TEDxADMU 2017: A Personal Reflection
Last Sunday, I was privileged to attend the TEDxADMU with the theme “Viewpoints”, held at the Newport Performing Arts Theater at Resorts World Manila. It is reputably the largest TED event in the Philippines. Because I missed the TEDxDiliman registration early this year, I intentionally searched for other alternative TED events. There are many of them here in Metro Manila.
TED events have become very important to me personally. As a historian by training, I get ideas from these conferences on how to creatively spread my own historical perspective not only through cyberspace (via this blog) but also via my research work. Furthermore, TED has challenged me to push the boundaries of my world, to see possible trajectories and potential creative paths our country can take in a future full of optimism. TED conferences highlight new and strange ideas, shared by none other than the very people that have tested them and have found them to be effective. So these ideas can be anything under the sun.
Lo and behold, I found out about TEDxADMU. I first thought that it was exclusively for Ateneans (I’m from UP, by the way), but I still tried applying for a slot. Fortunately, I got accepted, and was able to attend the event. My expectations were really high.
At first I wasn’t familiar with most of the speakers, unlike in TEDxDiliman. But my unfamiliarity was compensated by the on-the-edge talks of real experts from the field of social work, human rights, advertising, and education, to architecture, robotics, and the space program. After the conference, my mind and heart was filled to the brim. I took notes on all of them, and frankly speaking, I was awed by the ideas, by the passion of the presenters, and by the artists who presented their art and music.
Thomas Graham :: The Genius of the Filipino Poor
The first speaker to stand on stage was Thomas Graham, a British journalist. His enthusiasm is contagious as he shared his experience in 2012 when he went to the Philippines for the first time for an assignment to interview Antonio Meloto, the founder of Gawad Kalinga. He was asking a question on the prevalence of poverty in the country. Meloto spoke about the “genius” of the poor. Graham was naturally confused upon hearing the strange phrase. To discover this genius, he was advised to “Ditch the shirt and tie, and discover the genius of the Filipino poor for yourself.” There began his exciting journey, of how the power of “Bayanihan” and the concept of “walang iwanan” was the genius he uncovered, one that he never saw in his own culture. This communal involvement and cooperation, epitomized by the communal passing of the fare to the driver in a jeepney, was something that blew Graham’s mind. The wonderful work volunteers do in Gawad Kalinga, and how communities were transformed by means of a Filipino cultural trait was something that also made me pause. We can never really underestimate Filipinos, in that even in extreme poverty, some would have their heart of concern enlarged to encompass not only themselves or their family, but also their whole communities.
I fear that this cultural trait that a foreign correspondent captured and recorded is now being eroded by the polarizing political climate.
Manny Gonzales :: Music evolution or deterioration?
*Photo of Gonzales at the TEDxADMU, courtesy of TEDxADMU Twitter.
Gonzales, a known brand and marketing strategist in the Philippines, took the audience down to memory lane with music. He began sharing his experience as a teenager listening to “mixtapes” when his mom called him out on the music he was listening to--strange in his mom’s ears. He loves dissecting and analyzing the lyrics of the songs he listens to, and that’s what he precisely did in the podium. He featured certain songs that defined the 80s, the 90’s, the Millennials. He was under the impression that unlike before when lyricists were restricted in their freedoms and therefore compelled to put their self-expressions into elaborate words, today, songwriters no longer struggle with words (and sometimes songs can be done with simple repetitive beats) because social media has taken that turf already with self-expression. Amidst this greater freedom in music, he says it doesn’t matter what medium this self-expression takes, as long as we “collect experiences and not things.”
Jolly Estaris :: Storytelling in Advertising
Estaris, Industry manager for advertising, showed the audience that the key to a good advertising is a good storytelling… one that resonates to the audience. How? By telling the “core human story” with “a basic human truth” through a “sincerity of intention.” He featured several ads that play with everyday struggles of people, from the simple skip button in a Youtube ad of Oishi to the recent lengthy and heart-wrenching Valentine ads of Jollibee. He shows evidently that Filipinos a great storytellers, and it doesn’t only take skills but a great content for it to deliver and earn a reaction.
*The Oishi Youtube ad featured by Estaris plays with the audience’s usual clicking of the “Skip” button.
