Editorial: Decorating cakes and buildings

The last time I canvassed a cake for my eldest sister's birthday, the most expensive costs P570. I would have loved to go to Makati, pretend that I'm a senior citizen and receive a cake worth more than P1,000 even if it's not my birthday. The mayor surely is a generous big-hearted person.

The demolition job for Vice President Jejomar Binay has already started. Various allegations have popped up and his poll stats dropped  to almost 30% because he is pinning to run for President next year. From cakes to buildings to properties in Batangas, everything is being gunned down not only to him but also his son Makati Mayor Erwin Jejomar Binay Jr. Cakes are wonderful for senior citizens which spells philanthropy, until one realizes one cake for reach senior costs more than P1,000. Car parking buildings are good for the thousand cars in Makati, until one realizes it costs P2.71 billion, which should be originally P1.56 billion. A 66-hectare farm in Rosario, Batangas helps boost the agricultural status of the country, until one realizes that such property is not declared in the mayor's assets and liabilities. 

Let us pity the mayor because the demolition job for him is at work. Let us also get acquainted with him better for he is a good mayor who has made Makati glorious. He has been delivering wonderful cakes to the elderly in Makati that are overpriced and cost more than P1,000. That is not bad at all. If our dear mayor is such a philanthropist, then let him be. What's your problem?

The mayor is currently facing plunder and graft charges and violation of the procurement law for the overpriced 11-story Makati government building that allegedly cost P2.71 billion. There were complaints filed against the father and the son with the Ombudsman last August 18. The complaints showed that the Makati building is "more scandalously overpriced" . This was because the building was bid five times to different contractors, and the splitting of the bid into five phases is what exactly violates RA 9184. But hey, Binay insisted that the Commission on Audit (COA) has audited the whole project for five years and for ten times but found no anomaly. Don't be alarmed, he reassured, for the building had an average cost of P84,000 per square meter. Moreover allegations from former Makati Vice Mayor Ernesto Mercado said that the mayor has been receiving kickbacks for every project conducted in the city during his term. In summary, all he wanted was a posh building for his city. Is there a law that prohibits that?

Let us tour the alleged overpriced building. The flush-type toilet bowl in the building ranges between P13,000 to P32,000. The wash basin you would be using after you take a leak costs P11,000 to P25,000; the dryer, P17,000 to P62,000. All in all the majority of the fixture features in the building rose by around 300%  on a per unit basis. He didn't spare the paper holder, which cost P490 in 2010, P750 in 2011 and finally P1,138 in the last bid. It's not that extravagant, is it?

Finally, let us tour his 66-hectare farm in Rosario, Batangas. It is said to be estimated to double the size of the Ayala Commercial Center in Makati which costs P23 million. There's more: he owns two Hidalgo condominium units in the luxurious Rockwell Center in Makati, of which this 208-square meter unit costs P28 million. The common denominator? They are all undeclared in his statement of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALN), which violates the Republic Act 6713. 

In any case, this is never about any demolition job for the mayor because he's expected to run as President in 2016. The Senate has passed the Freedom of Information Bill under Senate Bill No. 1733 last March 2014. Yet nothing has changed much because these "philanthropists" and mayors still refuse to disclose their documents. When will they oblige to such law, the ordinary Filipino citizen and the magtataho would never know. All we have are nice-sounding laws and bills, but are not engraved in stone and are merely ignored by the same government who amended and passed it. These are the people whom we should follow orders from, but it seems that there is not even order among themselves.

Inquirer SPECIAL REPORT A language war in the time of DAP

This a good read in the timely issues of DAP and MTB-MLE
by Dr. Ricardo Ma. Nolasco, Dr. Resty Cena and Dr. Isabel Martin

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/630166/a-language-war-in-the-time-of-dap

(First of three parts)

MANILA, Philippines–Requiring Filipino as a subject and as a language of instruction in college will be good for Philippine education. For this to happen, the reasons given by the pro-Filipino side in this controversy will have to be robust and compelling.

Proponents for Filipino as a language of instruction anchor their stand on two arguments. The first is a familiar one: Filipino has been recognized under the 1987 Constitution as the national and official language for education and communication.

The second argument is that teaching Filipino and using it as a language of instruction, especially in higher education, will contribute to its intellectualization.

