TURN-OVER of the Key of Responsibility

Governor-elect Speech

April Al Ian T. Jacob

To our DSA Director, Dr. Edward Banawa; to our Dean, Dr. Marie Joy Banawa; to our Asst. Dean, Prof. Sittie Nofaissah Pasandalan; to mam Rosalinda Lagovez; to the Adviser of CASS EC 2014-2015, Prof. Omar Bataluna; to the KASAMA President, Jahaziel Mark Bahan; to Gov. Von John Omega and the rest of the outgoing officers; to the society presidents and representatives; to my new CASS EC family; it us a delight in my eyes to see you all in this great evening.

President John Quincy Adams, the 6th president of America was right when he said that "If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader." Ladies and gentlemen, I have met many of them in my quest for life not being a born leader but a made-leader for it takes long process of developing character and values to become one.

Yesterday, while I pondered about myself being the Governor of CASS, I suddenly remembered the moment when I was in the CASS lounge, a fresh high school graduate who wish to enrol in the AB English Program of the College of Arts and Social Sciences. It was the moment when I got to see CASS EC officers, well, I did not know they were called as such back then, but they were easily identified because they were wearing their uniforms. I saw Jonaim Dipatuan. I recognize him as the Governor because it was written in his shirt. Then, I discovered a year after that the person I passed my requirements to also happened to be a former Governor of CASS who was in the person of John Carlo Cabalit. I have this fascination to rekindle moments that I believe have meanings. That moment made me want to be like them. The spirit within me to serve and lead people enflamed the Luke warmness for quite long months of summer and idleness of what my Grade 6 Adviser has written in my Report Card, I can still remember word by word, “You have the potential to be a leader.” Honestly, I am becoming what I dreamed for today. I become what Kuya Von Omega, the lovely outgoing Governor of CASS, and kuya Airport, I’d like to say, the most “matinabangon” head appointee of CASS, have prophesized. They were not prophets but they were able to tell and thus really good at it. It was during after I delivered my winning speech in the 2012 Palakasan Talumpati Competition practice at the CASS EC office. If I am not mistaken, the words were exactly like this “Mag-governor jud ka ha, angayan jud kayu ka.” I did not know how to respond. I felt like it’s next to impossible, but look here! I am now delivering my 1^st speech as the Governor of CASS.

But, this doesn’t happen quickly and easily. Just like anybody else or most of us, I started as a squashed cabbage leaf, credits to the metaphor of George Bernard Shaw’s Pygmalion. I was a still a neophyte then. I started in a four cornered class room as the Block Leader of the first year AB English students, then became an Olympian of the House of Lords and a Councilor of the AB English Organization, then last year, I run for board member of CASS, fortunately I won, plus more bonus because I did not expect to be the 1^st Board member out of the 21 candidates running and wishing to have a spot in the eight slots. It was indeed a journey. Today, I believe that being the Governor is the pinnacle of my college leadership. Thus, this position demands the highpoint of my leadership skills and the utmost of my ability to be a good leader that CASS Arachnids expect and deserve.

This evening, let me talk to you about values since it is a must for a leader to know what he or she values. These values are very important because they live in our actions every single day. Values that I have learned and values that I must enhance. Values that have helped, not only to me but to many budding leaders. Actually, the core values of the Institute would help us just as much. We have Integrity, Accountability, Competence, Excellence and Teamwork. But, in this case, let us be more specific.

And for one, you need to have trust and ability to delegate tasks. In the EC, we are not supermen, we need to acknowledge other’s helping hands. CASS EC is always out of number in organizing events and leading people. There is no question about that because it is proven. We always need good quantity but with just quality. We need a lot of creative minds and abled and powered men to be successful. It is not just right to have trust to your fellow officers or to the appointees and volunteers, it is essential that we do.

Secondly, we must have integrity. It is considered to be one of the fundamental values that a leader should have. Honesty and trust are central to integrity. Acting with honour and truthfulness are basic tenets in a person with integrity. This values would undoubtedly draw others to you because you are trustworthy and dependable. People would count on you in many honourable ways if you work with principles even when no one is watching.

We also need to have time and commitment. We are admitted to the fact that our number one priority in school is our academics. I am here in school to study just like you. I remember my English 1 teacher in the person of Prof. Honeylet Dumoran said that “Class, you need to remember that you are not here in school to major events in CASS Days or Palakasan, you are majoring English.” She is precisely right. Let us not be deceived by the enjoyment we have in the council with our friends and fellow officers.

