Letter to TRC

 

 

 

Dear Sir:

 

I was a recent participant in the four day TRC Breadmaking and Bakery Management Course and I would like to give you a feedback of my experience.

Although there is no question about the competence and skill of our training instructors, the extremely abbreviated mode of instruction makes the course  superficial and not much helpful for trainees who pay a steep enrollment price in the belief and hope of finding a livelihood opportunity. Even our trainor wondered out loud how he can realistically impart knowledge and skill gained over a long period of time in just four days.Yet without sufficient knowledge and skill, how can  we succeed in our chosen enterprise?

For me, given the time limitation, a remedial solution would have been through a well written and comprehensive material. But even in this area, the handout and resource material provided and offered for sale by the TRC are woefully insubstantial. I believe the TRC had been conducting the bread making seminar for a long time already yet the hand out material given us are just loose leaf xeroxed material quickly assembled for distribution.

The person selling TRC booklets told me that they make their booklets simple because many readers have a low reading capacity. I believe this mentality is wrong and unacceptable. An institution of learning should not condescend to the people but do its best to lift them to the necessary level of competence. Mediocrity should never be encouraged.

I am sad to think that the TRC have degenerated into a mere money making institution and it is not surprising that it was easily used as a conduit for corruption. I believe as the TRC have been attached to the DOST, its purpose and manner of pursuing its mandate to open livelihood opportunities for the people should be reexamined and new approaches considered. There is a culture and thinking at the TRC that must be changed.

I am hoping that you read this letter in a favorable light and usher in changes that can make the TRC more relevant and attuned to the public need.

Thank you and kind regards,


Super Moon

The super moon phenomenon occurs when the moon orbits very close to earth thereby appearing very large and brighter than usual.

It certainly is an astronomic event but some people believe that the closeness of the moon can have some dire effects on our planet such as causing very high tides that can trigger underwater landslides and earthquakes.

Hopefully the super moon that I saw yesterday will have no such unwelcome result. We have already so many calamities both natural and man made to deal with.

At the 10th DA Agriculture and Fisheries Technology Exhibit

I wish I can say that the exhibit was a huge success with many new things to see and discover. But sadly that is not the case. I felt let down by this exhibit that showed nothing but more of the same of what they had been showing from last year and the previous years before that. And to think that this forum was even participated in by the various state colleges and universities.

In the exhibit I saw several stalls that carried wines made from various local fruits and vegetables. I wish the makers of these wines success but frankly I do not see how these products can become marketable.

One reason why traditional grape wine is widely consumed is because it can be taken as an accompaniment to meals to enhance the eating pleasure. If that can be said for the locally made fruit wines then maybe, local wine makers should advertise that possibility to open a new market for their produce.

A novelty I found at the exhibit was the chicharon made from sea cucumber. They look like some kind of crispy giant worms but taste very much like the usual chicharon. Maybe because it was a novelty, it immediately sold out. Hopefully, in the next exhibit, there will be more novelties like this chicharon from Quezon Province which is called "kibit"

Dates to remember

Yesterday, August 6, 2014 was the 69th anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima with the first ever atomic bomb used in war. Two days later, another atomic bomb was dropped in Nagasaki.

Commemoration activities mark these dates in Japan but it is not only the Japanese who should remember these dates. We members of the human race must also remember.

The atomic bomb ended not just the war but it also eroded national borders. Henceforth, all of us are joined together in the common objective of preventing a third explosion to ever occur or it will be the end of all of us.

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Why I am not too keen on the Freedom of Information Bill

- Arnold Clavio
- Mike Enriquez
- Karen Davila
- Noli de Castro
- Anthony Taberna and partner
- gossip columnists
- lazy and corrupt journalists and reporters
- simplistic view of the FOI bill as the answer to media mediocrity
- News for profit culture

2014 Science Expo

In celebration of the 2014 National Science and Technology Week, the Department of Science and Technology held an expo at the SMX-MOA Convention Center (July 24-28, 2914)

Having high hopes and expectations about our level of science achievements, I found nothing remarkable. At the very least, I was expecting that an expo of this kind would be more informative and educational but what I saw there were just mostly displays of materials and things already seen in other places. There was also a lack of publications that can supplement the displays and substantially inform those who might be interested.

Still this expo is much better than last year's where the expo venue was mostly empty. That was truly a big disappointment.

Clean as you go

Although fast food restaurant chains and convenience stores with eating areas have people to clean up tables after being used by their customers, I believe it would be a good idea if they adapt a Clean As You Go policy to promote the habit of cleanliness and culture of courtesy among Filipinos.

It is dispiriting to see many people, young and old, rich or poor mindlessly throwing their trash just about anywhere as if they treat the whole country as a big garbage dump. They do this thinking that there are people who will clean up their mess.

But this is wrong thinking and maybe in the interest of cleaner and healthier nation, the fast food restaurants and convenience store can help change this.

Culture of excellence vs. profit orientation

This I learned from watching NHK, the Japanese channel.

The culture of excellence of the Japanese pushes them to make the pursuit of excellence as the driving force in whatever they do. They do not take a problem or a difficulty as a reason to stop whatever they have set out to do but instead, they work hard to find a way to solve the problem until they succeed. And their reward is the satisfaction of seeing a beautiful and excellent product made by their own hands. This is true whether what they are making are traditional crafts or modern gadgets and items.

In contrast, in the Philippines, excellence seems to be subordinated to the pursuit of profit and immediate gain. One example I can think of are the preponderance of one day seminars to make this or that for business. Even the handouts given in these seminars are shoddy and frustratingly inadequate in terms of the information it gives out and if you want more, you have to pay more.

As a result, our training centers, both government and private, from the Department of Science and Technology, to state universities, to training centers, instead of being noted as excellent resource centers become dispensers only of mediocrity.

I hope our government realizes this and do something about it.

Change Juana

The character Juana Change as an angry citizen demanding change from government has brought a measure of fame for its creator Mae Paner and allowed her to be noticed by the media and the public.

During the blighted past administration prior to the "matuwid na daan" that we have now, people looked at Juana Change favorably and with bemusement. But when Juana Change insisted on being an angry citizen for the sake of being angry and her creator even casting her lot with the discredited left and dubious groups calling for the impeachment of President Aquino on the basis of fallacious logic and imagined crimes related to the Disbursement Acceleration Program, Ms. Paner showed that Juan Change is not really about change, but simply about Juana.

Time to change Juana.

A delicious, deadly delicacy

Century eggs are a common and popular Chinese delicacy. I myself like to eat them. I find it interesting how the common egg can be made to be like hard gelatin and turn into a dark cola color.

However when I found out how this egg is made in the traditional way, I was deeply bothered and concerned. An ingredient used in its making is lead oxide which is toxic to the body.

Fortunately, there is another way to make century eggs without using this chemical and I just hope that this is what egg processors have now adopted .