ON THE WITHERING MEANING OF HOME

Situated near the famed Mindanao State University - General Santos City, the land of Uhaw serves as a second home for most iskolars enrolled in the university. These humble boarding houses which are found almost everywhere here have witnessed all the breakthroughs and breakdowns of the MSUans—with them pulling an all-nighter to cram an 8-chapter powerpoint and to staying up late until the morning because of the small celebrations and shat sessions. This has been the life of each MSUan residing here in Uhaw: going out at midnight to buy snacks, and sometimes tanduay light, while feeling safe as if this place is their home.

But now, does Uhaw still feel like home to you?

With the recent and consecutive homicides, threats, and robbery creeping around Uhaw, these ordeals that were not persistently observed before had shaken the sanity of MSUans and its residents as days in it were laid bare to danger and nights became the gateway of evil to cause annihilation.On October 11, 2022, residents at blocks 8, 9, 10, and 11 in zones 3 and 4 were perturbed as the bellow of “Tabang! Tabang!” and the sound of gunshot was heard in the area. Prior to that occurrence, just 4 to 5 days before the 11th, someone was brutally murdered at broad daylight in Purok 12-A 3rd IB. There were also incidents where on the peaceful slumber of students, their room was forcibly invaded and their valuable things were stolen without them knowing.

Death can’t be cheated for sure, but the idea that you are being killed by the same creature as you, that someone has just randomly showed up and decided to end your life, is just cruel and sad. This kind of people must have been verily ignored of chances to see the beauty of life that they just woefully shook hands with the darkness and decided to fixate themselves on the atrocity.

Now as you read this, news like these may not be seen often on Facebook, but this does not still guarantee a safe life. Even if we ourselves will be more cautious and vigilant to our surroundings, these preemptive measures will be useless if the authorities are turning a blind eye to the outcries of people. Yes, these people exist. Bad people are always there. But how about those who tolerate the bad? The safety of the people should not be asked in the first place because asking for it is just tantamount to asking what is seen inside a home–the answer is always obvious.

Behind Every Published Article Was Red

As the country sits another architect, and with the comeback of the Marcoses in the Palace, innumerable instances of redtagging plagued and threatened those who have been critics of the government. As a student-journalist and a university student, I have always been made aware of this. But what seemed to be so impervious for me began to draw me uncertainty as it appeared before me, being labeled and hounded as a nemesis of the state for solely writing an article about the golden commemoration of the Marcosian martial law. And scared, I let fear consume my system and dare not include a byline.

Red-tagging has been utilized by people in power to change the narrative and make it appear in their favor. Even former Vice President Leni Robredo, known for being a vocal critic of the Duterte administration and his campaign against illegal drugs, was not pardoned by it, branding her an affiliate and a communist sympathizer. But what does this form of silencing have in store for those who show resistance? Unlawful arrest led to death threats, but in the worst case, Chad Booc, a human rights defender, and Percy Lapid, a journalist and a broadcaster, were both sent to death.

But how much can a lone student publication do as even national media outlets and significant figures in domestic politics are not spared from this tragedy?

Even the eagle of Bagwis, the official and recognized student publication of the Mindanao State University - General Santos campus, was daunted when red-tagging issues hit the publication. Time can witness how frequent it happened, ushering fear toward the regular students of every published article of the publication. Always, red enveloped the tides of journalism, with people branding the publication a crony of the infamous New People’s Army. But the eagle was certain in its quest, and that excludes to slump without its wings levitating.

We Filipino people have already long been awakened in our deep slumber. With perhaps less than the majority, who are far better than having none at all, us who have been made aware will never close and turn a blind eye again. No quantity of intimidating takes can tone down the soar of the eagle in forging the bequest of amplifying the voices of the masses, defending freedom, and publishing truth. Now that I am enlightened, without a doubt, I’d let this issue be published with my name printed below the headline.

Diamonds In The Market

At the outset, the unprecedented transgression of the global health crisis has caused the humankind more than their humanity, depriving the people of all walks of life the right to live, the freedom of every child to play, the privilege of every student to regularly attend school, and the list can go on and on. But how dark can it be for those in the lower echelon to continue thriving for survival when the status quo continues to divest them and put them even more at the bottom with the inflation incessantly growling up? What more can be very menacing for this to happen after being freed from the physical constraints of the COVID-19 pandemic?

The annual inflation rate in the Philippines, as reported by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), edged up to 8.1 percent in December 2022, the highest since November 2008. The full-year average was 5.8 percent, outside the official target of two to four percent. But before the very data released by the central statistical authority entails even more dreadful ramifications for the economy

Sure, the contemporary global health crisis entangled us with countless fears of uncertainties, and as we traversed back to the face-to-face classes, our fears never once fluctuated. Our embers of hope to persist dreaming of the life we have always wanted did not vamoose, that yesterday might have only been blown away of the country, from the cost of groceries to the price of onions in the market, everyday essentials and basic necessities are becoming more expensive. by unprecedented trepidations, but these fears ceased not to extinguish the fire within us to continue moving forward.

Left with no choice, people adjust their financial habits, which in the worst case, can slow down economic growth that may lead to higher unemployment and wider gap for the rich and the poor. And these may have only been a dim for the “haves”, and a total darkness for those parents who can not afford to put food on their family’s table, for those who have been exploited by the circumstance and the capitalistic people who framed them to work more than the average just to make ends meet only to receive a minimum wage, only to be struck by the fact that even then-onions are now gold, worse, diamond, sold in the market.

But now, while we continue in the transition back to the face-toface setup, one can only hope that the onions will be set free.

Now more than ever, there is no more way we maneuver our faces back but we face fears.