University of Southeastern
Philippines
Bo. Obrero Campus, Davao City
FIELD
TRIP
AND
SEMINARS
TRAVEL
REPORT
Submitted By:
Gervie Monsour S. Abelgas
Submitted To:
Randy S. Gamboa
FTS Facilitator
Seminar Overview
As
part of the curriculum of the Institute of Computing, the students who are
having a third year standing may enroll to the subject FTS with a description
of Field Trip and Seminars. The students who are enrolled in this subject
started to plan what would be the model type of the subject that should be
performed. There are three model types that the students choose from, model A
is composed of one major field trip that will be held outside Mindanao, one
minor field trip that will be held in Mindanao, one national seminar, and a 2
hour – Interpersonal skills seminar; model B is composed of one major field
trip that will be held outside Mindanao, two minor field trips here in
Mindanao, two seminars here in Mindanao with a total of 8 hours, and a 2 hour –
Interpersonal skills seminar; and model C is composed of three minor field
trips that will be held here in Mindanao, four seminars here in Mindanao with a
total of 16 hours, and a 2 hour – Interpersonal skills seminar. As the planning
go on, the students decided to go for the model A, which is the major field
will be held in Manila, the national seminar will be held in Manila as well,
the minor field will be held in Davao City, and the Interpersonal skills
seminar will be held in the University of Southeastern Philippines Social Hall.
When
all the preparations for the Field Trip and Seminars are all set up, the
students of the University of Southeastern Philippines – Institute of Computing,
go to Manila, last September 16, 2013 to have their company visits and attend
the biggest gathering for IT enthusiasts the “Y4It”. It was a five – day trip
that prepared by the travel agency that was chosen by the students which is the
Maynilad Tours and Educational Services, Inc. The travel agency prepared a bus
with a maximum capacity of 60 passengers, the bus is equipped with an
entertainment package which the students can watch movies or even sing a song
that they want. The travel agency also provided a tour guide that will answer
all the questions that the students will ask along the way to their
destination, they also provided distilled and purified waters in the bus for
the students to drink when they are thirsty.
The
field trip covers from Pasay City to Tagatay City, and as for the night the
students are staying in Kabayan Hotel, which is located in front of the MRT
Station at Pasay City. The students are divided into 6 members per group for
the assignment of the hotel room, and the room has three double-deck bed with a
bathroom/comfort room in it.
Overall,
the students visited five companies (Social Security System, PLDT, IBM
Philippines, Toshiba Storage Device, and MMDA), attended one seminar (Y4iT),
with five side trips (SM Mall of Asia, Tutuban Shopping, Trinoma Mall, People’s
Park in Tagaytay, and Enchanted Kingdom).
Day
1
Today I went to a seminar to
The
Social Security System Main Office located at East Avenue, Quezon City, Manila.
This company is very known all over the Philippines because of they have
millions of beneficiaries in the private sectors in the country.
What I learned?
I
learned that the Social Security System (SSS) has many benefits that are
offering for their beneficiaries such as, sickness benefits, maternity
benefits, disability benefits, retirement benefits, death benefits, and funeral
benefits. Sickness benefit is a daily cash allowance paid for the number of
days a member is unable to work due to sickness or injury, a qualified member
must have these following conditions: the member is unable to work due to
sickness or injury and is confines at a hospital or at home for at least four
days, the member has paid at least three months of contributions within the
12month period, the member has used up all the company sick leave with pay for
the current year and has duly notified his/her employer and the member must
notify the SSS directly by filling a sickness benefit application if he/she is
separated from employment or self-employed. Maternity benefit is a daily cash
allowance granted to a female member who is unable to work due to childbirth or
miscarriage, a qualified member must have these following conditions: the
member has paid at least three months of contribution within the 12-month
period immediately before the semester of her childbirth or miscarriage, if
employed, she must has given notification of her pregnancy through her
employer, and she must directly notify the SSS if she is separated from
employment or self-employed member. Disability benefit is a cash benefit
granted – either as a monthly pension or a lumpsum amount – to a member who
becomes permanently disabled, either partially or totally, the qualified member
must have the following conditions, the member has paid at least one month
contribution before the semester of disability, to qualify for a disability pension,
the member must have paid at least 36 monthly contributions prior to the
semester of disability, and if with less than 36 monthly contributions, he/she
is granted a lumpsum amount.
