Travel Report (Major)

University of Southeastern Philippines

Bo. Obrero Campus, Davao City

TRAVEL REPORT

September 16-20, 2013

Seminar Overview

A whole new experience, a whole new world; thus this affects us as an individual… a lot, those experiences that were able to experience serves as a beacon for us to be able to open our eyes to the real world scenarios which will soon help us choose our career in the mere future. According to Wikipedia, “a seminar is, generally, a form of academic instruction, either at an academic institute or offered by a commercial or professional organization. It has a function of bringing together small group for recurring meetings, focusing each time on some particular subject, in which everyone present is requested to actively participate.”; In this manner. I can truly say that we are able to accomplish the definition of seminar based on what have experienced. I can say that the seminars that we joined in helped us a lot, especially on getting to know a specific subject and able to go to the depths of those subjects.

The seminar in different companies enabled us to understand more about them and how their company works as a group, it gives us a broader perspective of the real world and it helps us get prepared for it in the future. They gave us different lectures that further enhance our thinking and gave us additional knowledge. Aside from that, they gave us a tip on what we should do to have an edge of applying and get accepted in a certain company.

Aside from imparting their knowledge upon us, the companies did show us around their companies. They have explained the function of each of the machines that does the processes around their company, it helps us fit knowledge in us and fill the ignorance in ourselves.

In general, in my own belief all I can say is that they are encouraging us to join their workplace. To become one of their recruits and some of the companies are really good in persuading. They are helping us to become a good employee in the future and that each of us has a unique role and ample of capability that will help their company in achieving their vision, goal and mission. This will help our country achieve better and more stable economy. Being part of their company will ensure us a better future.

From the arrival to the airport, until the time we took off to manila, all I can say it that it was a very fun experience, the first time I entered the airport in Davao, I was pretty much excited. Even if we are still at the terminal, everyone else too is too excited, we took as much pictures as possible to fully utilize and enjoy our fieldtrip, it was a good experience and as I have remembered, if something is ending then another chapter unfolds, in this manner I can say that every ending is a beginning of a new one. I express that thought because while we are in manila, there are certain things than runs in my mind, like to where and when I will be working, or should I stay here in the local province or venture to the capital of the Philippines, things are getting pretty exciting here. All I can say is that, it was really an unforgettable experience, and I look forward to again, step my feet off to the manila grounds again.

Day 1

Today I went on a seminar to Social Security System (SSS) which is held at Senator Gil Puyat Ave, Makati City.

First and foremost, we were welcomed by their humble human resource staff team, which introduced us on what the Social Security System (SSS) is about, its function, its significance on each person’s life and its role to the society.

I learned the various benefits of the SSS pensioners and I also got to know the organizational structure of IT Personnel behind the success of SSS. Each of the members of the personnel of the IT department plays a very significant role in the tasks that was assigned to them and each are focused on their specific mastery. This will make their work more organized and more efficient in doing their jobs.

I have also learned what the SSS is all about and what its significance is for us as a citizen of the Philippines, the earlier we start earning the better our future will be soon. I discovered and realized that the SSS is not only a burden to its members but it is helping the entire member of the organization to ensure a better future for them and for their families, also to their beneficiaries.

I have also learned how the SSS started and the purpose why it is established in the first place. It has a vision that will be benefited by the future generations and achieve a financially stabled country, I learned that they are in the track of alleviating poverty in our company, if possible to eradicate it completely.

The company has a feature of Compulsory Coverage and Share Contributions which will help each individual who’s self-employed to be able to avail the benefits of working on a company.

Another thing that I have learned in the seminar is that the people involved in the Social Security System (SSS) is not limited only to the employees, it also include the following: Employers, Self-Employed/Professionals; which are also referred as the informal, and Voluntary who are Separated, Non-Working Spouses, OFW’s.

Each of the category has its own minimum contribution depending on what category a certain person belongs to.

