Universitas March 2014 by University of Asia and the Pacific

UNiversitas The official magazine of the University of Asia and the Pacific

Unitas: Beyond the dress code Grand Chancellor on university work UA&Pâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s near-50 years

Cover Section 550 Milestones UA&P’s Christian Identity and Saint Josemaría Escrivá Human Class Culture of Work Evolution: Universitas through the years An Unitas Style Bayanihan Burning Bright: Dragons use social media to blaze a trail for ‘Habagat’ relief The University in the Year of Faith Editorial: Embracing the UA&P culture

82 65

Science and Tech

Sports and Wellness

“Do mentors have mentors?” and other questions

A Verdict on Our Education A Scholar’s Profile: Renz Ayongao

International Language of Love

Interview

106

Columns

Newsbriefs

Middle Class The Not so Miserable Message of Les Miserables

100

MOVIES

Graduation: All’s well that ends well Into the Dragons’ Lair: Talk about baptism of fire

Arts and Culture Into Great Silence Akira Kurosawa’s Ran BOOKS

K to 12: Beyond Nobility of Motive Lessons from Real Love Revolution 2012 Salita at Pagkatao: Pagdalumat sa Katangian at Kakanyahan ng Wikang Filipino Responsible Citizenship Donde está la juventud?: Rizal’s three laments at the end of the Fili

Pursuing the true meaning of excellence UA&P alum ordained priest in Rome

Authenticity and Responsibility in the Age of Social Networks

Society

Scholars

Alumni

Taking Control of Stress

105

The excitement of writing about everyday life Into the Frontier Toward building a strong society MUSIC

Guitar Music through the centuries AmberJive! THEATER

In Space and Time Makbet Visual Arts

World of Wonders

Captured

Bravo! “Beauty and the City” Firestarters grab championship in WNCAA Lessons from the world Top 5 lessons from Spikes Asia Creative Academy Rizal on Rizal The iTaste Story Students top Google contest in Asia Pacific

New PhD holders Tambuli Awards confers prizes to local, foreign firms Vice President Binay visits UA&P Youth confab highlights ‘unity of life’ Local moms receive economics training Experts, execs discuss social entrepreneurship Economic Summit cites creativity-dev’t link Linguists, polyglots gather at UA&P Chemistry whizzes clash at UA&P Dr. Villegas addresses diplomats UA&P holds science comm. effectiveness tilt Educators convene in UA&P for 1st nat’l mentoring confab New website launched UA&P hosts educators’ conference UA&P hosts int’l confab on Asian, Latin American studies Spanish economist visits UA&P Vietnamese ambassador visits UA&P UA&P welcomes Brazilian ambassador

The 2012 Opening Rites Address of Dr. Jose Maria Arsenio G. Mariano, University President

his academic year 2012-2013 that we officially begin today opens a new period in the history of our University. In two months, on 15 August 2012, we shall be celebrating the 45th anniversary of our institution. This gives us exactly five years to prepare for our 50th anniversary on 15 August 2017.

Last Friday, when I met the freshmen formally on their last day of orientation, I gave them a hashtag—#5tothe50th. I named them our golden anniversary batch. I advised them to get to know their University very well and to allow us to get to know them very well. Then I challenged them to collaborate with us on building up our University for its golden anniversary. For all of us in UA&P the next five years will be the golden anniversary years of significant effort to accomplish our vision for the strategic period that ends in the school year (2017-2018) of our 50th anniversary. I invite everyone to join me first of all in giving thanks for the legacy and spirit we have received from St Josemaría Escrivá, whose feast day we celebrate on June 26. I then invite everyone to ref lect deeply on this profoundly Christian legacy and apostolic spirit as it actively shapes the unique identity of our institution. By signing up to UA&P, each one of us has freely committed to this legacy, and we renew our commitment each time we observe with diligence everything consistent with it—collegial decisions, policies, guidelines, even a simple request or suggestion from a colleague. This is what creates an effective sense of unity among us. Unitas is not the self-serving reliability of a favorite or the abdication of personal responsibility of a “yes-man”. It is the diverse but collaborative response to a shared mission. The weight of our commitment may vary according to our positions in the organization, which are various ways of serving the mission. The Board of Trustees takes the lead in directing the institution towards a vision that embodies the institutional mission. Management is charged with operationalizing the vision. All pull together, with initiative, to teach, to do research, to administer projects marked with a deeply human and Christian dimension from which society benefits and to which other institutions are not giving enough emphasis. It is this mission that commits us to living charity when we address the problems that confront us from time to time; to seeing things from the other person’s point of view; and to sincerely manifesting even externally

President Mariano formally opens the school year in front of the University community.

our effort to understand an issue from all sides with even more consideration than when we communicate our own opinion on the matter. Our response may be more deeply understood by appealing to a concept applied in the legal and financial contexts— fiduciary responsibility. This is the ability to respond to trust, to respond to the entrustment of resources, time, talent or equipment in the discharge of a mission. We can recall the parable of the talents that to my mind perfectly captures the essential idea in story form. There is the entrusting of a sum of money, the activity that the money makes possible, then the rendering of accounts, and finally the payoff. That payoff, I trust, will for each one of us take the form of a further and broader entrusting, as we speed our way to the end of school year 2017-2018, five years from now, to the accomplishment of our vision for UA&P in 2018.

ACADEMIC MILESTONES

We achieved the academic milestones scheduled for school year 2011-2012. We received government recognitions for six programs: Integrated Marketing Communications, Economics, Political Economy, Applied Mathematics, Business Administration and Entrepreneurial Management. Our School of Management completed all the preparatory stages for the Advanced Management Program—the precursor program of our future Business School—and is poised for launching within the next few months. And we put together a Project Office to study and recommend by January 2013 an action program for the establishment of a School of Law and Governance. Our College of Arts and Sciences took the lead in reviewing our academic policies and the most important interface among our degree programs—the liberal arts

core curriculum. After the first few tense weeks at the beginning of last school year when we had to address urgently outmoded policies that no longer supported the new four-year bachelor’s programs, CAS rallied a surplus of stability and vitality to carry off, with flying colors, our first level three accreditation certificate from PACUCOA. And CAS had plenty of vitality left over to mount the 12th Conference on Education and Culture, the Rizal Centennial Conference and a Conference on Language and Linguistics, the first in the history of our University, in collaboration with the Linguistic Society of the Philippines. CAS also launched its Language Center—very softly I must add—with initial activities in English Language teaching directed mainly to Korean students. This school year CAS will officially install its Language Center with a wider range of activities, make good use of its level-three status to reconfigure its Master in Humanities degree, and continue to take the lead in stabilizing university-wide academic policy and standards. Scheduled also for this school year are: the permit for the School of Communication’s AB in Media and Entertainment Management; government recognitions for Industrial Engineering, Human Capital Development and Child Development Education; the reaccreditation of five programs; and four more programs to bid for levelthree status—our graduate programs in Education, Industrial Economics, Strategic Business Economics and Applied Business Economics. We shall build on all this experience to consolidate a culture of evidence in our institution and, beginning this school year, gather all the evidence under one Sustainability Report following an international format. Soon the window of opportunity will open for us to consider pursuing the status of center of excellence, which our PACUCOA accreditors have urged us, and thereafter full autonomy by 2018 or earlier. COMMUNICATION

Included in our nine-point agenda last school year were two items on institutional communication. The objective was to improve mechanisms for top-to-bottom

and bottom-to-top feedback. Concrete resolutions listed last year were carried out: HRM’s twice-a-year General Assembly and suggestion boxes, CCO’s NewsPage, and the establishment of a new Information and Communications Technology Office, charged with developing a web-based platform that will facilitate collaboration among students, faculty, staff and alumni. In addition, to continue the dialogue initiated by the general assemblies and to address transparency issues, we encouraged regular unit meetings. And to generate inputs and dig deeper into the issues, we established the People Development Committee (PDC) and scheduled a series of professionally guided Focus Group Discussions (FGDs). Admittedly, we were all on a learning curve in these initiatives. We gained some ground with instruments we had not seriously and extensively tried before. In other areas we have to resolve to try harder. We received ten written notes through the suggestion boxes; we observed that the frequency and regularity of unit meetings were not uniform; and we had to postpone the FGDs because the third party we were counting on for their expertise backed out. We are currently studying the recommendations the PDC sent to our Human Resource Management Office and will announce the results soon. And this year we shall push the FGDs with our internal capabilities. MANAGEMENT BY MISSION

We also recognized last year that for our communications agenda to have direction and efficacy, we must first intensify the internal communication of our corporate philosophy and values—what we called “UA&P mission campaign.” To this end, we revised the content of our term contracts so that from the start those who choose to work in UA&P are fully aware of what the institution stands for and can therefore commit to its mission more deeply and more firmly. We completed our review and restructuring of the Institutional Formation Program (IFP)—the series of interventions (talks, seminars, workshops) on aspects of our corporate philosophy for

those preparing for permanence. The IFP, which we began to implement last March, is part of a larger Integral Development Program, which has in view an integrated approach to the personal and professional growth of the faculty and staff, the furtherance of their career plan in UA&P, and the attainment of institutional aims. The Integral Development Program is in its final stages of refinement and will be announced within the first semester. At the same time, we embarked on a more comprehensive program. The goal is to have the most critical processes in the management of people in the organization articulated by the institutional mission. Such processes include the selection of faculty and staff, their performance evaluation, and especially their promotion and retention. In response to a recommendation from the General Assembly last year, we created a faculty committee to review the current policy and practice of faculty ranking and promotion. That review is now being studied to ensure that all development strategy, distribution of functions, and coordinated actions of our faculty would lead to the accomplishment of UA&P’s mission. The policy on faculty promotion and retention, and its consequences for performance evaluation, is the remaining section needed to complete the Academic Manager’s Compendium for Faculty Affairs, whose first draft has been ready since the beginning of last school year. We have already sent to the Operations Committees a Compilation of University Policies. This Compilation plus the Academic Manager’s Compendium will be the basis of new

editions of faculty manuals that we intend to have in the hands of each member of the faculty before the end of this school year. A similar set of efforts is underway for the administrative staff. The guiding objective is for the institutional mission to be known and shared by all, and for every person who works in the organization to know how his or her work contributes to what our organization aspires to be. ORGANIZATIONAL VITALITY

Two last key result areas we tabled in the year just past will be given special attention this school year. The first is this. In the announcement of our 2018 vision two years ago, one of the proposed strategic enablers called for a more responsive business model.

Our student population will always remain relatively small, by choice, relative especially to the enormous amount of research, extension, and developmental activities that our 2018 vision entails. It would be foolhardy to expect tuition revenue to cover all these activities. [We need a more responsive] business model—one that relies on diversifying our fund sources through partnerships that contribute to our mission. As we saw in our June 11 General Assembly, already our reliance on tuition revenue has been stretched beyond what that source can cover. Our budget for the current fiscal year clearly shows that we cannot sustain our operations for long if we are to depend solely on tuition income. We are engaged in activities of research, extension and development that, on the one hand, are still comparatively limited when set against the full range of possibilities that our 2018 vision dreams of. And yet, on the other hand, tuition, which by definition is paid for teaching and its administration, can cover only a small portion of these

other activities for which our faculty are de-loaded from teaching and to which we remain committed. In the General Assembly too we identified one of the things we can focus on this school year: to determine strategies that can cover the teaching de-load expense, which reaches close to 30 million annually. The same proposal for the strategic enabler points the way: partnerships. Our achievements in partnerships during the last school year already show enormous vitality in many sectors of the University, always when there is a willingness to bend interests in research, extension and development towards the kind of partnerships we are interested in—

partnerships [that are not merely] transactional ventures but mission-based relationships. We partner with people and institutions with a genuine desire to learn from them, and no less genuine desire to win them over to our cause. Our first partners are of course the parents who are willing to finance their children’s education in UA&P. We are happy at the result of the efforts of our Junior Marketing Communications Team and the rest of the admissions marketing team in CCO, which broke through 500 for the first time in a decade. We look forward to a steady increase in student population in the years to come, not least because the admirable effort that the Admissions Office has put into student selection augurs well for student retention. As we forge other partnerships on external projects we shall never lose sight of our first duty, which is to our students and the quality of education we impart. The Admissions Office has also upgraded our standards for scholarships.

This will lend considerable support to our efforts to secure student grants. We congratulate the Development Office for reaching donation levels that can now cover all cash items—student stipends and allowances. We can now consider the more ambitious goal of raising an endowment for it—about 500 million pesos. This is obviously an amount we cannot expect to raise this school year. But to develop the strategy and to begin staking annual goals up to 2018, we have created the Friends of UA&P, now a mere handful of CRC alumni with tremendous eagerness to meet the challenge and to win over other friends to our cause. Among our existing partners, we should rank high as regards management attention and encouragement our own cooperative, now upgraded to the UA&P Development Cooperative. The support that UA&P extended to the cooperative in the past year—in answer to the second key result area I mentioned earlier—has helped our cooperative stabilize its financial standing. Also, the upsurge in membership at the beginning of the school year was very encouraging. And though there still remain some communication issues that emerge from time and time, which are addressed promptly, we can now urge the officers to undertake serious strategic planning this school year. We can encourage them to consider in their plans the eventual implementation of other services that will make the cooperative a vibrant partner of the University for the welfare of our people. Our experience in the school year just past shows the enormous and broad interest that society at large, both public and private sectors, is showing for partnership with our University. Many of the partnership projects have been coursed through CRC, which in the course of one year was able to lift the CRC Foundation to a more secure financial standing, begin undertaking interdisciplinary research projects, with some in the humanities, and stabilize as the UA&P hallmark center for research and communication. We have reached the stage where offers to partner on projects with clearly academic, even humanistic, significance have had to be turned down simply because there were no takers among the faculty. To

facilitate a wider variety of projects, well outside the range of business consultancy contracts and with increasingly academic significance and international coverage, and to attract the engagement of more faculty members from other academic disciplines and from our other schools, CRC has committed to complete manualizing its processes early this school year, as regards both research and its administration. I can only briefly enumerate a few other partnership achievements in the past school year: • the extension projects of our Center for Social Responsibility, which continues to lead in 3G CSR and is now guiding our trailblazing efforts as the first Asian university to submit a Sustainability Report to an international body • the Tambuli Awards, which on its sixth year, received 14 foreign entries out of a total 196 • the Samsung grant for Korean Studies, in which the Korean Embassy expressed keen interest • the Leo Parma/AsiaPro Professorial and Research Chair in Social Entrepreneurship, with Dr Bernardo Villegas as first chair holder • the celebration of Chile’s National Day in UA&P, which gave birth to a joint project on Calidad Humana, and will soon give birth to yet another nationwide project to be entitled Una Sonrisa para el Mundo • our participation in the University of Virginia’s international research project The Empty Cradle • Belenistas de Ortigas with the Ortigas Association and Barangay San Antonio, and with our Center for Student Affairs taking the lead I am particularly pleased to see the alumni beginning to mobilize. I have already mentioned the Friends of UA&P. From among the younger alumni,

our Office of Alumni Affairs continues to receive offers for partnerships on a wide variety of initiatives for social responsibility, business consultancy missions, culture, sports and civic concerns; and pledges to build up an eight-figure scholarship endowment that includes the League of Red Dragons Fund. But perhaps the most ambitious project, financially speaking, that we shall be undertaking this school year is the construction of the University Residence Hall, the Parking and Sports Building and the Annex Building. The Residence Hall Project dates back to 1993 and has gone through years of gestation, planning, study and collegial decision-making. It illustrates perfectly the spirit that animates our partnerships—funding for this project was raised independently of the income of the University. We are honoring our commitment to the donors when we do groundbreaking this school year. For both UA&P and our partners, the significance of the Residence Hall is both apostolic and strategic. Consistent with the campus experience of similar university corporate undertakings of Opus Dei in other countries, the Residence Hall is intended to play a role in UA&P’s hallmark whole-person education. Its contribution to creating an atmosphere of Christian humanism in the campus will fold in neatly with the academic culture we are trying to foster. The human and Christian formation it will impart will generate a lot of goodwill not only among the residents but also the rest of the student body, their families and professors who will have been in contact with the Residence Hall during their university years. They and the community as a whole will, down the years, be gratefully paying back UA&P in various ways because of the difference it has made in their lives. As I explained during the General Assembly, the decision to put up the additional buildings and facilities was taken by seizing opportunities that the Residence Hall Project opens to us. In fact, through the University Residence Hall Project, we are even now able to identify benefactors who desire to exercise their generosity specifically in favor of campus and facilities development, without competing with

scholarships or faculty research grants. The Parking and Sports Building and the Annex Building enable us in particular to specify channels for future capital donations.