Retirement
benefit is a cash benefit granted – either as a
monthly pension or a lumpsum amount – to a member who can no longer work
due to old age, the qualified member must have the following: the member is at
least 60 years old, separated from employment or has ceased to be
self-employed; and had paid at least 120 monthly contributions prior to the
semester of retirement, or the member is 65 years old, whether employed or not
employed, and has paid at least 120
monthly contributions prior to the semester of retirement, to qualify for a
retirement pension, the member must have paid at least 120 monthly
contributions prior to the semester of retirement, and if less than 120 monthly
contributions, the member is granted a lumpsum amount. Funeral benefit is a
funeral grant of P20,000 to whoever paid for the burial expenses of the
deceased member. Death benefit is a cash benefit granted – either as a monthly
pension or a lumpsum amount – to the beneficiaries of a deceased member, to be
given by this grant the beneficiaries must have: a monthly death pension is
granted to the member’s primary beneficiary (legitimate spouse until he/she
remarries, and dependent legitimate, legitimated or legally adopted, and
illegitimate children) if the member has paid at least 36 monthly contributions
prior to the semester of death, a lumpsum amount is granted to the primary
beneficiary if the deceased member has less than 36 monthly contributions, if
there are no primary beneficiaries, the member’s secondary beneficiaries
(dependent parents) shall be given a lumpsum amount, and in their absence, any
other person designated by the member as beneficiary in the member’s record.
The
SSS also have loans like salary loan, it is a cash loan granted to an employed,
currently-paying self-employed or voluntary member. It is intended to meet the
member’s short-term credit needs, to qualify the member must be: an employed,
currently-paying self-employed or voluntary member who has six posted monthly
contributions in the last 12 months prior to the month of filling of loan
application, for one-month loan, the member must have 36 posted monthly
contributions prior to the month of filling of loan application, for two-month
loan, the member must have 72 posted monthly contributions prior to the month
of filling of loan application, and if employed, the member’s employer must be
updated in contribution and loan remittances. The member must also be updated
in the payment of other loans with SSS.
What I liked?
What
I liked for SSS is that they have many branches all over the country they have
a centralized system so that they can have access in the other branches of SSS.
I liked that they have many benefits for their members and they can help many
people in times of their problems and they can make their members breathe
easier. I also liked their so-called “SSS Museum and Library” where the history
of the company will be seen and the photos of their different activities that
they have done for the Filipino citizens. I also liked their so-called “The
Gallery” where the memorabilia of Gat Andres Bonifacio is located, they built
it when they are celebrating their 56th anniversary to commemorate
the Hero of Filipino workers who no other than Andres Bonifacio.
Because
it is my first time to go in Manila particularly in SM Mall of Asia, I enjoyed
seeing the very large vicinity the mall is located, it is very nice to see the
bronze globe when it is night because the LEDs attach in the globe will light
and display just like the LED tv.
What I didn’t like?
When
we are about to visit our first company which is the Fluor Daniels, we didn’t
make to visit the company because of the heavy traffic from the airport along
the way to EDSA. And I am very disappointed of that we did not make it to see
how beautiful their company is and how do they make their operations every day.
Because
there is a heavy rain at the time when we are visiting the Social Security
System Main Office we didn’t have the opportunity to go to the biggest printer
in the Philippines because it is located at the other building of the SSS.
Day
2
Today I went to a seminar to
Attend
the 11th Philippine Youth Congress on Information Technology or also
known as Y4iT, it is the biggest gathering of IT experts and professionals,
students and educators to share their knowledge about the fields of their
expertise. The event invited many foreign delegates to talk about their ideas
and share their success being a technopreneurs. This event is a 3-day
conference which covers many topics to be discussed and has different speakers
per day. It also inspires many IT students who are attending the said event
because of the inspirational messages given by the speakers on how they achieve
the success that they are experiencing now.
What I learned?
