Adventure in Journalism 6: Erratum from Philippine Daily Inquirer (Repost)

Correction, confirmation

Philippine Daily Inquirer Publisher’s note

TWO RECENT news stories and an editorial mistook an intellectual exercise for hard fact.

Yesterday’s editorial mistakenly attributed the alleged itemization of the Le Cirque bill incurred by President Macapagal-Arroyo and her party to the “New York Post.” In fact, the hypothetical itemization was done by columnist Manuel Quezon III in his blog on Aug. 8, and introduced as “a theoretical breakdown of how the presidential party could have racked up the bill.”

Our story on Aug. 9 reported that “The purported menu included caviar; such appetizers as lobster salad, wild burgundy escargot and soft shell crab tempura; main courses of black cod, halibut, Dover sole, saddle of lamb and prime dry-aged strip steak; and Krug champagne at $510 a bottle.” There was, in fact, no such menu, only a hypothetical list of ordered items.

Our story on Aug. 10 reported that “The restaurant tab, purported copies of which have since circulated on blogs, showed that the Arroyo delegation had five servings of wild golden osetra caviar ($1,400), 11 bottles of Krug champagne ($5,610), and 25 orders each of the Chef’s Seasonal Menu and Tasting Menu (totaling $1,450 and $4,500 respectively), along with 17 other items.” There were no such copies circulating, only links and images from Quezon’s blog.

Based on these two stories, yesterday’s editorial criticized the presidential party’s insensitive self-indulgence. We stand by that assessment, however, since the original New York Post report is a fact. It read, in part: “Macapagal-Arroyo ordered several bottles of very expensive wine, pushing the dinner tab up to $20,000.”

Adventure in Journalism 5: Lazy Journalism and Lazy Reading (Repost)

Lazy Journalism and Lazy Reading

August 11th, 2009 at 12:50 pm by caffeine_sparks

Yesterday on twitter I was alerted to the supposed receipt of GMA’s New York dinner. The graphic looked familiar and true enough I’d seen it on another blog and knew the breakdown was THEORETICAL, the purpose behind this exercise being to illustrate how X amount of people having dinner in a restaurant with a menu at X prices could’ve racked up $20,000.

The purpose of the THEORETICAL exercise was to see whether it was possible for 27-30 people to consume such an amount in one sitting. And true enough, at the prices food and wine were selling at Le Cirque, it was possible.

Yesterday and today news articles came out in the Inquirer, the Star and even ABS-CBN news taking the THEORETICAL break-down as factual. I am now wondering whether these journalists were alerted to the receipt in the same manner as I was – through social networking media. And in their rush to publish news in real time, they neglected to do something which makes them professionals – fact check their report.

I understand that the terrain of journalism is changing and perhaps many journalists are pressured to deliver news at a faster pace. I do not know whether this is because traditional media organizations feel they are competing against the internet and the ease with which people online, networked through sites like Facebook, Plurk and Twitter, may share information. Blogs are blogs. In Filipino Voices we do commentary. For news – we still rely on journalists – pros. So please, Mainstream Media – do not succumb to lazy journalism.

And to denizens of the internets, please do some critical thinking and a little fact-checking on your own. Follow the url links, verify the sources of forwarded information before you forward said info yourself.

Come on people. Let’s not be lazy shall we?

A Familiar Haunting on Christmas

A Familiar haunting on Christmas

By Gilbert Yap Tan

I’M OFTEN described as a cerebral person, in short, a nerd. Wearing eyeglasses doesn’t improve the impression I give to others. I’m always carrying a book everywhere I go. Being a wide reader has its advantages: critical thinking, open-mindedness, a broadened view of the world. On the negative side, there’s my being cynical of things emotional and illogical.

So when eerie things started happening in 1990 after Mama died, I chalked them up to coincidences, at first. I was giving a lecture on feature writing to a big group of high school writers when I gave a descriptive example of how I felt on the day Mama died. While I was recalling the last wishes she told me before she was wheeled toward the operating room for her triple heart bypass surgery, the microphone I was using suddenly turned off by itself. Then the karaoke system emitted sounds from radio stations as if someone was turning the tuning dial. A clerk was called to check on the wires and the mike, but found nothing wrong with them. And that was when I remembered that it was the 40th day after Mama died! I prayed silently for a few seconds before I resumed my lecture. The sound system and the mike worked perfectly after that. And that was the first incident.