               At the end of the day, we are student leaders. We need to study for our future. But, we must bear in mind in the second primal place that we pledged our supposedly idle hours or time to serve others. We promised to the students that we are in the Student Executive Council for the Arachnid’s Empowerment and Welfare. We need to be committed and have time for it.

There are many values on the table. As a leader, choose the values and the ethics that are most important and applicable to you, the values and ethics you believe in and that define your character. One should live them visibly every day during class or at the council. Living your values is one of the most powerful tools available to you to help you lead and influence others. Don't waste your best opportunity.

If we are going to employ all these positive qualities in our lives, then CASS EC will be better from the Good. The world would be better. We will try our best to be as competitive as we are in Palakasan. The new set of officers can’t really promise to you the best of luck that we can probably have, but we will try our best armed with those values. We will unleash and squeeze the best of every arachnid. We will strive hard to have a student friendly, accessible, accountable and transparent Executive Council. We will continue to recognize talents, skills and potentials of CASS students, the primary goals of every student executive council.

We will be one CASS. With the values at hand and grace of the one who made all things to existence, among padayunon ang among pagka-CASSaligan. Thank you.

Kulukabildo 2015

Constellating Language and Literature

Paglangkob sa Nakat-unan;

A Synthesis on KULUKABILDO 2015

Session 1                                                                                                                      POETRY AND PEACE

            “Nasaan ang mga makata sa gitna ng mga gyera?”

                  This question started the plenary session on Poetry and Peace of the first speaker of Kulukabildo 2015,

Rev. Fr. Albert E. Alejo, SJ otherwise famous as “Pari(e)ng Bert”. Poets, according to him, are those who recreate possibilities. But, where are their metaphors now? What are they doing with their works today in the midst of wars most especially in Mindanao? Peace, he added, are not only for lawyers and what not, to fix. There is a need of help from Poets and other sort of communicators. There is a need of help from their poems that is ‘tagos sa puso’ with deep psychology to be pondered upon by the victims and protagonists of war. They will be the one in-charge of capturing the violence with, of course, the discipline of Arts.

            He then shared a line from the poem of Mikael De Lara Co entitled “Ang mga isinumpa” about the responsibility of the poets. It goes like this “…tungkulin ng tula na hindi maubusan ng salita.” in English, “….it is the job of the poet to never run out of words.”

            According to him, there are seven things that poems are there for us. They are listed below with the poems which were read during the session for him to explain his point.

1.         Ang tula biliang pangingilabot

a.       ‘Sanayan lang ang Pagpatay’ by Paring Bert

2.       Ang tula bilang bunto

3.       ng-hininga

a.       ‘Babaeng Matapang’ by Grace R. Monte de Ramose

b.       ‘Bahay Panauhin’ by an Islamic-mystic poet, Jelaluddin Rumi

4.       Ang tula bilang pagluluksa

a.       ‘Ang Bala’ by Salomon de la Selva

b.       ‘Ang mga isinumpa’ by Mikael de lara Co

5.       Ang tula bilang pagninilay

a.       ‘Awit ng Bundok Apo’ by Retchor ‘Etto’ Umpan

                                                                                                   i.      Tinig ng Banal na Bundok

                                                                                                  ii.      Tugon ng Dalisay na loob

b.       ‘Daluyan ng Kapayapaan’ by Saint Francis de Asisi

6.       Ang tula bilang pagdiriwang

a.       ‘Kapayapaan’

7.       Ang tula bilang panalangin

a.       ‘Doon Nawa’ by Rabindranath Tagore

8.       Ang tula bilang pangarap

a.       ‘Wala ang batang luluha’ by Paring Bert

He also advocated the use and listening of ‘Lullaby’ nowadays. It is from lullaby that we get to embody again the primordial experience of peace or non-violence. There are many points that you could get from this session and I am going to lay down some of them that was also asked during the open forum. He said that Dialogues are merely the confrontations of two monologues and Poetry is there therefore to enrich the dialogue. The teaching of Literature and education was also asked from the audience. The session concluded with the thought of being interested of the Humanities will get you good at teaching of literature.

