The phenomenon has been researched for more than 40 years and recent research into women working in sciences, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), suggests that there is a much higher incidence of it in women in these non-traditional roles.

Despite being something that affects people at an individual level, the relationship between toxic workplaces and well-being is well established. It seems that the impostor phenomenon breeds from a mix of genuine personal doubt over work abilities and the collective experience of a toxic work culture.

Simply put, our modern workplaces are feeding a sense of inadequacy in the face of a track record of achievement and success of individuals. The “impostor’s” internal drive for perfection and their constant expectation of external criticism pushes them to underestimate their abilities, while striving to exhaustion for advancement to avoid perceived failure and exposure to criticism.

Where this meets an ever-increasing demand to do more with fewer resources and a barrage of evaluation in risk-averse workplaces, impostor tendencies will thrive.

An unhealthy marriage

Toxic workplaces are often characterized by an environment that diminishes or manages out the humanity of the place and its people, as well as promoting competition. A focus on profit, process, and minimizing resources is pronounced. Bullying is normalized and embedded in managerial and colleague behavior, while leadership is inert and ineffectual against it.

In toxic workplaces, work is often seen as drudgery, the motivating elements sucked out of the environment. Unmoderated criticism and punitive measures stifle original thinking, thus reducing the intrinsic rewards of work, such as having an outlet for expressing one’s unique talents and creative thinking.

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The unhealthy marriage between the impostor phenomenon and toxic work cultures is sustained at an individual level by the basic human need for safety and belonging. This interferes with “rational” decision making and supersedes the entrepreneurialism and risk-taking that would challenge the status quo. This is detrimental to both a person and their employer who might otherwise benefit from new ideas.

While technology continues to transform the nature of work, organizations are lagging behind in how they manage people. Corporate performance management practices are often little more than thinly disguised carrot-and-stick approaches. Employees are goaded along by financial and status incentives that glorify overwork and toeing the line. Toxic workplaces force people to jump through endless hoops on the way to an elusive, future state of success and happiness. Intellectual honesty, unorthodox thinking, and self-care, meanwhile, are penalized.

Dysfunctional competition

A rampant competitiveness in certain workplaces often provides a breeding ground for anxiety, depression, and self-degradation. The finance sector is especially prone to this. Here constant winning is the cultural norm, even though it’s just not possible to win all the time.

This breeds perfectionism, which also fuels people’s need to micromanage. Dysfunctional competition gets prioritized over collaboration. People who feel like they are impostors will often fail to delegate for fear that others won’t meet their own exacting standards and that this will reflect badly on them. As a result, they take on more than they can realistically manage.

The imbalance this produces between effort and rewards exacerbates the feeling of inadequacy and creates a negative feedback loop, which leads to mental exhaustion. And if both the person and the organization implicitly fail to recognize the toxic combination of impostor tendencies and an unhealthy work culture, they both passively endorse this social contract.

Sadly, as the digital revolution progresses, it is becoming clearer that our contemporary workplaces are demanding productivity outcomes to match. But they are using antiquated managerial structures. Workplace processes – such as poorly constructed performance management, a lack of diversity in succession planning, and limited understanding of inclusion initiatives beyond box-ticking exercises – fuel the very behavior and thought patterns that these workplace structures aim to manage out.

Addressing these toxic work cultures and organizational structures could create a less fertile ground for the impostor phenomenon. Healthier workplaces and more satisfied people are likely to deliver more positive and productive outcomes. – The Conversation|Rappler.com

Amina Aitsi-Selmi is an Honorary Clinical Senior Lecturer, Epidemiology and Public Health Department, University College London, UCL.

Theresa Simpkin is a Visiting Fellow, Anglia Ruskin University, Anglia Ruskin University.

This piece was originally published in The Conversation.

Facts: During the confirmation hearing of Science and Technology Sec. Renato Umali Solidum Jr., Sagip Partylist Rep. Rodante Marcoleta broached the idea of Filipino scientists inventing a pill that would cure hunger, just like what astronauts feed on.

https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1702514/astronaut-food-or-food-pill-for-poor-broached-at-dost-chiefs-confirmation-hearing

The problem is, astronauts don’t eat food pills in space. They eat freeze-dried food which are rehydrated and sipped with straws.

https://www.kennedyspacecenter.com/blog/food-in-space

“Astronaut pills” are sold and are said to have a 25-year guarantee but they are not used in space. But they are far from cheap and accessible to the poor.

https://www.amazon.com/Astronaut-Emergency-Survival-Tabs-Preparedness/dp/B00PBFVZ4Y

Also normal food in outer space will turn bland if you stay too long out there.

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/science/astronauts-crave-tabasco

In short, food pills are a staple of 1950s science fiction which Marcoleta may be dreaming of.

