IBLAW Field Study Trip 2020
YNU×Ferris University×Wako University
2020/02/19－2020/03/01

Department of International and Business Law
Graduate School of International Social Sciences

Table of Contents
I.

Introduction……………………………………………………………………..2

II.

List of Participants…...……..…………………………………………………3

III.

Messages from Professors……...………………………………………..……5IV.

Detailed Itinerary………………..……..……………………………………..11

V.

Group Reports of Participants…………...….………………....................15i.

PCCI (The Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry)....…….15

ii.

Maligaya House……………………………………………………………….18

iii.

Salt Payatas Philippines.......……………………………………………...22

iv.

DOLE (The DEPARTMENT OF LABOR AND EMPLOYMENT)
DOLE NCR (National Capital Region)……………………………………25v.

IFUGAO………………………………………………………………………..27vi.

DTI, Industry Development and Trade Policy Group………………….33

vii.

DTI, The Competitiveness and Innovation Group……………………..36

viii.

TESDA（Technical Education and Skill Development Authority）..39

ix.

DAWN…………………………………………………………………………..42x.

TMI Associates Contact in the Philippines………………………………45

xi.

University of the Philippines Joint Session……………………………..49

xii.

Japan External Trade Organization,xiii.

ADB (Asian Development Bank)…………………………………………..56

xiv.

Meeting with Congressman, Strike Revilla……………………………..59

xv.

Ateneo de Manila University……………………………………………….63

xvi.

Ministry of Justice……………………………………………………………66

xvii.

University of Santo Tomas Joint session…………………………………69

xviii.

Appointments with Attorney……………………………………………….73

xix.

Malanday, Marikina………………………………………………………….75

VI.

Messages from Students…………...………….………............................77VII.

Photo Essays….………………………………….......................................90
1

JETRO, Manila Office……….51

Ⅰ. Introduction
We stayed in the Philippines from 19th February 2020 to 1st March 2020.
This group consists of six graduate students, six undergraduate st udents, and fiveprofessors. The members are from Yokohama National University, Ferris University
and Wako University. The study trip has achieved fruitful results for the students’research since its start in 2005. Since 2018, students and professors from otheruniversities have joined, making the program more diverse.
In addition, University of Santo Tomas and University of the Philippines,
both of which have partnerships with YNU, have provided generous supporters andwe have obtained very valuable experiences. Let us take this opportunity to express
our deep appreciation of the relationships.

2

Ⅱ. List of ParticipantsStudents
Name

Sex

Discipline

Grade

Nationality

1

Nakamura Kota

M

Economics

B2

Japanese

2

Horiuchi Kaito

M

Urban Science

B3

Japanese3

Asano ErinaF

Development Studies

M1

Japanese4

Kawamura Kenta

M

International Business Law

M1

Japanese5

Wei LantianF

Private international Law

M1

Chinese6

Ung Huykong

F

Contract Law

M1

Cambodian7

Xu Wentian

M

Development studies

M1

Chinese

8

Zhang Zhaojing

F

International Business Law

M1

Chinese9

Tsuruoka Nozomi

F

Global and

B1

Japanese

Intercultural Studies
10

Mimura HinaF

Literature

B3

Japanese

11

Ito Reia

F

Literature

B4

Japanese

12

Asano Emiri

F

Representational Studies

B3

Japanese3

Faculty Members
Name

Sex

Occupation1

Kabashima Hiromi

F

Professor

2

Kobayashi Takaaki

M

Associate Professor

3

Yonemura Koutaro

M

Associate Professor

4

Ogaya Chiho

F

Professor

5

Suginohara Masako

F

Associate Professor

4Ⅲ. Messages from Professors
Congratulations

onagreat success of the field study
trip in the Philippines 2020! I am
truly thankful to everyone whoare committed to it. Especially, it
is surely impossible to implement
the trip without our partner
universities, University of Santo
Tomas

and

UniversityofPhilippines Diliman. I have no idea how to appreciate those faculty and staff.
Professor Tommy Tiu has been involved in the exchange program between
University of Santo Tomas and Yokohama National University over 10 years. He
kindly not only accompanies our students who visit local institutes in thePhilippines but also supports them to make arrangements for meetings in advance.
Lots of advice he gives them with his smile are always helpful and jokes he cracks
have made them happy.
Professor Amparo Adelina Umali, III, called Jina-sensei, is anotherimportant figure. She sets up fruitful joint workshops stimulating students andgives them a great insight, every time we dispatch them. While it owes a long term
friendship between her and Professor Chiho Ogaya of Ferris University, she hascherished and encouraged our students and faculty. It was a pity that I had nochance to see her this time.
And last but not the least, I want to thank my colleague, Chiho Ogaya,
Masako Suginohara, Kotaro Yonemura and Takaaki Kobayashi. Without theircontinued support, students would never become high achievers. Thank you,everyone. Cheers!

Hiromi Kabashima
Yokohama National University5This year’s trip was
the most memorable one in asense because of COVID19.
When we left Japan,
we did not so much worry
about

the

possibility

wewould be affected by thisnotorious virus because it
was Japan that was the one of
the most affected countries in the world at that time. On the other hand,Philippine control the situation successfully at that time.

Because of that,it might be said, our delegation was kind of “risk factor” for them. As a matterof course, we had to face hard time especially in the rural area.

Even in thehard situation, our students did not upset at all and rather they got to copewith an accident appropriately.
mature.

I am proud that our students are really

It should be noted, however, we could safely back to Japan becauseof the support and effort by my partner of University of Santo Tomas team.
They were with us even in the hardest time.

On behalf of the delegation, I

would like to express my special thanks to Dr. Tommy S. Tiu, Ms. Jannet
Maloles, Ms. Susan Reluao, Mr. Anthony Bravo, and Mr. Prince Medina.

Takaaki Kobayashi
Yokohama National University

From Feb. 22th to 25th, we have been staying in Ifugao. Ifugao is far
from Manila. It takes more than 12 hours by bus. Besides, according to someguidebooks and advice, we have to walk through mud around the Banaue
Rice Terraces. So, it was physically hard, at least for some students. We hadalready expected these things. However, our visit also became hard in an
unexpected way.
6

Unfortunately, it was when COVID-19 had started spreading in Japanthat our students embarked on this study trip. The internet and TV news
repeatedly reported on Japan's epidemic, about the cruise ship berthed in
Yokohama. Therefore, though we could not fully realize, people had some reasonable
concern about tourists from Yokohama.
Consequently, we got several cancellations of appointments due to theepidemic at the last minute. Students had to change their initial plan there. To be
sure, I have no intention to blame anyone at all. As I said, it was an entirely
reasonable and justifiable reaction in such a circumstance.
However, our students found a way to deal with this difficult situation very wellwithout our help. They never say, "Teachers, what should we do then?" Every time
the situation changes, they had a student-meeting and sought what they could do.
And as a result, they grew up to one-team within a few days. The same as in thepast trip, each student has different research interests. They also are diverse inage, nationality, ethnicity, and personality. Such diverse students were tacklingwith difficulty cooperatively. That was one of the most impressive things for me
during this trip.
I was also much moved by tremendous support from the professors andformer-students from UST Graduate School. Despite the problematic situation
mentioned above, Prof. Tiu did the best to rearrange our schedule. The UST
members stayed with us, talked
with us, laughed with us as ever.
I

genuinely

appreciateadmiretheirandunchanging

friendship.

Kotaro Yonemura
Yokohama National University

7

Congratulations to all theparticipants of the 3 rd YNU-Ferris
joint

study

tour

to

the

Philippines! I do appreciate all of
your efforts and generosity formaking this tour successful. I
understand your experiences areboth “sweet and bitter” during thewhole period-- before, during andeven after the tour. I know it isquite tough thing to organize the different interests and concerns of different
people/students from different backgrounds, even from different universities.
However, each of you contributed to the program in your own w ays, then great
leadership and team work flourished during the tour, and all of you have gained
precious friendship in the end. What you have all done for this tour and what you
have learned through this program would be irreplaceable.
As a former faculty of YNU, I personally want to thank Prof. Kabashima
and Prof. Kobayashi to maintain this inter-university collaboration. Without yourcontinuous efforts, Ferris students couldn’t have the privilege to join this tour. Prof.
Yonemura always stayed beside of the students and took care of them especiallywhen they had hard time in Ifugao. Any words of appreciations are not enough forthe all of the support from Prof. Tiu and his kind and generous staffs and graduate
students of UST. Maraming salamt po. Salamat din po my friends at UP-CIS,
especially Dr. Jina Umali. I also have to thank Prof. Suginohara, whom I “violently”
invited to this program 3 years ago. Now she looks more and more interested in thePhilippine economy and politics, so my feeling of “guilty” are mostly disappearing
though.
As a scholar who has been studying about the Philippine society, I hope thistour becomes a gateway for all the students’ further study and career. I wish all ofyou including our student leader, Erina Asano, who studies both at Ferris and YNU,
8

could be a great example to show how this inter-uni collaboration could be
developed to produce talented leaders and promising researchers with cool head,warm heart, and global perspective, for the next generation.
Maraming salamt po sa inyong lahat!

Chiho Ogaya
Ferris University

I first visited the Philippines in 2018,
joining the study trip organized by Yokohama
National University. For a researcher of
economic policies in advanced economies, theexperience in a developing country was truly
eye-opening. I was lucky that I did not justvisit famous tourist sites but could see a lot of
people in my first visit to the Philippines,
such as professors and students atuniversities, government officials, NGO staff
members, and less affluent “ordinary” people.
(In fact, I have never visited tourist spots in
Manila ever since!)
I am very glad that students had the chance to experience somethingsimilar again this year. Even in a short trip, participants could feel the paradox of
the Philippines: the great economic gap, ranging from super luxury residential
areas and gorgeous shopping malls to crowded houses in less well -offneighborhoods seemingly vulnerable to natural disasters and other kinds ofexternal shocks. The strengths and weaknesses of the country could also be
observed: warm, friendly and tremendously kind people, on the one hand, andweak (but improving) infrastructure, on the other. Looking out of the window froma Grab car, I could not help thinking if there was a more effective way for thePhilippine government and the global society to deliver a safer life for the people
9who deserve it.
At the same time, there are things we cannot easily feel during a shortstay. The structure of the society, economy, and politics, all of which are deep rooted in the history, cannot be just felt. To get an answer to the question ofrealizing a better world, we also need to know these things by studying hard.
Thinking about economic development by reading books is important, but knowing
the people on the field is also important. I hope the stud y tour provides anopportunity for all participants, including myself, to find a right balance between
the two.
Finally, I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to the people whosekindest support made this wonderful trip possible: Professor Tiu and the membersof University of Santo Tomas, and Professor Umali (Jina sensei) and hercolleagues at University of the Philippines Diliman. Thank you very much!

Masako Suginohara
Ferris University

10

Ⅳ. Detailed Itinerary
TIME

ACTIVITY (ADRESS)REMARKS

February 19 (Wednesday)
9:35amDepature flight from Haneda

via NH869

1:05pmDepature flight from Narita

via 5J5055

1:35pmArival at NAIA Airport, Manila from Haneda

3:00pm5:20pm
6:50pmCheck in at Hotel in Manila (The Chater House) fromHanedaArival at NAIA Airport, Manila from Narita
Check in at Hotel in Manila (The Chater House) from
NaritaFebruary 20 (Thursday)

8:45amLeave the Hotel
1. PCCI(3F Commerce and Industry Plaza 1030 Campus Ave.