Session 2                                                                                 TRANSLATION AND CREATIVE WRITING

                        John Barrera Bengan presented his paper ‘The Role of Translation in Writing Philippine Fiction in English’ in this session. The latter study has been read by him before at the University of the Philippines –Diliman, The gist of his discussion in translation dwell on the foreignness of the Philippine Fiction using the English Language for the native speakers of the said language. Resil Morales, as he quoted, describe these translations as haunting, dislocated and decentred but, therefore, should be embraced. The French translator Antoine Berman also labelled translation as “The Trial of the Foreign”. This is very evident since any translators in reality undergoes trial.

            Moreover, he discussed his award-winning short story entitled ‘Armor’ which embodied the foreign concept commented by many readers based outside the country. The story is about a gay who, after splitting with his partner, decided to join pageant. The concept of pageant and the terminology ‘Miss Gay’ among many others are even foreign for a non-filipino reader.

            We were also stunned to the fact that we, Filipinos, were considering gay shows as freak ones but, he said that for gays, there is a ritualistic elements about them in approaching pageants, it is systematic that would inspire respect from us. If we are to ridicule the ‘bayots’, that speaks more about us, not about them, he added,

            Most of the audience are interested in the distinction of the translated material as a new one or just a replication. After that question was asked, he immediately answered, both. Yes it is a new material because it is and yes it is a replication because it is just a translation and the person who translated it can claim it as his own. He believed that one has to be a poet to translate a poem.

Session 3                                                                                                         LANGUAGE AND MEDIA

            The media is powerful. It has a vast resource of language nowadays. Prof. Sorhaila Latip- Yusoph said that the box (referring to the television) cannot even be imagined without language. One, may it be an undergraduate who got to have a thesis as a final requirement or a researcher, cannot make an excuse to do not have a desirable topic for a research paper. The current trends in language and media discourse is a very rich resource for any research endeavours. She even told the audience that the new generation of neophyte researchers today are very blessed because during her time, according to her, their researches has been done with much effort of collecting corpus like literally putting weights of the newspapers on your hands. But, today, it is now a lot more different, anybody can just scan, study and analyse the language of news stories in one sitting facing your own personal computer.

            She stressed, as well, that the greater the change in language, the greater the possibility of language death. On the other hand, as what she have reiterated, one thing that is constant in this world is change. Everything change from time to time and this belief is not new to us. This is how dynamic is the Media today. Media is considered to be just a matter of articulately collecting data, may it be in words or unspoken ideas from different discourses.

            Moreover, the professor, who is considered to be an expert in Media, discussed the register and style of language in and with media. The register refers to the variety of language present and the style refers to the choice of use of formal, textual or instinctive language.

            Prof. Yusoph also discussed about the relevant issues in media such as Privacy and Confidentiality, Truthfulness, Offensiveness and Originality and the thoughts about the questions from the audience such as Language Degradation and how media language increases social involvement.

Session 4                                                                                 LANGUAGE, LITERATURE AND IDENTITY

           

            Dr. Rebekah M. Alawi focused her topic in the context of Mindanao. She started the session with questions like these, ‘are the men custodian of words?’; what are the Filipino roots?; And what is Filipino authentic identity? The questions were seemed to be quiet hard to be answered. It is clear that one cannot answer it very well if you are not really expert of the field.

            She quotes F. Sionil Jose to answer some of those most asked questions between English and Literature majors. F. Sionil Jose, according to Wikipedia, is one of the most widely read Filipino writers who are using the English Language. She shared a lot of things to the audience of Kulukabildo 2015 and one can infer that she is most interested with the proper education of the Filipino people about her topic in the session. She, also, challenge the crowd, most especially the young ones, to do more about the things that concerns the genuine filipinoness of the so-called ‘Philippine Literature’.

                        Moreover, she shared the famous quotation or motto widely used among Engish Majors of MSU- Marawi which goes like this ‘Nothing Filipino is alien to me’. It was also very admirable to think about what she said on defending the right of the people to express and speak. As a conclusion, she motivated the audience to cultivate our assets as creative Filipinos.