Because
we have a scheduled visitations to the other companies in the rest of the week
we only attended the day one of the conference which the opening of the program
proper but even though it is the opening day the speakers of the conference are
very inspirational. First we are welcomed by the vice president for external
affairs of the Philippine Society of Information Technology Educators (PSITE),
John Peter Abraham Ruero, he discussed about the history of the event which is
started by UP System Information Technology Foundation, Inc. (UP SITF) way back
2003. He was very proud that the conference has inspired many IT enthusiasts
for the first decade of its existence and now the Y4iT is a very well-known
event throughout the country and even outside the country drawing hundreds of
thousands attending the seminar every year. The next speaker discusses the
Y-Combinator and Entrepreneurship and it was Paul Rivera the founder and CEO of
Kalibirr which is the world’s first Massive Open Assessment & Training
Platform that gets people jobs and delivers pre-qualified talent at scale to
companies. The next speaker discussed IT for the Blind: The Key to a Brighter
Future, and this speaker was actually a blind person, she is Rhea Althea
Guntalilib works as a Software Development Analyst in Smart Communications,
Inc. she also develops an application which blind people can read the messages
or access the files in their computer through a voice which guides them to
wherever they go in the computer. The next speaker talks about the Internet of
Things, he is Kevin Leversee the Co-Founder and CEO of the StartupDragons. Next
speaker discusses about who runs the internet, he is Winthrop Yu the President
of the Internet Society (Philippine Chapter). Next is Sheryl Hermoso who discusses
about the IPv6, she explained that the internet now a days are slowing down
because of many users around the globe and this IPv6 will help to make the
internet faster because only few internet subscribers uses IPv6 around the
world. I also learned that we can make more money in making android
applications for educational purposes that’s what Aurelio Vilbar and Kim Bondoc
shared during their talk about Apps for Learning Empowerment.
What I liked?
During
the event proper I am very inspired during the talk of Ms. Rhea Althea
Guntalilib because even though she is blind, she even graduated to college with
an honor which is Suma Cum Laude. She even develop an application which can
help herself and other blind person like her. I am also inspired by the young technopreneurs
who win lately in a competition and they are now the CEOs of their own company,
they are Gian Scottie Javelona who is the Founder and CEO of OrangeApps, Inc.
and Chino Philip Adrian Atilano who is the Co-Founder and CEO of TimeFree
Innovations Inc.
I
also liked when we go to Tutuban Shopping Center because many cheap products
can bought in there. It is just in Divisoria where you can bargain for smaller
price for the product that you like.
What I didn’t liked?
What
I didn’t liked was the Traffic Congestion that happened along the way to
Tutuban Shopping Center. Because after the seminar, we immediately go to
Tutuban but we arrived in Tutuban two hours after we departed in the Y4iT
seminar at SMX Convention, Pasay. And that’s why we only have few times for
buying things that we want.
Day
3
Today I went to a seminar to
The
Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company (PLDT) located at Mandaluyong City,
specifically at the PLDT Innolab or Innovation Laboratory and
Telecommunications Education Center of PLDT in the morning. We are greeted by
Ms. Annie Ferrer and she explained the history of PLDT, after she finished her
talk, we are directed in their Business Solutions Center and Mr. Gino Francisco
became our tour facilitator, and last we go back to the conference room and
greeted by Mr. Edmond Mamboyo.
And
at the afternoon, we go to the Internation Business Machine Inc. (IBM) located
at Ayala Techno Hub, Commonwealth, Quezon City. We are greeted by their
technical manager Mr. Alexis V. Pantola.
What I learned?
