Balesin members and guests, Ongpin bought a hydrofoil jet luxury boat to ferry people to and from Balesin and Patnanungan.

Ongpin in fact had bought spots at CNN aimed at high network people in the United States and Europe to become members of Balesin.

Balesin is not only debt-free, but has P1.5 billion in its pocket.

With Balesin as its signature high-end project, Alphaland also has the Baguio Mountain Lodges, which I call “Baguio’s Forbes Park,” an enclave for the rich and the elite.

The highly-secured mountain resort , 9 kilometers from Central Baguio, is now almost occupied and developed, having its own helicopter pad and Alphaland restaurants. I have been there twice. It all began when Ongpin bought the land to grow citrus trees when he was SGV managing partner.

Alphaland also owns the City Club, the foremost sports and luxury club, and Alphaland Makati Place, which was awarded as the premier residence-hotel, complete with restaurants and amenities. It also houses the Aegle Wellness center.

Not content with all his successes, Ongpin planned to attract the premier world-known soccer clubs of Europe and America to practice in a world-class artificial grass complete with all its amenities including dormitory under a grandstand for soccer players to rest.

Perhaps God thought Ongpin had done enough in a lifetime and decided it’s time for him to rest.

I repeat, as columnist Iris Gonzales has written so well, Bobby died in his sleep cradled in the arms of his beloved Balesin.

As for me, I will miss a very good friend and a man I admire and respect so much as a friend, a tycoon, a billionaire, an international businessman and a visionary.

I really hope and pray that whoever will take his place at Alphaland as CEO will continue all of Bobby’s projects and dreams the way he envisioned them, and even more.

With this note, all I can say is: Good Night, Sweet Prince, my good friend, may the flight of angels sing thee to your rest.

MINING plays a vital role in the country’s economic development. It opens employment opportunities, fuels infrastructure growth in and around the mining areas, generates foreignexchange earnings from exports of mineral resources, and tax revenues for the government (Philippine Statistics Authority).

However, mining, if irresponsibly undertaken, may cause water pollution, land erosion, damage to rivers and inland waters, deterioration of rain forests, decline of wildlife populations, and displacement of indigenous communities, among others.

The 1987 Constitution mandates that “[A] ll lands of the public domain, waters, minerals, coal, petroleum, and other mineral oils, all forces of potential energy, fisheries, forests or timber, wildlife, flora and fauna, and other natural resources are owned by the State…” (Article XII, Section 2).

Hence, if an owner of a piece of land discovers mineral resources therein, no exploration, development, and utilization may be had without the authority of the State. Conversely, mineral resources found in the land of another can be

It seems there’s a never-ending list of challenges confronting the education system in this country, with authorities simply unable to solve them.

We’ve written in this space about the findings of international institutions such as the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) that only 10 percent of students in the Philippines met the minimum reading standard and 17 percent met the minimum mathematical standard expected at the end of primary education. There’s also the World Bank study that “more than 80 percent of children do not know what they should know” in school.

That’s a searing indictment of the poor quality of education in the country, but where does the problem lie?

The culprit, as it turns out, also lies in the fact the quality of education that future teachers are getting needs much improvement as half of the schools training them perform poorly in the annual licensure exams for educators.

That’s the conclusion reached by the Philippine Business for Education (PBEd), a private

We cannot have, to be honest, the blind leading the blind in our educational system sector-led advocacy group founded and financed by the country’s top business leaders.

What is to be done?

The group believes both the Department of Education (DepEd) and the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) should collaborate to upgrade teacher quality in the country given the direct correlation of teaching to the performance of students.

The advocacy group cited the 2022 research done by the government’s socioeconomic policy think-tank Philippine Institute for Developmental Studies (PIDS), which found low teacher qualification was a major factor in the low-quality education and poor performance of students.

The PBEd researchers looked at 12 years’ worth of data from licensure examination for teachers

Dangerous milk supplements, and other hazards to health

MANY people who watch television regularly have called my attention to advertisements of “milk supplements” frequently aired at noon and evening prime time hours.

Often, the advertisements are 15-second spots.

