SU’s Youth Project Receives World Bank Grant

The joint proposal of Silliman University and World Bank Philippines aimed at youth development received USD48,000 under the Civil Society Fund (CSF) Youth Initiative Grant program.

Titled “A Project to Support the Youth in Popularizing and Operationalizing the WDR: Exercising Citizenship in Transparency in Local Government Procurement”, the proposal targets a five-month implementation period, ending in September 2008.

The project supports the youth in popularizing the World Development Report 2007: Development and the Next Generation, specifically Chapter 7: Exercising Citizenship. It seeks to “laymanize” the report by developing alternative ways of creatively packaging the information using visual and performing arts, comics, short movies in the vernacular, or some other form.

It also aims to facilitate the elevation of grassroots youth (out-of-school youth) discussions to the national and global levels. The goal is to establish commonalities of concerns, eventually coming up with a set of region-specific mechanisms that would concretize the youth’s unique role in monitoring government’s social accountability, especially in monitoring transparency in government projects.

Recognizing the potential of the youth in bringing about change and development, the project will involve youth in the East Asia and the Pacific region, including Singapore, Papua New Guinea, China, Thailand and Indonesia.

Implementation of the project will be headed by Silliman University, with Mr. Mark Raygan Garcia, Director of the Office of Information and Publications as Team Leader. The other team members are Dr. Rosario Baseleres, Dean, College of Mass Communication, and Ms Stacy Alcantara, President, Silliman University Student Government.
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Dr. Malayang, however, recognized the preference of parents for lucrative courses. He explained that rising costs of study point families to courses that are in demand and offer higher salary potentials.

One way to influence this trend in favor of agriculture, he said, is for concerned institutions, especially in the private sector, to collaborate on supporting more professional development in the field of agronomy and other related agriculture courses.

“State universities like UPLB, CLSU, LSU and CMU are doing their best, but they would not be enough to fill the large need for agriculture professionals to secure our nation’s food supply. Private sector institutions like Silliman University must contribute to the effort. Private sector businesses like AgriNurture, Inc. need to help,” he added.

Silliman and AgriNuture Inc. (ANI), a leading exporter of fresh, frozen and processed foods in the country, are formalizing a partnership to help improve the country’s corps of agriculture professionals, in these times when students would seem to shun agriculture.

“Silliman and ANI both recognize the strategic value of agriculture in our nation’s long-term future,” Dr. Malayang said. He encourages universities and corporations, especially those in the agriculture sector, to get into a similar tie-up.

ANI, through its President and Chief Executive Officer Antonio Tiu, is giving at the start of this school year in June an initial 20 scholarship slots for those enrolling in Agronomy and Agribusiness at Silliman.

“The partnership with Silliman University not only seeks to provide a solution to the present issues but also provide a long-term strategy that benefits virtually all the sectors of society,” Mr. Tiu said.

The initial ten slots are full scholarships for those pursuing Agronomy. Recipients will enjoy until graduation full tuition scholarships, free housing, and a guaranteed allowance based on the scholars’ participation in an assigned practicum project. The other 10 slots are partial scholarships for those pursuing Agribusiness, and recipients will enjoy until graduation guaranteed allowances from their project involvements.

“ANI intends to help more scholars in the future. Investing in minds for agriculture is securing our country's future,” Mr. Tiu said.

Commenting on the crisis, Mr. Tiu said, “The ongoing food crisis underscores the need to revolutionize the way the country's agricultural sector has been managed for the past few decades. Private sector should support the government in achieving national goals.”

Century-old reliance for rice

Former National Treasurer Prof. Leonor Briones, who chairs the Board of Trustees of Silliman University, said the agreement between Silliman and ANI also takes up the challenge to change the condescending view of people on agriculture.

“Even farmers do not want their children to take up agriculture,” she said.

Once their prized possessions, some farmers sell off their agricultural properties in order to “save their children from becoming farmers.”

The lack of interest in agriculture, Professor Briones said, reinforces the century-old reliance of the Philippines on other countries for its rice and food supply.

She narrated how even as early as 1901, the Philippines has already been relying on other countries to make up for its rice shortage. It was only during the Marcos years that the Philippines registered a surplus in its rice supply, but then, she said, “this was only for 1 to 3 years, and at a high expenditure on artificial inputs like pesticides and fertilizers.”

