Note: except for The Varsitarian Letter to the Editor, all the entries are the original unedited versions that I have submitted. My apologies for any typographical or grammatical errors.
Letter to the Philippine Collegian
Official Weekly Student Publication of the University of the Philippines Diliman
published 25 June 2004, Volume LXXXII Number 03
Official Weekly Student Publication of the University of the Philippines Diliman
published 25 June 2004, Volume LXXXII Number 03
June 18, 2004
JAYSON DP. FAJARDA
Editor-in-chief
Philippine Collegian
Room 401 Vinzons Hall
UP Diliman, Quezon City 1101
Dear Mr. Fajarda:
Greetings!
I am Luisito C. Abueg, currently a graduate student (Master of Arts) of the UP School of Economics. I am sending this letter and requesting it to be published in the next issue of the Philippine Collegian. This is a clarification (as well as a reaction) to the news article entitled UPLB Chancy derails Perspective EIC selection last June 15, 2004 by Jerrie M. Abella.
I am the business manager of the UPLB Perspective during the editorship of Nicolo M. Masakayan (academic year 2002-2003), and also one of the examinees for the UPLB Editorial Examination for academic year 2002-2003.
I am apologizing for the relatively lengthy article I made (657 words), for I strongly feel the need to explain and clarify some points in the article, in the spirit of a truthful, impartial, and objective campus press journalism.
Thank you very much.
Sincerely yours,
LUISITO C. ABUEG
M.A. Economics
1999-64898
Queaño's "Petty Concern": A Nun-sequitur Analysis
For the second time, Chancellor Wilfredo P. David contested the scores in the results of the UPLB Perspective Editorial Examination. For the second time, David recommended another scheme in determining the ranks of the examinees in the combined weights in the four categories of the exam (editorial, news, layout, and interview). And for the second time around, the disparity in the scores came from the student representative of the committee, in the person of Mr. Bon Audrey Queaño.
I would like to clarify three things in the news article entitled UPLB Chancy derails Perspective EIC selection by Jerrie M. Abella in the June 15 issue of the Philippine Collegian. First, it would be Mr. Queano's burden to prove that it is indeed Chancellor David's "petty concern" (as Mr. Queaño termed it) of observing a "bias in favor of examinees with end marks." I personally believe that examinees must not use end marks in their articles, unless set by the ad hoc committee. The use of end marks may be very possible for the examinees and the committee to have a queue (contrast to Mr. Queaño's statement that the examinees' identities are coded and revealed only after the committee has evaluated their exams).
Second, if Mr. Queaño claims that Ms. Niña Catherine Calleja was indeed the topnotcher for three categories in the exam, why is she only second in editorial and third in news writing (the fact that Ms. Calleja was the former news editor)? It would be more convincing if Ms. Calleja topped the news and editorial components (at least the news writing component), which is 30% and 40% respectively, isn't it?
Third, I personally believe that it does not follow that the news editorship of Ms. Calleja has a connection in the new ranking method, given that Ms. Calleja was instrumental in publishing articles "critical to David's administration" (again, this argument is Mr. Queaño's burden to prove). As stated earlier, Chancellor David was concerned over Mr. Queaño's "bias in favor of examinees with end marks, " and not whether Ms. Calleja would top the exam or not.
Furthermore, if Mr. Queaño really learned well from his elementary statistics and quantitative economics courses, perhaps he would have realized two statistical moral lessons: one, extreme values in a given sample set would drastically affect its corresponding arithmetic mean (or the average); and two, for qualifying exams like these, it would be more reliable to use the ranking (method) of the scores to eliminate the bias created by extreme scores, and not just asserting or crying in public that Chancellor David has a "malicious" motive in recommending another method for determining the more deserving examinee to be the next editor-in-chief of the UPLB Perspective.
In addition, according to the Revised Rules and Regulations Governing the Publication of the UPLB Perspective (approved by the UP Board of Regents on its 891st meeting dated August 25, 1977), the chancellor has the sole authority of appointing the next editor-in-chief "after the receipts of the results and the recommendations of the Editorial Examination Committee" (Article 7 of the UPLB Perspective Guidelines).
I would like to correct that it is Katrina Ross A. Tan (and not Katherine Tan, as published) that was appointed as the new editor-in-chief, and it is Nicolo M. Masakayan (and not Niccolo Masakayan, as published) who topped the editorial exam in the new method two years ago against Mari Zaira Kristine L. Lopez (and not Marie, as published). I would also like to correct that Chancellor David did not remove a category after which Mr. Masakayan topped the exam, as what is written in the news article. Rather, Chancellor David recommended a ranking method, which is the same as what he did for Ms. Tan, Ms. Calleja, and the other six examinees.
