UP professor notes errors in VP Sara’s ‘Isang Kaibigan’

MANILA, Philippines — University of the Philippines Sentro ng Wikang Filipino (SWF) director Jayson Petras has noted some factual inconsistencies and grammatical errors in the children’s book “Isang Kaibigan,” authored by Vice President Sara Duterte, which could have been prevented had the book undergone peer review and editing.

In an interview on ABS-CBN’s “TV Patrol” on Thursday, Petras, who is also a Literature professor in UP Diliman, said that it is challenging to write a children’s story, as lots of elements must be considered, such as the simplicity of the words that should be used, the length of sentences that would complement the graphics and a topic that could be easily understood by young readers.

He said that children’s books, even if fictional, should still have factual consistency as well as proper grammar and sentence construction, as the book is still a tool to impart knowledge to the reader.

“Even if, say, the story is magical, we still want to impart knowledge to the children as readers. You are still imparting something substantial or factual, such as with how you introduce animals as characters in the story,” Petras explained.

He noted that in “Isang Kaibigan,” an owl was used or “personified” as the main character in the story with attributes not matching the actual attributes of an owl.

“It’s still important to do some research, like what type of bird are you introducing as the character in the story? For example, if your character is an owl, we know that owls or a majority of the species of owls are nocturnal. So, maybe, the setting should be at night,” Petras said.

“Another issue is the nesting area of the owl. Owls usually nest in the crevices or holes of trees and not on top of leaves or branches,” he added.

Petras also stressed the importance of using simple words and constructing sentences that are easy to understand.

“If children will be the readers, simple words should be used. You must not introduce highfalutin words, as children’s vocabulary is still limited,” he said.

Petras noted that in “Isang Kaibigan,” Duterte used the word “kagutuman” (hunger or famine) which, he said, is already a deep or heavy word for a child to understand.

He also noted one particular grammatical error in Duterte’s book.

“For example, the word sila, which is a pronoun, was used in enumerating other bird characters (in the story). It should be sina which is a specifier. So, we should also be careful with the use of our Filipino language,” Petras said.

In a statement on Wednesday, Duterte said she found it easy to write her children’s book “Isang Kaibigan” as it was based on her own experience. Thus, the Vice President said, there was no reason nor need to copy the work of anyone.

She issued the statement amid allegations that she plagiarized another children’s book, “Owly Just a Little Blue” written by American author Andy Runton.