“We knew long ago that this crisis was coming, but we neglected the signals,” she said. “We have always been confident that we can easily import rice and food anyway.”

Professor Briones said, “People think there is no money, there is no future, in agriculture. This needs to be corrected.” With the right training and education, she expressed optimism that those pursuing agriculture degrees will be able to rake in the fruits of their labor.

Mr. Tiu was a graduate student of Briones at the National College of Public Administration and Governance when he expressed interest in sharing his resources. He sought advice on where his support should go. Briones advised him to consider investing in agriculture. And, recognizing its strong course offerings and the plans it has of utilizing its 465-hectare property in Ticao, Masbate, among others, under its sustainable agriculture program, she recommended Silliman University as partner.

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The Silliman University College of Law ranked seventh out of 106 law schools in the country in terms of performance of its new graduates in the 2007 Philippine Bar Examinations.

Silliman, according to the communication from the Supreme Court, posted a 52.64 passing percentage against the national passing percentage of 22.9.

Among schools with at least 10 new candidates, Silliman is one of only two law schools in the Visayas on the list of Top 10 Law Schools. The other is the University of San Carlos.
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• Bad-an, Jennibeth C.
• Gela, Frebe G.
• Ramos, Carmille C.
• Umbac, Leonie Mae B.

Silliman garnered a passing rate of 80 percent against the national passing rate of 27.26 percent.
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Dr. Louella Dolar and her research assistant Ms Edna Sabater balanced on the sides of the pump boat as they earnestly scanned the strait between Balut and Sarangani Islands for signs of life.

The two marine biologists are part of a research team investigating the plight of dugongs in Philippine waters. Prior to their visit to Balut Island, the team surveyed the area around Malita, Davao del Sur with little success. The team then travelled further south to confirm rumors that the elusive mammals were in the Sarangani Bay. They arrived at Balut the afternoon of April 7, 2008 and left before dawn on April 9.

Suddenly, one of them began pointing and shouting excitedly, and the boat changed direction to follow a mysterious brown blotch moving in the water. Everyone aboard fell silent as they approach, and Dolar and Sabater readied their cameras. “Come on, come on,” they whispered.

Then, two sleek snouts with dark eyes break the surface of the salty water. The dugongs allow but a glimpse of their gleaming bodies above the surface before they dive and disappear again. Everyone with a camera frantically captured what shots they could.

This scene was repeated two or three more times, until the researchers lost track of their target completely, or until another dugong was sighted. At the end of the day, the researchers regrouped to compare shots on their cameras’ LCD screens, or to talk excitedly about seagrass.

The research team is a group of marine biologists from the Silliman University Institute of Environmental and Marine Sciences (SU-IEMS), including Dr. Hilconida Calumpong, SU-IEMS Director, and Dr. Janet Estacion, head of the institute’s Graduate Program. Dolar, an SU-IEMS graduate is the lone Filipino expert on marine mammals and head of her own marine research consultancy in San Diego.

“We started the dugong project in 2005, when Lou got pictures of a dwarf sperm whale and stranded dugong in Negros Occidental,” Dr. Calumpong said. Their interest piqued, the researchers went to Negros Occidental to investigate.

Previous literature stated that dugongs could only be found in the Palawan area, and no longer in inland areas. However, as Dr. Calumpong put it, “Kung naa’y stranding, naa’y duyong (If there are strandings, there are dugongs).”

The visit resulted in a proposal to assess dugongs in the area, and the team received funding from the Ocean Park Conservation Foundation – Hong Kong. Beginning in Negros Occidental, they eventually extended to Panay before coming to Mindanao this year.

Dugongs (scientific name Dugong dugon) are the last remaining survivor of Family Dugongidae, Order Sirenia. Found only in tropical and subtropical coastal waters, these cousins of the manatee play a vital role in seagrass systems where they feed.

“It’s a race between the grazer and the grazed,” Dr. Calumpong explained. The more dugongs there are in the area, the more the seagrass is stimulated; it fruits and reproduces more quickly to keep up with the population. This benefits not only other seagrass feeders such as fishes, shellfishes, and some waterfowl, but also fishes of the coral reefs that spend their nursery days in the seagrass beds. Coral reed fishes in turn are part of a chain that affects larger creatures in deeper parts of the sea.

Human activities, however, have resulted in several threats to the dugongs and their place in this delicate balance. Pollution and siltation affect the presence of vital nutrients. Poachers are also known to capture marine mammals in Philippine waters for illegal sale to oceanaria abroad.

