DepEd partners with Akademiyang Bisaya

The season for doing an awareness campaign about the dreaded Dengue Fever is when the rainy season comes. But it is more than obvious that the rainy season hasn't left us until now. Hence, tonight, Straight from the Sky brings you what all the Rotary Clubs of Cebu have been doing to help our poor fight the Dengue scourge.

All the participating Rotary Clubs (even a Lions Club) and many other medical organizations have banded together to spread an insecticide called Abate, which is a Lar-vicide Temephos. This is an imported insecticide in granules that settles in stagnant water and even if the pond dries up, it is still potent. When the rains return to flood a pond, it would still kill the mosquitoes that breed in that pond. But while this is expensive, the best part is that, it is harmless to humans or animals.

All these organizations farmed out to all the depressed areas of Metro Cebu to put Larvicide Temephos in the already identified areas that breeds the Dengue mosquito. My own Rotary Club, the Rotary Club of Cebu (Mother) with some of our members went to Sitio Panagsama, Basak San Nicholas to do this.

Perhaps the problem why the Dengue scourge hasn't left us is because the resi-dents of their respective communities really do not lift a finger to help fight Dengue. If the Rotary Clubs International was successful in eliminating the dreaded polio virus, which the eyes cannot even see, there is no reason why we can't lick Dengue because we can very well see the mosquitoes.

To give us a background of what the Rotary Clubs of Cebu and other medical or-ganizations are doing about Dengue, we have with us Dr. Wyben Briones, past president of the Cebu Medical Society and liaison for the Dengue Task Force with Rotary Interna-tional; Dr. Cheryl Bullo, president of the Philippine Pediatric Society for Cebu, Central and Eastern Visayas; and Rotary Governor Ted Locson of District 3860. As of this writ-ing, Dr. Briones gave me a report that after our exercise, there has been a sharp reduction in Dengue patients in our hospitals. So watch this very interesting show tonight on Sky-Cable's channel 15 at 8:00pm.

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As I mentioned earlier, the first line of defense in the fight to eliminate the Den-gue virus is through our own initiatives. We cannot wait for others to do this for us. As the old saying goes, "For evil to flourish, it is enough for good men to do nothing!" This quotation is also applicable for my next topic, where last Friday morning, I went to Ecotech Pavilion for the formal launching of the Mother Tongue-Based Multi-Lingual Education (MTB-MLE). It was also the second founding anniversary and induction of officers of the Language Translators of the Akademiyang Bisaya, Inc. (ABI).

Researchers looking for reforms in our Educational system have found out that children learn faster while using their native languages or their Mother Tongues. Being a language activist, I have already written about this in length in previous columns. Finally a couple of years ago, the Arroyo Administration adopted the Multi-Lingual Educational (MLE) system, which under the Aquino administration has become DepEd Order No.74, which means this will become a reality very soon.

For many centuries, Cebuano was never formally taught in our schools, especially during the 400 years we were under Spanish rule and in the 50-year American rule. When we finally got our Independence in July 4, 1946, just when we thought that finally Filipi-nos could freely speak their native tongues, another ethnic group tried to impose their own language to all the peoples who live in the Philippine archipelago.

Yes, I'm referring to the Tagalog language that many self-professed nationalists say that it should be the national language. Hence by doing so, they have the effect of eradicating our native tongues, the language spoken by our forefathers. Remember, with-out a language we have no culture; without a culture we have no identity. So you ask yourself: Are Filipinos a Tagalog-speaking nation? Yes, but only in Metro Manila. The rest of the Philippines have 170 native languages. We are a culturally-diverse nation.

In his opening remarks, Atty. Jesus "Sonny" Garcia Jr., chairman of the Board of the Akademiyang Bisaya said, "This launching seems like we are doing a step backward, especially in the age of globalization. But in reality, we are strengthening the learning process for our youth so that they too can join the globalize world." As DepEd Regional Director Recaredo Borgonia said that the DepEd is now in the process of implementing order no.74, hence it has partnered with the Akademiyang Bisaya, Inc. in order to ensure a uniformity in what Cebuano words we should teach our children. Cordova Mayor Ade-lino Sitoy ABI President has proven that this works in his town.