Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Cebu Pacific Airline Supports Philippine Tourism

Cebu Pacific (CEB), the country's leading domestic airline, is pushing for the inclusion of three Philippine tourist spots in the current online search for "Seven Wonders of Nature".

CEB has created a link in its website to the Seven Wonders of Nature voting site, www.new7wonders.com so that Filipinos worldwide can easily cast their votes for the Philippine entries: the Chocolate Hills in Bohol, and the Tubbataha Reef and the Puerto Princesa Subterranean River National Park (Underground River), both in Palawan.

Candice Iyog, CEB vice president for marketing and product, said, "This is in support of the government's efforts to promote our country in the global market. Just by joining this search, we are making the world aware of the natural wonders our country has to offer."

CEB will also launch an email blast endorsing the Philippine natural wonders to its database.

"As the No. 1 e-commerce website in the country, we hope we can help invite all the Filipinos to go online, vote and make the Philippines part of the New 7 Wonders of the World because this is something we should be very proud of.  Let's all do our part in making this happen."  Iyog emphasized.

As of yesterday's Live Top 77 ranking at new7wonders.com, Tubbataha Reef is ranked No.8 and the Puerto Princesa Subterranean River National Park is at No. 53.  Chocolate Hills is below the top 77 cut-off mark.

"With this search, we hope to entice more foreign and local tourists to come see the Philippines' natural wonders and contribute to the development of our tourism industry," Iyog stated.

Now in its 13th year, CEB continues to have the youngest fleet in the Philippines. CEB flies to 14, soon to be 16 international destinations, with the addition of Kaohsiung in June, and Kota Kinabalu in July. CEB also operates flights to 21 domestic destinations.

Job Priority Given To Philippine DOST Scholars

Education Secretary Jesli Lapus has ordered school officials to give priority the hiring of scholars from the Department of Science and Technology-Science and Education Institute (DOST-SEI).

"This is the best way these scholars can give back to the country---by teaching in their own communities and inspire a new generation of students who will have passion in science and technology," Lapus said.

Of the 147 DOST-SEI scholars this year, 41 came from Region V (Bicol Region) and 30 came from the National Capital Region (NCR).

Since school year 2002-03, there have been 957 teacher items allocated to DOST-SEI scholars. In 2007, DepEd created more than 16,000 teacher items, the highest number in years.

DOST-SEI scholars go through a stringent selection process and are required to maintain good academic standing. They are encouraged to work in the science industry and serve the country after their graduation by teaching for four years.

To qualify to teach, the scholar-graduates are required to pass the Licensure Examination for Teachers (LET) within the school year.

The Science and Education Institute spearheads direct investment in scientific training through programs that address the increasing science and technology manpower requirements of the country.

One of the goals of Science and Education Institute is to improve the pre-service and in-service education of science and mathematics teachers at all levels. It assists schools and other educational institutions to improve science and mathematics instruction. - Philippine News Agency