10:00am-cor. Park Ave. McKinley Town Center,Fort Bonifacio

12:00pm

Taguig City, Philippines)

Split into

2. Maligaya House (10-26 Cabezas St., Project 4,

2 groups

Quezon City, 1800 Metro Manila, Philippines)
Payatas1:30-5:00pm(Block 16 Lot 34-45 Phase 1D, Kasiglahan Village
Barangay San Jose, Rodriguez, Rizal, Philippines)
February 21 (Friday)

8:00amLeave the Hotel

10:00am-

DOLE

11:00am(6flr BF Condominium Solana St Instamuros Manila)

1:30pm-DOLE NCR on SPES

2:30pm(967 Maligaya Malate 1004 Metro Manila)

11February 22 (Saturday)
5:00amCheck out at Hotel in Manila
Moving to Ifugao

5:00pmCheck in at Hotel in Ifugao (Banaue Hotel)

7:00pmBatad village
February 23 (Monday)

9:30amLeave the Hotel

10:00am-

1. Politan & bangaan village

Split into 2

12:00pm

2. Intereview in the market

groups

1:30pm5:00pm

Watching rice teraces
February 24 (Tuesday)

9:30am
10:00am12:00pm
3:00pmLeave the Hotel
Watching rice teraces
Check out at Hotel in Ifugao
Moving to Manila
February 25 (Wednesday)

5:00amCheck in at Hotel in Manila (The Chater House)
Free Day
February 26 (Thursday)

8:00am
9:30am12:00pm

Leave the Hotel
1-1. TESDA(TESDA Board Room 7flr Administration Bldg
TESDA Complex Taguig City)
1-2. TESDA Woman Center(Same as above)

12

Split into 2
groups2. BOI
10:00am-(Industry and Investiments Building, 385

11:00amSen. Gil J. Puyat Ave, Makati, 1200 Metro
Manila, Philippines)
1. DAWN

2:00pm-(Bocobo Commercial Center, J. Bocobo St.

4:00pmcorner Padre Faura St., Maynila, 1000
Kalakhang Maynila, Philippines)
2. DTI

2:00pm3:30pm(Industry & Investiments Building, Office of

Split into 3 groups

the Trade and Indusrty Secretary, Sen. Gil
Puyat Avenue, Makati, 1200 Metro Manila,
Philippines)

3:30pm4:30pm

3. Meeting with Congressman( Diliman, Quezon City, Quezon City, Metro
Manila, Philippines)
February 27 (Monday)

8:00am9:00am11:00am
2:30pm9:00pm

Leave the Hotel
TMI (PJS LAW in Makati, Manilla)UP

Presentation(Roxas Ave, Diliman, Quezon City, Metro
Manila, Philipines)
February 28 (Tuesday)
Leave the Hotel

10:00am11:00am

1. JETRO(44/F, Philamlife Tower, 8767 Paseo de Roxas
1226, Philippines)

13

Split into 2 groups

2. Department of Justice(Padre Faura Street Ermita, Manila 1000
Republic of the Philippines)
1:00pm-

1. ADB (6 ADB Avenue, Mandaluyong City

4:00pm

1550, Metro Manila, Philippines)

2:00pm2:30pm
4:00pm5:00pm

6:00pm9:00pm

2-1. Meeting with Lawyer

Split into 2 groups

2-2. Ateneo School of Law( No. 20 Rockwell Drive , APS Building,
Rockwell Center, Makati, 1200, Philippines)
UST Presentation(Espana Blvd, Sampaloc, Manila, 1008 Metro
Manira, Philippines)
February 29 (Wednesday)

10:00am
11:00am4:00pm
2:00pm4:00pm
6:30pm9:30pm

Leave the Hotel
Marikina & Local Tour

Meeting with Lawyer Lu
With UST and

Farewell Party

contact person

March 1 (Thursday)
11:00amCheck out at Hotel in Manila

2:50pm

Departure flight from NAIA airport, Manila

8:00pmArival at Haneda/Narita airport, Japan14

via NH870/5J5056

V. Group Reports of Participants
PCCI (The Philippine Chamber of Commerceand Industry)
Date: 19 th February 2020, 1:00pm~2:00pm

1). ABOUT PCCIThe

Philippine

ChamberofCommerce and Industry (PCCI) is thebiggestchamberofPhilippine

companies. PCCI is a non-stock, nonprofit,

non-government

businessorganization of small, medium, andlarge enterprises, local chambers andindustry

associations

varioussectorsofrepresenting
business,allworking together to foster a healthierPhilippine economy and improve theviabilityofthebusinessinthecommunity.
PCCI is the result of a merger
on July 1, 1978, of Chamber ofCommerce of the Philippines, established on July 19, 1903, and the Philippine
Chamber of Industry, established on March 4, 1950.

PCCI is recognized as the“sole official representative and voice of the entire private business community” byvirtue of Letter of Instruction No. 780.

2) The meeting summary
On 20th February, our group visited PCCI, and our purpose is to get more
information about the law policy for international companies, especially Chinese
15

companies.
To sum up, the information I got into two parts. The first part is about
investment. As a foreign company, the first step to enter the Filipino market is aninvestment. From former research, I knew for international investment, 1987 and1982 international investment law is the most important law. And for international
investment, it has a strict line. For example, for infrastructure, the percentage of
foreign money can not get over 25%. And for the high-technology industry, thegovernment will give a lot of bonuses, about the percentage, foreign money can be
100%.
However, after our interview, we found something different with the former
research. For infrastructure investment, there are 3 ways to reach: government
project ( build!build!build! ), foreign loan and public-private partnership. Recently,

build build build project become the main cooperation between Chinese companies
and Philippine. The reason may be something in the policy. For the Philippine
government, the most important problem they want to solve is employment, and for
the Chinese government, because of the belt and road policy, promoting cooperationis very important.
Compared with the rise of infrastructure investment, for small-medium
companies, getting into the Philippine market is very difficult. From theintroduction of the PCCI chairman for education, who we mainly interviewed, hesaid that although from the law, a lot of small foreign investments don’t have theregulation of percentage, for practice if a foreign investor does not choose a Filipino
partner, it is very difficult for them to move. From the short experience inPhilippine, I also notice that in this country, having a person inside is very
important.
The second part is international trade. The main responsibility of PCCI isto provide focused advocacy for business growth and sustainable development by
providing business services for the advancement of grassroots entrepreneurship,chamber development, international trade relations, business innovation and
excellence, and operating efficiency. These will be achieved through a professional
16

organization working in close cooperation with various stakeho lders in the public
and private sectors. Regarding export and import, customs hold the standard.
And for the trade dispute solution, PCCI has an organization, which is called
the Philippine dispute resolution center. And this organization has very detailed
arbitration rules. Since its inception in 1996, the Philippine dispute resolution
center and its officers have been at the forefront of the development and growth ofalternative dispute resolution in the Philippines. Initially, its focus was primarily
on arbitration. As a result of this focus and effort, the Philippine dispute resolution
center has built a reputation as the leading center for commercial arbitration in
Philippine.
PCCI, as an advocacy for Philippine enterprises and international
companies, play a main role in the development of the economy.
Reported By Zhang Zhaojing

17

Maligaya House
Date: 20 th February 2020, 10:30am~12:00pm

In the 1980s, with the increase of Filipino women who went to Japan to work,some of them fell in love with the Japanese, married, and had children. Among them,
there were happy families, but there were also children abandoned by their own fathers.
JFC is a group for safeguarding mother's human rights. Maligaya House wasestablished in 1998 according to NGO organizations in the Philippines, and its
headquarters are in Tokyo.
MaligayaFilipinoHouse

childrenmainlyabandoned

by

helps
their

Japanese fathers to find their own fathers, berecognized

by

them

and

get

Japanesenationality and provide the opportunity to
study and live in Japan. Certainly, they alsoneed to get corresponding parenting andliving expenses.
Maligaya House receives about 10
phone calls every day. Most of them go to theembassy for help first, but the embassy
responds that they cannot help them andthey need to solve the problems by themselves. They have no way to go for exploratory
consultation, so they hope to get help from Philippine mothers. Maligaya House has a
consultation once a month, there will be about a dozen people to introduce the process
and how to help mothers to solve their problems effectively with their competence.
Because most mothers received little education and could not understand the law, there
is a simple way to introduce the process on the walls of Maligaya House. After the
meeting, there will be separate small meetings. At this time, you need some supporting
documents, photo information, address, etc., which are the effective types of
information to find a Japanese father. If there is a mother in need, she can receive
18

assistance from Maligaya House at the beginning of a contract. As for the lawsuit about
the request for parenting expenses and living expenses, there will be family visits
according to the different lawyers. After that, all the materials will be sent to the Tokyo
office and translated into Japanese. Then the Tokyo office can find the father based on
the information.
The first job of the Tokyo office is to send a letter to the father who has beenfound (not directly to his home, to avoid causing trouble to his father and leave roomfor him) and wait for about a month. Usually, he will not reply, and they will send it
again. The second time, he will not reply either. At this time, the lawyer willcommunicate with him. If the father moves away and it is hard to find him, they haveto give up. But if they find him, they can continue if he is sure to live there.
Of course, there will also be cases of fathers in the Philippines, which isdifficult for Japanese lawyers to sue, so they basically sue in Japan.
First of all, with the permission of the Filipino mother, the lawyer has fullpower to act for her. The Filipino mother does not need to appear but first comes to thefamily referee office to mediate. Because of the bubble economy, the visa for thePhilippines' labor is becoming stricter. Therefore, on the one hand, the Filipino mothercannot come to Japan. On the other hand, she cannot understand why rich Japanesefathers cannot give their children 100 thousand yen for a month's upbringing, and theyusually fail to negotiate and appeal directly.
There are many Filipino mothers and Japanese fathers who are formally
married in the Philippines. Of course, there are also many Japanese fathers who haveregistered marriage (bigamy) in both Japan and the Philippines. In the case of bigamy,
it is necessary to determine which is a valid marriage. If the marriage of a Filipino
mother and Japanese father is valid, the Filipino mother can submit the marriage
certificate to Japan to obtain the nationality of the child. Of course, the Japanesemarriage will be automatically judged as invalid. Another situation is that if childrenof Filipino mothers and Japanese fathers are extramarital children, cognitive litigation
should be initiated.
The biggest obstacle before the lawsuit is that the Filipino mother thought it
19was not easy for the father and gave up persecution.
99% of fathers against whom a lawsuit is successfully filed refuse to do so,
because now their families have children who are also in school, and they do not like
Filipino children entering their household registration. We can prove the parent -childrelationship through DNA identification, but there are many fathers who refuse
providing DNA, so the judge can only judge according to the information provided by
the mother. There are also cases that have been prosecuted for two or three years andhave no blood relationship with Japanese fathers.
Two cases filed in 2019 were cancelled because the Japanese father called thePhilippine mother to give up the lawsuit, promised to buy a computer for her children
or paid a one-time rearing fee of three million yen.
Most of the cases that have been prosecuted are successful in the first trial,
and they can hardly reach the Supreme Court. There is only one case that has reached
the Supreme Court. It was the lawsuit brought in 2008 about the nationality of
extramarital children. Because it would violate the 14 equal principles of the JapaneseConstitution if the suit is passed, the nationality law then corrects the provisions.

20

Before the correction, the extramarital children of Japanese men and Filipino women
could not get Japanese nationality after being recognized by their father. After thecorrection, they can get Japanese nationality under the same conditions. I learned somedetails in Maligaya House that could not be seen in the cold judgment, which impressedme a lot and deepened my understanding of what I have learned.

Reported By Wei Lan Tian

21

Salt Payatas Foundation Philippines
Date 20 th Feb 2020, 1:00pm~5:00pm

The organization is known for providing children empowerment programs, life
skills-based education (storytelling, drawing, and e-learning) for primary andsecondary students, advocacy and study tour for students and livelihood programs forthe local people of Payatas and Kasiglahan Village.
This time, we visited Kasiglahan Village. Kashigrahan Village is large
resettlement for urban poor living along the Pasig River across Metro Manila. We joineda program of Salt Payatas, and we saw a place called “poor area.” And we communicatedwith local people and felt the other side of the Filipino society which is different from
Makati. We also interviewed teachers who are working in junior high school.

Contents of interview
I study the education system in the Philippines, especially, about the secondary
education. I interviewed about K to 12 and bilingual education. I obtained informationfrom the perspective of the people working on site.
The answer that surprised me the most was that all teachers said K to 12 w asa good education system. The system has been often criticized by many media andresearchers.

