February 3, 2010
Advocacy, Announcements, Campus, Cotabato, Davao Del Norte, Mindanaoan Update, Technology, Zamboanga City, agusan del norte, agusan del sur
Five of the top 10 entries vying for the grand prize at the 6th SWEEP Innovation and Excellence Awards come from four Mindanao schools.
In the running for the best wireless application in line with this year’s theme, ‘Empowering Communities through Wireless Technologies’, are Development and Field-testing of a Digital Agricultural Land Mapping System (Ateneo de Davao University), Development of a Fish Density Detection System for the Fisherfolk of Lianga Bay (Ateneo de Davao University), TimeFree that helps students maximize waiting time during tuition payment (Ateneo de Zamboanga University), Low-cost Microcontroller-based Mobile Home Automation with Bluetooth and SMS (Mindanao State University) and Channelize Election Process (Notre Dame of Marbel University).
The public is invited to view the working models of all 10 finalists at the A. Venue Hall in Makati City from February 5 to 6.
A team from Ateneo de Davao University (ADDU) will also present two disaster prevention devices – one of which placed second during last year’s SWEEP Innovation and Excellence Awards and led to a collaboration between the university and Smart Communications, Inc. (SMART) on using cost-efficient wireless technologies to help communities reduce disaster risks and respond to calamities.
ADDU and SMART are now working with the Davao City Government on integrating a search and rescue management system as well as a mini-weather station in the city’s disaster preparedness response program.
The two-day event will also feature a prototype of a low-cost intensity meter developed by Cebu City’s University of San Carlos under a first-of-its-kind government-industry-academe partnership between the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (PHIVOLCS), Smart Communications, Inc. (SMART), and SWEEP schools.
Under the partnership, at least 11 SWEEP schools have committed to help improve disaster preparedness by researching and developing low-cost intensity meters and participating in monitoring seismic activity to help augment data collected via PHIVOLCS’ existing seismic stations.
Other entries that made it to the finals of SMART’s annual search for the best wireless applications development among SWEEP partner schools are: SMART Voting for Cleaner Elections (University of St. La Salle-Bacolod), Water Supply Management through Wireless Technology (Holy Name University), SMART Bantay Barangay (Ateneo de Manila University), SMART Karwats: An SMS-based Anti-Car Theft Security System with GPS Tracking Capability (Batangas State University and S-Mart.com that promotes growth of community businesses in Pampanga (Ateneo de Manila University).
LikeDecember 15, 2009
BIMP-EAGA, Controversial, Headline, Mindanaoan Update, News, Personalities, Society, Zamboanga City, Zamboanga Sibugay, Zamboanga del Sur, armm, muslim mindanao, zamboanga peninsula
Don’t strike Nur Misuari out just yet!
Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) Chairman Nur Misuari successfully assembled hundreds of MNLF commanders, leaders and members during the 5th National Bangsamoro Consultative Assembly held at Zamboanga Sibugay, Mindanao.
Hundreds of MNLF members came (a lot even came down from the boondocks just for the event) that the local army reportedly got a bit alarmed. Thankfully, authorities understood what the event was for. It was, after all, a peaceful meeting among Bangsamoros.
The 5th National Bangsamoro Consultative Assembly aimed to obtain, through “shura” or Islamic consultation, the pulse of the Moro people regarding the peace talks between the government and the MNLF.
November 23, 2009
Announcements, Butuan, Cagayan de Oro City, Cotabato, Davao City, Events, Headline, Mindanao, Mindanaoan Update, News, Technology, Zamboanga City, Zamboanga Sibugay, Zamboanga del Sur, zamboanga peninsula
The press statement of the upcoming Mindanao Power Summit 2009 alarmed me. It said that “by 2014, projections have it that Mindanao will have a deficit capacity of 484 megawatts which is equivalent to putting out power in the five major cities of Mindanao – Zamboanga, Cagayan de Oro, Davao, Butuan, and Cotabato.”
That means that five years from now, Mindanao will suffer a devastating power crisis and that the situation may reach the most critical state if we do not act fast and act now. The press statement also claimed that the entire Mindanao grid may experience regular rotating brownouts as early as next year (!), especially with the coming in of additional new investments that are anticipated to further deplete the grid’s reserve capacity.
I don’t know about you but their statement worries me.
What are we supposed to do now? What’s the government doing about this? Has society really been passive about the power crisis? Meanwhile, malls, shopping centers and skyscrapers are being built left and right here in Mindanao.
What’s going on?
Hopefully, doable solutions to this looming power crisis will be established during the Mindanao Power Summit 2009.
