Conclusion of the Summer Term, 2012-2013

I'm done grading your final papers. I'm leaving them with the Department Secretaries on Monday, May 28. You may claim them at the department. You may also message me at my personal email address if you have any question about the breakdown of your grades.

I congratulate the paper entitled, "Racial Politics during the American Colonial Period" authored by Gawidan, Medina, Panotes, Soliven, Toldanes, and Villaflores of Section C, for gaining the highest grade of 95. Great job, guys.

So I hope to see you on campus before I leave for Honolulu in July. Again, thanks for the very meaningful semester.

Presentation Grades, Summer Term 2012-2013

Amanquiton, Betita, Isais, Lerma, Marayag

CIA Intervention in the Philippines

Grade: 90

Comments:

Sequence of report could have been improved, as it suffered from switching back and forth from the 1970s to the 1950s and from Marcos to HUK and Magsaysay. The employment of sequence could have been crucial in exposing CIA interventions as very systematic and wasn't merely expedient (i.e., based on fleeting needs). The PPT was visually appealing with the use of CIA logo in the dark blue background but a bit text heavy.

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Albano, Castillo, De Los Santos, Reyes, Uy, Yllana

State Repression During the Marcos Dictatorship

Grade: 95

Comments: 

PPT was really text heavy and could have used some visual improvements. STILL, the presentation's very clear execution (i.e., flow and sequence), as well as the members' mastery of the subject matter made up for what the PPT lacked. What was really impressive was the level of sophistication in the group's intelligent utility of Hannah Arendt's treatise about totalitarianism in making sense of the necessity of torture during the Marcos dictatorship. One of the few papers I'm personally looking forward to reading.

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Ayran, Chua, Frany, Laurio, Magbitang, Salonga

Political Party System and Democracy in the Philippines after 1986

Grade: 93

Comments:

The depth of research can easily be seen in the PPT itself, with all the sources cited, tables, graphs, etc. Some improvements in the sequence could have been made though, in particular, a clear description of the rationale as to why 1986 was made to serve as the start of the presentation's time period (and not 1946 or 1907). There seemed to have been a dearth in the preparation of group members as only three of them did most of the reporting (with Jonah Frany being the most familiar with the subject matter).

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Gawidan, Medina, Panotes, Toldanes, Soliven, Villaflores

Racial Politics during the American Colonial Period

Grade: 97

Comments:

PPT was a great combination of photos and text, and the depth of the research can easily be observed. Areas for improvement include poor time management and lack of attempt to connect with the audience (as some members were fixed in reading their script, while others are impeded by inaudible reporting). In terms of the content, better organization of ideas could have been made in order to better depict the racial tensions among social groups in American colonial Philippines (i.e., Americans vs. Christian Filipinos, Americans vs. Moros, Americans vs. Filipinos migrants in the U.S.).

As discussants, the members posed great questions to the reporting group (e.g., Lord's question about why CIA supported Magsaysay and Garcia over Quirino and Recto). They also expressed sharp observations about the presentation (e.g., Mica's comment about the depiction of Marcos as passive receiver of CIA resources).

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Aseron, Cheng, Lee, Magalong, Nala, Sapilan

Cholera Epidemics in the Colonial Philippines

Grade: 90

Comments:

Introduction about pathogenesis of cholera and the treatment of the disease sounded anachronistic; it should have been contextualized in order to help the audience understand which anti-cholera technologies were available during the epidemics discussed in the presentation. The group seemed to have fallen into the trap of adopting the "Spain is superstitious vs. U.S. is modern" dichotomy; the lack of critical eye could have been addressed by doing more readings! 

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Barrios, Corpuz, Garcia, Lina, Manliclic, Teh

Crony Capitalism during the Marcos Dictatorship

Grade: 93

Comments:

The creative skit was a breath of fresh air and the group members were all game in playing each of their part. While the presentation was informative in explaining crony capitalism, the most important section (i.e., entitled "State Now"), which was the group's answer to the research question, was not given sufficient attention perhaps due to poor time management.

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Pavia, Drilon, Tan Jr., Locsin, Dionaldo

Sweet Negros, Brown Sugar: A Social History of the Sugar Industry in the Negros Island

Grade: 93

Comments:

PPT employed visually appealing texts and photos, although the photos were only made to serve as background and their contexts were not explained by the group. The group was successful in conveying the point of the presentation--the emergence of the sugar industry was good in general in the island--with great sequence and flow. But the thesis that the advantages of the sugar industry trumped the disadvantages (e.g., the exploitation of tenant farmers) sounded a bit contentious and was left unaddressed in the presentation (which the group said they would address in the paper).

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De Guzman, Esguerra, Rafael, Favie, Moniz, Barrameda

Nurse Emigration From the Philippines

Grade: 93

Comments:

The PPT was well-researched, but the presentation slightly suffered from poor time management. The deluge of information also made certain sections sound contrived (i.e., to use the idiom in research work, "losing sight of the forest in favor of the trees"). Also, the presentation seemed to argue that the upsurge of nurse migration in the 1990s was entirely caused by push factors--it is hoped that this can be expounded in the paper.

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Ariza, Bonife, Del Rosario, Ingan, Julian, Llaguno

American Education System as Subjugation and Empowerment of Filipinos

Grade: 93

Comments:

PPT was well-researched but poor time management beset the group's presentation. The presentation left a number of loose ends: "why end the time period in the late 1930s and not in 1946?" "How representative was Camilo Osias of the class of pensionados in the American colonial period?" and the like. Also, most of the argument sounded like they came from only one source (Coloma), and it is hoped that this is addressed in the paper.

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Capa, Carlos, Dones, Santos, Toledo

Marcos Regime's Odious Debts

Grade: 93

Comments:

Use of Prezi was a welcome departure from the use of MS PPT. Nevertheless, the presentation could have been improved by using some visual aids (i.e., photos or tables) in slides which are either too text-heavy or have used too little font size. The section entitled "Marcos 1972-1986" could have been made shorter as it came to a point when it became unnecessarily lengthy. Also the group could have improved its time management.

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Chris Co, Princess Co, Fria, Morales, Sanchez, Tuason

Manuel L. Quezon's Commonwealth Government as a Proto-Dictatorship Regime

Grade: 93

Comments:

The presentation's research problem is a very interesting research pursuit. It is understandable that the group had adopted McCoy's approach in assessing Quezon, but a more novel way of doing this is by researching more about commonwealth governments in other colonial polities, like British Australia and British Canada (which the group has acknowledged anyway). Miguel Morales's attempt to do stand-up is so corny that it's so funny. :-)

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Garcia, Go, Neric, Reyes, Roxas, Tumbocon

Leprosy Control in the American Colonial Period

Grade: 98

Comments:

The PPT is well researched in its utility of photos and text, and the group employed good time management. The group members also displayed a mastery of the subject matter. The framework adopted from Warwick Anderson was sufficiently used in pursuing the group's argument. It is hoped that aside from the adopted materials from their readings, the group could come up with its own assertions regarding the politics and non-neutrality of medicine and public health in the colonial period.