ow  do  we  lead  simpler  lifestyles  that  show  more       care not only for others but also for the environment and our dwindling natural resources? How can we as a University contribute more concrete ly to global efforts at resource pres-ervation and waste management? Caring for the environment as an institution is not always an easy or convenient thing to do, as pointed out by the Vice President for Loyola Schools Dr. Ma. Assunta C. Cuyegkeng during her Faculty Day address on June 20, 2008. She identified the environment, together

Ateneo Environmental Management Coalition launched

with leadership and quality assurance, as the three major thrusts of Loyola Schools for schoolyear 2008-2009.

Recognizing that the earth is an amazing God-given bounty and that human activities have de-pleted these resources, the Ateneo’s response to environmental concerns has been institution-alized with the establishment of the Ateneo Environmental Management Coalition (AEMC) in summer 2008.

Team AEMCMrs. Lourdes Sumpaico has been appointed as Special Projects Coordinator to oversee and guide the University’s efforts for the environment in partnership with several groups of profession-als, faculty members, students and staff within the campus. A key challenge to all, she says, “is to minimize the resources we use and the waste thrown away, such as paper, plastic, metal, glass, and even energy. Reusable containers are most de-sired; recycling of containers will help because al-though reusing and recycling require energy, they are comparatively less intrusive to the (earth’s) natural cycles.”

According to Mrs. Sumpaico, as early as March

New LS website launchedThe Loyola Schools has a new website. Launched during Faculty Day on June 20, 2008, the site (ls.ateneo.edu), whose development is ongoing, features links to the sites each of the four Loyola Schools.

By Erlinda Eileen G. Lolarga ¶ The Loyola Schools held its annual Faculty Day on June 20, 2008. The day began with Holy Mass at the College Chapel presided by Fr. Luis David, SJ of the Philosophy Department. Cloudy skies and humid weather prevailed over the cam-pus as Loyola Schools faculty members,

2008, the AEMC’s work was given a jump-start by the waste assessment and audit initiat-ed by a group from the Environmental Science Department composed of Abigail Favis (coach and ES Department faculty member), Herwin Jerome P. Unidad (V BS Physics with Material Science Engineering), and David T. So (V BS Physics with Material Science Engineering).

This same team, with the addition of Vivienne Erica M. Zerrudo (IV, BS Environmental Science), recently gained international recognition as a first place national winner at the ASEAN DuPont Green Vision Case (see separate story). The team represented the Philippines at the ASEAN Green Vision Sustainability Forum held at the Singapore Management University on July 16, 2008.

AEMC divisionsMrs. Sumpaico shares that the AEMC’s work is quickly gaining momentum and needs the sup-

of the Political Science Department as the new School Forum Chair.

After lunch at the Leong Hall roofdeck, the faculty members spent the afternoon in different breakout rooms to do strategic planning and qual-ity assurance mapping of competencies for their respective departments. Dr. Regina Hechanova, Faculty Coordinator for Leadership Development, briefed the group on the afternoon’s activities.

Among the other activities that lent a festive and convivial air to Faculty Day rites were the launching of the new Loyola Schools websites and photo shoots of faculty members gathered all to-gether and by schools.

Firing up the Ateneo: The President’s 2008 LS Faculty Day Address

Fr. Nebres’ talk entitled The Ateneo of the Future” began with poignant recollections of the Society of Jesus’ General Congregation 35

Lifestyle check: managing our environment, managing ourselves ¶ by Erlinda Eileen G. Lolarga

Environmental Science students conducting a waste audit

port, cooperation, and patience of everyone in the University community. The AEMC has four main divisions which will deal with the multi-pronged task of managing our campus environment and encouraging people to live environment-friendly lifestyles:

The Advocacy Division is tasked with pro-moting an eco-friendly lifestyle, e.g. bringing

Leadership development, quality assurance, and environmental awareness are Faculty Day themes

continued on page 2

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administrators, and staff converged at the Auditorium of the Ricardo and Dr. Rosita Leong Hall for the morning’s main program.

Following talks by University President Fr. Bienvenido F. Nebres, SJ and Vice President for the Loyola Schools Dr. Ma. Assunta C. Cuyegkeng, the body elected Dr. Agustin Martin G. Rodriguez of the Philosophy Department to replace the outgoing Dr. Benjamin O. Tolosa

The master plan for university athletics page 15

Teaching Philippine studies in China page 10

Eagles draw first blood in men’s basketball page 16

loyolaschoolsbulletinwe build community we nurture hope

VOLUME IV | NO 1 | JUNE–JULY 2008

INSIDE Faculty and students reap a blue harvest page 6 t

Meet the new Humanities deanpage 3s

Scenes from Faculty Day page 9

s Memories of Liyab: Orsem 2008 page 4

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L O Y O L A S C H O O L S B U L L E T I N2

your own food containers (“baunan”), drastically reducing the use of plastic and paper packaging in events, minimizing the use of tarpaulin banners because of PVC health risks, using air-condition-ers less, and conserving water and electricity. The division is composed of the Sanggunian ng mga Mag-aaral ng mga Paaralang Loyola ng Ateneo de Manila, the Council of Organizations of the Ateneo and the Office of Student Activities. This group is expected to translate for the community the findings of the coalition’s other divisions and clarify what steps will have a real impact in pro-tecting the environment. The spirit of Christian stewardship and practicality is emphasized as the motivations for living a life sensitive to the en-vironment. The student groups are now crafting guidelines that will foster environment friendly organizations.

The Waste Audit Division is assigned to pro-vide information on the waste generation of the Loyola Schools as a base for policy formation and in the development and implementation of more ecologically-sound waste management guidelines. Loyola Schools entities involved in this division include the Environmental Science team (Ms. Favis and students Jerome Unidad, David Tan So, and Vivienne Zerrudo), with

the Environmental Science Society, School of Science and Engineering (SOSE) faculty, and the Office of Administrative Services (OAS). The profile generated by the group will serve as platform for the changes the Coalition may propose to improve the Ateneo community’s lifestyle.

The Research and Analysis Division, led by the Sanggunian, has visited sites with systems for segregation, composting, and material recovery, while Dr. Tess Perez of the Environmental Science Department and her students are looking at the Loyola Schools ecological footprint (rate of elec-trical consumption, control of air-conditioner use, conversion of fluorescent bulbs to energy-

saving light fixtures). Also be-ing looked into is the effect of vehicle emissions on the envi-ronment.

The Logistics and Implementation Division, led by the OAS, is looking into cafe-teria waste (at AMPC, Blue and Gold, Manang’s, JSEC) and the minimization of plastic and pa-per packaging. It is also study-ing how existing buildings can be made more environment-friendly through measures such as shifting to compact fluores-cent lights (CFL), electronic ballasts (if CFLs are not advis-able), and reclaiming classroom space that does not need air-conditioning.

Making it happen: A green AteneoThe AEMC is looking forward to developing a Materials Recovery Facility (MRF) that addresses the need to re-cycle highly linear consumption by redirecting recoverable wastes from the garbage generated on campus. The MRF will augment the

present segregation-at-source system. Segregated trash will further be sorted into finer categories (glass, aluminum cans, various classes of plastics, etc.). In doing this, the by-products of the com-munity’s consumption are recovered and redirect-ed back into the system as recyclables, for use as resources. This will eventually help minimize the amount of waste to be disposed of. In line with this, the group has visited nearby communities such as Barangay Bagumbahay and Barangay Holy Spirit which have existing Materials Recovery and Composting Facilities (MRCF) to gather more information on the motivation, methodology of segregation and recovery and returns of the run-ning systems.

Mrs. Sumpaico also cites the service learning activities of Management students that have to do with segregation. She sees them putting theories to practice by adopting projects friendly to the environment.

Another upcoming project is the creation of landscaped pocket gardens (highlighted by an ap-

propriate icon) in three strategic areas that will be conducive to prayer and quiet reflection. The first such garden is set to be located at the back of the Immaculate Conception Chapel. There is also a plan to convert the walkway connecting the EDSA walkway to Masterson Road beside the Chapel into a path with blooming flowers dubbed the “Marian Walk.” This will be offered to Sci 10 classes as part of their contribution to the green-ing of the campus.

The AEMC is a school-wide effort. It is hoped that each individual member of the community will begin to think green and live in harmony with the environment. The success of the three R’s—reduce, reuse, and recycle—lies with each of us! LSB

The recently formed Ateneo Environmental Management Coalition (AEMC) won first place in the DuPont Green Vision Case Challenge in a competition held at the DuPont head office in

loyolaschoolsbulletin Office of the Vice President for the Loyola Schools

Editor Joanna Ruiz Layout Exie Abola Writers Jonathan O. Chua, Gary C. Devilles, Anjeline de Dios, Erlinda Eileen G. Lolarga, Jason Inocencio, Rick Olivares, Camille T. Onglao, Anna Rojas, Joanna Ruiz, Alma Sy, Cholo Torres, Rafael Saldaña, Scott Allison G. Si Photos courtesy of Ateneo Environmental Management Coalition, Ateneo de Manila University Press, Council of Activities, CK Chua, Toby Dayrit, Jimmy Domingo, Nono Felipe, Rani Jalandoni, Marx Lopez, Manila Observatory, Jolly Morata, Ambeth Ocampo, Anna Rojas, Rafael Saldaña, School of Science and Engineering, Alma Sy, Tanghalang Ateneo With the assistance of Paula Angeles, Ateneo Sports Shooters, Ricky Abad, Clark Alejandrino, Marivi Cabason, Connie Camacho, Karen Berthelsen Cardenas, Leland de la Cruz, Jet Damazo, Anjeline de Dios, Anna Galvez, Koi Mejia, Chita Rosales, James Simpas, Carla Siojo, Tanghalang Ateneo, Milet Tendero, Racky Tizon, Cholo Torres, Art Valencia, Nette Zabala, Ma. Carmi Zate

Loyola Schools Bulletin © 2008 is published bimonthly by the Office of Research and Publications, 2F Gonzaga Hall, Loyola Schools, Ateneo de Manila University, Katipunan Avenue, Loyola Heights, Quezon City

Email <lsbulletin@admu.edu.ph> Mailing address P.O. Box 154, Manila 0917, Philippines Telephone (632) 4266001 ext 5002 Fax (632) 4266096 Web <http://ls.ateneo.edu>

Contributions If you would like to contribute stories and photographs to, write for, or have any story ideas for the Loyola Schools Bulletin, please get in touch with Joanna Ruiz at <jruiz@ateneo.edu> or (632)4266001 ext 5002.

continued from page 1

Makati on July 2, 2008. The AEMC team, composed of David T. So

(BS Ps ’08, V BS MSE), Herwin Jerome P. Unidad (BS Ps ’08, V BS MSE), and Vivienne Erica M. Zerrudo (IV BS ES) and coached by Abigail Favis (Instructor, ES Department), won the con-test on the basis of their project entitled “Waste-to-Resource Conversion at the Loyola Schools, Ateneo de Manila University.”

The Waste-to-Resource Conversion Project aims to recyclize the linear consumption patterns of the Loyola Schools. Recognizing that waste can be a resource means mini-mizing our environmental im-pact as well as reaping economic benefits.

The two-fold solution pro-posed in the project is the con-struction of a materials recovery facility (MRF) and a compost-ing facility (CF). The MRF will be the repository of recyclables such as plastics (PET bottles, polystyrene food containers and polyethylene bags) before these are sold to recyclers. The CF will take care of the biodegrad-able waste such as kitchen scraps and yard waste, which comprise more than 50% of the total waste generated in the LS.

AEMC team wins first place in DuPont Green Vision Case ChallengeIn addition to winning US$ 1,500 as seed

money for the project, Mr. So, Mr. Unidad and Ms. Zerrudo represented the Ateneo and the Philippines at the Sustainability Forum held at the Singapore Management University on July 16, 2008.

The AEMC is a multi-sectoral effort of stu-dents, faculty, and administrators. The AEMC is being supported by the LS administration through LS Special Projects Coordinator Mrs. Lourdes C. Sumpaico. It undertakes environmental projects using scientific tools and analysis.

The winning AEMC team: Abigail Favis, David T. So, Herwin Jerome P. Unidad, and Vivienne Erica M. Zerrudo

AEMC members visit a Quezon City barangay to learn more about materials recovery and composting

AEMC launched

Recognizing that the earth is an amazing God-given bounty and that human activities have depleted these resources, the Ateneo’s response to environmental concerns has been institutionalized with the establish-ment of the AEMC. A key challenge to all, Sumpaico says, “is to minimize the resources we use and the waste thrown away.”

