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ETV receives Award of Excellence in Asian CSR Awards-
Asia’s foremost CSR Awards programme 

    The Educational Television Campaign of the E-Media Program of the ABS-CBN Foundation was honored with an Excellence Award for Support and Improvement of Education in the recent Asian CSR Awards in Singapore. The Asian CSR Awards is Asia's premier Awards program on corporate social responsibility. Photo shows E-Media Program Director Zen Dimalanta (middle) receives from Dr. Noeleen Heyzer, Under-Secretary General of the United Nations and Executive Secretary of Economic and Social Commission for Asia , ETV 's Excellence Award  during  the Asian Forum on CSR held at the Grand Copthorne Waterfront Hotel, Singapore last November 20, 2008.

     This year’s awards attracted 170 entries representing 120 companies from 15 countries.  The annual awards are given in five categories: Best Workplace Practices, Concern for Health, Environmental Excellence, Poverty Alleviation, and Support and Improvement of Education.  Five companies from India, Philippines, and Sri Lanka were recognized for their outstanding initiatives in corporate social responsibility.

     Dr. Noeleen Heyzer, Under-Secretary General of the United Nations and Executive Secretary of Economic and Social Commission for Asia presented the awards to five winners and 10 excellence awardees during the 7th Asian Forum on Corporate Social Responsibility at the Grand Copthorne Waterfront Hotel, Singapore on November 20 and 21, 2008. AFCSR 2008 was co-organized by the Asian Institute of Management’s RVR Center for Corporate Social Responsibility (AIM-RVR Center) and Singapore Compact for CSR.          

     ETV shares the limelight with fellow excellence awardee, Johnson and Johnson Philippines for its  project “War on Worms in the Western Visayas (Educational  Component)” and category  winnerBharti Foundation for its  Satya Bharti School  Program in India.

E-Media Program’s BYA is finalist in Turquoise Award

By: Izel Gonzales

     The award-winning Science radio program Bago ‘Yan Ah! (BYA) was once again nominated in the recently concluded Turquoise TRT International Radio Competition for its episode on the alternative and renewable energy.  The competition was held in Belek, Antalya, Turkey from October 22 to 26 and it was organized by the Turkish Radio and Television Corporation in cooperation with the Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union and European Broadcasting Union.  It aims to recognize first-rate radio production worldwide that features important global issues and concerns such as climate change.

     BYA was the only non-government  broadcasting company among other nine finalists from other countries.  Angelo Palmones, DZMM station manager and Izel Gonzales, executive producer of BYA, presented the show and joined as contributory jury along with other contestants.

The winners include the following: (1st) ERT, Greece for its production “The Memory and The Silence,” (2nd) DW, Germany for its documentary “Unbaking Alaska,” and (3rd) Radio 1,  Netherlands for its documentary entitled “On the Road to the Arctic.”   On the other hand, the innovation award goes to KSB South Korea for its production coverage dubbed “The Bicycle-Protecting the Earth, 2 Wheels at a Time.” The Turquoise Award marks BYA’s 4th time to enter an international competition and it just proves how world-class it can be.  In this competition, BYA has definitely gained so much learning on radio production from the other countries’ experiences on the matter of disseminating information about global climate change.

More doves for the E-Media Program

     The 17th KBP Golden Dove Awards was held last November 14, 2008 at the Taal Vista Hotel in Tagaytay City.  The E-Media Program of the ABS-CBN Foundation, Inc. took home two golden doves for the following:

Sine’skwela (global warming episode) is Best Children’s Program

Bago ‘Yan Ah! (BYA) radio program host Angelo Palmones is
Best Science and Technology Journalist for Radio

E-Media Program associate producer Vicenta Trinidad and Bago 'Yan Ah! executive producer Izel Gonzales during the awards night held last November 14 in Tagaytay

ETV wins in the Philippine Quill Awards

     The Philippine Quill Awards is organized by the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC).  IABC is known to be the leading international resource of effective communication practice in various forms such as public relations, employee, marketing and development communications and crisis management.  Among the five awards that ABS-CBN took home was an Award of Merit to ABS-CBN Foundation, Inc.’s Educational Television (ETV) under the Economic, Social, and Environmental Development category.  To date, ETV has reached more than 8,000 public elementary schools from Batanes to Tawi-tawi through the Adopt-Your-Hometown School project.  For more information, please call (02) 415-6296.

