HAD Vice President Sara Duterte simply answered Sen. Risa Hontiveros' query about her book, she may just have been spared from all the fanfare and social media noise about her book \"Isang Kaibigan.\" All she needed to say was that the book was about friendship.<\/p>\r\r
And that while her office is requesting for government to subsidize its printing and distribution to children, and that she would be extremely grateful if the Senate would endorse it to the House of Representatives, that in the end, it is the prerogative of the Senate.<\/p>\r\r
That would have been the end of the story.<\/p>\r\r
Instead, Duterte went on the offensive. She accused Hontiveros of politicizing the budget hearing. She further alleged that Hontiveros' line of questioning was primarily triggered by the fact that Duterte's name appeared in the book, which would be distributed to children. And worst of all, Duterte practically accused Hontiveros of being an ingrate for turning her back on former president Duterte after he helped her win in the 2016 elections.<\/p>\r\r\r<\/figcaption>\r<\/figure>\r\r
VP Sara's outburst has only placed her book front, top and center with many people, not just the senators; now everyone is curious about what was in that book that is worth P10 million of people's hard-earned monies.<\/p>\r\r
And now we know. The book is a 16-page illustrated fable telling the story of an owl who lost his home but was helped by his friends to recover from the tragedy. Upfront, there is nothing extraordinary or controversial in this book, which Duterte said would be freely distributed to children in school to help them appreciate reading. After all, this is a noble intention and would be laudable until people began going through the pages, reading the texts and scrutinizing the graphic images.<\/p>\r\r
And it is here that people began noticing things that were not right. Some people alluded to the possibility that the material may have actually been plagiarized, which Duterte has vehemently denied.<\/p>\r\r
Others pointed to the apparently glaring misuse of words. Two examples: the book appeared to refer to \"Banahaw\" as a tree when it said, \"Sa lilim ng luntiang mga dahon ng Banahaw\"; and it appeared to have used \"bagbag\" when it said, \"Sa kanyang pag-iisa nabagbag ang kanyang damdamin sa kanyang sinapit,\" when what would have been more appropriate was the word \"nabagabag.\"<\/p>\r\r
It is possible that these are mere typos, where \"Banahaw\" was actually meant to be \"anahaw,\" a palm with broad leaves, and \"nabagabag\" was the word originally used.<\/p>\r\r
However, the diehard Duterte supporters (DDS) started haranguing those who questioned the appropriateness of these words in the book.<\/p>\r\r
My take on this issue is simple. The book is designed for children. Its main goal is to cultivate in them a love for reading. Thus, it should use words that are clear, precise and non-misleading.<\/p>\r\r
Indeed, there is the word \"bagbag,\" which, in addition to its being used to refer to the act of breaking rocks, of soil erosion or washout, and of wreckage or loss of ships at sea, can also apply to the state of being emotionally affected like in \"nakakabagbag-damdamin.\" However, it is also a fact that it is more pervasive and relatable to use \"nabagabag ang kanyang damdamin,\" and this is what children would probably hear more being used in ordinary conversation. Using \"nabagabag\" doesn't make the use of \"nabagbag\" wrong. It is just less confusing to children. And for a book that is designed to make them appreciate reading, there is a primordial duty to ensure that the words used are relatable, familiar and part of their everyday conversations.<\/p>\r\r
The use of the word \"Banahaw\" can actually be rationalized if it refers to the mountain, not to the tree. \"Sa lilim ng luntiang mga dahon ng Banahaw\" can, in fact, be construed as \"Under the shades of the green forest canopy of Mt. Banahaw,\" with \"mga dahon\" being liberally construed as referring not to the foliage of a tree, but the forest canopy in a mountain. Had the DDS used this as a line of defense, it would have been more acceptable.<\/p>\r\r
But the cultish DDS doubled down on their claim that there is a tree named Banahaw and even accused those of us who insisted that there is none, of being ignorant, stupid and having low IQ. They found ammunition in an academic paper authored by two scholars from the Southern Luzon State University (SLSU) and a third one from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) that was published in the Journal of Environmental Science and Management last year, which mentioned a tree species found in Banahaw the scientific name of which is Dacrycarpus cumingii (Parl.) de Laub. and whose common name the authors used was Banahaw Igem.<\/p>\r\r
