Safety during Earthquakes

Please watch this video, it may save your life:

Phl Earthquake Bulletin #1

Be safe, pray and keep calm! Attached is my Scribd document coming from the NDRRMC Update:

NDRRMC Update Re Earthquake and Tsunami

RP Sweeps Round 3

Another won match for the Philippine Men's chess team in the third round of the 40th Chess Olympiad in Istanbul, Turkey.  With a higher average-rating points, the heavily-favored Philippine team scored all the points against the Kazahkstan team pushing us further up the win-loss standings.

With this win, GM Wesley So and his teammates will be facing defending two-time olympiad champions Armenia with super-GM Levon Aronian on board 1.

Now the real games begin.

Will it be a romantic, blue-moon evening for the Philippine team or will it be a sad, earth shattering defeat for them?

As I write this piece, I think about the people in the southern part of the Philippines, Samar and nearby provinces. Let's hope and pray for the safety of our brothers and sisters. Tsunami Warning Level 3 was raised after a 7.9 earthquake jolted Samar and other neighboring towns.

Be safe!

RP Chessers Win in Round 2

Philippine Men's chess team scored a victory against Moldova, a higher-ranked team on the seeded on the 23rd rank compared to RP's 35th. GM's Wesley So, Oliver Barbosa and Mark Paragua held their ground on boards 1, 2 and 3 respectively. International Master Oliver Makiling scored the key victory on board 4 against a fellow IM.

RP's Women's chess team lost their match against the 16th seed Slovenians with a score of 1.5-2.5. Although we lost this one, first-time Olympiad player Janelle Mae Frayna won over a higher-rated opponent on board three.

For the next round, Philippine Men's team will be up against Kazakhstan and our Women's team will be playing against Turkmenistan.

Congratulations and I hope you guys keep the momentum going!

RP Chess Teams Sweep Round 1

Our Team Philippines sweeps their matches in the first round of the 40th Chess Olympiad in Istanbul. Check out my Tweets and the live games section of the tournament.

Wesley So essayed the Caro-Kann Exchange variation on board 1 with the black pieces while Oliver Barbosa played the Queen's Indian Defense with white on board 2. Mark Paragua on board 3 with blakc pieces defended with Przpiorka Variation and Oliver Dimakiling played white on board 4 with Reversed Closed Sicilian, English Opening.

For the Women's section, Philippines won over the Pakistan team, 4-0,

Congratulations!  

Round 1 for RP Chess Team

Board pairing and matches for the Philippine Team in the first round of the 40th Chess Olympiad in Istanbul:

Open Category: :

Board 113 : Libya vs Philippines

Board 1:     Abobker Elarbi, 2259          - GM Wesley So, 2652
Board 2:     FM Ahmed Al-Zayat, 1977  - GM Oliver Barbosa, 2554
Board 3:     FM Hussien Asabri, 2211    - GM Mark Paragua, 2508
Board 4:     Hassan Asabri, 2179           -  IM Oliver Dimakiling, 2428

To give you guys an idea.

Of the one hundred fifty-eight nations participating in this edition, we are on the 35th rank. Two years ago, we were seeded on the 38th but finished at 50. Our country was represented by GM's Wesley, So, Eugene Torre, Darwin Laylo, John Paul Gomez and then IM Richard Bitoon. 

And for the Women's category.

Board 121 : Pakistan vs Philippines

Board 1:         Zenubia Wasif                               -    WIM Catherine Perena, 2091
Board 2:        Nida Mishraz Siddiqui, 1670  -    WFM Rulp Ylem Jose, 2061
Board 3:        Ghazala Shabbir                           -    Janelle Mae Frayna, 1991
Board4:         Fatima Shabbir Khua                 -    Jedara Docena, 2061

Out of the one hundred twenty-five teams playing in this tournament, the Women's team of the Philippines is ranked at 57. 

It appears to be a an easy, bonus round for the Philippines but I just hope and pray that they won't fall into the trap called over confidence and "drawtitis" which some of the Filipino players have proven to be good at.

Good luck!

King's Gambit Win

Here is a 30/g I played over at Chesscube. There were at least two obvious mistakes made by my opponent. He resigned when my passed pawn can no longer be prevented from promoting into a Queen.

It has been a long while since I last played chess online although we've had so many NO CLASSES this schoolyear, I never really took time to log in and play at Chesscube.

I guess my love for Teaching Filipino and working as a Learning Support plus my Coursera hours are really taking much of my free time and I like it that way.

Chess can be so time consuming, very time consuming.

