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The Philippine Education in the 1980’s: Current Issues

Vocatiional Education

During the early decades of this century, elementary schools, as well as some high schools, included in their curricula such industrial arts subjects as gardening and carpentry. Somehow these requirements tapered off. Industrial arts took a minor position in the scheme of things and there came to be established purely academic schools.


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This situation, however, did not last. Public critism pushed vocational education to the fore and led to the establishment of more vocational schools and the introduction of the “2-2 plan” curriculum in so-called general high schools.

In view of these developments, the issue has ceased to be inclusion or non-inclusion of vocational education in the curricula of general elementary and high school. It is now limited to the degree of magnitude of vocational instruction alongside the general education and preparatory functions of these schools.

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Return to Basics

“Schools graduate ‘no read, no write’ students,” so said a nationally famous columnist sometime in 1974. While this is obviously an exaggeration, still it reflects to some degree the impression among parents, the general public and of some mentors in the schools themselves.

Many claim that a number of factors caused the situatiion, viz: the implementation of the Education Act of 1940, which abolished the seventh grade in the elementary schools, the recent war, employment of unqualified teachers and too many subjects representing certain vested disciplinary interests.

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All these have probably led to the desire to return to the basics. It is an issue enough as to whether to return to the basics or not but it will be a sub-issue, if the decision is in favor of the basics, what to consider as “basics.”

Trimestral Calendar

During this period, some newspaper carried the news item that the National Board of Education had approved the trimestral calendar to replace the semestral and that it will be tried out in selected elementary and secondary schools.


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Obviously, the anticipated good points of the new comprise the weak points of the old and vice-versa. The trimestral will be fast-paced, placing the students on their toes throughout the trimestral. It will enable the students to complete more subjects during the academic year. It will increase the use of school facilities and resources. And it will afford time to teachers to attend seminars and conferences without disturbing their teaching functions.

On the other hand, it is claimed that the period for comprehending ideas under the new program will be shorter and the students may not develop sufficiently the ability to think. And since it is new, it may be plagued with administrative problem.


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Government Control of Private Education

One issue which sits almost perennially on the minds of private education authorities is government control of private education. This government control is embodied in a series of legislative acts after the establishment of the Philippine Commission and in the two constitutions that the country has had since the Commonwealth regime.

Some allege that the purpose of the control can be attained without or with much less control that there is at present. They say that some measure, like accreditation can help make schools responsible. As in societies and individuals, educational institutions are expected to demonstrate that they deserve their academic freedom.


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Government Subsidy to Private Education

Education is a function of the state. It is one of the services expected of the state in view of the taxes paid by the people. Also, it is one way to preserve the state.

The history of the Philippines - and probably that of other nations - has shown that, from the financial viewpoint at least, the government cannot satisfy the growing needs of education in the country. It is partly for this reason that every year, for instance, thousands of pupils and students studyin private schools. In other words, private schools on their own have been helping the state in performing its educational function.


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On the other hand, it is a fact that private schools are experiencing hard times these days. Presidential decrees have greatly increased,as dictated by economic conditions, the salaries and living allowances of workers. Added to this is the double figure inflation now obtaining in the country which has made the prices of suppliers and equipment needed by schools quite prohibitive.

It is true that there have been some manifestations of government assistance. The grant of P10M to FAPE, as provided for in the national budget, will eventually benefit private institutions. The soft loans received by selected engineering schools could be considered a form of this aid. Nonetheless, a direct, regular, substancial subsidy would be a measurethat will ease up the difficulties of schools and help them raise their standards of instructions.

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The Mother-tounges or Vernaculars

Under the Bilingual Education Policy, the local vernaculars no longer have official status as languages of education are Pilipino and English. However, the local vernacular or mother-tongue may be used as and auxiliary language of instruction.

Based on classroom observations and reports from the field, especially in the rural areasn the local vernaculars continue to be used as languages of instruction especially during the first year of schooling and beyond.


