Mabini Hall

WELL, the Olympic torch skipped Manila in the run-up to the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics because of geographical reasons. I say, did we even mount a campaign to host a leg here, given its significance for our country’s image on security, need for investments and tourism and our continuing support for the games despite never bagging a gold? That is what is called putting our country on the map. We are a nation 90-million strong and the 12th most populous in the world, surely we can carry a flame from the Luneta to The Fort? Read the rest

Of course everyone knows Malthus. We quote him all the time like this: food supply grows arithmetically while population increases exponentially. There will naturally come a time when we will not have enough to eat. He was wrong. Technology increased the food supply (and the diversity) by leaps and bounds, exponentially. Some country populations are stable save for net migration. Except in Africa where there is always some kind of crisis, societies have not experienced famine in the scale of the potato famine in Ireland. Until now. Read the rest

AMBOT” is Cebuano for “I don’t know.” It usually is coupled with “lang” to make “ambot lang” which means “I don’t know” and said with a shudder as a sign of helplessness and futility. I thought of this word and this phrase in the aftermath of typhoon “Ambo,” no relation.

Ever since I became conscious of the typhoon season that meant suspension or cancellation of classes, I remember first typhoons usually coming in June or July with the strongest rains in August and September plus minus a month or two. April is right in the middle of summer—the beach, the sun, the sand and buko juice. A typhoon this month? “Ambot” lang. Read the rest

LATEST assessment tests on public schoolchildren show an ever so small improvement in English proficiency. Is it finally the light at the end of the tunnel—a new generation of Filipinos who speak real English and not some bastardized form? Filipinos who know proper grammar like we do? Filipinos who can express ideas like Claro M. Recto of yore? Filipinos who can grapple with concepts in English as if it is our first language? Read the rest

I CONTINUE to follow intently the Obama-Clinton wars. Aside from contentious issues of race and gender, the heart of the matter, is the clash between believing in the dream or vision that Obama is painting versus the brass tacks reality that Clinton is proving. The audacity of hope, of youth versus the certainty of experience and competency. Obama is untested in many ways but his supporters rally to the idea that is the right man to lead the country and charismatic leaders will unite and show the way. The Clintonites battlecry is that it is the daily grind that makes a good leader, someone who is tested and has the grit to deal with details. Read the rest

It is not another acronym for a scandal in the wings. It is not a feel-good message two weeks after Valentine’s Day. It is simply love, or rather the lack of it, that is the root cause of the country’s instability and conflicts. Read the rest

Apolinario Mabini once said, “You always look upon your countryman as something more than a neighbor. See in him the friend, the brother, or at the very least, the companion to whom you are bound by a single fate, by the same joys and sorrows, and by common aspirations and interests. As long as the frontiers of nations exist … to him alone should you unite in perfect solidarity of views and interests, in order to gather strength, not only to fight the common enemy, but also to attain all the goals of human existence.” Read the rest

OUR basic education system run by the Department of Education (DepEd) caters to over 20 million learners, housed in over 45,000 schools and community centers and supported by over 513,000 teachers and staff. This opening line is mind-boggling, to say the least. The student number alone is more than the national populations of about 100 other countries. Read the rest