Philippine tourism gets a boost, while a noted artist holds watercolor exhibit

DOT promotes country in Hokkaido

Tourism in the Philippines may yet get a boost from Japan’s premier tourist destination itself.

In cooperation with the Philippine Airlines and Japan-Philippine Tourism Council (JPTC), the Philippine Department of Tourism (DOT) Tokyo conducted a series of seminars for local travel agents, July 12 through 14, in Hokkaido’s key cities: Sapporo, Hakodate and Asahikawa.

Part of the crowd of local travel agents attending a seminar sponsored by DOT in Hokkaido.

The aim was to sell the Philippines as a travel destination and familiarize travel agents with new tourism products and services. As far as tourism goes, Hokkaido and the Philippines complement each other in many ways. In Hokkaido, people schedule their travel vacation in winter, from December to March, which is also the best time to visit the Philippines.

Located in the northernmost part of Japan, Hokkaido is surrounded by the Pacific Ocean, the Sea of Japan, and the Sea of Ohotsuku. It has breathtaking mountains, extensive wetlands, and natural lakes and marshes, and a cold climate largely uninterrupted by rain or typhoon.

Hokkaido is home to 5.69 million people or 4.7 percent of the total population of Japan. Its great potential as a source of outbound tourists for the Philippines is recognized by Cathay Pacific, which sells Manila and Cebu packages out of the capital city of Sapporo via Hong Kong. For their part, Philippine Airlines and Cebu Pacific are looking into the possibility of charter flights out of Hokkaido.

DOT wants to lure 380,000 Japanese tourists this year. It hopes the recently concluded seminars and others scheduled in the future would enable it to meet the target. (Information and photo by DOT-Tokyo.)

RP Embassy sets placement test

If you are at least 15 years old and have been out of school for at least two years, you may take the Philippine Educational Placement Test (PEPT) at the Philippine Embassy in Tokyo on Sunday, October 24, 2004, and get a chance to be accelerated to a higher grade.

The examination covers English, Math, Science, Philippine History, Social Studies, and Filipino.

A program of the Department of Education, PEPT measures one’s level of knowledge and, based on the results of the test, grants official certification that enables the holder to enroll at a higher level of studies.

PEPT is sponsored jointly by the Philippine Embassy and the Filipina Circle for Advancement and Progress (FICAP).To qualify, you need to produce your birth certificate, latest report card, two ID photos, accomplish a PEPT registration form, and pay a $100 fee.

For details, call the Cultural Section of the Philippine Embassy at 03-5562-1588; FICAP at 03-3484-6860, 03-3326-3761; or UniCAP Learning Center at 029-858-3016.

Pablo Javier holds exhibit for charity

Senpai-kohai or dohai? Two former Monbusho scholars, diplomat Domingo L. Siazon Jr. and painter Pablo Javier, at the height of their respective careers.

Noted painter Pablo Javier held a watercolor exhibit June 13-17 at the Philippine Embassy in Tokyo in observance the 106th Philippine Independence Day. Proceeds from the affair were donated to Philippine charitable organizations.

Mang Pabling, as he is fondly called by friends and admirers, is a native of Malolos, Bulacan. He is a long-time resident of Japan, having first come to the country as a Japanese Government scholar at about the same time Ambassador Domingo L. Siazon Jr. did. The ambassador, a graduate of Ateneo de Manila University, completed his post-graduate studies in Japan under the same scholarship.

After earning a degree in fine arts with highest honors and a gold medal from the University of Santo Tomas, Mang Pabling went on to pursue post-graduate studies at the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music, a prestigious art institution, under a scholarship provided by the Japanese Ministry of Education.

He completed the course under the tutelage of the late Prof. Koiso Ryohei, one of Japan’s greatest western-style visual artists. Mang Pabling served the Philippine Government in Tokyo as administrator for 17 years. He then taught art at Aoba-Japan International School for 16 years.

Active in social work and sports, he was chairman of the Philippine Assistance Group, an umbrella organization of Filipino associations in Tokyo and adjacent prefectures. He is past president of the Filipino Bowler’s Club and present commander of the Order of the Knights of Rizal in Tokyo.

For his dedication and commitment, Mang Pabling was given the Bagong Bayani Award by the Department of Labor in 1989, the Presidential Plaque of Appreciation in 1999 and the Diploma of Merit in 1963. Throughout his career, Mang Pabling has held ten exhibits, four of them one-man shows. His oil paintings of Philippine presidents hang at the Philippine Embassy in Tokyo.

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