The Sunday Times The Pope’s visit to the UK D


UBLIN, Ireland: The visit this week of Pope Benedict VXI is


for me and many Catholics a rec- ognition and celebration of the long history of courage, faithful- ness and commitment to the gos- pel of Catholics of the United Kingdom. The visit underlines the importance and wide ranging im- pact on moral issues with politi- cal consequences that the Catho- lic Church has had despite its small numbers.


The United Kingdom is a secu- lar non-religious nation so the is- sues raised during the Pope’s visit may not interest the majority of the population. The visit however may help people focus more on Christianity itself and hopefully on the social teachings of the church that the Catholics in the UK have striven to practice.


While the media will continue to zoom in on the Pope himself and on the relationship between the Vatican and the Anglican Church, it will not be a big issue for the ma- jority of Britons who are mostly in- different to religious matters. For some, the Pope’s invitation to Anglican priests to defect to Rome might come up and the Vati- can’s recent declaration that for a catholic priest to attempt to ordain a woman is a church crime, might cause discomfort among Anglicans who plan to do just that in the An- glican Church. I hope these issues will not dominate the visit. The visit, while it is officially a state visit, ought not be misinter- preted as a mission to evangelize, convert or promote Catholicism rather as a visit to promote mutual understanding and common com-


FR. SHAY CULLEN


mitment to all areas of human need and suffering and to work for world peace, justice and equality. While the beatification of the Anglican priest theologian John Henry Newman who converted to Catholicism in the 18th century and was made a cardinal might be seen as a silent invitation to others to follow his example, instead may it seen for what it is the honoring of a great and holy man. The visit should not focus on


Aftermath


NE of the feared fallouts of the last hostage-staking crisis at the Rizal Park was that Hong Kong tourists would abandon Manila, and the Phil- ippines, as one of their favorite destinations. There was anger among Hong Kong people at the death of eight tourists and there was widespread cancella- tions of tourists reservations over the last few weeks. But it is becoming clear now that while there were indeed lapses in the handling of the hostage-taking situation which turned bloody after a day of botched negotiations, there is nothing fundamentally wrong in our treatment of our guests. As it is turning out, it is actually the trips of Fili- pino tourists to Hong Kong that have been adversely af- fected. Filipinos, after view- ing the emotional reactions in Hong Kong


O


BENJAMIN G. DEFENSOR


ternational Airport but records at the Diosdado Macapagal In- ternational Airport (DMIA) that arrivals continue to be on the upswing.


Clark International Airport that greeted


the return of the bodies of victims. Filipino tourists may have felt it more prudent to postpone trips to one of their favorite destinations for fear of some kind of retaliation. Negative tourism stories may have come out of the Manila In-


Corp. President Victor Jose Luciano was quoted as saying that “The entry of Hong Kong travelers into Clark is not af- fected by the hostage taking in- cident. In fact, our arrivals from Hong Kong is still up by 10 percent compared to last year. What is affected is the out- bound travel to Hong Kong. Many Filipinos avoid going there at the moment . . . “ Ronaldo Tuotuico, Central Luzon director of the Depart- ment of tourism says an average of 25,000 passengers arrive at the DMIA a month. These are particularly attracted by the


302-hectare Fontana Leisure Parks and Casino, which is be- ing operated by the Hong Kong- based Jimei Group of Compa- nies. Its 2,000-square meter ca- sino has at least 100 slot ma- chines and about 50 gaming ta- bles. It also has a nine-hole golf course, villas and hotel rooms. Thus Fontana is assured of toursim promotion support in Hong Kong and China. Secretary of Tourism Alberto Lim said one of the hardest hit of Philippine tourist destina- tions was Iloilo City. He esti- mates that some 3,760 tourist room-nights were cancelled val- ued at about P40 million. He suggested it was “not that large” compared to the overall situation but said that individual tourism enterprises felt the pinch. “The Chinese and Hong


