Nº 15
15 Nob 07
Opisyal na lingguhang
pahayagan ng mga
mag-aaral ng Unibersidad
ng Pilipinas - Diliman
news | 03
Residente
ng RIPADA,
tutol sa
relokasyon
kultura | 06
Primal Fix
Gazing the primetime
repertoire
Lathalain/08
On its 85th year, the
Philippine Collegian looks
back at eight decades of
headlines that saw print
on its pages & sent ripples
within and outside the
university.
17 Nob 2004
Pagtaas ng
budget ng
UP, igigiit
Sasalubungin ng mga
militanteng grupo sa
UP ang pagbukas ng semestre ng mga pagkilos
upang paigtingin ang
kampanya para sa mas
mataas na subsidyo sa
UP at edukasyon.
Sa panukalang pambansang budget na ipinalabas ng Department
of Budget and Management noong Agosto,
ibinaba sa P4.45 bilyon
ang pondo para sa UP
sa susunod na taon
mula sa P4.52 bilyong
kasalukuyang budget
nito.
PhilippineCollegian Ika-85 taon
Blg. 15 Huwebes 15 Nob 2007
T
here is only one thing to
remember before engaging UP administrators in a set dialogue.
No dialogue will occur
– only a show of force
and the brazen display of power.
Such is how the October 23
“dialogue” with the UP administration turned out. Student formations,
led by the Office of the Student
Regent, were invited to discuss with
UP President Emerlinda Roman
the results of studies publicized
in a policy review on the recently
implemented tuition increase.
The policy review is a compilation of arguments posed by the
student formations, which are
geared towards the cessation of
the implementation of the tuition
increase. The review revealed a
decline in freshman enrolment
for the current academic year, a
high number of UPCAT passers
who deferred their slots, and the
loss of UP ’s comparative advantage to other schools in terms of
affordability.
Roman and the other administrators present in the dialogue
were quick to reply with their own
claims. A telephone survey supposedly conducted by the administration revealed that a sample
of UPCAT passers claimed that
their deferment was a personal
choice, while a negligible number
reasoned that their deferment was
due to the high tuition imposed by
the University. Their survey even
noted that those who deferred as a
personal choice would rather go to
Ateneo, La Salle, or UST. As such,
Roman claimed, the decline in
enrolment cannot be attributed to
the tuition increase and even shows
that would-be students can afford
an education which is much more
expensive than what UP offers.
Roman mainly disputed every
claim formulated in the review
with the zeal and precision of
a firing squad on steroids. The
students got their pat- on- the back for their efforts in compiling
a policy review in an attempt to
quell the debilitating effects of the
tuition increase. As Roman said,
with finality, however: “ There is
no compelling reason to suspend
its implementation.”
There is something amiss in such
pronouncement. Reason necessitates a rational deliberation on a set
of viable options. When a premise
lies on succumbing to sheer pressure exerted by iniquitous government misallocations, the outcome
is called treason. Accurately, it is a
betrayal of the public’s trust in an
institution which supposedly offers
unhindered access to affordable
education.
Moreover, where the students
saw tragedies, the administration
saw triumph. The telephone survey
conducted by the administration,
instead of dispelling the culpability of the tuition increase in
the low enrolment figures of last
semester, should have revealed
that prospective students are
gradually being homogenized to
those who can afford an expensive
education in private schools. The
University, thus, is now engaged
in free competition with private
universities. While the students
in the dialogue also lamented the
increase in student loan applications, Roman happily noted that
this only signifies the improving
capabilities of the University to
provide such student assistance.
The administrators present
during the dialogue maintained
that poor would-be students are
When a
premise lies on
succumbing to
sheer pressure
exerted by
iniquitous
government
misallocations,
the outcome is
called treason
not denied access to UP education. They must, however, pass
the entrance exam first. The low
passing rate of students from public
schools, they say, is a result of
structural problems of the educational system pockmarked with
sordid accounts of the declining
quality of state-sponsored basic
education. UP, the administrators
claim, “can only do so much.”
Our current predicament is a
result of a series of capitulations
to a government bent on abandoning its constitutionally-enshrined
responsibility of providing accessible quality education to its citizens in order to pursue skewed
national priorities. It is true that
UP “can only do so much.” It can,
however, choose not to exacerbate
the dilemma by resisting such
government iniquity. The proverbial “not being part of the problem”
could have sufficed.
Roman, for her part, has challenged the student body to show
opposition. She claims that opponents of the tuition increase only
bared a small number while, in the
same ill-logic, claiming that the UP
population has actively registered
their willingness to pay for a higher
tuition rate. Let us not allow the
administration to fill in the blanks
for us with their heady pronouncements. There are still issues that
must be addressed, such as the
“automatic increase” provision in
the tuition policy that will result
in an annual increase in the tuition
rate based on perpetual inflation
rates. We must bare our staunch
opposition to the tuition increase
which lies at the crux of the debate,
despite the administration’s obstinacy that it will not repeal the
increase.
That is why it is in an insolent
note that the students left the
dialogue. The only promise we can
make at this point is as obstinate
as Roman’s. We shall continue to
resist the tuition increase, in whatever form it may take. There is no
compelling reason to concede.
Philippine Collegian Opisyal na lingguhang pahayagan ng mga mag-aaral ng Unibersidad ng Pilipinas - Diliman
Punong Patnugot / Jerrie M. Abella • Kapatnugot / Frank Lloyd Tiongson • Tagapamahalang Patnugot / Karl Fredrick M. Castro • Patnugot sa lathalain / Alaysa Tagumpay E. Escandor
• Patnugot sa Grapiks / Piya C. Constantino, Ivan Bryan G. Reverente, Alanah M. Torralba • Tagapamahala ng Pinansiya / Melane A . Manalo • Mga Kawani / Louise Vincent B. Amante, Glenn
L . Diaz, John Alliage T. Morales, Archie A . Oclos, Candice Anne L . Reyes • Pinansiya / Amelyn J. Daga • Tagapamahala sa Sirkulasyon / Paul John Alix • Sirkulasyon / Gary Gabales, Ricky
Icawat, Amelito Jaena, Glenario Omamalin • Mga Katuwang na Kawani / Trinidad Basilan, Gina Villas • Pamuhatan / Silid 401 Bulwagang Vinzons, Unibersidad ng Pilipinas, Diliman, Lungsod
Quezon • Tele­fax / 9818500 lokal 4522 • Email / kule0708@gmail.com • Website / http://philippinecollegian.net, http://kule0708.deviantart.com • Kasapi / Solidaridad - UP System-wide
Alliance of Student Publications and Writers’ Organizations, College Editors Guild of the Philippines
tungkol sa pabal at dibuho: ar chie oclos
Editoryal
Janno gonz ales
No compelling
reason
Philippine Collegian | Huwebes 15 Nob 2007
Residente ng RIPADA,
tutol sa relokasyon
Kristoffer C. Reyes
T
inutulan ng mga residente
ng Pook Ricarte, Palaris,
Dagohoy ( RIPADA ) ang
proklamasyon ni Gloria
Arroyo na nagbibigay ng relokasyon
sa mga pamilyang maapektuhan ng
demolisyon sa nasabing pook upang
ituloy ang proyektong pagpapalawak
ng Circumferential Road 5 (C -5).
Ayon sa Presidential Proclamation No. 1395, ilalaan ng gobyerno
ang 84,383 metro kwadradong lupa
sa RIPADA bilang relokasyon ng
mga matatamaan ng pagpapalawak
ng C -5, na magdurugtong sa North
at South Luzon Expressway.
“Naninindigan pa rin ang mga
residente (ng RIPADA ) na hindi
dapat matuloy ang planong pagpapalawak ng C -5 kahit pa may
nakalaang relokasyon,” ani Clodualdo Cabrera, pangulo ng All UP
Workers Union (AUPWU) na kasapi
ng Save RIPADA movement. Anang
mga residente, sasagasaan ng pagpapalawak ng C -5 ang buong RIPADA , kaya wala umanong lupa
sa kanilang lugar na mailalaang
relokasyon.
Umaga ng Nobyembre 9 nang
harangin ng mga residente ang
mga tauhan ng Metropolitan Manila
Development Authority (MMDA) na
nagtangkang magsagawa ng pagsusukat ng lupa sa RIPADA .
Hinarang din ng mga residente
ang pagbalik sa RIPADA ng mga
tauhan ng MMDA noong Nobyembre
12, kasama ang mga miyembro ng
Quezon City Police, upang ituloy
ang pagsusukat ng lupa. Ani Noli
Anoos, pangalawang pangulo ng
AUPWU, nakasibilyan ang mga pulis
na dumating at may isa pa umano sa
kanilang bumunot ng baril upang
takutin ang mga residente.
Ani Student Regent Terry Ridon,
walang pahintulot mula sa UP ang
pagpasok ng mga tauhan ng MMDA
at mga pulis sa loob ng RIPADA .
Aniya, dapat munang maglatag ng
malinaw at wastong plano ang MMDA
ukol sa relokasyon ng mga residente
bago magsagawa ng anumang hakbang sa loob ng RIPADA .
Bagaman umayon si Kap. Isabelita Gravides ng Brgy. UP Campus
In the frontlines
na da p a t ma k a p a g p a k i ta a n g
MMDA ng malinaw na plano ukol
sa relokasyon ng mga residente,
kinakailangan umanong maisagawa
ang pagsusukat ng lupa upang
malaman ng gobyerno ang lawak ng
lupang ilalaan sa relokasyon.
Isang Comprehensive Development Plan para sa pabahay ng
mga apektadong residente ng RIPADA ang gagawin ng MMDA sa
tulong ng pangulo, ayon sa liham
na ipinadala ni MMDA Chair Bayani
Fernando kay Gravides. Nauna
nang ipinahayag ni Fernando na
itutuloy ang proyekto sa C -5 kahit
wala pang nakakalap na kaukulang
datos ukol sa dami ng residenteng
maaapektuhan at sukat ng lupain
ng RIPADA .
“ Uunahin siyempre ng MMDA
na gawin ang kalsada (C -5) bago
kami ipagpatayo ng relokasyon.
Saan kami titira kung masisira ang
bahay namin?” ani Anoos.
Hindi malinaw ang planong inihapag ng MMDA at ni Arroyo para
sa pabahay ng mga residente ng
RIPADA , ani Shahana Abdulwahid,
tagapangulo ng University Stu-
Artists unite
n Artist groups express solidarity with the Neo-Angono Artists Collective as they hold a
protest action in front of the National Press Club in Manila on November 8. The protesters
decried the alterations made to the mural on press freedom as a form of state censorship.
C andice Anne Reyes.
