hi, i'm islesv

Two books on local government in the Philippines

2009-11-15T06:18:00.000-08:00

These two books are available for full view at Google Books. Click on the title.

Decentralization and biodiversity conservation, Part 35
By Ernst Lutz, Julian Oliver Caldecott, World Bank

The global phenomenon of school decentralization is a highly political process. It involves substantial shifts in power, affecting the influence and livelihood of groups such as teachers and their unions. School systems are also vehicles for enhancing political influence and carrying out the programs and objectives of those in power. This report identifies the political dimensions of school decentralization and discusses the methods and problems of building a broad public consensus to support it. Country case studies and examples of best practices are provided.

Subnational capital markets in developing countries: from theory to practice
By Mila Freire, John E. Petersen, World Bank

Within the framework of increasing decentralization, the need for local governments to access financial markets is growing. As urbanization expands, local authorities need to provide more services with fewer resources from the central government. Subnational borrowing, leveraging reliable cash flows and prudent fiscal management, can be alternatives to fund such investments, especially when the useful life of the service is long and an adequate legal framework is in place to ensure fiscal and financial stability. This book, prepared by staff members of the World Bank and selected guest contributors, consists of two parts. The first part comprises a framework to study subnational governments as borrowers and the array of credit markets in which they may operate. The second part consists of case studies that document the recent experience of 18 countries in developing markets for subnational borrowers and offer lessons about fostering responsible credit market access within a framework of fiscal and financial discipline. The book pools information on the issuing of municipal debt and its characteristics, analyses the role of macroeconomic conditions and market development in the success or failure of those borrowings, and suggests recommendations to guide ongoing efforts. The goal is to assist local governments in working as strategic partners in the development and strengthening of the capital markets in emerging economies.

A poet, a woman, a poem

2009-11-14T15:00:00.000-08:00

I'm rediscovering my love for literature, perhaps a gut reaction for the hell of weeks ahead being in law school and teaching world history, Asian studies and Probability and Statistics to my students at my employer.

Here's William Butler Yeat's "Aedh wishes for the Clothes of Heaven":

Had I the heavens’ embroidered cloths,
Enwrought with golden and silver light,
The blue and the dim and the dark cloths
Of night and light and the half light,
I would spread the cloths under your feet:
But I, being poor, have only my dreams;
I have spread my dreams under your feet;
Tread softly because you tread on my dreams.

Interesting how this poem was dedicated by Yeats to Maud Gonne -- his love for her almost drove him mad.

Rest Not, Rizal, Not Yet by Francisco O. Javines

2009-11-13T20:05:00.000-08:00

(as published in the Philippine Journal of Education, December 1963)

Rest not, Rizal, not yet,
Rest not in peace. Your work is not yet done:
The very ailments that your pen described
and dared exposed so all the world could judge
the work of alien tyrants,
are now the very ills that plague our land:
The cancer that is caused by graft and greed
still is the festering sore
in high and low society, and now creeps
like a pestilence over the land.
The ignorance of leaders in your day
still is the ignorance that blinds
the dark and narrow minds
of self-appointed leaders in our midst.
The haughty arrogance of conquerors then
now is the studied arrogance of sycophants,
the gross discourtesy of loafing clerks.
Still money flows to grease and straighten out
the sinuous, circuitous, repetitive course
of administrative actuations.
Rest not, Rizal, be with us yet!
New social cancers blight the land:
the broke home, the child that knows not love or case;
the beggar stretched across a muddy pavement;
the gambler, the dope addict, and the goon;
the greedy legislator, ten percenter,
influence peddler, phony expert, super crook;
the inconsiderate rich who recklessly flaunt
their diamonds, their parties, and their cars;
the impatient poor who shun decent work
and dream of making millions overnight;
the bribed policeman turned extortionist;
the slanted press; the paid indecencies:
the list is a litany of legions.
Rest not, Rizal, be with us yet:
Rebuild in us the beauty and the dream;
Restore in us the vision and the hope;
Remake in us the mansions of the mind;
Reopen for us windows in the soul
through which the winds of vigor-giving change
will blow to sweep away our lassitude,
our lethargy of limb, our languor of the mind;
our longing for the frostrings and the frills.
Thus will return with stronger roots in us
your simple virtues, Pride of our Race,
your strength of soul, your industry, your thrift,
your great nobility, your quiet dignity;
your fortitude that faced the bullets in the dawn,
and sowed a revolution for our rights!