Teachers,

too,

acknowledged that the system
had many points to improve.
However,

they

said

the

government was working hard
to resolve the lack of budgets
and supplies, which were themostproblematic,

and

they

evaluated that it was better
than

the

pre-system.

In

particular, they valued the increase in teachers’ income and the improvement of the22

students’ quality. Regarding the latter, the increased number of year s of compulsory
education has led to the improvement of student abilities, which has led to an increasein the employment rate of the youth. On the other hand, the budget of a school isdetermined by a size based on performance and population. It is said that small schools
are difficult to manage because of less budget allocation. The school we visited is thelargest in this area, and has received a great deal of support by the government. I also
felt that the school had very good facilities, even though it was a public school. But infact, some students have financial problems, and teachers may pay for their stationery
and lunch with their salaries.
I was very surprised because teachers evaluated K to12. However, they
acknowledged that there were many problems in the educational site, and I felt thatthe problems required urgent solutions.

Joining the program
After the interview, we joined
the program of Salt Payatas. First, we
heard a presentation summarizing the
district of Kashigrahan. We learned
how this area became a resettlementsite and what kind of people live there.
After that, we had discussions with thestaff who actually living there. We told
staffs of Salt Payatas that we had noplans to do after this, so and, with theirkindness, they allowed us to participate in the support activities for children. The
staffs not only read book for children, but also quizzed children to develop theirthinking skills. After that, we were dancing together happily to make friendship ,and grew sociability and expressiveness. We forgot the time and had a good timewith the children and staffs.
This was my second time participating in the Salt Payatas program, but
23because of the different districts, I could learn something new. And I heard such acomment from a member saying, "It is different from the slum I had imagined", andit was not the first time hearing it. Our image (from the outside) of slums andpoverty tends to be colored and tends to be viewed as a pitiful subject. Every time
I think about it, I recognize the importance of seeing reality.

Reported By Erina Asano

24

DOLE (The DEPARTMENT OF LABOR AND
EMPLOYMENT)
DOLE NCR (National Capital Region)
Date: 21 st February 2020, 10:00am~12:00pm, 1:30pm~2:30pm

DOLE: The Philippines' Department of Labor and Employment is theexecutive department of the Philippine Government mandated to formulate
policies, implement programs and services, and serve as the policycoordinating arm of the Executive Branch in the field of labor and employment.
DOLE NCR: The Department of Labor & Employment-National Capital
Region (DOLE–NCR) is the premier Regional Office responsible for the
implementation of policies and programs that promote gainful employment
opportunities, develop human resources, protect the welfare and advancement ofworkers, and maintain harmonious industrial relations between and among theworkers and employers in Metro Manila. Filipino working population is 44,693
million. They can work from the age of 15, and 70% of them work in the private
sector.
25

They have many support projects. “Build Build Build project” aims tostrengthen infrastructure (train, buses, and making the roads and highways) and to
overcome the traffic jam. This project will improve the working environment and lower
the unemployment rate, and this will expand employment increases in the construction
sector too. “Government internship program (GIP)” is for high school students andabove, and they work for government offices as assistant for 3 -6 months. “JOB START”
works after six-month training, and about 73.30% people will get a job. “SPES” is forages 15-30, from poor families, without skill, who do not go to school or work. They aretrained to do easy jobs, such as work to bake pate and rapping etc. They can enter thecourse by paying 20 peso per person, and graduate in about 4 years. This program’s big
problem is budget shortage.
DOLE NCR: the national office responsible for the implementation of policies
and promoting employment. This program requires a school certificate, and out ofschool youth no more than age 30.
I learned so many things about employment support. They’re needed by many
Filipinos, and I didn’t know there was so much support. There is much support for
students, and I look forward to the youth’s future. I would like to use the survey tolearn more. If I can support these organizations, I want to do it.

Reported By Nozomi Tsuruoka

26

Banaue, Ifugao State
Date: 22 nd to 24 th February 2020

Clarification of property is necessary for effective utilization of land,
economically and ecologically. And for areas with rural labor shortages and aging
farmers, farmland consolidation can be an important solution for which clear land
rights is precondition. In Banaue, there is a complicated agricultural system thathas been managed communally since long time ago, and still needed to be preservedin the future. But the traditional way is facing a challenge caused by shortage oflabor and inappropriate use of lands. So that is why I chose Banaue as the field of
my study.
According to the Philippines’ law, lands with slope over 18° shall be
prohibited from development. But to protect the rights of indigenous culturalcommunities to their ancestral lands, the State recognizes and promotes certain
rights of Indigenous Cultural Communities/Indigenous Peoples (ICCs/IPs) within
the framework of the Constitution through the Indigenous Peoples Rights Act of
1997.

27

The prohibition of utilization of land over 18° is meant for ecological
proposes. But under the condition that the Indigenous Peoples Rights Act may bemisused, it is possible to let someone who is not Indigenous Peoples or even not
Phillipinos to access those lands.

1 Picture of terraces in Banaue
Among the terraces in Banaue, the Batad Rice Terraces and Bangaan Rice
Terraces have been listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site since 1995. Theseterraces are believed to have a history of more than 2000 years. According to thedata from the Bureau of Soil and Water Management, more than 50% of lands in
Banaue are characterized as very steep and mountainous areas with slope above
50%. Although these areas are less suitable for agriculture, Ifugaos people,
indigenous ethnic groups inhabiting in Ifugao province, curved these lands into riceterraces with their splendid engineering skills.
As I mentioned above, lands with slope over 18° shall be categorized
as forestland, only 21.84% of areas of Ifugao province are classified as alienable anddisposable land and 89.29% as forestland. But the rice terraces located in Ifugao
have special status- they are under the category of unclassified forests. The Ifugaos
regard these lands as part of their ancestral domains and welcome the recognitionof their ancestral domain by state under the Indigenous Peoples Rights Act.
Government impedes the development of forest areas for ecological purpose,
while Ifugaos’ traditional rice production has been harmonizing with the local
environment since 2000 years ago. There is no reason to deprive their rights to live
there, but the problem is, could local people adapt the traditional way of production
and ownership to the modern-day life?

28

2 Past and Challenges in the Future
Rituals and other traditions in relation to the rice terraces are practiced.
There are recorded rituals before, during and even after planting rice. They aretime-proven through trial and error method. Like the traditional practice of“baddang”where all terraces owners come together to help work, is no longer
observed nowadays. Out-migration of the youth and the resulting shortage oflabor have forced them to adopt the modern practice of hiring laborers, whic h isunaffordable for most of the rice terraces owners.
A lady running a store in Batad told us the following: compared with otherregions, situation there is not so severe, but still young people went out every year.
Many Ifugao people continue to assimilate into modern ways of living, making
traditional rice-production no longer satisfy their economic needs. The young
Ifugaos have become increasingly
indifferent

toconservation,its

survival

which

and

largely

contributed to its abandonment anddeterioration. A project named SLT(schools of living traditions) helps
in the promotion of local culture29and in influencing the youth to inspire them to continue the tradition of theirancestors.
Traditional land use system in rice terraces communities is a complicatedone consisted of buffer area, irrigation system and water distribution system. Itscomplexity requires everyone in the community to work together to preserve it. I
assume that it is why transaction of land is so strict among indigenous people
community. Unfortunately, our activities in Banaue were restrained for the concern
of COVID-19, so I could not get my assumption verified by local institutions.
For local individuals, renting, selling or conversion of use of farmlands may
be a solution to the shortage of young labor. But every terrace is connected withothers by canals, protected by forests managed communally. These characteristics
make the rice terraces community naturally exclusive. So here is the question -whom they can sell the lands to? And do they really have rights to dispose lands
under the country’s judicial system and local tacit laws?

3 What kind of rights indigenous people have toward the rice terraces?
The tradition of local commons existed for centuries among the rice terraces
communities. Family members can work together to feed themselves withownership staying unclear.

But when we consider the lands as disposableproperties, not just as resources of rice production, the story will be different.
Before we entered Batad terraces, everyone was required to pay theheritage fee (200peso per person). The stuff said part of the money will subsidize
local agriculture. And as I mentioned, use of the land over 18° slope is a privilege
of indigenous people. It is necessary to clarify who will be the beneficiary of theprivilege and subsidy.

30

a.

Ownership or approval of use?
During

our

stay

in

Banaue, all the appointments
with

local

officials

werecancelled, so instead we hadtalks with local people. At thefirst day we arrived at Taman,
we interviewed with a villager.
He said he had a document fromthe government that can prove
his ownership and the document can be succeeded by his children with ownershipof the land. And the next day, a manager of a handicraft shop assert the same thing-- she succeeded the ownership of store from her parents.
But after we came back to Manila, Professor Raymond Aquino Macapagalfrom University of Philippines said that is not a legal paper of ownership but anapproval from the government.
b.

Limited private right
According to the definition in the Indigenous Peoples’ Rights Act of 1997,“The indigenous concept of ownership generally holds that ancestral domains are
the ICC’s/IP’s private but community property which belongs to all generations andtherefore cannot be sold, disposed or destroyed.”
Restrictions on disposal of lands are normal in Banaue. The “muyung” or
the protected production areas are typical. This buffer areas protect the terracesfrom wind and flood, usually succeeded by the first son. But this area is actually
maintained and owned by the whole family.
Although the owner of the handicraft shop asserted her ownership of the store,
she said real estate like houses and lands can only be sold to relatives. But
actually a couple from Manila bought a house in Taman Village and lived there formany years. And according to her, a foreigner bought a piece of land by finding an
indigenous people to be on half of him, a resort will be built there in the future.
31

And our guide, a student studying in Ifugao State University, told us if someone
married with another who lives in another village and moved there, it will bedifficult to take care of his farmland. Under such kind of circumstances, he or she
can “exchange” the land or house with his or her relatives, not sell.
Professor Raymond said normally lands are owned by family in Banau e, andanyone cannot alienate the lands to others without the approval of family
members. But if nobody rejected, he could virtually sell it to anyone. That is why
someone who is no indigenous people can access the land with slope over 18°.
c.

Disputes
According to the Indigenous Peoples’ Rights Act of 1997, Native Title refers

to pre-conquest rights to lands and domains which, as far back as memory reaches,
have been held under a claim of private ownership by ICCs/IPs, have never been
public lands and are thus indisputably presumed to have been held that way since
before the Spanish Conquest.
Such title based on memories may cause some disputes. For example,
someone’s grandfather A lend a piece of farmland to another people B. After that, B
and his child lived there for generations. Like 70 years later, when A and B died,
nobody will remember who own the land.
To settle this kind of disputes, Professor Raymond said, both sides will invite elders
in the village to make the judgement, which is also based on memories. Captain ofeach barangay, leader of local municipality, do not make decision, but just witness
the settlement.

Reported by Wentian,Xu

32

Department of Trade and Industry (DTI)
Date: February 26, 2020, 10am~11am

On 26th Feb, the Trade and Investment team went to the Department ofTrade and Industry (DTI), where we met and discussed with Atty. Allan B. Gepty,
Assistant Secretary for International Policy and Trade Negotiation in the morning,and Jean T. Pacheco, Assistant Secretary for The Competitiveness and Innovation
Group in the afternoon.

The Meeting summaryFirstly,whoMs.