A week later, I facilitated a training session for school paper advisers in an air-conditioned lecture hall. I described to the group how Mama, workaholic that she was, would disrupt our sleep whenever she stayed up all night to clean the kitchen, do some hammering (putting up framed family pictures on the wall at 1 a.m.!), or do the laundry (sloshing and drum roll sounds from the washer and dryer). All of sudden, my lecture was disturbed by what sounded like tree branches being blown by a strong wind and scraping against the windows hidden by heavy drapes. When I drew aside the drapes, it was evident to all of us that it was a sunny day and no tree was outside the windows! Among those in the audience who knew about the recent death of Mama were a bit frightened and many crossed themselves at the thought that Mama was making “paramdam” to me. I dismissed the thought by joking to the group that maybe Mama was protesting my use of the word “workaholic.” After all, it was way past the macabre All Saints and All Souls Days.

On the last weekend of November, I faced the dreaded task of cleaning my room in preparation for Christmas. As was my custom, I took the requisite colds and sinusitis meds before arming myself with a broom, duster, dustpan and disposable mask. Usually, a few minutes of dusting and sweeping would be enough to trigger a sneezing marathon and teary eyes from me. But to my surprise, the dust that swirled around me like a mist smelled like Sampaguita flowers. The scent was so strong I could smell it through the mask I was wearing! For the first and last time in my life, I loved dusting and sweeping. I remembered giving Mama a bottle of Avon Sampaguita perfume as a Christmas gift the year before she died. She loved it so much she would spray it on herself anytime she felt like it. I thought to myself then that these events were just coincidental. But these did not prepare me for what happened next.

For the next three weeks leading up to Christmas Eve, I finally came to believe I was haunted by Mama. After a long day in class, I (alone or with co-teachers) would relax over merienda in a local mall before going home. On the first occasion, as soon as I sat with my snack, I heard strains from my favorite classical piece, Meditation from Thais composed by Jules Massenet, over the mall’s Public Address system. I thought nothing of that at first.

However, over the next three occasions at the same mall, I would hear snippets of the familiar music over and over. On the fifth occasion, my curiosity got the better of me so I asked a fellow teacher who was snacking with me if she could also hear it. I even hummed it for her. She shook her head and resumed eating her pansit palabok. That set me to thinking that this was more than coincidental. I planned to investigate the phenomenon the next time it happened.

Dec. 24, as I was doing some last-minute shopping at the mall, I heard it again. I immediately put down the grocery basket and went to the music bar in the mezzanine: it had to come from there as I was in the grocery section directly below it. Once there, I asked the saleslady operating the CD player component if she just played Meditation from Thais. She ejected the CD she just played and showed it to me. It was a compilation of ‘discofied’ Christmas songs. With exasperation written all over my face, I went down to the customer relations desk where the PA system was. Again, the same question. And again, I was shown the CD - Maligayang Pasko sa Inyong Lahat by local singers! At that moment, it dawned on me that I was the only one who can hear it! All reason seemed to have left my body as I went home, forgetting to check out at the cashier the things I shopped for earlier.

In my room, I sat on the bed and had a good cry. Those were tears of joy at the belief that Mama loved me. That on that particular Christmas Eve, from the afterlife Mama reached out for me and embraced me.

(Two years later, on a weekly TV show discussing hauntings, guest Lauro Visconde - whose wife and two daughters were murdered - related how he would often find his youngest daughter’s favorite stuffed toy on the floor of her room when he said goodnight to her before he slept. Another guest remarked that it was a familiar haunting because it was done by departed loved one. A familiar haunting is not scary because it makes use of things familiar to the person being haunted.)

Published online by Philippine Daily Inquirer's Inquirer.net on January 9, 2009

Rizal's novels for free (Reprint)

Looking Back

Rizal’s novels for free
By Ambeth Ocampo
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 01:34:00 09/05/2008

MANILA, Philippines—It is unfortunate that the novels of Jose Rizal are read in the confines of a classroom rather than the comfort of an easy chair or a hammock on a beach. Nobody brings “Noli me tangere” or “El Filibusterismo” to read on holiday except students cramming for an exam. Studying Rizal should conclude in an appreciation of his life and works, but all this has turned into a boring chore.

The vicious cycle begins in high school when the novels are first taken up in Filipino class. Naturally, nobody reads Rizal in the original Spanish, so students are introduced to the novels in Filipino and in abridged form. In college, the novels are supposed to be read whole and in the fine translations by Soledad Lacson Locsin (English) and Virgilio S. Almario (Filipino), but students return to their high school textbooks, turn to chapter summaries from the Internet or the “komiks” [comic book] versions to comply with minimum course requirements.

I remember my own experience with Rizal’s novels. We first read these in high school Filipino literature class under a teacher who was named, believe it or not, Pedro San Pedro. I liked both the class and the teacher. I remember the story of both novels. I recall the symbolism of the crocodile in the fish pen, which was said to be rapacious Spain and Spaniards feeding on the Philippines and the Filipinos. Today, Kim Atienza and National Geographic will tell you that crocodiles are not on a murderous feeding frenzy all the time. As a matter of fact they eat intelligently. Next time you use buwaya or crocodile to describe someone in government, think twice and be kind to animals who get branded negatively.

