Hostage Drama
Check out Davao Today editor Carlos Conde's story on the Manila hostage situation here and here. Also featured in his New York Times story is a podcast of the 10-hour…
Hostaging Highlights Worsening Education System
This Is the State of RP Education — in the Toilet. Public schools around the country are like this restroom in a Metro Manila school. (Bulatlat photo by Trina Federis)
It’s as predictable as it is insensitive — the Arroyo administration’s reaction to the hostage drama involving Jun Ducat, an owner ot a daycare center in Manila who took hostage 32 of his students and two teachers and complained about corruption in the Philippine government and the failure of the administration to provide adequate education. According to Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita, the incident puts the country in a bad light, blaming the intense media coverage of the situation.
Never mind that the drama actually highlights one of the more depressing aspects of the Philippines — the deterioration of its education system and the sheer inability of poor Filipinos to send their children to school.
Check out this Davao Today story on the subject. Check out, too, our coverage of education issues, as well as this package of stories from Bulatlat.
USEP Students Win Top Invention Awards
DAVAO CITY ? Students from the University of Southeastern Philippines College of Engineering students bagged the first place in three out of five categories in the Project Research Invention Contest during the Second Regional Engineering Congress held early this month at the NCCC Mall, Davao City.
Davao Studes Win in Smart Wireless Apps Awards
App Pupils. Bulacan State University’s Rexcel Balatbat, lead student of the Smart Phone Guard project that won the first prize, explains features of the application to Mon Isberto, Smart and PLDT public affairs head. Smart Phone Guard can track a stolen phone or remotely disable it or erase its content. (Photo courtesy of Smart/Leon Kilat)
Students from Ateneo de Davao developed the Vehicle Emergency Locator (VEL) that sends an alert message to a cellphone when a car’s airbag is used during accidents. The program can also send out a phone message that tells the GPS location the car.
Launched in August 2004, the SWEEP Innovation and Excellence Awards aims ?to give budding engineering students an opportunity to shine by recognizing their technology know-how and ingenuity,? says Rolando G. Pe?a, SMART?s network services division head.
Ex-Entertainer from Davao Shines as English Teacher in Japan
DAVAO CITY — Sometime in the ?80s, Annie Yanagida went to Japan to work as an entertainer, one of the thousands who go to that country each year to seek greener pasture.
But unlike most Filipina entertainers in Japan, Annie, who graduated from the Holy Cross of Davao College, saw other opportunities. After marrying a Japanese, she put up Annie?s English School, which she has been nurturing for the past 20years.