Tourism Secretary Jimenez’s new fun slogan

The good that came out of Yolanda super typhoon (which rendered homeless more than a million people and rendered cities, towns, barangays in the Visayas desolate and completely wrecked), is that the world focused on the Philippines. International agencies and governments came over with funds and muscles to help rebuild people’s lives.

Tourism Secretary Ramon Jimenez  said in previous times the devastation would have turned off a lot of tourists, but today, international travel trade is more savvy about travel in the Philippines.”

While the slogan “It’s More Fun in the Philippines” helped sell the Philippines, the new slogan will now be “site specific.” For example, at the Berlin international travel fair, Jimenez told the Bulong Pulungan sa Sofitel, the word “Philippines” was spelled out in small type, and prominence was given to local destinations like Boracay, Davao, Cebu and Baguio.

The disaster has in fact resulted in tourism activities on the ground being very much alive, said Jimenez. Boholanos are asking how they can get involved in and bring back the appeal of Bohol’s attractions which brought in a lot of revenue from local and foreign tourists.

One observer, noticing how personnel from the National Historical Commission were painstakingly numbering each stone in the rubble of a destroyed church, asked Jimenez why the government  should not just build a new structure. The idea, smiled Jimenez, would cost so much more.

There had been a slowdown in tourist arrivals last year, but he promised, “by 2016, we would almost certainly have doubled our tourism numbers.”

This will be done through the opening of more airports or gateways in prime tourism destinations, making the Philippines, as well as Indonesia have the most international gateways in the region.

Just two weeks ago, the first international flights from Xiamin in China to Legazpi City were launched. In Albay, an hour’s drive to Caticlan, the jump-off point to Boracay, there are 16 direct flights from abroad daily.

He said more arrivals from China have been registered, regardless of the unabated word war between the Philippine government and Hong Kong authorities.

Jimenez sounded like there is really more fun in the Philippines.

For us natives, it is fun being Filipinos, and living in the land of our birth.

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The University of the Philippines Alumni Association (UPAA) is now accepting nominations for the UPAA Distinguished Alumni Awards 2014.

Nominations will be accepted from any UP alumnus or alumni chapter until March 31. The five categories are the Most Distinguished Alumna/Alumnus Award, Lifetime Distinguished Achievement Awards, Distinguished Alumni Awards, Distinguished Service Awards, and Multi-Generation UP Alumni Family Awards.

The award ceremonies will be held during the UP general alumni-faculty homecoming and  reunion on June 21 at Luciano E. Salazar Hall, Ang Bahay ng Alumni, UP Diliman Campus, Quezon City. 

The awards are conferred on alumni who have demonstrated in their chosen field of endeavor, exceptional achievements and outstanding contributions that bring about substantial benefits to society and distinct honor to the University. Recognition is given to achievements and contributions that impact the community in which the alumni are or have been active, whether this is at the local, national or international level.

Award nominations will be considered in such thematic categories as public service and good governance, poverty alleviation and human development, peace and social cohesion, gender equality and women empowerment, community empowerment, environmental conservation and sustainable development, entrepreneurship and employment creation, institutional or corporate social responsibility, culture and the arts, science and technology, education and health, or as defined by the achievements of a deserving nominee.

For inquiries, contact the UPAA secretariat at 9206868, 9206871, 9206875 or email [email protected], or visit the UPAA website http://www.upalumni.ph.  

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The media industry is without a doubt one of the big contributors to the promotion of the image of women as sex objects — BUT,  it is also hugely instrumental in changing that image from bad to good.  We’ve seen how women are exploited as bringers of advertising products to  television, radio, and print watchers and readers in deprecatory modes. Even romantic telenovelas show how women are made to look pitiable creatures in the hands of husbands and lovers.

But media are influencers of attitudes and opinions, and changes in the newsrooms though painfully long in coming, are becoming more visible and felt today.  This fact is made clear during the celebration of International Women’s Month (the month of May).

On March 8, St. Scholastica’s College joined the world in celebrating International Women’s Day through the senior mass communication students organizing the 8th Hildegarde awards for women in media and communication. The awards, according to the  organizers, were envisioned as “a way through  which women’s ways of doing media can be documented over time so that these best practices can serve as models and duplicated by future media practitioners. Without exception, all of the Hildegarde awardees of the past eight years were trailblazers, women and men who, like Hildegarde, manifested a fearless proclivity for breaking barriers despite the challenges.”

Chairperson of the mass communication department Atty. Charlton Jules Romero, said the faculty and students alike “realize that every day should be a day that we acknowledge women’s right to dignity and self-expression.”

St. Hildegarde, said Romero, was “an accomplished  artist who translated her visions into artistic forms that included musical compositions, poetry and paintings. The Hildegarde Awards collaborates with women artists who are Hildegarde’s kindred spirits, her sisters in the creative and life-giving force of art.”   

The awards were given in two categories: the awards for lifetime achievement in media and communication, and for outstanding achievements in the fields of advertising, development communication print/online journalism and broadcast media.

Monique Wilson is this year’s lifetime awardee. She was three when she fell in love with theater after watching a Repertory Philippines production of “Annie.” By the time she was  discovered by mega-producer Cameron Macintosh at age 17 for the original staging of “Miss Saigon” in London’s West End, she had already appeared in more than 60 professional productions in the Philippines.  

She founded the New Voice Company,  whose ground-breaking production was Eve Ensler’s “The Vagina Monologues”  staged in Manila in 2000. The play has been performed in many parts of the country, and broken down discriminatory attitudes towards women’s sexuality.

A spokesperson of Gabariela, Monique has lent her voice to bringing women’s issues to the public. She currently serves as global director  of “One Billion Rising,” an international campaign that aims to end violence against women.

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Outstanding achievement in broadcast media awards were given to “Salamat Dok” of ABS-CBN; “History,” by Lourde de Veyra, TV 5; “Titser,” of GMA News TV, and “Bayan Ko,” GMA News TV.

In radio, the three awardees were the programs “Usapan de Campanilla,” DZMM; “Voice of the Youth,” DZSIQ, and “Health Matters,” DZUP.

In print and online journalism, recipients were Shakira Sison for her series of essays on LGBTQI rights; “Verafiles,” a series of articles on trafficking (received by Malaya columnist Ellen Tordesillas, and your truly, for her column on “Protecitng Women in Media and Film.”

For Development communication, awardees were “One Billion Rising” of Gabriela; “Million People March,” produced by Peachy Bretaña et.al, and “Batang Malaya: Red Card to Child Labor,” sponsored by the International Labor Organization, Department of Labor and Employment and Federation of Free Workers. In advertising, awarded were such commercials of Eden Cheese — â€œDamang Dama,” by  J. Walter Thompson; Lucky Me’s  “Hapag-usapan”  by  Publicis Jimenez-Basic, and Pantene’s “Whip It,” by BBDO Guerrero.

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Email: [email protected]