The Department of Science and Technology (DOST) is pleased to announce that application for Science and Technology undergraduate scholarships is now going on. This is open to graduating high school students with high aptitude in science and technology and who wish to pursue priority fields of study in basic sciences, engineering and other applied sciences and science teaching.

There are two scholarship programs being offered. One is RA 7687, otherwise known as the S&T Scholarship Act of 1994, which is awarded to talented and deserving students coming from poor families. The other scholarship program, called DOST-SEI Merit Scholarships is granted to students with high aptitude in science, mathematics and technology regardless of the family’s socio-economic status.

To qualify for the scholarship programs, a student must possess the following qualifications: Belongs to the upper 5% of the high school graduating class; Be a natural-born Filipino citizen; Be a resident of the municipality for the last four years; Be in good health; and be of good character; and be a qualifier of the 2009 S&T Scholarship examination.

Qualified applicants will be awarded tuition fees (not to exceed P6,000/sem), book and uniform allowances, monthly stipend and insurance.

Application forms and information materials are available at the DOST Regional Office 11, Dumanlas corner Friendship Roads, Bajada, Davao City. The deadline for filing of application is on September 30 and the examination is on November 9. For interested applicants, contact Mavik Dado at tel. no. (082) 2271313 for more details.

Source

With the increasing global demand for marine officers, the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) has brought the “walk-in examination system” (WES) to Davao City.

Instead of going to Manila to take exams for Officer-in-charge of an Engineering Watch, Officer-in-charge of a Navigational Watch, for Marine Engineer and Deck Officers, the applicants may simply take it here in Davao.

PRC regional director Josephine Liamzon announced in yesterday’s (Sept. 17) Ugnayan sa Mandaya Hotel the latest technology brought from central office down to the regional offices in Cebu, Iloilo, and Davao.

“This will lessen the cost of our applicants instead of traveling to Manila, now they can take the exam in those cities,” she said.

PRC XI admitted that there is a slow down of licensure exam applicants from the Davao City’s marine schools.

Data showed that of a few number of examinees who take the exams in Manila, only about 35 percent of the examinees passed. This is believed to have caused the increase in demand of Filipino marine officers from worldwide shipping.

MARINA XI Virgo Armonia bared in the same forum that fresh graduates have found it difficult to immediately land a job or take licensure exams due to the many requirements set before a shipping company hires an applicant.

“One has to undergo series of trainings and exams just to move up the ladder. That is why many of our graduates faced difficulty in qualifying for a job,” Armonia said.

PRC, on the other hand, has lessened the number of examination levels that the applicants need to take.

“Now, they only have to take one exam for operational and one exam for management,” Liamzon added.

The WES result is immediately provided after the end of the last subject. It would only take the applicant about seconds of less than a minute to view the exam results.

Applicants need only to bring birth certificate from the NSO, transcript of records, medical certificate from DOH accredited clinics, NBI clearance, community tax certificate, certificate of sea service, POEA contract, seafarer’s identification record book, and an exam fee of P900.

One can apply through www.prc.gov.ph and the portal will then guide the applicant to the step by step procedure.

Source:PIA/Mia Gevera

From September 15, 2008, the deadline for filing of application for the Philippine Science High School National Competitive Exam was extended up to September 30.

All graduating elementary pupils who belong to the upper 10% of the graduating class as certified by the school principal or who have special aptitude in science and math as supported by the report card and letter of recommendation are eligible to apply for the PSHS National Competitive Examination (NCE).

Eligible applicants requirements:

• Filipino citizen
• must not be more than 15 years old
• good health
• of good moral character
• have not previously taken the PSHS NCE

Apply at the following address:

Philippine Science High School Southern Mindanao Campus
Sto. Nino, Tugbuk District
Davao City
Tel. # (082) 29300-02

DOST Regional Office
Corner Dumanlas and Friendship Roads
Bajada, Davao City

Submit fully accomplished Application Form in duplicate copies, two identical recent 1×1 ID pictures, and a copy of report card and letter of recommendation if the applicant does not belong to the upper 10% of the current graduating class. Applicants from private schools are required to pay P100 non refundable test fee while those from public schools are free of charge.

Application forms are available at any of the PSHS campuses and DOST regional offices or provincial science and technology centers. They can also be downloaded from the PSHS website, www.pshs.edu.ph. The PSHS NCE application form is not for sale, and no reservation fee is required.

