What's New Today - July 13, 2007

Good morning. It’s Friday the 13th. Buti na lang hindi pumatak ng Martes!

Finally, many woke up from a deep slumber. Once again, we read posts from Rori, Ed and Bert. We've also read the recent emails of Glenn and Marybeth. Of course, we’ve always had Men, Fechie and Danny, who was away for a while to attend his auntie’s 91st birthday in New Jersey, where he also met my sister-in-law. Alot has been silent but has been regularly visiting the blogsite (as I’ve monitored in the Sitemeter). Marynat was active for a while but is again … zzzzzzhhh… Ning-ning is also a regular blogsite visitor. I'm not sure about Irma, and we've not heard from Tess for quite sometime. Felino's much awaited posting hasn't come. By the way, sorry for my impatience. I tend to forget that I’m in a better situation than you, since I only have my work and one alaga – my niece to attend to, unlike most of you.

I started updating the blogsite but was unable to finish it. I came back from Biliran via Tacloban yesterday but I’m leaving for the airport in a little while for my trip to Bacolod. I’ll be back tomorrow. Then, I’ll go to Guimaras via Iloilo on Tuesday. Weather is not so good. In fact, there was a sea mishap somewhere near San Francisco and San Andres in Quezon when the ferry that left Lucena on its way to Masbate tilted (tama ba English expert Rori, gustong sabihin tumagilid iyong barko?) due to strong winds. There are 10 fatalities, some are still missing and more than a hundred rescued. Another ship had an engine malfunction near Surigao, nagpalutang-lutang lang. It has already been towed to a safe place. Gee, I’ll be taking the pumpboat from Iloilo to Guimaras and back on Tue and Wed. (I took the pictures on the left in Biliran.)

I was not able to complete my feature on Vinzons, Camarines Norte. Hopefully, I can post it on Sunday. I already have pictures of the Wenceslao Vinzons monument and museum, the church, which is the oldest in Cam Norte, the cemetery, and other places. All were taken from the internet. Alot if you have original pictures of Vinzons, including your ancestral house, please email, so at least we’ll have orig pix.

Bert, Marynat, Ning-ning and Men, if you also have original pictures of Paracale, old and new please send them ASAP, so they can be included in our next featured municipality.
All pictures of the controversial new seven wonders of the world (many are criticizing the manner of selection which was via internet and text voting, and UNESCO distanced itself from the process), as well as the pictures of the new pinoy boxing champs were taken from the internet.

I don’t have a news roundtop, but the latest news about Cam Norte which I got is the death of the Vice Mayor of Jose Panganiban in a road accident in San Pablo City. Less of a news and more of a commentary is the issue of erroneous textbooks being used in our public schools which is contributing to the deterioration of education. This has long been exposed yet the problem persists and it seems that DepEd is still on the denial stage, even casting aspersions on the motives of the whistleblower (Go of the Marian School). In spite of the many errors, the same publisher has been cornering the contracts at DepEd. I recall that even when we were still students, this Abiva Publishing was already in the business. Well, malaking pera ang involved dito. Among the many objections/errors listed by Go are some entries in the Grade 3 Filipino textbook. The topic is the use of dictionary and of the so many words that could be used as example, the authors used “titi” – pangngalan, ari ng lalaki; “titatita” – pangngalan, pasimuno, bugaw! The word ‘bugaw’ itself needs to be explained. How would you explain it to a grade 3 pupil? There is also an assignment – “magsaliksik o magtanong sa doktor kung ano ang iba ibang paraan ng pagpaplano ng pamilya. Ipaliwanag o ilarawan ang bawa’t isa. (These are not the exact words, but this is the sense of the assignment.) These may be subject of debates as to their propriety. Some do not find anything wrong with exposing the pupils to these topics. But there are real errors that are factual and or language errors. Napakadami, and yet galit ang DepEd sa nag-expose nito. I listened to one Undersecretary who was interviewed in ANC and she was saying that before a textbook is printed it goes through several stages of review, where experts and some representatives of parents do the review. She said that the reviewers did not find anything wrong with these. Utang na loob! Wala na talagang sense of accountability.

Lastly, on Bert’s question about the road condition in Leyte, I’ll ask my colleagues in the NGO and inform you this weekend. Hindi ako familiar doon sa specific places you mentioned.