Two fishermen from Puerto Princesa City in Palawan have been chosen as the first recipients of the World Wildlife Fund’s Heroes of the Environment award.

Henry Barlas and Paquito Abia, two fishermen from barangay Maruyogon in Puerto Princesa, were honored for successfully rescuing a trapped dugong early this month. The dugong was named “Enero” and was released.

WWF-Philippines Chairman Vincent S. Pérez, Jr. said the two were awarded plaques during a simple ceremony held at the Puerto Princesa Baywalk on January 18.

“These acts should be made public, for all to emulate. Henry Barlas and Paquito Abia showed everyone what our people are capable of. It is WWF’s privilege to tell the nation – and the world – of their heroism,” he said during the ceremony.

He said subsequent awards will be given by WWF to deserving individuals who do heroic acts to preserve the environment. Abs-CbnNews.com

A Filipino professor has received the 2008 Rolex Award for Enterprise for developing a new technology that transforms the waste from rice production into clean, affordable cooking fuel.

Alexis Belonio, associate professor of Agricultural Engineering at the Central Philippine University in Iloilo City, was one of the five Associate Laureates named by Rolex and presented with $50,000. He also received a Rolex chronometer.

He developed a low-cost stove powered by rice husks aimed at reducing fuel costs and minimizing greenhouse gas emissions.

In the 48-year-old inventor’s design, a stream of oxygen converts the burning rice husk fuel to a combustible blend of hydrogen, carbon monoxide and methane gases, yielding a hot, blue flame similar to that produced by burning natural gas.

Started in 1976, the Rolex Awards for Enterprise have supported pioneering work in science and medicine, technology and innovation, exploration and discovery, the environment and cultural heritage.

“I will spend the Rolex Award money on promoting and sharing the technology with others for free, as widely as I can. I will focus on disseminating it throughout the world. I will produce more publications to show people how to do it,” Belonio said in an interview.

According to reports, Belonio’s early stoves, made in the Philippines, sold at $100 each and were too expensive for poor families. However, further research and development conducted in Indonesia significantly reduced the retail price of the stove to only $25.

“This was achieved by simplifying the design of the stove in terms of operation, materials and fabrication. Thousands of cookers are now being manufactured by companies cooperating with Belonio in the Philippines, Indonesia and Cambodia,” reports said.

By exploiting a freely available waste product at a time of soaring energy prices, the stoves can save a family of rice farmers about $150 a year in fuel bills, a huge benefit for families that live on $2 or $3 a day, Belonio said.

He said a ton of rice husks contains the same energy as 415 liters of petrol or 378 liters of kerosene.

Belonio said his stoves reduce greenhouse gas emissions and eliminate toxic fumes inside houses.

“Even the char left after burning can be recycled to improve farm soils or to form bio-coal briquettes,” he said. Philstar.com

Finance Secretary Margarito Teves has been honored by the London-based monthly magazine The Banker has named as The Best Finance Minister for Asia in 2008.

The publication cited the efforts of Mr. Teves in handling the negative impact of the global crisis on the Philippines, and rose to the challenge of handling the impact of the global economic turmoil on the country.

“It has been a tumultuous 12 months for the majority of the world’s finance ministers, with the impact of the credit crisis affecting almost every country to some extent. Here The Banker salutes those that have risen to the challenges posed by this financial turmoil,” The Banker said.

The Banker said the decision was the outcome of discussions among editors and staff of the magazine, and a survey of views among bankers and economists.

“In particular, survey respondents mentioned that, thanks to progressive improvements in revenue collection, lower public debt levels and more stable finances at the state-owned enterprises, the Philippines has entered the current global credit crunch in a much less vulnerable position than during past financial crises,” Philip Alexander, The Banker’s Finance editor said.

The Banker also noted Teves’ efforts to reduce the Philippine economy’s vulnerability to the crisis.

These include deferring the balanced budget goal to have more funds to spend and putting in place measures to boost tax collections and to widen the tax base.

Teves, for his part, said more needs to be done.

“If we have support from Congress, we can rationalize taxes and revenue incentives and use the savings to invest more in infrastructure,” he said.

The Banker is the premier monthly magazine on global finance since 1926, and part of the Financial Times group of publications. The finance minister awards are now in their eighth year.

Teves assumed the Finance post in 2005. Prior to this, he was president and chief executive officer of the Land Bank of the Philippines since September 2000.

