How Naga high schools stack up

AFTER seeing a snapshot of how Philippine localities compare in terms of academic performance, how would local high schools, public and private, match up?

The image to the right captures their relative performance in the National Career Assessment Examination conducted among 4th year high school students last December.

Again, some quick observations:

1. Public schools can hold their own against private sector counterparts. This is especially true at the upper end of the spectrum, where special public high school programs (the science- and arts-oriented curricula of Camarines Sur National High School, as well as the city's own science high school, where admission policies are stringent) bested their private counterparts.

2. The Camarines Sur Polytechnic laboratory high school (formerly BCAT) and Cararayan National High School are the surprising revelation in this exam, owing to their strong performance in the middle range. They have performed better than my alma mater, UNC, as well as the other public high schools, including the regular curriculum of Cam High.

3. The situation is somewhat reversed in the lower end, as public schools like Concepcion Pequena and Tinago did not fare as well as their private counterparts.

I have reservations, though, whether a special program for the differently abled, (read: the Naga SPED), should be assessed together with all the rest. My sense is, they have special needs that deserve special attention.

If at all, the results point out which ones need to exert more efforts to do better, and where government can focus its resources to support them. The respective school administrations should take the initiative here, as exemplified by Tinago High which called a PTA meeting after these results became public.

Your own take on this data will be appreciated, as usual.

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How Philippine localities stack up in education

WANT to have an idea how the various cities and provinces in the Philippines stack up in terms of academic performance?

The image to the right summarizes the results of the National Career Assessment Examination (NCEA), which the Department of Education administered to graduating high school students in December 2006, both from public and private schools. The results were released last May.

Some quick observations:

1. Urban areas generally fared better than rural areas, as city schools divisions outshone their provincial counterparts. Access to bigger local resources, like the Special Education Fund (SEF) tax money, is probably one of the factors here.

2. Being a city helps, but it doesn't guarantee high performance. For instance, only Makati and Marikina among the NCR cities barged into the top 15, showing that academic performance is not all about the money.

3. Provincial divisions can do well. Exhibit "A" would be the Samar-Leyte provinces: they are not resource rich but they have done very well, taking four of the top 10 and six of the top 15.

4. Our little effort to improve education in Naga City acquited itself well, I think. The city placed ranked 8th among 103 city schools divisions, and 14th among 188 city and provincial schools divisions. By comparison, the next best city schools division in the Bicol came at 40th.

Feel free to share your own conclusions from the data.

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I think I now know what it's like

A LAST-MINUTE errand by, who else but my grade schoolers, had us motoring to the city center to buy stuff at Master's Square instead of going home straight from work. Night has fallen when we already started our way back home.

And like what Hagbayon described here, the eight-kilometer stretch from Magsaysay to Grandview became an extraordinary sight, and a tough drive onboard my Honda Wave underbone. Swarms of layug-layug -- I'm not sure if how they should properly be called in English: flying ants or termites or something else that a local entomologist would surely know -- bombarded our path and made the journey quite difficult.

This annual ritual between summer and the onset of rainy days is nothing new. For instance, the Bowling Green, Ohio timeline reported the following in August 1899:

Thunder and lightning warn Bowling Green residents of an approaching storm, but the dark clouds produce not rain but insects. Says the Sentinel: "They were everywhere. Myriads of them fell on the streets about the electric lights and the sidewalks were almost slippery from them. . . . They appear to be a cross between a katydid and a cricket. They are smaller than a cricket and have wings large enough to apparently fly any distance."

But back to my travails early this evening. My helmet and Lynn's are not equipped with a visor, but it was dark and we did not have any other option but to plod on. So you can just imagine what used to be a 15-minute drive becoming 20, slowed down by endless streams of flying insects hitting you all over like hail of bullets. The challenge is to make sure they don't hit you in the eye.

Then, there's also the tickling discomfort when the bugs get caught in your helmet and start to move towards the ears, towards your neck and then your nape. It can get so irritating that you are tempted to drive using one hand, and use the other to shoo them away. But the relief is fleeting, as others would get eventually get caught in those crevices and restart the whole cycle over again. At least until the trip is over and you've finally reached home.

