MulatPinoy.ph Aims to Harness the Power of the Internet for a Broader Awareness of PopDev Issues
The speakers for the said launch were:
- Fely Rixhon, Executive Director, Philippine Center for Population and Development
- Yasmin Mapua-Tang, Executive Director, Probe Media Foundation Inc.
- Dr. Nimfa Ogena, Philippine Population Association, “What is PopDev?”
- Milagros Corpuz, Philippine Center for Population and Development, “Balancing Population and Development and the 2010 Elections”
- JJ Jimeno, Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism, “Media with a Popdev Perspective”
- Ramon San Pascual, Phil Legislator’s Committee on Population and Development, “Media with a Popdev Perspective”
- Gabby Dizon, President/CEO, Flipside Games, “PopCity: Gaming PopDev”
- Dante Gagelonia, Mulat Pinoy, “Mulat Pinoy! Eye Opening Initiatives”
It is up to us, the present generation, to pave the way for a better, brighter future for the Philippines. Being aware is just the first step. It is time to open our minds to new directions and resourceful solutions for our most pressing social problems. Mulat, Pinoy!
The Website (http://www.mulatpinoy.ph)
The website is designed to be a centralized venue for coverage & commentary about popdev (Population Development) across various fields. Blog posts, news reports, forum discussions, videos & the like are compiled and presented here for ready public access.
The Mulat Pinoy website will change its theme monthly to cover a wide range of issues linking popdev to the environment, government resources, housing, food supply, education, gender, health & urbanization. A running discussion on poverty is present throughout all themes, as the causes (and solutions) to popdev and poverty are directly and intrinsically linked. Mulat Pinoy does not subscribe to any particular political, social, and religious agenda. The project’s ultimate loyalty is to the truth and the desire for a better nation for everyone, and the site reflects this sensibility.
The Real World
Mulat Pinoy’s major offline initiative is the Kapihan series: coffeeshop discussions featuring at least one major electoral candidate and third-party individuals (from NGOs, etc) as dictated by the session topic. The sessions are designed to give candidates an opportunity to engage media practitioners, bloggers and the general public to present and explain their perspectives on popdev and the theme. Mulat Pinoy ‘Kapihans’ will be held from 2 to 4 pm at Bo’s Coffee, Ground floor, Glorietta 5, Makati City. Below the themes and dates for the upcoming sessions:
January 16 - Population and environment
January 23 - Government resources and population dynamics
January 30 - Population and housing
February 13 - Population and Food Supply
February 27 - Population and education
March 13 - Population and health
March 27 - Urbanization/Migration
April 10 - Mulat Pinoy Synthesis
Visit MulatPinoy.ph or follow them on Twitter or Facebook for more updates
New Pinoy Web Game That Focuses on Population: Pop City
Move over, Farmville! Instead of counting chickens before they hatch, Pinoy youth will soon be building communities and keeping tabs on its population. Local game developing outfit Flipside Game Studios, in partnership with the Philippine Center for Population and Development, has created Pop City, a web-based city simulation game that showcases the correlation between a city's population and its economic well-being.
Similar to games such as Sim City, Pop City lets the player grow the city by building residential, commercial or service buildings, while managing its funds and population growth. At the start of each level, players are given a list of concrete set of economic goals – such as reaching a minimum population level, developing specific infrastructure, while generating sufficient revenue to maintain or even upgrade the city’s standard of living. On top of that, players must contend with the effects of population growth and economic development on issues such as health or the environment.
Flipside Game Studios, Inc. is a Manila-based company that specializes in full-scale development and outsourcing services for the game industry. Founded in 2005 by Jon Morin, Gabby Dizon and Lennard Garcia, the company plans to help change the game industry’s current business model by allowing small, creative teams to pursue a killer game concept while relying on us to handle the game’s production and management. FlipSide Games is a founding member of the Game Developers Association of the Philippines (GDAP).
PopCity can be played online for free at http://www.popcity.ph
About PCPD & Probe Productions, Inc :
Initially known as Population Center Foundation (PCF), the Foundation started operations in 1973. Its first mandate was to serve as a resource institution for the Philippine Population Program whose major concern then was “managing the growth of the country’s population through fertility reduction or family planning”. PCF was renamed the Philippine Center for Population and Development (PCPD) on February 15, 1991 to reflect the change on its mission.
Since 1987, Probe Productions, Inc. has crusaded against corrupt, irresponsible and sensationalist journalism by producing shows of substance and good production values. Local and international award-giving bodies have taken notice, making PPI the most recognized and awarded independent production company in the Philippines. In the year 2000, Probe established the PROBE MEDIA FOUNDATION as a way of moving beyond the business of producing educational TV programs and into the education of excellent media practitioners.
POPDEV (Population & Development) Primer
Population is the number of people at any given place, at a particular time. It is not static – population is determined by a confluence of three processes: fertility (number of births in a community), mortality (number of deaths in a community), and migration (number of people moving in and out of a community). A population is an aggregate set of individuals with varied characteristics, but age and sex are the two primary classifications.