He also served as Congressional representative of the 3rd District of Negros Oriental in 1987. He took up Bachelor of Arts at the Universidad Central de Madrid, Spain in 1961. He earned his diploma in Higher Education Diploma in Business Studies in 1965 at the City of London College in England. In 1968, he finished his master’s degree in Development Economics from Williams College, Massachusetts, USA. GoodNewsPilipinas.com

MANILA, Philippines – Luisa Kristabel “Abbey” Manliclic won’t watch the inauguration of President-elect Barack Obama on television. Unlike most of her peers, she has the rare chance to see the swearing-in of the first Black-American president right in the US capital.

Abbey, a Filipino exchange student in Arizona, is one of the lucky Filipinos invited to Washington when Obama takes his oath from Chief Justice John Roberts on the steps of the Capitol on January 20.

“I feel great, it’s like a chance of a lifetime,” Abbey said in an interview with GMANews.TV. “He’s the first Black-American president so the event would be nothing short of great.”

The 17-year-old Youth for Understanding scholar was chosen for being an exemplary student at the Mohave High School in Bullhead city in Arizona. Abbey’s father, Abel, a Manila-based businessman, said he feels proud of her daughter’s accomplishments.

But like any excited parent, Abel gave a few instructions to his daughter before she meets with the president.

“I told her it might be impossible to take a picture with her and Obama, “Abel told GMANews.TV, “So she should take a picture with his wife, Michelle instead.”

But Abbey has a plan of her own. In case she bumps into the president, the straight-A student wants to ask a few questions from the world’s most powerful man.

“I want to ask him how he would deal with the economy and the war,” she said.

Aside from Abbey, two more students from the Philippines have reserved slots for the historic oath-taking in Washington.

College freshmen Paul Michael Thomas Cruz and Anna Marie Liwanag have been invited to the inauguration of America’s 44th president later this month.

The two were selected for the honor by the University Presidential Inaugural Conference (UPIC) for their exemplary performance during the Global Young Leaders Conference (GYLC) in Washington and New York in 2007 while they were still high school seniors at Reedley International School in Manila’s suburb of Pasig.

However, the travel expenses amounting to $4,000 or about P200,000 each will not be paid for by the conference that granted them the invitation.

“Right now I’m raising funds. I’m writing letters to different people and trying to look for sponsors,” said Liwanag. GMANews.tv

MANILA, Philippines—A correspondent for Manila’s Business Mirror became the first Filipino journalist to receive the prestigious United Nations Correspondents Association (UNCA) Award for excellence in reporting on humanitarian and development affairs, the Philippine Mission to the United Nations said.

Correspondent Imelda Visaya Abano received the gold medal and US$5,000 cash prize in the 13th UNCA Awards sponsored by the UN Foundation. She was represented during the UNCA Awards Dinner at the UN Headquarters in New York by Publisher Antonio Cabangon who received her medal and cash prize from UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.

Abano was cited for her article which judges described as “well-written, well-researched, and comprehensive report on an incomprehensible country, by someone from a country where misery is fairly ubiquitous but nowhere near as desperate.”

In her article “Inside Haiti: Hunger and Hatred in an Unhealed Land” appeared in the June 19, 2008 issue of Business Mirror, Abano courageously reported on what is happening inside Haiti’s devastating consequences of poverty and rising food prices, human rights conditions, political turmoil, and a declining economy and health system.

Abano said as a Filipino journalist on duty visiting Haiti, one of the world’s poorest country, never before have she seen such deprivation and suffering. Under the Media21 Global Journalism Network Geneva Fellowship in June 2008, Abano visited Haiti while kidnappings especially of foreigners were common.

“I have seen how people suffer in the Philippines and in other countries. But deprivation and suffering of people in Haiti is unimaginable,” she said.

Organized by the UNCA, the awards were presented in three categories. Abano, also the 2002 Asian winner of the Global Awards on Environmental Reporting organized by Reuters and International Union for Conservation of Nature, shared the gold medal award for UN Foundation Humanitarian and Development Affairs Reporting with Juan Carlos Machorro of the Mi Ambiente from Mexico.

The Ricardo Ortega Memorial Prize for broadcast journalism was awarded to joint winners Jugoslav Cosic of 892 Radio from Serbia and Marie Lora of Agence France Press TV from Kenya.

The UNCA was founded in 1948 as a press club at the United Nations. The UNCA Annual Awards were established in 1995, as a global competition. Inquirer.net

MANILA, Philippines — A Filipina was honored as among the top 100 people influencing the Chinese hotel industry, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said Wednesday.

