ALL ABOUT ME: AN INTRODUCTION

Pardon for introducing myself in my own blog. There have been questions about (and suggestions to post) my background from blog readers and friends. I thought it's better to post a brief biosketch to save time answering e-mails asking for my background.

Dr. Ebinezer R. Florano is Assistant Professor of the University of the Philippines-National College of Public Administration and Governance (UP-NCPAG).

Dr. Florano obtained his doctoral degree in Public Administration from the International Christian University (ICU) in Tokyo, Japan in June 2004. ICU is one of the elite universities in Japan where classes are held in English for the benefit of non-Japanese speaking students. He was under the supervision of Dr. Tatsuro Kunugi, former Deputy Executive Director of the United Nations Population Fund, and later, Dr. Thomas Schoenbaum, a world-reknown scholar of international trade and environmental law. His doctoral dissertation is entitled, "Regional Environmental Governance: A Study on the ASEAN Regional Haze Action Plan" which he wrote with funding from the Fuji Xerox Setsutaro Kobayashi Memorial Fund Foreign Students Research Grant. The grant enabled him to travel to Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, and the Philippines in 2003 to gather data. In Indonesia, he spent his days at the headquarters of the ASEAN Secretariat (Environment Unit) to collect information.

He also have two master’s degrees in International Relations which he obtained from the International University of Japan (IUJ) in June 1999, and Public Administration (major in Public Policy Analysis and Program Administration) from the then UP-College of Public Administration (CPA) in November 1995 (Dean's List). He also obtained his bachelor's degree in Public Administration from the same college in 1991 (cum laude).

Dr. Florano has provided consultancy services to various local, national, and international organizations, mainly in the area of “Environmental Governance.” His most recent job (2005-2006) was with the Environment Unit of the Secretariat of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in Jakarta, Indonesia where he wrote the draft of the Third ASEAN State of the Environment Report 2006 or ASOER 2007 (I can send a PDF copy: I will post the "unpublished" data of the ASOER 2006 from my files in this blogsite soon).

Dr. Florano just finished writing his fellowship report entitled, “Rapid Appraisal of the Philippine Compliance with, and Implementation of Its Various Multilateral Environmental Agreements’ Obligations.” He was ably assisted by Eugene Antonio Dig and Prejean Prieto. The fellowship was funded by the University of the Philippines. (Still looking for funds/sponsors to publish the 400+ -thick report).

Courses Taught at UP-NCPAG (as of March 2007):

1. Public Administration (PA) 11: Introduction to Public Administration
2. PA 108: Philippine Administrative System
3. PA 113: Office and Systems Management
4. PA 141: Public Policy Analysis
5. PA 161: Ethics and Accountability in Public Office
6. PA 191: Introduction to Environmental Governance
7. PA 191: Multi-Level Environmental Governance
8. PA 191: Environmental Compliance and Sustainable Development
9. PA 191: International Affairs Management

Research and Teaching Interests:
a. Environmental Governance
b. Transboundary (Haze) Pollution
c. International Environmental Law
d. ASEAN
e. Policy Analysis
f. International Relations/Foreign Policy Analysis
f. 日本語　「Japanese Language」

If you have questions or feedback, I can be reached at efloranoy@yahoo.com

"AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH" - FREE FILM SHOWING AT SM MOVIE THEATERS

This might come a bit too late but SM management has decided to show, for free, the documentary "An Inconvenient Truth" on 22 April 2007 at 1 p.m., 3 p.m., and 5 p.m. Please watch this eye-opening documentary which won the 2007 Academy Award for Documentary Feature and Best Original Song. Call the following SM City movie theaters for details:

1. SM MALL OF ASIA - 5560104-05
2. SM MEGAMALL - 6331901, 6384270
3. SM NORTH EDSA - 9295452
4. SM MANILA - 5239240/05
5. SM SAN LAZARO - 7862487-88
6. SM CENTERPOINT- STA. MESA - 7161416, 7160647
7. SM FAIRVIEW - 4176811, 9350749
8. SM SOUTHMALL - 8066888, 8066782
9. SM PAMPANGA - 8311000 loc 1610-11, (045) 9637681-85
10. SM CLARK - (045) 6255844-45
11. SM BAGUIO - 8311000 loc 1625-26, (074) 6197838/39/41
12. SM CEBU - 8311000 loc 1637, (032) 2313876
13. SM DAVAO - 8311000 loc 1605-06, (082) 2976998
14. SM BACOLOD - (034) 7081010, 8311000 loc 1650

EARTH DAY CELEBRATIONS IN THE PHILIPPINES

For the latest Philippine news stories and videos, visit GMANews.TV

Philippine government agencies and environmental NGOs will join the world in celebrating Earth Day on 22 April 2007.