Why adopt a population and development perspective?
Population dynamics influence all aspects of human, social, and economic development. As such, working on population issues is an important step towards achieving sustainable development and meeting the Millennium Development Goals, a list of benchmarks identified by the United Nations as the basic needs that global society must meet in order to significantly reduce, if not eradicate.
The Philippine Center for Population and Development has adopted a framework that shows the interrelations between the processes and outcomes of population and development.
Fertility, mortality and migration – the three identified population processes – inform a community’s size, population distribution according to age and sex, and distribution across its various areas. These, in turn, affect the consumption of goods and services, the utilization of human, physical and environmental resources, and other processes needed to run a community. These development processes lead to concrete outcomes for individual members of a population, such as employment and income, educational attainment, and quality of health – all of which will affect a person’s response regarding the three population processes.
What does population have to do with:
The environment – The size of a community’s population directly impacts on the environment it exists in: both in terms of the amount of the natural resources it subsists on, and the population’s capacity to replenish, conserve and increase these resources. One must also remember that humans are not the only living creatures in the ecosystem; we co-exist with populations of flora and fauna species, and it is necessary to maintain a balanced and healthy environment where all species can thrive. And with the impacts of global warming and climate change becoming more prominent in the last decade or so, human populations must learn to adapt accordingly. Mulat Pinoy’s Kapihan Session on Population and Environment is scheduled on January 16.
Government resources – Policymakers and government officials need to keep track of the latest population statistics to ensure that government is able to allocate sufficient resources and provide the necessary social services. For instance, governments responsible for a population with a large proportion of youth under the age of eighteen would need to beef up its primary and secondary educational system, as well as ensure the availability and accessibility of maternal and child health services. Grey populations, on the other hand, would need better pension services. A population’s spatial distribution must also be considered: this determines electoral districts and, consequently, legislative representation. Mulat Pinoy’s Kapihan Session on Government Resources and Population Dynamics is scheduled on January 23.
Housing – Shelter is one of humankind’s basic needs, a refuge from nature’s elements. But if there’s anything that typhoons Ondoy and Pepeng have taught us, it is that existing structures are not particularly secure, and residential areas ill-planned. Large populations necessarily require more housing, especially in areas of economic growth. But with high market values and uneven economic development, this leads to issues of inadequate housing and informal settling. Having a large population exacerbates these problems. Mulat Pinoy’s Kapihan Session on Populatoin and Housing is scheduled on January 30.
Food Supply – Perhaps the most primary of all basic needs, having adequate food is necessary for one’s survival. Population size is directly proportionate to food consumption, and it is imperative that a population’s food requirements are met, whether by agricultural production or importation from other countries. In addition to food supply, it is also important to make sure that food is accessible to the public, by keeping costs equitable. Of particular importance is the country’s declining productivity in terms of rice production; from being almost self-sufficient during the Green Revolution of the 1970s, the Philippines has become a net importer of rice. Mulat Pinoy’s Kapihan Session on Population and Food Supply is scheduled on February 13.
Education – Education plays a crucial role in economic development. This does not bode well for the Philippines, if the country’s deteriorating state of education is any indication. The mean achievement test scores at the primary level is 50 percent, ten points below the passing grade of 60. Attrition rates are high, with majority of the population failing to finish high school. Funding is channeled to tertiary institutions, but there are not enough classrooms for grade school, which has the highest population. A better understanding of the relationship between population and education would ideally result in a better allocation of resources, and the improvement of the quality of education. Mulat Pinoy’s Kapihan Session on Population and Education is scheduled on February 27.
Health – Population is driven by fertility and mortality, two processes that are directly influenced by health. A high fertility rate means more children. With inadequate living conditionsamong the poor, this translates to a high infant mortality rate and, for those who survive the early years, nutritionally-deficient children. Key health needs include child immunization and healthcare, sanitation and hygiene, and family planning. Mulat Pinoy’s Kapihan Session on Population and Health is scheduled on March 13.
Urbanization and Migration – One of the three key processes that determine population growth, migration is driven by the search for resources. People will gravitate to areas that provide them with more economic opportunity, often from rural to urban areas. The single largest phenomenon in developing countries is rapid urbanization. More often than not, the influx of people into urban areas far outstrips government’s capacity to build the necessary infrastructure, such as housing, transportation, and other basic services. Mulat Pinoy’s Kapihan Session on Urbanization and Migration is scheduled on March 27.
You can see some photos of this event at my Multiply account.
good day. sir pagamit po ako ng image ng mulat pinoy para po s blog ko. pavisit nalang po. http://freemancabasal.blogspot.com/
ReplyDeletetanx a lot. galing page. big up!
sure! feel free to grab the picture :)
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ReplyDeleteFinally! Dapat talaga may ganyan sa Pinas and dapt i require ang mga students to visit that site by theis social studies teachers.
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