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20120221-food-pills-a-staple-of-sci-fi

Aiding farmers and the agriculture industry are still the best way that the country can feed the poor.

Why we fact-checked this: Be careful who you vote for. As most of them think they are intelligent when they get voted into office.

#FactsFirstPH

This piece is republished with permission from Baguio Chronicle.

Romel Calingasan, the municipal agriculturist of San Jose, Occidental Mindoro, spoke with grit as he bared the grim reality that local farmers face.

“During po ng harvest season, wala po kaming nahanap na slot na mga storage facilities dahil ang sabi po, puno na ang mga storage facilities dito po sa Metro Manila, at ganun din po sa amin,” he said at a Senate hearing on January 16.

(During the harvest season, we couldn’t find any slots for storage facilities because they said all the storage facilities in Metro Manila and our area were already full.)

All the cold storages were – inexplicably – full, or at least not available. It turned out traders had reserved many of the facilities months in advance.

That was when onions were left to rot by the side of the road and on the banks of rivers.

“Marami pong mga sibuyas ang nagkandabulukan, itinapon sa mga tabi ng kalsada, sa mga gilid ng ilog, na kung saan po talaga pong sobrang panghihinayang ang amin pong naramdaman kasi po talagang pinagkagastusan ng aming mga magsasaka ‘yan,” he said.

(A lot of onions were rotting, thrown to the roadsides, to the riversides. We felt so much regret for all that were spent by our farmers.)

See, like all crops, onions stay fresh only for so long. Once harvested, they need to either be brought to the market within days or kept in cold storage. For farmers who lack access to these facilities, they have little choice but to quickly offload their harvest – for which they had spent months laboring – for whatever they could get.

For farmers in Occidental Mindoro, that meant settling for just P6 per kilo as traders swooped in to take advantage of low prices. It was a pittance or pure waste, never mind a profit.

It’s the cold storages that will spell the difference so that the cooperatives of onion producers will be able to leverage with traders.

Former agriculture secretary William Dar

But perhaps worst of all, Calingasan said, farmers watched as the onions they sold for next to nothing would bleed the wallets of customers dry come December.

“‘Yung mga binebenta po sa merkado sa kasalukuyan ngayon na buwan ng September hanggang December…binili sa mga magsasaka namin sa Occidental Mindoro na P8 to P15 lang per kilo. Kaya ganun na lang po ang pagkadismaya ng amin pong mga magsasaka sa amin pong lalawigan,” he said.

(Those sold at the market from September until December…they were bought from us in Occidental Mindoro for just P8 to P15 per kilo. You can just imagine the dismay of our farmers from our province.)

And now with the specter of imports threatening to plunge farmgate prices even lower, farmers are pleading with the government to give them the support they need to negotiate livable prices.

What is a cold storage facility?

The country’s agricultural woes are many and varied, but farmers say a good start is setting up more cold storages – in particular, ones readily accessible to farmers.

But first, what is cold storage, and why do farmers need them?

Like the name suggests, a cold storage facility is a walk-in room kept cool by a refrigeration system. A rudimentary cold storage facility can be set up using a modified air conditioner and double-walled plywood panels with polystyrene sheets for insulation.

Most commercial cold storage facilities are now built as large cooler units using hydrocarbon or freon as a refrigerant.

Fruits and vegetables, seafood products, meat products, and dairy products can all be kept in cold storage to prolong their shelf life. Onions, of course, are among the produce often stored here.

Onions need to be gradually lowered in temperature before being transferred into the cold rooms. The produce is then stored in string bags, which are stacked on top of each other. When done properly, cold storage facilities can extend the shelf life of onions from mere days to as long as six months.

Why do we need it?

In its Philippine Onion Industry Roadmap, the DA identified cold storage facilities as a crucial support industry to “balance the peaks and trough of onion supply.”

In doing so, cold storage provides three key benefits:

• Reduces post-harvest losses. The cool temperatures and sheltered environment of cold storages keep the onions from rotting and prevent insects from destroying the crops. Without these facilities, massive wastages – such as what Calingasan described – can occur.
• Spreads out an oversupply of onions. Because onion production is seasonal while demand is year-round, the excess of onions during peak harvest seasons can be stored and gradually released to the market.
• Helps farmers get better prices. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, farmers without access to refrigerated storage have no choice but to dispose of their harvest as quickly as possible before they begin to rot – regardless of the price.

Price negotiations hinge on this imbalance of access to cold storage facilities. Farmers often don’t possess the capital to set up their own cold storages, as a single facility can cost up to P40 million. Because of the prohibitive cost, many facilities are private-owned and contracted by traders that take advantage of the swings in supply. They buy onions at low prices when farmers have plenty on hand during the harvest season, and stockpile them until supplies start running low and prices begin to rise.

