Batch ‘66 alumnus nominated for top honors

Engr Manny  Malangyaon (left) with best friend and batch mate Norma Dizon of Toronto, Canada

By ALFREDO P HERNANDEZ

JPHS Batch  ‘65

A MEMBER of Jose Panganiban High School Batch ’66 has been nominated to receive the “Outstanding Alumni of 2012” award for his professional and social feats that later benefited many less-fortunate Mambulaoans.

Nominated for the top honors is Manuel “Manny” Malangyaon, a mechanical engineer by profession, who reached the peak of his career as a top technical manager at Boeing Corporation, which is the biggest US aircraft company – a feat most engineering graduates in the US had dreamed of reaching.

Pushing the nomination was Mechanical Engineer Samuel Tatom, who also belongs to Batch ‘66 and the secretary of the Larap-PIM Association (LaPIMa).

A formal letter supporting Malangyaon’s nomination was sent to Cynthia S Ybarola, chairperson -- Awards and Recognition Committee  -- of the JPNHS Alumni Association, which is going to hold a grand homecoming reunion on April 28-29, 2012.

Justifying Malangyaon’s nomination, Tatom enumerated salient points in the engineer’s career:

1)    Malangyaon handles a managerial position at Boeing – USA as program technical fellow and for years had been a member of the design group of Boeing commercial, military planes and helicopters.

2)     A Master of Aerospace Engineering in the US, he has three aerospace-approved US patents, namely “safety link” on the B777 commercial, aircraft main landing gear and in-flight refueling system safety by-pass.

3)     He is affiliated with the American Helicopter Society, American Society of Aerospace Engineers, a member of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics and American Society of Mechanical Engineers.

4)     Malangyaon has continued to support JPNHS on various projects through Batch ‘66. He also coordinated funding supports from the international group of Batch ‘66 (US, Canada, England, among others) and collected the money on behalf of the Batch ’66, which resulted in the construction of the front fence of the JPNHS.

Likewise, he has supported the funeral and medical assistance to his classmates.

5)    Every reunion of Batch ‘66, he brought with him gift materials for his classmates/batch mates. He gave free eye glasses to those who could not afford to buy one. Likewise, he had shared and personally given cash assistance to those in financial straits.

6)     He had provided educational assistance to two college scholars in the Philippines, namely Dexter Flandez and Amy M. Tonacao.

7)    Where he lives in the US, he has been active with his religious and Boeing organizations extending charitable assistance to unfortunate families during emergencies in his neighborhood in Philadelphia and neighboring cities. 

8)    He had also given Thanksgiving dinners for those who were poor. Active with religious group where he belonged to, he visited nursing homes to provide entertainment and help for those old and ill Americans.

9)    An active MINA (Mambulaoan IN America) officer, he provided assistance in education and other social, medical and financial help to all our kababayans in USA and in the Philippines. 

Tatom said that JPNHS “should be proud that one of her sons has gone to this level of position, achieving all the merits from Boeing Corporation, a prominent US company, thus putting JPNHS on the map.” 

 Tatom said Malangyaon’s achievements and humanitarian gestures are laurels that should be recognized for which our Alma Mater should be proud of.

“The shining examples of Malangyaon with the guidance of our school would be the ‘guiding star and the dream of tomorrow’ of our young students at JPNHS.”

Tatom said Malangyaon came from a poor family whose father had eked out a living as a warehouse man at the Philippine Iron Mines at Larap, Jose Panganiban.

On the other hand, his mother did buying and selling to supplement the family’s meager income.

Despite all odds, Malangyaon finished public education at JPHS and later earned a degree in Mechanical Engineering with top honors at a Cebu university.

His long, barefoot walk of four-to-five kilometers a day tracing the iron mine’s rail tracks going to school has gone a long way, Tatom said.

Ex-cop: Education key to success

By PERCY A. OSTONAL
JPNHS Batch "66
Michigan, USA
EARNING a college education is the culmination of hard works towards attaining professional and financial satisfaction.

Thus, said retired police colonel Joel Torregoza to the graduating class of the Jose Panganiban National High Schoolon on March 29, 2012.
 
