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

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The 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 MetroManila and Leyte island.

List of Participants

Professors

Surname Given name M/F Nationality

1 Kabashima Hiromi F Japanese Professor

2 Kobayashi Takaaki M JapaneseAssociate

Professor

3 Yonemura Kotaro M JapaneseAssociate

Professor

4 Kanamaru Yuji M Japanese Professor

5 Ogaya Chiho F Japanese Professor

6 Suginohara Masako F JapaneseAssociate

Professor

Student

Surname Given name M/F Nationality

1 Shi Xiaoyu F Chinese M1

2 Feng Xiaomei F Chinese M1

3 Peng Bo M Chinese M1

4 Te Muykim F Cambodian M1

5 Sakamoto Keishun M Japanese U1

6 Tamura Yurino F Japanese U1

7 Takahashi Yuka F Japanese U2

8 Kawasaki Chihiro F Japanese U2

9 Sorita Haruna F Japanese U2

10 Nomoto Shohei M Japanese U4

11 Asano Erina F Japanese U3

12 Ozawa Ayaka F Japanese U3

13 Kan Mamiko F Japanese U3

14 Konno Anju F Japanese U1

15 Okawa Eri F Japanese U3

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Messages from Professors

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 supportour trip. Although every place we visitedgave me wonderful opportunities todeliberate on various practical andphilosophical matters, I want tocomment about Payatas alone, for itespecially deeply related to ‘dividedsociety’, which is the theme of thefieldtrip.

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 streetswere filthy and the air was stinky, mostof them looked happy. To be honest,foolishly I assumed that people in slumalways looked sad, so their smilesurprised me a bit. At the same time, itreminded me familiar philosophicaldebates on assessment of people’s

well-being. According to somephilosopher, if human well-beingconsists in satisfaction of theirpreferences or their subjectivehappiness, we might judge that Payataschildren’s life is going well. And then,there is no need to improve their life.

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

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

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scavenging. A woman proudlyexplaining her achievement with tearsin her eyes deeply moved us. After that,the foundation staff showed us a smalllibrary for children. I think that it alsohelps the children for developing theircapabilities in a not outstanding but stillimportant way. In my opinion, theimportant thing is that the library canoffer them spaces for study. Forexample, 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 space

seriously affects children’s academicperformance, 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 complexmeasures against it. I just want to saythat NGOs like the Salt PayatasFoundation are tackling with tasks ofhuman development in many ways, andtheir efforts deserve our respect.

Kotaro Yonemura

The Philippines study tour in this

year 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 anxietyThe students including internationalpost graduates cooperated ver well notonly during the tour but also inpreparation before .The experience during the tour and

discussion orconversationbefore the tourwold makestudents beopen minded,think globallyand be active tothe problemsthat is happening in the world.I wish all the students to make use ofthe precious experience of this programfor their future life.

Yuji Kanamaru

The 2017th trip was special one in

the history of YNU study trip toPhilippines;First, it was the first joint trial with

Wayo Womens’s University and FerrisUniversity.Second, because of the distance amongthe three universities, we faced thedifficulties to prepare for the tripenough.Third, even though there existed the

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difficulties of on-campus meeting in

week days, our students planned tohave several off-campus meetings inweek end.Until last year, professors had supportedthe logistics matters because studentshad not capacities and experience tomanage it, even though subject mutterssuch as making research questions andquestioners was managed by studentsthemselves. The students this yearmanaged not only subject matters butalso logistics matters by themselves. Itwas partly because of the progress of ITtechnologies. I am really impressed withtheir initiatives and leaderships.

Takaaki Kobayashi

Group Reports by Students

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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

First of all, ODA (Official

Development Assistance) is broadlydivided into bilateral aid andmultilateral aid. Then, JICA is agovernmental agency that providesbilateral aid in the form of TechnicalCooperation, Japanese ODA Loans andGrant Aid.

(2)JICA’s assistance to infrastructuremaintenance in PhilippinesThey concentrate on sustainableeconomic growth by promotinginvestment. Therefore, their tasks arethat infrastructure maintenance forsustainable economic growth and theimprovement of investmentenvironment.Specifically, they support themaintenance of transport infrastructureto stop excessive concentration ofpopulation and industry in Manila byimproving transportation networks in

main cities near Manila. For instance,the construction of North - SouthCommuter Railway from Malolos toTutuban 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, becauseForeign Direct Investment(FDI) toPhilippines is smaller than otherneighboring countries, they are trying toincrease FDI from other countriesincluding Japan by improving thecondition of investment in Philippines.

