Batch of 2005 Filipino Scholars to Australia for post graduate study.

During January 2005, some 71 new Filipino scholars from the government and private sector will travel to various Australian university and college campuses to commence their post graduate study program. They are the latest group of talented and motivated awardees to take up Australian funded scholarship grants to complete specific study programs aimed at assisting in the long term development goals of the Philippines. The participants will be away in Australia from 12 months to 3 years, depending on the form of the study award in which they have been enrolled This year's recipients were chosen from over 2500 eligible applicants from all regions of the country. This batch is the last to be nominated and chosen by open application using the long standing merit and equity criteria developed for the management of the Australian Development Scholarship (ADS) program in the Philippines. The newly established Philippines-Australia Human Resource Development Facility (PAHRDF) will be responsible for selecting and mobilizing the subsequent batches of long-term scholars. The new scholarship program strategy of the Australian government aims to increase flexibility in award granting and alignment of the study programs to achieve sustainable development for the Philippines through the upskilling of critical personnel in both government and non-government institutions from across the country. New programs may involve scholarship study at local as well as regional universities and could involve part time as well as open learning enrollments to carefully customize the study to the needs of the individual and organisation from which the employee is drawn "We are looking to make the program more effective and cost efficient for both the Philippine partner institutions as well as the selected scholars", said Bob Wilson, Facility Director of PAHRDF. "We want to build on this excellent cooperation program that has operated between Australia and the Philippines since 1951 to achieve greater long term benefits for the country in its endeavor to achieve its medium term development goals. The Australian government is committed to helping the current administration reduce systemic poverty and create greater employment opportunities particularly in the regional provinces in the south." "While this batch is Australia, PAHRDF will work with their home officer to develop specific re-entry programs so that the newly qualified graduates will be in a position to apply their new skills and knowledge for the direct benefit of the institution and their clients - the various communities and general public of the Philippines. Mr Wilson also assured the departing scholars that the Facility will be in constant contact with them to ensure they are well supported in their study program and remain in contact with their colleagues at the workplace as well as family members back in the Philippines. "We want this scholarship opportunity to Australia to be a positive and empowering experience so that returnees are motivated and supported in their efforts to make a positive contribution to the development of their communities and their work environments."

MA. ROSARIO TORRALBA At age 25 Ma. Rosario Torralba is the youngest member of the batch. She is taking up a place in a Master's Degree on Social Change and Development at the University of Newcastle in the state of New South Wales Newcastle is a large coastal city located about one hours drive north of Sydney. It is popular college for Filipinos who enjoy the relaxing student life style in close proximity to the city lights of the large metropolis of Sydney.

Rosario is a Senior Health Program Officer at the Department of Health office in Manila where she monitors and helps implement the government's health programs for the poor. Being a graduate of the University of the Philippines, she has been privileged to study in the premiere state university in the country; and has been fulfilling the responsibilities for that privilege through government service. Now, as she prepares to leave for her scholarship grant at the University of Newcastle in Australia, she is eager to bring back home new knowledge and is even more enthusiastic to take up bigger responsibilities when she comes back here in the Philippines. "I don't really get pressured, being the youngest in the batch, because I'm quite used to being relied upon," she said. Rosario may be young but she understands what the government has done for her and she is willing to give back to the country that "has done so many things for me." She said she feels confident that she will be able to achieve the items on her change agenda when she comes back armed with her new Master's Degree on Social Change and Development. "With great power comes great responsibility," she said, quoting from a movie. "But I'm sure I would be able to deal with (the pressure) and promote change for a country that has done so much for me." DAVID A. ALI Studying in Australia as a foreigner could be difficult, even as Australians are very accommodating and hospitable to their visitors, but studying in an Australian university as the only Filipino there could be harder. With the amount of time needed to finish a PAHRDF scholarship grant, which takes an average of 18 months to two years to finish, a lone Filipino in an Australian university would think he would want to go back just three months into the program. But for David A. Ali, a promising scholar of the Philippines-Australia Human Resource Development Facility (PAHRDF), all one needs is an inspiration. Though the Australian government is sending to Australia 71 Filipino scholars as the first batch of scholars under the PAHRDF, David will go there as the only Filipino in his university. David will go the University of Western Australia to take up a Master's Degree on Regional Development, with which he hopes to promote good and sustainable changes at the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), not only in his home office in the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) but also at the national level. He works as a Senior Trade and Industry Development Specialist at the DTI office in ARMM, in Mindanao, a region considered to be very rich in untapped natural resources. But the development of Mindanao has been stunted, with the continuing insurgencies that have hampered trade and investments in the region. Not that the DTI office there is not doing enough to help the region catch up with the development of the other parts of the Philippines, but it needs some good changes. These changes, David said, is his inspiration; and he wants to dedicate the next years of his life towards the achievement of these goals.