Now that I’m much older and I have read the novels a number of times, I wonder whether there is a hidden or symbolic meaning in the crocodile in the fish pen. If Rizal were alive he might even scold us for over-reading and tell us that it is just a crocodile, nothing more.

In college, I liked my Rizal course lectures but hated the exams that required us to memorize all the data in the novels and the teacher’s lectures. Sometimes I wondered if tests were meant to scare us into reading the novels. I ended up reading the komiks version and supplemented this with the guide questions from my high school textbook.

Today, as a teacher, I feel so bad that my students are now cramming for their Noli-Fili test and will probably have bad memories of these wonderful novels. Maybe the Rizal course is counter-productive. I reflected on my lectures during my last two decades of teaching after I received this e-mail from a student:

“I was in the middle of finishing El Fili, which I think is 10 times better than Noli, and felt like expressing my thoughts. First, I wanted to tell you that I COMPLETELY agree with you! Reading Noli and Fili is SO much better the second time around. Given that we studied it in Filipino in high school, I barely understood the story. The English version by Soledad something is SO much better!

“Second, I am sort of scared, well, truthfully, REALLY scared, of your Noli-Fili test tomorrow. I feel like I’m unprepared or something. Do we need to know about Rizal’s life? Or is the test restricted to the novels? I read the novels, but it seemed like it was for pleasure more than anything else, so I am not too keen on the details. Can you give me some tips?”

I replied that if you read the novels as is required by law and by the course, then that had value in itself, and the test was secondary. If the student started being bored with the novels but ended up enjoying them, that was the intent of the law. Republic Act 1425 is quite specific about providing copies of Rizal’s novels, but this has not been complied with. Section 2 of the law states:

“It shall be obligatory on all schools, colleges and universities to keep in their libraries an adequate number of copies of the original and expurgated editions of ‘Noli Me Tangere’ and ‘El Filibusterismo,’ as well as Rizal’s other works and biography. The said unexpurgated editions of ‘Noli Me Tangere’ and ‘El Filibusterismo’ or their translations in English as well as other writings of Rizal shall be included in the list of approved books for required reading in all public or private schools, colleges and universities.

“The Board of National Education shall determine the adequacy of the number of books, depending upon the enrollment of the school, college or university.”

If you go to school libraries today, will you find enough copies on the shelves to serve the school population? What was the intent of the law? To make copies available for free for every student? Just enough for reference? Section 3 provides a clear answer:

“The Board of National education shall cause the translation of ‘Noli Me Tangere’ and ‘El Filibusterismo,’ as well as other writings of Jose Rizal into English, Tagalog and the principal Philippine dialects; cause them to be printed in cheap, popular editions; and cause them to be distributed, free of charge, to persons desiring to read them, through the Purok organizations and the Barrio Councils throughout the country.”

During the centennial of Rizal’s birth in 1961, the novels were translated into all the major Philippine languages. If the books are available for free, where and how do you get them? Can I go to a “barangay” [village council] hall and get copies? Will making the novels available make people read them? That is another story.

A General in Youngblood

I'm particularly proud to feature in this blog an essay written by Zea Raiza Pidut whom I've known since her high school days as a campus journalist. She is a graduate of NDDU and now teaches at NDMU.

Youngblood
Vocation, vacation
By Zea Raiza S. Pidut
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 01:20:00 08/26/2008

I belong to a family of educators, but I never thought of becoming a teacher. Both my parents teach in public schools. I have seen how committed they are to their work, but they are never properly compensated. For that reason, our resources are limited despite my parents’ great potentials. Still I have nothing to complain about for I was given everything I needed. They made sure of that.

I have relatives on both sides of the family who also took up teaching as their profession. Even my older sister planned to teach in a tertiary institution, but she is now a CPA working abroad.

I never had the same desire. I had other dreams. I knew that there is a bigger world out there: many places to go to, positions to climb and, of course, a lot of money to make. I was trained well from elementary to college, both in academics and extra-curricular activities. I took up leadership roles, initiated and facilitated activities, and participated in competitions.

The change of heart happened a year ago, in the final year of my college education. And, with the change of heart came the change of plans.

I was one of four youth representatives sent by our school, a Marist institution, to the Asian Marist Youth Meeting in Tagaytay City in September 2007. The meeting’s aim was to understand the problems faced by the youth in Asia as well as to strengthen the Marist spirituality of the youth.

There, I got to know different personalities: Marist Brothers, lay people and young men and women from the different Marist schools in our country and other parts of Asia. I would not try to put into words the entire experience. It’s enough to say that it became the turning point of my life. It was then that I decided to serve the Marist community.