The DFA said Rafaela “Apples” Chen, general manager of the International Hoteliers and Associates, was one of five non-Chinese in the “Top 100 People Influencing the Chinese Hotel Industry.”

Chen was among the awardees feted in ceremonies in Beijing last Dec. 3 to commemorate the 30 years of reform and opening Up of the Chinese hotel industry.

According to the DFA website (www.dfa.gov.ph), the award was given to people who have contributed “in a large way” to the success of the hotel industry in China. – GMANews.TV

MANILA, Philippines—It’s still a long way away from the Philippines’ first Nobel Prize, but for these whiz kids, it may well be a good first baby step.

Six students from Philippine Science High School (PSHS) won six medals at a prestigious science tournament in South Korea early this month, proving that Filipinos can go toe-to-toe with the best in Physics, Chemistry and Biology.

The seniors and juniors from the state-run PSHS brought home three silver and three bronze medals from the 5th International Junior Science Olympiad (IJSO) in Changwon City on Dec. 6-15.

First started in 2004, the Olympiad drew some 250 science wizards aged 15 or younger from more than 40 countries.

“I felt so proud. We never expected to do so well considering that we had less than a month to prepare,” said Benjamin Francis Rodriguez Jr., a junior who had the highest marks among the Philippine delegates.

“It just goes to show that Filipinos can compete with other countries” in the natural sciences, Rodriguez told the Philippine Daily Inquirer.

Jan Tristram Acuña and William Tan, both seniors, also won silver medals, while the bronze medalists were Guia Publico, Cara Evangelista and Ralph Ugalino.

Acuña said the examination proper had three parts: A 30-item multiple choice, a theoretical exam with three questions, one each for physics, chemistry and biology, and group experiment on each subject.

“Before the exam, we were always in a huddle, reviewing and asking each other questions that may be asked in the exam,” he said.

“On the whole, the Asians, including us, were more reserved and silent. The Europeans were the party people types,” Acuña said.

Cramming sessions

He said the group felt a bit disadvantaged upon learning that some of the other nationals, especially the Taiwanese, spent several months preparing, compared to their own “cramming” sessions.

“We didn’t have much time to prepare for the contest due to school activities and lessons but while we were there we studied every night before the contest proper,” Tan said.

He said winning silver was “quite unexpected.”

Helen Caintic, the PSHS executive director who accompanied the students, said: “This is a proud moment for all Filipinos. Once again, we have shown what Filipinos are made of.”

Acuña said winning a silver medal meant that a competitor fell within the top 20 percent of the contestant pool and a bronze within the top 30 percent. A gold medalist, on the other hand, was among the top 10 percent.

6 points away from gold

Only Korea and Taiwan won gold medals for each of their six delegates, according to a Taiwanese news website. Thailand, like the Philippines, won six medals—two golds and four silvers, a Thai news website reported.

Acuña said the Philippines “almost got a gold,” with Rodriguez and him just six points away from the cutoff. He added that Rodriguez was ahead of him by 0.5 point.

He said the test questions tended to favor the host countries, which typically patterned the exam according to their own curriculums.

“It appeared that the questionnaire, as in previous competitions, was biased in favor of the hosting countries,” Acuña said.

For instance, Indonesia won top honors in the two years it hosted the event, as did Taiwan and Korea.

According to the IJSO website, the Philippines won only two silvers and a bronze in the previous Olympiad.

Rodriguez said this year’s competition made him realize that Filipinos can compete with other nationals in science and mathematics despite the dismal state of education here.

“It can really be done,” said the 15-year-old, who wants to take up medicine at the University of the Philippines when he graduates next year.

Doing well in competitions

Tan said the Philippines had actually been doing well in scholastic competitions.

“Among science high schools, the curriculum in the Philippines is advanced compared to other countries, while among ordinary schools, we are not lagging behind other countries in terms of what they are studying,” he said.

Tan said he drew this conclusion after the competition proper. “The other delegates asked us how we dealt with the exam. Through that we were able to see what they knew and what they didn’t,” he said.

But Acuña thought differently. “With other developing nations, we can compete. But with advanced countries like China, I think we’re one or two years behind.”

Acuña and Tan said they wanted to pursue a degree in physics from the University of the Philippines. Both said they would not mind the less than lucrative jobs that might await them when they finished school.

“Physics is really my passion … In my spare time, I try to solve complicated physics problems,” Acuña said. “My friends find it weird.”

Meager funding

But he said most other Filipino students wanting to specialize in the natural sciences lacked incentive to do so because of little government support and meager funding.

