Softcopy: Aralin 13

Here's the softcopy of Aralin 13: Ekonomiyang Kolonyal Bago ang Ika-19 na Siglo

3rd Grading: Reviewer

Download the Reviewer_AP IV at your own risk.

Merry Christmas.

In search of peace: SMAD celebrates the Mindanao Week of Peace

There were about ten people who stood in the center ground. Each was holding a white balloon. "Those balloons symbolize the prayers, hopes, and aspirations of all Marisians," said Mr. Oliver Calledo, the moderator of the Samahang Araling Panlipunan. "At the count of three, they will release the balloons." Then the balloons were released.

A non-mind-boggling question that boggles my mind

There are questions that are difficult in themselves like does God exist, or what is beauty. But there are questions that are difficult because the teacher made them out to be. This is a case in point:

During our Social Dimension in Education review class, there's a question that goes this way: "A teacher discovers that a product of a certain bottling company brings about a damage to teeth. Much as he wants to share the products of his research, he could not because of harassment from all sides. Which teacher's right is violated?" The choices are: (a.) Right to make a livelihood, (b.) Academic freedom, (c.) Right to one's honor, (d.) Right to property.

The answer, according to the teacher, is (a.) Right to make a livelihood. I stood up to protest and defined what academic freedom is. "Academic freedom," I said, "is the right of the teachers to determine what to teach and how to teach, and to conduct a research and share the findings of his research. If he is prohibited from sharing his research because of outside pressure, then his academic freedom is being stifled."

"No," the teacher said. "The more appropriate answer is letter "a." Why is that so I could not truly, madly, deeply understand.

I did not, however, push the argument a bit further, and so I sat down, and went back to sleep.

I rest my case.

I blog---still.

When I was still working as a student assistant in the high school library of Holy Cross, I get to read almost all of the major broadsheets every day. I get to read a book a week. I get to update my blog. I get to surf the internet and research on just about anything.

Now that I'm working as a teacher, all the things that I used to do, I no longer do. It's frustrating, but the upside is that what I'm experiencing right now is something that working in the library cannot give.

I will write more of it later when I'll be able to find my rhythm.

Fog and sunflowers

[caption id="attachment_1859" align="alignleft" width="614" caption="A shot at our neighborhood. Rarely does this happen. A fog hanging so low. As if someone is burning dry leaves. [Image003"] [/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1861" align="alignleft" width="240" caption="This one, too. The sunflowers of our neighbor are in bloom."][/caption]

Study at your own risk!

To my fourth year students. If you want to pass, click this Reviewer_AP IV that I made. But if you don't because of some strange reasons, just forget about this.

Is a less populous Philippines beneficial?

No, said Fr. Gregory Gaston at the seminar titled "World Population Collapse: Lessons for the Philippines," which was held last night at the Sacred Heart of Jesus Parish.

I was not feeling well last night and yet I was able to take down notes.

But I think it would be better if you read the abstract of his paper World Population Collapse, so that you'll know why the Catholic Church is staunchly opposing the Reproductive Health Bill. Read it, and you'll know where the Catholic Church is coming from.

Remembrance of the workshop past (Part 2)

What I was in for I really didn't know, until I threw myself into the sometimes shattering and sometimes enriching---depending on one's own experience---world of the writing workshop.

In the early morning of May 3, the first day of the workshop, I arrived in the conference room of Lispher Inn where the Davao Writers Workshop would be held. There was only one person present yet. By my estimate, he's somewhere between seventy and eighty. He's wearing floral long sleeves; his attache case was placed on the table.

The old man turned about, and when he saw me, he greeted me and offered me a seat near him. When he began to talk, I thought maybe this old man is a writer because writers are generally talkative.

It's not in my book to ask people's name first lest they'll get offended, but the old man saved me the burden of having to ask his name because he introduced himself.

"I am Satur," he said in Bisaya. "Satur Apoyon."

I just sat there with amazement. I couldn't believe that I was seating beside a real writer. All these years, I have not met a real writer, he who makes writing a living. But now there was something in me that told me not to let this opportunity slip by me, and so I tried as hard as I could to get the conversation between us going.

Satur and I talked about many things, from the difference of Cebuano and Mindanao Bisaya to the seven-year ordeal he had while completing his fantasy novel, "Ang Karibal ni Pilemon," from the difficulty he finds whenever he reads today's writings in Bisaya to the dearth of writers in Bisaya.

Not long afterward, people started to crowd the conference room, and then the workshop started (without a prayer), and Jhoanna Lynn Cruz, the Workshop Director, welcomed everyone. Then Rick de Ungria, being the president of Davao Writers Guild, gave a message. And so did Gilda Rivero, UP Mindanao's Chancellor. Then Dominique Cimafranca introduced the fellows and the panelists.

Four men and a woman served as panelists: Dr. Anthony Tan, who has the loudest voice of them all and was asked by Tita Lacambra-Ayala "Are you going to die?" when he told us, as a preface to his lecture, that he's going to retire from sitting as a workshop panelist; Mac Tiu, who, if not mean, was mild; Ric de Ungria, who was either the fellows' tormentor or defender; Genevieve Quintero, whose curly hair is as memorable as her positive comments; and Tim Montes, who was at one time very serious and at another naughty---he once said that poems must sometimes have the comic punch of this Bisaya verse: "Ay kakapoy/ Naay bata gatutoy/ Naay o**n gataroy/ Ay kakapoy."

There were also those who served as guests panelists: Satur Apoyon, who received the "Ug-Og" Palangga award, a parody of the Palanca award, for his emphasis on the difference between the words "ug" and "og"; Arnel Mardoquio, director of Hunghong sa Yuta, who just went to the workshop to critique the plays of Hiyasmin Espejo, the lone fellow for play; and Jhoanna Lynn Cruz, a Palanca awardee, who once took the place of Tim Montes.

15 slots were allotted for this workshop, but there were only 12 fellows who attended: James Pascual of ADDU, fellow for poetry; Gino Dolorzo of Xavier Univerity, poetry; Reymond Pepito of ADDU, poetry; Hiyasmin Espejo of UP Mindanao, play; Fred Layno of UP Mindanao, poetry; Ella Ismael of UP Mindanao, essay; Erika Navaja of UP Mindanao, poetry; Jayson Parba of Capitol University of CDO, fiction; Freeda Ko, granddaughter of Tita Lacambra-Ayala, fiction; Iryne Kaamino of Mindanao Medical School Foundation, poetry; Seneca Pellano of UP Mindanao, essay; and I, who came from Holy Cross of Davao College and was damn fortunate to have been chosen as a fellow for fiction, though I should have applied for essay because I like to style myself as an essayist.