As an accountancy graduate, I was expected to have every graduate’s dream: to become a CPA. But fulfilling that dream would have hindered my commitment to serve the Marist community. Becoming a CPA would have meant going to Manila for review classes (my sister had actually enrolled me before she went abroad). And after passing the licensure examinations, it would not have been very easy to come back home.

The path would have been laid out for me: I would work in a prestigious auditing firm in Makati City. With my academic honors (I graduated magna cum laude), leadership awards and other citations, I would have been entitled to a generous signing bonus. Working in an auditing firm would increase my value and prepare me for greater things. After two or three years of working in the firm, I would be qualified to work abroad and receive a monthly pay of P200,000 or more. And if I digressed from this path, I would be considered a fool.

I believed it would be much better to be considered a fool now than later. And so I made my choice. I am here in Koronadal City, teaching at Notre Dame of Marbel University.

Many people have asked me why I chose this institution when I could have served my alma mater, Notre Dame of Dadiangas University. I would have, if I had been given the same chance I was given here. But then I would have been roasted during the interview, because they probably would never have accepted the reasons for my decision. Why would an accountancy graduate choose to teach non-accounting subjects? Why couldn’t she wait, when there was no need to hurry?

I am tired of explaining over and over again. It does not matter much to me what subjects I teach for as long as I am teaching. I know that with my decision, I have failed many people: my teachers who protected me and understood the demands of campus leadership; my classmates who put up with me and tried hard to understand my inconsistencies; my parents and siblings who had big dreams for me. I was supposed to be an inspiration to other students, someone who could juggle both academic and extra-curricular commitments. But I did not finish splendidly in their eyes. To them, I have not been a good influence.

I may be considered selfish for doing only what I wanted. I will not argue against that. But hopefully, in the long run everyone will be proud of me once again.

I am happy. I find greater meaning in everything that I do. Every class session is a learning experience.

Life in Notre Dame of Marbel University is not the same as the one I was used to. I spent all my school life managing both academics and a host of extracurricular commitments: leading organizations, conducting activities, and participating in seminars and joining competitions. Here, everything is simple. I prepare my lessons, teach my students, and facilitate activities and discussions. I apply and share the learnings I got from my academic and extracurricular activities when I was still studying. I motivate and inspire my students to do meaningful things and participate in school activities. I appreciate the simplicity of everything.

In a way, I am taking a vacation—a meaningful one. I am getting to know myself deeper.

I know that my responsibilities will be greater and more demanding in the future. But I am prepared. The pay is not an issue; I can manage with a teacher’s salary. Yes, I will not get rich in a worldly way, but I can be rich in character and wisdom.

In the final analysis, what matter most are the happiness that I feel and the happiness that I share with others.

Zea Raiza S. Pidut, 21, is a member of the faculty of the College of Business Administration of Notre Dame of Marbel University in Koronadal City.

Copyright 2008 Philippine Daily Inquirer. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

‘Kuya,’ ‘Ate’ in Sarangani help pupils read better (reprint)

‘Kuya,’ ‘Ate’ in Sarangani help pupils read better
By Aquiles Zonio
Mindanao Bureau
First Posted 00:12:00 06/01/2008

FROM NOW ON, SUMMER for Sarangani’s grade school children who come from poor families would be spent reading rather than playing. But they themselves will be looking forward to the activity as an exciting and mentally enriching experience.

Take it from 7-year-old Emily Gaet, a Grade 3 pupil, whose passion for reading was rekindled during the summer vacation. Her three-hour daily reading session had never been boring or stressful. It also gave her a chance to virtually visit and explore other places.

Every day, from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m., Emily and 45 other school children attended the summer reading camp of the Diamalod Ebrahim Elementary School in Lun Padidu village in Malapatan town.

“Enhancing my reading and comprehension skills would somehow put me at par with kids studying in exclusive schools. During summer, they take summer lessons in their school,” Gaet said in the vernacular.

Back home, there’s no book or dictionary, she said. Her chance to read is only at a small school library where four students share one book.

Gaet profusely thanked the Sangguniang Kabataan, with the assistance of the Conrado Alcantara Foundation Inc. (Cafi), and provincial and municipal governments, for launching the program dubbed “Sarangani Big Brother: Reading is Fun!”

Nearly 4,800 beneficiaries, mostly Grade 1-3 pupils, from seven towns now want to enjoy the same learning experience next summer.

According to Gaet, the month-long summer reading camp was just too short to develop their reading and comprehension abilities. Although the program was launched in March, the reading sessions started only on April 21. SK leaders had been recruiting community-based youth volunteers who will mentor the children for the program.

The group was able to tap more than 600 college student volunteers who went through a two-day training conducted by the Department of Education. Each volunteer mentored an average of eight pupils.

