Livewire: Filipino Homicide

As part of Mission 347, 3 updates 4 7 days, I'm posting one of my Livewire columns, published in the January 2009 issue of the FEU Advocate.

A rejected cadaver left to rot and decay despite its historic battles—a prophetic image of the Filipino language pushed to the edge of a cliff by its own kin, nearing a kiss with reality.

Cebu Representative Eduardo Gullas penned a bill, House Bill 5619, the proposed act strengthening the use of English as the medium of instruction, which has already passed the House of Representatives, mandating that English be the only medium of teaching. In this bill which has received many scathing remarks from professors, students and columnists, such as Philippine Star columnist William Esposo who stated that Gullas’ bill will lead to national suicide. English will be the only medium of teaching nationwide upon grade 3, thus, superseding Department of Education’s Order No. 25 which mandates bilingualism in teaching. Gullas’ frame of thought which led to the inking of the bill is one of concern to unemployment and for Filipinos meeting the global standard. 

English is gradually devouring, with effortless mastication, Filipino as the primary language. More so, this bill’s endorsement lessens the distance between knife and wrist. To even attempt to prove this point is like eating ice cream at Baguio during the once-in-a-blue-moon 6.3 degrees mark. Despite nakedness of truth, it is of course inexcusable to sharpen the tip of this ‘ball’point pen.

No single broadsheet national daily is written in the national language compared to other ‘more progressive’ Asian countries. The Midas-like lifestyle of the bastardized siblings; the older of the two, ‘Tag-Lish’, and the toddler, ‘Eng-Galog’, with ‘coño talk’ as his nickname, who’s bound to overshadow his elder brother, are both reared by gossips and unhealthy trends. FEU and FEUCSO, as well as other educational institutions, campaigning English as if it’s a losing candidate when in the contrary, it’s Barack Obama going against Manny Pacquiao. Pinoy television series reduced to fantasy and redundancy, as well as the actors, in storylines, or more so, American TV shows with superimposed ‘Pinoy’ at the beginning to make it appear more ‘pango’ and ’kayumanggi’ and the premature delivery of ‘Filipinized’ or ‘Tagalized’ versions of Fergie’s Clumsy, Rihanna’s Umbrella and Leona Lewis’ Bleeding Love—all three sending global postcards which reads, in bright neon colors, that we are ill with bruised creativity and paralyzed originality, a seemingly malignant cancer of colonialism and the aging misconception that fluency in English equates to intelligence and excellence. And finally, this being written in English, instead of Filipino, to nourish this obese frame of thought.

In the first ‘Mano Po’, Maricel Soriano stated an unarguably strong pulling force which is hopefully the mindset that shreds the bill into oblivion, she was trying to decide whether she should leave the Philippines for good or move to China, her character’s descent. What made her stay was the thought, that when she thinks, the voice in her head is not Chinese but rather Filipino. 

Case in point, educators should play with their students’ strength. A school-age child thinks and understands better in his dialect—the language of his mind. Therefore, to facilitate accommodation and learning, teachers should present it in a form familiar to the child. Even tertiary level students have better absorption of a concept explained in Filipino than in English, and to think, those that will be affected by the bill are in primary. If that’s not illogical, then I don’t know what is. 

Introducing Science and the Milky Way Galaxy is already insisting fruits and green leafy veggies as a kid’s afternoon snack. What Gullas’ bill would do is ask the child to go on a South Beach diet. 

It is also hard to ignore, that out of 238 members of the House of Congress there are only 36 who can truly salvage the language. And there are 202, who’re stagnated on the idea that English fluency is the Darna, or Superman for them, of Philippine education.

Such flow of thought remains married to colonialism and Filipinos’ pseudo-freedom. Push this bill through and eventually Esposo’s prediction will trump Madame Auring’s and Nostradamus’. English will supersede, dominate and even erase, as it is already felt, dialects and Filipino. If such damage can be done to Filipino, rooted from the Tagalog dialect, which is spoken by the whole archipelago, to what extent can it do to the dialects of the minority—seemingly sending these dialects as castaways to Survivor.

Dr. Jose Rizal once said he who does not love his own language is worse than a smelly fish. One cannot love his own language if he learns a foreign one. And if Rizal also holds true to his words that the youth is the hope of the nation’s future, then the unfortunate youth encapsulated by Gullas’ bill will bring a Westernized future and not one of originality and rich culture.

To the Filipino who is most literate in English or in any other languages, does your mind speak to you in any of those? Or did you have your nose lifted and swallowed handfuls of Glutathione to undo your own lineage?

Does your mind also speak in Filipino? Let it talk to me at edge_guevara@yahoo.com

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Like Losing a Limb

My laptop crashed. It’s like dying, without the pain, the near-death experience, and the eternal immobility and unconsciousness. But with the full blast experience of the suffering, the agony and every stage of the grieving process.

