Category Archive for: komentaryo

komentaryo

a wonder

how does ABS-CBN do it? of course we know it’s a capialist enterprise, an empire almost, that has us all bound in its cultural products and basic services. but the way in which the News and Public Affairs arm has kept mostly quiet, save for its guard dogs and mouthpieces online who have poo-pooed the plagiarism charge of stuartsantiago, reeks of yabang and hubris.

because if their head Maria Ressa were smart, she would’ve already apologized about the plagiarism. because anyone who’s serious about writing absolutely anything would know that a paraphrase is STILL plagiarism unless its source is acknowledged with: “according to…”. because even if they have exactly the same sources that were used for Himagsikan sa EDSA, as kbc says in her comment over at stuartsantiago, there would still only be 1 chance in 1,000,000,000,000,000 (one quadrillian) that two people would use a sample of the 1,000 most common words of a language in exactly the same order, exactly the same way.

when i was teaching at the Ateneo and i’d catch plagiarized work, i would announce it to the class and give each student the chance to see me and admit that they had gone online and used information that isn’t theirs. no fail, if i caught two students plagiarizing, at least 10 would admit that they might have plagiarized.

MIGHT HAVE plagiarized.

in truth, ABS-CBN should’ve already apologized for the mere possibility that their creative team DID plagiarize. because otherwise, i watch their news and public affairs shows and i wonder: how much of what i hear is original? how much of what their reporters mouth are truly theirs?

and what is it that they teach viewers when they in a sense dismiss a plagiarism charge? what is it that they prove? that they are high and mighty? that they refuse to be corrected, refuse to admit faults?

this is no different from keeping Willie Revillame on the air, even when his crassness and kabastusan just go against everything they say the network stands for. it’s like saying: the buck stops with us. we have the power to decide. we might have committed a crime, but our voice will prevail. we are invincible.

well, as stuartsantiago will prove, not anymore.

komentaryo

plagiarism and karen davila

i say plagiarism, at the very least, is a shameful display of one’s inability to write. and think. my nanay speaks:

while it was great that upon cory’s death pinoy tv was swamped with docus that revisited her exalted place in philippine history, one docu, Laban ni Cory,  produced and aired many times by ABS-CBN 2 from august 2 onward, raised my ire and my eyebrows.

my ire because some of karen davila’s narrative spiels covering the period of the snap elections through to EDSA sounded oh so familiar, so very close to, if not my very own words in, Himagsikan sa EDSA — Walang Himala! and yet there was no attribution, as though karen davila herself researched and wrote the stuff (wow ang galing), something that took me all of twelve years, lol.

I
KAREN DAVILA:

(010) Sa paniniwalang sila ang tunay na nanalo sa eleksiyon, isang victory rally ang inilunsad sa Luneta nina Cory at Doy, na dinumog naman ng mahigit isang milyong tao.

(013) At bilang tugon sa malawakang dayaan sa eleksiyon, inilunsd nina Cory Aquino at Doy Laurel ang civil disobedience campaign, Himinok ang taong bayan na huwag magbayad ng koryente, tubig, at iboykot ang media, bangko at iba pang kompanyang pagaari ng mga tuta ni Marcos. Marami ang sumangayon at sumunod sa panawagang ito. Wala pang isang linggo mula nang unang manawagan ng boycott si Cory nameligro ang ekonomiya ng bansa at nataranta ang mga negosyante.

HIMAGSIKAN SA EDSA–Walang Himala! page 40 last paragraph

Ika-16 ng Pebrero, sa isang “victory rally” sa Luneta na dinumog ng mahigit isang milyong tao, inilunsad nina Cory Aquino at Doy Laurel ang kanilang civil disobedience campaign. Nagpilit si Cory na siya ang nagwagi sa eleksiyon at nangakong pupuwersahin niya si Marcos na magbitiw, sabay hinimok ang taong-bayan na sabayan siya sa pagsuway sa mga utos ng diktador — huwag magbayad ng koryente at tubig, iboykot ang crony media at crony banks, gayon din ang Rustan’s Department Store, San Miguel Corporation, at iba pang kompanyang pag-aari ng mga tuta at katoto ni Marcos.

page 42 paragraph 2

Wala pang isang linggo mula nang unang manawagan ng boykot si Cory…

page 41 paragraph 1

Nataranta ang malalaking negosyante, gayon din ang multinationals …

II

DAVILA:

(022) Kakaiba na noon ang ihip ng hangin. Palaban na ang taong bayan, sabik sa pagbabago at may natatanaw nang pagasa, salamat sa biyuda ng isang tao …

HIMAGSIKAN page 42 last paragraph

Salamat sa biyuda ni Ninoy, kakaibana noon ang ihip ng hangin. Mapanghimagsik na ang timpla ng taong-bayan, punong-puno bigla ng pag-asa, sabik sa mga naamoy na pagbabago, noong bisperas ng EDSA.

