Fenomenal VOL. 74 ISSUE NO. 2
Editorial Board A.Y. 2020 -2021
Editor-in-Chief : Sharmaine Canama Associate Editor for Reveille : Sophia Therese Del Castillo Associate Editor for Sinag : Mickaella Joyce Dumayag Associate Editor for Social Media : Ayesha Tulete & Kent Zacharee Masamayor Managing Editor : Vinz Harrold Basilio & Renz Marion Suarez News Editor : Wisey Democrito Sports Editor : Yusrhina Usman Feature Editor : Shariful Mansul Copy Reader(English) : Yves Joey Flores Communications Officer : Kelly Cassandra Teja Head Cartoonist : Karl Onayan Head Photojournalist : Teriez Michove Bokingkito Head Layout Artist : Andrea Nicole Zamora
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Editor’s Note
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Learning on Screens
WE’LL GET THROUGH THIS TOGETHER
On Surfing Pandemic Waves Selective Empathy Ayudahan Kontra Covid Perpetual Pride and Honor TEAM A vs TEAM B: Which side are you on? 10 Types of People during Quarantine and What They Do
EDITOR’S NOTE
TikTok Nation Online Education: Upshot of “UTMOST CONSIDERATION”?
EDITO R’S NOTE Adviser : Leah M. Panaguiton WRITERS
Al Abdulpatta, Nisa Marie Alfaro, Aungus Alpasain, Paula Alexis Ando, Jefferson Aray , Clairizza Arcillas, Fadzrati Asarud, Annafer Francine Besana, Patricia Calinawan, Danhill Daniles, Dodi Ahmed Dinsuat, Vina Espejo , Tasha Eugenio, John Fabian, Sheriemike Gadin, Rosen Gabriel Garcia , Jehanne Hassan, Kristian Ken Mabalot, Annsel Magno, Fatima Mandangan, Erika Jenn Quisil, Denise Salvador, Joshua Salvador, Kristine Segayo, Chrizelle Jane Sicat, Rolly Songcayauon , Renzo Tan PHOTOJOURNALISTS Denzel Sean Bautista, Jean Clarice Bue, Sean Vincent Del Castillo, Lance Kirby Gigante, James Hamoy, Charlyn Laran, Jerecho Salinel, Shannen Marthy Semil, Deanna Toledo CARTOONISTS Jonie Alaban, Ayana Dawn Atis, Ma. Sofia Carro Falcasantos, Razty Guevara, Crystalane Hagonoy, Shamy Jailani, Johanna Ismene Julian, Maria Reolyn Pilones, Allysa Marie Ramiso, Gwen Toribio LAYOUT ARTISTS Charlene Lizardo, Neil Miro VIDEOGRAPHER Peter Valmonte The Beacon Publications
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Why Pursue Online Class? Descended Angel in Locsin’s form Dear ECA, Bawal Lumabas! Quaranthings ADZU Backfield Memory Lane Burger ni Anti Just AdZU things : ECQ Cravings AdZU GoWifi “QUARANTHINGS” The BEACON Celebrates 74 years of Campus Journalism. ABOUT THE COVER The recent events brought about by the pandemic have forced us to experiment on a novel approach to education. As we shift to this online world of learning, both teachers and students struggle to be on par with the accustomed face-to-face interactions while ensuring survival. With the ongoing threat of COVID-19, this transformation to a new educational paradigm is deemed as the only reimagined solution to keep pace with the changing times. Front Cover: Online Class by Sofia Falcasantos BS NMCA Back Cover: Safe and stylish by Shamy Jailani BS NMCA
SHARMAINE G. CANAMA The BEACON Publications Editor-in-Chief
By tradition, June is a month where the Ateneo community gives a warm welcome to the newest and youngest batch of Ateneans through the Freshmen Orientation Seminar (OrSem). Back then, MPCC1 would be filled with fresh faces wearing different colored shirts to represent their Academic Organization, there would be booths adorned with trophies and candies to attract freshmen to join the club, and a lot of fun activities were in store. This is also the time when The BEACON is thrilled to meet the new members of the family as we get to welcome the new breed of visionaries that would bring light to our community. But due to the risk of COVID-19 transmission, the educational system shut down campus operations and spurred the mandatory shift to online education. This galvanized students and teachers to vacate online. We never knew that the Reveille Newspaper would be the last printed issue before the lockdown began. Admittedly, the Editorial Board has so much to ponder as we shift our operations online while ensuring the well-being of the campus journos during this time of great peril. We’d like to give reverence to the exceptionally talented people behind the Publication’s 73-year print run that made us strive to continue the legacy of excellence in campus journalism. For the time being, the issues would be published online via Issuu. We conceptualize this month’s issue with the thought of people being bombarded with negative news for the past three months. The Fenomenal wishes to counteract the negativity brought about by the pandemic while still delivering articles that The BEACON was known for. May the stories of resilience and bayanihan bring a smile to your face amidst all the hurdles that you go through. Until we see each other again in school, keep safe, and be healthy Ateneans.
