Marami ang nabilib sa istorya ni Julian Martir na nakatanggap diumano ng 30 scholarship offers mula sa iba't ibang unibersidad sa US. Pero marami rin ang nagduda sa kwento at agad na bi-nash ang 20 anyos na estudyante. Kinausap natin si Miz Insigne, isang Filipino student ngayon sa America, tungkol sa proseso ng pag-aaply sa mga unibersidad doon. Pero higit dito, ano kaya yung mga lesson na pwede natin lahat matutunan sa kwento ni Julian Martir?

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Magandang araw po sa inyo lahat. Ako po si Christian Esquera at welcome po sa ating episode ngayong araw ng Facts Verse. Ito po ang ating Facts Verse podcast.

Hindi po tayo nakapag-episode kahapon so we're doing this special episode. May pag-uusapan po tayo kasi pinag-uusapan ito pong issue na ito on social media.

Tungkol po sa isang 20-year-old na estudyante na di o mano nakatanggap po ng as many as 30 scholarship offers from different universities from the United States.

So it was such an inspiring story which was picked up by many news outlets nationwide dito sa Pilipinas po. Of course naturally inspiring yung story.

Ito yung story ni Julian Martir. But eventually nung lumabas po yung story on social media, a lot of people noticed certain red flags. Kumbaga nag-raise sila ng pagdududa.

Teka, nagsasabi kaya ba ng totoo itong si Julian? Talaga kayang natanggap siya sa iba't ibang universities or nabigyan ng offer at least of scholarship coming from different universities across the United States?

Ang problema po rito kasi, naging mainit yung discussions. May mga nagda-doubt, may iba namang naniniwala. Yung mga naniniwala, of course they have the reasons.

Pero yung ibang nagka-question tungkol po doon sa offers di o mano ng scholarship dito kay Julian, ang tanong naman o iba, may mga napansin silang red flags pero they're not themselves offering certain evidence to controvert the alleged offer of scholarships to Julian.

Kumbaga parang stalemate. Pag pinanong nyo ako, may mga nagka-question ng kanyang scholarship pero wala naman silang ebidensya to actually say that the guy was not telling the truth.

Pero ang isang maliwanag dito definitely isa rin sa mga nasasakdal or nakikriticize yung mga member ng media na pinatulan yung story without verifying.

For all we know, baka naman totoo lahat yun. Pero pagdating po sa verification process coming from different news outlets that picked up the story, mukhang wala nangyaring verification. Naniniwala lang doon sa sinabi ng bata.

At isa po sa mga unfortunate things na nakikita natin dito, nabubuli po yung bata. Nahaharas or nabubuli siya online at maraming mga masasakit na sinasabi tungkol sa kanya.

So ito yung episode natin. Hindi po siya yung makakausap natin ngayong gabi. Mayroon po tayo makakausap na isa po pong Pilipino na nasa Amerika at doon nag-aaral.

Kasi nakita ko nagpo siya sa Twitter. Ina-explain niya yung proseso ng pagkuha ng scholarship from universities in the United States.

So gusto po natin gawin itong episode na ito, ipaliwanag po yung proseso. Paano ba talaga nakakakuha ng scholarships sa American universities yung mga foreigners just like Filipinos.

So hindi po siya yung person in question. Kakausapin po natin siya dahil gusto po natin maipalawanag niya sa ating lahat yung proseso po ng scholarships.

So makakasama po natin ngayong araw na ito si Ms. Eumiz Insigne. Siya po ay isang estudyante sa Colby College sa Maine, United States, 20 years old.

At she graduated from the Philippine Science High School, Western Visayas. At nag-aaral siya ngayon ng science and technology and society.

Magandang araw sa iyo Ms. And thank you for joining us dito sa Facts Verse.

Thank you as well. I'm really happy to be here and to explain the college process po.