Huykongisinterested

incommercebusiness

startedaskingherquestionsremarkable changes

E-

about

and its

issues after the implementationof the Philippines E-commerce
Roadmap (PECR) 2016-2020.
Atty. Gepty pointed up someissues such as trademark registration, the necessaries of Intellectual Property law
about online selling Goods & Services, cybercrime on the internet.
Since Atty. Gepty is not familiar with the E-commerce business, ourcolleges started other questions by a focus on Investor-State Dispute Settlement(ISDS) and other foreign direct investors disputes which also our main purpose tovisit DTI this time. He is in charge of International Trade and Policy and we got a
detailed explanation of that.
Secondly, the questions mainly focus on Investor-State-Dispute-Settlement(ISDS). ISDS is a very controversial theme. There are many considerations between
33

Japan and the Philippines. Mr. Gepty said he wanted us to think of it from a broader
view. When governments make agreements with each other, ISDS would be one ofthe parts. There are many considerations and many experiences, and the Fraportcase is also one of them.as Mr. Gepty said. When they think about whether they
support introducing ISDS to the economic treaty, Fraport can be one of the factors
but not become whole factors, it’s just one of them. ISDS is a policy question and it
is judged by whether it’s fair or not, equitable or not and balanced between theinvestor and government side or not.
When thinking about investments from Japanese companies, it is very
important to know how Japanese investments are protected. Mr. Gepty answers
that it’s well protected by the Philippine's domestic judicial system because thejudicial system is strong. Philippine's governments judges whether ISDS is needed
or not by what the advantages and disadvantages are. What are the advantages
and disadvantages, the question is difficult and probably we have to continue tothink about it.
Some people say that to promote the economy, inviting foreign investments
is important. The Duterte administration would have tried that too. Nowadays,
many Chinese companies invest in the Philippines more and more P hilippines
governments would try to conduct new policies for promoting investments. Mr.
Gepty pointed out there is a need for more investment on infrastructure(Ex. Build,build, build Project by the Duterte administration) and he pointed out otherinfrastructure projects are proposed by Government, Foreign loan Act No 81&82,
PPP(Public-Private Partnership) and technical & practical projects.
After the discussion with Mr. Gepty, the most impressive thing is that ISDS
is one of the parts when governments negotiate with each other. And he's saying,
he wants us to think of it from a broader view. Now Philippines governments try to
promote investments from foreign countries and try to make the economy betterand better. Thinking about foreign investment promotion, growing up the economy,
there would be many approaches. It’s not only about the law perspective, but
probably politics is also related to it. There would be various aspects. After the34

discussion with Mr. Gepty, I came to want to think about my concerning theme ISDS
article from more various views. They would be related to each other variously.
From now on, I want to keep on studying and if possible I could contribute to making
the Philippines and Japan relationships better and better in some forms as possible
in the future.

Reported by: Kenta Kawamura, UNG HUYKONG

35

Department of Trade and Industry (DTI)
Date: February 26, 2020, 2pm~4pm

After the appointment with Assistant Secretary Allan B. Gepty on InvestorState Dispute Settlement (ISDS) in the morning, The Trade and Investment teamcontinuously visit Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) where we set an
appointment

with

Mary

Jean

T.

Pacheco,Assistant

Secretary

for

The

Competitiveness and Innovation Group from 2 pm , mainly focuses on E-commerce .
1) About DTI
Recognizing the importance of E-commerce for the Philippine economy, theDepartment of Trade and Industry (DTI) developed The Philippines E-commerce

Roadmap 2016-2020 (PECR) to boost E-commerce business in the Philippines. The
PECR addresses issues in the e-commerce ecosystem that require the effort andcollaboration of government, partner agencies, private sector, academe, and otherstakeholders. There are recommendations in this roadmap that have been classified
according to the 6 I’s: Infrastructure, Investment, Innovation, Intellectual Capital,
Information flows, and Integration. The primary objective of the PECR is for E commerce to contribute 25% to the country’s GDP by 2020.

36

2) The meeting summary
When we arrived there we had a useful presentation about the overall E commerce business in the Philippines by Mary Jean T. Pacheco, Assistant Secretary
for The Competitiveness and Innovation Group.
The most interesting point of the presentation is that people in thePhilippines spend an average of 10 hours online every day. In this regard, theGovernment plans to issue some policies for using social networking service (SNS)more productive and more beneficial. For example, teaching the people how to use
an online platform to sell the products and make money, inviting young
entrepreneurs or young potential businessmen to give lectures on online business.
More than this, promoting and encouraging local investments is the most important
thing to boost domestic micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), because
compared to international investments regarding E-commerce business, local
investment is still small, and also strengthening Public-Private Partnerships (PPP).
The private sector is perceived to be more efficient, more innovative and offers
better quality services than the public sector.
However, the trust of consumers on online selling is still an obstacle to e commerce business in the Philippines. To solve this, DTI created an application sothat consumers can make complaints to DTI about the process of buying online(paymentordeliveryservice) or counterfeit
products

directly

through it.
Finally, reply tothe question “ How do

consumers notice which
website is reliable andsafe to do shopping ?”She replies that every
platform
37

has

to

be

registered and after registration “Trust Mark” which is provided by private sector(Industry company) will be given.
DTI has been working so hard to boost e-commerce business, building rules,
and support systems for both consumer and other online merchants. DTI is now
writing another new Roadmap for 2022.

Reported by: UNG HUYKONG38

TESDA（Technical Education and
Skill Development Authority）
Date: February 26, 2020, 9:30am~11:30am

TESDA（Technical Education and Skill Development Authority）is a Filipino
government agency. TESDA was established in 1994 to promote technical education
under a law enacted by President Ramos. The purpose of TESDA was to strengtheninternational competitiveness in the Philippines and to develop mid-level humanresources who are necessary and appropriate for economic development. In addition,in order to develop human resources who fully responded to the needs of theindustry, the participation of private companies was emphasized in particular on
the soft and financial side.

Contents of interview with TESDA
I asked about an executive order for a four-year national plan for technicaleducation in June 2019 by the President Rodrigo Duterte (its content is "Mobilizing,
revitalizing and strengthening the technical and vocational education and training
sectors to achieve global competitiveness and human resource development of theworkforce, as well as to achieve social equity for workforce inclusion and poverty
reduction) and the policy of TVET. The most important points of TVET in their policy39are: Agility—to prepare the Philippine
workforce for global competitiveness andfuture world of work; Scalability—to deliver
high quantity job-ready, quality workforce;and Flexibility and Sustainability for social
equity and economic inclusion. In addition,
the budget of TESDA has been significantly
increased due to the national plan, and they are aiming to promote contracting foreigncompanies and expand enterprise-based training. In particular, they are focusing on
human resource development for advanced science and technology such as AI. In highschools, there are academic courses and vocational courses. The vocational course iscontrolled by TESDA. TESDA inspects and supervises about 4,000 cour ses. This is anational policy to create people who can work quickly, but I think we need to consider
the boundaries where the private sector can participate in education.

TESDA Women’s Center
Date: February 26, 2020, 11:30am~1:00pm

The TESDA Women’s Center (TWC) is a
training center under TESDA. It was established
in

1998

throughagrant-aid

from

the

Government of Japan. TWC stands as a symbolof the Filipino women’s capability to engage inlivelihood

andwealthcreation.

Since

its

establishment, it has focused on activities that promote the economic empowermentof women and gender equality. It has trained women in areas that are traditionallymale-dominated such as automotive, electronics, and welding and in other areas
such as commercial cooking, dressmaking, food processing, food and beverage
services, housekeeping and pharmacy.
40

We visited the training center
and watched the facilities used in the
training. And we asked the trainers
about training and certificates. The
training term is different depending on
industries. The welding and bartending
coursesarefinished

in

about

1.5

months. Training in the automotive
industry and Samsung which is cooperative with foreign companies takes more thansix months to complete, but is very popular. There are 30 to 40 programs. They also
support OFW. TESDA conducts OFW training programs by the request of POEA
(The Philippine Overseas Employment Administration). There are many OFW whowill go to Japan, because of the support by JICA and the existence of Japaneseclasses.
There are many foreign companies and training facilities in one building,and there are 122 centers such as the women's center in the Philippines. I confirmedthat vocational projects are putting great emphasis on by the government.

Reported By Erina Asano

41

Development Action for Women Network(DAWN)
Date: 26 th February 2020, 1:00pm~5:00pm

The Development Action for Women Network (DAWN) is a non-government,
non-profit organization established in 1996 to assist distressed women migrants
from Japan, as well as their Japanese-Filipino children, in the promotion andprotection of their rights and welfare. In 2011, DAWN expanded its programs toinclude Filipino migrant domestic workers and their families. It has four coreprograms: 1. SOCIAL SERVICES, 2. ALTERNATIVE LIVELIHOOD, 3. RESEARCH
AND ADVOCACY, 4. EDUCATION, and two support programs: 1. INSTITUTIONAL
DEVELOPMENT, 2. NETWORKING.
The purpose of visiting here is to interview women who have worked in Japan
about their life histories. Previous research has shown that many Filipinas have been
discriminated against when they came to Japan to work as entertainers, and thisinterview confirms this fact. In addition, I asked them what kind of change s their
meeting with DAWN had brought about.
Four women participated in the interview. The women who worked asentertainers in Japan gave usa detailed account of theirexperiencesinJapan.

She

says that she had a hard timeworking long hours, drinking
while underage, andbeing

teased about her Japanese bycustomers.

Back

in

the

Philippines, they met DAWN
and receive a support programfor independent living called42

Sikap Buhay (SIKHAY). Sikhay is DAWN’s maiden alternative livelihood program for
women. Sikhay is short for Sikap-Buhay, which means striving for a better life or selfempowerment. It presently consists of sewing and handloom weaving. Sikhay shallcontinue to showcase the livelihood activities as effective tools for the empowerment of
women. This program allowed them to interact with other women in the same situation.
Her child also had a good influence because he got to know other JFC (Japanese Filipino children) and met someone who understood half people. A woman was able toafford to go to college. It was clear that SIKHAY had become a co nduit for their active
participation in the society.
Now they are working hard at DAWN with their own goals. They want to do mybest at SIKHAY so that they can help my child graduate. They found that they liked
working in teams, so someone wants to have my own restaurant someday. Someone
want to spread the technology I learned at SIKHAY. They talked about their visions.

Before I went to DAWN, I had a negative image that they had had a hard time inJapan, but when I heard about their experiences, I realized the positive side thatthey had had a hard time as entertainers in Japan, but after meeting DAWN, they43

had changed so that they could regain a stable life and live independently. At theend of the interview, when they talked about their vision for the future, they all
spoke so vividly that I felt their strong power as women that made us feel positive,
and it was a very meaningful time.

Reported By Reia Ito, Hina Mimura

44

TMI Associates Contact in the Philippines,
Attorney Dan Masao sensei
Date: 27 th February 2020, 9:00am~11:00am

I was very happy to have been able to visit TMI associates, in which
Attorney Dan Masao sensei is. TMI Associates is one of the biggest Law firms inJapan which expand the enterprises to the world. The Philippine Office is the oneof them and is located in Makati City in Manilla. To the TMI Associates Contact inPhilippines it took about 10 minutes from our hotel by using Grab (Grab is local
taxi service which we can use by our smartphone app, we used a lot in this studytrip).
(The photo in the lobby of PJS LAW by
Kobayashi sensei, for Kobayashi thistime was second time to visit Dan
sensei)Why I wanted to visit TMI
Associates and see Dan sensei isthat I wanted to learn about theactual situation of law enterprises
particularly between Philippines and Japan and I wanted to confirm the actual
situation in practical law enterprises. My main theme of concern was the ISDS
article, investment laws. When I refer to the EPA between Philippines and Japan,
ISDS article is not written so I was interested in the point how the Japanese
investors and their investment property are protected and I wanted to know thetheme mainly from the legal perspective. Therefore I
want to ask Dan sensei particularly about practical viewfor that point.

