UNIVERSAL ACCESS SCHEDULE

Universal Access is a daily radio program aired from 2PM to 3PM in DZRJ-AM 810 KHZ. The purpose of the show is to contribute to nation building by promoting the advocacy of complete convergence for change. Universal Access is a joint project of the Rajah Broadcasting System and the Corinthian Coffee Clutch

We believe that the complete convergence of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programs, Private and Public Partnership (PPP) programs and Private Volunteer Organization (PVO) programs is a necessary step towards nation building

We believe that by way of complete convergence, we will be able to provide Universal Access to the majority of our citizens, as we build our nation towards our goal of achieving sustainable development for our communities, and economic prosperity for our country

We invite all those who want to support complete convergence and nation building to attend the Corinthian Coffee Club from 3PM to 6PM every Friday inside the Dodge Room of the Elks Club at the seventh floor of the Corinthian Plaza Building along Paseo de Roxas in Makati City, in front of Greenbelt One

Universal Access is also broadcasted worldwide via the Internet, through the technology of live streaming. Log on to www.rjplanet.com/rj-radio/

Dial 8978374, 8954660 and 8954244 to join the discussions

Text +639293605140 to submit feedbacks about the radio program

Visit www.senseneres.blogspot.com for online updates

The daily themes are as follows:

Mondays: Universal Access to Governance
Tuesdays: Universal Access to Learning
Wednesdays: Universal Access to Health
Thursdays: Universal Access to Justice
Fridays: Universal Access to Business
Saturdays: Universal Access to Services
Sundays: Universal Access to Banking

Governance: Includes anti-corruption issues
Learning: Includes anti-drugs issues
Health: Includes anti-hunger issues
Justice: Includes anti-crime issues
Business: Includes anti-smuggling issues
Services: Includes anti-homelessness issues
Banking: Includes anti-poverty issues

The regular anchors are as follows:

Mondays: Universal Access to Governance. Hosts are Louie Montemar and Paula Pelaez Plaza. Louie is a professor of political science at De La Salle University in Manila. He graduated from the University of the Philippines with a degree in Political Science. He also graduated from the International Academy of Management and Economics with an MBA degree. He is presently finishing his doctoral degree in Development Studies at De La Salle. Paula graduated from the McGill University in Montreal with degrees in Sociology and Political Science. She is now taking up law at the Ateneo de Manila University.

Tuesdays: Universal Access to Learning. Hosts are Dr. Ernie Gonzales and Ms. Anne Marie Gonzales. Ernie is a Fellow of the London School of Economics. He heads the Environmental Economics Program of the University of Santo Tomas Graduate School and is a Visiting Professor at the Graduate Program of the University of the Philippines in Manila. Anne is graduated from the University of San Carlos in Cebu City with a degree in English Teaching. She also graduated from the Assumption University of Thailand in Bangkok with a Master’s degree in English Language Teaching. She is the principal owner of AMCG Events.

Wednesdays: Universal Access to Health. Hosts are Melani Hicks Borra and Jet Abugan. Melani is a health advocate. She graduated from the University of the Philippines. Jet graduated from St. Louis University in Baguio City with a degree in Mass Communications. She is a market research and communications professional and is a business partner of Soup of the Day, Inc. and Consumers View Providers, Inc.

Thursdays: Universal Access to Justice. Hosts are Atty. Aquil Tamano and Atty. Bodi Pulido. Aquil has a B.A. in Philippine Studies from the University of the Philippines in Diliman. He graduated from the University of Santo Tomas College Of Law. He was formerly a lecturer at the Mindanao State University College of Law and was an Assistant Provincial Prosecutor in Lanao del Sur. He was formerly connected with Quasha Law and is now with the Kapunan, Tamano and Javier Law Office. Bodi is a corporate lawyer.

Fridays: Universal Access to Business. Hosts are Lito Averia and David Ackerman. Lito was formerly with the Philippine Stock Exchange. David graduated with a degree in Business Management from De La Salle University in Manila, and is Chairman and CEO of I. Ackerman and Company, Inc.