Shouldering the P5,000 budget, the SK in the barangay provided vehicles to fetch the volunteers from home to school and vice-versa. The municipal governments chipped in for the training of the volunteers, while the DepEd prepared the lesson guide. The foundation gave lesson plans and other educational materials.

“We want everybody in the community to share the responsibility in providing education to our children,” Cecille Dominguez, Cafi executive director, said. There’s no doubt, she said, that the spirit of volunteerism was still very much alive among the youth with the huge turnout of volunteer mentors.

The summer reading camp benefited the pupils, volunteer mentors and the DepEd teachers. Aside from enhancing the children’s reading and comprehension skills, the program nurtures their passion for reading.

Dominguez said the project “is ideal and conducive for rural school children because of the absence of so many distractions, like television, Internet and malls, among others.” These distractions hinder the full mental development of school children, she claimed.

Joel Berdos, a Lun Padidu resident and seminarian, considered his mentoring job a rare opportunity to serve his community. This kind of exposure is a good training ground for a religious aspirant like him, he said.

“The children can read, but I observe they have a problem with comprehension and in pronunciation of some unfamiliar terms,” Berdos noted.

The pupils called their mentors “Kuya” (Older Brother) or “Ate” (Older Sister).”

The children fetched their volunteer mentors at home and walked together to school.

“When the children return to classes in June, they are already good readers,” Edwina Carbonel, a Grade 4 class adviser at the Diamalod Ebrahim Elementary School said as she praised the reading program.

Principal and teachers were given a free hand to screen the beneficiaries, mostly slow readers, for the month-long activity.

Because of its favorable impact the DepEd urged the program proponents to make it a regular summer activity.

The Romance of Books

The romance of books
Looking Back column item by Ambeth Ocampo
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 00:44:00 02/01/2008

MANILA, Philippines -- Whenever I assign my students to do some research in the library, they roll their eyes, murmur audibly, and, I’m sure, curse me under their breath. Asking many of them to handle a book in the digital age is a clear indicator of my age: Jurassic!

For many years now, I have been described as a “young historian,” two words that do not quite go together in the common mind because historians are usually old, senile, or six feet under. My relative “youth” prompted dismissive remarks from some dinosaurs in academia who are fortunately nearing extinction.

Having to face two large classes of frisky sophomores twice a week makes me feel my true age. Fortunately, patches of gray hair now give me an air of respectability. To keep up with my students and try to understand their world, I spend long hours surfing the Net these days, looking up sources they can access on their computers.

I’m happy that the first book printed in the Philippines, “Doctrina Cristiana” (1593), can be viewed on the Net from the US Library of Congress. You can actually flip the pages as if you had the physical book in front of you. Internet research can save a scholar in Manila the expense and trouble of traveling to Washington, D.C. to see the “Doctrina,” but the sheer joy of physically handling this rare book on rice paper, the only copy in the universe, is priceless.

Surely young people today value other things, but there is a romance with the printed word that only comes with books. You can download and print a hard copy of a digital or scanned book, but it can never replace the sensual joy of fondling the ribbed leather binding with the raised gold stamping on the spine, sensing a scent of printers ink and age that charges the air when you open an old book. Then there is the sight of gold edges and beautiful type. You do not have to be a Filipino historian to get a thrill leafing through the handwritten manuscripts of “Noli Me Tangere” and “El Filibusterismo.” Even the offset reprints of these manuscripts provide delight for people who encounter them for the first time. I just hope that assigning students to read real books will spark a lifelong affair with reading and the desire for learning.

My students also complain when I send them to museums and Intramuros. They don’t know their way in Manila, as they would their favorite malls. They complain about museums being far, of having visited these before and remembering only that they were bored witless. I encourage them to explore the past with their friends, so that they can at least be bored together, and quite often, what began as a chore turns out to be a wonderful experience.

Some people have found the love of their lives while contemplating a Ming bowl with frolicking Fu dogs in the National Museum. They hold hands while contemplating Jose Rizal’s vertebra in Fort Santiago or wondering why San Pedro Martir in the cloisters of San Agustin has a bloodied bolo slicing into his head. I have not come across any student, no matter how bored and jaded, who was not awed by Juan Luna’s “Spoliarium” and Felix Resurreccion Hidalgo’s “Assassination of Governor Bustamante.” We have enough blood and gore in these two paintings to make any visit to the recently opened National Gallery worth the trouble and the price of admission.

I visited the “Spoliarium” last week and was rather distressed that I was the only person in the hall, aside from the guard. If our past is so important, our culture and history essential, why aren’t people breaking down doors to enter our museums and libraries? Why do young people have to be herded or forced to visit museums when these are the first things they visit when they are abroad?

People often ask me to lecture on “how to make history interesting.” I always insist that history is interesting and if you think otherwise, the problem was not the subject matter, it was probably your teacher or your textbook.