(You might also be interested of the poem They Only Hiked to Heaven by the same author.)

They Only Hiked to Heaven by Francisco O. Javines

2009-11-13T20:04:00.001-08:00

(as published in the Manila Times and in the Philippine Journal of Education, August 1963)

Grieve not, my friends. The boys will be home:
They only hiked to heaven. And now they laugh
at the foolish tears we shed.
They are not dead - boys never die; they live
in you and me: in every little burden
from a neighbor's shoulders lifted;
in every smile we cause to glow
upon a face where sorrow drifted;
They live in every man or woman, boy or girl
whose life is filled with days of simple deeds:
perhaps a fence that's mended,
a frail old woman helped across a street;
or just a good book read, or a humble prayer said.
Weep not, O mothers. Grieve not, O fathers.
Your boys will still be boys in God's eternal bosom.
Their shouts, their pranks, their laughter and their tears
now echo in the vaster corridors of heaven.
Their names unsullied and their noble deeds
now are enshrined in the hears of men of men
of every clime and creed!
Grieve not, beloved land bereft of boyish blooms
suddenly plucked by the swift hand
of the Giver of life. He caught them like arrows
arrested in flight, gleaming in the sunlight,
to swerve to His higher purpose, His nobler aim.
And as April suns that sink in Manila Bay in one great blaze
return and ever return in every sunny day,
So too will they return in every son of this dear land:
in every good deed done, in every tear we turn to laughter.
Grieve not, my friends. Death is not death for him
whose daily humble deed shone bright and yet unseen
by eyes myopic with material greed.
Death is not death for those whose lives forever shine
as well-trod woodland paths
that beckon in the moonlight,
and beg the restless mind and heart, the exploring feet
to seek the distant nooks and glens, and there
to hold communion with the Maker, and to learn
the lore of fowl and flower, the prayer and the patience
of the trees; and then at last, when work is done,
to seek the silence of the tents of heaven.
They are not dead. They only wander now
amidst the tents of seraphim
in the eternal jamboree grounds
lit by the campfire of the stars.

To my neighbors

2009-11-09T08:20:00.001-08:00

Please close your windows when you are making love. I am trying to live a good life here.

Also, love-making is taboo on Tuesdays, don't you know?

Love,

islesv

Three things I learned from law school

2009-11-09T08:19:00.001-08:00

1. I am not the most intelligent person in the world, or in our class, for that matter. And worse, I'm not even the second best. I had some inkling about this when Jessie Ceniza tied with me for top place of our class back in our college days and Sherlenie Tecson of Cebu Normal University caused me to wonder why I was not able to see the brilliant proofs during our topology classes at UP Cebu, but hey, Jessie and Sherlenie were just one of my classmates in those classes. It's simply different when you have a classmate ahead of you and when almost every one in the class is ahead of you. So now the Jessies and Sherlenies are the Merachelles, Junjies, Kara Maes, Hyacinths, Ronalds, Yassers, and Camelles. (Did I miss any one? I sure hope I did - there are just too many of you. Come now, get off my head :))

2. No matter how you hard I study, there will always be better students than me. They don't study as much as me, they don't lose sleep over assignments, (and worse, they don't have to go to work and deal with students who have problems understanding their lessons), but they still get better scores than me in the test. In other words, they are just more intelligent than me. (Hey, isn't that number 1 above?)

3. (in the 3rd person now) No matter how you think your answer was much better than that of the other guy (or gal, or gay), the teacher has a different idea. And the teacher grades your answers, not you. Do you understand that now, islesv? (Sure I do: I force my students to understand the same exact thing every day of my working life.)

Lazy islesv

2009-11-09T07:40:00.001-08:00

Some universities and colleges do not usually start their classes on time. They say classes start on November 10, 2009, but you'll only see the professor one or two meetings later.

Not at the University of Cebu College of Law.

I just missed four hours of lecture today.

I knew that classes start today (tonight, to be more exact), but my laziness got the better of me and I went home to sleep. Not that I am particularly tired, but it's difficult to adjust your body to a regimen of 8-hour work + 3- or 4-hour study after almost a month of relaxation. (After my first semester at law school, the days during the third week of October to the first week of November were comparatively lax days.)