UPD admin renews plans to close UFS
Victor Gregor Limon
T
n Residents of RIPADA barricaded against MMDA surveyors on
November 5 in protest of the proposed C-5 expansion. Timothy Medrano
dent Council (USC). Dagdag niya,
hindi lamang mga residente ang
maaapektuhan ng proyektong C -5,
kung hindi maging mga mag-aaral
na nangungupahan doon dahil
mawawalan umano sila ng matutuluyan sa loob ng UP.
Sinubukang kunin ng Collegian
ang pahayag ni Vice Chancellor
for Community Affairs Grace Gregorio subalit wala pa umano siyang
panahon upang magbigay ng pahayag ukol sa isyu, ayon sa kanyang
kawani.
Ani Abdulwahid, bubuo ng isang
komite ang USC at Save RIPADA
movement na makikipag-usap sa
MMDA upang ipahinto ang planong
pagpapalawak ng C -5.
he Office of the Vice Chancellor
for Student Affairs (OVCSA) renewed plans to close the University Food Service (UFS), setting
off opposition from various sectors in
the university.
In an interview, VCSA Elizabeth Enriquez said she plans to resubmit her
2005 proposal to shut down the UFS to
UP Diliman Chancellor Sergio Cao. The
proposal was based on a 2004 Commission on Audit (COA) report which revealed that the UFS incurred a total loss
of P16 million from 1999 to 2003.
On October 23, Enriquez met with UFS
Officer-in- Charge Lilie Rivera and other
administration officals, to discuss her
plans to close UFS by March next year.
Enriquez will set a new date for
meeting with UFS employees and the AllUP Workers Union, after the employees
decided not to attend the meeting set on
October 25 because of a sudden change
in venue.
First created in 1937 as a training laboratory in UP Manila for home economics
students, the 70-year old UFS is now one
of the student services provided by the
OVCSA , like housing and tuition loans.
Offering meals priced at around P35 to
P45, the UFS is the students’ alternative
to business concessionaires on campus
which offer more expensive food service,
said University Student ( USC ) Chair
Shahana Abdulwahid.
Profits, not losses
Rivera opposed the proposed shutdown, saying that contrary to the COA’s
claim, the UFS is still earning income for
the university.
“As of October this year, [the UFS] has
made a gross income of about P8 million, which already far exceeds the UFS’s
P5.7-million budget for its MOOE (maintenance and other operating expenses)
for 2007,” explained Rivera.
Rivera said the COA’s computation of
UFS’s alleged losses in its 2004 report
incorrectly included the salaries of UFS
employees. “ We (employees) receive salaries from the government. As such, our
salaries should not be considered part of
UFS’s operating costs,” she said.
Abdulwahid added that since the UFS
should be service-oriented, the issue
of profit is immaterial. “Patuloy pa rin
namang naibibigay ng UFS ang serbisyo
nito sa mga estudyante, kaya dapat pa rin
itong suportahan ng UP,” she said.
No longer ‘indispensable’
Enriquez also said the UFS is no
longer “indispensable” today, since
prices of food services provided by business concessionaires are more competitive than those offered by the UFS. She
explained UP would be saving money if
it would avail of the cheaper catering
services of other business establishments during big functions such as the
university graduation.
This was also the rationale for leasing
out UFS’s other outlets in UPD and in other
campuses to concessionaires during the
mid 1980s and 1990s, she added.
Abdulwahid, however, said the UFS
does not only provide service to the
UP administration but also to students
from UP and other universities, she explained. “Nagte-train din kasi ang UFS
ng mga estudyante na nag-o-on the job
training,” she said.
She added that concessionaires may
always increase their prices, since they
are difficult to regulate. “ Walang kasiguruhan ang mga estudyante na mababa
ang presyo ng mga concessionaires.”
The USC will meet with Rivera and
other UFS employees to discuss plans
of launching a campaign against the
closure, Abdulwahid said.
Philippine Collegian | Huwebes 15 Nob 2007
“We won’t wait til 2010”
Protest halts
AUPWU declaration
as official union
John Alliage Tinio Morales
T
n Militant groups show their support for the impeachment complaint filed against President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo spearheaded by
party-list groups at the House of Representatives on November 5. Timothy Medrano
Badyet ng UP sa ‘08
Kulang ng P5B sa
hinihingi ng admin
Toni Tiemsin
T
atanggap ang UP ng
pinakamalaking pondo
sa kasaysayan nito kung
maaaprubahan ang General Appropriations Act (GAA) ng
2008, ngunit mahigit sa kalahati
lamang ito ng P11.54 bilyong kailangan ng unibersidad ayon sa
administrasyon ng UP.
Ipinasa sa ikalawang pagbasa
noong Oktubre 12 ang House Bill
(HB) 2454, na nagtatakda ng P6.01
bilyong pondo para sa UP batay sa
panukala ng Department of Budget
and Management (DBM). Ngayong
taon, naglaan lamang ang gobyerno
ng P4.78 bilyon para sa UP.
Ani Shahana Abdulwahid, tagapangulo ng University Student
Council, ang sentenaryo ng unibersidad ang dahilan sa biglang pagtaas ng subsidyo para sa UP, at
malaki ang posibilidad na bumaba
muli ito pagkatapos ng okasyon.
Taunang isinasabatas ng Kongreso ang GAA batay sa panukalang badyet ng DBM. Kung hindi
maipapasa ang GAA bago matapos
ang taon, muling maisasabatas ang
GAA ng 2007.
Batay sa panukala ng administrasyon, kailangan ng unibersidad
ng P4.83 bilyon para sa capital
outlay (CO), P5.24 bilyon para sa
personal services (PS) at P1.43 bilyon para sa maintenance and other
operating expenses (MOOE).
Ngunit sa HB 2454, tatanggap
lamang ang UP ng P1.41 bilyon para
sa CO, P3.69 bilyon para sa PS, at
P615 milyon para sa MOOE. Bukod
pa rito ang awtomatikong P290
milyon para sa retirement and life
insurance premium na ibinibigay
kada taon sa mga retiradong empleyado ng UP.
Kulang pa rin
Kasama sa makukuhang subsidyo
ang pondo ng Philippine General
Hospital. Samantala, mapupunta
ang CO sa susunod na taon sa P500
milyong National Science Complex
at iba pang bagong gusali.
Ayon kay UP President Emerlinda
Roman, “ Nagustuhan siguro ng
gobyerno na meron tayong agenda
[para sa science and technology] at
dahil na rin siguro sa track record
natin, nagdesisyon sila na dag-
dagan ang pondo natin.”
Ngunit “kulang at kulang” pa rin
aniya ang natatanggap ng UP mula
sa gobyerno. Pinupunan umano ng
kanyang administrasyon ang malaking kakulangan sa pondo sa tulong ng ibang ahensya ng gobyerno
at donasyon mula sa alumni.
Bayad-utang
Samantala, sa susunod na taon,
mahigit kalahati ng panukalang
P1.23 trilyong badyet ng Pilipinas o
P624.09 bilyon ang ipambabayadutang, kung saan P297.75 bilyon ang
para sa interes at P328.34 bilyon
naman ang para sa prinsipal.
Sa HB 2454, dinagdagan ng P5.27
bilyon ang P145.96 bilyong panukalang badyet ng DBM para sa Department of Education, at ng P1.07
bilyon ang P152.4 bilyong para sa
state universities and colleges.
Ani Roman, “naniniwala ang
gobyerno na ang edukasyon ang
siyang tutulong sa pag-ahon natin
sa hirap kung kaya tinaasan [ang
budget nito].”
Subalit para kay Abdulwahid,
malaki man umano ang dagdag
sa alokasyon para sa edukasyon,
Sundan sa p.11
he All-UP Workers Union
(AUPWU) won the recently
concluded certification
election, but its proclamation as the official negotiating unit
of the 7,000-strong rank-and-file
administrative employees was postponed due to an election protest.
Out of the 4,975 employees who
voted in the certification election
on October 24, the AUPWU clinched
3,155 votes, while the Organization
of Non-Academic Personnel in UP
(ONAPUP) garnered 1,668 votes,
according to an official tally by the
Bureau of Labor Relations (BLR) on
November 7.
The certification election determines the official labor union to
represent the administrative employees and negotiate with the UP
administration regarding workers’
welfare and incentives.
The ONAPUP, however, petitioned on October 30 the BLR of the
Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) to declare a failure
of elections, contending that the
AUPWU resorted to black propaganda and violated the election
guidelines by posting campaign
materials near polling precincts
during election day.
D escribing the petition as
“shallow” and “baseless,” AUPWU
National President Clodualdo Cabrera said the grounds for the
ONAPUP ’s protest were not valid as
the allegations were not recorded
in the minutes during the election.
He added that the ONAPUP failed to
identify the list of polling precincts
where the alleged election violations occurred.
In its reply to the petition, the
AUPWU invoked DOLE Order No.
9 of 1997 stating that any “protest
shall be recorded in the minutes of
the proceedings,” and Section IX of
the election guidelines saying that
protest shall not be entertained
“on the grounds not raised and
recorded during the balloting or
counting.”
The union’s reply further asked
the BLR to dismiss ONAPUP ’s petition and to proclaim AUPWU as the
sole bargaining agent of the rankand-file administrative personnel
of UP.
Meanwhile, formal discussions
on the provisions of the CNA between the AUPWU and UP administration have been suspended
for five months now since the
ONAPUP ’s petition for an election
in September. Cabrera, however,
said the privileges in the existing
CNA shall still take effect until a
new union is named.
Cabrera added that they are still
awaiting the decision of the BLR on
the protest and that the winner has
yet to be proclaimed.
The AUPWU first entered into
a CNA with the UP administration
in 2002 after winning the election
against ONAPUP in 2001.
Salaysay ng balota:
Pagtutuos sa nakaraang
halalang pambarangay
Toni Tiemsin
M
atapos maudlot nang
dalawang taon, natuloy na sa
wakas ang
halalang pambarangay.
Noong 2005 pa dapat
isinagawa ang eleksyon,
subalit wala umanong
pondo ang gobyerno at
ginagamit pa raw ang
mga ballot box sa mga
election protest. Silipin
ang mga isyung lumutang sa huling halalan sa
pamamagitan ng mga bilang:
Tinatayang kasalakuyang populasyon ng Pilipinas ayon sa National Statistical Coordination Board: 90 milyon
Bilang ng barangay sa bansa: 41,945
Bilang ng mga botante para sa halalang pambarangay: 48,221,863
Bilang ng mga botante para sa halalan sa
Sangguniang Kabataan (SK): 3,154,455
Kabuuang bilang ng mga posisyong pambarangay na pinaglabanan sa nakaraang eleksyon: 671,120
Bilang ng mga kumandidato para
sa iba’t-ibang posisyong pambarangay: mahigit 1.3 milyon
Voters turn out sa nakaraang
eleksyon ayon sa Commission
on Elections (Comelec): 70
porsyento
Bilang ng mga pulis na nagsilbi sa nakaraang halalan, na
“pinakamapayapa” umano sa kasaysayan ayon sa Philippine National Police (PNP): 120,000
Naitalang bilang ng mga pinaslang kaugnay ng
nakaraang halalan ayon sa PNP: 23
Naitalang bilang ng mga pinaslang kaugnay ng
halalang pambarangay noong 2002 ayon
sa PNP: 144
Sundan sa p.4
Philippine Collegian | Huwebes 15 Nob 2007
Admin meddling mars FR selection
John Alliage Tinio Morales
A
mid reports that some UP
officials are “openly” campaigning for an administration-favored candidate,
the selection of the next faculty
regent (FR) enters its second and
final round with two contenders
vying for a position in the Malacañang-dominated Board of Regents
(BOR).
