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By Rene Q. Bas, Editor in Chief
IF you are among those who shake their heads,
worried about the apathy of the youth and their remoteness from
national concerns, worry no more: Filipino youth are still fiercely
idealistic.
And they know as much as older folk the answers
to the question “What would it take for the Philippines to become
a developed country?”
That question was posed to participants in the
Manila Times College of Journalism’s National Essay-Writing
Competition. The 338 essays sent in by students of 115 schools
throughout the archipelago—from Tuguegarao to Sulu—almost all
saw the need for us Filipinos to become more virtuous (more
disciplined, hardworking, studious, focused, etc.) and patriotic.
Patriotism as respect
Very young authors, one of them Lorraine
Elizabeth M. Tan of Manila, 13, a Fifth Grader at St. Jude Catholic
School, saw patriotism as a matter or respect:
“We need to respect our country. Our leaders
too must learn to respect our country. We must not pin all our
hopes on them because each one of us needs to do his part. We
need to eliminate our defects and change for the better.”
Lorraine won third prize in Category A of the contest (for 12- to
15-year-old youth).
Category A first placer, 15-year-old Mary
Kathleen Loyola, a third-year student at the Philippine Science High
School, uses the metaphor of paper boats to describe “the state of
the country today [that] gives the impression that these dreams,
once conceived and allowed to set sail will be nothing more than
slowly dissolving paper if left afloat.”
Yet, “having difficult channels before us does
not give us excuses to back down and give up.”
She discusses the political economy but wraps
her ideas with the poetic image of paper boat dreams until the end:
“What we really need right now, however, are the right currents
for them.”
The Category A second-prize winner is “Making
our move today” by Kamille Samantha Sipalay. She is a 15-year-old
third-year student at the Pasig City Science High School. Her entry
reads better than a lot of columns that come out in Philippine
newspapers.
Serve the people
She writes: “If each one of us would have
enough love in our hearts to serve our people genuinely, then this
country would be a better place to live in. Commitment is such an
easy word to utter. We often hear it being promised in weddings, in
electoral speeches and even in churches. But apparently for a great
majority, the word is just a puff of air. Evidently, the lack of
commitment to serve others is pulling us back from being a great
nation. Families are ruined, resulting in children being
deprived of the security they need. Some of our country’s leaders
are putting their personal interests ahead of the people’s
welfare, resulting in graft and corruption. And the Filipino people,
being aware of this lack of concern for them, would in turn, act in
the same manner. It is a vicious cycle.”
Her last paragraph says:
“The lessons I learned from this challenge is
that we need to change to help our country attain the development it
deserves. We have to start somewhere and I guess, we have to start
now. If we can be a totally committed and disciplined people, there
will be no red light in our road to progress.”
The first prize in Category B is titled
“Eating Elephants” by Eleanor Nellasca Balaquiao, a 21-year-old
graduating student (Political Science A.B.) at the Ateneo de Naga.
Sangguniang Kabataan
Starting with the most concrete matter of the
Sangguniang Kaba-taan, she does a very good job of analyzing in
detail our society’s defects and gives quick prescriptions to cure
them—with virtues.
She touches on the elephant at the end of her
essay:
“Making an underdeveloped country fully
developed is an awesome task. But as the cliché puts it, you eat an
elephant piece by piece. This is why massive values re-orientation
is needed. Change must start from the core and from there it will
spread to the edges.
“What is needed is a revolution in the
Filipino heart so that one day young people like me will no longer
have to write of how the youth are bribed in a country that has no
respect for who it truly is. What is needed is a revolution so that
one day, Filipinos can choose to stay in the Philippines and be
proud of that choice.”
Second prize in Category B is “The Philippines
in Perspective,” by Allison Grace G. Bayle, 17-year-old High
School graduate of St. Theresa’s College Q.C. who has not yet
begun her college education. She was 16 when she submitted her
essay last year.
Passion for truth
She points to several essential requirements for
us to become a developed country. But to her the
greatest element is the truth. Her essay ends with this:
“In essence, development isn’t just about
abundance of a country’s material wealth. It’s also
looking at the issues and concerns from a different angle or from
various angles, which allows a broader sense of judgment and
creativity. We must put a stop to the unending blaming and
grieving and instead, look at the country from a sixteen-year-old’s
point of view: hopeful and ardent, yet unbiased.
“Emancipation from ignorance, corruption and
poverty, being constantly hopeful and possessing that passion for
truth are the keys to peace and development of our country, the
Philippines.”
Rizalian view
A 19-year-old, Francis Gabriel M. Pacheco, won
third prize in Category B. He is an A.B/Ph.B student at the
University of Santo Tomas.
His essay has the title “In Caecu-rum Regno,
Regnat Strabo” (“In the Kingdom of the Blind, the Cross-eyed
Reigns.”)
He seems to be, like our foremost hero Jose
Rizal, a Filipino Catholic nationalist.
He sums up how our country can become a
developed nation in this paragraph:
“Through Economic Restructuring, we will
overcome the economic aspect of our underdevelopment. Through
Cultural Revitalization, we can chart our course and find ourselves
once again; we will know where we stand in the world and where we
will lead ourselves. Through Moral Reformation, we will be equipped
with values and principles that will harden us and forge us into a
stronger Nation!”
Most of the other 332 entries pretty much see
Philippine problems and opportunities—and the path we Filipinos
should take to make ours a developed country— the way the
six winners do.
The winners combine felicities of language,
inventive presentation and intellectual depth.
The Manila Times College of Journalism will hold
more essay contests.
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