The Department of Environment and Natural Resources, headed by Secretary Angelo Reyes, has lined up several activities for the whole month of April. Go to its website for the list.

Top rock bands, musicians, and artists will celebrate it with a big bang - a concert entitled EARTH DAY JAM 2007 - on 20 April, 7:00 p.m., at Tomas Morato Strip in Quezon City. ADMISSION IS FREE. The Philippines will be jamming with other countries on this day (meaning similar activities will be done in other countries). See poster above for details.

The website of the Philippine Sustainable Development Network (PSDN) says PSDN has Earth Day activities but I cannot see any when I visited it. But readers might want to take a second look.

For an overview of Earth Day activities worldwide, see the website of the Earth Day Network.

APRIL 22 IS EARTH DAY

EcoGov Blog joins all Earth-loving readers in celebrating Earth Day on 22 April 2007. Celebrate because we still are able to enjoy Earth's bounty. BUT be reminded that Earth's bounty is being depleted and dirtied. Most importantly, if global warming continues, in the future, if predictions are correct, we won't be able to celebrate it anymore. You know what I mean.

Here's a brief historical look at the beginning of the celebration of Earth Day (taken from Wikipedia):

Responding to wide spread environmental degradation, United States Senator Gaylord Nelson of Wisconsin called for an Environmental Teach-in or Earth Day to be held on April 22, 1970. Over 20 million people participated and it is now observed each year by more than 500 million people and national governments in 175 countries. Senator Gaylord Nelson, an environmental activist in the U.S. Senate, took a leading role in organizing the celebration, to demonstrate popular political support for an environmental agenda. He modeled it on the highly effective Vietnam War protests of the time. Senator Nelson selected Denis Hayes (a Harvard student and Stanford graduate) as the National Coordinator of activities. The nationwide event included opposition to the Vietnam War on the agenda. Pete Seeger was a keynote speaker and performer at the event held in Washington DC. Paul Newman and Ali McGraw attended the event held in New York City.

According to Santa Barbara Community Environmental Council:

"The story goes that Earth Day was conceived by Senator Gaylord Nelson after a trip he took to Santa Barbara right after that horrific oil spill off our coast in 1969. He was so outraged by what he saw that he went back to Washington and passed a bill designating April 22 as a national day to celebrate the earth."

Senator Nelson stated that Earth Day "worked" because of the spontaneous response at the grassroots level. 20 million demonstrators and the thousands of schools and local communities participated.

Earth Day proved extremely popular in the United States and around the world. The first Earth Day, in 1970, had participants and celebrants in two thousand colleges and universities, roughly ten thousand primary and secondary schools, and hundreds of communities across the United States. More importantly, it "brought 20 million Americans out into the spring sunshine for peaceful demonstrations in favor of environmental reform."

Senator Nelson directly credited the first Earth Day with persuading U.S. politicians that environmental legislation had a substantial, lasting constituency. Many important laws were passed by the Congress in the wake of the 1970 Earth Day, including the Clean Air Act, laws to protect drinking water, wild lands and the ocean.

Now observed in 175 countries, and coordinated by the non-profit Earth Day Network, www.earthday.org, Earth Day is the largest secular holiday in the world.

VOTE FOR JOSE MIGUEL ZUBIRI FOR SENATOR!

This blog enjoins Filipino voters to consider REPRESENTATIVE JOSE MIGUEL ZUBIRI for Senator this coming 14 May 2007 elections. Why am I openly supporting him? Rep. Zubiri led the passage of Republic Act No. 9367 otherwise known as the 2007 Biofuels Act (An Act to Direct the Use of Biofuels, Establishing for this Purpose the Biofuel Program, Appropriating Funds Therefor, and for Other Purposes) which would help pave the way for the use of biofuels in the transport sector of the country. So what? The Biofuels Act, if properly and seriously implemented, would reduce the dependency of the country on oil which depletes the country's dollar reserves. Less dependency on oil will mean less Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions. Hopefully, less GHG emissions in the Philippines will lessen the risk of global warming. That's the sole reason why I want to see him get a seat in the Senate.