V O L U M E I V N O 1 J U N E – J U L Y 2 0 0 8 3

The S.C. Johnson-Ateneo Environmental Leadership Forum held its inaugural lecture on July 3, 2008 before a full house at the Auditorium of the Ricardo and Dr. Rosita Leong Hall. This first lecture, entitled: “Perfect Storms: What should the Philippines do about climate change?” featured three of the country’s climate change spe-cialists, Fr. Jose Villarin, SJ, Dr. Antonio La Viña, and Ms. Antonia Yulo–Loyzaga.

The Forum was attended by a number of key leaders in government, academe, and civil soci-ety, including Secretary Angelo T. Reyes of the Department of Energy, Undersecretary Demetrio Ignacio of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Mr. Edgar Chua, president of Pilipinas Shell, Ms. Anabelle Plantilla, executive director of Haribon Foundation, plus officials from the diplomatic corps and local government units. Students and faculty members from over 20 high schools also attended.

During their one-and-a-half lecture, the three speakers described climate change as the “perfect storm,” which is the result of the convergence of humanity’s improvident past, its difficult pres-ent, and the uncertain future. The issues are not merely scientific; climate change spans political, social, and economic dimensions, crosses national boundaries, and promises to impact future gen-erations in a crisis of global proportions.

The lecture explored the spectrum of climate change issues—from scientific to political dilem-mas, from global to local impacts, and from inter-national to Philippine responses—and advocated

an integrated adaptation-mitigation framework that will address the impacts on the poor sectors of society.

The Forum was established through an endow-ment from S.C. Johnson to commemorate its 50th year in the Philippines. This annual Forum aims to highlight new and innovative ideas in the ar-eas of environment and sustainable development. It is hoped that the Forum will contribute to the evolution of new ideas and paradigms in environ-ment and sustainable development.

Fr. Villarin holds BS Physics degree from the Ateneo de Manila and a PhD in Atmospheric Physics from Georgia Institute of Technology. He was a member of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which was a co-awardee of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize. He is currently President of Xavier University, Cagayan de Oro.

Dr. La Viña finished AB Philosophy at the Ateneo de Manila, Bachelor of Laws from UP Diliman, and a PhD in Environmental Law from Yale University. From 1996 to 1998, he served as Undersecretary of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources and partic-ipated in the negotiations leading to the Kyoto Protocol. He is currently the Dean of the Ateneo School of Government.

Ms. Loyzaga holds a AB Political Science de-gree from the Ateneo de Manila and a Master in Government from Georgetown University. She is currently the Executive Director of the Manila Observatory, and manages various projects related to climate change and disaster management.

First S.C. Johnson-Ateneo Environmental Leadership Forum held

Fr. Jett Villarin SJ speaks at the S.C. Johnson-Ateneo Environmental Leadership Forum.

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Dr. Ma. Luz C. Vilches now heads the School of Humanities. After a well-deserved sabbatical leave last year during which Dr. Benilda Santos served as SOH Dean, Dr. Vilches, known to all as Marlu, is ready to get to work, with plans of continuing the Humanities tradition and of invigorating the Ateneo community with awareness of our cultural past, commitment to scholarship, and passion for teaching.

The tasks may be formidable but for Marlu, deanship is not merely about getting things done. “Leadership is really about working and dealing with people. It’s more about people management than program management,” says Marlu, who is accustomed to dealing with different kinds of people, from fellow members in the diverse stand-ing and adhoc committees of the school, col-leagues from the British Council, CHED, and the

The School of Humanities welcomes a new deanWorld Health Organization, to fellow faculty members, being the former chair of the English Department and the Faculty School Forum.

Although, she is not new to the demands of leadership, Marlu believes that nobody is really prepared for deanship. “One can rely on similar experi-ences in the past, but of course, in the end one treats the work of a dean as an opportunity to grow and learn,” she reflects.

One of the first activities ini-tiated by Marlu was to get SOH faculty members together for a seminar-workshop which al-lowed them to get to know each other better and to set realitistic expectations and goals for the school over the next two years. For her, it is important to have a sense of collective in work and activity. She believes that by tap-ping key people in the school and

inspiring them to work as a team, the school takes on form and becomes visible and recognizable.

“It is important for every faculty member and student to have a feel of what the School of Humanities is,” she says. She is banking on every-one’s good intentions for the school, and believes and that it is just a question of channeling efforts, recognizing successes, and seeing mistakes as op-portunities for improvement. Committees have been drafted with the aim of improving condi-tions for the faculty, staff, and students.

One of the committee’s mandates is to gather data so that any policies, principles, and strategies formulated will have a solid basis. In response to the problem of the SOH’s dwindling student pop-ulation, for instance, Marlu has commissioned a survey of SOH alumni. The data culled from the survey will be presented to a faculty forum in or-

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The event was organized by the Environmental Science Department and the School of Science and Engineering’s Office of the Dean.

The tasks may be formidable but for Marlu, deanship is not merely about getting things done. “Leadership is really about working and dealing with people. It’s more about people management than program management.”

der to determine how the SOH’s courses and pro-grams can be made more relevant, and therefore more attractive, to students.

To provide a venue for consultation and idea-sharing, she plans to hold regular faculty forums. In addition, the dean is already working on an apprenticeship program for SOH students. This so-called “attachment program” is patterned af-ter attachment programs in British schools and will help students situate their humanities back-grounds in a real-world context.

Barely three months into her deanship, Marlu is predictably kept busy with the school’s many concerns. At the end of the day, however, she ac-knowledges that one can only do so much. To put what would seem a daunting workload into proper perspective, she keeps in mind that not everything is in our hands, that one must learn to trust that God sees and acts upon all things in His own time. Whenever there is an opportunity to pray at any time of the day, Marlu retreats into

silence and centering. At times she is surprised that things are revealed in a better light through constant communion with God. Marlu, both in her constant dialogue with colleagues and in her introspection, senses that the year presents great challenges and opportunities for all.

By Gary C. Devilles

L O Y O L A S C H O O L S B U L L E T I N4

By Joanna Ruiz ¶ An interview with Council of Organizations of the Ateneo (COA) President Oscar “Koi” Mejia, III (V BSCHEM-MSE) is a master class in organization and efficiency. Prepared questions fly out the window as we are guided through a presentation on COA’s thrusts and plans for the schoolyear. Answers are provided before the questions are even asked. Marvelling at how “together” Koi is without sacrificing that all-important human touch, we reflect that Koi’s professionalism must be a reflection of the group he heads.

Meet the COAThe COA is composed of 47 accredited Loyola Schools student organizations and is divided into nine clusters: Business, Faith Formation, Health and Environment, Intercultural Relations, Issue and Policy Analysis, Media and the Creative Arts,

Liyab : OrSem 2008 Live the passion. Share the dream.

We have 2,158 freshmen this schoolyear. Freshies were treated to a grueling but rewarding glimpse into Ateneo life during Liyab: OrSem 2008 from June 5 to 7, 2008. Now that school is truly underway, that glimpse has turned into an everyday reality. Academics, orgs, sports, friends, drama, doldrums, hitting the books, hanging out, giving back. Ang sarap maging Atenista!

COA Vision The Council envisions itself as a community of Ateneo

student organizatons united in developing Ateneans to become ac tive,

competent, and holistically formed leaders who initiate positive changes

within the Ateneo community and in the greater society through the

Ignatian tradition of service and excellence. COA Mission As the

Council of Organizations of the Ateneo, we aim to develop quality

organizations thereby providing Ateneans venues for spiritual growth,

professional competence, social involvement, health, environmental

and political awareness, cultural rootedness, and artistic expression

by leading organizations to be united, effect ive, empowered, and

systematic through proper guidance, dialogue, and support.

Performing Arts, Science and Technology, and the Sector-Based Cluster. Between the council and the different member organizations there is a fine balance between independence and collabo-ration, with organizations going about their own activities while staying atuned and aligned to the COA’s objectives. Constantly keeping in touch with each organization, COA also co-ordinates closely with the Office of Student Activities (OSA).

Prioritizing resultsFollowing a process of reflection undertaken be-fore the start of the schoolyear, the COA has iden-tified three key result areas, namely: Identity ar-ticulation and actualization; membership engage-ment; and collaboration and consolidation.

The process of identity articulation and ac-tualization encourages member organizations to align themselves with the COA mission and vi-sion, making needed adjustments to their own missions and visions along the way. This process of alignment will naturally go down to the lev-el of the organizations’ projects. COA plans to accomplish this valuable foundational process through consultations with each organization and with OSA.

The more straightforward goal of member-ship engagement has three sides to it: increased membership involvement, increased membership retention, and increased membership involve-

ment. To this end, COA will work with the OSA and each organization to carefully package the or-ganizations and share best practices to attract and retain members, and to encourage members to be more active in their organizations.

The goal of collaboration and consolidation is a natural one for COA. The group aims to es-tablish internal and external ties, and strengthen existing ones, to be able to develop its core com-

petencies. Collaboration between organiza-tions is encouraged so that each org benefits from the strengths of other groups.

Outside interestsBesides goals which focus on the relationships

between COA and organizations, organizations and their members, and organizations with other organizations, reaching outside the Ateneo is also a priority.

COA is involved with the Ahon Foundation, a corporate social responsibility initiative of Philway Marketing which gathers books for libraries in public schools. A book drive is in the works, with a certain “quota” of books to be collected by each organization. Networking with other student or-ganizations from other schools in Metro Manila has also been initiated via the youth organization networking website OrgForward.

It is no doubt that the COA has a big job ahead of it this year, what with the goals it has set for itself and its member orgs. But if Koi’s enthusiasm and can-do attitude is any indica-tion, then we needn’t worry that they’ll pull it off in style.

T H E C O U N C I L O F O R G A N I Z A T I O N S O F T H E A T E N E O

Organized, aligned, effective

photos by Rani Jalandoni

V O L U M E I V N O 1 J U N E – J U L Y 2 0 0 8 5

Tanghalang Ateneo marks its 30th season by stag-ing classical works infused with a contemporary, pan-Asian sensibility—the kind of production that has distinguished the company over the years. With “Echoes” as a season theme, the productions listen to the voices of earlier masters and allow them to resonate to young audiences today.

Echoes of old Manila, filtered though Nick Joaquin’s May Day Eve, kicked off the season this summer. Aimed at a young audience, the play was less about the tragedy of time than a cautionary tale of youthful recklessness. Student and profes-sional stage actors gave performances in English and Filipino, using the one-act play adaptation by Alberto S. Florentino, and translated into Filipino by Jerry Respeto as Salamin . . . Salamin . . . (Isang Gabi ng Mayo).

In July, two classic plays by absurdist play-wright Eugene Ionesco—The Bald Soprano and The Lesson—were meshed into a series of comic vignettes echoing the theme of distorted commu-nication. Taking its cue from the language games that pepper the plays, this produc-tion, simply titled “?”, questioned the reliance on rationality and power to establish meaningful social relations.

In August and September, Tanghalang Ateneo revisits William Shakespeare, a company favorite, in a gut-wrenching version of Othello. Student talents work with professional stage actors to dramatize the havoc wreaked by insularity and preju-dice. By dwelling on Iago’s aversion towards the foreigner Othello and on the con-sequences of that antipathy, the play echoes the waves of ethnic and racial intoler-ance that still plague many parts of the world today. The play is to be staged in a minimalist style and in bilingual format with Othello speaking in a tongue different from his hosts.

A relatively long hiatus prepares Tanghalang Ateneo for its February finale: a de-construction of Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex now titled Oedipus Rocks. The anger of rock music, especially written for the production, coupled with images drawn from the

traditionsMASS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

CELEBRATED BY FR. JOSE CECILIO J. MAGADIA, SJPROVINCIAL OF THE PHILIPPINE PROVINCE

OF THE SOCIETY OF JESUS | JUNE 12, 2008

Tanghalang Ateneo 30th Season Company with moderator Dr. Ricardo Abad (seated, center)

Tanghalang Ateneo celebrates 30th repertory season

theater of cruelty come to symbolize the wrath of a community against a proud leader who transgresses the ethics of political life and causes a virulent plague. Oedipus may be an accidental victim of fate, but his choice to suffer for past sins stands out as a noble gesture to restore the integrity of the state. This is to be staged in Filipino us-ing a translation by Rolando S. Tinio.

