Far Eastern University chronicles bravery in building an academic legacy

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Far Eastern University (FEU) gathers its alumni, faculty and members of administration, stakeholders, family, and friends to witness the premiere of the documentary Be Brave at the Ayala Museum.

The film is about FEU and the legacy of its founder Dr. Nicanor Reyes as told through his daughter Dr. Lourdes Reyes Montinola. It retells the vision and determination of the man who contributed to the development of the country by helping pave the way to making quality education accessible to Filipinos.

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“It is our founder’s aspiration that his school’s graduates would enjoy rewarding careers that promote the country’s economic growth. This was the reason behind his choices of accountancy, law, and medicine as flagship academic programs. FEU was also first to offer night classes to provide more opportunities for students to learn,” says the school’s current President Dr. Michael Alba.

The documentary reveals more of these important milestones that influenced our current education system. John Silva, a history expert and proponent of Philippine arts and culture, gives his commentary and shares his insights on FEU’s role in society.

“Dr. Nicanor Reyes was a visionary and innovator. He introduced ideas that encouraged holistic learning,” says Atty. Gianna Montinola, VP for Corporate Affairs. “During these times that challenge our resilience and conviction, we are reminded of the legacy and noble dream of our founder. It is our hope that through Be Brave, today’s generation and the next will appreciate the true value of education.”

Be Brave premieres in time with the university’s 90th founding anniversary.

Pioneer Insurance accepting entries for #MoveOnLang Songwriting Competition

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Pioneer, one of the top life and non-life insurance companies in the country, is inviting aspiring songwriters and musicians to join the #MoveOnLang Songwriting Competition.

Participants can submit their entries at www.moveonlang.ph until November 15, 2016 for a chance to win a cash prize of up to PHP 100,000 plus PHP 100,000 worth of insurance coverage from Pioneer, as well as the opportunity to have their songs recorded and performed by musicians of their choice.

Applicants must be aged 15 to 24 years old and currently enrolled as students in the Philippines to join. Each applicant can submit up to five song entries, with a maximum song length of 3 minutes and 30 seconds. Applicants can also register as a group with up to five members, with one member designated as the official representative.

In line with the theme of moving on, song entries must be inspirational and about bouncing back from life’s challenges.

“We wanted a theme that would exemplify what being a Filipino is all about. We are known all over the world for our resilience, with new stories appearing everyday about Filipinos getting back on their feet after life has dealt them a hard blow. We want this competition to produce songs that can inspire the nation to keep on moving forward despite setbacks and difficulties,” shared Pioneer’s Marketing Head Len Pozon.

A panel of professionals and practitioners from the music industry will screen the entries and select ten finalists, all of whom will receive PHP 100,000 worth of insurance coverage from Pioneer. The finalists will be announced on December 5, 2016, and their songs posted at the event’s official site www.moveonlang.ph as well as on Pioneer’s social media pages (Facebook page www.facebook.com/PioneerIsYourInsurance).

Online voting period will begin on December 5 upon announcement of the finalists and will end on December 16. The finalist with the most votes will be crowned Online Favorite and awarded a cash prize of PHP 10,000.

A PHP 100,000 cash prize awaits the grand winner, while the second and third placer will get PHP 50,000 and PHP 30,000 respectively. A consolation prize of PHP 10,000 will be given to each of the remaining seven finalists.

Over the past few years, Pioneer has made it their priority to support the arts by encouraging the youth towards artistic pursuits through competitions in various creative fields like video production, playwriting and this year, songwriting.

“Filipinos have always loved music, and songs are a powerfully simple way to express oneself and inspire others,” shares Ms. Pozon. “We want to share Pioneer’s message of hope through this competition and through the next generation of homegrown musicians. This competition is also a wonderful chance for us to support and promote our local music industry among the youth, through our partnership with FILSCAP” says Ms. Pozon.

Since September, the FILSCAP Campus Caravan toured several universities around Metro Manila. Students from the University of The Philippines Diliman, University of Santo Tomas, San Beda College Alabang, University of Makati and De La Salle University Manila had the chance to learn about songwriting from prominent songwriters and icons from the music industry like Rico Blanco, Yael Yuzon, Gloc 9, Champ Lui Pio, and Raimund Marasigan. The Campus Caravan is set to visit University of the Philippines Los Baños and University of Mindanao this November.

