Group work : APEC

Our group chose APEC since it was not much discussed in class. Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation or APEC is a forum to facilitate economic growth, cooperation, trade and investment in the Asia-Pacific Region. It has 21 member economies which some of it are Philippines, Australia, China, Singapore, New Zealand. APEC’s purpose and goals are to further enhance the economic growth and prosperity within the region and to strengthen the community of Asia-Pacific. It is working to reduce the trade barriers specifically tariffs across the region, and to increase exports by creating efficient domestic economies, also to create jobs and greater opportunity for trade and investments. Moreover, it works through cooperation that the region will be an environment where there is safe and efficient flow of goods, services and people. As a smaller international organization, APEC is seen by its member states to be much easier to work with. Also, APEC has no treaty obligations required of its participants. Decisions made within APEC are reached by consensus and commitments are undertaken on a voluntary basis.

http://www.apec.org/apec/about_apec.html

Quirino Grandstand Hostage Crisis

Last August 23, 2010, I had no class so I stayed the whole day in my dorm. Around 10:00 am, there was a news flash about a bus of foreign nationals from Hong Kong being hostage by dismissed Senior Inspector Rolando Mendoza. I just heard the news and I was aware but that was not a big deal to me because in my mind it will be settled right away and peacefully. And I was wrong. My day passed by while doing some school work and around 5:30pm my roommates and I watched a movie in our dorm and when the movie was over, I changed the channel to ABS-CBN and was so surprised on what is happening, that the hostage taking that I thought will be settled peacefully is now a news all over the world, as well as in Facebook and Twitter. It was really devastating and humiliating. As my roommates and I were watching, we were yelling in front of the television, instructing the SWAT team on what to do. Yes, I am not a professional but it really got into my nerves when they can’t capture the hostage taker knowing that they are about 20 in the troop and Mendoza was alone. While watching, thoughts are growing in my mind, like this would really strain our relationship with China, our tourism industry will suffer. I am really sorry to those who were killed, they have nothing to do with Mendoza’s case. Also, I was disappointed with our President because I’ve never heard something from him in the event of the crisis, I was expecting a lot from him since he is our country’s leader though I also pity him because he already have this kind of challenge to face knowing that he is in the office for just two months. To sum this up, Philippines is not the only country that has experienced hostage taking so I believe that our country is still safe and not to be black listed, and to ensure the safety of every people in the Philippines, Filipino or foreign nationals, the police must be well trained to protect and rescue them in times of crisis like this.

Child Soldiers

On the afternoon session of the SEM-CDA seminar last August 28, 2010, I did not had much information on the topic which is Child Soldiers because I came in by 30 minutes before the end of the speech of the last speaker because I had reporting in my other class. I really would like to know about child soldiers but 30 minutes was not enough and I was not able to follow what the speaker was saying maybe because I was not able to hear him from the start. I wish the report was finished earlier so that I was able to hear the experiences of the two speakers, specially encountering with child soldiers.

Public Diplomacy

Last August 28, 2010, we attended the SEM-CDA seminar on Public Diplomacy. Supposedly there were three speakers but only one came. He is from the Department of Tourism and I was not able to hear his name. Throughout his speech, he kept on saying that experience is the best teacher and he strengthened that by stating his experiences abroad and understanding the culture of other countries. He pointed out to us the activities of DOT, first is the familiarization trip which they invite people to visit the Philippines. Since DOT operates small budget, one of the smallest budget in the administration, they also rely on the word of mouth promotion which is an inexpensive promotion. Next is promoting websites which people can book thru the internet. Last is rebranding tourism products and the Philippines like the WOW Philippines and develop more digital campaigns, disseminating information thru the net. Then we had an open forum which there were questions that are about the hostage crisis last August 23, 2010. There was a question what did the DOT do to make up for the hostage crisis, the speaker told us that there were an industry forum for that incidence and they talked that they wanted to be aggressive but not too aggressive to show their sympathy and to show that we are sorry and the issue will die eventually and they have plans but it will take some time before they implement it. He gave us an idea on what the Department of Tourism is all about and the thing he said is YOU ARE THE NUMBER ONE AMBASSADORS OF YOUR COUNTRY.