And now, I'm two hours behind in my Local Government class, and two hours behind in Obligations and Contracts.

Someday my annoying habit is going to cause my death

2009-11-09T07:40:00.000-08:00

One of my favorite habit (and annoying to many people) is insisting on implementing the rules. The previous Sunday, while I paid my fare on board the jeepney from my hometown Sogod, Cebu to Cebu City:

islesv: Here's my fare. (Handed in 40 pesos.)
driver: This is not enough. The new fare is 50 pesos.
islesv: Since when was that?
driver: Since the other Saturday.
islesv: Eh? I went home last Monday and only 40 pesos was collected from me.
driver: But we [drivers and operators] have already agreed that 50 pesos is the new fare. Besides, the fare matrix explicitly states that.
islesv: So you have a new fare matrix?
driver: No, but the old fare matrix charges 60 pesos for Sogod to Cebu City.
islesv: But don't you have to get a new fare matrix to demand a fare hike?
driver: As I've said, the old fare matrix charges 60 pesos for Sogod to Cebu City.
islesv: OK.
driver: (thought I will hand in an additional 10 pesos)
islesv: Can I see your old fare matrix?
driver: (pressed hard on the accelerator. We were going at nearly 100 kph.)

You jog but you don't walk?

2009-11-09T07:35:00.000-08:00

A conversation with a tricycle driver, which forced me to reconsider my morning routine of taking a tricycle ride from my residence to the highway, where I could take a jeepney to go to my working place:

Driver: Are you not that guy who jogs at dawn?
Me: Yes, why?
Driver: I wonder why you can jog this length three times, but you don't want to walk it.
Me: (said nothing)
Driver: You're too proud to walk, are you not?
Me: (said nothing; OK, I got your point)

(Additional benefit: seven pesos saved every day. That's for the morning coffee.)

Whatever happens is a resource

2009-11-09T06:05:00.000-08:00

A writer -- and, I believe, generally all persons -- must think that whatever happens to him or her is a resource. All things have been given to us for a purpose, and an artist must feel this more intensely. All that happens to us, including our humiliations, our misfortunes, our embarrassments, all is given to us as raw material, as clay, so that we may shape our art. --Jorge Luis Borges

Gibo is incompetent

2009-11-08T00:42:00.000-08:00

Gibo + Ondoy = Incompetence.

When Mar Roxas decided not to run for President in 2010, I thought Gibo Teodoro, Jr. would be the next best bet.

But the slow and incompetent response of the National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC), of which Gibo is the chairman, during the typhoon Ondoy calamity convinced me otherwise. If how he performed that day is a prelude to his performance come 2010, we're in for some six years more of hell (as of nine under Gloria is not enough).

At the very least, NDCC thought it wise to remove Gibo's ads about "disaster preparedness" from the networks that very day and every day afterwards. But still, I feel cheated, and I'm sure, a thousand other Filipinos too. In the TV ads, it seems we were ready for any disaster. But it was clear it was all propaganda, just like the economic figures now and then cited by our government.

I would have put that issue to rest, but a replacement ad is now being aired.

Galing at talino? If he doesn't sound boastful in asserting that, I don't know what would. So what if he graduated magna cum laude from law? Or that he was a bar topnotcher? We've had enough of this uber-intelligent people running our government. Remember Gloria has an economics degree kuno - it didn't help.

Are the people in-charge of his ads commissioning any survey at all? Perhaps it would be wise to check what the average Filipino needs now - not someone who has the brains, but someone they can believe in.

Gibo may not have noted from his Sociology 101 (or Philippine Institutions, whatever they call it at the University of the Philippines, where he graduated) that majority of Filipinos are poor, and don't finish college (or even have the means to enroll in college, for that matter). They may admire his accomplishments, but they cannot identify with him. I can't even identify with him, and I'm one of those "pinagpala" who were able to go to college. In politics, identification is king. Just look at what Manny Villar is trying to do. (Unfortunately, his trapo image works against him.)

