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BALITA 7/2000
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Chismis 2000

Reunion Fever!

July 1 - 2, 2000 SF, CA
'90 10th Anniversary SF

July 14-16, 2000 Annapolis, MD
East Coast Pool Party

July 21-23, 2000 Palo Alto, CA: 
'78 Birthday Bash
(open to all)

Makati IS Alumni Social 
The IS Alumni Social will be held every first Friday beginning August 4, 2000 for classes of 1980-1989 Alumni along with their partners and friends. 

The Social will be at The Hive Radio Cafe located at the 3rd Floor in Save-A-Lot Mall, 2284 Pasong Tamo Extension, Makati City (across the Lumbang Gate of Dasmarinas Village). Starts at 5:00 pm! 

All Alumni will be given a 10% discount on all Non Happy-Hour prices if they mention that they are IS Alumni upon ordering.

MORE DETAILS ARE HERE!

By Rocky Nazareno, Philippine Daily Inquirer

FILIPINO teachers at the International School Manila have scored a major coup in the Supreme Court, which has handed down a landmark decision saying that locally hired teachers should earn as much as their foreign counterparts. 

The high court's decision puts an end to a four-year legal battle between the school's management and the local faculty, which has been demanding equal pay for work of equal value. 

In the strongly worded decision, Associate Justice Santiago Kapunan castigated the Makati school for "inequality and discrimination" and noted that there was "no reasonable distinction between the services rendered by foreign hires and local hires." 

"The practice of the school of according higher salaries to foreign hires contravenes public policy and is an affront to our laws and the Constitution,'' the high tribunal declared. 

The salary scale for expatriate teachers at IS is 25-percent higher than the scale for local hires, according to a press release from the International School Alliance of Educators, which has been leading the protest against the disparity in salaries. 

Teachers hired abroad also receive benefits and allowances denied to their locally hired colleagues--including housing, transportation, certain medical benefits, moving costs and home leave travel. 

Disparity

The Supreme Court underscored that people "who work with substantially equal qualifications, skill, effort and responsibility, under similar conditions, should be paid similar salaries." 

The disparity in wages, according to the alliance's statement, grew worse when the Filipino teachers elevated the case to the Supreme Court in 1996. 

The alliance alleged that IS "no longer followed the 25-percent differential and gave foreign teachers markedly higher salaries." 

The high court reproved the school's management, saying: "In the workplace, where relations between capital and labor are often skewed in favor of capital, inequality and discrimination by the employer are all the more reprehensible." 

The Inquirer tried but could not contact IS officials for comment after office hours yesterday. The school, which follows the US school year, is out on summer break. 

The alliance's lawyers, Haydee Yorac and William Chua, could also not be reached by phone. Raquel Ching, the group's president, is out of the country, according to the news release. 

Links to more articles about this topic:

Read the June 26 Inquirer Editorial by Conrado de Quiros "Subtle, but still Bigotry" 

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Read the June 28 Inquirer Editorial "Equal Pay" 

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Bamboo Telegraph Article about JeepneyGang.com

Adults often reminisce about ‘the good old days’ in context with their  unforgettable teenage years in high school.  These are the years most filled with the seasoned relationships, testing adversities, avid emotions, extraordinary revelations, and memorable events we find so hard to forget. It's quite understandable that graduates often find it too difficult to just  leave high school and all its meaningful attachments behind upon graduation.  Hence, reunions are often arranged, yearbooks are kept, and contact with old classmates are never lost. 

The Jeepney Gang is an organization created to support the alumni of the former American School and International School of Manila, and it helps people keep in contact with others who want to hold on to those special connections made in high school.  They organize and promote large-scale reunions, on-line chats, reunion vacations, cruises, camping trips, parties, and many other alumni activities.  The organization has the help of many class members and other volunteers. 

The Jeepney Gang started in 1981 by various alumni who got together to have fun.  At first, they wrote dozens of funny articles for alumni publications, attended big reunions, held their own mini-gatherings, and basically used the name Jeepney Gang whenever they got together.  Things got a little more formal when their website - now at 'http://www.jeepneygang.com' was established in 1997.  The group began sponsoring and promoting all alumni activities and hosting general alumni information forums in 1999. 

Currently, the main members of the organization include Richard Olson '65, Vicky Sycip Herrera '68, Alex Kahl '81, Tisha Del Rosario Kahl '84, Monti Samuel '89, and Tammy Deuster '90. They are assisted by the Class Contacts that run the Classroom sites as well as many other volunteers.

The Jeepney Gang offers present and future alumni a means to express  themselves, interchange information and ideas, and support alumni  activities, particularly reunions such as the 2001 "Thrilla in Manila".  For seniors graduating, the Jeepney Gang would gladly link any alumni website you create or support and feature and alumni organization you wish to set up.  So 20 years hence, when your high school buddies pop into your mind, you can always go to your class site and see if you can track them down. 

So, for those of you who would like to do a little more than just reminisce about ‘the good old days’, contact Ms Vicky Herrera or visit the website JeepneyGang.com to find out how you can help preserve some of the  relationships, memories and spirit you would otherwise leave behind. 
Jeepney Gang Motto: “Class by class, A.S. or ISM, Indian or Bearcat, we  strive to support one another, our causes and our school. The spirit may live within, but our goal is to get it out.” 

Thrilla Reservations Streaming In!!

We have put down deposits on airline reservations and on the venues that we needed to!  But because so many of you abroad are still sending in your reservations, we are extending the deadline for the $300 downpayment until 31 JULY, 2000. 

After July 31 the downpayment will be US$500 per person. So we can meet our next financial deadline on 30 October, 2000. 

For you who already made your initial deposit, you may choose whether or not you wish to make an additional deposit by 30 October, 2000. 

For those of you who have yet to make your downpayments, from now until 31 July you can still put down US$300.00.  From 1 August until 30 October, the deposits will have to be US$500.00 

REMEMBER:  The LAST day to reserve AND pay for your trip is 30 January, 2001!  ALL arrangments have to be FINALIZED and you must be fully paid up on that date. No more reservations will be accepted after then as it makes it VERY difficult for us to organize the activities well.

Thank you and see you in March 2001 for the THRILLA in MANILA!!

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