The members of Batch 2007 were Mr. Satoshi Takemae (group leader, on second Biliran tour), Mr. Hiroaki Odachi, Mr. Fuyunobu Fukatsu, Mr. Akihisa Shimazaki, Ms. Maren Mordau (German-Japanese exchange student from Trier University in Germany), Ms. Mari Sato, Ms. Shino Ichikawa, and Ms. Asako Takura. They were accompanied by Prof. Tomoe Shitaba and his wife, Hatsue.

The whole itinerary in the Leyte lasted from March 21 to 28, 2007. The period from March 23-26 was spent in Biliran Province.

The main objective of their study tour was to conduct a home-stay for the Japanese students of Tokyo International University in Biliran town and to observe developments in the education sector (elementary, secondary and tertiary) in the province. A visit to the U.P. - School of Health Sciences in Palo, Leyte was also made for the visitors to get oriented on the the school's new directions and to meet with SHS students.

The group's visits to World War II sites in mainland Leyte were facilitated by ATTIC Tours, a tour agency.

In March this year [2007] I had the opportunity to take part in the study trip of the Shitaba seminar [of the Tokyo International University in Saitama, Japan] to the Philippines. Prof. Tomoe Shitaba and [a selected group of] his students visit the Philippines every year for the purpose of strengthening Philippine-Japanese friendship through exchange [of ideas, observations, and opinions among students] and to find ways to solve the developmental problems of the Philippines in dialogue with their exchange partners [from Japan].

In preparing for the trip the [Japanese] students informed themselves about the war history between Japan and the Philippines, the relation between both countries today, and the problem of poverty and development of the Philippines.

One of the main topics of the Shitaba seminar is the question of peace and safety in the Asian region. In fact, it can be argued that solving the poverty and developmental problems of the Philippines is not only essential for a peaceful situation in this country but also for a peaceful Asian region as a whole, not the least because of the border-crossing impact that domestic conflicts might have on other countries.

For me, it was the first time to visit the Philippines as well as the first time to visit a developing country. Hence, I was very interested in the kind and variety of problems that the Philippines face as well as its difficulties in finding an effective political strategy to ensure development.

This essay deals with some problems we had learned about in more detail during our trip and tries to find an answer, based on our experiences from the trip, to the question of how development in the Philippines can be pushed forward.

One of the aims of the study tour this year was to promote a relatively new technology called EM (Effective Microorganisms) in Biliran. EM can be used for different purposes, for example for cleaning [sanitation] and also as fertilizer for farming. As it works with living micro-organisms, it is not a chemical-based technique and it is harmless to human health and the environment. EM can be easily self-produced compared to chemical fertilizers that the farmer normally has to buy every year.

To produce EM, a machine is necessary to culture the micro-organisms. After having invested in the initial cost for the machine, EM becomes a cheap alternative to traditional chemical-based fertilizing. Another advantage of EM is that its effect does not diminish after having been used for years as is often the case with chemical fertilizers.

Because the soil on which Philippine farmers cultivate crops often seems to be of lower quality, using an effective fertilizer is very important for them. But many farmers neither have enough money for fertilizers nor are they sufficiently educated to deal with modern agricultural techniques. Hence, on the one hand, EM could be a very important means to improve the situation of Philippine farmers. But on the other hand, it might be difficult at the beginning to implement the EM technique [because this would involve] buying the necessary machines and introducing the farmers successfully to the new technology.

One of the exchange partners of the Shitaba seminar is the Biliran National Agricultural College (BNAC) [in Biliran town]. As BNAC could play a leading role in Biliran [Province] in implementing the EM technique, the Shitaba seminar and BNAC are planning to cooperate closely for this purpose. The Shitaba seminar is helping BNAC acquire the necessary equipment so that the school can prove the effectiveness of EM to the farmers of Biliran and make them willing to adopt it.

We [Japanese] students have discussed the topic with some students of BNAC who had a very positive opinion of the possible effects of EM but were also concerned about how to promote it successfully to the farmers.

Apart from the initial costs of implementation, there are broader structural problems, especially the lack of knowledge, which makes it difficult to implement new technical achievements in developing countries as the Philippines.