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A major problem during this initial period of instruction is that no materials are availble in the vernacular. Even during the period from 1957 to 1974, when the vernaculras (the eight major ones) had official status as media of communication, few efforts were made to produce materials in the vernaculars.

Given present policy and the lack of funds for printing, the only alternative would be for the teachers to produce their own materials and to use charts and Manila-paper sheets for these materials in the vernaculars and to include these charts and reading displays on large sheets of paper as part of their equipment and devices.


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Current Trends in Higher Education

Following through political and economic developments in the Philippines from 1972, a new thrust was indicated for higher education: that of achieving national development objectives through: 1) a strengthening of the capabilities of higher institutions of learning to educate and train the mix of human resources needed by national economic and manpower demands; 2) providing greater democratization of access to higher education; and 3) instituting quality and excellence in tertiary level institutions to develop high level professions and assure a continued supply of leadership and scholarship essential to a society in rapid transition.


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The current trend in enrollment favoring engineering and technological courses and the reduced number in the humanities and social science courses are indicators of the positive response most colleges and universities have made to the felt needs of a changing Philippine society. Universities which had traditionally been identified with the training of elites for university teaching and research and for the professions have gradually instituted, through new programs and courses, provisions for the training of skilled technicians and for access to the kind of knowledge and expertise that the contemporary social milieu requires and national manpower demands dictate.
In order to achieve equity, several sectors in the educational system have received substantial support through educational loans and other forms of assistance. Such support is aimed at bringing about improvement in the quality of formal and non-formal education and the technological delivery system.

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The Proposed Education Act of 1980

There are 75 sections in the latest - August 1981 - engrossed edition of the proposed Education Act of 1980, otherwise known as Parliamentary Bill No. 524.

Part I. General Provisions

Democratization - This is provided for in section 3.3 par. 2 as follows: . . . The State shall therefore promote and maintain equality of access to education as well as the enjoyment of the benefits of education by all its citizens.


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Part II. The Educational Community

Supervision and Regulation - This part defines the rights as well as the duties and obligations of persons directly or indirectly included in teh educational community - parents, students, academic staff, non-teaching personnel and school administrators. It also provides for the rights of schools.

Academic freedom of institutions of higher learning delimits the supervisory and regulatory powers of the State. Section 13 (2) of the Act gives the “right for institutions ofhigher learning to determineon academic grounds who shall be admitted to study, who may teach, and what shall be the subjects of the study and research.”

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Part III. The Education System

Conversion/Conveyance of Net Assets - Sec. 15, par. 2 states that the net assets of a stock corporation “if for any reason its corporate existence as an educational institution ceases and is not renewed” may be conveyed and transferred to any non-profit educational institution or to the State.

Part IV. The Ministry of Education and Culture

Integration - Sec. 55 provides that “. . . the supervision and regulation of educational institutions are hereby vested in the Ministry of Education and Culture, without prejudice to the provisions of the charter of any State college or university.” The quoted provision draws attention to the policy of integration enunciated in Article XV, Sec 8 (1) of the Constitution and reiterated in Part I, Sec. 3 of the proposed Act. Discounting the complete merger of educational institutions through nationalization of schools, there are three proposed approaches to the policy of integration.


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“Japanese colonial administration is based on the policy of assimilation,” Masao Matsuoka summed up Japanese policy in conquered territories. “In other words, since Japan became a colonial empire in the modern sense of the word, she was endeavored to Japanize her colonies.” While cases were treated individually, the Japanization of her colonies followed a definite pattern. A very interesting phase of Japanization was the application of the Japanese Constitutional Law in conquered areas. Since the Japanese Constitutional Law was promulgated for the benefit of Japan, the people of a conquered territory lost their individuality.

