Good news! Air-21 Philippines, one of the Philippines largest freight and cargo forwarding company has recently hired MCCID graduates.

A total of eight deaf workers were hired by the company as Data Entry Operators. Six of them are MCCID Alumni. They are Owen Domagtoy (Batch 2005), John Victor Amos (Batch 2005), Lycille Macairan (Batch 2005), Rachel Ann Tapel (Batch 2006), Jocel Caraballo (Batch 2007) and Maricris Siping (Batch 2010). The other two are from other schools. They started their official day last October 4 by conducting a work-training.

Team Leader and Head Trainor Emil Basco conducts the first day training.

They currently work on graveyard shift (8:00 pm to 6:00 am) similar to call center agents. They encode package and parcel information. Their interest in hiring deaf started when one lady, Sheryll Rose Agarap, an AAIT Batch 2007 graduate from CAP College CFD applied in their company this April 2010.

According to Air21′s General Manager Levi Diestro, because of her diligence, good work ethics and adaptability with other co-employees, they floated the idea of hiring more deaf workers. The work fits them because it does not require too much human interaction and uses the technology of computers.

Through MCCID’s website, Air21′s Corporate Human Capital Management Assistant Recruitment Specialist Feddie Ross D.C. Saflor, was able to visit the school and inquired for possible hiring of deaf graduates. Then, through a series of meetings, typing speed evaluation screenings in MCCID and subsequent interviews at their main office in Paranaque City, they finally selected the eight workers.

Air21 representative Feddie Saflor introduces his company to MCCID President and Registrar.

For his part, MCCID President Remberto C. Esposa was truly grateful in trusting MCCID and deaf persons in general. He hoped that more collaborative efforts between Air21 and MCCID would materialize in the future.

Mr. Saflor screened the typing speed of deaf applicants at MCCID before the final scheduled interview.

Hiring of deaf workers in Air21 will be on a trial basis. Should their performance meet or even exceed the company’s standards, then Air21 would again open other opportunities to other deaf.

Ten deaf students from this year’s graduating class attended the web accessibility seminar conducted by US based Even Grounds Accessibility Consulting held from January 21-22 at the Commission on Information and Communications Technology (CICT) ADOC Center in UP Diliman, Quezon City.

Sir Jojo interprets for Mr. Julius Serrano.

Mr. Julius Charles Serrano, Research Director of Even Grounds is the main speaker for the two-day event. He is a visually impaired web researcher and web accessibility evaluator of websites. He also conducted similar seminar in Malaysia.

The seminar aims to enlighten web designers and other participants on the importance of making their sites accessible to everyone including Persons With Disabilities. Barriers such as improper use of color contrasts, fixed fonts, not putting alternative texts on images and non-inclusion of closed captions on videos were discussed in details.

Sir Jojo lectures about web accessibility in the Philippines.

On the first day, the group covered a set of topics regarding web accessibility, and screen readers as well as other assistive technologies. On the second day, Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0, and the procedures in identifying and solving accessibility issues in websites were tackled. Sir Jojo Esposa Jr., current President of Philippine Web Accessibility Group gave a short overview of the Philippine initiative on web accessibility designs and and its recommendations.

More than 20 participants attended in this seminar. The audience consisted of professors and students of web development subjects and representatives of organizations focused on persons with disabilities. MCCID students who attended are Vincent Adecer, Jasmine Bundalian, Andrew Calaycay Jr., John Rommel Carpio, Irene Dagos, Eleazar Fancubit, Kurt Patrick Galicha, Lucky Mc Gill Paltep, Hazel Ann Sy. and Maricris Siping.

MCCID participants pose in front of CICT facade.

Aside from MCCID College, other participants came from schools and organizations such as Asia Pacific College, Informatics International College, Resources for the Blind Incorporated and University of Sto. Tomas. ATRIEV School for the Blind led by Mr. Rene Orense (ATRIEV’s project officer and web master) and CICT co-sponsored the event. Certificates of Attendance were distributed to all the participants at the end of the second day.

MCCID College is one of those in the forefront in promoting web accessibility in the Philippines. MCCID sponsored and published the first ever book on web accessibility in the Philippines entitled Basic Web Accessibility Guide for Filipinos.

For more information about the event, visit Evenground’s Official News Article.

First Issue Cover Page

Students perform the National Anthem.

Second year MCCID College students were invited to render the Philippine National Anthem in Filipino Sign Language during the launching of maiden issue of the Philippine Animation Magazine last March 26, Thursday, at Eastwood Mall in Libis, Quezon City.

Among those who performed were the Maricris Siping, who made the sign language interpretation and all 12 students of Diploma in Arts and Computer Design Technology class. Lucky McGill Paltep choreographed the interpretative dance.

MCCID students were among those invited to witness the event which was attended by major animation industry companies.

Students were treated to a demo of animation tablet.

The magazine launching was a brainchild of powerhouse animation industry leaders in the Philippines headed by Ms. Joy Bacon of Animation Council of the Philippines, Inc. together with Ms. Lina Valdez, Manager of Guhit Pinoy Animation Studio and Mr. Eric Tansingco, Proprietor of Take One Animation Studio.

Among those featured in the magazine is the blog review about the Philippine animated movie “Dayo, Sa Mundo ng Elementalia” written by MCCID Training Director Jojo Esposa taken from his blog “Filipino Deaf from the Eyes of a Hearing Person”. Also, MCCID College contributed a 1/8 size advertisement that appeared at one of the pages.

During the program’s raffle of prizes, MCCID Training Director won the sample design templates.

Mr. Eric Tansingco and Ms. Lina Valdez introduce the magazine.

Scanned page of blog article

The Philippine Animation Magazine is produced and published by AnimaDreams Inc.. This is the first of its kind ever to be launched in the country. The first issue of 1,000 copies were distributed for free by the organizers during the event.

This quarterly magazine featured stories about Filipino animators, game developers and animation training. Future issues will again feature local contents including local talents animation studio or an animation school. It will tackle both trends in the markets and events/happening in Asia and the world of animation. It will also talk about the latest technology. It will be an avenue for artists/animators to showcase their ideas, character designs and their thoughts on Philippine animation.

To know more about the magazine, visit their website at www.animadreams-online.com or email them at info@animadreams-online.com.

Guhit Animation Studio, one of the premier digital and 2D animation companies in the country and an active member of Animation Council of the Philippines, has forged an agreement with MCCID to assist in the training of our deaf students to become professional animators. Hopefully, the animation training will commence on June 2009.