After spending the better part of the Christmas holidays sorting books, I now look at my collection pleased by a modest shelf of rare or out-of-print titles (mostly Filipiniana printed before 1950) as well as autographed or presentation copies of books.

Someday these books will be more valuable than they are at present. I placed all the 19th-century books together, all those in pigskin or leather bindings side by side, and one particular volume stood out: “A Visit to the Philippine Islands.” It has an impressed, embossed leather cover ornamented with an image of a Filipina carrying fruits. First published in 1859, this book by Sir John Bowring, former governor of Hong Kong and Her Britannic Majesty’s plenipotentiary to China, has a detailed and illustrated account of a visit not just to Manila but also to the provinces. It even has a section on proverbs in old Tagalog and comes with a sheet of music on the back that gives the music and words of “Comintang de la Conquista.” I browsed and marveled at the detail in his observations and realized that people then were travelers, not tourists.

Old books and artifacts are difficult to maintain. In the past decade, I have been content to use photocopies of books and manuscripts for work. But every now and then, the romance of a real book returns and makes research a joy rather than a chore.

Copyright 2008 Philippine Daily Inquirer. All rights reserved.

Titsers

‘Titser’
There's The Rub column item by Conrado de Quiros
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 22:48:00 01/29/2008

MANILA, Philippines -- On the few but happy occasions that I see my elementary and high school classmates, who are often one and the same, talk drifts to the pranks we mounted on our hapless teachers and how the same teachers dealt with those who were caught in the act. We remembered those teachers well -- to a man, woman, or priest -- their foibles and their virtues, the names officially given to them by their parents and the names we secretly gave them for some characteristic or other. Most of them we recalled with fondness, especially the ones who, quite apart from the terror they filled our hearts with, also filled our minds with the light of learning.

I don’t know if that is a generational thing or not, or indeed if it is a provincial thing or not. I do know that the teachers of my time and place were held in high regard by our community. In my street, there was a widow who taught preschool in her house and drew a not very small class to it. It also subbed as some sort of day-care center. She lived to a ripe old age (she was already advanced in years when I was in elementary school) devoting pretty nearly all her life to her calling. People said she renewed her marriage vows only with her work after her husband died. When she died, poor if not entirely penniless, it wasn’t just our street that turned up at the wake and plunged into deep mourning.

I remembered these things in light of the project of the Philippine Business for Education (PBEd) called “1000 Teachers Program,” which aims to recruit the country’s best and brightest to become teachers. The project aims to restore the luster in teaching, changing the public’s perception from “titser lang” to “titser ko, idol ko.” “In reality,” PBEd says, “teachers are not just teachers. They are classroom managers. They are chief operating officers of cramped classrooms with some of the most rowdy and academically challenged students.”

It’s a laudable project, and I’m all for it. First off though, Jesli Lapuz is right: the first thing you need to do to improve the lot of teachers, never mind their image, is to give them better pay. I’ve said it repeatedly: Every time I hear talk about raising the pay of soldiers (which gets to be rife when they get to be restive) because they’re risking life and limb to protect the country and receiving crumbs for their pains, I think of the teachers. Soldiers risk life and limb to protect the country’s body, teachers risk life and limb to protect this country’s mind. Which do you think is more important?

As to scale of impoverishment, I recall that the Association of Concerned Teachers once used to call public school teachers “the new national animal,” having replaced the carabao for that dubious honor. No profession is more grossly overworked and underpaid. Which is why public schools often resemble a tiangge, the teachers supplementing their income by selling tocino and bra payable in four “gives.” But which is better than soldiers supplementing their income by enforcing drug and gambling activities and robbing banks.

But raising pay alone won’t make them better teachers, or draw better entrants to the fold, any more than raising reporters’ pay will make them less prone to corruption, or draw better-quality recruits. The only way really that you can do that is by appealing to idealism, particularly youthful idealism in the case of prospective recruits. That is not as unrealistic or unreasonable as it sounds. The best and brightest of my generation were drawn to activism like moth to flame or like knight to lonely quest on the strength of it, on the heroic notion of changing the country, if not the world, even if one had to give up one’s life for it.

There’s no lack of encouragement from the movies for such a choice in life. Only recently I saw a powerful one in the form of “Freedom Writers,” which tells of a young teacher’s miraculous feat of turning a “hopeless” group of kids mired in a culture of death and violence into achieving students. There’s a lot more where that came from.

You do need to change the environment, too, to make that choice an attractive one. The appeal of activism in my time also rested to a great extent on the public acceptance, if a violently grudging one by parents (something I can appreciate only now as a parent), of activism as a noble, if quixotic, calling. Teaching isn’t greatly admired these days, publicly or privately.

