Republic of the Philippines

SORSOGON STATE UNIVERSITY

Sorsogon City Campus

Sorsogon City

Telephone No. (056) 211-0200 Email-Ad: ssc@sorsogonstatecollege.edu.ph

______________________________________________________________________________

The Contemporary World

Teacher Education, Accountancy & Entrepreneurship Department
Midterm Examination
First Semester Academic Year 2021-2022

Name: Lady Lee D. Aviso Score _______________________

Course Year & Section: BEED 1-A Date: October 15, 2021

I. ESSAY. Elaborate in 3-5 sentences on your substantive answer for each issue. You may type or
handwrite your answers. Write legibly. (5 points each)

1. What policy reforms can the Philippines contribute in battling the climate change emergency
challenge?
Climate change is the change in temperature and weather patterns over time. Fossil fuels, like oil,
and coal, are the main cause of climate change. The Climate Change Commission is building and
enhancing the climate resilience of our communities through a series of programs; these programs
include the CCC’s flagship capacity building program, the Communities for Resilience (CORE),
the People’s Survival Fund (PSF), and the Comprehensive Integrated Climate Change Adaptation
and Resilience Program for the Indigenous Peoples, among others. One Philippine Government
policy for battling climate change that I know is the “Climate Change Act of 2009”, section 2.
Declaration of policy state that the right of the people to a healthful ecology in accord with the
rhythm and harmony of nature is the state's policy. The Philippine Agenda 21 framework was
adopted by the State to fulfill human needs while maintaining the quality of the natural environment.
2. Explain the modern concept of family in the context of Christianity.
A Christian family is a group of people who are related to each other through marriage, birth, or
adoption and are committed, first and foremost, to the person and work of Jesus Christ, faithfully
witnessing to the love, power, and forgiveness of God to a watching world in its unique time and
place. The Christian community understood faith active in love primarily in terms of voluntary
obedience rather than emotion and applied this understanding to every aspect of life, including
sexuality, marriage, and family. Most religions consider family life to be a blessing and value the
stability of marriage. Christians believe the Church should be a model of family life.
3. Why are people nowadays tolerant of authoritarian leaders who utilize democratic institutions
to spread disinformation, to crush dissent, and to perpetuate themselves in power?
Authoritarian leadership is a management style in which an individual has total decision-making
power and absolute control over his subordinates. The leaders make decisions with little or without
input from their followers or team members. Some people find authoritarian leaders appealing.
Supporters of authoritarians are not making a rational choice, irrationality comes; they are either
being forced to go along with the regime or tricked into it. Authoritarian regimes deploy vast
propaganda operations, continually demonizing opponents, celebrating the impeccable virtue and
relentless successes of the Great Leader, stroking the (perhaps wounded) ego of the fan-base,
fanning the flames of prejudice, ginning up fear of outside forces (there’s always a caravan waiting
to invade), and warning of the dangerous “enemy within.” (George Orwell described all of this
brilliantly in 1984.) And unfortunately, propaganda has a way of working. Psychologist Stanley
Milgram's landmark study showed how people mindlessly obeyed an authority figure. ... Milgram
(1974) concluded that most people will follow an authority figure's commands because our culture
reinforces us for obedience; and most people fear the power of the authority.
4. Present an analysis of the Filipinos’ resilient responses to the pandemic and other disasters.
The Filipino’s resilient responses includes the Covid-19 virus containment, overall mortality,
quality of healthcare, vaccination coverage, the severity of lockdowns and restrictions, and progress
on restarting travel and easing border curbs. The Philippines landing at the bottom of the list of
countries resilient to the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic came no longer a surprise,
Malacañang said on Wednesday (Sept. 29, 2021). Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque issued
the statement after Bloomberg’s Covid-19 Resilience Ranking report showed that the Philippines
has ranked last out of the 53 countries in the study that measures their resilience amid the pandemic,
according to the report, Philippines obtained a score of 40.2. Response on Assessment of risk
vulnerability, prevention, and mitigation: Disaster management experts will tell you that the first
step in preventing a crisis is to assess the hazard, determine level of exposure and vulnerabilities to
the threat, and plan ways to mitigate risks in relation to a particular hazard. The Philippine
authorities failed to assess potential exposure and vulnerability to COVID-19, even though we have
been more focused on China politically and economically in recent years. The first case should have
been raised a red flag when it was confirmed on January 30.
5. Should new health and climate policies be integrated into Covid recovery packages? Why or
why not?
Both crises affect the health, wellbeing and livelihood of people worldwide. Investments in recovery
should address both threats. Some governments are addressing both climate change and COVID-
19 by incorporating climate action into their recovery plans. Climate resilience can be included in
COVID-19 packages to deliver strong economic returns, address underlying drivers of inequality
and poverty, fight biodiversity loss and reduce the spread of infectious disease. As the world
responds to the pandemic, governments can use a climate resilient recovery to forge a new path that
makes the world more resilient, more equitable, healthier and stronger.
6. Cite concrete steps in creating a gender-inclusive world that embraces gender diversity. Explain
them.
First, we must be gender-inclusive in our language: it is possible to promote gender equality and
eradicate gender bias by using gender inclusive language. Second, workplace must be gender-
inclusive: it only means that employees of all genders have access to the same rewards,
opportunities and resources at a company, including: Equal pay and benefits for comparable roles
with similar responsibilities. Third, gender-inclusive education must be achieve: Girls and boys will
have equal opportunities to realize their full human rights and contribute to and benefit from
economic, social, cultural, and political development if gender equality is achieved in education.
Fourth, make and promote gender-neutral policies: It is policies that are not specifically aimed at
either women or men and are assumed to affect both sexes equally. Lastly, Individuals must treat
each other equally: You treat everyone the same regardless of their race, sex, social status, disability,
religion, or anything else: Everyone should feel safe and cared for in a community if everyone is
treated equally.
7. How can educators be legitimate and credible sources of information? How can the people in
general fight back against massive and well-funded disinformation online?
Reliable sources enables effective communication. If your knowledge is based on unreliable
information you will not be a trustworthy teacher to your students. It is important to always evaluate
critically the sources you use, if you use reliable and credible sources, you will be a more informed
teacher and a reliable informant to your students. To combat well-funded disinformation online,
news industry need to provide high- quality journalism in order to build public trust and correct
fake news. People must be informed about news literacy, individuals should follow a variety of
news sources and be skeptical of what they read and watch.
8. Does education affect a country’s population growth? Discuss the connection between
demography and human capital.
Yes, researchers found out that education leads to lower birth rates and slows population growth.
More educated women generally have fewer children. Standard theory suggest that as income rises,
fertility falls and investments in human capital rises, this is due to the interaction of quantity and
quality in the budget constraint.
 9. How can local governance be a powerful source of hope and even transformation today?
Local governments were designed to serve the general public in ways that are democratic. Local
Governance must be effective and efficient. To understand how to run an effective local
government, it is important to trace back to the original intents and purposes of the Local
government. Effective local governments provide overall quality of life for the people who reside
in their communities. Local government must fulfill their duties and functions to the best of their
ability.
10. What does it take to build and manage a country?