Okay. Una-una why did you feel the need to speak up on social media, on Twitter? Doon ko nakita eh. You're not exactly defending Julian pero kinapaliwanag mo yung proseso. Why the need to speak up?

So I, like the first time I nakita ko yung situation was yung interview ni Julian about wanting to go abroad na parang gusto niya maging quantum scientist and something of being inspired by Marvel.

And I noticed na like grabe talaga yung backlash kasi I don't think there was anything wrong naman sa interview na yun.

Kasi me personally, I was inspired by a lot of other like stories ganun and for example, YouTube talaga yung naging reason na gusto kong maging scientist and science communicator.

And then second of all, I noticed that a lot of people's reactions to the situation was very much like based on assumptions that were wrong about the college application process.

And I wanted to demystify that process para mas clear siya and you know, people would stop bashing Julian Martir because I really do believe that the reaction, the outcry was undeserved.

Okay. So again, sa baka-nanonood nito nakalagay sa title, Teenager via Scholarship Offers question. Hindi po si Miz yung kinai-question dito.

Ang pinag-uusapan po namin si Julian Martir. Kumbaga hindi pa naman siya nag-decide kung talaga may offer sa kanya kung ano yung kukuni niya.

So ipapaliwanag lang ni Miz yung proseso. Ikaw ba mismo may nakita ka bang red flags doon sa story ni Julian? Doon sa supposed scholarship offers that he got?

As far as yung applications mismo and scholarships, I don't think that there are any red flags kasi all of them are very much like possible outcomes talaga.

My experience with the college admissions process is that I've been applying, I applied for two years to a total of 60 schools.

So and I'm also very like involved in the community of people applying to colleges internationally.

So I've definitely seen like people apply to a lot of these colleges and ako rin mismo nag-apply rin dito.

And I can say with certainty that these admissions are very much like a very possible outcome.

These are what the schools that Julian applied to are what international students called safety schools.

Mataas yung acceptance rates nila at usually generous sila with merit aid which means that they do give scholarships in fact.

So as far as I know, they are real.

Hindi unusual yung sinabi ni Julian na natanggap siya o nabigyan siya ng scholarship offers from 30 universities across the US. It's not unusual?

It is not unusual and it is something na talagang posible. Of course, what do you call this?

There's a lot of privilege and time and money that comes into this situation but I don't think that this is unusual at all.

Paano ba yan ina-apply yan? Walk us through the process.

So first off, the first thing that you want to do when you're trying to apply to colleges is do your research and all of that.

But the actual act of applying starts with the Common Application which is a website on the internet.

You can go to commonapp.org if I remember correctly and that is the place where lahat ng schools you can apply to in the US and sometimes sa UK and Australia and other places.

So that is where you would start in applying.

And then?

I'm actually looking at it, Common App.

Yes.

Nakalagay dito, find a college, plan for college, apply to college. So pwede itong gamitin ng mga foreign students?

Yes, that is true.

That's just those in the United States.

Okay, so kung kunwari ikaw, high school graduate dito sa Pilipinas, you want to take up college or pursue studies, college sa US, you go through the Common App?

Yes, that's right.

Okay, and then what happens after?

So in the Common Application, there are a bunch of schools that you can look into or you can apply to.

So kailangan mo i-fill out yung Common Application, yung mga family mo, yung demographics mo.

And then you write an essay, which is something that you are showing to the admissions team in the college na this is who I am and this is what I want to do with the education that you are providing me.

And then you are also required to have your teachers, yung school mo mismo, to give you or to send in behalf of you recommendation letters.

So usually this is two teachers and then yung counselor mo.

So you really have to be in contact with your school as well.

Kasi dito, isa sa mga issues na nare-raise ng iba, bakit binalita agad na ilang mga news outlets itong supposed good news or inspiring story without verifying?

So actually, mali naman yan, on the part of the media na hindi nag-verify.

Pero that's one point.

Pero in case you want to verify this, how do you go about it?