Concerning the poor conditions in which many Philippine farmers live, they have to rely on their crops to survive. Adopting a new technique without being able to judge their effectiveness means a very high risk for them from their point of view. Such kind of problems related to implementation, which might not be as visible as the financial hurdles, must be taken into consideration very seriously by developmental programs goal is to promote new technologies.

The example above shows that, in most cases, a balanced cooperation with appropriate local partners is absolutely necessary for the understanding of the specific situation of the people for which the project is intended as well as for building up their confidence.

Because of the impact that psychological factors might have on the success or failure of developmental programs, I am of the opinion that a mere technical perspective on developmental issues should be avoided.

There is no doubt that poverty is one of the greatest problems of the Philippines. But poverty is more than just a financial issue. The problem of poverty is closely linked to many other problems that the Philippines face, for example the problem of population increase as well as the education problem or the difficulties in providing sufficient health and medical care.

During our stay in Biliran we had the opportunity to visit a slum area in which a project [the Gawad Kalinga project in Biliran town] was implemented to help the people living there. Originally, the people lived in small wooden shacks that looked as if they would be neither a protection against rain nor wind. Because of the project, which is based on the work of volunteers, there were [already] several concrete buildings in the slum when we visited it.

The idea was to give the people there a stable home and to offer them some kind of a job training so that they will be able to find new perspectives for the future and to earn a little money, by selling some snacks for example. Because the project was not yet finished, there were also a lot of shacks in the slum, and we were allowed to enter one of them. The occupant of the shack was a young, very friendly woman carrying a sleeping baby. The woman was 23 years old, exactly my age. Living under these circumstances, she did not have the chance yet to earn enough money to support herself, let alone her family. In fact, she told us she had already eight children.

The dramatic population increase of the Philippines is a problem itself, but what makes the situation really serious is that it is the poor, less educated section of the population that is increasing rapidly. In comparison, the wealthy host family I stayed with in Biliran had two children.

As we were told in Biliran, there are religious reasons for some Christians that can partially explain the phenomenon of population increase. Children are seen as potential workers who can help to support their family, and they can take care of their parents when they get old. Such consideration seems to be stronger than considerations about how to feed so many children, not to talk about how to finance their education. For being mostly less educated themselves, there are many parents who do not recognize the importance of basic education for their children. Consequently, from the perspective of many poor people, having many children seems not to be seen as a part of the poverty problem but as a means to alleviate the severe conditions of their life in poverty.

Despite the fact that the logic of giving birth to children to alleviate poverty can be questioned, the population increase on the Philippines means [both] the increase [in the number] of the poor section of society as well as the widening of the gap between rich and poor because of the disproportional growth of both. Furthermore, existing problems like the difficulty to provide education or the high unemployment rate will become much more severe in the future.

According to my impression, the problem of elementary education was one of the most serious problems concerning the developmental potential of the Philippines that we were confronted with during our stay.

Hence we visited several schools during our stay. And since we had the opportunity to talk to students as well as to teachers, we heard a lot about the problems that the schools suffer from. One great problem is the lack of school equipment such as appropriate teaching materials, school books as well as computers and internet access. Another problem is the lack of teachers in some schools. Furthermore, a basic problem is that some schools do not have the money to finance the construction of necessary school buildings.

Schools that get ODA [official development assistance, i.e., mostly from Japan] are able to solve some of their problems. Concerning the lack of computers and internet access, I am of the opinion that this is a serious problem. Only some years ago, even in the advanced countries, it was broadly thought that computers and internet access are not neccessary in school. But at present, this view seems to have changed. In my high school [in Germany], for example, it was possible to choose a course in computer science. The reason for this development is that the ability to use the computer and the internet has become an neccessary skill in several jobs.

Hence this is a worldwide tendency it is also quite important for Philippine students to get these [computer-related] skills. But in contrast to their counterparts in the advanced countries, who mostly have computer and internet access at home to get such skills if school does not offer such courses to them, the broad majority of Philippine students have no chance to get used to computers and internet if their school cannot offer them this opportunity. For this reason, it might be even more important for schools in developing countries to be appropriately equipped with computers than for schools in advanced countries. Philippine students who cannot use computer and internet might be disadvantaged if they try [later] to find a job, especially abroad.

