blackshama's commentary on Philippine issues

Benigno S Aquino III was inaugurated as the 15th President of the Philippines today under cloudy but rainless skies in Manila's Quirino Grandstand. Police estimate 500,000 people attended the simple but dignified ceremonies. I am glad that effort was made to recover some Presidential inaugural traditions which have been discarded by previous Presidents. First is the venue. The grandstand or its predecessor has been the venue of Philippine presidential inaugurations after World War II. Previously all inaugurations were held at the steps of the Legislative Building (now National Museum). This was borrowed from American tradition (which has its origin from the English) since it means that while the Executive is co-equal to the Congress, it has to work with it (note the prefix "co"). The Chief Justice administers the Oath to the President as a sign that the Judiciary is also co-equal to the Executive. The whole unsaid idea here is that none of the three branches of government...

It also amazes me that like the reinstitution of capital punishment, the Philippine Congress (and the rest of elite Pinoy society) can't settle the language issue. The Philippine Daily Inquirer takes essentially the same position as leading our own language and academics do. The language gurus in the UN and our colleges of education have long known that acquisition of literacy, numeracy and basic science skills in schoolkids are best through the mother tongue. House bill 5619, the proposed Act Strengthening and Enhancing the Use of English as the Medium of Instruction authored by Cebu Rep. Eduardo Gullas seeks to junk the bilingual policy adopted by the old education department in 1974. While it is patently obvious that English competency has declined precipituously since the Americans left us to run our own education system, the bill may be the wrong band aid for the right problem. The Marcos regime instituted a bilingual policy that split the teaching of certain subjects in basic...

According to the Philippine Star , the Presidential Task Force on Education chaired by Ateneo de Manila president, Fr Ben Nebres recommended to President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo that tertiary education be at least for 5 years. Fr Nebres essentially suggested the European Bologna system wherein applicants for university will have to spend 2 years of preparatory courses before moving on to three years of university study. This is similar to university qualifying programs offered by some Commonwealth universities. At the end of these two years, the student may enter the job market or proceed to university. This presupposes that the two year qualifying courses provides skills necessary for the job market. The proposed system is essentially a two cycle system The proposal also calls for mandatory university aptitude exams. This is necessary is this qualifying scheme is to be implemented. There are certain overlaps with the American Associate in Arts degree system. But if Fr Nebres and his c...

Ngayon na na pukaw muli ang aking interes sa lumang pasulat, natutuwa ako na naka-download ako ng true type font (TTF) na walang bayad ng baybayin mula sa web. Paumanhin lang po kung may pagkakamali ang pagsulat ko sa baybayin. Huli akong gumamit nito ay noong nasa paaralang elementarya pa ako. Sinubukan ko paglaruan ang TTF. Ito ang pinakapaborito kong awit ni Florante (na palagiang naming iniaawit noong nasa ika-3 baitang kami) na nakasulat sa baybayin. Noong nasa grade 6 ako, tinuruan kami ng aming guro sa Araling Panlipunan na sumulat gamit ang baybayin. Dito ko natutunan gumamit ng mga kudlit na nagpapahiwatig na ang mga baybay ay nagapahiwatig na ito kaparis ng isang patinig. Ang kudlit na "+" o ang virama sa wikang Ingles ay tinuturing na "vowel killer" ay inimbento ni Padre Francisco Lopez noong taong 1620. Ito ay unang ginamit sa Doctrina Christiana para sa mga Ilokano. Ngunit di ito naging malawak ang paggamit nito. Ang pagsulat sa baybayin ay tuluyang n...

The UP Archaelogical Studies Program, The National Museum and the UP College of Arts and Letters yesterday hosted the "Ang Sulat sa Palayok: A symposium on the Calatagan Pot" at the Recto Room of Bulwagang Rizal (for old UP alums in the archeological record, this used to be the FC!) The Calatagan Pot is the only evidence we have (with the archeological context) about pre-colonial writing. On the pot's rim are several verses in baybayin, the ancient Philippine script. The pot was unearthed in 1961 in Calatagan, Batangas by the National Museum. That Filipinos were literate was first documented by the Spanish friar missionaries,whose first task was to write and translate Catholic prayers from Latin to the Philippine languages. The first catechism The " Doctrina Christiana " is written in Roman letters and baybayin. But since we can easily read the Roman letters with the baybayin, we can easily know what sounds the baybayin symbols represent. Also we know the direct...