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Huwebes
Tomo 84
Isyu 09-10
E d i t o r y a l
Selling-Out
(or Pay More, Expect Less)
T
population can already afford the full cost
of education. The De Dios committee,
commissioned by the Office of the
University President, cited inflation
and the rate of increase in the cost of
education services as the prime motive
behind the tuition hike. It noted that the
real value of tuition fixed in 1989 has
decreased. A family currently earning the
same figures during that period can now
actually afford as much as a 300 percent
increase in tuition, they say.
Indeed, the administration has reason
to cite difficulties in maintaining the
university’s facilities and providing
adequate equipment for instruction
given the meager
government funding.
It is no secret that
a r c h i e oc l o s
he day the semester
adjourns for the year
heralds the demise of the
premier state university’s
principal virtues and
commitment. Come December 15, the
Board of Regents is set to formalize the
administration proposal to “adjust” UP’s
tuition and other fees.
For months, the administration has
launched its propaganda campaign to
disseminate this underhanded proposal.
Key to this prescription is citing feeble
economic figures that somewhat made
the go-signal for tuition and other fee
increases.
They claim that UP’s current
demography would allow the increase,
assuming that majority of the student
UP has suffered from chronic budget
cuts even as mainenance costs continue
to escalate. Granting without conceding
that nominal income has increased and
the value of the current tuition rate has
decreased, the brunt of such dillema
should not be placed on the students’
shoulders.
Contrary to the onerous justifications
provided by the De Dios committee,
which merely focused and essentialized
family income, iskolars ng bayan are
still hardly coping with the cost of UP
education. The administration ignores
the fact that family incomes have
remained stagnant in light of staggering
and continually escalating costs of living.
Other figures must also be accounted
for such as the implementation of the
Expanded Value Added tax and barrage
of oil price hikes. Students are not merely
grappling with the cost of education, but
also with the cost of housing and other
basic necessities.
Evidently, myopic economics and
hard-sold rhetorics make a poisonous
concoction. Poisons, however, can
be made palatable. Concurrent with
the proposal to raise tuition rates, the
administration has also commissioned
a review of the Socialized Tuition and
Financial Assistance Program (STFAP).
It plans to streamline the STFAP
brackets from the original nine to
five. Poor students, according to the
administration, will not be affected by
the tuition increase. Instead, they will
be benefiting from the adjustment since
it can provide more stipends.
What the administration does not
reveal is that only 20 percent of the
student population will be able to avail
of the stipends. The rest will have to
pay either the partial or full cost of
UP education. The STFAP, in this case,
merely serves as a smokescreen for an
undeniable motive: the tuition fee will
serve as the university’s main source
of income. If this were to happen, UP
will embark on a complete departure
from its very nature as a state university,
supposedly committed solely to providing
accessible quality education.
That the administration opts to
“rationally and equitably marshal its
existing resources” as the government
concerns itself in “taming a budget
deficit” is a case of grave misguidance
bordering on crass naiveté.
The prioritization of education
is a constitutional provision. The
administration ignores the fact that
the government budget is merely
misprioritized for debt and military
servicing. To succumb to government
neglect is to permit and, in effect,
legitimize such iniquity. Aside from
the tuition increase proposal, the
administration has also resorted to
other income generating projects such
as leasing the university’s lands to private
entities. Instead of opting to siphon
resources from the sorry pockets of the
students and sacrificing the integrity
of the university by collaborating with
private interests, the administration
should intensify its demand for greater
state subsidy.
Submission never crossed the minds
of iskolars ng bayan. If the administration
cowardly submits to government inutility,
then we shall continue to intensely fight
for our right to education. And if the
administration dares to stand in the way
with its tuition increase proposal, let it
be reminded that awakened, iskolars
ng bayan will be an obstinate force to
contend with. The dawn of the tuition
increase will see scheduled festivities
turned into staunch resistance. n
P H I L I P P I N E C O L L E G I A N | Opisyal na lingguhang pahayagan ng mga mag-aaral ng Unibersidad ng Pilipinas - Diliman
Karl Fredrick M. Castro • K a p a t n u g ot Katrina Angela R. Macapagal • T a g a p a m a h a l a n g P a t n u g ot Frank Lloyd B. Tiongson
Jerrie M. Abella, Melane A. Manalo • M g a P a t n u g ot s a G r a pik s Ivan Bryan G. Reverente, Rouelle T. Umali • P a t n u g ot s a K u l tu r a Jeeu Christopher A. Gonzales
P a t n u g ot s a L a t h a l a i n
Margaret P. Yarcia • T a g a p a m a h a l a n g P i n a n s i y a Ma. Rosalie A. Beronio • M g a K a w a n i Louise Vincent B. Amante, Jether Amar, Paolo A. Gonzales
P i n a n s i ya
Amelyn J. Daga • T a g a p a m a h a l a s a Si r ku l a s y o n Paul John Alix • Si r ku l a s y o n Gary Gabales, Ricky Icawat, Amelito Jaena, Glenario Omamalin
M g a K a tu w a n g n a K a w a n i
Trinidad Basilan, Gina Villas • P a m u h a t a n Silid 401 Bulwagang Vinzons, Unibersidad ng Pilipinas, Diliman, Lungsod Quezon • T e l e f a x 9818500 lokal 4522
E m a i l
kule0607@gmail.com • w e b s it e http://philippinecollegian.net • K a s a pi Solidaridad - UP System-wide Alliance of Student Publications and Writers’ Organizations • College Editors Guild of the Philippines
P u n o n g
M g a
P a t n u g ot
P a t n u g ot
s a
B a l it a
Tungkol sa pabalat Dibuho: Jether Amar. Disenyo: Karl Castro.
14 Disyembre 2006
03 Balita
Angry Nerd
Cometh
A
No e l
trocities seem as persistent as spam mail these
days. A two-week hiatus
from any known human activity
during the semestral break simply cannot comPa ci s H e r n a i z pensate. Dual-core
processors cost
an arm and a leg,
my monitor has
started to fluctuate after upgrading my video RAM,
my editors have
started to bug me
to update Kule’s
website regularly
in the absence of
a printed output,
and for two weeks my Identification card played guerrilla.
Imagine the horror a person as
disorganized as me encountered
when I learned that a “No ID, No
Entry” policy was implemented
at the start of the semester. This
meant regularly scavenging for a
lost artifact in a black hole which
resided in my backpack, as I find
it utterly annoying to play the
docile student and hang my ID
around my neck.
Naturally, such demeanor
would not appeal to the better
nature of manong guard stationed in one of the entrance of
AS. I have always been weak with
names. I tend to address security
guards unwittingly as manong
guards, not unlike how I never
bothered to find out the names
of former groupmates, or how I
address my seatmate merely as
“classmate.” My world is full of
generic names. Manong guards,
classmates, boss tsips, manong
ice cream, paracetamol. I have
this chronic ambivalence to identity. For me, knowing who enters
the building is a futile exercise.
An annoying one at that.
As if students showing or
hanging their ID exempted
their buildings from the all encompassing malice of Murphy’s
law. What can go wrong will go
wrong. Outsiders did not kill
those poor students in Columbine. It was two students from
that school. Earthquakes, floods,
and plagues will not show their
ID to the manong guard on duty.
What freaking security are they
talking about?
In the first place, they have
no business restricting entrance
in the university’s buildings. In
case the administration did not
notice, UP is a public institution.
Stress on the “public.” Next
thing we’ll see is a dress code or
a tution increase. (Oh yes, they
are intent on implementing the
latter –ed)
continued on p.4
Philippine Collegian | huwebes | 14 dis 06
Sa Disyembre 15
BOR, pagbobotohan
na ang TFI
Echoing our basic right
J o h n A l l i a g e Mo r a l e s
S
a Disyembre 15, pagbob otohan na ng Board of
Regents (BOR), ang pinakamataas na tagagawa ng palisiya sa UP, ang panukalang itaas
ang matrikula ng aabot sa 300%,
at pagpapatupad ng bagong mga
bayarin.
Kasabay ring pagpapasyahan
ang panukalang pagsasaayos ng
Socialized Tuition and Financial
Assistance Program (STFAP).
Pangunahing maaapektuhan
ang mga mag-aaral na papasok sa
susunod na taon kung maaaprubahan ang mga panukala ng dalawang komiteng binuo ni Pangulong
Emerlinda Roman noong 2005
para pag-aralan ang kasalukuyang
bayarin sa matrikula at istruktura
ng STFAP.
Umani ng batikos mula sa mga
mag-aaral at miyembro ng komunidad ng UP ang panukalang itaas ang
matrikula mula sa kasalukuyang
P200 bawat yunit patungong P600
sa Mindanao, Cebu at Visayas, at
mula P300 tungong P1000 kada
yunit sa Diliman, Manila at Los Banos. Tinutulan din ang pagpapataw
ng mga bagong bayarin tulad ng sa
internet at enerhiya, kasama ang
napataas nang library fee, na aabot
sa P1100 sa kalahatan.
“The UP administration is bent
on approving the proposal,” ani
Student Regent Raffy Sanchez.
Aniya, sakaling maaprubahan ang
panukala, malabo nang mabaliktad ang desisyon ng BOR dahil
“highly endorsed” ni Roman ang
panukala at matutulad din umano
ito sa pagpapasada kamakailan ng
deliberasyon ukol pagtatayo ng Sci-
ence and Technology Park.
Labing-dalawa ang miyembro ng
BOR, kung saan lima ang iniluklok
ng Malacañang. Kasama rin nito
sina Pangulong Roman at Commission on Higher Education Chair
Carlito Puno.
Parehong panukala
sa STFAP
Ayon kay Roman, sa ipinasang
ulat ng komiteng tumutok sa pagsasaayos ng STFAP, ipinanukala na
gawing limang bracket ang STFAP
mula sa dating siyam, na ibinase
rin sa rekomendasyon ng komite
ni Emmanuel de Dios na nag-aral
sa kasalukuyang matrikula.
Sa panukala ng komite sa STFAP,
hindi magbabayad ng matrikula at
makatatanggap ng P12,000 stipend
kada semestre ang mga mag-aaral
na mula sa pamilyang may taunang
kita na P80,000 pababa. Iba naman
ito sa panukala ng komite ni De
Dios na nais ipatupad ang “fixed
quota of scholarship,” kung saan
hanggang 650 mag-aaral lamang
ang makatatanggap nito.
Magkaiba rin ang dalawang
komite sa paggugrupo ng mga
mag-aaral ayon sa taunang kita ng
kanilang pamilya. (sumangguni
sa sidebar)
Samantala, parehong ipinanukala ng dalawang komite ang pagpapataw ng P1,500 kada yunit sa mga
mag-aaral na may P1 milyon pataas
ang taunang kita ng pamilya.
Samu’t saring bayarin
Bago ipanukala ang pagtataas ng
matrikula, nauna nang nakalusot sa
BOR ang pagtaas ng mga bayarin
sa laboratoryo at mga klase sa mga
kolehiyo sa buong UP.
i. Ang paggrupo ng mga Isko ayon sa dalawang komite
STFAP committee
Bracket
Taunang Kita
ng Pamilya
A
De Dios committee
Pribilehiyo/
bayarin
Taunang Kita
ng Pamilya
Pribilehiyo/
bayarin
P80,000 pababa
Libreng
tuition at
P12,000
stipend/sem
650 o 10%
pinakamahihirap na magaaral
Libreng
tuition at
P12,000
stipend/sem
B
P80,000P135,000
P300/yunit
P36,000136,000 at
hindi kabilang
sa A
P300/yunit
C
P135,001500,000
P600/yunit
P136,001P420,000
P600/yunit
D
P500,000-P1M
P1000/yunit
P420,001-P1M
P1000/yunit
E
P1M pataas
P1,500/yunit
P1M pataas
P1,500/yunit
Students boycotted their classes last November 23 to protest the pending
300% increase in tuition and other fees to be discussed in the Board of Regents meeting the next day. Student group Alay-Sining used creative props in
reiterating calls for greater state subsidy for education. A l a n a h to r r a l b a
Sa kabila ng pagtutol ng mga
mag-aaral, umakyat mula sa dating
P11,500 patungong P20,000 bawat
semestre ang matrikula sa College
of Medicine sa UP Manila. Ipinasa
naman ng BOR noong nakaraang
taon ang pagtaas ng bayarin sa 44
klaseng may laboratoryo sa Mass
Communication at 33 sa Engineering sa Diliman.
