Backpacking Philippines: Pres. Arroyo's eSKWELA Project Launch

Pres. Arroyo's eSKWELA Project Launch

Talk about the right place at the right time, Tutubi had a rare chance to hone his rusty photojournalism skills when he chanced upon the heavily-guarded launch of eSKWELA Project Launching in Quezon City. Knowing the right people, he was also able to secure a pass that allowed him to enter through an alley with numerous Presidential Security Group (PSG) personnel with their usual cynical looks. (One of them notived he brought along his camera that didn't have a security clerance from EOD-PSG so he had to proceed to the main entrance to have it checked and tagged.)

PGMA flanked by Cong. Bingbong Crisologo and QC Vice Mayor Herbert Bautista as Pres. Arroyo announced the launch of eSKWELA, something like e-learning badly needed in these islands called the Philippines to bridge deficits in education.

The president also announced the increase in P1B budget allocation for education, much needed to build more classrooms to service the bludgeoning population.

A demo of the Balik eSKWELA project with computers and multimedia was made to President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo under media frenzy typical of presidential sorties.

After the brief ceremony, the president went to the nearby baranggay chapel for a dialogue with officials of five barangays. (Tutubi wasn't able to follow since those PSG personnel informed him he can no longer go back there. Also that soldier needs to be re-trained on basic courtesy)

eSkwela Project allows out-of-school youth and dropouts to enroll in the DepEd's Alternative Learning System (ALS) so they can get a high school diploma, the way Manny Pacquiao acquired his high school diploma. It uses non-formal education, computers, freeware (open source?), multimedia projectors and free Internet connectivity in four pilot sites: Quezon City, San Jose del Monte, Cebu City and Cagayan de Oro City.

Songs you usually hear from NBN and other government channels rule the airwaves, posters of the president envelope the whole covered basketball court, and people for various outreach services were present particularly the People's Government Mobile Action (PGMA) offered free medical checkups, job search, free medicines and other things Tutubi didn't check out.

There was only a slight drizzle even of typhoon Chedeng was still in Batanes and Dodong's making his presence felt.

What's so unusual with the place was that the place lost its dugyot image and put on a false sense of kalinisan.

How I wish the president would pass by the place every single day so people would do away with the dugyot ways.

Labels: Photojournalism

posted by GingGoy @ 11:11 PM,

17 Comments:

At Aug 10, 2007, 5:08:00 PM, Anonymous said...: I've never tried photojournalism before; I bet it's hard to secure those passes.

By the way, what are the "dugyut ways" (?)
At Aug 10, 2007, 5:41:00 PM, tin-tin said...: photojournalism? wow! i hope the project will be successful :)
At Aug 10, 2007, 7:54:00 PM, Anonymous said...: astig naka kuha ka ng pass at si mrs. president pa nakuhanan mo.

wish ko maka paparazzi heheh...
At Aug 10, 2007, 11:56:00 PM, Anonymous said...: Wow... ang galing! This, indeed, is true photojournalism! :)
At Aug 11, 2007, 7:25:00 AM, Gita Asuncion said...: pro na pro ang shots! ang galing a! more!
At Aug 11, 2007, 7:42:00 AM, Photo Cache said...: dugyut...havent heard that in a while. are you ilocano?
At Aug 11, 2007, 1:09:00 PM, Anonymous said...: di ako fan ni GMA pero balang araw gusto ko rin makakuha ng picture gamit ang aking sariling camera
At Aug 11, 2007, 3:27:00 PM, Anonymous said...: LOL @ iskoo, the feeling is mutual LOL

how did you do that - to be allowed so near? connections help a lot, do they? :-)
At Aug 11, 2007, 4:56:00 PM, Anonymous said...: baka kuhanin ka na ng trimedia para mag photo para sa kanila, a! ng lilinaw ng pictures
At Aug 11, 2007, 5:43:00 PM, Alternati said...: Hehehe... I guess we're all guilty of making things extra sparkly for guests... But to go as far as "dugyot"... I agree that she must visit often... or maybe until the idea of cleanliness is ingrained in the officials of the area.

I like how you refer to yourself in the third person. hehehe
At Aug 11, 2007, 8:11:00 PM, Anonymous said...: This sounds like a very laudable project, when even out-of-school youth could still catch on and have their diplomas. I wish it would be succesful and become so widespread, towards down here in Mindanao. I believe that education is one process that could allow an individualt to capacitate himself or herself.
At Aug 12, 2007, 7:23:00 AM, - said...: wow nice close up.
At Aug 12, 2007, 7:05:00 PM, Anonymous said...: Ayus ah. Nagkatagpo kayo ng landas ni GMA. :D
At Aug 12, 2007, 10:55:00 PM, -= dave =- said...: hanep! kakaiba talag pag may connections!
At Aug 13, 2007, 12:17:00 AM, Anonymous said...: astig ang connections mo.

Clear ang mga shots mo, galing.
At Aug 13, 2007, 8:21:00 AM, Sidney said...: Wow! You were close to the chief !
At Aug 13, 2007, 10:12:00 AM, Anonymous said...: kyels, photojournalism, besides travel photography, is what i love to do

tin-tin, yes, i sure do hope so.

mousey, weder-weder lang yan timing

rhodora, minsan lang naman yan. nag-leave ako when i saw the chance :)

gita, thanks for the compliments. di naman ako pro. P'RO picture lang lagi laman utak :)

photo cache, nope. not ilocano. i just love to learn a few words from places I've visited. Dugyut is becoming part of Filipino, btw

iskoo, i'm not a pro-gma, but also not against her. when i see something good, she has my support

bingskee, connections, connections. right people, right place, right time

sexy mom, minsan nag-hanap ako contact where to submit some pics pero wala pa ako makilala. I need contacts to submit my pics to magazines and newspapers

alternati, doing away with dugyot ways requires also the people to mend their ways.

so you noticed I shifted the way i write to the third person. I'm more comfortable to write like that, coming form a technical writer taking a plunge in blogging and sometime creative style.

major tom, manny pacquiao is one of those who benefited from this, btw

germs, indeed. just remember you gotta have the VIP pass plus the PSG-EOD (whatever that means) inspection tag for the camera.

ferdz, kinamayan pa nga ako kahit nakataas camera ko kasi may nakaharang. took many shots and selected the acceptable one :)

dave, pinoy style connections :)

myepinoy, buti nga clear sya. yung paalis na sya nakataas na camera ko di ko na tingnan viewfinder kasi dami tao

sidney, too close for comfort, surrounded by lady bodyguards and shaked hands, even with me while my camera is held high

Pres. Arroyo's eSKWELA Project Launch

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