Memo to Secretary Abad.

(From Philippine Daily Inquirer)

Byline: Honesto C. General

WITH so much time on my hands during the holidays, I browsed over a textbook of my granddaughter Timmy who is in Grade 2. The textbook was titled "2 Binhi" and subtitled "Filipino ... Wikang Pangkomunikatibo sa Bagong Siglo."

The title and subtitle were enough to arouse my curiosity.

The author is Ester V. Raflores and the publisher is JO-ES Publishing and Printing House Inc.

The foreword (Paunang Salita) opens with, "Ang seryeng Binhi ay pinagsikapang malimbag bunsod ng ilang layunin sadyang naaayon sa pangangailangan ng mag-aaral na Pilipino sa bagong siglo. Inihanda ang seryeng ito sa paraang may bagong pananaw at pagdulog sa pagtuturo ng pinagsanib na pagbasa at wika."

Since I speak strictly conversational Pilipino, which is really Taglish (a rich mixture of Tagalog and English), I hardly understood a word. The passage might as well have been written in Greek.