Getting Bumped and Using Bad English in the Philippines

A great source of pride in the Philippines is that Filipinos are proficient in English. They are so proficient that not only do foreigners travel to the Philippines to learn English but American companies are hiring Filipinos to tend virtual fast food kiosks in New York City.

https://cebudailynews.inquirer.net/567764/filipino-virtual-cashiers-taking-orders-at-new-york-restaurants

Your next order of fried chicken at a New York City restaurant may come with a “hello” from the Philippines.

Virtual assistants based in the Philippines have become a sought-after option for companies who want to do more with less.

 Some restaurants in New York City are now exploring this option to keep up with the rising costs of labor, rent and other overhead expenses.

As minimum wages soar – $16 in New York City and now $20 for fast food workers in California – restaurant owners are feeling the pinch.

Beamed on flat-screen monitors at self-service kiosks, virtual hosts from the Philippines are now taking orders at restaurants, including Yaso Kitchen, Sansan Chicken in Long Island and East Village. They welcome customers with flashing smiles — a hospitality trait Filipinos are renowned for.

The company pays Filipino virtual assistants $3 per hour — way less compared to US wages but considered a competitive rate in the Philippines.

Aiming to incorporate fair wages into fiscal accountability, Chi Zhang told Fortune, “We pay 150% more than the average cashier job in the Philippines.”

Like all virtual assistants from the Philippines, recognized as one of the largest English-speaking nations, Amber and other Filipinos working for Happy Cashiers speak perfect English.

Every thing about this article is quite awful. Not only are Filipinos taking jobs from Americans because of inflated minimum wage laws but the owner of the company is proud that he pays Filipinos a measly $3 per hour which is "150% more than the average cashier job in the Philippines." $3 is P175 which is practically nothing. 

The article also notes the Philippine is "one of the largest English-speaking nations" and Filipinos "speak perfect English." While it may be true that many Filipinos have perfect inflection and diction the use of English in the Philippines can be quite odd. 

Take the word bump.

a light blow or a jolting collision

A typical use of the word bump would be, "I fell and bumped my head." It may have been startling and jolting but it's a very slight thing. Bump is typically used for collisions that are slight. The word collision is used for violent interactions like a car crash. 

In the Philippines that is not the case as the following news articles show. 

https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1923033/pedestrian-dead-2-hurt-after-truck-bumps-them-in-cavite

A female pedestrian died and two others were injured Monday after a speeding truck hit them in Carmona City in Cavite province.

The Region 4A police reported that an Isuzu Rebuilt aluminum van driven by one “Fernando” accidentally bumped Jemerine Bombani, 29; Sheryl Cantuba, 45; and Burlet Sevilla, 48, while the three were crossing the pedestrian lane around 7:30 p.m. along Governor’s Drive.

The three pedestrians suffered grave injuries and were rushed to the hospital but Bombhani died on the way.

“Due to his uncalculated speed the truck driver did not notice the three victims” who were about to cross the pedestrian lane, the police said.

The headline says a truck bumped three pedestrians while the article notes the truck was speeding. A speeding truck does not bump anything. It collides with the object and tears right through it. 

https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1961436/2-riders-dead-after-motorcycle-bumps-parked-tractor-in-quezon

Two motorcycle riders died early Tuesday, July 16, after their vehicle bumped into a parked tractor in Candelaria town in Quezon province, police said.

The motorcycle, ridden by a still unidentified driver and backrider factory worker Emerson Alviso, 21, was traveling along the Maharlika Highway around 2:15 a.m. when their vehicle slammed into a parked tractor head on the side of the road in Barangay Masin Norte, a spot report from the Quezon police said.

Both riders suffered fatal injuries and died on the spot.

Again, another news item with the headline saying motorcycles bumped a parked tractor while the article says they "slammed into a parked tractor." Slamming is not bumping. Slamming is a lot more violent.  

https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1940783/5-tuk-tuk-passengers-dead-4-others-hurt-in-3-vehicle-mishap-in-quezon

Five passengers of a “tuk-tuk,” a three-wheeled motorcycle, died, and four others were injured early Wednesday, May 15, in an accident involving two other vehicles at the Maharlika Highway in Lopez town in Quezon province.