In each play, the consequences of indifference, hate and violence herald a new be-ginning. As in the Ionesco twin bill, the new is not always idiotic—it can be a rep-lication of old ways as in May Day Eve, a painful reconstruction as in Othello, or a slow process of moral recovery as in Oedipus Rocks. But in each drama, the ability of the theater to have us witness the struggles of others, and to learn from these private battles so that we may come out wiser and stronger, remains wholly intact.

Tanghalang Ateneo invites the public to listen to these echoes of the past and to shape them in their own personal ways. For performance and booking details, con-tact Ia Solis at 0916-5415165.

PHOTOS BY RANI JALANDONI

L O Y O L A S C H O O L S B U L L E T I N6

notable achievementsThe Rizal Library, already named Outstanding Library of the Year by the Philippine Association of Academic and Research Librarians, has had added another layer added to its already towering pile of honors.

Lourdes T. David, director of the library, was named one of the forty outstanding profession-als of the year by the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC). She received a glass trophy at the awarding ceremony held at the Manila Hotel last 20 June 2008.

Mrs. David was recognized “for her sterling accomplishments as an internationally renowned professional, demonstrating exemplary dedica-tion, competence and integrity . . .; for her invalu-able contributions in preparing the [UNESCO] training modules on library management, infor-mation and communication technology, market-ing information services, digital libraries and in-tellectual property rights; for her active involve-ment in various local and international profes-sional activities which have put Filipino librarians at the forefront of international librarianship; for her able leadership of the Philippine Librarians Association, Inc; and for selflessly sharing her knowledge and expertise. . . .”

The recognition is timely. Since her appoint-ment as director of the Rizal Library in 2001, Mrs. David has been taking steps to ensure that the li-brary keeps its prime position. Her main thrust re-mains “improving access to information.” Already the library has digitized its holdings of major Philippine newspapers, making them convenient-ly searchable, and its microfilming program is rec-ognized in Australia. “Our procedures,” she notes, “adhere to international standards.”

Alongside efforts at improving library facilities and services is her aggressive staff development program. She regularly scouts for opportunities for librarians and library staff to further or update their training. One librarian has recently returned

Mrs. Lourdes David with fellow Outstanding Professionals

Rizal Library’s David named Outstanding Professional of the Year

from a materials preservation course in New Zealand; another, from a language and librarian-ship training in Japan (“The Japanese books can finally be cataloged”). She has also encouraged li-brarians to attend or present papers at interna-tional conferences. Three, in fact, are at a confer-ence of the American Library Association.

What may one yet expect from the Rizal Library

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under her leadership? “A more organized outreach program in partnership with Pathways and Ahon Foundation and Gawad Kalinga.” Mrs. David envi-sions building “an info center in a Gawad Kalinga area in Nueva Ecija.”

The award is most apropos, then, for an out-standing professional leading an outstanding in-stitution. Jonathan O. Chua

For a three-page story he wrote fif-teen years ago, Danton Remoto, Associate Professor at the Department of English, recently received P20,000. “Wings of Desire” placed third at the Nick Joaquin

Literary Contest of the Philippine Graphic. The awarding ceremonies were held at the Ricco Renzo Gallery last 18 June 2008.

“That’s over P6,000 a page,” says Remoto. “That’s not a bad way to make good money.”

A self-confessed Legal Management drop-out who eventually shifted to Interdisciplinary Studies, Remoto has not forgotten his math; and apparent-ly he also knows how to make a good investment. “I’m earning from things I wrote in the past.” Remoto wrote the story while at Hawthornden Castle in Scotland in the early 1990s.

When he offered his stories to local publish-ers then, he recounts, some of them got rejected. “Then they were considered pornographic,” he recalls. “Now they are called ‘prize-winning’.”

There is nothing at all remotely pornograph-ic, however, about “Wings of Desire,” a poignant story about a boy’s discovery of death. The end-ing, a dream sequence, is inspired, he says, by Wim Wender’s film of the same title. Something of Joyce’s “The Sisters” hovers over the story. It ends very quietly: “Sometimes, when we call out a name, even the very wind crumbles.”

Mr. Remoto has published a number of col-lections of poetry, but his recent prizes have been for his prose. In 2005 his story “The Heart of Summer” (“one of those that got censored!”) won third prize at the annual literary contest of the Philippines Free Press. Two years earlier, his essay “The House of Spirits” had won second. Why the shift? “Prose pays,” he says, “poetry . . . perishes.”

When he is not being facetious, he tells me that he has a new collection of poems awaiting pub-lication. “Runes of Memory,” he calls it. He is also preparing a collection of fiction (to be called “Wings of Desire and Other Stories”?) and a novel in progress tentatively entitled “A Lighted Matchstick.” An excerpt from that novel (“a po-litical satire,” he describes it) is in Thought the Harder, Heart the Keener, a festschrift for Soledad S. Reyes, launched earlier this year. (There the novel is called “Pearl of the Orient.”)

In hindsight, Remoto comes full circle with this award. In the early 1990s, a story of his was published in the magazine. Nick Joaquin was then the literary editor. (When “Wings of Desire” was published, the late Adrian Cristobal, who also so-licited the story from him, was the literary edi-tor.) Joaquin sent him a note: “This is an excellent short story. You will fly, boy.” A decade and a half later, Remoto wins an award named after the late great National Artist. There is something in that of the closure that the best short stories have and which English teachers love to point out.

“I should frame that note,” he says, more to him-self than to me. And on that note sounds the school bell, which sends Remoto off to another class.

Remoto makes a windfall from an old storyWhen Remoto offered his stories to local publishers then, he recounts, some of them got rejected. “Then they were considered pornographic,” he recalls. “Now they are called ‘prize-winning’.”

Ma. Mercedes T. Rodrigo, Associate Professor with the Department of Information Systems and Computer Science (DISCS), has received a grant under the Fullbright Scholar Program 2008-2009 Advanced Research and University Lecturing Awards. The grant will allow Dr. Rodrigo to un-dertake a five-month research visit to Carnegie Mellon University where she has established a research collaboration with Dr. Ryan Baker. Dr. Rodrigo will pursue research in the area of affec-tive computing, which seeks to understand the computer learning environment which includes human-computer interaction, learning theory, and computer-aided instruction.

Danton Remoto

“Wings of Desire” was published in the Philippine Graphic, 26 November 2007, 40-42. Jonathan O. Chua

A Fulbright Award for DISCS’ Rodrigo

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Ambeth Ocampo, assistant professor at the Department of History, has something in com-mon with Ella Fitzgerald, Kylie Minogue, and Diana Ross: the Ordre des artes et des lettres. Mr. Ocampo was given the rank officier last 26 July 2008 in a ceremony held at the Alliance Française in Makati. He received a medal—“an eight-point, green-enameled asterisk, in gilt” with the “letters A and L on a white enameled background, surround-ed by a golden ring emblazoned with the phrase République Française” on the obverse side—from the French Ambassador to the Philippines.

The Ordre des Artes et des Lettres is given by the French Minister of Culture and Communication to “persons who have distinguished themselves in the arts and literature or the propagation of these fields in France and worldwide.”

What has Mr. Ocampo done in this regard? He is cited by the French Minister of Culture and Culture for his work as writer, teacher, and cultural admin-istrator. “I have been researching on our heroes in Paris—Jose Rizal, Juan Luna, Felix Resurreccion Hidalgo—thus using the past to create a bridge of understanding between our countries [France and the Philippines]”—a fact which he emphasizes in his acceptance speech. “They were in Paris in1899, the centenary of the French Revolution, and no doubt the ideas of freedom, the ideals of liberty, equality and fraternity rubbed off on them and in-fluenced people who never left home. . . . My work . . . illustrates how the past can find a connection with the present, or how our heroes in the past by visiting France established bridges of friendship that pre-dates the establishment of formal diplomatic re-lations between the Philippines and France. . . .”

The 60th anniversary of the establishment of such relations was the occasion for a symposium held at the Ateneo de Manila last year, which, as chairman of the National Commission for Culture and the Arts, Mr. Ocampo supported. He was one of the speakers, and he is now editing the collec-tion of papers presented at the symposium.

Mr. Ocampo is no stranger to awards. How does he regard this latest one? “I am honored of course, and while I do not show it, I do take a con-ceited delight in these honors. It is always good to

Fr. Bienvenido F. Nebres, SJ, University President, and Dr. Queena N. Lee-Chua, Full Professor at the Mathematics Department, were recognized as two of the 50 Men and Women of Science by the Department of Science and Technology (DOST). The recognition was made in honor of the DOST’s 50th anniversary in June 2008.

According to DOST Secretary Estrella F. Balbastro, “our activities and festivities pay homage to the na-tion’s outstanding achievements and breakthroughs in science and technology over the last 50 years. We believe that the work of scientists, researchers and other stakeholders must be recognized and given the opportunity to flourish, as it is the precursor to new knowledge as well as improved products, and pro-cesses vital for national development.”

Excerpts from Fr. Nebres’ and Dr. Lee-Chua’s citations from the DOST:

Fr. Bienvenido F. Nebres, SJ (Education Icon): “Fr. Nebres has successfully reconciled the fields of science and religion with his work, espe-cially in the development of mathematics and sci-ence in the Philippines and in Southeast Asia.

After finishing his MS and PhD in Mathematics at Stanford University in California, he founded the Mathematical Society of the Philippines. He is also one of the founding officers of the Southeast Asian Mathematics Society. He pioneered a con-sortium of leading universities in Manila to devel-op PhD programs in Mathematics, Physics, and

Creating a bridge of understandingAmbeth Ocampo receives the Ordre des artes et des lettres from the Republic of France

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Ateneans make finals of Manila Jaycees’ Best Business Plan tiltThree of the top five teams at the annual Best Business Plan competition organized by the Junior Chamber International (JCI) Manila are from the Ateneo. They are:

Ecobuilders, Inc. is engaged in the produc-tion of tiles made from coconut husks (3rd place). The team is composed of Mariel Luz T. de Castro, Andrea Loraine A. Go, Jurmane A. Lallana, Dorthee Elline T. Li, and Daphne F. Melegrito.

Ecovation, Inc. innovatively combines as-phalt, aggregates and non-biodegradable junk plastic for use as construction materials for roads, highway,s and bridges (4th place). The team is composed of Reb Kerwin Atadero, Alyssa Renee Cruz, Margarita de Leon, Jacqueline Gorospe, Hyra Liwanag, and Charmaine Santos.

Dee Medical Corp. produces two-in-one low-cost organic gel-based post-operational wound remedy (5th place). The team is composed of Jan Jizelle Ang, Gregorio Camacho, Brian Marco Chayungco, Celine Melanie Dee, Jose Ramon Gelvezon, and Ana Margarita Oliveros.

Together with teams from the University of the Philippines and Jose C. Feliciano College in Pampanga, they will represent the Philippines at the Best Business Plan Competition World Finals organized by the Junior Chamber International or Jaycees. The world finals will be held at New Delhi, India this November 2008.

The national finals, meanwhile, were held on June 18, 2008 at the boardroom of the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE). The judges for the nation-al finals were Philippine Star columnist Wilson Lee Flores, GMA 7 top executive Rod Cornejo, Philippine Chamber of Commerce Vice President and Anvil Business Club Honorary Chairman George Siy, Philippine Stock Exchange Governor and Anvil Regent David Chua, and PSE mar-keting education division head Leo Quinito. www.ateneo.edu

Nebres and Lee-Chua among 50 Men and Women of Science

TOPMOST French Ambassador Gerard Chesnel, Mrs. Chesnel, Ambeth Ocampo, Alliance Francaise director Olivier DintingerABOVE With Loyola Schools colleagues Eduardo Calasanz, Ma. Assunta Cuyegkeng, and Leovino Ma. Garciabe recognized for your work.”

Other members of the university who have been inducted into the Order are Fr. Bienvenido F. Nebres, Antonette Palma-Angeles, and Leovino Ma. Garcia (each as chevalier) and Evelyn C. Soriano (as commandeur). Jonathan O. Chua

Chemistry. This led to the development of a criti-cal mass of scientists in these areas.