Simula noong 2004, nakaranas
din ng pagtataas sa matrikula ang
mga gradwadong mag-aaral ng
UP Diliman, Manila, Los Banos at
Pampanga.
Ayon kay Faculty Regent Roland
Simbulan, mahigit 40 porsyento ng
sariling pondo ng UP ang nakukuha
sa matrikula at iba pang bayarin
ng mga mag-aaral. Ngunit kung
magtataas ng matrikula, aniya,
aabot umano ng triple o 1.5 bilyon
ang malilikom ng UP mula sa mga
mag-aaral nito.
“Tungo sa
komersiyalisasyon”
Iginiit ng komite ni De Dios,
“The principle that the students
themselves—rather than the general taxpayers—should carry the
burden of financing for tertiary
education is a universal principle
that must be affirmed.
Ngunit, ani Sanchez, isang lantarang iskema ng komersiyalisasyon
at pag-aabandona ng pamahalaan
sa edukasyon ang pagpapasa ng responsibilidad sa mga-aaral. Aniya,
dahil umano ito sa maling tunguhin
ng gobyerno na ilihis ang pampublikong pondo patungo sa pambayad
sundan sa p.4
04 Balita
Philippine Collegian | huwebes | 14 dis 06
According to latest court testimony
Military holds
Karen, She alive
V icto r G r e g o r Li m o n
F
or the first time in the
court hearings on the petition to release UP students
Karen Empeño and Sherlyn
Cadapan from alleged military abduction, a witness has provided possible
evidence that the two students may
still be alive. In the latest hearing on November 16 at the Court of Appeals (CA),
Oscar Leuterio, 48, who claimed he
was abducted by the military in April,
testified that he saw two women held
captive in Fort Magsaysay, Nueva Ecija,
where he was tortured and detained for
five months.
Leuterio, a security guard of a mining corporation in Doña Remedios
Trinidad, Bulacan, said he was abducted by the military and forced to
identify members of the New People’s
Army (NPA).
Karapatan said Leuterio contacted
their office a few days after he was
released by the military in September
to report what happened to him. After
reading news articles about Karen and
Sherlyn’s abduction, he also asked the
parents of the two students to allow
him appear in court as witness.
Leuterio, now in hiding due to alleged military threats according to
Karapatan, cannot be reached for
interview as of press time.
On December 16, it will be six
months since Karen and Sherlyn have
been abducted in Hagonoy, Bulacan.
Karen was researching about farmlands in Bulacan for her thesis, while
Sherlyn was working for an NGO when
they were abducted, the parents of the
two students said. Bulacan police and
military, however, insist that Karen and
Sherlyn, members of militant student
organizations Anakbayan and League
of Filipino Students, respectively, are
NPA members.
‘Tanya’ and ‘Sierra’
In his statement, Leuterio said he
saw two blindfolded women being led
by drunk soldiers to a prison cell near
his own sometime in August. He heard
the names ‘Tanya’ and ‘Sierra’ mentioned as the names of the captives.
Retired General Jovito Palparan of
the 7th Infantry Division in Central
Luzon, one of the respondents to the
petition, had earlier said in a GMA-7
program that the military has detainees
named “Liza” and “Tanya [or] Sierra”,
but he has since retracted this statement in subsequent interviews.
Leuterio’s description of one of the
women as “tall” and with “teeth that
jutted in front” is consistent with that
of Sherlyn’s, said her mother Erlinda
Cadapan.
While the other woman was not
described by Leuterio, Concepcion
Rebel unleashed
Students read copies of Rebel Kulê, an underground version of the Philippine Collegian released last November 28. The UP administration’s holding of the Collegian
funds halted the newspaper’s release for four months. Rou e l l e u m a l i
Sigaw ng kabataan
Empeño, Karen’s mother, believes that
the companion of the “tall” woman was
her daughter.
‘Release Karen, Sherlyn’
Empeño said Leuterio’s statement
confirms earlier testimonies of other
witnesses that Karen and Sherlyn are
held by the military. “Malinaw na nasa
kanila [nga] sina Karen, kaya sana ilabas na nila,” she said.
Lawyer Rex Fernandez, legal counsel of relatives of victims of disappearances, said the Armed Forces of the
Philippines should open Fort Magsaysay and other camps to representatives
of all victims and international human
rights bodies, to prove that captives
like Karen and Sherlyn are not held by
the military.
According to Karapatan, there are
already more than 180 disappearances under the Arroyo government
since 2001.
Cadapan and Mildred Benitez of
Karapatan also appeared in the last hearing as witnesses, rebutting earlier claims
of the defense that there were no police
blotters or news reports about the disappearance of Karen and Sherlyn.
Palparan, condemned by militants
to be behind the killings of activists in
Central Luzon, however, has denied the
charges in court.
Staying vigilant
UPD University Student Council
(USC) Chair Juan Paolo Alfonso said
the UP community should stay vigilant
on the case. The council also invites
UP students to join in demanding the
release of Karen and Sherlyn by participating in a multi-sectoral mobilization
on December 8.
In an email to the Collegian, UP
President Emerlinda Roman said a
joint monitoring team on the case
shall be convened with government
representatives.
Roman also said the administration
is coordinating with the Melo Commission, the group tasked by Gloria Arroyo
in August to investigate the spate of
killings of activists and journalists
in the country. UP Board of Regents
member Nelia Gonzalez is one of the
five members of the said commission.
However, the Melo Commission
has yet to report on resolved cases of
political killings
The next hearing on the petition will
be on December 7, where respondents
are expected to rebut the statements of
Leuterio, Empeño, and Benitez.n
Isang estudyante ng hayskul ang nagsalita laban sa TFI sa isang
kilos-protesta na isinagawa noong Nobyembre 24 sa tapat ng Far
Eastern University sa Morayta. Nagmula pa sa iba’t-ibang antas at
eskuwelahan ang mga estudyanteng dumalo dito. Rou e l l e u m a l i
Angry...from p.3
So I calmly search
for my ID everytime
before I enter the
AS. I concede and
submit like all “good”
students do. However, to my enragement, manong guard
gave me the proverbial stern look and
instructed me to buy
a 40 peso necklace
for my ID. He pointed
to a sign: “pakisuot
and inyong ID.”
Apparently, the
“powers that be” are
not content with our
docility. They also
want us leashed. n
On December 15,
the Board of Regents
will decide on the UP
administration proposal to
increase tuition and other
fees. This is a decision
which necessitates our
intervention.
Barricade
Quezon Hall!
Protect our right
to accessible and
quality education!
Assembly at 12.30PM near
Quezon Hall.
- P h i l ippi n e C o l l e g i a n
BOR...
mula sa p.3
utang at paggastos sa pagpapalakas ng hanay ng militar.
Pinuna rin ni Shahana Abdulwahid, pinuno ng Student Rights
and Welfare Committee ng University Student Council, ang
panukalang pagsasaayos ng STFAP, na nagtatakda ng papaliit
pang bilang ng estudyanteng hindi magbabayad ng matrikula.
“In yet another treacherous scheme of income generation,
the proposed STFAP rebracketting increases the number of
students who will pay full tuition,” dagdag ni Abdulwahid.
Giit naman ni Simbulan, mapapansin umanong habang lumilikom ng sariling pondo o revolving fund ang UP, bumababa
rin ang ibibinigay na general fund o subsidyo ng gobyerno.
(sumangguni sa sidebar) n
II. Pondo ng U.P. sa mga nagdaang taon
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
GF
3,576,893
4,338,955
4,340,000
4,230,741
4,162,794
RF
868,564
951,734
967,291
935,703
951,024
GF- General Fund; pondo mula sa gobyerno
RF- Revolving Fund; pondo mula sa mga income generating scheme ng UP
05 Balita
Philippine Collegian | huwebes | 14 dis 06
No ID, No Entry, tinuligsa
B
Toni Tiemsin
ukod sa Library, sampung kolehiyo na sa UP Diliman(UPD) ang
hindi nagpapapasok ng mga estudyanteng walang UP identification
card (ID).
Sa pagpasok ng semestre, ipinatupad ang
palisiya ng No ID, No Entry sa mga kolehiyo
ng Arts and Letters (CAL), Science, Home
Economics, Social Sciences and Philosophy
(CSSP), Public Administration and Governance (NCPAG), at Asian Institute of
Tourism. Nauna na itong ipinatupad sa mga
kolehiyo ng Architecture (CA), Business
Administration, Education (Educ), at Engineering (CE).
Mariing tinutulan ng mga lider estudyante
ang bagong patakaran, bagamat pabor ang
ilan dito.
ID para sa security?
Sa magkakahiwalay na memorandum na
inilabas ng mga administrasyon ng nabanggit na mga kolehiyo, ipinatupad ang palisiya
upang matiyak umano ang seguridad ng mga
mag-aaral.
Sa tala ng UPD Police, walong insidente
ng pagnanakaw sa loob ng mga pang-akademikong gusali sa UPD ang naitala simula
noong Enero. Pinakahuli umano ang pagnanakaw sa CBA ng isang taga-labas ng
laptop na nagkakahalaga ng P79, 000 nitong
Oktubre.
Tumanggi namang magpaliwanag si CSSP
Dean Zosimo Lee kung bakit ipinatupad ang
palisiya sa naturang kolehiyo, subalit kinonsulta umano niya ang lokal na konseho.
Ngunit ani Adonis Elumbre, tagapangulo
ng CSSP-SC, nabanggit lamang ito ni Lee sa
isang pulong nila. “Our council firmly believes that we were not consulted properly,”
dagdag niya. Sumulat ang konseho kay Lee
kung ano ang dahilan sa pagpapatupad ng
palisiya.
Lumiham din kay Lee ang mga guro at
kawani ng Archeological Studies Program
laban sa palisiya. Anila, may iba pang paraan
upang masiguro ang seguridad ng mga magaaral at guro.
“Our student’s sense of citizenship may be
associated with the dynamics developed from
their childhood schools to their university
where security people will always have power
over them,” dagdag nila.
Di solusyon
Tinawag namang “band-aid solution” ni
DefendOurCollegian!
Make a stand and be counted.
Sign the
online petition at
philippinecollegian
.net
Download the Collegian in pdf at
http://kule0607.deviantart.com
Student Regent Raffy Jones Sanchez ang
palisiya, dahil hindi umano ito solusyon sa
problema sa seguridad sa kampus, na dala
ng maliit na budget ng UP at kakulangan sa
pwersang panseguridad.
Dagdag ni Samuell Salvacion, guwardiya
sa Vinzons Hall, mas matitiyak ang seguridad sa kampus kung magdadagdag ng mga
guwardiya. Aniya, kung mangyayari ito, muli
silang makalilibot sa loob ng mga gusali,
hindi tulad ngayon na kinakailangan nilang
tumigil sa mga pasukan nito.
Noong 2004, nagbawas ng 100 guwardiya
ang UP matapos itong kapusin ng budget
para sa serbisyong panseguridad. Sa kasalukuyan, aabot sa 250 guwardiya ang nakatalaga sa buong kampus.
40 years in jail
“Mapaniil”
Tinawag namang “mapaniil” ni Shahana
Abdulwahid, pinuno ng Students’ Rights and
Welfare Commiittee ng University Student
Council, ang bagong patakaran. Ipinahihiwatig din umano nito na hindi ligtas ang
mga estudyante maging sa loob ng mga
pang-akademikong gusali.
“Sa pangkalahatang esensya, represibo
at diskriminatori [ang palisiya], bukod pa
sa walang konsultasyon na isinagawa bago
ang implementasyon,” dagdag pa ni Jacqueline Eroles, tagapangulo ng Educ Student
Council.
