The Mark Peckson Project

This is a simple story of Filipino pride. It is the story of Mark Peckson, a 29-year-old Filipino who loves his country, but unfortunately has never learned to speak the national language properly. He mirrors the plight of many other Filipinos who cannot speak their own language well — due either to the lack of education or the absence of support from their peers and superiors. At most, students who need to improve their grasp of the native tongue are just made to participate in a yearly Buwan ng Wika, which usually happens in August.

Mark is a test case to determine if one month in a year is enough immersion time to learn, embrace, and speak our language. Yabang Pinoy, a non-profit organization composed of students, entrepreneurs, and young professionals, is pushing the experiment. The group believes in bringing back Filipino pride and in reigniting the Pinoy passion by actively supporting the event named after him. Thus it is called the “Mark Peckson Project.”

Mark is not a fictional character. He works at Ace Saatchi and Saatchi, the ad agency partner of Yabang Pinoy, and is part of the advocacy initiative. In brainstorming sessions, he participates with enormous enthusiasm, is consistently excited about helping out, and is undeterred by his shortcomings in the use of the native tongue. He may not appropriately speak a word of Tagalog now, but he is Pinoy in every sense of the word. He never learned Filipino and his circumstance got Yabang Pinoy thinking about all the students being deprived of picking up and loving their own language. Mark doubts he can learn the language in a month, but said he would try very hard.

The project is a series of four reality webisodes revolving around Mark that unconventionally teaches him the language. As he learns, cameras will follow him around tracking his progress or the lack of it. The webisodes will air weekly on www.pecksonpinoy.ph starting August 1, and by the end of the series, viewers and Mark will be asked to assess his and the project’s accomplishment.

Why Yabang Pinoy?

The organization adopted the name because its members — young, active, and nationalistic Pinoys — collectively deem that as a people we seem to be anything but. “We are even characterized by the bamboo, a symbol of resiliency, yes, but the bamboo bows down every time the wind blows. We realize that one of the most ominous problems faced by the Philippines today are the Filipinos themselves — short in self-encouragement and belief in our capabilities as a race and as a country. We practice false humility and are unappreciative of the fact that we are a blessed nation. We have a lot to be proud of, but we are not proud of them,” says Bianca Fernandez, a Yabang Pinoy mover.

Sadly, she notes, our national language is not given as much importance as English. Many schools, public or private, continue to merely gloss over a student’s lack of proper Filipino-speaking skills but panic over lapses in the use of the English language. The thinking is that students will eventually learn the Filipino language on their own and it’s enough to give them extra projects during the Buwan ng Wika.

Is there Filipino Pride among the youth?

Yabang Pinoy supposes there is. And they are the main targets for this project. There is a growing group among them who refuses to give up on this country. Read the blogs. Check the status messages in social networking sites. Experience the din whenever anyone bashes our country.

 This belief in the Filipino youth was boosted up when Yabang Pinoy started its first project: the selling of abaca bracelets. These are bangles that Pinoys can wear as a symbol of Filipino pride — very much like the Livestrong band. Sales of this indigenous bracelet was overwhelming and the support for the endeavor was encouraging especially when young celebrities and ordinary folks alike started to wear them.

“The example may be basic, but Pinoy pride is there,” Fernandez enthuses. From the success of its bracelet scheme, Yabang Pinoy decided to think up of more ventures that will help raise our pride to a higher level as well protect the country, preserve the good things we have and uplift the spirit of every Filipino.

Online communication

The project aims to open the eyes of 15- to 30-year-olds and get them to appreciate and get engaged in the annual Buwan ng Wika outside of the usual free bibingka or talumpatian contest in school. “Most of them spend their time on the web anyway, and their free time is spent mainly surfing through Facebook, updating Twitter, and watching YouTube. So, why not bring our message where they are,” Fernandez explains.

The Mark Peckson Project, she adds, will not be preachy or snooty. In fact, it will be amusing first, moving second. The youth target will be, for sure, involved in it because it is undeniably involving.

The success of the program will be determined by the number of website visitors starting from its launch by the end of July, the number of times the videos are passed on, linked, blogged about and emailed, and the number of Filipinos who join Yabang Pinoy as volunteers. “At the end of the day though, we know language is tenuous and effects will be harder to quantify with a project such as this one. We hope that it encourages at least one student to take learning the language more seriously. After all, we believe that sometimes for pride to spread, it takes one person at a time,” Fernandez underscores.

Who are the people in Mark Peckson’s neighborhood?

Behind this project are Maricris Sarino and her fellow volunteers Ali Sanggalang, Marge Manalaysay, Crissy Joson, Mica Ferrer and Weng de Leon. It also has the support of ABRACADABRA Productions, Director Paul Soriano, and the Infant Jesus Academy, and in the forefront is Mark himself.

Yabang Pinoy reminds us to believe in ourselves. We need to instill the concept of self-encouragement in each and every Filipino — the freedom to break out of profitless counterproductive beliefs and habits. We should pick up a communal social courage that will bring in a new approach on how we look at ourselves, and ultimately open our doors to a more expanded experience of accomplishment and achievement. Pride is the love of one’s own excellence, and it looks like we need to do a lot of catching up in this area.

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E-mail bongosorio@yahoo.com or bong_osorio@abs-cbn.com for comments, questions and suggestions. Thank you for communicating.