The SSS includes Two Programs: Social Security which covers the following: Sickness, Maternity, Disability, Retirement, Death and Funeral. And Employee’s Compensation which is referred as to Work-related accident/death which is equal to Double compensation.

The last speaker is Mr. Paul D. Rillas, Junior Specialist of the Social Security System (SSS), ITGSD – Compliance Section. He discussed the Mission of their department which is: “to Provide quality systems when and where needed.” Mr. Rillas discussed the steps they did as a team to pursue their mission and he also tackled the importance of each member of their team in visualizing their vision into a reality.

What I liked the most about the seminar is that they welcomed us whole-heartedly and they have been very passionate in teaching us, they show the good side of SSS which is very attractive to the eyes of the youth and also they are so honest on answering the questions that was ask to them by our colleagues. I like the way they encourage us to do better in our studies for us to become one of them someday.

I like the tour accommodation they gave to us, especially our tour to their gallery which exhibits various parts of the history like our Philippine heroes. They are really thoughtful and grateful about the token we gave them.

What I didn’t like is that we were not able to complete the tour around the SSS because of the rain, we have to travel to the other side of the building in order to complete the tour, but due to the rain we were not able to make a tour about their other facilities.

But overall it was a good experience.

Day 2

Today I went on a seminar to Y4iT XI which was held at the Mall of Asia (MOA) SMX Convention Center, Pasay City.

I have learned a lot of things during the entire seminar; I love this seminar because it focuses more on the technical side of being an IT practitioner. The start of the event was formally opened by the Vice – President for Externals of Philippine Society of IT Educators (PSITE). Mr. John Peter Abraham Ruero, his opening speech helps us learn about the Y4iT and its history. He is then followed a talk by Mr. Paul Rivera from the Y-Combinator and Entrepreneurship who is the founder and CEO of Kalibrr. He help us understand that life is not easy, and it takes will for us to achieve what we have dreamed of, he share a lot of his knowledge and principles. What I like the most about his lecture is when he made us imagine something and make us ask ourselves “Where I am not supposed to be? But you are there.” This made me rethink my entire life as and I was really motivated by what he said. The next speaker was Rhea Althea Guntalilib who shares her thoughts about IT for the Blind: The Key to a brighter future, she lost her sight when she was 18 years old and still was able to manage to finish her studies and graduated as magna cum laude, she really amazed me and I was really inspired by her, I learned a lot of things about her especially on how to persevere even if unwanted cases of scenarios happened in our lives, we should always willing to accept things and even if it’s unlike before, we still can have a brighter future. Her being handicapped didn’t hinder her to achieve her dreams, she is now working as a system analyst for smart despite her severe condition and I really admire her for that.

She is for me the highlight of the event, being able to appear to the public with pride and confidence even the fact that she wasn’t able to see the crown in front of her. She inspires a lot of people, including me. There are so much more things that are learned from her life.

Another speaker was Winthrop Yu who happened to be the President of Internet Society – Philippine Chapter which discusses the topic: Who runs the Internet. Because of his lecture, I was able to understand that internet is so broad and that internet is not managed by an individual but as an organization, there are many people involved in managing the internet. No one person, company, organization or government runs the internet. That is what I’ve learned from him; there are many basis of the internet from operations and services, policies and standards, open debates, and the multistake - holders. It involves the International Organization for Standards (ISO), Internet Society (ISOC), 5 Regional Internet Registry (RIRs), World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), International Network Operators’ Groups, Governments and Inter-Governmental Organizations, Internet Research Task Force (IRTF), Internet Governance Forum (IGF), Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), Internet Architecture Board (IAB) all in which has its own specific functions.

In the afternoon we took our lunch and then we came back to the conference. The afternoon session was started by a Keynote Speech of Mr. Monchito Ibrahim the Deputy Executive Director for Policies, ICT Office from the Department of Science and Technology. He gave a brief but concise speech which allows us to value ourselves as IT practitioners.

