Lau Bunescu, manager of Telecentre Europe, receives a token from PhilCeCNet Chair Angel Ramos while Exec Sec Tess Camba looks on

In March this year, Telecentre Europe Network Manager Laurentiu Bunescu came to the Philippines for a five-day study visit. His primary objective was to learn from and share experiences with the Philippine Community eCenter Network (PhilCeCNet) to possibly learn about strategic and operational aspects that will help identify strategies for addressing the challenges they face at Telecentre Europe .

In his five-page report , Mr. Bunescu outlined his major observations of how PhilCeCNet operates, its organizational structure and future plans, noting particularly the multi-stakeholder involvement in the network which guarantees sustainability, the bottoms-up consultative approach in the formulation of the roadmap, and its having a charter in place.

Mr. Bunescu identified some aspects that can be replicated at Telecentre Europe and also proposed ways for adapting or implementing possible solutions to address operational issues and challenges.

The Open Academy for Philippine Agriculture (OpAPA) project in Batac, Ilocos Norte has not limited its interventions to ICT modalities alone. It also embarked on a holistic approach to help uplift the living conditions of its beneficiaries, the members of the Quiling Tengnga-Laud-Libtong Zanjera Association, Inc. (QTLLZAI). The project also helped in conventional ways to enhance the operation of the association such as through the development of income-generating and value-adding activities.

These income generating activities include processing of special rice produced by its members and selling it in the form of packaged milled rice, as well as production of Effective Microorganisms Activated Solution (EMAS), a product that enhances the decomposition of farm and household organic wastes.

The week-long foundation celebration of Mariano Marcos State University in Batac served as an opportunity for QTLLZAI to promote and sell its processed products - special rice and EMAS.  The additional income being earned from these products will be used in maintaining the operation of the cyber community’s computer and Internet facilities.

The Quiling Tengnga-Laud-Libtong Zanjera Association, Inc. (QTLLZAI) Cyber Community, also known as Batac CyberCom, appointed Jan Ray Aribuabo as its cybercom manager in January this year. This move aims to slowly wean the cybercom from the management of PhilRice Batac and eventually enable the association to operate independently in the near future.

Jan Ray is one of the fourteen youths who are being trained by the Open Academy for Philippine Agriculture (OpAPA) in Batac on Basic ICT Literacy.  He is the son of one of the members of the association and is currently out of school.  This post does not only benefit the cybercom but likewise him.  Members of QTLLZAI are farmers who have basically limited computer knowledge and have no time overseeing its computer and internet facilities. Jan Ray’s appointment allows him to earn some money from managing the facilities.

Aside from his responsibility of managing the rental of the computer and Internet facilities, he also assists the treasurer and secretary of QTLLZAI when they prepare or update their association reports and records. These two officers started to computerize their files and records last year.

Further, he is assigned to forward the daily bulletins of wholesalers’ price of major crops grown in Ilocos (particularly vegetables) sent through the Pinoy Farmers’ Text Center by price monitors from the Batac Bagsakan Market and the Balintawak Oriental Market in Metro Manila.

It was two years ago when this Community eCenter first opened.  It was a fresh concept then – connecting the people from a far flung municipality like Alegria, Cebu to the world thru the information superhighway. With just a dial-up connection and a borrowed nook from the Municipal Health Center, the center plowed on.

But times, they say, are constantly changing.  While the neighboring towns were speeding in the information superhighway, the center crawled on. The students, tourists and regular clients soon disappeared. Thereafter, the Provincial Government found out that the ideal place for its “Birthing Project” is the Municipal Health Building.  And soon enough, the CeC was without a place, and the computers shut down. Various factors also contributed to its eventual closure. 

Attempts to revive it were hampered by the reluctance of service providers to put up landline subscription. Citing reasons only they can comprehend, they bypassed Alegria and focused on the neighboring towns instead.