Before the workshop, while looking at the roster of panelists and imagining the prospect of being inside a room full of writers of no mean achievement, I felt as though I were a speck whose presence would not make anyone budge, or whose absence would not be sorely missed by everyone.

And then Ms. Jhoanna introduced our keynote speaker, Dr. Anthony Tan, who would be giving a lecture on "Tension in Poetry." Oddly, while he's discussing tension in poetry, there was also a tension in me. That tension, I was sure, was due to the fact that my first piece, "The Young Sultan and the Plague," was slated to be critiqued first in the afternoon of that day.

The moment it was critiqued, all I did was prepare myself for the worst of comments. I didn't hold any illusions that it would come out unscathed. And true enough, it did come out strangled, stabbed, sliced, torn, lacerated, and hacked into pieces.

Sir Tim Montes called it "hilaw." The plot, he said, was not clear. Neither were the characters. Rick de Ungria said it's an "ambitious" piece, as though the writer wanted to cram so many things in so limited a form as short story.

It's hard to keep up with the pace of the panelists and take notes, but whatever they say, it only led to one irreversible conclusion: My piece didn't make it.

My second piece, "Badge of Honor," didn't make the grade either. Sir Mac Tiu said it's "novelistic," whose scenes "flits from one to another." He said, too, that the point of view needed to be fixed. There were so much background information that should not be included. Ms. Gen Quintero prepared to like the story because it started with the history of an indigenous people, and the IP is her area of interest. But she was left with no choice but to dislike it, for while reading it she had more "Huh?" moments than "Aha!" moments. Sir Rick de Ungria said my story is a good example of a story...that needed revision. There was, he said, a story, but no plot. The two, he reminded, should go together. He also said that I have this tendency to show instead of tell, and tell instead of show. Ms. Jhoanna was peeved by my use of triple asterisks to signal the reader of the new scene. It shows, she said, that the writer is immature. She suggested that I should read more, and even added that I ask a syllabus from Sir Tim Montes.

Their comments are enough to make you loathe them, and loathe them till you run out of cuss words. They can be so brutal that there was, in fact, one time that one fellow left the next day after his piece had been critiqued. They said the fellow wasn't just feeling well at that time, but it could be that the fellow couldn't stomach anymore the things the panelists were saying of his work.

To me, however, their comments are secondary; the experience itself primary. Not that I'm downplaying or belittling their comments, which were fair and well-thought-out in the first place, but the wonder of this all is that the utterly harsh comments are balanced and obliterated by the refreshingly congenial experience that the entire workshop provides for a novice writer.

Today, our society has little appreciation for writers. It is discouraging to writers, if not outright hostile. In school, students are mocked as "Emo" for turning their passions into prose. They are scoffed at if they keep a diary. At home, a son's or daughter's plan to be a writer is nipped right in the bud.

But at the writing workshop, there was not a slightest rebuke. Talks about writing are not discouraged; they are encouraged. It's as if writing is just like any other things in the world. Like PBB, like Rubi, like FB.

It is at the writing workshop, too, where I felt that I can be Arvin The Writer. It's there that I found it not strange to talk about writing being my passion. It's there where I was not questioned why I write. It's there where I was not considered quirky just because I see myself as a writer.

But the whole thing, after all, may be put very simply. The genius of a writing workshop does not lie in the panelists ability to issue an advice to young writers---sometimes it helps, and sometimes it thwarts, if not destroys, the writer's development. It lies in its ability to gather like-minded individuals, who are as passionate about writing as you are.

It sometimes get so frustrating when you find little support for the things you are most passionate about, but being in the company of such kindred spirits as the fellows and panelists, who think just what exactly you think, who feel just what exactly you feel, and who do just what exactly you do---it somehow buoys me.

Remembrance of the workshop past (Part 1)

Almost two decades ago, writer Doreen Fernandez, a noted critic herself, pleaded that this country should have more critics. They do an important work. They tell the readers which stories are good and which are not; which plays are worth watching and which are not; which books are worth buying and which are not.

Yet to us Filipinos whose sensibilities are not like the Americans’, it is but hard to have these critics around. We cannot withstand to have our work, the mere completion of which took us a long time and hard work, being subjected to criticism. We take the criticisms, however constructive, personally. We mistake criticism as an assault on our very being.

It is in writing workshop where much criticism takes place; although criticizing books or stories or plays is somewhat different from the criticism at writing workshops, it is criticism nontheless. I have never attended a writing workshop, until recently. But I’ve had a fair idea what goes on at a writing workshop, thanks to Stephen King,.

In his book "On Writing: Memoir of a Craft," King recounted his own experience at a writing workshop he once attended. Despite his harrowing experience at a writing workshop, King would become an established writer himself.

Although he's "doubtful" if a writer can benefit from writing classes and seminars, he's not "entirely against them."

"I knew that if I attend a workshop," he said, "I'd receive no sweet words, unless my works are truly exceptional, and they are not. I knew that my works would be criticized. What are critics for if they don't criticize?"

Like King, I knew that if I attend a workshop I would subject myself and wy works to criticisms. I knew that I would receive "no sweet words, unless my works are truly exceptional, and they are not." Nevertheless, on May 3-7, 2010, I attended the Davao Writers Summer Workshop, which was sponsored by the Davao Writers Guild, National Commission for Culture and the Arts, and UP Mindanao.

To be continued...

The search for relevance is an illusion

The question that often arises at conferences, seminars, meetings, and even at an ordinary gathering of Doctors, not of medicine but of education, is, "Are the subjects, say, history, offered at our schools are still relevant?"

The search for relevance, however, is an illusion, said Jacques Barzun. One who undertakes to find an answer to that question here or in the nether world will be frustrated, for relevance is "not a property of things, but a relationship in the mind."