Due to the higher mental education level of the Filipinos perhaps, much subtler methods were used compared to other colonies. The Japanese Constitutional Law did not have to be appied all of a sudden. The country did not have to be incorporated into the Empire at once. The Filipinos had to be mentally prepared for it.


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All libraries, headed by the National Library. were thoroughly searched for verboten materials. Books uncomplimentary to Japan, however honest and truthful, were thrown into the bonfire. Pictures of Roosevelt, Churchill, Quezon and other Allied leaders were torn from books or thrown into the garbage pile. The scutiny did not exempt private libraries. Mere possession of anti-Japanese materials, even if unknowingly, was a highly concondemnable act. Books and magazine stalls were gone through with the patience of Job and each item for sale bore the censor’s mark.


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Throughout the war, the propaganda corps performed invaluable yoeman service to the Army. It concocted all the venom casuisty and lies with which Filipinos were poisoned in various dressings. Japanese racial and cultural superiority was its main theme, maligning of American and British influence its variant. It endulged the country with pictures of Japanese soldiers fraternizing with Filipino civilians, of high government officials hobnobbing with Japanese big shots and other poses showing the purported cordiality between Filipinos and Japanese. It feature “benevolent” acts of the Japanese, however trivial or untrue and headlined monetary and other “gifts” from the Army to the Philippine government. Testimonials aplenty it also turned out of the acts of generosity.

Propaganda was carried to the lecture and class rooms. Specila lecturers were imported form Japan. Conferences and banquets in which Japanese culture and race was the raison d’etre were frequent. Japanese patronization of local cultural undertakings was active as well as n

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Contests galore were held. There were contests in novel, essay, song and slogan writing, as well as in painting and architecture. Handsome prices were dangled before the public. Only those with pro-Japanese themes, of course, won prizes. A contest for the Song for the Creation of the New Philippines was made much noise of. The first rendition of hte winning song was a gala affair, with highest Filipino and Japanese officials present.

Interest in Nippongo (Japanese language) and Katakana (simplified Japanese script) was encouraged. Knowledge of these two became a prerequisite in civil service examinations. Nippongo was taught in all classes, whatever the course. Nippongo schools sprang up like mushrooms.

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A training institute operated as a para-military unit. Typical of one such was the GETI (Government Employees’ Training Institute) created, among others, to: “rejuvenate the employees spiritually, morally and physically,” and to develop the spirit of whole-hearted cooperation with the Administration in its program of reconstructing the New Philippines and to make it a worthy member of the Greater East Asia Co-prosperity Sphere.”

To all appearances, the Institute was a purely Flipino affair, but it was not so. The curriculum bristled with propaganda courses. Most of the lecturers on Japanese affairs and the Pacific war were Japanese. A Japanese “observer” was present everyday.


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The food was terrible. Insufficient meals were given. The inadequate food was supposed to be an exercise of frugal living.

Military routine was observed with absolute strictness. A graduation requirement was the ability to sing perfectly to the pause the “Kimigayo” Japanese anthem, and “Aikoku March” and “Kokumin Singun Ka,” patriotic songs. For inavertently substituting a local word, which did not mean well, for a Japanese term a trainee was kicked out of school and office on graduation day.

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Books were searched with magnifying lenses. Whole sections, chapters or pages were eliminated. Pictures or undesired paragraphs were pasted upon.

For the sons of the prominent, a New Life Camp was organized, together with Japanese children. For long periods the Filipino and Japanese children were thrown into each other’s company to develop “friendly relationships.”


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The Cultural Institute at Tagaytay was a more ambitious attempt. Selected college graduates were taken for training for future leadership. The Tagaytay graduates became the spearhead of Japanese propaganda, and all were given lucrative as well as important positions.
Scholarships to Japan were created. Ambitious Constabularymen and sons of prominent officials composed the scholars. Before leaving, they went through a rigid course of reorientation.