“Noong mapabagsak nila ang presyo, mamimili sila, ilalagay nila sa cold storage, hindi muna sila mag-i-import. Kaya naging P600-P700 ang kilo ng sibuyas, dahil hawak nila ang lahat ng sibuyas. Napakalinaw na merong cartel,” explained AGAP Representative Nicanor Briones during the Senate hearing.

(When traders manage to crash prices, they’ll buy onions, place them in cold storage, and stop imports. The reason why onions reached P600-P700 per kilo was because they hold all the onions. It’s very clear that there’s a cartel.)

For this reason, former agriculture secretary William Dar pointed out that making cold storages accessible to farmers will help them in negotiating for better prices, as they can store onions on their own until they can get a better payout.

“It’s the cold storages that will spell the difference so that the cooperatives of onion producers will be able to leverage with traders,” said Dar in an interview on ANC’s Headstart.

“If there is the possibility of having cold storages to be given to cooperatives of onion producers, they can hold these until they are able to get better prices in the market. That will give them the leverage to now discuss with traders. Presently, kung wala silang cold storages, ay talagang binabarat ng mga traders (Presently, if they don’t have cold storages, traders will lowball them),” he added.

Former DA secretary: Pricey onions result of poor planning and smuggling

Farmers derided the way traders manipulated prices by hoarding onions in cold storages as well as reserving the cold storages for themselves – even if they sat empty. Senator Cynthia Villar revealed that in 2014, she saw how traders cornered and controlled cold storage facilities in Nueva Ecija, cutting out access to farmers.

“Nagpunta kami ni secretary (Proceso) Alcala doon. Nakita niya with his two eyes na walang laman ‘yung cold storage kasi naka-reserve sa trader. Ang trader, sila lang ang makakabili,” Villar said during the Senate hearing.

(I went with secretary Alcala there. He saw with his two eyes that the cold storage was empty because it was reserved for a trader. These traders, they’re the only ones who can afford them.)

On top of the imbalance in access, some facilities are just poorly located. Calingasan pointed out, for instance, how a planned cold storage in the municipality of Rizal is 16 kilometers away from San Jose, the largest onion-producing municipality of Occidental Mindoro.

The other planned facility in Sablayan is even farther away at 97 kilometers.

Calingasan is right. Below is a map of Philippine provinces shaded based on how many cold storage facilities they have, and another based on how many metric tons of onions they produced in 2022.

Comparing the two gives a sense of the mismatch between where cold storage facilities are located and where onion production is highest. Most facilities are clustered around industrial centers like Manila, Cavite, and Cebu, even if they have no onion production to speak of.

A 2020 report by the Cold Chain Innovation Hub highlighted the lack of cold storage facilities near farms, concluding that “the current lack of post-harvest facilities and cold chain practices are resulting in major post-harvest losses in the crops sub-sector.”

What needs to be done?

The lack of cold storages has constantly held back their municipality from reaching its potential as a top producer of onions in the country, Calingasan said.

“Last year po ay nakapagtala ng 3,485 hectares of onion production sa aming bayan. Wala pa po sa 5% ng aming production volume ang amin pong nailagay sa mga storage facilities. ‘Yung 95% ng aming production, ‘yan po sapilitang naibenta po sa mga buyers ng P8,” the municipal agriculturist said.

(Last year, we recorded 3,485 hectares of onion production in our area. Not even 5% of this production volume was placed in storage facilities. The other 95% of our production we were forced to sell to buyers at P8.)

What can be done to combat this? Farmers’ groups highlight two ways: first, to set up more cold storages dedicated to farmers, and second, to create stronger policies against exploitative behavior – be it by traders, importers, or smugglers.

“Definitely, there is a shortage of cold storage, but government will have to establish new ones exclusively for farmers’ – and not traders’ – use,” said Raul Montemayor, national manager of the Federation of Free Farmers Cooperatives Incorporated. “My understanding is that cold storage space is reserved in advance by traders, so farmers have little access to these.”

However, building more cold storages alone will not eliminate the problem. Montemayor pointed out that come harvest time, most farmers are pressured to sell their crops quickly to repay their agricultural debts. Waiting around for better prices may mean that famers won’t be able to get loans anew in time for the next planting season.

“They need to sell their harvests immediately to pay off debts and generate money for their needs,” he told Rappler on January 17.

Hence, it’s also necessary for the government to also provide inventory financing, which means that farmers would be able to borrow money against any onions that they have stored.