(3)Other current tasks in Philippinesand JICA’s assistance to those1.Maritime safetyThey help Philippines to accomplishmaritime mission such as salvage rescueby introducing ships to overall ofPhilippines sea area, fostering humanresources, and developingcommunication.2.Peace and development in MindanaoSince 2016, the personnel have been

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sent to International MonitoringTeam(IMT) and JICA started peaceconstruction and supports developmentfor conflict affected area in Mindanao.They offer assistance such as humanresource development andreconstruction of local industry.3.Development of agriculture and ruralIn order to promote inclusivedevelopment that all the people canbenefit from any aspects, it is importantto increase income of agriculture,forestry, and periphery industry.Therefore, JICA gives a lot of aidincluding strengthening farm,developing community, and improvingfinancial access.4.The reduction and management ofdisaster risksThey suggest many projects includingimprovement of disaster educationsystem and introducing disaster-relatedtechnology by making use of experiencein Japan.5.Assistance to reconstruction in Leyteisland Leyte island was struck by atyphoon, Yolanda in 8 November 2013.Hence, they conducted emergencydevelopment survey and did Grant Aidproject for restoration andreconstruction.6.Support for healthThey provide support related to theillegal drug measure and develophuman resources to cope withmaternity problems.7.Support for educationThey facilitate to carry out educationsystem, “K+12” and support for higher

education field from the point of viewof industrial human resourcedevelopment.

(4)The JICA Partnership Program (JPP)JPP is the project that JICA works fordeveloping countries with organizationssuch 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 PrefectureJapan.

(5)ImpressionI found that there are some peculiarproblems in Philippines when JICAassists. For example, because of thepresident’s term of office is 6 years inPhilippines, next president tends tochange former president’s policy to getsupport from people. Thus, it is hard forJICA to continue to conduct their projectin the long term. As a result, they haveto adapt it every time the presidentchangesAfter listening to stories from JICA’s staff,I was most impressed by their attitudetrying to get close to Filipino and tackleproblems patiently. Finally, the wordthat “what people really need can beseen when you are in an objectiveposition” still remains in my heart.

Reported by Yurino Tamura

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National Economic Development Authority

Date and time: 23 February 2018, 14:00-16:00

Place: 12 St. J.Escriva Drive,

Ortigas Center, Pasig City

As population and economic growth,

Manila has a much more huge demandfor transport infrastructure in comparedwith what can be supplied now. Theaverage cost of traffic congestion inManila is 3.5 billion pesos per day in2017, much higher than the estimated2.4 billion pesos in 2012.To solve the problem, NEDA, formallynamed “ National EconomicDevelopment Authority”, made “thePhilippine Development Plan” , and intransport division, the goals of this planwas translated into many specificprojects included in the “Roadmap forTransport Infrastructure Developmentfor Metro Manila and its SurroundingAreas (Region III and Region IV-A)” , or“Mega Manila Dream Plan”.

The Dream Plan focus on 3 majorproblems of Metro Manila: trafficcongestions, natural disaster (flood,earthquake, tsunami etc.), and land use(especially affordable housing whichfree from disaster risk). They interrelatewith each other, and may worsen ascontinuing expansion of urban area andpopulation growth.

As a solution, First, the spatial structureof Manila proposed by the Dream Planshift 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 MetroManila. This is like “ suburbanrail +newtown” development model, usetransport as catalyst to facilitate

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integrated development of the area,which used by many cities in Japan likeKohoku New Town in Yokohama orTsukuba Science City.There are five main components of thetransport interventions in the plan: (1)At-grade Roads: includes missing linkson C3, C5, bridges and others; 137 kmof new roads; flyovers; sidewalks andpedestrian facilities. (2) Expressways:compose of intercity expressway of 426km and urban expressway network of78 km. (3) Urban/Suburban Rail:comprising 6 main lines with combinedlength of 246 km; 5 secondary linesmeasuring 72 km, and integration oflines for improved accessibility. (4)Bus/jeepneys: includes modernizedfleet and operation; rationalized routestructure; and improved terminals andinterchange facilities. (5) TrafficManagement: includes intelligenttransportation systems (ITS) fordifferent modes of transport, trafficsignals, traffic safety, and trafficenvironment and education.The transport sector goals are 5“NOs”.NO traffic congestion, NO householdliving in high hazard risk areas, NObarrier for seamless mobility, NOexcessive transport cost burden forlow-income groups, NO air pollution.And the implementation of this planwas separated into 3 steps: the shortterm TRIP (Transport InvestmentProgram, 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 termTRIP (2022-2030), which lead to acongestion-free situation.As for the condition of implementation,the reply from NEDA is “ most ofprojects identified in the short-termTRIP have yet to be completed. As such,it is too early to give an assessmentwhether the goals for the short-termTRIP have been achieved…… .However… … there were indeed problemsencountered that caused delays in theimplementation of the projectsidentified.” And NEDA will not takeresponsibility for implementation ofprojects because they just do the planand give advice if there has anyproblems through implementation.In the short-term TRIP,“majority of theprojects are to be financed viaPublic-Private Partnerships (PPP) while afew have been identified to be financedvia ODA. The financing mix for theprojects is similar for the medium-termTRIP. ” And though the PPP-biasedstrategy was be used, the public sectoris more dominant in the partnershipswith regard to the projects in theshort-term TRIP.