Dugongs are a victim, too, of destructive fishing methods, of which they may not even be the target. When the meek mammals are trapped in fish pens, they become dehydrated, and when they are trapped in large gill nets, they drown. Blast fishing is also considered a major cause for the dwindling of the dugong populations.

However, the researchers said that fishermen’s use of hulbot-hulbot, a variant of the trawl-like Danish seine, is the worst culprit. As the hulbot-hulbot is dragged across the bottom of the sea, seagrass beds are scoured and uprooted, starving creatures like the dugong that depend on lush pastuires.

To top things off, dugong populations take years to recover. Every five to seven years, a mating pair produces only one calf. And upon birth, a dugong calf waits about 13 years before it is mature enough to mate.

These are the main reasons behind the team’s efforts to study and conserve the dugongs. A specific aim is to estimate the size of the Philippines’ dugong populations. Dr. Dolar asks, “Is the size viable enough to continue survival? Can they find their mates? Can they breed?”

Dr. Calumpong said that the outlook was dim in the first year of research; the dugong population in the Visayan Sea was quite small. But conditions may be improving, with recent sightings of dugong calves and the help of conservation task forces formed with municipalities in the area.

“If people see that the dugongs help them, they might have more interest in conserving [the species],” Dr. Dolar said. A projected related study would be to prove a link between the dugong and the fisherman’s catch, in order to encourage fisherfolk communities to participate in conservation efforts.

Another idea would be to replicate the experience of Donsol in areas rich with rare marine life. Dr. Dolar believes that Donsol flourishes as a destination for ecotourism largely because conservation measures for the whale sharks have been well established there.

The fruits of the team’s labors in Sarangani Bay encourage the notion that the Balut and Sarangani Islands may be the nest ecotourism hotspot. They documented three dugong sightings in a single afternoon. “That’s a lot,” Dr. Dolar explained, considering that their three sightings in Malita had been made in the course of several days. The researchers also noted that the strait contains a wide, mostly undisturbed seagrass area. Balut Island locals said that they see the dugongs every day.

As an unexpected bonus, the team was fortunate enough to have made three whale sightings in the area, one each for a different species of whale. A lone sperm whale was caught waving its fluke at the boat, and the dorsal fins of some pilot whales were spotted several kilometers ahead.

The team was especially ecstatic, however, about their sighting of a pod of orca in the bay area. There were seven or eight sighted, including a killer whale calf. The team whooped and shouted as the orca surfaces several times, showing off their white eye patches for the camera. One whale was brave enough to swim alongside the boat and flashed its white belly at those aboard.

“You are so lucky!” exclaimed Sabater to the non-scientists who tagged along. Dr. Dolar has been searching for these whales in the wild for about 15 years. It is only the second documented sighting of orca in Philippine waters; the first was made in the 1990’s.

The proof of so much rare marine life can turn from blessing to curse without adequate protection. At first, Dr. Calumpong asked that the orca sighting be omitted from this article, as she feared that the attention would draw poachers to the area. Upon the team’s departure, however, she changed her mind, as the news might also step up conservation efforts in the Sarangani Bay area.

“There is a need for conservation education,” Dr. Dolar said, “especially in remote places like this [Balut Island] where they’re needed the most.” She acknowledged the number of Filipinos who rely mainly upon natural resources for survival, but she placed greater emphasis on a need for everyone to understand species protection and humans’ impacts on the environment.

A lack of funding is considered the major obstacle, both to studies like the team’s dugong project and to conservation efforts in the country. “As soon as there is funding, LGU’s are willing to cooperate,” Dr. Dolar said. “And Filipinos, if they want to protect an area, they really will, and quickly. As long as we’re inspired, compared even to other countries, we move fast.”

Dr. Calumpong lamented, however, that although there is government funding for conservation, more funding seems to go into development. She and her colleagues are quite troubled, for instance, that the DENR allowed seismic explorations to take place in the Tañon Strait. The strait, located between Negros and Cebu, is said to contain the highest density of dwarf sperm whales, perhaps not only in the Philippines, but also the entire world.

“We need honest and real support from the government – not just lip service, but real involvement,” Dr. Dolar said.

