Secretary Coloma on his boss
The closest “friend” President Benigno Aquino III could have at the palace is Press Secretary Herminio B. Coloma Jr. He’s the Cabinet secretary who bears much of the burden of checking that media reports about his boss are accurate. Sonny, as he is popularly called, seems to be able to read the President’s mind, and predict his initial reactions. He has a press statement ready to parry the punches of his boss’ critics with, but before anything comes out of his office and he meets with the sometimes unbearably biased press, he clears it with the President.
At the Bulong Pulungan sa Sofitel the other day, he spoke enthusiastically about the President’s having gone on a 12-day seven-city trip abroad, and his bringing home investors’ commitment worth $2.3 billion.
As in the past, the meeting was a free-for-all, with questions asked ranging from how the President felt about the Purisima case to his inamorata, if he has one today.
He was asked if the President ever got angry. He said yes, but did not elaborate on where and what issues. No, the President has not become so angry that he would throw a cell phone at anybody. The President, like his mother, the late President Corazon Aquino, was “fair and considerate.”
He said that the administration’s focus is repatriation, i.e., bringing home overseas Filipino workers — away from the Ebola virus-infected West African countries of Sierre Leone, Liberia and Guinea. The priority is getting home safe. The suggestion proposed by Philippine Red Cross chair Richard Gordon to send volunteer medical and paramedical staff to the Ebola-stricken countries is not the government’s priority. The budget for getting the Filipinos home depends on what is needed, he said.
Sonny expressed displeasure over most of media persons’ misinterpretation of the President’s statements. He said, for us in Bulong Pulungan to better understand what was really said in the press conference at the latest presidential trip to Bali, Indonesia, he said he would send a transcript of the interview, which he did.
The transcript showed P-Noy speaking in Pilipino. One could imagine him wearing his usual disarming smile, but the text read like he was irritated.
Sonny did say at Bulong that the media had harped on the alleged corruption, of the building of his official headquarters inside Camp Aguinaldo, of PNP Chief Director General Alan Purisima. “But did anybody cite his accomplishments?” For example, the crackdown on the Atimonan syndicate, the ridding of anomalies in the purchase of firearms, the reduction of crime incidents in the elections in Abra.
The transcript showed the President’s frustration. “Alam niyo, sa haba-haba na rin ng experience natin dito, and daming . . . Kayo? Gaano karaming white paper na nabasa niyo kung kani-kanino? Ilang white paper doon ang tama? Ilang white paper ang talagang bato lang ng bato ng putik? May isang talumpati nga ako, parang sinabi ‘ko, sa sampung bagay na ginawa mo, kunyari nagawa mo ‘yuong 9.9, meron pa ring matitira diyan na hahanapin ‘yung .1 na hindi ko ginawa or kulang ang ginawa ko.
“So kung lahat naman na, ‘di ba, basta na-accuse ka ay kailangan guilty ka na kaagad, baka bukas mag-isa na ako dito. At siguro naman, ‘pag mag-isa na ako lahat ‘nung kritiko isa na lang ang babanatan, ako na lang, baka hindi rin ako tatagal. So ulitin ko lang, hindi naman yata wrong na panindigan natin ang Saligan Batas na sinasabi ‘presumed innocent until proven guilty.”
Asked if Sonny thought the President wants to run for office a second time, Sonny said the interest is how to see the reforms the President wants fulfilled.
And so, the question was asked, will the President ever get married? Sonny replied, the answer will come “sa nakakatakdang panahon.”
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Lofty but reachable visions can be taught among pre-schoolers who one day will become the nation’s leaders. Such a situation is possible with the existence of educational institutions like the Multiple Intelligence International School (MIIS), which bases its teaching approach on the multiple intelligence framework proposed by Dr. Howard Gardner, a renowned cognitive psychologist from Harvard University.
The multiple intelligence approach, which is research-based, is being implemented in the US and other countries and prepares students for the needs of the 21st century. This framework teaches students to be creative, critical, and divergent thinkers who are able to “think outside the box.”
MIIS , founded in 1996 by Mary Joy Abaquin, who is school directress, is moving further, by piloting the first LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environment Design)-certified Green school in the country. Abaquin expressed her hopes at a recent Bulong Pulungan sa Sofitel, that other campuses will adapt the core practices of education for sustainable development.
Just created is the Green School Movement made up of a network of individuals and organizations who share MIIS’ environmental advocacy, create Green Schools, enhance environmental literacy through input into curriculum of relevant research and practice, and engage the youth to be leaders and advocates for sustainability.?
Among the initiatives of the Green School Movement led by MIIS and MAD for Environment are the Cambantoc Reforestation Project that aims to reforest Makiling watershed; the Rainforest Café, which through funds raised will create awareness about the current state of the Philippine rainforest; the information campaign called One Act for Mother Earth; Kids Can! Save the Environment, a call for the young to use their intelligence to protect the environment; Go Green, and Go Zero Waste.
Doing what it’s preaching, MISS is finishing the construction of an MIIS LEED Green School and Laboratory for Sustainable Education campus on Katipunan avenue, Quezon city. The school will serve as a model for responsible waste management and reduction by putting in place systems such as sewerage treatment plants, a zero-waste campus and materials recovery. To ensure the health of its students, it is installing modern air filtering systems, natural cooling technology, and assuring fresh air for the campus and community.
The building will use technologies for energy and water use with waste water technology, rainwater catchment and independent water supply. It will incorporate SIPV roofs in the structure to harness solar energy in running its operations.
Katipunan avenue being a notorious traffic-jam area, MIIS will install a drop-off system in addition to parking spaces, on the upper ground building to accommodate several vehicles at the same time. (I wish Ateneo and Miriam College would devise a traffic decongestion plan, as the vehicles used by their students cause awful congestion on Katipunan, and wish the same for De la Salle College whose students’ vehicles turn Ortigas avenue in San Juan into a nightmare.) It will have a floor devoted to sports and recreational activities to make sure kids are sheltered and safe.
MIIS has already been making a difference. In 2000,it launched the “M.I. Kids Can: For Kids, By Kids” movement, that empower children with the understanding that with their intelligence, they can make a difference. They can therefore become entrepreneurs, publish books, advocate for a zero waste campus (the kids lobbied in Congress for the Clean Energy Bill), advocate for indigenous music, use art to touch lives, and partnered with Gawad Kalinga to run the “Batang MI, Batang Bayani” program.
MI Award have been given, since 2005, to individuals who use their intelligences to be role models for the youth. Awardees have included the late President Corazon Aquino, Efren Penaflorida, Jose Conception, Mark Ruiz, Lisa Macuja, Peter Amores, Rene Valenzuela, Coke Bolipata, Joey Ayala, Von Hernandez, Iliac Diaz, Rafael Pacheco, A.G. Sano, and Tony Meloto and Kesz Valdes.
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