Climbing the Hill with Educational TV

by Suzette Catalla

     Severo Sara Memorial School (SSMS) is a school on top of a hill in Tag-ibo, Dalipuga, Iligan City, Lanao del Norte. The school cannot be accessed by any means of transportation so students and teachers hike for 10 to 15 minutes just to attend class. Most of the students here are from poor families whose parents are mostly jobless, contractual laborers, farmers and fishers.  The school is among the low performing schools in Iligan City. However, this is not a hindrance for Mrs. Nelda Baculio, its Principal, to dream big for her school. Being the new principal, she believes that it’s time for SSMS to be out of the low performing schools list.

Less chalk and talk

     From their usual “bitay pic” (a local term for flip charts) made of Manila paper, teachers would usually stay late at night making visual materials just to make the lessons interesting. During their vacant periods, teachers would do their drawing, cutting and pasting even if it means sacrificing their rest time.  When E-Media Program of the ABS-CBN Foundation and Ms. Ava Engel, CEO of Superferry donated educational TV (ETV) package to SSMS, the students and teachers were very thrilled. The package consisted of DVD materials of educational TV shows in Science (Sine’skwela), Mathematics (Mathtinik), English (Epol/Apple), History (Bayani), and Values Education (Hirayamanawari), a 21-inch TV and DVD player.  With ETV, lessons are presented in colorful, animated visuals enticing students to their lessons. For teachers, it’s a time to rest their voice even for just twenty two minutes and save enough energy for a lively discussion after the viewing sessions.

“Pupils listen and view ETV attentively…teachers work becomes lighter,” said Mrs. Merlon Borbon, SSMS intermediate teacher who teaches Science for 10 years. 

From 23 to number 2!

     It was a remarkable improvement. From number 23 in the previous year, Severa Sara Memorial School propelled to rank number two in the Iligan City Division 2008 National Achievement Test (NAT). The school showed tremendous increase in its academic achievement from NAT rating of 50.21% in 2007 to 63.45% in 2008.   What spelled the significant difference was “the help of instructional materials like ETV, computers, rigid review of students and hardworking teachers,” stressed Mrs. Baculio.

Reaping accolade

     It was a close fight between the nine schools in the Datu Paglas North District Science Quiz Bee. Teachers and students of Napok Elementary School in Datu Paglas, Maguindanao rejoiced when their Grade five student, Jalleysa Nhor Pompong bagged the first prize. Belonging to a school that would usually be at the bottom in academic competitions, it was indeed an occasion to celebrate. “The last question in the quiz bee was about the circulatory system. I was able to answer it because I remember quite clearly what I saw on TV. I think that last question made me win the first prize,” Jalleysa said in an interview with Ms. Elisa Benafin, education specialist of AMORE (Alliance for Mindanao Off-grid Renewable Energy).

     The life of Jalleysa made a dramatic change when AMORE and the E-Media Program of ABS-CBN Foundation gifted her school with electricity and ETV package. Eager and determined,  Jalleysa has to walk five kilometers of rough road everyday, with worn-out slippers and often with an empty stomach going to school.  At night, she reviews her lessons by candle light.  Amidst these conditions, Jalleysa believes a good education is her passport to a better life.

     The E-Media Program continues to touch lives through its production and distribution of curriculum-based supplementary video materials in public schools in the country. In coordination with the Department of Education and with the support of generous donors, corporate partners and sponsors, more than 8,000 schools have been equipped with ETV materials. This partnership is “a gift of a better world for our children. Beyond the material things, it promises a better tomorrow…and we are doing this through education,” E-Media Program director Zen Dimalanta said in a recent turnover ceremony. For inquiries on how you can help, dial (632) 415-6296 or email adopt@abs-cbn.com

PetroEnergy, MCL, and AFI partner for teaching excellence

     PetroEnergy Resources Corporation, Malayan Colleges Laguna (MCL), the Department of Education and E-Media Program of ABS-CBN Foundation (AFI) forged a partnership in promoting teaching excellence in Mathematics and Science subjects in public schools in the country.