That isn’t helped by sayings, though quite witty ones, like, “People who can’t do, teach.” As horrendous, and foolish, a belief as you can find, many teachers also being great doers. In any case, I don’t know that Alexander, who did, would ever surpass -- or even come close to -- Aristotle, who taught. It’s not helped either by songs like Juan de la Cruz’s “Titser: Public Enemy Number 1” or Pink Floyd’s “The Wall” ("We don’t need no education”) at least where they are taken out of context. For all its seeming anarchy though, “Titser” is just being playful, not cruel.

Certainly, it is not helped by lauding teachers as the CEOs of schools. That is not a promotion, that is a demotion. I recall my teachers with the greatest fondness not because they managed to discipline me but because they managed to inspire me, not because they managed to put order into my life but because they managed to drive me to quest restlessly for knowledge. At their best, teachers rank among the most creative of them all, among poets, artists, and philosophers. At their best teachers produce the greatest masterpieces of all, their canvasses being young minds, vast as the universe itself, their opuses, as “Mr. Holland’s Opus” shows, being the army of students sparked with the love of learning.

At their best, teachers don’t just teach, they do.

Non-readers benefit from library hub

Non-readers benefit from library hub
By Ma. Cecilia Rodriguez
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 01:21:00 01/13/2008

MANILA, Philippines -- With the quality of education in the country in dismal state, it is always a welcome sight to see local school authorities relying on their resourcefulness to improve the way their students learn.

In Cagayan de Oro City, a library hub that houses almost 50,000 books was built to reduce the non-readers among public elementary school pupils all over Misamis Oriental.

But officials said putting up the library hub was not easy even though half of the funds were already provided by the Department of Education and private donors provided the other half.

Parents and teachers of Cugman Elementary School have adopted the library hub and aimed to develop it as a wide source of primary books opened to all public school teachers and pupils in the province.

“The library hub is not your regular library. It is actually a warehouse of all reading materials that pupils can bring to their classrooms and even take home,” said librarian Corazon Pates.

“It is only a medium-sized library hub. There are bigger library hubs that can house more than 100,000 books. We expect more books to be donated so maybe after three years we can expand this building,” she added.

A one-story building with three classrooms had been renovated to give space to the dozens of shelves where the books are stacked in rows. Although not air-conditioned, the library hub looks like a commercial children’s bookstore.

Aside from textbooks, various reference materials are also available in the hub, including imported books for beginning readers, science and mathematics books.

There’s also a variety of fairy tale books with colorful pictures that lure young readers to the hub.

Grade 6 pupil Vincent Borres said he only discovered it was fun to read when he was in Grade 5.

“Since last year when the library hub was built, I always borrow books that I take home and read with my parents,” he said.

Among Vincent’s favorite books are ‘Ibong Adarna’ and ‘The Monkey and the Turtle,’ which he retells to his playmates.

“I love to read. We are thankful that we now have the library hub, we no longer need to buy the books we want to read,” Vincent said.

Kristin Ramos, 11, said her parents are happy whenever they see her reading.
“I learn a lot from reading, and the stories teach us good moral lessons,” she said.

Kristin then showed one of her favorite books, which has big, colorful pictures with an English-Tagalog translation. “I learned to speak good English because of these books,” she proudly said.

Responsibility
Teachers ask their pupils to submit a summary of the stories they read, library aide Maribel Octap explained.

“This way, the pupils learn to read and write in English. The translations in the book from English to Tagalog help them a lot to easily understand the story,” said Octap.

Children also learn responsibility in taking care of the books, she added.

“They use the books properly and they make sure everything they borrow is returned on time,” she said.

Pates said regular reading sessions for pupils in Cugman Elementary School has been the main factor of the school being able to post a 100-percent rise in reading rate.

“We are now No. 11 in the regional achievement test. Before the library hub was opened, we were way at the bottom,” she said.

School children in hinterland schools are encouraged to borrow the books from the hub.

Priority is given to schools where a higher number of non-readers are found, Pates said.

“Children in the rural barangays don’t get to read these kinds of quality books, unlike those in the city,” she said. Books can be borrowed for 20 days by the school principal or librarian. Pates said there’s no limit in the number of books that can be borrowed as long as the principal or the librarian gives assurance that these will be returned in good condition.

“We usually have a hard time transporting the books to the rural areas. It is really a sacrifice for the teachers who have to carry the books all the way to the schools, and they even have to shoulder the fare,” Pates said.

Villages with service vehicles sometimes offer to transport the books to the schools.

“We urge the teachers to get the support of local village officials so that books can be transported regularly and by the bulk,” Pates said.

Help from members of the community is always enjoined by school authorities to achieve their goal of raising literacy among the children according to Pates.