MISS EARTH 2007

Watch the 2007 Miss Philippines-Earth coronation on April 29, live from the U.P. Theater at 7:00 in the evening. Telecast via ABS-CBN and The Filipino Channel.

I owe a lot to Miss Philippines-Earth (MPE) 2006 for the well-attended academic activities which I organized in August 2005 (re: Sympo on Jatropha curcas, a.k.a., Tuba-Tuba), and most recently, in March 2007 (re: Special Lecture on Environmental Leadership by UNEP's 2007 Champion of the Earth Elisea "Bebet" Gozun; see 1 April 2007 posting). MPE 2006, in the person of Miss Catherine "Cathy" Yu Untalan, was so gracious to plant a Tuba-Tuba seedling under the scorching heat of the 11 a.m. sun in August 2005 at the backyard of UP-NCPAG after the interesting symposium (see picture above; I will write about Jatropha curcas later). I told the audience at that time that with Miss Untalan's wit, she might win the Miss Earth 2006 crown which no Filipina has so far won since the pageant's inception in 2004. Unfortunately, she did not bag the much-coveted crown but placed 2nd runner up with the title "Miss Earth-Water 2006" which is the highest rank a Filipina has achieved so far in the three years existence of the pageant. Below are quotations from Miss Untalan:

nWhat she says about herself: “I recently graduated from the University of the Philippines Diliman with a degree in Psychology. I've always enjoyed meeting new faces and going to different places and trying new things. I spent most of my life in a military base, which taught me discipline in a special way. My faith in God keeps me grounded.”

n

nHer environmental platform:“I would like to spearhead environmental awareness programs which will inculcate responsilbility in our youth.”

CALL FOR PAPERS: ENVIRONMENTAL GOVERNANCE

Readers are invited to submit conference papers, especially on Environmental Governance, to the International Conference on "Public Administration and Governance at the Forefront of Change: Dimensions, Dynamics, Dysfunctions, and Solutions" to be held on 5-7 December 2007 in Manila, Philippines (venue to be announced). Deadline for the submission of abstract is on 31 May 2007. Submit them to the following e-mail addresses: fevmendo@yahoo.com, dean_up_ncpag@yahoo.com, abrillantes2001@yahoo.com. COPY FURNISH ME AT efloranoy@yahoo.com SO I CAN FOLLOW UP YOUR ABSTRACT SUBMISSION. Details of the conference are below.

Overview

The exciting field of Public Administration is at the forefront of change and reform. Challenges as to its basic relevance as a field of study and practice have been raised at the global level, particularly in the Asia-Pacific region where a mix of development states conglomerate. Issues of good governance- transparency and accountability, rule of law, human rights and poverty alleviation, access to justice, participation and service delivery especially of the disadvantaged and marginalized- are confronted by academics and practitioners alike, jolting them out of their ivory towers (mainly the former) to work with the “outside world” and reflect and act on proposed remedies and solutions as citizens of the world.

“New” fields and concerns have been emerging dynamically – e-governance, an “inconvenient truth” on sustainable development, regulatory governance and competition, corporate social responsibility, citizen engagement, synergy between the government and non-government organizations, geo-politics, sustainable human development, and the millennium declaration. Indeed the field is at the forefront of transformation and is being challenged to reconfigure and reposition itself, as well as reexamine its roles and contributions in making the world a better place to live in.

Objective

Capitalizing on the inherent openness of academics and practitioners of the field for self-reflection, advocacy and change, an international conference will be held in Manila, Philippines on December 5-7, 2007. It will focus on the dimensions, dynamics and dysfunctions of development changes, “aberrations”, problems and confusions in Public Administration and Governance (PAG), and explore possible opportunities, remedies, strategies, solutions and best practices to address these concerns.