Former FR Roland Simbulan
deplored the alleged administration intervention in this year ’s
search and called for improving the
selection process for it to become
more transparent and representative of the rank-and-file academic
employees.
Former UP Open University
(UPOU) Chancellor Felix Librero
and former UP Baguio (UPB) Institute of Management Chair Erlinda
Palaganas have accepted their
Faculty
Regent
Nominees
John Alliage Tinio Morales
In the following weeks, the next faculty
regent will be named to represent the
rank-and-file academic employees in
the BOR, UP’s highest policy-making
body, and serve during the university’s
centennial year. The Philippine Collegian
deems it important to look into the
vision and program of action of the two
nominees.
A. What is the most pressing
issue facing UP faculty today and
how do you plan to address it?
B. How should UP commemorate
its centenary?
nominations, while three other
nominees declined. Elections in
UP Diliman will be on November
14 and 15.
In a letter sent to current FR
Lourdes Barcenas, Simbulan revealed that “some UP administrators” allegedly used university
resources to campaign for Librero.
“It has recently been brought to my
attention that certain UP System officials, Chancellors of college units
and deans are openly campaigning
to support a former Chancellor as
FR ,” Simbulan said, referring to
Librero.
He added that, “their text messages and calls, paid for or reimbursed by the University, have
been recorded by constituents
as sourced from their official cell
phone numbers.”
Simbulan demanded that “ UP
a d m i n i s t ra to r s ” r e f ra i n f r o m
campaigning for or using univer sity resources to support any FR
Dr. Erlinda Palaganas
Awarded the Gawad
Chancellor as “ Pinakamahusay na Guro sa Gawaing
Ekstensyon” in 1997 in UP
Baguio, Palaganas was the
chair of the Institute of Management from 2002 to 2007
She says her administration’s thrust is anchored on
the principled representation of academic employees
in the BOR . Vowing to continue the initiatives made
by past FRs, Palaganas
moves for the democratization of UP through participation of faculty, REPS and
administrative personnel in
governance and formulation
of university policies. She
also advocates a Univer sity that is more responsive
to national issues and advances the Filipino cultural
identity.
A. Ensuring the principled representation of the
interests, rights and welfare
of UP faculty, REPS and administrative personnel in
the BOR and in other appropriate bodies. I plan to
address this by seeking for
the review of current university policies and practice
on renewal and tenure of
faculty, pushing for allocation of enough resources for
research and faculty devel-
Dr. Felix Librero
opment, working for additional measures to augment
the health benefits and insurance of faculty, REPS and
administrative personnel,
working for extending
study benefits to qualified
dependents of single UP
faculty, REPS and administrative staff and working
closely with university or ganizations advocating for
the payment of Back Cola
[cost of living allowance] of
qualified UP employees.
B. The centennial should
be an opportune time for
us to reflect and assess our
position as the university
of the people. In a developing country where continuing poverty dulls human
sensibilities, we ask our selves: Has UP education
molded constituents not
After a term as Vice
Chancellor for Research
and Development in UPOU
from 1999 to 2001, Librero
served as Chancellor of
UPOU from March 2001
to February 2007. One of
his main goals is to extend
the term of the FR from
one to three years so that
the FR can “formulate and
see through appropriate
policy measures beneficial
to the faculty and Research,
Extension and Professional
Staff (REPS) sectors of the
university.” In his general
plan of action, Librero plans
to address the discrep ancy in the compensation
package of UP faculty and
REPS in various campuses.
A. The issue of right remuneration for work done.
We have to work for better
work conditions. We’re way
behind our counterparts in
other universities abroad
and even some universities
within the country in terms
of resources to work with.
For example, we want to do
good and useful research,
but we should also look for
funding for such research.
There isn’t enough research
fund. We’ll have to work
hard, and work collaboratively with other sectors of
Sundan sa p.11
Suma-total
Bilang ng krimeng may kaugnayan sa halalan
ayon sa PNP: 48
Bilang ng mga sibilyang dinakip dahil sa krimen
noong panahon ng kampanya: 325
Bilang ng paglabag sa gun ban nitong eleksyon:
348
Bilang ng mga nakumpiskang armas noong panahon ng kampanya: 284
spots o mga lugar na madalas magkagulo
dahil sa halalan ayon sa PNP: 4,511
Bilang ng mga sundalong ipinadala ng AFP sa
mga barangay na idineklarang election hotspot: 20,000
Bilang ng bayan sa Sulu na idineklarang nagkaroon ng failure of elections dahil sa hindi
pagsipot ng mga opisyal ng halalan dala ng
takot sa mga armadong tagasunod ng mga
kandidato: 14
Bilang ng mga hindi nakaboto sa Sulu dahil dito:
mahigit 10,000
Bilang ng barangay na idineklara ng gobyerno
bilang “areas of immediate concern” o mga
lugar na posibleng magkagulo dahil sa halalan: 383
Bilang ng barangay na idineklarang election hot-
Bilang ng araw para mangampanya: 30
Pinakamaliit na populasyon ng isang barangay
ayon sa Local Government Code: 2,000
Populasyon ng Batasan Hills, Quezon City, na
itinuturing na pinakamataong barangay sa
mula P.4
nominee.
In order to assure transpar ency in the selection, the All-UP
Academic Employees Union, the
official bargaining unit of academic
rank-and-file employees, asked UP
President Emerlinda Roman in a
letter dated November 6 to allow
union representatives to observe
the tally of votes for the final nomination in all UP units. Roman has
approved the request.
bansa: 300,000
Itinakdang halagang maaaring gastusin ng
isang kandidatong pambarangay kada isang
botante ayon sa Comelec: P3
Populasyon ng Baliwag, Bulacan batay sa census ng 2000: 119,675
Bilang ng barangay sa Baliwag, Bulacan: 27
Average na populasyon ng bawat barangay dito:
4,432
Pinakamalaking halagang maaaring gastusin ng
isang kandidato sa halalang pambarangay
sa Baliwag batay sa average na populasyon
nito: P13,296
Nagastos ng isang kandidatong nanalo bilang
kapitan ng isang barangay dito: P180,000
Bilang ng presinto sa nakaraang eleksyon:
the institution, to remedy
this anomaly.
B. The UP Centennial
symbolizes three important
points. First, our collective
work must mean something
and we should all do some
self reflection to clarify
where we did well and where
we erred, and learn from
all these. Second, we must
refine our world view and
mindset towards a better
future for our university
and our country. UP has
always been the premier
university in this country,
but that doesn’t neces sarily mean it has always
changed for the better. We
have to refocus on a higher
level goal. Third, we need
to be highly competitive
worldwide. That’s the only
direction for UP. We must
improve in all fronts.
238,486
Kabuuang bilang ng mga pampublikong guro na
nagsilbi noong eleksyon ayon sa Department of Education (DepEd): 500,000
Halagang hiniling ng DepEd sa Comelec bilang
sahod ng mga guro: P2 bilyon
Inilaang badyet ng Comelec para rito: P930
milyon
Inilaang badyet sa PNP para sa araw ng
eleksyon: P255 milyon
Inilaang budget sa AFP para sa araw ng eleksyon:
P100 milyon
barangay: P2.9 bilyon
Bahagi ng pondong nauwi sa pangungurakot
ayon sa Philippine Center for Investigative
Journalism: P290 hanggang P870 milyon
Halagang natanggap ng mga guro sa pitong
lungsod ng Maynila isang linggo matapos
ang eleksyon ayon sa Alliance of Concerned
Teachers: 0
Bilang ng mga gurong nabigyan sana ng honorarium gamit ang pondo ng SK na nauwi
umano sa pangungurakot: 2,900,000
Honorarium ng isang pampublikong gurong
nagbantay ng presinto noong nakaraang
halalan: P1,000
Pondong nakalaan para sa SK ngayong taon
mula sa internal revenue allotment ng mga
SANGGUNIAN
Comelec, National Statistical Coordination Board,
Philippine Daily Inquirer, Sun.Star Network Online,
GMANews.tv
Philippine Collegian | Huwebes 15 Nob 2007
The prime time has hosted a myriad of characters that have defined most of our notions of entertainment, no matter how twisted and trite, as we have seen throughout the years. After all, this is the world of corporate sponsors, with their intrusive commercial breaks. The prime time serves to engross. It is a time for forgetting.
art work: ivan re verente. page design: noel pacis hernaiz.
Gazing at the
Prime Time Repertoire
pri mal fix
After the daily evening news – with its sordid tales of brazen violence, momentary triumphs, and crass politics – comes a host of programs assaulting the imagination.
Thus, even in their homes, workers are bombarded with images produced by corporate media.
ABS - CBN’s Pinoy Big Brother (PBB), a franchise
bought from foreign-owned Endemol Inc., is packaged as a reality show that showcases authentic human behavior, even as various
activities are planted to engineer the
housemates’ actions. The media plotters
manipulate emotions and instigate love
affairs and ruckuses – the classic concoction to raise program ratings.
This season’s PBB second celebrity
edition also includes such incongruous
tasks as taking care of a 200-kg pig and
her nine piglets. The camera zooms
in to catch “tender moments,” when
celebrities like Mariel Rodriguez and
Ethel Booba are cooing the piglets on
their chest.
In previous PBB episodes, housemates were tasked to shave their eyebrows, paint their bodies or pull out
all their bodily hair to raise funds for a
poor school or charity. The ABS - CBN
management declares that these tasks
inculcate the value of hard work, as
though sheer forbearance can truly solve
structural poverty. Yet, this assumes
that the present conditions are ideal, where impediments to opportunities and employment are
nonexistent.
Meanwhile, during elimination nights, PBB
hosts enjoin the audience to save their “favorite
housemate” by texting as many votes as they can.
And as the host plays up the audience’s participation, the program earns millions from the text
votes. In this context, the spectators are both
commodified and expropriated.
Hard luck
At 6 PM, the end of PBB ushers the start of Deal
or No Deal, one of the most popular game shows
today. The entrance of 26 women clad in figurehugging dresses signals the onset of the game. A
video flashes onscreen, and the face of the contestant appears. “Sumali ako sa Deal or No Deal para
makatulong sa pamilya ko,” is the usual reason for
playing on the show. People have come to look at
game shows not merely as entertainment but as a
form of public service, albeit from powerful media
corporations.
