...the Pinay farmer turned UN Nutrition Ambassador

This Pinay farmer Is Now A UN Nutrition 

Ambassador

Cheeky Albay
Cosmopolitan Philippines
03 November 2019

We first featured Cherrie D. Atilano earlier this year for her mission of “Making Farming Sexy”—encouraging young Filipinos, women especially, to go into farming like she has. But it wasn’t just that catchy slogan that got us hooked.

Cherrie’s inspiring story makes her life peg material: She grew up working on a sugarcane farm in Negros Occidental, graduated magna cum laude with a degree in agriculture from the Visayas State University, gave up a Fulbright scholarship in the US so she could stay in the Philippines and help local farmers, and founded AGREA, an award-winning Marinduque-based social enterprise which aims to help eradicate poverty for farming and fishing families, alleviate the effects of climate change, and help establish food security in the Philippines.

Impressed yet? There’s more. The 33-year-old Pinay has just been appointed by United Nations (UN) Secretary-General António Guterres as a Lead Group member of the UN’s Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) Movement, the goal of which is to ensure a world free from malnutrition by 2030.

As a SUN Lead Group member - one of only 27 from around the world and only Southeast Asian on the list! - Cherrie is now a high-level ambassador for the UN , a role she will hold until 2021.

Below, Cherrie tells us how her trip to the UN Headquarters in New York went, how she'll serve as a newly-minted UN Nutrition ambassador, and how YOU can make your own mark like she has.

What she’s been up to since her last Cosmo interview:

"We launched AGREA programs in Siargao—both More Love for Women Farmers, which makes the island the first women-led agriculture island in the Philippines; and The Garden Classroom Program for public elementary schools, which will allow pupils to learn how to grow their own food, harvest organic vegetables for their feeding program, and love nature at the same time. We will be replicating the AGREA Farm School and Farm Business in the island by next year. 

I grew much wisdom, I must say. So many beautiful things have happened and most of them had me overcoming challenges and waking up every morning with so much hope."

How she and AGREA got the attention of the UN:

"AGREA received the UN Global Compact Agriculture Business Excellence Award in 2017. I also met some people in the UN when I spoke at the World Economic Forum’s New Vision for Agriculture event in Switzerland in 2014. I’ve also been invited several times to UN events in New York and Rome, and also to sustainability conferences around the world.

However, the main reason they chose me is my 21-year advocacy in agriculture, one I’ve had since I was young. As the SUN secretariat said to me, my movement of “Making Farming Sexy” should reach every corner of the world.

I also embody what it’s like to be a female leader in a male-dominated industry, I’m young, and I’m from the ASEAN, which has been called the next frontier."

About the SUN Movement:

"The principle of the SUN Movement is that everyone has the right to food and nutrition, and these two should go hand in hand. The movement addresses the problem of 149 million children who are suffering from malnutrition—which has devastating consequences for health, learning, future earning potential, economic development, resilience, and security. The mission is to work towards a world
free from malnutrition, in all forms, by 2030, nourishing people and planet together."

Her responsibilities as a SUN Movement Lead Group member:

"I support the 60 member countries and five Indian States as they pursue their goals to scale up nutrition. I will also provide strategic oversight on the movement, encouraging coherence and collective accountability for results. With this, I can influence in strengthening both policy and action in terms of solving malnutrition across the globe, while focusing and giving emphasis on our policy and efforts here in the Philippines and the ASEAN region."

What she’s excited to contribute to the SUN Movement:

"I made my commitment to secure nutrition by securing food sufficiency and security. I always make farming sexy by mentoring a lot of young people to venture into agriculture, empower women in agriculture to make sure proper nutrition starts from home, work on multi-stakeholder partnerships in making sure nutrition will be a serious business to lower stunted growth and boost our human capital productivity, and invest in impactful agri-foods."