Relevance exists only in the mind, not in the things outside the mind. There is therefore no such thing as inherently relevant or irrelevant. For instance, history in itself is neither relevant nor irrelevant. It only becomes relevant if the student of history plans to use his knowledge of history in understanding his present situation.

Nanos gigantium humeris insidentes

That means "dwarfs standing on the shoulders of giants." According to my ever-reliable source, Wikipedia, it is a Western metaphor that means, "One who develops future intellectual pursuits by understanding the research and works created by notable thinkers of the past." Joining the 2010 Davao Writers Workshop is like standing on the shoulders of giants. Here are some of the photos in which I, well, stood beside the giants (literally and figuratively).

[caption id="attachment_1795" align="alignleft" width="400" caption="Ma'am Aida Rivera-Ford and I."][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1796" align="alignleft" width="400" caption="Sir Ricky de Ungria and I."][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1797" align="alignleft" width="400" caption="Sir Mac Tiu and I."][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1798" align="alignleft" width="400" caption="Sir Tony Tan and I."][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1799" align="alignleft" width="400" caption="Dominique Cimafranca and I."][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1800" align="alignleft" width="400" caption="Sir Tim Montes and I."][/caption]

149 Minutes

Nervous, I inserted my ballot into the PCOS (Precinct Count Optical Scanner) machine. I was nervous because what if the PCOS would reject my ballot like it did to the woman before me. The PCOS didn't reject her ballot at all. But she inserted it six times before her ballot was counted. Less than a minute passed, the words, "Congratulations! Your ballot has been counted." appeared. I sighed.

What the COMELEC (Commission on Elections) say is really true. With the automated elections, the counting of the ballots will no longer take a long time, unlike the manual elections. But it's too early to celebrate.

Lest we forget, the searching of polling precinct, the lining up---all that, too, is part of the election. And there are so many things that can be said of them. So many, in fact, that I don't know where to begin.

Perhaps I'll begin with my arrival. If the election were manual, I would have arrived at the polling precinct very early. But no, the election is now automated. Which, as the COMELEC promised, is faster and more efficient. There is therefore no need for me to hurry.

When I woke up in the morning, I turned on the TV, watching what's going on in other parts of the Philippines, instead of preparing to leave for the polls. Over at ABS-CBN, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo was shown voting. Per ABS-CBN's calculation, GMA took only six minutes to vote. If it's that fast, I figured I would go to the precinct at 8:00 in the morning.

The night before the election day, I had planned what would I wear and what would I bring. To warn the voters that if they thought only for themselves when they vote, if they wouldn't think of future of the country, they would get nowhere, I would wear my T-shirt with a quote by Conrado de Quiros: "You don't have national pride or a sense of country, you'll get nowhere." Sadly, however, I would find out that the voters were too busy to even bother to look at my T-shirt, let alone contemplate the profundity of what's written on it. To monitor the time and see if the election is faster than before, I would wear a wrist watch, although I'm not used to wearing it because it annoys me.

At 8:45, I arrived at the polling precinct. Already, the entrance to the Cabantian Elementary School, where I would be casting my vote, was dominated by "poll assistors" (poll assistants would be much simpler) distributing sample ballots, vendors selling mineral water, Max and Snowbear, teenagers and bystanders doing...nothing.

Then I went to my precinct: 1808C. Like all the other precincts, mine was already crowded. There were those who were looking for their names on the list pasted on wall. Some were asking for priority numbers. There were also the omnipresent "poll assistors," struggling to get inside, or at least get close to, the precinct.

I searched my name on the list to double-check if my precinct was really there. I'm glad I did, because when I found my name, it was listed under a different precinct: 1808E. But that was no matter. I was still on the right precinct. The COMELEC, I discovered, put the five precincts in one cluster. For instance, the precincts from 1808A to 1808E were put in cluster 545. Hence, the overcrowded precincts.

The polling precincts were replete with posters informing the voters of the six things they need to do to cast their votes. The procedure looked good---on paper. It was not followed. I don't know if the same procedure was followed in other places, but the actual voting procedure in Brgy. Cabantian went like this: First, the voter would fall in line to get a priority number. As for me, I started to fall in line at 8:50. I received my priority number at 10:24. After the voter got his priority number, he would again fall in another line that which led to the precinct. Once the voter got inside, he would tell his precinct number to the BEI (Board of Election Inspector). If his name is on the list, the BEI would ask for his signature and thumb mark. All that that took me no less than 50 minutes.

At 11:14, I was done casting my vote. All in all, it took me 149 minutes (2 hours and 29 minutes) to vote. I can say that I'm lucky to have just been inconvenienced for 149 minutes.

Some of you would say that 149 minutes is too much. But come to think of it. This was no ordinary day. We are talking about election here. It is the time when we choose our next leaders. It is the time when we decide not only the fate of our country, but also our fate.

If it takes only 149 minutes to choose leaders who would help our country better again; if it takes only 149 minutes to undo all that GMA did; if it takes only 149 minutes to reclaim what this country has lost; if it takes only 149 minutes to save us from another six years of felony, perfidy, and larceny----if it takes only 149 minutes to achieve all that, then we should be more than willing to spare 149 minutes of our time.

It cannot be denied that we have this tendency to inflate our own misery. But as the man, who tried to organize the disorganized voters at my polling precinct, said, "Kini na ang panahon para mag-sakripisyo lang ta gamay" (This is the time that we have to sacrifice a little).

Aida Rivera-Ford recited Sonnet 29

Aida River-Ford is so known she need not be introduced at length. Suffice it to say that the opening ceremony of the 2010 Davao Writers Workshop was made more special by her presence, and by other venerable artists' presences: Tita Lacambra-Ayala, Margot Marfori, and Maria Virginia Yap Morales.

During lunch time, Ma'am Aida seated near us. She didn't eat right away, as everyone else did. Yes, she did get her food. But after putting down her sparsely filled plate on the table, she asked us if we have a copy of Dr. Anthony Tan's lecture, in which Shakespeare's Sonnet 29 was cited.

"I will recite it with feelings," she said.

Gino, one of the fellows for this year's workshop, handed his copy to Ma'am Aida. Then Ma'am Aida stood in front and held the copy in her left hand.

"You know, aside from being a writer, I'm also a performer," she said. "I used to memorize this, but now I forgot this already. But anyway, I will recite it."Ma'am Aida didn't frustrate her listeners. True to her word, she recited Shakespeare's Sonnet 29 with feelings.