On the crime scene, there was no evidence as to how my laptop crashed. This was during the time that I was reviewing for the Nursing board exam and I was living at Galicia near España, Manila. It was my first week at the dormitory. Seven entire days of no TV, no internet and just books and reviewers—it’s like joining Survivor, without the ugly mudslinging and inhumane betrayal. Well at least you could imagine my craving, an ardent desire to just lie on my bed, hold the remote and go online, but as luck would have it, my laptop just wouldn’t turn on. When I brought it to my cousin, who is an expert on computers, he told me that the motherboard crashed—and I burned. And as if that wasn’t enough, our cable was disconnected, and there are only two channels accessible on it—TV5 and GMA7.

So there was the denial, as I tried and tried..and tried to turn my laptop on. And there was anger, I didn’t come home for three weeks. I bargained to trade, my neighbor’s noisy dog for my laptop, I would gladly perform a sacrificial ritual (barking at no one at 4 am! Sheesh! And I sleep at 3!). I was depressed for 10 long long..hours. Pretty short time to be depressed right? Well I had to get real, I need to focus on my review. And alas was acceptance, I have accepted the fact that I can no longer savor the privileges I had before, mouth-watering cable TV, luscious and crisp DSL connection, heaven on earth.

I just wired my brain into thinking that all that was meant to tell me that I really need to study for the board exam. And true enough, my sacrifices paid off.
Thankfully, I was able to backup half of my arm, or files. It’s quite goosebumps-generating to think that despite the crash, my cousin was able to recover most of the contents of my hard disk. This wasn’t the first time that it crashed, which is why I learned how to backup files—the hard way. And surprisingly, I’m on my way to recovery. It almost seem like the crash was really intended to be just a sign and not something that will destroy what I’ve lived for in my whole stint in the FEU Advocate.

By far, the greatest damage that that misfortune had caused is the stagnancy of my blog. For almost four months now, my blog hasn’t moved an inch. No updates whatsoever. But I intend to change that now. I will be starting a mission, Mission 347, 3 updates 4 7 days or 3 updates per week. I will be posting published Advocate articles, if I find them, my columns, and a whole new lot of topics which are not too personal anymore. I think I have done enough of that now. In any case, Mission 347 (I got the idea from www.aubreythinksthat.blogspot.com) is a go.

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The FEU Advocate Editorial Board 08-09

To the reader: This post is both long and cheesy. And the only post until June.

I am not the Managing Editor anymore, nor an FEU Advocate staffer. For three years I have been with the official student publication of Far Eastern University, and it ended last March 31, 2009. The transition was much at ease and less poignant than it was last year. I quote one of my best friends in the org, who was the Features Editor, Hazel Galamay who commented, “Everyone took it easily,” during the official announcement of the 2009-2010 FEU Advocate Editorial Board.

And our batch did take it easily. I felt the repression of strong emotions; which was up to everyone’s brim that I did not tempt it to overflow. But in any case, I couldn’t stop myself from writing this blog (damn fingers!).

I doubt if you would endure reading the whole post so I broke it into parts. This would be what I deemed as most read since it will dwell on who’s who in the EB 08-09 which I confidently, with much audacity, call as—successful.

Dwight Norman Sarga, Editor-in-Chief 08-09

Dwight’s story is technically a Cinderella story though he sees it as Naruto making his way as the next hokage. He is a self-proclaimed master hokage, as what was stated in his last column, Muckraker. If techniques were to exist, he would probably be the master of subtle humor-substance writing. Admittedly, Dwight is a very good writer and also a good political critique. This is acknowledged by all our staffers despite his meek, toned “wudeber” voice.

Our staffers, especially writers, loved him (some like Ned is beyond professional boundaries) for being approachable and helpful. He would comment and critique a writer without degrading his status as a human being, he treats everyone as an equal. But when it comes to tough decisions, he knows what he wants. And despite his work as EIC he graduated Cum Laude.

No one in the EB knew Dwight as the EIC more than I did. I know for a fact that he can make harsh decisions regardless of the situation—though he has some problems carrying them out—that’s where I come in. I am grateful for having him as 08-09’s EIC for his non-dictatorial take on matters. He would have his opinion on matters but would rather listen to what we have to say first before he puts his hands down. He may or may not be swayed but it would always be for the benefit of the organization and never for self-esteem purposes. Dwight always emanates his philosophy, that the FEU Advocate is not a “one-man-show”. His personality allowed us, the Executive Board, to govern with an Assertive leadership and not an Aggressive nor a Laissez-Faire one.

Dwight has not completely left the organization yet, he is still tasked, as well as I am, to finalize the FEU Advocate history—we wanted to recast it into a better version, and its deadline is set on August.