As thousands of OFWs are deployed everyday,
thousands more are jobless and willing to gamble
their way to game shows if only to relieve their financial debacle. The contestant fervently screams
“Lower! Lower!” The opened suitcase reveals a
two-digit number, and host Kris Aquino giddily exclaims “Maswerte ka!” as though the contestants’
troubles can be eliminated in a game of fortune.
Exclamations of luck, however, serve only to
mystify various accumulated capitals, such as educational background, financial capacity, and social
connections. This prevents the critical analysis of
structural problems. For while the poor are led to
believe in the randomness of miracles, capitalist
institutions have systematically sequestered the
nation’s wealth.
The extension of value production from the
material to the visual realm marks the manipulation of the nation’s fantasies and desires through
media. While PBB and Deal or No Deal may provide entertainment, the tacit agenda remains the
coordination of national perception according to
the dictates of capitalism.
References
Beller, Jonathan (2006). Acquiring Eyes. Ateneo de Manila University
Press, QC.
Raymundo, Sarah. Wowowee Tragedy: Hardly A Bolt from the Blue. www.
bulatlat.com. Acessed November 09, 2007.
Glenn L. Diaz
E
verybody knows how it ends. The
tall, rugged haciendero defies
his mother’s wishes, forsakes
his family’s riches, and elopes
with the fair but poor helper. The twins,
separated at birth, reunite in a finale as
grandiose as Ruffa and Yilmaz’s 2003
wedding. Three sisters, also separated in
an accident, find each other and clash in
a showdown so teary, so sprightly, it made
all of them forget all the slapping they did
over the course of two months.
Either the Filipino viewing audience
has become so monumentally bored or
else so brazenly frivolous that they ’ve
allowed such otherwise horribly predictable shows to rule the ratings year
in and year out. The teleserye, the term
officially coming into popular usage in
2000 with the release of Pangako Sa ‘ Yo,
was so well-received it pushed the late
night news programs to even later time
slots. Its predecessor, the soap operas, were usually shown during the afternoon, like the iconic
Mara Clara, which made being switched at birth
seem like a valid fear.
The teleserye traces its thematic roots to the
metrical romance of primarily Spanish lineage
during the 18th and 19th century. The genre arrived
in Philippine soil and evolved from being mostly
religious avowals to utter and at times excessive
sentimentality. It relied on a voice that is constantly in pain and grief like the biblical Moses.
Take, for instance, Florante at Laura. Along with
being a scathing social commentary couched
in the story of two lovers separated by powerful
forces, the awit typified such anguished voice and
brought melodrama to the fore.
Florante, the suffering lover, has assumed many
forms, and over the years the role shifted genders
to reflect the prevalent view of women as weak and
perpetually in distress and in need of rescuing.
Indeed, the teleserye plays with social classes.
A girl who grows up selling sampaguita garlands
on the highway would miraculously turn out to be
the missing daughter of a millionaire. In the same
way, a girl born and raised with a silver spoon
would find herself poor and neck deep in debt in
a matter of one episode, like the protagonist Sarah
Crewe in Princess Sarah, the most recent addition
to this remake craze. In the artificial world of the
teleserye, fate plays with characters through a series of convenient coincidences that make up most
of its plot. Moreover, it banks on the improbable
malleability of social classes and make it seem like
the most normal thing in the world.
Of course, Sarah would be saved, redeemed in
the end, she’d be princess again, reunited with
her pony with the pink mane, and we’d all be glad
that we were with her all throughout. Given the
Filipinos’ love of drama, of tear-jerking scenes,
of glorification of suffering (not the least due to
the Catholic notion that deems it righteous), the
teleserye is not a shocking hit. The storylines are
predictable (rise-fall-rise again), the characters,
one-dimensional (hero-villain), it is simple and
grudgingly formulaic. The teleserye fails to exceed
the imagination but never fails to meet expectations. It creates a trap of fantastic possibilities and
portrays it in stunning normality.
Not only that; according to literary critic
Northrop Frye, the moralist mechanism of the
melodrama that reinforces society ’s dominant
values, a seemingly harmless bent, also renders
it a possible propaganda for the police state. The
Pinoy teleserye is safe, clichéd, and, so long as
we’re poor, here to stay.
Reference
Frye, Northrop (1957). Anatomy of Criticism. Princeton University Press,
Princeton, New Jersey.
N
akaabang na naman ang mga bata at nakasilip sa bintana ng kanilang kapitbahay.
Pagpatak ng primetime, magbababaan
na sa TV set ng kapitbahay at ng marami
pang kabahayang Pilipino ang paborito nilang mga
alien o ‘di kaya’y ang mga kalahating tao’t kalahating
metal nilang idolo.
Si Kokey, si Lastikman, si Fantastic Man at ang mga pulis pangkalawakang Zaido—sila ang mga
pinakabagong tanghal na mga bida
sa larangan ngayon ng pantaserye sa
telebisyon.
alien invasion at ang iba pang pantasya sa telebisyon
lost in translation
Manufacturing reality
John Francis Losaria
fan tasy prod uction *
W
alang habas ang panlilinlang sa mundo. Sa panahon umano ng pagkawasak
ng mga hangganan, may nawawala/
iwinawala sa mga de-latang ilusyong
isinasalimpad ng mga higit na nakapangyayari.
Gayon na lamang ang pagkamangha ng Pilipinong manonood sa mga kakayahan at kapangyarihan ng pinagpalang kambal. Unang ipinalabas
noong 2002 sa isa sa mga kulelat na istasyon sa
telebisyon, ang Amazing Twins ang itinuturing na
siyang pinakaunang Asianovela sa bansa. Sa isang
iglap, ikinulumpon ang imahe ng mga Asyano sa
larawan ng dalawang binatang mahaba ang buhok,
singkit ang mga mata, mahusay sa bakbakan, at
siyempre pa, matatas sa Tagalog.
Rumurok ang kasikatan ng ganitong tipo ng
programa makalipas ang isang taon sa paglapag
ng grupong F4 sa popular na palabas na Meteor
Garden 1 at 2. Tinawag na Chinovela, mula rin
sa Taiwan ang seryeng ito na kwento ng katarantaduhan at kayamanan ng apat na binata. Sa
gitna ng lunang kosmopolitan, sa loob ng eksklusibong unibersidad, ipinakilala ang manonood sa
katauhan ni Shan Chai, isang dalagang mahirap
ngunit maabilidad, na tila ba sapat na ang kanyang matalas na mga hirit at wagas na pag-ibig
upang labanan ang pang-uring antagonismo na
sa kanya’y umaalipusta.
Muling nagbagong-bihis ang Chinovela upang maging Koreanovela. Mula
Bright Girl hanggang Endless Love hanggang Lovers in Paris, inasulto ang mga
manonood ng mga de-latang programa
mula sa Timog Korea. Sumikat dahil sa
kanilang simple’t maiikling banghay,
tuso’t palabang mga tauhan, at higit na
urbanisadong mga tagpuan, penomenal
ang inabot na kasikatan ng mga Koreanovela, sa puntong halos palitan na nito
ang lokal na mga produksyon.
Sapagkat higit na mura ang pag angkat ng ganitong mga palabas kumpara
sa grandiyoso’t kumplikadong paglikha
ng mga Pinoy telenovela, tila nahirati
na ang mga istasyon ng telebisyon sa
pagbili ng mga seryeng naging patok sa
mga bansang gaya ng Hapon, Taiwan at
Timog Korea, pawang mga kapitalistang
bansa. Dahil sa kulturang urban at maalwang pamumuhay na sinasalamin ng mga
seryeng ito, hindi na nakapagtatakang
maging mabenta ito sa mamamayang
malaon nang iginapos ng kahirapan at
atrasadong kabuhayan.
Sa pagdatal ng mga historikal o period
na mga Koreanovela gaya ng Jewel in the
Palace, Jumong at Hwang Jini sa kasalukuyan, tumitingkad ang bentahan ng
kultura sa globalisadong pamilihan. Ang
tagaluto at manggagamot ng palasyo na si Jang
Geum, ang haring si Jumong, at ang kisaeng na
si Hwang Jini ay pawang tinanggap at niyakap ng
manonood bilang mga ahente ng umano’y kultural
na pagpapalitan.
Si Hwang Jini, halimbawa, ay larawan ng babaeng tagapagbigay-aliw at bihasa sa mga sining
ng pagtula, pagsayaw at pagtugtog. Sa kanyang
pag-indayog sa mga tradisyonal na musika at
kagamitan ng Timog Korea, suot ang mahahaba’t
makukulay na mga damit, sa kanyang pagluwal ng
mga metapora sa porma ng isang tula, inihahapag
ng programa ang kulturang eksotiko ngunit may
heyograpikal na lapit sa Pinoy na manonood.
Sa ganitong pagtuhog namayagpag/namamayagpag ang Asianovela at Chinovela noon, at
Koreanovela sa kasalukuyan. Nilulubos ng kapitalismo ang merkado upang maging ang kultura’t
sensibilidad ng mga bayan ay dili’t iba kundi mga
produktong inilalako na rin sa pamilihan. Ito, higit
sa lahat, ang nawawala/iwinawala ng isinaling
panlilinlang.
(un )fair game
Jerrie M. Abella
T
he advent of high capitalism has enabled
the system to perpetrate beyond the corporeal. The new site of struggle is the realm of
visuality, where desires and imaginations
are harnessed for value production. It is no wonder,
then, that media has employed various tactics to
ensnare mass attention; for in the emergent visual
economy, to watch is to labor.
selling the drama
Alaysa Tagumpay E. Escandor
Ebolusyon
Bago pa man ipakilala noong 2004
sa primetime TV ng dalawang dominanteng networks ang mga katagang
fantaserye at telefantasya, may ilan
nang mga regular na programa sa
telebisyon ang gumamit ng malaking
sangkap ng pantasya. Ilan sa mga ito
ang Okay ka Fairy ko at Pintados.
Matapos ang marami-rami ring
taon, nagbalik-telebisyon ang pantasya sa pamamagitan ng Marina at
Mulawin.
Mula sa pagsisid at pag-ahon ni
Marina at sa pagpagaspas ng mga
pakpak ng mga Mulawin, sunod
sunod pang nagsulputan ang iba’t
ibang katulad na serye sa telebisyon,
gayundin ang pagpapakilala sa iba’t
ibang uri ng nilalang na sangkot
sa mga kuwento nito. Pawang mga
drama, bakbakan, at komedyang
itinimpla sa pantasya na nagbibigay
umano sa mga manonood ng pansamantalang pagkalimot sa masaklap
nilang realidad.