Itinanggi naman ni Maria Stella Gatchalian, tagapangulo ng CE-SC, na “mapaniil”
ang kautusan. Aniya, sa pangkalahatan, tanggap ng mga estudyante sa kanilang kolehiyo
ang nasabing palisiya dahil dagdag proteksiyon umano ito sa kanila.
Ayon naman kina Frances Capellan, tagapangulo ng CA-SC, at Ralph Degollacion ng
NCPAG SC, nagkaroon ng konsultasyon sa
A woman from militant group Gabriela joins public jubilation after American serviceman Daniel
Smith was convicted of the rape of “Nicole” last December 4 at the Makati Regional Trial Court.
However, the supporters that gathered outside the court room expressed dismay over the acquittal of the three other accused soldiers Chad Carpentier, Keith Silkwood and Dominic Duplantis.
Smith was temporarily detained at the Makati City Jail despite the official request of US officials to
put Smith under the custody of the US Embassy. Moreover, whether Smith stays under Philippine
custody or not will depend on a new round of legal and diplomatic battles between the US and
Philippines, testing provisions in the controversial Visiting Forces Agreement.
A l a n a h to r r a l b a
kanilang mga kolehiyo bago ipatupad ang
kautusan. Anila, tanggap ng mga estudyante
sa kanilang mga kolehiyo ang palisiya.
Samantala, naglabas ng memo ang CAL
na dapat isuot ng mga estudyante, guro at
empleyado ng CAL ang kanilang ID tuwing
nasa loob ng CAL at Faculty Center. Bibigyan ang walang ID ng tatlong pagkakataon
na makapasok sa gusali, ngunit hindi na sila
papasukin sa ikaapat na pagkakataon.
Nananawagan naman ang konseho ng
CAL na agarang ipawalang-bisa ang patakaran sapagkat hindi umano maayos na
nakonsulta ang mga mag-aaral ng kolehiyo.
“[T]his policy breeds an elitist orientation,
one that puts more premium on the students
who are officially enrolled, disregarding the
importance of members of the other sectors,”
ayon sa kanilang pahayag. n
Carebest, 13 na lang ang kukuning janitor
Mga janitor, tuloy sa pagpipiket
J o h n A l l i a g e Mo r a l e s
H
abang 80 janitor ang hindi pa
naibabalik sa trabaho, 13 janitor na
lamang ang kukunin ng ahensiyang
Care Best International para punan ang kabuuang bilang ng manggagawa nito sa UP.
Walumpung janitor ang hindi pa nakabalik
sa trabaho simula nang namahala ang Care
Best sa hilagang bahagi ng UP noong Agosto
1 kung saan 138 dating janitor ng UP ang
pinatalsik sa trabaho.
Ngunit ani Nemuel Sapungan, tagapagsalita ng UP Janitorial Services Association,
patuloy na magpipiket ng mga janitor para
igiit ang pagpapawawalang bisa ng kontrata
ng Care Best bago pa ito matapos sa Agosto
habang pinag-iisipan nilang magsampa ng
kaso laban sa ahensiya kung wala pa ring
matatanggap sa kanila ngayong Disyembre
hanggang Enero.
Paliwanag ng mga supervisor ng ahensiyang Care Best International, na humiling
na huwag pangalanan, hindi “madidiktihan”
ang ahensiya kung sino man ang nais nitong
tanggaping janitor.
Giit nilang nasa ahensiya ang huling
desisyon dahil magiging kontrakwal umano
ng ahensiya ang mga janitor. Dadag nila,
kagaya ng mga direkta nilang manggagawa,
kinakailangan dumaan sa sariling proseso ng
pagtatanggap ng ahensiya ang mga janitor
kahit miyembro sila ng UP Janitorial Services
Association (JSA) na mahigit tatlong buwan
nang nagpipipiket sa Quezon Hall.
Tuloy ang pagpipiket
Ayon kay Sapungan, mahigit 20 janitor ang
aktibong nagpipiket sa Quezon Hall sa kasalukuyan, samantalang ang may 60 sa kanila ay
bumalik na sa kanilang mga probinsya upang
humanap ng trabaho.
Aniya, ipinangako ng pamunuan ng UP sa
huli nilang pag-uusap noong Nobyembre na
aaksiyunan nito ang agarang pagpapabalik sa
mga janitor sa dati nilang trabaho. Bagaman
iginiit umano ng pamunuan ng UP na iilan
na lamang sa kanila ang matatanggap, ani Sa-
pungan, mariin pa ring panawagan ang pagpababalik sa lahat ng natitirang nagpipiket.
UP, wala sa posisyon?
Isinisi ni Sapungan ang kasalukuyang estado ng mga natanggal na janitor sa mabagal na
usad ng negosasyon sa pagitan ng pamunuan
ng UP at ng Care Best na pinangangambahang mas tatagal sa susunod na taon.
“We (UP admin) are just appealing (to the
agency). We can’t impose on them,” ani Acting
Vice Chancellor for Community Affairs Grace
Gregorio. Aniya, wala umano sa posisyon
ang UP upang panghimasukan ang operasyon ng Care Best katulad sa pagpili ng mga
mangagawa dahil tanging pagrerekomenda
ng mga janitor sa ahensiya ang magagawa ng
UP sa usapin ng mga nagpipiket.
Ayon sa mga supervisor ng Care Best,
pinagkasunduan ng UP at ng ahensiya na 50
porsyento o 71 janitor ang tatanggapin nito
mula sa mga nagpipiket habang 58 na ang
muling tinanggap ng Care Best. n
Philippine Collegian | huwebes | 14 dis 06
K
inatigan ng Board of
Regents (BOR), ang pinakamataas na tagagawa ng palisiya sa UP, sa pulong noong Agosto
25 ang panukalang isara ang imprentang sangay o printery ng Press
at i-outsource o ipabahala na sa
pribadong sektor ang paglilimbag
ng mga libro upang makatipid ang
unibersidad.
Sa panukala ng lupong binuo
ni Pangulong Emerlinda Roman
noong Hunyo 2005 upang mag-aral
sa kalagayan ng imprenta, tumigil
na ang operasyon ng imprenta mula
Setyembre.
Ngunit ayon kay Clodualdo
Cabrera, property custodian ng
Press at pangulo ng All-UP Workers Union (AUPWU), bilang isang
serbisyo, hindi maihihiwalay ang
imprenta sa kabuuan ng Press, na
sumusuporta naman sa mga gawaing pampananaliksik at pagtuturo
ng UP.
Prologo: Kasaysayan
ng pagsasara
Ayon sa lupon na pinamunuan
ni Acting Vice Chancellor for
Community Affairs Cynthia Grace
Gregorio, batay sa operasyon ng
imprenta mula 2003 hanggang
2004, lumabas na nakamura umano
ang UP sa pagpapalimbag ng mga
libro sa labas ng printery dahil sa
kalumaan na ng mga makina at sa
mababang kalidad ng nalilimbag
nito.
“Nag-a-outsource na [ng paglilimbag] noong dumating ako sa
UP Press. Ang maseselang aklat,
halimbawa may photos, ipinapalabas na talaga,” ani Direktor Ma.
Luisa Camagay ng Press. Dagdag
niya, hindi rin magagamit ang mga
makina sa newsprint, na mas mura
sana umanong klase ng papel para
sa mga textbook.
Ani Cabrera, hindi naman maselan ang lahat ng trabaho ng print-
ery, at may kakayanan pa rin itong
makipagkumpetensiya sa kalidad
ng sa pribado. Bagaman totoo
umanong may problema ang kalidad ng ilan sa mga gawa ng printery,
hindi umano maitatanggi ng Press
na nangyari rin ito sa ilang libro na
ipinagawa nila sa labas.
“Considering the volume of our
publication in the university, we
should have our own printery. [It
is] also for us to have control over
quality,” ani Faculty Regent Roland
Simbulan, na kasama ni Student
Regent Raffy Sanchez na bumoto
laban sa pagsasara ng imprenta.
Binanggit ng ulat ng lupon na
napilitan ang Press noong 2003 at
2004 na ibigay sa mga pribadong
imprenta ang aabot sa 44 porsyento
ng mga libro dahil hindi kakayanin
ng sariling imprenta ang dami at
paggamit ng teknolohiya sa paglilimbag, gaya ng color separation.
Bukod pa umano rito ang may 37
porsyento na kinailangan na ring
ipagawa sa pribado ang pabalat at
binding.
Ngunit paliwanag ni Alfonso
Manalo, dating super visor ng
imprenta, “Mga 80 percent ng
printing job ng UP ang kaya pang
itakbo ng mga makina dahil black
and white naman ang karamihan.”
Kabilang sa ipinalilimbag ng UP ang
mga calling card, office pad at iba’t
ibang form.
Kabanata I: Dahilan
ng pagsasara
“The Printery Division can only
become more efficient with the purchase of new machines,” anang ulat
ng lupon. Tinatayang P6.5 milyon
umano ang halaga ng mga bagong
makinang kailangan.
“We do not have money to spend
on that modernization. The UP is so
dependent on the budget given by
the state, that is still not enough,”
ani Camagay.
Ngunit sa pahayag na ipinaabot
ng AUPWU sa pamunuan ng UP
noong Hulyo, sinabi nitong inaasahang tatagal pa ng 20 hanggang 50
taon ang mga kasalukuyang makina
ng imprenta.
“Hindi totoong kailangan ng
malaking halaga upang magpatuloy
ang operasyon ng printery. Ang
mga makina natin, bagaman may
kalumaan na, ay nangangailangan
lamang minsan ng minor repair,
gaya ng pagpapalit ng ilang piyesa,”
ani Cabrera.
Sa 2003 at 2004, tinatayang
P230,000 ang ginastos para sa
pagpapanatili ng paggana ng 13
makina, na karamihan ay nabili
noong pang 1960.
Dagdag ni Manalo, impraktikal
na isara ang imprenta habang buo
at gumagana pa ang mga makina.
Kasalukuyang nasa pasilidad pa
rin ng imprenta ang mga makina at
hindi pa malinaw ang pagdadalhan
sa mga ito.
Kabanata II: Dulot
ng pagsasara
Dahil wala nang imprenta ang
Press, ipalilimbag na ang lahat ng
libro sa mga pribadong kumpanya,
ayon kay Camagay.
Ani Olivius Romero, typesetter
sa Press, ipapasok muna ng Press
ang mga detalye ng ililimbag sa
Electronic Procurement System ng
gobyerno na makikita sa internet
at iiwan ito rito nang pitong araw,
para sa ililimbag na tinatayang
mababa sa P20,000 ang halaga. Kakailanganin naman ang quotation
mula sa hindi bababa sa tatlong
imprenta, kung saan magmumula
ang pipiliin ng pamunuan ng Press
na makagagawa ng trabaho sa
pinakamababang presyo.
“Bababa ang cost of printing
books, kasi open ito sa bidding ng
private sector,” dagdag ni Camagay.
Aniya, nakapagpapamahal din sa
mga libro ang utilities at pasahod,
na hindi na sasagutin ng UP kung
sa pribado na ipagagawa.
Sa datos na iniharap ng lupon,
ipinakitang aabot sa kalahati ang
natipid ng Press sa pagpapalimbag
sa labas laban sa limbag ng sariling
imprenta.
Ngunit ani Cabrera, walang
katiyakang pangmatagalan ang
sinasabing murang presyo ng paglilimbag dahil tanging ang pribadong
sektor ang magpapasya at hindi na
makokontrol ng UP ang presyo,
gustuhin man nito. Ganito umano
ang nangyari sa mga serbisyong
dating hawak ng pamahalaan gaya
ng tubig at kuryente.
Kabanata III: Ang
hindi nasusulat
Habang sinasabi ng lupon na
makabubuti ang pagsasara ng imprenta, ayon sa AUPWU, hindi naman isinaalang-alang sa pag-aaral
ang pagiging service center, at hindi
earning center, ng Press. Tiningnan
dibu h o : a r c h i e oc l o s .