Fr. Nebres chaired the Engineering and Science Education Project of the DOST and directed a team for the Department of Education on the de-velopment of education plans to strengthen ele-mentary and secondary education in the country’s poorest provinces.”

Queena N. Lee-Chua (Outstanding Science Communicator): “In this millennium, science literacy is paramount to remain competitive in the global arena. All channels of creative and interest-ing science communication need to be harnessed for Filipinos to achieve technological understand-ing and appreciation.”

Lee-Chua, in her own words, best describes her passion to share and spread the value of un-derstanding science both inside and outside the lecture hall. Numerous books, articles, lectures, columns, and other communication tools in her name mirror a vastly creative and disciplined per-sona. She has written science and math books, a newspaper column, and teachers both subjects to students, parents, media, and practically every-body else. But she remains consistent in her goal to make science and math learning “fun” through “simpler, more understandable language.” She brings the “fun” to print, radio, TV, online, and interpersonal audiences.

Among her numerous awards are The

Outstanding Women in the Nation’s Service (2001), Outstanding Young Scientist (National Academy of Science and Technology, 2002), First Multiple Intelligence Award (Dr. Howard Gardner, Multiple Intelligence International School Foundation, Inc., 2005), Outstanding Teacher Award (Metrobank Foundation, 2003), National Book Award for Science (2003), Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards fo Literature (1st place, English Essay, 2001),Science and Technology Journalism Awards (Philippine Press Institute-Philippine Geothermal Inc, 1992), and Best Science and Technology Columnist (DOST, special citation, 2005).

The 50 Men and Women of Science exhibit, showing photographs of all the awardees, may be viewed at the UP Theatre in Diliman through September 2008.

BELOW LEFT Bienvenido F. Nebres, SJBELOW Queena N. Lee-Chua

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notable achievements

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The Ateneo has won the Philippine Finals of the Microsoft Imagine Cup 2008 Software Design Competition once again. Team 3*Pi/4, com-posed of Wilhansen Joseph Li (3-BSCS), Salvador Reyes, Jr. (4-BSCS) and Rodrick Tan (4-BSME), won in this year’s competition which was held at the Microsoft Makati office on April 14 and 15.

A second Ateneo team, Team Tibecom, com-posed of Marion Joren Olmillo (2-BSMIS), Kristine Ester Pascual (2-BSCS) and Victor Patrick Tañedo (2-BSCS), was first runner-up.

Each year, the Microsoft Imagine Cup selects a theme that challenges students to create technol-ogy solutions for better world. This year’s theme was environmental sustainability. The annual stu-

Two Loyola Schools facultyreceive NAST awardsDr. Edsel Beja Jr. of the Department of Economics, School of Social Sciences, is this year’s recipient of the National Academy of Science and Technology (NAST) Most Outstanding Young Scientist in Economics awarded by the Department of Science and Technology (DOST).

Dr. Beja holds a PhD in Economics from the University of Massachusetts Amherst. He is also the deputy director of the Ateneo Center for Economic Research and Development.

Meanwhile, Dr. Raphael A. Guerrero, assistant professor in the Department of Physics, School of Science and Engineering, won NAST’s 2008 Talent Search for Young Scientists in the field of Physics.

notable achievements

Ms. Concepcion L. Rosales, chair of the Department of Interdisciplinary Studies, and Mrs. Evelyn C. Soriano, coordinator for inter-national programs of the School of Humanities and School of Social Sciences, were among the teachers honored at the “Homenaje al Maestro,” a tribute to teachers, by the Instituto Cervantes de Manila and the Academia Filipina de la Lengua Española last 19 June 2008.

The certificate presented them commends them for “the invaluable work [each has] ren-dered in her productive career as teacher and Hispanist committed to the spread of the Spanish language and culture” (la inestimable labor prestada en su fructifera carrera de docente e hispanista comprometido en la diffusion de la len-gua y cultura españa).

Ms. Rosales credits her mother, Patrocino, as her first Spanish teacher. Her father, Jose, sent her to Letran every summer to study Spanish. This was to offset what he thought was the barbariz-ing influence of English, Maryknoll, which she was attending, being a school run by American nuns. She later went to the Universidad Central de Madrid for an M. A. in Literature.

It was also owing to her mother that Mrs. Soriano became a hispanista. Principal of a high school in Naga, her mother wanted her to be a teacher. Initially uninterested in Spanish (St. Theresa’s, run by Belgian nuns, had not set her heart for things Spanish), she grew to love Spain when her parents sent her there to take a gener-al course in Spanish culture (Estudios Hispanicos)

Rosales and Soriano receive homenajes from Instituto Cervantesat the Universidad Central de Madrid (“Art ap-preciation was my favorite subject”). Eventually, she finished an M. A. in Spanish at the Instituto Ibero-Americano de Madrid.

Although some observers have longed de-clared Spanish in the Philippine educational curriculum moribund, Mrs. Soriano is opti-mistic about its prospects. “There is a demand for Spanish because of globalization,” she says, “but that is Spanish in the practical sphere.” The days of Spanish for cultural appreciation are all but gone, she observes, but “although I love cul-ture, I’m very practical.” The key word for her is aprovechar (which hardly carries the negative connotation of its English equivalent): “Let’s see what they [the students] want.”

Ms. Rosales and Mrs. Soriano have between them over eighty years of teaching Spanish at the Ateneo de Manila. They have taught literal-ly thousands of Ateneo alumni, including, Ms. Rosales recounts, “bishops, governors, mayors, diplomats, even ‘occasional rogues’.” Many of them say that learning Spanish added value to their personal and professional lives, a fact which for Ms. Rosales is a “measure of satisfaction.”

Both teachers were also among the pioneers of the communicative approach, a more situational way of language teaching, one less dependent on rote memorization and found to be more effective than traditional methods. As founder of the Circulo de Professores de Español (CIPRES), Mrs. Soriano also helped to train Spanish teachers in the method.

The king of Spain was said to talk to God in

Spanish (for English, he supposedly declared, was for dogs, and German for horses). One can only imagine what divine intercourse Ms. Rosales and Mrs. Soriano must have had with God in the last forty years. Jonathan O. Chua

TOPMOST Chita Rosales with Instituto Cervantes director Jose Rodriguez ABOVE Evelyn Soriano receives her homenaje from Instituto Cervantes director Jose Rodriguez

Competing with other graduate-student entre-preneur teams from Yale, Stanford, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Duke and Carnegie Mellon, Ateneo de Manila University held its own by winning the Social Enterprise Award at the 6th Annual University of San Francisco (USF) International Business Plan Competition held on April 24–26, 2008 at the Hotel Kabuki in San Francisco, California.

The Ateneo-affiliated team, Rags2riches, tied with Immersive Technologies, a team affili-ated with the universities of Purdue, Indiana, and Fort Wayne. Carnegie Mellon won over-all. Rags2riches is composed of students, alumni and professors of Ateneo, as well as some alumni of De La Salle University

Rags2riches was one of 22 finalists, and the only Filipino team, selected for the competition which recognized “new business ventures that are commercializing sophisticated life science, infor-mation, and clean technologies, as well as several social enterprises.” Its entry, 4P (People, Planet, Profit and Positive influence), provides sustain-able livelihood to women of Barangay Payatas in Quezon City to help their families find a way out of poverty.

“We humbly share this honor with the entire Ateneo community as Ateneo and the country

was officially recognized throughout the event. Although we had a great chance with the elevator pitch and the trade show (two other categories in the three-day competition), we were exempted as we were put into the social enterprise track. But I respect the contest director’s plans,” said Rags2Riches’ Bro. Javier Alpasa, SJ, who spent time talking to potential partners for their proj-ect. More than 60 Silicon Valley venture capital-ists, executives and attorneys served as judges for the contest.

According to the Rags2riches Website (slb.ph/r2r), this enterprise combines the rug-making skills of the Payatas women and the lauded designing skills of fashion maverick Rajo Laurel. Through craftsmanship and imagination, the humble rug is elevated to well-designed, durable, and functional objects such as tote bags, yoga mat holders, laptop sleeves, wine holders, and pouches.

In August 2007, a team from the Ateneo High School won the Arthur Boschee and Evelyn Ball International Award for Social Enterprise at the Students for the Advancement of Global Entrepreneurship (SAGE) World Cup in Ukraine. The team’s winning enterprise, called Truly Authentic Re-used Posters, or “TARP Inc”, recycles tarpaulin posters into trendy bags. www.ateneo.edu

Ateneo social enterprise wows international community

Ateneo Team 3*Pi/4 wins Philippine finals of Microsoft Imagine Cup 2008dent contest is divided into several subcategories, including embedded design, game design, algo-rithm design, and many others.

3*Pi/4 submitted an application called Ad Hoc that helps consumers make eco-smart purchases. The application enables consumers to compare and contrast similar products, e.g. light bulbs, to verify which of these products is the friendliest to the environment. Team 3*Pi/4 was ably coached by Dr. Ma. Mercedes T. Rodrigo, Associate Professor of the Department of Information Systems and Computer Science.

Having won the local leg of the Imagine Cup, the team competed in the World Finals which was held in Paris from July 3 to 8.

Raphael A. Guerrero

His paper on volume holographic storage, which introduces bigger data storage for comput-ers and a new way of producing images, was se-lected over the work of two other scientists from UST and UPLB. The presentations were done be-fore a panel of judges in April.

Dr. Guerrero also won the Outstanding Scholarly Work Awards for Science and Engineering in 2006. He is an active researcher in the area of photonics. www.ateneo.edu

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(GC 35) held in Rome earlier this year to elect a new Superior General. It was inspired by what he saw as the diversity of issues and concerns faced by Jesuits today and their “struggle to listen, to learn, and to understand.” Both in the case of the Jesuits and the Ateneo, Fr. Nebres reflected that the challenge for all is to find a “point of unity,” a focus and inspiration that a GC 35 decree calls “a fire that kindles other fires.”

He reprised the theme of four cultures in the University adopted from the framework of Jesuit historian Fr. John O’Malley’s “Four Cultures of the West,” which he originally shared in his 2006 Faculty Day address. He said Universities face similar concerns: a need for radical change in the structures of Society (Culture 1); the academic and professional culture that seeks to understand those structures (Culture 2); the humanistic culture that addresses fundamental human issues, pre-pares leaders and works for the common good of society (Culture 3); and the Culture of Art and Performance that celebrates the mystery of the human condi-tion (Culture 4).

He elaborated on which culture structures the Ateneo’s value system and what cul-ture shapes it in the light of the University’s sharpest focus which he said is “preparing leaders for the future.” He believes that there must be a shift from forming“men and women for others” to forming “professionals for others.” In the quest for the Ateneo’s focus and fire he raised the following questions: What fires us? Does it contribute to nation-building? Does it meet standards of excellence? He called on the faculty to help the University move as one despite the community’s diversity as it is faculty members who help shape the leaders of the future.

Following his talk on university cultures, Fr. Nebres shared with the group a pre-sentation made to Ateneo alumni in Hongkong on June 18, 2008. The presentation focused on building the Ateneo of the future which is energized by unity.

Vice President for Loyola Schools talks on LS thrusts for SY 2008-2009Following the address of Fr. Nebres, the presentation of Dr. Ma. Assunta C. Cuyegkeng, Vice President for Loyola Schools, summarized the program re-alignments and achieve-ments of both Loyola Schools’ academic and non-academic programs for schoolyear 2007-2008 which are anchored on the principles of the University’s motto: to be Lux in Domino for others, country and God. She also elaborated on the updated Loyola Schools vision which now reads “The Ateneo Loyola Schools is a Filipino, Catholic, and Jesuit center of excellence of higher learning that is globally competitive while Asian in perspective, a community that transforms society through its research and creative work, its leadership in service to others and the environment, and its formation of persons-for-others.”

A central theme of her message was leadership formation for nation bulding. The leaders we want to form, she said, have “an agenda of hope for the country in whatever sphere they move in—environment, family/youth, government, profes-sions, faith, Filipino identity and culture.” This is what makes Ateneo de Manila what it is—a culture and community that affirms excellence and service, love for Christ, and companionship—a place where we nurture future leaders of the nation carrying all the qualities that we envisioned and trained them to be. Thus, she identified the main thrusts of schoolyear 2008-2009 as: 1) Leadership—to achieve the core mission of forming persons for others; 2) Quality Assurance—to keep us on the right track; and 3) Environmental Management—to right our relationship with Creation.

