New Directions Digital Art 2021: Negros

Wazzup Pilipinas!

The Negros Season of Culture is an initiative to showcase the artistry of Negros Occidental. A province in the central Philippines, Negros Occidental has produced an incredible amount of artists that have enjoyed critical as well as commercial success at home and abroad. In celebration of the National Commission of the Culture and the Arts’s National Arts Month, the NSC is proud to showcase three amazing young artists from Negros Occidental.

These three artists are featured by the Negros Season of Culture as they discover, explore, and even pioneer areas in art and design during one of the largest global pandemics in history.

Faye Abantao, Daryl Feril, and Christoph Sagemuller have more in common than being Negrenses. These three artists graduated within years of each other from La Consolacion College in Bacolod City, the capital city of Negros Occidental. They are young, dynamic artists who, due to their schooling, have a grounded foundation in the fine arts but have branched out, experimented with, and are now using new and exciting media for their art. They are also the farthest thing from the stereotype of the starving artist.

Abantao, Feril, and Sagemuller are successful both critically and commercially. They each have several exhibitions under their belts. Their art pieces and designs command interest not just from private collectors but from Fortune 500 companies. They represent a new wave of artists from a place that has always celebrated and supported the arts.

They are also at the forefront of pushing the boundaries of what is possible in the current Information Age and the nascent Fourth Industrial Revolution. The Internet is used as a source for research as well as ways to communicate with people all over the world. Digital tools, virtual and real, are used to create pieces of art for commercial and aesthetic pursuits. Their reach covers the entire country to as far as South Korea and the United States of America, a feat that one argues could have only been possible for three young artists who just graduated from a local provincial college in the Age of the Internet. 

Digital Art defies limitations traditional art has in its reach. A global pandemic may close galleries and museums and limit patrons, buyers, and art lovers from enjoying or buying artwork. However, an artist whose work is in virtual space does not share those limitations.

The prevalence of digital tools in people’s phones and computers, the ease with which they can be used has given rise to not only a new generation of artists but a new kind of artist. An artist who may not have ever even seen a tube of oil paint or an actual paintbrush, one whose portfolio exists entirely in the cloud, one whose studio and gallery are located in a hard drive somewhere. Just as charcoal had given way to paints, there is a new medium and artists who are making use of it.

Abantao, Feril, and Sagemuller are the first of many who personify the new direction that art and the artists are shaping themselves into in this new millennium. They speak a whole new language, one that is an amalgamation of traditional and the digital. Their works are unmistakable international in scope and appeal yet undeniably Negrense at heart.

One could say, it is a change of the seasons.

https://www.negrosseasonofculture.com/

PRI steps up online training with new Learning Management System; Conducts first batch of training through the platform

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The Philippine Railways Institute (PRI), an agency under the Department of Transportation (DOTr), launched its new online learning platform, the Learning Management System (LMS), through the conduct of its Web Refresher Training Course on 15 February 2021.

The LMS aims to provide the existing railway operations and maintenance workforce a platform that allows self-paced learning, while still encouraging the trainees’ participation through facilitated contact sessions.

With the LMS, PRI’s training courses are now administered, delivered, tracked, and automated in just one online platform.

"I am delighted that, in keeping with the times, the PRI is now able to provide remote learning sustainably during, and even beyond, this pandemic. PRI is now part of a growing number of institutes and organizations that have adopted this kind of learning platform,” DOTr Undersecretary Anneli Lontoc, the Officer-in-Charge of PRI, emphasized.

Last week, the railways institute successfully conducted the first LMS-delivered Refresher Training Course, with 30 railway personnel and 15 graduating college students as participants.

The pandemic’s disruptions have accelerated technological trends in the fields of learning and education. Instructional methodologies are evolving with the adoption of innovations to address limitations set by health and safety protocols to prevent the further spread of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19).

It may be recalled that before the strict community quarantine was imposed due to the pandemic in March 2020, the PRI was conducting the Refresher Training Course (RT) face-to-face. A total of six batches graduated from the course. From July 2020 to February 2021, the learning institute shifted to the Web Refresher Training Course (WRT), an online course conducted through the Zoom platform, with 15 batches completing it.

