13th DEGIT : A Success!

UST-SRC hosts International Conference DEGIT - XIII

The Social Research Center of the University of Sto. Tomas with the Copenhagen Business School Department of Economics and the Kiel Institute for the World Economy hosts the 13th conference on Dynamics, Economic Growth and International Trade. The conference was held at Thomas Aquinas Research Complex, University of Sto. Tomas, Manila Philippines on November 18 and19, 2008.

More than thirty (30) economists and researchers from the country and abroad submitted papers for presentation focusing on the patterns and implications of international trade and foreign direct investment in a growing world economy, as well as the conditions under which nations benefit from regional economic integration. Papers on other specialized topics, such as agricultural integration, agricultural policy and food security, natural resource economics and environmental issues were also presented.

The 2-day program started with an introduction from Alvin Ang, Director of UST-SRC and welcome remarks from the UST Vice Rector for Academic Affairs Clarita Carillo. Bjarne S. Jensen of University of Southern Denmark and Copenhagen Business School gave a short response in behalf of the DEGIT organizers.

During the plenary, close to a hundred participants listened to the keynote speeches on Regional Economic Integration in Asia by Giovanni Capannelli of Asian Development Bank and Denise Konan of University of Hawaii. Hirofumi Uzawa of Research Institute of Capital Formation Development Bank of Japan, Tokyo also gave a presentation on Global Warming, Imputed Prices and Sustainable Development.

The presenters were toured to the University Museum at the end of the day 1. It was coupled with a Conference Dinner with inspiring presentations from international artists Renato Lucas, Rolando Reyes and the UST Salinggawi Dance Troupe.

In the 2nd day of the conference, plenary presentations and discussions revolved around various topics Imelda Revilla-Molina of International Rice Research Institute presented Improvement of Technical Efficiency in Rice Planting while Rainer Klump of Goethe University Frankfurt discussed Biased Technological Change in Agriculture. This session was followed by presentations on Stochastic Dynamics of Economic Growth,Trade and Finance Models by Partha Chatterjee of National University of Singapore and Bjarne S. Jensen of University of Southern Denmark and Copenhagen Business School . The afternoon plenary was about the Global Financial Crisis with Evelyn R. Santos of Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas and Wick Veloso of Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation as Resource Speakers.

There were a total of nine Parallel Sessions in the conference. Topics were on Firms, Innovation and Productivity, Trade Patterns, Aid and Growth, Environment and Agriculture , Agglomeration, and Dynamic Models among others. The event ended with presenters and participants having a chance to network and discuss on a cocktail party.

The said conference is a sequel to twelve previous conferences with the same theme held in Denmark (1996), Hong Kong (1997), Taiwan (1998), Tilburg (1999), Rome (2000), Vienna (2001), Cologne (2002), Helsinki (2003), Reykjavik (2004), Mexico City (2005), Jerusalem (2006) and Melbourne (2007).

an email from dr. alvin ang as he turned 40

This year America is celebrating Thanksgiving Day on my birthday, 27 November! They have made my birthday special as millions are celebrating with me. This year is also doubly special for me as I am celebrating my 40th birthday.

As a young boy of 11, my father died and my mother just turned 40 years old then. I heard many people consoling my mother and telling her life begins at 40. As I reach that age today, I do not believe that life begins at 40. Nonetheless, I still see 40 as an important year to remember. It is a milestone that needs to be "monumented." I see the age 40 from the perspective of how God shaped Moses to be the leader of His people. Moses lived up to 120 years old, Deuteronomy 34:7 says – "Moses was a hundred and twenty years old when he died, yet his eyes were not weak nor his strength gone." His life is a model of how God can shape our direction and purpose.

Like Moses, I see the first 40 years of my life as preparation. Moses encountered the Lord in the burning bush after he turned 40. The first 40 years was preparation for the big rescue that he was to lead. Similarly for us, God has allowed different situations and conditions these past 40 years (for those of you above it) to ensure that we are ready for the big work. This does not mean that before 40 we did not do what He wanted, it is simply a shift of phase and further deepening, a better focus, a mature heart and a special way of understanding of things and situations.

Most of us have invested time and resources to build up our earthly positions before 40. In my birthday devotion today, the Lord led me to the verse above – the second phase or the second forty years, the focus is no longer on the discovering the relationship with God with the bias for the self, but a deepening of the relationship with God with a bias for others. This means that life with God has phases instored for us to discover. He does not make it monotonous. He makes sure that we enjoy every minute of it. The verse above tells me that I have completed a phase of preparation, now – I must no longer worry about building for myself, I must now start building and expanding for Him. Moses led the Israelites during the next 40 years of his life. These years were the time he was used by God to do great and mighty miracles – most of all these years were the time he personally saw and experience God. What an exciting time!