Saturdays: Universal Access to Services. Hosts are Cyfer Mijares and Myra Gines. Cyfer is from the HellFyre Club. He graduated with a B. S. Fine Arts degree from Allan Hancock College in Santa Monica, California. He was President of Hood View Art in Santa Barbara, California and was formerly a Consultant of the Philippine Retirement Authority. Myra is from the Call Center Association of the Philippines, having spent eleven years in the industry. She graduated from AMA Computer University with a degree in B.S. Computer Science, major in Office Administration. She also has a Certificate in Adult Education from the University of the Philippines, and is also certified in Six Sigma practices. She is also a professional singer and a former disk jockey of GVFM 99.1 radio in Angeles City.

Sundays: Universal Access to Banking. Hosts are Chris Bacud and Isabel Pelaez Plaza. Chris graduated from the University of the Philippines with a degree in B.S. Mechanical Engineering. He also graduated from the Ateneo de Manila University with an MBA degree. He is presently the Head of the Infrastructure and Operations Division of the Philippine Bank of Communications. Isa was formerly with the Department of Economic Research of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas. She has an economics and economics history degree from the University of York in the United Kingdom and is now taking up a master’s degree in mathematics at the Ateneo De Manila University.

ECOLOGY CAPITAL AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

BANTAY GOBYERNO SERIES 042
By Ike Señeres 11/06/2010


ECOLOGY CAPITAL AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

Dr. Benji Teodosio wrote to say that ecology capital is now the new buzz word in the international development circles, and the World Bank is now ranking the actions of all countries in this new measure of national performance. She said that it is now emerging as a comparative measure in relation to sustainable development, and it is closely related to the field of biodiversity conservation. According to Dr. Teodosio, it is Dr. Perry S. Ong, a wildlife biologist who is the leading expert in this field. Read his profile at http://senseneres.blogspot.com/2010/11/brief-profile-of-dr-perry-s-ong.html.

It was also Dr. Teodosio who made me aware about the significance of social capital in relation to the economic wealth of a nation in general and the reckoning of economic development values in particular. Now I realize that taking financial capital, social capital and ecology capital as a whole, we as a nation might still have a chance to elevate ourselves in the ranking of nations, possibly even defeating poverty as we progress towards economic prosperity. Hope springs eternal.

I have interviewed many mayors on the air, and all of them have expressed a desire to develop their natural resources for various reasons, but more so to ride on the growing trend towards ecology tourism. More often than not however, they would always say that they could not go ahead with their plans, because their Internal Revenue Allocations (IRAs) are too low, or may have been overused already as collaterals for their loans.

The field of ecology capital is so new, such that very few references are available even if we do online searches. Without references to start with, I am at liberty to define what it is, and what it could possibly mean. I am going to start the discussion about this subject matter, and I hope that I will get some responses from my readers who could possibly contribute to the evolution of the definition.

The Debt for Nature Swap (DNS) and the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) are two possible sources of ecology capital that are already in place, but are apparently not too popular yet with Local Government Units (LGUs). I would bet all of my marbles that with DNS and CDM taken as a whole, there is more money for the LGUs to earn, compared to what they could possibly earn from their IRAs. DNS is the scheme that allows nations in debt to pay back their accounts with environment related projects. CDM is the formal name of the carbon credits scheme that came out of the Kyoto Protocol.

In a recent meeting of the Corinthian Coffee Clutch (C3), we agreed to offer the expertise of our members to all the LGUs, to help them achieve complete convergence in the implementation of their local development programs, towards the goal of achieving universal access. In this connection, I would say that since the discussions in local development would always turn to money, the contributions of DNS and CDM should always be included.

The law requires all LGUs to put up their own Materials Recovery Facility (MRF) and Sewage Treatment Plant (STP). At first glance, they would possibly view this as a problem because of the issue of money, but there is good news for them, because these two projects could now be funded through Private and Public Partnerships (PPP). The other good news is that these projects could also qualify for the CDM.

