Exptemporaneous Speaking Contest is not a Beauty Contest, stupid!

I so cannot understand the Extemporaneous speech during the Intramural 2009. Here's why:

Cherie, the participant of the College of Education, just finished delivering her piece. When she was about to leave the stage, she was stopped by one of the judges and asked her another question.

"How do you define the modern man?" the judge asked. (A troglodyte asking for a definition of modern man? The nerves to ask such a question!)

Cherie herself was puzzled, so she asked back: "Am I bound to answer that?"

I don't know what happened next. But I do know that Cherie placed third although hers was the most eloquent of all the speeches.

And guess whose star shined most brightly at that time? Yes, the participant from the BSBA won despite, not because of, her speech.

***
Of course, I'm not saying that BSBA students are not capable of winning in a contest like Extemporaneous where brain is needed more than brawn.

What I don't understand is that why did the judge ask Cherie another question when she has already answered the question----in fact, the only question----that she needed to answer.

Of all the Extempo I've seen, it was the first I heard that the judge asked the speaker another question as if he were in a beauty contest.

Exptemporaneous Speaking Contest is not a Beauty Contest, stupid!

Look before you leap

The action star turned president. The nocturnal president. The poster boy of corruption. The academically challenged president.

Joseph Estrada, “Erap” to his millions of tangahanga, suffered miserably in the past. He has been scraped off his office, cutting short his six-year Presidential into two and a half. He has been jailed and convicted. But he has been pardoned since, thanks to Madame Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

After being away for so many years from the cockfight that is politics, now he’s back, vowing as he does to continue what he has started. But for lack of anything newer and better and more convincing to show to the voters why he still remains to be the best choice, Erap—-or whoever is in-charge of building him up—-has rummaged in his baul and found his most-prized possession: his many years of experience in public service.

Setting aside the question if Erap is allowed to run for any public office this coming elections, many are afraid that The Erap might win because of his still-wide masa following.

But let us look before we leap, i.e., let us look at Erap's past before we ever think of voting for him as a President---again. Read A portrait of Erap as a public servant at RP2010.com.

A portrait of Erap as a public servant

The action star turned president. The nocturnal president. The poster boy of corruption. The academically challenged president.

Joseph Estrada, "Erap" to his millions of tangahanga, suffered miserably in the past. He has been scraped off his office, cutting short his six-year Presidential into two and a half. He has been jailed and convicted. But he has been pardoned since, thanks to Madame Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

After being away for so many years from the cockfight that is politics, now he's back, vowing as he does to continue what he has started. But for lack of anything newer and better and more convincing to show to the voters why he still remains to be the best choice, Erap----or whoever is in-charge of building him up----has rummaged in his baul and found his most-prized possession: his many years of experience in public service.

In his recent campaign ad,  Erap boasts of his 17 years as a Mayor, six years as a Senator, five years as a Vice President, and two and a half years as a President.

"Ang kailangan ay 'yong may karanasan," the campaign ad further said, implying that no better candidate deserves to be a president than Erap himself because he has an extensive legislative and executive experience.

Well, what of it?

The question here is not how long has he been in public service. The question is what has he done in those years that he's in public service.

The truth of the matter---surely this will vex his staunch supporters---is that Erap's record is far from clean. True, Erap said he did nothing wrong during his presidency. But what he says, what he does, and what he says he does are three entirely different things.

Therefore we should separate Erap's word from his action. And several cold, hard facts suggest that Erap is not what he said he is: He did something wrong during, and even before, his presidency.

In "Investigating Estrada: Millions, Mansions and Mistresses," a compilation of investigative reports by the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ), we get a glimpse of Erap as a public servant, which is ironic because Erap is more of a master than a servant. In this thoroughly researched and punctiliously written book, investigative journalists from PCIJ shed off the many layers of myth and secrecy that veiled Erap for years. Random passages from the book give us a portrait, however incomplete, of Erap as a public official, minus the myths:

• "While Ramos used these [Presidential] powers within the broader framework of economic liberalization and reform (even as he helped out his friends), Erap merely wields it for his buddies within the broader framework of, well, friendship and a sense of entitlement to the privileges of public office. The resurrection of Estrada supporter Eduardo 'Danding' Cojuangco who is now once again the king of beer is certainly due in large to the latter's support for Estrada's candidacy. And certainly, Lucio Tan need no longer worry about his P26-billion tax evasion case now that his pal is president."


