Amid pandemic, destructive typhoons, and other challenges, a Philippine team made up of young scientists from various schools has emerged victorious in the prestigious World Robot Olympiad Canada 2020-X.
Dr. Yanga’s Colleges, Inc. DYCI NOVUS Team bagged first place in the Open Category for Senior High School with their entry “Project Feet,” a three-part project composed of plastic recycling, power generation and provision of footwear.
The Project Feet robot manufactures footwear from plastic trash and is embedded with piezo discs that generate power for mobile phones and other gadgets.
The all-female team of Naiah Nicole Mendoza, Denise Carpio, and Abigail Silva with their coach, Beryl Cruz, also won the “Girl Power Award” conferred during the 19th Philippine Robotics Olympiad.
Dr. Yanga’s Colleges, Inc. DYCI Primes Team, meanwhile, bagged second place in the Open Category for Junior High School with their entry “Project Cycle,” a bicycle that can convert trash paper mixed with water lilies to make recycled paper.
Rice husk called “ipa” was used to make recycled pencils. Also, the Project Cycle bike was used to generate power for mobile phones and other gadgets.
The team consists of Annette Nicole Ambi, Aaron James Amar, and Daniella Angela de Guzman with their coach, Anne Jazpher Raz.
Lastly, the Candijay Municipal High School under the Department of Education, Division of Bohol won third place in the Open Category for Junior High School for their entry called BASAK.
BASAK stands for Bohol Action to Solidify Agrikultura.
It is composed of wind turbines, water pumps and biomass generators with many applications for the agriculture industry in Bohol.
The members of the team are Mary Haidee Makinano, Trisha Belle Olaivar, and Juno Ceasar Escatron with their coach, Thata Celeres. Due to the pandemic, the World Robot Olympiad (WRO) Canada 2020-X has made innovations in delivering the event to over 750 participants from over 40 countries.
WRO Canada 2020-X conducted the event fully online using digital floor plans, live streaming of activities, virtual meetings, social media platforms, and real-time digital scoreboard. The theme this year was titled “Climate Change/Climate Squad.” “The biggest challenge was to synchronize everything as the countries were from different time zones.
WRO Canada 2020-X set pre-scheduled calls and connected the participants resulting in the same excitement and success as a physical event.
The Philippine Robotics National Team has overcome adversity of slow internet access, remote meetings, school closure, series of typhoons and online presentations to the WRO Canada judges,” said Mylene Abiva of FELTA Multi-Media Inc. and national organizer of the Philippine Robotics Olympiad and World Robot Olympiad Ambassador (representing 72 countries).
Incidentally, FELTA, a pioneer and leader in the introduction of instructional materials such as electronic devices and audiovisual materials for Philippine schools, is one of the institutional partners of the Science and Technology Information Institute of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST-STII) and has long been collaborating with the DOST-Science Education Institute in various learning programs that promote science, technology, engineering and mathematics or STEM education in the country.
The Department of Education lauded the Philippine National Robotics teams for securing global recognition.
“I am aware that we have been facing adversities and challenges recently but seeing these learners triumph in the international stage motivates us to prepare and enhance basic education more for their future,” said DepEd Secretary Leonor Briones. (With a report from Merlina Hernando-Malipot)
The Tahanang Mapagpala Ng Immaculada Concepcion Foundation Inc., was established in 2001 by the Senate Spouses Foundation Inc. led by then President Lourdes LL. Pimentel and Project Chairperson Susana B. Ople.
The Provincial Government of Bulacan under the leadership of then Governor Josefina Dela Cruz donated the parcel of lot where the building was constructed. The center building entailed a construction cost of ₱8.6 million.
As conceptualized, the building has an ideal accommodation of 100 beds capacity for its female wards. It has all amenities of a modern home, complete with a dining area, a TV area. An open pavilion and male and female toilets. It also provide with a conference room, a clinic, and administration office and employees quarters. The floor area is 1,000 square meters.
The center was formally turned over by the senate Spouses Foundation Inc., to the Diocese of Malolos, His Excellency Bishop Rolando J. Tria Tirona, OCD, D.D. On March19, 2001. It was formally opened in a ceremony held last September 4, 2001and began accepting wards.