That
PLDT was established on November 28, 1938 with 28, 579 lines, but on 1939 –
1948 faced a massive fall down on its resources and manpower due to the World
War II and they called it as the age of destruction because of this stage the
company only have 315 employees. After the company’s age of destruction, in the
year 1949 – 1958 becomes the company’s age of hope, hoping that the company
will rise again from its massive destruction from the war. As the years go by,
the company increases its resources into 60, 066 lines with a manpower of 1,
304 employees. And as the end of 1958 a new age for company awaits, and it is
the age of change and it was along the year 1959 – 1968 they evolved having
modern technologies serving their consumers and between this age they increased
their resources and manpower three times more as for the age of hope. They had
established 184, 782 lines with 3, 208 employees working for the company by the
time of the age of change. The year 1968 becomes the end of the age of chance
and in the year 1969 becomes the age of control between the year 1969 – 1978
they already established 496, 266 telephone lines around the country with 6,
716 employees working for the company. In 1978 the age of control ended and the
age of revolution was started in 1979, between year 1979 and 1988 became the
company’s age of revolution. In this age the company became the major key for
the communication as the revolution was happening in the time of reign of the Marcos
Regime. Between these years the company’s resources and manpower had increase
with 926, 006 telephone lines and 14, 856 employees working for the company. As
1988 ended the age of revolution also ended by the start of 1989 a new age of
the company was born it was the age of gatekeeper, along this age the company
established 1, 596, 856 telephone lines for its resources and 14, 023 employees
working for the company. On 1998, the age of gatekeeper of the company ended
and the start of the age of transformation on 1999, in this stage the company
introduces modern devices that can be used for communication, they transformed
their telephones into a much modern and portable gadget. They introduced the
wireless telephones on their consumers, and in the year 2000 the PLDT merged
with Smart Communications for a much reliable and fast communication. And in
this age of transformation the company increased their resources with 1, 782,
356 telephone lines established around the country and having 14, 023 employees
working in the company. And on 2008, the age of transformation ended and in the
start of the year 2009 the age of fast forward was born and until now the
company was on the age of fast forward.
After
Ms. Annie Ferrer explained the background of the company, we go to the Business
Solutions Center of the Company and that time, Mr. Gino Francisco was our
company’s tour facilitator. In general, the Business Solutions Center is
comprised of four divisions: the Home Solution, Enterprise Solution, IT
Technology Center, and the Solutions Laboratory. The Home Solution is the
division that incubates the technologies that are introduced in the home, like
the one that was being presented into us, the Automatic Power System, it is a
technology that controls all the power supplies of the appliances in the home.
It is a web – based monitoring system that automatically power off the
appliances once the owner turned off the specific appliance in the Automatic
Power System through internet. The Enterprise Solution is the division that
incubates the technologies that are being introduced in the industry such as:
Warehouses, Call Centers, Manufacturing Companies, Companies that are related
to Retailing, off – shore Offices, Head Offices, and Banks. The IT Technology
Center is the division that showcases all the products of a company that
partners the PLDT. In this division, we have seen many devices such as: touched
screen monitors, they also have a computer that do not have a monitor but only
a projector that displays the outputs and it is good for board room. The
Solutions Laboratory is the division that simulates the projects of the
company, as we look inside, we had seen a group of innovators that simulating
their project. Their project is an application that can track a vehicle with a
real time feedback to the user. The Project Noah was also simulated in this
division during its testing period.
After
we finish touring the Business Solutions Center, we went back to the conference
room and meted Mr. Edmund Mamboyo. He explained how PLDT do transmits data to
their consumers, and he also explained the different backbones that are being
used by the company for transmitting data from the sender to the receiver. He
also showed us the structure of the telephone lines that are being established
all over the country. He also tells us that their company is planning of making
the whole transmission line of the PLDT to become fast by using fiber optic
wires.
In
our company visit on IBM Philippines Techno hub, the facilitator for our company
visit was Mr. Alexis V. Pantola, he is the technical manager of the IBM
Philippines Techno hub. He, introduced to us how
do IBM help people in innovating technologies, he also explains the advocacy of
their company and this is all about the Smarter planet: Smarter Food Systems,
Smarter Retail Systems, Smarter Energy, Smarter Cities, he also explain how
they manage their services.He toured us around the server room of the techno
hub where their different servers can be found such as: the blade servers and
other group of servers that stores different data from different clients and
mostly their servers are Intel based machines. He explained to us what will
happen if the hard disk will have insufficient memory and what will happen to
the servers if there will be no maintaining temperature that will cool the
running servers all day, he said that you should place the servers into a room
with a cool temperature because servers will easily heat itself. He also gave
us an amazing fact that there are almost 2.5 quintillion (2.5 million trillion)
bytes of data that are being processed per day in the whole world. He also
taught us how the data passes to one another, and also how the data are being
saved as well as retrieved from the database. He also explained to us what are
the kinds of data and give examples for that kind. He also taught us how to
make flowchart for databases to make the analysis easier. The most interesting
part for me in his presentation is when he talked about the Smarter Analytics.
He taught us what the types of analytics are, how to do prescriptive,
descriptive and predictive analytics and when to use those types of analytics.