"I want to promote good changes in my home office in Mindanao. I don't think that it would really be that hard for me to study alone as a Filipino, since--in my experience with Australians here--Australians are very friendly people." He may have also been used to not having family around, since he has just a few in other parts of the Philippines, but nonetheless, one can just imagine how hard it could be for him to live and study there alone. But he said his dedication to his job and towards the achievement of his ultimate goal after the scholarship will push him through, "with a little help from my friends." David said he has some friends that he can call here in the Philippines, and that he will probably be able to contact some of his fellow scholars when they all get to Australia, just so to get through the occasional homesickness. "But what really drives me is my goal to make good changes in my home province, and probably--this might be far-fetched--even at the national level, in my own little way." Asked how often he thinks he might feel homesick when he gets to Australia and how he plans to get through that homesickness, he says: "I'll have with me a picture of my family and friends in the ARMM; then I'll think about our future together in the Philippines when I do succeed in promoting changes that will lead to sustainable development for my country. That will get me through." (END)

SARAH ESTRADA The Philippines has regarded its 8 million overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) as modern day heroes as their dollar remittances have kept the country's economy afloat amidst the hard times. Filipino workers leave their families behind in search for greener pastures in other countries, putting at risk their lives and bracing for months or even years of loneliness. The risks, sometimes, even become almost non-existent for the OFWs as the better life for their families that is at stake is more important than their own. Filipino scholars bound to Australia go through the same sacrifice of leaving their families behind, not in search for greener pastures but for the achievement of sustainable development for the Philippines such that no Filipino workers would ever want to leave for other countries to work. The Filipino scholars leave for more knowledge in Australia that they can use to promote good changes in their respective government agencies, and hopefully in the governance of the country as a whole. This kind of sacrifice, though does not involve risks to their lives, is no less noble than those made by the OFWs. Sarah Estrada is one such scholar who will make that sacrifice. Sarah is happily married with three kids but has chosen to go to Australia for a scholarship grant in order to contribute to the sustainable development of the Philippines. Sarah will go to Australia to study a masteral degree in Business and Management Practices at the Victoria University under the Philippines-Australia Human Resource Development Facility (PAHRDF) which

provides deserving Filipinos with long-term postgraduate scholarships in Australia. Though she is not going there to work for profit like most Filipinos do when they go overseas, she intends to live a simple life as a Filipino student in Australia in order to save a part of her stipend for her children here in the Philippines. She said she will also try to keep her grades high in order to be able to also work in Australia since the PAHRDF also provides the opportunity for Filipino scholars to work part-time in Australia if they have proven themselves to be capable of working while studying at the same time. "I want to make it up to my children, even if I'm not personally there to take care of them--at least I can provide them with a comfortable life while I'm away," Sarah said. But material advancement for her and her family is not the only thing that drives Sarah to go to Australia to study and work. "I want to make the most out of my stay there. I want to study well and use my knowledge for the benefit of my home office here in the Philippines when I get back," she said. At her home office at the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) here in the Philippines, Sarah wants to promote good changes like professionalism, accountability and good work ethics. "And when I do succeed in doing these goals, first the short-term goal of promoting changes at my home office and eventually the ultimate goal of sustainable development for the Philippines, then maybe I can spur advancement for my family and for my country," Sarah said. "Then my children, and ultimately, the next generation, will never want to leave the country for work abroad again." (END)

JESUS B. DOQUE IV "Two years...ang tagal nu'n," says a woman while watching children in the background playing. "Kailangan eh," replies a man, coming from behind and giving the woman, apparently his fiancee, a hug. This scene comes from a popular television commercial in the Philippines that depicted the sacrifice done by Filipinos departing for other countries in search for a better life not only for their families but more importantly, though indirectly, for their country. And such a depiction of a sacrifice is just too common among overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) bound to other countries, but for Jesus B. Doque IV, it is such an accurate account of what had been his conversation with his fiancee after he learned of his scholarship grant to Australia. Jesus is leaving for Australia on his wedding day. The decision whether to leave for his scholarship grant in Australia was the hardest to make, considering that he would leave behind his fiancee for whom he made the biggest but easiest decision in his life-marriage. "Deciding to marry her was the easiest decision of my life," Jesus said. "But the decision on whether to go to Australia to study was definitely the hardest thing to make, with my fiancee asking me not to go and my heart that I should."

It is a total sacrifice, he said, as the requests of someone you love most is almost as imposing as the call of service to the country. But in the end, Jesus decided to go to Australia for his Masteral Degree in Dispute Resolution at the University of Technology in Sydney, Australia. There are many changes that he wants to pursue when he gets back to his home office at the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) where he is the chief of the Trial and Investigation Division. "And I hope that with my scholarship bearing its fruits of sustainable development for the country, I would not regret that I made the hardest decision of my life to leave for the scholarship," Jesus said. Jesus said his dedication for his job and for the development of his province and country will pull him through sadness during his two-year education in Australia; and he knows that his fiancee would share the same dedication and wait for his return. "I'll make it up to her--she knows that. But the sacrifice she'll be doing when I leave for Australia is just as big as mine, so I dedicate this for her as well." (END)