And then the naughty thought struck me: after the ordeal, I think I now know what it's like to have dangerous, unprotected sex.

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Quick notes on a lazy Monday

1. PROOF positive that GMA-7's noontime icon 'Eat Bulaga' has finally lost out to ABS-CBN's 'Wowowee' came to me this morning when I motored my Grade I daughter Pep to school per her request. School is 200 meters away, right across the creek separating Grandview and Green Valley.

"Boom Tarat" has become part of Grandview Elementary's daily morning routine, an exercise that had school children dancing and gyrating their hips to the tune right after flag ceremonies. I cannot remember the institution that is 'Eat Bulaga' exerting such influence, even in its prime.

2. Brokenhearted, my favorite Bikolana writer-blogger, Maryanne Moll, has temporarily stopped writing. I hope she snaps out of it soon.

3. Finally met the issue of hotlinking, and its face in cyberspace is an Indian guy named Mohan aka Neo Garfield. His comment, and my reply.

In trying to figure out the issue, I came across stuff like this, which I can understand.

But in the case of the 'fake' Harry Potter, this thing still eludes me:

• Why upload something which isn't even yours in the first place?
  
• And then cry "hotlinking!" when the hits start coming in?
  
• But if the link is to one's website, then everything would be hunky-dory now?!?

At the very least, I gave credit to Melindaleo, who should actually be complaining about it in the first place.:)

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Why I rarely use Google Earth lately

SINCE I discovered Google Earth about two years back, courtesy of my good friend Rene Sanapo, I have been a big fan, writing a handful of posts here, here, here, here and here.

But since the last one in October 2006, I have rarely used Google Earth for one simple reason: it has yet to come up with a high-resolution image for Naga.

• It has five high-res images for the Bondoc peninsula in Quezon province, where you can find sleepy towns like San Narciso.

• It already has two south of the city, where you can clearly see Ocampo, Baao, Iriga, Nabua and Bato.

• Hell, it even has them for Tabaco and Legazpi cities in Albay, further down south.

But no Naga.

This is very frustrating for someone charged to lead in updating the city's land use plan.

So unless the wise guys at Google come up with what I think is due my city, no Google Earth for me.

And that land use plan will be updated in a most innovative way -- with the help of a mentor in faraway Washington, D.C.; amazing friends and like-minded people from UBC in Vancouver, Canada; and the stakeholders of Naga City. But no thanks to Google Earth.

And my Google Earth-related posts will continue to stay at six, this one included, and occupy the cellar among my categories.

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A vote for 'Filipinayzd'

JANETTE Toral is running a search for the Top 10 most influential blogs for the current year. This activity, which covers blogs created from August 2006 up to the present, runs until the end of the month, with 10 lucky ones getting $100 each by August 1.

From our little corner of the blogosphere, only one of those qualified stands out: Irvin Sto. Tomas's Filipinayzd.

Just consider the following numbers: Last June 21, his most popular entry that appeared at our Planet Naga aggregator had 2,084 views; in his own weblog, it had 2,055. Now, as I write this exactly two weeks later, it has grown to 7,616 and 5,590, respectively.

The "Recent Comments" box at Planet Naga too, is now livelier, with 9 of every 10 commenting on his posts. The most popular, of course, is his take on the theory of languages that has attracted 84 comments -- mostly by high school students whose lives are being made miserable by their Filipino subject -- and counting. For an aggregator that is not exactly that well known, this is astounding.

What makes him click? Only one word: niching. As the Tagalog-based Filipino language is trying to evolve mightily, a Bikolano-slash-Nagueño rules the blogosphere.

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Redistricting Camarines Sur optimally

GUIDED by the constitutional requirements for a legislative district -- (1) a contiguous, compact, and adjacent territory, and (2) a population of at least two hundred fifty thousand -- the map to the right is my take on redistricting Camarines Sur which only has four at present.

Actually, based on the 2000 Census, Camarines Sur is already entitled to six legislative districts, on the strength of its 1,551,549 population. Unfortunately, differences in the municipal population breakdown, together with territorial requirement on contiguity, prevents the creation of a sixth district.