Two known milk brands, the trademarks of which have been long associated by consumers with everyday dairy milk, are marketing what appears to be a “milk supplement,” but described as such only by a disclaimer announced at the last few seconds of the commercial.

The disclaimer is mentioned at an extremely fast pace such that even a keen listener can only decipher what seems like the phrase “the use of milk supplements may be dangerous to your child’s health.”

Thus, the advertisements appear to be about familiar-looking dairy milk products bearing familiar brand names, but which are not actually dairy milk, but “milk supplements,” whatever that means. The two brands have been around for several decades and enjoy an excellent brand recall from many consumers, both local and global.

Both brands, which are older than I am, originate from Switzerland.

From the way the advertisements are presented on television, even well-educated consumers can get the wrong impression the product being advertised is a milk product, and not just a “milk supplement.”

This is because consumers, since time immemorial, have come to associate these trademarks with dairy milk, and not with “milk supplements.”

Undoubtedly, therefore, advertisements like these constitute a serious threat to public health.

What is manifestly disturbing is that the aforesaid disclaimer mentions a hardly discernible warning that the use of “milk supplements can be dangerous to your child’s health.” many people.

Inatay! What we have here are products which “can be dangerous to your child’s health” and yet frequently advertised openly on prime time television, and which can be misinterpreted by many to be dairy milk, and, as such, regularly given to children on that mistaken assumption.

Two questions, therefore, necessarily arise from this situation.

First, what is or what are in those “milk supplements” which, if consumed by a child, can be dangerous to the child’s health? This vital information is not even provided in the advertisement. Second, why is this product, which the manufacturer openly admits “can be dangerous to your child’s health,” allowed to be advertised on prime time television in the first place?

Republic Act 7394 (The Consumer Act of the Philippines) explictly prohibits the advertising and marketing of hazardous products. There is also the Milk Code of the Philippines to reckon with.

Those laws, and related legislation governing the advertising industry, prohibit misleading advertisements as well.

The group found that 56 percent of the schools nationwide offering teacher education had belowaverage passing rates in the licensure exam since 2010. Poor performance in the licensure exam for teachers puts teacher quality into question, PBEd said.

Moreover, the study found that the overall passing rate of LET examinees was lower compared to that of other courses, such as architecture, nursing, civil engineering and accountancy.

That’s not all.

Only 2 percent of schools offering teacher education were classified as high-performing, the PBEd said, noting the government should consider closing down the education programs of low-performing schools. But more important is a thorough assessment of the curriculum of teacher education and the questions in licensure exams so the DepEd and CHED’s professional standards for teachers can improve considerably over time.

We cannot have, to be honest, the blind leading the blind in our educational system.

This news is very disturbing because that brand of chocolates is extremely popular in the Philippines, not only for personal consumption but more particularly for gift-giving.

Many young Filipinos simply love American chocolates, and this fact should be a cause for concern among parents.

As of now, I have advised many of my friends and acquaintances who are fond of American chocolate bars to refrain from consuming such bars in the meantime.

Consumer groups should take the lead in public health advocacy and urge the DoH, DTI and the FDA to investigate this cause for concern, or even seek relief from the courts of law if these administrative agencies refuse to take action.

Since the chocolate bar in question is imported, the local importer should conduct its own investigation for the benefit of the public.

The pertinent information is available online. If the officials heading the government agencies mentioned do not act on this public health concern, then they should expect a complaint from the general public, which shall be pursued in the courts of law and, possibly, the Office of the Ombudsman.

The interest of public health demands that an investigation into this matter should be conducted immediately by the Department of Health, the Department of Trade and Industry, and the Food and Drug Administration.

Congress should also find this development worth investigating.

Likewise, the attention of non-stock, non-profit public interest and civic organizations such as the Philippine Association of National Advertisers and the Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster ng Pilipinas is invited to this controversy.

They, too, should be vigilant against advertisements of hazardous products on television.

Speaking of health issues, I read some scientific materials published online which reveal that an American brand of popular chocolate has been the subject of a health controversy in the United States recently.

