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Pagsanjan is one of the country’s premier tourist
attractions. And in this small town, its stark natural
wonders are the main livelihood beginning with the
famous Pagsanjan Falls where shooting the rapids is a
memorable experience. However, come the lean season when
the country is beset by any one of the 19 typhoons that
hit the country on average annually, the local tourism
almost grinds to a halt.
The SIFE
team of San Beda College in Mendiola, Manila, came in to
help the local boatmen take their livelihood in a whole
new direction.
SIFE
stands for Students In Free Enterprise and the
Philippines is one of the 47 countries that participate
in this endeavor that forges a partnership between the
business sector and the academe in coming up with social
entrepreneurial programs designed to assist the local
communities. Through a series of competitions, a
national champion is chosen to represent the country in
the SIFE World Cup.
BANGKEROS
guide Chinese
tourists toward the rapids of Pagsanjan Falls. --MANNY
GOLOYUGO
In the
last seven years, the SIFE World Cup was held in the
Western Hemisphere and this year, it will be held in
Asia for the first time—in Singapore.
Dr.
James Piscos, faculty adviser for San Beda, divulged
that the school’s program consisted of teaching the
bangkeros basic foreign-language conversational skills,
from Nippongo to Spanish to Chinese.
“It
really helps in speaking with the tourists who certainly
appreciate their efforts to break down the language
barrier,” Piscos said.
And the
Pagsanjan locals were taught how to properly harvest and
market tomato prunes, a hitherto unknown local delicacy.
“When
people are hungry, SIFE doesn’t provide fish—we teach
them how to fish,” explained Filipinas SIFE’s chairman
Jose P. Leviste Jr. “The SIFE program concentrates on
five areas: market economics, success skills,
entrepreneurship, financial literacy and business
ethics. And for our school teams, this is a real-world
first-hand experience in entrepreneurship and problem
solving. It’s bringing the classroom to the real world.”
SIFE
first began as a program in the United States but by the
new millennium, it branched out to other countries with
an international competition to close out its annual
calendar of activities.
San Beda
College, with its Pagsanjan project, was adjudged last
year’s national champion and went on to represent the
Philippines in New York, site of 2007’s SIFE World Cup.
“The
external focus of the SIFE program provides universities
and colleges with a tool to build important
relationships with the community,” adds Patrick
Olivares, the NGO’s executive director. “The students
use their business skills to recognize a community’s
needs and come up with creative and unique solutions.”
“In this
day and age, I’ve always said that one of our remaining
bastions of hope lie with the schools and the students
for their enthusiasm and willingness to do their part in
making our world a better place. The experience greatly
impacts their lives as well as the communities they
serve in.”
Filipinas SIFE will hold its National Exposition in the
first week of August 2008. Some 20 schools from all over
the Philippines including San Beda College, Ateneo De
Manila University, University of Santo Tomas, Far
Eastern University, La Consolacion College, Sultan
Kudarat University, Holy Trinity College, Don Mariano
Marcos University, and St. Nicholas College in Pampanga,
among many others, will be competing for the best social
entrepreneurship program and the right to represent the
Philippines in Singapore. |