The next speaker Christy Book-Tsang discussed The New Era of Open Source, she is a Master Affiliate of Asia Pacific, of Linux Professional Institute. She opens states that an Open Source era has begun and there are lots of opportunities. 

Two professors from the University of the Philippines Cebu National High School namely: Aurelio Vilbar the Principal and Kim Bondoc a Faculty Member where the next speakers, they have taught us that android applications can be a great tool for learning and it is more effective than the traditional way of teaching, they encourage us to create our own applications that will be benefitted by the younger generations for a better future to live in. they showed us different applications and explained the concept of a good application. They also shared the advantages and disadvantages of using android applications in teaching.

Gian Scottie Javelona and Chino Philip Adrian Atilano were the last speakers, Gian started first and discussed The Sooner You Start, The Faster You Learn. He young as 20, is already a CEO of his own company, the OrangeApps Inc. He is a simple boy but looks can be deceiving. He can manage and has his own team and also his own office, he really inspires me to become a technopreneur, we just have to grab the opportunity while it was there, there is no other greater time to start than now, there are no right times, we should create our own right time, that is what I’ve learned from him. I just can’t believe that a 20 year old can achieve too much, it all just started as a dream, he discussed that the difference between a dream and a goal is that a dream is just a dream while a goal is a dream with an action, we must exert effort for us to achieve what we want. He encourages us that we should fix our mistakes while we are young to be able to straighten our paths to success.

Next was Chino Philip Adrian Atilano, he is the Co-Founder and CEO of TimeFree Innovations Inc., with his topic Starting things right. He said that to be able to become successful, it should be started right, there is a BIG difference when we start things right, and when we do things we want it our way.            

What I like the most is when Kevin Leversee (the Co-Founder and CEO of startupDragons) started his interactive talk, I like the way he imparted his knowledge unto us and made us able to understand the internet of things. I like the things he discussed, especially on his beliefs that technology and innovation cannot be stopped, it’s alive. His discussion about the prism, etc. I like all of it. Before he started sharing his lecture, he gave a moment of silence for our brothers in Zamboanga City for 30 seconds.

What I didn’t like about the Y4iT is that they are not organized when it comes to the time, they still follow the Filipino time which delayed the entire speakers and causing overtime, I pitied the last speaker who is Sheryl Hermoso with her topic: IPv6. Before the lunch time because many left during her lecture and we can’t blame the participants it is because the event started late and the time she started her lecture was not parallel to the said schedule, the time during her lecture is already past 12. Going 1 P.M. that many participants left the venue for them to eat their lunch, we just bear with it.

Day 3

Today I went on a seminar to Philippine Long Distance Telecommunications (PLDT) at Boni Avenue, Mandaluyong City.

We were first welcomed by Ms. Annie Ferrer, BSBA – Management; who facilitated us in the entire tour, along with her colleague Mr. Gino Francisco. I learned so many things this day, and the first company we visit is the Philippine Long Distance Telecommunications (PLDT) formerly known as Philippine Long Distance Telephone, the company shifted from being a telephone company to a multi-tasking company. I learned the history of PLDT, where and why it started, and the origin of the company, its downfall and its rise from glory to glory and to what the company is right now. We made a tour in the company Innovation Laboratory and Telecommunication Education Center of PLDT (INNOLAB), we first have a briefing and a short lecture/introduction to their room, and then we proceed to the aisle where the history of PLDT was being displayed, the numbers of workers, net income and etc. of the company, then we proceeded to the other rooms which showcase their new products that is still under the testing process. I was inspired to have a new idea as a technopreneur as we move around from their building, I learned that anything we can think of can be made possible. Finally, we finished our tour with a lecture from one of their engineers; it is all about networking and the travel of data from one place to another.