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PROBLEMS:

The great gap between the rich and the poor is very much apparent in the Philippines. Government statistics show that 5% of the nation’s population enjoyed almost a third of its wealth while only 40% had just a tenth in 1975. In 1977, the income of the wealthiest 10 percent of Filipinos was 20 to 25 time the poorest.
Poverty is also widespread in the country. Socio-economic indicators show that more than 50% of all Filipinos are below the poverty line. Most families in 1971 upto 1975 were not able to satisfy their food needs, did not have the resources to meet the basic requirements of life and on average subsist only on Php 25 or below a day. This poverty trend was revealed to be worsening each year as comparative studies of economists show.
There are numerous problems that caused these great struggles in our country. One of which is foreign control of the Philippine economy. American, Japanese and Western European global corporations are either dominant or prominent in many key commercial or industry line. From manufacturing of motor vehicles, rubber, pharmaceuticals; banking; finance; production of electrical machinery, appliances and chemicals; upto the simplest consumer goods for everyday use such as soap, paper and paper products; and food and beverage manufacturing, foreign products are always the most popular brands. This clearly shows how much Filipino consumers depend on foreign products, particularly the products of foreign giants.
Another problem our country faces is the debt trap brought about by the unjust policies of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank. Under the Investment Incentive Act, the Export Incentive Act and the Foreign Business Regulations Law, full foreign ownership is permissible in pioneer industries in the Philippines. Certain rights and privileges are also given to foreign investors including interest payments, guarantees against expropriation and requisition; protection from and action against foreign dumping; exemption from all taxes except income tax and post operative tariff protection.
The Philippines has also been borrowing larger and larger amounts from the IMF for the infrastructure projects to attract foreign investors and so far, the country’s debt has reached the sum of $8.375 billion as of March 1979. The relief that IMF gives is only partial and temporary. In fact, the IMF only consigns the under developed nations to a system of slavery and never gives them the necessary credit to allow them to set up basic industries of their own. This further enslaves their economies to foreign creditors. And since the Philippines is a chronic debtor, she has not been able to resist the pressure of the American-dominated IMF to devalue her currency. The only corporations that benefit from this are the foreign controlled corporations. They pay less for primary products from underdeveloped countries since their currency buys more than before while the devalued currency of underdeveloped countries such as the Philippines buys less.
What goes hand and hand with the devaluation of peso is the continuous decrease of the real incomes of working people. Among ten countries in the Asia-Pacific region, the Philippines has the lowest wage structure. In 1979, the Wage Commission declared that the minimum wage should be Php 19.78. But this however is still not enough to maintain a family of six at the poverty threshold in Metro Manila in 1978 which needed Php 26.18.
The Philippine economy policy is presently implemented by an elite group called the “technocrats.” These individuals have invaded the policy and implementing arms of both government and private institutions. Since these men were trained in the U.S., their predisposition and American orientations assures that in making decisions for this country, they will not stray very far from the American point of View. They constitute a new weapon in the neocolonial armory which guarantees the control of both the material wealth of the country and the consciousness of its people which will in turn further enslave the Philippine economy to foreign giant enterprises.
