Tag: No. 12

DO FILIPINOS still read?

They still do, concluded book enthusiast and blogger Honey de Peralta in her informal study presented in Limbag Kapihan, a series of conferences discussing issues about the Philippine book publishing history, organized by the National Book Development Board (NBDB) last March 3 in the board’s office at Ortigas Center, Pasig City.

As per de Peralta’s survey, in 2013 Filipino readers read an average of 21.96 books per reader, 19.51 of which were for leisure reading. In the same year, Filipino readers bought an average of 15.7 books and spent an average of P276.23 on each book purchased.

"POETRY is the art of capturing the heart."

Such were the words of writer Shirley Lua during the book launch of Mookie Katigbak-Lacuesta’s “Burning Houses” at Greenbelt 4’s Powerbooks in Makati last March 8.

Published by the UST Publishing House, “Burning Houses” is Lacuesta’s second collection. Her first book of poems, “The Proxy Eros,” was published back in 2008 and was shortlisted for the Manila Critics Circle’s National Book Award in the same year.

Lacuesta said she did not intend to release a second collection, but a personal experience prompted her to express her emotions through writing.

LAHAT man ng mga naratibo ay nagawa na, may kaniya-kaniyang paraan pa rin ang mga manunulat sa paglalahad ng mga kuwento.

Nagbigay ng iba’t ibang paraan sa pagbuo ng isang malikhaing akda ang ilan sa mga kilalang manunulat sa isinagawang seminar-workshop na pinamagatang “Teksakto: Mga Teknik sa Pagsusulat ng Panitikang Popular” noong ika-9 ng Marso sa Melchor Hall, University of the Philippines-Diliman (UP).

Ayon kay Chuckberry Pascual, isang mandudula at propesor ng Filipino sa Unibersidad, ang mga manunulat, lalo na ang mga nagsisimula pa lamang, ay hindi dapat matakot sa kawalan ng orihinalidad sa naisip na tema dahil nagiging kaiba lamang ang isang akda mula sa iba depende sa kung paano ito ilalahad o “ang sarili mong ‘take’ sa istorya.”

KATATAPOS pa lamang ng Ikalawang Digmaang Pandaigdig nang ibinaling na ng mga iskolar na Ruso ang kanilang interes sa pag-aaral ng wikang Filipino.

Sa naging talakayang pinamagatang “Ang Pagtuturo ng Pilolohiyang Filipino sa Rusya” noong ika-28 ng Pebrero sa Ateneo de Manila University, sinabi ni Ekaterina Baklanova, senior researcher para sa Philippine Studies sa Department of Southeast Asian Countries Philology ng Institute of Asian and African Studies sa Moscow University, maraming Pilipino ang hindi nakaaalam na mayroong programang Philippine Studies sa Rusya.

NOON PA man ay bukas na ang mga kababaihang mag-aaral ng Unibersidad ukol sa usaping kalayaan, lalo na sa halalan.

Ayon sa ipinatupad na batas ng Philippine Commission noong 1907 na siyang nagbigay-karapatan sa mga Pilipino na bumoto, ang mga kalalakihan na nasa edad na 23 pataas lamang ang maaaring bumoto. Hindi kalaunan, naging matunog na isyu sa bansa ang pagbibigay ng patas na kapangyarihan sa mga kababaihang maghalal ng mga opisyal sa gobyerno.

Noong Setyembre 1931, naging hati ang saloobin ng mga kababaihang Tomasino ukol sa karapatan ng mga kababaihang maghalal at mahalal.

NEW US State Department cables released by the Wikileaks website have revealed behind-the-scenes efforts by Americans to impose population-control policies on the Philippines and undermine the Catholic Church’s opposition.

The release of the electronic telegrams, dating back to the 1970s, comes amid numerous legal challenges to the reproductive health (RH) law, which was rammed through Congress by the Aquino administration last December.

The latest Wikileaks release consists of more than 1.7 million records from 1973 to 1974, with about 205,901 records associated with US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger.

IT WAS trust that brought the more than 8,000 Thomasian graduates of Batch 2013 a step closer to their dreams.

Rector Fr. Herminio Dagohoy, O.P. congratulated the graduating batch and thanked them for putting their trust in UST during the Baccalaureate Mass last March 19.

“I would like you to realize that in your life as a student, you have achieved your dreams because you trusted many people,” Dagohoy said in his first baccalaureate message as Rector of the University.

UNION bosses have called the attention of University officials on supposed delays in the salaries of professors caused by the slow processing of teaching appointments.

In his Feb. 5 letter to Vice Rector for Academic Affairs Clarita Carillo, Reynaldo Reyes, USTFU vice president for grievance, pointed out that a teaching appointment is a prerequisite to the issuance of teaching assignments. The Office of the Vice Rector for Academic Affairs (OVRAA) issues the appointment upon the recommendation of the dean and the submission of required documents.

THE UNIVERSITY’s two high schools placed second and third among Manila-based schools in the National Achievement Test (NAT) last year, under a new ranking system implemented by the Department of Education (DepEd).

Public and private high schools were grouped together depending on the number of examinees, following complaints over a supposedly “unfair” system of ranking schools.

Fielding 96 examinees, the UST Education High School (EHS) ranked second out of the 15 schools in cluster four, or schools with 55 to 99 examinees.

“[The results] show that in some subjects, we [received] higher [grades] compared with the school that ranked first [but], when it came to Science and Math, mas mataas sila,” said EHS Principal Loreto Sauz.

ACHIEVEMENT is not about prestige but being a person in the service of others.

Batch 2013 valedictorian Christopher Rey Dacanay, an 18-year-old graduate from the Faculty of Pharmacy, reminded his fellow Thomasians to keep the virtues of humility and generosity—the same qualities St. Thomas Aquinas, UST’s patron saint, possessed.

“In a time when creed is to flaunt what you possess, when self-centeredness becomes an attitude, when humility and charity do not stand a chance, we, Thomasians, stand out,” Dacanay said in his speech during the Student Awards Day last March 15 at the UST Quadricentennial Pavilion.