The Quezon police said in a report that the tuk-tuk being driven by Julius Brin, 32, was traveling at 2:10 a.m. to Albay province when it was bumped from behind by a truck driven by Ernesto Alberto, 51, in a section of the highway in Barangay Canda Ilaya.

Upon impact, the tuk-tuk suddenly burst into flames and bumped the rear section of a passenger bus driven by Amor Pedragosa, 47, running ahead.

The bus also caught fire, but its passengers were all unharmed.

After the collision, the wayward truck fell and rested on its right part on the side of the road. The driver was not hurt.

The report said four of the tuk-tuk passengers – Cheska Jucares, 28; Riza Brin, 25; and two boys, Jasper and Jarid died on the spot from severe burns on their bodies. Jaymar Lunas expired while being treated at the hospital in the town center.

This article says a tun-tuk was "bumped from behind by a truck," burst into flames upon impact, and then bumped into a passenger bus which also caught fire. That is not a bump. A mere bump would not cause a vehicle to burst into flames. After using those inaccurate words the article then describes the accident as a collision. Why not use that word all along? 

The headline calls this collision relating in 5 deaths a mishap. What is a mishap?

an unlucky accident

Certainly it was an accident and everyone hurt and dead was unlucky but it was obviously much more than that. It was no mere mishap but a result of bad driving likely including speeding and tailgating.

There is nothing grammatically wrong with these articles. The issue is the author's use of understatement. Bump is never a word that should be used in to describe a horrific and violent traffic collision which results in death. In the Philippines words are used to cover up events. One instance being the word "salvage" to describe a murder victim. Speaking English well is not just a matter of pronunciation. It is also a matter of understanding nuance and using words correctly. 

Filipino Teachers Are Forced to Repair Classrooms at Their Own Expense as the DepEd Withholds Funds

For two years face-to-face classes have been suspended. Now that school is about to resume teachers are rushing to prepare. This includes taking out loans to fix their classrooms.

https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1578832/teachers-taking-out-loans-to-prepare-classrooms

After the rigors of distance learning, perennially underpaid public school teachers now have to use personal resources to retrofit classrooms in preparation for face-to-face classes.

Teachers Dignity Coalition chair Benjo Basas on Tuesday cited reports of teachers having to take out loans in order to buy paint, iron sheets and glass panes to get their classrooms ready.

“That is the problem [of] our teachers. While they are sincere in volunteering, they are being taken advantage of,” Basas said in a phone interview.

He said teachers were not only providing free labor for the enhancement of their classrooms but also soliciting funds from private donors to buy the materials needed for face-to-face classes.

The Department of Education (DepEd) acknowledged the teachers’ added burden and advised them to coordinate with their respective school heads for possible reimbursement.

“We confirm that there are teachers who are doing beyond the regular work for beautifying, enhancing and putting more things in the classroom,” Annalyn Sevilla, DepEd undersecretary for finance, said in a Tuesday press briefing.

“We are thankful to our teachers [for] their creativity and resourcefulness, but we don’t want them to be abused as well,” Sevilla said.

Apart from the regular funds for maintenance and other operating expenses, the DepEd has provided an additional budget of close to P1 billion to support the expansion of in-person classes nationwide.

There are items that can be reimbursed, such as supplies, under the department’s budget and accounting rules and regulations, Sevilla said. Thus, teachers were told to approach their school heads to discuss the existing policies.

But Basas was skeptical. Responding to Sevilla’s statement that teachers could reach out to school heads to talk about reimbursement, he said: “Can they really reimburse [the teachers’ expenses]? Teachers are willing to spend, but they should not be given false hopes.”

This is absolutely shameful. Taking "out loans in order to buy paint, iron sheets and glass panes to get their classrooms ready?" Have the schools become so rundown in two years that they need to be completely refurbished? If the schools need new glass window panes or a new coat of paint shouldn't the Department of Education be paying professionals to do that? They have enough money for personal vehicles.