III

DAVILA

(063) Naghudyat si Ver ng all out attack sa riot police, sa marine artillery, sa mga helicopter gunship, at mga jet bomber.

(067) Naririnig din si Marcos sa radyo. Isinusumpang lilipulin ang mga rebelde.

HIMAGSIKAN page 135 paragraph 2

Sa Fort Bonifacio, naghudyat sina Ver at Ramas ng all-out attack sa riot police, sa Marine artillery, sa mga helicopter gunship, at sa mga jet bomber. Naririnig si Marcos sa radyo, isinusumpang lilipulin ang mga rebelde.

IV

DAVILA

(070) Pumosisyon ang mga sundalo at nagkasahan ng mga baril. Subalit walang atakeng nangyari. Lumapag ang mga chopper sa Crame. Isa-isang lumabas ang mga pilot, may hawak na mga puting bandila at naglalaban sign.

HIMAGSIKAN page 138 paragraph 4

Napakagat ng labi ang mga sundalo, nagkasahan ng mga baril, pumosisyon.

page 139 from last paragraph page 138

Isa-isang lumalabas ang mga piloto, may hawak na mga puting bandila at nagla-Laban sign.

V

DAVILA

(076) Ala singko ng hapon, sa kabila ng banta sa kanyang seguridad sumaglit sa EDSA si Cory …

(081) Sa main entrance ng Philippine Overseas Amployment agency o POEA building nagbigay siya ng maikling talumpati sa mga taong nagtipon sa kantong iyon ng Ortigas at EDSA. Pinuri ni Cory ang mapayapang pagkilos ng mga tao…

HIMAGSIKAN page 165 paragraph 1

Bandang 5:00 ng hapon, nagpakita sa wakas sa EDSA/Ortigas si Cory Aquino, na Sabado pa ay hinahanap na ng mga Coryista. Sa main entrance ng Philippine Overseas Employment Agency (POEA) building, sa kanto ng EDSA at Ortigas, siya dumaan kasama ang kanyang pamilya at mga tagapagtaguyod.

paragraph 5

Sa kanyang talumpati sa mga taong nagtipon sa kantong iyon ng Ortigas at EDSA, pinuri ni Cory ang mapayapang pagkilos ng mga tao …

the docu’s closing credits list the writers and researchers.   i expect the researchers cited their sources of info, it’s part of the job, and  if so, who decided not to mention na lang these sources, the writers or the hosts?   na okay lang naman as long as magaling sila and they can write the material in their own words.   but even then, dapat ay mayroon pa ring acknowledgement sa dulo ang sources of information na hindi pa common knowledge.

kung hindi pala sila ganoong kagaling, dapat ay inamin nila by writing-in “ayon kay…  sa librong so-and-so….”    or maybe it was karen davila who couldn’t be bothered with “ayon sa’s”, akala niya ay makakalusot?   whatever, whoever, wittingly or un-, she committed plagiarism by lifting and appropriating my words for her own use without a by-your-leave or a thank-you,  how unprofessional, how dishonest, how disgraceful.

nakakataas ng kilay kasi it doesn’t take much time and effort to cite and acknowledge sources.   unless of course the idea is to give the impression that hosts and writers of ABS-CBN News & Current Affairs productions are all-knowing and sufficient unto themselves?

so, okay, now that i’ve vented, what next?    what do i expect?   well.   iniisip ko nga.   an apology?   too easy to shed crocodile tears.   credits on the docu?   rather too late, unless of course they have plans of selling dvds, in which case, okay, credits, and a share in the profits?

suggests a writer friend:  like a lawyer can be disbarred, a beauty queen forced to abdicate, ask for the head of the plagiarist in the form of dismissal or suspension.   or how about punishing the culprit by having her write a million times in longhand a very long mea culpa — the equivalent of 20 years of keyboarding chores or tendonitis.   oscar lopez could also buy the next edition of your book to give away to all libraries nationwide.

sounds good, all of the above ;)

kultura

seeing yellow

last friday, along katipunan avenue, ugly pink MMDA street dividers had yellow ribbons. today, driving through The Fort, lampposts and trees adorned with the same. on GMA 7’s sunday noontime variety show earlier today, all artists had yellow ribbons and pins on their shirts, Judy Ann Santos was in a crazy yellow bustier.

the UAAP’s main game between U.P. and Ateneo this afternoon had all basketball players and coaches with yellow ribbons attached to their uniforms.

