The Power of Knowledge

THE KNOWLEDGE CHANNEL couldn’t have found a better champion. Piolo Pascual guarantees recall. As a star, he is on the rise, balancing box office sales with a growing number of acting awards. Of late, he has also become one of the most sought after commercial endorsers, lending his face and name to fried chicken, shades, watches, jewelry, cologne, shoes, clothes and a cellular phone service provider.

On the second Sunday of October, the hunk joined participants in the Knowledge Channel’s fun walk Lakad Mo, Pangarap Ko to raise funds for the all-educational TV channel on cable which airs Department of Education curriculum-based video lessons for grade and high school students. Run by the Knowledge Channel Foundation, a non-stock, non-profit corporation under the Lopez Group of Companies, among its missions is providing free cabling for public schools within cable operators’ areas or satellite dishes and receivers to remote schools not within reach of cable service. Of the 1,350 public schools connected to Knowledge Channel, 17 are in the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (armm). Broadcast now covers 39 provinces with an audience of 2.4 million students.

"We asked Piolo to join the walk because we feel that with such a huge fan base, he has a responsibility towards the public. We would like to transmit to the public the message that people like him have a heart for education," explains Doris Nuval, the foundation’s resource mobilization director. "Maybe, through him, we can get a lot more people to believe in supporting educational television for the betterment of the country."

Doris is all praises for Piolo who played a political prisoner in the film Dekada 70 for which he won heaps of acting awards. Watching the movie brought Doris back to that ugly time in her life when she herself was a political prisoner. Over and above her politics, Doris has accomplished much in the field of broadcasting and social work. She has produced several docu-mentaries, current affairs programs and current affairs coverages.

In 1996, she earned her master’s degree in public administration majoring in policy planning and program administration at the University of the Philippines. Not long after that, she pursued a Phd in communication also at UP. She is now on leave after realizing her background as a communication expert surpasses even a doctorate degree. Doris admits that her professors have urged her to instead teach at the college. Aside from her work with the Knowledge Channel, she is currently a member of the Commission on Education’s technical committee on communication.

For Piolo, it was no sweat pledging to the three-kilometer event. The 27-year-old runs at the Ultra thrice a week, plays pingpong during his free time, bikes in Tagaytay and dives in such places as Palawan. Besides, by affinity (his mother station falling under the same corporate group), this is a cause quite dear to him.

Just how dear it is to him catches Doris off guard. Though it seemed totally impossible, she broached the subject of extending the partnership beyond just one event. Piolo smiles and quickly gives his word that he will willingly endorse the fun walk should it become a yearly occurrence. Encouraged, Doris raises the bar by offering an out-and-out endorsement of the Knowledge Channel for however long his manager would allow it. Again, he doesn’t hesitate: "Why not?"

Prestige and appearances don’t have anything to do with his desire to be a supporter of educational TV. The truth is that education is central to him for two related reasons. First is that he is the father of a seven-year-old son. The second is that Piolo is a college dropout.

"If I had more time, I’d like to go back to school not just out of pride but to complete a degree because I want my son to know how valuable education is and because I want him to finish also. As a role model, you want him to know you finished school because it’s valuable. Every person should have an education," he insists.

Piolo’s college education was interrupted when his mom whisked him off to the US. He was already eyeing a career in show business but had not quite decided what degree to take at the University of Santo Tomas. That indecision persisted throughout the one year he spent at an American university. Against his mom’s wishes, he left school and returned to the Philippines to pursue acting. And obviously, the gamble paid off.

My son is the best gift I ever got from God. When I found out that I was a father, it really changed me as a person. I became more responsible," he says. "And knowing that you have a really big effect on the kid ’cause he emulates you, he looks up to you, you really have to be responsible."

Doing normal father and son things are important. But so is living up to your son’s admiration. And since popularity has made him an important part of other children’s lives, Piolo wants to make sure that he is more than just a matinee idol.

He says supporting the Knowledge Channel is more than enough payment for his services. "The fulfillment is in knowing I am helping kids better their education."

The Piolo Pascual factor may just be the key to boosting the work. Aside from increased interest from public students, there is the assumed increase in sponsorships and contributions. Says Doris: "We would like to cater to more schools–every public school in the country if we had the funds. The funds are not coming in that fast. So we have to contend with a very slow process." Now on its fifth year, the Knowledge Channel is just beginning to gain ground.