Why does the DepEd need their own fleet of vehicles? 

So, where are all the funds?

https://mb.com.ph/2022/03/14/wheres-the-budget-deped-urged-to-swiftly-mobilize-funds-for-in-person-classes/

With the gradual resumption of in-person learning in schools, a group urged the Department of Education (DepEd) to ensure that there will be enough funds for the progressive expansion of face-to-face classes.

The Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) Philippines, in a statement issued Monday, March 14, asked the DepEd where the budget for school reopening preparations is. This, after receiving reports, that teachers had to spend their own money to fulfill the requirements for the resumption of face-to-face classes. 

“Our teachers and school heads are toiling in schools even on weekends to clean the classrooms, repaint desks, install signages, and others at their own expense so that their schools will pass the validation process for inclusion in the implementation of limited face-to-face classes,” ACT Secretary General Raymond Basilio said. 

ACT alleged that in Tarlac, for instance, “teachers shell out money from their own pockets to prepare their classrooms for the expanded implementation of limited face-to-face classes.” 

Based on the accounts of teachers and school heads, Basilio said that the participating schools have not received any additional budget to fund the requirements set by the DepEd and the Department of Health (DOH) to qualify for the limited in-person learning. 

“However, it is not fair that they and their already too meager salaries are made to bear the burden of physically preparing the schools,” he added. 

Basilio alleged almost six months since the DepEd had announced that it is pursuing limited face-to-face classes, the “funds are still unavailable on the ground.” 

The Alliance of Concerned Teachers??  Who cares what they have to say right? They are a communist front don't ya know?

https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2022/03/31/2171110/duterte-pinoys-dont-vote-kabag-candidates

In his public address last Monday, Duterte said the rebels have used the party-list system to infiltrate Congress and referred to them by the acronym KABAG (stomach pains in Filipino).

“You will see from their behavior and the way they espouse their advocacy for a party, their drift is really to the left,” Duterte said. “So you won’t forget, remember the KABAG: Kabataan-K, Anakpawis-A, Bayan Muna-B, (Alliance) of Concerned Teachers- A and Gabriela.”

He accused them of being legal fronts of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), political arm of the communist rebels. In the House of Representatives, these party-list groups form the so-called Makabayan bloc.

“Do not vote for them,” the President said. “Let us put an end to that. Let us give everything to the barangays. We are wasting lives. We are wasting money.”

ACT should not expect their concerns to be addressed anytime soon. That's a win against the insurgency right? Wrong. It's a loss for the Philippines as teachers with low morale and low pay aren't going to be offering adequate instruction because their minds will be elsewhere. As it is less than 10 percent of Filipino children can read simple text or comprehend a simple story.

Idiot Barely Passes Teaching Licensure Exam After 14 Attempts

 The Philippines rewards failure. Don't believe me? Check out the following story.

https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1569895/32-year-old-mom-finally-passes-teacher-licensure-exam-after-14-attempts

After 14 tries, a 32-year-old woman finally passed the Licensure Examinations for Teachers (LET).

Richelle Ann Gonzales scored 76.80 percent, a little over the passing rate of 75 percent.

Gonzales, a mother to six children, was elated that after years of waiting and even frustrations, she can now call herself a licensed teacher.

“I was doing some laundry work when a cousin of mine broke the news that I finally passed the exams. At first, I did not believe her but later on, was able to verify it as a sister-in-law of mine posted it on her social media account,” she said.

Gonzales, who hails from a remote village of Sangay, Palapag town in Northern Samar, took her first exam in 2010, the year she graduated from the University in Eastern Philippines in Catarman, Northern Samar.

Gonzales, whose parents were coconut farmers, was the second eldest from a brood of eight.

Despite their poverty, she wanted to finish her studies and become a teacher.

“I even had to sell used clothings and peddle bets on lotto just to earn money for my studies,” she said.

When she was a child, Gonzales dreamt of becoming a teacher and even played as a teacher to her younger siblings and children in their village.

“It’s nice to impart knowledge to others and that they are happy to learn something new from me,” she said.