When, in disgrace with fortune and men's eyes,
I all alone beweep my outcast state
And trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries
And look upon myself and curse my fate,
Wishing me like to one more rich in hope,
Featured like him, like him with friends possess'd,
Desiring this man's art and that man's scope,
With what I most enjoy contented least;
Yet in these thoughts myself almost despising,
Haply I think on thee, and then my state,
Like to the lark at break of day arising
From sullen earth, sings hymns at heaven's gate;
For thy sweet love remember'd such wealth brings
That then I scorn to change my state with kings.

Then everyone applauded her.

So beautiful is her rendition that, how shall I say this, nanindog gayod ang akong balahibo paghuman niya ug basa sa poem. As both fellows from CDO, Gino and Kuya Jay, would say, "Chada kaayo bay."

Notes on the Davao Writers Workshop 2010

[caption id="attachment_1740" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="The opening ceremony of the 2010 Davao Writers Workshop was graced by Aida Rivera-Ford and Tita Lacambra-Ayala, the grand dames of Philippine Literature"][/caption]

The Davao Writers Workshop Summer 2010 is about to end. There are only few pieces left to be critiqued. Call me sentimental, but this is one of the events in my life that I will never forget. Ages and ages hence, I shall be able to tell this: For once in my life, I brushed elbows with the big-shots of the Philippine Literary scene: Jhoanna Cruz, Tim Montes, Gen Quintero, Mac Tiu, Anthony Tan, and Ric de Ungria, who serve as our mentors, or "tormentors" as some would say.

Merely looking at the roster of this workshop's panelists can be intimidating, what with their accomplishments and intellectual acumen. In fact, before the workshop, I felt as though I was so puny that if ever I'd be absent or present, my presence or absence would not make anyone budge.

Yet, for one reason or another, I didn't feel that way. Here, no one questions me why I do the things I do, which is to write.

Is Talk 'N Text stealing from its cash-strapped subscriber?

Is Talk 'N Text, "a wholly owned subsidiary of SMART," stealing from a cash-strapped subscriber?

This morning I loaded Gaantxt 10 onto my cellphone, a load equivalent to 55 texts to Talk ‘N Text/Smart + 5 texts to all networks! But when I replied to a very urgent text message, what appeared was not "Message Sent." It was "Check Operator Services." This happened before. Maybe my phone is so dumb that it needs a little time to absorb the fact that I have just loaded onto it. So I waited for about five minutes. Then I resent the message. Still, it was "Check Operator Services."

I refer the matter to my sister, who said maybe I just need to reload it. So I loaded it again with P30 ECONOMY Pack. Still, I was told to "Check Operator Services."

Now, I started to get irritated. No, naglagot na ko. Kita pa nga gatipid, kita pay kuwaan ug load.

I inquired 15001. Then I received a text message informing me that as of 29April 09:03 I have a "Load Bal: P30 Free Txt to Smart/TNT:100 Free Txt to all networks:5.

If so, why can't I text? And every time I do, why am I always told to "Check Operator Services?" Is Talk 'N Text suffering from a Dr.Jekyll-and-Mr.Hyde syndrome? It says that I still have a load, but in truth I don't.

Did Talk 'N Text, "a wholly owned subsidiary of SMART," just steal from me, a cash-strapped subscriber?

I'm afraid it did. The bad news is that I'm one of the many victims of this "cellphone load robbery," as Senator Juan Ponce Enrile put it. The good news is that I'm one of the many victims of this "cellphone load robbery."

I recall that no less than Senator Juan Ponce Enrile also fell prey to this "cellphone load robbery."

Now I begin to wonder: if Senator Enrile fell prey to this, how much more if the subscriber is a lowly one like me, a cash-strapped subscriber?

Update: Talk 'N Text is now back to normal. Which is to say, I can now send messages. But I won't delete this post. Let this be a reminder that once upon a time, Talk 'N Text went awry.

Poll automation, no matter what

A new way of doing things will always give feelings of discomfort to those who are accustomed or programmed to doing things their way---which is the old way. Just imagine you grandparents, who have never seen, let alone touch a computer, signing up for Facebook.

But if we know the old way is no longer working, what should we do? Obstinately stick to it? Or look for a new way of doing it? Of course, the latter is the more sound choice.

With regard to our elections, there is a clear need to look for a new way of doing it. Critics of the poll automation feel that there will be failures at some point. They are damn right. Surely, there will be failures.

But the risk of failure should not justify our inactivity.

Where have I been these past three days?

DAY ONE: April 25 (Sunday) - Compostela, Comval Province

[caption id="attachment_1701" align="aligncenter" width="640" caption="L-R: Melay, Arvin, Elisa, Gracey, Lloyd, Wengkai, Etong, Chane, GR"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1702" align="aligncenter" width="640" caption="Lechon: The most delicious pig in the world, according to Time magazine. "][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1703" align="aligncenter" width="640" caption="What the eyes can't see, the mouth can taste. Brownout ani nga panahon. Pero wala mi magpapugong."][/caption]

DAY TWO: April 26 (Monday) - Bamboo Mountain Resort, New Bataan, Comval Province







DAY THREE: April 27 (Tuesday) - Sitio Panas, Brgy. Carcor, New Corella

[caption id="attachment_1710" align="aligncenter" width="640" caption="Panas Waterfalls"][/caption]

Project Law School: Why take up law?

I was twice asked why I want to take up law? My aunt asked me the first time. When she asked me that, I stared at her. Just stared. Then nodded. Then said, "I don't know."

"You have to have a reason," she said. Yes, I have to have a reason. But does everything we do need to have a reason? Can we not do it without being asked why we do it?

The second time I was asked was when I applied for a teaching position in one of the Catholic schools in Davao. (Clue: It's located on Obrero St.). The principal asked me "What would you with the salary?"

Simple. I said, "The salary I will use to support my law studies."

"So you're planning to take up law?" the principal asked. "Yes, ma'am," I said.

"Why do you want to be a lawyer?" Unlike my aunt's question, I thought I was obligated to answer this one. So I said, "I want to be a lawyer because I want to advance good causes. And I believe that the law is a powerful tool by which I can advance good causes. Aside, of course, from teaching."

