Speaking English in London

A Filipino teener might do us proud anew in London by next month. And he would have all the chances to do this simply by speaking effective English.

The steering committee of the Philippines applicant chapter of the English Speaking Union successfully staged the inter-university finals of the public speaking contest at the UP Faculty Center Conference Hall on March 22. The venue was provided by UP College of Arts and Sciences Dean Dr. Rose Torres-Yu, while the proceedings were moderated by UP Associate Dean Wendell Capili.

Thirteen contestants who had won in the intra-university round involving five major universities in Metro Manila competed in the finals. They were Arnell Cabangon, Diane Roa and Rebekah Roque of University of the Philippines; Jun Amanzee and Eric de la Cruz of University of Santo Tomas; Patricia de Castro, Miguel Tensean and Natalline Umali of De La Salle University; Ryan Buenafe and Rose Lyn Rabanera of Far Eastern University; and Ellamae Jade Chua, Mary Anne Fajardo and Mahar Mangahas of Ateneo de Manila University.

The contestants spoke for five minutes each on the topic of "Ecology and Economy," and responded to questions from the judges after their respective oral presentations.

The judging panel was composed of CCI-Asia chair and cable television content provider Carlos Abrera, MTRCB member and actress Jackie Aquino Gavino, Sanctum (Intramuros) Poetry Slam organizer and performance poet Triccia David, US Embassy cultural attaché Dr. Thomas Kral, Philippine Star Lifestyle columnist Panjee Tapales Lopez, Star Cinema creative manager and stage and movie actor Ward Luarca, and Chalk magazine editor-in-chief and commercial model Romina Urra.

Tying for third place were Eric de la Cruz of UST and Rose Lyn Rabanera of FEU. Earning second place was ADMU’s Mahar Mangahas, while copping first place was FEU’s Ryan "K.C." Buenafe.

ESU-Phil will send Buenafe and Mangahas as the official Philippine representatives to the ESU-sponsored International Public Speaking Competition to be held in London from May 14 to 18.

Mangahas is an incoming AB English Literature sophomore, a member of the Ateneo Debating Society, and is of course the son of SWS head honcho Mahar Mangahas, albeit Mahar the Younger has never appended a Junior to his name.

Buenafe is an incoming AB Mass Communications freshman, and is also with the debating team at FEU. In fact, he was scheduled to go with the team to Bangkok in mid-May to compete in a regional debating competition. But now he’s been pulled out to represent the Philippines in London instead.

Coordinators for the inter-university public speaking contest included Dr. Guillermo Pesigan of the Ateneo English Department, Malu Madrunio and Ferdie Lopez of UST, Joeven R. Castro of FEU, and Geraldo "Bombit" Largoza and Gail G. Totañes of DLSU.

Among the members of the ESU-Phil steering committee are Dr. Gémino H. Abad and Wendell Capili of UP; English Department chair Dr. Isabel Martin and Ateneo Center for Language Training (ACELT) chair Dr. Marlu Vilches of ADMU; Dr. Lourdes Bautista of DLSU; University chair Dr. Lourdes Montinola and English Department chair Dr. Miriam Garcia of FEU; Center for Creative Writing and Studies chair Dr. Ophelia A. Dimalanta of UST; and this convenor.

British Council director Gill Westaway and Dr. Thomas Kral of the US Embassy are expected to join the committee to lend their expertise for the furtherance of the Philippines‚ application to become an official country chapter of the English Speaking Union. Also expected to represent the British Alumni Association (BAA) of the Philippines in the committee is Elcid Pangilinan.

An independent, non-political, educational charity, the English-Speaking Union has been at the forefront of efforts to propagate, promote and enhance English-language use throughout the world. Its patron is Her Majesty the Queen, while its president is HRH Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. Director General Valerie Mitchell, OBE, manages the ESU, which has its headquarters at Dartmouth House on Charles St. in London.

ESU has chapters from practically all of the American states and UK’s geographical units, as well as 43 countries. The latest chapters to be incorporated are those of Hong Kong and Thailand.

Chapter membership is granted after an 18-month process from the time a potential country chapter commits to join and initiates efforts for the purpose. For the Philippines, these efforts began with the formation of the steering committee and the staging of the Public Speaking contest for college students from 16 to 20 years of age.