To build a country, a state should possess four qualifications: a permanent population; a defined
territory; government; and the capacity to enter relations with other states. As Cicero says governing
a country is like steering a ship, especially when the storm winds begin to blow. Great courage,
ability, and resolve are the qualities that must possess by those who would govern a country. True
leaders put the interests of their nation above their own.

II. Introductory Essay for a Critique Paper (50 Points: Matter 15, Manner 15, Logic 20)

A formal critique paper is a major requirement of the course to be submitted in the finals. You are to
critically examine issues and challenges in our contemporary world. The format is composed of Title Page,
Introduction, Summary of the Material, Body (Critical Evaluation), and Conclusion. (3 to 6 pages, single-spaced,
Times New Roman, Long bond paper)

For this Midterm examination though, you are only to pick ONE from the four options below and
write just the Introduction stating the research problem and significance of your paper to the current needs of
your chosen sector/s, of the country and of the world in general. Clarify how the beneficiaries of your proposed
solutions will stand to gain from your proposal. (1 to 2 pages, single-spaced, long bond paper size)

1. Analyze international and local news through the “new normal” frame.

2. Evaluate a contemporary problem e. g. hunger from both global and local viewpoint.

3. Craft a new set of structural, values, and attitudinal reforms for a recurrent social issue e. g. urban informal
settlers.

