IBLAW Field Study Trip 2018
“In Quest for a Sustainable, Prospererous and Peaceful World”
February 21st -March 3rd,2018

Graduate School of International Social Sciences

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

IBLAW Field Study Trip 2018
In Quest for a Sustainable, Prospererous and Peaceful World

A group of 15 students, 1 professor from the ayo Women's Universit andtwo professor from Ferris University participated in a filed study trip
to the Philipines from February 21st to March 3rd ,2018

IBLAW Field Study Trip 2018
Table of Contens
List of Participants....................................................................................................... 1
Messages from Professors...........................................................................................2
Group Reports by Students......................................................................................... 4
Japan International Cooperation Agency Philippines (JICA).......................................5
National Economic Development Authority...............................................................7
Development Action for Women Network.................................................................9
Center for Migrant Advocacy....................................................................................11
Philippines Overseas Employment Administration.................................................. 13
DBP Leasing...............................................................................................................15
Banco De Oro........................................................................................................... 17
Japan-PNB.................................................................................................................18
Citibank .................................................................................................................. 19
Surf Camp ...............................................................................................................21
Card Bank /Rural Bank of Dulag................................................................................23
Embassy of Japan in the Philippines.........................................................................27
Salt Payatas............................................................................................................... 29
Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO).............................................................. 31
Department of Education......................................................................................... 33
Kaisa Para sa Kaunlaran............................................................................................ 35
The Eastern Visayas Regional Medical Center (EVRMC)...........................................37
Photo Essays...............................................................................................................39T

he study trip to the Philippines since its inception in 2005 has produced frutiful

for the student’s research. After 10 years, we again participated in our IBLAW fieldstudy-trip with the theme “In Quests for a Sustainable, Prosperous and PeacefulWorld”. Our team, consisting of eight students from Japan, China, Cambodia,
accompany with six professors, visited many agencies, authorities located in Metro
Manila and Leyte island.

List of Participants
Professors
1

SurnameKabashima

Given name
HiromiM/F
F

Nationality
Japanese2

Kobayashi

Takaaki

M

Japanese3

Yonemura

KotaroM

Japanese

45Kanamaru
Ogaya

Yuji
Chiho

M
F

JapaneseJapanese

6

Suginohara

MasakoF

Japanese

Surname
Shi
Feng
Peng
Te
Sakamoto
TamuraTakahashi
Kawasaki
SoritaNomoto
Asano
Ozawa
Kan
Konno
Okawa

Given nameXiaoyuXiaomeiBo
MuykimKeishunYurinoYuka
ChihiroHarunaShoheiErina
Ayaka
Mamiko
Anju
Eri

M/F
F
F
M
F
M
F
F
F
F
M
F
F
F
F
F

Nationality
ChineseChineseChineseCambodianJapaneseJapaneseJapaneseJapaneseJapaneseJapaneseJapaneseJapaneseJapaneseJapaneseJapanese

Professor
Associate
Professor
Associate
Professor
Professor
Professor
Associate
Professor

Student
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15

1

M1
M1
M1
M1
U1
U1
U2
U2
U2
U4
U3
U3
U3
U1
U3

Messages from Professors
well-being.
Accordingtosomephilosopher, if human well-being
consists in satisfaction of theirpreferencesor
theirsubjective
happiness, we might judge that Payatas
children’s life is going well. And then,there is no need to improve their life.

We visited to many different

places; universities, government offices,
corporations and local communities,
discussed with many people; professors,
students, public officials, businesspeople, ordinary citizens, NGOs. I havelearned so much as our students fromall of them. First of all, I would like toappreciate all the people who support
our trip. Although every place we visited
gave me wonderful opportunities todeliberate on various practical andphilosophical matters, I want tocomment about Payatas alone, for it
especially deeply related to ‘divided
society’, which is the theme of the
fieldtrip.

It seems morally dangerous conclusion,and that is the very reason why theNobel winner economist, Amartya Sen
tried to define human well-being andpovertyobjectivelybyhuman‘capabilities’. He wants to say that thesituation like payatas is not morally
innocent, even if they are smiling andcontent with their lives. Pace Sen,theoretically I still don’t agree with his
idea of capability. However, seeing thechildren’s smile, I realized what Sen
wants to say from my heart. While they
are smiling and perhaps content with
their lives, they might not be able tospeak English at least as much as
children of elites in Manila do. They
might have a risk of various diseases
caused by insanitary conditions. They
might have to leave their school
because of their parent’s economic
situations. They don’t seem to haveenough money, time and space forflourishing their capabilities. Even if
they themselves are satisfied with theirlives, their situations are problematicand they need some help.

Payatas is famous for the dumpsite andpoverty. However, in Barangay Payatas,
what we saw was children smiling,
dancing to K-pop music on the streets,playing basketball. Although streets
were filthy and the air was stinky, mostof them looked happy. To be honest,
foolishly I assumed that people in slum
always looked sad, so their smile
surprised me a bit. At the same time, it
reminded me familiar philosophicaldebates on assessment of people’s

We also found how NGOs are tacklingwith this difficult situation. For example,
the Salt Payatas Foundation teach some
women in the community cross-stitch sothat they can earn money other than2

scavenging.
A
woman
proudly
explaining her achievement with tears
in her eyes deeply moved us. After that,the foundation staff showed us a small
library for children. I think that it also
helps the children for developing theircapabilities in a not outstanding but still
important way. In my opinion, theimportant thing is that the library canoffer them spaces for study. For
example, one of the mother told methat the nineteen members, threefamilies live together in her small house.
This is only a guess, but her sons ordaughters don’t have enough space forstudy at home. Problem of spaceseriously affects children’s academic
performance, so the library can play animportant role for improvement ofchildren’s well-being in Payatas.
Surely I don’t mean that thesemeasurements for poverty are enough.
Poverty is so complex phenomenon,
that it is obvious that we need complex
measures against it. I just want to saythat NGOs like the Salt Payatas
Foundation are tackling with tasks ofhuman development in many ways, andtheir efforts deserve our respect.

Kotaro Yonemura

Tdiscussionorconversation
before the tour
wold
make
studentsbeopenminded,think
globally
and be active totheproblems
that is happening in the world.
I wish all the students to make use of
the precious experience of this program
for their future life.

he Philippines study tour in thisyear was held as a joint program ofthree universities for the first time.
I was concerned with the students fromdifferent universites to collaborate witheach other successfully even in theforeign country.
As a result, it was needless anxiety
The students including international
post graduates cooperated ver well not
only during the tour but also in
preparation before .
The experience during the tour andYuji Kanamaru

Wayo Womens’s University and Ferris
University.
Second, because of the distance among
the three universities, we faced the
difficulties to prepare for the trip
enough.
Third, even though there existed theT

he 2017th trip was special one in

the history of YNU study trip to
Philippines;
First, it was the first joint trial with3

week days, our students planned tohave several off-campus meetings inweek end.
Until last year, professors had supported
the logistics matters because students
had not capacities and experience tomanage it, even though subject mutterssuch as making research questions andquestioners was managed by students
themselves. The students this year
managed not only subject matters but
also logistics matters by themselves. It
was partly because of the progress of IT
technologies. I am really impressed with
their initiatives and leaderships.
difficulties of on-campus meeting in
Takaaki Kobayashi

Group Reports by Students

4Japan International Cooperation Agency Philippines
Date and Time: 28 February 2018, 10:00-11:30
Place: 40th Floor, Yuchengco Tower, RCBC Plaza,
6819 Ayala Avenue, Makati City PHILIPPINES(1)Overview of JICA

F

irst

of

all,

ODA

main cities near Manila. For instance,
the construction of North - South
Commuter Railway from Malolos to
Tutuban will be started in the first halfof 2018. Also, they are planning toMetro Manila Subway Project (Phase1)
in First quarter of 2018.
In terms of the improvement ofinvestment
environment,
because
Foreign Direct Investment(FDI) to
Philippines is smaller than otherneighboring countries, they are trying toincrease FDI from other countries
including Japan by improving thecondition of investment in Philippines.