Rrepoted by Bo Peng

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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

The Development Action for Women

Network (DAWN) is a non-government,non-profit organization established in1996 to assist distressed womenmigrants from Japan, as well as theirJapanese-Filipino children, in thepromotion and protection of their rightsand welfare. In 2011, DAWN expandedits programs to include Filipino migrantdomestic workers and their families. Ithas four core programs: 1.SOCIALSERVICES, 2.ALTERNATIVE LIVELIHOOD,3.RESEARCH AND ADOVOCACY,4.EDUCATION. And two support

programs:1.INSTITUTIONALDEVELOPMENT, 2.NETWORKING.Their vision is a society where women

and men share equal opportunities for ajust and human living, creatingempowered and self-reliant families incommunities where each one cares forone another in the spirit of peace basedon justice; and where migration is anoption that is respected and protected.And their mission. To live in hope withthe Filipino people, especially with thereturning distressed migrant womenand their children, through programsand services that enable them and theirfamilies to regain and strengthen theirsense of dignity and self-worth, reclaim

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

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

Filipinos as just cheap labors. And theysay 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 Philippinesexhausted physically and mentally inforeign land, and they live economicallyhard lives. Because OFW’s earnings areexhausted by allowance, and it isdifficult for them to get a job if theydon’t have them own hands and don’thave licenses or skills in the Philippines.OFW is called the hero, but there is astark reality to wait for people who havefailed as OFW.

Reported by Erina Asano

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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

１、Introduction

My purpose of this trip is to learn

about migrants to Japan and theproblems of Filipino workers in Japanbecause I am interested in those topicsand have studied about them.This is the 3rd time to visit the

Philippines and I believed that I knew alot of things about this country, but thistime I found that I do not know anythingabout OFW. OFW means OverseasFilipino Workers and they dynamize the

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 environmentsso I feel some differences between theFilipino and Japanese attitudes to OFW.

２、About CMACMA is ‘an advocacy group that

promotes the rights of overseas Filipinoland or sea based migrant workers andFilipino immigrants and their families.’So it supports OFW to work and live in abetter environment. Our group met the

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executive director, Ellene A. Sana. She isa powerful lady and she gave us a lot ofinformation passionately. We did somequestions and she answered eachquestion with more information thanwe expected.Our questions were following;・What do you think about the foreign

technical intern trainee system in Japan?Is this working, or not?・ Many OFW had terrible experiencesand sometimes they even died. Why dothey keep coming to Japan?・Do the OFW’s families keep working inthe Philippines?・Is this true that some people try to get‘study visa’ because getting ‘workingvisa’ is difficult?・ If the OFW have higher skills, do theyhave 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、ConclusionI used to think that we Japanese have

some responsibilities to help Filipinowho have to work in foreign countries

with bad working environments.However, through this study tour, Ibecame to think that maybe not theirdemand because they keep coming toJapan no matter how bad their workingenvironment is, and even thegovernment encourages them. And alsoI 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 and

trying to grasp the real problems ofOFW.

Reported by Chihiro Kawasaki

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Philippines Overseas Employment Administration (POEA)

Date and Time: 1 March 2018, 14:00-16:00

Place: POEA Building, Ortigas Avenue corner EDSA, Mandaluyong

City

We visited POEA (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 employmentprogram, because of lack ofemployment opportunities for nationals.Now, they are sending 2 million Filipinoworkers a year to other countries.

What is the OFW?OFW means Overseas Filipino Workers,and they have played important rolesfor a long time in the Philippines. In fact,the number of them consists 10% ofPhilippines’ 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

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

InterviewWe could interview Ms. Maybelle M.Gorospe, OIC of planning branch, andshe herself also worked in Middle Eastbefore as one of OFW. First of all, sheexplained services to OFW. They arevery comprehensive, registering workersonline, getting in touch with foreigngovernment and recruit agencies tolicenses to recruit, and regulating illegalworkers and giving welfare services.After that, she answered the questionswe prepared.

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

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have to learn the languages bythemselves. Of course, when studyinglanguages, 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 asthey are one of the government office,they cannot provide individuals withwell-managed level of services, so wethink that it is really difficult issues. Infact, NGO groups are making upgrass-roots supports which governmentagencies cannot offer. Sometimes, POEAis associating with them in the aspect ofwelfare program. But I wonder if theassociation is really enough for OFW.

Besides, there are no end to problemsabout illegal workers. Ms. Gorospe saidthis is because employment agenciesshould meet harsh requirements to getlicenses. However, some agenciescannot meet, some cases happen thatOFW 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 internationalissue.

Therefore, OFW are called “Heroes”.They are taking much of risk. Before Icame to Philippines, I had an image thatOFW symbolize the poor domesticindustries and the poverty, but this timeI could know about more fundamentalproblems. In even Japan, more andmore OFW may come, so we shouldconsider about them.