Unemployment is also a problem in this country. Foreign corporations do not contribute to employment as well. They only hire a mere one percent of the whole employment figures shown by the study conducted by Central Bank, Board of Investment and the National Economic and Development Authority in 1970. Worse, key positions are reserved for foreign technicians and managers. An example of this is Japan’s Kawasaki steel mill which promises to employ Filipinos as Japan’s economic aid to the country provided that the factory will be constructed in Mindanao. Not only that this promise was not granted, 110 household were also evicted and many sea creatures died because of pollution. This mill also brought about a new level of dependence where in instead of economic development that will benefit the country, there results a distorted development not responsive to the people’s needs but profitable to the global enterprises.
There are indications that although translational corporations transfer much technology to the Philippines it is in terms of mere geographic only for these technology remains in the hands of their representatives in the Philippines. And because of minimal access, Filipinos are denied the opportunity to add to their stock of industrial knowledge and skills. This serves as a hindrance to full industialization of the country.
Foreign investments also a myth regarding industrialization. The policy to attract external sources of capital to was thought to spur growth in home-grown industries. However studies have shown that global corporations doing business in the Philippines make use of the money in local banks to finance their activities in the country. While they do not have actual control over these private banks, their equity places them in an advantageous position in securing loans for themselves and their foreign clients at an expense of Filipino businessmen.
Due to the fact that foreign investors take out more dollars than they bring in to the country through repatriation of profits, the result is the dollar drain. A study by the University of the Philippines Law Center shows that in 1946-47 for every dollar invested directly by American corporations in the Philippines the net profit was $ 3.45. In effect, U.S firms “decapitalize” the country by $ 398 million through the whole 30-year period. This loss of dollar will continue as long as the primary commodities from the poor nations remain low and unstable while those manufactured goods from the developed market economies appreciate in value, and for so long as dollar hungry countries are forced to borrow more and more and thereby get deeper and deeper into the debt trap. This is the kind of unequal trade the Philippines is currently experiencing.
It is believed that tourism will be a big dollar earner and will help ease the balance of payment problem. This is a mendicant attitude for it entailed the expenditure of badly needed funds for the improvements of some part of the country for the enjoyment of the foreigners rather than spending these funds to serve the people’s basic needs.
Export of manpower is another indication that the Philippines is hungry for foreign exchange. The large amount of Filipino workers abroad constitute a sizeable skills outflow. this brain drain is a painful reality because what is invested in the training of skilled manpower is not recovered within the country. Worse, most of the benefit accrue to other lands where the highly trained Filipino choose to practise their professions. Like tourism, export of manpower begs the fundamental question of imperialism. In fact, what is presented as a solution actually adds to the problem of neocolonial exploitation.
Until now, the Philippines has not hindered the call to real self-reliance and is still depending on external assistance despite the strings attached to the latter. Foreign projects that serve as aids to underdeveloped countries such as the Philippines are actually tied to certain goods or services which must be used or brought from the aid-giving country. Money which is given or loaned as aid is released on condition that the providing country’s goods and services are utilized, giving the latter a sure profit from the start and guaranteeing that aid is not used against it. Therefore, rather that helping the Third World countries to develop, they are just getting themselves more profitable.