For leadership, she zeroed in on the four elements of heroic leadership: 1) self-awareness (leading to an understanding of one’s strengths, weaknesses, values and worldview); 2) ingenuity (taking one’s gifts and using them to confidently innovate and adapt to embrace a changing world); 3) love (engaging others with a positive, loving attitude); and 4) heroism (using heroic ambitions, in a sense the magis, to energize the self and others to dream, to love, to serve beyond limits. Beyond hero-ism, she also emphasized the need to consciously bring into leadership the element of spirituality.

On Quality Assurance (QA), she acknowledged that the University’s understand-ing of quality has evolved through the years and gave a detailed account of QA pro-cedures and definitions from experts in the field. She explained that performing QA is a way of assuring us that our students are actually learning, telling us where we are, helping us reach our goals, and maximizing our limited resources. It encourages us to document our decades-old practices so that the next generations will know what we are all about. It is a way of making sure that we are in touch with the chang-ing world and that we can truly have an impact on the people and communities we touch. Among the steps she outlined are: systematization of existing processes and structures; characterizing the ideal Ateneo graduate; and monitoring and improv-ing curricula.

With regard to environmental management, Dr. Cuyegkeng challenged the community to develop among Ateneans a constant concern for the environment. Concretizing this thrust are various programs implemented by both students, faculty, and staff which have recently been institutionalized by the formation of the Ateneo Environmental Management Coalition (AEMC) with Mrs. Lourdes C. Sumpaico appointed as part-time Coordinator. AEMC’s four main divisions are: Research and Analysis, Waste Audit, Advocacy, and Logistics and Implementation. LSB

Faculty Day themes

scenes from Faculty Day

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photos by Jimmy Domingo

L O Y O L A S C H O O L S B U L L E T I N10

Close encounters with life, education, and culture in

The Philippine Studies Program at Peking UniversityI handle the Filipino Intermediate Language and Philippine Literature classes, meeting them ev-ery day. I have ten students (but at present just 9 because one of them is an exchange student in Ateneo for a year). In the Philippine Studies Program, students study almost all aspects of Philippine culture—language, literature, history, economy, popular culture, among others. Most of the teachers now are graduates of the program itself. The program invites a native speaker from the Philippines to handle the language and lit-

erature classes, usually in the first or second year of the students. Because of an existing Exchange Program between Peking University and the Ateneo de Manila, Ateneo has been sending a teacher to teach in the program since the mid-1990s (Note: the exchange program between the Ateneo and Peking University was first established in 1991). In the past, among the professors sent by the Ateneo to participate in the program were: Mr. Roberto Ortañez, Dr. Florentino Hornedo, Mrs. Nenita Escasa, Ms. Janneth Candor and Mr. Joseph Salazar. I was sent here in 1999 and when given the opportunity, I decided to teach again this year, 2008.

The Philippine Studies Program in Peking University must have started sometime in the 1980’s (originally with professors from the University of the Philippines coming there to teach some courses). It is a program where they allow 10 to 15 students to take Philippine Studies as their major. It is not every year that they get students to major in it; it is open only every four years. A student taken in the program cannot shift to other programs in the university; he or she graduates as a Philippine Studies major. It is the only program of its kind in China. Out of the 1.4

billion Chinese, 10 to 15 students every four years major in Philippine Studies. Personally, I believe it is worth supporting. Many of the graduates of the program work in institutions that deal with the Philippines. Two of my former students in 1999 are now professors of the program and two are working in the Philippine section of the China Radio International. One of the two teachers—this is Shi Yang or “Ato”, his Filipino name—is studying the oral literature of the Mangyans in Mindoro, for which study he was given a grant to finish his doctoral studies at Harvard next year. Wu Jie Wei, or “Jack” as his Filipino friends call him, one of the early graduates of the program, is now the Vice Dean of the Oriental Languages Department (Note: Jack belonged to the first batch of students taught by the Ateneo profes-sors when they first came in the mid-1990s).

China then and now: changes observed 1999 and 2008There appear to be have been many changes here since my first visit to Beijing in 1999. China now definitely seems more open to the world and

even looks infinitely richer. The big change is ap-parent on and off campus. It is still a beautiful campus: the old section with the man-made lake is still there, surrounded by the old buildings in the traditional architecture, while in other parts of the campus you will find the new massive build-ings in minimalist style. In this latter section you may think you are in an American campus. In 1999 I would get paranoid because the students would tell me not to be critical of the govern-ment because members of the party are all over the campus. I don’t get the same feeling now. My students today seem so much like our students in Ateneo—besotted with American songs, movies, soccer, computer games, baseball and basketball. Nevertheless, my Chinese students are still as dili-gent as before in their studies. They have stud-ied Filipino for only two years in an environment where Filipino is hardly heard but they are prob-ably far more proficient in it than many Ateneans who have stayed all their lives in the Philippines.

“Malling” is not yet in their system. Although one sees that China is becoming a consumerist cul-ture, the students in general are as simple as be-fore in terms of fashion and lifestyle. However, this may change soon. In 1999 there were small stores

around the campus selling cheap products and pi-rated DVDs. These stores are now gone. Near the campus is an empire of above- and underground malls that can rival our malls in the Philippines. With Peking University hosting the table tennis events of the Olympics, the campus—as well as the city itself of course—is spruced up. There is still only one English channel—CCTV 9—run by the government, but I often hear critical comments of the government, which seemed unheard of before in 1999. I really believe the Olympics this year is their debut to the global world. I think we will see and hear a lot more of China from here on.

Social life and leisure in BeijingI always think that a stint in China is compa-rable to a retreat. Life in the Philippines can be noisy—literally and figuratively—at times. My life on campus here can be the other extreme: af-ter my classes in the morning, I go back to my

room on the fifth floor which can be very silent save for the usual hum of a city with heavy traffic. Traffic here, by the way, is infinitely heavier now compared 1999. There are more cars everywhere, displacing the iconic Beijing bicycle. It is more dangerous here to cross an avenue than in Manila because of many bicycles, including electric bi-cycles. We don’t have the latter in Manila but it is their counterpart of our motorcycles which is banned here. Cars and pedestrians, it seems, don’t follow traffic signs.

For a non-Mandarin speaking person in Beijing, life can be restricted. It is difficult to have friends. I cannot even converse with the cleaning lady who I see everyday. We manage to communicate with gestures and the occasional ni hao. People tend to avoid you if you speak in English. I rely most-ly on cultural codes to be able to survive here. I should have studied Mandarin, but even for me, a language teacher who also studied the Romance languages, Chinese is very difficult, starting with the sounds and not even considering the tones. Orhan Pamuk, the Nobel Literature awardee in 2007, was here to give a lecture recently, but I missed it because the posters announcing the ac-tivity were in Chinese! Beijing is still not tourist friendly because of the language. But a colleague of mine would say, we don’t need tourists!

They have good and big bookstores in and near the campus, but I still miss the bookstores in Manila with entire floors of Filipino and English books. Here they have four- or five-floor book-stores with mostly Chinese books save for a shelf or two of foreign books. I needed to bring a lot of books to read for leisure. Also because of my age—matanda na (getting older)—I don’t go out at night anymore. In 1999, I would go out with the Filipino students at the Beijing Language and Culture University and try different restau-rants and bars. I got to meet many Filipinos who were members of bands playing in different bars. Night life should be more exciting now, especially with the Olympics just around the corner, but I wouldn’t really know. A Filipina I met at the air-port recently said that I should go out if I want to meet many Filipinos. Apparently there are many Filipinos now working in Beijing, and a lot of them are supposedly TNTs. Kung nasaan ang tra-baho, may mga TNT (Where there is work, you will find TNTs). I suppose life here is like that of the life of any OFW (overseas Filipino worker).

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The author, leftmost, with friends in Beijing.

Of the 1.4 billion Chinese, 10 to 15 students every four years major in Philippine Studies. Many of the graduates of the program work in institutions that deal with the Philippines. Two of my former students are now professors of the program, one of whom is studying the oral literature of the Mangyans in Mindoro.

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The following narrative was shared by Marco Antonio “Marx” V. Lopez, Assistant Professor at the Filipino Department, School of Humanities. Marx was sent on his second tour as an exchange professor to China’s premier university, Peking University in Beijing. He left for China in January 2008 with his term in Peking University covering the period February to December 2008. With support coming from the Office of the Vice-President of the Loyola Schools (Peking University takes cares of his board and lodging on campus), his teaching stint for the year is based at Philippine Studies Program of the Department of Oriental Languages of Peking University. Here is his narrative of life in Beijing as an exchange professor.

Beijing

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AAs we reluctantly packed our bags on our last day in Zhuhai, we were glumly exchanged com-ments like “Why did it go so fast?” and “I wish that we could still extend.” One even suggested in jest, “Tago na lang tayo dito sa Zhuhai, mura lang naman e.” It was difficult seeing the best six weeks of our lives coming to an end. Even after our air-plane had landed in Manila, we clutched our seats, feebly attempting to prolong the most wonderful and unforgettable journey of our lives.

The journey began a few months ago when our Chinese 1 teacher, Clark Alejandrino, told us about a six-week summer exchange program which would allow us to take nine units of Mandarin courses in Sun-yat-sen University, China. Initially, my plan had been to participate in the Junior Term Abroad of JGSOM. The more I heard about the China exchange program however, the more I my interest grew. Finally, I made my decision, sub-mitted my letter of intent to the Chinese Studies Program, and hoped for the best.

The weeks that followed were a blur. Before I knew it, it was the day of our departure and I was getting ready to board the flight to Guangzhou with fifteen other Ateneans. Little did I know that the lost, excited faces I saw at the airport that night would turn out to be some of the most wonderful friends I’d ever have. That night, we left Manila with heavy bags and fluttery hearts.

We arrived at the Zhuhai Campus of Zhongshan Daxue (Chinese name of Sun-yat-sen University) past midnight after a two-hour bus ride from Guangzhou. I was very hungry then, but the mo-ment I set eyes on the majestic campus, I forgot all about food. Alighting from the bus, we were greeted by the cool Zhuhai breeze that made our six-week stay so pleasant. When we reached our dormitory, I was even more elated. Our room had two comfortable beds, an air-conditioner, a water dispenser, a study table, and even a television.

As we toured around the following day, we dis-covered that our campus wasn’t just scenic, but also convenient. It had a supermarket, bookstore, cell-phone shop, and even a karaoke place. All around us were beautiful mountains and majestic lakes. As we walked along the tree-lined pavements, entire flocks of bicycles whizzed by, carrying students to-wards the classroom building. It was an imposing structure, six stories in height and almost one kilo-meter in length, making it the longest such build-ing in the world. The campus was also equipped with sports facilities like basketball courts, tennis courts, soccer fields, and even an Olympic stadi-um. On the farthest corner of the campus was the library, constructed like two thirteen-storey halves of an open book.

After the tour, we decided to eat at one of the three school cafeterias, and ended up at the one near our dormitory. It was difficult ordering food that day because the cafeteria food had such com-plicated names, so we just resorted to pointing and nodding until they got our orders right. In the course of six weeks, we would eventually learn how to call our favorite dishes like the chaofan, “yao la de ma” barbecue, xiaolongbao, lamian, he-fengniurou rice, etc. After the cheap yet sumptu-ous meal, we spent the whole night playing “Jack the Killers” in Mr. Alejandrino’s room. That was where I first got to know my classmates’ names.

Of course, we were not there just to play but also to learn. We first met our teachers at our wel-come party, where we performed Filipino and Chinese songs and played games together with the Chinese students and other exchange students from France. For six weeks, our teachers guided us to learn and love Chinese. Although we had to wake up early and spend the entire morning for the Comprehensive Chinese class, we never got bored because of the variety of class activities. We discussed stories, wrote essays, played games, and watched music videos. It was in our language class-es where we fell in love with the songs of Jay Chou, Guang Liang, Lin Junjie, and the popular Chinese artists of “Beijing Huanying Ni”. It was in class too where we learned to appreciate more deeply the beauty and practicality of the Chinese language.

Our learning was not confined to the walls of the

classroom. We often exchanged stories and jokes with our Chinese friends during meals. It was fun-ny how after a delicious meal, we Filipinos would say “Haochi!” while the Chinese would say “Sarap!” Oftentimes, we also visited the Chinese students’ rowdy dorm to play DotA and watch NBA. In be-tween the games, our Chinese friends would teach us popular (and some unpopular) words and phras-es in Cantonese, then ask for the Filipino equiva-lents. The day after, we eagerly applied our newly acquired vocabulary on the basketball court.