“These should be completed by inventory financing and market linkaging, so farmers will eventually be able to sell to final buyers without having to go through middlemen,” Montemayor said. “If there is no inventory financing, only a few farmers and co-ops will avail of the cold storage because of their immediate cash needs. So, it has to be planned out well, which the DA is not good at.”

As onion prices fall ahead of imports, farmers’ livelihoods, lives at risk

Market manipulation also continues to be a problem, as the DA itself identified in its Philippine Onion Industry Roadmap. Tackling this requires the government to crack down on exploitative practices and allow timely imports.

“There must be a strong policy regarding storage and market release of onion as it affects market pricing. Hoarders wait for higher market prices. They are not disincentivized to do this because payment for storage is fixed at six months minimum,” the DA wrote.

Montemayor explained that during the February to April harvest time, traders compete for farmers’ harvests, with prices based on their projection of current and future prices at the wholesale level. Ideally, traders place crops in cold storage to last until the next harvest, with stocks being trickled into the market as needed.

The supply of onions in cold storage, however, begins to thin out by the end of the year, Montemayor said, with imports often filling the gap.

“By November, stocks will be in short supply, and prices will go up if imports are not allowed to come in. It is very possible that the smugglers or cartels are also pressuring the government not to allow imports, so that supply will be tight, and they will be able to sell their smuggled or stored stocks at higher prices,” he said.

The DA has ambitious plans to address the pleas of farmers, setting a lofty goal to construct 105 new cold storages by 2025 – at least, according to its roadmap. It remains to be seen if and how the DA will carry this out.

This hasn’t stopped farmers, who have already overcome challenge after challenge, from boldly proclaiming they have what it takes to lead the country down the road to onion self-sufficiency.

“Kami tataya – ako, bilang municipal agriculturist ng San Jose – kaya ko pong itaya ang lugar po namin para mag-supply ng sibuyas,” Calingasan said. “Ang kailangan lang po talaga ay support ng national government, particular po sa cold storage facilities.“

(As the municipal agriculturist of San Jose, I can bet that our municipality will be able to supply onions. All we really need is support from the national government, particularly for cold storage facilities.) – Rappler.com

Apple Inc’s Apple News, had also disabled their channel with the Fast Company, the news aggregator app said in a tweet.

Hackers sent two “obscene and racist push notifications” about a minute apart, Fast Company said, adding, it had suspended the Apple News feed until the situation was resolved.

“We are investigating the situation and have suspended the feed & shutdown FastCompany.com until we are certain the situation has been resolved,” the publication said its tweet.

Fast Company’s website was down, with the page displaying a 404 error.

Fast Company is owned by publishing firm Mansueto Ventures LLC. – Rappler.com

MANILA, Philippines – The United States embassy in the Philippines will increase fees for a number of non-immigrant visa applications starting June 17.

Those applying for visitor visas for business or tourism (B1/B2s) and other non-petition-based non-immigrant visas will have to pay $185 (P10,397) – or $25 (P1,405) more than previous rates.  Student and exchange visas fall under the non-petition-based non-immigrant visas.

Meanwhile, the application fee for certain petition-based, non-immigrant visas for temporary workers ((H, L, O, P, Q, and R categories) has gone up from $190 (P10,678) to $205 (P11,521).

The application fee for a treaty trader or treaty investor (E category) has also increased from $205 (P11,521) to $315 (P17,703).

The fees for other consular services remain unchanged. The waiver of the two-year residency fee for certain exchange visitors also stays.

The embassy said applicants who have already paid a visa application fee that is valid and not expired, but who have not yet appeared for their visa interview or are waiting for their application to be processed, will not be charged additional fees as a result of the increases.

The last time the consular section implemented an increase for visa application fees was in 2011, Consul General Mark McGovern said on Thursday, June 1.  

“The increase of operating our facilities, the increase in shipping over, you know, visa foils. All these prices have gone up,” he said.

The consul said that the US State Department imposed this markup in visa application fees globally. – Rappler.com

$1 = P56.2 (as of June 2, 2023)

US embassy in Manila debunks myths on visa application

MANILA, Philippines – Most Filipinos feel safe within their neighborhood, an independent survey conducted by Octa Research in March 2023 found out.

Octa Research pulled in responses from 1,200 males and females aged 18 years old and above from a survey fieldwork conducted from March 24 to 28 using face-to-face interviews.

Octo Research’s Tugon ng Masa survey, which aimed to measure ‘adult Filipino perceptions of safety in their community,’ found that 87% of respondents ‘feel safe within their neighborhood.’

The survey also found there were barely any differences between urban and rural residents’ perception of safety.

Educational attainment was not a huge deal-breaker with security. Vocational education and elementary finishers, college graduates, post-graduates, and those with no formal education do not differ much in their perception of safety.

