By Lei Chavez abs-cbnnews.com | 02/13/2009 12:57 PM I am a leader, I can make a difference. With this premise, 12 senior high school students delivered speeches on true leadership in the recently held grand finals of the Voices of Leadership Elocution Competition on Wednesday. The public speaking contest is a corporate advocacy of Volvo Philippines launched last November 2008. It was organized by Viking Cars Inc (VCI), the authorized dealer of Volvo cars in the Philippines, and Scandinvian Motors Corp. (SMC), the official importer of Volvo cars in the country. As varied as the schools the contestants came from, each speech gave numerous definitions: from the universally known concept of "A leader is a servant" to endearing ones as "Ang lider ay isang salmon" to serious notions as "Leadership is a way of life." For Chinese-looking (but purely Filipino) John Xavier Valdez from Ateneo de Manila High School, "Leadership is not about power or charisma. It ...

BY Danton Remoto Lodestar column Arts and culture section Philippine Star www.philstar.net The Schools for Peace is a project under the Act for Peace Programme of the United Nations Development Programme Philippines. A School of Peace (SoP) is an elementary or secondary school in conflicted areas in Mindanao. It is a school that seeks to strengthen capacities on integration and mainstreaming of the Culture of Peace principles, concepts, and values through Peace Education and Teacher Education. Mainstreaming process involves integrating peace principles, concepts and values in all subject areas, both in formal and nonformal education through the use of Enriched Lesson Plans and Peace Exemplars, or role models. As defined by the United Nations, a Culture of Peace consists of values, attitudes, and forms of behavior that reject violence and prevent conflicts by going to their root causes. The endpoint is solving the problems of conflict through dialogue and negotiation among people, group...

BY Danton Remoto Lodestar column Arts and culture section Philippine STAR www.philstar.net The Schools for Peace is a project under the Act for Peace Programme of the United Nations Development Programme Philippines. A School of Peace (SoP) is an elementary or secondary school in conflicted areas in Mindanao. It is a school that seeks to strengthen capacities on integration and mainstreaming of the Culture of Peace principles, concepts, and values through Peace Education and Teacher Education. Mainstreaming process involves integrating peace principles, concepts and values in all subject areas, both in formal and nonformal education through the use of Enriched Lesson Plans and Peace Exemplars, or role models. As defined by the United Nations, a Culture of Peace consists of values, attitudes, and forms of behavior that reject violence and prevent conflicts by going to their root causes. The endpoint is solving the problems of conflict through dialogue and neg...

BY Danton Remoto Lodestar Art & Culture section Philippine Star December 29, 2008 "Read to lead” is a soundbite that we hear more often these days. Happily for us, the National Book Development Board (NBDB), the government agency tasked with doing this, is working hard and fast to make sure that our people — especially the young and those glued to their YouTubes — would also find the time to read. But words need not be fixed just on the page. The NBDB, under the inspired leadership of executive director Andrea Pasion-Flores, has taken the act of reading into the 21st century. Proof number 1: their “Tulaan sa Tren” project in the LRT Line 2 station that runs from Recto in Manila to Santolan in Marikina. It is a take-off of the poems read and posted at the Tube (subway) of London, but who cares? In partnership with the Optical Media Board and the Book Development Association of the Philippines, the NBDB chose poems from some of the country’s best writers, asked a host of celebri...

By Leonor Magtolis Briones The Business of Governance www.abs-cbnnews.com The phrase “student power” came into vogue during the sixties. This was the time when thousands of students all over the world marched on their governments, whether in the United States, Canada, Europe, South America, Asia or Africa. A common theme was the war in Vietnam . The global call of the students was for the United States to get out of Vietnam. Ho Chi Minh, and Che Guevara were the most popular icons. So it was in the Philippines. The students also found reason to engage their respective governments on other issues as well. American students complained about the activities of the CIA in developing countries. They rebelled against the draft which would have sent them to Vietnam. In England , students criticized their government’s domestic policies. Rallies drew students by the thousands. In Paris, they tried to recapture the days of the French revolution where the students played a major role. Students sto...