The PSHS National Competitive Examination will be administered on November 15, 2008. For more information, you may contact PSHS main campus at telephone number (02) 926-5701.

The Mindanao Film and Television Development Foundation, Inc. is going to conduct a Guerrilla Filmmaking Workshop in Davao City. They will cover on Story Development, Cinematography, Screenwriting, Producing, Directing and Editing a film.

Those who are interested in joining the workshop which will be held on three succeeding weekends in October starting on the 11-12, 18-19 and 25-26, 2008. Registration deadline is on October 10.

Those who are interested to participate in the workshop just contact the secretariat on the following address:

Mindanao Television Development Foundation, Inc.
Anda St., Davao City
Tel.# 082-225-FILM

For further details refer to the poster below, clock to enlarge!

NCCC Department Store’s Teenccclub Model Search is back.

Teens who are 14 to 19 years old, single, good looking, fashionable and witty; here’s your chance to show your best self and win prizes.

Registration is until September 17, 2008 at all Customer Service Centers at Main Magsaysay, Mall Davao, Centerpoint-Matina Crossing and Mall Tagum.

Requierements for those who are interested:

• Present an on-date single or accumulated receipt(s) worth P500 on selected items from NCCC Department Store and HB1 within the registration dates.
• Teens must present a photocopy of their Birth Certificate
• Photos: 2 recent 3R photos – 1 close-up and 1 full body shot, taken at New Jersy Studio NCCC Mall Davao
• Certificate of Good Moral Character or a Barangay Clearance
• below 18 years old, a written parental consent will be required
• Foreign applicants must secure a work permit.

Grand winners will receive P30,000 in cash and gift certificates, Samsung cellphones and a Day Tour at Eden Nature Park.

First round of eliminations is on Sept. 20. From the top 50, 15 pairs will be selected on September 21. Grand finals is on October 25 at the activity ceter of NCCC Mall Davao City.

See posters and fliers for more details or call 298-0888 local 300 or 224-0186 local 253 and look for Amir.

Astronaut takes photo of UFO with red-eye flash.

Don’t blink your eyes or you will miss this!

At 1:22 in the video you see the Standard Red-Eye reduction type flash occurring and then at 1:26 you can clearly see that someone on the ISS has taken a picture of this object. Where are those pictures…? This video was taken on the latest space shuttle mission STS-124 to the international space station

An investor from Thailand is keen on putting up a world class beach resort in Sta. Maria town of Davao del Sur. The project is not yet registered with the SEC and processing of the papers are underway and as soon as the requirements are set. The project cost around P500 million and the registration will be finished before the year ends.

There are other areas in Davao del Sur that has potential for beach resort and the investor have seen the quality of the sand in Sta. Maria that is comparable with that of Boracay beach.

This is a very good news indeed a world class beach resort in the province. It will surely boost tourism in this part of Davao del Sur and will surely improve the lives of the people in that area. And also good for me too, I don’t have to go any further for my rest and relaxation.

Source

The 2nd Annual Penek Busay whic is hosted by Barangay Goma, Digos City in partnership with the Digos Active Mountaineers, Inc. will hold a river trekking and waterfalls hopping at the Waterfalls Capital of Digos City with a total of 13 waterfalls along the river trek, it will be an adventure of a lifetime.

Registration Fee:

P350.00
Inclusive of T-shirt, 1-Meal, Certificate, Raffle Ticket and Live Band

For further information please contact the following persons:

Onin 09106904567
Joel 09183332654
Cholo 09102228567
Juzzh 09282841584

Click to enlarge the “Itinerary“!

An invitation to photojournalists and photo enthusiasts !

The Delegation of the European Commission to the Philippines, together with the Philippine Center for Photojournalism, Inc., invites all photojournalists and photo enthusiasts to submit entries for a photo contest on the theme of “Climate Change“. Ambassador Alistair MacDonald, Head of Delegation of the European Commission to the Philippines said that the photo contest is being launched in line with the European Union’s commitment to address the global challenge of climate change.

Ambassador MacDonald said that this photo-contest in the Philippines will help draw public attention to the challenge of climate change, and to the need for global and local action to address this issue, and to protect the futures of generations to come.

An exhibition of the winning and outstanding photographs is foreseen to be held in universities and malls such as The Podium and SM . An online version of the exhibition will also be uploaded to the websites of the sponsoring organizations.

The following rules will apply to the contest:

Who may join:
The competition is open to all Filipino (a citizenship verification system should be made or should be in the entry form) photojournalists and photography enthusiasts except for staff of the Delegation of the European Commission to the Philippines.