Jane Camille Almasin, News Editor 07-09

Among the Editorial Board, it was Jane whom I was most acquainted with—from personal to professional matters, this was because we were already part of the 07-08 Editorial Board. I know how she works, how she writes, how she got heavier with every news article, how she filled the News section with all her articles, how she treats her girlfriend (Nica), how Nica was jealous of me (haha!), how she squabbled with Hazel Galamay, how she became a mother (by figure) to the News writers, how she takes vanity pics of herself with her CANON DSLR complete with kit lens, how she swims like a Butanding (slowly but surely) and how she wears her ‘unzippable’ black shoes.

Her column, Beyond Points, formerly Fathom, always took a journalistic mood. It would always be on its most objective feet and even caught the attention of certain student council officials—which she handled with poise.

She is one of my closest friends, aside from Hazel, in the org. Jane’s opinion is also among those that we, the Executive Board, highly valued for certain decisions—editorial and managerial. She is fun to be with though ‘mali-mali’ at times. I’ve seen her cry, I’ve seen her laugh, I’ve heard her half-British accent (“huwan”), I’ve seen her in a dress, I’ve seen her in a bathing suit (for crying out loud) and I almost saw her naked (pinagpapaubaya ko na po lahat). What’s important is I’m thankful that she handled the most crucial section of the newspaper well. Despite its staffer's mortality rate which is congruent with the Features section.

Her greatest achievement, aside from graduating Magna Cum Laude, was reducing the mortality rate for News writers and empowering them. Now, it is Alessandra Modesto of the News section who is the 09-10 Managing Editor.

Hazel Joy Galamay, Features Editor 08-09

Though she rarely visits the office, she would always beat the ‘adjusted’ deadline. She is also one of the closest friends I have in the org. Sufficiently, she knows the line between work and play. She wasn’t blessed with the determined set of writers compared to Jane’s and in misfortune, she wasn’t able to pass her quality of writing to a deserving heir—well, her comedienne-persona might have been (not exactly a relief).

Her writing is probably one of the best, and the longest, I’ve ever encountered. She would always bring smiles in an initially serious EB meeting. I came to expect her to do this routinely, since it would be awkward to do it myself. Her greatest rival would probably be Jane, now imagine being with the two of them in Singapore. Hazel admitted that she and Jane were oil and water, but lo and behold the EB brought them together—but not intimately (whew!).

Hazel also chose to bring balance to the Opinion page with Zeitgeist, she was smart enough to accommodate that Muckraker, Beyond Points, Bamboozled and Livewire would tackle serious issues. So she chose to bring light, long, lengthy and beyond 600-words for her columns.

Staffers and EB members didn’t quite understand that her usual absence is usually brought by Dwight’s reliance on her for academic undertakings. I recall Dwight and Hazel, childhood friends and usually mistaken lovers, when they were having an unspoken argument. Both of them channeled their qualms and grievances through me with two sticks of cigarette and one menthol candy.

This Magna Cum Laude brought the second swoop on the FEU Advocate, the first was Jane’s “reply within seven working days”. She also has this equanimity for everyone to see, but displays what’s underneath it through very good choice of words and jokes.

Khadija Salisa, Sports Editor 08-09

We are both Nursing students. This is the same fate we endured and enjoyed. Khadz was supposed-to-be Sports Editor in the EB 07-08 but by one vote, Sheilla Gianan won. It wasn’t her time then. Khadz is the eldest when it comes to membership among the 08-09 EB. But she never wanted a position, she just enjoyed being a Sports Writer with a “sapi” of a Literary Writer.

Sports section, under her, would always beat the deadline despite conflict with the delay in News article. There was a time when most Sports stories had to be scrapped but she just said, “okay”, and refilled her pages with a new set of stories.

Effectively, she developed and returned the Sports section to its status before—a world of their own? Haha! Not atrociously at the least, but the Sports section was the loudest and most bonded section before the exodus of writers in the first sem. By the second semester, Sports is prepped and ready for FEU’s UAAP hosting next year. Precious Alora Velarde, an incoming second year, is the next Sports Editor and undoubtedly one of the best writers of their batch.

Her column, Bamboozled, was tagged as having the “Isumbong mo kay Tulfo” tone by none other than Dwight. She would always address sensitive student violation issues and make the reader’s nose bleed with highfalutin words—surely

Wilson Yu II, Head Layout Artist 08-09

Emotive, childish, but highly skilled and effective is who he is. Maybe writing this would massage his ego more (haha! Peace) but in any case he was able to effectively adjust the FEU Advocate’s layout from Tabloid to Broadsheet, passed on through the Style Guide and Layout Manual. It wasn't easy especially if the templates set were for Tabloid, imagine being trained for Tabloid and suddenly the Exec board informs you that you'll be doing a broadsheet. He would always listen to the comments and suggestions of the EB regarding the layout of the pages, his kryptonite would probably be jumps and by-lines.