(Official

Development Assistance) is broadly
divided into bilateral aid andmultilateral aid. Then, JICA is agovernmental agency that provides
bilateral aid in the form of TechnicalCooperation, Japanese ODA Loans andGrant Aid.
(2)JICA’s assistance to infrastructure
maintenance in Philippines
They concentrate on sustainableeconomic growth by promoting
investment. Therefore, their tasks arethat infrastructure maintenance forsustainable economic growth and theimprovementofinvestment
environment.
Specifically,
they
supportthemaintenance of transport infrastructure
to stop excessive concentration of
population and industry in Manila byimproving transportation networks in(3)Other current tasks in Philippines
and JICA’s assistance to those
1.Maritime safety
They help Philippines to accomplish
maritime mission such as salvage rescue
by introducing ships to overall ofPhilippines sea area, fostering humanresources,anddeveloping
communication.
2.Peace and development in Mindanao
Since 2016, the personnel have been5

sent to International Monitoring
Team(IMT) and JICA started peaceconstruction and supports development
for conflict affected area in Mindanao.
They offer assistance such as humanresource
development
andreconstruction of local industry.
3.Development of agriculture and rural
In order to promote inclusive
development that all the people canbenefit from any aspects, it is important
to increase income of agriculture,
forestry, and periphery industry.
Therefore, JICA gives a lot of aid
includingstrengtheningfarm,
developing community, and improving
financial access.
4.The reduction and management ofdisaster risks
They suggest many projects including
improvement of disaster education
system and introducing disaster-related
technology by making use of experiencein Japan.
5.Assistance to reconstruction in Leyte
island Leyte island was struck by atyphoon, Yolanda in 8 November 2013.
Hence, they conducted emergency
development survey and did Grant Aid
project
forrestoration
andreconstruction.
6.Support for health
They provide support related to theillegal drug measure and develop
human resources to cope withmaternity problems.
7.Support for education
They facilitate to carry out education
system, “K+12” and support for higher

education field from the point of viewofindustrial
human
resource
development.
(4)The JICA Partnership Program (JPP)
JPP is the project that JICA works fordeveloping countries with organizations
such as NGO, universities, andmunicipalities and makes use of suchorganization’s
experience
andtechnology. Actually, it was conductedin disaster area, Leyte to farm oysters byintroducing technology suggested by amunicipality in Miyazaki Prefecture
Japan.
(5)Impression
I found that there are some peculiar
problems in Philippines when JICA
assists. For example, because of thepresident’s term of office is 6 years in
Philippines, next president tends tochange former president’s policy to get
support from people. Thus, it is hard for
JICA to continue to conduct their projectin the long term. As a result, they haveto adapt it every time the president
changes
After listening to stories from JICA’s staff,
I was most impressed by their attitude
trying to get close to Filipino and tackle
problems patiently. Finally, the wordthat “what people really need can beseen when you are in an objective
position” still remains in my heart.

Reported by Yurino Tamura

6

National Economic Development Authority
Date and time: 23 February 2018, 14:00-16:00
Place: 12 St. J.Escriva Drive,
Ortigas Center, Pasig CityA

The Dream Plan focus on 3 major
problems of Metro Manila: traffic
congestions, natural disaster (flood,earthquake, tsunami etc.), and land use(especially affordable housing which
free from disaster risk). They interrelatewith each other, and may worsen as
continuing expansion of urban area andpopulation growth.

s population and economic growth,

Manila has a much more huge demand
for transport infrastructure in comparedwith what can be supplied now. The
average cost of traffic congestion in
Manila is 3.5 billion pesos per day in2017, much higher than the estimated
2.4 billion pesos in 2012.
To solve the problem, NEDA, formally
named“
National
Economic
Development Authority”, made “thePhilippine Development Plan ” , and intransport division, the goals of this plan
was translated into many specificprojects included in the “Roadmap forTransport Infrastructure Development
for Metro Manila and its Surrounding
Areas (Region III and Region IV-A)”, or“Mega Manila Dream Plan”.

As a solution, First, the spatial structureof Manila proposed by the Dream Plan
shift from radial/circumferential toladder form to avoid higher risk ofdisaster from west and east side. Then,
Manila will become poly-centric frommono-centric, and form north-southtransport corridors to connect northcenter and south center with Metro
Manila. This is like “ suburbanrail +newtown ” development model, usetransport as catalyst to facilitate
7

integrated development of the area,
which used by many cities in Japan like
Kohoku New Town in Yokohama or
Tsukuba Science City.
There are five main components of thetransport interventions in the plan: (1)At-grade Roads: includes missing links
on C3, C5, bridges and others; 137 km
of new roads; flyovers; sidewalks andpedestrian facilities. (2) Expressways:
compose of intercity expressway of 426
km and urban expressway network of
78 km. (3) Urban/Suburban Rail:
comprising 6 main lines with combined
length of 246 km; 5 secondary lines
measuring 72 km, and integration oflines for improved accessibility. (4)Bus/jeepneys: includes modernized
fleet and operation; rationalized route
structure; and improved terminals andinterchange facilities. (5) Traffic
Management:
includes intelligent
transportation systems (ITS) for
different modes of transport, traffic
signals, traffic safety, and traffic
environment and education.
The transport sector goals are 5 “NOs”.
NO traffic congestion, NO householdliving in high hazard risk areas, NObarrier for seamless mobility, NO
excessive transport cost burden for
low-income groups, NO air pollution.
And the implementation of this plan
was separated into 3 steps: the shortterm TRIP (Transport Investment
Program, 2014-2016), which focused on

accelerating infrastructure development;
the medium term TRIP (2017-2022),
which aimed at moving the transportsystem into a less-congested andsustainable future; and the long term
TRIP (2022-2030), which lead to acongestion-free situation.
As for the condition of implementation,
the reply from NEDA is “ most of
projects identified in the short-term
TRIP have yet to be completed. As such,it is too early to give an assessment
whether the goals for the short-term
TRIP have been achieved…….However… … there were indeed problems
encountered that caused delays in theimplementation of the projects
identified. ” And NEDA will not takeresponsibility for implementation ofprojects because they just do the planand give advice if there has any
problems through implementation.
In the short-term TRIP, “majority of the
projects are to be financed via
Public-Private Partnerships (PPP) while a
few have been identified to be financed
via ODA. The financing mix for the
projects is similar for the medium-term
TRIP. ” And though the PPP-biased
strategy was be used, the public sector
is more dominant in the partnerships
with regard to the projects in the
short-term TRIP.