“Reading is the first step to functional literacy. Everyone, not only the teachers, but most importantly, the parents and the local officials, must do their share,” she said.

Dr. Wilfreda Famador, assistant chief of the elementary education department of DepEd in Northern Mindanao, said the library hub was actually conceived as an outreach project by the DepEd to minimize the number of non-readers among grade schoolers.

Of the hundreds of library hubs established around the country since June 2006, only 30—including the one in Cagayan de Oro City—have remained operational.

The thrust of the library hub project is to create a reading culture among children, Famador said.

“We encourage the principals to allow even the pre-school to use the books to expose them early to good reading behavior,” she said.

Famador, however, admitted that the DepEd does not have a budget to sustain these projects as all the department’s funds go to basic needs.

“We empower our principals to come up with ways to get the funding. We also seek the help of the private sector. Usually, the principals come up with a strategy, like soliciting books or utilizing the PTCA (Parents Teachers Community Association),” she said.

The strategy that Cugman Elementary School principal Dr. Arlan Paul Reyes has come up with yielded surprising results and became a model for other provinces.

Donations from parents and politicians alike poured in to finish the library hub.

Additional funds for plastic covers for the books were also solicited.

In June 2007, an extension project of the library hub was launched.

“We now conduct informal computer literacy training every Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday. Some politicians donated computers, which we now utilize for the training. We have a teacher who volunteered to teach computers with only a measly allowance,” Pates said.

The computer literacy training is open to the community. “Our students are not just the elementary pupils, but their parents as well. We also have out-of-school youth who were all very thankful for the computer training,” she said.

Copyright 2008 Philippine Daily Inquirer. All rights reserved.

Story telling and reading

From Philippine Daily Inquirer Nov. 4, 2007 issue:

Storytellers reach, touch hearts of kids
By Ma. Cecilia Rodriguez
Inquirer
Last updated 10:48pm (Mla time) 11/03/2007

WHEN THE PERFORMANCE of more than 2,000 pupils of the South City Central School in Cagayan de Oro City was evaluated last year, at least 10 out of 50 pupils in Grades 1 to 3 did not know how to read or understand what they read.

This dismally low literacy rate merely reflects the state of education in Mindanao.

According to the National Statistics Office (NSO), regions in Mindanao ranked lowest in functional literacy last year, with an average of 70 percent.

Dropout rate shot up to as high as 7.3 percent, another NSO data said.

To help address the problem, Amway Philippines, a global direct-selling company, has adopted the South City Central School for its “One by One Campaign for Children,” a project aimed at improving the reading ability of children in public schools.

Amway helped renovate the school library, where a well-lit and inviting storytelling corner was put up.

After months of waiting, the refurbished library formally opened on Oct. 19, to the delight of eager children, parents and teachers.

“A library is a very important component of the school. This is where children can feed their minds and souls. It is our hope that the newly renovated library and the ‘One by One Campaign for Children’ storytelling corner will encourage more children to go inside the library to develop the love and appreciation for reading and learning,” Ador Bonquin, Amway Philippines country manager, said.

A workshop for teachers and volunteers on innovative ways of telling a story was conducted before the project launch.

Captivating the listener

“We teach our storytellers how to reach and touch the hearts of the children. This way, listeners will be captivated by the story and encourage them to try reading the story by themselves,” Bonquin said.

Storytellers use props and visual aids to enrich the imagination of children, as well as enhance their comprehension.

Rebecca Pacanut, a Grade 1 teacher for the past 31 years, said the attractive appearance of the storytelling corner, as well as the new children’s books, had inspired her pupils to read.

“In my decades of teaching, this is the only time that I saw my pupils hurrying toward the library instead of the playground after classes. They have discovered the joy of reading,” she said.

The library now has 3,000 books, mostly donations from the United States.

“We are still trying to solicit more (reading materials),” librarian Arlene de Guma said.

To inspire the children to read and understand what they read, they allow even nonreaders to take home the materials for three days so that the parents can read along with them, De Guma said.

“We also encourage the parents to volunteer as storytellers,” she said.

Sustaining the project is a challenge both for Amway and for the school beneficiary, according to Bonquin.

“The school’s counterpart is to maintain the library and the storytelling corner. For us, we have promised to adopt the school, hence our local IBOs [independent business owners] will continue supporting its needs,” he said.

Amway will also donate computers and more books to upgrade the library. The company’s employees from around the globe will also donate books to the adopted school.

The literacy campaign is Amway’s global initiative to uplift the lives of children all over the world, Bonquin said.

Similar programs were launched to combat child poverty in Africa, provide crucial care for children fighting cancer in Mexico and Brazil, and help disabled children in Japan.

Last year, Amway Philippines received the Anvil Award of Merit under the institutional and corporate category for its One by One Campaign for Children.

Copyright 2007 Inquirer. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.