In November 2020, PRI expanded the scope of its WRT to include graduating college students with railways-relevant background, and returning overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) with railway operation and maintenance experience.

With the growing number of participants, and the challenge of conducting face-to-face classes, the PRI developed its own platform, the LMS.

The LMS gives PRI instructors and railway trainees an academic and scalable digital learning environment alongside the existing video platform being used by the Institute. It is also mobile-friendly, which allows trainees and instructors seamless access to learning materials anytime and anywhere.

“This is again a great next step in PRI’s learning strategy that will have a positive impact on learning across the railways sector,” Usec Lontoc said.

The PRI is a research and training center for the railway sector under the Department of Transportation (DOTr). It serves as the planning, implementing, regulating, and administrative entity for the development of human resources in the railway sector to ensure the delivery of efficient, reliable, and safe railway transportation services.

The PRI ensures that personnel working in each railway line have the right knowledge, skills, and attitude for operations and maintenance through the issuance of certificates of competencies.

The establishment of the PRI is supported by a JPY 670 million grant from the Government of Japan through the Japan International Cooperation Agency.

Common Outcomes of 18-Wheeler Accidents

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Wrecks involving 18-wheelers are much different than run-of-the-mill car accidents. This fact should come as no surprise, considering a typical 18-wheeler weighs 80,000 pounds, which is behemoth when considering the average car only weighs about 5,000 pounds.

Because of the sheer force of the weight behind these trucks, damage can be catastrophic and prosecuting the legal cases is much more complicated. Hiring an experienced attorney will give you the best chance of receiving adequate financial compensation for your pain and suffering, lost wages, and most importantly, injuries. Fatalities are not uncommon, and families are left behind in financial ruin, having to prosecute for wrongful death. The whole experience can be overwhelming.

Greater Devastation Leads to Bigger Settlements

Accidents involving cars and small trucks happen more often, but 18-wheeler wrecks are much more lethal. If there is a silver lining, payouts are usually commensurate with the damage done. While money is a very small consolation when you are seriously hurt or you are grieving the loss of a loved one, knowing that the at-fault party will substantially pay for their negligence can be heartening and protect the next innocent driver from the careless trucker.

Often your lawyer will be suing a company instead of an individual driver, and those payouts can be substantial. Consider that in May 2019, a jury in Texas awarded $80 million in damages to a truck driver who proved that the company that employed him forced him to change his logbook and work overtime, exceeding the federal limit for hours of service rules.

Lauro Lozano wound up falling asleep while driving and crashed into another big rig, crushing his pelvis and suffering trauma to his abdomen. Excessive medical expenses for such catastrophic injuries are just one reason settlements can balloon into the millions of dollars. Unfortunately, there are many other reasons as well.
Inability to Work and Loss of Income

Eighteen-wheeler accidents may result in permanent disability or a prolonged time away from the workplace. It is possible that the victim is completely unable to return to their previous profession. The inability to carry on with a chosen career often results in a larger settlement, including not only financial loss, but also mental anguish and sorrow at the loss of a beloved career.

More Property Damage

When colliding with these super-sized 18-wheelers, a regular car or truck is usually a total loss. That means the driver is often entitled to the entire Blue Book value of the vehicle.

Pain and Suffering

The insurmountable fear of being run off the road or getting into a collision with a huge truck can lead to unspeakable physical as well as emotional distress, including post-traumatic stress disorder. The judge will take into account the impact on daily life activities when calculating the amount to be paid.

Extensive injuries are almost always the outcome of large vehicle wrecks:

Traumatic brain injury
Wrongful death
Internal bleeding
Loss of limbs or amputation
Paralysis
Herniated disc
Whiplash
Severe lacerations
Blunt force trauma

If 18-wheeler accidents sound like your worst nightmare, you're not alone. Every day, we see victims that feel hopeless and helpless when confronting the large insurance companies hired by trucking companies. But don't be bullied.

Understanding and applying the law to these complex cases is what a truck accident law firm specializes in. In many cases, with time and patience and the right legal counsel, complete resolution and satisfactory financial recoveries are achieved. Tragic 18-wheeler accidents can, and often do, result in positive outcomes.