Melane A. Manalo
Epilogo
Salaysay ng huling kabanata
ng U . P . P r i n t e r y
06 Balita
07 Balita
din umano ang imprenta bilang
hiwalay na sangay ng Press,
gayong kabuuan ng Press ang
tumutugon sa mandato nito, at
maaaring nasa ugnayan ng mga
sangay nito ang problema at hindi
lamang sa imprenta.
Ayon sa status report ng Press
na inihanda ng dating Direktor
Laura Samson, sa reorganisasyon
na isinagawa noong 1995, sadyang ikinabit sa Press ang imprenta
upang higit na makapagsilbi sa
ibang yunit ng UP, at nagsimula
noon ang pagpapaunlad sa makinarya nito.
Puna naman ni Simbulan, hindi rin sinaklaw ng pagsusuri ang
mga taon bago ang 2003, kung
kailan talagang nakita umano
ang pagkita ng Press at pagkilala
rito bilang mahusay na publisher.
Noong 1997, hinirang ang Press
na “Publisher of the Year” ng
Manila Critics Circle para sa
dami at kalidad umano ng mga
nalimbag.
Ayon pa sa AUPWU, papalakas
ang kakayanan ng Press, kasama
ang printery, na pinatutunayan
ng tumataas na bilang ng librong
nalilimbag bawat taon mula nang
itatag ito noong 1965.
“Nakapagtataka ngang gustong isara ang printery gayong
sa ibang university, nagsusumikap pa silang paunlarin ito,” ani
Cabrera.
Huling kabanata:
Talatinigan ng pagsasara
“Basic framework here is
privatization.... Probably, kaya
walang funds, they (UP units)
are not patronizing it fully,”
paliwanag ni Simbulan. Dagdag
niya, lalo pang nawalan ng pagkakataon ang imprenta upang
kumita para sa UP.
Paglilinaw naman ni Camagay,
“Hindi ito privatization kundi
pagsasara. Hindi ibinibigay [ang
lahat ng trabaho] sa iisang pribadong entidad.”
Dagdag ni Simbulan, maitutulad ang pagsara sa imprenta sa
planong i-phase out na rin ang
University Food Service. Gayundin umano ang pangongontrata
ng UP ng ahensiya para sa janitor
at guwardiya, na kadalasan naman umanong mapanamantala
sa mga manggagawa.
Ani Cabrera, karamihan sa 14
na manggagawa ng imprenta ang
lumipat na sa tanggapan ng registrar at sa College of Mass Communication. Bagaman walang
magiging pagbabago sa sahod
at benepisyong matatanggap
nila, bumaba naman umano ang
moral nila dahil hindi na napakikinabangan ang kakayanan nila sa
pagpapatakbo ng mga makina ng
imprenta. n
Philippine Collegian | huwebes | 14 dis 06
Trajectories of dissent
The Collegian news roundup
J e r r i e M . Ab e l l a
S
haking local and national arenas, the events
that defined the past 11 months brought
to the fore the various contradictions and
clashing perspectives within and outside the
academe. In this section, the Collegian gives a
summary look of the dissentions that foretell
brewing crises.
January 9
U
P Diliman Chancellor
Sergio Cao upholds the
recommendation of the
Office of Anti-Sexual Harassment
to suspend Institute of Biology
(IB) Director Roberto Pagulayan
who was found guilty of six counts
of “less grave sexual harassment.”
The complainant was also from
IB.
April 4
T
he proposal to change the
UP Charter, House Bill
(HB) 5008 or “An Act to
Strengthen UP as the Premier
State University,”gains approval in
the Lower House. While the bill
recognizes the importance of student institutions like the student
council and campus publications,
UP student and faculty groups
nevertheless faulted the proposal
as it failed to define education as a
basic right, not a privilege.
June 9
C
ongress approves the 2006
national budget, which is
a mere reenactment of the
2005 budget. The Department of
Education received an allocation
of P102.8 billion, P4 billion short
of the 2006 proposed budget. UP
likewise received P4.45 billion, a
far cry from the P7.82 billion budget proposed by the UP administration. Debt servicing, however,
took in a total of P721.66 billion.
June 15
P
rotesting students and UP
Manila (UPM) employees
denounce the violent dispersal and illegal arrests by police
forces in a mobilization against
Gloria Arroyo, who was then
visiting the Philippine General
Hospital. Condemning what they
called state abandonment of the
health and education sectors,
the protesters, mostly UPM students, also decried the almost
75% increase in UPM College of
Medicine tuition.
June 19
V
endors situated along
the Academic Oval (AO),
fearing total eviction from
the campus, move to UP administration-constructed kiosks amid
objections against the “exorbitant”
P2,000 monthly rental fee.
June 23
H
ighlighting possible militarization of the campus, student and faculty
groups hold a protest action to
condemn the alleged recruitment
of 15 Marine reservists in the
Special Security Brigade to serve
as security personnel patrolling
the AO.
June 26
S
uspected military forces
abduct UP students Karen
Empeño of the College of
Social Sciences and Philosophy,
and Sherlyn Cadapan from the
College of Human Kinetics, in
Hagonoy, Bulacan.
June 30
I
n its meeting, the Board of
Regents (BOR) recommends
further discussion of the proposed systemwide increase of
tuition by at least 250%, and
implementation of additional fees,
like internet and energy fees.
July 7
I
ncidents of fraternity-related
violence reach seven, with
three clashes recorded in just
one day involving members of
Alpha Phi Beta (APB) and Alpha
Phi Omega. Only three weeks earlier, APB had also been involved
in a fight with another fraternity,
Sigma Rho, in two separate clashes
on June 16, and in another two on
June 20.
July 24
A
tion, but only a 4x4 meter space
was given to each family.
September 10
T
he UP Pep Squad bows
to third place in the annual University Athletic
Association of the Philippines
Cheerdance Competition, after
deciding earlier to boycott the
event due to controversies on the
scoring process a year ago. Team
Captain Clarissa Clarete said the
Cheerdance Competition Board
introduced new rules of scoring
only an hour before last year’s
competition.
10,000-strong protest
action, with over 200
UP students and faculty,
greets Arroyo’s State of the Nation Address, where she promised
increased budget allocation for
basic services like education, and
condemned the growing incidence
of political killings in the country. Militant groups, however,
slammed the government for the
continuing decline in state subsidy
for education and the involvement
of military forces, particularly
retired Maj. Gen. Jovito Palparan,
in the spate of political killings
and other forms of human rights
violations.
ollegian photographer Juan
Versoza receives threats
from Task Force Bulacan
head Lt. Col. Rogelio Boac for taking pictures of the latter in a Court
of Appeals hearing on the petition
for the military to produce missing
UP students Karen and Sherlyn.
July 31
September 22
T
he number of political killings reach a record-high of
717 since Arroyo assumed
the presidency in 2001, according to human rights advocate
Karapatan, after former UP Los
Baños student and LFS spokesperson in Aquinas University Rei
Mon Guran was gunned down in
Sorsogon. Earlier that day, Alice
Claver, a member of the militant
formation Bayan Muna (BM),
was also gunned down in Tabuk,
Kalinga. Militant groups identified
the military as the perpetrator of
these murders of activists.
August 1
J
anitorial service agency Care
Best International wins a contract with UP, but, contrary
to the usual practice of previous agencies, refuses to re-hire
138 janitors from the outgoing
company.
August 28
G
iving way to the construction of a Science and
Technology (S&T) park,
the UP administration evicts 35
families out of the Petsayan area
in Barangay Old Capitol Site. The
residents were provided reloca-
September 20
C
S
tudent activists pelt Armed
Forces Chief Hermogenes
Esperon with eggs and mud
as he was leaving the venue of a
forum in the Faculty Center. The
action, according to the activists,
was made to protest the alleged
abduction by the military of the
two missing UP students and the
spate of political killings in the
country.
October 26
E
arning criticism from student groups in UP, the BOR
approves a 25-year S&T
park contract between UP and
real estate giant Ayala Land Inc.
to give rise to the construction of
business establishments. Student
leaders expressed fears that this
income-generating scheme will
further rationalize the already
dwindling state subsidy for UP.
November 23
A
bout 500 students boycott
their classes and mass up
in front of Palma Hall
to protest the proposed tuition
increase and the withholding of
the Collegian funds by the UP
administration. n
08-09 Lathalain
Philippine Collegian | huwebes | 14 dec 06
L
uis is a 4th year BA Anthropology student in University of
the Philippines (UP) Mindanao. Compared to other other
universities in the region, tuition here is relatively cheap.
For a six-member family who barely has enough to eat, however,
the cheapest tuition can still be expensive.
To earn enough for his tuition, Luis divides
his weekdays between school and work. His
weekends are equally occupied with repairing
fixtures for P40 per item.
Fortunately, with enough money earned
from odd jobs and the Socialized Tuition Fee
Assistance Program (STFAP), Luis was able
to make it to his senior year. It took months,
however, before his STFAP application was
approved during his freshman year. All kinds
of documents were required; properties and
appliances were crosschecked. (see sidebar).
But, he quips, “it’s better than nothing.”
Steep expense
With an annual family income of a little
over P138,000 or P383 per day, Luis qualifies
under bracket 6 of the STFAP and receives a
75 percent tuition discount. In this bracket,
however, miscellaneous fees, laboratory fees
and book allowances are no longer covered.
During enrollment, payments can reach more
than P1,000 – which, for Luis, entails more
scrimping.
When news of the tuition fee hike and STFAP rebracketting reached Luis, he felt alarmed.
UP was compelled to generate its own funds
through income-generating projects. Thus,
former UP President Edgardo Angara pushed
for a 169 percent tuition increase.
Before Angara’s imposition, UP tuition
hikes were virtually unheard of, especially one
as exorbitant as this. Angara’s move spurred
widespread protests throughout the studentry
prompting the administration to compromise:
the 169 percent increase was diffused through
four semesters and a 15 percent increase for
every succeeding semester.
This trend continued until the Aquino Administration, concurrent with the International
Monetary Fund (IMF) imposition on channeling the bulk of the national budget to debt servicing. Like Angara, former UP President Jose
Abueva faced perennial budget cuts. Instead
of asserting greater state subsidy, however,
Abueva proposed another tuition increase.
Consequently, the Students’ Coalition
Against the Rising Cost of Education, a militant
student organization, led protests to oppose
the increase. Amidst all these, the Socialized
Tuition Fee Scheme (STFS), the precursor of
the STFAP, was first introduced as a possible
annual income.
Meanwhile, the administration commissioned several institutions in the university
to draft an STFS proposal. From these, the
administration selected the paper of Dr. Romeo
Manlapaz, a Mathematics professor, as its official version. Manlapaz’s STFS proposed that
“students who can afford should pay at least
the full cost of education.” Manlapaz projected
a UP net income of P100 to P150 million per
year – a considerable increase from the usual
income of P30 million from tuition fees alone.
The Abueva administration admitted that
because the UP budget has been slashed to as
much as P700 million every year, they were
looking for ways to generate more income. The
administration, thus, designed the STFS as a
means to generate income.
Celdran warned that since the administration’s approach turns “the socialized fee scheme
into a revenue-generating program,” fewer
students will be subsidized. Consequently,
majority of the students will be in the upper
brackets to pay the full cost of UP education,
coughing up the resources the government
refused to deliver.
Initial dissent
Despite Celdran’s warning, both proposals were submitted to the Board of Regents
(BOR), the university’s highest policy-making
body. On January 30, 1989, the BOR approved
Manlapaz’s proposal – the current configuration of the STFAP.
According to the UP administration’s 1989
many students were classified under Bracket
nine, where they paid the tuition in full.
Both Celdran and Nepomuceno criticized
the flawed bracketting system and the arbitrariness of the set poverty line. In “The UP STFAP:
A Policy Evaluation Study”, results showed
that “majority of the respondents found the
benefits inadequate, the application process
cumbersome and the work program unfair.”
They further believed that the administration
was incapable of accurate bracketting. Even
Bracket one recipients, those that received
complete benefits, thought the STFAP provided
insufficient support due to the high cost of living (see sidebar).
