An opposition big mouth who looks like House minority leader Francis Escudero said Manny Pacquiao’s 10th round demolition of erstwhile nemesis Erik Morales of Mexico over the weekend in Las Vegas, Nevada was “a personal victory” of the country’s boxing hero and “should not be used by any politician for his or her own political benefit.”
To begin with, who is (or was) using Pacquiao’s revenge of a loss to the Mexican boxing legend in the furtherance of his or her political stock? Obviously, the loud-mouthed leader of the power-starving opposition in the House of Representatives was referring either to First Gentleman Mike Arroyo who was at ringside when Pacman stopped Morales in two minutes and 33 seconds of the 10th round or President GMA, or both.
It will be recalled that within minutes after Pacquiao’s technical-knockout win over Morales who only 10 months earlier frustrated him with a close triumph in a 12-round contest, GMA called up by mobile phone to congratulate him for his decisive victory.
What was wrong in the President’s congratulation of Manny for his sensational triumph over a former tormentor in the ring? As the highest elected official of the land, it was expected of GMA to do so, in behalf of the Filipino people. A Filipino who excels in sports in a foreign land, or in any undertaking in a foreign soil over a non-Pinoy opponent, thus bringing honor to the country, deserves the highest accolade. And who is the best person to do that but the President?
As to big-mouthed Escudero’s warning on people using the event for political purposes, did the President make even a slight hint of capitalizing on Pacman’s victory to boost her sagging political stock?
Not to be out-done, Kidapawan native but Davao City-based Rep. Joel Virador of the party-list Bayan Muna, an out-and-out front organization of the terrorist Communist Party of the Philippines and its armed wing and ex-tortion arm, the New Peo-ple’s Army, said Pacquiao’s victory “was ruined” by the presence of the First Gentleman and the President’s congressman-son Juan Miguel or Mikey?
What was wrong in the First Gentleman’s watching the much-awaited fight at ringside? As a civilian and a private citizen, the First Gentleman is free to go anywhere he wants, as long as he spends his own money and does not use public funds in so doing.
If Escudero and NPA-fronting Virador had also gone to Las Vegas, digging from their own pockets and not spending taxpayers’ money, it was likewise their right to do so. And nobody would have minded.
The problem with the outspoken members of the power-hungry political opposition and NPA-allied House members, including the likes of Escudero and Virador, is they love to yak, yak and yak, oftentimes on non-sense, with one du-bious objective: to project their image.
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Seeing the situation turning from bad to worse, the Department of Labor and Employment has joined the call to restore English as the medium of instruc-tion in all educational institutions.
The call made by no less than Labor Secretary Patricia Sto. Tomas was promoted by the dete-rioration of the proficiency of Filipinos in the English, the unchallenged language the world over in business and diplomacy.
Due to the rapid growth of call centers, there is an increasing demand for workers in the call center industry. To the labor department’s dismay, however, the demand cannot be met as many applicants are unable to speak English fluently. What is happening is that Filipinos, those belonging to the younger general specially, speak pidgin English, a mixture of Tagalog and English or Taglish, a condition that is not helping jobless Filipinos any in landing jobs that require the ability to speak fluent English.
Sad to say, it is com-mon nowadays to hear Pinoys and Pinays swit-ching from English to Tagalog or Visayan or any major dialect of the country in the middle of a sentence even in formal gatherings such as conferences and seminars. This is so be-cause of the inability of many Filipinos to express themselves in correct and grammatical English orally or in writing.
Some people blame the lack of proficiency of many Filipinos to peak and write in correct English to the use of local dialects as medium of instruction in schools, specially in the elementary and high school levels. But the bigger, and in fact, the biggest, culprit in the Filipinos’ loss of proficiency in written and spoken English is the broadcast industry, spe-cially television.
The foremost propo-nents broken English or Taglish are so-called celebrities appearing on television either as hosts or guests in talks shows. The sad truth is that if these so-called celebrities, unfor-tunately looked upon as models by those from the masang tanga, speak Taglish from beginning to end of TV programs on prime time, it is because they cannot speak straight (and grammatical) English. For a sampling, listen to Kris Aquino.
The one and only way to regain the lost profi-ciency in spoken and written English is to restore English as the medium of instruction in schools in all levels.
Some people resent the reference of critics to the English that most Pinoys and Pinays speak today as “carabao” or “bamboo” English. Yet, how else do we describe Taglish or Bislish?