Coverage/theme:
Photographs, published or unpublished, taken in the Philippines from June 2007 to November 2008 covering the theme “Climate Change in the Philippines” are eligible as entries. The pictures shall illustrate either the effects, and/or the causes and/or the responses to this phenomenon:

• The effects of climate change: pictures of weather-related disasters, droughts, degraded soiled effects of communities in disaster-prompt areas (e.g. coastal communities) , etc.
• Thecauses of climate change: Pictures of deforestation, landscape change, heavy urbanization, transport pollution, fossil foils emissions sources (e.g. coal & petrol plants, etc).
• Theresponse to climate change: Pictures illustrating renewable energy initiatives, energy efficiency, climate change adaptation measures (disaster preparedness, soil protection, etc)”.

A maximum of ten (10) stand alone single photos may be submitted by a participant. In addition, participants may submit up a maximum of five (5) photo stories comprising 5-12 images per photo story. All images in the photo stories will also be considered as single photo entries.

Entries should be taken with any camera using at least 135 mm film and/or digital camera with at least four (4) megapixel in size and set at the largest image capture mode.
Entries taken with a film camera must be digitized and all entries must be saved in a compact disk recordable (CDR) for submission.

Filename system should be as follows:

• For single images: (Initials of photographer_ (Photo #-Total No. of Entries) – Example– JAD_Photo1-8; JAD_Photo2-8, etc.
• For photo stories: (Initials of photographer) _(Photo Story #)_Photo#-Total number of photos in the photo story) – Example—JAD_PS1_Photo1- 12; JAD_PS1_Photo2- 12, etc.

Participants who will be included in the final selection process may be asked to submit their negatives and/or raw digital files.

Digitally-altered images will be disqualified. Traditional photo-enhancing must be limited to acceptable dodging, color level and contrast adjustments.

Contestants must enclose a paper containing the following details of his/her entries:

Photo File Name
Photo Title/ Photo Essay Title
Date(s) and Place(s) Taken
Name of Participant
Complete Mailing Address
Contact Phone Numbers
Email Address

The Board of Judges will be composed of respected photojournalists/ artists as well as officials from the Delegation of the European Commission to the Philippines, Philippine Center for Photojournalism, Inc. and partners.

General criteria for judging the single photos will be:

• Relevance to the topic and theme – 50%;
• Technical excellence – 25%;
• Visual perception and creativity – 25%.
• In addition, the photo stories will be evaluated on their strength in terms of the flow and cohesiveness of the included single images arranged as a visual narrative.

All entries must be submitted on or before 12 noon on 6 November, or postmarked not later than 3 November 2008, to either of the following:

EC-PCP Climate Change Photojournalism Contest 2008
The Delegation of the European Commission to the Philippines
30/F Tower II, RCBC Plaza
6819 Ayala Avenue, Makati City
Phone: 8595100

EC-PCP Climate Change Photojournalism Contest 2008
The Philippine Center for Photojournalism
c/o European Press Photo Agency
Unit 2-D, Michel Apartment
Mabini Street, Malate 2030 Manila.

Copyright ownership of the photographs entered into the competition remains with the photographer. By entering this competition, the photographer agrees to share certain rights regarding their photograph entries with the Delegation of the European Commission to the Philippines for fair use in the latter’s publications and including usage for events/activities, for non-commercial purposes and without additional remuneration to the photographer for a period of two years starting on the deadline of submission of entries. The photographer will be adviced accordingly prior to the usage of the photograph/s.
14. Awarding of prizes will coincide with the opening of the exhibit of winning and outstanding entries in the early part of November 2008, at a date and place to be announced.

All winners will each receive a trophy plus in-kind prizes as follows:

First Prize (Singles); € 1,000
Second Prize (Singles): € 800
Third Prize (Singles): € 600

10 Honorable Mentions: Trophies or Certificates
Special Prize (Photo Story): € 800
Five Honorable Mentions (Photo Story) Trophies or Certificates
Special Prize for a Photo on EC response to Climate Change: € 800
In addition, all winners may receive special prizes from the European Commission and partners.

Prizes not claimed within 30 days after the awarding ceremony shall be forfeited.

For further information, please refer to posters and to the website of the Delegation of the European Commission to the Philippines or to the website of The Philippine Center for Photojournalism, Inc.:
http://philippinecenter4photojournalism.org/