John Denver Trending Stop Cyber Bullying

Cyber bullying can be disastrous, even fatal, as shown in the film “John Denver Trending” as one of the entries in the 2019 Cinemalaya Philippine Independent Film Festival at the Cultural Center of the Philippines.

The movie is rich in local sound and color. One even hears in the background the” tiktik.” In our childhood days, we were told that was the sound of the “aswang.”

A clear strength of the film is its rural and “regional” world, with its culturally simultaneous reality being succinctly captured in the depiction of communal faith healers paradoxically coexisting with smart phones, thereby suggesting not so much rupture as continuity between the regime of memory and the regime of data, especially where the residual but entirely determinative power of orality is concerned.

The film perhaps embodied Cinemalaya’s real vision : “the creation of new cinematic works by Filipino filmmakers – works that boldly articulate and freely interpret the Filipino experience with fresh insight and artistic integrity. It also aims to invigorate the Philippine filmmaking by developing a new breed of Filipino filmmakers.”

STOP CYBER BULLYING!

“Bullying”, as defined, refers to any severe or repeated use by one or more students of a written, verbal or electronic expression, or a physical act or gesture, or any combination thereof, directed at another student that has the effect of actually causing or placing the latter in reasonable fear of physical or emotional harm or damage to his property; creating a hostile environment at school; infringing on the rights of another; or materially or substantially disrupting the education process. (Sec. 2, RA 10627)

Specifically, “Cyber- bullying” is any bullying done through the use of technology or any electronic means. The term shall also include any conduct resulting to harassment, intimidation, or humiliation, through the use of other forms of technology, such as, but not limited to texting, email, instant messaging, chatting, internet, social media, online games, or other platforms or formats.

The film was shot entirely in Pandan, Antique, Condez’s home province. Only Meryll Soriano and Sunshine Teodoro are professional actors. The rest of the cast members led by neophyte child actor Jansen Magpusao are either Condez’s relatives or childhood friends. Magpusao’s family lives in a mountain resort in Pandan, Antique called Malumpati Cold Spring.

Also worth noting is Meryll Soriano, who enfleshes John Denver’s mother with the kind of quiet but forceful dignity and devotion that the role requires.

Teacher riding "Paragos"

A photo of a teacher in Negros Occident riding in “Paragos” a sled pulled by a carabao gone viral after it was posted in the social media. The teacher doesn’t care about the distance and hindrances she has to experience before she reaches the school.

The teacher has to ride over a Paragos to cross the river because that’s the only way she could reach the school in a secluded area. As seen in the photo, the teacher wears her uniform, clutching her shoes as she’s bending down at the top of carabao sled. Only riding in Paragos is the only way, she can get to the remote school.

The photo has already 2k likes, 3,200 shares and received different positive comments and feedback from netizens. Social media users got inspired when they saw the photo of the teacher fulfilling his role in giving education to the students.

This teacher in Negros Occidental was lauded online for the lengths she'd go to just to get to school.

The Donsalvador Benedicto Negros Occidental Facebook page posted a photo of the teacher crossing a river via "paragos," a sled pulled by a carabao.

In the photo, the teacher could be seen in her uniform, clutching her shoes as she crouched atop the sled.

Some of the netizens commented that the government must increase the teacher’s salary for all their sacrifices just to teach. Most of them express their admiration for the teacher.

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credit to the owner of this photo.
Ma'am Analyn Climaco Perez

Bonuses for public school teachers

Starting this month until the end of the year, public school teachers nationwide can expect the release of their bonuses, including the much-awaited performance-based bonus.

Education Undersecretary Jesus Mateo enumerated the following bonuses for more than 700,000 public school teachers in the country:



Year-end bonus - equivalent to one month of salary

• Cash gift - P5,000
• Productivity Enhancement Incentive (PEI) - P5,000
• Performance-based bonus (PBB) - ranging from P5,000 to P35,000
• The PEI is an across-the-board bonus equivalent to P5,000 or one month basic salary given to qualified government personnel of agencies that meet the conditions as stated in Executive Order (EO) 181 series of 2015.

The PBB, meanwhile, is a top-up bonus ranging from P5,000 to P35,000, depending on the teacher's performance. It is granted to government personnel in line with their contribution to the department's accomplishment of its overall targets and commitments.

By the end of the year, a teacher with a basic salary of P19,077, then, can get P34,077 up to P64,077 worth in bonuses.

The year-end bonus and the cash gift will be given this month, while the PEI and the PBB will be given before the year ends.

In July, after announcing the start of "incremental" salary increases for the military, President Rodrigo Duterte said public school teachers would be up next.

After her speech at the Education Summit 2016 on November 3, Education Secretary Leonor Briones urged education stakeholders to pay more taxes in order to support the budget for the teachers' bonuses.

"This will surprise the private sector: everybody in all of the teachers would get performance bonuses," she said, answering a question from the crowd regarding the Magna Carta for Public School Teachers.

"We are serious about fulfilling the mandate of the Magna Carta," Briones added.

In a press statement on November 5, Teachers' Dignity Coalition Chairperson Benjo Basas said this year's bonus is an "unprecedented amount" that could be attributed to the increase in teachers' basic salaries.