KEY RESULT AREAS

All these achievements make us confident with the key result areas we are adopting this year: academic milestones, communication, management by mission. And they open up more prospects for vigorous partnerships that will be key to our installing a more responsive business model. As we look at this vast panorama of possibilities, may I confer on our hashtag—#5tothe50th—an additional meaning and a challenge: What is my contribution, individual or collective, in multiples of 5, to the 50 th? Examples I can pull from the top of my head at this moment: fifty peer-reviewed publications, five professorial and research chairs, five hundred Tambuli entries, five to the fifth power total student population (that’s 3125), five to the fourth power freshmen (625) in addition to the 100 scholars. We have created a golden anniversary committee who will make the rounds in the next few weeks to solicit proposals, commitments, pledges. May I ask everyone to be generous, imaginative and audacious, keeping in mind the three themes of our 2018 vision—university of choice, partnerships and internationalization. After the University Lecture of our University Day on 15 August 2012, our 45th anniversary, we shall announce the commitments and present a logo for our Five to the Fiftieth Campaign. As we move confidently and resolutely to Vision 2018, we shall seek the guidance

and intercession of St Josemaría Escrivá. Last year’s film There Be Dragons, for all its historical liberties, presented a vigorously human Josemaría with an unconquerable supernatural outlook. From this we can draw inspiration and strength. We are assured that not all dragons are evil. Certainly we look forward to seeing our benign and cuddly UAPPY become a robust and respectable dragon by our golden anniversary. Thank you and good morning.

1993

CRC applies for university status. It formally establishes its School of Economics and School of Education, and sets up its Center for Management.

milestones Let’s say you’re Marty McFly and you’re ready to go back to the future University of Asia and the Pacific: the Center of Research and Communication of 1967.

Wow.

1992

The Sancta Maria Stella Orientis Oratory is inaugurated.

1987

CRC sets up its Institute of Development Education, which will be the forerunner of the School of Education of the envisioned university.

1970

Bright, checkered shirts. Skinny jeans. Oversized sunglasses. Feels like 2013! Now hit fast forward. Here’s our story

1969

1989

CRC opens its College of Arts and

1982

Sciences (CAS) and admits its first

CRC moves to its new site in Ortigas

choices of high school graduates

horizons beyond the Philippines and

Center, Pasig City. Its formal and

seeking quality university education.

Southeast Asia.

nonformal programs in economics

CRC opens its first graduate

have already been well established.

program, the Master of Science in

CRC has also gained international

Industrial Economics.

recognition as an economic and

In a private meeting in Mexico City, Opus Dei founder Mons. Josemaría Escrivá encourages Dr. Estanislao and Dr. Villegas to expand CRC’s

batch of college students. CAS has since become one of the leading

business think tank.

The Southeast Asian Science

Foundation, Inc. (SEASFI) officially adopts CRC as an institutional

1967

project.

Dr. Jesus Estanislao and Dr. Bernardo Villegas establish the Center for Research and Communication (CRC) as a private voluntary organization with core operations in research and communication, together with training programs in industrial economics. Its first office is located at 1607 Jorge Bocobo St., Malate, Manila.

1995

Education Secretary Ricardo Gloria signs the certificate converting CRC into the University of Asia and the Pacific. The actual signing is held in a public school near the Ninoy Aquino International Airport. UA&P is installed in a formal academic rite led by Commission on Higher Education Chairman Angel Alcala, Secretary Gloria, and Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Rosario Lopez. Dr. Estanislao is installed as UA&P’s first president. The Regional Vicar of Opus Dei in the Philippines, Fr. Ramon Lopez, is conferred the honorary title of Vice Grand Chancellor of the University.

2013 2008

Bishop Javier Echevarria again visits UA&P.

2012

Leo Parma of Asiapro Cooperative

1997

2010

grants UA&P its first professorial

The School of Sciences and

Bernardo Villegas becomes the first

as the second President of the

Engineering opens with the pioneer

chair holder.

University.

program of Applied Mathematics,

Mr. Mario D. Camacho is installed

1998

followed by the Industrial Engineering program.

The University’s Honorary Grand

and research chair in social

entrepreneurship. Full Professor Dr.

2011

The scholarship and grants to

Chancellor, Bishop Javier Echevarría,

students start to cover 25 percent of

visits UA&P. Bishop Echevarría is the

incoming freshmen.

Prelate of Opus Dei.

2000

2005

as the third President of the

Effectiveness Awards (now the UA&P

University.

Tambuli Awards) is launched.

Dr. Jose Maria G. Mariano is installed

The 1st Marketing Communication

Delia Tantuico

t the height of the debates on the Reproductive Health (RH) Bill, which is now a law, there was a “side debate” on whether a Catholic university could take an official stand supporting the RH bill without compromising its being a Catholic university and going against its mission as a Catholic university. Some Catholic universities tried at great lengths to distinguish the official stand of the university from the individual opinions of its faculty. This was not an easy task. The University of Asia and the Pacific (UA&P) never had such a dilemma in relation to the RH Bill. Prompted by the debates on the bill, UA&P published an official and unequivocal statement against the RH Bill and an appeal to the members of our legislature “to respect and protect the right to life from conception to natural death.” Among other things, the statement clearly indicates that “we adhere to the scientific conclusion that the human person’s life begins at the union of male and female reproductive cells”; that “we uphold the right of parents to decide their family

size, guided by their morally upright consciences”; that a “just social order can become a reality only when moral freedom is directed towards the authentic common good, which puts a premium on the human person and the human family”; that “ we are not in favor of any legislation that proposes to spend public funds to regulate births”; that “the State should protect the freedom of consciences” and that we “loyally adhere to the social teachings of the Catholic Church….” UA&P is a private institution established by individuals who have chosen to run the school based on Catholic principles. It is Catholic by orientation and identity. Number 8, paragraph 1 of the Statement of Principles (Institutional Goals and Ideals), states that the “UA&P entrusts its spiritual guidance to the Prelature of Opus Dei, so that : the spiritual legacy of Saint Josemaría Escrivá may continually inspire all the activities of the University…” This spiritual legacy has always been one of the guiding principles of the University in making a stand on controversial and contentious moral and social issues. The teachings of Saint Josemaría as well as Christian ideals permeate all aspects of university life at UA&P. Saint Josemaría had a deep respect for personal freedom and

UA&P’s Christian Identity and Saint Josemaría Escrivá “On the other hand, I must confess that I do not like the expressions ‘Catholic schools’, or ‘Church schools’, even though I respect those who think differently. I prefer to see things distinguished by their results and not by their names. A school is truly Christian when it strives for excellence, and gives a complete education—which includes Christian ideals—at the same time respecting personal freedom and earnestly furthering social justice. If this is accomplished, then the name is of little importance...”

responsibility. An incoming freshman student who found out that there are two Masses everyday at the Stella Orientis chapel from Monday to Saturday, asked me if attendance at mass on certain days is required. Having come from a Catholic boys’ high school where attendance at certain Masses is compulsory, he was pleasantly surprised when I told him that there is no such compulsion here. The daily Masses are there for those who freely want (a phrase often used by Saint Josemaría) to attend them. Similarly, while we have a dress code, students are free to choose whatever style, color, or material they wear within the bounds of modesty and decency. Thus, on campus, one can see students who are dressed like fashion models alongside those who dress very casually. The concern for the individual person and his integral personal development is another aspect of university life emphasized by Saint Josemaría . In UA&P, this is made a reality through student seminar retreats, leadership seminars, virtues classes, and doctrine classes for students. There is also an Integral Development Program, which the

St. Josemaría Escrivá worked with university students from the early years of Opus Dei.

Photos courtesy of Opus Dei Information Office

faculty and staff are encouraged to attend. These formative activities are aimed at personal integrity, respect for the truth, sense of responsibility, work ethic, respect for persons, and refinement in personal dealings, among others. Also, in UA&P, mentoring is a part of university life. Everybody has a mentor—the officers, faculty members, the administrative staff and the students. The Student Mentoring Desk of the Center for Student Affairs oversees student mentoring while the Human Resources Department of the University oversees the mentoring of the faculty and staff. Mentors are given classes and lectures on the “art of mentoring.” Get-togethers are also held from time to time to make sure that the mentors are given the support and guidance they need. Saint Josemaría also strongly believed that everyone who has sufficient ability should have access to higher education, no matter what his social background, economic means, race, or religion is. “As long as there remain barriers in these areas, democratic education will be little more than an empty phrase.” To this end, UA&P gives merit and financial assistance scholarships to deserving students. UA&P now has 363 scholars, which is 21 percent of the total population. The curricula of the different programs in the University and the University research agenda have been created to be an “embodiment of our commitment to the arduous but most spiritually rewarding pursuit of wisdom, the synthesis of love of God and knowledge, faith and reason, culture and life.” (UA&P Educational Principles, Paragraph 3, No. 1). The University is committed to a strong emphasis on liberal education, which includes the teaching of Theology as one of the required general

education subjects. For, as Saint Josemaría said: “…..Thus, the study of religion is a fundamental need: a man who lacks religious training is a man whose education is incomplete. That is why religion should be present in the universities, where it should be taught at the high, scholarly level of good theology. A university from which religion is missing is an incomplete university: it neglects a fundamental facet of human personality, which does not exclude but rather presupposes the other facets.” [“The University at the Service of Contemporary Society, An Interview of Saint Josemaría” by Andres Garrigo (Gaceta Universitaria, Madrid), published on 5 October 1967]. In his Pastoral Letter during this Year of the Faith, Bishop Javier Echevarría, Prelate of Opus Dei and Grand Chancellor of the University of Asia and the Pacific, sums up the Christian identity of UA&P and the teachings of Saint Josemaría on Research and Teaching as follows: “I want to make it clear that those involved in these areas should feel the responsibility of taking advantage of their talents, without forgetting that many other people with manual work or seemingly of little importance strive to convert their occupation into a prayer to God, so that men and women who matter in areas that influence society may know how to be wholly responsible, aware that God will ask for an account of their performance, and they have to show gratitude to those who work in the background, so to speak. St. Josemaría’s words become very relevant: who is more important, the Rector of a University or the last person who takes care of the building maintenance? And he answered without hesitation: whoever fulfills his task with more faith, and more desire for holiness.” Needless to say, UA&P strives to uphold and implement these ideals.

Who is more important...? And he answered without hesitation: whoever fulfills his task with more faith, and more desire for holiness.

Bishop Javier Echevarria, Prelate of Opus Dei and Grand Chancellor of the University of Asia and the Pacific 16

MARYA SVETLANA CAMACHO, PhD

God’s creatures—as the biggest reason for selfrespect and respect for others, translated into “good manners and right conduct.” Without this starting point, decorum

the cultivation of human class should fall within its purview. This includes qualities that facilitate relationships because academic work, which thrives on collaboration and exchange, demands those. A person with class will deal respectfully with both superiors and subordinates—a teacher with students, and not only the other way around. Very important, too, is to give due regard to the work of everyone—faculty members, academic and administrative staff—since they contribute in different ways to the fulfillment of the University’s mission and vision. While out of good will people may stretch themselves in service, this could not develop into servile relationships. More radically still, everyone is involved in the business of formation of other persons by their very appearance and conduct. In this sense, the medium is the message; it is an educational principle that one of the best ways of learning is from living example. The major lessons that human class offers are in the realm of virtues and values. Our Christian patrimony of social values and traditions point to the root of our dignity—we are God’s creatures—as the biggest reason for self-respect and respect for others, translated into “good manners and right conduct.” Without this starting point, decorum slides from the level of virtue to that of social convention and, thus, is easily discarded when no one is looking. On this account, professionalism represents a conglomerate of virtuous acts: to exercise initiative and responsibility reflected in the high quality of work, whether it is teaching, research, or an administrative job. A worker with class takes care of punctuality, order, and cleanliness; respects

slides from the level of virtue to that

of social convention and, thus, is easily

ecause it is everywhere on campus it is hard to capture it in a word. It is in persons and in the way they relate to each other and to things. It is in the physical space insofar as it is designed by people—who give it character—and is used by them. Though difficult to define, it can certainly be described. Refinement and respect are its principal traits. After some deliberation we have settled for the informal term class, denoting elegance and dignity, to encapsulate this highly palpable dimension of UA&P’s culture. The linguistic difficulty stems from the origin of this concept. Tono humano is the Spanish word that conveys a whole complex of qualities that may approximate the notion of being educado. The latter encompasses the broad range of manifestations of human dignity: from good manners and savoir faire that bespeak consideration toward other people, to ethical conduct maintained no matter how unfavorable circumstances might be. Thus attainment of (human) class, understood as habits of refined thinking and behavior, is not dependent on social status or wealth. Since the University has set for itself the goal of integral formation, also expressed as “the fullest development of everything that is human in the individual,” it makes sense that

traditions point to the root of our dignity—we are

discarded when no one is looking.