The DDS had a field day parading this as if it was enough to make factual their lie that Banahaw is the name of the tree. These people are full of audacity to distort a scientific fact. The common name of Dacrycarpus cumingii (Parl.) de Laub. is Banahaw Igem. The name of the tree is not Banahaw, but Banahaw Igem, in the same way that the common name of Pinus kesiya var. langbianensis (A. Chev.) Silba is Benguet Pine, and not just Benguet.<\/p>\r\r
Igem is a tree that grows in montane forests found in higher elevations. Banahaw Igem grows in Mount Banahaw, even as Dacrycarpus cumingii (Parl.) de Laub can also be found in other places in the Philippines, as well as in Borneo and Sumatra.<\/p>\r\r
One DDS blogger patronizingly insulted me, telling me to be humble enough to admit I was wrong.<\/p>\r\r
I have, on many occasions, admitted to being wrong, including the moment I publicly apologized for enabling former president Duterte early in his term.<\/p>\r\r
Not on this one, though. It may do them well to know that, unknown to them, I have undergraduate and graduate degrees in forestry, where we actually studied trees.<\/p>","article_custom_fields":"{\"\":[\"\"],\"seo_meta_keywords\":[\"\"],\"seo_meta_description\":[\"\"],\"seo_meta_title\":[\"\"],\"sponsored_flag\":[\"\"],\"offer_flag\":[\"off\"],\"featured_article_flag\":[\"\"],\"drupal_json\":[\"{\\\"type\\\":null,\\\"properties\\\":{\\\"PUBLISHED\\\":0,\\\"PROMOTED\\\":0,\\\"STICKY\\\":0},\\\"fields\\\":[]}\"],\"wp_custom_json\":[\"{\\\"type\\\":\\\"\\\",\\\"fields\\\":[]}\"],\"article_tags\":[\"\"],\"show_image\":[\"off\"],\"Disable_Ad\":[\"off\"],\"disable_player\":[\"off\"],\"column\":[\"\"],\"kicker\":[\"\"],\"edel\":[\"\"],\"delu\":[\"\"],\"delt\":[\"Read this in The Manila Times digital edition.\"],\"premium\":[\"off\"],\"Redirect_URL\":[\"\"],\"Registration_required\":[\"off\"],\"background_image\":[\"off\"],\"page_number\":\"0\",\"initial_publication\":\"\",\"date_created\":\"2024-08-28 21:39:37\",\"date_modified\":\"2024-08-29 00:05:20\",\"last_modified_user\":\"Sherwin Arnaiz\",\"section_color\":\"\",\"target_page\":\"0\",\"cxense_metatags\":null}","cms_type":"live","author_id":241,"section_id":13,"seo_meta_keywords":"Banahaw,is,not,a,tree","seo_meta_description":"","seo_meta_title":"Banahaw is not a tree","publish_time":"2024-08-29 00:09:00","related_articles_ids":"","article_tags":"","sub_section_id":6,"visit_count":820,"sponsored_flag":0,"offer_flag":0,"featured_article_flag":0,"media_gallery_flag":0,"video_gallery_flag":0,"highlight_flag":0,"top_story_flag":0,"is_updated":0,"is_old_article":0,"old_article_id":0,"article_byline":"Antonio Contreras","ts":"2024-09-17 19:40:42","last_edited":"2024-08-29 00:05:20","alt_publish_time":"2024-08-28 21:41:41","image_path":"{\\\"image_path\\\":\\\"manilatimes\\\\\/uploads\\\\\/images\\\\\/2024\\\\\/08\\\\\/28\\\\\/396218.JPG\\\",\\\"cms_type\\\":\\\"live\\\",\\\"small_image\\\":\\\"\\\",\\\"is_updated\\\":\\\"0\\\",\\\"image_cropping\\\":\\\"{\\\\\\\"original_image\\\\\\\":{\\\\\\\"image_original_width\\\\\\\":3264,\\\\\\\"image_original_height\\\\\\\":2081,\\\\\\\"icd_image_type\\\\\\\":\\\\\\\"original_image\\\\\\\"},\\\\\\\"main_image\\\\\\\":{\\\\\\\"image_main_width\\\\\\\":1200,\\\\\\\"image_main_height\\\\\\\":764,\\\\\\\"icd_image_type\\\\\\\":\\\\\\\"main_image\\\\\\\"}}\\\",\\\"is_copied\\\":\\\"0\\\",\\\"media_type\\\":\\\"0\\\",\\\"image_caption\\\":\\\"\\\",\\\"image_alt_text\\\":\\\"\\\",\\\"image_count\\\":2}","author_name":"Antonio Contreras","section_name":"Opinion","sub_section_name":"Columns","slide_show":0,"breaking_news":0,"visit_count_update_date":"2024-09-17 19:40:42","old_cms_article_id":null,"permalink":"2024\/08\/29\/opinion\/columns\/banahaw-is-not-a-tree\/1967435","show_image_in_thumb":0,"api_status":2,"a_custom_data":"{\"exclude_from_gallery\":null,\"lead_image_id\":null}","publication_id":2,"max_publish_time":"2024-08-29 00:09:00","page_number":"","homepage_article_flag":0,"article_shortlink":null,"cropped_image":0};
HAD Vice President Sara Duterte simply answered Sen. Risa Hontiveros' query about her book, she may just have been spared from all the fanfare and social media noise about her book "Isang Kaibigan." All she needed to say was that the book was about friendship.
And that while her office is requesting for government to subsidize its printing and distribution to children, and that she would be extremely grateful if the Senate would endorse it to the House of Representatives, that in the end, it is the prerogative of the Senate.