Despite several setbacks, Gonzales never surrendered and continued to take the teachers’ examination until she passed.

“My parents and my siblings and my own family motivated me to take the examination again and again until I could pass it. They never gave up on me. Of course, there were times that I’d like to give up. In fact, there were times that I isolated myself from my classmates who are now teachers,” she said.

“But God is so good that finally, after 11 years and 14 times of trying, and fervent prayer and novena, I was able to pass the exams. I cried so much. I could not believe it at first,” she said.

“Be confident in your own abilities and don’t give up. Don’t be ashamed if you have failures. Always trust papa God,” she said, when asked what she could advise to others who have also suffered similar setbacks in life.

Since 2010 Richelle Ann Gonzales has been taking the teaching licensure exam and this year she finally passed. BARELY!!! Her score was 76.80% which is 1.8% above the passing score of 75%. She does not even attribute this embarrassing grade to her studies but to her prayers to "papa God" and attending the novena. With that awful score I am sure God denies all blame.

To pay for her "studies" she resorted to selling used clothes and lotto tickets. That means for the past 12 years she has not held down a real job but has floated around hoping she would finally pass this test. What exactly was she studying that she could not pass the exam for so long? After the fifth try she should have known the test inside and out and been able to ace it. But here we are at try 14 and she barley passed. It would be interesting to see all her scores to view her progression.

Admittedly the test is filled with weird questions. Here are three questions from a sample exam.

1. A teacher’s quarrel with a parent makes her develop a feeling of prejudice against the parent’s child. The teacher’s unfavorable treatment of the child is an influence of what Filipino trait?
a. Lack of self-reflection
b. Extreme personalism
c. Extreme family-centeredness
d. “Sakop-mentality”

Ans: B

14. Theft of school equipment like TV, computer, etc. by people on the community itself is becoming a common phenomenon. What does this signify?
a. Prevalence of poverty in the community
b. Inability of school to hire security guards
c. Deprivation of Filipino schools
d. Community’s lack of sense of co-ownership

Ans: B

17. Complete this analogy:
Spanish period: moral and religious person.
American period: _______
a. Productive citizen
b. Self-reliant citizen 
c. Patriotic citizen 
d. Caring citizen 

Ans: A

https://philnews.ph/2019/09/25/let-board-exam-random-questions-answer-prof-ed-gen-ed/

As a child Richelle would pretend to be a teacher to her siblings and other children. Now this moron will actually be teaching children. She will be educating children and will be directly responsible for the future of this nation. Of course she might as well still be pretending with 14 tries and such a paltry score. 

This lady is a living monkey! You know the theory. A monkey banging the keys on a typewriter for an infinite amount of time will eventually produce the works of Shakespeare.

It was the best of times it was the...blurst of times? You stupid monkey!!

In this case Richelle took the test over and over and over again until she passed with practically the bare minimum score. How many more times would she have taken this test if she continued to fail? Until the day she died? 

This story is embarrassing. Isn't there a limit as to how many times one can take the teaching licensure exam? There should be. If it took 14 tries to pass the licensing exam and you still barely squeaked through then that profession is not for you. Surprisingly the majority of those who passed this most recent exam were repeaters.

It is further announced that of the 8,737 elementary teacher passers, 2,678 are first timers and 6,059 are repeaters. For the secondary teachers, 4,652 passers are first timers and 7,422 are repeaters.

https://www.prc.gov.ph/article/january-2022-results-licensure-examination-teachers-released-thirty-30-working-days/5508

The details of exactly how many times those repeaters have taken the test have not been made public but if the case of this lady is any indicator then we can bet the majority are way past their second try.

Does the Philippines deserve better than Richelle Ann Gonzales? If the people of this nation want to succeed and not be left in the dust of history then the answer is yes. However seeing as how this lady is not an anomaly perhaps she is exactly what this country deserves.

What Good Is A Filipino College Education?