Torregoza told the graduates that "anything is possible" regardless of anybody's status in life.

He stressed the need to re-evaluate and re-adjust individual's determination, perseverance and priorities to attain their goals.

Torregoza said “earning college education or higher studies is the culmination of hard works towards attaining professional and financial satisfaction.

He told everyone how he related his education, training and experience: What you have contributed and given to your family, country, people and gratitude accorded to your parents reflected countless blessings from the Almighty.

“I was not bitter about stopping four years of early schooling because our parents could not send us all at the same time to school ... at a young age, we were trained to keep up within our means," Torregoza said in Filipino.

In his final remarks, Torregoza stressed that "never have a change of heart or level of dedication to get the most from  education.

“It is your future at stake, so never put a brake to your quest of hitting your dreams”.
 


(Col Joel Torregoza (Ret) belongs to JPHS Batch ’66 and was the student council president (1965-66) and served as president of the JPNHS Alumni Association in 1997. His career as policeman included the following: Police Superintendent, PNP, 1997; Provincial Director,  Camarines Norte Provincial Command; and former chief, Drug Rehabilitation Division, PNP Narcotics Group. He finished police inspector course in Wakefield, England and obtained a degree in AB Political Science, Lyceum of the Philippines. He earned graduate and postgraduate degrees in the Philippines and overseas. He has a doctorate in Criminology from the Philippine College of Criminology and a doctorate in Psychology from the Polytechnic University of the Philippines [PUP].)

Letters from Port Moresby

A group OFWs await their flight home at the departure lounge of the Jackson international airport in Port Moresby,  Papua New Guinea. – MWBuzzpic by ALFREDO P HERNANDEZ

 

More Filipinos in Papua New Guinea

By ALFREDO P HERNANDEZ

WHILE waiting to board Air Niugini for my flight to Manila recently, I noticed that I hardly knew the other passengers at the departure lounge.

There were close to a hundred of them – all Filipino workers on the way home to the Philippines – either on holiday or with job contracts done for good.

Usually, I could pick a face or two from the crowd and chat with them while waiting for the gate to the tube to open.

But on Sunday, there was none among the departing passengers.

I could not see one whom I would know by face or by name.

As far as I was concerned, those Pinoys at the departure lounge with me were all strangers.

Now, I have realized that there have been more Filipinos these days in Port Moresby than it was a few years back, shrinking the number of those whom I knew or recognize –   acquaintances I have developed over the past 18 years that I have lived in Port Moresby.

Finally, when an old-timer Filipino showed up at the lounge with a hand-carried, I excitedly stood up from the seat where I killed time and met him for a chat.

I told him: Padre, ang daming Pinoy dito pero wala akong ma-recognize sa kanila ... ano ... LNG ba sila? (Bro, there’s a heap of Pinoys here but i can’t recognize anyone of them... are they from the LNG (projects)?

“Most likely ... and other projects,” my friend replied.

Then he broke a bit of news: Would you like to believe that the Philippine Embassy (in Port Moresby) is processing and authenticating more than 20,000 job contracts with PNG companies ... most of them jobs bound for LNG and oil projects.

The embassy right now is practically swarmed with job inquiries about, and requests, from LNG, gold and canning companies for workers from the Philippines.

At present, the embassy estimates that there should be about 10,000 documented Filipinos all over Papua New Guinea and another 2,000 to 4,000 unlisted.

With the hiring frenzy on Filipino workers and professionals to man the LNG and oil projects led by ExxonMobil and Esso Highlands, it would not be long when the Pinoy population in this country would balloon to 25

,000, placing Filipinos in the top five of expatriate population led by Australians.

Last month, a group of 117 Pinoy workers from the LNG projects taking shape just outside of Port Moresby went home after finishing their two-year contracts.

Finishing their contracts with Red Sea Construction of Qatar, most of them were hoping to come back to work in the same projects.

One of these Pinoys, who surprisingly comes from Parang in Jose Panganiban, Camarines Norte, told me that the jobs they did for the LNG – a long jetty for gian LNG vessels – have been completed.

But there are still massive jobs left undone.

For instance, the pipeline network that would siphon the gas from the source in the highlands stretches more than 700km, with at least 407km of pipes running under the sea along the seacoast towards the LNG depot just outside of Port Moresby.

