DepEd stresses respect of Muslim culture through

the Peace Movement in Mindanao. The Department of Edu-

cation (DepEd) defined the DepEd Peace Movement in Min-

danao which aims to foster peace and promote understand-

ing, tolerance and friendship among all nations, multi-racial

or religious sectors/groups. Anchored on Article 26 of the

Universal Declaration of Human Rights, it adopts the

UNESCO’s (United Nations Educational, Scientific and

Cultural Organization) vision to develop culture of peace

and to strengthen respect for human rights and fundamental

freedom.

DepEd regional and division offices and learning

centers are encouraged to realize the Peace Movement’s ob-

jectives by observing conduct of advocacy for the promotion

of peace culture, highlighting its importance in the commu-

nity and practicing the values of respect and peace in the

community; developing a school learning environment

which models the culture of peace, using teaching methods

and organizing clubs that stress respect for differences with

equal opportunities of all students; conducting outreach pro-

grams for Muslim out-of school learners; providing semi-

nars rooted in the local culture and respect for it; promoting

transparency in transactions of DepEd schools and offices to

avoid suspicion of corruption; and ensuring appropriate sup-

port measures and methods for proper implementation of

said movement.

DepEd nods examinations of students without payment

Exams now, pay later! DepEd allows students with

unpaid fees to take their finals examinations. The Depart-

ment of Education (DepEd) states that all schools, both

public and private, are to allow students with unpaid fees to

take their final exams to protect all children’s human right

to basic education.

DepEd is emphasizing that parents’ civil liabilities

should not in any way jeopardize their children’s school-

ing. Private schools should be more considerate of students

with financial issues and family hardships and allow those

who have not paid to still take their exams. However, par-

ents should still recognize their financial obligations and

arrange the terms for the eventual settlement of said obliga-

tions.

On the other hand, students from public schools

who have unpaid obligations such as payment for lost text-

books, school organ, or membership in any student organi-

zations, should still be allowed by the school administrators

to take their exams. Payment for said obligations will be

collected afterward.

DepEd reduces carbon

footprint through

YES camp

Say YES to YES camp! DepEd announces the

Youth for Environmental Summer (YES) Camp. The

Department of Environment and Natural Resources

(DENR), in partnership, with the offices of the Depart-

ment of Education (DepEd) will conduct a summer camp

that aims to emphasize the significance of climate

change mitigation and adaptation called the Youth for

Environmental Summer (YES) Camp on April 9 – 12,

2013 at the Teachers’ Camp in Baguio City.

The camp aims to develop pupils’ and students’

awareness on the state of our environment, encourage

them to participate in taking action in its protection

while realizing the importance of reducing our carbon

footprint. Some activities included in the YES camp in-

clude interactive break-out sessions, outdoor activities

and contests, poster making, exhibits, etc. Included par-

ticipants are officers, members and teacher-advisers of

the Youth for Environment in Schools – Organization

(YES-O), and other authorities.

A registration free (P4000) collected from the

participants will cover to travel, meals, venue, certifi-

cates, speakers and incidental expenses. All school and

education heads are encouraged to join and send partici-

pants to the camp.

DepEd announces 2013 Palarong Pambansa

Bansa, laro na! DepEd declares Palarong Pam-

bansa 2013. The Department of Education (DepEd) makes

official the 2013 Palarong Pambansa, a sports event to be

held on April 21-27, 2013 in Dumaguete City, Negros Ori-

ental. It is to be hosted by the Provincial Government of

Negros Oriental and DepEd Regional Office VII. The

Palarong Pambansa aims to promote Physical Education

and Sports as an integral part of the youth’s Basic Educa-

tion and to instill in them values inherent in sports such as

teamwork and fair play. It also intends to widen the base

of talent identification, training and exposure of elementary

and secondary students to the National Sports Association

(NSA) for international competitions and to further im-

prove different schools’ sports development program.

Games and guidelines from the 2012 Palarong

Pambansa will remain effective unless modified or revised.

However, additional games have been included such as

wushu for secondary boys and girls, billiards for secondary

boys, and futsal for elementary girls.

Management and services for this event will be

headed and handled by the Office of the Assistant Secre-

tary for Legal and Legislative Affairs to be assisted by the

School Sports Events and Activities Unit (SSEAU).