Anyone who enters law school, I guess, enters with a certain degree of idealism. I am no exemption. I didn't lie to the principal when I said that I want to be a lawyer because I want to advance good causes.

But whether I will be financially rewarded while advancing good causes is another matter.

NOYNOY

No time for Mindanao?

[caption id="attachment_1683" align="aligncenter" width="468" caption="Photo courtesy of davaobloggers.net"][/caption]

Towards the end of the forum "Paminaw Mindanao," Amina Rasul, one of the the forum's convenors, gave a summary of Gibo's, JC's, Perlas's, and Villanueva's plans for Mindanao.

There is, however, a trace of disappointment in Rasul's voice. And she expressed the same sentiment in her column:

Unfortunately, of the nine presidential candidates, only Secretary Gilbert Teodoro, Brother Eddie Villanueva, Coun-cilor JC de los Reyes and independent candidate Nicky Perlas came. The others were no shows, perhaps clearly indicating that Mindanao is not a critical component of their campaigns (although they did come to dialogue with Pastor Quiboloy, the “appointed son of God”). [Emphasis mine]

The Five Men who were no shows at the forum, is Mindanao really not a "critical component of your campaigns," is it?

Wala naminaw sa Paminaw Mindanao

Unlike some of my friends who went to HCDC Gym to attend Paminaw Mindanao, a presidential forum on Mindanao, I was able to secure a white ticket, that which allowed me sit in the chairs below, among the important and not-so important people, not in the bleachers above.

Since I don't have a laptop to document all that happened there, I just used my cp and saved what I wrote in the outbox. Here goes:

• "Forum, paminaw mindnanao. 4 came. Gbo, jc, perlas, bro. Edie. jc was late.


• "Startd with a prayr from tri.people."


• "Gibo, cutlre, devt, and securty."

From there, I stopped typing. By the time Gibo laid out his plan for Mindanao----he said there is a need for a paradigm shift, a one-size-fits-all approach to Mindanao won't work because the causes of conflicts in this island are varied----we were busy searching for Who's Who in Philippine Politics.

Anton Lagdameo was there. My friend said it would have been better had he brought Dawn Zulueta with her.

Bebot Bello, the senatorial candidate who styled himself as Justice Man, was there, wearing a violet vest that reminds me very much of sapin-sapin.

Nanding Pacheco, founder of Ang Kapatiran Party, was there.

I don't know who else were there.

I didn't get much of what the presidentiables said. All I can say is that the forum was enlightening. There, I learned that the color of the dress that Amina Rasul, of the Philippine Council for Islam and Democracy, wore yesterday was not orange. It's saffron.

Fellows for the Davao Writers Workshop 2010

The Davao Writers Guild, in cooperation with the National Commission for Culture and the Arts and University of the Philippines-Mindanao, proudly announces the Fellows for the Davao Writers Workshop 2010:

Short Story
April Dawn M. Paramio
Arvin Antonio V. Ortiz
Freeda Ko Quejada
Jayson E Parba

Essay
Ella Jade Ismael
Seneca Pellano

Play
Hiyasmin Gabriela Espejo

Poetry
Erika Navaja
Friedrich Simon C Layno
Gino Boy Dolorzo
Iryne O. Kaamino
James Roy C. Pascual
Reymond L Pepito

The workshop will take place on May 3 to 7 at Lispher Inn, Juna Subdivision, Matina, Davao City.

Whom we should not vote for?

[caption id="attachment_1670" align="aligncenter" width="570" caption="Photo courtesy of Dominique Cimafranca"][/caption]

My friends and I made a pact: We will not vote for candidates who violate the law.

Those who post their campaign ads on restricted areas we will not vote for.

Those who campaigned during the Holy Week we will not vote for.

Those who spend more than what is allowed we will not vote for.

Those whose campaign posters are bigger than what is required by the COMELEC we will not vote for.

We are not being too harsh on the pretenders to the public office. Our is simply based on the principle that if they cannot follow simple laws now that they are not yet in office, how much more if they are already elected?

The fruit of years' work

Thanking mothers, thanking our Alma Maters

It may be well to keep the lessons we learned in college, however flawed our school is and the people who run it.

After all, the school is like a mother. That’s why it’s called Alma Mater. We sometimes loathe our mothers because they are naggers. But we must thank them. They are the only people who can dare call us handsome although the evidence shows the opposite.

Project Law School (PLS), launched

I'm going to embark on a new project. I will call it Project Law School or PLS for short.

PLS will basically chronicle my adventures and misadventures as I take up law. In this project, I will write as much as possible about my life in law school (before, during, and maybe after if I'm still alive by that time).

I have actually started writing about law school. Here when I was still mulling over whether to take up law. Here when I was really having trouble deciding what to do after graduation. And here when I found out the result of the Law School Qualifying Test.

But it was only after watching Julie & Julia---in which Julie Powell put up a blog and documented her progress while cooking all the recipes in Julia Child's book, Mastering the Art of French Cooking---that I thought of giving this endeavor a name.

Join me now in this latest project of mine. I don't know how will this end. Nor do I know when will this end. But one thing I know, I will finish what I started.

I will be a lawyer. Soon.

CHR's 'unfinished' investigations

Published in the Philippine Daily Inquirer on March 13, 2010.

WHEN THE COMMISSION ON Human Rights (CHR) started looking into the extrajudicial killings in Davao City, I was one of those who cheered. At long last, I thought then, we have started talking about it publicly.

In my blog (killthesilencenow. blogspot.com), I even defended that CHR initiative from criticisms. “Some people do not get the point why the CHR had to investigate what CHR Chair Leila de Lima described as ‘one of the most audacious violations against the right to life in our times,’” I said. “Critics of the CHR construed the commission’s move to investigate the spate of killings as coddling the criminals. They narrowly perceived it as only favoring the rights of the criminals and ignoring the other side of the equation, which is the rights of the civilians. The public inquiry the CHR initiated struck them as disturbing the city’s serene status quo, which Davaoeños enjoyed. They even branded the CHR chair as pakialamera. These critics, however, are off the mark. The CHR is first and foremost for human rights. Its job is to ensure that human rights are always respected and protected, regardless of whose human rights it is. It is thus unwise to berate the CHR when it’s merely doing its job.”