Rrepoted by Bo Peng

8

Development Action for Women Network
Date and time: 27 February 2018, 14:00-16:00
Place: Unit 3, 3rd Floor, Bocobo Commercial Center
1253 J. Bocobo St.corner Padre Faura St.
Ermita 1000, Manila, PHILIPPINES

programs:1.INSTITUTIONAL
DEVELOPMENT, 2.NETWORKING.
Their vision is a society where womenand men share equal opportunities for ajust and human living, creating
empowered and self-reliant families incommunities where each one cares for
one another in the spirit of peace basedon justice; and where migration is an
option that is respected and protected.
And their mission. To live in hope with
the Filipino people, especially with thereturning distressed migrant womenand their children, through programs
and services that enable them and theirfamilies to regain and strengthen theirsense of dignity and self-worth, reclaimT

he 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 and protection of their rights
and welfare. In 2011, DAWN expanded
its programs to include Filipino migrant
domestic workers and their families. It
has four core programs: 1.SOCIALSERVICES, 2.ALTERNATIVE LIVELIHOOD,
3.RESEARCHAND
ADOVOCACY,
4.EDUCATION. And two support
9

their wholeness and attain total
development.
We watched a part of the alternative
livelihood programs. It is “Sikap Buhay(SIKHAY)”
center-based
project.
“SIKHAY” means striving for a better life
or self-empowerment.
It presently consists of sewing andhandloom weaving. “SIKHAY” shallcontinue to showcase the livelihood
activities as effective tools for theempowerment of women.
The merchandises on this picture are
made by this program. And also DAWN
has home-based projects providing tobuy and sell such as sari-sari stores,
services such as massage or pedicure &manicure, and etc.

Filipinos as just cheap labors. And they
say that they spend most of theirearnings on sending money to theirfamily and are forced to live a life ofreality. Some people succeeded as OFW.
However, like women coming here,some people return to the Philippines
exhausted physically and mentally inforeign land, and they live economicallyhard lives. Because OFW’s earnings are
exhausted by allowance, and it isdifficult for them to get a job if they
don’t have them own hands and don’t
have licenses or skills in the Philippines.
OFW is called the hero, but there is astark reality to wait for people who havefailed as OFW.

We knew that recipients of foreigncompany or people are using Filipinos
who want to work. Recipients treat

Reported by Erina Asano

10

Center for Migrant Advocacy
Date and time:27February 2018, 15:00-17:00
Place:15 (Unit 7) CASAL Bldg. Anonas Road, Project 3
Quezon City 1102 Philippines

economy of the Philippines so they aretreated like heroes. However, as I am aJapanese student, I know some casesthat Filipino are forced to work inunderprivileged working environments
so I feel some differences between theFilipino and Japanese attitudes to OFW.

１、IntroductionMy purpose of this trip is to learn

about migrants to Japan and the
problems of Filipino workers in Japanbecause I am interested in those topics
and have studied about them.
This is the 3rd time to visit thePhilippines and I believed that I knew a
lot of things about this country, but thistime I found that I do not know anything
about OFW. OFW means Overseas
Filipino Workers and they dynamize the２、About CMA
CMA is ‘an advocacy group that
promotes the rights of overseas Filipino
land or sea based migrant workers andFilipino immigrants and their families.’
So it supports OFW to work and live in abetter environment. Our group met the11executive director, Ellene A. Sana. She isa powerful lady and she gave us a lot of
information passionately. We did somequestions and she answered eachquestion with more information thanwe expected.
Our questions were following;・ What do you think about the foreigntechnical intern trainee system in Japan?
Is this working, or not?
・ Many OFW had terrible experiences
and sometimes they even died. Why dothey keep coming to Japan?
・Do the OFW’s families keep working in
the Philippines?
・Is this true that some people try to get‘study visa’ because getting ‘working
visa’ is difficult?
・ If the OFW have higher skills, do they
have better situation in Japan?
・ What kind of people become OFW?
The poor or the rich?
・ If the number of OFW increase, thenthe economic gap will be wider?
３、Conclusion
I used to think that we Japanese havesome responsibilities to help Filipino
who have to work in foreign countries

12

with bad working environments.
However, through this study tour, I
became to think that maybe not theirdemand because they keep coming toJapan no matter how bad their working
environment is, and even thegovernment encourages them. And also
I found that what I wanted to do in thenearer future is unrealistic because oflack of the laws in the Philippines andinefficiencies.
Now I am back to square one andtrying to grasp the real problems of
OFW.

Reported by Chihiro Kawasaki

Philippines Overseas Employment Administration (POEA)
Date and Time: 1 March 2018, 14:00-16:00
Place: POEA Building, Ortigas Avenue corner EDSA, Mandaluyong
City

W

e

visitedPOEA

get more salaries. Most of them will bedomestic workers (housekeepers andcaregivers) or the construction workers.
They usually get temporary contracts
with employer, excepting some go todeveloped countries and eventuallyresident permanently, but they are very
limited numbers.

(Philippines

Overseas Employment Administration)
which govern and manage OFW(Overseas Filipino Workers) in theafternoon of Mar 1. POEA wasestablished in 1982, began to promoteand develop the overseas employment
program,becauseoflackofemployment opportunities for nationals.
Now, they are sending 2 million Filipino
workers a year to other countries.

Interview
We could interview Ms. Maybelle M.
Gorospe, OIC of planning branch, andshe herself also worked in Middle East
before as one of OFW. First of all, she
explained services to OFW. They arevery comprehensive, registering workers
online, getting in touch with foreign
government and recruit agencies tolicenses to recruit, and regulating illegal
workers and giving welfare services.
After that, she answered the questions
we prepared.

What is the OFW?
OFW means Overseas Filipino Workers,
and they have played important roles
for a long time in the Philippines. In fact,
the number of them consists 10% of
Philippines’ population, and theremittance that they earned in othercountries contributes 10% of GDP. It issaid that most of OFW go to work to theMiddle East area (Saudi Arabia, UAE,
Qatar, etc.) because there are enoughemployment opportunities and they can

One of the most impressive was OFWs’burdens. If they go to the countries
whose language they don’t know, they13

have to learn the languages bythemselves. Of course, when studying
languages, it will be required additionaltime and money while working theirown places. Regarding this point, somestudents seemed it was too severe forthem, but it may be natural that theycannot manage languages support sincemore and more OFW are applicating.
Also, we have question that what levelof supports POEA can offer. As long as
they are one of the government office,they cannot provide individuals withwell-managed level of services, so wethink that it is really difficult issues. In
fact, NGO groups are making up
grass-roots supports which government
agencies cannot offer. Sometimes, POEA
is associating with them in the aspect ofwelfare program. But I wonder if theassociation is really enough for OFW.

Therefore, OFW are called “Heroes”.
They are taking much of risk. Before I
came to Philippines, I had an image that
OFW symbolize the poor domestic
industries and the poverty, but this time
I could know about more fundamental
problems. In even Japan, more andmore OFW may come, so we should
consider about them.

Besides, there are no end to problems
about illegal workers. Ms. Gorospe said
this is because employment agencies
should meet harsh requirements to getlicenses. However, some agencies
cannot meet, some cases happen that
OFW suffer from long hour working,abuse and trafficking. These days, adead body of maid has been just foundin refrigerator in Qatar. Then, it ispossible to develop into an international
issue.

