Sunday, June 20, 2010

As A Journalist

Journalism is a work of gathering news for or producing a newspaper, magazine or news broadcast. As an art, according to Alito Malinao, a Filipino journalist, it is the ability of telling story in a concise and simple manner as possible.

Being a journalist you are more than a chronicle of human events. You are, in a sense, a catalyctic being, articulating issues, identifying problems and if competent enough, offer solutions. As keeper of a journal you do not just report or interpret; but make a stand or become active participant in pursuing vital issues and provide thinking on areas of concern.

Of course, primary here is the knowledge of a particular tongue. You need to have a good command of a language to become a good journalist. And generally, English, as a universal language is the common medium in mass communication in almost all modern countries.

At the outset, beginning my journalism career, I started as a disc-jockey in a radio station (NBC-DXYZ) in 1977, then, went on as broadcaster/reporter until 1982. I joined DXGD in 1996 in the same capacity, while being cub reporter in a weekly tabloid-Tawi-Tawi Times. Later, the community paper folded and my training had just begun in the print media, although, my appointment to a government radio network, PBS-Radyo ng Bayan in Tawi-Tawi (1998-2001) as a broadcast journalist even appended my media experience in both print and broadcast journalism.

However, I felt the challenge of being a press man and the defunct weekly I was with was a trouncing defeat, to my journalism interest. So, I decided to put my own, the Tawi-Tawi Mirror, in 1997 and still runs today.

From its news reporter, writer, editor- Tawi-Tawi Mirror- was likely a one-man job of me circulating weekly in its earlier years. Of course, with professional writers around contributing articles and having their opinion columns, the paper went on against all odds, especially, on its financial flow. Today, it maintains its bi-monthly issues with a new role as a public service- oriented publication on a break-even capability- for the sake of information dissemination to the people.

On the other hand, Reenafezrah Publishing and Technical Training Center, carrying the task of print journalism in this southern frontier of the Philippines, has been stereotyped as a news center in Tawi-Tawi in coordination with the broadcast industry.

Aside from its news task, Reenafezrah Publishing has conducted refresher classes on journalism aimed at enhancing the writing skills of interested would-be journalists, in its modest capacity. Its brainchild, a book on ENGLISH-MALAY-FILIPINO-TAUSUG: PLAIN AND SIMPLE is dedicated to people who placed language a priority to succeed in life.

Friday, June 18, 2010

As A Teacher-Instructor

Being an educator is rewarding, it is a profession that people take their hats off you because of the appreciation that you are an instrument in building a future generation of good citizens in the society.

Noble as it is, an educator produces professionals such as doctors, lawyers, engineers, journalists, military, politicians and all sorts of profession, although, in the process some might end up the opposite and become the maladies of the society.

Of course, this is not what an educator wants it to be. Probably fate takes its natural intervention on some un-blessed souls giving them the path of life unbecoming, aside from one’s gusto to be an opposite of the breed of good men and women in the society.

I was a teacher-instructor of an English language in two educational institutions (Zamboanga A.E. Colleges, Zamboanga City and Mindanao State University, Tawi-Tawi) in the early stage of my professional career. And I am proudly happy to have been part of a system that molded the exultant outcome of my former students, most of whom are now successful.

At the outset, my teaching which taught me more experiences and added my language proficiency did not end with my leaving institutional attachment, although, I have chosen another career -broadcasting/news papering – I still maintain this prestigious profession.

In 2006, the biggest break to my prowess in lingo came when a foreign-based language school tapped me to handle an immersion class on a southern language and its culture, in Manila. It was a small yearly class of one month until 2008, composed of foreign students with amazing package.

Among the package includes free hotel accommodation, airfare and a fabulous remuneration compared to half of the year earnings of an ordinary government employee. The class was a jolly experience with happy-go-lucky foreign professionals who studied language in the day and gigged in the nightlife of mega Manila, too.

The scheduled immersion class for June 2009 was definitely canceled for some reasons I did not know. I just hope another batch comes.