           

 

PARALLEL SESSIONS

PARALLEL SESSION at Room 116         

                                                                                    Lexicosemantic and Morphological Analyses of Sebuano Lexical Items in the MTB-MLE Learning Materials

 and in Facebook: Toward Sebuano Modernization

‘Learners start from where they are’

This study is very impressive. One can believe it’s an extra-mile to behold and admire. Two of the sources include the work books on (MTB-MLE) Mother Tongue Based- Multilingual Education in the K- 12 Program of DepEd and selected FB Communities. The intention of using these materials as corpus of the study is indeed strategic since the paper is toward Sebuano modernization. The researcher discovered various characteristic features of the Sebuano Lexical items such as nouns, verb, adverb and adjective. According to Dr. Echavez, this is deemed to be essential in coping with the modernization demands of the language.

PARALLEL SESSION at Room 117

Memes: A Linguistic Analysis

Wisam Angni and Jaminah Pangandag

           

This is one of the most commonly used means of media users in eliciting laughter among friends. This got the interests of the two sophomore researchers. They studied linguistically and thematically the text and the image relation of the memes. The researchers have observed themes such as insult, politics and just plainly humor.  This study also included the syntactic patterns that elicits laughter, as well as the linguistic features of meme paradigm.

One of the audience suggested also to the researchers to study more about the semiotics present in these memes and how words became relevant with the humor nowadays. Accordingly, meme is an idea, behaviour, or style that spreads from person to person within a culture.

PARALLEL SESSION at Room 116

English Oral Proficiency and its Relation to

Academic and Non- Academic Factors:

The Case of Filipino College Students

Prof. Helen R. Betonio

            I am very much overwhelmed that I became an audience of the study I am part of. I remember very well how Prof. Betonio have interviewed me and my classmates after we took the English 3 ‘Speech and Communication’ Class. She used the Communicative Competence Theory and the Affective Filter Theory of Krashen. Also, in the methodology, she used the Texas Oral Proficiency Test (TOPT), a speaking test that is also very useful in her study, another test was also the T-test for equality.

            The study revealed that those who came to top the test were the highly dignified degree programs in the institute in the field of communication such as the AB English Program, BS Accountancy and BS Bioolgy. It revealed that these programs are also the programs who have set cut-off scores in the Language usage during the System Admission and Scholarship Examination of the Institute,

PARALLEL SESSION at Room 116

TrashTalk in SEA (South East Asia) DOTA 2 Scene

Gil Mikhael Cagalawan

           

One can infer that this study is also one of the interests of the researcher. This study investigates the trash talks among the players of DOTA 2 in South East Asia through live streams. Two of my fellow audiences were interested about the methodology employed by the researcher. He then said that a survey was conducted which contained numerous phrases or words that are used as trash talk.

            Nazi Grammar, Country Discrimination, Racism, Personal Insults, and superiority are among the themes  he has discovered using thematic analysis and also, the researcher was able to explain how words and affixes connotes those theme through structural analysis.

PARALLEL SESSION at Room 116

A Stylistic Analysis of the Representations of Violence

in Philippine Literature as Reflected

in Selected Short Stories.

Patricia Nicole M. Balgoa

Ian S. Embradura

           

The last session I luckily got into was this. The analysis and methodology of this study was just very admirable and impressive. This study was also very strategic in a way to analyse literature as a whole because shorts stories cannot commence without conflict which is deemed to be a form of violence. The researchers have conducted a successful stylistic analysis on the representations of seven (7) selected short stories of Philippine Literature, identified and described the kinds of violence present and provided a context-dependent definition of violence.

What is the most significant thing you've learned from Kulukabildo?

This may not be the best or supposed to be learned important thing in Kulukabildo, but the most significant thing that has encouraged me to be passionate about my research endeavour is the idea that there is so much about language trends and media discourse to be researched about. I learned that being a student in a university, it’s my job to embody responsibility of discovering these things for the world to know, for me to contribute something in the existing dynamic body of knowledge and for me to quest for something in language and literature. These two concepts are interrelated to one another. As a student in a research methods class, I was able to learn the principles and rudiments of research.

© Photo credits to  Current Issues and Trends in Language and Literature.

https://www.facebook.com/trends.iit?fref=ts

              Dramatics  and Stagecraft:
                           Progress Report

         

        Being an actor requires talent, time, passion and commitment and other necessary values and virtues one has to determine and realize. I will not say that I inherit all those things since time immemorial or since I have joined a drama club. Those requirements are not easy to have or achieved. It demands thorough practice and self-discovery, and, to be honest, my journey for this unearthing is attained and reached through my experience in the ABEO Playhouse with my classmates as my fellow actors whom I have learned a lot and, of course, with my mentor who unceasingly squeeze and bring out the best in me or in us in Theatre.