Reported by Yuka Takahashi

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During the 11-day field study trip in Manila city and Tacloban City of the

Philippines, 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, Iwent to Banco De Oro, the biggest bank in the Philippines in term of asset and gotthe chance to discuss with the Senior Executive Vice President of the bank, and atthe 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-PNBIBJL. All the meetings have proceeded successfully and fruitfully thanks to anenthusiastic coordination of a professor of University of Santo Tomas and a kindcooperation from the host financial institutions. The reason that I chose financialinstitutions 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 DBPLeasing was delivered by the Presidentof DBP Leasing accompanied with theAccount Manager, and the President has

given honor to stay until the end of themeeting in order to answer all thequestions from the participants. DBPLeasing is a financial institution that is100% owned by the NationalDevelopment Bank of the Philippines.DBP offers three kinds of productsincluding Loan, Factoring, and Leasing.Leasing is a financing method thatallows a company or an individual toacquire an immovable property or amovable property like factoryequipment, vehicles, or building byrenting it from a leasing company. Theprocess starts from the customerengaging 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. Theownership of the property still belongsto the leasing company at the end ofthe term, and the lessor (financing

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company) may sell it to the lessee(customer) at a price of the guaranteedeposit. Guarantee deposit is a downpayment which usually costs around10% of the leasing amount that everylessee has to pay to the lessor at thebeginning of the leasing term, and thelessee will get it back at the end of theleasing term. The product that thecustomer asks the leasing company tobuy must be marketable that means ithas market value because in case thatthe customer does not buy it at the endof the leasing term, the leasingcompany can sell it to other buyers orrent it out.DBP Leasing is of the opinion thatLeasing is very helpful to SME or astart-up company that needs to operateor expand the business with limitedcapital and that is not qualified enoughfor being bankable. I would not say thatthis is related to my research topic, but Iam also interested in Leasing becauseknowing more is always betterespecially when leasing business hasbecome marketable in Cambodianowadays.During the two-hour discussion, wefocused only on Leasing. At DBP, thereare two types of Leasing, (1) FinancialLease and (2) Operating Lease.Operating Lease used to be a mainproduct of DBP Leasing before but wasreplaced by Financial Lease. The majordifference between operating lease andfinancial lease is that financial lease isnon-cancellable during the term whileoperating lease is subject tocancellation anytime. The main objectfor operating lease is vessel whilefinancial lease is open for any objectsranging from small movable objectssuch 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 ofthe guarantee deposit.

In order to get a financial lease, it is veryimportant that the potential lessee havesound credit, and one way to check thecreditworthiness of the potential lesseeis to confirm with the LeasingAssociation that has blacklisted thedefaulted lessees, or the lessor cancheck with the suppliers who havepayment experience with the potentiallessee. DBP Leasing has explained thereason why the lessee gets to choose itsown supplier in the process of leasing.The reason is to save the leasingcompany from responsibility and blamewhen the property does not work or hasdefect. In such a case, the lessee cannotuse the defect of the property as anexcuse for not paying monthly orquarterly rental fee because the lesseehas chosen the supplier by themself. Inaddition, during the supplying process,though the lessor is the one who paysthe purchase money to the supplier, it isthe lessee who has a legal relationshipwith the supplier. All the lessor has todo 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.

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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

BDO is the biggest bank in the

Philippines in term of assets, trustassets, and gross customer loan anddeposit. BDO stands for Banco De Orowhich means Golden Bank in English.The meeting was with the SeniorExecutive Vice President of the Bank,and he warmly welcomed us byanswering the questions enthusiastically.BDO provides many services includingbut not limited to Loan, Deposit Taking,Cash Management, Trade, Trust&Investment, Leasing and Finance. Due tomy point of interest is ReceivableFinancing, we were discussing more theproducts that BDO can provide tocustomers who want to use their

account receivable to finance theircompanies.

At BDO, when it comes to ReceivableFinancing, BDO has 3 kinds of productsto offer, Post Data Check DiscountingLine, Installment Sale Financing, andFactoring through subsidiary Leasing.Post Data Check Discounting Line usesan account receivable that the customerhas against a debtor as source ofpayment, but this transaction is withrecourse, which means when the debtorfails to pay the bank, the customer hasto pay the bank. Installment SaleFinancing is the sale of installmentpayment that a debtor pays to thecustomer, and the customer promises touse that installment payment for payingthe 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 toget money before the due date ofaccount receivable and sells thataccount receivable to the bank, and thebank will generally pay around 80% ofthe receivable to the customers and willget payment back from the debtorswhen the due date comes.

In financing method, ReceivableDiscounting is always confused withFactoring, but these two are slightlydifferent in term of payment collection.In Receivable Discounting, the customermust 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 researchtopic, I am working on answering thefunction of an account receivable in an

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assignment transaction. I am wonderingif an account receivable is only an objectfor sale or also collateral. According toBDO, an account receivable can only befor sale. It is sold to the bank, and itbecomes a source of payment when thedue date comes. It is not collateralbecause the bank does not get priorityin payment through buying this accountreceivable.

Japan-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, Philippines

Japan-PNB is a joint-venture between

Philippines National Bank and aJapanese leasing company called IBJL

Leasing. Philippines National Bank ranksnumber 4 in the country while IBJL isone of most leading financing andLeasing companies in Japan, whichmakes Japan-PNB become a topfinancing and leasing corporation in thePhilippines. Japan-PNB has manyproducts to offer to its customerincluding financial lease, operating lease,term loan, and receivable discounting.In 2008, Japan-PNB Leasing andFinancing Corporation established asubsidiary company called PNB-IBJLEquipment Rentals Corporation thatdoes a business of renting real propertyand personal property.Operating and Financial Lease are alsoproducts of DBP Leasing as I havementioned before, but according toJapan-PNB, what distinguishesoperating Lease and Financial Lease isthat operating lease is considered to bean expense while financing lease is anasset in the balance sheet of a company.At Japan-PNB and BDO, Leasing is notonly about the leasing company buyinga product from a designated supplierand renting it to a customer, but alsoabout another kind of product called“ Leaseback ” which refers to atransaction that the leasing companybuys a product not from a supplier butthe customer itself and rents it back tothat customer. Besides Leaseback andLeasing, Japan-PNB has an additionalproduct called Lease Sublease whichinvolves three parties naming lessor,lessee, and sub-lessee. The sub-lessee,usually a rental company, leases aproperty from the lessee.Japan-PNB offers Receivable Financingas BDO does. At Japan-PNB, ReceivableFinancing is divided into two,Installment Purchase Paper and