In addition to the “extra-curricular” learning, we also had Chinese culture and calligraphy class-es in the afternoons. To put up with our eccentric teacher in calligraphy class, we all did our best in mastering the strokes of the Chinese characters. In our culture class, we learned about Chinese martial arts, traditional dance and music, archi-

Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Foshan, and Zhongshan. I was so impressed at how developed and fast-paced even the small Chinese cities were. Most of the time, we visited historical monuments, cultural sites, and ancient temples. While our eyes feasted on the breathtaking sceneries of Guangdong province, our mouths gorged on the different varieties of local cui-sine, scorpions included. The tours opened my eyes to the Chinese way of life, making me appreciate China even more.

During our field trips, one activity was always pres-ent—shopping. Our Chinese friends often marveled at how even the Filipino guys loved shopping more than the most extravagant Chinese girls. We would patrol the vibrant shopping districts, haggle over ev-erything from hair clips to laptops, and always manage to squeeze good deals out of the vendors. We had no classes Mondays so we often rode the bus to Gongbei

Sun-yat-sen University Guangzhou campus group picture with our Chinese friends

By Scott Allison G. Si, 3-BS MGT

An unforgettable six weeks in Zhuhaitecture, tea culture, among many others things. However, I found it difficult at times to concen-trate in the afternoon classes since my mind was already drifting to the basketball games after class and the activities for the night.

Nights in Zhuhai were crazy. Being the diligent students that we are, we spent the early part of the evening reviewing our lessons. The late evenings were reserved for more engaging pursuits. Once, we sat in our friend’s Chinese Philosophy class and amused ourselves at the Chinese students’ subtle ways of fighting boredom. Oftentimes, we played card games with consequences such as singing in front of class or dancing in front of a Chinese student. When the mood struck, we would turn up the volume of our iPods and reenact musicals or hold makeshift disco balls in our rooms. The wholesome ones held movie sessions while curled under the blankets. The not-so-wholesome ones held sleepovers where they laughed and cackled from midnight until sunrise.

The bouts of insanity did not end there. Apparently, some of us forgot Cai Laoshi’s (Mr. Alejandrino) words right before he left, “Don’t do anything to embarrass the name of Ateneo.” Well, we joined a university-wide singing contest, intro-duced ourselves as Filipino students and sang a

popular song “Tonghua” like a broken chant. The only consolation was the thunderous applause we received from the crowd. During our last week in Zhuhai, the French exchange students invited us to a dinner that ended with thirty-one bottles of Tsingtao beer and a water fight.

Contented as we were with life inside Zhongshan Daxue, any trip abroad would not be complete without the tours. On weekends, we went on field trips that took us to Zhaoqing,

and Wanzai, two of the most popular shopping districts in Zhuhai. On our last week, we rode to Gongbei again and splurged on souvenirs.

On our last night in Zhuhai, our Chinese friends visited us at our dorm. They brought a farewell gift to us—a video slideshow woven out of our vain pictures and wacky memories. At the end of the video, they dedicated messages telling us how much we had changed their lives in the span of six weeks. After the video, they told us that life would be very different for them after we left. In that teary-eyed moment, we realized too how much the six weeks had changed our lives, and how happy those weeks had become because of our dear friends.

The next day, it was time to leave. After eat-ing our favorite meals at the cafeteria and pack-ing our things, it was time to ride the bus back to Guangzhou airport. Before leaving, I took a final glance at my dear friends, knowing that I might never see those faces again. I looked one last time at the classroom building, the cafeteria, the su-permarket, the basketball courts, the dormitories . . . the places where we left our footprints, the backdrops where we formed our memories. As I

walked one last time at the school grounds, only one thought echoed in my mind—I will miss Zhongshan Daxue, our school and our home.

On April 11, we left Manila with heavy bags and fluttery hearts. On May 23, we returned to Manila with heavier bags, but also taking with us new knowledge, a wealth of experiences, and friendships to last a lifetime. Our six-week journey may have already ended, but everything it gave us will always be cherished and forever live on. LSB

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By Erlinda Eileen G. Lolarga ¶ Emerging world power China is resplendent in its ancient and col-orful history that spans over 2000 years. Its vast storehouse of cultural artifacts and antiquities, wide-ranging business opportunities, and enor-mous market potential make it a worthy destina-tion to explore and discover on different levels, whether it be scholarly pursuits for academics, cul-tural adventures for tourists, or business ventures and engagements for professionals and entrepre-neurs. China is host to the 2008 Olympics to be held in its capital Beijing in August. For Filipinos with Chinese heritage or for those who are simply enthusiastic and curious fans of Chinese culture and history, 2008 is a good time to visit China.

Exchange programs with ChinaAs the Ateneo de Manila University established the Chinese Studies program in the 1980s and opened its doors to exchange programs with China, generous benefactors from the Filipino-Chinese community have stepped up to sup-port a stream of Ateneo delegations on cul-tural visits to China, Chinese exchange profes-sors and graduate students from China doing

By Cholo Torres ¶ This year, students from vari-ous academic disciplines will go outside the con-fines of their classroom in order to serve the un-derprivileged sectors of society. But they will also do it while learning inside the classroom. Sounds impossible? Not with service learning.

Because of the University’s continued commit-ment towards forming men and women for oth-ers who will be at the forefront of nation-build-ing, the Loyola Schools is promoting the con-cept of service learning as an avenue for fostering faculty and student social involvement. It entails students working with a social development in-stitution (government, non-government orga-nizations, people’s organizations, cooperatives, community centers) through a project which is considered a part of their academic requirements, thus linking social involvement with academic learning. Through this endeavor, both faculty and students can utilize their acquired skills and knowledge in their respective disciplines while rendering service to society, thus becoming pro-fessionals for others.

Various faculty members of the Loyola Schools

have volunteered to embark on this initiative, with the Coordinator for Faculty Social Involvement Mr. Leland Joseph de la Cruz (also the Director of the Development Studies Program) facilitating the encounter between the faculty members and vari-ous social development institutions. Service learn-ing, he says, “is an efficient way of getting students and faculty involved in the task of social transfor-mation because the time they use in being involved is the same time they use for fulfilling their aca-demic responsibilities. It isn’t “extra”-curricular.”

Several Loyola Schools academic departments will take part in this initiative throughout the

School Year 2008-2009, with projects already rolling off this first semester. Students will visit their respective partner institutions to conduct re-search work and other projects for them. Upon completion, the students will present and turn over the service learning outputs to the partner institutions.

To mention a few of the participating classes, Philippine Business and Economic Environment (L&S 10) students will come up with industry re-search studies for institutions such as Kabalikat ng Botika Binhi Inc. (KBBI) which established 800+ village pharmacies selling generic medicines, Non-Timber Forest Products (NTFP) which markets locally-made food and crafts made by indigenous peoples, and Business Support Organizations Network Association (BSO Network) which serves as an umbrella organization of the country’s lead-ing manufacturing and exporting industries. On the other hand, students enrolled in the Systems Analysis and Design (MIS 121) will come up with systems and database development projects for the National Confederation of Cooperatives which gives financial intermediation services to its member cooperatives all over the country. The Fine Arts Program has joined in as well, with its Introduction to Aesthetics (FA 101) classes con-ducting various performance and art workshops for the youth of Gawad Kalinga-Ateneo areas.

It should be mentioned however, that this is not the first time that the Loyola Schools has imple-mented service learning. Through the years, ser-vice learning has been continuously implemented through the Praxis Program—a tie-up program between the Economics Department through its Theory and Practice of Social Development (ECO 177) classes and the Theology Department through its A Theology of a Catholic Social Vision (TH 141) classes, with its activities mainly coor-dinated and facilitated by the Office for Social Concern and Involvement. Aside from the Praxis Program, service-learning type projects have been done before for theses by various departments.

The current initiative seeks to transform even more courses into service-learning courses. This year’s new service learning classes aside from those already set up through the Praxis Program could be considered as a breakthrough in terms of pro-

Serving to learn, learning to serve

Engaging China

“Service-learning teaches students that they can use their professional skills for social development. Hopefully this will carry on even after they graduate. Also, students sometimes have a hard time framing encounters with NGOs or communities. Service-learning provides the initial frame for them which makes the encounters much less awkward.”

— Leland de la Cruz

moting and implementing social involvement in an academic set-up.

What is crucial to this initiative is matching up the needs of the social development institu-tions with the learning objectives of the students. Service learning is reciprocal in nature—it ben-efits both the social development institution and the students by combining a service experi-ence with a learning experience, which, as a re-sult, makes the concepts learned by the students in class more relevant. Negotiations between the development institutions and the participating faculty were conducted so that the needs of the institutions and the learning objectives and com-petencies of the students could be matched. De la Cruz remarks, “I think service-learning teaches students that they can use their professional skills for social development. Hopefully this will carry on even after they graduate. Also, students some-times have a hard time framing encounters with NGOs or communities. Service-learning provides the initial frame for them which makes the en-counters much less awkward.”

Aside from the output, of equal importance is the social formation process which the students will undergo during their service learning experi-ence. Thus, this linking of the ‘service providers’ and the ‘clients’ through service learning should not be done without providing processing ses-sions to remind students of the value of being pro-fessionals for others and being of service to the na-tion. This will also be conducted for the students to express their insights and lessons learned in the experience as part of the University’s objective of forming our country’s future leaders.

The recent efforts in setting up service learning can be seen as the first step towards realizing the full potential of academic forms of social involve-ment in the Loyola Schools. The challenge now is to bring service learning across more academic disciplines.

Those who may have ideas on how to incorpo-rate service-learning into more courses may con-tact Leland Dela Cruz <ldelacruz@ateneo.edu> or Cholo Torres <ktorres@ateneo.edu> at local 5218. For a complete list of service learning courses being conducted this semester, please visit <www.ateneo.edu> or <ls.ateneo.edu>.

Taiwan, Ms. Liu Chia Chi, was on campus from November 2007 to May 2008 as lecturer on the Mandarin language at the Ricardo Leong Center for Chinese Studies.

Summer visits to ChinaTwo student groups from the Ateneo de Manila visited China this summer. The John Gokongwei School of Management (JGSOM) group composed of 18 students was chaperoned by Mr. Alyson Yap, Communications Technology Program Director, from April 4-30. The SOM group spent 20 days in China, staying a few days in Hongkong with Hongkong Baptist University as their host, with the rest of their visit hosted by the University of International Business Economics (UBE) in Beijing. A typical day during the tour would be lectures by Chinese professors on History, Politics, Economics, Christianity in China, and Business in China in the mornings. Afternoons were spent touring companies or cultural sites. Another group of 24 students from the Chinese Studies Program of the School of Social Sciences, also embarked on a tour of China which is actually a credit-based summer course (see separate story).

Service learning as a social involvement initiative in the Loyola Schools

research in the Philippines and vice-versa, and now, Junior Term Abroad (JTA) students visit-ing various schools in China for exchange pro-grams. Initially partnering with schools such as Xiamen University, Fu Jen University, and Peking University, the Ateneo’s partners today include Hongkong Baptist University (HKBU), Sun Yat Sen University (SYSU), University of Macau, Chung Yuan Christian University (CYCU), and Providence University.

For the first semester of schoolyear 2008-2009, Office of International Programs (OIP), counts 20 visiting Chinese students coming from Sun Yat-Sen University (10), University of Macau (8), and Peking University (2). This number accounts for roughly half of the 43 inbound international exchange students, both undergraduate and grad-uate, for the first semester. The students from University of Macau are here on a special sum-mer semester program, taking two accelerated management courses. The Peking University stu-dents, on the other hand, are here for research and seminar programs for a year, while the SYSU stu-dents are here to attend regular semestral classes. A visiting professor from Providence University in

V O L U M E I V N O 1 J U N E – J U L Y 2 0 0 8 13

A library at a time in

Ateneo receives European Commission funding for grid computing projectBy Rafael Saldaña ¶ The School of Science and Engineering is now part of a European Commission-funded project on grid computing. Called “EUAsiaGrid - Towards a Common e-Science Infrastructure for the European and Asian Grids,” the project is an international research collaboration involving 15 institutions from Europe, Asia, and Australia.

