On May 26 at 5:30 p.m., the Intramuros branch of Instituto Cervantes Manila will stage a literary discussion titled “The Library, That Form of Paradise,” where Despeyroux will share how libraries shaped her journey as an author and influenced the foundations of her creative writing. Vera will join the conversation, bringing his insights as one of the Philippines’ most respected voices in contemporary theater and storytelling.

Aspiring writers, literature enthusiasts, and Spanish-language learners will also have the opportunity to engage directly with Despeyroux during a Creative Writing Workshop in Spanish on May 27 at 5:30 p.m. at the Instituto Cervantes premises at The Enterprise Center in Makati City.

Participants are encouraged to register in advance:

• May 26 Discussion: Benengeli 2026: The Library, That Form of Paradise
• May 27 Workshop: Benengeli 2026: Creative Writing Workshop in Spanish

The Manila events form part of the global Benengeli Literary Festival, which will run from May 25 to 29 across five continents. Now on its sixth edition, the festival is regarded as the only literary event in the world with a truly global Spanish-language reach, featuring more than 100 guests in 17 cities worldwide. (cervantes.org)

This year’s edition centers on the theme of libraries, highlighting their role as spaces where memory, imagination, and cultural dialogue converge. The program showcases the aesthetic, generational, and geographical diversity of contemporary Spanish-language literature.

Over the years, Manila has maintained a strong presence in the Benengeli network, participating since the festival’s inaugural online edition in 2021. Aside from live events, the Manila leg will also premiere exclusive videos on the center’s YouTube channel featuring writers Jesús Marchamalo and Isabel Wagemann, who will reflect on this year’s central theme.

Cities participating in Benengeli 2026 include Sydney, Brussels, Bordeaux, Madrid, Manchester, Paris, Oran, Dakar, Belo Horizonte, New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles, alongside guest cities Caguas, Caracas, Edinburgh, and Quito. cervantes.org

For more information, visit the Benengeli 2026 official page or follow Instituto Cervantes Manila on Facebook.

The U.S. Embassy in the Philippines announced that this year’s fair will feature several American colleges and universities visiting the country for the first time, expanding access for Filipino students seeking globally competitive education opportunities.

“This year’s University Fair features several American colleges and universities that are visiting the Philippines for the first time and eager to meet with Filipino students,” said Y. Robert Ewing. “We are also thrilled to bring it to Mindanao for the first time, opening access for more Filipinos to experience American excellence in education and strengthen ties that make both our nations safer, stronger, and more prosperous.”

The Quezon City leg will be held at the Quezon City Hall M.I.C.E. Center, with separate sessions for undergraduate and graduate studies.

Participating institutions in the undergraduate session include University of Rochester, University of San Francisco, SUNY Stony Brook, Southern Utah University, Saint Louis University, and Middle Tennessee State University, among others.

For graduate studies, participating schools include Arizona State University, Johns Hopkins Carey Business School, City University of Seattle, and other U.S. higher education institutions.

Meanwhile, the Davao City fair will take place at the University of Southeastern Philippines Social Hall in partnership with the Davao City local government. Participating schools include Rice University, College of Central Florida, Trine University, and several other American institutions.

Admission is free and open to students, parents, and educators interested in studying in the United States. Organizers encourage participants to pre-register through EducationUSA Philippines Registration Page.

EducationUSA is the U.S. government’s official source of information on American higher education, providing free advising services through its offices at the U.S. Embassy in Manila and Fulbright Philippines.

For updates and more details, visit EducationUSA Philippines Facebook Page.

The mandate of CHED is not merely to streamline college education into a shorter, more “efficient” pipeline toward employment. Under the Higher Education Act of 1994, it is also tasked to promote quality education, uphold academic freedom, and ensure that higher learning remains responsive not only to labor demands, but to nation-building itself.

That is precisely where the growing discomfort over CHED’s proposed “Reframed General Education” curriculum comes in.

CHED argues that reducing GE units from 36 to as low as 18 is part of a continuing reform aligned with K-to-12, supposedly eliminating redundancies and producing graduates more attuned to present-day industry realities. On paper, that sounds practical enough. Modern, even.

But universities are not assembly lines for labor production alone.

The strong objections coming from institutions like Ateneo de Manila and the University of Santo Tomas reveal a deeper fear: that in trying too hard to create employment-ready graduates, we may end up hollowing out the very soul of university education itself.