Rodriguez said there were actually many good Filipino scientists, but excellent science research required proper facilities, like laboratories.

Which begged the question: Is a Filipino winning a Nobel Prize for medicine, physics or chemistry an impossible dream at this point?

Acuña replied: “It’s not impossible but it’s going to be very tough … We still have a long way to go before we can catch up with the developed countries.”

Added Tan: “I’m not saying it’s impossible to win a Nobel Prize with the way things are going, but it is going to be difficult.”

But Rodriguez was far more optimistic: “I really think we can make it. All it’s going to take is support from government and a lot of hard work.” Inquirer.net

MANILA, Philippines – Thea Minor, a Fil-Am tennis player, had an early holiday celebration when she won three championship titles and three runner-up crowns in three separate junior tennis tournaments in New Zealand.

Minor, who was born and raised in Saipan in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI), competed for the second straight year as a member of the International Tennis Federation (ITF) Pacific Oceania Touring Team.

She was joined by fellow CNMI junior netters Rafael Jones and Christian Miller, and Pacific Oceania teammate Tarani Kamoe of Fiji.

Minor teamed up with Kamoe in the girls’ 14-and-under doubles to win three titles while also claiming second place honors in three singles events.

She began her New Zealand stint in the Coca-Cola Waikato Junior Open in Hamilton where she celebrated her 13th birthday last December 11 wining the 14-and-under doubles title with Kamoe.

The Minor-Kamoe tandem defeated Fiji’s Annie Shannon and hometown bet Toni Katipa in the girls’ 14-and-under doubles finals, 6-3, 6-1. Minor and Kamoe also entered the 16-and-under doubles finals but lost to the second seed pair of Kerry Hampton and Ellie Verran of New Zealand.

Minor, however, was not that lucky in the singles event where she lost in the quarterfinals of the 14- and 16-and-under divisions.

The Pacific Oceania Touring Team then headed to Gisborne, northeast of New Zealand’s capital of Wellington, for the second tournament which is the Poverty Bay East Coast Ray White Junior Championship where Minor once again teamed up with Kamoe to claim the 14-and-under doubles title.

Minor, however, was unlucky anew in the singles event, losing to Kamoe in the 14-and-under finals and in the consolation draw of the 16-and-under division.

She then capped her impressive stint in New Zealand with another doubles crown and a runner-up finish in the Auckland Christmas Tournament.

Her tested partnership with Kamoe earned the Pacific Oceania team a third doubles crown at the Scarbro Tennis Centre in Nicholson Park. Minor and Kamoe were unseeded in the tournament but scored a 6-1, 6-1 upset of the No.2 ranked pair of Georgina and Kirsty Hayr of Auckland.

Minor remained unlucky in the singles event suffering a 6-0, 6-0 defeat at the hands of top seed Louise Oxnevad of Queensland.

Aside from receiving certificates and medals, she also received a cash prize from Poverty Bay and Auckland tournaments..

The three tournaments attracted the best and upcoming junior players in the Pacific Oceania region, Australia and New Zealand where close to 600 participated.

Minor returns to Saipan to join her parents, Boyet and Joy, and sister Theecel for the Christmas holiday. Her father Boyet works as a civil engineer in an architectural firm since arriving in Saipan in the early 90s. GMANews.TV

MANILA, Philippines – An overseas Filipino teacher has been inducted into one of the most prestigious international awards in the field of adult and continuing education.

Mumbai-based Maria Lourdes Almazan Khan was inducted into the International Adult and Continuing Education Hall of Fame last December 4 in Budapest, Hungary, becoming the first and only Filipino to be given the honor since it was established in 1995.

According to the Hall of Fames’ website, election into it “acknowledges that these men and women have made distinguished contributions to the field of adult and continuing education.”

Khan is the secretary-general of the Mumbai-based Asian South Pacific Bureau of Adult Education, which she transformed into an important adult education and civil society network in the Asia Pacific region.

The organization is apparently recognized regionally and internationally for its promotion of education work in general, and adult and continuing education work in particular.

Khan has reportedly also been a strong advocate for adult and continuing education by urging governments and private individuals to commit to providing education for all most specifically to the disadvantaged and marginalized.

Khan took her undergraduate studies at the University of the Philippines and her Masters in Rural Development at the University of East Anglia in Norwich in 1990.

She currently lives in Mumbai, India with her husband, Azeez Khan, the principal secretary (Industries) of the Indian state of Maharashtra. GMANews.tv