Reported by Yuka Takahashi

14

During the 11-day field study trip in Manila city and Tacloban City of thePhilippines, the participants have been to many private and public institutions forvarious purposes, and I have been to four top financial institutions in the Philippines.
My first visit was DBP leasing where I met the President of DBP and the officer incharge of Account Management Group in the afternoon of 23rd Feb. On 28th Feb, I
went to Banco De Oro, the biggest bank in the Philippines in term of asset and got
the chance to discuss with the Senior Executive Vice President of the bank, and at
the same day in the evening, I had dinner appointment with the RelationshipManager of Citibank. Last but not least, on 2nd March 2018, I was given honor tohave a meeting with the President of Japan-PNB and the Vice-president of Japan-PNB
IBJL. All the meetings have proceeded successfully and fruitfully thanks to an
enthusiastic coordination of a professor of University of Santo Tomas and a kindcooperation from the host financial institutions. The reason that I chose financial
institutions is I wanted to deepen my understanding in financing which is crucial tothe current research topic of my master degree.

DBP Leasing
Date and Time:23rd Feb 2018, 14:30-16:30
Place: 4/F DBP Bldg. cor Makate
Ave., Sen. Gil J. Puyat Ave, Makati,
1227 Metro Manila, Philippines

The presentation of background of DBP
Leasing was delivered by the Presidentof DBP Leasing accompanied with the
Account Manager, and the President has
15given honor to stay until the end of themeeting in order to answer all thequestions from the participants. DBP
Leasing is a financial institution that is
100% owned by the National
Development Bank of the Philippines.
DBP offers three kinds of products
including Loan, Factoring, and Leasing.
Leasing is a financing method thatallows a company or an individual toacquire an immovable property or a
movableproperty
likefactoryequipment, vehicles, or building byrenting it from a leasing company. The
process starts from the customer
engaging the leasing company to buy aparticular property from customer ’ schosen supplier and renting it back fromthe leasing company with monthly orquarterly rental fee plus interest. The
ownership of the property still belongs
to the leasing company at the end of
the term, and the lessor (financing

company) may sell it to the lessee(customer) at a price of the guarantee
deposit. Guarantee deposit is a down
payment which usually costs around
10% of the leasing amount that every
lessee has to pay to the lessor at the
beginning of the leasing term, and thelessee will get it back at the end of theleasing term. The product that thecustomer asks the leasing company to
buy must be marketable that means it
has market value because in case thatthe customer does not buy it at the endof the leasing term, the leasing
company can sell it to other buyers or
rent it out.
DBP Leasing is of the opinion that
Leasing is very helpful to SME or astart-up company that needs to operateor expand the business with limited
capital and that is not qualified enoughfor being bankable. I would not say that
this is related to my research topic, but I
am also interested in Leasing because
knowing more is always better
especially when leasing business has
become marketable in Cambodia
nowadays.
During the two-hour discussion, we
focused only on Leasing. At DBP, there
are two types of Leasing, (1) Financial
Lease and (2) Operating Lease.
Operating Lease used to be a main
product of DBP Leasing before but was
replaced by Financial Lease. The majordifference between operating lease andfinancial lease is that financial lease isnon-cancellable during the term while
operatinglease
issubject
tocancellation anytime. The main object
for operating lease is vessel while
financial lease is open for any objects
ranging from small movable objects
such as air conditioner and kitchen

appliance to big factory equipment andimmovable property. At the end of theterm of operating lease, should thelessee want to own the object, it isgoing to be sold to the lessee at amarket price while the lessee of thefinancial lease can get it just at the veryminimum price equals to the amount of
the guarantee deposit.
In order to get a financial lease, it is very
important that the potential lessee havesound credit, and one way to check thecreditworthiness of the potential lessee
is to confirm with the Leasing
Association that has blacklisted thedefaulted lessees, or the lessor cancheck with the suppliers who havepayment experience with the potential
lessee. DBP Leasing has explained thereason why the lessee gets to choose its
own supplier in the process of leasing.
The reason is to save the leasing
company from responsibility and blame
when the property does not work or has
defect. In such a case, the lessee cannot
use the defect of the property as an
excuse for not paying monthly orquarterly rental fee because the lessee
has chosen the supplier by themself. In
addition, during the supplying process,though the lessor is the one who pays
the purchase money to the supplier, it is
the lessee who has a legal relationshipwith the supplier. All the lessor has to
do is to pay the money and check thevalidity of the purchase agreement andfollow up with the performances ofboth parties in order to ensure that thepurchasing process is going well so thatit does not affect the leasing process.

16

account receivable to finance theircompanies.

Banco De Oro (BDO)
Date and Time:28th Feb 2018, 9:30
- 11:00
Place: 12 Adb Avenue Ortigas Center,
Ortigas Center, Mandaluyong, 1554
Metro Manila, Philippines

B

DO is the biggest bank in thePhilippines in term of assets, trust
assets, and gross customer loan anddeposit. BDO stands for Banco De Oro
which means Golden Bank in English.
The meeting was with the Senior
Executive Vice President of the Bank,and he warmly welcomed us byanswering the questions enthusiastically.
BDO provides many services including
but not limited to Loan, Deposit Taking,Cash Management, Trade, Trust&
Investment, Leasing and Finance. Due tomy point of interest is Receivable
Financing, we were discussing more theproducts that BDO can provide tocustomers who want to use their17

At BDO, when it comes to Receivable
Financing, BDO has 3 kinds of products
to offer, Post Data Check Discounting
Line, Installment Sale Financing, andFactoring through subsidiary Leasing.
Post Data Check Discounting Line uses
an account receivable that the customer
has against a debtor as source of
payment, but this transaction is withrecourse, which means when the debtor
fails to pay the bank, the customer has
to pay the bank. Installment Sale
Financing is the sale of installment
payment that a debtor pays to thecustomer, and the customer promises to
use that installment payment for paying
the bank. Factoring is a transaction thatthe customers advance their accountreceivable by selling the receivable tothe bank. In Factoring, the customer,
who holds account receivable, wants to
get money before the due date ofaccount receivable and sells that
account receivable to the bank, and thebank will generally pay around 80% of
the receivable to the customers and will
get payment back from the debtors
when the due date comes.
In financing method, Receivable
Discounting is always confused with
Factoring, but these two are slightly
different in term of payment collection.
In Receivable Discounting, the customer
must have a bank account with the bankbecause the bank would withdraw thepayment automatically from the bankaccount while the bank would collectpayment directly from the debtor of thecustomer in Factoring. In my research
topic, I am working on answering thefunction of an account receivable in anassignment transaction. I am wondering
if an account receivable is only an object
for sale or also collateral. According to
BDO, an account receivable can only be
for sale. It is sold to the bank, and it
becomes a source of payment when thedue date comes. It is not collateralbecause the bank does not get priority
in payment through buying this accountreceivable.