But Alliance of Concerned Teachers-Philippines national chairperson Benjie Valbuena said his group does not consider the amount of these remaining benefits as unprecedented.

"We have been receiving the said benefits ever since, save for the mid-year bonus which is equivalent to one month salary by virtue of EO 201 series of 2016," he told Rappler in a text message.

Asked to comment about the bonuses, Valbuena said these benefits "should have been made [a] wage hike instead."

Doing so, he told that it would result to the increase having an effect "on bonuses, other benefits, and retirement benefits."

No more homework

A small but growing number of elementary schools and individual teachers are doing away with the after-school chore to allow kids more time to play, participate in activities, spend time with families, read and sleep.

There’s been pushback against homework from parents in recent years who say their children’s time is monopolized by other activities, said Steven Geis, president of the National Elementary School Principals’ Association.

At North Trail Elementary School, in Farmington, Minnesota, where he is principal, students do what he says is engaging homework.

Some schools and individual teachers are revising their homework policies to ensure that they are effective, he said.

At the Orchard School, a kindergarten-through-5th grade school in South Burlington, Vermont, the principal there said he’s seen more anxiety among students in the last decade. The school opted to do away with homework this school year, based in part on the book “The Homework Myth.”

“They’re just kids. They’re pretty young and they just put in a full day’s shift at work and so we just don’t believe in adding more to their day. We also feel that we are squashing their other passions and interest in learning,” Principal Mark Trifilio said.

Alfie Kohn, the outspoken education lecturer and author of the book, “The Homework Myth,” says homework is a case of all pain and no gain.

“The disadvantages of homework are clear to everyone: exhaustion, frustration, loss of time to pursue other interests and often diminution of interest in learning,” he said. “Homework may be the greatest extinguisher of curiosity ever invented.”

But Harris Cooper, a psychology and neuroscience professor at Duke University, who has been studying the effects of homework for 30 years, disagrees.

He thinks all school children should be doing homework, but the amount and type should vary depending on age and developmental levels.

Cooper led research that reviewed more than 60 studies on homework between 1987 and 2003 and found that homework had a positive effect on student achievement, but the positive correlation was much stronger for students in grades 7-12 than for those in elementary school.

He prescribes homework assignments that are short, simple and lead to success for elementary school kids, he said.

It teaches kids that they don’t just learn in the classroom and helps turn them into lifelong learners while improving their sense of independence, and time management and study skills, Cooper said.

“Homework is like medicine. If you take too little, it does nothing. If you take too much, it can kill you,” Cooper said. “You’ve got to get the dose right, and if you do, it can do wonders.”

A lot of the backlash is a reaction to some teachers assigning too much homework, he said.

A guideline for many schools is 10 minutes of homework per grade: so 10 minutes in 1st grade, 20 minutes in 2nd grade and so on.

“We definitely don’t say ‘no homework’ but we try to keep it reasonable,” said Cherie Stobie, principal at the K-8 Marion school in Marion, Montana.

“The main benefit is just having the additional time to practice later in the day because research shows that if students practice, you know they take a break after they’ve learned something and they practice it again later, it’s more likely to be retained,” she said.

Noelle M. Ellerson, of AASA: The School Superintendents Association, said there has been a small but growing number of schools or teachers revising homework policies or talking about it “whether it’s to do away with it or to shift to a policy where homework is the classwork they didn’t finish during the day or where the homework of the child is to read with their parents.”

At the Orchard School, the children’s daily home assignment now is to read books, get outside and play, eat dinner with family — including helping with setting and cleaning up — and get a good night’s sleep.

“It’s awesome,” 9-year-old Avery Cutroni said of the no-homework policy. She had dance and piano lessons after school recently, so said she had a busy schedule. Plus, she’s reading more on her own, her mother said.

“I think it gives kids a lot time for mental and physical rest which I think is super important,” said Heidi Cutroni, of the school’s elimination of homework. “I think it’s really good for parent-teacher-student relations in all directions and I think it just gives kids a chance to use their time for what their passionate and excited about.”

-repost

Bill doubling public teachers’ monthly base pay

“Teachers are a special breed and to teach is a special calling. One writer once said, ‘Students are actually better off in a bad school with an excellent teacher, than in excellent school with a bad teacher,’” he said in an event in celebration of the National Teachers’ Month.

The senator has also filed a bill that seeks to provide grants and scholarship with return of service agreements to academic and non-academic personnel to upgrade their qualification through masteral, doctoral or post-graduate studies.

There is a need, he said, to retrain teachers “to meet the instructional aptitude needed to teach an entirely new curriculum provided under the K-to-12 program.”

Angara said the scholarships and grants will also attract new teachers and researchers to the higher education sector.

“I think every teacher realizes deep in their heart that they are not doing this for personal glory or for personal riches but definitely, to leave a legacy. Ito ang nag-iisang propesyon kung saan nasusukat ang kanilang tagumpay sa tagumpay ng iba (This is the only profession wherein its victory is measured by the success of others),” the senator further said.