In a sense, knowledge of language, any of it, paves way for success. So why not learn any language and make it as bread and butter, impart and teach it for a living? It is a good option, you know! You can succeed.

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

As A Salesman

My first job after finishing college was the challenging world of sales marketing. A newbie in the job, I had to undergo several trainings and workshop to fully understand it. But because I have that skill in English language, albeit not in excellence, it was easy for me to go with the flow of the nature and demand of the job. All what was needed is a strategy, prowess and articulation to convince people of the things you offer.

I was in money marketing, insurance, and the most challenging of it all, was the selling of air to clients. Mind you guys, selling air? You might ask what a unique business it was. But getting commercial advertisements for a broadcast radio station demands the eloquence to convince commercial establishments to advertise their products on air. I excelled this and pulled several ads for DXYZ, an AM station that was so popular in the early 80s, in Zamboanga City.

The fact that I sent my boss twice to free and sponsored vacations to Baguio city as a reward from the top management in the head office in Manila, for topping local sales among network stations of Nation Broadcasting Corporation, was a feat. This I owe to speaking a good English language that served as a tool to success.

So I urged those who still need to improve their speaking prowess to get a book entitled ENGLISH-MALAY-FILIPINO-TAUSUG: PLAIN AND SIMPLE to refresh their grammar and the opportunity to learn other foreign languages for those who already are good English language speakers and writers. We offer this as an ebook to non-residents of Philippines and a hard copy for those in PI (Philippine Island).

Sunday, June 13, 2010

Ebook on Malay, Filipino and Tausug Languages

English, Malay, Filipino and Tausug: Plain and Simple with Wordlist was written for people who wish to obtain basic learning skills, on a self-study basis, of speaking and writing simple English, Malay, Filipino and Tausug languages. This book aims to equip its user with the basic learning process, as a beginner, who is convinced of the value, importance and advantages of knowing the richness of a language. It is probably, a material of its first kind that contains four lingoes and wordlist with respective equivalents, combined as a package into one resourceful guide book for learning, speaking, and writing basic English, Malay, Filipino, and Tausug languages.

At the outset, Philippines and Malay - speaking countries such as Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore have been closely attached to one another. Not only on the basis of their ancestral traces but on account that, as neighbors, they have formed their economic alliance as the East Asian Growth Areas aside from their ties as members of the ASEAN communities. Its peoples, having been of the opportunities to visiting each others country, were only equipped with their English lingo and their mother tongue.

Now, it is the objective of this simple edition that English, Malay, Filipino and Tausug languages are brought forth into a basic and simplified form for plain, easy and concise learning in speaking and writing these languages.

Although, this book does partly explain the grammar, however, it is more on a translation and equivalent of words in each language per se and the whole processes are generally explained by way of examples which ascertain direct understanding and easy application of the languages by its user. Whereas, the order of the process of conversation and dialogue and the lessons are first given in English followed by Malay, Filipino and Tausug. Thus, I am confident that each and every reader will find this guide book very helpful in learning English, Malay, Filipino and Tausug, quickly and easily.
In view, there may be errors and omissions in the presentation of this work for which the writer takes full responsibility. Comments, criticisms, and suggestions are encouraged in order to improve its future edition.

Saturday, June 12, 2010

My Early Days in Sabah

Malaysia’s east cost State of Sabah has been the paradise of indigent Filipinos in the early times even as it was still a British North Borneo in the early 50s. This timber-rich territory has already been a labor destination of most Filipinos who hardly thrived in their quest to improve their living in the country of their origin. And they found North Borneo, a timber State of Malaysia as profound haven for a trail of fortune.

Timber industry was Sabah’s center of economy then and early Filipino settlers were captivated by this flourishing opportunity. And in their quest for a better living, were blown by a wind of change to this rich east Malaysian territory in a pursuit of a perceived prosperity.