The project’s main goal is to pave the way towards an Asian e-Science Grid Infrastructure, in synergy with the other European Grid initiatives in Asia, namely EGEE-III via its Asia Federation, and both the EUChinaGRID and EU-IndiaGRID projects, and their eventual follow-on efforts.

Aside from Ateneo de Manila University, the project consor-tium includes the following institutions: Instituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (Italy), CESNET, z.s.p.p. (Czech Republic), University of Manchester (United Kingdom), HEALTHGRID (France), Australian National University (Australia), Academica Sinica (Taiwan), Advanced Science and Technology Institute (Philippines), Hydro and Agro Informatics Institute (Thailand), Infocomm Development Authority (Singapore), Ho Chi Minh City Institute of Information Technology (Vietnam), Institute of Technology of Bandung (Indonesia), National Electronics and Computer Technology Center (Thailand), Universiti Putra Malaysia (Malaysia), MIMOS Berhard (Malaysia)

The project leader for Ateneo de Manila University is Dr. Rafael Saldaña, Associate Professor in the Mathematics Department. For more information about the EUAsiaGrid project, visit the website <www.euasiagrid.org> or contact Dr. Saldaña at <rsaldana@ateneo.edu>.

By Anna Cristina L. Rojas ¶ Since February 2007, a project to help the Trinidad V. Canja-Sta. Teresa National High School (TVC-STNHS) in Guimaras establish its own school library has been ongoing.

In December 2006, an unplanned visit to the school by this author presented the opportunity to meet and talk with Mrs. Norma Tanaleon, its Principal. At that time, she mentioned that one of her desires, if not needs, was to establish a library in the school for her students.

A month later, Mrs. Lourdes T. David, Director of the Rizal Library at the Ateneo de Manila University, made it possible for a book drive to be conducted through the Rizal Library. A car-ton box was placed at the front foyer of the Rizal Library, and a few signs were placed on the li-brary’s bulletin boards to announce the book drive and seek book donations. An email campaign was also launched to solicit book donations that can be dropped off at Rizal Library. By the end of February 2007, donated books were enough to fill 60 boxes.

By the end of March 2007, through the help of a group of people, now collectively referred to as the “Friends of Rizal Library”, the boxes of books made their way to TVC-STNHS in Guimaras. Mrs. Tanaleon, together with representatives from their faculty and students, welcomed the books with teary eyes and very grateful hearts. Not in their wildest dreams did they also expect to receive so many books for their school!

It was because of this large volume of books that Mrs. Tanaleon then decided to seek funding support from the local government to build a new library. No less than the Governor of Guimaras, Felipe Nava, together with the mayor, barangay officials, and other community and school lead-ers worked together to make the new library a reality. Last December 17, 2007, the new Sta. Teresa National High School Library was inau-gurated with festivities worthy of such a historic event. After more than 33 years, the school finally had a library to cater to its over 1,300 high school students.

Since late January 2008, a series of conver-sations with Mrs. David, the Schools District Superintendent of Guimaras, Ms. Meriem Collado,

and the Sangguniang Bayan Representative of Jordan, Guimaras, Hon. Jasmin Lagunday-Gange, would eventually lead to the Training Workshop for School Librarians. The workshop was held last May 12-14, 2008, at the spacious and airy STNHS library, an environment very conducive to learning something new, if not total-ly groundbreaking. Mrs. Lourdes T. David, assist-ed by Ms. Agnes Salmon, librarian of the Ateneo de Sta. Maria-Iloilo High School, conducted the workshop.

Over 30 schoolteachers, representing 15 of the 17 high schools of the island, attended the work-shop. These teachers would then form the very first batch of librarians-to-be of the high schools.

The librarian-training workshop included the following topics: sorting books based on the books’ condition; indexing the books and making differ-ent catalogue cards; creating call numbers and ac-cession codes; creating borrowers cards; arrang-ing catalogue cards in boxes; arranging books on shelves; and processing books from borrowers.

The workshop also included a role-playing ex-ercise that allowed the participants to experience how it was to actually process the books from would-be borrowers. Above all, to provide the context on why libraries are essential to learning, Mrs. David opened the workshop with the topic on how to build and foster a stronger culture of literacy in a school environment!

At the end of the 3-day workshop, it was hap-pily noted that all of the participants enjoyed and found the workshop most productive, significant and fruitful! A number of them even comment-ed that they wished there were more days to the workshop so they could learn more and practice how to process the books.

In response to these comments, Mrs. David suggested to the Department of Education Schools Superintendent that a two- or three-day “post-workshop practicum” be provided for the participants. This practicum period would then allow them to process all the books of the STNHS Library and allow them to have a fully operational school library by the time the school year opened in June. Similarly, this batch of new librarians could then help each other out, in a “bayanihan-spirit way,” as each new school library is estab-

By Camille T. Onglao ¶ The Health Sciences Program turned over a Radio Frequency Identification (RFID)-based Drug Inventory System to the Tropical Disease Foundation, Inc. (TDFI), in a simple turn-over ceremony held at the Quirino Memorial Medical Center, Project 4, last June 16, 2008.

The ceremony marked the culmination of the collaboration between the HSc program and TDFI. The project was funded by a grant from the International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease (IUALTD), an organization whose mission is to prevent and control tubercu-losis and lung disease, particularly in low income countries.

This collaboration was initiated by Dr. John Q. Wong of the HSc Program, and involved the HSc students who undertook this as part of the HSc thesis program which aims to engage students in health issues and the health system.

Under the mentorship of Dr. Wong, the HSc thesis students designed a cost-beneficial drug inventory system for the Philippine public health system. The RFID system that they de-signed was then presented to TDFI as a proposal

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Lourdes David demonstrates, then supervises would-be librarians as they prepare books for library use.

lished in the succeeding months.

Looking ahead, it has been noted that there are still many opportunities to further develop, not only the TVC-STNHS library, but other public school libraries as well. Although the other schools still need more book donations in order to be able to establish their own libraries, it is also hoped that the schools on the island can eventually develop their own fully computerized libraries. The STNHS Library may therefore serve as a benchmark for other school li-braries from hereon. Nonetheless, more assistance and support will still be needed to develop this library into a modern, if not world-class, public school library.

to improve the drug inventory management sys-tem of the DOH.

Dr. Wong formed two teams of HSc students who conducted the cost-benefit analysis and pi-loted the implementation over two years. Their group sought the technical expertise of the Ateneo’s Department of Electronics and Communications Engineering and the UP Electronics and Electrical Engineering Department.

The first batch of HSc researchers, which includ-ed Hannah Paula V. Doromal and Muriel Tania L. Go, won third place in the DOH-sponsored 8th Health Research for Action National Forum in 2007. A second group, made up of Camille T. Onglao, Ma. Carrissa Abigail R. Roxas, and Carlo Emmanuel L. Yao, completed the project earlier this year.

Representatives of DOH and TDFI witnessed the turnover ceremony. Dr. Thelma Tupasi, President of TDFI received the finished project from Dr. Norman Dennis E. Marquez, Director of HSc Program, Dr. Wong and Mr. Tai. After an au-dio-visual presentation of the project, the students demonstrated how the RFID system works by do-ing an actual partial inventory of the warehouse.

Guimaras

Health Sciences Program turns over RFID system to Tropical Disease Foundation

L O Y O L A S C H O O L S B U L L E T I N14

faculty update ••• The Department of Information Systems and Computer Science welcomes Dr. Kardi Teknomo. Dr. Teknomo’s research focuses on modeling and simu-lation of human behavior related to urban infrastructure and built environments. His research methods include self-organizing sys-tems, intelligence agent models, cellular automata, data mining and multi-criteria decision making techniques. Dr. Teknomo has more than 12 years of international experience in lecturing, research, and consultation in Indonesia, Japan, and Austria. Previously, he worked as Hertha Firnberg senior research fellow at Human Centered Mobility Technologies in Arsenal Research, Austria and lecturer and senior researcher at the Institute of Lowland Technology, Saga University, Japan. He founded the traffic and transportation planning laboratory, and served as the director of the research center at Petra Christian University, Indonesia. Dr. Teknomo holds a PhD from the Graduate School of Information Sciences Tohoku University, Japan, a Master of Engineering (M.Eng.) in Geotechnical and Transportation Engineering from Asian Institute of Technology, Thailand and Bachelor of Civil Engineering (Ir.) from Petra Christian University in his native Indonesia. He has more than 50 international publications in refereed journals, con-ferences and books. ¶ The Biology Department welcomes back Dr. Vernie G. Sagun. Vernie started part-time in 1998. Upon completion of his MS degree in Biodiversity and Natural Products from Universiteit Leiden in the Netherlands in 2002, he returned to the Ateneo briefly then left for the United States to pursue his

PhD in Plant Biology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. His area of specialization is Plant Systematics which deals with the identification, clas-sification, nomenclature, and evolution-ary relationships of plants. In his disserta-tion, he studied the pollen morphology and ultrastructure of Acalypha, molecular phylogenetics of Malesian Acalypha using DNA sequence data. He also produced a taxonomic revision of the Acalypha spe-cies in Malesia. The Malesian floristic re-

gion is a biodiversity hotspot which includes Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei Darussalam, Timor Leste, the Philippines and Papua New Guinea. Dr. Sagun considers it his significant achieve-ment to have been able to describe four species of Acalypha which are new to science. ¶ Mr. Crisanto M. Lopez has been an Instructor with the Biology Department since 2004. He has a MS degree in Food Science and Technology from Ecole Nationale Superieure des Industries Agricoles et Alimentaires in Montpellier, France. Cris served as Undergraduate Programs Coordinator and Faculty Moderator of the Biology student organization. This year he departs to pursue a PhD program in Infection Biology at the Jena School for Microbial Communication, Friedrich Schiller University of Jena, Germany. Cris is a recipient of a PhD scholarship under the German Excellence Initiative. Jena University boasts of an illustrious tradition of excellence as exemplified by Ernst Haeckel (evolutionary theo-rist), Gottlob Frege (mathematician and logician), Otto Binswanger (psychiatrist), and Rudolf Eucken (philosopher). ¶ Dr. Mariano A. Estoque is a locally and internationally renowned figure in the field of the Atmospheric Sciences. Most recently, he was recog-nized for his “Seminal and continuing contributions to the mod-eling of the atmospheric boundary layer and sea breezes” by the

American Meteorological Society at the 7th Conference on Coastal Atmospheric and Oceanic Prediction and Processes and the 7th Symposium on the Urban Environment held last September 2007 in San Diego, California. His professional ex-perience over many decades has seen him through various research positions and professorships in academic and re-

search institutions such as Johns Hopkins University, University of Chicago, McGill University, US Air Force Cambridge Research Center, University of Hawaii (Chair of Department of Meteorology and Oceanography), University of Miami, University of the Philippines, and now, the Ateneo de Manila University. During this time, he has also generously mentored many generations of atmo-spheric scientists. He is presently an Adjunct Professor with the Department of Physics. He continues to be active in research with the PAGASA and the Manila Observatory and is instructing the latest generation of atmospheric scientists under the new Masteral program in Atmospheric Science.

Fr. Daniel J. McNamara, SJ has always kept class-es (and graduating classes) riveted, not only with his booming voice, but more significantly with stories that highlight his ideas, demonstrations that dramatize concepts, and insights that invite reflection. He explains difficult concepts in phys-ics with clarity. He marries the ideas of physics with those of philosophy and theology.

Fr. Dan’s exemplary qualities go beyond the classroom. Through his many years as College Chaplain, he has guided many students and facul-ty members with his patient listening, wise words, and sincere generosity of heart, whether it was a problem of physics or of the heart.

Fr. Dan forms students and faculty in many different ways: by developing their competencies, helping them to find themselves, and by being a true example of a person whose life is fully dedi-cated to God.

During a simple celebration held on June 23, 2008 to mark Fr. Dan’s 69th birthday and his 50th year as a Jesuit, and to wish him well on his new assignment at the Ateneo de Davao, colleagues, friends, and fans came together to launch the Daniel McNamara S.J.

Endowment Fund. Held at the Escaler Hall of the Science

Education Center in the Loyola Heights campus, the celebration began with a mass, which was fol-lowed by a tribute led by Fr. Dan’s colleagues from the School of Science and Engineering and the Manila Observatory. The launch of the endow-ment fund capped the short program.