Angara, a known advocate of educational reforms, said Senate Bill 61 aims to upgrade the minimum salary grade (SG) level of teachers from SG 11 to 19, “nearly doubling their current monthly base pay from P18,549 to P33,859.”

“As we celebrate our teachers’ role in the society and nation building—most especially as molders of our children’s future—we should also give priority to the welfare of our hardworking teachers,” the senator said in a statement on Friday.


Inquirer: http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/727411/angara-pushes-for-bill-doubling-public-teachers-monthly-base-pay#ixzz3nOF6ZD2j

Survival Sex in Iloilo City

A survey conducted by Mass Communication students of the West Visayas State University among 100 taxi drivers in Iloilo City showed a high incidence of premarital sex among college and high school students, and even among elementary pupils.

A report on "Survival Sex in Iloilo City" by Professor Ma. Rosario Victoria de Guzman during a City Council committee hearing also showed the rampant survival sex for pay, especially during midterm and finals seasons.

The hearing was conducted by the City Council committee on women and family relations chaired by Councilor Dylee Zulueta Salazar, Task Force on Moral Recovery chaired by George Duron, City Health Office, and City Social Welfare and Development.

The committee is drafting an ordinance regulating the operation of lodging houses, motels, inns and other similar establishments in Iloilo City and providing mechanism therefore and other purposes.

Zulueta Salazar said the committee is gathering inputs to be incorporated in the proposed regulation ordinance.

Based on the survey, De Guzman said that 65 percent of those who frequent lodging houses are students of the same age level, 14 percent are of same age as their father, and 10 percent are of grandfather age.

Majority are students who frequent the places with age bracket of 12 to 24 years old, she said.

The survey report also showed that in one week, 63 taxi drivers brought the students to Katrina Lodge, 45 drivers to Anita, 44 to The Q, 43 to Sofia Lodge, 39 to Green Dragon Lodge, 31 to Queens Court, and eight to Moonlight Lodge.

Mostly wearing civilian clothes, the students or those going to the lodging houses have pick-up points in the vicinity of the University of Iloilo, Iloilo Doctors College, plazas, Arroyo St., Mabini St., Small Ville complex and the White House in Baluarte, Molo district.

see details at : http://www.sunstar.com.ph/iloilo/local-news/2015/03/26/study-students-frequent-lodging-houses-sex-399582

Students engaging in ‘survival sex’ is a clear manifestation of a commercialized education system in the Philippines, according to Anakbayan Panay.

“We cannot deny the fact that some people sell their bodies to pay for their needs but students engaging in ‘survival sex’ to pay the high cost of tuition and other school fees collected by the schools especially as final exam approaches clearly manifests a commercialized Philippine education system ,” said Bryan Bosque, Anakbayan Panay Spokesperson.

According to a research by West Visayas State University College of Communications Professor Ma. Rosario Victoria de Guzman, more students in Iloilo City are engaging in ‘survival sex’.

“In the middle of this issue, the government is doing nothing to take action. Commercialization of education is perpetuated by the government to neglect its financial responsibility and pave the way to privatize education and leave the fate of the students to private educational capitalists that increases tuition fees and other school fees at unprecedented rate which forces students to engage in anti-social activities such as ‘survival sex’ or even commits suicide,” Bosque added.

Meanwhile, Iloilo City Mayor Jed Patrick Mabilog said, “What we can do is, probably, to hold a meeting with all the owners of lodging houses and motels in the city and remind them of minor checking in at their respective motels.

story : http://www.iloilometropolitantimes.com/survival-sex-a-manifestation-of-commercialized-education/

The Mamasapano issue

Former President Fidel V. Ramos issued a statement on the Mindanao peace process and enumerated what he believes are the possible reasons behind Sunday's bloodshed in Mamasapano, Maguindanao.

Ramos, who founded the police Special Action Force as chief of the Philippine Constabulary in 1983, found the irreparable loss of 44 commandos in Mamapasano town needless as the operation's targets are yet to be confirmed dead.

"The intended mission of the SAF contingent was to capture Malaysian Zulkifli Abdul Hir (also known as Marwan) and Filipino Basit Usman, both notorious terrorists," Ramos said. "Ironically, it has not been confirmed if these wanted criminals were fully accounted for."

"It is ... clear that the tragic happening was a combination of these factors," he said.

• Inadequate confidence-building measures (CBMs) among the civilian-military-police stakeholders
• Poor or lack of coordination
• Faulty written SOPs and rules of engagement
• Slipshod monitoring of the existing "ceasefire"
• Between maneuver and fire support elements, lack of teamwork
• Poor unit troop leadership
• Poor tactical intelligence
• Lack of sincerity to pursue peace on the part of the MILF
• Inadequate command guidance from the higher commander
• Poor strategic direction from the Commander-in-Chief

Ramos also said government peace negotiators should have consulted retired military and police officers who were assigned in Mindanao.

The Mamasapano operation—which involved nearly 400 PNP-SAF members—took a bloody turn. Some 44 elite cops were killed, while 12 were wounded in clash against members of the MILF.

According to MILF chief peace negotiator Mohaquer Iqbal the bloody clash erupted due to "the lack of coordination between the police and the proper governing bodies."