Repleksyon
Katulad ng eskapismo ng Pilipinong manonood, mga ilusyon ng
pagkasalba at kaligtasan ang tampok
na elemento sa mga pinakahuling
pantaseryeng ngayon. Sa makailang
panahon nang pagpapalit-palit ng
mga pantaserye sa TV, nahulma sa mga
ito ang mga tauhang maituturing na
superhero o nagtataglay ng katangiang
mala-superhero.
Mapa-family- oriented man, drama, katatawanan, o action, nakikilala ng mga manonood
sa mga programang ito ang isang katauhang
nagtatanggol sa mga tao laban sa masasamang
loob o sa mga mapang-api. Malapit ang panlasa
ng Pilipino sa ganitong uri ng entertainment. At
sa simpleng pagkakalahad ng mga kuwento ng
mga programang ito, madaling maihalintulad ng
mamamayan ang kanilang sarili sa karanasan ng
iba pang tauhang maaaring pinagsasamantalahan
sa palabas.
Ilusyon
Sa kasalukuyang estado ng Pilipinas kung saan
‘di maipagkakaila na malala ang kalagayan ng
mamamayan, nakatatawang isipin na ang mga pantaserye ang isa sa mga isinasambulat ng popular
na kultura sa midya.
Ang pagkakalikha ng mga pantaserye ay pagtugon o pagpapanatili ng midya sa ganitong
eskapismo ng mga Pilipino. Sa kalaunan, naging
instrumento ang ganitong entertainment upang
itanim sa kamalayan ng mga Pilipino na ang pagbibigay-katuparan sa kanilang pagkakasalba at
ang kaayusan sa lipunan ay mito at kathang-isip
na lamang.
Matatapos ang pansamantalang pantasya sa
pagtatapos ng primetime. Magbabalik sa realidad
ng buhay ang Pilipinong manonood at aasa na
naman sa pagsubaybay niyang muli sa telebisyon
kinabukasan.
*pasintabi kay Neferti Tadiar
Philippine Collegian | Huwebes 15 Nob 2007
MissingPoints
A
nna is a first year student in UP Diliman
(UPD). She is among the first batch of students
affected by the approved 300 percent tuition and
other fee increases (TFI). Her first semester
alone cost her family P17,000 for 15 units.
She was unable to apply for the university’s Socialized Tuition and Financial Assistance Program
(STFAP), an incentive-granting scheme based
on one’s family income and expenditures, because her admission letter arrived late at her
home in Bicol. Her parents, both already
retired, were unable to procure income tax
returns as required by the STFAP. To pay
the P1,000 per unit rate, her parents
resorted to borrowing from relatives
and from 5-6 operators — illegal
loaners who demand P600 payment
for every P500 borrowed — in their
neighborhood.
A second look
Anna’s plight is echoed by
hundreds of other freshmen,
prompting Student Regent
( SR ) Terry Ridon to draft a
review proposal of the TFI .
The review aims to determine
the effects of the TFI, to reexamine and criticize the policy
bases and presumptions of
the new STFAP, and make
recommendations that will
address the problems in both
the TFI and STFAP.
The review presented an
overall decline in freshman
enrolment for academic year
2007-2008, as well as a high
system-wide number of UPCAT
passers who deferred their
slots. Additionally, it asserts
that the TFI causes UP ’s loss of
“comparative advantage to other
schools in terms of affordability,”
removes the democratic access to
state education, and opens the doors
to free competition with private universities and colleges.
In addition, three TFI buffer mechanisms suggested
by the BOR were cited: early announcement of the TFI
implementation, installment payment schemes and
the STFAP. However, these buffers were considered
ineffective by the review. The installment scheme did
not materialize, while the STFAP “was hardly felt to
adequately address the students’ financial concerns.”
In a survey conducted by Ridon together with the School
of Statistics- Student Council, 66.1 percent of freshmen
STFAP applicants thought the incentives inadequate.
In light of these perceived problems, the review recommended nine courses of action. Some of these recommendations are: “[to] reaffirm the fundamental principles
of democratic access and widening participation” through
TFI repeal, suspension and reassessment of the STFAP, and
the abrogation of the annual automatic increase based on
inflation rate.
Aside from these recommendations, the review also shows the continuing resistance of both parents and
students. Around 94.7 percent of the survey’s respondents expressed disapproval
of the TFI, while 89 percent considered the
300 percent increase heavy in terms of
their finances. A majority 54.8 percent
even calls for tuition rollback.
Upon receiving the review on
the September 28 BOR meeting,
Roman asked for time to read
and analyze the content of
the document. Thus, the
dialogue was scheduled on October 23,
which was also
attended by the
University Student
Council (USC).
as it places more students
in higher income brackets and creates a
smaller fully-subsidized group.
“ To say that this [increase in student
loans] is a sign of the validity of the tuition
increase would be erroneous,” says Ridon.
“ The student loan phenomenon only
proves that many students are affected by
the TFI.” In a survey cited by the review,
students and their families resort not just
to the student loans and the STFAP but
also to salary loans, scholarships, OFW
remittances and even loans from 5-6
operators, like in Anna’s case.
Furthermore, Ridon points that the
Diliman survey attests that only rich
students can afford to enter UP. It is also
a manifestation of the restrictive access
to education. “It [Diliman survey] only
proves na ang mga estudyante from
public schools ay hindi na nakakapagPaltry defenses
UPCAT,” says Ridon. “ Hindi na nila
In defense, the UP
maipasa yung exam.”
administration pre -
sented its own data from
In limbo
a Diliman survey conDespite Ridon’s appeal, there is no
ducted through phone.
motion to suspend the TFI presently.
The administration was
The recommendation to suspend the
able to contact 628 of
subsequent increase in tuition as
the 1,248 deferred UPD
pegged by the inflation rate was not
passers. Majority of the
approved. “ We are looking into it,”
respondents in the survey
says Roman. “ We need more time
reportedly chose private
to get the data and study them.”
schools like Ateneo de MaThe BOR has yet to decide this
nila and De La Salle UniverNovember.
sities instead of UPD — 89 reThe SR , however, remains unceived scholarship grants, while
yielding in his stand against the TFI.
35 were accepted in Intermed
“ We are still challenging the validity
programs. In contrast, only 20 reof the TFI,” says Ridon. He plans to
spondents cited financial problems,
hold an inter-USC caucus on tuition
and four specified the high tuition as
increase and commercialization to
reasons for not enrolling in UP.
further study the bigger picture of
Meanwhile, the installment scheme
the immediate effects of TFI and its
failed to materialize because the admininfluence on UP ’s future as state
istration is “looking at the situation in all
university.
campuses,” Roman says. “ There is a committee
This semester, Anna has not yet
working on the installment payment but the report
paid the P17,000 for her 15 units.
is not yet complete.” She presented the university’s
Her parents are trying to raise that
student loan program as subamount by asking
stitute, stating that the amount
financial help from
of student loans granted has “increased
their relatives. She
substantially.”
has applied for a
Aside from student loans, Roman also presented
private scholar the “success” of STFAP. Roman says that 49 pership instead of the
cent of freshmen students applied for STFAP. “Mas
STFA P, belie ving
marami ngayon, di hamak. Kasi last year, four perthat it will benefit
cent lang ang beneficiaries ng STFAP…of the total
her more than the
students in the undergrad.”
latter.
Presently, Roman insists that there is neither the possibility nor need to
Anna’s problems are experienced by
suspend the TFI and the STFAP. “ They [freshmen students] don’t oppose it
hundreds of other students all over the
[TFI], they recognize it,” she says. “About 49 percent of freshmen students
university. The TFI did not improve the
applied for STFAP. This means that 51 percent did not apply and were not
students’ conditions, but instead worsquestioning it, [because] they were willing to pay.”
ened their already dire situation. If the
UP administration is reluctant to repeal
No excuses
this inherently flawed policy, then it is
Ridon, however, disagrees with Roman’s assumption that the increase
inevitable that the students themselves
in student loan and STFAP applications is a manifestation of the TFI’s
take action in order to assert their right
success. He states that the present STFAP bracketing is “inadequate,”
to affordable quality education.
The TFI did not improve
the students’ conditions,
but instead worsened their
already dire situation
art work: ar chie oclos. page design: MARK ANGELO V.CHING
Ma. Rosa Cer M. dela Cruz
Assessing a Sem of TFI
Philippine Collegian | Huwebes 15 Nob 2007
4
4
.
I
sinasaisip ko naman ang kumpas
bago tuluyang magsimulang magsanay, ngunit sadyang hindi ko
nagagamay ang tiyempo at ang
pagbilang sa mga saglit.
Sabay sa pagtatanda sa mga notang
hindi natural, o may sharp at flat, isa-isa
kong kinakapa ang mga notang para sa
kanang kamay, at sunod ang sa kaliwa.
Sa pagitan ng mga nota, binabantayan ko
ang mga pahinga, na pawang nakatakda
na rin ang magiging tagal; ang mga
tuldok, na nagpapahaba pa sa tunog ng
kinakabitang nota; at iba pang pananda
ng artikulasyon, diin, at lakas. Matapos
ang ilang pasada sa magkabilang kamay,
na kumakatawan sa dalawang klep,
dahan-dahan kong pinagsasabay ang
mga ito. Ang pagpapakinis sa pagsasaliwan ng mga tunog na likha ng dalawang magkaibang pagsusunud-sunod
ng mga nota ang mabilis na magtatali sa
akin sa mahaba-habang pagsasanay.
Pagkat gaano ko man pakaingatan ang
pagtiyak sa tamang pagpasok at tagal
ng mga tunog, madalas kaysa hindi,
binibigo ako ng iba ko pang kahinaan.
Nariyang sisingit ang notang nasa mga
guhit ledyer, na pawang mahirap nang
basahin para sa akin. O sasala ang aking
kaliwang kamay, na pinakamahirap kong
mapasunod, sa pag-abot sa isang napakababang tunog, o sa pagkalito sa paglilipat-lipat nang madalas. O magkakasabit
ang aking mga daliri, tandang mali ang
itinakda kong gamit sa bawat isa para sa
Lala
bawat sukat.
Hanggang sa maituwid ko ang mga
pagkakamaling ito, lilitaw nang buo ang
himig ng piyesang tugtugin at ang saliw
dito, ngunit sadyang wala ang akmang
ritmo. Sa ganitong lagay, hindi ako tunay
na marunong tumugtog sa piyano, dahil
hindi ko nabibigyang-buhay sa anyo ng
tunog, sa paraang nararapat, ang mga
notang katumbas ng nakatitik sa papel.
Kung paniniwalaan ang isang tauhan
sa kilalang
dula ni Wilde,
magagawa
nga naman
ninumang
tulad ko ang tumugtog, ngunit
hindi gaya niyang nakatutugtog nang
madamdamin,
na ipinalalagay na siyang tama.