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Receivable Discounting. Actually, what Ihave noticed is that some of thesetransactions are the same while someare similar; the only difference is theirname. Different financial instituteusually 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 ofpayment 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 ascollateral. With a promissory note ascollateral, 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.

Citibank

Date and Time :28th Feb 2018, 18:30

to 20:30

Place: 34th street, Bonifacio

Global City, Taguig, 1634

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 manycountries, and banking is not its onlyservice. However, the central of focusduring the two-hour meeting was stillon Receivable Financing. CitibankRelationship Manager has emphasizedthe benefit of Receivable Financing thata seller (customer) can have. First of all,unlike Factoring, Receivable Financing iswithout recourse. A without-recoursetransaction 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 balancesheet, and last but not least, it mitigatesthe risk. The risk that a seller can have isif 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 forproducing if the seller lets the long-dueaccount receivable increase; thensooner or later, the seller might not

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have capital for producing moreproducts because the payment forsupplied 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, sometimesReceivable Discounting is approachedby the debtor with a condition that thebank would prolong the due date forthe debtor. If the bank agrees, then thedebtor would convince the seller to sellthe receivable to the bank. InReceivable Discounting, the credit of thedebtor is very important becausewhether the bank accepts thereceivable or not and the how much thebank agrees to pay are all based on thecreditworthiness of the debtor. Thebank has to send a notice aboutReceivable Discounting to the debtor,but consent from the debtor is not

required on that notice. This practice ofCitibank is different from that of BDObecause BDO requires consent to bewritten back on the notice from thedebtor since BDO believes that consentfrom the debtor would give BDO priorityin payment. From the point of view ofcitibank, an account receivable can becollateral but not common.Having met with the fourabove-mentioned financial institutionswith local and international financialexperiences, I received a lot of pricelessinformation for my research. I also gotthe answer for my research question.The answer is that the function of anaccount receivable is indefinite. In Japan,it is a mutual understanding that anaccount receivable functions as bothcollateral and an object for sale. Thus,this function varies from country tocountry and financial institution toinstitution.

Reported by Te Muykim

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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)

They began this activity in 2016

about two years.

And it became the community where220 people gathered. There are onetourist facility includes some fields inthere. (Agriculture, the fishery,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 touristsalways come.

The person of 90% of these towns wasin a flood. They picked up a fruit of the

coconut which fell without eating forone 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 treegot wet. And it was difficult to set fire,and to use it to a dish. A pig and the birdwhich they kept in the area was died,and only 1% life.They said,“The town was rolled up in aflash so that paper flew by wind.” Andalso say “ I don’ t never forget it onNovember 30. It was very sad memory.”He was smiles but tears came to hiseyes.

After a disaster, some children hasbecame to crying only raining. Mentalsupport was necessary. Thereforemedical Dr. came for support from SriLanka. 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 touristwho came comes back here again once.This is because it thinks that they can

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accomplish quicker revival for the area.

(Impression)I think Yolanda's situation and the EastJapan great earthquake disaster have asimilar part. Because after a disaster, ithave been needed the mental care ofthe victim. They lost an importantperson and an important place in adisaster. Even if how is the support fromothers, I think that I cannot rebuildwithout power of localpeople. 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 ofthe resources in this area. They invite atourist using tourist attractions tosurfing and make use for local revival. Inthis way, I think that we can rebuild it ifthere is even the connection of theperson even if very serious. I think it bea purpose to make community

through surfing. I felt that theresources were only the tools whichmade it.

(The think of a future plan)☆ Do not make disaster preventionmeasures and hazard map.I asked him a question. What would youdo in future when a disaster wascaused?He said, I pray not to have a disasteranymore. It is the important thing forthem.But I think, there is life to be able toprevent in what I prepared for naturaldisasters. On that account weunderstand culture and must conveydisaster prevention education.In addition, we will demonstrate ourexperience in the world for we don’ tmake the same mistakes twice.

Reported by Eri Okawa

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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, Philippines

I have interested in microfinance, so

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

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institutions(MFIs) aid the victims ofsuper typhoon Yolanda, and 2. Do MFIsreally aid the poorest?The Center for Agriculture and RuralDevelopment, Inc. (CARD, Inc.) is one ofthe biggest microfinance institution(MFI)in Philippines. CARD, Inc. consists of 21companies including CARD Bank.On February 26th morning, Mr. Jerwin

Dayon, a training officer of CARD BankTacloban Branch, took us to a barangay inSamar. It took around 1.5 hour fromTacloban to the barangay. We joined acenter meeting, where clients of CARD

Bank get together to hold their meetingabout the services of CARD MRI and toconduct other membership transaction,of the barangay. It is held for about onehour every week at Barangay Hall.Actually, I really wanted to see centermeeting, but I didn’ t ask for joiningcenter meeting in request mail because Ithought 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 appreciatethem.