Miscalculations
Now, two decades after the STFAP’s first
implementation, another proposal comes up.
An ad-hoc committee led by Emmanuel de
Dios of the College of Economics submitted
its proposals. Among these prescriptions are
relative tuition increase for incoming freshmen
and a “more realistic” bracketting system for
the STFAP (see sidebar).
The said committee argues that between the
year 1989 and 2005, the Consumer Price Index
have escalated, resulting to a 328 percent
increase in price levels and simultaneously
with the levels of family income. Thus,
annual incomes based on 1989 levels
of inflation would have more than
tripled, the committee claims. For
instance, in the current STFAP
system, a family with an an-
According to the UP administration’s 1989 primer, the STFAP adheres to the following objectives: to
“reduce the large state subsidy” and “increase the total UP income from tuition and other fees.”
Under the new STFAP, brackets will be reduced
from nine to only five (see sidebar). If the new
system were applied to Luis, he would fall to
Bracket C, where recipients will get only a 40
percent discount on the base tuition fee. Using
the P600 proposed base for UP Mindanao, tuition expenses would reach P6,480 for 18 units
sans the miscellaneous and laboratory fees – an
amount beyond Luis’ meager earnings.
Yearly, students have to contend with scant
resources and rising prices. Like Luis, they
will turn to education as a way to fight their
own poverty, only to find that it too has been
snatched away from their reach.
The first yoke
The ToFI trend in UP began in 1983, at the
height of former president Marcos’ unpopularity. To ensure his hold on power, Marcos channeled the greatest part of the national budget to
the military. Social services, such as health and
education, had to take drastic budget cuts. To
compensate for the loss of government subsidy,
alternative to the proposed tuition increase.
The STFS sought an end to tuition hikes, as
drafted by UP Kaakbay and The Coalition for
the Advancement of a University Socialized
Education, a faculty and student formation,
respectively. The students and faculty argued
that the tuition hike can only exacerbate social
inequality in the campus, and thus, presented
the socialization scheme to provide greater
equity.
Two sides, same coin
Two versions of the STFS were drafted: the
proposal of the University Student Council
(USC) and the UP administration.
The USC described their version as “socialization from below.” Former Student Regent
David Celdran further explains that “the emphasis will be on giving more scholarships and
grants-in-aid to students by higher income
cut-off requirement to more realizable levels.”
In the USC scheme, all students will be subsidized accordingly, depending on their family’s
primer, the STFAP adheres to the following
objectives: to “reduce the large state subsidy”
and “increase the total UP income from tuition
and other fees.” Echoing Celdran, former USC
Councilor Ariel Nepomuceno criticized the
STFAP for its “income generating” orientation.
He described the scheme’s implementation as
tantamount to commercialization.
However, the administration claimed that
the approved version still adheres to the
egalitarian principle “from each according to
his means, to each according to his needs.”
Abueva also claimed that the STFAP would
accommodate “poor but deserving students”
in the university.
Students, on the other hand, were surprised
to find that the “democratized” scheme that was
supposed to provide equitable government assistance was accompanied by a radical increase
in tuition. From P40 per unit the tuition soared
to P300 per unit – a 750 percent increase. To
cope with the increase, students flocked to apply for the STFAP. True to Celdran’s warning,
nual income of P250,001
in 1989 would now be
earning more than
P820,000 at present.
De Dios suggests
that the same family can now afford a
328 percent tuition
increase.
A USC position
paper on the proposal states, however,
that the committee’s
analysis is based on the
principle of ceteris paribus,
where all things are kept
constant. To arrive at the real
value, annual family income should
not be interpreted in absolute terms, ignoring
other significant variables such as the rising
prices of oil, goods and services. The newly
implemented Expanded Value Added Tax and
the poverty threshold must also be taken into
Paying Scholar
By Alaysa Tagu mpay E. Escandor
STFAP brackets & applicable tuition fee discounts
(in pesos per credit-unit)
B r a ck e t
Fa m i ly i n co m e
in urban areas
(pesos)
T uitio n f e e
di s cou n t
(percent)
App l ic a b l e
tuitio n f e e *
(pesos)
1
0-45,000
100
0
2
45,001-55,000
100
0
3
55,001-65,000
100
0
4
65,001-80,000
100
0
5
80,001-130,000
100
6
130,001-170,000
75
7
170,000-210,000
50
150
8
210,001-250,000
25
225
9
250,001 and above
0
300
SOURCE: UP-STFAP Bulletin (2001)
Proposed Adjustments in
Undergraduate Tuition Fees
(in pesos per credit-unit)
B r a ck e t
G r oup I
G r oup I I
A
0
0
B
300
200
C
600
400
0
D
1,000
600
75
E
1,500
1,000
Group I: Diliman, Manila, Los Banos
Group II: Baguio, Visayas, Mindanao
*Rates for UP Diliman
account, according to the USC.
Once these variables are in the picture, the
USC projected that many families will have to
bear another tuition fee hike despite “realistically being unable to marginally afford the
costs of living.” In their position paper, the All
UP Academic Employees Union (AUPAU),
an organization of UP’s academic workforce,
writes that “the salaries and wages of Filipino
families have not kept up with the rise in the
prices of goods and services in the Philippines…Even those in bracket seven
would still be living below the
required daily income
just to survive.”
In fact, if inflationary adjustments were applied,
the USC position paper notes that annual
family incomes would
decline by three instead
of tripling in value. For instance, the same family with
an annual income of P250,001
would now be earning only
P76,000. Thus, those in bracket
9 can now qualify for bracket five,
where they are exempt from paying
the tuition fee.
Tricky tirades.com
In the new bracketting system (see
sidebar), there is only one tier provided
for tuition exemption. In fact, the current
brackets have been clumped together arbitrarily, with Brackets two to four as Bracket B,
Brackets five to eight as Bracket C and Bracket
nine as Bracket D. Bracket E is reserved for
students with an annual family income of more
than a million.
UP President Emerlinda Roman says that
rebracketting is one of the ways that will help
poor students pay their tuition. In conclusion,
the committee report says that the new system
will provide “wider stipend coverage and higher
stipend rates.” However, Shahana Abdulwahid,
of the USC Student’s Rights and Welfare Committee, says that only 10 percent of undergradu-
ate students can avail of the stipend coverage, a
small fraction of those who truly need financial
assistance.
Responding to charges of legitimizing state
abandonment, Roman says that “constantly
asking the state for bigger subsidies would
be futile in light of recent government pronouncements about taming the budget deficit.”
However, USC Chair Paolo Alfonso adds that
it is the government’s responsibility to provide
for their education, as mandated by the 1987
Constitution.
Ramon Guillermo, former spokesperson
of the Congress of Teachers/Educators for
Nationalism and Democracy – Alliance of Concerned Teachers (CONTEND-ACT), further
explains that the reduction of social spending
traces its origins from the policies imposed
by the IMF, which requires the reallocation of
funds to foreign debt payment. Thus, social
institutions such as UP suffer from insufficient
funding exacerbated by chronic budget cuts.
To increase its income, UP “engages in entrepreneurial activities,” according to Guillermo.
This includes periodic fee increases, the commercialization of idle assets and the decline of
automatic subsidies for students, as embodied
by the STFAP.
In the guise of offering financial assistance,
the administration uses STFAP as a stop gap
measure. The government’s abandonment of
education has pushed the administration to
scrape for additional resources. The administration, in turn, now opts to siphon these resources
from the students in the form of tuition and
other fee increases. It has then isolated itself
from its constituents – aiming its energies
against the students and away from the real
source of the problem: government neglect. n
Sources:
Guillermo, Ramon (1997). Rationalizing Failures: The Philippine
Government in the Education Sector. Education for Development Magazine. IBON Databank.
Santillana, Carolina (1995). The UP STFAP: A Policy Evaluation Study.
Santos, Ma. Deanna (1988). What on Earth is the STFS? Philippine Collegian.
University of the Philippines (2006).Final Report: Ad-hoc Committee to Review Tuition and Other Fees.
The Motives behind the New STFAP
10 Kultura
InHer
Philippine Collegian | huwebes | 14 dis 06
Shoes
D ownsiz in g t h e
C osmo Gir l (Mis) R e pr e se n tat i o n
By Katrina Macapagal
“Cosmopolitan’s editorial inspires with information
on relationships and romance, the best in fashion and beauty,
the latest in women’s health and well-being,
as well as what’s happening in pop culture and entertainment
and just about everything else fun, fearless females want to
know. Glamorous, gutsy, frank and intimate,
Cosmo helps young women cope with their problems, realize
their dreams and maximize their potential.”
-“Cosmo Team” in About Cosmopolitan Philippines
T
hese are some of Cosmo Girl’s qualities: She seeks to become a free
spirit, a woman of the world who is always on-the-go. She can’t get enough
of fashion, and she can never have too much shoes. She speaks good English/
Taglish, and writes daily in her blog, too. She wants to maintain/obtain her
a skinny figure by going to the gym, or doing yoga like Madonna. She is educated, and
might even pusue higher studies in order to live her dreams, which probably include
getting her own condo and working for a high-end advertising company or fashion
magazine. She dreams of travelling all over the world.
Cosmo Girl can run in a skirt and stilletos. Especially when she’s running after Mr.
Right.
The image of the Filipina Cosmo Girl is plastered everywhere. She graces the pages
of the Philippine franchise of the popular US-based Cosmopolitan magazine. She also
appears in commercials that endorse beauty products and food for the health-conscious. The new independent woman is also represented in foreign female artists’ songs:
Destiny’s Child’s, “Independent Women,” the Pussycat Dolls’ “Doncha and other songs
by pop stars like Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera. Cosmo Girl is the star of books
that are popularly called chick lit, where she forever dreams of the perfect boyfriend.
Filipina socialites— Cosmo Girl wannabees—are hell-bent on emulating the stars of
the TV series Sex and the City.
These representations may be viewed to have emerged from what theorist Neferti
Tadiar calls “fantasy-production,” which “denotes the imaginary of a regime of accumulation and representation of a universal value, under the sway of which capitalist nations
organize themselves individually and collectively in the ‘system’ of the free world.” As
such, the proliferation of the Cosmo Girl image in this country are mere attempts at
(mis)appropriating foreign images of the new empowered woman. Simply put, this
means that the Philippines is still trapped in fantasies of Hollywood, and Cosmo Girl
is one of these “universal values” that are supposed to integrate Pinays into the system
of the world order.
Priveleged women in this country consume and breathe life into these representations to be able to enter the capitalist world market, the “free world.” As such, covers
of local magazines that cater to the new Pinays like Cosmopolitan, Preview and Mega
are graced with photos of skinny local models/actresses trying to emanate the look
and feel of their Western idols. For instance, in a Cosmopolitan issue featuring Heart
Evangelista, she is described to have walked into the room wearing white Havaianas
(which gained fame as part of the Oscars’ goodie bag) and “Jackie O” sunglasses. In one
of Tessa Prieto’s recent columns in the Philippine Daily Inquirer, the breaker statement
screams “Take That, Paris!,” in an attempt to be at par with Hollywood party-scene
poster girl Paris Hilton.
A r t w o r k : pi ya co n s ta n ti n o . Pa g e D e s i g n : n o e l pa ci s h e r n a i z .
Dare to Dream (ala Paris Hilton)
11 Kultura
Philippine Collegian | huwebes | 14 dis 06
The Devil Wears Prada
The romanticist construction of the Cosmo Girl image
as a “free” and “empowered” woman is linked to a strand
of feminism that originated from the movement of “white
feminist politics” that began in the US in the 20s. At that
time, at the forefront of the sufragette movement were white,
educated, middle-class women. While they were fighting for
their right to vote, other women, like the working-class in the
ghettos, were still struggling for the right to live.