For more information on the #MoveOnLang Songwriting Competition, visit their official website at www.moveonlang.ph

DepEd-Las Piñas school gets a fresh coat of color and hope from Nippon Paint

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Nippon Paint (Coatings) Philippines recently launched its flagship corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiative dubbed as Colourful Dreams, which aims to be a catalyst for positive change to children of all ages. This is part of the bigger Colour, Joy and Love CSR programme implemented by the NIPSEA group across the 15 countries and 300 cities in Asia where they operate.

Carrying the theme “Create Joy Today, Hope for Tomorrow”, Nippon Paint Colourful Dreams has endeavored to support the Department of Education-Las Piñas Division’s Brigada Eskwela Adopt-A-School-Program, which encourages private companies, professionals, and education stakeholders to contribute their time and resources in helping in the school maintenance effort to ensure that public school facilities are ready for opening this June. For this project, Nippon Paint has also partnered with the Philippine School of Interior Design Alumni Association (PSID-AA), whose members have volunteered to share their skills and talents.

“We at Nippon Paint have always wanted to give back to the community and share with them our success in the three years that we have been in the Philippines. What better way to do these than to support a meaningful project like Brigada Eskwela. We are thankful to have found partners in DepEd-Las Piñas and PSID-AA, with whom we share a common goal of creating a safe, conducive and colourful environment for children’s learning and development,” relates Nippon Paint (Coatings) Philippines General Manager, Michael Chung.

According to PSID-AA President Paolo Jara, “Our organization has always been inspired by the saying, ‘what person is a person who does not make the world better?’. We support Brigada Eskwela with Nippon Paint as it is another opportunity to make the world better for others.”

DepEd-Las Piñas Schools Division Superintendent Loreta Torrecampo conveys, “Bayanihan spirit is really the essence of Brigada Eskwela. As you know our public schools really need much support. That’s why we appreciate all the time, effort and help that we receive from the community and the private sector. We thank Nippon Paint (Coatings) Philippines and PSID-AA for upholding their commitment to the country and their eagerness to contribute to national development.”

Nippon Paint Colorful Dreams’ first Brigada Eskwela beneficiary school is Pamplona Elementary School Central in Las Piñas City, which welcomes about 3,000 students every school year. Together with volunteers from PSID-AA, Nippon Paint will be painting the school’s library, reading corners, hallways, and exterior premises with designs that inspire creativity and fun learning.

As part of its Green movement, which emphasizes on developing and offering green products to ensure sustainability, and the agreement with DepEd – Las Piñas, Nippon Paint will be using its new toluene-free Pylox Spray Paint and Green Choice Series, a line of high-quality coatings that are water-based, no added lead and mercury, and near-zero Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC) coatings. This means these products are environment friendly and most significantly, safe for everyone specially children.

Pamplona Elementary Central School Principal Felix Perido muses, “We are delighted to be chosen by Nippon Paint as a beneficiary school for Brigada Eskwela. When classes start, our students will surely be happy to be in a learning environment that is clean, freshly painted and colourful.”

Being a paint company, Nippon Paint knows that even a little bit of paint and colour can go a long way in making learning fun and engaging. Through its Colourful Dreams and Brigada Eskwela CSR program, Nippon Paint aims to motivate students to learn with joy, be their best and hope to achieve their most colourful dreams.

As a final note, Chung concludes, “While this is the first time that we are launching Colourful Dreams in the country, we have been reaching out to the academic community through the Nippon Paint Young Designer Award, which recognizes the talents and potentials of student interior designers and architects, a service that we do for the professional design industry. Brigada Eskwela, on the other hand, is geared towards younger students and the community as a whole. In the future, Nippon Paint aims to expand its CSR initiatives by working with more communities on projects that are meaningful and beneficial to people.”

For more information about Nippon Paint, visit www.nipponpaint.ph or check out www.facebook.com/nipponpaintphilippines