The IBM Techno hub also accepts
clients that want to use their servers for free of charges; the clients can
come any time to store and host the system that they are innovating. But there
is a limit in hosting from the server of the IBM, it only limits one month so
that others can use it.
What I liked?
I
liked how PLDT preserved their memorabilia as the time goes by, and they put
all the important things that symbolize the age of their company. I also like their
Business Solutions Center because there are few things that are very new to me
and I didn’t thought that those things are already developed by them.
I
also like the facilities inside the IBM Techno Hub, because they many servers
that are mostly Intel based machine and can store larger files. I also like IBM
because they help many people that do not servers on their own, because they
can provide them servers to store their files for at least one month.
What I didn’t like?
I
enjoyed very much all the company that we visited in this day, the only that I
didn’t like was when we visited PLDT and they do not allow us to bring cameras
because of their security purposes.
Day
4
Today I went to a seminar to
The
Toshiba Storage Device Philippines Inc. located at Canlubang, Laguna City. In
this company visit we observed how Toshiba do manufactures the hard disk drive
that they installed in Toshiba laptops.
What I learned?
In our company visit on Toshiba
Storage Device, I learned that Toshiba is a merged from the companies that are
based on Japan. These companies are the Tokyo Electric Company and the Shibaura
Engineering Works Co. Ltd. which results to become a bigger company that known
as Tokyo Shibaura Electric Company Ltd. and 1984 it was finally named as
TOSHIBA. The Toshiba Information Equipment Philippines (TIP) was established on
July 7, 1995 and inaugurated by the former President Fidel V. Ramos on October
1, 1996. I have learned that Toshiba Storage Device here in the Philippines are
the one who manufactures the hard disks that are being installed on the laptops
of the Toshiba. They also the one who exports the hard disks to the other
countries around the globe. The company practices cleanliness so when we
arrived there we have to put off our shoes and wear the prescribe shoes that
are allowed to be entered in the company. They also practice to become a good
employee so when you pass a co-worker you greet him especially to the Japanese
managers at the company.
The Toshiba Information Equipment
Philippines only manufactures storage devices specifically hard disk drives
that are being installed on the laptops since the other products of the company
are being manufactured in the branches for example in China, the Toshiba
company manufactures the laptops. The company always value their products so
they always check their products with a high secure manner. The hard disk drive
are being assembled by the machines and assisted by the workers of the company.
As I observed during the tour there are many divisions that comprises the
company, the logistics division where all the parts of the hard disk drives are
located and I think like the other manufactured products by the other companies
they have specific number of part to be installed in the product, another
division is the assembly division where the hard disk drives are being made, I
am amazed by the room where the hard disk drive are being assembled because it
is an oxidized room but I am not really sure about the term that I used to name
the room but it is quite amazing because the room is a dust-free room and the
employees that are being assigned there are wearing a suit just like in the
chemical laboratories and they are very well trained. Another is the testing
area where the hard disk drives are being tested for almost five weeks and
inside the testing area there are robotic arms that automatically get the hard
disk drives and put into where the hard disk drive will be tested, during the
test they will examine the performance of the hard disk drives on different
room temperature because they said that the performance of the hard disk drive
can be determined based on the temperature that is being place. Another division
is the investigative division, when the hard disk drive fails from the testing
area it will be delivered to the investigative division where it will be
examined by the workers that are assigned in the division. When the hard disk
drive fails they will check if there are minute objects that are mixed in the
parts of the hard disk drive when they are being assembled, they also check if
the parts of the hard disk drives are properly installed and if they do not
find a problem within the naked eye, they use a microscope that can see a nano
– sized object.
What I liked?
As
we go to Toshiba Storage Device, at Canlubang, Laguna City, I liked how they
value cleanliness in their premises, even our shoes were taken off and changed
into their prescribed shoes that allowed to enter in their building. I also
liked the values that are being practiced by the employees to greet whoever the
person they pass by. I also liked how they value and quality of their products.