by Roderick T. dela Cruz Manila Standard Today www.manilastandardtoday.com STATE colleges and universities led by the University of the Philippines are not serving poor students as they are mandated to do, according to a study commissioned by the Asian Development Bank. “Philippine education is in a deep crisis and sees little hope of recovery unless drastic reforms beginning with higher education are immediately implemented,” the report says. The report is part of the bank’s technical assistance to the Education Department, and it found “a disproportionately small number of poor students in the state universities and colleges,” or a mere 6.7 percent of the student population. It says one reason is that poverty prevents poor students from properly preparing for a college education, and the result is that many of them flunk the entrance tests given by state colleges and universities. “The poor are discriminated more seriously in the better quality prestigious state universities and coll...

by Harvey S. Keh Manila Bulletin www.mb.com.ph 1.) Stay informed and updated about what is happening in our country. It’s so easy to stay in our comfort zones and just turn a blind eye to what is happening to our country, especially if we aren’t directly affected by these problems. Find time to read the newspaper, watch the news on TV, surf the Internet or listen to the radio. Attend forums and discussion groups on the national situation. 2.) Organize discussion groups among your friends and peers to discuss current issues in our country. Don’t be apathetic and also encourage your friends to know more about what is happening to our country. By talking about these issues, you can make more people aware and ultimately be made more vigilant against rampant corruption in our government. The government is just waiting for us to stop talking about these major scandals such as the corruption-laden ZTE Broadband Deal, Hello Garci and the P780-million fertilizer scam. Let us not allow them to g...

by Liling Magtolis-Briones abs-cbnnews.com "Are you willing to talk in a church building"? This was my anxious question to Adel (Tamano) and Danton (Remoto) when we discussed the scheduled visit of the Young Turks to Silliman University on July 10, 2008. The dialogue with the Political Science and History majors was scheduled to be held in the Udarbe Memory Chapel. The All-University Convocation/Town Hall Meeting would be held in the Silliman Church. Adel, a Muslim, replied that he did not have a problem with speaking in a Christian sanctuary. Danton assured me he "is a good Christian soldier." Erin (Tanada) and Gilbert (Remulla) did not mind either. This is what the Young Turks are all about. They belong to different parties, faiths, and "lifestyle" preferences. Nonetheless, they respect and celebrate each other’s differences. They are united in their advocacy for New Politics and their eagerness to engage the youth and invite them to be active in the m...

Boiled Green Bananas Column in Business Mirror During the past week, I was deeply engrossed with two seemingly disparate activities. The first was the visit of the Young Turks—Adel (Tamano), Danton (Remoto), Erin (Tañada) and Gilbert (Remulla) to Silliman University, Dumaguete City, on July 10 and 11. The other activity was the “Magkaisa sa Awitan” choral festival commemorating the 100th anniversary of the United Church of the Good Shepherd (UGCS). It is starting. The young are singing a different political tune. It is the music of New Politics. Young people are responding to the call for New Politics in talk shows, blogs and assemblies. They are moving away from apathy and are starting to march to a different drum. They are talking to the Young Turks. Who are the Young Turks? During the first leg of their university tour in Silliman University, many asked this question. Are they similar to the young men of Turkey who started the Young Turks Revolution that brought down the monarchy? ...

I am reprinting Prof. Liling Magtolis Briones's succinct and moving summary of our campus tour in Silliman University last July 10. Prof. Briones is a professor at the UP, former National Treasurer, and chairperson of the Board of Trustees of Silliman University. She invited us to the field of dreams, and we said "yes." Imagine waking up at 4 am, then giving three speeches that should not leave the young audience comatose? I was happy to be with Adel, Gilbert and Erin. We may not agree on all issues -- we shouldn't -- and we may be supporting different presidential and vice-presidential candidates in 2010, but we talked about the issues from different perspectives. That, I think, added depth, substance and quality to the discussions. I was tired but happy, only to know that next day, the faculty of the English Department and the undergraduate students were also waiting for me to speak. Uh-oh... *** I am afraid we drove the Young Turks [Adel Tamano, Danton Remoto, Gilb...