The extremely hostile environment and terrain along the pipeline route would be a big challenge to anyone who would be doing jobs such as the actual laying of giant pipes and welding them together.

The project is located in a largely undisturbed and very remote area of one of the world’s most biodiverse nations, according to an environmental impact study done by LNG project owners.

The study also mentioned other environmental constraints that included:

• The majority of the project area being forested in continuous undisturbed primary tropical forests and swamps.

• Large numbers of conservation-listed species throughout the project area.

• Numerous watercourses remaining largely uncontaminated by human activity.

• The south of the project area containing large areas of swampland.

• Numerous caves and specialised cave fauna.

• Large areas completely free of exotic weeds and pests.

This could be the main reasons why the LNG project owners led by ExxonMobil and Esso Highlands preferred Filipinos over other nationalities for the job.

Our kababayans, aside from their acquired education and expertise on a particular line of job, have proved themselves to adopt well in extreme environment – whether it is in the middle of the Saudi Arabian desert where the temperature could be at boiling point or at freezing level, or in the middle of the oceans in a vessel or oil drilling rigs.

During the early stage of the PNG LNG project, the Philippine Embassy in Port Moresby received inquiries/requests for at least 30,000 skilled and professional Filipinos who could work at the project during its 30-year life.

The requests came from the three giant hiring companies led by global Air Energi.

But soon enough, PNG authorities have balked at the idea of outsourcing labor from overseas – particularly in the Philippines  -- as there are available workers to take up on the jobs.

The project owners, however, argued that there is no time to train local workers to handle the jobs as the project has to start production by 2014, or else miss the delivery date agreed with LNG buyers from Asia, led by Japan and South Korea.

Besides, it also has to compete with Australia in looking for new LNG markets. Australia’s LNG projects are the biggest in the world and are looking for new gas buyers aside from those they now have on their sleeves.

Failure of the PNG LNG to start production by 2014 could mean loss of new markets because the Australian LNGs would be taking off by then and delivering contracted LNG to clean gas-hungry economies worldwide as well as to new buyers.

So the PNG gas projects are compelled to continue hiring Filipinos for their own good.

It goes without saying that the PNG LNG projects, and others such as nickel, copper, gold and tuna canning, would continue to be the Mecca for skilled and professional Filipinos.

This is great news for Filipino overseas workers.

The 30-year life span of the LNG projects and other resource developments could make many of them economically and financially-enhanced if they know how to play their cards well.

In PNG, the Pinoy expatriates are doing just that.

For feedback, email the blogger: ahernandez@thenational.com.pg and alfredophernandez@y7mail.com

Lower JPNHS alumni membership fee mulled

By ALFREDO P HERNANDEZ

THE Jose Panganiban National High School Alumni Association plans to set a P50-annual membership fee in a bid to boost funds to support ongoing and future projects for the community.

The P50 yearly compulsory fee is being discussed by the JPNHS officers for final action.

“We are really in need of more funding so we can work on various projects and activities we want to carry out annually,” says Beth
Albero, association president.

The setting of the membership fee at K50 was proposed by batch 66 member Samuel Tatom, who is also the secretary of the 800-strong Larap PIM Association (LaPIMa).

Tatom said that the amount is “very affordable to everybody”.

He was reacting to an earlier MWBuzz report that some alumni batches are collecting at least a P500-one-time membership fee.

Because of this, another alumnus from Batch 73 has appealed to his batch mates to chip in US$50 (at least P2,100) to sponsor four batch members who are poor at a cost of P500 each.

“This way, there would be more to come to the reunion because our poor batch mates could now attend,” Japan-based Arnel P Hernandez said on his Facebook posting recently.

Albero said that she was surprised to learn from the report that there was a alumni batch charging that match per member.

However, she said that maybe, the P500 membership fee was being collected to raise funds for the batch’s own projects in Mambulao.

Tatom said the P50 fee should be made mandatory since it is affordable and a one-time payment only, adding that it could boost the association’s fundraising drive.

Since the amount is reasonable, alumni members could support many poor batch mates, he said.