How it feels to be one of 27 global leaders in the SUN Movement:

"It’s humbling. At the same time, I am so grateful for the privilege to be among them as they are amazing leaders whom I look up to. They created bold changes in their sphere of influence and inspired the world by their great accomplishments. They bring a wealth of experiences that I can learn from, and I am so fortunate to have that network of people I can collaborate with to expand my advocacy and work in the future. It is so good to brainstorm in a room full of intellectuals who are humble enough to solicit your ideas and open-minded enough to collaborate."

How her time at the UN Headquarters in New York went:

"It was the experience of a lifetime. For me, it was not about the special treatment, which was a bonus, but more of recognizing the fact that you are with a group of people who are so hardworking and passionate about creating positive changes in the world. New York during the UN General Assembly was a bustle of brains, hearts, and hands working together to make the world a better place to live in. You come out exhausted from all the events, but with a heart full of inspiration and a lot of concrete steps for taking action."

What she wishes more young Filipinos knew about nutrition and agriculture:

"Every day, 95 children in the Philippines die from malnutrition. 27 out of 1,000 Filipino children do not get past their fifth birthday. A third of Filipino children are stunted, or short for their age. Stunting after two years of age can be permanent, irreversible, and even fatal, according to UNICEF.

Additionally, the right food is not easily accessible, especially to our poor fellow men. We have 12 million hectares of underproductive lands, farmers are getting old, there is a declining interest among young people to go into agriculture, and our population is exponentially growing.

With all these, I think we have enough reasons to knock on the hearts of our young Filipinos and encourage them to help in boosting our agriculture sector. It will greatly help in establishing food sufficiency and security in the country, which could help in solving our malnutrition problem."

Her advice for other women who want to make a mark in their advocacies:

"Focus! I have been in this advocacy for 21 years, never disturbed by all other great opportunities. I was lucky to find my passion and purpose in agriculture.

Practice excellence and be authentic in what you choose to advocate. Immerse yourself in the community and have the humility to realize that at the end of the day, we are not superheroes who can solve all their problems; we are mere facilitators who can open opportunities for them or guide them in unleashing their potential so they can be the solutions to their own problems.

And at the end of every good job, the sweetest thing to do is pamper yourself. Self-love is a necessity."

...the 2019 WAGC World Finalist

Philippines finishes second overall in 2019 WAGC World Finals

Jean Russel V. David
Manila Times
03 November 2019

The Philippine team finished second overall in the recently concluded 2019 World Amateur Golfers Championship (WAGC) World Finals on October 19 to 26 in Sabah, Malaysia.

Team captain Joseph Uy together with WAGC team members Edsel Opulencia, Chucky Reyes, Fernando Reyes, and Rutsy Ramirez played hot on the last day, shocking heavy favorites that include New Zealand, Japan and Sweden to finish second.

The Philippines carded a total of 1,178 aggregate points banking on rounds of 300, 294, 289, and 295.

Malaysia notched 1,115 (284, 283, 289, 299) to bag the overall title while New Zealand came in at third with 1,182 (298, 294, 300, 290).

In the individual race, Uy of Forest Hills and Chucky of Valley Golf claimed the top honors in Division 2 and 3, respectively.

Skipper Uy scored 290 to beat Henry Gao of New Zealand and Mika Laaksonen of Finland, who had identical 294s.

Chucky, meanwhile, shot a 291 to win by two strokes against Kazuhito Miyawaki of Japan and Alexander Carlsson of Sweden, who had identical 293s.

Opulencia landed fifth with a 303 in Division 1 while Fernando Reyes had a 315 while Rutsy Ramirez scored 306 to settle at the 12th and seventh places in Divisions 4 and 5, respectively.

In the World Amateur Golfers Invitational finals, Division 3’s Ernest Platon and Division 5’s Vicky Herrera both emerged first placers.

Platon dominated his division with a 291 while Herrera outclassed her rivals with a strong 294.

Blake Go of Cebu City finished eighth with a 309 in Division 2.