Hindi ko maunawa kung bakit pagdating sa pagtugtog ng isang piyesa,
pinipilit kong maging tapat sa nakasulat.
Malamang dahil sa wala naman talaga
akong alam sa labas noon, di tulad ng
kinaiinggitan kong nakatutugtog sa
pamamagitan lamang ng pakikinig sa
awit at pagkapa ng tunog sa mga tiklado.
Taliwas sa naiguhit kong “ako” sa ibang
pangyayari, maririnig na takot akong
lumabas sa kulungan ng mga sukat,
upang ilangkap ang bahagi ng sarili sa
nalilikhang musika, at sa huli ay angkinin
Gaano ko man
pakaingatan
ang pagtiyak sa
tamang pasok
at tagal ng mga
tunog, binibigo
ako ng iba ko
pang kahinaan
Promises*
W
eeks back, in between bottles of Red Horse and fries,
Jerrie made me promise
that should I choose to stay
in the call center industry or he return
to it, that we would not in hell pick the
building under construction in Commonwealth. This, we punctuated with a
handshake, like all things supposedly serious. “Nilabanan natin yun eh,” he reasoned, but it was not really as personally
principled as it sounded. For what’s the
difference? A call center is a call center
whether it stands in the corner of Ayala
and Gil Puyat in Makati, where I now
work, or in a UP property leased to, well,
Ayala for their precious millions.
Since its landing in Philippine soil,
most UP graduates have looked at call
centers as nothing more than an alternative, welcome and harmless, to “real”
jobs just in case they get lazy after graduation. Now if you erect (giggle) one a 15minute jeepney ride away from AS, you
make the option more appealing. All of a
sudden, the allure seems inevitable, the
pull becomes more in-your-face. More
so if you build one on the eve of UP ’s
centenary; you make it seem like a gift,
an effect the government tries so hard to
give the whole thing, a gift from the West,
ito.
Ngunit sa iilang awit na natugtog ko
nang buo, sa tiyempong hindi naman
sasabihing masakit sa pandinig, pinakamadali naman akong nakalimot. Upang
maisatunog ang mga ito, kakailanganin
kong muling hawakan ang piyesa, at
mapalad na ang mabuo ito sa dalawang
pasada lamang ng pagsasanay. Madalas,
pagkatapos nito, nalulungkot ako, gaano
man ako tinutulungan ng sandaling pagtugtog na mapayapa ang kalooban.
Waring doon ako higit na nagiging
masaya sa hindi ko kailanman tinatapos, na kalakhan ay dahil sa hindi ko
nailalapat ang tamang kumpas sa mga
tunog. Minsan, maaaring sinasadya kong
hindi na tapusing aralin ang isang piyesa,
upang hindi ko na rin malimot kung
paano ko pinakikipaglaro ang bawat
tunog sa aking pandinig. Naiiwang gitnang mga sukat lamang ang aking alam,
hindi nakukuha ang pasakalye, at hindi
naisusundo hanggang dulo.
Mahirap sa akin ang isara ang buhay
ng isang tugtugin. Mahirap ang malinaw
ang mga katapusan.
Hindi man ako palagiang naniniwala
sa panahon, waring ito pa rin ang nagpipilit makapanaig. Sa mga tugtugin,
panahon, na siyang tumutukoy sa tagal
at sa tamang tiyempo, ang nagbibigay
ng hinihinging damdamin. Maraming
nakasandig sa tamang pagkakataon.
Para lamang sa buhay. Para lamang
sa pag-ibig.
Glenn L. Diaz
a gift from the generous Americans,
like democracy, like civilization itself, it
seems. And gifts compel gratitude.
Must you scour the bowels of the city
and get lousy entry level pay when right
there, a mighty stone’s throw away from
Oble, is an air -conditioned catch of a
job, where you can earn relatively hefty
sums for your vocal chords, your neutral accent, your nights, a little of your
dignity?
As for me,
I am now on
t h e ve r g e o f
graduating.
But I am also
on the brink
of resigning
and losing my
mind. I work
four days a
week , twelve
hours a day,
and the pay is
in no small way dismissible for someone
who is not even done with school (damn
you, PE). Should I choose to, I can follow
the path of scores before me and make a
career out of this, elevate it from being
just a paycheck. But there comes a point
in one’s life, I suppose, when your priori-
More than
being the
height of
a highly
globalized,
capitalist
reality, call
centers have
encroached on
personal lives
and dreams
and gifts
ties stare you down and you have to make
a choice. And on this, I say no amount
of money is worth it anymore. Nothing,
nothing.
Sadly, things have changed and people
have become less and less reluctant to
admit that principles have become up
for sell. It is not a simple reorientation of
values, it is a symptom of the times. More
than being the height of a highly globalized, capitalist reality, call centers have
encroached on personal lives and dreams
and gifts. Indeed, why would graduates
be bothered to examine the more tumultuous picture of First and Third Worlds
relations typified by call centers, when
most of the time, they can’t even think
straight, the sound of their stomachs
grumbling impair their hearing, the
humming zeroes in their bank account
blur their vision into myopia?
And the future does look bleak. I set
off again under the calm moon. I tighten
my hold on my jacket and loosen my grip
on my principles because, for the mean
time, the luxury of choice is not really
mine. Just until Christmas, I promise, but
aren’t promises meant to be broken?
*To the few Americans callers who called me stupid, sige nga,
what is commodity fetishism? Now if you do know what
this means, go to the Kule office and take the Kultura
exam. Pretty please.
Chris S.
Agrava
Mad world*
I
am writing this cathartic, angsty, not-fit-fora-sem-opener column in between applying
for a call center job. Just minutes ago I
breezed through a series of communications
tests, and exactly two hours from now some
obscure HR person of an obscure company
will be interviewing me. I’m trying not to keep my
hopes high, but the prospect of a five-digit salary
gets the better of me.
I had expected to finally achieve that ever elusive degree, but the people from the department
conspired with the universe to further protract my
six-year stay in UP. Thesis classes are offered only
during the first semester. Hastily scribbled petitions posted at the bulletin board proved futile. The
words keep repeating in my head, “ We’re doomed,
I told you so, I told you so…”
So I thought I would find solace in working as a
phone operator. It pains me to have to ask my sister
every morning for my daily P100 allowance, which
I’ve been doing for six years now. Apparently annoyed, she would fish out a bill from her synthetic
leather wallet and ask me, “Kelan ka ba ga-graduate
nang makapagtrabaho ka na? ‘ Yung magulang mo
nagpapakahirap sa US. ‘ Yung kuya mo nag-asawa
na, may anak na. Ako hindi makapag-asawa dahil
sa inyo. Hay buhay…”
It is always with revulsion that we note our
feudal obligations: we spend about a third of our
lives studying and accumulating that dubious intellectual capital only to work for a multi-national
company and earn thousands of pesos (if you’re
lucky to land a job, that is) just so we can give back
to our families, help out struggling relatives, take
care of our parents, and let them have a taste of that
comfortable life they never had because they had
you to attend to, feed, finance, up until such time
that you become the ones to financially support
them. Money is the root of all evil, but in the highlycommercial (read: fucked up) scheme of things, it
is also the reason for our existence.
I was with two other applicants when I was asked
to read a few passages off a feel-good composition,
on how we should keep our hopes up. They both
had a provincial accent, and one had difficulties
reading in the foreign language. They didn’t make
it. Enraging how the language you grew up on, the
intonation with which you used to express your
frustrations and aspirations, for that particular
moment, has become a repulsive and unwanted
character.
Exactly an hour from now, someone from that
call center company will be interviewing me. I don’t
know what questions they will ask. I don’t know how
I will answer. The song is playing in the background,
“ The dreams in which I’m dying are the best I ever
had.” My hopes have hit rock-bottom.
*apologies to Tears for Fears
Philippine Collegian | Huwebes 15 Nob 2007
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Renewing calls for GMA’s ouster
O
nce again, there is a raging public
discontent against the government of President Gloria Macapagal- Arroyo. The ZTE - NBN and CyberEducation deals, the spate of Palace
pay- offs to congressional and local
government allies, and the undoing of
the people’s will by pardoning President
Joseph Estrada have all but led many
of our people to continuously question
the fundamental priorities and policy
framework of President Arroyo’s government. These questions are strikingly
ironic as government funds seemingly
flow very easily to shady projects and
disbursements while basic social ser vices such as education, healthcare and
agricultural support services languish
with paltry sums.
One patent example shall always be
the sad state of the University of the
Philippines. Coming on the heels of a
painful and divisive tuition increase, if
only the sums of money involved in the
questionable projects and payoffs were
given to UP, it could have been used in
increasing the research output of our different academic institutions, upgrading
laboratory equipment and facilities, raise
the compensation of the faculty and staff,
and perhaps even avert the implementation of the tuition increase. We have always been told that the
budget cuts in the UP and the subsequent
tuition increase were due ultimately to
the general lack of government funds
for state higher education. However, the
scandals hounding the Arroyo administration clearly show that the problem is
well beyond a general lack of government
funding. It is a government that recklessly uses public funds for questionable
projects open to wide-scale corruption
and embarks on partisan activities for its
own political ends. More so, all of these scandals operate
in a backdrop of impunity and political
repression perpetrated by the government itself, with the clear objective of
compelling an enraged people to cower
in fear and turn a blind eye to the excesses of the Arroyo administration. UP
is no stranger to this, as numerous academics and students are continuously
being harassed by state security forces to
preclude them from criticizing the policies of government. Our students Karen
Empeno and Sherlyn Empeno remain
missing to this day. There are also reports on attempts to gag the UP Diliman
Chemical Engineering Department from
insisting on their well-founded position
regarding the use of military war material
in the Glorietta bombing incident, lest
the College of Engineering and other academic units shall lose the multi-billion
peso science and engineering research
grant to UP by President Arroyo. In all of these, UP must stand resolute
and united in exposing the excesses of
Philippine Collegian 2007-2008
Status of funds
COLLECTIONS
First Semester
Second Semester
Summer
Interest Income
As of 28 October 2007 Approved
Budgeta
Actual,
First Semester
P 880,000
830,000
330,000
160,000
(3,000)
P 2,197,000
P 874,510
Printing
Honoraria
Food Subsidy
Office Supplies and other
d
Operating Expenses
Office Equipment
Training
Editorial Exam
Utilities and Newspaper
Subscription
P 1,360,500
601,500
60,000
c
P 660,750
255,650
8,289
55,000
36,592
TOTAL EXPENSES
TOTAL COLLECTIONS
EXPENSES
g
DEFICIT
0915.941.4460
Non-UP students must indicate any school, organizational or sectoral affiliation. WARNING: We don’t
entertain textmates.