   Twelfth Night. During the Curtain Call

Twelfth Night. Duke Orsino orders Cesario to send a message to Olivia

   

          I started as a squash, a neophyte and an interested novice during my freshman year. I auditioned for a role to appease my burning enthusiasm for acting. I was not good, I’m sure, for nobody can be excellent enough but a mediocre in his first time. Nonetheless, it became my stepping stone for discerning my purpose and vocation in life. I felt like I have a heart for this, I have a zeal in doing this kind of special stuff.

Bato Lakungan looking for the 'Mahiwagang Niaga'

          Moreover, I have felt the push of it more and more as the years went by. Chamber Theatre, Intro to Drama Class and other Class Performing Activities have built the tower and my lofty ideals of myself in the stage. I felt the need to pursue this. I, in fact, challenged myself to try another kind of it, I challenge myself to audition for a musical play in IPAG. Fortunately, I was accepted. It was a whole new world for me. It was beyond my expectation of myself. It was out of my comfort zone. I have learned many things about performing arts and the discipline that one must employ in his life to succeed in this exceptional career. I learned how to vary my emotions with the wide range of emotions that a human being has. I learned how to control and to work for my own progress. 

The joyous travel and adventure of Bato Lakungan to Ranaw

One of the monsters met and fought by Bato Lakungan.

The best part where there are applause and cheers for us, Ranaw's Curtain Call.

          Now, my experience in theatre together with my classmates as my fellow actors and production staffs has extended and inflamed my interest for it. We worked as one and the people see us as one. There are many things that I have discovered and learned together with them. I got to share what I have got and learned and vice-versa. The ABEO Playhouse’s adaptation of George Bernard Shaw’s PYGMALION was not good. It was exceptional. The people behind the stage, the actors outside and inside the black cloth, the technical people inside the control room was, indeed, extraordinary. The preceding lines might be self-proclaimed because I am speaking for us, but, by George, it is very factual and the words used might not even be accurate oh how we truly feel and how excellent we are as a batch. This is something one has to remember in his lifetime. One has to put this in his heart, for all may wither and die but never the heart that remembers. KUDOS Team PYGMALION! DASIG ABEO VANGUARDS.

One of the Posters of the ABEO Playhouse's Pygmalion

Prof. Higgins: 'I can, Cher ap keptin, nhaw yah bay flahr fram a  por gel'

A princess? Have it your own way, Maestro, Have it your own way'

ACT V

During the Pictorial of ABEO Playhouse's PYGMALION

Since I'm not welcomed by this blog site after almost a year of being silent in this cyber-world dimension, I'd like to take it on my on. I am glad that I'm back Blogger. This has always been flowered and powered by blogger, you know. Many things have changed including myself. I have discovered a new part of me sir Blogger and sir Reader. @iantiijacob as a Host of pageants, competitions, celebrations, assemblies and all what is not. Isn't it amazing? Isn't it suprising? Amazing maybe but can never be surprising. I'm known to be this. It was prophesied. It was made known in their eyes before mine. I just heard it from other people. They know I am to do this and that. That I am to be appreciated to on stage. That I am to be praised because of that innate skill.

so this was me with them during my Grand Entrance.

Magandang, Good evening Brgy. Tambacan! I know you are all excited for tonight? 

            Alright..so much has been said about this pageant this evening. So much has been speculated of, that you know what, this could be the grandest beauty pageant that has ever been transpired here in barangay tambacan.

 It’s like a rejuvenation of all the flaws that were made before. Tonight, is the night that we are going to witness who would be fairest, who would be the smartest and of course who would be the one that has it all; Beauty, Brain and Personality. Ladies and gentlemen, who would bring home the coveted crown?

            With us tonight are actually the positive proofs that indeed brgy. Tambacan is th power house of beauty not only in Iligan City but of course all throughout the whole island of Mindanao. Please help me welcome my co-hosts, the bikini queen of Mindanao, Ms. Shai Wright; A title holder of beauty with a purpose here in brgy. Tambacan, Ms. Mary JulienSuico.

 TO BE CONTINUED because I'm already sleepy. July 1, 2014 | 12:15 AM