Human Class

Our Christian patrimony of social values and

the time of others; and is mindful of keeping an environment conducive to study proper of a university. Class characterizes communication in its various forms: to name a few, elegant, appropriate, and modest clothing and grooming; correctness of form and tone of oral and written communication and graphic material; and proper channeling of feedback and constructive criticism. Lastly, let us take a look at a specific legacy of St. Josemaría Escrivá, whose teachings inspire UA&P, that gives class to the physical environment to the extent that it requires human intervention: the care for material things. In his lifetime he emphasized the need for the maintenance of buildings and furnishings, cleaning and repairs, so that people could live and work well in their surroundings. Behind this were foresight and charity (thinking of the welfare of future generations that would use the facilities) and diligence and a Christian sense of poverty since maintenance and smaller repairs are more economical than major repairs and rebuilding. From him we also learned that sobriety was not to be confused with tackiness; rather, sobriety was a function of class, because it spelt intelligent restraint. That the social and physical environment could shape personality, values, and conduct has been the conclusion of many studies. It could well be proven by the experience of many persons in UA&P who have been here a few or many years. On the other hand, that environment—reflective of our institutional culture—is maintained and even recreated as well. Human class will continue to pervade the University as long as we assume loyally the task and responsibility of assimilating and embodying it in its multiple manifestations as we go about our work in UA&P.

BernArDo viLLeGAS, PhD

culture of Work

Dr. Villegas is a co-founder of UA&P. He is an author and economist known for his optimistic views on Philippine economy.

ttention to the smallest details, team spirit, the dignity of work, and human elegance are in the very DNA of the University of Asia and the Pacific. This is so primarily because its foundation as the Center for Research and Communication in 1967 was upon the personal instigation and inspiration of St. Josemaría Escrivá, Founder of Opus Dei, who encouraged a group of professional people to establish a think tank that should eventually evolve in time to a full-blown university. From the very beginning, it was clear that the undertaking would be carried out and promoted by the faithful of the Prelature of Opus Dei in close collaboration with individuals—whether Christians or not—who understand, appreciate, and live the spirit of the Work. As St. Josemaría always emphasized, big things start small. and great things can be accomplished if every little thing is done with perfection. There were very few of us who started CRC, all convinced of and enthused by the teachings and spirit of St. Josemaría. Through the years, we were joined by other individuals who consciously and deliberately made the effort to assimilate such aims as spelled out in the mission and vision of UA&P. There is a historical and anecdotal reason, however, why those four features of the spirituality of Opus Dei mentioned above were evident from the very first institutional activity of CRC, which was to organize an international conference for business and economic journalists coming from different parts of Asia. CRC had just moved into the headquarters that it would occupy for the next fifteen years, in a rented residential house on Jorge Bocobo St. in Malate, Manila. At that time, CRC’s economists were giving classes to the members of the Business and Economic Reporters Association of the Philippines (BERAP) that was asked to organize an international seminar for Asian journalists. Without much advanced notice, BERAP decided to hold the international conference in the new premises of

CRC, which had just been vacated by an international aid organization. As the day of the conference approached, the skeleton staff of CRC—including the Executive Director, Deputy Executive Director, and Corporate Secretary—had to help the one janitor employed in cleaning the premises, which were not exactly well maintained by the previous occupants. Because of the short notice given, it was only the day before the conference that someone noticed that the elegant chandelier in the living room had glass parts that must have been last cleaned years ago. There was no question: the chandeliers had to be polished. The management staff, researchers, and janitor all put their hands literally together, taking the glass components apart one by one, cleaning each one until they glittered and then putting them back also one by one. Those of us who were involved in that tedious work were very thankful for the opportunity to experience first hand what St. Josemaría started to preach since 1928, that every human work—even the most menial task—can be a means

of sanctifying oneself. The team of intellectual and manual workers had to work till the wee hours of the morning to finish the task. When the journalists arrived at 8:30 a.m. on the day of the conference, the chandelier, as well as all the function rooms that were to be used by the delegates, were worthy of a five-star hotel. I can say that because our standard was the Manila Hilton, which at that time was just a few blocks away from Jorge Bocobo St. These features that those who started UA&P tried to live from the very beginning have been embedded, among other values and virtues, in the environment and culture of the University of Asia and the Pacific, which is pervaded by a spirit of industriousness and the desire to do things well. Because the management staff and the academic personnel are the first ones to live the values and virtues enshrined in the corporate culture of UA&P, order, seriousness in study, and good use of time are fostered in students. In addition, through the spirit of solidarity that is at the root of the service that UA&P and CRC are rendering to Philippine society, the students’ sense of responsibility toward their

family, immediate community, country, and the University itself is awakened. There is great emphasis on responsible study habits, study being the primary duty of the pupils who are provided with the proper conditions and atmosphere as well as the means to do their work well. Team spirit is fostered by reminding each one in the academic community to contribute to the creation and maintenance of an atmosphere of work, e.g. keeping silence in the library or in the faculty rooms to enable their colleagues to work in peace with excellence and intensity, enabling them to perform their tasks well and deliver what is required by justice. The culture of work Moreover, work is an indispensable means for the development of at UA&P is based squarely on the philosophy and human and supernatural virtues, the highest of which is charity, theology of work as expounded by Blessed respect and concern for others, kindness. John Paul II in his encyclical Laborem Exercens and in the teachings of St. Josemaría. Every member of the UA&P community, from the President to the cleaning staff, exerts effort to put into practice these ideals. Human development, both a corporate and individual goal, is attained through relationships with colleagues, subordinates, superiors, students, and teachers. Moreover, work is an indispensable means for the development of human and supernatural virtues, the highest of which is charity, respect and concern for others, kindness. Concrete manifestations of charity are making professional corrections, which expresses one’s concern for the personal improvement of one’s colleagues and a constant readiness to show appreciation for the work done by others. There is also the virtue of loyalty, which moves one to heroically go out of one’s way to consult a professional correction for one’s supervisor who may not be carrying out his duties well, rather than talking to one’s colleagues about it, bordering on backbiting, or to others who may not be the best persons to help the supervisor in need of correction. UA&P also takes the best from Filipino culture, among which is the ready smile for everyone in the office or the classroom, ever pleasant when dealing with colleagues, superiors, students, and service personnel. Finally, without attempting to be exhaustive, there is the great lesson from St. Josemaría about the virtue of humility as shown in the practice of collegial government at all levels, from the highest bodies of the board of directors and management committee to the operations committees and student councils. This humility moves one to obey one’s superior, following rules and policies emitted by those entrusted with governance positions, and to be detached from one’s opinions, especially when one is considered an authority on the subject under discussion,

most successful business enterprises in recent memory. He, too, inculcated passion for little details, the spirit of cooperation, service to others, hard and persevering work, product elegance, etc. into the organizations he founded. What was his inspiration? Zen Buddhism. In many parts of Asia, one can find excellent organizations imbued with the Confucian philosophy. The people who work at UA&P find their inspiration in their Christian faith, as concretized in the spirituality of Opus Dei. They see their work as a means of sanctifying the work itself, sanctifying oneself in one’s work, and sanctifying others through their work the three-fold dimensions of work popularized by St. Josemaría in his writings. The word “sanctifying” obviously connotes the effort of striving to be a saint, which is the obligation of every baptized Christian as enunciated in a most crystal manner in the documents of the Second Vatican Council, whose inauguration on October 11, 1962 we are currently commemorating with the Year of Faith. As the late Carlos Llano, former President of the Panamerican University in Mexico, wrote in an article entitled “Professional Ethics and the Sanctification of Work”: “One can say that the first and most basic contribution of the Christian to society is to Christianize the world by means of his work, which constitutes his most noble mission: ‘Work is a participation in the creative work of God,’ who upon creating and blessing man gave him dominion over the earth and all of its creatures. In this context John Paul II wrote: ‘As man, through his work, becomes more and more the master of the earth, and as he confirms his dominion over the visible world, again through his work, he nevertheless remains in every case and at every phase of this The people who work at UA&P find their inspiration in their process within the Creator’s original ordering.’”

Christian faith, as concretized in the spirituality of Opus Dei.

They see their work as a means of sanctifying the work itself, sanctifying oneself in one’s work, and sanctifying others through their work the three-fold dimensions of work popularized by St. Josemaría in his writings. always listening to the views of others before making an important decision that will affect the community. Importance of little things, teamwork, doing ordinary things extraordinarily well, concern for others, human elegance, hard work, and perseverance. These are traits that are common to many other effective and efficient organizations. I am reminded of the many books that have been written, especially in the past year or so since the passing away of Steve Jobs, the founder of one of the

Evolution: UNIVERSITAS through the years Once upon a time, UNIVERSITAS editors thought of downsizing the magazine from a broadsheet to something like the Reader’s Digest. The idea was scrapped when someone said something about reading glasses. Now that UNIVERSITAS is turning 18 in June, we thought it would be awesome to look back and see how the magazine transformed through various looks and sizes over the years. As we morph in this issue into yet another (and snazzier) format, we’d like to share with you our story through these select cover images.

1995

2013 UNiversitas The official magazine of the University of Asia and the Pacific

Mar13

2005

2010 Celebrating

UA&P Culture

Unitas: Beyond the dress code Grand Chancellor on university work UA&P’s near-50 years

2000 2012 2008 2011 2002 1998 2009

Photo by Luigi Alba

the idea of “Ivy League” or “schoolboy” immediately surfaces. Dress contributes to the building of a collective identity. The UA&P Dress Code affirms that fact. It fosters school unity. Undeniably, it is one of the defining features of our school. UA&P students, faculty, and administrative staff all share the same standards in dressing. They share the experience with all those who have been part of the institution’s history. Besides, one way to show that you are taking your education or work seriously is to dress the part. As Shakespeare wrote in Hamlet, “The apparel oft proclaims the man.” Clothing is an expression of one’s character. Indeed, the dress code sets a perimeter around what you can wear to school, but there is a pretty large range to work with. All you need to do is learn how to mix, match, and accessorize. The establishment of any style will take time. It will keep transforming to reflect ever-changing trends, yet key pieces will prevail. UA&P is fertile ground for the growth of a new style. Just observe and distinguish the recurring pieces, shapes, colors, and textures that students keep going back to. It is my hope that someday when people look at old photographs of student life, they will be able to recognize it—the UA&P aesthetic, an Unitas Style that binds people together, and acknowledges the deep connection between the person and what one wears.

Photo by Lesley Choa

Style Photo by Luigi Alba

Photo by Aaron Articulo Photo by Lesley Choa

niversities have been and remain to be great sources of inspiration for the fashion aesthete. Some styles even derive their names from educational institutions. Preppy is a modification of the word “Prep”, shorthand for Preparatory School. Meanwhile, the Ivy League Style, as the name suggests, is a whole tradition codified by the students of institutions such as Harvard, Yale, and Princeton in the 50’s and 60’s. The two styles are not one and the same but are inextricably intertwined. Moreover, there is a certain element common to both: tradition. In fact, many of the clothiers today refer to such styles as “Trad.” Yes, TRAD. I spelled that correctly. Apparently, there is a current fascination with shortening words. Some fashion houses even began inside the university and grew due to the students’ preference and adherence to the traditional style: wool trousers, khaki chinos, Oxford and polo shirts, silk ties with school colors, and Penny Loafers. Yale has J.Press and Gant; Princeton, Langrock. Harvard loves their Brooks Brothers. The companies still churn out the same closet staples, with some slight alterations here and there, of course; and students throughout the years have stuck to the style because of their wish to express their support and affiliation to their university. Any time a fashion editor or blogger sees certain key pieces put together despite all the layers of styling,

Photo by Luigi Alba

U Angel Yulo

Unitas

Dress contributes to the building of a collective identity.

Photo by Lesley Choa

Originally published as a Youngblood article, Philippine Daily Inquirer, 12 October 2012.

When we’re faced with calamity, bayanihan emerges. But the bayanihan today is not the same as the bayanihan of yesterday. We seldom carry a neighbor’s nipa hut anymore, but we constantly carry the spirit of bayanihan.

Bayanihan NICoLLO OrdoñEZ

e recently encountered another conflict greater than all of us: a conflict with nature. The nameless habagat or monsoon that struck us hard back in August was a destructive, yet familiar, force. After countless natural disasters, my observation is this: We are getting better at crisis and disaster management as a nation. The reason? Each individual is getting better at solving problems along with others, and each individual is inspired to become more charitable the next time around. When we’re faced with calamity, bayanihan emerges. But the bayanihan today is not the same as the bayanihan of yesterday. We seldom carry a neighbor’s nipa hut anymore, but we constantly carry the spirit of bayanihan. As a student of politics and governance, I have always argued for bayanihan when managing crises large and small. I’m of the position that nations, organizations, and individuals should work toward developing a genuine relationship built on charity, responsibility, and justice. Effective management of crises can be possible only when the parties involved are partners rather than enemies.

Photo by Erwin Canlas

Learning lessons

We have learned lessons from calamity and disaster. This year, the Red Cross facilitated rescue operations and distribution of relief goods provided by parishes, barangays, and corporations. Local government units tended to the displaced families and provided them with the basic necessities. Never have I seen stronger coordination among government and

The use of social media to facilitate the spirit of bayanihan into a coordinated, effective, and efficient network of commu-nication has made saving lives easier.