The next 40 years will mean also a time of preparing the next generation – my sons – to be the Solomons of their generation, to build God's kingdom in their lives. This is also a time to build up the body of Christ by being a mentor to others – friends, relatives and people in my influence. This is also a time to re-enliven and refresh my relationship with my wife and allowing God to bring it to new heights.

I would like to end by saying that God gave me a wonderful gift this day as His affirmation for the next 40 years. You see I am typing this letter in a hotel room in Hanoi, Vietnam fronting the West Lake. God brought me here for an all expenses paid conference to have a lakeview experience with Him. I actually dreamed of having a big thanksgiving party for this day. God made it possible with a hundred people in attendance in a beautiful hotel and an evening dinner cruise in the West Lake of Hanoi! Allow me to thank you for being a part of my first 40 years, I am sure that you will very well be in the next 40 years. Friends, my prayer is that we will all see our phase in life according to God's plan. I am looking forward to enjoying Him for the next 40 years so I can enjoy everything He has given me! Come, join me!

thoughts about justice

Justice is the fulfillment of obligation, that is, of the essential demand of one person from another. It is not giving them what they deserve. It is giving them what they need.

The concept of justice usually is thought of giving someone what he deserves, it’s almost black-or-white. And, its image is usually one who is blind-folded, not looking at other perspectives that may somehow lead to bias---but how would you measure properly if you refuse to see?

Justice to a human person is what his being a man demands by way of growth and unfolding towards maturity…like a child being provided of care, nourishment, education, social environment among others for him to grow and develop as a mature individual. Justice here, is not given in exact measures for all since each have different needs and conditions---hence, we give what others need, not our idea of what others deserve.

There was a story of two angels visiting a village. Both spent a night in a house of families of different values and background. The junior angel noticed that the senior angel repaired a small hole in the basement of the rich family. He noticed further that he allowed the carabao of the poor family to die. The junior angel saw this as foul and he cried ‘injustice!’. The senior angel after many days explained that the hole in the basement is a mark where the gold bars are hidden. The rich family would find it hard to find what they have hid in the first place…The dead carabao is an exchange. Angel of death came to take the poor man’s wife but the senior angel requested that he take the carabao instead. Here we see that things aren’t always what they seem, so is our concept of justice.

‘An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth’ would leave this world blind and ‘bungal’ . Though often used, this is not the expression of justice. If a man failed to see and respect others, obviously, he needs to learn it. Punishing him in any other manner that would not lead him to learn, recognize justice, living it and leading it to love, is a useless punishment. This is why most child psychologists would recommend talking to the child instead of just spanking him, for words may lead to comprehension and living fully.

Finally, one would agree that “love and justice are the same, for justice is love distributed” and that no one could ever be just unless he learns to love his fellowmen. It is our primary obligation to others…to affirm, to respect, to love and be just.

15 songs of our HS days and my all-time favorite...

1. more than words (sayin' i love you)
2. heaven knows (maybe my love will come back someday)
3. farewell (to you my friend)
4. awit ng barkada (nakasimangot ka na lang palagi)
5. mahal kita (yan ay alam mo na)
6. sana kahit minsan (ay mapansin ako)
7. a friend (i've still been searching and long have i waited)
8. one friend (i always thought you we're the best---tay! ito yun!)
9. how am i supposed to live without you (now that i've been loving)
10. where are you now (someone there tonight holding what)
11. we are friends (that's what we'll be til the end)
12. when i die (you give me strength when i start to worry)
13. even if (you mean the whole damn world to me)
14. next in line (what is life to offer me when i grow old)
15. we didn't start the fire (harry truman, doris day, red china)

---------------------
The Rose (Bette Midler)

Some say love, it is a river, that drowns the tender reed
Some say love, it is a razor, that leaves your soul to bleed
Some say love, it is a hunger, an endless aching need
I say love, it is a flower, and you, its only seed

Its the heart afraid of breaking, that never learns to dance
Its the dream afraid of waking, that never takes the chance
Its the one who wont be taken, the one who cant seem to give
And the soul afraid of dying, that never learns to live

When the night has been too lonely and the road has been too long
And you think that love is only for the lucky and the strong
Just remember that in the winter, far beneath the bitter snow
Lies the seed, that with the suns love in the spring becomes the rose.

bf ever:a-work-in-progress

we all hear of best buddies and best friends, but oftentimes it is about two men or two women who lived their life in each other's company, through good times and bad, preserving their friendship...ours is a different story: we're bestfriends of opposite sex but we clicked (in my opinion) way better than same-sex buddies. it is still a work-in-progress after 18 long years, but it is beginning to become a masterpiece.

kristoffer (whom i fondly call 'tay', who loved-with d to call me baby) is my bestfriend ever. we started knowing each other in our sophomore year and have loved each others' company since then. we share stories, laughters, concerns and silliness sometimes all in one sitting. but it was not fun all throughout. there were quarrels too, small petty ones to big ones (graduation day feeling glum coz he won't even look at me in anger- for reasons i can't even remember now).