Para sa masa!” “Ready to serve you!” Sound familiar? These are some of the common, generic slogans of election candidates. Think about it: at least one or two of the people who won the last elections have used those taglines. Question is, do they stay true to it? Government officials are put in their posi-tions to serve the people, and that is exactly what they pledge to do before they are elected. However, these days, serving the people is hardly their top priority. What appears to be of greater importance

CLAIM TO

FAME

to them is getting recognition and “making their mark”. When an official is elected, the people ex-pect him to first try to fix and improve the pro-jects the previous official never worked out. They expect road construction, waste reduction, better infrastructure and lowering of the crime rate. In-stead, what they get are the same old bumpy roads and cracked walls (painted in the official‟s trade-mark color, of course), same old poorly built buildings and lamp posts (now embossed with the official‟s name) and government workers contrib-uting to the rising crime rate. The man who had been calling himself “one of the people” is sitting in an office, choosing which picture of himself should be used for the “Maligayang Pasko! From your city mayor” tarpaulin rather than respond-ing to the citizen‟s complaints. Let‟s face it: these people to whom the citi-zens give their trust are more interested in getting their one term/3-6 years of fame than actually making a change in our country. These people need to remember that the true way to make your mark in a place is by making a change. Paint can be washed off, but memories cannot.

Several of us have been in St. Paul College, Pasig for more than seven years. We‟ve grown ac-customed to the trademark Paulinian values and habits. We contribute to the memes and ongoing Paulinian jokes going around (which surprisingly don‟t seem to get old) and carry on the traditions. We believe that Paulinian education made us all a community. And truly, we can say that Paulinian education is unique compared to those of most of our peer schools‟. As for me, being a transferee from St. Scho-

lastica‟s College only three years ago, I have to ad-

mit that when I first arrived in my Grade 7 class-

room, I was more than lost. The confusing lessons

and the seemingly foreign language we call algebra

were nothing compared to the massive culture

shock I experienced.

Everything about studying in St. Paul was

immensely different from my old school. I heard

all these acronyms I didn‟t know the first thing

about such as MSEP, FFL, GIFT, and „Sister

TA‟ (which took me weeks to find out that it re-

ferred to a person and not a position). Strangely

enough, though, it was these very acronyms that

really helped me learn how to live like a true Pau-

linian student.

Ever since I transferred, I‟ve been placed in

with students in the Math and Science Excellence

Program (MSEP). Here, I learned that part of the

things that set Paulinians apart is their work

ethic. Paulinians are curious and intelligent, and

they work hard to achieve their goals, however big

or small they may be. Paulinians are truly glean-

ers, and it is through this that they achieve excel-

lence.

For two years, I have also been surrounded

by FFL (Filipino as a Foreign Language) students,

who are normally foreigners and students from

abroad. In my time, I learned how Paulinians are

all to all and make themselves available to others.

They don‟t treat people unequally if they are differ-

ent—they learn to embrace each other‟s unique-

ness and help each other through it.

The GIFT (Giftedness Instruction for Talent

Development) program shows how talented and

diverse Paulinians are. They do not merely focus

on academics but on honing their talents as well.

Then there was „Sister TA‟, which I always

thought meant something like „Sister Teacher As-

sistant‟. It always sounded like a position, but in

high school I found out it actually stood for Sister

Teresita Agana, SPC, our principal. A name I never

really paid attention to turned out to be one of the

most influential ones in my life. Sister TA taught

me how Paulinians are simple, unique, and Christ-

centered. Sister TA, along with the teachers, model

the students to become true Paulinians. After the

students themselves, they are the ones who make

Paulinian education unique and set it apart from

the rest.

From this, I must say that we have one mis-

take: we think that the education defines the com-

munity. I now think that the community, on the

contrary, defines the education.