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

According to a client, her family and liveswere badly damaged after the typhoonYolanda. CARD provided financialassistance, 10,000 pesos. Mr. Dayon saidthey began financial assistance on thenext day after Yolanda hit the island. The

client said she began saving for nextdisaster after Yolanda. Saving isimportant to save their lives. She said sheis 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 BankTacloban branch for the orientation anddiscussion.Mr. Dayon said programs of CARD Bank

are flexible. The shortest loan is 2months, and the longest loan is 1 year.

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Clients can select the loan term based ontheir 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 CARDis to empower all“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 65-100years 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.

On February 27th, morning we

visited Rural Bank of Dulag (RB Dulag) inTacloban. RB Dulag promote andexpand the rural economy by providingthe people with means to increase theirincome and purchasing power through astimulation of capital for productiveactivities. Although there was no plan tovisit there until the day before themeeting with RB Dulag, Professor Tiukindly arranged the meeting, and Ms.

Elvie YU, a president of RB Dulag kindlyaccepted us. It was sudden meeting, sowe only did discussion aboutmicrofinance and how RB Dulag helpclients. When we visited there, Ms. ElvieYU was not at the office, so wediscussed with her son.RB Dulag also aid victims of typhoonYolanda. He said RB Dulag started aidfor their clients on December 26th,about 1 month after the typhoon. Theyprovided additional financial assistance.RB Dulag members have meeting everyweek. Members discuss and understand

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other members’ situation there. Staffsmonitor their clients in the meeting.The criteria for clients are 1. They musthave businesses and 2. Their attitudeare 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, Icannot conclude that loan repayment ofRB Dulag is not good. I must study loanrepayment 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, theydon’t lend money for no income people.I thought that means RB Dulag is nottargeting the poorest.

I learned that systems and programs ofCARD Bank and RB Dulag are quitedifferent. I thought systems of CARD aremore flexible than that of RB Dulag, soCARD can be targeting more various

people including poorest. In addition,loan is the only product of RB Dulag, butCARD provide some kinds of programslike scholarship. I think that is becauseCARD is one of the biggest MFIs inPhilippines and contains many kinds ofcompanies.Mr. Dayon said the clients we met are

not socially-economically challengingpeople. The percentage of return in thecenter meeting is 100%. However, Iwonder how many percent of thesocially-economy-challenging clients canreturn their loans, so if I have a change,I want to interviewsocially-economically-challengingpeople. Thanks to CARD Bank and RBDulag, I learned a lot aboutmicrofinance, and microfinanceattracted me strongly. However, Icannot solve my research questions yet.I also have to research about systems ofother MFIs to compare with these twoMFIs I visited. Moreover, I should visitMCPI (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 inmicrofinance, to learn microfinance inPhilippines.I really appreciate all the people whoaccepted us.

Reported by Haruna Sorita

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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.

The reason why we decided to visit

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

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

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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 MallJapan-Philippines relations are verygood so far. The primeminister in Japan-Shinzo Abe- and the president of thePhilippines- Rodrigo Duterte- havealready come and visited each countrymore three times last year.Especially, relationship in economic is sostrong in the point of CAR industry. Inthe Philippines, the big issue is badinfrastructure. Public transportationsuch as train is not so developed somost of people use car in their life.Therefore, people there face trafficcongestions everyday. It is apparentdifference between Japan andPhilippines. I was actually surprised thatwherever I went, traffic congestionswere inescapable.<Comment>This academic tour was my first visitingthe Philippines. Before going there, Iwas in charge of making appointmentwith cultural affairs and public officer atthe Embassy of Japan. Speakingpersonally, this experience was quiteimportant for me because now I havehad 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. Theatmosphere at the Embassy was totallydifferent from Afghanistan one andJapan Embassy was much more strict inthe point of security. We all were notpermitted bringing electronic devicessuch as cell phones and computers intothe Embassy so we were able to takeonly this photo.On the whole, my impressions to the

Philippines were changed so much.People living there were very friendlyand full of hospitality. Compared Japanto Philippine, Japan is much moredeveloped in the economic situation butI think people n the Philippines seemedto be satisfied with their own lives.The only thing I was disappointed

during my stay was insanitary of the restroom. I had to bring paper by myselfevery time and when I was in the Leyte,the toilet in my room was clogged. Fromthis experience, I came to realize thathow clean Japanese one is.Anyway I am so blessed to makewonderful memories with wonderfulmembers in the Philippines and alsolooking forward to visiting again as soonas possible. I am so grateful thisopportunity which I was given and Iwant to thank you for all who made mystay enriched and unforgettable.Learning continues forever!Thank you!