But here comes the rub. The constitutional provision on Filipino as medium of official communication and instruction is not without conditions. These conditions are contained in the following sections of the nation’s Charter:

(1) “Subject to provisions of law and as the Congress may deem appropriate, the government shall take steps to initiate and sustain the use of Filipino as a medium of official communication and as language of instruction in the educational system.”

(2) “For purposes of communication and instruction, the official languages of the Philippines are Filipino and, until otherwise provided by law, English.”

(3) “The regional languages are the auxiliary official languages in the regions and shall serve as auxiliary media of instruction therein.”

Clearly, Filipino is only one of the country’s official languages. At the grassroots, the local language joins Filipino and English as an official medium in governance and in education.

3 laws

In fact, Congress recently passed three laws that redivided the instructional space among the learner’s first language (L1), English and Filipino. Enacted in 2012 was the Kindergarten Education Act followed in 2013 by the Early Years Act and the Enhanced Basic Education Act.

Now enshrined in law is the country’s language-in-education policy:  L1-based multilingual education. Students at the elementary grades will be taught in their first language, but will take up Filipino and English as second language (L2) subjects.

The Department of Education will determine when the shift from L1 to L2 as primary and auxiliary language of instruction should be made, provided the shift is gradual and not abrupt.

To us, the key criterion is the student’s competence to receive academic instruction in their L2s alongside their L1.

The ability to transfer L1 concepts to the L2s and vice-versa ensures that the L2s add to the learner’s L1 competence and do not replace nor subtract it.

That said, a language policy for college education must adhere to the same principle of additive education. Instruction should be delivered in a language or languages understood by the learners.

Diversity

The pervasive socio-linguistic diversity throughout the country is another factor to consider in choosing the appropriate language of instruction.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with using L1 or Filipino for some subjects, English for others, and even mixed varieties for the remainder, provided real learning is taking place and the course objectives are being met.

But since there is no law or legislation on the language of instruction at the college level, it is best to leave this issue for individual institutions of higher learning to decide.

The intellectualization of the national language is a noble objective, but one that is clearly secondary to effective student learning.

Besides, the new language-in-education policy already provides us with enough space to develop this predominantly oral language into an academic producer and carrier of knowledge in the higher domains of learning.

Decongesting curriculum

The teaching of Filipino subjects in college is a different matter.  Before, there were nine units of Filipino that formed part of general education until technical experts banished them to Grades 11 and 12.

This runs counter to the very idea behind adding two years to basic education, namely “to decongest the curriculum.”

A study in 2011 compared the educational systems in Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei and the Philippines. Curricular time per subject was found to be longest in the country with the shortest cycle—the Philippines.

If our students were cramming in 10 years what students in other countries were learning in 12 years, why congest the program even more?

No guarantee

In the first place, expanding basic education by two years is no guarantee to quality instruction. A literacy survey in 2008, for instance, reported that one out of every five elementary graduates was functionally illiterate.

A second study in 2010 by Dr. Abraham Felipe and Dr. Carolina Porio concluded that our short education cycle could not be blamed for the low science and math scores of Filipino students.

Why? According to their research, there were countries with short cycles having high scores and countries with long cycles having low scores.

In sum, we are not persuaded by the rationale in removing the Filipino courses in college, and we join the call for its immediate reinstatement in the general curriculum.

In case these courses do not qualify under the new definition of general education, then the correct procedure is to revise the courses, and not to remove them.

Editor’s Note: Dr. Ricardo Ma. Nolasco (rnolascoupdiliman@gmail.com), Dr. Resty M. Cena (restycena@gmail.com) and Dr. Isabel Pefianco Martin (mmartin@ateneo.edu) are practicing Filipino linguists and educators.

Read more: http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/630166/a-language-war-in-the-time-of-dap#ixzz3APNfwEKH
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The walls, the cellmate and the chair

ACADEMIC LEARNING FROM A FUGITIVE
Part III

All he had said was a big understatement.



Remembering "how they used to talk", I learned to appreciate the word "understatement" more. All throughout the four series, Michael talked and wrote in riddles, while the rest of his team were left to crack them up.

Inverted reading of bloshoi booze produces
numbers which are actually coordinates

BEHIND THE SISTINE CHAPEL TATTOOS


Cute poison, Ripe Chance: Woods, and bolshoi booze. Michael had seriously considered designing codes and scientific jargons to slip past the guard's suspicions and to divert and confuse the FBI's equally smart acumen.


1. His whole body tattoo obviously hides the penitentiary's blueprints, and their escape plans after breaking out.

2. Cute poison is actually a chemical equation he needed to produce a corrosive substance to destroy the infirmary's drainage path, their last door to open to get to the infirmary and escape through the windows.