Kong market constitutes nine percent of the total market so that the potential damage could be around one third- third of nine per cent, he told tourism stakeholders in a meet- ing in Naga City. However, the fallout from the hostage crisis appears to be dying down. Testimonies from the survivors tend to agree with


the statements made by the tourist bus driver, Alberto Lubang, that the victims were shot at close range by sacked Police officer Rolando Men- doza, one by one. Earlier there were speculations that some of the victims were hit by “friend- ly fire” from those who re- sponded to the emergency. Secretary of Justice Leila de Lima, head of the govern- ment body inquiring into the incident said that based on survivors’ accounts, at least two of those who died tried to fight off the gunman but were overpowered.


“One tried to grab the muz- zle of the gun, but as killed, an- other one charged the hostage- taker, but was also shot,” de Lima said.


Another survivor, who hid un- der a chair said, she saw Mendoza shoot a young girl as she tried to run to her brother who was seated from across the aisle. “It would appear from the sur-


vivors’ account that the shooting by Mendoza happened before the assault, that is what is emerging now,” de Lima said.


opinion@manilatimes.net CHED Chairperson’s targets for her first 100 days First of two parts C


HAIRPERSON Patricia Licuanan presented what


she wants to achieve for the first 100 days of her steward- ship to all the CHED central office directors, regional direc- tors, assistant directors and of- ficers in charge during the Na- tional Directorate meeting held at the HEDC Auditorium last September 16.


These goals are embodied in


five (5) Key Result Areas (KRAs) namely: Rationalization, Qual- ity and Standards, Access and Student Services, Transparency and Integrity, and Organiza- tional Development and Serv- ice. The first three KRAs of the Chairperson give emphasis on the external role of CHED in promoting quality education. The next two KRAs are organi- zational strategies in ensuring that CHED provides efficient, effective and transparent serv- ice to its stakeholders. KRA 1—Rationalization of Higher education programs. By rationalization, the chairman emphasized on higher educa- tion in country being well planned, organized, manage- able and aligned with national development goals. Higher education institutions (HEIs) especially state universities and colleges carry out specific, iden- tified and important roles to meet the demands of the com- munity, region and the country. Foremost of the requirements from HEIs are to meet the hu- man resource needs of the country. To achieve the goals on rationalization, the chair- man has given marching or- ders to the different CHED of- ficials to implement the fol- lowing strategies: Develop a systematic and


workable classification sys- tem for HEIs based on key factors and organize all HEIs into this system; Move towards a rationale and manageable number of pro- grams being offered by HEIs through measures such as clo- sure of poor performing pro- grams, amalgamation, harmo- nization of course offerings and


FELIZARDO Y. FRANCISCO


implement a moratorium on oversubscribed programs and; Develop and promote a na- tional system of educational credentials for jobs/compe- tencies.


Some of the measures for ra- tionalizing higher education in the country have already been on-going. The HEI typol- ogy project is on the final stages of development and would provide policy makers with an overall view of the ex- isting types of HEIs in the country, their location, service area, specializations and other pertinent data. The end in mind is for CHED to deter- mine the specific niche or spe- cialization that each school could pursue with the end in mind of rationalizing course offerings and helping the school realize its potential whether as a research univer- sity, teaching university, tech- nical college or any of the types of institutions that fit a particular market. With re- gards having a manageable number of programs being of- fered by HEI, the CHED in co- operation with the PRC has al- ready been implementing the closure of programs that are performing poorly in the licensure examinations. The program needs to be revisited and strengthened in order for CHED to pursue a unified sys- tem to identify poor perform- ing programs that would also include non-board programs. KRA 2—Quality and Stand-


ards. The Chairperson stressed that the CHED needs to be in the forefront of instilling a “culture of quality” in the higher education system. The programs and projects of CHED should demonstrate a commitment to quality and ex-


cellence. Higher education in- stitutions must keep on chal- lenging themselves and im- proving their quality through CHED enabled evaluation and assessment systems. The HEIs must strive to go beyond the “minimum standards” and move towards excellence in the national and international arena. The strategies for realiz- ing the KRA on quality and standards are as follows: Position the Institutional Qual- ity Assurance through Monitoring and Assessment (IQUAME) as a developmental instrument for non-accredited HEIs; Move towards developmen- tal and less prescriptive Policies and Standards for Higher Edu- cation Programs;