And
after the company visit in Toshiba, we departed to Tagaytay City. I liked the
beautiful scenic view of the Taal Volcano from the People’s Park in the Sky of
Tagaytay. After the sightseeing in Tagatay City
we go down to Laguna where the Enchanted Kingdom is located, it is memorable
day because it is very memorable to ride the extreme rides in the Enchanted
Kingdom. First, we took a ride on the Space Shuttle, and then we took a ride on
the Anchors Away, after that we took a ride on the Ground Zero, and then we
took a ride on the Roller Coaster, and then we took a ride on the Disc O Magic,
and then we took a ride on the Swing, after that we get wet as we ride on the
Rio Grande and lastly we ride the Log Jump.
What I didn’t like?
The
company visit in Toshiba Storage Device was very good after all. What I didn’t
like was when we arrived in Enchanted Kingdom at 5 in the afternoon because of
heavy traffic.
Day
5
Today I went to a seminar to
The
Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) located at Madaluyongspecifically in Flood Control Information and Disaster
Risk Reduction and Management Operation Center.
What I learned?
In our company visit on Metropolitan
Manila Development Authority or also known as MMDA, I learned that they are
monitoring the traffic events and weather events in Metro Manila. They have
CCTV cameras that are being installed all around the street of Metro Manila so
that they can monitor the traffic in the different places in Metro Manila,
their CCTV cameras can turn 360 degrees to view if there are traffic accidents
that are happening in the roads. They can also see if there are metropolitans
that are violating the traffic rules such as jaywalking. They can also zoom in
the camera view so that they can see the plate numbers of the vehicle that is
violating the traffic rules in the highway.
They also have an ambulance so that
they can rescue immediately the person that is caught in the camera who is
currently in accident. They have many computer monitors that are being install
in the walls of their Command Center to have a better view of the traffics in
the roads of Metro Manila and also they can suggest motorists if there will be
a heavy traffic to detour and go to a specific road so that they can minimize
time of delay in the traffic. And they can store the video files for at least a
month because they a huge memory to store all the files in there. Aside of
monitoring traffic violations they also monitors the weather conditions in
Metro Manila because they are coordinating with PAGASA so that they can inform
immediately the people to evacuate their houses if there will be a flash flood
that will happen. They also monitor the rivers of Metro Manila if there will be
a heavy rain because they can control the dams and they can open the gate of
the dam or close it to minimize the possibility of having a flood in the
vicinity.
We also go to their Shake, Rattle
and Learn House which simulates how earthquakes affect the house. And I also
learned the difference between the intensity and magnitude, where intensity
describes the degree of shaking caused by an earthquake at a given place and
decreases with distance from the epicenter while the magnitude is a measure of
earthquake size and remains unchanged with distance from the earthquake. The
earthquake is also graded according to the European Macroseismic Scale (EMS)
intensity scale, 1 is an earthquake that is not felt, 2 is scarcely
perceptible, 3 is a weak earthquake and felt by few, 4 is largely observed
earthquake, 5 is a strong earthquake, 6 is a slightly damaging earthquake, 7 is
a damaging earthquake, 8 is a heavily damaging earthquake, 9 is a destructive
earthquake, 10 is a very destructive earthquake, 11 is devastating earthquake,
and 12 is a completely devastating earthquake.
What I liked?
What
I liked in this company visit is that the speakers are very approachable, they
answered all the questions that are raised into them easily that proves that
they mastered all processes that they are doing inside the MMDA. I also liked
how they manage to rescue if there is an accident happened in the street. I
also liked their Shake, Rattle and Learn House that simulates the different
level of intensity of an earthquake.
What I didn’t like?
Overall,
our company visit in MMDA is very amazing. But their video feedbacks are quite
delayed for at least a second.
APPENDIX
What can I recommend for the
improvement of the advance seminar program of USEP?
I
recommend for the improvement of the advance seminar program of USEP is that
they pick companies that are very suitable or can discuss topics that they are
studying in their present semester. They could also pick companies that studies
or focusing in the environment like PAGASA or PHIVOLCS so that they can be
aware the various kind of devices that are being used for the improvement of
information technology in the environment.
My advice to those who will take their
advance seminar program in the near future.
My
advice to those who will take their advance seminar program in the near future
is that cooperate to your FTS officers so that your advance seminar program
will be planned very well. And when you are in the seminar you should listen to
the speakers so that your money will not become a waste.
Day
1
Day
2
Day 3
Day 4
Day 5
Documents