(The building PJS Law Firm is inside, very tall...)45

Dan sensei has been engaged with legal enterprise for about 4 years in
Philippines after the graduation from local law school there. The cases which Dan
sensei has dealt with are: about 90% is by Japanese companies and about 70% ofthem is legal enterprises for starting enterprises in Philippines and the legal
enterprises for investment, and about compliance. Dan sensei also deals with thelegal problems which Philippines local office cannot deal with. Nowadays, more
Japanese companies try to expand the business area to Philippines than before, buton the other hand, there may still be problems when they try to expand the businessto Philippines. Judicial system in Philippines may not be sufficient for foreign
investors. In such a situation, how do Japanese investors try to invest to Philippinesand how are they treated legally?
One trend in legal businessenterprises, Dan sensei said, wasarbitration using SIAC (Singapore
International(arbitration

Arbitrationisconducted

Centre)onthepremise of agreement of each other).
That point was one of my concerns.
As there is not the ISDS article in
EPA between the Philippines and Japan, how Japanese investors and Investment
property are protected was one of my big concerning points. Laws uit in the Philippines
Court is a possibility, but it may take a long time, such as more than 10 years and it
may take much money. Instead, when the Japanese company and Philippines sidemaking law Japanese law and court applicable would be another possibi lity, but it is
not very likely, according to Dan sensei, which is related to language reasons. Japanese
may not so be used in international practical fields. Also, the view from Dan sensei, “towhat extent the ISDS article could be used” was a very insigh tful view for me. When
we think about investment to the Philippines from a practical legal view, Dan sensei
said that whether there is appropriate dispute settlement article is prepared or not is
important. In current situation of the Philippines legal business practice, one of those46

issubmitting

disputes

toarbitration. However, bringing
the case to the SIAC takes
money,

so

as

the

next

reasonable way is to bring the
case

to

Philippines

local

Besides,Danarbitration.
senseiexplains,

becausebringing the case to SIAC ittakes money, sometimes incentive not to bring the case to SIAC arise.
Besides as one of the questions concerns in which the contracts is canceled by
the Philippines government. Legal problems may not be related only to legal problems
but sometimes it is also related to political situations in the times. When we think
about attracting foreign investments to Philippines, favorable treatments, for example
tax breaks, would be one of the policies. According to Dan sensei, currently, in thePhilippines, the favorable tax treatment may not be applied to not domestic firms. In
the Philippines, traditionally, it is said that just a small part of the people who havemuch money such as big financial group occupy the much funds in Philippines. For th epromotion of investment from foreign countries, are there any difficulty inunderstanding the situation, Dan sensei mentioned. The theory maybe just concluded
only in domestic range, Dan sensei say. President Duterte now may try to change thesituation. Historical factors and constructed the environments constructed in many
years may not be changed easily but from now on the Philippines investment
environments also may change gradually. I expect the investment environments in thePhilippines become better and better from now on Judicial system in the Philippines.
I also asked Dan sensei, as an alternative way for ISDS, whether investment
insurance could be considered or not, but it is not necessarily legal problems, Dan
sensei say. Trading companies would consider the utilize the investments insurance.
Whether the enterprises are regarded as ODA is one of the requirements when
Japanese companies expand the business areas to Philippines. How can they collect47

money is one of the important judgement criteria for them.
There is many discussions and views when we think about Philippines local
judicial system. There may be still gap for understand the Philippines judicial system
between Japanese legal practical fields and theory. I want to keep on thinking about
how to cope with this situation. That subject cannot be considered uniformly it may bedifferent in each countries situation since each country is different not only sociallybut also culturally. Dan sensei also gave a message at the end of the discussions for myquestion about career as a lawyer active in international business fields. “We have tofind a new way while surrounded by unknown situations we have never known”. I keepon studying and broadening my horizons more and more.
Finally, the most important things which I have to do is to appreciate everyone.
Dan Masao sensei must be busy, but sensei accepted my request, I’m so appreciate. And
thank you so much every group mates of this study trip and Kobayashi sensei and
Suginohara sensei. Thanks for Kobayashi sensei, I could’ve made this report withphotos and thanks to Suginohara sensei’s advice for my concerning points I could’ve
deepen my understandings. Thank you so much!

Reported By Kawamura Kenta

48

University of the Philippines Joint Session
Date 27 th February 2020, 2:30pm~4:00pm

We talked about “OTAKU” culture with perspective of “IDOL” and “ANIME”.
In the part of “IDOL”, we showed famous men's groups and girl's groups. Some of
the groups were famous in the Philippines. On the other hand, in the part of“ANIME”, we showed some Japanese ANIME. Many Filipino students knew many
Japanese “ANIME” which we didn't know, so I was very
surprised.
On the UP side, the speaker talked about “COS
PLAY”.

Cosplay events in which oneself wears costumes of anime characters and enjoys interacting with eachother and taking photos with fans are also popular ove
rseas. And I recognized that the love for anime aroundthe world have become one of the purposes of visiting
Japan. I felt that “ANIME”, “IDOL”, and “OTAKU” culture are affecting not only Japan but also overseas people.

I discussed Japanese culture with Filipino students49and I objectively considered about Japanese culture.
After the session, we walked around the campus of UP. It was so lar ge, andwe got very tired. We enjoyed talking and taking photos with UP students. In theevening, we were invited to a dinner by professors and students of UP. Thank you
so much for delicious dinner and nice souvenirs!

Reported By Emiri Assano

50Japan External Trade Organization,
JETRO, Manila Office.
Date 28 th February 2020, 10:00am-11:00am
JETRO is the organizations which promote tradeand investments particularly between Japan and foreigncountries. JETRO stands for the initial letter of Japan
External

Trade

Organization(JETRO).

JETRO

Yokohama Mr. Omure(Omure san) arranged the briefing
for us before visiting Sakata san of JETRO Manila Office,after visiting Sakata san, and local JETRO Manila
office’s Mr. Sakata(Sakata san). When I’ve contacted JETRO first, I applied toForeign briefing service of JETRO. On that day, we could’ve arrived at the buildingin which JETRO Manila Office inside for about 15mins(or 20mins or so) on footwhile walking around Makati city where many high buildings sta nd.
Why I wanted to visit and ask questions to Sakata san is that I wanted toknow current actual investment situation mainly from the Japanese organization
side. As Sakata san explained for us on that day of our discussion, JETRO is one ofthe organizations under Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry and JETRO has
many offices not only in Japan also in many foreigncountries. JETRO Manila Office is one of them. On
February 28 th, we met Sakata san in JETRO Manilla
office. What JETRO do can be divided into mainly 4 parts,
Sakata san said. First one is (1)about promoting
investment to Japan, second one isexpanding business(2)assisting

fields to foreign countries forJapanese companies, third one is (3)about the export of agricultural and marine
products to foreign countries, and fourth one is (4)investigation and research inlocal places. According to Sakata san, the 1 st one and 3 rd one is conducted mainly inNorth-America, and when it comes to Philippine, the second one, the case of the
expansion of the business field to Philippines is the most cases in JETRO Philippine
51

Manila Office.
Among the many insightful explanations on the basis of actual experiencesof Sakata san, there was an explanation about the new appearing foreign
investment law’s bill. Nowadays, in Philippines, investments by Chinese companies
is increasing sharply. And regulations on foreign investments in Philippines become
more and more lenient. So, Duterte administration aims on opening the market andtry to promote investment from foreign countries. Sakata san also mentioned
circumstances in Vietnam. Vietnamese economical environments is attracting more
attentions from foreign countries compared to Philippines, Sakata san said. Sakata
san also speculated that image of Philippines may be also one of the factors.
According to Sakata san, the relationships between Philippine and China becomescloser relationships. Surprising point was investment policy for electricity industry.
Electricity industry can be categorized into power generation, power transmission,
poser distribution. Present Philippines government is trying to open the market
more. So far Philippines had limitation for the foreign investment in electricity
power industry. Power generation, power transmission, power distribution, eachrate opened for the foreign investment was up to 40%. However, there is a new law
bill issued to open the power generation industry up to 100%, Sakata san said. This
point was so amazing to me. Telecommunication and electricity power industry canbe seen as a fundamental infrastructure in that countries. When we think about
Japanese fundamental infrastructure, to some extent, it is preserved to Japanese
domestic companies, on the other hand, in Philippine, even such a fundamental
infrastructure industry, the market becomes open to foreign countries. Sakata san
explained for us the current electric charges in Philippines, “Electr ic charges in
Philippines is so high, it costs about 7000 peso per month. It’s almost that ofJapanese in summer.” Philippines electronic charges is so high. According to Sakata
san, it’s run all by private sectors and now Philippines government try to invite
foreign investment and make the price more reasonable.

52

Kota Nakamura The view from the economics perspective
I hereby inform you about the present
situation of Philippines economy.
Generally speaking, Philippines has a unique
historyofdevelopment

andeconomic

growthdifferent from other Asian countries, and it adopted
democratic systems in a relatively early stage;
nevertheless, other Asian countries shifted to it in
the recent past. However, in referring to growing processes, we can’t find the normaltransition from agriculture-main era to service-main era through industry-main era(it’s called “the law of Petty-Clark”). The small-scale manufacturing industry has
been regarded as a factor that slowed domestic economic growth. That was causedby past colonial rules by US and Spain, geopolitical reasons, continuous chaotic
domestic situations in politics and security, and so on. Therefore, the government
established Special Economic Zones called PEZA (Philippine Economic Zone
Authority). Nowadays, a lot of foreign capital firms set their own branch in it becauseof cheap labour and special tax break measures. On the other hand, the Duterte
Administration is trying to levy tax on that zones now.
In addition, the government tackles a few policies to reinforce domestic ec onomic
bases. Two representative policies are infrastructure project called “Build -BuildBuild” and enhancing the security; for instance, regulation of illegal drugs andelimination of corruption. Although, the massive constructions started a few years
ago, it has generated certain results.
However, Philippines have many urgent issues. The more they build
infrastructures, the more deficit they have. That’s why the president Duterte
approached China to raise large amount of loans and investments. As a resul t,
however, a large portion of public infrastructures such as electricity, tap water andgas are supplied by Chinese firms. In short, Philippines economy can be affected by
the relationship between China and Philippines. As for education, the domestic
educational standard of poor quality is also controversial issues. Moreover, it is sad53

that it causes undeveloped manufacturing industry.
In conclusion, the president is eagerly trying to solve s ome urgent challenges thathadn’t been tackled by the past presidents. We should keep focusing on his policy
and its effects.
Conclusion
Although there are still subjects, Philippines economy is now developing. As
Sakata-san said, the most cases in JETRO Manila Office were the cases thatJapanese companies expand their business to Philippines. Japanese companies cameto Philippines expecting for young labors, Sakata-san said. Also, Philippine isfamous for its OFW(Overseas Filipino Workers) people, and the service industry is
the most developed field in Philippines. Remittance from Overseas Foreign Workers
is a huge quantity. Under such circumstances, how Philippines progress from nowon?
After the discussions with Sakata san and our members, there is bothadvantageous points and disadvantageous points, when we think about Philippines
economic environments. However, now I’m expecting largely to Philippines and I
54

really think so. I talked with Philippines local people and communicated with eachother, they’re so active and the have open-minded spirits, I could feel so. There may
be still many obstacles to overcome but I think they can conquer them and in the
future I hope that I will also contribute to that in some form as possible as I can.
The photos of everyone after the discussions with JETRO Manilla Office,
Sakata-san. Thank you very much for Sakata-san, JETRO Yokohama Office,Omure-san, every group mates, also Kobayashi-sensei, and Suginohara-sensei!

Reported By Kota Nakamura, Kenta Kawamura

55

ADB (Asian Development Bank)
Date: 28th February 2020, 1:00pm~4:30pm(1) ABOUT ADB
The ADB is a progressive regional development bank, aiming at prosperityof Asia, growing economy and diminishing of disparity inside the region. Indeed, its
endeavors are focused on loans toward developing countries, especially in Southeast
and South Asia. Moreover, in tackling assistances toward LDC (Least Developed
Country) such as Lao PDR and Bangladesh, grant can be adopted with a few
conditions.
In 1966, the ADB was established with assistances of Japanese Ministry of
Finance. For approximately five decades, it has carried out a lot of projects in Asia
hoping for peace and prosperity. Its devoted projects are supported by the large
amount of funds from the US, China, Japan and so on.
Nowadays, the organization consists of 67 countries and regions including
European and American countries. The headquarters is located in Metro Manila,
Philippines.