EDITORIAL
On Surfing Pandemic Waves
T
he struggle for recovery continues as the pandemic spreads throughout the Philippines. COVID-19 has been taking a lot of lives and resources, but more than that, we see a lot of lapses and negligence coming from our government since the country’s first case. More than a respiratory disease, the virus resulted to a lot of controversies that have been weighing us down, diminishing our faith in the national goal of “healing as one.” To make things worse, we distance ourselves to prevent infection, yet the demands for
been mourning for losses for three heavy months now. Despite the negative situation of our status quo, we have been urged to spread positivity for our fellow Filipinos—front liners helping the sick, authorities tending to public utility in local areas, businesses providing our essentials in our daily lives, and volunteers helping those in need even at the expense of their own health. Let us dwell on the progress that we have been doing, more than people who have been making the situation worse. COVID-19 challenged us on until what extent the
productivity led most sectors to resort to online platforms, depriving those without internet access of education and other opportunities. We see Philippines in an awkward position in this pandemic, especially when our government is planning to implement measures against terrorists as part of national healing. Indeed, we are at the heart of one of the dark times in Philippine history—as we lose sight of the hope getting through this crisis, or have we?
Filipino spirit shall last— a spirit that always fights and sees the silver lining even when everything seems lackluster. This spirit has been prevalent in social media, as we see the brighter side of the mistakes done by our government by ridiculing most of the iconic issues like call for mass testing, clown statements made by political icons, and laxity of most people in protocols through forms of meme and jokes. This model proves how citizens have a role as vital as the government during the pandemic. A country in crisis have duties to be fulfilled, and let us take part in these responsibilities to aid national healing by valuing health, obeying the right protocols, and voicing our thoughts against ridiculous government actions.
Experts claim that we are experiencing the first wave of the pandemic, and we see Philippines at the moment like it has been hit by a tsunami. It is true that we have been significantly impacted by our government’s mistakes and have
We are all aware that life after the pandemic will never be the same as the normal lives we used to enjoy. Despite that, let us approach the “new normal” in hopes of being able to maximize the aftermath of the pandemic to its fullest—leaving no one behind as we slowly heal our nation. Let us believe that no matter how the situation looks currently, we still taking our steps towards our aspired goal. In a nutshell, no crisis will stop us from being the Filipinos who will believe, fight, and hope for what is right.
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Dear ECA, Elbert Hubbard, an American philosopher, once told the world, “To avoid criticism, do nothing, say nothing, and be nothing.” Both of us know full well that you have done something, said something, and you are something, which leads us to believe that you don’t avoid any criticism. That itself is commendable. Just to clear the air, this isn’t some sort of declaration of war; this is just a voice wanting to be heard. And these are the things we want to say: ONE. We understand the timeliness of posting statements and captions during events and celebrations, but plagiarism isn’t acceptable. Back on June 3rd, 2019, a post was made to celebrate Pride Month—no harm done there. However, the caption was taken from an article published by the United States Department of Agriculture. It was a clumsy attempt of lifting the exact lines from the article; a lot of websites had similar lines, although they did cite Wikipedia as the source. Now you might say that this isn’t a big deal that your intentions were good, but you are more
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than just a student cramming an essay— you are the student council. There’s no shame in posting quoted captions, quite the opposite with the sneaky copy-paste though. TWO. The series of Empower seminars, talks, and symposiums on several topics and issues have emerged in the previous term. This is a good initiative since they mainly tap the student leaders from the different organizations of the university. This way, they relay the things they’ve learned to their members and manifest them through programs and actions WITHIN their respective orgs. But we have yet to see explicit applications or projects towards the entire student body from you. Please don’t leave us hanging; otherwise, these become empty talks. Direct presence and action from you are arguably close to non-existent from the standpoint of a basic student. As much as we like the events you put on during celebrations, you are not just here to be event organizers; you are here to be the pioneers of the change the students
crave. Don’t get us wrong, we know who you are but we tend to scratch our heads when it comes to what you actually do. THREE. Buklod Atenista National Leaders Summit, if not some then most students have no idea what this is or what it does. One reason for this obliviousness is that nothing much comes out of it aside from a report on what went down. Buklod Atenista aims to develop the URGENT need for resolutions and strengthened knowledge about emergent issues in the country. Where are these resolutions? Whether they are approved or not, what matters is that we are not being kept in the dark. If there are existing resolutions as a product from this summit, do tell. You may not get as much reaction or attention in posting these since they’re just black text against a white background, but the weight it holds allows change and addresses issues. Plus, according to your two-itemno-breakdown October 2019 report, a hefty sum of money was allocated for this event. Surely, an effort in crafting resolutions wouldn’t be too much to ask considering the successful participation in the summit. FOUR. To be frank, we have maximized the duties of the class beadle more than your departments. We were assisted by our beadle more than your Department of Student Assistance and Services; they gave us essential updates on quizzes, activities, and recitations rather than enumerating the holidays of the month like your monthly calendars. The class beadle communicated to us important matters regarding our course subject, raised our concerns to the faculty if there were any, collected submissions, and even documented the things that happened in class, thus did