In the aisle where the history of PLDT was being displayed, this is what we have learned: at the year November 28, 1928 the PLDT which is formerly known as Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company was established; 1939 – 1948 Destroyed telephone Lines. 10,848 Lines, 315 Employees; 1949 – 1958 Hope. Installation of underground telephone cable. 60,066 Total Lines, 1,304 Employees; 1959 – 1968  Age of Change, PLDT is a Filipino Controlled Corporation, 184,787 Total Lines, 3,028 Employees; 1989 – 1998 Age of Gatekeeper, 1,596,856 Total Lines, 14,073 Employees with no Competitors, First single chip microprocessor, Zero Backlog; 1999 – 2008 Age of Transformation/Convergence, 1,782,356 Total Lines, 29,904 Employees with Voice, Video and Data Triple Play, business is applied Abroad; 2009 – Present Age of New Era, The PLDT becomes the leading and largest telecommunications company in the Philippines.

What I like about this tour is their new products that is still under the testing phase where an user can turn on and off his electronic devices through the use of a computer, a web-based application which allows the user to manipulate and connected device to the PC to switch it from on to off, the application will be a subscription type, and Mr. Gino who guided us from our tour told us that he can’t tell for now the possible price of the subscription. Another device they are currently working on is the GPS system which tracks the user whenever they are, as long as the device is on, but it will cost much. I like our tour inside their lab because they have so many high-tech devices which are cloud based and it really is music to my ears.

I like everything in the PLDT INNOLAB, except the fact that they released us too late and they serve no snacks which made my tummy growl too loud but the trip was awesome.

Today I went on a seminar to IBM Innovations Center at 1800 Eastwood City Cyberpark, Quezon City; UP Ayala Technohub, Quezon City. 

I learned a very important thing this day, especially for the analytics, business analytics to be more specific. There are four types of Analytics but we only discussed 3 types of analytics: Descriptive Analytics which is used to gain sight from the historical data with reporting, scorecards, clustering and etc., Predictive Analytics which is a predictive modeling using statistical and machine learning techniques and finally Prescriptive Analytics which recommend decision making using optimization, simulation and etc.. I also learned a lot about the networking, regarding their server and it is open for all, but will be depending on the availability of the device.

The IBM Innovations Center is a small place but is very big in significance, the small cubicle office includes the Server Room which allows students and people to use Freely the Desks, and so on with the office, they also have Conference Room which allows the staffs to conduct their meetings, their server is so powerful even if it only accommodates small area of deployment.

Data Center nowadays are expensive that is why the IBM Innovations Center allows people to use their technology without asking anything in return, the Big Data Technology includes Large amount of data, Volume, Variety and Velocity, that gives importance to Analytics.

I like that the server is free to use for incubation and other stuffs, I like the lectures that he taught us, regarding the analytics. I also like the mini-tour we made inside their office, and also their promotion of Watson, an AI that defeats the best human player with the reality game show, Jeopardy. IBM really amaze me, it is made out of very complex algorithm that really stuns me a lot, and Watson won the competition even if he is just offline and the basis for his actions or the data being deployed in him is the entire Wikipedia. I also remember few years ago, there is this so called robot, Deep Blue who managed to defeat the greatest chess master of all time, Gary Kasparov. It was also a product of IBM.

I like IBM but the thing I didn’t like is the fact that their office is too small, but it was a small but terrible office.

Day 4

We went to a seminar in Toshiba at Canlubang, Laguna.

The best day EVER! Enchanted Kingdom! But before that, I learned so many things this Day, especially on the process of creating hard disk drives. Aside from that, I learned how the company started back there in japan, and also how it started here in the Philippines, I have learned what their contribution to the Philippine economy are and them being the 3^rd largest producer of hard drive disks in the entire Asia.

The Toshiba Philippines was established late 1995, whose originally owned by Hisashige Tanaka, President, Director and CEO, that was founded last 1875 in Japan. In the Philippines it was spearheaded by one of the TIP Leaders Mr. Minoru Iriko, who gave us the opening remarks. I have learned too that Toshiba has four business domains which includes the following: Digital Products, Electronic Devices and Components, Intra-structure Systems and lastly the Home Appliances, which greatly helped the world in innovations. Toshiba do really standout to their motto which is Leader Innovation.

