Clean and affordable shelter for transient job seekers

A team of Filipino graduate students and alumni of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology were the grand prize winners in the Development category of the school’s annual MIT$100K Entrepreneurship Competition for their business, CentroMigrante, Inc.

The team, composed of Illac Diaz, Neil Ruiz, Saldivar-Sali Artessa, Tina La Forteza and Chester Yu made history twice by being the first Filipino team to reach the finals of the prestigious competition and to actually win it. They were chosen from among an initial pool of 165 team entries. They were awarded $30,000 as seed money for their project.

Their winning business plan stems from the shortage of decent housing for transients who pour into the cities looking for jobs. In the Philippines, as many as one million Filipinos a year spend up to six months away from their home provinces, looking for jobs as seafarers in Manila’s port areas with most of them living in shanties under depressed and undignified living conditions.

The Pinoy MIT’s winning CentroMigrante plan provides a unique solution to this problem with a self-help business model that provides clean, safe and affordable urban housing for such indigent, transient job seekers. The team actually tested the market by setting up a pilot shelter program in Manila that has shown profitability during the past two years, and has already helped 80,000 Filipinos. The team is set to begin construction in the fourth quarter of this year, and is currently seeking an initial investment of $250,000 to build the first phase of its shelter network in Manila.

To contact the team: Neil Ruiz at email centromigrante@gmail.com. Phone: (617) 823-0279.

FOR aiming to empower its Deaf students and graduates to become job makers instead of simply job seekers, the School of Deaf Education and Applied Studies of the College of St. Benilde in Manila received a P1 million grant from the World Bank.

The project called “Youth Entre-ployment Support for the Deaf” was one of the winning entries in the recently concluded 2006 Panibagong Paraan competition organized by the World Bank.

The winning project aims to enable the Deaf to conceptualize, plan and implement their own businesses under the cooperative model. The set-up intends to generate more opportunities for sustainable income and employment so that the Deaf become job-makers instead of job seekers.

The World Bank gives winning projects one year to implement their programs. The entry also earned a People’s Choice award as best project proposal during its two-day exhibit at the SM Megamall’s Megatrade Hall, where visitors were served coffee and offered rudimentary lessons in Filipino sign language.b

For more info, email DLS-CSB School of Deaf Education and Applied Studies at sdeas@dls-csb.edu.ph

FOREIGN journalist and spa expert, Marc Tessier of Asia Spa Magazine, one of Asia’s leading spa publications, named Badian Island Resort and Spa in the island of Cebu as the eighth best in the world.

Aside from the tranquil setting and beautiful scenery, the magazine cited the resort’s herbal, guava and pandan baths, and a treatment that mixes the island’s seawater – said to have healing properties – with a blend of natural minerals with antibacterial properties to relax and rebalance the body’s mineral deficiencies.

The top ten spas ranked in order are: Le Taha’a Private Island in French Polynesia; Soneva Fushi Resort in the Maldives; Pangkor Laut Resort in Perak Island, Malaysia; The Racha in Thailand; Parrot Cay, Turks and Caicos Islands in the Carribean; Evason Hideaway and Six Senses Spa at Ana Mandara in Vietnam; Badian Island Resort and Spa; The Sentosa Resort and Spa on Sentosa Island in Singapore, and The Grand Wailea Resort Hotel and Spa in Hawaii.

Art from Pinoy masters part of month-long celebration

PHILIPPINE Ambassador to Singapore Belen F. Anota opened the art exhibit entitled “Beyond Borders: A Celebration of Filipino Art. Contemporary Masters to Emerging Artists” on June 1 at the Substation. The exhibit, which was organized by Art Sentral Asia, marked the beginning of the month-long commemoration by the Philippine Embassy in Singapore of the 108th Anniversary of Philippine Independence.

The collection brings together works by 14 renowned and emerging Filipino artists including recently named National Artist BenCab, Mauro Malang Santos, Arturo Luz, Romulo Olazo, Soler Santos, Marcel Antonio, Soler Santos, Mark Justiniani, Elmer Borlongan, Wilfredo Alicdan, Christian Tamondong, Allan Jay Balisi, Hermes Alegre, Emmanuel Garibay and potterist Winnie Go.

An Art Walk Lecture conducted by Singapore Art Museum Assistant Curator Joselina Cruz on June 3 also attracted a considerable number of serious art enthusiasts who were eager to know more about the different artists and their works. Works by the different artists were juxtaposed during the lecture.