• "It is obvious that Erap's grasp of the responsibilities of the presidency is primitive. At the same time, however, he shows a keen appreciation of the perks of his position. Which may be why he does not bother to answer question about his finances. He probably thinks he is above the law, and from the looks of it, he may be right. Take the JELP development in Antipolo. Although it had been warned as early as March 1999 by the Antipolo City Planning and Development Office that it had no clearance to develop the site, JELP never got around to obtaining the necessary permits. The Ombudsman's slowness in probing the discrepancies and missing entries in his statements of assets and liabilities is another indication of the impunity that the President seems to enjoy."


• "In his statement of assets, for example, Estrada does not declare his participation in about a dozen companies in which he and his wife are major investors and board members. Neither do his asset of declarations give an idea of the magnitude of the business interests that he and his families are engaged in...In the course of several months, we obtained and examined 66 corporate records in which Estrada, his wives and his children are listed as incorporators or board members. Altogether, these  companies---31 of which were set up during Estrada's vice-presidential term and 11 since he assumed the presidency---had an authorized  capital of P893.4 million when they were registered. The President and his family members had shares of P121.5 million and paid up P5836 million of these when the companies were formed."


• In the last three years, companies controlled by cronies of President Joseph Estrada acquired close to P1 billion worth of land and houses in some of Metro Manila's poshest and most exclusive districts...Although none of these properties are registered in Estrada's name, the President or one of his wives would later live or be seen visiting the properties, sometimes even supervising construction."

It's clear thus that Erap used his position to enrich himself. Which is anathema to his campaign slogan: "Erap Para sa Mahirap." In truth, what happened was the reverse. It's the "mahirap" that is for Erap, not the other way around.

Now, do we need a public official like Erap? You be the judge.

In education, one of the attitudes that teachers avoid the most is "mile-wide, inch-deep" teaching---that which tries to cover as many topics as possible with so little in-depth discussion, that which values quantity over quality.

In the realm of politics, Erap seems like the epitome of a "mile-wide, inch-deep" public official----one who cares more about quantity rather than quality, one who stays in public office for so long a time doing so little.

Undecipherable...

...is the theme of this year's Holy Cross' Intramural:

Fighting martial law by way of martial law

[caption id="attachment_1463" align="alignleft" width="120" caption="Teodoro Locsin Jr."][/caption]

Below is the speech of Makati Rep. Teodoro Locsin Jr., which he delivered before the Joint Session of the Congress. Satirical and cerebral, the speech makes the case for the martial law in Maguindanao. In essence, it says that there can be no other "adequate response" to the martial law imposed by the Ampatuans but to impose, in return, "martial law by the government which is the exercise of the inherent police power to secure the public safety through the armed forces." Read the speech---it makes you think twice over whether martial law is necessary there. Here goes:

Teaching is performing

On November 7-8, 2009, we had a Theater Workshop, one of the series of seminars that Education interns for the second semester would have to go through. Mr. Norman Narciso, who has an extensive experience and training in theater, facilitated the workshop.

Mr. Narciso said that a two-day workshop is quite an ambitious endeavor because it normally takes three days to complete the workshop. Still, he did not disappoint us. So for two days, he trained us like we were real theater actors and actresses. We underwent several exercises that, we were told, would enhance ourselves and our teaching performances as well.

On the first day, we started by grouping ourselves into ten. Of course, those who already knew each other flocked together, although Mr. Narciso asked us that, if possible, we should not be with out friends. This mattered, he said, because in the exercises that would follow, it would determine how fast we could connect to people whom we are not familiar with. But his suggestion fell on deaf ears.

Human Rights Day

Today, December 10, is declared as the "Human Rights Day."

From the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights: "Human Rights Day 2009 on 10 December will focus on non-discrimination. “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights”. These first few famous words of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights established 60 years ago the basic premise of international human rights law. Yet today, the fight against discrimination remains a daily struggle for millions around the globe."