Twitter to disseminate critical and lifesaving information quickly. Life-saving tools

The use of social media to facilitate the spirit of bayanihan into a coordinated, effective, and efficient network of communication has made saving lives easier. Twitter and Facebook have allowed each netizen to become proactive in the service of others. Our devices have been transformed from mere personal possessions into tools to help save lives. From netizens, we have become public servants. Fortunately, public officials seized the opportunity and made their respective government profiles on the Internet contacts for disaster response. President Aquino had the Presidential Communications Development and Strategic Planning Office’s Twitter account, Red Cross chair Dick Gordon had his accounts active all over Facebook and Twitter, and the MMDA’s Tolentino had his Twitter and Facebook accounts linked to local government units ready to provide volunteers for rescue operations. The path to progress is the empowerment of the bayanihan spirit through well-coordinated government moves. Public welfare is best addressed when both the individual and the state work toward collective action, while not restricting the individual’s ability to act upon what’s best for him and his family. There must be a bayanihan of efforts among the individuals affected, and the public and private sectors. A perceptive assessment of what happened during the habagat will show that in any conflict, disaster, or crisis,

Photo by Erwin Canlas

nongovernment units in working toward achieving a common goal. I was fascinated by Metro Manila Development Authority Chair Francis Tolentino’s tweet on the steps by which the MMDA was to conduct rescue operations: Upon receipt of a report on families that need rescue, the MMDA will first confirm with the local government unit concerned before coordinating with the Red Cross unit in charge of deploying volunteers. Simple, yet effective! When my friends and I went out to get relief packages for donation to our parish, we witnessed an organized and systematic way of packing and distributing the goods. It was very different from the aftermath of Tropical Storm “Ondoy” back in September 2009. Back then, we volunteers from our parish had to distribute the relief packages ourselves in the flooded areas of Muntinlupa. Only this year did I witness Red Cross volunteers in large trucks managing the distribution of donations. Systematic! During the time of Ondoy, I was among the commuters who couldn’t get home after work. I arrived home at 1 a.m. on September 24, all because I wasn’t aware of the weather conditions. Nowadays, what happened to me will most likely not happen to you. During the habagat, we witnessed the amazing power of the social media through Facebook and

manmade or not, the strengthened coordination of efforts among groups and the individual’s genuine desire to serve others wins the end game. But before bayanihan can be harnessed on a large scale, the individual must first have its spirit formed in him—a life dedicated to genuine service to others— pagiging makatao—and a love for the truth (the truth of being a family of human beings who happen to be Filipino). No relief operation can be conducted successfully without the virtue of charity. It may seem ironic, but the moment one values the life of another person more, one’s life becomes more valuable. Personally, I think that being directly part of the resolution of conflict has always been one of life’s exciting thrills! Through each conflict and calamity, we end up wiser, recognize the duty to serve the nation before the self, and understand that through our combined efforts, genuine progress and authentic human development are possible. Self-giving

Involving everyone in solving our greatest conf licts should be the aim of the nation. Unless each individual gives himself in the service of others, there

Unless each individual gives himself in the service of others, there can be no genuine progress.

Photo by Cecilia Forbes

can be no genuine progress. The process is indeed a complex one, but it has now been made easier by the Internet and new technology. I’m extremely proud of the spirit of bayanihan coming alive last August. But for all of us studying or working, bayanihan does not have to take action only during disasters and calamities. It can be done by way of service to the people around us. Service to others done with great love increases man’s virtue. When a person is charitable, that person empowers others to become charitable, too, thereby strengthening the bayanihan spirit. There lies our secret for progress: knowing that great accomplishments are combinations of small acts done with love. There is no life-saving without selfgiving, no formed nation without a common vision. And certainly, no rescue and relief operation without bayanihan.

UA&P students, teachers, and staff carry out relief operations on campus.

frAnCeSCA niCoLe torreS

Burning Bright Dragons use social media to blaze a trail for ‘Habagat’ relief

idday of August 8, 2012, a shout rang through Study Hall A: “UA&P is trending on Twitter!” For those not in the know, a “Twitter trending topic” is a term or phrase with a large aggregate number of mentions on the popular microblogging site. With over eight million Filipinos using Twitter, for a tiny Ortigas university (certainly not a “big four”) to make it to the trending list alone was no mean feat. But make it we did, and that initial position would prove only the beginning of a social media shockwave that would catapult UA&P to the very top of the nationwide Twitter trending topics (and with the hashtag #UNITAS following at number eight), and even earn it a spot on the worldwide list. What was it that was capturing so much social media attention? Relief. UA&P’s Twitter phenomenon was a product of sheer Dragon determination to help fellow Filipinos during the August 6-7 Habagat Tragedy. With rainfall surpassing even 2009’s terrifying Typhoon Ondoy, the collision of monsoon rains and low pressure areas caused massive flooding all over Metro Manila and surrounding provinces, leaving many people stranded, homeless, and in need of rescue. In response to the need, UA&P H.O.P.E.S.—the relief arm of the University—rapidly mobilized relief efforts on the afternoon of August 8, just as reports of the damage wrought by the storm trickled in. Since floodwaters were

still at their height, many could not answer the call for volunteers, and so took to retweeting calls for rescue, lists of relief goods needed, and UA&P updates in a frantic attempt to still be of service. The social media storm continued into Day 2 of relief operations, with students manning laptops on campus throughout the day as part of a dedicated social media team. Sending messages about missing classmates (including the hashtag #Patco for the rescue of UA&P junior Daryll Patco), real-time updates about needed relief goods, or simply tweets of support, Dragon Tweeters—and their support team of Dragon Facebookers—created a virtual relief effort that helped attract volunteers and donations to meet the 5,000 relief pack target. But even after activities had paused for the night, the tweets kept coming—this time, not just from Dragons, but from Filipinos who had noticed the Twitter trend and were awed by the “small school with a big heart.” Many pledged to join the next batch of relief efforts. Some even started asking for applications to the University. A few “haters” tried to criticize the #UNITAS movement, but they were promptly drowned out by the overwhelming response of “Pinoy Pride,” further embodied in the #UNITAS Beyond Campus movement, with volunteers from ADMU, DLSU, CSB, UP, and LSM joining the campaign for hope and Habagat Relief. Now, into Day 3, UA&P fell to number 5 as a trending topic, but the Tweets still keep coming, with students using social media to call for more donations. With the sheer force of #UNITAS, UA&P Dragons proved to the world— the Twitter World, at least—that in times of crisis, anyone can be a hero. All it takes is to stand UNITED.

Excerpts from the October 2012 pastoral letter of Bishop Javier Echevarría, Prelate of Opus Dei and Honorary Grand Chancellor of UA&P

You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Matthew 5:14

The University in the Year of Faith

Research and teaching

17.

lthough we always have to be open to everyone, helping people who work in intellectual fields to know the Gospel is clearly of great importance. Specifically, those who work in universities need to recall some words of our Lord, addressed to everyone, and see them as especially directed to themselves: vos estis lux mundi (Mt 5:14), you need to be the light of the world. Indeed, their professional work places them in the vanguard of the new evangelization. St. Josemariá, who gave such a strong impetus (even before 1928) to the apostolate with intellectuals, said: the university has, as its highest mission, service to mankind, being

a leaven for society.[28] These words express very well the apostolic direction that those who work in these settings should follow: to be leaven, to give light and warmth—the light and warmth of the Gospel—so that the Good News of Christ may imbue the souls and actions of their friends, colleagues and students, in full fidelity to the Church’s Magisterium. Thus they will contribute to the evangelization of culture. This point in The Way is perennially up-to-date: You must inspire others with love of God and zeal for souls, so that they in turn will set on fire many more who are on a third plane and each of these latter spread the flame to their professional companions. What a lot of spiritual calories you need! And what a tremendous responsibility if you let yourself grow cold! And—I don’t even want to think of it—what a terrible crime if you were to give bad example! [29] Let us never lose sight of the important challenge of encouraging many people and institutions throughout the world—impelled by the example of the first Christians—to help bring about a new culture, new laws, new fashions, consistent with the dignity of the human person and our destiny, which is the glory of the children of God in Christ Jesus (see 2 Cor 3:18). While we all need to pray and do everything we can, with full generosity, to accomplish this, university lecturers and researchers have a responsibility to make a real and persevering effort to use every opportunity that their profession affords them. In this

Photo courtesy of Opus Dei Information Office

context, our faith supports us in advancing No topic of research, no area towards the truth and at the same time in in the wide range of teaching, doing all we can, with the strength that the virtue of faith gives us, to take the truth to is “neutral” with respect to the all spheres and help the people around us to accept it or grow in it. faith. All of our activities, even 18. Research occupies an important place in the work of university teachers and chemistry lectures—to take a other intellectuals. In that task, a Christian who is resolved to seek and spread the graphic example—can assist truth, and who is spurred on by a noble zeal to help overcome fragmentation and or fail to assist the spread of relativism in building up human knowledge, will discover constant opportunities to Christ’s kingdom. carry out a deep doctrinal apostolate. No topic of research, no area in the wide range of teaching, is “neutral” with respect to the faith. All of our activities, even chemistry lectures—to take a graphic example—can assist or fail to assist the spread of Christ’s kingdom. The objectivity required by science rightly rejects all ideological neutrality, all ambiguity, all conformism, all cowardliness: love for the truth involves the life and entire work of the scientist. [30] If professors and researchers are moved primarily by the desire to give glory to God and serve souls, then the Christian consistency of their example, the availability they show toward students and colleagues, the noble focus they give to their work, their effort to educate their students and pass on their knowledge, will undoubtedly help those who listen to their words or receive the echo of their work to discover or sense the mark of Christ’s followers. Moreover, their work will facilitate professional relationships with researchers of high standing in their own country or in others; and it will lead to sincere friendships, which are the natural setting for personal apostolate, and which will enable them to help their colleagues, in their research, at least to respect the fundamental moral principles. Responsible Catholics involved in these You must inspire others with love of God and zeal for crucial areas for the new evangelization, should ask themselves how they can also souls, so that they in turn will set on fire many more reach, to the extent of their possibilities, the media and the forums of public opinion, who are on a third plane and each of these latter in order to pass on good, solid doctrine in the area of their own specialty: by spread the flame to their professional companions. writing in the press; taking part in radio and television programs or communicating through the Internet; participating in cultural activities and offering an informed scientific opinion on topics that arise in public debate, etc. And, on their part, Catholics who run press or publishing concerns, or who work professionally in these media, should strive to ensure that their pages or cameras present, with depth and rigor, clean and morally correct content. I would like to emphasize strongly that those who work in these fields need to realize their responsibility to make good use of their talents. And they should never forget that [28] St Josemaría, Address at the act of many other people, who do manual work or jobs that might seem of little importance, investiture of honorary doctors by the are striving to turn their work into a petition to God that the men and women who have University of Navarra, 7 October 1967. the most influence on the direction taken by society may fully realize their responsibility, [29] St Josemaría, The Way, no. 944. knowing that God will ask them to render an account. And they should be very grateful [30] St Josemaría, Address at the for those who work, so to speak, in the “shadows.” St. Josemaria’s words are very relevant ceremony of conferral of honorary here: Who is more important, the president of a university, or the lowest person on the doctorates by the University of Navarra, maintenance staff? And he answered without hesitating: the one who does his job with 9 May 1974. greater faith, with a greater zeal for sanctity.

All of our activities…can assist or fail to assist the spread of Christ’s kingdom. The objectivity required by science rightly rejects all ideological neutrality, all ambiguity, all conformism, all cowardliness: love for the truth involves the life and entire work of the scientist.

EDi To R ial

embracing the UA&P culture

ewcomers to UA&P usually come away with an appreciation of three things that are distinct within the campus: the University’s clean surroundings, the appropriately attired students, and the beauty of its sanctuaries. These observations come as no surprise to us who know that they are integral to UA&P’s culture. They are external expressions of the values that drive the life and activities of the University. They reflect the corporate culture deliberately nurtured by its founders. Dr. Bernardo Villegas, co-founder of the University, said, “Attention to the smallest details, team spirit, the dignity of work, and human elegance are in the very DNA of the University.” These are marks of individuals who have concern and respect for others, understand the ennobling value of all kinds of work, and acknowledge the importance of cooperation—traits that we all need to be able to push the mission of UA&P. Steeped in this culture, we are inspired to do our work well because the work we do benefits particular persons and it is for them that we work earnestly. To work better and reach higher, we spur our colleagues to work in harmony—teamwork does wonders in achieving goals. Furthermore, aware of our social responsibility, we engage in projects that are for the good of society, particularly those in need of help. We, moreover, take care of the spaces we are responsible for in order to contribute to a clean and orderly environment. We likewise make sure that our attire and bearing are consistent with the University’s culture, which subscribes to the standards of elegance, urbanity, and decency. These contribute to an atmosphere of respect and refinement that facilitates the learning and work that take place in the University. Most of all, in everything we do we find our inspiration in our Christian faith, as embodied in the spirituality of Opus Dei. We see in work a means of sanctifying the work itself, sanctifying ourselves in our work and sanctifying others through their work— a culture of work based on the teachings of St. Josemaría Escrivá.

IN T ERVI EW

“Do mentors have mentors?” and other questions A conversation between a young UA&P alumna and her former mentor turned out livelier (and more candid) than was “scripted.” Concha de la Cruz , a faculty member of the School of Education and Human Development and her former mentor, Dr. Rina Villegas, talk about the University’s mentoring program and how it has changed their lives.

As a long-standing mentor in UA&P, how do you think does the mentoring program conform to the vision and mission of the University?

I would like to base my reply on my own experience as a teacher, as an educator. What made me decide to pay more attention to mentoring? I have been teaching for almost 40 years, and like the typical teacher, I went through several stages. In the first two decades of my teaching, I noticed that I was so restless because there was something that I was looking for, there was something missing. Perhaps I initially focused on just teaching the subject. So I wanted to go deeper and pay more attention to the research component of my teaching. But on the third decade of my teaching career, I realized that I was too focused on the depth and breadth of my discipline—values education, character education, and moral education— without considering significantly the importance of whether or not my students were really learning, or whether or not they have really reached a certain level of assimilation. Then I saw the importance of coaching them. Coaching is, in essence, one on one. And this led to something more than the academic. It led to the integral aspect of mentoring, which is the holistic approach to helping the learners. So, you need to bide time to be able to understand the thrust of the University. It may have taken long for me, but it was worth biding the time. And definitely, through that restlessness, I understood more clearly that the mentoring program indeed fits in with the vision and mission of the University. So how is it relevant to the experience I have just shared? It made me understand better that the focal point of education is the individual person (and I can say that I have owned mentoring; it is practically my field). It was not talked about so much, but now more researches are coming up on mentoring, which is an essential component of the University’s commitment to personalized education and holistic formation. It cannot be, therefore more fitting, to put these two together.

We’ve already started to give mentoring training sessions both to new mentors and seasoned mentors. All these sessions have “building a culture of mentoring” as their objective. Can you enlighten us on what this culture is about?

To put it in a nutshell, the culture of mentoring simply means the culture of care. In a place where the culture of mentoring thrives, we will hear students say, “My mentor dealt with me as a person with dignity, and at the same time with kindness and understanding.” And the culture of care has to go beyond the person you are taking care of— the mentee—because that mentee is not in a vacuum. The culture should permeate the entire University. When it comes to the environment of the University, people see that the setting is conducive to learning. Concretely, they note that aesthetic sense has helped them to form their own aesthetic values. The ones who sow the culture of care are the mentors themselves. Seeing the way the teachers deal with one another with exquisite refinement is how the mentees learn what respect is all about. In other words, the seamless character of that culture of care can be a very vivid image for the mentees, and this will be a legacy the University can pass on to students from year to year. How do you give advice to your mentees?

One thing I always remind myself of is not to pull out pieces of advice from my pocket. I have learned the importance of not pigeonholing my mentees or labeling them. One has to give advice according to what the mentee needs. And the mentee’s circumstances always provide the backdrop of the advice. In this way, they will realize, “Wow, you really know me. You really know my strengths and weaknesses. And at the same time, you give advice that is workable, that is within my capacity.” In short, pieces of advice are always tailored to the mentees. We do not drown them with motherhood statements. The advice is also always positive and very encouraging. And it is not imperative. It is up to the mentee to take action or not. We, mentors, should also remember that there are other good interventions in the mentees’ holistic formation. The mentor is just one of those interventions.