The tandem of Go and Platon, on the other hand, finished fifth overall out of 75 teams in the 2-man play.

...the PH world's creative cities

Cebu joins Baguio on UNESCO's list of world's 246 'creative cities'

Jenina P. Ibañez
Business World 
01 November 2019

CEBU CITY has been counted among the 246 UNESCO Creative Cities around the world, becoming the second Philippine city after Baguio to bag the recognition.

United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Director-General Audrey Azoulay on Wednesday declared Cebu as one of the 66 new cities to be included on the list of cities that push creativity and innovation as major factors in urban development.

The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) said in a statement on Thursday that creative cities with varied income levels and populations support sustainable development actions that directly benefit communities at urban level.

Cebu was designated a creative city of design, one of seven UNESCO categories that also include gastronomy, literature, film, music, crafts and folk art, and media arts.

Baguio City was included in the crafts and folk arts category in 2017.

“All over the world, these cities, each in its way, make culture the pillar, not an accessory, of their strategy,” Ms. Azoulay was quoted as saying. “This favors political and social innovation and is particularly important for the young generations.”

Trade and Industry Secretary Ramon M. Lopez in a mobile phone message said that the designation raises the city’s image. “Cebu City as a UNESCO Creative City of Design raises the image of the city and becomes a seal of approval and recognition in the global stage. Therefore, it is a great testimony to the city and the country of our design talents and skills and help in the positive branding of the city and country.”

He added that Cebu and DTI will work to maintain the recognition by nurturing the city’s design ecosystem “from the point of view of enterprise and investment development, talent development and education, and public awareness.”

MATIQ Hub board member Butch Carungay, as a private consultant, led Cebu’s application to UNESCO with support from local government and the DTI. They highlighted contributions of creativity to Cebu City’s economy by tracking business registrations of creative industries and sifting through export databases.

MATIQ Hub is a multi-disciplinary enabling space for creativity that focuses on indigenous materials, art, technology and innovation.

Mr. Carungay said in a telephone interview that Cebu artists export furniture and fashion products, and have strong graphics and animations industries.

“We’re a very small island with very little resources, so we have a resilient industry of being able to maximize what little we have to become a really innovative city,” he said.

He said that he hopes the UNESCO designation will kickstart more projects in the city.

“When we started this process, Cebu has a lot of gaps in hardware. We don’t have the proper infrastructure,” he said.

Continued growth of the creative industry, Mr. Carungay said, would require more hardware: creative venues for artists to congregate and create commercial projects. He also hopes to improve what he calls the creative software of the city: embedding design thinking into education and the workplace.

After joining the network, creative cities are tasked to strengthen the creation and distribution of cultural activities, goods, and services. They commit to developing creativity hubs, improving access to cultural life for vulnerable groups, and integrating creativity into sustainable development plans.

Applicants were required to demonstrate their commitment and capacity to contribute to these objectives by demonstrating a development strategy, creative assets and facilities, and the capacity to involve professional and civil society, among others.

Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto M. Pernia in a mobile phone message expressed optimism for more Philippine cities to be included in the list. “That’s great — an incentive for Cebu to become even more creative, as well as for other cities to aspire for such recognition,” he said.

The post Cebu joins Baguio on UNESCO’s list of world’s 246 ‘creative cities’ appeared first on BusinessWorld.

ZANY JADRAQUE/UNSPLASH

...the FIBA 3x3 Olympic Qualifyer

Philippines earns ticket to FIBA 3x3 Olympic Qualifying Tournament in India


Philip Matel
ESPN
01 November 2019

The Philippines booked a ticket in the FIBA 3x3 Olympic Qualifying Tournament in India from March 18-22 next year.

FIBA made the announcement in a gala in Utsunomiya, Japan on Friday, the site of the 2019 World Tour Final. Tokyo will play host to the Summer Games next August for the first time since 1964.

The Philippines is in Group Pool C, along with Slovenia, France, Qatar, and the Dominican Republic.