(2) CAREERS
The main purpose of our interviews
was obtaining the internal information of the
ADB’s work style and staff ’s past careers.
Fortunately, in this time, three Japanese
professional

staff

members

acceptedourinterviews in the headquarters. I will put mysummary of interview in the following part.
56a) Mr. Ryotaro Hayashi (Region: South Asia / Profession: Social Sector Specialist)
He is a young professional specialist in the branch of Impact Analysis. The
acquired experiences in his bright career in the JICA (Japan International
Cooperation agency) and the World Bank support his worthwhile tas ks in the ADB.
In our interview, we grasped the importance of experiences at graduated school andregional and sectional coherence. Each occupation requires professional skills andabilities in the certain domain. As for me, it was an exciting time because I was able
to receive a lot of precious information that only certain personnel can obtain; forinstance, the different work style between the ADB, World Bank and JICA.

b) Mr. Takashi Yamano (Profession: Senior Economist)
The work that I have admired is that of economist in international
institutions. That is why, as for me, it was a fascinating and sensational opportunity
to talk with a professional economist. He recommended to us that we should study
in foreign graduated schools. In addition, we acquired some information aboutscholarships and the way to get a job ininternational organizations. Besides, we
discussed the meanings of Japan’s ODA (Official Development Assistance).
I had focused on nothing but its economic effects for a long time. On the ot her hand,
he emphasized not only its effect but its impressive influences toward partnercountries called recipients.

c) Ms. Yumiko Yamakawa (region: Southeast / Sector:
Primary & Secondary Education)
What surprised me is that
the ADB adopts different interests
on loans according to recipients’domestic and economic situations. In
short,

excessive

supports(loans,grants and technical supports) are
not

truly

effective

forrecipient57

countries, even if donor countries have been hoping for their thriving with eagerness.
Surprisingly, the ADB has been providing grant supports to extremely poor countries
despite being a bank seeking margins of loan.
(3) CONTRIBUTION TO DEVELOPMENT OF ASIA
Nowadays, there are a lot of urgent and controversial issues such as territorial
disputes, cruel civil wars, climate crisis, continuous poverty, expanding disparity
and the lack of public facilities. These challenges cannot be solved by a single country.
All of Asian countries and regions must cooperate proactively to deal with them andto bring peace for mankind. To make it reality, the ADB should be a progressive
institution with initiative.

Reported By: Kota Nakamura

58

Meeting with Congressman, Strike Revilla(At House of Representatives)
Date: 26 th February 2020, 15:30~16:30(1) Abstract
I researched the bill “Graduation Legacy for the Environment Act” from theperspective of environmental laws and ethics. This Act is about tree planting: itproposes every graduating student to plant ten trees in order to qualify forgraduation. I was interested in the fairness of discretion. So, I met Congressman
Strike Revilla, who is one of the proposers of this bill, and asked him my questions.
Through discussion with him, I could know the Philippine people’s thoughts agains t
the bill and the environment.
(2) What is the bill, "Graduation Legacy for Environment Act"?
This bill requires for all graduating students from elementary school, highschool and college to plant at least 10 trees as a mandatory prerequisite for theirgraduation. It said that the trees shall be their living legacy to the environment
and future generations of the Filipinos.
Through this Act, they aim to promote environmental
protection, biodiversity, climate change mitigation, poverty
reduction, and food security. To this end, the educational
system shall be a locus for propagating ethical andsustainable use of natural resources among the young toensure the cultivation of a socially responsible and conscious
citizenry.
This bill is proposed by Honorable Strike Revilla. He belongs to the National
Unity Party (NUP), which is one of the ruling parties. His policy goals are thesovereignty of the state national interest and democracy; social justice andresponsibility; and environmental awareness.
59For this Act, the Development of Education (DepEd) and the Commission
on Higher Education (CHED) shall implement the provisions of this Act.
Appropriations to carry out the provisions of this Act shall be included in thebudgets of the implementing departments/agencies in the annual General
Appropriations Act.
(3) Questions and Answers
I asked him my questions about this Act. My question is about the billmaking process, its contents, current status at Congress of the Philippines andchallenges of the Act. The following are the list of my questions and his answers.
The first and the second question is about the bill making process:1. Why did he decide to make this bill? There are two reasons. One reason is thefirsthand experiences of the bad effects of the climate change. Another reason,
which would be the main reason, is to s national policies and Executive Order. The
bill was fileded for the institutionalization of Executive Order No.26, series of 2011
and to support the National Greening Program of the Government.
2. Did he refer to any laws of other countries? He said no, but this bill was basedon former presidential decrees or some acts of the country. Presidential Decree 1153
was issued on June 6 th, 1977, which required all able-bodied citizens of thePhilippines who are at least 10 years old to plant one tree every month for fiveconsecutive years. Under PD 1153, non-compliance resulted in a fine of no morethan one thousand pesos or, in appropriate cases, with disqualification to acquireor enjoy any privilege granted exclusively to citizens of the Philippines. PD 1153
was repealed by President Cory Aquino's Executive Order 287.
Republic Act 10176, or the Arbor Day Act of 2012, mandates that all able bodied citizens of the Philippines, who are at least 12 years of age, to plant one tree
every year. Unfortunately, unlike PD 1153, there was no provision in the law andthe IRR to enforce and monitor compliance to this requirement. The law was
toothless. So, the Act is expected to be legally binding in the form of graduation
requirements.
60

The third question is about content: why does the Act focus not on
controlling illegal logging but planting trees? He said there has already been a lawthat controls illegal logging, but it is not effective. This Act would have a significant
effect on national policy like the National Greening Program of the Gover nment if
the Act could be legally binding: the initiative by the bill will ensure that at least
175 million new trees would be planted each year.
So he also said the bill is not a temporary measure and it is envisioned to
be a long-term, interdependent, sustainable convergent program to consolidate andharmonized all greening effort.
The fourth question is about freedom by the bill. I suppose the bill may"force" each student to plant trees and they do not graduate if he/she fails to dothat. So, I think it may threaten his/her discretion. But he does not think so because
he thinks there is already the DENR's National Greening Program, thus theexecutive department is supportive of this measure.
He recognizes the role that the youth plays in nation-building. There is no
reason why the State may not impose on them the obligation to contribute to ourquest to achieve our desired ecological balance: there is no right for them to choose
not to plant trees.
The fifth question is about the current state and challenges at Congress of
the Philippines. He said, unfortunately, with the dissolution of the 17 th Congress,
the bill was back to square one. He believes in the 18 th Congress this measure will
be approved faster, invoking Rule 10 Section 48 of the House Rules on measures
being deliberated and already approved in the previous Congress.
As future challenges, the bill needs a balance with other social problems.
Actually, tree planting activity by each student is good and environment friendly,
but there are also social problems, especially the budget problems such as teachers’salary, construction cost of the classroom due to planting trees' cost or othertransportation expenses.

61

(4) Conclusion
After discussing with him, I could deepen my understanding of the bill andget to know the public opinion on freedom. It was great for me to get to know thatthe bill was based on an old executive order and the people recognized t hat tree
planting was important. Although the bill may not conflict with other laws, it willtake time to enact it because congressmen submit the bill, not political parties. Also,
the Act may be good in content, but it could cause other social problems. S o, there
are future challenges.

Reported by Horiuchi Kaito

62

Ateneo de Manila University
Date: 28th February 2020, 4pm

Thanks to the introduction from Professor Tommy Tiu, we had a very goldenchance to meet Atty. Ferdinand Negre, Chairman of the Commercial Law andIntellectual Property Department and one of the Philippines' leading lawyers on
intellectual property rights on Feb 28 at 4 pm.
A couple of days before the appointment, we sent him an email to introduce
ourselves, the purpose of the visit, and also included some questions about
intellectual property rights and E-commerce in the Philippines. Surprisingly, on themeeting day, we got a very warm welcome from Jose Maria G.Hofileña, Dean ofAteneo de Manila University School of Law and he briefly introduced us about theschool system as well as study programs. Ateneo de Manila University School of
Law is one of the top Law schools in the Philippines.

63

The meeting summary
After that, Atty. Ferdinand Negre started to answer our questions one by one
with a clear explanation that made us understand easily.
Firstly , I mainly ask Professor
Negre

from

the

view

of

the

relationships between Foreign Direct
Investment

(FDI)

and

Intellectual

Property,

particularly

technology

transfer.

Technology

Transfer

Arrangement is the process by which
one party systematically transfers to another party the knowledge for the
manufacture of a product, the application of a process, or the rendering of a service,
which may involve the transfer, licensing of intellectual property rights. Also, whentalking about the policy of the Philippines' governments to invite foreign
investments I think IP is important. It is because to promote foreign investmentsfrom foreign countries IP rights laws are also related to one of the incentives toexpand the business fields to the Philippines. When I mentioned this, Professor
Negre also said: “you can say that again, you can say that again”. Professor Negre
explained to us very courteously and his story was full of humor. Among the
explanations, he also mentioned the existence of a gap between practical situa tions
and IP written law. Philippines Intellectual Property Protection Provision provides
for a clear Technology Transfer Arrangement (TTA), but in practice, someregulations are not clear enough to interpret and also unclear government
registration, approval is made even more confusing.
Secondly, Nowadays IT is very developing and there is much trade withforeign countries and also there is a problem with pirated goods.

There are some

practical issues that Pirated goods in the Philippines illegally import ed fromcountries such as China. This problem is similar to Japan's case. Professor Negre
mentioned the limit of coverable areas of law. The IP problem is not only a problemof the Philippines, but this is also a worldwide problem nowadays.
64Finally, reply to the question that Do you think E-commerce vendors actively

take action against IP infringement complaints from the brand owners? , heemphasized that online selling and distribution of counterfeit and pirated goods
have long been a problem, and also IP and IP-related laws enforcement, Cybercrimeand protection. Moreover, internet piracy is more difficult to control than physicalpiracy. And it is very important to know the value of trademark registration on one
product and platform. So it’s time government agencies band together to act against
the use of online facilities to purvey and market goods and services that violate
intellectual property rights including copyright violation through digital media.

Reported by: UNG HUYKONG, Kawamura Kenta

65Department of JusticeDate: 28th February 2020, 10:30am~11:30am

As we all know, the Philippines is the only country in Asia that does not allow
divorce, and all the laws learned at ordinary times are filed and judged in Japanbecause divorce can be negotiated and judged there. If divorce is proposed in Japan,
and the relationship between the husband and the wife is not obviously broken,
there is no bad hobby between them but just a contradiction in a period of time,
when the Philippine law is applied through the choice of private international law,
the prohibition on divorce has saved a family to some extent. Also a lawsuit filed inJapan, if one party has gambling, drinking, maltreatment and beating of his wifeand child, which is not conducive to the healthy growth of the child, and the marital
relationship is obviously broken and cannot be repaired, long-term zoning and othersituations, which obviously violates the public order and good customs of Japan,
you can choose not to apply the Philippine law or directly apply Japanese law tomake a judgment. To a certain extent, it gives the parties certain rights, safeguards
the interests of the parties, and solves the problems effectively.
There is little information on Japanese and Chinese websites about Filipino
couples' divorce cases. We only know that after the Philippines gained fullindependence in 1946, a new civil law was promulgated, and it stipulated that in
60 years of prohibiting divorce, local people pointed out that serious social andfamilyproblems

had

been

caused in the Philippines. On
the one hand, due to the lack ofdivorce, women, have become
the primary victims of domestic
violence.