Rigorous and transparent


systems for the identification of autonomous and deregulated institutions and centers of ex- cellence project. The IQUAME project should be positioned as one of the CHED interventions in support of the institutional development of HEIs. As such, the IQUAME is complementary to accreditation and should be a means of deter- mining areas of reform and inter- vention along the key areas of governance and management, quality of teaching and research, support for students, relations with the community and man- agement of resources of the whole institution therefore pac- ing the way of other developmen- tal and assessment activities such as program accreditation. The Chairman also stressed the need for a more development ap- proach in the formulation of the Policies and Standards for each program. Our office, the Office of Programs and Standards (OPS) was tasked to come up with a CHED Memorandum Order in developing a framework for the formulation of progressive and developmental policies and standards which stresses “learn- ing competencies” for each pro- gram. By adopting a developmen- tal approach schools would be able to experiment and provide relevant skills and competencies to their students through their own initiatives and experiences in


implementing the program. KRA 3—Access and Student Services. Basically, the Chair- person wants higher education to be accessible to all qualified and deserving students and for the CHED to be responsive to a wide range of student needs and issues. To realize the objec- tives on access and student services the following strategies were identified: Improved and expanded


Government Assistance to Stu- dents and Private Education (GASTPE); and Review of the functions of the CHED Office on Student Services and introduction of CHED initiatives on various aspects of student life. There are several pending House and Senate Bills amend- ing the GASTPE and CHED should give its full support for its approval by both houses. Basically, the pending bills in- tend to expand private HEI scholarships, loans and other assistance programs for stu- dents. A perennial problem that crops up during the start of the school year has to do with “tuition fee” increases by HEIs. The CHED should be able to come up with a work- able formula for the increase of tuition fee that is acceptable to all stakeholders in the sys- tem. The CHED policy issu- ance on tuition fee increase should be fast-tracked and be subject to scrutiny through a series of public hearings and presentations and be issued in time for the start of the next school year. Another CHED project that would be prio- ritized is the Expanded Ex- panded Tertiary Education Equivalency and Accreditation Program (ETEEAP). The ETEEAP needs to be promoted and well publicized in order for school dropouts, under- graduates and tech/voc gradu- ates that have gained skills and competencies in the world of work be given the opportunity to get an under- graduate degree by crediting prior learning experiences.


To be continued Send comments to opinion@manilatimes.net or write to the Opinion Editor,


The Manila Times, 2/F Dante Ang and Associates Building, 409 A. Soriano Avenue, Intramuros, Manila 1020


Gross violation of human rights


THE military institution calls the attention of human rights bodies, government or independent, to the brutal killing of SSg Efraim Bagonoc who was killed in front of his 15-year-old daughter and subordinates in Toboso, Negros Occidental on August 28. It is our hope that human rights groups, es- pecially the Commission on Hu- man Rights, can respond promptly and firmly on this gross violation of human rights. We condemn the New Peo- ple’s Army for exposing


Bago-


noc’s daughter to such brutality and for the murderers’ temerity in justifying such atrocity. Do they actually find the apparent trauma and psychological an- guish that the child is going through and that which will surely alter her life in unimagi- nable ways sensible? We also urge Karapatan to


show willingness to act on this human rights violation. We chal- lenge them to stop being selec- tive and recognize the fact that soldiers and policemen too are entitled to equity and human rights; and if these are violated, they also deserve the attention of human rights organizations. We hope that, because they es- pouse human rights, Karapatan can show proportionate atten- tion and hold the same stand- ards towards the men of law as when they feverishly defend militant personalities. Together, we can help Bago-


noc’s family and friends gradu- ally come to terms with what happened and to find healing by ensuring that justice is pursued and that the perpetrators will be held accountable.