NATIONALIST ALTERNATIVE:

In combating the challenges brought about by the continuing foreign dependence of the Philippine economy, the people should be mobilized to the concept of nationalism as an alternative and motive force to achieve economic emancipation.
Nationalism an an ideology of liberation must have two basic characters: it must be mass nationalism and anti-imperialism. In order to achieve total eradication of neocolonial influence, the masses and their democratic participation are needed. No anti-imperialist movement can be successful without their support. This can be attained only if nationalism ceases to be merely for the middle classes and becomes a truly mass-based ideology.
Mass nationalism should manifest itself in the all-important economic field as an over-all struggle for the national surplus, an effort to insure that the fruit of the labors of the citizens goes to the national fund to be accumulated for public investment and to provide the necessary services for the people instead of being siphoned off to other countries. The primary accent, therefore, is on the national aspect because the resolution of the main contradiction - that between the Filipino people and imperialism - is the prerequisite for the resolution of all other contradictions in Philippine society.
Nationalism is the only force that can bind all elements against imperialism. Given the domination by foreign corporations of important sectors of the economy, much of this wealth produced by labor goes into foreign pockets. Petty commodity producers are being absorbed or displaced and indigenous capitalists must accept foreign partners or ultimately face the same fate as that of the small businessmen. Therefore, it is only under the nationalism banner that the Filipino businessmen and the Filipino worker can come together in both unity and struggle, each playing a meaningful role.
The middle class also has a vital role to play. Those who belong to this class stratum are both beneficiaries and victims of imperial control. Although most of them are converts to the Western way of life, international crisis is affecting them more and more and their economic position is steadily deteriorating. Many of them have actual knowledge of and experience with the way the neocolonial system works. If they can be made to see the connection between imperialism and their economic problems, they, too, may become involved in the nationalist movement. The ambiguity of their position will in the long run be resolved only within the alliance with other nationalist forces under whose influence they will undergo a reorientation outlook.
Unity among the different economic classes of Philippine society is necessary because the formation of any nationalist, anti-imperialist movement would have to involve a determination of the composition of the leading groups and their allies. Unity in diversity can only be achieved through constant dialogue among the various social strata having different experiences and ideological positions. In this case, the struggle against imperialism becomes a struggle for a new type of democracy wherein the masses have effective participation in directing the economic, social and political life of the nation. Such a democracy will open the possibility for profound transformation of economic and social structures as well as for a decisive change in the power relations among the different sectors of society. This new type of democracy plays a vital role in the struggle against imperialism for the demands for certain reforms and criticisms of existing policies will exert pressure to weaken imperialist hold.
After the development of a new democracy, it is time to challenge both the administration and the opposition to adopt the nationalist alternative as a central goal and to implement a nationalist strategy. The general objective must be an economy controlled by Filipinos and any proposal or policy that runs counter to it should stigmatize its advocates as anti-nationalism. This time, the starting point should be the people. It must be recognized that basic to any decision to complete national liberation is the adoption of policies that will ensure a socially just distribution of the national product and the mobilization of the national surplus to increase productive capacity primarily for the satisfaction of the basic needs of the population.
Moreover, nationalist austerity should become a status symbol. Emphasis must be shifted from artificial and distorted private consumption to social consumption. This means harnessing productive factors such as agriculture and industry for the needs of the majority. Conscious direction of economic and social development is necessary to effect the transfer of resources from wasteful consumption to productive investment.
Finally, the government must strengthen the state sector of the economy and give inducements to national capitalists instead of discouraging them and driving most of them into partnership with the transnationals. In the spirit of self reliance, indigenous technology should be fully encouraged and employed in agriculture and industry. The country’s natural resources, the national patrimony, should be protected from imperialist plunder. The rights of the Filipinos workers must be insured so that they will be able to fight exploitation by foreign corporations in whose interests their wages were frozen and the strike ban was enforced.
As long as imperialism reigns supreme in the country, the Filipino will remain people in bondage. Filipinos can only regain their honour and achieve prosperity as a people if they collectively embrace the nationalist alternative, their only salvation from the scourge of poverty and underdevelopment.

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copy nyo na lang to:



margin: 0.13" right, bottom, left.. please, start your letter below the letter "S" of "coast", para may uniformity.. :) sana magkasya.. yung sa akin 11 yung font size..

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hay.. im here in our computer lab..
walang kamatayang naghihintay sa kung sinoman siya na maglelecture samin about FLASH..
i'm not sure if he's late or i'm just early (which i highly doubt)..
don't really know what time it's suppose to start or end..
basta nagpunta lang ako..
for all i know, baka hindi pa nga ito yung class..
oh well..
this is the subject i chose for L.E.A.P. (lasallian chuva-chenez..)
gusto ko sana streetdancing kaso shyness ako..
pwede rin namang french class, spanish class, or mandarin class kaso no slots left na..
trip ko rin sana indi-film kasi si ryan agoncillo speaker kaso di ko trip yung time..
kaya eto na lang, basic macromedia flash ek ek..
by the way, this is like an alternative class..
i'm not in the mood to explain the whole thing..
basta kelangan talagang attend-an..

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i'm bored..
isn't it obvious?
maybe later i'd feel better..
we'll go swimming at the sports complex..
i even have new swimsuit..
two piece sya actually..
o da ba daring?
ipinagmamalaki ko lang ang aking malaking tiyan..