Ripe Chance: Woods

3. Ripe Chance: Woods is not a storage facility in Oswego as what the police had thought: It should be read as RIP E. Chance Woods. This is the graveyard where Michael hid their clothes and passports to escape to Panama.


4. Bolshoi booze is not a place; it's a series of coordinates of a desert where Michael would meet Spanish colleagues he made a deal with in exchange for their escape plane.

First origami message sent by Michael
Rendezvous: Sundown Hot

HOW MICHAEL AND SARA USED TO TALK


1. Michael had also left Sara with Origami cranes bearing the message of their rendezvous after she was also chased by the Company. Michael used dots to keep the message hidden, which actually correspond to the letters of a cellphone. The message was: Rendezvous Sundown Hot, El Gila NM 6-3, meaning Sara should stay at Sundown Hotel in Gila, New Mexico at meet him at a certain place on June 3 (6-3).


2. In season two, chapter 15 entitled The Message, Michael and Lincoln sent a videotape to the FBI saying they're innocent, but deliberately used body languages elaborating a bad liar to keep the FBI distracted. Michael also left a message for Sara in the video in understatements, mentioning words from Sara's medical book leading to a place where she needs to hide and where Michael would call her.


3. Sara had announced a call for a "Michael Crane" in the receiving area of the hotel Michael had told her, referring the word "Crane" to the origami cranes he'd sent to Sara.


4. In season three, Michael had also called Sara and reminded her of "how they used to talk". Sara mentioned words giving clues as to where she was being held by the Company with Lincoln's son LJ. She said it was a "lost cause", which actually refers to the statue in Panama known as "The Lady of Lost Causes".

The Scylla card

BAD GUYS USE CODES, TOO


1. In season four, the Company were as equally smart. The General had codenamed the datacards as Scylla, and in the Mythology archives, Scylla is a six-headed monster Odysseus had to pass through his journey home and needed to sacrifice six of his men. When Michael and his team had already stolen a datacard in less than a day, they found out it was incomplete and realized Scylla actually consists of six cards.


2. The General had also sent an e-mail to all cardholders the team had hacked into one of the cardholder's (Tuxhorn) PDA. It was about an arrival in London but the team didn't found any meeting in Tuxhorn's schedule, and Mahone suggested the message was a code spelling the word SCYLLA, meaning the Company would have a meeting about Scylla.

The Scylla device

3. Michael had overheard the General talking about "power" in Chapter 6 of season four (Safe and Sound), and the word "bargain" when he went under (because of his terminal brain tumor). Bargain is actually a compilation of chemical element symbols B (Boron), Ar (Argon), Ga (Gallium) and In (Indium). Michael had told Sara about a certain theory that when one combines these elements in a specific way he would be able to produce a revolutionary solar power technology.

The Art of the Deal: Michael and Company agent Gretchen 

THE ART OF DEALS, SENSING FOES


One thing I also learned from Michael is the art of making deals, or better yet the art of acquiring heavier leverage to win the deal. The team had encountered a lot of business negotiations involving life-or-death decisions, some even required little time.


1. Breaking out a Company asset from the Panamanian prison (Michael had been imprisoned in Panama in season three) in exchange for Sara and LJ


2. Obtaining the Scylla device with little time to spare or else they would all back to prison


3. Sometimes they were able to lead the deal and at one point asked the General to let them go unharmed from the Company building or else they would kill his daughter held by Sara in another place.


I also learned to identify foes because of Michael's--and especially Lincoln's paranoia. They would often eye on suspicious-looking people and immediately identify if the civilians were actually Company men.

THE CLOUD OF POLITICS


It just occcured to me GMA had done the same strategy during her regime.


In Prison Break's season two chapter 14 (John Doe), one of the General's "pawns" ordered his liaison officer to set Florida on fire or make any important event on scandal just to cover up for the video made by Lincoln and Michael exposing the Company's secrets. 


I then remembered Ms. Josephine Bonsol saying GMA was the smartest president of the Philippines, and my Filipino teacher telling us how GMA lit the Sandiganbayan and Mindanao provinces on fire and explosions just to cover up her NBN-ZTE deals and Hello Garci tapes and Le Cirque expenses.


These serve me right: we can learn a lot more from villains, from motivated people, from fugitives who didn't actually want to be one in the first place.