But sometimes mentoring sessions can just be sessions where you just talk and advice may not be —

May not even be needed. And advice can always be in the form of a suggestion. I tell my mentees “You may find out another way of addressing this, and let me know because I can learn so much from you.” It’s always a dialogue. How about the challenges you face as a mentor—what are they?

Let me share with you a challenge that I personally experienced—the scarcity of time. Many mentoring gurus have said that scarcity of time is always going to be a problem for both parties. So I was particularly struck by a point made by a mentoring guru writing about it—I met her in a March 2012 international conference—who said that scarcity of time should not be viewed as a problem or a challenge. Because we have to go beyond the effectiveness of mentoring. It’s not just the one-on-one personal exchange. Mentoring is precisely where the hidden curriculum lies. This is how students soak up the teaching moment of the seamless character between what we espouse and what is seen around. So, that itself becomes a testament. Scarcity of time should never be a problem. And then, another challenge is: “How do I know whether the mentees are projecting their real selves when they are talking to me?” I’m not saying that I don’t trust them. But this is precisely part of our human limitation. Mentees can say things just to please their mentors, as students will write things that will please their teachers. So, it’s a challenge, but I just have to be very positive. I just have to remind myself to believe in whatever my mentees tell me. And if she tries to project something that is not her real self, well, it is not I who loses. I’m gaining because I’m trusting. Eventually, that person, because she feels that she is trusted, will realize, “I cannot afford to play a game in mentoring.” And the third challenge is this: We do have to seek them out. I always ask myself, “When will they ask for the mentoring session?” And something that I always have at the back of my mind is, “How sure am I that they really want to chat at that moment I’m chatting with them?” So I make it a point to make the mentoring session pleasant. And another thing—we have to remind ourselves that mentoring is a conversation; it’s not instruction.

The University has already set up a Mentoring Desk under the Center for Student Affairs, which is a reflection of the importance given to the mentoring program. What else are we expecting? What are your dreams for UA&P’s mentoring program?

One of my dreams is that we continue telling everyone that mentoring is indeed the niche of the University, and that we are now more deliberate in professionalizing it. There is a training program for mentors. The mentors realize that they have to hone their skills, their competency. Mentoring can’t be done in a charismatic manner just because it’s a conversation. I have also realized that mentoring has to be studied more seriously. It has to be backed up by a research and development component, so the public can see that this intervention can really help students reach a certain level of excellence—because they have been guided about how to study well, how to discern, and how to hone their critical thinking skills. And my other dream is for the mentoring program to have its own institute. As an institute, the program can share its practices more deliberately with other educational institutes, whether they be in basic or tertiary education. The national conference on mentoring was held last September 14, 2012, and there are plans to organize a conference for countries in Asia and the Pacific. In other words, the nomenclature of “Asia and the Pacific” is being beefed up. And when it comes to infrastructure, my dream is that it can have its own building. Or that it can occupy two floors in a building. There should be a lot of conducive mentoring rooms, so mentoring is not construed as a “behind-the-table” scenario. A lot of these mentoring rooms should be designed as a sala or salita, as we would say. And, well, finally I hope that the mentoring program can adopt the Oxford tutorial system, which is very close to the heart of mentoring. It’s a one-one-one situation where the teacher is as the same time a mentor. The teacher guides the students to discover the delight of learning, and each student will be given academic requirements according to his or her capacity.

And lastly, do you have a mentor?

Definitely. It will be so hard for me to fall in love with something that I know does not have any basis. In other words, I will be able to transmit only what I have. So, whatever I had been sharing with the teachers or the seasoned mentors is based on my own experience. I exclaimed “definitely” because this is the very essence of the integrity of my profession. So, what I share is, more or less, the inner landscape of a teacher. And if I say that mentoring is an essential component of teaching, but I do not have a mentor, I will just be playing a game. One cannot give what one does not have. And lastly, having a mentor helps me to be more open to learning. This is the secret of Michaelangelo, this is what made him great. He would always tell himself, “I’m always learning.” This is an intellectual humility of accepting, “Okay, I am improving in this particular talent given to me by God, but I need to continue learning.” [To Ms. Concha] On the basis of your experience of our mentoring sessions, what can you say? At the beginning, I religiously went to the mentoring sessions because I thought that it was mandatory. Now I think, and I’m sure all the other alumni and older students will agree, that mentoring becomes more and more relevant and meaningful as one grows older in the University. So, this means that we should give to the younger students what we think they can absorb in the beginning, and then let them discover, on their own, the value of mentoring as they go through the years. Knowing this helps me now as a young mentor, as I see my mentees have apprehensions when it comes to their own mentoring sessions. (Dr. Villegas’ added input) And I think, when you are a mentor or a mentee, you are guided by the principles of education in freedom and responsibility. Since human freedom is an important element in the mentoring process, the outcome can be unpredictable. Mentors just have to do their best.

So Ci e t y

anTonio n. ToRRalBa, PhD

K to 12:

Beyond nobility of Motive

he K to12 program, to my mind, is an example of a genuine good that can soon turn to a genuine mess unless: • There is unity of purpose and working synergy among the key authorities of the education sector, namely, DepEd, CHED, TESDA, Congress, and their component divisions; • There is certainty in the program’s direction to ensure effectiveness; the working details of its implementation scheme to ensure efficiency; and its communication strategy to ensure ownership of and support from the entire education system; • There is a more or less uniform appreciation and understanding by all education stakeholders of the program’s basic principles, and, most important, its implications in all areas of concern. There is no doubt about the nobility of purpose, intention, and development potential behind K to 12. However, the politics, economics, sociology, psychology, and pedagogy of it seem to need a deeper looking into and perspective. My limited to extensive experience in the field and contact with school administrators, teachers, and students seem to indicate still a sorry lack of depth and breadth of what K to 12 can be and cannot be given the realities of the Philippines today … now. Below are notes on what K to 12 IS from what I have collated from conversations, as well as questions that have crossed my mind, for all this is worth. My questions might already have answers, and I’ll be extremely grateful to be apprised of them (although I have tested them with several authorities, who admitted absence of answers as yet). If there are still some that have no answers, I would be extremely eager to help look for them … with many others who are only too eager to put the Philippines back in the Asian map of excellence in education. (Of course, “too many cooks can … also … spoil the broth”.)

ConCePt: wHAt iS K to 12?

K to 12 is a priority education reform program of the Aquino government that aims to put the Philippines on par with other Asian countries in duration and, thus, competencies, of basic education by increasing the number of curricular years from the current 10 to 12 in all schools. But … Questions Arise The views expressed in this article are the author’s and do not necessarily reflect the position of UA&P.

What competencies are to be delivered by the K to 12 program beyond increasing the years of pre-college education

from 10 to 12 years? Do these desired competencies necessarily arise from more time in basic education or can they be met more efficiently and effectively by teachers through better teacher selection, training, and development? If the original motive for K to 12 is to keep us on par with other Asian schools in basic knowledge and literacy/ numeracy skills, why are we aiming likewise for career preparation during the period, putting in specialization courses for work? And why is there a plan (presently alleged) to reduce curriculum years in some courses in college? There seems to be a hurry to legislate K to 12 before the end of the present dispensation in 2016. Would it not be more prudent for the entire K to 12 to be first subjected to a pilot run until 2016 and evaluated before it is legislated; otherwise, there could be no more turning back? Would it not be more prudent as well, like what some quarters say, to first bridge existing resource gaps of infrastructure, teachers, and other financial requirements before venturing into adding curricular years to basic education? How will the increment be carried out?

K to 12 is to consist in four stages: • Kindergarten, which is to be made compulsory for all schools • Grade School, to comprise Grades 1 to 6 • Junior High School, to comprise Grades 7 to 10 • Senior High School, to comprise Grades 11 and 12 There seems to be no precise agreement in the field about who should be made to go through the senior high school. Those completing Grade 6, Grade 10, and Grade 12 shall be awarded diplomas, rather than certificates. In current practice, completers of Grade 6 are given certificates; only those completing fourth year high school are given diplomas to indicate the completion of a stage of education as a qualification for college or tech-voc courses. But … Questions Arise Who will be required to pursue senior high school? Can junior high school graduates go straight to tech-voc schools offering basic education subjects as well, or be made to course senior high school beforehand? If the former, what is then the difference between the present state of tech-voc in several schools and K to 12?

What is the nature of Senior High School?

Earlier, it was said that Grades 11 to 12, or senior high school, was to be seen as career preparation for livelihood skills while the student was in college. The core curriculum subjects in this segment of basic education were to be: (a) English, (b) Math, (c) Science, (d) Filipino, and (e) Contemporary Issues (under the aegis of Social Studies), possibly replacing some of the present general education subjects in college. The school day shall devote five hours to the core curriculum. The segment includes a choice by the students of specialization or focus area: arts; sports; journalism; English; entrepreneurship; foreign language (Spanish, Mandarin, Arabic, or German), now being piloted among third-year high school students. The school day shall devote two hours to the specialization curriculum. In public schools, the basis for what focus courses to offer would depend on the market, with the students provided with alternatives. Values education shall be integrated across the subjects of the core curriculum. Whether set in public high schools or colleges and universities, the teaching of senior high school subjects is to be done by teachers with a master’s degree in the field. But … Questions Arise To reiterate, how different is the K to 12 from K to 10 for tech-voc students currently pursuing specializations in their own select fields via two-year courses offered by dualtraining schools and other institutions? How different would the tech-voc curriculum stream of senior high school be from the current dual training curriculum? Is each public school or college expected to offer several workable alternatives for tech-voc training? How feasible is this financially vis-à-vis demand and sources of fund? Would we have enough teachers with a master’s degree in the field to handle tech-voc courses in senior high school? What is the schedule of implementation?

The seniors by school year 2016-2017, now in Grade 6, shall be the first to go through Grade 11. These same students will proceed to Grade 7 in 2012-2013. Hence, K to 12 effectively began in 2012-2013. 2011-2012: Grade 6 To receive Elementary Diploma 2012-2013: Grade 7 From Grade 6 2013-2014: Grade 8

2014-2015: Grade 9 2015-2016: Grade 10 To receive Junior High School Diploma 2016-2017: Grade 11 2017-2018: Grade 12 To receive Senior High School Diploma But … Questions Arise How substantially different is the K to 12 curriculum from that of K to 10 in the first ten years of basic education? What contribution do the Grades 11 to 12 syllabi offer that is not currently offered by existing curricula? In the curriculum formulation for full K to 12, is continuity of competency development assured? In laying down the curriculum for junior and senior high school, how aware are the authorities of where the preceding curriculum ends in order to guarantee continuity in the succeeding curriculum? Will the junior high school, which is to carry a diploma, qualify students for college elsewhere in other countries? Eventually, will colleges and universities be required by law or policy to use the senior high school diploma as a legally necessary qualifier for admission into college? What happens to those who pursue tech-voc courses and later decide to take up ladderized courses in college? Will they still be required to course the academic senior high school? If CHED through colleges and universities were to be made implementers of senior high school, is this not how things presently stand? Why do we have a senior high school and reduce the number of college years? Wouldn’t the result be the same? What is the impact of K to 12 on higher ed?

There is no certainty yet vis-à-vis this question. First, there is a possibility that there will be no college freshmen by 2016-2017 and 2018-2019, although there is a plan to have colleges and universities handle senior high school during the transition period, 2016-2017 through 2018-2019. The technical panels of CHED, in fact, are designing the senior high school curriculum, without presently (allegedly) involving the technical people of DepEd in the endeavor. Second, there is a possibility that the number of college years or general education units will be effectively reduced to three or four years in some courses (e.g., Bachelor of Arts). But … Questions Arise How are colleges and universities expected to cope with the possible two-year transition of not having student entries? Which faculty will be expected to handle senior high school competently?

Legal Implications. What are the legal implications of K to 12?

For K to 12 to have teeth, it has to be legislated. The Education Act of 1982 has provisions allowing schools to offer Grade 7, which can in fact serve as the legal basis for offering Grade 7 next year countrywide for the present Grade 6. Legislation should include annual budget provisions amounting to an estimated P150 billion. There is thus a perceived need for political will to carry out the proposal, but first providing clear and unmistakable answers to the many questions parents are asking. But … Questions Arise What happens if K to 12 fails to be legislated by 2016 and the new administration then has a different direction for the education system? What happens to the curricular levels that will have been made operational by then? Meantime, is curriculum and materials preparation in time according to the timeline plotted at the beginning? Are learning materials adequate in content, format and numbers?

Other Questions: Transition and Beyond

Would physical and teacher resources in private or public schools be able to cope with the advent of senior high school? How would the lack of good teachers in basic education be resolved? How do we help ensure that the teachers of Grades 11 to 12 are geared for the levels they are expected to handle? Would not the “name” adjustment of try-out private high schools (e.g., Xavier and Southridge, which have started “calling” their first year high school, Grade 9; and their Prep, Grade 1) be simply for the sale of fulfillment? The syllabi beyond Grade 1 and Grade 7 are not yet crafted. What syllabi are then being used? What are the implications of the entry of senior high school in basic education to teacher education institutions? Is there a satisfactory framework for the teaching of English to ensure competency levels beyond what seem to characterize many schools in the present scheme? Is there a learning assessment and grading system being put in place that genuinely satisfies the aim and direction of the K to 12? Rest assured that none of the questions posed above is rhetorical. There is a strong desideratum that each one be answered thoroughly. The future of Philippine education is at great stake.

Chris Stefanick

“Anything less than a love that’s gonna lay down its life for what’s good for you isn’t love. It’s a cheap imitation of love.”