Because once philosophy, literature, history, ethics, and the humanities are compressed into vague multidisciplinary “competencies,” what exactly are we still calling higher education?

As a Thomasian — once a student and once a faculty member — I feel something deeply important risks getting lost in the process. And I say this not only as a journalist of over four decades, but as a former college teacher who understands what happens inside classrooms beyond competencies and course matrices.

Long before I wrote columns and covered stories, I was once a young Arts and Letters student in UST whose worldview was shaped not by technical training, but by General Education subjects that shaped my decision to pick my major in the 3rd year.

Rizal. Philosophy. Contemporary World Geography. History. These subjects did not merely help me pass exams, but taught me how to think, contextualize, discern, and question. They cultivated intellectual curiosity and moral responsibility — qualities essential in journalism, especially in an age drowning in misinformation, manufactured outrage, and shallow discourse.

That is why the proposed reframing of GE is alarming. It dares to treat liberal arts subjects as expendable “redundancies,” as though learning is a one-time transaction instead of a layered and maturing process. A philosophy discussion in college is vastly different from one in Senior High School because students themselves evolve in depth, perspective, and understanding.

Then there are the educators themselves — historians, philosophers, literature professors, social scientists — many of whom dedicated their lives not for wealth, but for scholarship and the preservation of thought. Once you reduce their disciplines into compressed modules or vague competencies, the result is hardly reform, but rather a step closer to intellectual poverty.

A nation that weakens the humanities may still produce employable graduates, of course. But it risks producing citizens who know how to work, yet no longer fully know how to think.

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SHORT BURSTS. For comments or reactions, email firingline@ymail.com or tweet @Side_View via X app (formerly Twitter). Read current and past issues of this column at https://www.thephilbiznews.com

In the ASEAN Chair’s Statement under the Philippines’ chairmanship of President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr., leaders “welcomed the 19 Priority Economic Deliverables (PEDs) under the ASEAN Chairship of the Philippines, which are designed to strengthen trade and investment linkages, accelerate digital transformation, integrate ASEAN’s Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) agenda, leverage the creative economy and innovation, and advance sustainable and inclusive economies, including through the responsible and strategic use of emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) as a transformative tool for MSMEs and health services.”

The push reflects ASEAN’s growing recognition that smaller businesses — which account for about 95 percent of enterprises in the region — will play a decisive role in sustaining growth amid evolving geoeconomic tensions and supply chain shifts.

Among the key initiatives expected to be adopted is the ASEAN Leaders’ Declaration on AI-Powered MSME Growth, which seeks to institutionalize regional programs that would help smaller enterprises adopt AI technologies to improve productivity and competitiveness.

The Philippines also proposed the establishment of an AI MSME Hub, envisioned as a regional platform that would provide businesses with AI tools, advisory services, and capacity-building programs.

ASEAN leaders welcomed the proposal, noting that the hub could help address the region’s “sovereign compute gap” through shared industrial-scale computing resources.

The proposed hub is expected to support ASEAN’s broader push toward digital integration and innovation-led growth, while ensuring smaller enterprises are not left behind in the AI transition.

The region is likewise ramping up investments in shared digital infrastructure.

ASEAN leaders welcomed the establishment of the bloc’s first shared high-performance computing (HPC) facility, which will provide 4.2 petaflops of GPU-based computing power accessible to all member states.

The facility is expected to strengthen regional research capabilities in AI, big data analytics, and advanced scientific simulations.

Beyond business, ASEAN leaders also emphasized the importance of preparing the region’s workforce and youth for an AI-driven economy through digital literacy and education reforms.

The leaders stressed that digital transformation must remain “inclusive, responsible, and aligned with ASEAN’s shared values.”

The Philippines is also set to host the ASEAN AI Summit in September 2026, which leaders said would serve as a platform for private sector collaboration and regional partnerships to accelerate AI adoption across Southeast Asia.

ASEAN leaders said the PEDs would help steer the bloc toward “a more resilient, innovative, sustainable, and inclusive economic future,” while reinforcing the goals of the ASEAN Economic Community Strategic Plan 2026–2030.

The meeting, held last April 29, 2026, focused on expanding the Australia Subclass 407 Training Visa and the Youth Leaders in the Diaspora (YouLead) Program, key initiatives designed to strengthen the professional and cultural ties of Filipinos living in Australia.