Safety was measured through people’s perception of whether their neighborhood was safe from drugs, theft, and for walking alone at night.

The respondents were asked: Ngayon naman po ay nais naming malaman ang inyong opinyon o personal na karanasan tungkol sa isyu ng kapayapaan at kaayusan sa inyong lugar. Pakibasa po ang mga sumusunod na pangungusap at pakisabi po kung gaano kayo sumasang-ayon sa bawat isa.

(English translation provided by Octaresearch: We would like to know your opinion and personal experience about the issue of peace and order in your place. Please read the following statements and tell us how much you agree on each one.)

Perception of safety

In major areas. National Capital Region (NCR) and Balance Luzon accounted for having the highest number of residents who felt safe at 91% or 9 out of 10.

In regions, all residents or 100% from both the Cordillera Administrative Region and Mimaropa felt safe.

Classes ABC and D had the highest percentages of Filipinos who felt safe, with 92% and 90% respondents affirming their perception of well-being, respectively.

Insecurity in their own neighborhood were similar across regions: NCR at 3%, Balance Luzon at 4%, Visayas at 4%, and Mindanao at 5%.

Bicol Region had the highest percentage at 28% of adults who felt unsafe.

People from all socio-economic classes, including Class ABC, were not exempt from feeling unsafe. Class E was ambivalent about their safety.

Crime-free neighborhoods?

The survey also asked perception of the presence of drugs in their community. The survey found that 48% of Filipino adults believed their neighborhood was drug-free, with 23% thinking otherwise.

In Balance Luzon, 57% of residents believed they were living in a drug-free neighborhood, while 38% of residents in Visayas think otherwise. CAR has highest percentage of residents who believe their area is drug-free.

Residents in the NCR are ambivalent on whether or not their neighborhood is drug-free.

A big majority or 71% of respondents also felt safe in their homes, “believing that the probability of burglars breaking in was minimal.”

Meanwhile, most adults also felt safe walking alone at night. About 81% of adult Filipinos felt safe walking alone at night within their neighborhood, while only 10% have a different perception.

NCR has highest percentage of residents who were at ease walking at night, while Visayas has most residents who expressed lack of safety being alone at night in their neighborhood.

Class ABC has the highest percentage of Filipinos who felt safe walking at night, while Class E has most adults who didn’t feel safe.

Octa Research said the survey had a ±3% margin of error at a 95% confidence level. – Rappler.com

In comments countering views that the US is heading towards a banking crisis, a recession, or both in the near future, Bullard told Reuters in an interview, “Wall Street’s very engaged in the idea there’s going to be a recession in six months or something, but that isn’t really the way you would read an expansion like this.”

Investors may see rate cuts in the Fed’s near future, part of a recession-breeds-accommodation view of the world, but “the labor market just seems very, very strong. And the conventional wisdom is that if you have a strong labor market that feeds into strong consumption…and that’s a big chunk of the economy…it doesn’t seem like the moment to be predicting that you have a recession in the second half of 2023,” he said.

Despite the current 3.5% unemployment rate, Fed staff at the central bank’s March 21-22 policy meeting said they also anticipate a “mild recession” this year, while Bullard’s colleagues have penciled in an economic outlook that indicates zero growth or a contraction for much of the rest of the year after a relatively strong first quarter.

In the case of the staff forecast, the fallout from recent stress in the banking sector seemed to tip the scales.

But if two US bank failures last month were going to spark a crisis, Bullard said, it’d likely be showing up in things like the St. Louis Fed’s financial stress index. The index did spike after the March 10 collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, but it quickly reverted to a normal reading.

“If you were really going to get a major financial crisis out of this, that index would spike up to a four or five. It’s zero now. So it doesn’t look, as of this moment, like too much is happening,” Bullard said.

Higher terminal rate

Bullard’s remarks stake out the aggressive side of a debate underway at the Fed about how to calibrate the final steps of an historically fast rate hiking cycle against both evidence that underlying inflation is not falling very fast towards the central bank’s 2% target, and signs the economy is slowing under the “bite” of the rate increases approved so far.

Measures like the Dallas Fed trimmed mean inflation rate have been flat over several months, an indication – depending on the point of view – of underlying inflation still more than double the Fed’s target that needs to be squelched, or of the delayed impact of monetary policy still to be felt.

The bulk of Fed policymakers as of March felt one more rate increase, which would raise the benchmark overnight interest rate to a range between 5% and 5.25%, was all that would be needed. That could come at the Fed’s May 2-3 meeting.

While agreeing that the tightening cycle may be close to the finish line, Bullard feels the policy rate will need to rise another half of a percentage point beyond that level, to between 5.50% and 5.75%.