Although feminism, loosely defined (and still heavily disputed within the academe and by various women’s groups),
is the fight against women’s oppression towards women’s
liberation, the kind of fight and the kind of liberation is not
universal. Black feminist theorist bell hooks cautions that
the fight for women’s liberation is inextricably linked and
compounded with issues of race and class. For instance,
women from developed countries are naturally more privileged compared to women in the Third World whose basic
needs have yet to be provided. As women in the US and UK
protest harassment in the workplace,
the majority of women in countries
like the Philippines are barely struggling to survive. bell hooks further
notes that “women in lower class
and poor groups, particularly those
who are non-white...are continually
reminded in their everyday lives that
all women do not share a common
social status.”
The kind of feminism that the local
Cosmo Girl forwards is that which
follows after white feminist politics, which is already limited
in itself. For the hopeful Filipina Cosmo Girl, therefore, the
quest for the fullfillment of fantasies is class-bound, off-track,
and quite ambitious when contextualized in the Philippine
setting where only a measly percent of the population belong
to the elite class. Empowerment is measured by her credit
limit, the brand of her car, the rate of her rent, or how fast
she can climb the corporate ladder. All these fantasies are
set in a country where the feudal-patriarchal practices and
culture remain intact and seventy percent of the population
is starving. It appears, then, that the local Cosmo Girl skips a
rather large step in striving for empowerment, for her idea of
empowerment is patterned after the bourgeois white feminist
brand of women’s liberation. Because Cosmo Girl Philippines
is trying to appropriate white feminist politics, her sense of
empowerment stops only at acquiring middle-class concerns
such as education and profession.
acquiring “beauty” and “freedom.” Although there is clearly
nothing wrong with these concepts, for all women do have
the right to feel and look beautiful, these dreams also comprise what feminist theorist Susan Bordo calls the “backlash
of (liberal) feminism.”
Even as priveleged women have taken a step forward
against patriachy in the professional and economic field,
gaining “freedom” to a certain extent, they take two steps
backward at the same time. In trying to conform with Cosmo
Girl’s seemingly “universal” representations of beauty and
freedom, they also fall into the trap of colluding with longexisting forms of patriarchal oppression, such as male objectification of the female body. As images of women who “have
it all” continue to bombard society everyday, “beauty” and
“freedom” in their genuine sense based on self-determination
become commodified and imposed. Thus, Bordo asserts that
women must view their bodies as a “site of struggle” where
“we must work to keep our daily practices in the service of
resistance to gender domination, not in the service of docility and gender normalization.” She
adds that “This work requires, a determinedly skeptical attitude toward
the routes of seeming liberation and
pleasure offered by our cultures.”
The recurring image of Cosmo
Girl as a product of fantasies is but
a symptom of the continuing dominance of the culture of patriarchy,
grounded on the capitalist mode
of production that allows for the
oppression and commodification
of women. Moreover, even as the projection of the Cosmo
Girl image signifies a degree of “success” and “liberation”
for priveleged women, it glosses over the other and more
prevalent side of the picture: that more women in the lower
class, including peasants and women workers, are triply oppressed in terms of gender, class, and race. In one interview
where she discusses the need for consciousness-raising
among feminists, bell hooks says: “I think that it’s one thing
to enjoy the good life and to enjoy beauty and things, and
another thing to feel like you’re willing to support the killing
of other people in other countries so that you can have your
fine car and other luxuries.”
At the end of the day, beautiful clothes, shoes, and makeup cannot cover for the fact that Cosmo Girl is Cosmo Girl
at the expense, and because of, other girls who aren’t. n
Empowerment is
measured by her credit
limit, the brand of her
car, the rate of her rent,
or how fast she can climb
the corporate ladder.
Women of the World, Unite! (You have
nothing to lose but your lip gloss)
One allure of embodying the Cosmo Girl is the promise of
299...
from p.12
lang ang pakulong ito. Bagama’t wala
namang masama dito, ang patakaran
sa pagsusuot ng ID ay maituturing na
simbolikong karahasan laban sa mga
estudyante. Ayon sa teoristang Pranses
na si Pierre Bourdieu, ito ay ang
ganitong banayad na porma ng karahasan, kunwari ay walang elemento
ng pasistang puwersa at halos hindi
napapansin. Kahit ituring na kaunti
lang ang epekto nito sa kultura ng kampus, inaapakan na nito ang academic
freedom na ibinabandila ng unibersidad sa minimal lang ding benepisyo.
Dahil paglabas ng gusali, hindi pa rin
naman ligtas ang mga estudyante sa
mga magnanakaw at isnatser na takas
ng impiyerno.
Impiyerno
UP lamang sa buong bansa ang state
References:
Tadiar, Neferti. “Fantasy-Production”
hooks, bell. “Feminism: A Movement to End Sexist Oppression.”
Bordo, Susan. Unberable Weight: Feminism, Western Culture, and the Body
“Challenging Capitalism & Patriarchy” (Third World Viewpoint interviews
bell hooks)
university na nakapasok sa survey. Mas
lamang ito sa tatlong pribadong unibersidad kung saan nagkakahalaga ng libo
ang bawat yunit. Ngunit sa nakaambang
tuition and other fee increase, tila pati sa
presyo, hahabol na rin ang UP. Saligang
pundasyon ng lipunan ang edukasyon,
kaya nararapat lamang na bigyang halaga
ng gobyerno ang edukasyon. Hindi rin
katumbas ng presyo ang kalidad nito,
na makikita sa survey na mas mataas
pa rin ang puwesto ng UP kumpara sa
mga pribadong unibersidad, kahit na
isaalang-alang pa ang actual cost ng mga
bayarin dito.
Ang pandaigdigang trend ng pagbaba
ng subsidyo ng mga gobyerno sa edukasyon ay sintomas ng panghihimasok ng
imperyalismong global sa patutunguhan
ng mga ekonomiyang maliit ngunit may
malaking lakas-paggawa. Sa halip na tustusan ang pag-aaral ng mga mamamayan,
hinihimok ang mga ito na pumaibangbansa na lamang.
Kakabit ito ng protectionist policy—tulad ng sa agrikultura—ng mga
makapangyarihang ekonomiya tulad
ng US at European Union. Samantalang mataas pa rin ang subsidyo
ng mga bansang ito sa kanilang mga
unibersidad, sinususugan naman ng
mga ito ang kabaligtaran sa mga mahihirap na bansa sa pamamagitan ng
mga institusyon tulad ng International
Monetary Fund at Asian Development
Bank.
Sa pagbulusok ng edukasyon sa
impiyerno ng postmodernismo, tanging ang pagbalikwas lamang ng mga
estudyante mismo ang magbabalik
dito sa tunay nitong layunin – ang
pagpapaunlad ng kaalaman at paggamit dito para sa pagpapaunlad din
ng lipunan. Sa ngayon, nasa bingit
tayo ng katumbas ng ideolohikal na
impiyerno – nakaambang lumamon
sa mga kaluluwang naliligwak sa mga
lamat ng purgatoryo. n
Sa mga
gabing
di makatulog
Sa mga gabing di makatulog,
iniisip ko ang mga kaklaseng,
siguro,
siguro isinilid sa drum at pagkatapos sinimentuhan;
ang mga kakilalang ang mga mukha ay pinasabog
ng pasistang mga bigwas, bala at putok;
ang mga kapwa makata at mamamahayag
na pinaslang at ikinulong
dahil,
dahil nais nilang gupitin ang dila ng apoy.
Sa mga gabing di makatulog,
iniisip ko,
iniisip ko ang mga nanay at tatay
ng aking maligalig na panahon;
silang mga nanay at tatay na naghihintay
sa nakangiting pagbabalik
ng nawawala nilang mga bunso at panganay.
Sa ganitong pagkakataon,
naiisip ko
at buong-buo ang loob kong napagtanto:
na hindi lamang kapritso,
na hindi lamang makatwiran ang lumaban
kundi ito ay makatarungan.
Makatarungan ang lumaban.
Dahil ang katarungan
sa tulad nating lagi’t laging nagnanais
na maging makatao ang lipunan ng mga tao,
ang katarungan,
ang katarungan ay pag-aapuhap –
paghahanap sa mailap na himbing at idlip
habang nananaginip na sa paligid
ang mga palaka at kuliglig.
Ric h a r d R . G a ppi
6 A u g ust 2 0 0 6
12 Kultura
Philippine Collegian | huwebes | 14 dis 06
Ito ang reputasyon ng UP na kinagisnan ko.
Langit
299:
Sa kabila ng postmodernong tereyn na ito, o kaya nama’y dahil dito
(depende kung sino’ng tatanungin), ang UP ang itinuturing na pinakamahusay na unibersidad sa buong bansa. Pinatunayan ito ng nakaraang Times
Higher Education Supplement – Quacquarelli Symonds (THES-QS) survey
na lumabas nitong Oktubre. Nangunguna ang Harvard University, sinundan ng Cambridge, Oxford, Massachussets Institute of Technology at
Yale. Ayon sa survey, ika-299 ang UP sa mga unibersidad sa buong
mundo. Ika-392 naman ang De La Salle, ika-484 ang Ateneo de Manila at nasa ika-500 ang University of Sto. Tomas. Pinakamahusay
ang UP. Naghiyawan ang mga kaluluwa sa purgatoryo. Ngunit
kung ikukumpara sa mga karatig-bansa, sisiw lang ang UP. Ang
Beijing University ng Tsina ang pinakamataas na unibersidad
sa Asya na nasa ika-14, samantalang ang National University
of Singapore ang pinakamagaling sa rehiyon ng Timog-Silangang Asya sa ika-19 puwesto.
Sa bukana ng una nitong sentenyal, masasabing nasa
isang interregnum ang UP, kung gagamitin ang konsepto
ng Italyanong teoristang si Antonio Gramsci. Ito ay
ang panahon kung saan ang isang kaayusan ay pawala
na, ngunit hindi pa naipapanganak ang kapalit. Tila
purgatoryo, nasa transisyon sa pagitan ng dalawang
bagay, ngunit hindi pa masabi kung saan nga ba
tutungo. Sa ganitong konteksto, masisipat ang
kahalagahan ng survey na ito sa kinabukasan ng
unibersidad.
May apat na kategorya ang survey: research
quality (60%), graduate employability (10%),
international outlook (10%) at teaching
quality (20%). Ngunit ang mga kategoryang
ito ay nakaangkla sa globalistang pananaw
ng survey. Ayon nga sa Top Universities
Guide 2007, trend na sa buong mundo ang
pagtigil ng mga gobyerno sa pagbibigay ng
free university education upang hikayatin
ang pag-aaral sa ibang bansa. Absurdo sa
lahat ng anggulo: praktikal, epistemolohikal, pinansiyal.
Animnapung porsyento ang
bigat ng research quality; 40% ang
peer review at 20% ang citations
per faculty. Ngunit may sapat mang
intelektwal na kapital ang mga estudyante at guro ng UP upang magsagawa ng mga tesis at pag-aaral,
kulang naman ang badyet para dito.
Kaya naman may mga napipilitang
sumahod mula sa kaban ng mga
pribadong kumpanyang handang
pondohan ang mga research.
Daan-daang kumpanya ang
pinagkunan ng datos ng THESQS sa graduate employability na
kategorya. Ngunit kung susuriin,
marami sa mga gradweyt ng UP
ang underemployed, katulad na
lamang ng mga nagtatrabaho sa
mga call centers at mga medical
transcriptionist.
Kabilang rin sa survey ang teaching quality o ang ratio ng mga guro
sa mga mag-aaral. Sa napipintong
pagtataas ng mga bayarin, isa sa
mga idinadahilan ng admnistrasyon
ay ang mababang pasuweldo sa mga
faculty kaya napipirata ang mga
ito ng ibang unibersidad, nangingibang-bansa o di kaya’y iniiwan
nang tuluyan ang pagtuturo. Ngunit
makikitang hindi kasagutan ang tuition increase sa suliraning ito dahil
nakapaloob pa rin ang UP sa Salary
Standardization Law kung kaya’t
Hindi rin katumbas ng presyo
ng edukasyon ang kalidad
nito, na makikita sa survey
na mas mataas pa rin ang
puwesto ng UP kumpara sa
mga pribadong unibersidad
hindi pa rin mauumentuhan ang
sahod ng mga guro, maipasa man
ang panukalang ito.