So here is the game:

Team Philippines for 2012 Chess Olympiad

The National Chess Federation of the Philippines formed a team for the Open section and the Women's section of the 40th Chess Olympiad happening in Istanbul, Turkey.

According to the Registered Countries section, the official line-up for Team Philippines:

Open Category:

Board 1:  GM Mark Paragua (2508)
Board 2:  GM Oliver Dimakiling (2428)
Board 3:  GM Wesley So (2650)
Board 4:  GM Oliver Barbosa (2554)
Board 5:  GM  Eugene Torre (2469)

Here is the correct board assignments:

B1: GM Wesley So (2650)
B2: GM Oliver Barbosa (2554)
B3: GM Eugene Torre (2469)
B4: GM Mark Paragua (2508)
B5: IM Oliver Dimakiling 2428)


Women's Team:

Board 1: WIM Catherine Perena (2091)
Board 2: WFM Rulp Ylem Jose (2061)
Board 3:  Jedara Docena (2061)
Board 4:  Jan Jodilyn Fronda (2022)
Board 5:  Janelle Mae Frayna (1991)

You may visit the Official Website for pairings, schedule, round by round reports and other details you might need.

We wish our players safety and may they beat the teams they are expected to beat and play with all their might against the teams that are simply superior to them (rating, resources and training)  and who knows they might pull the something extraordinary out of it.

Manual on Population Development Education

Here is my copy of the PopDevEd Manual, published by the San Carlos University Press in cooperation with Philippine Commission on Population and Development. It was surprising to find out about this manual because it was meant to be used for teaching students Catholic schools in the elementary, high school and college levels in the Philippines.

You can download the manual and use it for teaching purposes.

Maybe the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines can use this to spread their cause. The resources are there, why not use it in enlightening the people instead of waging war in the Senate and Congress?

Win without fighting, fight with all your will!

Here it is:

Population and Development Education

RIP Robredo

My prayers and condolences to the family of DILG Secretary Jesse Manalastas Robredo whose body was recovered 2600 feet off Masbate and 180 feet deep.

I discovered something new about Secretary Robredo and I'm sharing it here, thanks to Wikipedia:

"Robredo studied at Naga Parochial School, a private Catholic school in Naga City, for his elementary education. While studying there, Robredo began to hone his talent and love for the game chess. Naga Parochial School was known and had established a record for winning Bicol's annual province-wide chess tournament and Robredo's brother had been among its champion competitors. However, when it was Robredo's turn to represent his school, Robredo only garnered second place."

A moment of silence for the soul of a fallen hero, a public servant, a father, husband and chess warrior.

Ikaw ba si Margie?

The end of August is near and no thanks to the typhoons we've had and Habagat, we missed out on celebrating Buwan ng Wika and Buwan ng Bayani. As my way of taking part in spreading the love for my country I'm sharing this article. Taken and adapted from the book Tagalog for Beginners by Joi Barrios (2011).

Here is a part of Joi's Appendix 6 article called “Understanding Margie: The Filipino Heritage Learner”:

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Who is the heritage learner (HL)? In my opinion, almost all heritage learners are “activists” in the broadest sense of the world... Through observations, three in-depth interviews and a focused group discussion, I have come up with a composite character whom I will call Margarita Louella, with the nickname Margie. Why was she named Margarita Louella? Well, she was born in 1973, the year that Margarita Moran was crowned Miss Universe. Her mother’s name is Lourdes and her father’s name is Joel, thus the name Louella. In our attempt to understand the activist Filipino Heritage Learners (FHL), let us turn to Margie Louella, our composite character based on my interviews with six FHL learners.

Margie was born in the U.S. She grew up in either nuclear household with parents and siblings or in a single-parent household. Her mother speaks to her grandmother in Visayan, her parents speak to each other in Filipino, but they speak to Margie in English and the code-switching Taglish (or Tagalog English). There are three possible reasons for this use for Taglish : the neo-colonial relationship between the U.S. and the Philippines resulting in a colonial way of thinking among many Filipinos; the hegemony of the English language in the Philippines underlining disparities in class and status; and discrimination in the site of migration because of Filipino accents that mark the person’s ethnic identity and otherness. At four, Margie’s mother will speak to her saying, “Let ninang make subo you”. Ninang is the Filipino word for “godmother” and “subo”, the verb for “hand-feed,” is made English by attaching the English word “make”. Her mother Lourdes code-switches because of the following: she is the product of bilingual education; as a child, she was fined for speaking Filipino in School; and in speech classes, she had to repeat over and over. “This is an apple. This is an apple...” to get the perfect American accent.