4. Convince stakeholders, netizens, and masses by way of a campaign through the use of social media platform/s.
 The Borgen Project in Combating Poverty in the Philippines

Introduction

Poverty is a condition in which a person or community doesn't have enough to live on. Basic human
needs can't be met because the income level from employment is so low. Poor people and families
might not have clean water, healthy food, or medical attention. Each nation has a threshold that
determines how many people are living in poverty. The world has made progress in overcoming
poverty. The Earth's population rose considerably during this time period, from 4.5 billion people
in 1981 to more than 7.8 billion in 2021. While overall poverty rates have improved considerably
in recent decades, several individual countries have experienced a rise in poverty. As previous
statistics on global poverty mentioned, 696 million people still live in extreme poverty, surviving
on less than $1.90 (INT) per day. However, COVID-19 drove an additional 97 million people into
extreme poverty in 2020, according to World Bank estimates. More than a year into the pandemic,
the World Bank stresses that “there is still much we don’t know” concerning its impact on global
poverty in 2021. The Philippines has a fairly high poverty rate with more than 16% of the population
living below the poverty line. Because of the many people reliant on agriculture for an income and
inequality in wealth distribution, about 17.6 million Filipinos struggle to afford basic necessities.
From 2015 to 2020, the rate of poverty declined from 21.6% to 16.6%. Philippine President Rodrigo
Duterte aims to reduce the rate of poverty to 14% by 2022. Through its strategy, AmBisyon 2040,
the Philippine government plans to eradicate extreme poverty by 2040. Unfortunately, poverty is
expected to increase in the Philippines because of the coronavirus crisis. This will lead to a decrease
in consumption growth and further income losses. This paper aims to analyze the various programs
and reforms implemented by the government to reduce poverty by targeting education, healthcare
and the overall economy, specifically the five ways of how The Borgen Project is combating
poverty in the Philippines. This paper aims to criticize the “Combating Poverty in the Philippines”
article posted by Zoë Nichols in borgenproject.org on September 25, 2020. Moreover, this paper
aims to discuss how those ways effectively help our Government agency like the National Anti-
Poverty Commission (NPAC), other public and private sectors who are responsible in battling
against Poverty in the Philippines and how can those ways aids Filipino citizens. Therefore, the
beneficiaries of this critique paper are the Philippine Government Agency and Sectors responsible
for addressing poverty in our country and the Filipino’s who live in extreme poverty. “The Borgen
Project is an incredible nonprofit organization that is addressing poverty and hunger and working
towards ending them.” – The Huffington Post. The Philippines has been hit the hardest by the
Pandemic, therefore more efforts are needed to combat poverty. The Borgen Project discussed five
effective ways to fight poverty in the Philippines.

References:

Chen, J. (2020, September 4). Poverty. Investopedia.

https://www.investopedia.com/terms/p/poverty.asp

Global poverty: Facts, FAQs, and how to help. (n.d.). Retrieved from
https://www.worldvision.org/sponsorship-news-stories/global-poverty-facts

Poverty Rate By Country 2021. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-

rankings/poverty-rate-by-country

Nichols, Z. (2020, September 25). COMBATING POVERTY IN THE PHILIPPINES. THE

BORGEN PROJECT. https://borgenproject.org/tag/poverty-in-the-philippines /
 Balinbin, A.L. (2019, March 8). All gov’t agencies, offices directed to implement poverty reduction
program. BusinessWorld. https://www.bworldonline.com/all-govt-agencies-offices-directed-to-
implement-poverty-reduction-program/