Mayor Fred Coro of Del Carmen, Surigao Del Norte attended a recent C3 meeting. Del Carmen is a fifth class municipality located in Siargao Island. Mayor Coro was a computer professional before he was elected. I invited him to C3 so that he could he could present his project to turn Del Carmen into a complete planned community, perhaps the first in Mindanao.

What is unique about Siargao is that the whole island has been declared by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) as a protected area. For one, it has the largest mangrove sanctuary in Mindanao, and it has a large population of salt water crocodiles. There are seven other municipalities in the island. The members of C3 have agreed to help Del Carmen as a start, with the intention of helping the other municipalities later, in the hope of turning the entire island into a model for planned settlements.

Go for Complete Convergence! Tune in to Universal Access 2pm to 3pm Monday to Sunday in DZRJ 810 khz or log on to www.rjplanet.com/rj-radio/
Watch KA IKING LIVE! Saturdays 8 pm to 9 pm in Global News Network (GNN), Channel 21 in Destiny Cable. Email iseneres@yahoo.com or text +639293605140 for local cable listings. Visit www.senseneres.blogspot.com

Brief Profile of Dr. Perry S. Ong

Dr. Perry S. Ong is a Professor of Wildlife Biology at the Institute of Biology, University of the Philippines Diliman (UPD). He is also currently its Director, a post he holds since June 2006. He earned his Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degree in Zoology from UP Los Banos in 1983 and 1988, respectively. He was
awarded his Doctor of Philosophy from Monash University, Melbourne, Australia in 1995.

He is into biodiversity conservation research and currently focusing on research on DNA-bar coding of Philippine Biodiversity as well as into the ecology of urban biodiversity. Together with the other staff members of IB-UPD, he is also involved in the research on the biodiversity of five geothermal production fields of the Energy
Development Corporation (EDC) in Mt. Kanlaon in Negros Occidental and Valencia City in Negros Oriental and Kananga in Leyte, Mt. Apo in Kidapawan City, North Cotabato in Mindanao and BacMan in Sorgogon.

He is a member of the board of trustees of various conservation organizations such as the Philippine Tropical Forest Conservation Foundation (PTFCF), the Foundation for the Philippine Environment (FPE). He is also a member of the National Steering Committee (NSC) of the UNDP GEF Small Grants Program (SGP). He served as
President of the Wildlife Conservation Society of the Philippines (2006 to 2010); chair of the Philippine Federation for Environmental Concern (2000-2009) and of the Earth’s Rights, People’s Rights (2005-2007).

His accomplishments were recognized by the UPD as one of the 2009 Natatanging Guro Gawad Chancellor Awardees (Most Outstanding Teacher Award) and an inaugural holder of UP-EDC’s Centennial Professorial Chair in Biodiversity Conservation in 2009, which was renewed in 2010.

In 2008, he was recognized by the UP Alumni Association as the one of the 2008 Centennial Outstanding Alumni for Environment Conservation and Sustainable Development. Previously, he was the 2004 Hugh Greenwood Award for Environment Science by the National Academy for Science and Technology (NAST). He was also one of the 2000 Ten Outstanding Young Men Awardees for Environment Conservation and one of the 2000 Outstanding Young Scientist for Behavioral Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. In 2008, he was elected a member of the Phi Sigma Biological Honor Society. In 2009, he was also elected as a member of the Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society. These are just some of the awards he had received.

During the UP Centennial Celebrations in 2008, Dr. Ong presented a Thematic Lecture on “Anthropogenic Global Warming: Beyond the Hype- Doing the Right Thing for the Right Reasons.” He is one of a handful of scientists able to combine science, policy work and working with various sectors of Philippine society to undertake conservation work in the country. These awards were given in recognition of his unique contributions, which is dedicated to the conservation of Philippine Biodiversity and implementation of various programs to save Philippine Biodiversity from extinction.