In classic Chinese political theory, there's a concept known as the mandate of heaven. When the heavens do not approve of the ruler any more, the gods send disasters, including the death of several key leaders (in Gloria's time, how many can you name? FPJ, Roco, Manalo, etc.). Unfortunately for Gibo, he is part of Gloria's dynasty. (The term dynasty can also refer to the succession of "appointed" or "annointed" successors, not just the immediate family members of the ruling family - confer Byzantine history.)

And the heavens had spoken. Gloria and her dynasty must go. That includes Gibo.

Okay, I might be rationalizing my dislike for Gibo since the Ondoy disaster. But unfortunately,

"The image of a meeting being held with the top brass while my son was waiting for help sitting in the rain on the rooftop on the middle of flood water does not speak well. Management style or not, this is a bad response." -Atty. Trixie Angeles

A truly humbling video

2009-11-07T07:15:00.001-08:00

The Sun is a Miasma of Plasma

2009-11-07T07:09:00.000-08:00

National Geographic Bee

2009-11-07T05:46:00.001-08:00

Still looking for more geography challenges online, I took the National Geographic Bee (for November 7, 2009) from the National Geographic Society. My score: (out of 10,000; I had one item out of 10 wrong)

(P.S. I'm sure to come back each day...)

You're a history teacher and that's your geography score?

2009-11-07T05:21:00.000-08:00

I had fun taking the geography quiz at FreePoverty.com - I got a grade of 132. I'm not sure what's the highest (probably 300), but I did managed to get to the third or fourth question of the hard (difficult) level.

I noticed that my weakness is in identifying the different places in the United States. I could only properly identify Tallahasee and Orlando in Florida, and that's because my girlfriend used to work and study at Orlando, and I picked up my knowledge about Orlando about that time. Also, there were few questions about African places, and I'm not sure I could properly identify different places there (I'm only confident about South Africa and Somalia).

But the clincher question was about Mauritania. I did not even knew that that country is located in Africa until I failed the quiz :)

Notes on a math curriculum

2009-11-06T17:44:00.000-08:00

As the subject coordinator for mathematics at PAREF Springdale School, I presided over the meeting yesterday which looked at our performance matrix for the entire curriculum.

Our target was to finish a single level, and we focused on the primary school (grades 1 to 3).

My training back at the University of San Carlos was for high school mathematics, and I realized that I need some input on the development of mathematical thinking in the earlier grades. I only remember some basic information (from my readings and from actual experience being a grade 1/2/3 student almost two decades ago): multiplication tables are introduced at Grade 2, clocks and calendars are necessary in grade 1, etc.

It seems to me too that the DepEd curriculum for the earlier grades nowadays is a lot crowdier than what it was two decades ago. Then there is the nebulous "Geometry" portion for the fourth quarter (grading period) of each grade.

Also, a lot of parents, teachers and school administrators seem to think that it is necessary to have their children learn the multiplication table in grade 1. The question is not whether they can; I believe they can, given enough time to drill it in and a good teacher to guide the students. But whether it is the best time to put it in the curriculum is another question.

Keeping my fingers crossed...

2009-11-06T03:05:00.000-08:00

I went to the University of Cebu College of Law office this afternoon to check on the status of my enrollment. I had already plotted last Monday my schedule for the second semester for this school year 2009-2010, but the office have not yet approved my enrollment because some of the grades were not yet available.

Only the grades in four (out of seven) courses that I've taken last semester were already available by today. My grades for the four are the following:

Persons and Family Relations (Civil Law I; under Atty. Steve Y. Dicdican) - 1.0 (x 4 units)
Environmental Law (under Atty. Rose-Liza Eisma-Osorio) - 1.9 (x 2 units)
Legal Ethics/Legal Profession/Legal Philosophy (under Asst. Dean Atty. Paulino A. Yabao) - 2.2 (x 3 units)
Constitutional Law I (under Atty. Jess Anthony N. Garcia) - 1.6 (x 3 units)

I'm keeping my fingers crossed - hopefully I can maintain the scholarship.

Last semester I paid only the ID fee, insurance and UCLASS (student organization) fee - the college did not ask me to pay for tuition and miscellaneous fees because I graduated magna cum laude from my undergraduate course (Bachelor of Secondary Education) from the University of San Carlos. I even had free books.