In the spirit of truthfulness, impartiality and objectivity in campus press journalism,
(sgd.) LUISITO CAGANDAHAN ABUEG
M.A. Economics student with number 1999-64898
JAYSON DP. FAJARDA
Editor-in-chief
Philippine Collegian
Room 401 Vinzons Hall
UP Diliman, Quezon City 1101
Dear Mr. Fajarda:
Greetings!
I am Luisito C. Abueg, currently a graduate student (Master of Arts) of the UP School of Economics. I am sending this letter and requesting it to be published in the next issue of the Philippine Collegian. This is a clarification (as well as a reaction) to the news article entitled UPLB Chancy derails Perspective EIC selection last June 15, 2004 by Jerrie M. Abella.
I am the business manager of the UPLB Perspective during the editorship of Nicolo M. Masakayan (academic year 2002-2003), and also one of the examinees for the UPLB Editorial Examination for academic year 2002-2003.
I am apologizing for the relatively lengthy article I made (657 words), for I strongly feel the need to explain and clarify some points in the article, in the spirit of a truthful, impartial, and objective campus press journalism.
Thank you very much.
Sincerely yours,
LUISITO C. ABUEG
M.A. Economics
1999-64898
Queaño's "Petty Concern": A Nun-sequitur Analysis
For the second time, Chancellor Wilfredo P. David contested the scores in the results of the UPLB Perspective Editorial Examination. For the second time, David recommended another scheme in determining the ranks of the examinees in the combined weights in the four categories of the exam (editorial, news, layout, and interview). And for the second time around, the disparity in the scores came from the student representative of the committee, in the person of Mr. Bon Audrey Queaño.
I would like to clarify three things in the news article entitled UPLB Chancy derails Perspective EIC selection by Jerrie M. Abella in the June 15 issue of the Philippine Collegian. First, it would be Mr. Queano's burden to prove that it is indeed Chancellor David's "petty concern" (as Mr. Queaño termed it) of observing a "bias in favor of examinees with end marks." I personally believe that examinees must not use end marks in their articles, unless set by the ad hoc committee. The use of end marks may be very possible for the examinees and the committee to have a queue (contrast to Mr. Queaño's statement that the examinees' identities are coded and revealed only after the committee has evaluated their exams).
Second, if Mr. Queaño claims that Ms. Niña Catherine Calleja was indeed the topnotcher for three categories in the exam, why is she only second in editorial and third in news writing (the fact that Ms. Calleja was the former news editor)? It would be more convincing if Ms. Calleja topped the news and editorial components (at least the news writing component), which is 30% and 40% respectively, isn't it?
Third, I personally believe that it does not follow that the news editorship of Ms. Calleja has a connection in the new ranking method, given that Ms. Calleja was instrumental in publishing articles "critical to David's administration" (again, this argument is Mr. Queaño's burden to prove). As stated earlier, Chancellor David was concerned over Mr. Queaño's "bias in favor of examinees with end marks, " and not whether Ms. Calleja would top the exam or not.
Furthermore, if Mr. Queaño really learned well from his elementary statistics and quantitative economics courses, perhaps he would have realized two statistical moral lessons: one, extreme values in a given sample set would drastically affect its corresponding arithmetic mean (or the average); and two, for qualifying exams like these, it would be more reliable to use the ranking (method) of the scores to eliminate the bias created by extreme scores, and not just asserting or crying in public that Chancellor David has a "malicious" motive in recommending another method for determining the more deserving examinee to be the next editor-in-chief of the UPLB Perspective.
In addition, according to the Revised Rules and Regulations Governing the Publication of the UPLB Perspective (approved by the UP Board of Regents on its 891st meeting dated August 25, 1977), the chancellor has the sole authority of appointing the next editor-in-chief "after the receipts of the results and the recommendations of the Editorial Examination Committee" (Article 7 of the UPLB Perspective Guidelines).
I would like to correct that it is Katrina Ross A. Tan (and not Katherine Tan, as published) that was appointed as the new editor-in-chief, and it is Nicolo M. Masakayan (and not Niccolo Masakayan, as published) who topped the editorial exam in the new method two years ago against Mari Zaira Kristine L. Lopez (and not Marie, as published). I would also like to correct that Chancellor David did not remove a category after which Mr. Masakayan topped the exam, as what is written in the news article. Rather, Chancellor David recommended a ranking method, which is the same as what he did for Ms. Tan, Ms. Calleja, and the other six examinees.
In the spirit of truthfulness, impartiality and objectivity in campus press journalism,
(sgd.) LUISITO CAGANDAHAN ABUEG
M.A. Economics student with number 1999-64898
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