Tahanang Mapagpala ng Immaculada Concepcion Foundation Inc. was established to oversee the center. However, the Foundation was only officially registered in 2017.
Currently, only abandoned female elderly are being served by the center. The Sisters of the Divine Shepherds (SDS) takes charge of this apostolate since it is the charism and the spirit of the congregation. The congregation is service-oriented and dedicated totally in the service to the poorest among the poor.
By: Ron Lopez
Inquirer Central Luzon
12:15 AM November 05, 2015
LUZ OCAMPO, 93, shows off some of her favorite designs of “pastillas” wrappers, all of which are patented in her name. RON LOPEZ/INQUIRER CENTRAL LUZON
CITY OF MALOLOS—The agricultural town of San Miguel in Bulacan is home to “pastillas”—that creamy, soft milk candy whose recipe was made popular recently by an online video posted by Angelica Jane Yap, popularly known as “Pastillas Girl,” who was nursing a broken heart over a former lover.
But in San Miguel, the original Pastillas Girl is not a comely lass looking for another chance at love.
Meet 93-year-old Luz Ocampo, who has been recognized for preserving the traditional art of making pastillas wrapper, called “borlas de pastillas” or “pabalat,” in the town formerly called San Miguel de Mayumo.
The term “mayumo” means “sweet” in Kapampangan.
Ocampo spent over 70 years nurturing the art, which is threatened by the loss of interest among the younger generations, said her daughter, Naty Ocampo-Castro. She is among, if not the last, remaining pabalat artisans of her generation but her contribution in keeping this art alive is evident in her body of work.
Her passion for paper cutting started at school when pabalat making was taught as part of the curriculum. Her skills improved when she started helping her mother, Adelaida Villaseñor, in cutting wrappers during her spare time after school.
Villaseñor was known for her pastillas and other delicacies in their home village of San Vicente.
Rural settings
Since learning the craft in her fifth grade at 12 until her retirement in 2010 at 88, Ocampo had created more than 50 designs, mostly based on rural settings in San Miguel.
Castro said at least 25 of these designs had been patented under her mother’s name.
Ocampo’s favorite designs include those showing outlines of Maria Clara from Jose Rizal’s Noli me Tangere, the traditional “bahay kubo” (nipa hut), and an image of a man pounding rice.
“When Mommy was in mood, she would draw from time to time. She drew anything she noticed in San Miguel, including nature [elements and scenes]…. She’s really an artist,” Castro told the Inquirer.
Unknown to many, Ocampo is also an expert in the art of fruit carving, using lime, santol and pomelo as her canvasses.
Aside from her original patterns, Ocampo is known for making customized designs based on the preferences of her customers, among them simple Bulakenyo folk and owners of five-star hotels in Metro Manila.
Customers’ names
Customers usually request their names to be put in the elaborate design of the
2 x 10-inch pastillas wrapper. The wrappers and sweets are given as gifts during important occasions.
It was during Ocampo’s last year in high school, in the early 1940s, when the Japanese invaded the country, forcing her to give up pursuing college and tap her skills.
“When [World War II] started, I was in fourth year high school. That’s all I
finished since every school was closed year-round. I did not manage to study in Manila because of the chaos,” Ocampo said.
After the war, she put up a gift shop in San Miguel, where her skills were honed by wrapping gifts using wrappers with her own designs.
Upon marriage, Ocampo pursued pastillas wrapper making as a hobby and started earning by taking orders from home. But it was only after the death of her husband, Oscar, in the 1970s that she turned her hobby into a full time livelihood to support her four children.
From hobby to livelihood
Ocampo would start collecting thousands of pieces of pastillas wrappers in preparation for the high demand in the months leading to December when several celebrations are held, Castro said.
She would spend her days with folded colorful Japanese paper on her right hand and a pair of cuticle scissors on the other, carefully cutting the traces she made. She would place it between the pages of old magazines or books to avoid being crumpled.
She used to finish at least 100 pieces of pabalat a day, which she sold for 20 centavos in the 1950s. This now costs P600 per 100 pieces for basic designs and P1,000 for customized designs. If a customer wanted pastillas with the wrapper, then the product is sold at P12 each.
The tedious part of pastillas wrapper making, Castro said, is the cutting process. While a trace is followed, cutting small holes of the design takes effort and time, and a simple error could render the whole set useless, she said.