Leasing. Philippines National Bank ranks
number 4 in the country while IBJL is
one of most leading financing andLeasing companies in Japan, whichmakes Japan-PNB become a top
financing and leasing corporation in thePhilippines. Japan-PNB has many
products to offer to its customer
including financial lease, operating lease,term loan, and receivable discounting.
In 2008, Japan-PNB Leasing and
Financing Corporation established asubsidiary company called PNB-IBJL
Equipment Rentals Corporation that
does a business of renting real property
and personal property.
Operating and Financial Lease are also
products of DBP Leasing as I havementioned before, but according toJapan-PNB,
what
distinguishes
operating Lease and Financial Lease isthat operating lease is considered to be
an expense while financing lease is anasset in the balance sheet of a company.
At Japan-PNB and BDO, Leasing is not
only about the leasing company buying
a product from a designated supplierand renting it to a customer, but also
about another kind of product called“ Leaseback ” which refers to atransaction that the leasing company
buys a product not from a supplier but
the customer itself and rents it back tothat customer. Besides Leaseback andLeasing, Japan-PNB has an additional
product called Lease Sublease which
involves three parties naming lessor,
lessee, and sub-lessee. The sub-lessee,
usually a rental company, leases aproperty from the lessee.
Japan-PNB offers Receivable Financing
as BDO does. At Japan-PNB, Receivable
Financing is divided into two,
Installment Purchase Paper andJapan-PNB
Date and Time: 2rd Mar 2018, 14:30- 16:00
Place: 6th Floor, Salustiana Ty
Tower 104 Paseo de Roxas corner
Perea Street Legaspi Village,
Makati, PhilippinesJapan-PNB is a joint-venture between

Philippines National Bank and aJapanese leasing company called IBJL
18

Receivable Discounting. Actually, what I
have noticed is that some of thesetransactions are the same while someare similar; the only difference is theirname. Different financial institute
usually names their products differently.
Regarding the opinion on the functionof an account receivable, unlike BDO,Japan-PNB thinks that an accountreceivable can be both a source of
payment and collateral. For an example,
in case of Installment Purchase Paper,
the customer sells the accountreceivable to the bank by using apromissory note from their debtor as
collateral. With a promissory note as
collateral, the bank feels more securedthat the bank can collect the accountreceivable on due date, so when thecustomers get paid by their debtors, thecustomer pays the bank.

The meeting with Citibank was not at

its office, but it was a nice meeting overa dinner at a hotel in Global City.
Citibank has many braches in many
countries, and banking is not its only
service. However, the central of focus
during the two-hour meeting was stillon Receivable Financing. Citibank
Relationship Manager has emphasized
the benefit of Receivable Financing thata seller (customer) can have. First of all,unlike Factoring, Receivable Financing is
without recourse. A without-recourse
transaction does not put the burden incase of default on the seller because thebank would go after the debtor of theseller for payment during default.
Second, it helps the seller to take theaccount receivable out of the balance
sheet, and last but not least, it mitigates
the risk. The risk that a seller can have is
if a debtor of the seller is bankrupt ordead, it does not affect the seller incollecting the payment because theaccount receivable has been sold to thebank already. Another risk that canhappen is the risk of losing input for
producing if the seller lets the long-due
account receivable increase; thensooner or later, the seller might not

Citibank
Date and Time :28th Feb 2018, 18:30
to 20:30
Place: 34th street, Bonifacio
Global City, Taguig, 1634

19

have capital for producing moreproducts because the payment for
supplied products has not been paid yet.
In contrast, if the seller sells the accountreceivable to a bank, the seller canadvance those account receivables.
The benefit does not only go to theseller but also to the debtor of the seller.
According to Citibank, sometimes
Receivable Discounting is approachedby the debtor with a condition that thebank would prolong the due date forthe debtor. If the bank agrees, then the
debtor would convince the seller to sell
the receivable to the bank. In
Receivable Discounting, the credit of the
debtor is very important because
whether the bank accepts thereceivable or not and the how much thebank agrees to pay are all based on thecreditworthiness of the debtor. The
bank has to send a notice about
Receivable Discounting to the debtor,
but consent from the debtor is not

required on that notice. This practice of
Citibank is different from that of BDO
because BDO requires consent to be
written back on the notice from the
debtor since BDO believes that consent
from the debtor would give BDO priority
in payment. From the point of view ofcitibank, an account receivable can becollateral but not common.
Having
met
with
the
four
above-mentioned financial institutions
with local and international financial
experiences, I received a lot of pricelessinformation for my research. I also got
the answer for my research question.
The answer is that the function of an
account receivable is indefinite. In Japan,
it is a mutual understanding that an
account receivable functions as bothcollateral and an object for sale. Thus,
this function varies from country tocountry and financial institution to
institution.
Reported by Te Muykim

20

SURF CAMP
Sabang Daguitan Surf Camp
Date and time:27th February 2018, 15:00-17:00
Place:Barangay Sabang Daguitan,
Bayan ng Dulag, 6505 Hilagang Leyte,
Philippines(Contents)

coconut which fell without eating for
one week and they drank that little bylittle every day. As for it, air was black,and the floodwater came to the bottomof the nose and was a very hot day.
They set fire with paper because tree
got wet. And it was difficult to set fire,
and to use it to a dish. A pig and the bird
which they kept in the area was died,and only 1% life.
They said, “The town was rolled up in a
flash so that paper flew by wind.” Andalso say “ I don ’ t never forget it on
November 30. It was very sad memory.”
He was smiles but tears came to his
eyes.

T

hey began this activity in 2016

about two years.

And it became the community where
220 people gathered. There are one
tourist facility includes some fields inthere.
(Agriculture,thefishery,accommodations, an eating place.)
They are tourists from Cebu andTacloban mainly. it is popular that agood wave.
There is the place where a professionalsurfer often come. Therefore tourists
always come.

After a disaster, some children has
became to crying only raining. Mental
support was necessary. Therefore
medical Dr. came for support from Sri
Lanka. He as encouraged the people andthe community. In addition, there weremuch support and contribution fromforeign countries. The contribution wasused for a building and dig a well.
This activity is the second life for him.
Their the most wish is that the tourist
who came comes back here again once.
This is because it thinks that they can

The person of 90% of these towns wasin a flood. They picked up a fruit of the21accomplish quicker revival for the area.

throughsurfing. I felt that theresources were only the tools which
made it.

(Impression)
I think Yolanda's situation and the East
Japan great earthquake disaster have asimilar part. Because after a disaster, it
have been needed the mental care of
the victim. They lost an important
person and an important place in adisaster. Even if how is the support fromothers, I think that I cannot rebuild
without
power
of
local
people.
Therefore I felt that theconnection of the person is important.
It is assist for the revival that took rootin the area. Exactly, surfing is the one of
the resources in this area. They invite atourist using tourist attractions tosurfing and make use for local revival. In
this way, I think that we can rebuild it if
there is even the connection of theperson even if very serious. I think it bea purpose to make community(The think of a future plan)☆ Do not make disaster prevention
measures and hazard map.
I asked him a question. What would you
do in future when a disaster wascaused?
He said, I pray not to have a disaster
anymore. It is the important thing forthem.
But I think, there is life to be able toprevent in what I prepared for natural
disasters. On that account weunderstand culture and must convey
disaster prevention education.
In addition, we will demonstrate ourexperience in the world for we don ’ tmake the same mistakes twice.