Major Eugenio Julio C Osias IV Group Commander, Informa- tion Development Group Civil Relations Service, AFP


❋ ❋ ❋


No to pull out of military forces in Mindanao


I WOULD like to air my disbe- lief on the recommendation of Manila Archbishop Gaudencio


Cardinal Rosales to pull out the military forces in Mindanao. With high respect to Cardinal Rosales, this is my opinion as a Mindanaoan. I certainly do not agree with the Cardinal’s recommendation to pull out the military forces here in Mindanao since we do not feel any threat with their presence in our area but what we feel is security and calmness. We are not certain if the con- flict in Mindanao will end if the military will be pulled out from its present positions. As far as I know it is not the military that brought the conflict in Min- danao. Thousands of rebels and other lawless groups are all over the country, spreading chaos and instability. Therefore, pull- ing out the military in Min- danao is not the solution of ending the long standing con- flict. We are the residents of this land and we know how impor- tant the military is. How many times we experi- enced the horror when the NPA rebels attacked the communi- ties, destroyed and burned down properties of hard work- ing Mindanaoans. We are mere civilians who do not know how to defend ourselves from the deadly NPA rebels when they start to stormed our villages. Who was there to protect us? Who was there to stop the NPA rebels? It was the military who was there and until now it is still the military that make us feel that we are safe.


Putting an end the conflict?


We know that the very first to be joyful if there will be no more conflict is the military and we civilians as well. All of us are tired of this conflict, but the NPA rebels and other law- less groups will not stop wreak- ing havoc until they will reach their goals and those goals is to bring an atmosphere of pande- monium and restlessness. Why we should let these rebels groups to be joyful? If there will be no more military in Mindanao, the rebels groups will freely widen their unlaw- ful activities. There are so many things to be considered and please, please think of us. Thank you very much.


Teresita K Casancio Tagum City teresitacasancio@yahoo.com


Global view


the personality of Pope Benedict but help the public to see the great Christian values and social teachings of the church that lies behind the office of the Pope. His role is that of a Man of God striving to represent and imple- ment the teachings and the prac- tice of Jesus of Nazareth. He ought not to be solely painted as an enforcer of dogma or as a church leader that failed to act immediately and directly to pro- tect victims of clerical sexual abuse and bring abusers to jus- tice as some claim him to be. Ideally we want our Pope to be a humble spiritual leader that mir- rors the words and mission of Je- sus Christ. One that speaks as di- rectly as Jesus did on behalf of the poor, the sick, the hungry, the lan- dless and downtrodden wretched


of the earth. In this shared faith as Christians we can find strength and unity with all believers and non- believers in serving humankind. It’s a common cause of uplift- ing the dignity of every individual especially of the destitute and tak- ing a stand against the exploita- tion of human persons especially of women and children that will unite us. We need to work together in what unifies us rather than be isolated by what divides us. The visit is clearly a recognition of the strong faith and commitment of the great Catholics to be found in the UK, despite their small num- bers have bravely upheld with for- titude and have given witness to the faith and strengthened the moral fiber of the nation. They have sup- ported the missionary work abroad with generosity, dedication and


commitment. The Catholic media ought to be recognized and blessed by the Pope for its role in standing up for Gospel values in the face of a cynical and critical secular society. And one last word in recogni- tion of the thousands of immi- grants that over the years have helped build up the Catholic Church in the UK. The Irish by their hundredths of thousands and the thousands of Filipino overseas workers that joyfully practice their faith in Catholic communities all over the country, all deserve a spe- cial recognition and blessing dur- ing the Pope’s visit. They are present, singing, praying mingling and sharing friendship and their love of community.


www.preda.org Preda@info.com.ph.


SUNDAY


September 19, 2010


A 5


opinion


EDUCATION MATTERS


ONE MAN’S MEAT


REFLECTIONS


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