We also learned the Demographics of the employees of Toshiba, the TIP – LTI Organization Structure is composed of 1 Filipino Board Member, which includes 5 Filipino Vice Presidents, and 14 Senior Managers, the ratio of Male to female is 90% which is in favor to female, it is because female are more stable when it comes to handling sensitive devices, the Age of the employees are the following: Operators 28 years old, Staff 29 years old, Engineers 27 years old, Supervisors 37 years old, Managers 41 years old; giving a total average of 29 years old.

I like the tour, they showed us the hard disk drives were created, I really like the tour we made in their company, their company is very organized and the people out there are very happy and I love greeting all of them, I also like the fact that the one who entertained us are from Mindanao, especially from our very own Alma Mater, University of Southeastern Philippines, they are former students of our own university from the department of College of Technology. They inspired us to work hard and look forward to work with them in the future. We really get along very well and I really understand better because they can speak vernacular which allows a better communication for both parties. The workers there are so disciplined and active and the fact that the one who welcomed us is very pretty. HAHAHA!

I didn’t like it when I used to greet some of the employees but I get no response.

Day 5

Today I went on a seminar to Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) at EDSA Corner Orense St. Guadalupe, Makati City.

I learned that MMDA is not just about traffic but they also reduce the risks of other hazards that can are made by the typhoons and earthquakes. They maintain and organize the city to reduce the risks of damages. MMDA holds the Motto of “Marangal Matapat Disiplinado Ako.” Which meant that the MMDA is an active and uncompromised organization which values integrity and human morale. MMDA is primarily committed to monitor the following: Traffic, which is very common and rampant in Manila, especially in crowded areas; Flood Control; does operation on controlling the flood in manila, does the planning phase of controlling the flood, to alleviate the casualties caused by the flood and mitigate the damage it will cause on high risk/ hazardous area that are prone to flood. 

During our visit to MMDA we undergo a small lecture about earthquakes, the damages it caused and will be causing. There are certain parts of manila which are very much prone to earthquakes, the MMDA are doing some actions to reduce the possible damages of the earthquake by education the people near the hazard zone, educating them on what are the things to do to survive an earthquake.

What I like the most in their seminar is the house of where they will let students/visitors experience an intensity 5 earthquake. I also like their CCTV cameras that are being displayed that are capable of zooming up to 1km of area; it has the ability to optical zoom up to x24, these are very useful and essential for traffic navigation and good source for investigation. They also use project Nationwide Operational Assessments of Hazards (NOAH) which navigates the weather of the Philippines and be able to announce the public of the possible damage that will be caused by the typhoon.

What I didn’t like is when they showed us one video of an accident that is really brutal, It really grinds my ears. And I was not able to look at it straight forward, but that is like, it is essential for us to be careful and to remind us to drive defensively.

APPENDIX

The things that I recommend for the improvement of the advance seminar program of USEP is that, the seminar should be more focused and concise on the certain subject that it is taking up, yes it’s good that we were able to touch the tip of the iceberg, but sometimes were just a glimpse of it. I understand that we don’t have much time in our seminar because we are only staying day for a few days, that is why I strongly believed that the length of the days that the fieldtrip should take place should be increased for us to really indulge ourselves in those seminars. In my own observation, the seminar is really good, it plays a vital role for us as an individual; it’s like refining a Gold, the more we expose ourselves to the blazing fire, the more we become pure and solid, the problem is that, the fire isn’t that sufficient for us to completely achieve the form that we are bound to become. The seminar is a very effective tool, its more than good but for me, I just felt short.

I recommend that for the benefit of the advancement of seminar program in USEP is that it should be more open for the participants and questions should be relevant to the presented subjects.

My advice to those who will take their advance seminar program in the near future is that they should actively participate in every activities of the seminar to really expose themselves to what the seminar really is all about for them to fully enjoy the seminar; they should stay more focused and serious.T