Some policymakers and analysts worry it is those final steps that could push the economy into a recession. And beyond the rate hike decision next month, the Fed will have to send some signal about what happens next – whether to keep the language in the current policy statement that “some additional policy firming may be appropriate,” or point to a pause.

Traders of federal funds futures were giving about an 87% probability of a quarter-percentage-point rate hike at the May meeting, virtually unchanged from before the release of Bullard’s remarks, according to CME Group’s FedWatch program. The chances of a quarter-percentage-point hike at the June 13-14 meeting also were largely unchanged at about 22%.

Limit guidance

Given how inflation and the economy are behaving, Bullard said, the fewer promises made the better.

“You want to be responsive to incoming data through the summer into the fall,” he said. “You wouldn’t want to be caught giving forward guidance that said we’re definitely not doing anything and then have inflation coming in too hot or too sticky.”

Once interest rates are at a level considered “sufficiently restrictive” to slow inflation, Bullard said he felt “the bias would be higher for longer” to be sure it is fully under control.

It won’t, he argues, require a large increase in the unemployment rate to do the job, a view that melds hawkishness on inflation with relative bullishness on where the economy is heading.

But it will take more time for people, businesses, and local governments to spend through their pandemic-era savings, and, as that spending slows, for price competition among firms to curb inflation over time.

Recession forecasts “are coming from models that put too much weight on the idea that interest rates went up quickly,” Bullard said. “What about the strong labor market? What about that feeding consumption?… What about the pandemic money still to be spent off, both at the state and local level and at the individual household level?

“Inflation is coming down, but not as fast as Wall Street expects.” – Rappler.com

Sixteen-year-old Kim Guanzon, a Grade 10 student from Bulanon Farm School in Negros Occidental, was sketching her contest piece during the DSPC in their province, when netizen Rene Jun Gasper took a photo of her on May 19. Gasper later posted it on his Facebook account.

Gasper shared Kim’s talent to the world because he said he was amazed by her determination to overcome extreme difficulty and excel despite her disability.

“Hindi ito naging hadlang. Sa halip, ito pa ang naging daan para ipakita sa lahat na ang tulad niya ay kayang mangibabaw at magtagumpay…. Magsisilbing salamin si Kim sa lahat ng mga bata na magpakita ng husay at kagalingan sa paaralan dahil ang mga recognition o parangal na tintanggap nila ang tanging bagay na maari nilang maibalik sa suporta at pagsasakripisyo ng kanilang pamilya,” said Gasper.

(It did not serve as a hindrance for her. Instead, it became the way to show that people like her can rise to the top and succeed…. Kim serves as an inspiration for all kids to work hard and try their best in school because the recognition and achievements they get are ways of giving back to the support and sacrifice their families make.)

Guanzon’s hard work paid off as she bagged the first place in the Editorial Cartooning category of the Negros Occidental DSPC because of her entry that portrayed the pertinent problems of the country.

The DSPC is part of a qualifying competitions for campus journalists all over the country organized by the Department of Education. The culmination of this competition in the National Schools Press Conference (NSPC).

The DSPC gives students the opportunity to showcase their talents while recognizing the role journalism played in building a socially-conscious nation. (READ: What campus journalists can do to strengthen their role as community watchdogs)

No hands? No problem

Guanzon, born with no hands and feet, has been drawing since she was six. She started by drawing flowers one day. Her parents immediately recognized her talent and encouraged her to pursue it. From then on, it became something she did often for fun.

Nowadays, she especially loves to draw faces and houses, while incorporating shading techniques in her artwork. She has also joined a number of drawing contests throughout her elementary and high school years — thanks to the guidance and support she has always had from her teachers and family.

When asked what exactly inspired her to draw, Guanzon said: “Yung family, guro, at mga mag-aaral po na nagsusupporta sa akin… dahil sila yung naniwala sa aking kakayahan. Malaking pasasalamat ko sa kanila lalo na po sa Panginoon dahil binigyan niya ako ng ganitong talento.”

(My family, teachers, and classmates who support me… because they are the ones who believe in my capabilities. I am very grateful to them, especially to God, because he gave me a talent like this.)

As an artist with disabilities, Guanzon often struggles as it takes her a longer period of time to complete her piece compared to others. Nonetheless, she takes this opportunity as a challenge that allows her to further hone her craft.

“Minsan marami akong mga mali or erasure, pero kapag pinagigihan ko sa pagpraktis ay mas na-iimprove yung pag drawing ko. Kaya ito rin yung isa sa paraan ko upang hindi ako mahihirapan… pinagsikapan ko talaga at pinagigihan sa pag practice hanggang makabisado ko na yung iguguhit ko,” she said.

