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USTingan discusses Popular Literature
FOUR prominent literature personalities visited the University of Santo Tomas for the USTingan, a round-table discussion on issues concerning Popular Literature, held at the Tanghalang Teresita Quirino of the Benavides building last September 22.
National Book Development Board Director Atty. Andrea Pasion-Flores, Don Carlos Palanca Awardee Asst. Prof. Paolo Manalo, UST AB Communication Arts Graduate Nida Ramirez of Visprint Publishing House, and writer-TV host and poet Lourd de Veyra were the guest speakers of the event.
Atty. Pasion-Flores presented demographics of the Filipinos who read from years 2003-2012 and concluded that as years pass, the number of the Filipino readers goes down. She also laid out proportions showing that 80% of the populace read books.
“What is the reason why Filipinos read?” she asked. “They read for two things: number one, to gain knowledge and, number two, as an entertainment source,” the chic literature author further concluded that more and more people turn to books as a source of entertainment other than a source of knowledge.
The fiction writer also enumerated the three most read books: the Bible, romance, and cook books.
Asst. Prof. Manalo defined Popular Literature in terms of cognition and said that it is the product of popular imagination.
“If man is the measure of all things, then deep inside us, at least we are pattern-oriented people,” explained the University of the Philippines professor.
He said that fan fiction is everything except popular literature. “The kind of popular imagination that we have is what makes it easier to anticipate and to predict.”
Ramirez, coming from Visprint, publisher of the famous Bob Ong books, also defined Popular Literature.
“It is characterized by the taste and preferences of the reading majority. It is the product of social realities including predominant social status, ideology, economic conditions, history, and social memory,” she said.
The last speaker of the event is “Evening News” host Lourd de Veyra. He talked about the celebrity authors and their best-selling books which topped the 33rd Manila Book Fair.
He wondered if Ramon Bautista, Tado Jimenez, and Stanley Chi were considered as “celebrity authors” because of their books or that their books are marketable, considering the authors were famous before writing them. Being a writer himself, he asked if people buy his books just because they’ve watched his videos.
The “Word of the Lourd” host talked about his experiences as a writer and said that he often received negative comments from anonymous people.
USTingan is organized by the UST Center for Creative Writing and Literary Studies and was attended by Thomasians and representatives from the Far Eastern University, Philippine Women’s University, De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde, De La Salle University, and San Beda College-Alabang among others.
By Charry Fatima D. Garcia
Photo taken by Justine Fay Refuerzo
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News
Thomasian innovation bested others in the Metro
A mere escape from summer boredom hailed two Engineering Thomasians victorious in the recent Manila Bay Cleanup competition, launched by the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) in April.
A mere escape from summer boredom hailed two Engineering Thomasians victorious in the recent Manila Bay Cleanup competition, launched by the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) in April.
Fourth year Electronics Communication Engineering (ECE) students John Beljoe Abao and Ariel Manalaysay had outclassed seven other competing schools with their giant dustpan-like entry, which, according to them is based on simple logic and imagination, and practically out of the boredom during the vacation.
“Nung summer walang magawa, and opportunity din naman ‘yon,” Abao said, referring to the contest.
With the theme “Innovative Engineering Solutions to the Manila Bay Garbage Problem,” the contest encouraged student participants to devise creative contraptions that may eventually be improved and produced by the MMDA.
“It (the prototype) is V-shaped and it has a hole in the middle where a concrete storage is placed,” Abao said.
With big waves in the bay, floating debris and trash will be swept into the chute and into the tank, “just merely collecting the trash into the bin.”
Competition
The Thomasian duo took three days of brainstorming, a day to formulate the concept paper, and only a span of two hours to construct the model. But despite the short amount of time, they were “confident” about their prototype.
“One down, one down,” Abao said when asked what did they feel when they saw other participants’ prototype. According to the duo, the edge of their prototype compared to others’ was the “feasibility to implement because of its simplicity.”
The prototype brought to the defense is made up of only cardboard, masking tape, and illustration board while other participants’ proposals were more technical and even made use of mathematical computations.
The real inspiration behind the innovation, according to Abao, is the fulfillment of seeing his idea being implemented to help improve the Manila Bay.
“Kuha lang ng kuha. When the opportunity comes, grab without hesitation,” Abao and Manalaysay said, advising the Thomasian community to be ready when opportunity knocks.
According to an article in Inquirer, Department of Public Works and Highway (DPWH) Assistant Secretary Maria Catalina Cabral said that in choosing the winning design they looked for “innovation and engineering.”
“The concept is doable. We saw there was potential for this to be built and developed. MMDA and DOST will make more studies to develop and make more improvements on this proposal,” Cabral added in the said article.
The duo received P25,000 cash prize along with Certificate of Recognition.
Other participating schools included Ateneo de Manila University, University of the Philippines-Diliman, Manuel L. Quezon University and Mapua Institute of Technology.
By Mia Mallari and Romhelyn Benipayo
Photo courtesy of John Beljoe Abao
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