I was thinking that I might have to shell out almost 19,000 pesos this semester (where will I get the money?) for the tuition if I don't get the 1.7 cut-off grade. (I might be able to chip off almost 2,000 from the 19,000 by paying once and on time to avail of the 10% discount, but still 17,000 is a big amount of money. I'd rather buy a second-hand motorcycle or use that money for downpayment for a new one.)

The only three grades not yet in the system by the time I visited the office were for the following:

Alternative Dispute Resolution (2 units)
Statutory Construction (2 units)
Criminal Law I (3 units)

ADR and StatCon were both under Atty. Roque E. Paloma, Jr. while Crim was under Atty. Celso V. Espinosa.

My biggest worry among these three courses is Criminal Law I. I might not even pass the course, or get less than 2.5 (the rule is simple: average of at least 1.7, and no grade below 2.5). Assuming Atty. Espinosa will look upon my final exams with kindness (honest Sir, I really don't get the Indeterminate Sentence Law), I might get at least a 2.5.

And even then, I still have to pray that my grades in both ADR and StatCon would be OK. OK would mean that one would be at least a 1.3 while the other would be a 1.2. If all these three conditions are met, I will get my 1.7 average.

(P.S. Really, I don't get the ISLaw yet. For my consolation, even the members of the Supreme Court sometimes debate over the proper application of its provisions, e.g. People vs. Temporada)

Of requirements not received, and NG (or INC) (and Yahoo considering islesv.net spam)

2009-11-04T06:16:00.000-08:00

I just realized that what I may have accepted with full courage before, with the firm belief that bad things happen to random people in a random manner, had actually traumatized some deep section of my psychology.

Last year, while I was taking up my masters at the University of the Philippines in the Visayas - Cebu Campus (UP Cebu), a guard lost my requirements for the course Instructional Planning II, resulting in my getting an INC (incomplete) grade for that subject. (For the record, when I received that INC, I was in fact happy -- I really thought that I deserved a failing mark for that course because I learnt so little.)

This time, I almost got an NG (no grade) for my Legal Ethics course at the University of Cebu (where I am taking up Bachelor of Laws) because my professor did not receive my and my partner's case digests which I sent via email almost a month ago (October 8, to be exact). No thanks to Yahoo, which may have flagged my islesv.net address as spam. (Even my girlfriend had to whitelist that address - stupid Yahoo.)

The funny thing is I feel a certain dread.

Revolutions are always difficult

2009-09-20T11:47:00.000-07:00

It must be realized that there is nothing more difficult to plan, more uncertain of success, or more dangerous to manage than the establishment of a new order of government; for he who introduces it makes enemies of all those who derived advantage from the old order and finds but lukewarm defenders among those who stand to gain from the new one. - Niccolò Machiavelli, The Prince

Two complaint-letters from the past

2009-09-20T09:36:00.000-07:00

While cleaning up my reliable USB flash drive the school issued to me, I chanced upon electronic copies of two letters supposed to be sent to the director of patient services of a "premier" hospital here in Cebu City. These are already old letters; my girlfriend was admitted to that hospital more than a year ago. The letters were about my complaint regarding a certain guard in that hospital.

Coincidentally, just last Saturday, I was a subject of a similar discourteous behavior by a guard at the University of San Carlos - Talamban Campus, where the Cebu Science and Mathematics Teachers Association had its 6th monthly seminar for teachers. I originally planned to write a letter to the right people at my former school. But with the "rediscovery" of these two letters, I've changed my mind. Sometimes the "right" people would not do any thing at all.

Here's the first letter, to give you more information of what transpired. This is as what I wrote last year, except that I deleted and replaced with placeholders identifying information as to what this "premier" hospital is. I also deleted the name of the security agency, since it seems a bit unfair to include them here. Forgive my lapses in grammar:

Dr. [name removed]
Director of Patient Services
[hospital name removed]

Dear Dr. [name removed]:

I am Vincent S. Isles of 56-C San Miguel St., Lorega, Cebu City. [not any more; I now live somewhere in Mandaue City]

I am writing regarding a certain S/G Catigtig of [name of security agency removed], and Dr. M., who entertained me last Feb. 27, 2008.