(Sometimes I have a lot of mistakes or erasures, but when I am patient enough to practice, I am able to improve my drawing. This is also another way to make it easier for myself… I work hard and be patient with practicing until I am able to master what I am drawing.)

Despite her physical challenges, Guanzon would like to be an inspiration to the people with the same situation as her, and to show that people can use the blessings they are given to pursue their passions.

“Ipagpatuloy po nila yung gusto nilang gawin at huwag po mahiya na ipakita yung kanilang talento at gamitin sa tama. Huwag po silang sumuko sa kanilang mga pangarap sa buhay dahil nandyan po yung Panginoon upang tulungan tayo. At nandyan rin yung pamilya natin at mga taong patuloy na sinusuportahan tayo,” she said.

(They should keep doing what they want to do, and they shouldn’t be ashamed to show their talents and put it to good use. They should not give up on their aspirations in life because God is there to help. And our families and loved ones are there to support us also.)

However, her journey is not easy. When asked about her challenges in pursuing this passion, Guanzon said she wished she had the financial resources to buy more art materials. “Yun din po yung kulang sa akin, yung mga art materials po para mas mag improve yung skills sa pagdraw at matry din yung ibang style sa pag drawing po.”

(That’s what I’m missing, art materials, so that I could improve my skills in drawing and I could try other styles as well.)

She also hopes that the community and government could provide more support and aid to persons with disabilities.

“Ang tulong na maaaring ibigay ng government sana sa mga ibang PWD ay yung mga pangangailangan po nila lalo na sa kanilang mga disabilities na mayroon sila tulad po ng mga wheelchairs at iba pang maaring makakatulong para mapabuti po yung kanilang kalagayan.”

(The government could help other people by providing them with what they need given their disabilities, like wheelchairs and other equipment that could best improve the quality of their lives.)

When she grows up, Guanzon wishes to become an architect, as she hopes to build a home for her family some day.

She will be representing Negros Occidental in the 2023 Regional Schools Press Conference in June. – Rappler.com

Chloe Canivel is a Rappler volunteer from Ateneo de Manila University. She recently graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology.

A Grade 9 student from Dapitan City National High School (DCNHC), located some three kilometers away from the Rizal Shrine, lamented, “We now have to walk back to our school because we used our last money to pay the entrance fee.”

Albert Vincent Baretto, an official of the National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP) working at the Rizal Shrine, told Rappler on May 5 that numerous visitors, many of them from other regions, have complained about the recently imposed entrance fees initiated by the Jose Rizal Protected Area Management Board (JRPAMB) through the Protected Area Management Office (PAMO).

The JRPAMB, chaired by the regional director of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) in the Zamboanga Peninsula, consists of representatives from various national government agencies, the Dapitan City government, barangays Talisay, Santo Nino, and Taguilon, the Zamboanga del Norte provincial government, and the private sector.

At the entrance checkpoint leading to the Rizal Shrine, PAMO collects an entrance fee of P30 for adults, P15 for students, and P100 for foreigners. These exclude parking fees ranging from P20 for motorcycles to P150 for tour buses.

Where do the fees go?

Mamerto Insag, protected area superintendent, said 75% of the fees collected are for maintenance and other operations expenses, while the remaining 25% goes to the general fund of the national treasury.

Baretto, however, pointed out that the Rizal Shrine, managed by the NHCP, does not collect any fees from its visitors. 

“It is against the policy of the historical commission to charge fees for the Shrine; it is free for everybody,” he said. “Besides, we don’t need to collect from visitors because NHCP regularly allocates a budget for personnel, maintenance, and security of the Rizal Shrine.”

But Insag cited Section 16 of Republic Act 11038, also known as the Expanded National Integrated Protected Area System, which provides that protected areas should establish a “trust fund” to finance projects and sustain operations.

The collection of entrance and parking fees is dependent on the operation hours of the Rizal Shrine, he said. 

According to a PAMO staff member manning the checkpoint, “We exempt residents within the JRMPL from the entrance and parking fees, and we also don’t collect if the Rizal Shrine is closed.”

Insag maintained that they have been collecting fees to be able to maintain rest stations and preserve the aesthetic value of the 474-hectare JRMPL. 

He said that if the Rizal Shrine requests maintenance funds from their collection, they can provide it as long as a program of works is submitted.

Contradicting efforts

A student from DCNHS, who visited the Rizal Shrine on May 5 with five classmates to create a short video production about Rizal’s four years of exile in Dapitan, told Rappler that the collection of entrance fees “is discouraging and seems to contradict” Dapitan City’s goal of attracting tourists and educating the youth about the hero’s ideals.

“Why would they start collecting fees now when we attract visitors to Rizal Park to develop our tourism industry?” questioned the DCNHS student.