(this space is reserved for the years in my time in a bottle, his words and memories such as...if you really love him, i'd help you guard your heart for him...you're supposed to say it can't be coz im your 'tay'...we were just together yesterday but i miss you already...)

he is working on the other side of the world now, sometimes i feel that he is just around and i feel glad, but sometimes i feel reality biting --- my bf ever is ever-so-far that i can't even remember the feel of the touch of his hand...good thing there's the phone and the email and the messenger to keep in touch with him. he is still single (wink, wink) and enjoying his life, while i am a post graduate student, a mother and a wife to a man he approves of.

there are times i think of him, times that sometimes makes me smile and laugh but mostly making me cry (we love drama). we continue to support each other and love each other and care for each other despite the distance and circumstance. i am blessed with his friendship, and with him, i realized "there is no such thing as far away".

5 things...(samu't sari)

"Wag magmadali sa pag-aasawa. Tatlo, lima , sampung taon sa hinaharap, mag-iiba pa ang pamantayan mo... Totoong mas importante ang kalooban ng tao higit anuman. Sa paglipas ng panahon, maging ang mga crush ng bayan e nagmumukha ring pandesal."

"hindi dahil sa hindi mo naiintindihan ang isang bagay ay kasinungalingan na ito.
at hindi lahat ng kaya mong intindihin ay katotohanan. "

"Sabi nila, sa kahit ano raw problema, isang tao lang ang makakatulong sa'yo - ang sarili mo. Tama sila. Isinuplong ako ng sarili ko. Kaya siguro namigay ng konsyensya ang Diyos, alam niyang hindi sa lahat ng oras e gumagana ang utak ng tao."

"Mas mabuting mabigo sa paggawa ng isang bagay kesa magtagumpay sa paggawa ng wala."

" Para san ba ang cellphone na may camera (at kung anu-ano pa!)? Kung kailangan sa buhay yun, dapat matagal na kong patay."

engaged???..available???

Is it because I am engaged that I have to be available? Is it because I am available that I have to be engaged? What spells engagement? Availability? Do I reach out to grow or do I grow to reach out?

Thesis: The being who is ready for anything is the opposite of him who is occupied or cluttered up with himself. He reaches out …beyond his narrow self, prepared to consecrate his being to a cause which is greater than he is but at the same time he makes his own. (G.Marcel, Engagement and Availability)

In the many aspects and dimensions of man’s struggle, one can not help but question the reasons for his existence. What is the purpose of learning, yearning, earning and unlearning? What makes a person a person? In this juncture, one may realize that life offers more questions rather than answers and somehow the questions are the answers in itself.

The world may come as an exercise book. You can choose to draw yourself as an individual, alone but not lonely. Your aloneness here may not last for vey long since man by nature seeks to learn and grow. What best way to learn and grow but to learn and grow with others in a community. But, just the same, you can choose to express reality or fantasy in your exercise book if you wish to do so. Fantasy or dreams however gives you an escape – the chance to pass events off as nothing and do other things. Responsibility for such is somehow vague and this may be coupled with questionable acceptance that others exist as persons too.

Reality as drawn brings others into shape. The concept that you are engaged to your own being, engaged to the existence of others, engaged as a part of the community. Here, you may gain or lose your individuality, but only always with your consent.
I used to look at myself as a star of a movie. Everything revolves around me (I am the sun in the solar system!). Whatever happens happens because it has something to do with me, either I may have caused it or it may cause me to somehow improve my character. Scenes function the same way as people in my movie. Either I will bring joy or havoc in their seeming insignificant lives or they’d bring changes in the way I play my part. It may go on like this for a while until a snap pulls me out of the movie in my mind.

The world indeed is bigger. Life can engulf an unprepared being. Gone should be the days of being too caught up with myself. Here comes the ‘me’ saying “I’m ready, I’m ready! Ready to face the world. Ready to meet people and learn. Ready to experience Ready to become an advanced life-form. I’m ready and available to be engaged – to life.”