Accordingstatistics

of

PolicetheDepartment

to

the

Philippine
in

2009,

"beating wife" accounts for 72%
66

of all kinds of violence against women. On the other hand, due to the failure of legal
divorce, a large number of Filipino families have been in a deformed state for a longtime, and no internal relationship of status results in many civil disputes about
custody and distribution of property.
So I wanted to find a professional legal person in the Philippines to learn theprocess of the trial or the actual situation. If one party's rights and interests areseriously infringed and it is impossible to divorce, is there any other way of relief
except for divorce? Therefore, with the help of Philippine professors, we contacted
the prosecutor of Manila's local legal department.
The prosecutor gave a further answer. In principle, divorce in thePhilippines is not allowed, but the marriage can be canceled, that is to say, provingthat the marriage is illegal and invalid all the time. But the materials needed arevery complex. Some proofs cannot be used as evidence if they cannot be provided,and it will take a long time and a large number of litigation costs, which theordinary Filipino people cannot afford. Another relatively simple method is toprotect the rights and interests of children and property to apply for legal

67

separation. It can specify that the children's custody right should be in the chargeof the party conducive to the growth of the child and that the common property of
the couple can be separated from the illegal use of the other party. But bigamy isstill not allowed because there is no divorce in law.
In the case of international marriage, Philippine courts generally accept
Divorce Judgments abroad but, of course, not all of them. They will also combine
Philippine laws to make judgments. When it comes to child custody, the Philippines
actively adopts the Hague Convention (the Convention on the Civil Aspects ofInternational Child Abduction) to best protect children's rights and interests.

Reported By Wei Lan Tian

68

University of Santo Tomas Joint Session
Date 28 th Feb 2020, 6:00pm~9:00pm

In the session, there were 4 speakers,
Prof.Suginohara
Dr.ReciofromProf.Suginohara

from

FerrisUST,

Ms.Jackie

talkedabout

University,
and

me.

“Regulating

inward foreign investment in Japan under the“New Cold War.””

And I talked about “Public Education and TVET （ technical-vocational

education and training）.” In this page I would like to put a short version of mypresentation.

“Public Education and TVET”
There is a growing international interest in TVET. In Japan, many public
educational institutions and private companies have undertaken TVET. Recently,
while public interest in the technical training system have increased, many
problems have appeared. In the Philippines, there is a lot of concern on TVET. So
69

today I would like to talk about public education and TVET.
TVET in the Philippines
The President of the Republic of the Philippines, Rodrigo Duterte, approved
an executive order for a four-year national plan for technical education in June
2019. Its content is "Mobilizing, revitalizing and strengthening the technical andvocational education and training sectors to achieve global competitiveness andhuman resource development of the workforce, as well as to achieve social equity
for workforce inclusion and poverty reduction. Presidential decree called on central
government agencies, local governments and the private sector to adopt,
disseminate and support the implementation of national plans. Funding for the
implementation of the development plan will provided to the TESDA (Technical
Education and Skill Development Authority) and other relevant government
agencies. In February of the same year, a law was enacted to narrow the gap
between domestic employment supply and demand by improving the skills oftechnical and specialized skills.
TESDA
TESDA is divided into following institutions:a central office in Manila, 17

regional offices, 87 provinces, regional offices and 122 technical training facilities.
TESDA adopts three different forms of training to create better job opportunities
for trainees. There are three types of programs; an educational institution - based
program on mobile training and e-learning, an enterprise-based, and a communitybased programs on practice-based program centered.
There are problems from an administrative perspective in TESDA.
1, To improve the quality of performance and monitoring and evaluation capabilities.
2, To promote enterprise-based training.
3, Shortage of training facilities and equipment and securing of funds.
4, Employer demand and workforce alignment
My assumption
Promotion of market entry as TVET in public education may undermine theoriginal purpose of public education.
70

In general, public education typically refers to two separate yet related
concepts, which are publicly available education and publicly sponsored education.
Publicly available education simply refers to any type of education or schooling thatis available to the general public. This may not just mean that it is available to the
public, but also is mandatory to ensure that the citizens of a country are welleducated and able to become productive members of the society. So it means thatthe goal of public education is to develop human thinking. There is a vocationalcourse in high school in the K to 12 curriculum, and the vocational course iscontrolled by TESDA.
Despite the need for raising the level of public education for the developmentof the country, vocational education is promoting and a meaning of public education
has been lost. So I consider that the entry of vocational education to public
education could impair the development of the country in the long term.
A case of America
Since the 1980s, the United States has been using deregulation andprivatization repeatedly, incorporating market principles into all aspects of public
education through neoliberal education reform. As a result, the compulsory
education system that would lead to the ranks of public schools and ensure equal
opportunities in the society regardless of their status has become a social device
that ironically widens the economic gap. You can see them in the Reagan
administration's school selection system. The "market-type" school selection system,
which has now spread across the United States, is an attempt to increase thecompetitiveness of each school based on the principle of competition, and by forcing
exclusive competition between schools and families, the education system has beentransformed into a major market. Then, because the school selection system is often
done under a uniform evaluation based on the number of points, such as the unified
test of the participation of the whole school, ranking came to occur in the same
public school.
Also, due to repeated deregulation, the boundary between the "public" andthe "private" has become opaque. In some states, it was even possible for71corporations to run for-profit schools using taxes in the “public education”
framework. Today, public education in the United States has become a rich businessground with privatization in all aspects of education,

including testing,supplementary teaching materials, data systems, and charter construction.
Educational policy has been driven by the educational industry's intentions a nd canbe said to be “educational reform for corporations by corporations”.
It is different from the point of TVET. However, to develop human resources thatthe market demands in public education can mean that public education would to
be influenced by the market.
Certainly, the marketization of public education will have some immediate benefits.
But does public education closely linked to the market retain its original meaning
as public education?
Making a presentation was a valuable experience for me. I learned again theimportance of expressing my opinion. I appreciate the opportunity given by theteachers to make a presentation at UST.

Reported By ERINA ASANO

72

Meeting with Lawyer Lu
Date: 28th February 2020, 2:00pm~3:00pm

At the end of our fieldwork, I got a chance to interview a Filipino lawyer. He
is a Chinese Filipino, who can speak mandarin, which is the standard Chinese. I
have heard that a very small part of lawyers can speak mandarin in the Philippines,
so lawyer Lu is very professional in this part. Moreover, through the interview, I
also get that he works for the Chinese embassy in the Philippines as a law
consultant.
He shared with us a lot about the industry of Chinese network gambling in
the Philippines, an issue that also connects with political and human rights.
About history, gambling in the Philippines has been present in the country
since at least the sixteenth century. Various legal and illegal forms of gambling arefound almost all over the archipelago. The government manages gambling throughthe Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR), a state -owned
enterprise that both operates a number of individual casinos and in turn acts as aregulator to privately owned casino operators. Since 2016 PAGCOR has also
granted operating licenses and overseen the regulation of the growing online
gambling sector serving offshore markets. Casino gambling and integrated resorts
have become a key component of the Philippines' appeal as a tourist destination
with more than twenty casinos found in Metro Manila alone.
As gambling is allowable in the Philippines, there are certain laws in theConstitution that people must obey and be aware of in order to avoid penalties.
Republic Act No. 9287 is an act increasing the penalties for illegal number games,
amending certain provisions of Presidential Decree No. 1602, and for otherpurposes. Because gambling is illegal in China, some people come to Philippine todo network gambling. And it became a way for Chinese rich men to transfer theirfunds overseas, which became a problem for the Chinese government. At the sametime, because of the development of this industry, some Chinese are employed bythese companies. From the interview, lawyer Lu said a lot of employees do not have73

a working visa. They only have a tourist visa. After coming to the Philippines, threeof them use the same name, with a working visa. At the same time, a large part ofthese employees’ passports are taken by their bosses, so they don’t have freedom,
and can only seek help from the Chinese embassy in the Philippines.
Lawyer Lu said that he has handled some of these cases for Chinese

embassy, and now it has apparently become a problem that Chinese government
wants to solve. In my opinion, these employees are also victims, and that what
Chinese government should solve is the origin.
Reported By Zhang Zhaojing

74

Malanday, Marikina
Date: 28th February 2020, 2:00pm~3:00pm

We went to Marikina to
eat local food and see daily life in
the Philippines.
First, we went to see theembankment in the area. Every
year this village are sufferingfrom flood. So, JICA is building anembankment to save their lives.
When I saw the embankment, I was surprised because the embankment is bigger
than what I thought.
After seeing the bank, local people invited us to eat lunch together, so we
ate lunch. It was delicious, especially spring rolls called by Lumpia are my best foodbecause it was so juicy. Everybody ate lunch a lot.

After lunch, we sang songs using a
karaoke machine. I was surprised that there
was a karaoke machine at home. Furthermore,they brought the karaoke machine to outsideand started to sing. They liked singing so they
didn't mind the noise by others’ song. Somestudents sang and we enjoyed singing.
Children lives in the neighbourhood
gathered around us, and we shared our snacks
with them as gifts.

75After that, we went to a village
in the north side of Queson City,
where Reia’s grandmother and her
relatives lives. Reia invited us to visit
her grandmother’s home, we ate pizzawith her family. Everyone likes gifts
from Japan, it is happy to hear that.
Reia has a large family, andevery family members have similar looks. I wish I could have such family like she
has.

Reported By Horiuchi Kaito

76

Ⅵ. Messages from Students
The more I do, the more I can do.
At first, though I had planned toparticipate in English training course for
YNU

undergraduate

students

inUniversity of Santo Tomas, the professor

Kobayashi invited me to this program. In
mypreparation

phase,

I

determined

obvious purposes in the trip.
The most vital purpose of it was to investigate what is going on in thePhilippines industrial spheres and influences by governmental fiscal policies andtax reform policy called TRAIN. I had referred some books and statistical official
data via the Internet in Japan. Then, many difficult issues such as poverty, disparity,
traffic jam and political corruption caught my attention. I’m terribly sorry, but I was
thinking that even Manila was under the pressure of poverty.
Clearly, I realized there that the images I had before was totally wrong. It’s truethat urban people make an abundant living different from the people live in rural
areas. Actually, streets, buildings and skyscrapers looked neat and modern likeTokyo. Besides, there were lots of luxury shops and hotels in Metro Manila.
With respect to the industries and fiscal policy, most of the Philippines citizens
supported them performed by president Duterte. From the look of the town and road,the situation could be recognized that its economy had been accelerating
continuously. I’m glad I can observe the hopeful signs that show the progress of thecountry.
Through my assignments I had carried out faithfully t here, I acquired a lotof knowledges from intellectual graduate students and skilled professor. Moreover,through our activities, I had obtained “practical English skills” that can’t be gainedin the classroom. What is more, I could have some suggestive aw areness andhypothesis in terms of economics. Based on this experience, I’m planning to carryout profound economic research from now on.
77

Finally, I would like to express mygratitude to UST professors and students
and to my precious companions, though I cannever thank you enough.

I hereby proclaim that these extraordinary experiences will make my life
better in the future.

Kota Nakamura
Yokohama National University

This Short Visit (SV) was a series of
miracles and accidents for me. My beginning
was in June. I saw an article about the law ofplanting trees being enacted in the Philippines.
It attracted me, and I hoped I could go there.
In October, I heard an announcement to look
for students for the exchange program to thePhilippines from YNU website and I decided tojoin. As I investigated the law, I could get toknow a lot of things about it. First, the content of the article was wrong: the law
was not enacted, only the bill passed the lower house. Also, a congressman who I
tried to make an appointment with lost their jobs in the election.
78

But fortunately, with the help ofcolleagues,

I

could

make

an

appointment with one co-proposer andhad a meaningful time.
Apart from my research, I had avaluable experience even though ourschedule didn't go well. At that time,
COVID-19 was prevalent in Yokohama.
So, someone asked me what part ofJapan I came from? I felt they were scared of us. I was also worried that ourcolleague's appointments were canceled. I felt we weren't welcome. But mostcitizens welcomed us warmly. I think it was a good SV as a result.

I was impressed by a conversation
with a guide. She introduced a rice terrace
in Ifugao. I asked her why she chose the job
as a guide. I thought she loved nature. But
her reply surprised me. She said "For myfamily": she earned to support her children
to get what they needed at school. When I heard that, I felt she was kind to herfamily. At the same time, I felt sad because she had to sacrifice what she wanted todo. I also remembered a small talk with her. She asked me how old I was because I
always smiled and looked young. She said, "Your smile is good. Don't forgetsmiling." Then, I wanted you to be honest and laugh just like me.
Finally, I learned a lot of important things through this SV. I hope we cango together someday again.