The discussions underscored the importance of proactive diaspora management in a host country with a rapidly growing Filipino population.

Recent data indicates that the number of Filipino migrants in Australia has reached approximately 412,530 as of 2025, a figure that has nearly doubled over the past decade. With the Philippines consistently ranking among the top five countries of birth for overseas-born residents in Australia, the CFO aims to leverage this demographic to foster bilateral development.

“Our goal is to position Melbourne as a ‘laboratory’ for diaspora engagement,” CFO chairperson Secretary Dante “Klink” Ang II noted, citing the city’s robust network of Filipino organizations.

The CFO intends to align its existing platforms, such as BaLinkBayan, with local initiatives, including potential collaborations in engineering and the proposed “BuildWatch” monitoring initiative.

Central to the meeting was the Subclass 407 Training Visa, which serves as a vital platform for skills development and professional exposure.

Both parties acknowledged a previous incident involving a Filipino trainee but highlighted that monitoring mechanisms and safeguards have been significantly strengthened, bolstered by a Memorandum of Understanding between the Government of South Australia and the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA).

For the YouLead Program, which provides leadership training for young Filipino-Australians, the Consulate reported positive engagement from participants and expressed interest in integrating specific program modules locally. The CFO presented plans to enhance the initiative through expanded age eligibility, hybrid delivery formats, and content tailored to young professionals.

Established under Batas Pambansa 79, the CFO is mandated to promote the welfare of Non-Resident Filipinos, serve as a forum for preserving cultural and economic ties with the Philippines, and provide advice to the President and Congress on migration policy.

As a premier government institution, the CFO works to optimize the benefits of migration by transforming non-resident Filipinos into active development partners, while simultaneously addressing the social costs of labor migration.

Set on May 21, 2026 at Le Cordon Bleu–Ateneo de Manila inside the Areté, the gathering brings together chefs, authors, educators, and culinary thinkers for a meaningful exploration of how Filipino cuisine is documented, interpreted, and elevated for a global audience.

At the center of the event are two influential books shaping contemporary discourse on Filipino food: Pinas Simpol: The Love and Lore of Filipino Cooking by Chef Myke “Tatung” Sarthou and Bukambibig (Word of Mouth) by Ige Ramos. Together, these works contribute to the growing body of literature defining Filipino cuisine not merely through recipes, but through cultural context, history, and structured culinary knowledge.

Joining the panel discussion is Chef Cyrille Soenen, whose participation deepens the dialogue between Filipino and French culinary traditions.

Beyond the conference, guests will experience a curated tasting feast featuring select dishes inspired by Pinas Simpol and Bukambibig, alongside specially crafted creations from Le Cordon Bleu–Ateneo de Manila. More than a showcase of flavors, the tasting highlights a rare collaboration between two of the Philippines’ respected culinary voices and one of the world’s most renowned culinary institutions.

Codifying Filipino culinary heritage

One of the long-standing challenges facing Filipino cuisine has been the lack of codified systems compared with globally established culinary traditions such as French gastronomy, which is widely recognized for its technical discipline, culinary literature, and structured teaching methods.

Through Bukambibig, Ramos frames Filipino cuisine as a cultural and historical text, challenging misconceptions while positioning it as a sophisticated and evolving body of knowledge. Meanwhile, Sarthou introduces structured concepts such as the “Four Legs of the Filipino Table” and the “Simpol ABC Method,” demonstrating that Filipino cooking possesses its own systems, logic, and culinary intelligence.

Together, these works represent an important step toward articulating Filipino cuisine on its own terms—without relying on foreign standards for validation.

Filipino and French cuisine in conversation

The collaboration with Le Cordon Bleu–Ateneo de Manila underscores the meaningful intersection between Filipino and French culinary traditions. Rather than placing one cuisine above another, the event highlights their shared foundations: respect for ingredients, mastery of technique, and the passing of culinary knowledge across generations.

French cuisine has long served as a global benchmark for culinary excellence and preservation. Filipino cuisine, meanwhile, reveals parallel strengths in its regional diversity, adaptability, and deeply rooted cultural narratives.