On or around 6:45 PM of Feb. 27, 2008, I entered the premises of [your "premier" hospital] to visit my girlfriend who was currently admitted at that time. I was bringing a laptop. I was told by S/G Catigtig that laptops are not allowed inside the hospital. I said I am willing to leave the laptop with them [the guards], but they must give me an explicit acknowledgement of such receipt, and not just the number that they routinely hand out to those who have to deposit things with the guards. I thought it reasonable to demand such, considering the value of a laptop, and considering how easily it could be removed from the courtesy booth.

However, S/G Catigtig would not agree with such an arrangement. He insisted that either I leave the laptop with him and accept the number as acknowledgement that I left something with him, or not enter the hospital premises at all. I told him that I do not know any one or any where near the vicinity of the hospital with whom or where I could deposit the laptop. He reiterated my choices. It was at this point that I sensed that he really intended to have me leave my laptop with him. To be fair with S/G Catigtig, I am not certain of any criminal intent on his part. However, I was very suspicious of his actuations, and why he would want me to leave the laptop, specifically including the charger.

I told him that if the concern of the hospital is the use of electricity if I bring in my laptop, I could very well leave with him the charger of the laptop. Again, he just reiterated the choices he previously gave me. Realizing that I was wasting time with S/G Catigtig, I told him that I would like to speak to his immediate head. He told me that his immediate head is not present. Sensing that I could [not] go past S/G Catigtig without leaving my laptop with him, for whatever purpose he may put it into, I left the general admissions door and went to the emergency room entrance door. There I was told to use the general admissions door. I went back to the general admissions door, and, to my relief, S/G Catigtig was nowhere in sight. I immediately lined up along with other visitors, and when it was my time [for inspection], I told the guard doing the inspections (whose name I could not recall) that I know about the hospital's policy regarding electronic gadgets [actually, I did not], and the policy would be served just as well if I leave the charger with him but still bring the laptop inside. The guard accepted this arrangement, and I went past the door. I met S/G Catigtig in a corridor (he must have taken a leak) and, smiling, he said to me, "Aw, ibilin ra man diay." I just smiled at him.

After I visited my girlfriend, I asked some utility workers to whom could I speak to if I have complaints with the guards. They told me I could speak with Dr. M.

My overall assessment of our almost 45-minute talk is that it was just a waste of time. Instead of focusing on my concerns, Dr. M. chose to dwell on why I would not divulge my employer. [The reasons I did not divulge my employer were: 1.) My employer was not in any way related to my complaint; and 2.) I did not want to divulge the fact that the family of one of my students own the hospital. If I divulge my employer's name, the complaint would have taken a different course. But I am not one for such kind of things. Surely institutions should treat clients alike, whether they are teachers of the owners' kids or not. On the other hand, it was actually only later that I realized that the hospital is owned by the family of one of my students.]

Instead of being given attention as a client who took the extra effort to inform the hospital on how it could improve its service, I felt that I was the one being investigated.

I still don't know if the time I spent on writing this email might have been better spent on other things. What I do know is that I have the moral obligation to help, in my own little way, improve the services of a hospital which is a pride of Cebu. Whether you will act on this email or not is up to you.

Respectfully yours,

Vincent S. Isles
56-C San Miguel St.
Lorega, Cebu City
http://islesv.net

Unfortunately, I was not able to find the email address of the director of patient services. So I planned to do it the old-fashioned way. I actually printed, signed, and put in a sealed envelope the following letter, but when I brought it to the hospital to personally give to the director of patient services, Dr. M. intervened. While I was waiting for my turn to speak to the director, she saw me. She must have realized that I wanted to talk to the director regarding S/G Catigtig's and her conduct, so before I could talk with the director, she talked with her. I did not know the content of their talk; it could have been something else and not in any way related to the state of my complaint. Nevertheless, I was disheartened at that time, so I just left.

March 25, 2008

Dr. [name removed]
Director of Patient Services
[hospital name removed]

Dear Dr. [name removed]:

I am Vincent S. Isles of 56-C San Miguel St., Lorega, Cebu City.

Dr. M. promised me that there will be an update through my email (vincent@islesv.net) of the incident I reported to her on 27 Feb 2008. As it is almost a month and I did not receive any update, I am confident now of my initial suspicion.

If you think that there are no complaints about your hospital services, please be aware that there seems to be problem with the person your clients are supposed to complain to. [not italicized in the original]

I am enclosing herewith an email I was supposed to send to you on 27 Feb. It was not sent because I could not find your email address from your website. From my talk with Dr. M., I assumed that I could get your email address from the website. I realized an hour later that I was mislead.