A lot of patience
“Cutting needs patience, a lot of patience,” she said.
Ocampo could finish a set, which contains five wrappers, between 10 and 15 minutes. “She made her products in our house in San Miguel. She doesn’t want to rent a space since it will entail an additional cost,” Castro said.
Ocampo’s wrappers became popular in Bulacan after she transferred to the City of Malolos in 1993 to live with her daughter, carrying with her the art of pabalat making.
Food historian Milagros Enriquez noticed Ocampo’s talent when she saw her demonstrating the craft in a school in Malolos. She invited Ocampo to seminars and workshops about the dying traditional art.
Among Ocampo’s regular customers is businessman Jaime Zobel de Ayala, who visited her in Bulacan to document the art in 2010.
Ocampo has displayed her craft in several official functions in Malacañang, with the latest in July 2012 when Spain’s Queen Sofia came to the Philippines for a five-day official visit.
Ocampo has been recognized by several groups, including the National Historical Commission of the Philippines, which conferred on her the Gawad Pamanang Sining. The Cultural Center of the Philippines paid tribute to her as one of the country’s “Manlilikha” or living artisans of the Philippine traditional arts.
The Bulacan government and the local governments of Malolos and San Miguel have been recognizing Ocampo since 2000 for her contribution in the preservation of the traditional art.
Dangal ng Lipi awardee
In September this year, she was cited as one of the province’s Dangal ng Lipi awardees, the highest recognition given by the provincial government to Bulakenyos who excelled in their chosen field.
But one of the things she enjoyed is conducting workshops and seminars in different schools and for organizations so she can pass on the art of paper cutting to younger generations, Castro said.
But Castro lamented that the craft is slowly dying, with few people appreciating and practicing wrapper making.
“She taught the women here how to make pastillas wrapper but no one wants to do it because it is tedious and hard,” Castro said. “Most of them have no patience doing it.”
Of Ocampo’s children, only Castro decided to pursue craft that her mother devoted her life into. The decision, however, came only after Castro retired as an industrial engineer in 2010.
Now 57, Castro said she went into pabalat making for the sake of her mother’s legacy. “I was not interested when I was younger, but my mother said no one will take care of the business, no one will continue the craft of pastillas wrapper making in the family. So I took on this task,” she said.
Presidential sisters Maria Elena “Ballsy” Aquino-Cruz and Aurora Corazon “Pinky” Aquino-Abellada attended the recent launching of the second series of limited edition special scented stamps and souvenir sheets, held at Sofitel Hotel- Bulong Pulungan Forum. PHLPost issues a second series of Cory Aquino floral paintings scented stamps.
Cory Aquino Stamps Series II Launching 2015 with Deedee Siytangco
PHLPost issues ‘Noche Buena stamps’ for Christmas season
The Philippine Postal Corporation (PHLPost) is celebrating the Christmas season with the release of its “Noche Buena” stamps featuring the traditional Filipino feast.
The se-tenant strip of four stamps features “Noche Buena” which is a traditional dinner of Filipinos during Christmas Eve commonly with lechon at the center of the dining table.
The Christmas stamp was designed by the PHLPost’s in-house graphic designer Rodine Teodoro.
Traditionally, a variety of sumptuous dishes are served during this famous Filipino Christmas dinner like pancit, hamon, queso de bola, puto bumbong, bibingka, fruit salad, suman, and many more.
The PHLPost has printed 50,000 copies of the four designed se-tenant strip of Noche Buena stamp sold for 12 pesos each.
The stamps and official first day covers are now available at the Philatelic Counter, Central Post Office, Liwasang Bonifacio 1000, Manila and area post offices nationwide. — Joviland Rita/MDM, GMA News
Presidential sisters’ Kris Aquino, Viel Aquino-Dee, Pinky Aquino-Abellada and Ballsy Aquino-Cruz receive the framed special souvenir “Cory Aquino Scented Stamps” from Postmaster General Josie Dela Cruz and Chairman Cesar Sarino of the Philippine Postal Corporation (PHLPost). The event highlights the opening of the “History and Her Story” photo exhibit dedicated to former President Corazon Aquino held at the Glorietta Activity Center in Makati City.