Lessons from

Real Love Revolution 2012 Michael Lorenzo Padilla

The error of “safe-sex”

hris Stefanick touched on the obvious consequences of going against our Maker’s plan for genuine love—sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). He presented findings on the National Institute of Health’s (NIH) study on the (in)effectiveness of condoms in preventing STDs. According to the study, there was an 85% risk reduction in HIV and insufficient evidence to determine effectiveness against diseases such as Gonorrhea, Chlamydia, Cancroids, Syphilis, Herpes and HPV. “I have a skydiving company and the parachutes open 85% of the time, you wanna go skydiving? There’s insufficient evidence to determine if my parachutes will open…I call my company ‘safe parachute’,” mocked Stefanick on the NIH’s findings. Next, he told the audience that in the United States, condoms are available almost anywhere, in schools and even in the public restrooms where there are condom dispensers. Almost nine million people each year under the age of twenty five will get an STD. “Here’s what blows my mind—we’re telling you how to protect yourselves? Are you serious?” Afterwards he cited the breakout of AIDS in the Philippines and Thailand in 1984. “The response of the Philippines was to promote abstinence. The response of

Thailand was to promote condoms. Twenty years later they showed the rate of HIV infection was fifty times higher in Thailand than in the Philippines.” “Do not for a second think that we are the world leaders in keeping people safe when it comes to sex. You are. And we need to follow your example,” praised Stefanick. The use of birth control pills and shots were also tackled. The most common cause of unplanned pregnancy is not actually because of the failure to use birth control methods, but the failure of these to actually work. Also explained were the shots and substances taken up by women for birth control that have actually been proven to cause cancer. “But even if you could have all the shots and pills and all the latex sufficient to protect your body, it can’t protect your heart,” Stefanick commented. Real Love

Mr. Stefanick advised the capacity crowd to know the difference between “I love you” and “I want you” and “I love you” and “I need you.” He reinforced this statement by showing the statistics of divorce rates among Catholic couples who wait until they get married to have sex. The numbers show that almost zero percent of these couples get divorced. “Anything less than a love that’s gonna lay down its life for what’s good for you isn’t love. It’s a cheap imitation of love.” Next was a very personal story on the tragic miscarriage of his wife. “Real Love doesn’t always feel good,” he explained. “It felt horrible. Like the love on the Cross,” added the father of six in reference to the persecution of Christ. Even with already six beautiful children, the experience of his wife’s miscarriage was still a heart-rending loss for him.

Andrea Vicente

Change is possible

Close to 15,000 teens trooped to the World Trade Center in Pasay City for the conference.

eah Darrow’s talk was simple, honest, and moving. Her past experiences, when she turned her back away from God and became the bare minimum of a “good person,” made her reflect on a lot of things that led her back to the Father. She called herself a “prodigal daughter” because her experience was somehow similar to that of the prodigal son in the parable. She stressed the beauty of finding real love, the importance of confession, and the need for conversion.

Working out the muscle that is Chastit y

Imitation Love vs. Real Love

“A virtue is like a muscle. The more you work out a muscle, the stronger it gets.” Near the end of the talk, Chris Stefanick gave tips that can help strengthen the virtue of chastity. To quote: (1) Don’t ask ‘How far is too far?’ (2) Keep your thoughts clean. Wherever your mind goes, your life will probably follow. He advised teenage boys to stay away from pornography. “Porn takes from you all the things that make you a man — the ability to be noble, to be dignified, to uphold the dignity of the opposite sex, to love.” (3) Stay out of dumb situations. Date in public places. Be romantic, think of creative ways to win someone over.

Because of the influence of media, books, and things around us that speak about love, Darrow said that sometimes we forget what love really means. She quoted St. Francis on love: “Love is not loved enough.” We have to redefine the term and differentiate real love from imitation love. Darrow learned the difference between the two the hard way. Her experience of imitation love wounded her. It kept her away from God. It led her to do things that she deeply regretted. Imitation love is selfish. It only wants the good of one’s self, not of the other person. Sadly, some people fall for this kind of love and they usually get hurt in the end. “Real love is sacrifice and if someone’s not willing to sacrifice for you, [then] they don’t love you. Love is about sacrifice and if we dare to call ourselves Christians, then we must look at Christ on the Cross and see that love and know that we are worth it,” Darrow said, as she defined what kind of love people should be aiming for. She added that real love is a gift. A person who loves helps the loved one to be closer to God. Real love desires the betterment of the person. As St. Thomas Aquinas said, “Love is desiring the greatest good for the beloved.” Real love would take a lot of sacrifice but this should not cause people to settle for imitation love. We should accept real love and refuse the imitation love. Darrow thought that she wouldn’t find real love or wouldn’t be accepted because of her flaws and the things she did in the past. But she still hoped that she would find real love and told herself that she was worth waiting for. When she found her best friend and husband, someone who accepted her and wanted to sacrifice for her, she said that it was liberating and awesome. It was so worth it. Real love will come and you would have to patiently wait. God has plans for everyone and while waiting for the real love, we have to constantly remind ourselves, especially the young people, to live in chastity and that, “I am worth waiting for.”

Get back up when you fall down

“It’s the bounce that counts. Get back up when you fall down,” counseled the youth director. He addressed the bullies who bring people down after committing mistakes: “When you help someone believe they are what they just did, you’re doing the devil’s job,” and lifted the spirits of those who are ill-treated: “Don’t ever let what people say about you determine how you see yourself.” The Sacrament of Confession was also brought up as a way to forget the bad memories of yesterday. Stefanick said that sins ought to be brought out into the light and not be isolated in the corner of the heart. “He (God) loves to hear your sins, more even than your praise. He died to take (them) away.”

Photos courtesy of Catalyst

We must look at Christ on the Cross and see that love and know that we are worth it

Church is home

When Darrow decided to leave the materialistic world and come home, her father traveled all the way to New York, smiled at her and encouraged her to go to Confession. It became her first step to “coming home” because in her father’s words, “Church is home.” When she heard her father’s words telling her to go first to confession, she felt scared because for ten years, she distanced herself from God, denied God and did things that were shameful and evil. It was hard for her and she hesitated to go to confession, but it was a step towards healing. It took a lot of courage and will-power for her but it was a step toward reconciling with God and renewing her faith. Darrow persevered in the faith and asked for God’s healing and forgiveness. She stressed the importance of confession in a person’s life. It was where she let the Divine Physician heal her. Confession was her first step toward letting God’s love win and following God’s ways. Regarding conversion

Leah Darrow’s conversion story is very powerful. She said that conversion does not happen overnight and would take a long process. Conversion is a daily acceptance of what is of God and a refusal of what is of you. A short prayer for our conversion and the conversion of others into God’s welcoming love would definitely go a long way. Darrow’s testimony proved to the audience that with God’s grace, change is possible. She particularly stressed this at the end of her talk when she said, “Never ever, ever, ever, ever let anybody tell you [that] you cannot change. Change is possible.” The material world may have lured her and kept her away from God but when she realized that we were made for heaven, she turned around, looked for that conversion, and grew into a better person.

2012 UniVERsiTy lEcTURE

salita at pagkatao: Pagdalumat sa Katangian at Kakanyahan ng wikang filipino

PASAKALye: PAGLALAtAG nG MGA PAnAnAw At HinUHA

ay taglay na kapangyarihan ang wika. May lakas at puwersa ito upang tatakan at angkinin ang sandaigdigan at sanlibutang nakapaligid at nakatambad sa atin. Maraming pilosopo ang nagsasabing hungkag ang mundo at wala itong kahulugan. Sinumang tao na nakamalas na sa pisikal na daigdig sa unang pagkakataon ay makapagpapatotoo sa kairalang ito. Tanggapin man nating nariyan na ang daigdig bago pa man sumibol ang tao, iyon lamang ang maaaring mapanghawakang paniniwala ninuman. Ito lamang at wala nang iba. Alam din ng tao na ang mundo ay isang bagay na ‘labas’ sa kanya, isang basal na estrukturang nakatunghay o nakatitig sa kanya. At anumang pagpapakahulugan ang nais niyang itakda tungkol dito ay nagagawa at magagawa lamang niya sa pamamagitan ng salita. Salita ang pinakamatalab at pinakamakapangyarihang kasangkapan ng tao upang lukubin at angkinin ang mundong ito. Sa salita, nakukuha niyang bihisan ng kulay, anyo, tunog at sidlan ng damdamin ang mga bagay-bagay sa mundo. May mga pantas na nagsasabing una ang salita kaysa sa kahulugan; at mahihirapan tayong maglagak ng kahulugan kung walang salita. Salita ang nagsasakongkreto ng kahulugan, ang tanging nagsasakatawan ng mga lumulutang na diwa. Kung ang mga ideya at damdamin ng tao ay resulta ng pagpapakahulugan gamit ang mga salita, mahihinuhang mabibigyan nga ng kaakuhan at kaganapan ang mga ito sa pamamagitan ng paulit-ulit at papalit-palit na paggamit ng salita sa iba’t ibang konteksto at pagkakataon.

tAo, PAGKAtAo, PAGPAPAKAtAo

lEoDiVico c. lacsamana, PhD

Minsan sinabi ng national artist na si Virgilio Almario ang ganito, “Kung ano ang wika mo, iyon ang pagkatao mo… ang wika ng bayan ay kung ano ang karanasan at kaalaman ng gumagamit na bayan.” Hindi ibig sabihin nito na kung masagwa at nakaririmarim ang paggamit mo ng

“Kung ano ang wika mo, iyon ang pagkatao mo… ang wika ng bayan ay kung ano ang karanasan at kaalaman ng gumagamit na bayan.” salita, nakaririmarim at kasuklam-suklam ka na bilang tao. Hindi rin naman ibig sabihin nito na kapag magagalang at kaaya-aya ang mga salitang ginagamit mo, ay masasabi na agad na mabuti at mabait kang tao. Hindi po iyan ang pagpapakahulugang ginagawa ni Almario. Nagtatakda lamang po siya ng isang ugnayan sa pagitan ng wika at kultura. Ngayon, gamit ang pahayag na ito ni Almario, hatakin natin sa larangan ng pagpapakatao ang mga nabanggit na sa itaas. Subalit bago tayo magtungo rito, linawin muna natin ang pagkakaiba ng salitang “tao” sa salitang “pagpapakatao.” Gamit ang empirikal na metodolohiya, ang pagtingin sa tao bilang tao ay isang bayolohikal at sikolohikal na gampanin, na kadalasa’y nasa antas lamang ng pisikal at mental na katangian. Sa ganitong paraan, inilalarawan ang tao ayon sa kaniyang anyo at kakayahang mag-isip batay sa kakanyahan ng kaniyang utak o pag-iisip. Sa aking hinuha, ang ganitong pagtingin ay “malamig” at “walang kabuhay-buhay,” na para bang ang tao ay isang bagay na tinatatakan lamang o nilalagyan ng etiketa ayon sa kaniyang katangian bilang isang buhay na nilikha sa mundong ibabaw. Maidaragdag pa, tila akademiko ang ganitong paraan sapagkat sinisipat ang tao bilang mga bagay na mapagkukunan lamang ng mga datos na naaayon sa layunin ng tumitingin. Kung gagamitin naman ang metodolohiya ng pilosopiya, magiging iba ang pagtingin sa tao, isang pagtinging lumulundo sa mga katangiang higit na esensyal sa kaniya upang metapisikal na matanto ang kakaiba niyang puwesto o lugar sa lahat ng nilikha sa sandaigdigan. At sapagkat alam kong higit na maipaliliwanag ng Departamento ng Pilosopiya ang ganitong pagsipat, hindi ko na palalawigin pa ang pagtalakay dito. Sa kabilang dako, ang salitang “pagpapakatao” ay isang sosyolohikal na proseso, isang walang-katapusang

proseso ng pag-aangkop at pagsasabuhay ng mga tama at wastong pag-iisip at ugali. Sa ating mga Pilipino, kapag sinabing “magpakatao ka” o “nagpapakatao siya,” malinaw sa ating lahat ang ibig sabihin nito. Malinaw din sa atin na ang “pagpapakatao” ng isang tao ay umaayon sa mga kinagisnan at itinakdang pamantayan o batas ng lipunang kinapapalooban niya. Nangangahulugan, kung gayon, na ang pagpapakatao ng isang tao ay nauuwi sa pagkilala sa kaniyang pagkatao. Sa madaling salita, “mabuti” ang pagkatao kung masunurin sa mga batas at pamantayang nabanggit, at “masama” ang pagkatao kung suwail o sumusuway dito. Kung gayon, ang pagkatao ng isang tao ay bunga o resulta ng kaniyang pagpapakatao, ng lahat ng kaniyang pagpupunyaging maisabuhay ang mga nasabing batas o pamantayan ng lipunan. Para sa akin, ang pagpapakatao ng tao ay tulad ng pagtapyas sa isang diyamante tungo sa ibayong pagkinang at paglutang. Sa puntong ito, nais kong pagtagpuin ang wika at pagpapakatao sa konteksto ng pakikipagkapwa-tao, sa loob ng mga relasyong sosyal. At sa ganitong pagturing, sinasabi ko na rin na ang pakikipagkapwa-tao ninuman ay naisasakatuparan sa pamamagitan ng salita; na ang lahat ng ugnayang-pantao ay sinisimulan sa salita, hinuhubog ng salita, pinatitibay ng salita at sinisilyado ng salita. Walang ibang instrumento o kasangkapan ang maaring magsagawa nito kundi ang salita. Tunay na mahiwaga at lumilikha ng hiwaga ang salita sa lahat ng uri ng pakikipagtalamitam ng tao. At hindi natin matatawaran ang ganiyang katotohanan.

