After the viral MaJoHa answer, “Pinoy Big Brother” teen housemates faced Monday another history test to save themselves from eviction.
In their “Head of Household” challenge, teen housemates should identify the images shown to them related to history. The winner of the challenge will get immunity for the upcoming nomination.
“(I’m) Completely hopeless, nag-aral (ako) sa Pilipinas pero I didn’t have a class about Philippine history. I literally know barely anything about Filipino history,” Fil-Brit housemate Rob Blackburn said.
University of the Philippines-Tacloban student Tiff Ronato was glad that she aced the challenge with her stock knowledge.
“Flashback po, Kuya, lahat ng pinag-aralan ko dati. Masaya po, Kuya kasi for the first time and forever, ako po ‘yung nanalo sa HOH challenge and of course kapalit po niyan is immunity for the next nomination,” she said.
Second placer Maxine Trinidad stressed the importance of knowing your country’s history.
“Hindi po ako maalam pagdating sa history, Kuya, pero maganda rin siyang opportunity, Kuya, para at least magbalik-tanaw kami,” Trinidad said.
“Importante rin na alam namin ‘yung kasaysayan, lalo na po ng Pilipinas po, she added.
A recent episode of “Pinoy Big Brother” (PBB) raised concerns on how students are taught Philippine history after teen contestants failed to answer what one educator described as “basic” questions, reviving calls to bring the subject back in the high school curriculum.
In the April 9 episode of the popular reality show, housemates participated on a Philippine history quiz game, where Gabb Skribikin and Kai Espenido were asked about the collective name of the 3 Filipino priests – Mariano Gomez, Jose Burgos and Jacinto Zamora – who were executed in 1872 after being accused of sedition and treason by Spanish colonial authorities.
The correct answer was Gomburza. Espenido was unable to answer this, while Skribikin said, “Majoha.” A clip of the exchange has since gone viral on social media.
Both girls were also asked to name the longest bridge in the Philippines that connects the islands of Leyte and Samar, which is the San Juanico Bridge. To this, Skribikin incorrectly answered “SLEX,” referring to the South Luzon Expressway connecting provinces in southern Luzon.
For this week, “Kuya” invited and Historian for the History week.
Meanwhile, House Assistant Minority Leader and ACT Teachers Rep. France Castro has called for the passage of a measure seeking to mandate the inclusion of Philippine History as a subject in the high school curriculum.
Castro made the appeal following the failure of the Pinoy Big Brother contestants to answer questions related to Dr. Jose Rizal and the three martyr priests.
Legislating Philippine History, Filipino, and Panitikan in the curriculum, Castro said would provide more spaces for robust discussions that would help build an equally vibrant public discourse on the past, present, and future.
“Our democracy could only be strong if our citizens are well-equipped in fighting the forces of historical amnesia and distortion,” Castro added. (J. Antonio, abs-cbn)