Signos ang kategoryang international outlook sa globalistang perspektibo ng survey ng
THES-QS. Limang porsyento
ang bigat ng dami ng mga dayuhang guro at limang porsyento
din ang bilang ng mga dayuhang estudyante. Ibig
sabihin, mas maraming
dayuhang estudyante,
mas mataas na puntos.
Tila pag-uyam sa pagiging state university ng
UP ang kategoryang
ito. Naaaninag din ang
pagposisyon ng postmodernong globalisasyon sa
paghahapag ng mga ganitong
suhestiyon sa edukasyong pangunibersidad.
Purgatoryo
Bukod sa bilang ng mga Sentro ng Kahusayan na naririto, ang
UP din ang isa sa mga unibersidad na may pinakamaraming
kursong mapagpipilian. Patunay
sa epistemolohikal na layunin
ng edukasyon para sa pagpapaunlad ng kaalaman at hindi
lamang para magkamal ng salapi
tulad ng mga fly by night na mga
nursing, caregiver at call center
training schools na nagkalat sa
kapuluan.
Sa UP, sinasabing mayroong
academic freedom. Malaya kang
gawin ang gusto mo, maging sa
pagpili ng mga asignatura, dahil
sa Revitalized General Education
Program. Ngunit mapanlinlang
ang kalayaang ito dahil sa ideyolohikal na konseptong kakawing nito. Sa pagbibigay sa mga
estudyante ng opsyon, maaaring
maiwan ang mga hindi popular
na asignatura tulad ng matematika, o kaya nama’y mga batayang
kurso katulad ng humanidades at
kasaysayan. Maaaring maligaw
ang mga estudyante sa kakulangan ng alam sa mga batayang
asignaturang ito.
Ngunit unti-unti nang nilalamon ng impiyerno ang purgatoryo. Sa ibang mga gusali,
mabubulok sa limbo ang mga
walang suot na ID. School spirit
diumano, bukod pa sa dagdag
seguridad. Ngunit nakapanlilinsundan sa p.11
Mga kuwento ng purgatoryo at ang UP sa
postmodernong tereyn ng imperyalismo ni Jeeu Christopher Gonzales
l it r ato : a l a n a h to r r a l b a . di s e n y o n g pa h i n a : C h e s k a Mo n t e s at n o e l pa ci s h e r n a i z .
G
anito ang hitsura ng purgatoryo. Ekta-ektaryang lupain
na hindi malaman kung saan ang simula at katapusan.
Pinapalamutian ng mga puno, damo, gusali, aspalto. Sa
mga kalsada ng purgatoryo, rumaragasa ang mga dyip, kotse, motor,
bisikleta, paa. Kahit ano, puwedeng isuot dito. Hindi na kailangang
tumayo kapag magsasalita. Pugad ng mga siyentista, aktibista,
ateista, artista, anarkista, rakista, mga demonyo at santasantita. Ganito kagulo, ganito ka-astig.
13 Opinyon
M*
G
abi noon nang alukin mo ako
ng ilang lagok sa C2 Apple mong
nagpapawis sa lamig, noong naglalakad akong nakatungo habang
binubuo sa isip ang akdang isinusulat ko. Sabi
mo, mukha akong hapo, at saan ka galing?
Hindi ko na maalala kung sinagot ko ang
tanong mo; agad kong kinuha ang inuming
alok mo, at sinundan ka upang humapon sa
batong upuan.
Hindi naman iyon ang unang pagkakataon
na nagkita o nagkausap tayo. Makailang beses
ka na ring umakyat sa opisina, pero hindi pa
tayo noon pormal na magkakilala. Nakasama
na rin kita sa iilang raling napuntahan ko;
ikaw, kasama ng iyong mga kaguro, at ako, sa
kumpulan ng mga kapwa ko manunulat sa pahayagan. Mukha kang bata, naisip ko noon.
Pero noong gabing iyon lang talaga tayo
nagkatabi at nagkausap ng matagal. Marunong na akong magyosi noon; kaya ko nang
paguhitin ang nakaliliyong usok pababa sa
mga baga kong malamang ay nabubulok na
ngayon. Kaya’t nang tumayo ako upang bumili ng Winston sa kalapit na tindahan, agad
mo ring inalok ang yosi mong tatak Camel.
Tinanggihan ko, sabay sabing may pambili
naman ako ng tangi kong bisyo. Hindi ko na
rin maalala kung paano mo ako napilit, pero
natatandaan kong kumuha ako ng isa, at isa pa
matapos iyon. Tatlong yosi yata ang nabawas
ko sa nakukusot nang pakete ng Camel mo.
(Huwag mo akong sisihin kung kalakhan
ng detalye ng gabing iyon ay hindi ko na
maapuhap sa aking alaala. Wala ako noong
pagpapanggap, at sarado ang aking isip sa mga
posibilidad. Hindi ang tulad ko ang tipo mo,
sabi ng isa mong kaibigan, at hindi rin masaya
ang aking nakaraan sa isa mo pang kaibigan.
Huwag ka sanang magagalit, kung maliliit na
detalye lamang ang kaya kong balikan.)
Paumanhin kung hindi ko na matandaan
ang ating mga napag-usapan, pero naaalala
Huwag mo akong sisihin kung kalakhan ng detalye ng
gabing iyon ay hindi ko na maapuhap sa aking alaala.
Wala ako noong pagpapanggap, at sarado ang aking isip sa
mga posibilidad. Hindi ang tulad ko ang tipo mo, sabi ng
isa mong kaibigan, at hindi rin masaya ang aking nakaraan
sa isa mo pang kaibigan. Huwag ka sanang magagalit,
kung maliliit na detalye lamang ang kaya kong balikan.
ko, isinalaysay ko sa iyo na nabundol ako ng
sasakyan isang araw ang nakaraan. Side mirror lang naman ang tumama sa aking likuran;
walang baling buto, walang napunit na laman,
walang sumagitsit na dugo. Paumanhin kung
pinag-alala kita, at mag-iingat ako palagi sa
pagtawid, at tatanawin ko muna ang magkabilang direksyon bago sumuong sa paspas ng mga
makina. Para akong bata, naisip ko noon.
Naputol ang ating usapan nang dumating
k at r i n a m a c a pa g a l
Departures
T
here is something terribly
violent in the way things are shaping
up in the university.
It is violent in the literal and
symbolic sense, as events that have transpired
over the past months seem like signs of perilous times ahead. They were inflicted upon
us consecutively, as though right on cue: the
massive lay-off of almost 200 UP janitors, the
displacement of the UP maninida from the
academic oval, the S&T parks tie-up with Ayala corporation, the “No ID No Entry” policy,
the withholding of the Collegian’s fund, and,
of course, the railroading of the proposal for
Tuition and other fee Increase. These are but
some of the many forms of violence that were
exacted on the UP community, violent in the
sense that they were carried out expediently
and resolutely, while sugarcoated with supposed legitimacy.
It is alarming to witness the beginnings of
how UP, in particular the UP administration,
is determined to depart from all that UP has
fought for throughout history. UP is purportedly heralded as the champion of democratic
rights, of accessible education, academic
freedom, and social justice. However, nothing
among the UP administration’s most recent
ang kapatid ko upang abutan ako ng perang
inutang. Sino siya, tanong niya. Madilim
noon, pero malamang ay nakita niya ang
makapal mong kilay sa ilalim ng suot mong
baseball cap. Naalala kong kinausap ko siya
ilang araw lang ang nakalipas. Ate, masaya
ako bilang ganito, sabi ko sa kanya noong
isang araw, at sadyang pinadungaw ang mga
ngipin sa siwang ng aking labi. Pero nagalit
siya, at mag-iingat daw ako sa mga katulad
ko, at nakadidiri raw ang mga tulad ko, at ang
siwang ay naging kurba ng impit na hininga
at pigil na mga pangungusap.
Kaya’t nang tanungin niya kung sino ka,
kaibigan, sabi ko, at ipinako ang tingin sa
natutupok nang baga ng yosi ko na yosi mo.
Ang sagot niya, mababang tinig at malalim na
titig: Huwag mong paiyakin si Mama.
acts fall under these advocacies. On the contrary, these acts of violence have instilled an
environment of indifference, injustice, and
outright repression.
The proposal for TOFI, for instance, is
packaged as a mere tuition fee “adjustment”
in the administration’s primer to gloss over
the 250 percent increase that it will entail if
approved. In order to dissuade opposition
from current UP students, the administra-
Gabi nga noon nang magkaakbay tayong
tumawid, sa takot na ako’y muling mahagip
ng rumaragasang mga dyip, sa ilalim ng maliwanag na buwan at mga talang kumikinang,
na bagama’t hindi na natin maaninag sa
kapal ng usok ng siyudad, alam nating hindi
tuluyang naglalaho.
*Salamat sa dalawang taon, at sa mga darating pa.
is clearly manifested in the administration’s
recent actions. In fact, the violence of these
times is worse than ever, because it attempts
to lead us into downplaying these issues as
forgivable, legal and pragmatic, at the expense of sacrificing our most basic rights.
What would be more violent, however, is if
we fall into the trap of blatantly supporting
these acts of aggression. If this is the case, it
is tantamount to saying that we have no right
to accessible education, that we no right to
a free publication, and that we belong to a
university that does not respect the rights
of its workers.
Whenever we confront such issues, we always invoke UP’s militant past, and we do this,
not because of nostalgia, but as a testimony to
We are called to invoke our own sense of history, so that
we don’t become mere pawns but participants in upholding
the advocacies that UP is supposed to stand for.
tion asserts that this will only be applied to
incoming freshmen, whom President Emerlinda Roman calls “nameless and faceless.”
Simultaneously, through the government
procurement law, the UP administration been
withholding the funds of the Collegian that
led to the halt of its publication since September. Even as they claim that they recognize
the publication’s bid for autonomy, the UP
administration still has not taken a position
in support of the publication.
The violence of authoritarian impositions
the UP community’s capability to withstand
such violence. We are called to invoke our
own sense of history, so that we don’t become
mere pawns but participants in upholding the
advocacies that UP is supposed to stand for.
As UP begins to show signs of departure
from what it ought to represent, it is imperative that we remember that the degree of
freedom we enjoy at present was not simply
handed over, but was vigilantly fought for.
We enact, again and again, the UP community’s potency for resistance. n
Iskolar ng bayan, ipaglaban ang Collegian!
jerrie m. abella
Sumali sa DefendOurCollegian alliance: defendcollegian@yahoogroups.com
Pumirma sa petition sa philippinecollegian.net
Magpadala ng pahayag ng suporta sa kule0607@gmail.com
Magbigay ng donasyon! Kontakin ang aming business manager 0921.786.0011
Philippine Collegian | huwebes | 14 dis 06
14 Grapiks
Philippine Collegian | huwebes | 14 dis 06
Bisig
Lubog
Nakabibigla na hindi batid ng lahat ng mga naninirahan sa pamayanang ito na unti-unti ang
paglubog ng Malabon, na darating ang panahon na kakailanganin nilang lisanin ito.
Ang isang balsa ay maaari lamang magsakay ng dalawa hanggang tatlong
pasahero. Sa pamamasada, ang iba ay nagbababad sa baha mula umaga
hanggang gabi at tinutulak ang balsa. Dahil hindi na kakayaning makaraan ng
traysikel de-padyak o de-motor, dyipni at iba pang sasakyan sa mga lubog
na bahagi ng Merville, balsa lamang ang tanging paraan para makalabas o
makapaglibot ka nang hindi ka nababasa ng baha.
Tulak ng
Buhay
C a n dic e A n n e L . R e y e s
Isla
Isang katotohanan na ang tubig ay buhay. At isa namang kabalintunaan na kung 75 porsyento ng mundo ay tubig, tinatayang 60
porsyento ng bayan ng Malabon ay maaaring lumubog sa tubig. Sa
barangay ng Dampalit matatagpuan ang pamayanan ng Merville. Ito
ang isa sa mga pinakalubog na kalye sa buong Malabon.
