DepEd gives COMTEQ Challenge green light

The Department of Education (DEPED) finally gave the 'go signal' to the producers of the COMTEQ Challenge, the first locally televised quiz show, last October 25 through a signing of a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) between the DepEd and COMTEQ Business College.

Represented by Mr. Ansbert Joaquin of COMTEQ and Ms. Dinah Mindo of the Region III office of the Department of Education, COMTEQ and the DepEd agreed that the producers of COMTEQ Challenge in coordination with the DepEd will encourage and promote academic excellence through the said quiz show.

The MOA also states that while COMTEQ will provide financing for the production of the said show, transportation for the contestants, coaches and judges, and prizes for the winners, the Department of Education will provide the endorsements for the participating secondary schools in OLongapo, Zambales and Bataan areas, assist in the formulation of the rules and mechanics and help ensure the fairness and transparency in the conduct of the said quiz show.

In a interview, Mr. Joaquin said, "We wanted to recognize and reward outstanding students from Olongapo, Zambales and Bataan and at the same time grant them scholarships here at COMTEQ."

"We also want to improve the learning experience of the students in the areas of Science, Math, English, Information Technology, Current Events, Filipiniana and General Information," he added.

The said quiz show, open to all high school senior students with an average of 85% in all subjects, will be aired on STV-6 every Sunday at ten o'clock in the morning starting November.

Dry Run of COMTEQ Challenge, a Success!

"Congratulations! Ang galing!

These were the words of Dennis Marasigan, director of the COMTEQ Challenge after the quiz show's first dry run shoot held at the SUBAC Theater last October 23.

"We are ready for the actual shoot." Marasigan told the staff and crew of the quiz show which will begin airing around November, evry Saturday at ten o'clock in the morning on STV-6, the local television channel in Olongapo City and Subic, Zambales.

In an interview, Mr. Ansbert Joaquin of COMTEQ Business College, said that he dry run was done in order to check the lights, the stage set-up, camera blocking and the time-and-motion.

"Since this is the first quiz show that will be televized on the local television channel, we have to be sure that everything will run smoothly," Joaquin added.

Jen Velarmino, one of the hosts, said "I have joined several contests but most of them are in writing and beauty pageants, so being involved in a competition like this gives me great pride."

Some of the staff and crew also stated that they were very excited about the show. "The way the show was done, even though it was just a dry run, seemed professional," one crew said.

Staff and crew of the COMTEQ Challenge comprise of individuals from the Cultural Center of the Philippines, some media professional practitioners from Subic and Olongapo, and some students from Comteq Business College.

The said quiz show, which includes categories such as Science, Math, English, Filipino, Literature, Information Technology, and Current Events, is open to all senior high school students with an average of 85% in all subjects.

Prizes for the winners include scholarships from COMTEQ Business College.

SBMA signs MOA with COMTEQ

To achieve common goals related to education of the youth and community service, Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) and Comteq Business College signed a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) last October 7 to pave the way for the launching of the first locally televised quiz show in Olongapo City, Bataan and Zambales.

Represented by Mr. Ansbert Joaquin, Deputy Administrator of COMTEQ Business College, and Architect Macario De Leon, Head of the SBMA Planning & Development Office, COMTEQ and SBMA agreed to hold the live tapings of the COMTEQ Challenge Quiz Show at the recently established Subic Arts Center (SUBAC) with SBMA taking up the role of major sponsor.

The MOA also stated that the SBMA will provide for the free use of the SUBAC facilities as well as the lights and sound equipment.

Child star Dindin Llarena sings for ailing Kirby

OLONGAPO CITY – Child star Dindin Llarena took the cudgels for an ailing one-year old biliary atresia patient and agreed to perform for free in a benefit concert scheduled on February 7 at the Football Field inside the Subic Bay Freeport Zone.

The benefit concert, which is being co sponsored by the Olongapo and Zambales Association of Private Technical Institutions and the local chapter of Union of Journalists of the Philippines, is one of the series of activities aimed at generating three million pesos for the much needed liver transplant operation for Kirby Erick Hizon.

Llarena, who hails from Olongapo City, was represented by her aunt, Solidad Nasaire, during the negotiations with Kirby’s parents.  Nasaire assured Kirby’s parents of Dindin’s help in the fund drive.  Nasaire was almost in tears when she saw Baby Kirby and immediately donated five thousand pesos for the fund raising project.