According to several American consumers, some of the chocolate bars sold under this particular brand have been discovered to contain some very harmful metallic impurities.

How those health-threatening impurities made it to the chocolate bars is unexplained, but, right now, American consumers are more concerned about the presence of dangerous impurities in what is supposed to be a harmless (with the exception of its sugar content) daily snack item for and relinquishment or renewal upon the recommendation of the Director of the MGB.

Furthermore, the 1987 Constitution expressly provides that the “[S]tate may directly undertake such activities, or it may enter into co-production, joint venture, or production-sharing agreements with Filipino citizens, or corporations or associations at least 60 per centum of whose capital is owned by such citizens.”

Such agreements may be valid for a period not exceeding 25 years, and renewable for not more than 25 years (Article XII, Section 2, 1987 Constitution).

In the latter instance, “the State [shall] promote their rational exploration, development, utilization… through the combined efforts of government and the private sector…” (Declaration of Policy, Republic Act No. 7942).

However, mining shall not be allowed in: (a) military and other government reservations; and (b) “[n]ear or under public or private buildings, cemeteries, archaeological and historic sites, bridges, highways, waterways, railroads, reservoirs, dams or other infrastructure projects, public or private works including plantations or valuable crops…” (Section 19, Chapter III, Republic Act 7942).

Mining is also not allowed in areas covered by small-scale miners unless with the latter’s prior consent; it is also prohibited in old growth or virgin forests, proclaimed watershed forest reserves, wilderness areas, mangrove forests, mossy forests, national parks, provincial/ municipal forests, parks, greenbelts, game refuges and bird sanctuaries (Section 19, Chapter III, Republic Act 7942).

Before individuals or corporations can develop or utilize the mineral resources of the State, they must apply for an exploration permit with the Mines Geoscience Bureau which grants them the right to conduct exploration for all minerals in certain specified areas (see Section 20, Chapter IV, Republic Act 7942). An exploration permit shall be valid for a period of two years, subject to annual review

An exploration permit shall grant to the permittee, his heirs or successors-in-interest, the right to enter, occupy and explore the area (Sections 21 and 23, Chapter IV, Republic Act 7942).

If private or other parties are affected, the permittee shall first discuss with the said parties the extent, necessity, and manner of his entry, occupation, and exploration and in case of disagreement, a panel of arbitrators shall resolve the conflict (Section 23, Chapter IV, Republic Act 7942).

The permittee shall undertake exploration work on the area as specified by its permit based on an approved work program.

Any expenditure in excess of the yearly budget of the approved work program may be carried forward and credited to the succeeding years covering the duration of the permit (Section 23, Chapter IV, Republic Act 7942).

The permittee may apply for a mineral production sharing agreement, joint venture agreement, co-production agreement or financial or technical assistance agreement over the permit area, which shall be approved if the permittee meets the necessary qualifications and the terms and conditions of any such agreement (Section 23, Chapter IV, Republic Act 7942). Mineral production sharing agreement is an

(www.manilastandard.net)

Misplaced amendment of the law

A president elected by robots agreement where the Government grants to the contractor the exclusive right to conduct mining operations within a contract area and shares in the gross output.

The contractor shall provide the financing, technology, management and personnel necessary for the implementation of this agreement (Section 26, Chapter V, Republic Act 7942).

A co-production agreement is an agreement between the Government and the contractor wherein the Government provides inputs to the mining operations as well as benefiting from the mineral resource.

On the other hand, a joint venture agreement is an agreement wherein a joint-venture company is organized by the Government and the contractor with both parties having equity shares (Section 26, Chapter V, Republic Act 7942).

A mineral agreement shall grant to the contractor the exclusive right to conduct mining operations and to extract all mineral resources found in the contract area.

In addition, the contractor may be allowed to convert his agreement into any of the modes of mineral agreements or FTAA subject to the approval of the DENR Secretary (Section 26, Chapter V, Republic Act 7942).

“Any qualified person [or corporation] with technical and financial capability to undertake large-scale exploration, development, and utilization of mineral resources in the Philippines may enter into an [FTAA] directly with the Government…”. Full text at www.manilastandard.net