Initially, Dapitan City information officer Ryan Elumba said the city government had no involvement in the fee collections at JRMPL. 

But Rappler found out that Mayor Seth Frederick Jalosjos, through City Planning Office chief Raul Abejero Jr., had moved during the JRPAMB meeting for the approval of the collection of fees.

The JRPAMP resolution, unanimously approved, read in part that the PAMO “shall coordinate with the City Mayor’s Office for the information and dissemination of the new rates and the appropriate legal basis, and coordinate with the city to man and control the highway near the protected area.”

Adding to the confusion, it was discovered that Rizal Shrine curator Sophia Bagolboc also approved the implementation of the entrance and parking fees, and presided over the JRPAMB meeting that led to its resolution on February 17.

Abejero explained that the fees are collected for the entire JRMPL, of which the Rizal Shrine happens to be a part.

He said, “The Rizal Shrine existed because of the protected area, and JRMPL was declared a protected area because of its trees, not because of Rizal. They just named it after him. Look at Dapitan’s Selinog and Aliguay islands. Rizal did not go there, but these were declared protected areas.”

Tied to Rizal

Members of the Dapitan Historical Society asserted that JRMPL exists due to Rizal’s historical significance and his property in Dapitan’s Barangay Talisay.

Two months after arriving in Dapitan on July 17, 1892, Rizal bought the abandoned agricultural property in Talisay from Juana Tabugok for P4,000, which he won from the Reales Loterias Espanolas de Filipinas (Royal Spanish Lottery in the Philippines).

In a letter to his sister Trinidad on January 15, 1896, Rizal said, “My land is half an hour’s walk from the sea. The whole place is poetic and very picturesque… without comparison. At some points, it is wide like Pasig River and clear like Pansol (in Laguna) and has some crocodiles in some parts. There are dalag (fish) and pako (edible fern). If you and our parents come, I am going to build a large house where we can all live together.”

Within a year after sending that letter, Rizal was executed by firing squad in Bagumbayan (now Luneta), and Spanish authorities seized his property in Talisay.

In 1913, a year after the American occupation, Rizal’s property was transformed into a public park. 

On September 3, 1940, the late President Manuel Quezon signed Proclamation 616, designating 10 out of the original 16 hectares of the property as “Rizal National Park.” 

Then, on April 23, 2000, then-president Joseph Estrada issued Proclamation 279, declaring the Rizal National Park a protected area, which was expanded to 439 hectares, with buffer zones. The area was renamed Jose Rizal Memorial Protected Landscape.

Further expansion of JRMPL to 474 hectares was authorized through Republic Act 11038, signed by then-president Rodrigo Duterte on June 22, 2018. – Rappler.com

BSP Governor Felipe Medalla said that transaction fees can add up, especially when it comes to frequent and small-value transfers.

“One way to make [digitalization] more inclusive, and I’m sure we can work together to achieve it, is if small transactions, up to a limit, will be free of charge so that the poor can also use digital payments. Because when the transaction is small and the fee is P15, it’s quite large relative to the fees,” Medalla told reporters at the sidelines of the BSP’s 2023 Annual Reception for the Banking Community on Friday, February 24.

The last time banks suspended fees for PESONet and InstaPay transactions was during the height of the pandemic. Currently, several banks have resumed charging transfer fees, which can range from P8 to upwards of P50, according to a report by the BSP.

“We, the Bangko Sentral and our partners in the banking system, will be able to work together to find a cost-sharing system that excludes small payments from fees, provided it’s below a certain number of transactions, say three a day,” Medalla added.

To help incentivize banks and financial institutions to eliminate fees, Medalla said that the BSP could ease the reserve requirement ratio (RRR) that banks must comply with. The RRR dictates how much of a bank’s money must be kept untouched. Reducing this would free up banks to use this cash for other income-generating activities.

Bangko Sentral hikes rates by 50 bps as inflation refuses to slow down

“I promise you, the central bank will be in a greater hurry to cut reserve requirements so you can afford to give those fees,” Medalla said.

The Philippines’ RRR is currently set at 12%, but Medalla previously expressed that this could go down to single digits before his term ends in July, if inflation falls within target.

“We will reduce the RRR. We hope, in return, the banks will waive all fees on small transactions when people make bank-to-bank payments,” Medalla reiterated on Monday, February 27, during the 2023 Philippine Economic Briefing hosted by the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

“We’re literally bribing the banks to subsidize the small transactions,” the BSP governor said. 

The BSP has also been aggressively pushing for Filipinos to go digital through its Paleng-QR PH Program that incentivizes market vendors and tricycle drivers to accept cashless payments.

Philippine public markets, tricycle drivers embrace digital

 – Rappler.com