As for the dugongs of Balut Island and the rest of the marine life there, the SU-IEMS team has high hopes. “We hope to return,” Dr. Dolar said. “There are still a lot of things [here] that can be conserved.” (Contributed by Katrina B. Alvarez)
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At the 7th Annual Knowledge for Development Center Meeting of the World Bank-Manila held April 19 to 23 in Tuguegarao City, Silliman University President Dr. Ben S. Malayang III spoke of the challenge to institutions to operate “across space and time.”

Dr. Malayang discussed what he called the “post-Newtonian university” concept that allows universities to see themselves beyond their traditional functions.

Traditional universities, he said, operate to create knowledge, configure knowledge, and convey knowledge. But while these functions facilitate learning, he said, the same are limited to specific space and time and the traditional methods of transmission.

What distinguishes a post-Newtonian university, he said, is its additional ability to “cater knowledge.” This is when it is able to enhance its human resource capabilities and maximize use of evolving technology.

Talking to a group of university presidents, librarians, extension directors, information professionals, and some World Bank officials, Dr. Malayang said universities need to evaluate their ability to make their programs and services relevant to those outside their campuses.

This was when he shared the “V-Silliman” (virtual Silliman) program which utilizes the internet as a tool to expand the network of Silliman and enhance its reach through eLearning and eTutorials, among others.

Under this program, foreign professors and industry leaders will interact with Silliman students and professors via videoconference in a cyber lecture hall facility, and Silliman professors may be sought online to explain global issues from a Philippine perspective. The program will also facilitate eTutorials, allowing Silliman professors to assist children of Silliman alumni based abroad in their projects.

The post-Newtonian university concept of Dr. Malayang also highlighted the need to repackage knowledge in schools, giving value to local sensitivity and applicability. This is where professors can share their expertise with the business and public sectors following a Knowledge Product Outsourcing scheme, providing technical assistance and advice on capability enhancement and management of systems and processes, among others.

When universities are able to embrace the four post-Newtonian functions, the process of knowledge exchange is enhanced and "knowledge becomes of higher utility and value to national development," he said.
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National Artist for Literature Dr. Edith Tiempo opened the prestigious 47th National Writers Workshop in a simple opening ceremony on May 5 at the Multipurpose Room of Silliman University.

This year’s writers’ workshop gathers 14 fellows (click to access list) from different parts of the country, and is sponsored by the National Commission for Culture and the Arts. It boasts of renowned literary artists as panelists: Ms Myrna Peña Reyes, Dr. Cesar Ruiz Aquino, Mr. Ernesto Superal Yee, Dr. Rowena Torrevillas, Mr. Butch Dalisay, Mr. Butch Macansantos, Ms Susan Lara, Mr. Danny Reyes, Mr. Dave Genotiva and Mr. Lito Zulueta.

Established by the late Dr. Edilberto K. Tiempo and Dr. Edith Lopez Tiempo as the Silliman National Writers Workshop in 1962, the three-week live-in summer workshop for Philippine writers (writing in and from English, as well as in any Philippine regional languages) aims to provide opportunities for interaction between a panel of established writers and critics, and the selected writing fellows.

The bases for interaction are the manuscripts in any of the literary genres submitted by the writing fellows for reading and analysis. The panel of discussion is composed of Dr. Edith L. Tiempo, the director of the program, critics, and creative writers of the Creative Writing Foundation, and visiting writers and critics from other countries. Panelists have included Nick Joaquin, Gregorio Brillantes, F. Sionil Jose, Alejandro Roces, Gémino Abad, Ophelia Alcantara-Dimalanta, Cristina Pantoja-Hidalgo, among other top writers in the country.

Each manuscript receives varied appraisal and interpretation from the panel, allowing the fellows deeper insight into their own performance, the range and limits of their freedom and responsibility as literary artists as well as their mastery of techniques in the craft of creative writing. Years of application of this analytical procedure have proven its efficacy in guiding young writers into self-discovery of the rigorous demands of the craft and the pleasures of the art of poetry, fiction, and drama. (History from the Dumaguete National Writers Workshop website)
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Alima, Joel A.
Balo, Ted Andrew M.
Delloso, Prince Gil F.
Dimalig, Ma. Wengel Lou S.
Dorado, Rilt Renart G.
Reyes, Ellen G.
Sande, Stephanie P.
Sojor, Ryan T.
Sotto, Rhine F.
Teves, Irene Joyce T.
Utzurrum, Joanna Ruth T.
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