PAMILYA: PUSOD NG PAGPAPAKATAO

Tulad ng mga hiyas na iniingatan,

Madalas sabihin ng matatanda na ang

Dahil nga sa affixation, nakukuhang

Mula sa pamilya hanggang sa pamayanan, mula sa pamayanan hanggang sa bayan, salita ang tangi nating pinanghahawakan sa ating pakikipagtalastasan. Pamilya ang unang pandayan ng salita. Dito sinisimulan ninuman ang pagharap sa mundo ng pagpapakahulugan gamit ang wika. Sa mga ordinaryong usapan, salita ang tanging pinanghahawakan ng sinumang miyembro ng pamilya upang patingkarin ang mga relasyong nagaganap sa loob ng tahanan. Sa salita, binubuo nila ang plano at pangarap ng bawat isa. Sa pagdedesisyon sa mga bagay-bagay, salita ang namamagitan sa bawat pangangatwiran. At higit sa lahat, salita ang umuukit ng pagkakaunawaan ng bawat miyembro ng pamilya. Sa aking pagtingin, ang ganitong mga proseso ay pagpapatining ng damdamin at pag-iisip, isang “paglilinis” ng kamalayan at budhi, ang lahat ng samu’t saring salik ng pagpapakabuti, di lamang ng sarili kundi ng lahat. Sa ganitong paraan, lumilinaw sa utak at puso ng mga miyembro ng pamilya ang tunay at wagas na kahulugan ng pamilya. Isang kongkretong halimbawa ay ang pagbuo ng mga sistema at patakaran sa loob ng bahay, na sinasabing siyang magiging pundasyon ng pagkakaroon ng kaayusan at katiwasayan dito. Sa pamamagitan ng wikang inuusal sa araw-araw na gawain, nagiging bahagi ito ng araw-araw na kilos o galaw ng bawat miyembro, na sa kalaunan ay sumasanib nang lubusan sa kanilang pagkatao. At sa ganitong paraan, sumasabay dito ang ‘pagpapakinis’ ng kanilang ugali at pagtanaw sa buhay, dalawang lantay na elemento na nakapulupot sa kanilang hininga, mahigpit na kumakapit sa utak at konsensiya, at dumidiin sa puso’t kaluluwa. Halimbawa, naririnig ba ang pagbati ng “magandang umaga” sa bawat isa. Gumagamit ba ng “po” at “opo” ang mga anak at nakababata. Humihingi ba ng paumanhin o patawad ang sinumang nagtalusira sa mga itinakdang patakaran o batas. Nagtutulungan ba ang bawat isa sa pamamagitan ng pagbigkas ng “ako na lamang ang gagawa niyan para matulungan mo ang nakababata mong kapatid” o ng “samahan kita sa palengke, Inay, para hindi ka mahirapan sa pagbitbit mo sa pinamili mo.” At ng marami pang pahayag na nakalulugod at nakatataba ng puso dahil sa kakikitaan ng kagandahang-ugali at “kalinisan” ng puso. Sa pamilya rin natututuhan ang pagtupad o pagpapahalaga sa mga salitang inuusal natin sa araw-araw. Sa ating mga magulang una nating narinig ang ganitong pagturing: “Hindi mainit na kaning isusubo ang salita na bigla na lamang iluluwa kapag napaso ang bibig,” na ang ibig sabihin ay hindi isang kasangkapan ang salita na matapos gamitin o bigkasin ay iiwan na lamang at kalilimutan. Tulad ng mga hiyas na iniingatan, sagrado ang mga salita. Inaaral itong mabuti, sinisipat, at tinititigan upang ilagay sa isang tiyak at angkop na gamit. Gamit ang nagdidikta sa estruktura ng wikang sasambitin sa isang pangako. At ang lalo pang mahalaga, gamit ang naglululan ng antas,

sagrado ang mga salita. Inaaral itong

wika ay parang tubig. Ang hugis ng tubig

angkinin ng Wikang Filipino at isama

mabuti, sinisipat, at tinititigan upang

ay kung ano ang hugis ng sisidlan nito.

sa leksikon nito ang maraming salitang

ilagay sa isang tiyak at angkop na gamit.

Ang sisidlan ng wika ay ang bayan at

banyaga na nagiging Filipino na.

lawak, at saklaw ng kahulugan ng anumang pahayag. Kung hindi tayo pamilyar sa sakop at limitasyon ng bawat salita at sa nililikhang kahulugan nito, baka magkamali tayo sa mensaheng nais nating ihatid o ipasa. Samakatuwid, mag-ingat sa pagbitiw ng mga salita. Magdalawang-isip bago umusal ng mga kataga. Sa oras na pakawalan mo ang mga salita at kataga, habambuhay kang bilanggo ng mga ito at magiging primera klase kang alipin ng mga ito, isang tanikalang nakakadena sa iyong pagkatao. Sa madaling sabi, pag nagbitiw tayo ng pangako, kailangang tuparin ito. Dahil kung hindi, magkakaroon ka ng ‘stigma,’ lilikha ka ng kaaway, tatawagin kang walang ‘palabra de honor,’ at babansagan kang ‘naglulubid lang ng buhangin.’ BUKAL NG PAGKATAO: ANG MORPOLOHIYA NG WIKANG FILIPINO

Ngayon, sa puntong ito, ipaliwanag pa nating mabuti ang mga nasabi ko na sa pamamagitan ng pagtutok sa morpolohiya ng Wikang Filipino o kung paano bumuo ng salita ang mga Pilipino. Madalas sabihin ng matatanda na ang wika ay parang tubig. Ang hugis ng tubig ay kung ano ang hugis ng sisidlan nito. Ang sisidlan ng wika ay ang bayan at ang kulturang nilikha nito. Kung ano ang “hugis” ng bayan ay siyang “hugis” ng sariling wika. Sa ganiyang pagturing, ang wika ng bayan ay sumasalamin sa “kaluluwa” at kasaysayan nito. At hindi mapasusubalian ang ganitong deklarasyon. Sa bahaging ito, upang maipakita ang nabanggit sa itaas, ituon natin ang pagtalakay sa sistema at batas ng pagbuo ng mga salita. Sa kaso ng Wikang Filipino, nakalundo ang ganitong pag-aaral sa mga panlapi o affixes. Dahil sa panlapi, lubusan nating mauunawaan kung bakit ang iba’t ibang antas ng pagpapakahulugan ay nagagawa nating mga Pilipino nang napakadali at napakalinaw. Sa katunayan, kung susuriing mabuti, dito talaga nakabatay ang kaibahan ng Wikang Filipino sa iba pang wika. Halimbawa, tingnan na lamang ang salitang-ugat na luto. Maari nating gawing pandiwa ito kapag nilagyan natin ng panlaping mag-, kaya nagiging magluto. Maari nating gawing tao ito pag nilagyan natin ng panlaping taga-, kaya nagiging tagaluto. At pwede ring gawing lugar ito kapag nilagyan natin ng panlaping -an, kaya nagiging lutuan. Hindi mo na kailangan pang kabitan ito o samahan pa ng ibang salita upang makabuo ng iba’t ibang kahulugan. Sa ganitong pagturing, mukhang higit na minimalist ang Wikang Filipino kaysa sa Wikang Ingles. O

ang kulturang nilikha nito. Kung ano ang “hugis” ng bayan ay siyang “hugis” ng sariling wika. Sa ganiyang pagturing, ang wika ng bayan ay sumasalamin sa “kaluluwa” at kasaysayan nito. baka naman higit na tiyak kung sabihin nating bilang wika, morphology-based ang Filipino at syntax-based ang Ingles. Tingnan pa rin ang iba pang halimbawa. Ang salitang oras, kapag nilagyan ng panlaping –an, nagiging orasan ito, na isang kasangkapan. Maging ang salitang saing na kapag nilagyan ng panlaping -an, nagiging saingan ito, na isang kasangkapan pa rin. Maidaragdag pa, kung gusto mong sabihin sa kapwa Pilipino ang Ingles na “turn to the left,” isang salita lang ang pwede mong sabihin, “kumaliwa.” Kahit pa nga ang “lend a hand,” sabihin mo lang na “tumulong” ay maiintindihan na ito ng sinumang Pilipino. Pati nga ang Ingles na pahayag na “too many people” ay pwede nang sabihing “matao” bilang salin nito. Sa Wikang Filipino, ang mga salitang pananong ay maaring gawing maramihan o plural sa pamamagitan ng reduplikasyon o pag-uulit sa mga ito. Pansining ang ano ay nagiging maramihan kapag ginawa mong ano-ano, at ang sino ay sino-sino, o kaya naman ang saan ay nagiging saansaan. Ang ganitong reduplikasyon ay hindi maaari sa Ingles dahil hindi naman pwedeng sabihing what-what o who-who bilang maramihan. Sapat kayang itanong, dahil dito, na higit nga kayang maunlad kaysa sa Ingles ang ating sistema ng palabuuan ng salita at pagpapakahulugan? Tayo lang mga Pilipino ang makasasagot niyan. Isa pang mahalagang obserbasyon, at matagal ko nang pinag-isipan at sinurisuri ito, napansin ko na hindi kailanman nanghiram, sa Ingles man o sa Wikang Kastila, ng personal pronouns o panghalip panao ang Wikang Filipino. Ang pinakamalinaw na halimbawa nito ay ang panghalip na kita at ang distinksyon o pagkakaiba ng tayo (inclusive) sa kami (exclusive). Walang ganito sa Ingles o Kastila. Ang kita, na sinasabing dalawahan, bagamat isahan sa anyo, ay makikitang naroon din ang ako. At ang tayo na iba sa kami, ay tinatapatan lamang ng we sa Ingles. Bakit significant ito? Dahil sa Wikang Filipino, mas maraming nuances of relationships ang ipinakikita ng mga panghalip panao.

Na kapag sinabi mong Ako, iba siya kaysa sa English I or Spanish yo “When you say yo in Spanish or I in English, the sense of I is that of an entity separate from other entities.” Pero sa Tagalog o sa Filipino, “the perception of selves, as demonstrated in the personal pronouns, are there in relation to other selves; the self is perceived not in terms of separateness, but in terms of interrelationship.” Ngayon, ang aking huling hirit tungkol sa affixes o mga panlapi sa Wikang Filipino. Nais kong sabihin na dahil nga sa affixation, nakukuhang angkinin ng Wikang Filipino at isama sa leksikon nito ang maraming salitang banyaga na nagiging Filipino na. Tulad ng salitang Ingles na taxi, na kapag nilagyan mo ng panlaping mag-, nagiging mag-taxi ito. Kahit pa nga ang Ingles na air-con, kapag nilagyan mo pa rin ng mag-, nagiging mag-air-con ito at tanggap ng mga Pilipino ang pangungusap na “O, mag-air-con naman tayo.” At iyong salitang Ingles na repair, kapag nilagyan natin ng panlaping –ni, nagiging nirepair ito. Kaya tanggap natin ang nirerepair o nirepair o pati na ang mag-repair o nag-repair. At ano ang nais kong ipagdiinan sa mga paliwanag na ito, pakinggan ninyo ang sinabi ng isang iskolar sa wika na nasa Wikang Ingles: “Filipino affixation indigenizes loan words into verbs whether they are verbs or not in the original language. The givens of the indigenous culture determine the emergent form of the borrowed element. It is not, therefore, the borrowed (foreign) element that dominates, but the indigenous culture which, in adapting, creates and makes the loan his own.” Bilang pagtatapos, nais kong basahin ang unang saknong ng isa kong tula tungkol sa bisa at puwersa ng wika o salita sa pagpapakita ng mga relasyon at paniniwala ng isang grupo ng tao: Ang pagbibinyag sa bisa ng wika ay tahas na pagukit ng mga salaysay; isang pag-aantada sa ngalan ng haraya na di maiiwasang isaysay. Tinatatakan ng ibayong kakintalan ang pinagkaingatang kairalan; bilangguang ginto na nangunguyapit sa di matigatig na katotohanan. Muli, magandang umaga at marami pong salamat sa inyong lahat !

Responsible citizenship good governance insists that we live and work not for ourselves alone, but always for others: their pleasure, welfare, and continuing improvement.

JEsUs p. EsTanislao, PhD UA&P Founder and The Outstanding Filipino 2012

ood governance has become the vogue. Everyone talks about it. Almost everyone demands it. However, good governance means different things to different people. To some, it is a code word for anti-corruption. For others, it is the one essential weapon in the fight against poverty. In almost every instance, there is a realization that it demands breakthrough results, particularly those that are beneficial for the majority of our people and those that can be sustained over a long period such that genuine transformation gets to happen in society. In fact, good governance is all these different things. And because it promises so much, it also demands quite a lot. At the level of individuals, good governance starts its demand by asking every one of us to be fair: we are required to give to everyone what we owe them. In order for us to be fair to everyone, we have to start by securing inner consistency between our ideals and our actions, such that we keep ourselves whole and can lay claim on personal integrity. And to keep our integrity, we need to have courage and daring before difficulties that come from outside as well as discipline and self-control before difficulties that come from within. At the level of institutions, in particular those where we study or work, good governance insists on patriotism, that is, the love of country that has to be expressed in the commitment with which we carry out our ordinary duties, in the competence with which we perform our manifold tasks, and in the professionalism with which we try to serve others and meet their needs. Patriotism, then, is not merely

about singing the national anthem, or only about rooting for our most famous boxer, or mainly about waving the flag on Independence Day. Rather, it has to be shown in the excellence we stamp on our studies and work. At the level of the community or of society as a whole, good governance asks us to put the good of everyone—the common good of the community—always on our radar screens. And we would be doing so if we never forget that at the end of the day the personal dignity of everyone around us has to be respected and enhanced; if we bank upon the power of teams in a spirit of solidarity with our teammates; and if we strive to be dependable as we take on the duties assigned to us and take full responsibility for discharging them well, on schedule, and below budget. At all levels—individual, institutional, and social— good governance, therefore, makes continuing and strenuous demands on us as we interrelate with others (fairness); contribute to the welfare of the country through the excellent work we do in our respective workplaces (patriotism); and ensure that whatever we do should have a positive social and economic impact on the community and society (common good). Good governance insists that we live and work not for ourselves alone, but always for others: their pleasure, welfare, and continuing improvement. Under a good governance regime, there can be no room for selfishness; rather, the permanent orientation is outward: how we may please the others; how we may bring about positive, progressive change in institutions; and how we may help transform society and make it a much better place to work and live in. It is natural for a good governance regime to set certain standards of behaviour. It draws a line between what is acceptable behaviour and what is not; between what is good practice and what is not; between what is purely rentseeking and what is consistent with a level playing field; and between what is ethical and what is not. And that dividing line also puts on one side what is socially responsible behaviour and on the other side what is irresponsible, reprehensible, and unacceptable. Once it becomes clear to everyone that ethics and social responsibility are embedded into any good governance regime, then it is easy to see the connection between good governance and responsible citizenship: it is direct, straightforward, and essential. Indeed, we cannot have good governance unless we complement it with responsible citizenship. We cannot have the demands of good governance applying only to those who govern; those same demands— albeit with different ramifications and implications—apply with equal force to those who are governed. It is in this light that properly governing public officials should not be left to their own devices; they need to be supported and reinforced by dutiful, selfless, self-sacrificing responsible citizens who genuinely love their community and society as well. Manila, February 12, 2013

¿Dónde está la juventud? Rizal’s three laments at the end of the Fili Paul Dumol, PhD

hen first invited by the Knights of Rizal to speak to you, I immediately thought of a passage from the Filibusterismo addressed to the youth. The words come from the lips of P. Florentino almost at the end of the novel. Simoun, a fugitive and his guest, has just died, having taken poison. Before dying, he had asked P. Florentino what the Filipino people should do about the political oppression they were suffering from, and P. Florentino gave him a mysterious reply, mysterious to us even today more than a hundred years after the Fili was published: “Suffer and work.” The priest explained his meaning in a long speech, and at its end the dying Simoun took his hand and squeezed it three times. In the silence of the room P. Florentino, “as though absorbed in thought,” says Rizal, murmurs the following words: Where are the youth who have to consecrate their rosy hours, their dreams and enthusiasm to the good of their homeland? Where are they who have to pour out their blood generously to wash away so much shame, so many crimes, so much abomination? The victim has to be pure and unstained for the holocaust to be acceptable!... Where are you, young men and women, who have to embody the vital vigour that has fled our veins, the purity of ideas that has been stained in our brains and the fire of enthusiasm which has been snuffed out in our hearts?... We await you, young men and women, come; we await you!

