The idea behind the BE ONE Movement is for young people to go out and Be One for others. Their focus is on the greather good rather than themselves and they work for positive changes in society. But even more than that: if we become one force, we will be stronger. We will have the power to transform our community. Be One seeks to find people with fresh intentions and bring them together to do great things through avenues where they can accomplish something real. Our focus is on the heroic: as individuals and as a team.

BE ONE celebrates the people who value and work for their chosen advocacies – education, environmentalism, community building, and animal welfare, etc. At the same time, BE ONE also provides non-volunteers with avenues to find their own advocacies and make significant contributions. These avenues are: Project Bata Mag-Aral Ka III, UP PowerCard III, and WE Card II.

For more information, visit the BeOneMovement website.

By Madi Belen 08

Saatchi & Saatchi Singapore promoted senior brand director, Celevel Ranoco-Butler ’93, to the post of Singapore general manager in 2010, filling a role that had been vacant for nine months after Robbie Bempasciuto’s departure in 2009. Celevel oversees the office’s daily operations and reports to Dean Taylor, CEO of Saatchi & Saatchi Singapore and Malaysia.
Prior to her appointment as general manager, Celevel was the Regional Brand Director at Saatchi & Saatchi Singapore. Her work involved managing the high-profile and first global Sony Ericsson campaign and launching impressive 7 x 360 degrees campaigns for brands like premium home beer brand, Tiger. Her previous work experience has also included positions with O2 Asia & ME, Y&R Singapore, M&C Saatchi, and 141 Worldwide and Bates Advertising.
Of her work in Saatchi, Celevel says that she “enjoys the high energy agency life and thrives when things get mad busy.”

January 29, 2011 – February 26, 2011

By Madi Belen 08 (Editor)
Updated on 14 September 2011

With the success of the first Project Bata, Mag-aral Ka, the second run was designed to be bigger and more ambitious because we saw how it affected the first batch of children we taught. To expand the program’s influence and reach, we taught in two more communities – Pook Libis and Pook Daan Tubo. With the pilot community, Metro Vargas, the program grew to a total of 60 students. In the second year of Project Bata Mag-aral Ka, UP Sigma Delta Phi partnered with student organizations that sent volunteers to teach the children with us every Saturday.

But those weren’t the only reasons Project Bata, Mag-aral Ka II was a step – and a huge one – in the right direction. While the first phase was a rousing success, as evidenced by the turn-out of volunteers and the enthusiasm of the kids themselves, this second phase took into account everything we learned from the first phase and fine-tuned the program so that the kids could benefit even more. The program for the second run featured arts and crafts, mathematics, story-telling sessions, and daily activities that were in line with the educational goals of the program.

June 11, 2010

By Madi Belen 08 (Editor)
Updated on 14 September 2011

Saturday, June 11, 2010, volunteers returned to Metro Vargas and celebrated Independence Day with the children. The kids were given lessons about nationalism and Filipino pride. They made Philippine flags and were taught how to sing the National Anthem. Likewise, the volunteers showcased patriotism by sharing with the children what they know about common Filipino practices like siesta, and by dressing up in national costumes.

But more than that, the Independence Day Care was an offshoot of the first phase of Project Bata, Mag-aral Ka. The day itself was a check-up session of the kids, with the student volunteers who participated in the first literacy campaign, checking up to see if their students had learned or retained anything from before. To their delight, they discovered that the multi-purpose hall they held the first program in was being used as a community area, no longer locked up and used occasionally. Best of all, they discovered that some of the children had actually started going to school.

January 9, 2010 – February 6, 2010

By Madi Belen 2008 (Editor)
Updated on 10 September 2011

In researching on our advocacy for education, we noticed that one of the factors that greatly contributed to the lack of literacy in the Philippines was the lack of love for learning. To address this, UP Sigma Delta Phi created a literacy program called Project Bata, Mag-aral Ka to provide our own unique solution and to get children to see the value of education and the importance of having big dreams for oneself.