Llarena’s relatives also refused an offer of free hotel accommodations during their stay in Olongapo and suggested that the cost of the hotel be donated to Kirby instead.

Kirby, who was born in Castillejos, Zambales, has been the subject of a community wide fund raising campaign being organized by the local chapter of the NUJP which started three months ago.

Kirby is suffering from biliary atresia, a rare liver ailment which leads to sure death, normally within the first one to two years of the baby’s birth, unless the patient undergoes liver transplant operation.

The NUJP took on the cause of helping Kirby after learning that his parents, a young couple from a poor family in Zambales, often cannot afford to pay for daily medications and special formula milk to keep their baby alive.

OZAPTI President Dean Myrna Matira also learned of Kirby’s situation and decided to help in the campaign and said, “helping Kirby is much lighter than the trouble of having to address the problem if we were the parents of the afflicted child.”

Aside from Llarena, the concert will feature local bands, Xtrm, D’zyre, Infinite, Foulvemder, Templar, Deadspot and the Subic Performing Artists, all of which agreed to perform for free.

Aside from the concert, the NUJP has placed bamboo coin banks in several establishments in Olongapo and the Subic Bay Freeport to receive donations for Kirby.  The project, dubbed Alkansya ni Kirby, is being supported enthusiastically by duty free shops, supermarkets, schools, banks, internet cafes, and mercury drug outlets.

Students from concert major sponsor, COMTEQ Computer College, have for almost a month now, collecting donations from passengers and pedestrians at the main gate of the Subic Freeport, and selling tickets at the gates of various Subic Freeport locators.

A local cable provider, STV 6, meanwhile has sponsored a telethon and generated a substantial amount for the fund.

Donations also come from anonymous donors in Manila and from a few Senators.

Donors can get in touch with the Help Save Baby Kirby Secretariat office at Telefax: 047-252-3335, or write by electronic mail at savekirby@comteq.edu.ph.

COMTEQ Students Take up the Cudgels for Baby Kirby

At the beginning there were just rumors.  A child had been afflicted with a deadly disease that was slowly but surely killing him.  His only hope lay in a very expensive liver transplant, far beyond the means of his parents.  People and organizations were working to help raise the needed funds.

Then the LIFT BABIES Foundation, the primary support group for victims of biliary atresia sought the help of the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines local chapter (NUJP-OS).  Since the COMTEQ Deputy Administrator is a member of the NUJP-OS, COMTEQ became a beehive of activity in the rush to raise the funds necessary to save the baby’s life.

Curious questions from the COMTEQ students soon ferreted out the details and gave the baby a name:  Erick Kirby Hizon, now 14 months old, the only child of a couple whose sole breadwinner is factory worker at the SBMA.  The baby is afflicted with biliary atresia, a disease marked by the absence of bile ducts that cause bile to accumulate in the liver, eventually killing it and the baby.  The only hope at this late stage is for a liver transplant within a year, that would cost P3 million.  The task of raising the required amount in time to save the baby’s life was daunting.

Soon the curiosity felt by the COMTEQ students, was replaced by pity at the prospect of an innocent life in peril.  Reinforced by their lectures on Values, and firm in their belief in a pro-active way of life, COMTEQ students can not sit idly by while death threatens a child.  Especially not when they learned further, that even impoverished Aeta communities have pitched in to help.  It was time for action; time to be pro-active.

COMTEQ students began to volunteer to lug bamboo coin banks to gather donations from passersby.  When the trickle of volunteers became a drove, the students requested to be allowed to apply their work towards the completion of their NSTP subject, to enable them to devote more time to fund raising.  Permits were obtained, the students were organized into groups and schedules were given.  The bamboo coin banks were being filled more rapidly now.

When the “Save Baby Kirby” campaign got underway, a Save Kirby website, (Powered by COMTEQ Students) was their contribution.  For the COMTEQ students, it was just another way of putting their skills to work.

Soon the fund raising activity spilled over to the Night Market at the SBMA.  Again COMTEQ students were at the forefront of the coin bank campaign, many of them working till way past midnight.  How can they do any less, when even street children begging for alms at the night market drop coins at their bamboo coin banks?  The experience heightened their social awareness even more.

Now, another fund raising activity is planned.  A concert entitled “Youth rock for Kirby” will be held on February 7th, 2004.  Already COMTEQ students are busy folding and preparing appeal flyers.  It would not surprise me to see COMTEQ student volunteers, again in droves, come concert time.  After all, they are pro-active.