What good is a Filipino college education? It's plenty good. In fact without a college education you are going to be hard up finding a job in the Philippines. Lawyer, doctor, nurse, architect, teacher, you simply cannot land a job if you have not sloughed your way through a proper four year course. Don't believe me? Take a look at these Now Hiring posters. Each job requires a college education.

You want to pump gas for a living? Then you need to be college educated.

Time to make the donuts!  But only with at least 2nd year college. High school graduate can be considered but you better have a pleasing personality and look cute in that uniform.

A cashier or a salesclerk at Kmart! This would be the bootleg Kmart and not a genuine Philippine branch of this American tradition. This picture is a little old. I wonder if they ever found 12 female college graduates between 18-25 years old and at least 5ft tall to hire as cashiers and salesclerks. What do you think?

A visual merchandiser.

Time to deliver the donuts! But only if you have at least 2nd year college.

The market is obviously flooded with tourism graduates so why not put that degree to use and be a Lady Sales Assistant/Cashier at the local vet! Men need not apply.

Finally you can be a Robinson's Supermarket Associate. They have many available job opportunities. However if you just want to be a cashier you only need a 2 year associate degree instead of a 4 year course What a relief, eh? Receiver/Receiving Clerk still requires four years of study. Can't have stupid and uneducated people running the backroom.

So you see having a college education is very important in the Philippines. Everyone you see working at a job has a four or two year degree. Filipino employers demand intelligent and hardworking employees. That is why this country runs so smoothly. You really can't be employed without possessing a 4 year degree. I mean you can but then you'd be like a freelance pedicurist looking for toes to pick clean at the park. Or a washerwoman looking for laundry to scrub. Is that the kind of life you want to live? Stay in school!

Celebrating Failure

Who has not heard of the "Tiger Mom?"  The mother who hovers over her children and beats them real good if they step out of line.  She makes sure they practice piano 3 hours a day, homework for 4 hours, and woe betide any child who would make a fuss. And heaven forbid their child receive anything less than straight A's or the number one position in any competition.

Apparently, and despite its proximity to China, this trend has not caught on in the Philippines. There are no "Tiger Moms" here.  But there are parents who will bribe officials so their children get ahead. And their are teachers who accept bribes in order to give passing grades. Anecdotally anyway.  I have heard many such stories though I have never experienced the education system in the Philippines.

What is the result of the absence of "Tiger Moms" to push their children to scholastic heights?  It is a celebration of failure.

In what rational society would anyone celebrate 9th place!!  To God be the Glory I got 9th place!  What a way to blame shift. This guy is 100% responsible for coming in 9th place. And there is nothing glorious about it. Don't blame it on God.

Nor is there anything wonderful or glorious about 6th or 7th place.  Nobody even cares about who made 2nd or 3rd.  We all know who Michael Phelps is but who is the 2nd greatest swimmer of all time?  See?  No one cares.

And no one cares about this student making 9th place in a photo competition.  Will employers consider this guy as a win?  Who wants to hire Mr. 9th Place?  His photos probably suck. They certainly weren't good enough to get past 9th place.

Now take a closer look at the categories in the first picture and the third picture.  The first category is Filipino Photojournalism and the second is English Photojournalism.  What is the difference?  Photojournalism is just that, photos!  There is no such thing as English, Filipino, Chinese, or Slovenian Photojournalism because pictures do not speak with words. These categories are meaningless. Go ahead and Google "Filipino Photojournalism" and "English Photojournalism." There is nothing. (I'm not even going to delve into discovering what "Filipino Science-Technology Writing" is though I would guess it's just writing about science and technology in Tagalog.)

So not only is this a celebration of failure it is a celebration of meaninglessness. And such is the educational system of the Philippines which as I understand works this way:

1. Finish primary and secondary school
2. Get worthless college degree in tourism
3. Become OFW and support your whole extended family

This horrible system in the Philippines where failure is celebrated and where education is most decidedly not is one of the many problems facing the Philippines and it is another fundamental issue that the Duterte administration has failed to address.  Duterte has boasted that he wants to bring the Philippines up to a midlevel economy by 2022.  It won't happen with uneducated people who do not strive for excellence but instead celebrate failure.