My girlfriend confirmed to me later that she had also complained to the same person for the way she was treated by the nurses during an earlier time, and nothing happened to her complaint. Her complaint was the differential way of the nurses when they knew that her doctor is the doctor of the employees of [a certain business in Metro Cebu]. (Actually that doctor is my girlfriend's aunt; my girlfriend is not working at [that business establishment].)

I did not ask persons other than my girlfriend for their experience with the complaint handling system of your hospital because I consider that unethical, but I think you ought to do your own investigation. [not italicized in the original]

I would appreciate if you can acknowledge this letter through an email.

Respectfully yours,

Vincent S. Isles
56-C San Miguel St.
Lorega, Cebu City
http://islesv.net

National language news around the world

2009-09-18T08:57:00.000-07:00

In the United States, via The Houston Lake Resorter:

Most nations have a national language. Unfortunately, we do not. Since your ancestors and mine had to learn English to assimilate, we assumed that English was our national language. We are now told that it is not true and that we are not a Christian nation.

I do not like this association of non-Christians with those who find imposing a national language immoral.

Apparently they also have a problem with language policies in Ethiopia. My friends from DILFED would like the discussion on language-based federalism and geography-based federalism.

Excerpts from the Policy Paper on the Social Studies Curriculum and Textbooks of the UP History Department

2009-09-11T22:56:00.000-07:00

Inquirer.net (part 2) published some excerpts from UP History Department's Policy Paper on the Social Studies Curriculum and Textbooks. Some excerpts from the excerpts:

How to be both factually accurate and interesting thus seems to be a monumental challenge that confronts social studies textbooks.

How true.

Several conditions in the Philippine public basic educational system inflate the reliance on social studies textbooks: the dearth of school libraries and poor access to other sources of information; uneven academic training of basic education teachers in disciplinal knowledge; and very heavy teaching load.

Agree.

How should we treat facts?

“facts, while vitally important, should serve as the beginning of historical instruction, not its conclusion.”

Facts are the indispensable raw material that historians use to interpret the past with respect to such immediate questions as causality, agency and effect; and larger (philosophical) questions of claims to truth, the directionality of human events, notions of time and space, and so on. But even before historians employ facts, they evaluate the sources, both epistemologically (e.g., in terms of new evidence or novel interpretations or perspectives) and methodologically (with regard to the source’s authenticity and, more frequently, the credibility and reliability of the evidence offered).

Why teach history?

History serves numerous purposes, from the development of citizens as meaningful members of a larger community with which they identify, to the training of the mind in critical thinking and sound judgment. A good citizen is one who, as our elementary textbooks teach our children, obeys traffic lights. A good citizen, too, is one who is able to weigh options and make decisions, including whom to believe and trust, based not on feelings of loyalty or partisan allegiance but on demonstrable grounds. The practical applications of historical skills abound in everyday life, from writing reports and accepting (or rejecting) them as trustworthy, to tracing household payments over time and tracking prices of goods at the market. Yet History as a subject is not highly valued and is best remembered as the one that requires a good memory.

(OK, this is something most of my students don't get.)

Findings of the team:
1. overwhelming emphasis on civics at the expense of Philippine history (seems to be different in our school)
2. civic values tend to essentialize the Filipino as stereotype and myth
3. some values are biases and run contrary to the curricular goal of teaching Filipino pride, identity and membership in the community, nation and world
4. "Philippine history, where taught, is approached from a limited, at times biased perspective that has the effect of sanitizing our past or presenting an incomplete picture of it."

I still have to read the entire study to get the meaning of the last statement.

Regarding competencies:

1. Training in critical and interpretive thinking is inadequate, while knowledge and retention of values and facts are highlighted.

2. Competencies particular to historical thinking, such as gathering information so as to form an opinion as well as the use and analysis of primary sources are not developed.

3. Training in writing is woefully inadequate since the assessment exercises lean toward objective, multiple type tests at the elementary level, and enumeration in first year high school.

Hmm...