Today, however, I begin to wonder what the CHR is really up to. The CHR inquiry, it seemed to me, produced only more heat and less light. The CHR said it is going to release its report after it is done with the inquiry. But until now the report is still to be released.

And yet, where’s the CHR now? Off it went to Maguindanao, investigating another incident. After that, it is now poised to inquire into the case of the “Morong 43.”

I don’t have a problem if the CHR will investigate here and there. It is, after all, its job. But my only question is: Why can’t it seem to finish what it has started? I need an answer. The people need an answer—and fast.

And the verdict is in

I took the Law School Qualifying Test on February 6, 2010. Two days after my birthday, March 6, 2010, I went to ADDU-College of Law to get the result. And the verdict: I passed. My stanine score is 6.*

I leave it for others to divine what this triple 6 means. But it certainly doesn't bode ill for me. My evidence: the LSQT.

I'm happy and shocked with the result: happy because I really prepared for it and it's, FYI, my passport to entering law school; shocked because of the four sub-tests in the LSQT (Verbal Reasoning, Critical Thinking, Quantitative Ability, and Figural Reasoning), I scored high in the Critical Thinking.

"Superior" is my critical thinking, according to CEM (Center for Educational Measurement), that which administered the test. The two---Verbal Reasoning and Quantitative Ability---are "High Average." In the Figural Reasoning I'm just "Average."

I thought I would score highest in the Verbal Reasoning. Nonetheless, I'm satisfied...

_____

*I don't know what stanine means. Better click here.

Why I will vote for Noynoy...

Because he is good, among others, for education.

I have a special interest for education. First, I'm an education student, which means that I'll be a future teacher. True, I'll be taking up law soon after I graduate from college. But that doesn't mean I've lost my special interest for education. Who knows, I just might be a professor of law?

Second, I'll be having my own children. Later na. And I don't want them to be victims of our less than impressive educational system.

That is why I want to see our educational system improved. And I think and believe that it will happen if Noynoy Aquino were to be elected President of the Philippines.

As Isagani Cruz argued, "He is the only presidential candidate that has thought through the problems of education in our country. Even if all the candidates say that they regard the deterioration of public education as the most important and pressing issue to be faced by the new government, none of the others have put forward any kind of education reform program that makes sense."

Here is Noynoy's ten-point agenda on education:

1. “I will expand basic education in this country from a short 10-year cycle to a globally-comparable 12 years before the end of the next administration (2016).”


2. “All public school children (and all public schools) will have a full year of pre-schooling as their introduction to formal schooling by 2016.”


3. “I want a full basic education for ALL Muslim Filipino children anywhere in the country.”


4. “I will re-introduce technical-vocational education in our public high schools to better link schooling to local industry needs and employment.”


5. “By the end of the next administration, every child must be a reader by Grade 1.”


6. “I will rebuild the science and math infrastructure in schools so that we can produce more scientists, engineers, technicians, technologists and teachers in our universities so that this country can be more globally competitive in industry and manufacturing.”


7. “I will expand the Government Assistance to Students and Teachers in Private Education Program (GASTPE) to a target of 1 million private HS students every year through education service contracting (ESC) while doing away with the wasteful education voucher system (EVS) of this administration.”


8. “My view on the medium of instruction is larger than just the classroom. We should become tri-lingual as a country: Learn English well and connect to the world. Learn Filipino well and connect to our country. Retain your dialect and connect to your heritage.”


9. “I will not tolerate poor textbook quality in our schools. Textbooks will be judged by three criteria: quality, better quality, and more quality.”


10. “I will build more schools in areas where there are no public or private schools in a covenant with LGUs so that we can realize genuine education for all.”

***

P.S. Didn't I write before that I would vote for Richard Gordon? Of course, I did. Look it up here. But I changed my mind. And I think I'm allowed to do so. Changing one's mind is, of course, not an insult to one's person. It was I think Jose Diokno who said that a man praises himself when he changed his mind. For it only means that he is wiser today than he was yesterday.

Catholics but not de cajon

On February 26, 2010, the Archdiocese of Davao, together with the Holy Cross of Davao College, held a Presidential Mock Elections. Many were encouraged to participate, but only few responded. (I'm not one of those few.) Of the almost 9,000 population of HCDC, only 1,000-plus voted.

Meanwhile, in the said mock elections, Noynoy Aquino won. (I will give the specifics later.)

It's a curious thing that Noynoy won, at least as far as HCDC is concerned. In the first place, HCDC is a Catholic school. As such, it subscribes to the teachings of the Catholic Church. One of its teachings is the sanctity of life. Which is why the Catholic Church opposes the Reproductive Health Bill because, the way the Hierarchy interprets it, the bill undermines the sanctity of life.

This same bill Noynoy Aquino supports.

Now how can we explain this anomaly? It could mean that Holy Crossians are ignorant of Noynoy's stand on the RH Bill. Or Noynoy's stand on the RH Bill is the least of the voter's consideration, which means that voters still don't think about issues and the candidate's stand on them. Or Holy Crossians, though most of them are Catholics, simply are not de cajon; they know just how to think for themselves. They have a mind of their own.

Davao Summer Writers Workshop 2010

The Davao Summer Writers Workshop 2010 is now accepting applications.

Do gays have a place in HCDC?

"Where would we be without beauty contests?" asked Adrian Cristobal in his essay "Footnote to the Judgment of Paris." "They are the staple of festivals and charity affairs, and undoubtedly offer new opportunities and open large vistas for the many young women who participate in them, especially those who win the coveted crowns."

Mr. Cristobal is right: beauty contests are "the staples of festivals" and other celebrations. But he failed to mention that it is not only young women who are joining beauty contests. Gays also join in them.

Today, the sight of beauty pageants whose contestants are gays wearing bikinis, strutting their bodies as curvaceous as the women's, showing their talents, and fielding questions from the judges during the Q&A portion, has become so commonplace that it no longer shocked us.

These contests, though, remain to be the province of the secular society. They are scoffed at especially when held in a conservative place like a Catholic school. Never or rarely do Catholic schools host such beauty contests because, as some would argue, they glorify homosexuality. And homosexuality is anathema to the teachings of the Catholic Church.