Reported by Eri Okawa

22

CARD BANK
Date and Time: 26 February 2018, 7:00-12:00
Place: CARD Bank, Inc. Tacloban Branch:
182 Salazar Street, Brgy. 4, Tacloban City
Rural Bank of Dulag
Date and Time: 27 February 2018, 10:30-11:30
Place: Rural Bank of Dulag Tacloban Branch:
Padre Burgos St., Tacloban City
6500 Leyte, PhilippinesI

we visited two microfinance institutionsin Tacloban City, in Leyte. My researchquestions are 1. How did microfinancehave interested in microfinance, so

23

institutions(MFIs) aid the victims ofsuper typhoon Yolanda, and 2. Do MFIs
really aid the poorest?
The Center for Agriculture and Rural
Development, Inc. (CARD, Inc.) is one of
the biggest microfinance institution(MFI)in Philippines. CARD, Inc. consists of 21
companies including CARD Bank.
On February 26th morning, Mr. Jerwin
Dayon, a training officer of CARD Bank
Tacloban Branch, took us to a barangay in
Samar. It took around 1.5 hour from
Tacloban to the barangay. We joined acenter meeting, where clients of CARD

Bank get together to hold their meeting
about the services of CARD MRI and to
conduct other membership transaction,of the barangay. It is held for about one
hour every week at Barangay Hall.
Actually, I really wanted to see centermeeting, but I didn ’ t ask for joining
center meeting in request mail because I
thought it is impudent to do that.
However, Mr. Dayon and Ms. Deverna,
who is a contact person of CARD Bank,
kindly arranged it. I really appreciate
them.

Most of the clients who gathered in thecenter meeting were women. Mr. Dayon
said that is because one of the missionsof CARD MRI is empowerment ofsocially-and-economicallychallenged
women and families. CARD staffs use“socially-economically-challenged”
instead of “poor”, because “poor”
sometimes hurt people. First, CARD stuff
checked attendance. Attendance of thecenter meeting is one of the importantcriteria of clients. Others are repayment,
project, and attitude. CARD staffs
evaluate clients based on these criteria.

client said she began saving for next
disaster after Yolanda. Saving isimportant to save their lives. She said she
is very happy to be a CARD member,because CARD helps her family andprovides scholarship for her children.
After the center meeting, we went backto Tacloban and visited CARD Bank
Tacloban branch for the orientation anddiscussion.
Mr. Dayon said programs of CARD Bank
are flexible. The shortest loan is 2
months, and the longest loan is 1 year.

According to a client, her family and lives
were badly damaged after the typhoon
Yolanda. CARD provided financial
assistance, 10,000 pesos. Mr. Dayon said
they began financial assistance on thenext day after Yolanda hit the island. The
24

Clients can select the loan term based on
their capacity to pay. If a person wants tobe a member of CARD, he or she have topass criteria, but CARD has several levelsof criteria, because the mission of CARD
istoempowerall“socially-and-economically challenged”
people. People who don’t have jobs orbusinesses also can be a clients of CARD.

CARD gives assistance and train them.
CARD is targeting 18-65 years old people,
but they also have programs for 65-100
years old people. CARD categorize theirclients depend on their situation: income,lives, age etc. I was surprised to hear that,
according to the data of 2017, 99.3% ofclients have returned their loan.

O

Elvie YU, a president of RB Dulag kindly
accepted us. It was sudden meeting, so
we only did discussion about
microfinance and how RB Dulag help
clients. When we visited there, Ms. Elvie
YU was not at the office, so we
discussed with her son.
RB Dulag also aid victims of typhoon
Yolanda. He said RB Dulag started aid
for their clients on December 26th,
about 1 month after the typhoon. They
provided additional financial assistance.
RB Dulag members have meeting every
week. Members discuss and understandn February 27th, morning wevisited Rural Bank of Dulag (RB Dulag) in
Tacloban. RB Dulag promote andexpand the rural economy by providing
the people with means to increase theirincome and purchasing power through astimulation of capital for productive
activities. Although there was no plan tovisit there until the day before themeeting with RB Dulag, Professor Tiu
kindly arranged the meeting, and Ms.
25other members’ situation there. Staffs
monitor their clients in the meeting.
The criteria for clients are 1. They musthave businesses and 2. Their attitude
are good. Staffs ask client’s neighbors orbarangay about behavior or personalityof that person and evaluate his attitude.
The percentage of loan repayment of
RB Dulag is 80%. Compared to the rateof CARD Bank, it is lower. However, I
cannot conclude that loan repayment of
RB Dulag is not good. I must study loan
repayment of other MFIs.
He said RB Dulag help the poorest, likefarmers in rural area. However, to be amember of RB Dulag, clients must havetheir businesses. In other words, they
don’t lend money for no income people.
I thought that means RB Dulag is nottargeting the poorest.

people including poorest. In addition,loan is the only product of RB Dulag, but
CARD provide some kinds of programs
like scholarship. I think that is because
CARD is one of the biggest MFIs in
Philippines and contains many kinds ofcompanies.
Mr. Dayon said the clients we met are
not socially-economically challenging
people. The percentage of return in thecenter meeting is 100%. However, I
wonder how many percent of thesocially-economy-challenging clients canreturn their loans, so if I have a change,
I
want
to
interviewsocially-economically-challenging
people. Thanks to CARD Bank and RB
Dulag, I learned a lot about
microfinance,andmicrofinanceattracted me strongly. However, I
cannot solve my research questions yet.
I also have to research about systems ofother MFIs to compare with these two
MFIs I visited. Moreover, I should visit
MCPI (Microfinance Council of thePhilippines), which I really wanted tovisit, but It was difficult to put on ourschedule. MCPI is the association ofcompanies and NGOs engaged in
microfinance, to learn microfinance inPhilippines.
I really appreciate all the people who
accepted us.

I learned that systems and programs of
CARD Bank and RB Dulag are quite
different. I thought systems of CARD are
more flexible than that of RB Dulag, so
CARD can be targeting more various

Reported by Haruna Sorita

26

Embassy of Japan in the Philippines
Date and Time: 23th March 2018, 10:00-12:00
Place:2627 Roxas Blvd., Pasay City, Metro Manila,
1300, Philippines.

・ 270,000（2016）
・ 470,000（2017）→ As you can see above, the dateshows that Visa issues are getting
increased from year to year.
Needless to say, the applicant for a Visa
who has any problems in the process, ittakes comparatively longer time thanusual case. It is common not only in thePhilippines but also with every countries
in the world.
The problem whether taking Visa isdifficult or not depends on indivisual.
There is no doubt that taking Visa
doesn ’ t relate to the country which
he/she lives or belongs to. In otherwords, it never happens that if anapplicant is from Japan, and he/she isT

he reason why we decided to visit

Embassy in this time is that we were somuch eager to know REAL relationships
between the Philippines and Japan,
which we can not get details from themedia but as Japanese local resident
officers who are specialized in
diplomatic affairs.
<Q&A>
Why is it difficult for the Philipino to get
VISA?
⭐ Comparison the number of VISA
issues from in 2015 to 2017
・ 220,000 (2015)27

easier to get Visa than the Philipino.
<Cultural Affairs & Public Relations>⭐ Achievement
・ Cosplay festival→It was visited approximately
30,000visitors.
・ Ongoing activity→creating “Japan town”@Philippine Mall
Japan-Philippines relations are very
good so far. The primeminister in JapanShinzo Abe- and the president of thePhilippines- Rodrigo Duterte- havealready come and visited each country
more three times last year.
Especially, relationship in economic is sostrong in the point of CAR industry. In
the Philippines, the big issue is bad
infrastructure. Public transportationsuch as train is not so developed somost of people use car in their life.
Therefore, people there face traffic
congestions everyday. It is apparent
difference
betweenJapan
andPhilippines. I was actually surprised that
wherever I went, traffic congestions
were inescapable.
<Comment>
This academic tour was my first visiting
the Philippines. Before going there, I
was in charge of making appointment
with cultural affairs and public officer at
the Embassy of Japan. Speaking
personally, this experience was quite
important for me because now I have
had internship at the Embassy of

