DUBAI // Wilfredo Aguilar hopes poverty will not keep Filipino children out of school.
The 33-year-old planning engineer in Dubai led a “lapis at papel” (pencil and paper) collection campaign for needy schoolchildren in the Philippines last December, which is being repeated this year.
Boxes of pencils, erasers, sharpeners, paper, notebooks and crayons were shipped to Manila and distributed to 2,530 grade-school students in three public schools.
Mr Aguilar and a group of computer enthusiasts, the Filipino Digerati Association, made the donation in coordination with the Commission on Filipinos Overseas, a Philippine government agency under the office of the president.
Mr Aguilar, who served as the group’s president last year, is aware of the hardships of some children who want to go to school.
Both his parents died while he was in high school. His mother died of emphysema in 1996 and a year later, his father, a seafarer, succumbed to bone cancer.
The Overseas Workers Welfare Administration, also a government agency, provides death benefits, including scholarships and financial assistance for education, to dependents of overseas Filipino workers.
“I was fortunate to get some help from the government,” Mr Aguilar said. “But I know of many children who are struggling in public schools and are forced to quit since their parents could not even afford to buy them pencils and notebooks.”
There are more than 46,000 state-run schools in the Philippines. Overcrowding and a lack of classrooms and teachers are among the many problems.
“Getting a good education should be a right, not a privilege,” Mr Aguilar said. “I would really like to make a difference to the lives of these children through our project.”
Ryan Cabug, 41, a mechanical technician in Ajman who assisted with the school fundraiser, said students, housemaids and companies supported the cause. Some offered in-kind donations, while others gave cash.
“It felt so good seeing the photos of smiling children and their teachers with the school supplies,” he said. “We were tired gathering the items and packing non-stop but it was worth it.”
The group began collecting more school supplies this month to ship in time for Christmas. Another delivery of school supplies will arrive in the first quarter of next year, before the start of the new academic year in June.
A similar project, "Lapis, Papel, Aklat Atbp" (Pencils, Paper, Books etc), was launched by the University of the Philippines Alumni Association in the UAE in 2009.
Last year, dozens of boxes of supplies were shipped to Dayap Elementary School and Santo Tomas Elementary School in Calauan, Laguna, south of Manila. The schools have 3,188 pupils between them.
rruiz@thenational.ae
'Worse than a prison sentence'
Marie Byrne, a counsellor who volunteers at the UAE government's mental health crisis helpline, said the ordeal the crew had been through would take time to overcome.
“It was worse than a prison sentence, where at least someone can deal with a set amount of time incarcerated," she said.
“They were living in perpetual mystery as to how their futures would pan out, and what that would be.
“Because of coronavirus, the world is very different now to the one they left, that will also have an impact.
“It will not fully register until they are on dry land. Some have not seen their young children grow up while others will have to rebuild relationships.
“It will be a challenge mentally, and to find other work to support their families as they have been out of circulation for so long. Hopefully they will get the care they need when they get home.”
RESULT
Manchester City 1 Sheffield United 0
Man City: Jesus (9')
Will the pound fall to parity with the dollar?
The idea of pound parity now seems less far-fetched as the risk grows that Britain may split away from the European Union without a deal.
Rupert Harrison, a fund manager at BlackRock, sees the risk of it falling to trade level with the dollar on a no-deal Brexit. The view echoes Morgan Stanley’s recent forecast that the currency can plunge toward $1 (Dh3.67) on such an outcome. That isn’t the majority view yet – a Bloomberg survey this month estimated the pound will slide to $1.10 should the UK exit the bloc without an agreement.
New Prime Minister Boris Johnson has repeatedly said that Britain will leave the EU on the October 31 deadline with or without an agreement, fuelling concern the nation is headed for a disorderly departure and fanning pessimism toward the pound. Sterling has fallen more than 7 per cent in the past three months, the worst performance among major developed-market currencies.
“The pound is at a much lower level now but I still think a no-deal exit would lead to significant volatility and we could be testing parity on a really bad outcome,” said Mr Harrison, who manages more than $10 billion in assets at BlackRock. “We will see this game of chicken continue through August and that’s likely negative for sterling,” he said about the deadlocked Brexit talks.
The pound fell 0.8 per cent to $1.2033 on Friday, its weakest closing level since the 1980s, after a report on the second quarter showed the UK economy shrank for the first time in six years. The data means it is likely the Bank of England will cut interest rates, according to Mizuho Bank.
The BOE said in November that the currency could fall even below $1 in an analysis on possible worst-case Brexit scenarios. Options-based calculations showed around a 6.4 per cent chance of pound-dollar parity in the next one year, markedly higher than 0.2 per cent in early March when prospects of a no-deal outcome were seemingly off the table.
Bloomberg
Business Insights
- As per the document, there are six filing options, including choosing to report on a realisation basis and transitional rules for pre-tax period gains or losses.
- SMEs with revenue below Dh3 million per annum can opt for transitional relief until 2026, treating them as having no taxable income.
- Larger entities have specific provisions for asset and liability movements, business restructuring, and handling foreign permanent establishments.
ORDER OF PLAY ON SHOW COURTS
Centre Court - 4pm (UAE)
Gael Monfils (15) v Kyle Edmund
Karolina Pliskova (3) v Magdalena Rybarikova
Dusan Lajovic v Roger Federer (3)
Court 1 - 4pm
Adam Pavlasek v Novak Djokovic (2)
Dominic Thiem (8) v Gilles Simon
Angelique Kerber (1) v Kirsten Flipkens
Court 2 - 2.30pm
Grigor Dimitrov (13) v Marcos Baghdatis
Agnieszka Radwanska (9) v Christina McHale
Milos Raonic (6) v Mikhail Youzhny
Tsvetana Pironkova v Caroline Wozniacki (5)
What is a robo-adviser?
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These portfolios are made up of exchange traded funds (ETFs) with exposure to indices such as US and global equities, fixed-income products like bonds, though exposure to real estate, commodity ETFs or gold is also possible.
Investing in ETFs allows robo-advisers to offer fees far lower than traditional investments, such as actively managed mutual funds bought through a bank or broker. Investors can buy ETFs directly via a brokerage, but with robo-advisers they benefit from investment portfolios matched to their risk tolerance as well as being user friendly.
Many robo-advisers charge what are called wrap fees, meaning there are no additional fees such as subscription or withdrawal fees, success fees or fees for rebalancing.
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