What is often described as tantsa or intuition in Filipino cooking is reframed in Pinas Simpol as a form of culinary intelligence comparable to the precision found in classical French methods. At the same time, Bukambibig situates Filipino food within a broader historical and global context, showing how it has absorbed and transformed influences—including European traditions—into something distinctly Filipino.

A new chapter for Filipino cuisine

More than a culinary gathering, From Plates to Pages signals a shift in how Filipino cuisine is perceived globally—from an “emerging” cuisine to one capable of scholarship, critical dialogue, and international relevance.

By connecting the insights of Bukambibig and Pinas Simpol with the discipline and legacy of French gastronomy, the event affirms that Filipino cuisine is entering a more confident and clearly defined era on the world stage.

The public is invited to attend this unique cultural and culinary experience where stories move from page to plate, offering guests a rare opportunity to encounter Filipino food in a setting that is both intimate and elevated.

Event Details

From Plates to Pages: A Gastronomic Dialogue and Tasting Feast
May 21, 2026
Ubuntu Space, Areté Building, Ateneo de Manila University

Conference | 2:00 PM – 5:00 PM
Tasting Feast | 6:00 PM – 8:00 PM

• Conference Pass – ₱350
• Tasting Feast – ₱1,800
• Bundle Rate – ₱1,950

Register here: Event Registration

ISBB was also recognised by the AFS Award for Young Global Citizens in New York and the National Sustainable Leadership Award in Education.

Sunny Varkey, Founder of the Varkey Foundation, the Global Schools Prize, and GEMS Education, said. “Congratulations, International School for Better Beginnings. Your approach to teaching and learning powerfully demonstrates how schools play a defining role in equipping young people with the knowledge, skills, and values needed to shape our rapidly evolving world.”

“By highlighting your achievement, we hope to inspire a global movement to reimagine learning and turn bold ideas into real-world impact. This is more than an award – it’s a platform to spark a global conversation about scaling the best ideas in education and advancing action far beyond the classroom.”

In a Department of Foreign Affairs news release, Consul General Marie Yvette Banzon Abalos and RUB Philippine Studies Program Coordinator Dr. Roger Friedlein signed the agreement on April 24, 2026 at the Philippine Consulate General. 

First established in 2019, the PSP has supported the study of Philippine culture, history, and society within RUB’s academic curriculum. The Program has enabled a range of credited courses and academic offerings, which may be viewed in the following link: https://www.romanistik.ruhr-uni-bochum.de/romsem/sprachen/philippinen/lehre.html.de

The renewed agreement underscores the Philippines’ sustained commitment to promoting deeper understanding of its culture and heritage in Europe through academic collaboration.

Over the years, the PSP has served as a key platform for fostering scholarly engagement and strengthening people-to-people ties between the Philippines and Germany. 

Among its notable outputs is the publication of Galería de viajeros y de una viajera a las Islas Filipinas, which was presented at the Frankfurt Book Fair 2025, where the Philippines was Guest of Honor. 

Under the renewed agreement, the Consulate will provide additional support for expanded academic programs, research initiatives, and related activities at RUB.

The updated program framework is expected to enable a broader range of activities, including the development of new courses, support for research and publications, academic exchanges, and collaborative projects that further integrate Philippine Studies within the University’s curriculum and wider academic network.

The extension also opens opportunities to strengthen institutional linkages, explore interdisciplinary approaches, and expand engagement with students and scholars interested in Philippine Studies, contributing to the Program’s long-term sustainability and continued growth.

The Philippine Studies Program is supported by the vision and sustained advocacy of Senator Loren Legarda, longtime culture champion and visionary, whose efforts have been instrumental in advancing and maintaining Philippine Studies initiatives abroad.

With the extension in place, both institutions reaffirm their shared commitment to further strengthening academic cooperation and deepening appreciation of the Philippines in Germany and beyond.

Since its first launch in 2000, the ASP Angels Walk for Autism, a long-running initiative of ASP, has grown into a collective call to action, bringing together communities nationwide across Metro Manila, Bacolod, Baguio, Butuan, Cebu, Davao, Iloilo, Lipa, Lucena, Olongapo, Tuguegarao, and Virac. 

“This year’s walk is about moving beyond awareness,” said ASP Chair Emerita Dang Koe. “We are spotlighting talents on the spectrum who are reaching for the stars with ambition and purpose while pushing for an Autism-OK Philippines where everyone is valued, respected, and empowered to thrive.”