Efforts to secure enough foreign funding for its most ambitious project yet have been rewarded. There are enough resources to establish broadcast in five more provinces in armm in the next three years. Their target includes 150 schools with a total population of 30,000 students.

"We have around 42,000 schools all over the archipelago and we want to do all, pero siempre we cannot because of the limited funding, so I always choose the poorest," she explains. "In terms of poverty, if you look at the Human Developmental Index of the country, of the 79 provinces the bottom five are armm provinces: Tawi-Tawi, Sulu, Maguindanao, Basilan and Lanao del Sur plus Marawi."

Going into Mindanao was no easy task, especially since the area also happens to be the seat of socio-political strife. "Communication is very difficult there. It took us more than two months to get through to Marawi City for example because the communication facilities are very bad," Doris relates. "The first trip there took us months to plan. If we got our funding in January, we got to Mindanao mga April na. It was so difficult which is another reason why they’re so grateful na nandoon kami kasi first time na nga din na may nagtangka, that someone ever attempted to go there. Just going to Marawi itself from Iligan City, you pass about 30 checkpoints!"

Fortunately, they had the support of Datu Ibrahim Paglas who gave his blessings through a memorandum of agreement with Knowledge Channel president Rina Lopez-Bautista. His signature carried with it the weight of his people’s high esteem.

"Yes, his support facilitated things for us," Doris agrees. "He’s a model in that area. He put up a business which is mainly a pineapple or banana plantation in Maguindanao...which got funding from international sources. He hired ex-rebels and present rebels and gave them a decent livelihood. It became a money-making venture. The rebels he hired are no longer participating in the armed conflict. Datu Paglas believes that education and livelihood will stop the conflict down there. This is also what we’re working on through the Knowledge Channel."

Doris is at a loss for words when asked to describe Mindanao. The only words that come out of her mouth about the South are "exotic" and "like a totally different country". But she had a lot say about the arms in armm, like how the first guy they asked directions from was lugging a sack with the tip of an armalite sticking out and how the staccato of gunfire could be heard in the dead of night. There was a general sense of unease but reception to the Knowledge Channel was very encouraging. "We were the first to introduce technology-based intervention there. We felt very welcome. In fact, we were invited to several parties," she shares.

Doris is moving to Mindanao soon to spend the next three years expanding the Knowledge Channel’s reach in ARMM. She will be based in Cotabato City which is technically not part of the region but is where the ARMM headquarters is located. She is again momentarily speechless when asked to describe the state of public schools in armm.

"Most of the schools there, parang nagpapanggap ba na schools kasi hindi eh, especially in the conflict areas," she says. "A lot of the schools are used as evacuation centers. When refugees stay there na medyo extended siempre they need firewood to cook. They take the wooden jalousies and make them firewood. They do the same with tables and chairs. So the kids either sit on the floor or there are seven of them sharing one bench. What really moved me was the graffiti written by the children on the walls of the classrooms. One message read: ‘Guns are my toys and war is my game.’ The children grow up there wanting to be part of the war because they don’t know anything else but conflict."

The programs cover all basic subject areas for elementary and high school. Since the Knowledge Channel is devoted to providing equal learning opportunities for children regardless of economic, social or religious status, every child around the country watches the same programming. Thus, not only should the shows be generic in theme but they should also exhibit cultural sensitivity. That’s not to say that religion is totally taboo. In fact, an eight-part series featured five major religions (Christianity, Hinduism, Judaism and Buddhism) from August to September. The foreign show GMRC, dubbed in Filipino, deals with maintaining interpersonal relationships with emphasis on conflict avoidance and conflict management. "Our materials are scanned by the Office for Muslim Affairs," assures Doris. "So far naman, okay."

Part of the approved foreign funding for Mindanao includes the production of livelihood and business skills modules for the out-of-school youth and the unemployed. "We would like to be able to use the classrooms as community tele-centers on weekends and in the summer," Doris explains. "The other part of the funding will go to the production of modules with a peace education component. All that graffiti keeps standing out in my mind. It impressed upon me the importance of teaching these children at an early age about peace, how peace is important for progress."

Like everything it has accomplished so far, this is another ambitious project for the Knowledge Channel. But Doris, and the foundation, are unfazed: "We are taking things one day at a time. Bringing Knowledge Channel there is a major step in resolving the armed conflict."