In contrast, Margie’s father struggled with the language because he attended a public school in Cagayan twelve hours from Manila. He can read and write, but hesitates when he speaks because he is afraid of pronouncing words incorrectly. When Margie was growing up, he took English classes. One time, he got angry at Margie’s brother and said, “Lintik kang bata ka...” Years later, Margie would ask her Filipino teacher, “Why did my father call my brother lightning?”

Margie grows up knowing the Filipino words for objects, a few body parts, and people: kalamansi, adobo, lola. She also knows that the prefix mag- when accompanied by a verb in English renders the verb Filipino- “mag-toothbrush ka na” – especially when commands are given. She knows basic greetings like “Kumusta” and “Magandang Umaga” and “Salamat”. She watches a few Filipino movies but her household does not subscribe to the Filipino channel so she is not familiar with “Wowowee” (a Philippine variety show broadcast on ABS-CBN) nor addicted to any Filipino soap operas. Her mother tells her “Mahal Kita”.

It is in college that life changes for Margie Louella. To learn more about her identity, she enrols in a Filipino/Tagalog class. She watches Filipino plays on identity by Teatro ng Tanan; one is entitled "Tunggalian” (Conflict); and the other is based on Freddie Aguilar’s song “Anak.” As she dances the Tinikling at the Philippine Cultural Night (PCN) at her university, she also learns the favourite PCN word- diwa or “spirit.” She becomes fascinated with the word saing... sinaing (cooked rice), magsaing (to cook rice)- ah, there is a Filipino word for cooking rice, and many words about rice. She tries to learn the baybayin and considers getting a tattoo word “Malaya” (“Free”). She becomes aware of student issues and joins the campaign for Filipino American Studies and American Studies. She learns about the Filipino American history and the struggle of the farm workers. She becomes more involved in community organizing. At the Filipino Community Center, she greets the older people with “Kamusta po kayo?”

Margie Louella joins a Filipino American Political group. As her Political consciousness grows, she learns the word “hustisya,” and in political rallies can shout: “Makibaka, huwag matakot” (Struggle, Do not be Afraid!) and “Ibagsak!” (Down!). However, when one speaks to her in Filipino, her conversational ability is limited to five minutes. Margie Louella travels to the Philippines three times: First, to visit family, during the Christmas holiday season. She notices her relatives straining to speak to her in English. Second, she returns for three weeks, spending half the time with her family and the other half volunteering with Karapatan (literally “Rights”), a human rights organization.

However, when she attends a celebration hosted by the Amando V. Hernandez foundation (a non-government organization that gives writing workshops to workers and peasants) and listens to Filipino poetry, she realizes one thing - she does not know Filipino. She says to herself, “I do not want to end up like this... a person who does not know Inang Wika (Mother language).” On her third visit, she stays for five months, spending most of her time with peasant communities in the countryside. She learns more about the struggle of the Filipino people ----and calls it “paglalamay sa dilim” (“to work in the darkness of night”). She learns to sing songs such as “Rosas ng Digma” (the rose of war). She is touched as she leaves the community when they give her a despedida for her maligayang paglalakbay (Happy travels). Back in the United States, she corresponds with people in the Philippines. Through numerous exchanges of letters and e-mails, she learns more about written Filipino.

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Forged Records on YouTube

Here is a discovery I made which I'm sharing at The Brown Man Diary. The YouTube Chanel Forged Records that has eight videos with a name Joey Tandem says "My small-scale, indie home recording label". There is this treasure behind the rawness of the material and I'm glad that we have another Pinoy showing his stuff online. You guys can watch, listen and download all his videos. Let me share what I like, sounds like a cross between a Had-rockin' The Dawn band and Raymond Marasigan's Sandwhich:
 

Coursera Courses

What a great way to actually walk one's talk.

I've been a believer and preacher of education in the 21st century, interactive, online and flexible. In case you guys have been wondering where I've been in the last four weeks, it's Coursera.

I've enrolled in three online courses and all these courses are recognized by Ivy League Schools.

Go to Coursera.com and look for the topic you would like to enroll in.

Good luck!

RP's Hyper Habagat

Typhoon Gener started it then came hyper Habagat that brought water into the lives of many Filipinos in NCR and neighboring provinces.

This nameless wind that brought torrential rains destroyed properties, killed at least 10 people and made me stay at home for the whole week. 

Its a pity to see families go through such a calamity. Properties are destroyed, lives are lost and income generating work hours are gone.

But we Filipinos are resilient. We will recover from this and we will. 

With prayers and diligence, we will recover from this!