A total of 20 countries will be vying for three slots for Tokyo. An additional spot will be allotted to the winner of the Universality-driven Olympic Qualifying Tournament, to be held in Hungary in April.

Host Japan and top three countries Serbia, China, and Russia were given direct qualification to the inaugural tournament in the men's division. In the women's category, Russia, China, Mongolia, and Romania directly qualified.

Other countries that have qualified include India, the United States, Latvia, Poland, Mongolia, Netherlands, Lithuania, Brazil, Belarus, Canada, Croatia,South Korea, Turkey, Spain, and New Zealand in the men's division.

Meanwhile, for the distaff division, India, Hungary, France, Iran, Netherlands, Italy, Chinese Taipei, Estonia, United States, Germany, Ukraine, Belarus, Czech Republic, Switzerland, Uruguay, Turkmenistan, Indonesia, Australia, and Sri Lanka also advanced to the tournament.

"We're very happy that the Philippines will be competing in the upcoming Olympic Qualifying Tournament for a shot at making it to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics," said Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas (SBP) president Al Panlilio.

"3x3 is an area where Filipino basketball players can really excel and we're delighted that a Filipino basketball team will get to test their skills against the world's best."

The Philippines, which started 61st in the World Rankings at the start of 2019, leapt over 40 spots and went as high as 20 -- primarily due to a collective effort on numerous fronts.

Major players include the Chooks-to-Go Pilipinas 3x3 tournaments, which featured four conferences, and the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas' Pambansang Tatluhan.

Also a contributor was the country's international involvement in this emerging variety, with several clubs like Pasig, Balanga, and Basilan participating in several high-level 3x3 competitions over the past nine months. Manila also played host to some high-profile 3x3 contests, including the first-ever Challenger tournament last September.

The pool for the 3x3 squads will be determined at a later date. However, FIBA rules stipulate that at least two of the four must be part of a country's Top 10 3x3 rankings.

To serve as tuneup for the OQT, Chooks-to-Go Pilipinas 3x3 will open its 2020 season in January.

"We would like to thank the [SBP], headed by chairman emeritus Manny V. Pangilinan and president Al Panlilio, the numerous private promoters, all the players from Chooks-to-Go Pilipinas 3x3, and of course, the Filipino people who supported us for the last nine months," bared CTG Pilipinas 3x3 league owner Ronald Mascariñas.

"The journey is far from over as the goal is to not just make it to the OQT. The endgame is to make it to Tokyo. We are all going all out to prepare our national team for this and we hope that everyone joins us in this journey."

...the Asia's best airports

Iloilo, Cebu airports among Asia's best - poll


Recto Mercene
Business Mirror
31 October 2019

A web site devoted to grading airports that offers the most accommodating spots, especially for the backpackers, has included two of the Philippines’s airports as among the best in Asia this year.

Making it in the sleepinginairports.net’s list of best airports in Asia for 2019 are the Iloilo International Airport and Mactan-Cebu International Airport (MCIA). Topping the list is Singapore’s Changi Airport.

Iloilo airport, at 18th spot, is operated by the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines, while MCIA at the 16th spot, is operated by a private conglomerate.

Completing the Best Airport in Asia for 2019 list are Seoul Incheon Airport, Tokyo Narita Airport, Osaka Kansai Airport, Taipei Taoyuan Airport, Hong Kong Airport, Kuala Lumpur Airport, New Delhi Airport, Jakarta Airport, Tokyo Haneda Airport, Mumbai Airport, Bangkok Suvarnabhumi Airport, Bangalore Airport, Ho Chi Minh City Tan Son Nhat Airport, Hyderabad Airport, Da Nang Airport, Islamabad Airport and Kunming Airport.

Changi Airport also topped the overall Best Airport list, followed by Seoul Incheon Airport, Helsinki Airport, Tokyo Narita International Airport, Osaka Kansai International Airport, Taipei Taoyuan International Airport, Vancouver International Airport, Munich International Airport, Hong Kong International Airport and Amsterdam Schiphol Airport.

