Apologia Pro Maestro sa Sekundarya

Minsan na akong nangarap na maging isang pulis o sundalo. Mas lalo pang tumindi ang pagnanais ko na maging pulis nung nalaman ko na pulis pala ang dalawa kong Ninong.

Noong Grade 6 ako, tinanong kami kung ano ang gusto naming maging. Ilalagay daw ang response namin sa School Yearbook. “To be a soldier,” ang sinulat ko.

When I was about to enter college, napagtanto ko na imposibleng magkatotoo ang pangarap kong maging pulis o sundalo. According to my Ninong, dapat matalino ka sa Chemistry or Trigonometry. Mahina ako sa Chemistry. That I admit. Noong pinatupad ang Zero-Base sa mga public schools, bumagsak ako sa isang Grading Period sa Chemistry noong Third Year ako. Hindi naman sa bobo ako sa mga subjects na ‘yon. Nakakawalang-gana lang talaga makinig sa guro namin sa Chemistry.

Ang talagang problema kulang ako sa height. 5’3” lang ako, give or take an inch. Eh may height requirement daw kung ikaw ay papasok bilang isang pulis o sundalo.

I really don’t know why. Bakit kelangan may katangkaran ang mga pulis o sundalo? Does it follow na kapag mataas ang height, mataas din ang IQ mo? Rumarampa rin ba sila tulad ng mga kandidata sa Miss Universe?

Nagtataka rin ko kung bakit requirement din na maganda ang mga ngipin mo. Ano ba ang gyera ngayon, LIPS-TO-LIPS?

Graduate ako ng Bachelor of Secondary Education major in Social Studies. Sa dinami-rami ng mga course na available sa college, bakit Education? Bakit Secondary?

Ano ba ang gusto mong sagot sa una mong tanong? ‘Yong pang-showbiz slash pang-politika? O ‘yong totoo?

Bakit Nga Ba Ako Nag-Resign sa Stella?

Ang Stella Maris Academy of Davao ay ang aking employer sa loob ng tatlong taon. Marahil sa aking pag-resign, ikaw ay natuwa, nalungkot, nanibago, nagulat, natatae, naluha, o naasar. Hindi kita masisisi. We live in the Philippines. Lahat tayo ay may karapatang mag-react sa mga nangyayari sa ating paligid. Pero huwag ka naman mag-react na para bang ang pag-resign ko ay ang paghihiwalay nina Janine at ng kaniyang boyfriend.

If you ask me kung ano talaga ang dahilan ko why I left Stella where I was gainfully employed, o sige pagbibigyan kita at sasagutin ko ang tanong mo. Sasagutin kita dahil hindi para tuparin ang iyong kahilingin o pasayahin ka. Kundi sasagutin ko ang tanong mo dahil hindi lang ikaw ang nagtatanong sa akin ng ganyang tanong. FYI, marami kayo. At para na rin hindi na ako tatanungin pa ulit ng ibang tao.

Batid ko naman na hindi lahat ay may FB at makakabasa nitong blog entry ko. Problema na nila ‘yon. I don’t really know why. Sa panahon ngayon na kahit sa Php 5.00 puwede ka ng magkaroon ng access sa Internet, marami pa rin ang nagtatanong tungkol sa mga bagay na puwede naming i-Google.

Sa susunod na may magtatanong sa’yo kung ano ang ibig sabihin ng salitang “quagmire,” sabihan mo, “i-GMG mo! Google Mo, Gago!”

Huwag niyo akong kastiguhin. Hindi sa akin galing ‘yan. Nakuha ko lang ang GMG kay Lourd de Veyra nung binasa ko ang speech na binigay niya sa graduation ng UP MassComm.

But I’m digressing na. So eto sasagutin ko na ang tanong.

A Different Kind of Samal

That small patch of land in Davao Gulf is the Island Garden City of Samal (IGaCoS)—an island because it is completely surrounded by water; garden because of its diverse coral species; and city because it’s flaunted as an “Urban Center in a Rural Setting.”

Samal is one of the cities of Davao del Norte. In its official website, Samal has been characterized as "the place which has it all".  

But what this exactly means?

As an island, a garden, and a city, it has SEAS, the SAND, and the SUN.  It has enchanting mountains, fertile plains, and scenic hills. Its group of islands are located in the Gulf of Davao about 700 meters south of Davao City. 

IGaCoS is now host to more than 30 commercial resorts scattered along its more than 118 kilometers of shoreline with white sand beaches.  Resorts vary from the high-end ones that cater to the highly-discriminating guests, to the rustic type that are preferred mostly by backpackers and adventurers.

Who needs the seas, the sand, and the sun? What of its enchanting mountains, fertile plains, and scenic hills?

But Samal is no “place which has it all.” This I was reminded of during our trip around Kaputian, one of the three Congressional districts in Samal. The other week I was with my uncle who is running for the post of the city councilor for the 3rd District (Kaputian) of Samal. We went from one barangay to another. I was lucky to have joined his campaign, for I have seen firsthand the places in Samal, specifically in Kaputian, that do not get visited by tourists precisely because there is nothing pleasant to see except for the abject poverty and sights that tend to make people look away.

A case in point is Purok 3, Sagrada, short for Sagrada Familia (Holy Family). West of it, one gets an overlooking view of Talicud Island. There are about thirty households living in that purok. The overlooking view is spectacular. The view within Purok 3 is not. The people have no electricity to speak of. A little bath tub was built through the help of the Community Extension Service of San Pedro College.

Barely three weeks is left before election day. But according to the locals, of the ten candidates for the city council for Kaputian, only two have visited them. It's a pity because they are neglected, I think, not so much because the road to Sagrada is hardly accessible, as it is because the voters are too few to be given much regard. 

We left as soon as my uncle was done talking to the leaders of the purok. Yet a different kind of Samal lingered in my mind. Suddenly, it has become a "place which has it all," but cannot be had by all.

An Online Coaching Clinic on Answering Bar Exam Essay Questions

Atty. Ralph Sarmiento

In the recent past, the Philippine Bar Exam has been reformed. Where before it comprised merely of Essay Questions, today Multiple Choice Questions (MCQs) are included. Assuming that you know the answer, there's no problem to answering MCQs. Just encircle, shade, or tick as the case may be the letter of your answer.

But what about the Essay Questions? What a Bar Exam taker needs to hurdle it? 

Atty. Ralph Sarmiento, 10th Placer in the 1997 Bar Exam, Dean of University of St. La Salle College of Law, and Counsel for Petitioner in the Team Patay/Team Buhay Tarpaulin Case (Diocese of Bacolod v. COMELEC), Atty. Sarmiento provides an "Online Clinic and Coaching on Bar Answering Techniques for the 2013 Bar Exams," especially on answering the essay questions:

ZestAir, Marcos, and the Right to Travel and Return

On our way home from our week-long vacation in Baguio and Manila, we were scheduled to leave for Davao at 6:30 PM onboard ZestAir. At the boarding gate, someone announced that our flight would be delayed due to delay in turnaround, whatever that means. Instead, boarding would commence at 7:00 PM. But we boarded the plane, as cabin crews are wont to say, at twenty minutes past the hour of seven in the evening. 7:20 PM, for short.

As if it were not enough, the cabin crew further announced that take off would be delayed. This time it’s due to ground servicing. We took off at 8:30 PM.

That meant we were delayed for two hours. I was about to pity us when suddenly I thought of erstwhile President Ferdinand E. Marcos, the longest serving President of the Philippines. We were far luckier than him—luckier because we were certain to return home, while Marcos, when he left, was not. All we needed to do was to wait. Marcos had to go all the way to the Supreme Court and fight for his right to return.