The new rules of storytelling, according to Estaris: (1) Forget time limit, (2) Forget one to many, (3) Forget high production, (4) Forget storytelling. What I got from Estaris is that as long as the story is true in the realm of human experience, as long as it inspires and brings out the best in the audience, the story, no matter how lengthy or short, is worth telling. And the audience won’t mind the time they spend watching it. Sincerity after all cannot be faked. It can only be felt.
Mylene Abiva :: Future of Philippine Robotics
Abiva is the CEO of FELTA Multi-media, Inc., and she shared to the audience the wonders and possibilities of robotics, from building a robot bomb squad to avoid human casualties, to challenging Filipino kids to be “critical thinkers, creators, and not just consumers of products.” She exuded positivity as she shared her belief in an education that is inclusive--one that has robotics as part of the curriculum. Abiva shared certain stories of students, some who joined the Philippine Robotics Team that competed internationally, or that 9 year old who invented a robot that segregated trash. The Filipino youth has enormous potential if educators and policymakers can only dream big for our kids, big enough for their own dreams to grow and thrive, and see them come to fruition.
*My photo of some of the members of the Philippine Robotics Team at the FELTA booth at TEDxADMU 2017
*One of the robots the Philippine Robotics Team made, displayed in FELTA’s booth
Paolo Espiritu :: Scientific Filipino solutions
*My photo of Espiritu from my seat at the conference.
I first came to know Espiritu’s name in the news, as I was one of those Filipino geeks that watched the live feed NASA launching of DIWATA-1 online. In fact, I made a blog post of that here, being excited of the possibilities of a Philippine Space Agency. DIWATA-1 is the first Philippine micro-satellite, built by Filipino scientists.
*Artistic rendering of Diwata-1 in space
As a member of the team that built the micro-satellite, and a U.P. graduate at that, Espiritu first showed that only 13% of Philippine schools have sci-tech labs, and a staggering 19 million students have no hands-on learning. He then emphasized that we have come close to a “society without science”, one that has congressmen who shun condoms and shoot down reproductive health policies. Espiritu reiterated that having no science leads to belief in “wrong science.”
I remember at the time of its launching, some online trolls criticized DIWATA-1 as a waste of public funds. But the micro-satellite, in fact, helps in disaster risk management, disaster rehabilitation of communities, and planning. Espiritu shared a high resolution satellite photo of a Philippine landscape taken by DIWATA, as compared to the highly pixelated photo produced by a U.S. satellite. It can also look at weather patterns and help out with the early evacuation of communities in a country ridden by typhoons every year.
Now that that’s done, Espiritu shared the potential of tapping on Virtual Reality or VR on smartphones to educate. Following Soren Kierkegaard’s principle that “Life is not a problem to be solved but a reality to be experienced,” one could learn aeronautics, or robotics, by simply playing with the VR apps Espiritu created. No need to go to expensive schools abroad. It’s cheaper, affordable, and accessible. If developed and pursued, this could change Philippine education as we know it.
Angelo Mañosa :: Why the Bahay Kubo Works
Architect Angelo Mañosa, the son of the famous Filipino architect Francisco “Bobby” Mañosa, who was also known as the pioneer of green architecture in the Philippines, posed a question if there was more to the Bahay Kubo or Nipa Hut as a structure. By means of diagrams and science, Mañosa analyzed the structure as very efficient and eco-friendly, one that is sun-proof and ideal for a climate such as ours. Encountered and looked down upon by Spanish conquerors upon their arrival, they never understood this Bahay Kubo. He realized that the internal design of the kubo produces what Mañosa calls the “stack effect,” that is, it allows the cold wind in through the large windows and the wooden floor underneath, and pushes the hot air up. Furthermore, the elevated floor supported by stilts is an ingenious way to protect the house from animals, and provides a space also for livestock. The materials used to build the hut is also found within the area, making the building of it very efficient and environment-friendly.
Now with the quest for national identity and with the crisis of climate change looming, the Bahay Kubo provides a key to unlocking a true Filipino architecture. Mañosa said that the Bahay Kubo’s “cultural and architectural fundamentals are the same.” One has to “unlock it.” That’s “where the magic begins.” He then showed their firm’s designs. It’s airy, spacious, uses wood and other endemic environment-friendly materials like bamboo, and is very modern and minimalist--refreshing to the eyes. Mañosa told the audience that “Architecture must be true to itself, its land, and its people.” I couldn’t agree more.