Yet the rare thing happened at HCDC. On February 13, 2010, the day the school celebrated the Student's Day, the Supreme Student Government, in cooperation with the Bread Society, included in its roster of activities the "Divas Night."

The title sounds as if it's a singing contest. But it actually is not. It's a Ms. Gay in disguise.

In including this activity, the SSG explained, it does not encourage others to be gays. Rather, it merely wanted to show that this sector exists and that gays are also part of the HCDC community.

For doing the bold thing, I commend the SSG, especially the President, the very audacious Barack Obama, este, Joel Accion.

Thou shall not block

If it were not for Mr. Felix Bolocon, the head of HCDC's Instructional Media Center who also gave us an enhancement on Educational Technology, I wouldn't have known that there is this animal called "IFLA/UNESCO Internet Manifesto Guidelines."

The manifesto has a portion that deals with "Barriers." You-who-once-blocked-Facebook-Friendster-etc., listen. The manifesto says:

Access to the Internet and all of its resources should be consistent with the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights and especially Article 19:

Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.

The global interconnectedness of the Internet provides a medium through which this right may be enjoyed by all. Consequently, access should neither be subject to any form of
ideological, political or religious censorship, nor to economic barriers.

Barriers to the flow of information should be removed, especially those that promote inequality, poverty, and despair.

In short, you cannot just block Facebook, Friendster, etc. like you did before. Understand?

Erich Segal, 1938-2010

[caption id="attachment_1579" align="aligncenter" width="293" caption="Erich Segal"][/caption]

The one who made me buy a VCD copy  of "Love Story," read "The Class," "Doctors," and "Man, Woman, and Child"----the one who made me do all that died of heart attack.

Succisa virescit

I wondered if those people at Wowowee can have a motto of their own, but barely follow it, why can't I?

Thus I figured that I, too, should have my own motto not just for today, but for the entire year. And my motto is: "Succisa virescit," or since Latin sounds archaic, I'll stick to the English translation "Pruned, it grows again."

One of the upside of having a motto is that it saves you a lot of time when you find yourself in a dilemma. For example, I was mulling over whether I'd throw the photocopies I've accumulated over the years. Later, I decided to dump them away. As my motto says, "Pruned, it grows again."

I know that by making it as my motto, I will be guided properly. After all, this is also the motto of no less than the successor of St. Peter, Pope Benedict XVI.

So if you can't decide whether to shave your pubic hair, or to cut your hair short, or to pluck that pesky armpit hair, or to leave that friend who always badmouths you, or to give those clothes you haven't used since you bought them, my advice:

Pruned, it grows again.

The end

Today marks the end of my On-Campus Practicum at Holy Cross of Davao College-High School Department. As a final activity, I asked my students to give their feedback on me in general and on my teaching performance in particular.

I find some of the comments flattering. "Bonjour! Merci for being a good teacher. I adore the way you handle our classes." Some are banal and predictable. "Thank you, Sir, for teaching us. I learned a lot from you." Of course, what are teachers for? Some are downright honest. "Honestly, I find you irritating. Pag nag-discuss ka kulang. Masyado ka ring strikto at maiksi ang pasensya mo. Pero thank you pa rin for the effort."

Teaching is taxing. But what keeps me going is when I received a comment like this:

Sir, thank you for everything. I hope that you'll succeed. Sir, idol gud tika mag-tudlo, mag-education pud ko then sundogon nako imong style para masaya. Good luck, Sir!

To all the fourth year students of sections St. Teresa of Avila, St. Matthew, St. Cecilia, St. Clare, and St. Lorenzo, thank you. For better or for worse, you're already part of what I am today and what I will become tomorrow.

'Dahil sa pagkakacrisis natin'

Last night, while I was checking the essay part of my students' exam, I have come to the conclusion that they are not only deficient in English. They are deficient as well in Filipino. The evidence:

Ito ay mahalaga dahil ang mga tao ay nangangailangan ng mababang presyo. Dahil sa pagkacrisis natin. Kailangan kasi ito ng mga tao para mabawasan o madagdagan ang kanilang pamimili o makakasya ba sa kanilang budget. Mahalaga din ito sa mga prodyuser dahil dito sila nagbabase sa kanilang kikitain at kung malakas ba ang benta nila.

That's one of my students answering the question "Gaano kahalaga ang presyo sa mamimili at sa prodyuser?" (How important is the price to the consumer and to the producer?) Aside from that, did I mention already that my student has a terrible handwriting?

In defense of Osang

I would be the last person to demand an apology from Osang for dissing the teachers. Not that I'm not sympathetic with the teachers. Hello, I'm an education student, a future teacher. How could I not be sympathetic with them? It's just that part of what she said is true. (Admit it or not, there are teachers who just "repeat what was taught to them," to use Osang's words, who use test papers older than my niece...)

And you don't castigate a person for telling the truth, do you? Unless you are Rizal's prosecutors.

What then should teachers do? Nothing.

Teachers are public figures and as such, they may, to use Justice Malcom's words, "suffer under a hostile and an unjust accusation." But "the wound can be assuaged with the balm of a clear conscience. A public officer must not be too thin-skinned with reference to comment upon his official acts. Only thus can the intelligence and dignity of the individual be exalted."

I'm still alive, very much alive!

I received a forwarded e-mail today containing An Accurate 2010 Horoscope. It also comes with a caveat: "This is the real deal. Try ignoring it, and the first thing you'll notice is having a horrible day starting tomorrow morning...and it only gets worse from there."

Just how accurate the horoscope is I wanted to know, so I skipped the other zodiac signs and went straight to Pisces, my zodiac sign. It says:

Caring and kind. Smart. Likes to be the center of attention. Very organized.  High appeal to opposite sex..  Likes to have the last word. Good to find, but hard to keep. Passionate, wonderful lovers.  Fun to be around. Too trusting at times and gets hurt easily.  VERY caring. They always try to do the right thing and sometimes gets the short end of the stick.  They sometimes get used by others and get hurt because of their trusting.   Extremely weird but in a good way. Good sense of humor!!! Thoughtful. Loves to joke. Very popular. Silly, fun and sweet. Good friend to other but needs to be choosy on who they allow their friends to be.  5 years of bad luck if you do not forward.

Is it accurate? Yes and no. Yes, I'm smart, fun to be with, has a good sense of humor, etc. But no, I'm not kind and caring, I don't like to be the center of attention, and I'm not a passionate and wonderful lover.