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Nowhere is this discrimination more glaring than in the recent decision of the Commission on Election (COMELEC) to junk the petition of Ang Ladlad to be accredited as a party-list group. Not only is the decision unconstitutional, it also smacks of backwardness, in thought and in action.

I survived Dr. Aberion's seminar

[caption id="attachment_1455" align="alignleft" width="103" caption="Dr. Bernardita Aberion"][/caption]

Of all the seminars that I’ve attended, the seminar on problem-solving strategies is perhaps the most frightening—and challenging. Why? Well, for one, it was Dr. Bernardita Aberion, former Education Program head, who facilitated it, and everyone present at that time knows who Dr. Aberion is. She’s a no-holds-barred teacher. She speaks her mind. She’s frank, the kind that can make anyone recoil in embarrassment. She’s strict. Her very presence is enough to send chills to faint-hearted students.

Indeed, she's the only speaker I've ever seen who began a seminar by scolding the participants. “I was told that you will prepare the materials,” she said, “only to find out that I will have to prepare them myself.”

When she started fuming, it seemed as though the cozy Audio-Visual Room suddenly turned warm. The din in the room disappeared, and was supplanted by an eerie silence.

“Nganong gamay lang man ang gipa-photocopy?" she continued. "Nagtipid mo? When you want to learn, you have to spend.”

The slippers and the slippery slope fallacy

On December 1, 2009, I've had a row with the security guards of our school.

"What's this," the male guard asked, referring to the white smoke cellophane in my bag.

"Slippers," I said.

Then the male guard asked for my I.D. One moment, I said, why are you confiscating my I.D.? Then I turned to the lady guard, who I think is more genial. I asked for an explanation. She obliged and said that students are no longer allowed to bring slippers inside the school campus.

Why? I asked. Because, the lady guard said, some students, once they're inside the school, wear the slippers they bring.

I was shocked. In my mind I wanted to discuss with the guard if that new regulation had undergone procedural due process before it was implemented. And I wanted to ask the guard if he could show me a written document saying that students are not allowed to bring slippers because, as far as I know, the only thing that's prohibited with regard to slippers is when you wear, not bring, them.

I was even more shocked to hear the raison d'être of the new regulation. I can call it for what it is: silly. It's true that some students wear the slippers they bring when they get inside the school. But it's still absurd to prevent students from bringing slippers just because they might wear them inside.

Isn't that what you call the "slippery slope fallacy"?

I'm just curious: Will they soon prohibit the bringing of ball-pens because students might use them for stabbing? Will they prohibit the bringing of papers and books because students might use them for setting the school on fire?

I wanted to say all that to the security guards, but I opted to remain silent, and gave my I.D. instead.

The curious case of the Filipinos

We Filipinos are a bunch of...never mind. We know that a catastrophe is about to break. We see the signs of its coming all over us. Yet we don't do anything about it. It is as though everything's going to be all right. We sink into deep slumber. And worse, we come back to life only when there's death.

Look at the aftermath of typhoons Ondoy and Peping.

Or better yet, look at The Maguindanao Massacre.

Are our five senses malfunctioning, so that it takes us so long a time to stop what needs to be stopped?

Like truth, books shall set us free

[caption id="attachment_1436" align="aligncenter" width="399" caption="Photo by blog.mariyamakiling.com"][/caption]

(The essay below was adjudged as third in the Essay Writing Contest sponsored by the Learning Resource Center of our school, HCDC. Which means this essay's only worth a hundred pesos.)

Books have many purposes. There are books that entertain. There are books that teach us how to cook and plant. But books as weapons for independence? Probably a far-fetched idea. But once upon a time, in the Philippines, books were not just ornaments that adorned the library. Books, which are carriers of ideas, were once used as weapons for independence.

According to the historian Ambeth Ocampo, during the Spanish regime, the Philippines was sealed against liberal ideas. The Filipinos, who were then called indios, were not allowed to read. The Spaniards were so afraid that Filipinos might be enlightened they established a Comision de Censura. Its task was to censor all the books coming in the Philippines. This kept the Filipinos in the dark for well over three centuries.

Fortunately, we have such audacious heroes as Jose Rizal, Andres Bonifacio, and Apolinario Mabini. All were voracious readers. All acquired liberal ideas, which later spurred them to fight for independence from the Spaniards.