***

crush ko na si jeremy sumpter (peter pan)
kahit di ko pa napapanood..
ang cool ng site nila..
excited na kong mapanood..
sana naman mapanood namin nila kai..
medyo sawi kami parati sa mga movies eh..
kill bill.. last samurai.. tale of two sisters..
lahat di namin napanood kasi alanganin yung time..
bad trip..

***

i have a new tshirt bra..
(o da ba pati yun chinika pa)
it's by calvin klein..
we went to glorietta yesterday..
i was planning to buy a bra..
pero yung cheap lang..
i was willing to settle for bench but kai talked me into buying calvin klein..
una nga dapat marx and spencers eh..
kaso sale sa calvin klein..
so dun na lang..
medyo may kamahalan pero worth it..
di naman daw madaling ma-wear out..
so araw araw ko na lang siyang isusuot..
hehe..

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i've been here in gapo for over a week now. our christmas vacation started off early cause all of my exams crammed into one lousy day. except for relsone which we, i mean THEY, had last monday. i was already home by that time so needless to say, i didn't take the test. i didn't really intend to take the finals cause it's just rels. i mean, i'm sure i won't fail or anything. he said it himself, our prof, noone WILL fail his class. we only had 3 test during the whole course for crying out loud. i don't really know where he based our grades. well, actually i do. he based it on looks, that disgusting bastard. anyway, i don't want to talk about that. it's just a messed up subject if you ask me. and as i said, i didn't get a failing grade. though i didn't take his finals, he still gave me a grade just enough to pass. it's unfair really. i can't stress enough how messed up his teaching methods are, if he has teaching methods, that is. but trust me, it's unfair. i can get a higher grade if i wanted to, he's not really dead serious about stuff like that. as i said, he's a bastard, the most fucked up teacher there is. but i was in no mood to negotiate so i left it that way. i think my blockmates were both shocked and almost impressed cause i took it so well. i've been like this ever since, i never cared about grades as long as i passed. i think that should be one of my new year's resolution. to be even a bit grade conscious.

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i went back to manila two days ago to get my course cards and as i expected i didn't make it to the dean's list. i didn't feel bad or anything cause i don't really exert much effort on my studies. see, the problem with me is, i start things off pretty well. but after a while i get tired and slack off. if only midterm grades qualify a student to be a dean’s lister, then i would have made it on the list hands down. but too bad for me they don’t.. so huhu.. poor me.. i always mess things up during the 2nd half of the term, so chances are i may never EVER be on the dean’s list.. what a wonderful realization right before christmas.. *sigh*

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much to my dismay, the template that i started creating last time is missing. i'm not really sure if i just forgot to save it or some bastard erased it from the hard drive but i can't find it anywhere in this stupid network. oh well, it's gone anyway. no need to cry over spilled milk. i think i'll just make another one. if the reporters for today don't mind me hacking away with frontpage while they're doing their thing.

god, i can still recall when it was us who were to present a report. i remember like it was yesterday. [actually , it was only last week.] it was all messed up. we don't have a written report. we don't have hand outs. the laptop that contains our presentation was sent to paranaque because of some "technical difficulties". [it ran out of batteries and the owner forgot to bring the charger. very smart.] we wasted a lot of time because of the delayed arrival of the laptop and our merciless professor who was determined to fail each and everyone of us in his subject was ready to bite our heads off.

i stayed calm during the whole time while all of my groupmates were worrying as hell. what can i say, i've been through worse scenarious when i was in high school so those last minute drawbacks don't have so much effect on me anymore. i was really fine and calm as hell up until it was my turn to report. [the laptop had arrived by that time, thank god.] i shook like a madman. i really did. i don't know why, but i did. i was not really nervous that time, i just shook. but i shook very bad. one of my blockmates, jen, even thought i was crying. can you believe that? i've done about a million reports in my life and not once did i shake. i think i'm losing my touch. if iever had one...

blogged at 01:27 [comment]

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