Another important point is that internet access means access to a lot of information as well as the opportunity to connect with people worldwide. To a certain degree, internet access could be used by teachers as a means to compensate for the lack of school equipment.

Apart from the education problems described above, there exists a more fundamental problem concerning the elementary education. We were introduced to this topic as we were told about a project in Biliran called Adopt-a-Child-Trust-Fund (ACTF). The aim of this project is not to improve the situation of the schools and their equipment; its aim is more basically to get the children into elementary school.

It is estimated that about 20% of the children aged between six and eleven years old in Biliran do not go to school. Aside from them, many among the children who go to school now will not finish elementary school, which means that they will have to live without having gained any school degree and they will lack complete elementary education. This is of course a very serious problem, and any ODA paid for better school equipment will not help these children.

There are several reasons why many children do not go to elementary school or why they do not come to school regularly or are not able to graduate. The main reason is poverty. A lot of families do not have the money for school supplies such as books, school uniforms or even pencils and paper. Other families might have the money, but because the parents are not much aware of the importance of elementary education, for example, because they too did not go to [or did not complete] elementary school, they might decide that it makes more sense to buy food [than provide for their children’s school needs].

Furthermore, many parents expect from their children to work and support the family financially. The time children spend in working is of course lost for elementary education. That is one of the reasons why many children do not come to school regularly. Another problem is that many children are malnourished. They come to school without breakfast and, often, they do not have something to eat in school.

Hence, at some schools the number of present children decreases during the day, on the one hand because some have to go to work, on the other hand because some children are so hungry that they decide to go home in the hope that they can eat there. But even if the children stay at school, it is difficult for the teachers to deal with the situation, as one teacher told us, because hungry children are not able to concentrate on the lessons.

Depending on the school, there might be additional problems. For example, one school we had visited had the problem that there are a lot of children who live up to seven kilometres away from school. So they have to walk every day up to 14 kilometres to come to school and to return home.

ACTF tries to solve this problem of elementary education in Biliran by selecting children of very poor families and giving them the neccessary school supplies. To strengthen the parents’ support and understanding, the ACTF tries to integrate the parents into the project by entrusting them with some tasks. The teachers of the schools are informed about the program and cooperate with ACTF by writing reports about the supported students. That is also one means for ACTF to control that its money is used for its purpose.

Yet ACTF also suffers from financial problems. The fund is based on gifts, for example from private business men in Biliran. But because Biliran is a poor region there is not much private business and the opportunities to get donations are very limited. The meeting with the Shitaba seminar was therefore also an attempt to establish ties with people from abroad who would be able to support this project in some way. The Shitaba seminar offered to look for people in Japan who would contribute some money to ACTF.

[NOTE: The main support for ACTF, which is now handled by an independent NGO, the Biliran ACTF Association, Inc., comes from the 8% annual interest of a P3.5-M trust fund deposited at Landbank, Naval Branch. The trust fund was provided as a phase-out component of the foreign-funded Third Elementary Education Project (TEEP) in Biliran, which formally ended in 2006. Only six out of 23 TEEP-implementing schools divisions of the Department of Education around the country successfully applied for and received this grant. There were 1,894 pupil-beneficiaries from 38 elementary schools around the province during school year 2006-2007. The initial money for the purchase of school supplies were sourced from the counterpart funds contributed by various local government units (barangay, municipal and provincial) as well as from the NGO counterpart, Peace Development Fund (PDF), and from private business establishments.]

The financial problem of ACTF is linked to a more general problem of the Philippines. Being a country with widespread poverty, the sources for donations within the country are naturally limited. Therefore, local NGOs have to look for financial help from abroad. But because a lot of NGOs do not have much money, their possibilities to get donations from abroad are also very limited. They do not have the resources to establish marketing strategies to become known abroad. Perhaps they do not have access to the internet and so on. Hence, to establish ties with people from abroad who could help them to get sufficient financial support is a question of great difficulty for many NGOs.

In my opinion, the problem of education is one of the most serious obstacles for the development of the Philippines. For not having many resources for economic development, the only “resource” that can push development forward in the Philippines are the people themselves. But if they are not educated, they will not be able to support development effectively. Furthermore, they will not be able to improve their living conditions for having neither [an academic] degree nor the neccessary knowledge. It raises the question [whether or not] an improvement from generation to generation is possible without getting the children of these [poverty-stricken] families into school. A stagnation of the situation seems to be the most likely consequence.