Recommendations:
1. history as core subject
2. devise history-based content standards and historical competence standards
3. consistency of curriculum from grade 1 to fourth year
4. simplification of the textbook review procedure
5. “Open up” the textbook with primary sources.
6. Strengthen the disciplinal content of teacher training while maintaining the importance of pedagogical knowledge. The choice is not one or the other, but that teachers are trained in both.
7. Hold regular discussions among academic historians, Department of Education curriculum specialists, and elementary and high school Social Studies teachers in order to improve the curriculum and set standards.

I'll wait and see.

WebQuests

2009-09-11T22:42:00.000-07:00

Wikipedia's article on WebQuest does not seem much; the original page (not maintained any more) seem better.

The model is explained in detail in its own website, with a database of WebQuests.

QuestGarden.com looks like a good place to start looking for one.

Kathy Schrock has a list of useful WebQuest resources. Also read this thirteen.org introduction.

TechTrekers.com has a listing of WebQuests (although some links are already dead).

(Admittedly, I seem to be a late one to this.)

Dictionaries for improving basic education?

2009-09-11T22:09:00.000-07:00

From MB.com:

While many think that the future of Philippine education lies in new technologies like computers and the internet, New York-based Filipina Nina Patawaran believes a solution can be found in something as simple as a dictionary.

Patawaran, a former banker, is the founder of The Philippines Dictionary Project, a grass-roots movement with the goal of distributing well-designed children’s illustrated dictionaries to public elementary schools across the entire Philippines in a manner that promotes transparency, accountability and sustainability.

I find some sense into this. And the ownership model is truly innovative:

Rather than giving the books directly to the beneficiary schools, the project hands over the dictionaries to “dictionary bank” schools like Silliman University, which in turn lend out the books to the public schools that need it for a nominal fee. The fee is used to cover operational expenses.

“Ownership is never transferred to the public elementary school. This is critical. If ownership is transferred, no one could ever go back and rescind the donation,” explains Patawaran. “It is a different matter if ownership is retained by Silliman. When books are lent, the loan can be cancelled and the books withdrawn in the event of abuse.”

Apparently the project was launched just last year.

Here's a write-up on this from Ayala Foundation USA. (There's a picture there which shows a beautiful Nina Patawaran.) Quote:

As a reaction to the arrival of dictionaries for 28 schools, the Department of Education Negros Oriental Provincial Division designed a program to train teachers how to build students' pre-dictionary skills. This is but one of the positive changes triggered by the project!

It's good practice to not just give them the tools, but give them the skills to use tools.

Another write-up from the same site. (More pictures of Nina.)

From GoodNewsPilipinas.com:

In a country where more than half of the population can’t live a day without texting, and thousands more are Facebook addicts- finding books in the dustbin of Filipino households will surely come as no surprise.

Of course, it will be easy to just give up on encouraging kids to read, when books are not as accessible as the more costly television sets, celphones and internet.*

But for retired banker Nina Patawaran, there just can never be any excuse for kids not to read and learn.

Now you know that The Philippine Dictionary Project is not a project to make dictionaries of Philippine languages.

(Unrelated project.)

(*But: "But others say the Internet has created a new kind of reading, one that schools and society should not discount. The Web inspires a teenager like Nadia, who might otherwise spend most of her leisure time watching television, to read and write.")

Japanese crossword puzzle game

2009-09-08T07:05:00.000-07:00

ACROSS

5 General who administer the military government 6 Reforms in the 7th century aimed at centralizing the government

8 Model for the first permanent city of Japan

11 Seppuku

12 Honorable suicide

14 Third shogunate of Japan

15 Present-day Kyoto

18 Feudal lords

19 Japanese dance theater

20 Capital of the second shogunate of Japan

22 Capital of the first shogunate of Japan

23 Retainers of feudal lords

24 Japan, 710 to 794 AD

25 Only port opened during policy of isolation

27 Japan, 300 to 720 AD

DOWN

1 Feudal estates

2 Former enemy vassals who surrendered and subjected to restrictions

3 First permanent city of Japan

4 Military governments of Japan (Japanese term)

7 Japanese three-line poem

9 Second shogunate of Japan

10 First shogunate of Japan

12 Military governments of Japan (English term)

13 Policy of isolation from 1639 to 1854

16 Divine wind

17 First Japanese emperor

21 Code of honor of the samurais

26 Capital of the third shogunate of Japan

Created using the free crossword puzzle maker from Variety Games, Inc.

Solution: