SEVERAL student groups and nationalist organizations, such as the College Editors’ Guild of the Philippines, League of Filipino Students, Kabataan Party List, UP Student Council and Tanggol Wika condemned the recent Supreme Court decision upholding the constitutionality of the Commission on Higher Education memorandum removing the Filipino and Panitikan as required subjects in college. In effect, these two subjects will just become optional courses. The critics held the decision as anti-Filipino and runs counter to the government’s position of instilling love of country among our people. LFS was unmerciful in claiming that the new “policy is structured to push for a colonial orientation in education. It aims to create a generation that does not recognize its own literature and history….”
We have adopted Filipino long time ago as our national language but we have failed miserably to develop it as our mother tongue. It is hardly spoken in many parts of the country, particularly in regions where a strong ethnic pride prevails. We should strive hard to develop our national language. Without a common language, national unity shall continue to evade us. We are building a Tower of Babel and sadly the SC served as its architect.
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THE Pinays’ killer in Cyprus, Army Captain Nicholas Metaxas, was meted out seven life terms after he pleaded guilty to the kidnapping and premeditated murder of seven foreign women, including five Filipinas. This incident highlights the tragic fate of some women who leave their family in search of gainful work abroad. It also shows how defenseless our women folks are when they settle in a foreign land and work in an unfamiliar environment. The lack of immediate action by the authorities resulted in the resignation of the country’s Justice Minister and the dismissal of its police chief. The Cypriot president said that lives would have been saved had the police intervened in time to investigate the case of the reported missing women. The arrest and prosecution of the offender is reassuring. At least, the victims were able to get justice in a foreign land. Our own government should extend our women the protection and respect they need. As Rizal had penned in his “Letters to the Women of Malolos” on February 22, 1889, that he sent from London, “This is our dream; this is the desire we cherish in our hearts; to restore the honor of woman, who is half of our heart, our companion in the joys and tribulations of life.” This should be the dream of every Filipino, and together let’s make it a living reality.
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THE ALC Media Group hosted the Canadian Ambassador to the Philippines, His Excellency John T. Holmes, on Thursday, June 27, where he discussed various issues of mutual interest to our two countries. His message was followed by lively exchanges between the envoy and our media group touching on domestic and international issues involving Canada. I came in late at the forum but I managed to raise three questions: the implications of the current Border Issue of US with Mexico and the other South American countries since up north US and Canada share the longest border in the world, the pending ratification of the US, Mexico and Canada Agreement, which shall replace the existing North American Free Trade Agreement among the three countries and the potential conflict in the Nordic Seas and Arctic Ocean between China and Canada + its allied countries given China’s intention to open up the region to navigation and exploration. I admire Ambassador Holmes for giving us honest answers, including his response to the return of the Canadian dumped to the Philippines. Definitely, we share strong economic, trade and cultural ties. With its warm and welcoming people, Canada is fast becoming the country of choice for Filipinos desiring to settle and work abroad. It embraces political and legal systems that are reassuring to foreign nationals. Filipinos are at home in Canada.
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WE have heard stories of OFWs’ sad plight in chasing their dreams. Pedro could not get a job until a gorilla in a zoo died from a sudden illness. The gorilla, with all his antics, was a crowd-drawer, and the management could not immediately get a replacement. The enterprising manager offered Pedro to suit up in a gorilla costume and taught him all the moves and tricks. One day, with a jam-packed crowd before his huge cage, Pedro overdid his stunts and while jumping from one branch to another, he fell over to the adjacent cage of a ferocious lion. Pedro was immobilized by fear while the ferocious beast was pawing his body, and he was shouting and pleading for his dear life in Tagalog. Suddenly the lion whispered to him: “Tumigil ka. Mabubuko tayong pareho.”