Winners with the word

Exactly a week ago, the annual Public Speaking Finals was conducted by the English Speaking Union, Philippines chapter, or ESU-Phil, in UP Diliman for the selection of the Philippine representative to the ESU 2008 International Public Speaking Competition to be held next month in London.

The eight finalists came from five schools and universities: UP Diliman, St. Paul University of Manila, Far Eastern University, Paref-Woodrose School, and Philippine Science High School.

Congratulations to the youngest among the finalists, Gian Karlo Dapul, an incoming senior high school student at PSHS, who emerged as first-place winner, thus earning the right to represent our country in London.

Declared second and third place winners and alternates, respectively, were UP Diliman students Carla Nicole Sia of the School of Social Science and Philosophy and Jo Javan Cerda who’s majoring in Journalism.

The judges were composed of ESU-Phil board members, namely Ambassador Cesar Bautista (Chairman); Dr. Marlu Vilches, Dean of the School of Humanities, Ateneo de Manila University (President); Dr. Lourdes Montinola, Chair of Far Eastern University; John Hawkins; this writer, who served as chair of the board of judges; Sharms Pamanand of the Ateneo Debate Society; Celeni Guinto of the UP Debate Society, who represented the Philippines in the London competition two years ago; and Patricia Evangelista, our representative in 2004, and who bested all other contestants to emerge as the ISPC grand prize winner that year.  

The judges have high hopes for Gian Dapul, a budding scientist whose speech had very interesting ideas that uniquely interpreted this year’s contest theme of “New Horizons, New Frontiers.”

Gian will be leaving for London on May 4 to participate in the international competition that attracts as many as 65 contestants from over 50 countries affiliated with the English Speaking Union. As in previous years, his travel sponsor is Pilipinas Shell, through the kindness of ESU-Phil board member Ed Chua.

ESU-Phil is also grateful for the substantial help of the UP Debate Society that spearheaded the initial screening of the finalists, in conjunction with the inter-school debate events it organized and hosted over that weekend. Our special thanks go to Ms. Jez Magpantay, who coordinated with ESU-Phil.

We must also express our gratitude to the British Council Manila, in particular its director Andrew Picken, for its generous support for the event.

In the next few weeks, our international contestant Gian Dapul will have the privilege of undertaking coaching sessions with prominent writers who have knowledge of what it takes to figure prominently in the London competition, namely Dr. Butch Dalisay, who has served as president of ESU-Phil, as well as Dr. Jimmy Abad of UP and Ed Maranan, who served for many years as Information Officer in our embassy in London. 

Gian will also profit from initial hosting in the UK offered by ESU-Phil pioneer Loline Reed, who has always gone out of her way to assure the comfort of our student-representatives before and during the competition.

She recently communicated that our Ambassador to the Court of St. James, Hon. Edgardo Espiritu, has been looking forward to welcoming ESU-Phil’s international contestant for 2008. In fact, Loline plans to arrange a practice delivery by Gian Dapul of his intended speech in the presence of the good ambassador and his senior staff.

Congratulations once again to Gian Karlo Dapul, and good luck in London in May.

Another interesting contest having to do with the power of the word came up with some excellent specimens conducted in a traditional Tagalog poetic form. Recently, the Filipinas Institute of Translation, Inc. (FIT) announced the third-week winners, for the month of March, of the “Katext Mo Sa Katotohanan” (Your Text Mate For Truth) text poetry writing contest.

Chaired by National Artist for Literature Virgilio S. Almario, the judging panel that included UP Institute of Creative Writing director Vim Nadera and Joey Baquiran of Unyon ng Manunulat sa Pilipinas (UMPIL) selected a “dalit” by Virgilio S. Dionisio as the top winner. Cited were the submission’s “poetic logic and matter-of-fact statement on the bleak consequence of pathological lying by smart people.”

Here’s the poem: “Kahit ikaw ay magaling/ Kung ikaw ay sinungaling,/ Mabubuhay ka sa dilim/ Puso’y laging naninimdim.” 

Other winners included theater maestro Frank G. Rivera (“N-aku at kinampihan pa/ E-ngot na Korte Suprema!/ R-aket mapagtatakpan na/ I-syung ngayo’y nagbabaga.”); Rene Concepcion (“Parang mga paruparo/ Iyang hanap mong totoo:/ Iiwas ‘pag tinugis mo,/ Agwata’t darapo sa ‘yo.”); Noel T. Fortun (“Anak, kung puso mo’y huwad,/ Tansong sa ginto’y binabad,/ Lilitaw ang pagpapanggap/ Kapag tinunaw sa alab.”); and German Gervacio (“d2 n me wer n b u?/ Ol r clsmyts r hir n 2,/ w8 u ayala avenue,/ dnt 4get placard: TRUTH!-S.U.”)

The judges commented: “By using the SMS vocabulary, acrostics, humor, and concrete images and metaphorical language, the other winning poems evade the didactic tendencies of most of the entries. By doing so, these texting poets are modernizing the traditional and strict mode of the dalit (quatrain of mono-rhyming eight syllabic lines).”

Winners for the previous week were led by German Gervacio, with Alexander Martin Remollino, Mario C. Lamar, Tata Raul Funilas and Fernando Gonzalez as consolation-prize winners.

Thousands of texters sent entries via SMS cellphone technology from as far away as Hongkong and Guam. Hundreds more opted to use the e-mail. The contest had a very contemporary theme: the value of telling the truth. Weekly winners received prizes of P2,000 each, while consolation-prize winners received certificates.

Bravo to the Filipinas Institute of Translation for initiating these poetry texting contests. Interested parties can receive alerts for future themes and poetic formats by contacting Romy Baquiran at 0928-3056497 or e-mailing dalitext@yahoo.com.