Horiuchi Kaito
Yokohama National University

79This study trip was so helpful, and it was a great time for me. I went to thePhilippines for the first time, and also Southeast Asia. Before this study trip, I had
a little bad image of the Philippines, but Filipino were so kind and the Philippines’
atmosphere was good, so I had a good time in my life and the Philippines’ image
has changed for the better.
I had learned many unknown things during
this study trip. For example, the education system,
employment supports, and support for female
independence, etc.
What remains in my impression, many
children gathered in Salt Payatas. They werereading books, and they were dancing with Salt staff. It looks enjoyable, and I
thought this place looks like a Japanese kindergarten. My image of Payatas is likea slum but actually is not that, it seemed not to be a very hard life. I think Salt
Payatas and compulsory education up to high school support the Philippines’
literacy.
When I went to Ifugao, I thought most of the Filipinos couldn’t speak English,
but actually many people could speak English. I was surprised. Because of tourist
influence and compulsory education. I think this environment with lots of using
English around feels so good for Filipino. I want to go into that environment, and I
found the importance of the English language again. I think Ifugao is dominant intourism, so, even more, English is needed.
This study trip gives me a chance to interview specialists and many Filipinos,
and a chance to see yourself in the Philippines. Maybe If there wasn't this study
trip, I wouldn’t have gone to the Philippines.
This study trip was a very educational and good experience for me. I want to visit
the Philippines again, and I hope I will go to the Philippines as an exchange student
one day.

80Thanks to the teachers and members who were involved in this study trip.

Nozomi Tsuruoka
Ferris University

Throughout the program, I became
interested in the political situation in thePhilippines and the issue of international
marriage.
I visited NGOs like Marigaya Houseandgovernment

institutions

like

DOLE

supporting Filipino women.
There are some organizations in Japan also support women. But I
understood that the issues they deal with were different. In the Philippines,
Philippians moved to Japan as entertainers and got international marriage with aJapanese man, and transnational problem would be happened. I thought it was so
hard to resolve, but there were many people who had tackled transnational
problems. I saw the situation, and I
want to be a person like them.

Emiri Asano
Wako University81This study trip was my second time
visiting the Philippines. The last time I
went there, I was traveling, and this time I
was studying. Visiting for a completely
different

purpose,myanxietywasoverwhelmingly greater than my pleasure.
Since I had no experience in field research,
I had a lot to learn, from making an
appointment to adjusting my schedule,
because it was my first experience.
When I visited the Philippines last time, there was a big difference between
the countryside and the city this time, so everything seemed new to me . When I
looked at the city from inside the car, I was surprised by the number of cars, andthe city suddenly changed from a high-rise building to a local street lined, and thedaily scenery was full of surprises. In particular, during this study trip, many
incidents were unique to this period because of the coronavirus epidemic. When I
visited IFUGAO, many of our appointments were canceled and our plans changed
drastically, but thanks to the teachers, graduate students, and the local people, wewere able to get through it. I think getting on the bus in a hurry that has become agood memory now. The exchange with the local people was also a valuable
experience for me to understand the real situation in the Philippines. It was adelightful experience to eat Filipino food made by local people and to play withchildren who couldn't speak English. Although it was a busy two weeks and not justfun, the schools and slums that I
would never have been able to visit
had

I

not

participated

in

this

training were valuable experiencesthat I would never forget in my life.

Hina Mimura
Ferris University
82

The 11 days period from February 19th toMarch 1st, I took part in the Study Tour for the
first time. I am half Japanese and Half Filipino. I
lived in Quezon City before enroll elementary
school. I have been in Philippines many times but
I have only been to my mothers’s house in Quezon
City (Manila). This Study Tour, we went to Makati(Manila), Ifgao (Banaue), and Marikina (Manila)
for the first time, I was able to feel different
atmosphere of Philippine compare to the Quezon
City which I had lived. In Makati, everything was
fashionable, I feel as if I were in another country.
I heard that Ifgao’s official language is Ilocano, I thought they could’t speak English
or Tagalog. Because my Filipino family told me so.
But in fact, anybody, regardless of age, can speak English and Tagalog.
Marikina was similar where I had lived in Quezon City. It was the place I felt themost about the Philippines. After Marikina, we went to my grandmother’s house in
Quezon City, we could meet my Filipino family. I got sick becaus e it was on a tightschedule. But this Study Tour was a really fulfilling 11 days for me. I rarely go toother parts of Philippine without my Filipino family. Ｉ had many wonderfulexperiences with teachers and students, I appreciated it.

Reia Ito
Ferris University83

I had joined this program twice time.
When I was an undergraduate student of
Ferris University, I joined for first time. And
I decided to go to graduate school of YNU. I
hadstudiedpolitical

science,publicadministration, developing assistance and so
on for about a year. This time I was able toparticipate with a different perspective fromtwo years ago.
You research your topic of interest before going to the Philippines, makeassumptions, and you can confirm with realities. And you can discuss everyday on
various themes with teachers and friends with different fields and backgrounds. I
think it's a really great program. Although there were many troubles, it was avaluable time for me including that. Finally, Tiu sensei, Dr.Recio, Susan, Jannet
and Jina sensei, I appreciate your supports and amazing experiences you have given
for us. I am grateful to my friends who had a hard time with me, and to Yonemura
sensei, Kobayashi sensei, Suginohara sensei who supported us, and especially toKabashima sensei who guides me every day and Chiho sensei who gave me thechance to go to graduate school. Maraming salamat po!!

Erina Asano
Yokohama National University

On the last day, everyone surprised me!

84Hello! My name is Kawamura Kenta. Thank you for reading our reports! It
was for the first time such an experience, before visiting a research field preparing
for the trip about my concerning points. Among the this time short term study trip,
I could’ve met with many people in Philippines, Sakata san, Omure san, Dan sensei,
local people, the people in Hotel which we stayed, Philippines students in UP and
UST, also we could’ve visited Banaue and in Banaue also I could’ve become friends.
Also, not only local people, the Professors, students of Ferris University, Wako
University, also YNU graduate school classmates, professors, students of YNU
undergraduate school…now I’m thinking I am so happy to communicate with eachother a lot and could’ve become precious friends. The best memory in this trip was
to have been able to communicate with everyone! There were also tough experiences
though, I think I could’ve been here now as I could’ve been with everyone. I’m still
not mature and I have to grow up from now on too. I appreciate this time short term
study trip experiences and keep on goingahead with a thankful heart to everyone.
Thank you so much! Finally, let me
introduce my precious friends and people
and share memories!
The first photo, this is the photos
witheveryone,UP

friends

after

the

session! We could’ve talked about their interest not only about study and we
could’ve talked a lot!
The second photo, this was theafter discussion about anime of thePhilippines and Japan with UP friends.
Maybe I should talk about JolliBee.
JolliBee, he is loved by Philippines
people!

85

Third Photo. This is the photo with
JolliBee! The forth photo. I’m discussing animefrom the Philippines and Japan. Everyone
represents their thinking about anime andmanga.

Kenta Kawamura
Yokohama National University

This year Philippine study tour has been divided into 2 groups. There is a
Development Studies team and Trade & Investment team, and I was in the Trade&Investment team, so we were able to visit many various government offices andset appointments with Attorney during our stays in the Philippines. I cannot thankthose people who unconditionally accepted our appointment requests, even some
appointments were set after arrival in the Philippines and 1day before the meeting.
Even though, we still got a very warm welcome with professional explanations
which are very useful sources. The opportunities of meeting the experts from thegovernment offices provided information that could not be found on the websites.
We learned what is happening right now in the real society of the Philippines. That
one thing is the weak implementation of
the law and it is still the social issue.
Besidessome

unexpected

situations, we enjoyed a lot from thewhole program. The trip was very useful,interesting and enjoyable. There are no
On the way to Museum, Ifugao
Tripmany differences such as food, weather,86

people among the ASEAN countries so yeah I felt like I went to my own coun try,
Cambodia. And after meeting and talking to 2 taxi drivers that we rode during ourstay, I realized that Filipinos truly adore Japanese. They told me how they feel
about the Japanese Government, people, and its famous Manga and Anime.
Finally,

I

would

like

to

express my gratitude to all the YNU
professors,
Ferris

UST

professors

professors

unconditional

and

for

their

assistanceandendless support. I also learned a lot
from our colleagues through theircooperative, helpful, independent,
and active characteristics. I hope tovisit the Philippines again very soon.

UNG HUYKONG
Yokohama National University

I’m a graduate student major in international government and assistance,
after my graduation, I want to be a researcher in my field and take my phd course.
This time’s field work in Philippine is a great step of my research and a meaningful
milestone in my career designation.

During this trip, professors and students from

UST, UP, Ferris University, and YNU gave me inspirations and lot of help,

theway they deal with troubles and get informations from others set an example of ascholar to me, make me realize distance to become a real researcher.
I must show my gratitude to Professor Tiu, who contacted with local officials
and collected information for me, after and before our arrival. And Ms. Jenelyn,
arranged the interview with professors of IFSU for me, but unfortunately we had
to cancel the visit, and cannot say thanks to her directly. Anthony, translated fo mein the trip, and sent me a document about Banaue after we returning to Japan.
Professors and students from Japan also gave me precious advices and guidance.
87

The spread of virus and panic made it difficult for someone with Chinese passport
like me to travel to other countries. Pro. Kabashima told me to prepare the answers
for questions from the stuff in airport . Pro.Yonemura and Pro. Kobayashi, myadvisor, accompanied with us, and dealt with unexpected situations for us during
the trip. Pro. Ogaya and Pro. Suginohara, followed us in each interview. And at last,
Our captain, Erina, had done toomuch for our team, it was solucky to have you in our group.
May your life and study in UP
happy and successful.

Wentian,Xu
Yokohama National University

Trip to the Philippines felt a lot of different learning atmosphere, because
the law will have been sitting at a desk to look over and provision analysis case,temporary didn't go out, have a class at the time of publication is to communicate
with teachers have, other students have no good discussion, lead to study single
and can't express myself well's point of view, this time learning to take theinitiative to participate indiscussions, listen to theopinions of others, in order tobetter develop their own new
ideas.

Wei Lan Tian
Yokohama National
University
88

From February 19th to March 1st, we have a fieldwork at Philippine. It’san excellent trip, because that this is a very good chance for me to experience theway that doing my research from field working. In the past, I always learnknowledge from books, and in university I do my paper from research the books andessays written by scholarships. But in this trip, I got a chance to do research frominterview.
Because the help ofprofessor in Philippine, we got
a lot of chance to visited somegreat people. Here I reallywant to show my thanks to alloftheteacher,

especially

Professor Tiu and professor
Recio.

Not

chances

onlybutinterview

also

some

sightseeing, they introduced a lot of spots and some history knowledge to us.
About my research question, as a Chinese, China and Philippines have a lotof connections in history. And recently, China come up with an initiative called the
Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st-Century Maritime Silk Road(B&R). China
pay more attention to the communications with Philippines, so it is also have lotsof advantages for me to know more about Philippines.Connecting with my graduate
thesis, in this field working, I put my focus on the legal issues of Chinese companies
faced in Philippine. For researching it, we visited mainly visited PCCI.From thehomepage of PCCI, I find the mission of this organization: The main responsibilityof PCCI is to provide focused advocacy for business growth and sustainable
development by providing business services for the advancement of grassroots
entrepreneurship, chamber development, international trade relations, business
innovation and excellence, and operating efficiency. These will be achieved througha professional organization working in close cooperation with various stakeholders
in public and private sectors.
89

At last, I want to talk about something about my impression about
Philippine. Filipinos are very enthuastic, and like to make friends. But this time I
also felt a lot about the unbalance of economic. Comparing with Manila, other partof Philippine is very poor. So it is also a big problem for the government to solve.
I learned a lot and experience a lot from this trip and thank for all of our te achersand our leader.

Reported By Zhang Zhaojing
Yokohama National University

Ⅶ. Photo Essays

90

91

92

93

94

95