     As part of its corporate social responsibility and commitment to advancement of public school education, PetroEnergy funded more than PhP 1M worth of teacher development program for public school teachers in Laguna.

     AFI, in its thrust to deliver innovative learning strategies, joined hands with MCL to effectively implement the teacher competency program to beneficiary Mathematics and Science teachers from the Divisions of Calamba City, Sta. Rosa City and Laguna.

     “We want to be competitive…in various phases our country would go through,” MCL president Dr. Reynaldo Vea reiterated during the Math and Science Teachers’ Conference held at MCL Cabuyao last December 3-5, 2008. He believes in the pivotal role of Math and Science education in nation-building.

     “We are taking our steps farther…we are doing skills training to affirm the important role of teachers in the learning process,” Zen Dimalanta, E-Media Program director of AFI also stressed.

     Through this project, high school teachers underwent extensive training and workshops from topnotch educators/resource speakers. Close to 200 teachers benefited from the pool of math and education specialists from the University of the Philippines.

     “This is one of the best opportunities to work hand in hand in achieving quality education,” said Education Supervisor Marcelina Nazareth of the DepEd Division of Laguna.

     The partnership of PetroEnergy, MCL and AFI is a response to the Department of Education’s call to private sector to actively participate in addressing perennial problems of public education through the Adopt-A-School Program.

S4S reaches Northern Samar

     After visiting Camarines Sur and Albay last June 2008, the Schools for Schools (S4S) Campaign reached another recipient school in Catarman, Northern Samar through the generous assistance of ABS-CBN’s Regional Network Group in Tacloban City.  RNG-Tacloban station manager Clifford Nolido (right) represented S4S supporter Bianca Gonzales in handing over her gift of educational television materials to Cervantes Central Elementary School’s head teacher, Noel Dolorzo (left).  The simple turnover ceremony was held last September 11, 2008 at RNG-Tacloban.  For more information on the S4S Campaign, log on to www.s4scampaign.org and join its list of supporters at www.s4scampaign.multiply.com or call 415-6296.

Med schools shout “game!” to help

     Last November 15 and 16, the ULTRA was filled with college students from 13 participating schools of Palarong Med ’08.  The event was organized by the Association of Philippine Medical Colleges Student Network-NCR or APMCSN.  Palarong Med is the annual inter-medicine sportsfest that aims to promote the spirit of student camaraderie, fellowship, sportsmanship and fair play while giving its medical students an avenue for expressing their skills and prowess in the field of sports.  The participating schools:

 

• Ateneo School of Medicine and Public Health (ASMPH)
• De La Salle University-Health Science Campus (DLS-HSC)
• Emilio Aguinaldo College of Medicine (EAC SM)
• Far Eastern University-Nicanor Reyes Medical Foundation (FEU NRMF)
• Manila Central University-Filemon D. Tanchoco Medical Foundation (MCU-FDTMF)
• Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila College of Medicine (PLM CM)
• San Beda College of Medicine (SBCM)
• St. Luke’s College of Medicine (SLCM)
• University of Perpetual Help Dalta System-Jonelta (Jonelta-UPHR)
• University of Perpetual Help-Dr. Jose G. Tamayo Medical University (UPH-DJGTMU)
• University of Santo Tomas Faculty of Medicine and Surgery (UST-FMS)
• University of the East-Ramon Magsaysay Memorial Medical Center (UERMMMC)
• University of the Philippines College of Medicine-Philippine General Hospital (UP CM)

	“We wanted to do something more than invite people to play and have a sportsfest…so we could help others while having fun as well.  We are students who want to help other students through S4S.” – Irish Senen Chang, Project Head
	“Para sa mga students ng Camalig CS, sana makatulong nang malaki itong donations naming mga educational TV materials para makapag-inspire sa pag-aaral ninyo.” -  Precious Relles, APMCSN-NCR Regional Speaker

     Palarong Med also served as a fundraising event to provide educational television (ETV)
materials to Camalig Central School in Albay.  With the group’s donation of P10,000.00, a total of 25 volumes of educational television programs namely Bayani and Hirayamanawari will be given to the school.