* Three photos above: Mañosa architectural designs, courtesy of the Philippine Daily Inquirer and Mañosa & Company, Inc.
Cathleen Caga-anan :: Human Rights is Empathy
Caga-anan, a lawyer for the Ateneo Human Rights Center, shared her experience as an intern in the center, when she was sent to Dumagat communities and the far flung communities in Mindoro. From there, she gained a first-hand experience of the daily struggles of men and women who do not get the rights we usually take for granted. These rights are as simple as the right to education, or the right to have a rest day from work, or the right to defend one’s self when one is accused of a crime, or even the right to own land that has been theirs since time immemorial until corporations took over. While these “rights” are usually assumed by us in the city, people in the distant rural areas barely get to get these rights. She mentioned specifically the indigenous peoples she encountered in these communities who know their rights but could not access them. In an age when human rights advocates are caricatured as “enemies of change” and “protectors of criminals”, human rights have become more ambiguous and remote. Or are they really?
Caga-anan’s talk dismantled these stereotypes. She defined human rights as “rights inherent in all of us by virtue of us being a human being.” She told of the time right after the Second World War, when the leaders of the world realized that if they had instituted a universal human rights law for everyone earlier, many of the unspeakable atrocities committed during the two world wars would have been averted, and millions upon millions could have survived. Upon this realization, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was ratified by the United Nations.
*The Universal Declaration of Human Rights by zen.pencils.com
Cagaanan enumerated the principles of Human Rights: It’s universal - it covers every human being and every human endeavor in every part of the world. It’s indivisible - the rights cannot only be applied to a selected few or to selected contexts. It’s inherent in every human being. It’s interdependent- the rights of one build up the entire individual, and in so doing, build up the rights of everyone. And it’s also inalienable - it is inherent and cannot be taken away at any given point in time.
The root of the matter why concept of human rights are distant to so many, especially in the cities, is that, as Caga-anan mentioned, we lack empathy to feel the pain other people experience. What is human rights advocacy, Cagaanan said, but recognizing the value and dignity of another person? Hence, empathy goes a long way. It just so happens that we use the term human rights to make the duty-bearers, the State, remember the value and dignity of their citizens.
In conclusion, TEDxADMU 2017 gave me renewed hope and optimism. Those are big words given the context today, when such creativity and innovation, such big dreams and possibilities for the country are so remote, with all the news flooded by corpses in our streets, an economy on a downhill and peaking price hikes. The solutions this TED event offered reminded me of the time when we were in a better place to set up sights on such dreams--that possibility of a Philippine Space Agency, or that time when the Philippines was Asia’s new economic tiger. I remember the time when our country hosted the APEC, and when world leaders applauded the innovation of lamps that run on saltwater by a Filipina scientist named Aisa Mijeno. Do we even remember when we won the case in the Arbitral Tribunal? It was unprecedented! This could have set a pivotal precedent for an international maritime law, if it was not set aside by our government. Where is the place of inclusive education in our present context, one that includes robotics, or the place of science in our Congress, which despite scientific data still approved Death Penalty and might rescind the Sin Tax Law? Where is the place of history and scholarship when our leaders are the epitome of anti-history, the derailment of truth by “creative imagination”, where “facts” are meaningless and arbitrary and when all the myriad national problems are all reduced to drugs. Progress cannot happen when there is no stability and rules are as arbitrary as shifting sand.
My only fear is that we would suffer another brain drain similar to a decade ago, when all our thinking people (like those in TED) would once again have no choice but to migrate to other countries that are kinder, more open, and more progressive. These countries would reap the benefits of Filipino skills that could have been used for the country that honed them.
And yet despite all of that, this TED event gave me hope.
There’s this program-ender tradition at TEDxADMU where TED participants get to write on a paper plane tucked in the kit they gave. Participants get to write there what the Philippines really needs. You throw that personal paper plane to whoever, and you pick the one that lands on you.
What landed on my seat was quite specific.
I was reminded of my own portion, my own stake, my own possible contribution in the larger family we call Pilipinas. My path is clear. I shall treasure this paper plane always.
Can’t wait for the next TED event!