AMBIGUOUS ACRONYMS

WHO CAN? AQIB KHAN! “West Is West” is one of the recent films that still has the rare ability to have both comedic value and depth. It tells the story of an abused, rebellious and snarky boy named Sajid. As the film rolls, the audience sees more of Sajid and his family—each member with his or her own gloomy story. They learn to face and deal with things such as racism, sacrifices, grown-up love, family and most of all, change. Despite its rather heavy themes, “West Is West” is a promising movie you won’t get bored with as it strikes the perfect balance between drama and comedy. The movie begins by introducing the audience to Sajid (played by Aqib Khan), a boy who gets beat up in school for being Pakistani and is also verbally abused at home by his father for not being Pakistani enough. Being one of the very few Pakistani people in England and be-ing his racist peers’ personal punching bag, Sajid reacts like a normal teenager would: he curses at his own par-ents, steals, breaks the law, and everything else an abused, angsty teenager is likely to do. However, Khan’s acting makes it clear that his character is not a bad person but s simply angry with himself and angry at everyone around him because of how he is treated. Al-though Khan’s portrayal may make Sajid appear rude and arrogant, he still manages to show Sajid’s fragile side through his subtle reactions which may be small, but shows a lot. Aqib Khan’s acting skills further make themselves known in the movie when Sajid’s father brings him to Pakistan to learn about his heritage and family. When he first arrives, Sajid belittles the locals and makes offen-sive racist jokes about them. Khan does extremely well in playing this obnoxious side of Sajid that you’d proba-bly fear that his side of him is all he can portray. This young talent proves us wrong and makes his portrayal of his character even more greatly commendable to-wards the end of the film since he has the uncanny ability to move the audience and evoke all at once sev-eral emotions from them. I personally applaud him being able to show such powerful acting, even at a young age. Throughout Sajid’s story that is shown in West Is West, you’ll be on a rollercoaster ride of emotions. You’ll be cracking up at Sajid’s dark sense of humor, empa-thizing with him, and just feel yourself being brought into his story. Aqib Khan’s performance in this film is definitely praiseworthy, and what I believe is only the beginning of his career as a successful actor. He is go-ing places for his portrayal, and will no doubt be com-mended for making this movie one that delivers.

CAUGHT RED-HANDED Whn’o phdrd? Oh phamf gnndmdoo, I phnqghp rnq wnqkd bd someone from that wolf hunting group. They never leave me and Granny alone. You can call me Red. R-E-D, jqop kifd lr cknaf. I fmnw ip’o a bip silly, but the color red repels wolves and Granny never lets me go any-whdrd wiphnqp ip. Sgdafimg ne wnkvdo, dn cnld im! Ip’o mnp oaed nqp phdrd—mnp whdm phd eqkk lnnm’o qg amd phd fikkdr wnke cnqkd bd amrwhdrd righp now.

Ip’o bddm a whikd oimcd amrnmd’o cnld pn vioip qo, rnq fmnw. Why, the last person who ever came to see me was...Peter. He-uh, I guess you could say he was more than a close friend of mine. In fact...well, as a matter of fact I loved him.

Why did he stop coming, you ask? Well, we found out that the wolf was actually half-human and half-wolf...a werewolf, people call it. Amd akk phd ckqdo gnimpdd pn Pdpdr. I cnqkdm’p bdkidvd ip ap eirop—Peter, a wnke? Ip wao ilgnooibkd. Bqp I cnqkdm’p riof hil hqrpimg amrnmd nr amr-one hurting him. So last full moon, I chained him up to a tree so when he turned into a wolf he would be safe. And that was the most foolish thing I have ever done. Bdcaqod Pdpdr waom’p phd wdrdwnke. It was me. Little Red Riding Hood. I was the wolf. Who wnqkd’vd phnqghp? Oh, gkdaod dnm’p bd erighpdmdd! I-I wnm’p hqrp rnq! Ip’o jqop phap I waom’p wdarimg phd cknaf phap mighp, amd phio cknaf io phd nmkr phimg phap fddgo ld ernl pqrmimg impn a wnke. I...I dnm’p dvdm rdldlbdr dnimg ip. Nn. Dnm’p dvdm prr pn pdkk ld ip’o gnimg pn bd akrighp! Hnw io ip, im amr war, cnmoiddrdd “akrighp” pn fikk phd gdronm rnq knvd? Tn rig hio body apart into shreds? Tell me, what else does that make me but a mon-ster? Who knows how much people have died because of me, how many kivdo I’vd pafdm awar, wiphnqp ld dvdm fmnwimg ip? I ohnqkd bd fikkdd. Iom’p phap whap I ddodrvd? I’l onrrr...ip’o jqop phap I’vd bddm phio war oimcd...oimcd I fikkdd Peter. Since I killed the man I cared for the most. My true love. And I dnm’p fmnw whap pn dn mnw. I dnm’p fmnw whap I al amrlnrd.

I should be better, stronger than this. The moment I really truly bdkidvd phap I’l a lnmopdr...phap’o whdm I’kk bdcnld nmd. Thd nmkr war I cam cnmprnk phd wnke io br accdgpimg ip ao a garp ne ld, righp? I cam’p kdp phio go on this way. I need to transform again—but this time I will learn how to rdoiop. I dnm’p fmnw hnw...bqp I havd pn prr. Sparpimg pnmighp.

Amd ie I wdrd rnq, I wnqkdm’p jqop bd oippimg phdrd. Thd eqkk lnnm’o opikk ohimimg amd ip’o wnke’o pild... ard rnq aeraid ne phd big, bad wolf?

[starts to take off the cloak] Run.