Therefore, education is one necessary pre-condition to overcome poverty. To be precise, it is a pre-condition to the individual person and the individual situation of poverty as well as for the [overall] solution of the problem of poverty in the Philippines as a whole.

The problem of health and medical care will probably become more serious if the population continues to increase. We were introduced into this problem when we visited the School of Health Sciences (SHS) of the University of the Philippines in Palo, Leyte.

According to the lecture we got there and from the discussion we had with the students of SHS, the Philippines suffer from a great lack of doctors and nurses on the countryside. Although most people live on the countryside, only few doctors and nurses work there. For this reason, a lot of people do not have the opportunity to get medical treatment.

The SHS has the goal to solve this problem. The school tries to create conditions under which its students will work in the countryside after graduation. The concept of SHS can be characterized by cooperation with regions in the countryside where there is a lack of health and medical care [personnel]. Its purpose is to admit someone from the community as a student at SHS who is expected to return to his/her region after graduation, thus filling the lack of health and medical personnel.

For SHS, the ties between their students and their home region are very important to make sure that, on the one hand, the student is supported by his/her community so that he/she can support himself there by his/her work after his graduation. On the other hand, the link tries to make sure that the student is willing to return to his/her region although his/her income might be significantly lower than it would be in a big Philippine city or abroad.

During their studies at SHS the students regularly return to their home regions, so that they learn to apply their knowledge in health and medical care and also to keep in contact with the possible changes that occur in their respective communities. This measure should prevent alienation between student and community which might arise because of the different living conditions.

Health and medical care as it is taught at SHS is based on the needs of the people of poor regions and communities. Therefore, teaching the latest medical techniques is not seen as so important, apart from the fact that SHS would hardly be able to do this because of financial based problems to get adequate equipment. It would not be possible for a doctor or nurse working in the poor countryside to get the necessary equipment, either.

To solve the problems of health and medical care in the Philippine countryside, medical education as it is understood and the standard in advanced countries is of lesser importance. SHS graduates are confronted with realities in which the most basic health problems have to be solved. In a sense, they have to be doctors and nurses in a broader sense because, aside from giving direct medical treatment, they have also to deal with questions of health education of the people to prevent diseases where it is possible. They likewise have to think about organizational problems of their communities as far as these might have an impact on the health situation.

The SHS project is somewhat unique on the Philippines. It can be regarded as a pioneering development project which could also be applied to other developing countries. Because SHS is not a nation-wide project, it cannot be expected that the severe situation of health and medical care in the countryside will become significantly better soon. Furthermore, the SHS is suffering from lack of financial sources, which is one of the reasons why the Shitaba seminar supports this school. It might be regarded as characteristic of the political situation of the Philippines that the government does not sufficiently support such promising projects like the SHS.

A further serious problem that slows down development is the phenomenon of the “brain drain.” Many other developing countries like the Philippines continually suffer from losses of their well-educated people by emigration. Because the income level in the Philippines is very low and the unemployment rate is high, people often decide to work abroad if they have the opportunity to do that. Although the family is regarded as very important on the Philippines, many people decide to leave their relatives to support them financially from abroad. In a way, it can be said that they sacrifice themselves for their family, because many of them suffer very hard from the separation, although their individual living standard has improved.

Additionally, it should not be forgotten that their social standard in the country they chose to work in is mostly weak and that their income is mostly high only if compared with the Philippine income level.

At SHS we were told that many Philippine doctors work abroad as nurses because their Philippine qualification [as doctors] is not recognized abroad, and they do not have the money to get the necessary qualification abroad. In my opinion, this shows that the motivation to work abroad is not rooted so much in the consideration about one’s own life but in the wish to support one’s family.

During our trip we had also the opportunity to speak with junior high school students [at the Naval School of Fisheries] who were receiving scholarships because of their outstanding results in school. Most of them wished to work abroad after finishing their education. When they were asked about their motivation, they responded that they want to help their parents and families financially to improve their living conditions.