Among those enthralled by this prospect was my father who came to be one of the early settlers to work in a British North Borneo Timber Company in Silam. I was then five years old when my mother decided to follow suit a year after and joined my father in 1960. My first taste of Borneo water was the time we docked at Lahad Datu timber port for quarantine and immigration procedure. My young mind annoyed with the new surrounding, and perhaps, the long days and nights travel from Tawi-Tawi to Lahad Datu until we docked was another reason either. But my first taste of Borneo water refreshed my feeling of annoyance. I was relaxed in the procedure until I met my father.

On its water, a popular adage among Filipinos says that “one who has tasted Sabah water surely keeps coming back, again and again.” This seems to be true, because when my mother brought me home for my studies, I never thought that I could be back to Sabah anew. Yet, I surely did after my graduation from college. And I keep returning to Sabah every now and then to visit relatives and refresh my Malay language while talking to Sabahans. It was in my early age of five when I learned my second language.

In fact, I could have been a Sabahan with my supposed family if my elopement with the girl or a woman I dearly loved sometime in the early 80s was not aborted. Maybe she wasn't just brave enough to pursue our plans to elope to Sabah for some reasons that her parents did cause. Or perhaps fate just did not bless that love to become a solemn matrimony.

Nonetheless, undocumented Filipinos today, even after having been apprehended for illegal stay, served jail term and repatriated kept going back to Sabah. The reason maybe is the water, and certainly, they have proven unto themselves the better living in their own acclaimed paradise even as illegal immigrants.

In my young memory, I still recall how Silam looked like in the early 60s. How my family and other Filipino settlers lived a life in a swampy area in Silam with nothing in mind but to find fortune to improve life. Indeed, things were quite difficult at first but the urge of improving one’s living standard was so great that amidst all odds, we overwhelmed hardship and in return was paid off with little glory. Thank God and North Borneo.

The early settlers have improved their lives, of course, to include ours, until the timber company left and the batch of settlers has chosen to remain for another challenge. These settlers who were living in Semporna, Lahad Datu, Silam and Sandakan eventually became immigrant-natives who were later given red identification cards when North Borneo officially joined the Federation of Malaya in the mid 60s and later named Sabah when it was formally incorporated as the 13th Federal State of Malaysia in the later part of the 60s.

On the other hand, the State of Sabah has gone really far since then. It has giant-leaped its development. The breed of leaders has brought Sabah to what it is today, a modern State with a strong economy. Kota Kinabalu, formerly Jesselton, the capital, is now a modern city with a vast and highly industrialized economy and a booming hotel and tourism industry. And yet, more are expected to be done for Sabah from the brainchild of its brilliant leaders.

In June 2006, an entourage of Tawi-Tawi provincial officials visited Sandakan, Sabah, on invitation of its local leaders to grace Sandakan’s yearly festival. No less than Tawi-Tawi Provincial Governor, Hadji Sadikul A. Sahali headed the delegation. The event has given the Tawi-Tawi governor and Sabah Chief Minister Datuk Haji Musa Haji Aman the opportunity to meet each other, for the first time, and shared views of interest paramount to their areas. Both leaders appreciated the friendly ties of their governments and pledged to maintain the mutual understanding of the two neighbors.

Malaysia and the Philippines are members of the BIMP-EAGA polygon. Trade and Commerce between the two neighbors have flourished. Exchanged visitation among business groups of Tawi-Tawi and Sabah have been carried out and Memorandum of Understanding (MOUs) were already in place.

Sandakan’s open port has been the entry point of Tawi-Tawi visitors and the latter has also served as entry point of Sabah visitors. This is a manifestation that both neighbors have mutual understanding, although at times, these mutual ties have been troubled by illegal immigrant issues of Filipinos in Malaysia. However, this dilemma has been handled cautiously in respect to laws applicable to each country and has never damaged the common interest of both neighbors.

From the view of a foreigner, Sabah thrives and far going ahead in terms of modernization and development. Its breed of brilliant leaders has taken bold steps into making this east territory of Malaysia a State at par with other contemporary.

It is a paradise of most Filipinos.