At the walk’s Metro Manila leg at the SM Mall of Asia Arena, Quezon City Mayor Joy Belmonte was conferred with the Hans T. Sy Leadership Award for Autism Inclusion and Welfare. Book Nook was awarded the ASP Autism Works Employer of the Year. The ASP Autism Angel Achievement Awards, nicknamed A5, were also awarded to Cid Tampo, Rhav Lomboy, and Peggy Geiser, who garnered medals at the ASEAN Autism Games.

“We reflect on years of walking side by side in keeping with the theme ‘Aumbitious. Aarangkada. Aangat.’ towards a shared goal: impactful inclusivity. This journey calls us to evolve—turning aspirations into meaningful, transformative action,” said SM Supermalls President Steven Tan.

Across the country, advocates renewed calls for the passage of the National Autism Care, Support, and Inclusion Bill, which seeks to institutionalize access to services, strengthen coordinated support systems, and ensure lifelong inclusion. The proposed measure aims to address persistent gaps in education, healthcare, employment, and community support.

According to WHO data, some 1 in 100 are on the autism spectrum. Current legislation seeks to institutionalize access to services, strengthen support systems, and ensure lifelong inclusion for Filipinos on the autism spectrum to address gaps in education, healthcare, and employment. At least 26 counterpart measures to the National Autism Care, Support, and Inclusion Act remain pending in the House of Representatives’ Committee on Health as of this writing. 

Summer vacation is in. But what’s very much around the corner is a big change in School Year 2026–2027, as the Department of Education (DepEd) is pushing full steam ahead with its proposed three-term school calendar.

For those who thought that’s the end of it, fresh objections have hogged the headlines with teachers’ groups, lawmakers, and education stakeholders asking for more study, more flexibility, and more time to transition or rethink the entire policy.

DepEd says the shift is part of a bigger reform meant to address learning disruptions caused by typhoons, extreme heat, transport strikes, and other interruptions.

Still, this question lingers: Is this really reform, or just as we say, “pabalat-bunga,” if only to claim government is leaning in with an innovative solution?

Proponents argue that their premise is practical: Rearrange the school year into three comprehensively organized learning chapters and catch-up chapters, recover lost class days, and improve fluidity and efficiency in teaching.

But this neatly avoids the bigger and far uglier truth — that the crisis in Philippine education was never about the calendar.

The Philippines ranked 77th out of 81 countries in the 2022 Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA). Fifteen-year-old Filipino students are estimated to be five to six years behind in the world’s most basic literacy yardstick subjects: Math, Reading, and Science. More than 80 percent failed to reach minimum proficiency.

Those figures alone should have forced the education bureaucracy — with the top-budgeted department in government — to confront the real roots of the crisis. Ironically, the clearest diagnosis of what is truly wrong is not coming out of bureaucratic offices, but from students.

During last week’s National Schools Press Conference, the editorial writing contestants were asked to write about this proposed three-term school calendar. I was told by journalism coaches — many of them seasoned practitioners themselves — that the students saw through the issue with remarkable clarity.

Their editorials did not focus on the superficial logic of moving academic dates around. They zeroed in on the actual barriers to learning: underpaid and undertrained teachers, shortages in books and learning materials, poor internet access, lack of computers and libraries, overcrowded classrooms, and school buildings that remain unfinished or unfit for learning.

These students wrote about classrooms with leaking roofs, broken windows, and unbearable heat. They wrote about students trying to learn in rooms with no ventilation and with electric fans that exist only because parents or donors provided them. They wrote about the indignity of holding classes in tents, under trees, while school buildings remain delayed for years.

In short, these children kept their eyes on the ball.

They understand that weather disturbances may suspend classes, but the deeper disruption is what awaits them when classes resume: schools unequipped to teach, systems unequipped to support, and policies that mistake administrative adjustments for meaningful reform.

Those editorial entries from the National Schools Press Conference ought to be published and placed on the desks of education officials and lawmakers.

Because these students already understand what too many authorities seem unwilling to admit…that no calendar redesign will solve an education crisis rooted in decades of neglect.

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SHORT BURSTS. For comments or reactions, email firingline@ymail.com or tweet @Side_View via X app (formerly Twitter). Read current and past issues of this column at https://www.thephilbiznews.com