“If we have 5,000 members, we could easily raise P250,000 at P50 each ... so we could raise about P100,000 from membership fees alone in three years,” Tatom said.

The association is also thinking of new fundraising initiatives not only during reunion year but year-round doing raffle draws, bingo games and more.

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Daet gets P90 million road widening project

DAET, Camarines Sur: A P90 million highway widening project, stretching 6.8 kilometers from downlown Daet to Barangay Bagasbas, is being carried out by the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) district office of Camarines Norte.

Bagasbas is a popular beach haven for tourists.

Assistant DPWH district engineer Ricardo L Pacardo said that the highway widening that adds two-meter breadth on both sides of the national road is now 60 per cent complete.

Pacardo said four contractors won the bid to implement the project that covers at least six sections and is scheduled for completion at the end of September this year.

Daet town officials here said the road widening project, credited to the efforts of Camarines Norte First district Congressman Elmer Panotes, shall facilitate access of tourists to Bagasbas beach. – Vox Bicol

Bicol approves minimum wage

LEGAZPI CITY: The Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board V has approved a P3 to P23 increase in the daily minimum wage rates of private workers and employees in the Bicol region.

Rosendo Belo, board secretary, said Wage Order RBV-15 followed the petition filed last year by the Alliance of Progressive Labor and Pinag-isang Manggagawa sa Kooperatiba sa Koryente-Bicol/ National Solidarity Unions in the Electric Cooperative.

In the non-agriculture sector, business firms with more than 15 workers, a P5 basic increase is added to the old minimum wage of P P247, making the new minimum wage P252.

Those with 11 to 15 workers, the wage is P252 (P18 basic increase plus old P234 minimum).

For establishments employing not more than 10 workers, a P12 basic increase tacked on P216 to make the new wage P228.

For cottage/handicraft employing less than 20 workers, the new wage is P228 (P16 plus old P222 minimum).

For plantation workers receiving P225 under the old minimum wage, P3 is added, making the new wage P228 while non-plantation workers receiving P205 will get a P23 basic increase for a new wage of P228, said the order.  – Manila Standard

NSO: Bicol unemployment rate down 6.1% in 2011

LEGAZPI CITY: Unemployment rate in the Bicol region went down to 6.1%  in 2011 from 5.9% in 2010 based on the Annual Labor and Employment Estimates Survey for 2010 -11 conducted by the National Statistic Office in the region.

There were about 2.8 million unemployed Filipinos in 2011, 63 per cent of which or 1.772 million were males while 37 per cent or 1.042 million were females translating to about 700,000 more unemployed men than women.

On the other hand, the national employment rate estimate increased from 92.7 per cent in 2010 to 93 per cent in 2011.

Across regions, Cagayan Valley recorded the highest employment rate with 97.1 per cent, Zamboanga Peninsula with 96.8 per cent, the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao or ARMM at 96.6 per cent, MIMAROPA and SOCCSKSARGEN both at 96.1 per cent and Northern Mindanao at 95.5 per cent.

In contrast, four regions registered employment rate lower than the annual national rate.

These are National capital Region as the lowest at 88.7 per cent, Calabarzon  at 90.3 per cent followed by Ilocos Region and Central Luzon both at 91.5 per cent.

For the Labor Force Participation Rate (LFPR) or the proportion of those in the labor force to the population aged 15 years old and above, Bicol region stayed at 64.4 per cent for 2011.

All over the Philippines, about 40 million were in the labor force or economically active out of the 61.9 million population aged 15 years old and above; this sums up to 64.6 percent LPFR for 2011.

Majority of the employed persons were wage and salary workers comprising 55.2 per cent of the total workers, 41.5 per cent of which work in private establishments and 8.2 per cent in government corporations.

About 30 per cent of the employed persons were self-employed workers without any paid employee while almost 4 percent were employers in family-operated business.

Meantime, the number of underemployed persons in 2011 increased to 19.3 per cent from 18.8 per cent in 2010. These persons are employed workers desiring for longer working hours or additional job aside from what they currently have.

The Bicol region recorded the highest underemployment rate since 2010 although the rate inched down by 1.4 per cent from 36.8 per cent in 2010 to 35 per cent. - PIA