Specifically, it aims to:

v Discuss challenges, threats, and issues in the theory and practice of Public Administration and Governance, and how these impinge on sustainable human development, protection of human rights and poverty alleviation

v Explore innovations, breakthroughs, emerging trends, best practices and “new” solutions, remedies and strategies to address these challenges; and

v Draw lessons on the roles and contributions of Public Administration and Governance in development, change and transformation

Thematic Areas

Focus will be on the following thematic areas:

A. Issues, Challenges and Threats:

• Relevance of PAG Education
• Academic Excellence Beyond the Classroom
• Public Sector Reform
• Political Chaos and Changes
• Poverty Alleviation and Globalization
• Corruption Control and Rebuilding Trust
• Access of the Poor and Disadvantaged to Justice, Participation and Services
• Human Rights and Governance
• Environmental Degradation
• Peace and Security
• International Terrorism
• Millennium Declaration and Development Goals
• Global Rules and International Trade
• Climate Change, Global Warming and Natural Disasters
• Fiscal Management and Development Financing
• Others

2. Innovations, Emerging Trends, Best Practices and Solutions
• E-governance
• Geo-informatics
• Judicial governance
• Legislative governance
• Regulatory Administration, including environmental governance
• Corporate Social Responsibility
• Global Citizenship
• Charter Change, Federalism, Local and National Government Relations
• Collaboration, Synergy and Engagement between and among Government and Non-government, including Business Sectors, both local and international
• Public-private partnership
• Human rights approach to development
• International covenants and local policy making
• Transparency and Accountability Watch
• Others

3. Roles, Scenarios and Contributions of Public Administration and Governance in Development, Change and Transformations

Presentation Format

Papers will be presented in Plenary or simultaneous Panel Sessions of 2 hours each. There will be 3 paper presentations per session; 20 minutes will be allotted per paper presentation. Open forum will follow after all papers shall have been presented.

Language of Presentation

English

Call for Papers

Academicians, practitioners and others interested are invited to submit their papers dealing with any of the conference thematic areas. Authors must submit an abstract of about 750 words (not more than two pages) in English that should summarize the arguments and issues being addressed by the paper. It should situate the arguments within the broader theme of the conference. Submitted abstracts will be reviewed based on quality and relevance to the conference themes/sub-themes.

Guidelines for Submission

Abstracts must be submitted electronically as an e-mail attachment in MS Word format not later than 31 May 2007 to the Conference Organizing Committee at:

fevmendo@yahoo.com

dean_up_ ncpag@yahoo.com

abrillantes2001@yahoo.com

Letter of Acceptance

A letter of acceptance confirming refereed acceptance of your paper will be sent to you by 30 July 2007. Once the submission has been accepted, the presenter is required to send an electronic copy of the full paper by 30 October 2007.

Format

For inclusion in the CD-ROM conference kit, papers submitted on or before 30 October 2007 must conform to the following guidelines:

v Papers must include an abstract

v Paper length is up to 25 pages (including

abstract, references and figures/tables)

v A4-sized paper

v 1-inch margins all around

v 12-point Times New Roman font (except title in

16 pt)

v Text double-spaced and flushed left

v With references

Copyright belongs to the author/s and they are free to publish their papers elsewhere. However, UPNCPAG and NAPSIPAG reserve the right to upload the papers (and videotaped presentations, if any) on their websites and publish the same in their future publications.

About the Organizers

This international conference is organized by the National College of Public Administration and Governance (NCPAG), University of the Philippines (UP) and the Network of Asia Pacific Schools and Institutes of Public Administration and Governance (NAPSIPAG).

Launched in 2004 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia with technical assistance from the Asian Development Bank, NAPSIPAG exists to strengthen the capacity, professional competence, collaboration and community of schools and institutes of Public Administration and Governance in Asia and the Pacific. It has a Steering Committee which provides direction to the network and a Secretariat located at INTAN, Malaysia.

Its Steering Committee is composed of the China National School of Administration (chair); and National Institute of Public Administration (INTAN)-Malaysia; the NCPAG, UP; the Institute of Public Enterprise (IPE), Osmania University in Hyderabad, India; and the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, the National University of Singapore, as members.

The UP NCPAG is the premier college for teaching, research and extension services in Public Administration and Governance in the Philippines. It has been the secretariat of the Eastern Regional Organization for Public Administration (EROPA), another network of schools and professionals in Public Administration. Established in 1952 as an institute to serve in nation building, UPNCPAG will be celebrating its 55th year this year.