“Bibliotheraphy” aims to promote Christian values among Centralians. Photo Credit: Prof. Ana Mae Cantel.
The Philippine Librarians Associations, Inc. (PLAI) and the Western Visayas Regional Librarians Council (WVRLC) promotes “Bibliotherapy,” an initiative which recognizes the inherent quality of literature not only as a source of enjoyment and entertainment, but as materials that promote well-being.
Book-reading has been found to offer therapeutic benefits which can result to developing self-confidence, increasing intellectual capacity, as well as building healthier interpersonal relations. Mr. Christian George Acevedo, PLAI-WVRLC President, further explains that reading “books and other literature can facilitate structure interactions between and among individuals.”
According to Prof. Ana Mae Cantel, the event facilitator, CPU’s Henry Luce III Library is one of the recognized centers of the program as the library holds one of the biggest collections of reading materials in the whole of Western Visayas.
CPU President Dr. Teodoro C. Robles with Transnational Program Office Director Dr. Rowena Libo-on and Vice President for Finance and Administration Dr. Florence P. Bogacia.
Dr. Rowena Libo-on, Director for Office of Transnational Programs, in an interview stated that one of the reasons for the existence of the university transnational programs is “to initiate and strengthen national and international linkages with individuals and institutions for mutual development here and abroad” as provided in the Administrative Manual.
The initial discussion and the preparation of the Memorandum of Understanding with the Thai Nguyen University of Economics and Business Administration (TUEBA) was spearheaded by the President, Dr. Teodoro C. Robles, and ably assisted by Atty. Aila Endonila, Legal Counsel; Dr. Rowena Liboon; Dr. Florence P. Bogacia, Vice President for Finance and Administration; and Dr. Jessica Chin, then Director of the International Programs.
The program started with the undergraduate course offering in Master in Business Administration and Master in Public Administration. As the number of students grew, the CPU Board of Trustees through Resolution No. 11, dated December 7, 2013, approved the creation of the Department of Vietnam Programs under the College of Business and Accountancy.
Dr. Liboon with the Dean of the College of Liberal Arts, Myanmar Institute of Theology.
The strategic plan also included plans to increase enrolment, such as offering distance education program and increasing the number of programs abroad. The Department of Vietnam Programs was changed to Office of Transnational Programs and was approved by the CPU Board of Trustees during a Regular Meeting in its Resolution No. 6 on November 11, 2015.
The new name gave way to more opportunities for academic programs and linkages with foreign universities and institutions. As of now the Office of Transnational Programs is preparing for its academic programs with the Myanmar Institute of Theology, College of Liberal Arts for its joint programs in Master in Business Administration. Another project for Transnational Programs this year is the offering of degree programs online.
The advantage with CPU Transnational Programs according to Dr. Libo-on is that “our partner,” Thai Nguyen University of Economics and Business Administration (TUEBA) has its own International Cooperation Center for Training and Study Abroad (ICCTS). The Center has support staff for each of the program with CPU.
Dr. Robles (5th from Right and Atty Von Lovel Bedona (fourth from Right) with CPU VIP+s are in the front row with Graduates of TNU-TUEBA in Vietnam.
On the other hand, CPU’s best practices on the Transnational Programs with Thai Nguyen University of Economics and Business Administration (TUEBA) include choosing highly qualified faculty, faculty orientation prior to the teaching assignment, full compensation for the local teaching load while teaching CPU programs in TUEBA, mutual support for students in TUEBA—including CPU faculty participation in thesis evaluation and defense.
Only those with master’s degrees can teach in the undergraduate programs while only those with doctoral degrees can teach in the graduate programs. In their Vision, it is stated that “the Office for Transnational Programs endeavor to achieve national and international recognition as a top institution of higher learning in the Philippines and in Asia.”
Prof. Adele Grace G. Fegarido shares her insights about the struggles of being a pastor and how to overcome them with faith and persitence.
Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another and all the more as you see the Day approaching. – Hebrews 10:25
More than 700 pastors from all over the country gathered at Camp Higher Ground, Barotac Viejo, Iloilo as the Convention Baptist Ministers’ Association Inc. (CBMA) held its 77th Annual Assembly on January 18-20, 2018.
With the theme, “Reinventing Servant-Leadership, Responding to the Call of Times,” the assembly aimed to equip and empower pastors as servant leaders in their ministries. According to Pastor Jec Dan Borlado, CPBC Director for Pastoral Placement, Theological Education, and Ministerial Concerns, “This event is a visual expression and a concrete expression of our unity and our fellowship that we belong to one community of faith. It helps renew relationships and revive old friendships as the minsters and church leaders share their testimony to encourage one another.”
Rev. Rosan Valencia-Tabaodaja encourages the participants to hold on to the promises of God.The ordained ministers of the CPBC during the CBMA General Assembly.
There were lectures aimed at encouraging church leaders to believe in themselves and in their calling and to enhance their knowledge in leading their churches to become an integral ministry of serving the community where they are located. Prof. Adele Grace G. Fegar talked about “Servant-Leaders Ministering Self and Family,” Rev. Dr. Steve Smith lectured on “Servant Leadership Ministering to Institutions and Organizations,” and together with Rev. Dr. Smith, Dr. Emo Yango, Rev. Jasher M. Gastaya and Pastor Russell M. Ban shared their insights on “Servant-Leaders Ministering to other Faiths, Races and Ideologies.”
The annual CBMA General Assembly aims to unite and to encourage church leaders of the convention all over the country.
CBMA is the national organization of pastors serving the churches of the Convention of Philippine Baptist Churches.
The CBMA officers are: Pastor Elizer G. Geromiano, President; Rev. Oliver E. Lambatin, Vice President; Pastor Danna Beatrize R. Yee, Secretary; Pastor Nilo Bacas, Treasurer; and Rev. Mark A. Vergara, Auditor.
Prof. Marco Brazil, in animated conversation, explains to Mr. Cyrus Natividad, Media Relations Officer why he chose to teach young children.
But Jesus said, “Allow the little children, and do not forbid them to come to me; for the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to ones like these.” (Matthew 19:14)
Just a day after his lecture-workshop on Teaching English to Young Learners at the CPU Educational Media Center, Prof. Marco Brazil generously spent time with the kindergarten school pupils of the University Kindergarten on Monday January 8, 2018. He modeled how students can learn and appreciate a topic better through active story telling. Brazil is a Filipino child psychologist who has been teaching children in Japan for the past 20 years. Principal Hannah C. Siosan brought the development communication master to CPU Kindergarten School in her desire to introduce an active learning pattern of story-telling to the children.
As a well-experienced trainer and teacher all over Asia, Brazil gathered the children with their teachers in one room. The medium included a slide presentation of pictures and characters from storybooks he himself authored: The Monkey and the Turtle, The Rabbit and the Turtle, and The Hardworking Ant. He emphasized the story by acting out the scenes on each page. He involved the children by asking them to dance and sing children’s songs for the slide story. The children who have not encountered this kind of story-telling and learning process before, responded positively and enthusiastically. Siosan commented that “the integration of the new learning process in our medium of instruction is very important.”
Brazil shared that, for him, “teaching children is more glorious than teaching adults because it (education) is the foundation and bridge of the young mind to bigger universal knowledge that can never be learned without the child knowing the basic ideas in younger years.”
Brazil is a popular and regular presenter of Oxford University Press and MacMillan Education Asia children’s books. He is internationally known as the Asia King of Games.
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