EDGEDAVAO
VOL. 9 ISSUE 176 • FRIDAY - SATURDAY, OCTOBER 28 - 29, 2016
VANTAGE POINTS
9
Why the C130 donation is an embarrassment to the US
A
T PRESENT, the average amount of military aid to the Philippines stands at 100 million yearly. Sources tell me that much of these are in the form of seminars and scholarships at the war colleges, and financing for hand me down equipment. All seem to be conditioned and tied. And we are expected to be friendly, and allow US armed forces to comfortably use our bases as their own through an instrument called the EDCA. On the other hand, Egypt and Israel both receive upwards of a billion dollars per year. Both countries are not exactly friendly to the US. Of course, Americans ignore this, since both countries are often at the brink of a large scale conflict that, of course, means
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AST February 22 to 26 this year, the Koronadal City in South Cotabato hosted the National Schools Press Conference (NSPC), “the highest intellectual competition for journalism in both private schools and public elementary and high schools in the Philippines.” Next year, the competition will still be held in Mindanao – at Pagadian City in Zamboanga del Sur on January22 to 25. The theme is: “Strengthening Freedom of Information through Campus Journalism.” Since the competition is a month earlier next year than what transpired this year, the divisions of Davao Region are very busy doing their Division Schools Press Conference (DSPC) so they could send their respective representatives to the Regional Schools Press Conference (RSPC), which will be held on November 23 in Davao City (last year’s host was Cateel, Davao Oriental). Davao Region has five provinces and each has a division of the Department of Education (DepEd): Davao del Sur, Davao del Norte, Davao Oriental, Compostela Valley and Davao Occidental. Each city has its own DepEd division, too: Davao City, Digos City, Panabo City, Tagum City, Island Garden City of Samal and Mati City. The editorial members of campus papers in a division compete in English or Filipino in different categories. The evaluators will select the top five winners for each category in each language medium who are sent to the regional contest. Only the top three winners for each category will advance into the national level. There are eight individual and three group competitions, both in English and Filipino. The individual competitions are: news writing (pagsulat ng balita), editorial cartooning (paglalarawang tudling),
that both counMY TWO CENTS’ tries will buy more American weapons to move in the conflict. The joint military exercises and the used airplanes and boats show the inJohn Tria dignity of this ecisouth@gmail.com relationship. The poor Philippines is expected to be thankful for these hand me downs in exchange for influence. Whereas within the ASEAN community, we
are regarded as an American stooge, where our foreign policy always is perceived as careful to kowtow to American interests. In exchange, we remain dependent on American aid that can only be described as crass tokenism. What takes the cake are recent statements where they allude that in exchange for all the Yolanda aid and the old warships sold to us, they expect us to curry their favor and not bring up the violent history. Do they seriously expect us to challenge our neighbor with whom our trade almost doubles the volumes we hold with them? As Uncle Sam proudly displays old repainted aircraft picked from their trasheaps it requires that we carry the weight of it’s influence against other countries, our
neighbors no less. Wouldn’t it be an embarrassment that shows how much they value their partners who they expect to advance their agenda? They give much more to others, and its adversaries give ten times more. Yet we are expected to smile and allow them to use our country as their pivot. Do theycare that our relations as neighbors are strained? Obviously not. Perhaps we should. Especially a neighbor that trades with us in a volume that American can never equal, with whom our own trades employ millions of Filipinos in the farms, mines and other industries. Does America walk over us as it pivots in Asia? Read more of our history. You tell me.
editorial writ- THINK ON THESE! ing (pagsulat ng pangulong tudling), feature writing (pagsulat ng lathalain), sports writing (pagsulat ng balitang pamp a l a k a s a n ) , Henrylito D. Tacio copyreading henrytacio@gmail.com and headline writing (pagwawasto ng sipi at pag-uulo ng balita), photojournalism (pagkuha ng larawang pampahayagan) and science and health writing (pagsulat ng balitang agham at kalusugan). The group competitions include radio broadcasting and script writing (ulat panradyo at pagsulat ng iskrip), television broadcasting and script writing (ulat pantelebisyon at pagsulat ng iskrip), and collaborative desktop publishing. Just a little bit of history of NSPC. According to Wikipedia, the Public Secondary Schools Press Association (PSSPA) – as it was then known – had its first convention in what was then Pasig, Rizal in November 1931. It was Ricardo Castro who founded the PSSPA, which had 17 original member schools. “During this first convention,” Wikipedia reported, “writing competitions for the different sections of a school paper were held. The tradition continued year after year, as the number of member-schools increased, with different parts of Luzon as venues. After World War II, the PSSPA was reorganized and 49 member-schools participated in the National Convention held in Manila.” It was not until in 1955 that the PSSPA
Convention became the National Secondary Schools Press Conference. For the first time, the conference was held outside of Luzon – in Bacolod City – and was participated by 70 member-schools. Wikipedia reports: “The individual competitions were open to all members, while the group competitions were held according to category. Group A for the group competitions was composed of those member-schools with populations of 1,500 and above, while Group B was composed of those member-schools with populations below 1,500. “At that same conference, the National Secondary Schools Press Advisers Association was organized and it then passed a resolution calling for the authorization of staff members to handle school paper funds, subject to accounting. The resolution was subsequently approved by the Bureau of Public Schools.” Two years later, a third group classification was added. Group A members were schools with over 3,000 population; Group B members had populations ranging from 1,500 to below 3,000; while Group C members had below 1,500 population. “During this year, the conference was held for a longer time, enabling the delegates to take part in longer educational tours of the host locality. A year later, the group classifications were again reorganized, placing schools with over 2,000 population in Group A, those with 1,000 to 2,000 population in Group B, and those with less than 1,000 in Group C.” It was in 1958 that a public-school circular was passed authorizing the solicitations of advertisements for school papers, “under certain conditions.” The year 1991 was a memorable one. It was on this year that Republic Act No. 7079,
or the Campus Journalism Act, aiming to promote campus journalism, was passed by Congress. In early 1993, the 50th National Secondary Schools Press Conference was held at Rizal High School in Pasig, the same locality that hosted the first PSSPA Convention. The next school year, 1993-1994, elementary schools were included in the convention, causing the word “secondary” to be dropped and the convention to be called the “National Schools Press Conference.” Since it became NSPC, Davao City has never hosted the event. In Mindanao, the first host city was General Santos City in 2002. In 2005, Surigao City was the venue of the gathering of campus journalists from all over the country. Three years later, Koronadal City hosted it. Tagum City was the host in 2010 with Butuan City following suit the following year. Generally, before the contest proper – whether in DSPC, RSPC or NSPC – the campus journalists always read The Journalist’s Creed. The last paragraph goes this way: “I believe that journalism which succeeds the best – and best deserves success – fears God and honors man; is stoutly independent; unmoved by pride of opinion or greed of power; constructive, tolerant but never careless; self-controlled, patient, always respectful of its readers but always unafraid, is quickly indignant at injustice; is unswayed by the appeal of the privilege or the clamor of the mob; seeks to give every man a chance, and as far as law, an honest wage and recognition of human brotherhood can make it so, an equal chance; is profoundly patriotic while sincerely promoting international good will and cementing world-comradeship, is a journalism of humanity, of and for today’s world.”
Campus journalism