We welcome questions, constructive criticism,
opinions, stands on relevant issues, and other
reactions. Letters may be edited for brevity or
clarity. Due to space constraints, letters must
have only 400 words or less.
government and decisively make it accountable to the Filipino people. Our
public schools and universities need all
the government funding they deserve
and it is about time that we unwaver ingly reject the use of our hard-earned
taxes for personal political ends, corruption-ridden government projects, and
systematic repression measures by state
security forces. The UP AWARE was never wrong in
demanding her ouster in 2005 and 2006.
All the more is such a call relevant in the
face of all these unanswered scandals. As
such, the UP AWARE firmly renews its
call to UP and the Filipino people – Resist State Repression and Oust Gloria
today!
UP AWARE
UP Alliance Working For
President Arroyo’s Removal UP AWARE is a university-wide multi-sectoral
alliance of faculty, staff, students, and administrators who are united in their call to demand
for President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo’s removal
from office through impeachment, resignation
or ouster, on the basis of the series of high-profile corruption scandals hounding her administration. The convenors of the UP Aware include
the Office of the Student Regent, the Kasama
sa UP (UP System Student Council Alliance), the
All-UP Adademic Employees Union, and the AllUP Workers Union, and many other leading UP
academics who are united in the cause for good
governance and accountability.
P 808,320
b
67,594
(1,404)
Less: Student Refunds
Send in your opinions and feedback via SMS! Type:
KULE <space> YOUR MESSAGE <space> STUDENT
NUMBER (required), NAME and COURSE (optional)
and send them to
55,000
30,000
20,000
14,350
15,000
3,835
P 2,197,000
P 979,466
e
f
(P 104,956)
notes
a Chancellor Sergio Cao, 31 July 2007.
b June to October 2007.
c Issues 1 to 14.
d Include transportation expenses.
e Accommodation expense for Collegian consolidation activity, 1 to 3 June 2007.
f June to December 2007.
g Expected to be offset by collections during the summer term.
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AMADO, MINAMAHAL
The Amado V. Hernandez Resource Center
(AVHRC) will be holding the concert Amado,
Minamahal on Nov. 30, the 144th Andres
Bonifacio Day, 8 pm at the Tanghalang
Nicanor Abelardo of the Cultural Center of
the Philippines. Join us as National Artists
Bienvenido Lumbera, Ben Cabrera, Salvador
Bernal, Napoleon Abueva pay tribute to Gat
Andres and Ka Amado that is ultimately a
tribute to the Filipino people. Works of the
late National Artists Lucio San Pedro and
Felipe de Leon will also be presented.
Performances of poetry, songs and dances will be done by the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra, the Philippine Madrigal
Singers, Ballet Philippines Kids, Brownman
Revival, Tribu, Nanding Josef, Robert Seña,
Ana Feleo, Ramon Acoymo, Bituin Escalante,
Bobby Balingit and many more.
For inquiries, you may contact: 412.0909,
0916.790.0671 (Ms. Luchi Perez).
The AVHRC is an institution that advocates the works and causes of poet, fictionist, journalist, and labor leader National
Artist Amado Vera Hernandez.
Ano ang masasabi mo sa
performance ng Kulê
nitong nakaraang sem?
Ang saya ng kule, may isyu plage. Dto up
ilo2 wla haha, typ ko tlga layout nyo. Pwd bng
magpadala ng artcles? Lagy kau ng speys 4
othr up.Untz 091030119***
As a first yr, I don’t really know what to expect from kule. But as for me, it may be a bit negativ at some issues, but its definitely great!!!
07-48514 calv, bs chem
uhm. Aus lng naman ang per4mance ng kule
ds sem. Lahat naman ng tnxt k0w sa txtback e
nap0st sa kule. Astg tlga ung txtbak. Haha. Ung
news dn ay0s. Lal0w n s sp0rts. Peewo sana
may c0lumn dn ang kule b0ut d other games
ng uaap other than bsktb0l. 07-10761, d0ng
ang galing ng kule! Hehe..nailahad ang lhat
ng anggulo ng mga k0ntr0bersya at isyu..ngng
mpanuri at krtkal s pgtlkay ng mga isyu. Way t0
g0! 07-01185, cmc
sana malinaw n pagkkprint ng kule.ǖ minsan
kc di q mbasa =) 05-53847
nka2aliw ang mga k0miks,lalo n ung uPcat
edixon ng k0miks.actuali,k0miks una qng bnbasa. 07-03388
very good layout! Nkakasawa nga lng ung
mga white spaces na nlalagyan nlng ng ad para
sa bgong layout artist. Sna ibng gimik naman.
05-00394
Maganda ang kule..Mahusay ang mga sumusulat ng artikulo. Masaya aq sa lay 0ut. Isa lng
ang pR0blema. Pag bnbAsa q ito.NadEdEPresS
LNG AQ. ACE LIGSAY. 06-17880
Nakakasuka na magbasa ng kule. Puro batikos sa gobyerno. Napaka-one-sided. Tingnana
din sana yung mga positibong nagagawa ng administrayon. 03-05328 (Name one, we’ll gladly
publish it. –Ed.)
Kamusta naman ang kule. Ever regular na
nag circulation. Yahoo. 06-70483 mj educ
May somethng n nkakasawa s kule..pero
mgnda prn kc ngkkaroon ng social awareness
ang mga apathetic na UPan.. 06-45935 yuri
Grabe! Ang gnda ng kule dis year,tlgang inipon nio ung powers nio after niong ma-repress.
Hail kule, g0d bless. 05-17277, bst0ur
Namis ko ung gay linggong eksenang peyups.. mas nakakatuwa lang kc..Go kule! 0731712
Ano ang gusto mong mangyari
sa susunod mong sem?
Nxt sem at lhat ng sems gusto ko uno! Yey!
06-06790
Nxt sem..sana magkaraket na ‘ko,para
may pambayad na sa rent sa bhaus.huhu. 0500394
nxt sem.. Gus2 k0ng makta ung pnkamamahal k0ng girl na nasa c0legeof eng. With her initials “RFS” HWAHAHAHA! Isang bu0ng sem k0w
kc sya d nkta e. Haha. 07-56463, Paulo
Sa su2nod n sem.. Gus2 ko e bumlk n s dti
ung tuiti0n. Grbe naman kc.. Ang taas. Kwawa
naman kaming mga preshmen.. 40 t0usand
per year! Super un compared sa almost 13 t0usand per year nung mga dati na sa up.. Huhu.
07-10761, d0ng
Gusto ko snang mkasali sa org na aaplyan
ko, magng mas masaya at magng hindi busy
ang 2nd sem ko. 07-00074 BA PolSci
Makapagmath 65 under sir alex mandigma..
sana tlaga! 06-4076 cherry bs math
Sana next sem, sumabog na ang chem. Pav
pra ndi aq kumuha ng chem. O kaya burahin na
lang s mundo ang chem.. Alam qng mdming
mkkinabang s naisin q. 06-49465
Nxt sem sna pogi n c bogart at sna b0nggacious tlga ang lantern parade at up fair, lalo n
ang graduati0n!Yahoo! 04-42976, jewel
Ang gus2 kng mngyri nxt sem skn e sna
hndi na ako lgng inaawy ng taong mahal ko.
05-78712
Gust0 ko next sem ay mgkar0on ng matitino
at ms mbait na pr0f.nd ung ter0rista. Nkkmtay
kc. Gs2 q mpn0od ang oblation run at mgng
aktb0 s UP fair 07-01185
Comments
Ganun po b tlga ang rec0mmendati0ns ng
SR on TOFI? Parng iba s mga cnsbi nia 07-11330
(The one published in the last issue was not the
final draft of the policy review. We apologize for
the oversight. Please refer to “Missing Points”
in this issue. –Ed.)
Mas maganda nga i-implement na nila agad
ang Smoking Ban dito sa campus e.Kung ditto
sa campus di makontrol ang pagyoyosi, pano
pa kaya sa labas? Kawawa naman kaming di
nagyoyosi lalo na mga bata nakalalanghap ng
nakasusulasok na usok mula sa yosi. Di naman
pwedeng kami lagi ang umiiwas. Dapat maging
responsible naman yung mga nagyoyosi. Kung
gusto nyo, sa bakuran na lang ng mga bahay
nyo kayo magyosi. -06-03962
k0mento:ang kultura page ng 14th ish ay
npkskt s mata.Itim n blurred n my hl0ng pula.
Sna ay wla ng gn2 nxt sem. Black nd red, prng
label ng blakbeans 07-01185
grabe,nsaktan aq s line n ‘pgbblik ng k0mks’.
bkt, nwala b un? Hnd nmn ah.nwei, may k0mik 0n
b ulit ds 0ct? Punta kau dun. May mga k0miks dun
n hnd knikilala ni k0miks king. We nid impr0vmnt
s k0miks, bt nt caparas’ efforts-05-08060
04-45720 oink.Anggaleng ng limitd edtion s kultura section kaso parang bitin! Panget nga ang komiks ni caparas, chaka ang
stori&drawing! Go kule!junk tofi! 09215410***
sagutan
To 04-01104,hindi na sana kita papatulan pero lilinisin ko lang ang student number
ko.Alam mo ba ang sillbi ng deduction of points
due to violation sa Cheerdance?Nasira yung
isang pyramid ng USTe kaya may deduction sila.
Nung natapos, .5 lang ang lamang ng UP. Isipin
mo na lang kung nabuo yun edi panalo sila!
Pero maganda na rin yun dahil nanalo ang UP.
Pa-nega nega ka pa dyan. -06-03962 Mamon
Para to kay Ellen na freshie ng BABC, naku
kung ngayon pa lang di mo na mapanindigan
ang pagkukule e pano mo pa paninindigan ang
mga isuue once na kasali ka na? Nagtatanong
lang 06-08822 CMC
To 09064679***,alam mo merong “awkward” space dyan dahil may kakulangan sa tao
ng kule. Kaya nga sila nag-aanyaya sumali di
ba?-06-03962 Mamon
To 98-25590: Hinahype up nyo lang ksi yung
isyu na yan.Msyad0ng knee-jerk mga reaction
nyo. Para kaung angry m0b 03-21181
To 06-5669: ndi yan simpleng pagkakamali.
