MANILA: Mr Tiglao has been raising hell about it. This is all about the renaming by the UP Board of Regents on 12 April 2013 of UP Diliman's "College of Business Administration" into "Cesar EA Virata School of Business" (see "UP-CBA Renamed to Cesar EA Virata School of Business," cba.upd.edu.ph).
This is all about accuracy. So, careful now; to say that college is the University of the Philippines' is wrong; to be accurate, it is UP Diliman's, as UP Diliman is not the UP System but only an autonomous part of it. One speaks of a Diliman Republic; that's just UP Diliman. The University of the Philippines is composed of many universities, including UP Manila, UP Mindanao, and UP Los Baños, of which I am an alumnus. "UP-CBA" is wrong, of course. A similar error of attribution, "University of the Philippines' College of Business Administration" is found in Mr Tiglao's column who hates errors of fact. And me? I will point out the fact that I'm not perfect, but I expect you to be!
Perceiving one error of fact stated by the College of Business Administration Dean Ben Paul Gutierrez, here comes Manila Times columnist Rigoberto Tiglao punching and punishing him with 1,054 words, including the Editor's '[expletive deleted]" and "[expletives deleted]" - and that's in only 1 column ("UP business dean academically incompetent," 02 July 2013, manilatimes.net). It is easier to hate and write, but it is better to love - or keep your mouth shut!
I had high regards for Mr Tiglao before this. Competent author or not, if you can't control your wrath, you can't control your words. Man created words; God created love - I'll save on words, but I will not save on love.
And by the way, Mr Tiglao, the name is not Ben Paul Guiterrez as you spelled that name the first time in your column, 2nd sentence; it's Gutierrez, the i after t, not the i before t. I can explain that error by way of computer language, that of word processing. You have not been using your Spelling Checker, Mr Tiglao. To avoid an occasion of embarrassment such as this, there's nothing to it: If you're using Microsoft Word, simply press the F7 key (to check Spelling & Grammar). And you will benefit more if you learn Autocorrect. And no, one mistake like that and I will not call proof of incompetence on your part. I will give you the benefit of the doubt.
Just like I will give Dean Gutierrez the benefit of the doubt. I'm not going to call proof of incompetence on the part of this UP Dean whose letter of 15 March 2013 to the UP Board of Regents you quoted in part in your earlier column ("UP Dean lies to honor Virata" (06 June 2013, manilatimes.net) as follows:
"The naming of a business school after a distinguished person is widespread in American universities, eg, George Baker Graduate School of Business of Harvard, the Haas School of Business of the University of California in Berkeley, the Booth School of Business of the University of Chicago, the Wharton School of Finance, and the Sloan School of Management at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
There are 5 schools Dean Gutierrez mentioned in that letter you quoted, but you chose to harangue him on only the first. That's called selective perception. And then you said that he got the idea merely from a caption in that school's website, and that it read:
The eighty-seven-year-old George F Baker presented Harvard President A Lawrence Lowell with the keys to the School - officially named the "Harvard Graduate School of Business Administration, George F Baker Foundation"
And then you said, "Gutierrez' incompetence as an academic is that he took at face value a claim, that caption - which was erroneous. The keys were not to the business school, but to the building! No other Harvard document or report says that that was the official name of Harvard's business school."
Now, now, Mr Tiglao, as Editor of publications (and theses) of long standing, 38 years to be sure, I myself will read in that caption the name of the school as "Harvard Graduate School of Business Administration, George F Baker Foundation" because that's plainly stated there - "the keys to the School - officially named ..." If the caption is wrong, that's not the fault of Dean Gutierrez but Harvard University! There must be proper attribution here.
Granting without conceding that it was error, that in fact was a minor disaster, but which you turned into a catastrophe with your great floodwave of words. I will refer to it as uncontrolled impertinence on your part.
On the part of Dean Gutierrez, I will refer to it as competence, that is to say, your label of incompetence on him is entirely inexpedient. In plain & simple English, Mr Tiglao: You're wrong!
To concede, how do I move you? Let me count the ways:
(1) You're wrong, Mr Tiglao; Dean Gutierrez is competent and reliable. There is a Haas School of Business at the University of California in Berkeley; you can visit it here: haas.berkeley.edu. I can't find a good reason if you did not check it out yourself. Judgment based on flimsy evidence is simply unacceptable.
(2) You're incorrect, Mr Tiglao; Dean Gutierrez is competent and consistent. There is a Booth School of Business of the University of Chicago; you can visit it here: chicagobooth.edu. I can't find a decent reason if you did not check it out yourself. Judgment based on fragile evidence is simply undesirable.
(3) You're mistaken, Mr Tiglao; Dean Gutierrez is competent and trustworthy. There is a Wharton School of Finance; you can visit it here: finance.wharton.upenn.edu. I can't find a virtuous reason if you did not check it out yourself. Judgment based on weak evidence is simply objectionable.
(4) You're inaccurate, Mr Tiglao; Dean Gutierrez is competent and dependable. There is a Sloan School of Management at MIT; you can visit it here: mitsloan.mit.edu. I can't find a blameless reason if you did not check it out yourself. Judgment based on thin evidence is simply deplorable.
Mr Tiglao, all this has been lessons in anger management and error management. As journalists, we don't need to attend any school of business to learn those. As Christians, it is your business as it is mine.