Reported by Mamiko Kan

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Salt Payatas

Date and Time:22rd Feb 2018,12:00-17:00

Place:Quezon City

Recently, many companies which

established in not only Japan, but alsoother countries look at Philippine astremendous opportunity because ofeconomic growth. For example, GDP isincreasing every year. However, the gapbetween the rich and the poor are alsoincreasing 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 ofPayatas? Payatas means dumpsite. Inthis area, a lot of people don’ t havestable occupation. Many people arescavengers, which means they have justinformal contractual 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

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

On July 10th, 2000, Trash slidehappened. 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 the

collapse of the dumpsite, home, smalllibrary and work place for women.

To be surprised, many people who livein Payatas has very bright personality.Especially children are bright.I wonder one point thanks to this

opportunity. That is really suffering frompoverty or not and definition of poverty.This was the different from image Ithought and real I saw. As I mentioned,many people were laughing and Ithough everyone is enjoying their life. Ithought even they can’ t escape frompoverty, there are no problems.However, situation is different. What Isaw was just their part of life. If I image

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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 severethan I expect. However fortunately,thanks to people who came here like usand support them like Salt Payatas,thinking of their mind is changing littleby little. I hope near the future the gapbetween rich and poor are decreasing.

Reported by Ayaka Ozawa

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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, PHILIPPINES

JETRO, or the Japan External Trade

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

The purpose of visiting here is to searchthe business relationship betweenJapan and the Philippine. Besides that,we gained the local information of howPhilippine economic has operated untilnow.Concerning about the merit of

Japanese enterprises invest into thePhilippines are cheap personnelexpenses, few difficulties ofcommunication because of English, and

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the scale of market. In contrast, thedemerit are lacking of infrastructuredevelopment, the unstable of politicand society, and uncertain outlooktoward administration. Japanese cancommunicate with Filipino easily, but asthe demerit of undevelopedinfrastructure makes huge trafficcongestion.

About the economic situation in thePhilippines, the Philippines economic

growth rate has recorded 6-7% and, themost significant feature of Philippineeconomic is that 10% of total Philippinepopulation worked abroad. The numberof migrant workers leads to greatimpact toward Philippine GDP.However, highly skilled humanresources are in the shortage. The mainreasons are at the labor market, thefield of technical workers are nottrained well and supplied. Also, jobhopping and the high rate of leaving acompany is the secondary reason. Infact, the industry of service isdeveloping, but looking through thefuture of the Philippines, they need ahighly education so that economicsituation will be more improved.

Reported by Keishun Sakamoto

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Department of Education

Date and Time: 2 March 2017, 10:00-12:00

Place: DepEd Complex, Meralco Ave.,

Pasig City, Metro Manila

As The Philippines is the last country

in Asia and one of only three countriesworldwide with a 10-year pre-universitycycle, and a 12-year program is found tobe the best period for learning underbasic education. The PHilippinesdecided to implement 12 years of basiceducation started from 2012. To learnmore about k-12 program, we visitedthe Department of Education(DepEd) on2 March 2018. And Supervisingeducation program specialist Ms.Ligayaintrouducted to us the visions and thechanges of education in the Philippines.

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, trusted andnurturing institution delivering quality,accessible, relevent and liberating K to12 Education, enabling our learners tobe nation-loving, resilient andcompetent lifelong learners”. Toachieve the team vision, DepEd set astrategic goal that they are ① expandaccess to basic educaton ② improvequality and relevance ③ modernizeEducation Management andGovernance.

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The changes

In order to improve the quality ofEducation, DepEd makes some changesof the Curriculum. For example, fromkindergarten to Grade 3, except theEnglish classes, other subjects aretaught in Filipion. And for the SeniorHigh School Curriculum, they are 4Applied Track Subjects, Academic,Technical-Vocational-Livelihood, Sports,Arts and Design. No matter whichsubject they choose, they have to takethe core learning areas, such asLanguage, Humanities, Communcation,Mathematical, Philosophy, Science,Social science, PE ＆ Health. This willensure that students learn a wide rangeof knowledge. Ms.Ligaya alsomentioned the need to improve thequality of teachers. Teachers will betrained not only teach studentsKnowledge of the 21st century, but alsoteach students Critical Thinking.

The problems

According to the“K-12”program, publiceschooling free from kindergartenthrough 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 increasingdemand for education. The Philippineshas 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 saidIt’s a challenge for DepEd to keep

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

NGOs and other goverment agencies.In addition, before we visited the DepEd,we went to the CARD BANK inTacloban, we learned that CARD BANKprovide a Education Loan for poorhousehold so tey can use the money topay for the meal, textbooks and uniformect.Back to the DepEd, Ms.Ligaya showedus the most recent quick countsenroiment figures as of August 5, 2017.There are 1,929584 children in thePublic Kindergartens, and 284,529children in the Private Kindergartens.For the Elementary, there are12,413,295 children go to the PublicSchools and 1,173,769 children go tothe Private Schools. We can see thatthere are much more children in PublicSchools than in Private Schools.Even though there are still manychildren can not go to the school, DepEdnever give up to help them. Ms Ligayasaid, “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.