ESU-Phil is now preparing to send the first Philippine contestants to the international competition.

Who knows? If Lea Salonga can make it so famously at the West End, surely a Filipino speaker can also distinguish himself in the very cradle of the English language.

Three recently released titles we received demand appreciation. The first is The Glassblower and Other Poems by Rodolfo R. Magsarili, a lawyer by profession and a gentleman-farmer with landholding stakes in San Juan, Batangas, Naga City and Baguio City.

Some of the 46 poems in this first collection have appeared in Sunday Times Magazine, Saturday Mirror, Philippine Panorama, and The Detroit News in the United States. The author’s maturity and manifold experiences lend invaluable sources for his craft. His themes display a wide range of concerns and interests, as gleaned from his poems‚ titles – from an "Executive Suite" to a "Boardinghouse," from "Snowfall" to the native "Salambaw," "The Mat Weavers of Leyte." "An Igorot Warrior in Wood," and "Benares: The Holy City." Several paeans to nature form the bulk of the collection: "Dandelions," "Tulips," "Bamboo," "Planting Peas," The Mud Skipper," and "The Humpback Whale."

The title poem is well chosen. "At the start of day,/ his workplace/ Assumes a carnival air. Carousels coast/ On rails stacked with wares while he,/ Whose bloodlines run back to jugglers,/ Fire-eaters and sword swallowers,/ With sleight-of-hand weaves blobs/ Of syrup into hula-hoops and figure eights./ Well-aimed puffs of his blowgun freeze time/ At shutter-speed and, lo! out roll confections/ Of candied breaths – from squat bowls/ To goose neck tiffanies – to famished eyes/ A truly sumptuous feast afloat in pools/ Of light whose prisms clash like tambourines."

Premier poet Cirilo F. Bautista assesses Magsarili’s fine dedication to tight, determined verse thus: "Poetry and law are an unusual combination, but Rodolfo Magsarili seems to have found a way to deal with it productively and honestly. The legal and the poetic cohere in one imagination to express facets of emotions and ideas in a highly charged language – urgent, incisive, and at times impatient. Like a glassblower, Magsarili shapes various realities into objects of verbal enjoyment."

Our colleague at the MTRCB, Dr. Rustica C. Carpio, has recently come out with a couple of excellent additions to Filipiniana, both courtesy of the UST Publishing House.

Readings in Literature collects her admirable essays, speeches, and commentary on literature. Part One is subtitled "Values and Virtues," and includes reviews on books by such authors as Boris Pasternak, Sinclair Lewis, our very own Jose Quirino, Simone de Beauvoir, and Violette Leduc, among the distinguished names.

Part Two: "Views and Reviews" dwells on the works of N.V.M. Gonzalez, Arthur Miller, Wallace Stevens, Modern Japanese Short Stories, and several non-fiction books, like The Gates of the Forest by Elie Wiesel.

Here’s a sample of Carpio’s erudite exegesis: "It is not characteristic of (N.V.M.) Gonzalez to be macaronic. Nor does he display bravura, like many a writer does. If, every once in a while, his stories are formed into a crust of a moribund world, if he intertwines and interlinks concatenation of happiness and sadness, he is never verbose. He only pictures faithfully the cycle and the dimensions of life. Is this why some say Gonzalez’ works are flat and dull? Even in his most dramatic works, the writer underwrites, never overwrites; he dramatizes, never over-dramatizes; he makes use of tangential statements and indirections. His gentle, compassionate humor mingles and blends beautifully with his subtle irony. It is in the nature of the artist that he does not get over-emotional or sensational."

Carpio’s other title, Life is a Stage, combines her informative takes on world theater – "Folk Drama in India," "The Moro-Moro in Perspective," "Japanese Classical Theater," "Some Perspectives on Drama: East and West" – and ruminations on "The Power of the Spoken Word," "Man and Communication," "Drama and the World of Education," and her travels to India, Japan, and the Philippine countryside.

Carpio has the expertise, having distinguished herself as an academician, a performing artist of stage, film and television, and as a writer and translator. She still lectures at PUP, UST and FEU, where she serves as the executive director of the President’s Committee on Culture. Her poems have been set to music and are currently being recorded in the United States.

Her latest books are worthy additions to any library.