But with an annual projected population growth rate of 1.07%, which would put the 2007 provincial population between 1.7 and 1.9 million, optimal redistricting should be within reach when census results are made available by the first half of 2008.

Do you think my proposed configuration will fly? Your comments are welcome. The 2000 population data are available after the jump.

You are encouraged to suggest other possible configurations consistent with the above requirements, as well as other cultural and political realities that I may have missed.

But one unmissable political dimension: will our four incumbent congressmen agree to push this advocacy?

If you are interested in data manipulation, I saved the population data as a Google spreadsheet.

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It’s census time next month

My column for this week's issue of Vox Bikol.

FOR THE whole month of August 2007, expect a visit from the National Statistics Office (NSO) in connection with the 2007 Census of Population that it will conduct all over the country.

Last Tuesday, the Naga City Census Coordinating Board met to discuss preparations for this population count, which will cover all residents, both Filipinos and foreigners who have stayed or are expected to stay for at least a year in the Philippines. About 80 NSO enumerators -- your friendly NSO census taker -- will be fielded in Naga for this month-long activity.

It should have taken place in 2005 but did not -- mainly for budgetary reasons and of course the impeachment battles triggered by the infamous Hello Garci tapes. When it was again postponed last year, Camarines Sur NSO provincial officer Eliza Solares told us, they were no longer expecting another census to take place, considering its nearness to 2010. But early this year, the national government had a change of heart.

By law, a national census must be taken every 10 years since 1980, in addition to other special counts mandated by the National Statistical Coordination Board. The last one held was in 2000, covering both population and housing counts.

Why are censuses held? A primer of the NSO says the information they yield will help government in formulating policies and preparing plans and programs concerning population, education, fertility, labor and housing. They will also be useful to business and industry in their decision making, and to academic institutions in their research.

One compelling reason, however, as to why a census suddenly materialized this year is political. This can be inferred from the following portion of a previous NSO primer:

Question: “What are the basic uses of official population statistics?”

Answer: “Aside from its use in plan formulation and program evaluation of the government, population statistics serve as basis for the redistricting and apportionment of congressional seats; allocation of resources and revenues like the Internal Revenue Allotment (IRA); and creation of political and administrative units.”

The 1987 Constitution provides for a Lower House comprising of not more than 250 representatives elected by legislative districts. According to Wikipedia, there are only 212 legislative districts at present, leaving a balance of 38.

Additionally, it lays down the requirements and process for creating new districts. Section 5(3) of Article VI provides that “each legislative district shall comprise, as far as practicable, contiguous, compact, and adjacent territory. Each city with a population of at least two hundred fifty thousand, or each province, shall have at least one representative.”

Section 5(4) is where the 2007 Census comes in: “Within three years following the return of every census, the Congress shall make a reapportionment of legislative districts based on the standards provided in this section.”

By my count, Camarines Sur alone stands to gain at least two additional districts if redistricting pushes through. Assuming, of course, the 1987 Constitution survives another assault by forces committed to charter change.

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Overestimating one's strengths

THE LIVE stories on primetime TV news that broke Koko Pimentel's failure to secure a temporary restraining order (TRO) last Thursday only offered a glimpse of that debacle.

I only started to appreciate its depth and breadth when I read Ricky Carandang's post the day after and this morning's disappointed Inquirer editorial.

Ironically, what may have prodded Koko to make this monumental gamble is his father's nemesis when the latter was still Cagayan de Oro city mayor and a leading opposition figure in the early '80s: the dictator Ferdinand Marcos.

After topping the 1938 Bar exams, the 23-year old Marcos successfully argued his case before the Laurel Supreme Court, which acquitted him of the murder of Julio Nalundasan in its decision issued on October 22, 1940. As everyone knows, Marcos went on to become president of the Philippines.

There's a president in most everyone aspiring for a seat in the Senate. For lawyers, the strength of this urge, I think, is directly proportional to the size of their ego multiplied by their performance in the bar. This makes it easy for them to commit the politician's classical blunder: overestimating one's strengths and underestimating his weaknesses.

Now, Koko will probably never be all that his father ever was: mayor, assemblyman and now senator. But at least, he will always have that bar topnotcher thingy.

Graphic nicked from uniffors.com.

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