Pwede mo bang kausapin, let's say, yung mga schools na yan and then get a confirmation?

That is a great question that I cannot completely answer.

Some schools do, in fact, tell you whether or not, or yeah, in this situation, some schools have reached out to the journalists who questioned it na they have accepted Julian or not.

But of course, there are some schools na saying that they can't say whether or not they accepted him due to privacy issues.

So really, the only thing that you can really go off from are yung mga admission letters at saka yung mga screenshots na pinakita ni Julian.

And dito, for instance, let's talk about the lessons.

For all you know, pwedeng confirm naman talaga lahat yan na Julian was telling the truth.

Pwede rin namang hindi or pwede rin namang half-truths.

Hindi pa natin alam yan kasi very chaotic pa yung situation.

Pero ikaw, anong nakikita mong mga lessons that can be drawn out of this whole bruhaha on social media?

Yeah, that's a really good point to make.

Kasi that's also a big reason why I decided to make my Twitter thread.

Kasi looking at this whole thing, there's so many different layers talaga that we should be critically engaged with.

Number one, I guess yung pinaka biggest reason, again, is the public outcry I feel was really undeserved.

People were jumping on the bandwagon, calling him a troll, calling him like, oh, he's making a social experiment, parang ganun-ganun.

And I was really struck by it kasi it was everyone, not everyone, but a lot of people were really jumping on this with half-baked truths.

And it felt wrong and it felt like it was bullying talaga.

And ayun, the whole message of my thread was to be kind, na you can hold people accountable.

And especially for Julian who is 20 years old, who I called a kid because I'm making the point that he's young and he's still learning and we make mistakes naman.

So it's really important to be kind and still, of course, to hold him accountable.

And then second of all, I think there's also, like you said, sensationalism is really a big thing in journalism.

And I totally understand na ganun talaga in this day and age na people will just scroll by if hindi siya clickbait enough.

I really understand that sometimes this is what you have to do as a journalist.

But ayun, like you said, there really has to be the responsibility of talking to experts and to verifying the kind of information that you get from this.

And then there's the whole thing, of course, of these inspiring stories of rags to riches or Filipino resilience that is a big trend in Filipino journalism and really international journalism as a whole.

So ayun, those are the two biggest that I can think of.

Actually dito naman, speaking of sensationalism, in defense of those that picked up the story naman,

I was thinking it was such a good story na perhaps certain news organizations failed to follow the basic requirement of verification.

And I don't think that the intention was to sensationalize. Mukhang na-excite sila roon sa ganda ng material.

Very unusual yung storyline e. Son of a tricycle driver tapos natanggap or nabigyan ng offers of scholarship from 30 universities in the United States.

Kumbaga napaka-inspiring e. Kaya nga lang, minsan baka nadala. Again, we're not saying na hindi sya totoo.

For all we know, baka totoo lahat sya. Pero totoo man sya o hindi, on the part of journalists, dapat talaga nag-verify pa rin kung bago nila daw syang malita.

Ikaw dito, some people are saying baka naman daw lumabas din dito sa whole episode na ito, yung tinatawag na crab mentality coming from other Filipinos.

Did you also sense that? Yung parabang nakakita ng konting red flags, hindi pa rin naman confirmed kung talagang red flags yun.

Pero they were quick to criticize or bully the kid.

I saw this tweet, I think, na it's a little bit mean, but it was saying na, oh, you guys are parang jealous or grabe talaga yung hate, I guess.

That kind of crab mentality. And I really hate to say that that is something that I've seen a lot, especially in social media.

But one thing that I know for certain talaga is that even though social media does tend to make hate very visible, I do believe that the best of Filipinos, the best of us, exists rin.

And we can lift that up as much as we are able to lift up hate. So, ganon.

Again, nilabas natin yung title, Teenagers U.S. Scholarship Offers Question. Hindi po yung kausap natin, yung mayroong scholarship na kine-question.