things better than your Department of Communications and Student Involvement. Even if it’s not written in any piece of paper, we understand the duties of the class beadle more than your department. We do not ask you to do the things the class beadle does, but maybe they can serve as your role model to do the things you are asked, tasked, and expected to do as a student council. FIVE. As we approach the end of the previous term, there are a few run-of-the-mill sentiments that have been too timid to come out and face you. It may come off a bit lackluster compared to the ones we’ve mentioned; nonetheless, might as well lay it all out there. To some of us, we see you as a bunch who dwell in their own world— you’ve got your own dynamic. Giving us the hesitation to step into your world, yes you claim to be approachable, and we aren’t denying it. But you somehow, unintentionally, cultivate an air of exclusivity. It’s almost as if you treat it as a circle of friends rather than a student council, not saying it’s a bad thing, but where do you draw the line? SIX. Magna Carta, the neverending relay race of the different ECA administrations. This has been endorsed and promoted several times, but every time we ask for the progress of its approval, you say that it’s still pending. We are excited to experience the approval of this renowned Magna Carta since it’s pro-student and acts as a gateway to autonomy, and this is a great thing. As part of your March 2020 report, you stated that “Magna Carta is near approval as proofreading and final editing will be done in cooperation with the Higher Education Council.” To be frank, we are confused why it’s taking so long—give or take, it’s been around
two years since it was mentioned again. We have no idea what happens behind closed doors if you are the ones slacking or the ones at the top? You currently hold the baton, are you running towards the finish line or reaching it out to the next in line? SEVEN. Welcoming the fresh term with unforeseeable hurdles, the new normal has caught us off guard as we try to recover from a frenzy of panic. We login to the digital world to continue our lives and activities. You’ve shared monthly reports for April and May 2020, and in an attempt to keep moving forward, online meetings, social media activities, online dialogues, and a town hall session have been conducted. Props to you for doing this cause amidst this pandemic. But some things seemed a bit off to just snub. Back on April 28, 2020 and May 21, 2020, you assisted the Office of the Vice President for Higher Education to solicit thoughts from us students about the online learning and summer class with the Board of College Governors by posting the link of the survey in your page. And though some of us who have no stable internet connection still managed to answer the survey, but to our dismay, there were no results disclosed. How many students agreed to the system? Were the voices of the students heard? What were the recommendations made for those who would be left behind? Where were you when we needed you the most?
we’re Atenistas anyways right? It’s not as if the COVID-19 has affected us economically at all. That’s what most people claim us to be, the rich kids who can afford going to this university when in reality we’re not that posh. We’re worried about our parents worrying about school payments just to get us through college. But anyways, kudos to all your future agenda, we do hope that this benefits our fellow students as much as it aids your personal achievements for leadership awards. We wrote this letter to voice out those who were not heard, and to extend the concerns that were not expressed, wishing you would feast on this old dish served cold. As what was discussed during Empower seminars and the different talks, leaders can’t avoid disagreements, complaints, and concerns. And what makes a good leader is how you listen to your members and how you handle these things. With that said, we have faith that you will take this gracefully and hope that this will empower you to show who you truly are.
Thanks for sticking by.
With Love, The Students at the back
EIGHT. We understand that funding is very important to any student council especially to efficient, effective, responsive, consensus-oriented, and inclusive governance like yours. But have you ever thought of waiving the P75 in the miscellaneous fee this summer? Come on P75 isn’t that much,
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Day 77 of lockdown and I’m running out of pambahay. - Jean Clarice Bue
#DefendPressFreedom - Teriez Michove Bokingkito
I should start working out this quarantine. - Charlyn Laran
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Netflix BAE (before anything else). - Deanna Rose Toledo
I’m beachin’ 2020 edition. - Sean Vincent del Castillo
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Burger ni Anti
by Maria Reolyn Pilones
ADZU Backfield Memory Lane
by Allysa Ramiso
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AdZU GoWifi
by Gwen Toribio
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by Karl Onayan
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“QUARANTHINGS”
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by Ayana Dawn Atis
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