Afghanistan for more than half a year,
and my section there is almost samewith the embassy of Japan’s one. The
atmosphere at the Embassy was totallydifferent from Afghanistan one andJapan Embassy was much more strict in
the point of security. We all were notpermitted bringing electronic devices
such as cell phones and computers into
the Embassy so we were able to takeonly this photo.
On the whole, my impressions to thePhilippines were changed so much.
People living there were very friendly
and full of hospitality. Compared Japanto Philippine, Japan is much moredeveloped in the economic situation but
I think people n the Philippines seemed
to be satisfied with their own lives.
The only thing I was disappointed
during my stay was insanitary of the rest
room. I had to bring paper by myself
every time and when I was in the Leyte,
the toilet in my room was clogged. From
this experience, I came to realize that
how clean Japanese one is.
Anyway I am so blessed to makewonderful memories with wonderfulmembers in the Philippines and also
looking forward to visiting again as soon
as possible. I am so grateful thisopportunity which I was given and I
want to thank you for all who made mystay enriched and unforgettable.
Learning continues forever!
Thank you!
Reported by Mamiko Kan

28

Salt Payatas
Date and Time:22rd Feb 2018,12:00-17:00
Place:Quezon City

poverty, so they don’t think “I want to
get out of poverty and improve qualityof life”

R

On July 10th, 2000, Trash slide
happened. The impact was very deep.
Many people were died and buried alive.
Because of this, many people came tothink close the dumpsite is better thanlosing job and collapsing again. Now, thedumpsite is closed.
In this tour, we visited memorial of thecollapse of the dumpsite, home, small
library and work place for women.
ecently, many companies which

established in not only Japan, but also
other countries look at Philippine astremendous opportunity because of
economic growth. For example, GDP isincreasing every year. However, the gap
between the rich and the poor are also
increasing now. Majority are poor anddisempowered (not changing for thelast 30 years). This time, we went toPayatas which is in Quezon city. By theway, do you know the meaning of
Payatas? Payatas means dumpsite. In
this area, a lot of people don ’ t havestable occupation. Many people arescavengers, which means they have justinformalcontractual
seasonable.
Because of this, the rate of dropout isvery high in this area, so this is the oneof reason for difficulty of getting stablejobs. Unfortunately, people who arepoor get used to environment of

To be surprised, many people who livein Payatas has very bright personality.
Especially children are bright.
I wonder one point thanks to thisopportunity. That is really suffering frompoverty or not and definition of poverty.
This was the different from image I
thought and real I saw. As I mentioned,
many people were laughing and I
though everyone is enjoying their life. I
thought even they can ’ t escape frompoverty, there are no problems.
However, situation is different. What I
saw was just their part of life. If I image
29

they get sick, I don’t have idea how totreat them because they don ’ t haveenough money to cure it, so I think thecurrent situation is much more severe
than I expect. However fortunately,
thanks to people who came here like us
and support them like Salt Payatas,
thinking of their mind is changing little
by little. I hope near the future the gap
between rich and poor are decreasing.

Reported by Ayaka Ozawa

30

Japan External Trade Organization
Date and time: 22nd February 2018, 10:00-11:00
Place:44th Floor,
Philamlife Tower, 8767 Paseo de Roxas,
Makati City 1226, Metro Manila, PHILIPPINESJETRO, or the Japan External Trade

Organization, is a government-relatedorganization that works to promotemutual trade and investment between
Japan and the rest of the world.
Originally established in 1958 topromote Japanese exports abroad,
JETRO's core focus in the 21st century
has shifted toward promoting foreign
direct investment into Japan andhelping small to medium size Japanesefirms maximize their global export
potential.

The purpose of visiting here is to search
the business relationship between
Japan and the Philippine. Besides that,
we gained the local information of how
Philippine economic has operated until
now.
Concerning about the merit ofJapanese enterprises invest into thePhilippines are cheap personnel
expenses,few
difficultiesofcommunication because of English, and31

the scale of market. In contrast, thedemerit are lacking of infrastructuredevelopment, the unstable of politic
and society, and uncertain outlook
toward administration. Japanese cancommunicate with Filipino easily, but as
thedemeritofundeveloped
infrastructure makes huge traffic
congestion.

growth rate has recorded 6-7% and, themost significant feature of Philippine
economic is that 10% of total Philippine
population worked abroad. The numberof migrant workers leads to great
impact toward Philippine GDP.
However,highlyskilledhuman
resources are in the shortage. The main
reasons are at the labor market, thefield of technical workers are nottrained well and supplied. Also, job
hopping and the high rate of leaving acompany is the secondary reason. In
fact, the industry of service isdeveloping, but looking through the
future of the Philippines, they need ahighly education so that economic
situation will be more improved.

About the economic situation in thePhilippines, the Philippines economic

Reported by Keishun Sakamoto32

Department of Education
Date and Time: 2 March 2017, 10:00-12:00
Place: DepEd Complex, Meralco Ave.,
Pasig City, Metro ManilaA

The visions
DepEd has two vision of the education.
One is the Long-Term Vision, another isa Team Vision. The Team Vision is “By2022, DepEd is a modern, professional,
pro-active,
nimble,trustedandnurturing institution delivering quality,
accessible, relevent and liberating K to
12 Education, enabling our learners tobenation-loving,resilientandcompetent lifelong learners”.
Toachieve the team vision, DepEd set a
strategic goal that they are ① expand
access to basic educaton ② improve
quality and relevance ③ modernize
Education
Management
andGovernance.

s The Philippines is the last country

in Asia and one of only three countries
worldwide with a 10-year pre-university
cycle, and a 12-year program is found tobe the best period for learning underbasic education. The PHilippines
decided to implement 12 years of basic
education started from 2012. To learn
more about k-12 program, we visitedthe Department of Education(DepEd) on
2 March 2018. And Supervising
education program specialist Ms.Ligaya
introuducted to us the visions and thechanges of education in the Philippines.
33

chilidren in the school. DepEd are trying
to expand access to basic educaton with

The changes
In order to improve the quality of
Education, DepEd makes some changesof the Curriculum. For example, fromkindergarten to Grade 3, except the
English classes, other subjects aretaught in Filipion. And for the SeniorHigh School Curriculum, they are 4
Applied Track Subjects, Academic,
Technical-Vocational-Livelihood, Sports,
Arts and Design. No matter which
subject they choose, they have to takethe core learning areas, such as
Language, Humanities, Communcation,
Mathematical, Philosophy, Science,
Social science, PE ＆ Health. This will
ensure that students learn a wide range
ofknowledge.
Ms.Ligaya
also
mentioned the need to improve thequality of teachers. Teachers will be
trained not only teach students
Knowledge of the 21st century, but alsoteach students Critical Thinking.