The yearly statistics about the large amounts of money which flows into the Philippines from Filipinos living abroad confirm the importance of such considerations for the decision to emigrate.

Hence, on the one hand, it can be argued that emigration supports the Philippines financially because of the flow of money [from abroad]. On the other hand, this “brain drain” means that the well-educated people whose skills are strongly needed on the Philippines themselves leave the country. This leads to a lack of human resources which could push development ahead. It is doubtful if a country’s long-term development could be pushed forward without a base of well-educated people who support this process actively.

We visited Biliran a few weeks before the [May 14, 2007] elections there were held. This time, vote-buying was one of the problems they faced. Such problems as vote-buying are on the one hand linked to a lack of moral and democratic consciousness of some politicians; on the other hand, the poverty of many people in Biliran is one motivation to sell one’s own vote. Furthermore, it can be assumed that the very poor people [who sell their votes] are also the ones who did not have the chance to get basic education.

The existence of political dynasties in the Philippines, at the national as well as at the regional level, is one of the factors that hinder change and development. Ordinary people do not seem to have the money or the necessary relations to stand for an election. The great gap between the poor and the rich as well as the lack of a considerable social middle class makes it difficult to change the system of political dynasties, in which always the same families whose living conditions differ from the ones of the majority of the Philippine people come into government. In some cases, it might be questioned how far the politicians from these elite families are able and willing to represent the interests of the Philippine people.

Corruption is a further serious problem of the political class. Because of the serious dimensions of corruption, the will of advanced countries to support the Philippines with ODA [official development assistance] decreases because they are not sure if the ODA would be used for its purpose. The NGOs face the same problem; they have to think about how to ensure that their donations are used where they are needed. Hence, everyone who wants to support the Philippines with financial aid take into consideration the high level of corruption.

But corruption and dynastic rule are not the only factors that put to question the democratic consciousness and willingness for solving the problem of poverty and development by the political elite. Assassinations as a means to push forward one’s own political interests are no rare phenomenon, too. For example, there was one recent case of assassination in Biliran at the time we visited the town which cast a shadow over the nearing elections.

The victims of assassinations are not only politicians but also journalists. In fact, criticizing politicians might be dangerous in the Philippines as the high number of assassinated journalists shows.

During our stay on the Philippines we had the opportunity to talk to the journalist Prof. Rolando Borrinaga several times. A studied historian who writes for several newspapers, Prof. Borrinaga was very much engaged in stopping vote-buying in Biliran. Hence he writes critical articles about this as well as other topics, for example the recent assassination in Biliran. I was interested in what he might think about the political situation of the Philippines and about the different problems that his country is faced with. And of course I wondered what he might feel towards his work as a journalist and how he deals with the danger that is linked with it.

According to him, to help the Philippines solve its problems is one important motivation for his writing. Apart from the problems within the political class mentioned above, one other problem of development is what Prof. Borrinaga calls the “colonial mentality.” This means a preference not only for foreign products within the Philippines, but also for foreign models of development.

According to Prof. Borrinaga, it is of essential importance for the Philippines to elaborate its own model of development, to find the way of development which fits the Philippines best. Therefore it is necessary for the people to overcome their colonial mentality. This might be one reason why Prof. Borrinaga is interested in writing about the origins of Biliran. To know where they come from might be one means for the Philippine people to free themselves from the negative influences of their colonial past.

As Prof. Borrinaga is also writing for the best known national newspaper in the Philippines [the Philippine Daily Inquirer], he feels relatively safe from the danger of serious threats or even an assassination. To be known in the national or even international level can be thought of as a means of protection, because a criminal act against a well-known journalist will cause broader reactions and protests. Also, the risk for the criminal to be identified and punished or to lose his reputation is high.

Prof. Borrinaga told us that another strategy to protect oneself is well-balanced writing. That means that a journalist should take balance in his criticisms and therefore not always criticize the same party but also the opposite one if there are reasons for that. According to my description above of the political elite in the Philippines, I suppose that in a lot of cases it would be indeed appropriate to criticize both sides. Such a well-balanced journalist remains in a way neutral in his criticisms, and the criticized party knows that next time he will perhaps criticize the opposite party so that the risk that he is perceived as a personal enemy who has to be destroyed decreases.