Its obvious na sum people are trying 2 salvage
d lost cause of pro-TOFIness. Hm. Do i smell a
certain color? 03-21181
To bembol b: (Re:switch 0ff) I cn vry mch
relate.At sinasangayunan k0 ang k0wt ni
r0n&meg.it0 ang pnh0ng filing k0 pnkb0b0
ako.& mybe its bc0s im dtachd. 04-41700
To bembol b.:naintindihan kta.im g0ing tru
it ryt nw.im afraid n ung mga frnds q ay hnd aq
mantndhan or dey’l judge me s mga pgkkmli q.it
wil tke time.kng ndpa tyo,d dpat gmapang,bgkus
dpat 2mayo at i2l0y ung lban 04-66144 cams
Panawagan:
Panawagan sa SSBoys: rumurunda ba kayo
sa lagoon? Kasi nagmumukhang motel dun kahit
di gabi. At madalas, high school students (elem
pa ata) pa naglalampungan dun, ang pangit
tingnan. Ang sarap nga kunan ng video at ipadala
kay mike enriquez e. -06-03962 Mamon
NEXT WEEK’S QUESTIONS:
1. Sino sa palagay mo ang nasa likod ng pagsabog sa Kongreso?
2. Sino ang pinaka-bet mong prof sa UP?
Me and my big mouth kasi eh
— pasuggest-suggest pa kasi ng
mga kabalaj-balaj na EP-worthy na
eksena. Kung nag-stay silent as a
lamb na lang sana ako eh di wala
sanang problema devah? Kaya eto
ngayon, I was forced (as in all caps
‘neng) na isulat ang kalandiang ito
— charos! So, paano? Tiisan na lang
muna, mga sis!
The Sabog Pa
From Sembreak
Edition
Hacienda Luisita, TarlacNobyembre 2006
Harshness on UeFeS
Well, I was on my way to the Kulet
opis sa Vinzons one day nang may
makasalubong
akong
isang
groupie ng boys
and girls na palabas ng building.
May nakasalubong silang kakilala at nagtsikatsika…
Coño Girl (In
an accent that
could make Kris
Aquino run for
her money): Ipapasara na daaawww ang UeFeS…
Chorus ng mga utrez na ikinaloka
ko: Dirrty kase eh… (Sabay tawanan
all of a sudden)
Kaloka! And to think nasa likod
lang nila ang said establishment,
huh? Mahiya naman sana ang mga
utao… (Though medyo oily nga ang
trays. Joke lang po.)
U m a g a s a pi k e t
candice anne reyes
Romanov on the
Policy Review
Himutok sa Consol
Meanwhile, noong
nakaraang sembreak
ay nagpunta ang mga
Kulets sa land of the
Collette’s para sa consol
kung saan nagkapalitpalit ng mukha ang
mga Kulet sa pagtulog
(including an editor na
sa sahig na lang natulog minsan), nirayuma
ang kasu-kasuan kakaswim-swim, at nagnosebleed sa sunod-sunod na mga seminars
and workshops chorva.
May isang editor pa
nga na may violent reaction ever sa pagkain
na ayon sa kanya ay
never niyang makakalimutan: pritong galunggong with matching sayote on the side
for lunch! As in three
weeks na ata ang nagfly pero vivid pa rin sa
memory niya ang event
na iyon
*Buntong-hininga*
Yes, siguro naman may
300 words na itech devah? Time na para magfly-fly home na ang inyong lingkod!
Allie
Alembong
Ito ang alleged pampalubag-loob ni yUPpie
president Romanov after ng isang heated dialogue with the student
body na dinaluhan ng
isang Kulet editor: “May
mga magaganda naman kayong arguments
eh, kaya lang konti lang
sila…” Oh devah? Talbog
tayo sa statement ni
Romanov!
Philippine Collegian | Huwebes 15 Nob Set 2007
Palaganas
Kulang
mula P.5
mula P.4
Philippine Collegian Nº 15
Huwebes 15 Nob 2007
G
Probing
the Glor
ietta bla
st invest
igation
to a significant piece of evidence: cyclotrimethylenetrinitramine
have threatened Arroyo’s tenuous
(RDX), initially detected in the blast site. RDX is an explosive
hold on power. First Gentleman
substance which usually indicates a bomb, most likely the military
Mike Arroyo was implicated during
ordnance C4, of which it comprises over 90 percent. The distribua Senate inquiry into the $329-miltion of C4 is strictly controlled by the military.
lion National Broadband Network
The PNP said that RDX could have come from common aeroproject; then accusations of bribery
sols like hair spray. Tapang countered, “RDX in the form used in
arose as elected officials received
explosives isn’t present in aerosols, and for aerosol components
cash gifts totaling millions of pesos.
to combine and form RDX is improbable.”
Bayan Muna Representative TeTapang states that the lack of satisfactory answers to quesodoro Casiño said, “ The scandals
tions about the RDX is largely why AGHAM is calling for an
were destroying the administration.
“independent, impartial” probe of the Glorietta blast.
Terrorism was a distraction that would
The skepticism expressed by AGHAM concerning the PNP
benefit only Arroyo.” Attention was
is echoed by various sectors, despite Malacañang’s staunch
diverted from the besieged administrabacking of the police investigation. After all, history has shown
tion towards the “terrorists” blamed for
the lengths to which governments will go for political ends.
the blast — until the discovery of RDX ,
which prompted the PNP to backtrack
Past still present
and declare it an accident.
Three decades separate Martial Law and the Arroyo
Casiño said, “ The government has the
regime; yet, as then, there are notable instances of termeans, opportunity, and motive to pull off
rorist conspiracies seemingly staged by the government
the Glorietta blast.” This highlights a major
to rationalize authoritarian measures.
fault of the Human Security Act of 2007
In 1972, then Defense Secretary Juan Ponce Enrile
(HSA), which presumes that the administraclaimed that the New People’s Army (NPA) had ambushed
tion to which it grants considerable powers is
him. The NPA had been tagged by the government as
not capable of committing acts of “terrorism,”
the culprit in other cases, including the Plaza Miranda
in the strictest sense of the word.
bombing. Within days, Ferdinand Marcos used the
The administration, on cue, took the oppor“NPA threat” as a pretext to declare Martial Law.
tunity to push for an amendment to strengthen
Enrile eventually confessed that the ambush
the HSA , which defines terrorism as “sowing
was staged.
and creating a condition of widespread… fear
In February 2004, Arroyo dismissed the
and panic… to coerce the government to give
Abu Sayyaf ’s claim of responsibility for the
in to an unlawful demand.” The anti-terror law
SuperFerry sinking, where over a hundred
could not be used to prosecute the unidentified
died. But in October, after the elections,
perpetrators of the Glorietta blast, because they
the administration admitted that it was
made no demands on the government. Justice
a terrorist attack. The revelation came
Secretary Agnes Devanadera said it was necessary
after a citizen-formed commission
to correct this “flaw” in the HSA .
probed a series of bombings in Min“It is flawed,” said Casiño. “But not
danao that was allegedly perpetuLoose ends
in the way Devanadera means. The HSA
ated by the military and blamed
The timeline of the statements
is biased against activist groups which
on terrorists to justify Arroyo’s
made by PNP and administration
demand changes from the government.”
“all-out-war on terror.”
officials regarding the Glorietta blast
It also equates terrorism with threats to
reveals inconsistencies (see sidebar).
the government’s survival, he said, tacitly
Crisis
of
credibility
Within only four days, blame was transpermitting the abuse of human rights in the
Recent controversies
ferred from terrorists to a leaky diesel
prosecution of “terrorists.” This is apparent
tank to a faulty sewage system.
in the Anti-Terrorism Council created under
In the weeks since the blast, the PNP has
Larissa Mae
the HSA , which counts among its members
Suarez
not released any official reports on the findprominent backers of the Arroyo adminings of local and foreign experts. Their latest
istration — an administration accused
theory speculates that a combination of diesel
of numerous human right violations.
fumes and methane gas led to an explosion in
The credibility of the governthe basement of Glorietta 2.
ment, like the blast site,
“It’s highly unlikely that the blast was caused
lies in rubbles. Not
by the explosion of a diesel tank,” said UP Chemonly is the adminisical Engineering Professor Ernesto dela Cruz,
tration suspected of
explaining that diesel explodes not in liquid
manipulating
but vapor form. Vaporization requires an
the investiextended period of exposure to high heat.
gation of
The methane gas theory, concedes dela
the blast
Cruz, is more plausible. If the volume of
to protect
air was composed of 5 to 15 percent methane, and
itself and its
there was a source of ignition, such as an electric
interests, it is
spark, methane could explode.
suspected of some“But if methane had accumulated in such a large
thing far more omiamount, there should’ve been a detectable stench
nous — being the
prior to the blast,” said dela Cruz. Methane is emitted
mastermind
with hydrogen sulfide, and the latter is characterized
behind the
by a strong odor. Also, methane is lighter than air, and
blast itself. In
would build up only if the basement had extremely poor
this case, the
ventilation which trapped air inside.
real tragedy is
Ayala Land Inc. (ALI), the property development
not what
corporation which owns Glorietta, said there were no
happened
reports of any distinct odor before the blast, adding
in Glo that a stairway in the basement leading to an open
rietta , but
delivery bay served as a vent.
what is hapProfessor Giovanni Tapang, chairperson of Advocates of
pening in Malacañang.
Science and Technology for the People (AGHAM), stresses
that these inadequacies in the gas leak theory are secondary
ray steel
railings line
all entrances
and exits to
Glorietta 2, enclosing
the debris concealed
by plywood covers. The
array of dim, closed
shops marks the perimeter of the devastated area, which security guards patrol in
increased numbers.
An explosion oc curred at the Glorietta Mall on the afternoon of October 19 in
Makati City, the country’s central business
district. Eleven people
died; over a hundred
were injured. The
tragedy immediately
filled headlines — space
previously occupied by
the scandals hounding
Arroyo.
The ne ws, howe ver,
reflected the confusion
and contradictions in the
investigation conducted by
the Philippine National Police (PNP). Each new theory
only heightened the doubts
of a public that considered the
Arroyo administration itself a
suspect.
Tracing the aftermath
of the Glorietta blast
October 19 — The PNP states that the blast was
probably caused by a “hard explosive” planted
by unidentified elements in Glorietta 2.
October 20 — The Armed Forces of the Philippines
(AFP) calls the blast an act of terrorism.
— Investigators detect traces of RDX in the
blast site.
— Senator Antonio Trillanes IV accuses National
Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales and AFP
Chief Hermogenes Esperon of engineering
the blast.
October 21 — Malacañang emphasizes that
while the presence of RDX is confirmed,
reports of C4 are “premature.”
October 22 — PNP unveils the gas leak theory,
stating that the blast was an accident.
October 23-31 — PNP dismisses terrorism angle,
claiming that the ongoing investigation,
corroborated by foreign experts from Israel,
Australia, and the U.S.A., substantiates the
gas leak theory.
November 1 — Authorities mention possibility
of a case against ALI for negligence.
November 3 — Malacañang affirms its support
for the PNP gas leak theory.
November 5 — ALI releases results of its own investigation, which is inconsistent with the PNP’s.
November 7 — The Makati Business Development Council forms an independent factfinding commission to look into the Glorietta
blast. ALI and local government voluntarily
remove themselves from the commission.
November 9 — PNP urges Trillanes to turn over
his witness to the police.
Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer. www.inquirer.
net/specialreports/gloriettablast. Accessed
November 10, 2007.
art
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k: p
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