Si Miz, who is our guest for today, nag-aaral na siya dyan sa U.S.

By the way, gano'ng katagal ka na ba dyan sa United States, sa Maine?

Yeah, so this is my first year. I'm just about to wrap it up and so magiging sophomore na ako.

So I've been here less than a year, so I'm very happy and very excited.

And why did you decide to study there?

Yeah, so yung main reason ko is for what's called the liberal arts education.

Liberal arts education just basically means yung width of study mo is a lot bigger.

So for example, PH kasi once you sign into a course, parang you have to go through all of that.

And you can shift naman, pero isang path talaga yung focus doon.

Here, on the other hand, you have a lot more flexibility in choosing your classes.

And kahit until second year kasi, you can stay undecided and you can just take whatever.

For me, my major is science technology and society, which is something that isn't offered at home.

And it is particularly interested in studying yung intersection ng siyensya at society.

Particularly because growing up with science, growing up in Philippine Science High School,

nakita pa talaga yung effect ng science sa people natin, sa mga Pilipino.

And I know that we can do better. I know that there are so many brilliant people out here.

Brilliant students, brilliant scientists who can make the Philippines a better place.

And it's a whole other conversation, of course, na why do students want to go abroad in the first place?

But really, the biggest thing is for me to learn as much as I can about the world and bring it back to the Philippines.

For those who are watching, if you notice, Miss is very articulate. She speaks very well.

Thank you.

Ang galing, diba? Pero ito, kaya ako siya binanggit.

Kasi nga, before we end, napansin ko rin nyo, doon sa ibang mga nage-question doon sa credibility ng story ni Julian Martir,

ang pinagbasihan din nila yung interview niya sa TV.

They noticed na, parang hindi naman articulate, parang hindi ganoon kagaling magsalita.

Ikaw, bilang someone who's been studying there already, is it really an indicator ba?

Does it matter kung hindi ganoon ka-articulate, let's say, yung isang nakatanggap sa Poseidon Scholarship?

No, actually, what you call this, it's really common for international students to come into college na not super fluent in English.

Again, college is a place of learning. It's where you grow and improve.

And I truly believe na you don't have to be fluent in English to be a very smart and brilliant person.

I know na marami talagang mga monolingual scholars and academics na grabe talaga yung work nila but they just don't happen to speak English.

And I think, again, with the whole bashing of Julian's interview, I really don't think that there was anything wrong with it personally.

Especially for people who believe na yung pag-stutter niya is an indication of him lying.

I just want to say that it is a little bit very, what do you call this, ableist.

Kasi stuttering does not necessarily mean that they're lying. It may be that they have a condition, a disability, and that's okay.

And ayun, just a little point of reflection talaga.

Or baka nanghihiyan lang talaga.

Yes.

We're very quick to judge simply because or based on a single interview.

Ilan ba naman sa atin ng 20 years old na nai-interview on national media?

Siyempre kinakabahan din. I mean, let's not be harsh on other people.

Exactly.

Okay. So, Miss, marami salamat for joining us on this episode.

So, I hope medyo kahit papano kumalma yung nerves or yung gigil na iba mga tao dyan.

Again, we still do not know whether all those offers were confirmed.

Pero huwag naman kayo masyadong mainit ang ulo.

Yes, exactly.

Galit na galit yung mga tao na parang end of the world na parang sila mismo din ako personally.

At hindi pa natin alam yun. Okay?

So, again, marami salamat sa iyo, Miss, for joining us on this episode.

And again, congratulations to you.

Thank you all.

You're studying there sa U.S. Okay? Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Miss, ito yung offers supposedly na binigay dun kay Julian Martir.

So, I hope mas kahit papano may mga narealize tayo after this episode of ours.

And again, marami-marami salamat po sa inyo for joining us on this episode today.

Again, ako pong inyong host, Christian Esguerra.

And see you sa ating susunod na episode ng ating Facts First Podcast.

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