The endowment fund was conceptualized by the Loyola Schools as a lasting, practical way of honoring Fr. Dan. The fund will support the col-lege studies of a Physics student from the province with a target amount of Php 2.5 million to be raised by June 2009 in order to have a self-sup-porting resource. On the day of the launch, P.5 million was raised, an encouraging start indeed to help Fr. Dan continue his legacy of scholarship and service.

Those who wish to pledge or contribute to theDan-iel J. McNamara Endowment Fund may contact Ms. Jolly Morata of the Office of Admission and Aid at 4266001 local 5158 or <jmorata@ateneo.edu>.

Kardi Teknomo

Mariano Estoque

One misses home and family, and Filipino food and humor. Today, it is a good thing that SMS and email are around. Family are just a call or a text away. In 1999 one could only rely on snail mail. A treat back then would be an entire newspaper sent by my family. Now, I have the Philippine Daily Inquirer, Philippine Star, or Manila Bulletin on the Internet.

The Beijing Olympics and signs of Chinese nationalismIn less than two months, Olympics will be upon the city. I have not bought any tickets yet—blame the language again. The marathon will pass by my dorm though—and that I can probably catch. I could also watch the table tennis event in the cam-pus or any other event not popular among the Chinese. Definitely Opening and Closing cer-emonies tickets are difficult to get at this time, as well as tickets for popular games like soccer, basketball, and gymnastics. Baka boxing pa where

Filipinos may do well. Sepak takraw?Because of the recent earthquake last May 12

and the Olympics this coming August, Chinese nationalism is palpable in the city. T-shirts with “I Love China” designs are all over the place. The city is cleaner. I also observed that plastic bags in all stores are not provided automatically—you have to buy it if you have no bag to carry your purchased goods. They are thinking of banning smoking in many places. I was on a bus recently with my students when two sets of people had a heated argument over a seat. An old couple insist-ed that the seat was reserved for the elderly, but a middle-aged man said he and his wife got on the bus ahead of the other couple so the seat was for them. The argument went on and on so that the other people in the bus could not even carry on with their own conversations. Then suddenly, one of my male students told them to stop because there was a foreigner on the bus—referring to me of course—and they stopped. LSB

Close encounters in Beijing continued from page 10

Vernie Sagun

Crisanto Lopez

we remember ••• Jose Lorenzo A. Tan† (GS ’98, HS ’02, BSME ’06) passed away on June 30, 2008 at the age of 24. At the time of his death Lorenz was a graduate student and teaching assistant at the Philosophy Department. He is fondly remembered by his friends and by the Philosophy Department.

His friend, classmate, and former Philosophy graduate assistant Anjeline de Dios has this to share about Lorenz: “Lorenz was a wonderful listener, never judgmental or patronizing. He would use his wit to ask ridiculous questions whenever I shared my worries with him, always seeking to lighten my mood without being trite or dismissive about it. Often he succeeded. What always brought a smile to my face wasn’t just his droll responses but the way he listened to me—I felt total acceptance and sup-port from him, all the time. He made it easy for me to be my true self around him.”

Daniel McNamara SJ Endowment Fund launched

Fr. Dan McNamara feted by colleagues and friends.

Photos by Jolly Morata

V O L U M E I V N O 1 J U N E – J U L Y 2 0 0 8 15

Go blue!

The University Cheer RallyFeathered with prayers and ready to flock in the company of mentors and friends, the Eagles soar once more.

Photos by CK Chua, Ateneo Sports Shooters

Text by Migoy Lizada

By Jason Inocencio ¶ There is no doubt that after years of relative mediocrity, the Ateneo is once again seen as a powerhouse in the University Athletics Association of the Philippines (UAAP). Part of that success can be attributed to the con-tributions of Mr. Richard “Ricky” Palou.

A true-blue Atenean from grade school through college, Palou has firsthand experience in the glory of competing for the Blue and White. “In 1966, we won the NCAA Juniors title in basketball,” he proudly states. “We swept that season.” Three years later, he was on the Nilo Verona-coached Blue Eagle squad that won the basketball tour-nament in the NCAA Seniors division. “Francis Arnaiz, Chito Afable, Marte Samson, and Joy Cleofas were some of my teammates back then,” he recalls. As if the success in basketball wasn’t enough, Palou also won gold in track and field events like the high hurdles.

In his current position as Ateneo’s Director for University Athletics, Palou oversees the continued development of the university’s various sports. Although most only see the success of the Men’s Seniors Basketball team as the measuring stick, he is quick to point out that in 2008, athletes from different teams wearing the Blue and White are set to make waves in their respective disciplines.

“We can do very well in Men’s Basketball, there’s Women’s Swimming, Women’s Tennis, Men’s and Women’s Volleyball, Men’s Track and Field,” he notes. “In baseball, we’ll be a top four contender, and we’ll also be contending in Men’s Judo as well as Women’s Fencing. Ateneo is always

strong in Men’s Football, but last year, we did well in Women’s Football too.”

“We’ve gotten good coaches, stepped up our development and training programs, and im-proved our recruiting,” he declares matter-of-factly. He reiterates that the University Athletics Office prides itself in giving good training to our athletes, particularly by encouraging participation in tournaments both here and abroad. Through this experience and exposure, athletes get used to the pressure and magnitude of big-time competi-tion, something they’ll deal with everyday during the UAAP wars.

Not one to rest on his laurels, Palou mentions that improving certain facilities within the cam-pus are the next steps in this ongoing process. “We’re looking at establishing a Track and Field oval where our football field is, as well as improv-ing the football field itself,” he remarks. Although the Ateneo Football Field is used in various tour-naments, Ricky notes that it is still below inter-national standards. The same can be said for our baseball and softball facilities.

For recent visitors to the Loyola Heights campus, passing near the Communications Department will eventually lead one to the Loyola Schools Swimming Pool. Built with the help of Ateneo alumnus Mr. Cecilio K. Pedro, the LS Swimming Pool joins the Moro Lorenzo Sports Center as shining examples of the renewed thrust in Ateneo Athletics. By establishing better train-ing facilities and venues, it has thus been easier to recruit both coaches and athletes to come and

compete for the Ateneo. “It’s been good for the school because it proves that we aren’t just good academically, but athletically as well,” Palou says in response to a common bias against Ateneans.

Before our interview ended, Mr. Palou mentioned that when he first took over as Director of University Athletics, people con-gratulated him on the marked improvement of athletes in differ-ent Ateneo teams. However, he deflects that praise. “Credit should be given to Fr. Ben Nebres, who has been so supportive of our Athletics Program. I don’t think we could have accomplished any of this without Fr. Ben.” Still, it doesn’t hurt that a man familiar with Ateneo’s athletic past has become the capable caretaker of the school’s present and future.

athleticsThemasterplanRichard “Ricky”

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cribbled on the white board of the locker rooms of the Araneta Coliseum are formations on offense and defense, reminders about tendencies of opponents, and of course, the game plan. They are the products of meticulous planning; of long days and nights of video watching and scouting. For the eight UAAP teams that made their debut during opening weekend, they are variants on the same theme— triangle offenses, pressure defens-es, rebounds fueling their fastbreak, winning pos-session, but the ultimate goal is the same—get that first win.

Of course, that is easier said than done. One has to consider opening day jitters, rookies receiv-ing their baptism of fire, and perhaps a double-edged sword, playing La Salle.

Everyone’s gunning for the defending champs but pushovers they are not. They have been, after

athletics

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all, the top class of collegiate basketball for the better of two decades now. The Ateneo Blue Eagles, once atop that rare air for champions are now local bas-ketball’s equivalent of the New York Yankees. They get the blue chip recruits but win the championship is once every decade.

There’s the rub, but you know that the boys in blue aim to give it that old college try.

And how.Since 2001, the Ateneo Blue Eagles have re-

versed more than a decade of losing and mediocri-ty. If the Archers had their number previously, the Eagles, since the new millennium, have posted a winning record against their arch-rivals. If Ateneo once fell to the dreaded press, they were now tak-ing it to La Salle. Buoyed by the 2002 title, they have been spurred by confidence and shattered any myths of their foe’s alleged invincibility.

The two weeks between the Nike Summer League title and the first game of the UAAP sea-son saw a marked improvement in team chemis-try. As it has been postulated elsewhere, if they won a tournament without firing up all cylinders then how much more when chemistry becomes more than a subject in school?

The south gate of the Araneta Coliseum is the

private entrance of players, coaches, team officials, and members of the media. Three hours before the 4pm tip-off, the line at the gate was so long that one could have sworn that they were lining up for precious game tickets. There were approximately nine people ahead of Eric Salamat and team chap-lain Fr. Nemesio Que, SJ and it seemed to take forever for them to be granted entrance. Salamat remained calm and when asked by a well-wisher if the Blue Eagles were ready for the big game, he nodded and succinctly said, “We’re focused.”

Norman Black stood outside his team’s dug-out answering a few questions from sports scribes hoping to get the skinny on Ateneo’s game plan, their readiness, and the heralded rookies. He po-litely refused any interviews with his players and said he wanted his wards to be focused on the game at hand.

Focus. In the meantime, the four rookies—

Ryan Buenafe, Nico Salva, Justin Chua, and Vince Burke—were each battling nervousness and anxiety in their own way inside the locker room. They’ve played the Green Archers twice already—in the aforementioned Nike Summer League and the Fil Oil Pre-Season Tournament. Though every bit as hard fought, nothing could have prepared them for more than 20,000 people screaming their heads off to the beat of a battalion of bass drums. “I’ve got butterflies in my stom-ach,” confessed Burke, gulping.

“I feel the same,” agreed Salva who also pro-fessed to being excited. “You watch it on television but it’s different when you actually experience it.

Now you have to deal with it.” Why not? Championships are nice but there’s

this analogy about how making it in New York means that you can make it anywhere. Vince Burke, old blue eyes himself, agreed and said, “They say if you can handle the pressure of a game against La Salle, that means you can handle anybody.”

Cut to the game. Only the referees pretty much dictated the action by whistling for fouls like they were going out of style. A totals of 64 fouls were eventually called (including three technicals) for a collective 16 fouls by both teams per quarter. It’s actually a wonder that Jobe Nkemakolam was the lone casualty due to five fouls. It’s an even bigger absurdity when you think that Ateneo was awarded two free throws even before the jump ball because the La Salle coaching staff failed to wear their proper IDs. And of comedic propor-tions when in an unfortunate episode that evened things out, Coach Black was whistled for a tech-nical for alleged vociferous complaining between the end of the third quarter and the start of the fourth quarter. The truth is, he was calling out rather animatedly to Buenafe for not being in the right place to deny an inbounds pass.

Incidentally, all three referees who worked the much-ballyhooed return bout have all been suspended for a game for failing to control the match. That’s actually funny because they did

control it with their whistles too much. “Let the boys play,” yelled a special courtside spectator in blue to deaf ears.

There were four huge ovations that day. The first one was for Manny Pacquiao who slipped in and admitted to rooting for Ateneo. The second was for visiting NBA star Gilbert Arenas who also paid a visit to both teams’ locker rooms prior to their taking the court. And the third was during the introduction of Blue Eagle captain Chris Tiu.

Tiu has been the focal point of the team’s of-fense since last campaign and the budding celebri-ty heartthrob has delivered mightily in the clutch. Not since LA Tenorio was in his dress blues has the Hail Mary Squad had a player who could knock down buzzer-beating game winners.

He started out the game with two free throws and ended them with the same. He scored a game high 26 points in addition to hauling down 7 re-bounds and dishing off 2 assists. With Ateneo’s big men in foul trouble, he held the Archers at bay by going 17-19 at the stripe and hitting three field goals.

And come crunch time with the game dead-locked between the two teams, he turned it over to Salamat, Buenafe, and center Rabeh Al-Husseini for some huge contributions on offense. On defense, Nonoy Baclao and Yuri Escueta put the clamps on La Salle’s frontline and backcourt respectively. The game featured 15 deadlocked and 12 lead changes. It had all the elements of an Ateneo-La Salle game.

Oh, that fourth ovation? It was for Ateneo’s 79-73 win. Yes, they got that first win of the season. LSB

Photos by Nono

Felipe of the

Ateneo Sports

Shooters. For more

Ateneo sports photos, log on to

<www.fabilioh.com>, home of the Ateneo

Sports Shooters.

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