I was warned that he was slow in layouting, so I tried to identify its cause. Apparently, he pays attention to details--not a setback at all. A thing he eventually got over once he got a hand on how to do things his way. His greatest enemy would probably be the galley edited by the Exec, adobe wars against him and red circle marks.

The Layout section under him received a number of positive feedbacks and was commended many times. From FEU students to different publication in the Metro, many had something good to say with the layout. Though he is not an effective manager during the first sem, he remedied that during the second sem and was able to find a suitable next Master, or Sir, Eduardo Napallad Jr., Head Layout Artist 09-10 and even Lester Molina, Webmaster 09-10. Another proof of this was his graduating as Cum Laude.

Occasionally, he would have an entirely political comic strip which he was able to put in words in his first and last column—Coax, which addressed nationalism and love of country from his vista. No wonder his thesis is about dying arts of Bulacan. Uhm..Mayor?

Glenn Michael Echavez, Art Director 08-09

A balance-brained artist is truly difficult to find. And the 08-09 EB was blessed to have Kuya Mikoy, the eldest among us, as its Art Director. I had a chance to work with him initially during the second sem of 07-08 since he was appointed as OIC then. This sex-machine or self-proclaimed star is amazingly objective and naturally mature—benefit of the age.

Though at first, the Exec thought that he doesn’t think logically—quite the contrary because he really does. He sees crucial decisions for what it is and not for what it appears to be. He is reliable during important instances. The very first Tamkomiks was accomplished under his editorship, and it was a very good one.

His Editorial Cartoons bring concepts that are undeniably witty but meaningful. More importantly, he doesn’t need to be drunk to speak fluently in English. Moreover, Dwight even addressed his writing as cohesive, highly readable and humorous but there's meat as he read Mikoy’s first and last column, Diaspora. Dwight even praised it in a sort of 'orgasmic' way.

The Arts section is one of the difficult sections to handle in the org, but Mikoy was an effective manager and the illustrators respected his skill, talent and editorship. He was also able to entrust the most praised and most read section of the FEU Advocate to Jacob Lindo, Art Director 09-10.

He is bound for Cebu now, but I doubt if someone of his talent can be contained on that island.

Rowelyn Gay Bautista, Business Manager 08-09, 09-10 1st sem

Highly effective, smart and quirky. She knows her strengths, those damn ‘unos’ on her report of rating are just exemplary, or rather far-fetched for me. To any of the EB, I owe most to her for burdening more than what is required. She knows that I cannot do the dirty jobs, that I had a huge obligation which she helped me to perform. As one who will be with the 09-10 EB, teach them what you learned and do not discount even the itsy bitsy details of management. And do avoid children riding bicycles, it's not good for your face or complexion.

Charlyn Faith Gabito, Executive Secretary 08-09

Her expertise is in process and clerkship, not a usual skill to encounter. Though her efficiency faltered in the second semester, skill is something that needs to be consistently sharpened and hers just needs a change oil. I guess I have given enough of myself to you. I just hope it’s not for naught. But knowing that she'll still be part of the FEU Advocate next year provides an invisible underpinning to the new set of editors.

Katrina Mae Javier, Photos OIC 08-09 2nd sem, Chief Photographer 09-10

Another one of my sisters in the org. One who constantly needs to be pinched, teased, cared for and uplifted. Hopefully, but most likely, geared for a successful handling of the Photos section especially for the crucial UAAP hosting. She is talented and just blatantly sweet and liked by anyone, though emotional at times (hehe!). You’ve done this before, I’m sure you can do it again. But this time, it should be better by rectifying the wrongs you saw or see.

Susana Eloida Grace Abaya, Literary OIC 08-09 2nd sem, Literary Editor 09-10

Apparently, your appointment as Literary OIC wasn’t a mistake. I always wanted to say this, “told you so”. The EB can identify the strengths of the staffers and you obviously have yours. Out of all the 09-10 EB, you are the most qualified person to remind them not to hinder the growth of their writers because the Literary is the most creative and free among all the writing sections. The Literary section was able to adjust fairly well to the new demands we imposed under your leadership. Jose Angelo Gonzales’ transfer to the Features section is enough proof of that. I pray that you’ll be graduating next year with the Tampipi folio under your belt.

Ma. Socorro Agustin, Senior Layout Artist 08-09

One of my sisters in the org. Poised to be Head Layout material, Soc’s opinion on the layout is one that is always solicited by the EB. Despite her schedule, she was still able to be an effective staffer. She was also among the few chosen ones who accomplished the June and July issues. Go after your dreams as I would, because our inclination to the arts will always be there. I guess that’s enough said. ^_^

To the rest of the EB 09-10.

Tough it out, and good luck! Take it, you will need it. ^_^

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