A further means of Prof. Borrinaga to reduce the danger linked with his job as a journalist is to write about historical topics.

After having described several problems that the Philippines are confronted with, the great question left is how to solve these problems and how to push development ahead. To find a starting point to answer this question was an important purpose for me when visiting the Philippines.

But to be honest, I must confirm that I do not have the impression that I have been able to reach this aim. The problems we were introduced to during our stay were strongly interrelated than I had expected. No doubt, there are a lot of things to do and to support the Philippine people to improve their living conditions. But it should be also taken into consideration what measures can lead to long-lasting positive effects on development, and which ones are only short-time measures. The main difficulty I faced when I was thinking about an effective way to push development forward was the interconnectedness of the developmental problems: it seems very difficult to grasp an appropriate starting point for developmental measures.

In the end, I came to the conclusion that I would not find an answer to this question as long as I would look for a systemic change of the Philippines as a whole. At present, such a change does not seem possible. The political elite with its corruption problem, its social and interest-related alienation from the majority of Philippine people, and its strong principle of family dynasty will not likely implement such a change. Because a systemic change requires state-level measures and a broad, rational policy concept, I do not see any other actor than the government who could carry such a program through. Hence, I am of the opinion that an extensive systematic change is not a realistic option at the moment.

The option left is to try to solve the several problems relatively separate from each other and to hope that the developmental work in one area will have an impact on the other areas. The best way to do this is probably through small-scale programs with a concrete purpose, fitting to the special case they were made for. The ACTF described above is one example for such a program, I think, as well as the SHS program which was also mentioned earlier. Furthermore, for us students, such programs have the advantage that we are able to do something to support them as the talks about further possibilities of cooperation between the Shitaba seminar and the SHS, BNAC [Biliran National Agricultural College], ACTF and so on during our stay on the Philippines had shown.

In my view there are certain conditions that are necessary to make small-scale programs successful and which shape the possibilities of support from abroad. One important point is the inclusion of Philippine people, to be precise of people rooted in the region where the project is intended for, into the planning and implementation of the project. For people from abroad, it is impossible to judge the situation of the region precisely enough to decide which measures fit the region best. Besides, they have no fundamentals for gaining the trust of the people there, which is also necessary. The best form of a development program is probably to be elaborated in the Philippines itself, because that is, at first, a proof for the seriousness of the problem it deals with and, secondly, a proof that there are people who have the will and engagement to work on the problem.

Another pre-condition is that a program should have a broad concept insofar as development not only being a technical question but should also have to take cultural, social and psychological aspects into consideration. A further condition for successful development programs is that there should be some educated people in the concerned region who can push this project forward. This might be a problem in some very poor regions which suffer from a lack of elementary education and the “brain drain” effect.

According to my impression, support from abroad is also very essential for development programs in the Philippines. For being a developing country, there is not a very high potential for donations in the Philippines itself, and the number of persons who have the money and the will to support NGOs financially might also be limited, especially compared to the number of the poor. Besides direct financial support, it is an important task for groups or people from abroad to help the Philippine NGOs to establish ties with donors from other countries. Internet access may play an important role, as well as marketing strategies and promotion strategies.

People from abroad might be important from another point of view, too. Although solving the problem of political corruption, assassinations and family dynasties will probably take a long time, I am of the opinion that the international community can play an important role for changing the Philippines at the level of state and government. International community criticisms about corruption, threats to journalists and so on can be a pressure for the Philippine government to reduce such practices.

The situation of the Philippine journalists should be of special interest for the international community, because the freedom of journalism tells us a lot about the situation of a democracy. Therefore, to develop ties between Philippine journalists and NGO-members, politicians or journalists from other countries would be one means to protect these journalists as well as a means to strengthen the interest of the international community in the problems of the Philippines.

It maybe that a proper combination of such means will also push the Philippines piece-by-piece toward a system-change.

In conclusion, I can say that I have learned much during my stay in the Philippines. To be confronted directly with development problems was a new and fruitful experience for me. Although I was not able to find satisfactory propositions for solving the development problems of the Philippines, I think I had found out a lot of insights about the interconnectedness of these problems and the consequences of this [interconnectedness] fact.