and as in 1983, when mama had a yellow ribbon tied to our car, i found myself tying a yellow ribbon on my car last friday. it was meant to disappear, which it surely did by late that evening. but it was also meant to fly with the winds of the University of Makati, where the car was parked the whole day, the only car that was yellowed.

my love for cory isn’t so much about what she did for country as president — my activist-self keeps me from appreciating her in that way. but her icon is replete with memories. (more…)

komentaryo

palparan, benigno, bencard: alin alin ang naiba?

what i’ve hated aboutmuch that has been blogged re Melissa Roxas via Filipino Voices is that it dissolves the issue of the abduction and torture of activists into anti-left rhetoric. and this happens, not just because of the bloggers themselves, but the comments that are allowed to take over the discussions.

so far, it is benigno who takes the cake. true, he insists we have become desensitized to extrajudicial disappearances and killings because it has become part and parcel of our everyday existence. but in the process of saying this, what he questions is Roxas’ choice of activist affiliation: why Bayan-USA? which he cleanly and easily equates with Bayan Muna Partylist, and then with the Communist Movement in the country.

benigno then asserts that Bayan Muna is the “satellite organisation fronting for a movement whose singular mission is the destruction of everything that we currently consider to be legitimate” — an ultimately dangerous accusation that puts the lives of real people in danger: and no, this isn’t just about the lives of Bayan Muna congressmen, but also the lives of Bayan Muna members.

of course benigno is not alone, other than many of those who have commented on his entry, some on jester-in-exile‘s are also quick to judge Roxas character and intelligence. Bencardsays Roxas is a “misguided alien political activist who chose to immersed herself in another country’s domestic strife <…> by her voluntary action, she has assumed the risk of being treated as an ‘enemy’.”

what this fails to consider is why Roxas can even be considered as enemy AT ALL. she was legally in the country, going about her research as an academic and as a member of an activist organization, and that IS NOT a violation of the law.

in the end, what is telling about all these critiques of and suspicionsabout Roxas’ case, is that they fail to consider their role in the bigger scheme of things, in the truth that as they label Roxas “communist” they are red-baiting too, and giving the GMA government and military more reason to believe that what they are doing to activists are justified.

they become no better than Palaparan, who today insisted that Roxas is a member of the NPA — and they had her alias as proof! — as if this justifies AT ALL that she be abducted and tortured, as if this allows the military to take the law into their own hands, just because they’ve been allowed to imagine that they are the dictators of democracy, freedom and liberation.

no thanks to benigno and his ilk.

komentaryo

big bad randy

it was a joy to find Victor Agustin writing about the issue of U.P. Prof. Sarah Raymundo’s tenure vis a vis Randy David’s announcement that he would run for congress if GMA does so in Pampanga. this was long in coming for mainstream, i.e., print media, and has yet to happen on the pages of the big-time dailies like the “http://www.inquirer.net”>Philippine Daily Inquirer.

but i guess that’s no surprise? other than Randy being a long-time opinion columnist of the Inquirer, it is telling how the blogging world was all agog and celebratory when he announced his plans to run: idolatry much? the philosopher as king, they screamed! yey, the good one gives politics a try! let’s help him out! and yes, let us slap people who criticize randy!

much of what needs to be said with regards to Sarah’s case and Randy’s political plans has been discussed via stuartsantiago and kapirasongkritika. and while the virtual noise has died down — no one has taken on my challenge to prove Sarah culpable in any student-activist disappearance, nor have Randy’s fans been able to prove that he isn’t responsible at all for the refusal to grant Sarah tenure — some truths remain clear here.

somewhere in quezon city, in a tiny apartment, a woman who has proven herself a competent and well-loved teacher and scholar is technically jobless — without courses to teach — because her own Sociology Department has unjustly refused to give her tenure.

this woman is activist. the kind who lives her politics everyday, within and beyond the classroom, the way all teachers do. her difference is that her politics has been deemed unacceptable by the same Sociology Department — and University! — within which she grew and became, within which she had nurtured her love for nation and nationalism.

this woman is daughter, sister, breadwinner. now left without the one house and home she always thought the Sociology Department was, without the friendships she had nurtured there, without the stability she thought it could afford her.

this woman is friend. someone i grew up with, who affected my formative years in the University we both love, and whose life — yes, political and activist and kikay and baduy in turns — has taught me more than any of those theorists we read in school. more than someone like randy david could ever teach me through his writings.

the dignity with which Sarah lives her life — her refusal to sell-out, her ability to stand strong on principles that are important to and true of nation — over and above her competence as a teacher and her intelligence as a scholar, is what the current crop of UP students are missing out on.

THAT is the saddest truth of all.

and that is also enough reason to keep this fight going against the big bad wolves of this world. be it GMA or be it Randy David and his Sociology Department.