Tindahan
Mang Ado
Isa sa mga namamasada nang ganito ay si Mang Ado, na sa katandaan ay
nakalimutan na ang edad. Sanay na siyang maglakad sa mga bahaging
malulumot kung saan posibleng madulas siya at tumaob ang balsa. Kumikita
siya ng mula P150 hanggang P300 sa isang araw na pamamasada.
Isa nang pangangailangan ang balsa sa
pamayanang ito. Mayroong mga gumagawa
ng sarili at binebenta
o pinapasada, bumibili
o gumagawa rin ng
sariling balsa upang
makatipid na sa
pamasahe at para na
rin pumasada kapag
may oras, at ang iba ay
sumasakay na lamang
dito sa halagang P1020, depende sa kung
gaanong kalayo o katagal ang pagsakay.
A l a n a h to r r a l b a
Dedma
sipat
Oy mga tsong, grabe long taym no read
tayo ah! Miss nyo nang macho gwapito EP kolumnisto nyo no? Grabe kupal talaga tong admin
tsong, hanggang ngayon dehins pa rin binibigay
pondo naten! Sobrang hegwarts, este, hirap na
talaga ng pinagdadaanan ng dyaryo nyo. Kaya
arya sila nang arya sa pagpapataas ng tuition
naten eh! Di bale mga tol, kaya nateng balibagin
tong mga kumag na to. Lalo pa, andito ko sa EP,
lagot ang tite nila saken. Kaya tara, tigbakan,
este, todasan na!
Unahin nating tong si Prop Pernie na
nagmaganda, este nag-umepal sa conbocobocationan tungkol sa tofi. Patapos na ang
konsu-konsultahan nang humiret tong si prop
na nag-propa lang talaga ng mga kagaguhan at
depensa ng admin para sa tofi. Kawawa naman
ang mokong, binu-boo siya ng mga tao habang
nagdadadakdak. Kaya pinintasan niya ung mga
studyante na dehins daw marunong umasta
nang tama. E siya nga e, habang binabaladj,
este, binabara siya ni Super Rectum pagkatapos
niyang magsalita, pa-thumbs down-thumbs
down sign pa ang loko. Tapos ung muka niya
mukang tangang sesenyas-senyas ng kung anikanik, este, anu-ano. Hay, Prop Pernie, hilurin
mo na lang yang panot mong noo! Next taym,
hamunin kita ng galangan.
Eto pa isang pakawala, si vice personal Lion.
Nagkakalat ng mga teks na sinasabing barubal
talaga ung mga stoodz nung conbo-conbocationan, kesyo sinugod daw ang peyborit nating
mad kalabaw pagkalabas niya ng conbocationan
at tinambangan ang kotse niya. Pinares pa nya
nung itlugan kay Eshpert’yon. At talagang
proud pa tong si Lion dahil nilalagyan niya ng
signatory ang mga teks niya! Talaga namang
kung di mo kayang tablahin sa mga argumento
at prinsipyo, magba-black prop ka na lang ng
mga OA na tsismis. Teks nga nateng lahat tong
gagong to, kontakin nyo ko bibigay ko number
neto. Teks naten ng: pekpek mu!
At heto, last pasabog ko, mga tsong. Si
peyborit mad kalabaw uli. Grabe, berde pa
la talagang ugat ng gago. Sa nasagap kong
chismax, este, chika, este, scoop, minsan daw
naging ka-espadahan ni wild animal etong
isa pang kupal na kasama dun sa gumawa ng
tofi (hanggang todits lang clue na bibigay ko
ha). Nun nga daw na nagkasama sila sa Mat,
me mga nakaka-ispat sa kanila na lampungan
nang lampungan sa mga koridor nung building.
Minsan pa nga daw nakita tong si kalabaw na
iiyak-iyak sa isang sulok dun nang makipagkalas
sa kanya si kupal. AT hinabol pa raw nitong kalabaw etong F. d. Cat (o is pang clue ha) at ayun,
nagtakbuhan pa sila! Pero tingin ko pwedeng
mag-come back ang love story ng mga to, e
parehong sila ngayong taga-ratsada ng tofi eh!
Baka mag-sparingan uli sila! Sama nyo ko ha,
este, sama ng itsura nyo ah! Sige mga parekoy,
fly muna ko, maghahabol pako ng kalabaw.
--pierre inaki “pinky” camacho
Tofi animals edisyon
15 Grapiks
Philippine Collegian | huwebes | 14 dis 06
Peryang
Limot
Ilang Saglit sa Loob
ng Ulyaning Perya
B
ata pa ako nang makahiligan
ko ang tuwinang bisita
namin nina Nanay at Tatay
sa perya, lalo na kung malapit na
ang pistang-bayan ng Angono sa
Rizal pagsapit ng Nobyembre 23.
Gustong-gusto kong sumakay sa
merry-go-round at kumain ng cotton
candy at popcorn. Nanalo na rin ako ng
laruang Voltes V sa pagpapaikot ng roleta.
Walang katulad ang kasiyahan sa
perya para sa akin noon.
May limang taon na rin akong
hindi nagpeperya. Pauwi ako mula
sa UP nang maisip kong bumisita
uli rito, ilang hakbang lang naman
ang perya mula sa terminal ng
Angono. Limang araw na lang ay
pista na, siguradong maraming tao
ngayon at marami ring puwedeng
makita’t mabili. Pero paghantong
ako sa lugar, tila ibang perya ang
nadatnan ko. Isang peryang hindi
nakatawa, hindi nakangiti, hindi
masaya.
Galian
Grade one ako nang unang
makatungtong sa perya, na para
bang isang malaking birthday party.
Manghang-mangha ako sa kinang
at tila galian o pagdiriwang dito
na dinadaluhan ng lahat ng uri ng
tao. Nalaman ko noong hayskul
na tinatangkilik na natin ang mga
perya noon pang panahon ng mga
Espanyol, na binanggit pa ni Rizal
sa El Fili.
Maliwanag pa rin naman sa
loob ng perya, bagaman maliit na
ito ngayon. May nagtitinda pa rin
ng popcorn, cotton candy, at ilang
matatamis. May mga bingo at roleta
pa rin. Nagkaroon na rin ng videoke
machine na pinagkukumpulan ng
maraming tao, umaalingawngaw
ang “Crazy for You” ng Spongecola
sa buong perya. Pero wala na ang
merry-go-round, pati ang ferris
Lathalain
wheel na hindi ko nasakyan kahit
kailan dahil ayaw ni Nanay. Naiwan
na lang ang catterpillar na halatang
hindi napipintahan dahil pumupusyaw na ang puting katawang
bakal nito.
Pustahan
Nakikipaglaban ang mga mikropono ng pa-bingo at roleta sa
parang ngumangalngal na boses
sa videoke. Tumatawag si Mang
Rudy ng mga posibleng tataya
sa color game, na paborito kong
laruin noon. Madodoble ang tinaya
rito kapag lumabas ang kulay na
pinili ng tumaya sa pinaiikot na
mga dice. Nilagay ko ang sampung
piso sa dilaw. Lilima pa lang kaming tumataya sa walong kinulayang
parisukat. Hindi tumataas sa sandaang piso ang mga taya namin
kung titipunin.
“Matumal ang araw na ito,”
malungkot na sambit ni Mang Rudy.
Dati-rati raw ay marami nang tao
alas-sais pa lang ng gabi. Ngayong
alas-otso y medya na’y mahuhulugan pa ng karayom ang buong
perya. Ganito rin daw sa ibang lugar
na pinanggalingan nila tulad ng
Laguna, Batangas, at Cavite.
Hanggang kailan po kayo rito,
tanong ko. “Pagkapista,” tugon ni
Mang Rudy. Masuwerte na kung
umabot hanggang bago mag-Pasko.
Pero, bihira na mangyari iyong
ganoong ekstensyon, dagdag niya.
Nagbabayad pa kasi sila ng upa ng
P h i l ippi n e
Collegian
Hu w e b e s
1 4 di s 0 6
lupa na pag-aari ng angkang Guido,
isa sa mga maimpluwensiyang
angkan sa lalawigan, at permit sa
munisipyo na umaabot ng humigitkumulang P20,000.
Hindi naman ito mahirap
bayaran noong marami pa sila rito
sa perya. Ngayong nangangaunti
na lang sila, “doble pa sa doblekayod ang ginagawa namin.” Aniya,
nabawasan na ang rides dahil din
sa maintenance ng mga makinarya
bukod pa sa isinasahod at kinakain
nila habang nakatigil sa iba’t ibang
lugar na pinupuntahan nila.
Pati pala ‘yung mga palabas na
madyik at katatakutan, wala na rito,
sabi ko sa kanya. “Hindi na bumebenta ‘yung mga ‘yun,” sabi ni Mang
Rudy. Mas gusto na ng tao ngayon
na may balik ‘yung pera nila dito
sa perya sa hirap ng buhay ngayon.
“Kapag tumawa ka ba o natakot,
babayaran ka ba?” dagdag pa niya.
Naisip ko, maaaring sa Mall of
Asia, Enchanted Kingdom, o Star
City na lumipat ang dating mga tagatangkilik ng perya. Sa mga ganitong pagyabong ng komersyal at
nagkukumpetensyang amusement
parks, sadyang maiiwan nga naman
ang karaniwang mga perya.
Himpilan
Kaiba ngayon ang pakiramdam
ko sa perya. Maraming kabataang
nakaitim na T-shirt o pormang
a r tiku l o :
l oui s e vi n c e n t b . a m a n t e .
dibu h o :
iva n b r ya n r e v e r e n t e .
Sa pagyabong ng komersyal
at nagkukumpetensyang
amusement parks, sadyang
maiiwan nga naman ang
karaniwang mga perya.
punk sa perya. Palibot-libot lang
sila at patanghod-tanghod sa mga
puwesto. Naglilibot din ang mga
barangay tanod, pinagmamasdan
ang mga kabataang ito.
Nakilala ko agad si Mang Nestor.
Traysikel drayber siya sa umaga at
tanod naman sa gabi. Naririto na
siya unang gabi pa lang ng perya
sampu ng kanyang mga kasama.
“Delikado na talaga rito kapag
ganitong dis-oras ng gabi,” aniya.
Naikuwento niya ang minsang gulo
sa pagitan ng mga grupo ng mga
kabataan, o gang, nang magpangabot ang mga ito sa loob ng perya.
Kadalasa’y nakainom o naka-marijuana at may dalang mga patalim
ang mga grupong ito nang hulihin
nila’t i-turnover sa mga pulis. “Pati
itong perya ginagawa nilang ring,”
dagdag niya.
May mga kaso na rin ng pandurukot at nakawan na ikinahaharap
nilang mga tanod sa perya. May ilan
silang nahuhuli pero mahirap talaga
para sa kanila dahil labas-masok
naman ang mga tao rito. “Ingat na
di s e n y o n g pa h i n a :
cheska montes.
lang talaga dapat tayo lagi,” bilin ni
Mang Nestor. Tumungo na siya sa
kalapit na tindahan sa perya para
magkape’t makapaglugaw.
Malalim na ang gabi. Nagtatawag pa rin si Mang Rudy ng mga
tataya. Nagbobolahan pa rin sa
bingo. Wala pang sakay ang caterpillar. Kasisimula pa lang ng “Larawang Kupas” ni Jerome Abalos sa
malakas na videoke. Pero wala na
talagang tumaya pa sa color game.
Pumalo na si Mang Rudy sa mesa
gamit ang pitsang bakal. Binitiwan
na ng tao niya ang dalawang dice.
Gumulong-gulong ito pababa sa
mesa. At pumaibabaw ang kulay
asul. Parang lumipad ang sampung
piso ko. Sayang.
Kailangan ko nang umuwi dahil
may pasok pa bukas. Dagli akong
sumakay sa dyip. Malayo-layo na
ako nang lingunin ko ang perya.
Malalamlam na ang ilaw na nakapaligid rito. n