The event, organized by the Mindanao Business Council and the Cagayan de Oro Chamber of Commerce and Industry, will be held on December 2 and 3, 2009 at the Xavier Estates Sports and Country Club in CDO, Mindanao.
The 2009 Mindanao Power Summit is being organized “in response to the shrinking reserve capacity of the Mindanao Grid.”
It will tackle three major themes: Creating an Enabling Environment for Investors in Power Generation; Addressing Governance Issues for Sufficient and Reliable Power and; Mainstreaming Sustainable Responsible Investments in the Power Industry.
November 17, 2009
Announcements, BIMP-EAGA, Business, Consumer, Flights, Mindanaoan Artists, Tourism, Travel, Zamboanga City, Zamboanga Sibugay, Zamboanga del Sur, zamboanga peninsula
Zest Air, formerly Asian Spirit, is now back to serving the Zamboanga-Sandakan route. This is definitely good news for travelers who want a faster way to reach Sandakan, Malaysia…and hopefully a way to discourage people from using the back border.
The Zamboanga-Sandakan route is in consonance with the continuing confidence in the potentials of trade, tourism and investment in the Brunei Darussalam-Indonesia-Malaysia-Philippines East ASEAN Growth Area (BIMP-EAGA). Zest Air is now plying the said route three times a week.
Check out the photo of the 56-seater MA60 modern ark aircraft below:
This Zamboanga to Sandakan, Malaysia route is, I believe, Zest Air’s first international flight here in Mindanao. The airline company currently serves flights to Hongkong and soon in Japan, Incheon Korea (December 4, 2009). Check out Zest Air’s website to know more.
November 15, 2009
Announcements, Cagayan de Oro City, Campus, Davao City, Entertainment, Events, Mindanaoan Update, Music, Zamboanga City, Zamboanga Sibugay, Zamboanga del Sur, zamboanga peninsula
The Ateneo de Zamboanga University Concert Band will mark its 77th anniversary with a ground-breaking tour of Mindanao.
“This concert tour is in celebration of the Sesquicentennial (150 years) of the return of the Jesuits to the Philippines,” said band director Apolonio “Poli” G. Enriquez. “This is also in celebration of 100 years of the Ateneo de Zamboanga University from 1912-2012.”
The band concert dubbed “Stint” will play at Xavier University on November 24th, (Tuesday) with a 3.00 PM Matinee and 7.00 PM Gala performance.
This will be followed by a similar performance at the Rodelsa Hall of the Liceo de Cagayan University on the 25th, Wednesday, 7.30 PM. Tickets are available from P 30 to P 150 at XU and at P 100 (for students) and P 200 (for non-students) at Liceo.
Fr. Tony Moreno, S.J., AdZU president, said he got the inspiration for the concert tour following the band’s superb performance at the Brebeuf gym during the latest Fiesta Pilar weekend. Moreno, a Cagay-anon who traces his roots to Balingasag, Misamis Oriental studied at Xavier University High School and Ateneo de Manila University.
“During the concert, I texted the Presidents of Xavier University-Ateneo de Cagayan (XU) and Ateneo de Davao University (AdDU) and both are thrilled at the thought of having a concert in CdO and Davao,” Fr. Tony recalls. “Many people tell me our band is the pride and joy of AdZU, but it saddens me if we can’t share their talent with our sister universities. The farthest they’ve been to is Basilan! I’ve long wanted to expose them as far as CdO and Davao. Our aim is to expose our band to other places, and get them to raise some funds for their aging instruments.”
Founded in 1932, the band was reorganized in 1952 with Prof. Arcadio Perez as band Director. It aims to develop the musical talents of the Atenean to help build a well-rounded person as well as help him get a Jesuit-inspired education through his musical talent.
The band had its latest transformation into a concert band from its previous reincarnation as a pep and marching band when Enriquez assumed his present assignment in 1991.
A member of the band during his high school and college days at the Ateneo, Enriquez studied conducting under Prof. Alfredo Santos Buenaventura at the Centro Escolar University Conservatory of Music and is also a choir director, arranger, conductor and brass teacher.
Band members undergo a two-year beginners’ course training that requires them to finish the elementary and intermediate method books. They are the elevated into the regular band and are entitled to 50% scholarship (tuition only). After going through the first and second advanced books, they qualify for a full scholarship. Beginners mostly come from the grades 4 and 5 levels.
At present, the band has fifty (50) members, twenty four (24) of whom are college students, twenty (20) are from the high school and six (6) from the grade school.
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