Reported by XIAOMEI FENG

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Kaisa Para sa Kaunlaran

Date and Time: March1, Thursday2018,14:00-16:30

Place: 32 Cor Anda & Cabildo Sts, Bgy 655,

Zone 069, Intramuros Manila

Schedule and content

TIME p.m. Mar 1, 2018 - Thur VENUE2:00 Meet and Greet guests/photo Benito Cu Uy Gam Hall2:10 Tour of Bahay Tsinoy Bahay TsinoyBetween 3:00and 3:20 pm

Briefing about Kaisa & activities· Outreach & development· Cultural work· Research

Cheng Han Sui BoardRoom

Around 345pm

Open forum: Focus on Tsinoys inmainstream societyMany of the topics asked in thepreviously emailed interviewquestions may be answered during themuseum tour.

430 pm Dialogue ends

About Kaisa Para Sa Kaunlaran:Kaisa Para Sa Kaunlaran is a leading

resource organization that advocatesthe proactive and sustainableparticipation of the Tsinoy community in

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local and national development.Kaisa Para Sa Kaunlaran started on 28

August 1987, during the time when oneof the bloodiest coups was being stagedin the metropolis. It was a baptism offire. Democracy has just been restored,and young Chinese Filipinos (Kaisafounders), felt it was a good time to

launch a new organization. The logoshows two hands clasped together withone heart beating for our country andpushing the wheel of progress. Kaisa’sdesires were simple, although themission ahead wasgigantic.

About Kaisa Heritage CenterKaisa 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 and

influences of the Chinese in Philippinehistory, society, culture and politicsWhat Impressed me most?In this trip, we first visited BahayTsinoy –Museum of the Chinese inPhilippine Life.

Under the staff's explanation, weprobably learned about the history ofthe Chinese immigrants to thePhilippines. Even though these Chineseimmigrants 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 askedseveral

questions aboutChinese Filipinos.It's a great

honor to get the answer about myquestions. What impressed me mostwas that when I asked questions aboutthe impact of the split betweenmainland China and Taiwan on theChinese Filipinos community, thefounder expressed very directly andclearly that Chinese Filipinos were notconcerned about China's politicalproblems. They are more concernedabout their lives in the Philippines. It isvery different from what I expectedbefore.

In the end of thedialogue, Mrs.Teresita Ang See,the founder,recommended

three books thatwould help me understand the relevantknowledge about Chinese Filipinos. Dr.Tiu bought these three books for meand invited Ms. Teresita Ang See to signfor me. As is known to all, Ms. TeresitaAng See is a very famous woman in theworld. It is very lucky for me to get her

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 attendthe meeting. Without Dr. Tiu's work, itwould be difficult to facilitate thismeeting, and see Ms. Teresita Ang See.His enthusiasm and friendliness is oneof the biggest gains in my study trip inthe Philippines.

Reported by Xiaoyu Shi

37

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

0n November 8th 2013, a tragedy

took place in Tacloban city, Leyte, wherepeople surrounded by rich nature livepeacefully. More than 5000 peoplewere killed by Super Typhoon Yolanda.EVRMC was the last hospital standing inthe aftermath of the Typhoon.

About EVRMCThe Eastern Visayas Regional Medical

Center is a regional and tertiary levelteaching and training governmenthealth care facility in the Philippines. Asof 2013, it has 275 hospital beds, 294

average daily censuses of admissions,and 100 average dairy ER cases. Also389 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 servicesas a critical community facility when it isneeded during and after disaster. Also,before Yolanda, it has been working asthe “apex” and “end-referral” hospitalwhere all the lower health facilities,patient transport services and volunteeremergency responders bring theirpatients during typhoon and earthquake.

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Super Typhoon YolandaThey had won the national award forexcellence in disaster risk, managementand humanitarian assistance. Eventhough they thought prepared well,Typhoon Yolanda transcended farbeyond their forecast because of itsunusual path.As soon as the typhoon landed, almost

all buildings of EVRMC were highlydamaged and flooded.The center continued to operate duringand immediately after the storm, andnever ceased operations despite thedepleted manpower and scarcity ofresources. Many institutions, such asDoctors Without Borders, and MedicosDel Mundo, and foreign governmentssend support team to EVRMCimmediately. For 2 weeks after thetyphoon landed, the center had morethan 3000 patients and 664 admissionsin total.

Problems Found After the TyphoonAfter presentation from Dr. Reutas andour Q&A session, we found someproblems.The first is about logistics. Immediatelyafter the typhoon, the support teamtried to visit Tacloban from the CentralGovernment, but the airport wasunusable due to flood damage. For that

reason, they had to deal with enormousnumbers of patients only by limitedlocal staff for several days, and therescue supplies were also short.Construction of airports and logisticroutes that are resistant to disasters isrequired.The second is patient transportation.The ambulances could not work due tofloods or damage to the road. As aresult, most of the patients in Taclobanhad to visit EVRMC on foot.Improvement of transportation tools inthe case of flooding, and drainageremains as a problem.The last is communication system. Thesupport teams from foreign countriesand the local staff shared informationmainly with text messages using English.However, local people could not speakin English well, and communicationbetween patient and overseas supportteam did not work well. This problemcan happen throughout the Philippineswhere 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 thefuture.

Reported by Shohei Nomoto

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