The e-mail further says that if I'll send it to 1-3 people, I'll have my one minute of luck. And if I'll send it to 38 and more, I'll have "a very lucky life!"

Wow! I was so excited I deleted the e-mail without bothering to send it to 38 people, much less to a single soul. Of course, I want to have a lucky life. But the thing is there's no such thing as a lucky life and I'll have more urgent things to do, more urgent than sending a forwarded e-mail. Besides I have already deleted e-mails before saying that I would die if I delete them.

If you think "chain mails," as they've come to be called, were true, I would have died a long time ago. But look, I'm still alive, blogging about these damn e-mails.

'Twas a blast

I spent most of my two-week Christmas vacation reading Twisted 6 by Jessica Zafra, who, in fact, didn't like the way people celebrate Christmas. And it was a blast.

But if you're looking for a feelgood book, look for another writer. Refrain from any of Jessica Zafra's book because her books don't make you, well, feel good. Jessica Zafra is that type of writer who vexes you, who doesn't make you sleep well, who disturbs you, and, most importantly, makes you see things in a new way. She doesn't "pander to the morons," to use her expression.

To give you an idea of what I'm saying, a few sampling from Twisted 6:

On Christmas

Christmas. I'm just glad it's over. Christmas is a wonderful concept completely ruined in the execution. Grand notions like peace and love somehow translate into vein-popping stress, frantic mobs in shopping malls, massive traffic jams, and mass hypocrisy as you feign camaraderie with people you'd rather push off the building. Christmas has become a holiday of obligation, underscore obligation. You have to give, give, give, and even if everyone says it's the thought that counts, the terrible truth is that no one really wants another scented candle.

On showbiz personalities entering politics

Unlike those who bewail the influx of showbiz personalities into politics, I see it as a natural development. The more movie and TV stars get elected into office, the closer we will get to the solution to our problems. Are you sick of patronage, mediocrity, corruption, cronyism, abuse of power, aimlessness and all that? Then let's forget this nationhood thing and turn the Philippines into an entertainment center: the Las Vegas of the East!

After all, we've had far more success in entertaining than in governing...

On Miriam Santiago


We know that in politics, allegiances change, loyalties are reassigned, and fighting words are sucked back in. Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago is not the only person to change her mind---politicians do that every thirty seconds, assuming they have minds. But Miriam was supposed to be different. I kind of miss the old Miriam. call me a nut, but I do.

On the yuppies in the Philippines

It should be noted that while the Philippines quickly adapts to the latest trends from the United States, the yuppie phenomenon is a fairly recent development. It did not really occur on these shores until the late Eighties and early Nineties. Therefore while yuppie is a derogatory term in the rest of the world, in the Philippines it is still considered glamorous.

While watching Avatar...

...there's one word that kept on coming in and out of my mind. Afghanistan.

[caption id="attachment_1538" align="alignleft" width="576" caption="U.S. Marines patrol with Afghan soldiers in Helmand Province, Afghanistan, on Tuesday. Photo by CNN."][/caption]

Spending Christmas with...Jessica Zafra

People before had a hard time guessing what their manito or manita wants. Hence, they invented the Christmas Wish List. I don't normally write there what I really want lest I be accused of avarice. Plus I've had a bad experience before. Once I wrote in the wish list T-shirt, but ended up receiving a photo album.

Last Christmas party, however, was different. I said to myself, it can't hurt if I wrote in the wish list what I've been wanting to be had. So I wrote there: Any Twisted book by Jessica Zafra. My friend was surprised that I was actually wishing for a book. I was surprised that she was surprised. In fact, I should be surprised because she wrote there...I can't remember it, but I know it's something trivial. People wish for trivial things every Christmas anyway!

Perhaps she didn't want to banish from the face of the earth or she just had more money to boot, the one who picked my name gave me...Twisted 6 by the venerable Jessica Zafra.

After the inquiry, what?

When the CHR started looking into the extrajudcial killings in Davao City, I was one of those who cheered. At long last, I thought then, we started talking about it publicly.

Today, however, I begin to wonder what the CHR is really up to. The CHR inquiry, it seemed to me, produced only more heat and and less light. It said it's going to release its report after it's done with the inquiry. But until now, the report is still to be released.

And yet...where's the CHR now? Off it goes to Maguindanao, investigating another incident. Tsk...tsk...tsk...

Thanks, Mr. Zinsser

Last year, I won. Won where? In the Best Humorous Essay Writing Contest sponsored by Crossroads, the official student publication of our school, HCDC.

Of course, I must---nobody else joined the contest. Nobody, nobody but me. Therefore my winning essay, I told the folks at Crossroads, is not the best choice. It's the only choice.

I suspect the reason no one dared to join the contest, besides me, is not that I can write; the rest cannot. It's more basic than that: Nobody knows just what humor is.

I, for one, grappled with its meaning, so that I have to ask Rowell, the editorial consultant of Crossroads, what do they mean by humor. He isn't of much help either. Did you get me?

Then I remembered I have a copy of William Zinsser's On Writing Well, which has a chapter devoted entirely to humor.

And so, the prize went to me, although until now, I haven't received it yet.

A start of something new

It has become an S.O.P. for everyone to make a New Year's resolution---that list of "to do" that one must (highlight must) do for the entire year. And since we are a people afraid not to do what everyone else does, we do it with much gusto, though the truth is no one really takes it seriously.

Because, I'm told, I'm unique, I will not make a New Year's resolution. I will not list what things I resolutely want to accomplish this year:

• Read Bonfire of the Vanities by Tom Wolfe; Read at least one novel per week
  


• Pass the Law School Qualifying Test


• Write at least one article every month for the Mindanao Times


• I'm about to put "Do the household chores" here, but decided against it; I always do household chores anyway, New Year or not.

But if you've already made a New Year's resolution, please don't be obliged to throw it away just because it's a tradition gone awry.

Happy New Year everyone!

P.S. Lucky color of the year: Yellow and Blue. The astrologers who guested in Mel & Joey came close to admitting that Noynoy and Mar would win in the May elections. This could be the start of something new.

Overly ambitious

"If you set your goals ridiculously high and it’s a failure, you will fail above everyone else’s success." ---James Cameron