Making it in the worst airport’s list are Jeddah King Abdulaziz International Airport (Saudi Arabia), New York City LaGuardia Airport (United States), London Stansted Airport (England), Juba International Airport (Sudan), Santorini International Airport (Greece), Cairo International Airport (Egypt), Addis Ababa Bole International Airport (Ethiopia), Dhaka Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport (Bangladesh), Murtala Muhammed (Lagos) International Airport (Nigeria) and London Luton Airport (England).

The web site, founded in 1996 ranks the best and worst airports from an annual survey and airport reviews submitted by readers rating their airport experiences.

In the annual survey, travelers are asked to rate their airport experiences based on factors, such as comfort, services, facilities and things to do, food options, immigration/security, customer service, navigation and ease of transit, cleanliness  and “sleepability.”

...the Disney's Filipino animated film

New Pixar short makes history featuring Filipino animated characters for first time


ABC7
30 October 2019 


October marks Filipino American History Month, and Pixar made a bit of history by featuring Filipino CGI animated characters for the first time in a new film.

"Float" is a film about acceptance. In it, a father discovered his adorable son was unlike other kids. The film followed their trials and tribulations.

Pixar writer/producer Bobby Rubio talked to Action News about his project.

"It's based on my own personal story of my son," he explained. "In the story, the father is dealing with a son that floats, which makes him different from other children."

"Float" was seen as a chance to celebrate children with unique gifts.

Rubio said he took a feature-based approach to make the characters Filipino American. The father has darker skin and a flatter nose.

"I know we don't all look alike, but at the same time, I wanted traits that I had so that it at least felt authentic," he said.

The characters were actually animated versions of himself and his son. Rubio has long looked for ways to introduce his culture to a wider audience, and Pixar offered that opportunity.

"As a Filipino-American and it being Filipino History Month, I am super proud that this is coming out, and we are making history," he said.

We can't tell you how the seven-minute short ends, but it is a heart-warming story.

When "Float" was introduced at a special screening, the first-time director was able to gauge the crowd's response.

"To see the people react to certain times that you wanted them to react was amazing, and I totally loved it," Rubio recalled.

"Float" is one of four Pixar SparkShorts, which will be featured on the new Disney+ app when it is launched on Nov. 12.

...the paper from pineapple

Pinoy-made paper "Pinyapel" is produced from discarded pineapple leaves and it just won an int'l award



GMA NEWS
29 October 2019

"Pinyapel" is a Pinoy paper product made from discarded pineapple leaves and it just won the D&AD Future Impact Awards for Environment and Sustainability in New York City.

With the help of Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and Design Center of the Philippines (DCP), Lolita "Luchi" Cabanlet of Cagayan De Oro Handmade Paper was able to develop "Pinyapel" a "locally-manufactured specialty paper" produced from discarded pineapple leaves from plantations in Bukidnon.

DCP helped coin the term "Pinyapel" from the Filipino words pinya (pineapple) and papel (paper).

A press statement from DTI Misamis Oriental describes Pinyapel as "the future of packaging." It's water-resistant making it a good material to be developed into paper cups, paper bags and other food container options.

DTI-DCP partnered with CDO Handmade Paper "to launch a sustainable innovation to transform waste into new and useful material, a forward-thinking approach to combat the growing problem on non- biodegradable plastic."

They collaborated with Nature's Fresh, a pineapple exporter from Bukidnon, to use their discarded pineapple leaves to be developed into pineapple paper sheets using a technology developed by the DCP.

The paper sheets was then supplied to Ideatechs Packaging Corporation, a company producing food container products.

The award will be given in New York City, USA on November 6, the event is an "annual activity recognizing those who put their creative ideas into world-changing projects, products and campaigns."

Check out some of the products developed from Pinyapel sheets in the gallery below.