NGOs and other goverment agencies.
In addition, before we visited the DepEd,
we went to the CARD BANK in
Tacloban, we learned that CARD BANK
provide a Education Loan for poor
household so tey can use the money to
pay for the meal, textbooks and uniform
ect.
Back to the DepEd, Ms.Ligaya showed
us the most recent quick counts
enroiment figures as of August 5, 2017.
There are 1,929584 children in the
Public Kindergartens, and 284,529
children in the Private Kindergartens.
For the Elementary, there are12,413,295 children go to the Public
Schools and 1,173,769 children go to
the Private Schools. We can see that
there are much more children in Public
Schools than in Private Schools.
Even though there are still many
children can not go to the school, DepEd
never give up to help them. Ms Ligaya
said, “If children really can’t go toschool, we go to them, we bring themto school.” I belive with in thisdetermination, DepEd will achieve theirvision in the future.

The problems
According to the“K-12”program, publice
schooling free from kindergarten
through high school. But the cost ofclothes, textbooks and stationery can’tbe ignored. which is a heavy burden forpoor households. What’s more, Facedwith population growth and increasing
demand for education. The Philippines
has a shortage of teachers andinsufficiency of classrooms. Schools insome places even need to divide oneclassroom into two, or use the gym as aclassroom.
Facing these problems, Ms.Ligaya said
It’s a challenge for DepEd to keep

Reported by
34

XIAOMEI FENG

Kaisa Para sa Kaunlaran
Date and Time: March1, Thursday2018,14:00-16:30
Place: 32 Cor Anda & Cabildo Sts, Bgy 655,
Zone 069, Intramuros ManilaSchedule and content

TIME p.m.
2:00
2:10
Between 3:00
and 3:20 pm

Around 345pm

430 pmMar 1, 2018 - ThurMeet and Greet guests/photo
Tour of Bahay Tsinoy
Briefing about Kaisa & activities· Outreach & development· Cultural work
· Research
Open forum: Focus on Tsinoys inmainstream society
Many of the topics asked in thepreviously emailed​ interview
questions may be answered during themuseum tour.
Dialogue ends

About Kaisa Para Sa Kaunlaran:
Kaisa Para Sa Kaunlaran is a leading
resource organization that advocates

VENUE
Benito Cu Uy Gam Hall
Bahay Tsinoy
Cheng Han Sui Board
Room

the
proactive
andsustainable
participation of the Tsinoy community in35

local and national development.
Kaisa Para Sa Kaunlaran started on 28
August 1987, during the time when oneof the bloodiest coups was being staged
in the metropolis. It was a baptism offire. Democracy has just been restored,
and young Chinese Filipinos (Kaisa
founders), felt it was a good time tolaunch a new organization. The logo
shows two hands clasped together with
one heart beating for our country andpushing the wheel of progress. Kaisa’s
desires were simple, although themission ahead wasgigantic.

About Kaisa Heritage Center
Kaisa Heritage Center is a lasting
repository of the historical and culturallegacy of the Chinese in all aspects ofPhilippine life. It documents thetangible and indelible imprints andUnder the staff's explanation, we
probably learned about the history of
the Chinese immigrants to thePhilippines. Even though these Chinese
immigrants had left China for hundredsof years, they still did not forget theirroots. Bahay Tsinoy is the best witness.
After hearing the president's brief
introduction about the Kaisa, I asked
severalquestions about
Chinese Filipinos.
It's
a
great
In the end of the
dialogue, Mrs.
Teresita Ang See,thefounder,recommended
three books thatwould help me understand the relevant
knowledge about Chinese Filipinos. Dr.
Tiu bought these three books for me
and invited Ms. Teresita Ang See to signfor me. As is known to all, Ms. Teresita
Ang See is a very famous woman in theworld. It is very lucky for me to get her

influences of the Chinese in Philippine
history, society, culture and politics
What Impressed me most?
In this trip, we first visited Bahay
Tsinoy –Museum of the Chinese in
Philippine Life.
honor to get the answer about myquestions. What impressed me mostwas that when I asked questions about
the impact of the split between
mainland China and Taiwan on the
Chinese Filipinos community, thefounder expressed very directly andclearly that Chinese Filipinos were notconcerned about China's politicalproblems. They are more concerned
about their lives in the Philippines. It isvery different from what I expected
before.
signature. Finally, I would like to thankDr. Tiu for the hard work he has paid forthis negotiation. He personally went tokaisa for contacting the leader andinvited Ms. Teresita Ang See to attend
the meeting. Without Dr. Tiu's work, it
would be difficult to facilitate thismeeting, and see Ms. Teresita Ang See.
His enthusiasm and friendliness is oneof the biggest gains in my study trip in
the Philippines.
Reported by Xiaoyu Shi

36

The Eastern Visayas Regional Medical Center (EVRMC)
Date and Time: February 17th ,2018,12:00-13:30
Place: EVRMC Magsaysay Blvd,
Downtown, Tacloban City, Leyte

average daily censuses of admissions,and 100 average dairy ER cases. Also
389 personnel, such as medical staffs,
nursing staffs and administrative staffs,
is working regularly.
This medical center is designated as a
responsive and functional hospitalwhich continues to provide its services
as a critical community facility when it isneeded during and after disaster. Also,
before Yolanda, it has been working as
the “apex” and “end-referral” hospitalwhere all the lower health facilities,
patient transport services and volunteer
emergency responders bring theirpatients during typhoon and earthquake.

0n November 8th 2013, a tragedy

took place in Tacloban city, Leyte, where
people surrounded by rich nature live
peacefully. More than 5000 people
were killed by Super Typhoon Yolanda.
EVRMC was the last hospital standing in
the aftermath of the Typhoon.
About EVRMC
The Eastern Visayas Regional Medical
Center is a regional and tertiary level
teaching and training government
health care facility in the Philippines. Asof 2013, it has 275 hospital beds, 29437

Super Typhoon Yolanda
They had won the national award forexcellence in disaster risk, management
and humanitarian assistance. Even
though they thought prepared well,
Typhoon Yolanda transcended far
beyond their forecast because of its
unusual path.
As soon as the typhoon landed, almost
all buildings of EVRMC were highly
damaged and flooded.
The center continued to operate during
and immediately after the storm, andnever ceased operations despite thedepleted manpower and scarcity ofresources. Many institutions, such as
Doctors Without Borders, and Medicos
Del Mundo, and foreign governments
send support team to EVRMC
immediately. For 2 weeks after thetyphoon landed, the center had morethan 3000 patients and 664 admissions
in total.

reason, they had to deal with enormous
numbers of patients only by limited
local staff for several days, and therescue supplies were also short.
Construction of airports and logisticroutes that are resistant to disasters is
required.
The second is patient transportation.
The ambulances could not work due tofloods or damage to the road. As aresult, most of the patients in Tacloban
had to visit EVRMC on foot.
Improvement of transportation tools in
the case of flooding, and drainage
remains as a problem.
The last is communication system. The
support teams from foreign countries
and the local staff shared information
mainly with text messages using English.
However, local people could not speakin English well, and communication
between patient and overseas support
team did not work well. This problem
can happen throughout the Philippines
where multilingual is spoken.
Four years have passed after the tragedy.
Local people have been getting backtheir usual daily life. We hope thelessons practically works well in the
future.

Problems Found After the Typhoon
After presentation from Dr. Reutas andour Q&A session, we found someproblems.
The first is about logistics. Immediately
after the typhoon, the support team
tried to visit Tacloban from the Central
Government, but the airport was
unusable due to flood damage. For that

Reported by Shohei Nomoto

38

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