The first phase of the Project was implemented in 2010 with 30 kids in Metro Vargas Village, Quezon City. For five Saturdays, from the second week of January to the first week of February, UP Students, along with members of UP Cradle and Upsilon Sigma Phi voluntarily took the time to come out and teach kids. The daily lessons varied, from the kids learning different types of animals and parts of the human body, to student volunteers teaching them the importance of hygiene, cleanliness, and waste management.

On the Culminating Day, at Abelardo Hall in UP Diliman’s College of Music, every child ‘graduated’ from the program and was given an award in the form of a medal and a school bag filled to the brim with school supplies. Parents were given the chance to see their children’s works in the art gallery installed in the graduation grounds. Mascots, two student volunteers, even came out to greet the kids and let’s just say that the excitement levels spiked once they made their appearance! It was a moment to remember – for everyone there.

2009 to present

By Madi Belen ’08
Updated on 14 September 2011

UP Sigma Delta Phi is an organization committed to the pursuit of excellence in service of the community. We believe in the importance of education and as such, our members have been devoted to promoting literacy and furthering the education of Filipino children. Our devotion led to the creation of Project Bata, Mag-aral Ka, a literacy program that aims not only to enrich the lives of underprivileged, out-of-school children by giving them a venue to enjoy learning but also aims to infect university students with the desire to care about others and actively get involved in community service.

January 2010 – January 2011

By Madi Belen ’08 (Editor)
Updated on 14 September 2011

The UP PowerCard, a privilege card open to all UP students, was launched in January of 2010 by UP Sigma Delta Phi, with 500 cards released during that pioneering first run. Possession of the PowerCard entitled its bearers to discounts, freebies, and other benefits in establishments till January 2011. This year-long run – with all the perks the PowerCard had to offer – was availed of quite happily by UP students from the Diliman and Manila campuses.

The UP PowerCard was conceptualized and brought to fruition because we wanted to give all UP students the chance to receive the best bargains available to them. Privilege cards are no longer just a trend in these times. They are marketed as a necessity and the UP PowerCard did what all existing privilege cards in UP had never done before—it catered to all UP students. It gave them the opportunity to enjoy a plethora of exciting rewards from establishments like The North Face, Sanuk, Banapple, Cheesecase Etc., Manels, and Lay Bare Salon, all for the low price of only PhP250 a card.

More than that, though, the UP PowerCard was and is the only privilege card to provide its bearers with the means to exercise social responsibility. Part of the proceeds garnered from card sales went directly to Project Bata, Mag-Aral Ka, our ongoing literacy campaign and educational program for less privileged Filipino children.

February 8, 2011 – March 5, 2011

By Madi Belen ’08 (Editor)
Updated on 14 September 2011

UP Sigma Delta Phi celebrated our 78^th anniversary with a bold campaign titled, Try Being WE for a Change. Targeted to address today’s youth, the movement aimed to get young people involved in serving society by participating in the anniversary’s four projects. The anniversary projects were: Project Bata, Mag-Aral Ka, our very own literacy campaign and educational program and the anniversary’s beneficiary; the WE Card, a unique sticker collection and redemption card, where cardholders did volunteer work for partner foundations and earned prizes upon the card’s completion; the UP PowerCard, the first ever privilege card exclusive to UP students and alumni; and WE Move, the anniversary’s culminating event.

February 8-10, 2011

By Madi Belen ’08 (Editor)
Updated on 14 September 2011

Sigma Deltans gave away brewed coffee, courtesy of The Culinary Exchange, to the students, teachers, and staff of the University of the Philippines, Diliman on February 8 to 10, 2011. The event was held at the College of Engineering, College of Arts and Letters, and the A.S. Parking Lot. The students enjoyed their cup of coffee while hearing about our 78th Anniversary celebration, Trying Being WE for a Change.

February 15, 2011

By Madi Belen ’08 (Editor)
Updated on 14 September 2011

The WE Card is a unique sticker collection and redemption card, where participants collect stickers by doing volunteer work for any of our partner NGOs. WE Cardholders volunteered for various NGOs with causes such as environmentalism, education, community building, animal welfare, caring for the elderly, and caring for children suffering from diseases. The project was named after the Try Being WE for a Change movement and asked everyone involved – why be the ME generation, when we can be the WE generation?