This passage has three questions addressed to the youth, three questions that are descriptions of the youth that P. Florentino awaits. Let me paraphrase these questions: first, where are the youth who will dedicate their lives to the good of the country; second, where are the youth who will sacrifice their lives for the country; and third, where are the youth who will replace the present generation who have worked for the country, but failed it in different ways. Why does Rizal describe the much awaited future generations in these terms? To answer this question we should, first of all, connect this speech with the longer one that precedes it. That speech gives us the reasons why, in P. Florentino’s opinion, the Filipinos, including the youth that appear in the pages of the Filibusterismo, could not yet form a nation, a single political community that controls its own destiny. The Fili was, of course, intended by Rizal to refer to the Philippines of his time. If this is so, then one interpretation of P. Florentino’s words is that through them Rizal was repudiating Filipinos then, including those associates of his in the so-called Propaganda Movement. We tend to think of the Filipinos of Rizal’s generation as ideal Filipinos, but in fact Rizal put his hopes in generations yet unborn. How far into the future we do not know, and certainly an interesting question for you to answer is whether or not you are the youth Rizal awaited. I do not claim, of course, that this is the only possible interpretation of P. Florentino’s words, but it is an interpretation that should certainly be considered.

Assuming this interpretation is correct, why did Rizal reject the Filipinos of his time in the task of bringing about the Filipino nation? Let us examine the three questions addressed to the youth one by one. The first goes, “Where are the youth who have to consecrate their rosy hours, their dreams and enthusiasm to the good of their homeland?” The implication of this question, following our interpretation, is that the youth of Rizal’s time did not consecrate their “rosy hours, their dreams and enthusiasm to the good of their homeland.” The youth Rizal was in touch with was, of course, the Filipino youth in Europe, particularly in Spain. Of particular interest to us are the reports Rizal received while in Paris and Brussels from October 1889 to May 1890 of Filipino youth in Madrid who had gained the reputation of being gamblers and in some cases of being womanizers. Rizal wrote a number of letters, exhorting del Pilar and other Filipinos to correct these youth, in one of which we read the following: Luna in Paris complains about the gambling of Filipinos in Madrid; Ventura complains likewise. They say that the news from the Philippines is that parents are most unhappy…. I fear we are playing the game of the friars. Is there no one there to remind them that the Filipino does not come to Europe to gamble and have a good time, but rather to work for his freedom and for the dignity of this race? In order to gamble it is not necessary to leave the Philippines, because there we already gamble too much. If we who are called to do something, if those of us in whom the poor country puts its modest hopes spend our time in these things, precisely when the years of youth should be spent on something nobler and greater, because the youth are supposed to be noble and generous, I truly fear that we are fighting for a useless dream and that instead of being worthy of freedom, we are only worthy of slavery. [Letter to M. H. del Pilar, May 28, 1890]

refer to the actions of the friars, perhaps, or of the colonial government? I wish to call your attention, however, to the sentence which immediately follows the second question, “The victim has to be pure and unstained for the holocaust to be acceptable!” The image Rizal uses is that of a sinoffering. The second question in fact talks of a “washing away,” “lavar.” The young Filipinos are to offer their blood, their lives, as a sin-offering. Whose sins? Following the logic of atonement, the shame, crimes, and abomination they will atone for must be the shame, crimes, and abomination, not of Spaniards, but of Filipinos. In fact, P. Florentino in the long speech preceding his apostrophe to the youth does speak about shame, crimes, and abominations:

While the Filipino people do not have sufficient energy to proclaim, head held high and chest bared, their right to life in society and guarantee it with sacrifice, with their very blood; while we see our countrymen, privately feeling ashamed within themselves, hearing the roar of the voice of conscience which rebels and protests, and publicly saying nothing, playing the chorus to whoever abuses in order to mock the abused; while we see them shut themselves up in their selfishness and praise with a forced smile the most iniquitous acts, begging with their eyes for a share in the booty, why give them freedom?

Let us take the second question: “Where are they who have to pour out their blood generously to wash away so much shame, so many crimes, so much abomination?” What are this shame, these crimes, this abomination to which P. Florentino refers? In the context of the Fili one immediately thinks of Simoun. In the context of the Philippines of Rizal’s time, however, is there anything to which this shame, these crimes, this abomination may refer? Do they

P. Florentino attacks the cowardice of Filipinos, their hypocrisy and opportunism, and calls them undeserving of freedom. It is this reputation that the youth must wash away, precisely by demonstrating the opposite. Was Rizal justified in making such a harsh judgment on his countrymen? The Fili was written while Rizal’s family, relatives, and townsmen were enmeshed in lawsuits with the Dominicans: the Dominicans, they claimed, could not produce proof of ownership of the land they were renting out. Those of you familiar with the Fili will catch the resemblance to the story of Cabesang Tales. The lawsuits dragged on for some three years, and during this time Filipino lay administrators of the hacienda, Filipino judges, and Filipino town officials took advantage of the plight of the Calambeños to extort money from them and eventually confiscate their property, sometimes for their own use. This we know from letters of Rizal’s relatives, roughly from 1889 onwards. Rizal, of course, as early as the Noli denounced the cruelty and oppression of the guardias civiles, who were, with the exception of their officers, Filipinos. The other villain of the Noli is the sacristan who is Filipino. Here is Rizal on Filipinos in an article written for La Solidaridad in December 1890:

When it comes to matters involving the country, each Filipino thinks: let [the country] solve its own problems, let it save itself, let it protest, let it fight; I don’t have to move, I’m not in charge of setting things right; I have enough with my own interests, my own passions, and my own caprichos. Let others rescue the chestnut from the fire; we will eat it later. With regard to the third question, did Rizal have anyone particular in mind when he referred to those whose veins were bereft of vigour? I have a few candidates: the Filipinos implicated in the Cavite Mutiny of 1872 who subsequently opted to live abroad, some in Spain and others in Hong Kong. These Filipinos were willing enough to help Rizal and company who were in touch with them, but all kept a low profile. None played a leading role in the twelve years, more or less, that the Propaganda Movement lasted.

What about those the purity of whose ideas had been stained? My candidate, and I recognize it is a controversial one, is Marcelo H. del Pilar. I have in mind two letters written by Rizal to del Pilar, both in October of 1891. The letters refer to elections held in January 1891 by Filipinos in Madrid to choose a leader. Voting took place six times, since in the first five votes neither del Pilar or Rizal, the only two candidates, received the majority needed to win. Rizal won in the sixth vote. Less than two weeks after the elections, Rizal left Madrid for Biarritz. He never went back to Spain, returning to the Philippines by the end of that year, and he never wrote any longer for La Solidaridad, the newspaper of the Filipinos in Spain. “May nangyari,” as we would say in Tagalog.

In a letter dated October 7, 1891, Rizal explained to del Pilar why he had stopped writing for La Solidaridad. He cited del Pilar’s public statement just before the elections in January that La Solidaridad was financed by a committee based in the Philippines; although it was certainly committed to the Philippine cause, nevertheless its editorial policies could not be set by the Filipinos in Spain. To Rizal this was tantamount to saying that the newspaper ultimately served, not the national interest, but rather particular interests. Now particular interests of any sort whatsoever were for Rizal a formidable enemy of the development of a national spirit, that same national spirit he mentions in the excerpt I read earlier to you. Rizal would have nothing to do with them. In a second letter to del Pilar written six days later, Rizal claimed it was precisely in anticipation of Rizal’s election that del Pilar

insisted on the independence of La Solidaridad from the leader of the Philippine community: Del Pilar, according to Rizal, did not want Rizal’s influence to prevail in La Solidaridad. Rizal subsequently accused del Pilar of wanting to displace him as the leader of the Filipinos in Spain. In between votes in January 1891, it seems Rizal discovered that the elections, which had already thrice ended frustrated, were actually a set-up designed to embarrass him by letting him know that he was not regarded as the undisputed leader of Filipinos in Spain. Rizal accused del Pilar of lending himself to these plans. To the mind of Rizal, del Pilar’s patriotism, whose genuineness he did not question, was stained by particular interests.

Finally, whom did Rizal have in mind when he referred to those in whose hearts the fire of enthusiasm had been put out, those who had succumbed to discouragement? My candidate is Rizal himself, but Rizal at the time he wrote the words we are considering, perhaps in March 1891, certainly no later than the end of April. Up to March 1891 Rizal had been on the brink of a nervous breakdown. His brother was deported to Mindoro in August 1890; his parents, evicted from their home in October. In December he received Leonor’s letter that she was breaking off their engagement, and in January 1891 he suffered those two blows in the elections we have seen: the first involving La Solidaridad, the second involving his leadership. To all these must be added his disappointment over the Filipino youth in Spain. Rizal distanced himself from the Filipinos in Madrid, both figuratively and literally, leaving the Spanish city a week or so after the elections. He travelled to Biarritz and proposed marriage to Nellie Boustead, who turned him down, and it was while he was in Biarritz that he wrote Blumentritt informing him that he had just finished the Fili. By April it was clear that Rizal had indeed decided to give a different course to his life: not only had he decided to stop writing for La Solidaridad and attempted marriage; he had also left Masonry and decided to return to the Philippines as soon as the Fili was published. The Fili was finished, so to speak, in the course of a long night. Day has not yet broken, but its author is sure it will come, to be ushered in by a future generation which will replace his own. Dónde está la juventud que ha de consagrar sus rosadas horas, sus ilusiones y entusiasmo al bien de su patria? Dónde está la que ha de verter generosa su sangre para lavar tantas vergüenzas, tantos crímenes, tanta abominación? Pura y sin mancha ha de ser la victim para que el holocaust sea acceptable!... Dónde estais, jóvenes, que habeis de encarnar en

vosotros el vigor de la vida que ha huido de nuestras venas, la pureza de las ideas que se ha manchado en nuestros cerebros y el fuego del entusiasmo que se ha apagado en nuestros corazones?... os esperamos, o jóvenes, venid que os esperamos! Rizal gives us the one necessary condition for the birth of the Filipino nation: a generation of Filipinos ready to dedicate their lives and shed their blood for the good of the nation and ready to resist the three temptations of any person committed to a cause—fatigue, compromise, and discouragement. The question that should occur to you is, needless to say, whether the need for those young Filipinos still exists. You may observe after all that the Filipino nation already exists and indeed began to exist according to our textbooks two years after Rizal’s death with the proclamation of Philippine independence. It is true that we lost our independence four years later, but at present we have been independent for the last 66 years. Is being independent, however, the same as being a nation? Rizal did not think so. Let us listen once again to P. Florentino’s long speech. After his examples of Filipinos who did not deserve to be free, he says:

Rizal suffered and worked. He spent his time for the good of the country and waged a constant fight against the three temptations of the patriot, and when the moment of martyrdom came, he gave his life gladly.

With Spain or without Spain they would simply remain the same, and perhaps, perhaps even worse! What is the use of independence if the slaves of today will become the tyrants of tomorrow? And they will be tyrants without a doubt because whoever submits to tyranny loves it! Rizal through P. Florentino is telling us something deep here. He is telling us that nationhood has nothing to do with independence; it has nothing to do with selfgovernment. What he is telling us is that nationhood has everything to do with that national spirit by which Filipinos think of the good of their country, are willing to sacrifice their lives for it, and are ready to persevere day after day and year after year to struggle for the dignity of their fellow Filipinos. Let us go back to that excerpt from Rizal’s article in La Solidaridad: The national spirit is beginning to utter its first cries; previously there was only love for the family or

tribe, hardly any love at all for the region, which meant that no stupid law would provoke strong protests from the public except from those whose relatives would be more or less directly harmed. When it comes to matters involving the country, each Filipino thinks: let [the country] solve its own problems, let it save itself, let it protest, let it fight; I don’t have to move, I’m not in charge of setting things right; I have enough with my own interests, my own passions, and my own caprichos. Think of your friends and acquaintances, of what you read in the newspapers or see on television or hear on the radio: would you say that the national spirit is present in most Filipinos? Even more importantly, each of you should ask himself or herself this question. If your answer to it is no, then I suggest you listen carefully to what Rizal through P. Florentino has to say about the youth that is to bring the nation into existence. If your answer is yes, then ask yourself whether there is not much work to do to further spread that national spirit or deepen people’s understanding of it. Perhaps the youth of today are not as fond of gambling as their great-grandfathers were, but perhaps there are new ways in which time is being wasted just as liberally. Perhaps martyrdom for the country may never be asked of you, but something close to it may be demanded of you if you should ever try: for example, “to fight the system,” to stop paying bribes or to combat corruption wherever you find yourself.

On the other hand, the three temptations against loyalty to the nation will always be there: the temptation of tiredness (not wanting to continue the fight after 20 or 30 or more years); the temptation of compromise (of watering down one’s ideals or trying to make them compatible with other desires that are not as honourable); and the temptation of discouragement (not wanting to continue the fight because the obstacles seem to be just too many). The hour of temptation, however, is the test of one’s love. To say we love our country only when it is easy to do so is to fool ourselves. “Redemption,” Rizal says in the Fili, “presupposes virtue; virtue, sacrifice; and sacrifice, love.” Did Rizal recover from his discouragement? He did. He saw that what was needed was to start, so to speak, a new Philippines, and he considered for some time establishing a colony of Filipinos in Borneo. This plan was replaced by the Liga Filipina, an association that would foster unity, commerce, and industry, and civic virtues in Filipinos. The Liga was aborted by his deportation to Dapitan, which, for us at least, turned out to be a blessing, as it was in Dapitan that Rizal set about demonstrating with deeds what it is to be an ordinary Filipino thinking of the good of the country. With money he won at a lottery, he bought lands and planted trees whose fruit he exported to Manila. He bought products from people in the area and sold them in Manila. He taught hemp producers to unite in a cooperative so that they would have no need of Chinese middlemen. He set up a water system, built a dam to help in irrigation, and donated money to put up streetlights in Dapitan. He opened a school for children and taught them arts, mathematics, sciences, and languages. He took especial care of what we call today their values education. He provided free medical services to the poor. In short, Rizal suffered and worked. He spent his time for the good of the country and waged a constant fight against the three temptations of the patriot, and when the moment of martyrdom came, he gave his life gladly.

aimEE mERcaDo, mD

DEan EDWaRD a. mEJos

We all have experienced stress at one time or another. Stress kicks in whenever the demands we sense in our environment is greater than our personal resources to cope with them. However, not all stress is bad. We need a certain amount of stress to perform optimally. That’s why our goal is not to eliminate stress but to learn ways to manage it. Interventions used to manage too much stress can be generally classified into primary (those that prevent its occurrence) and secondary (those that address its effects). We will focus on relaxation techniques, a secondary intervention. Here are some of them. Deep breathing. This is the quickest way to relax and can be done anytime and anywhere. Use of the five senses (sight, hearing, smell, taste, touch). Turn off the negative input and replace it with positive sensations. For example, using the sense of hearing, you listen to sounds of water flowing in a stream. Another one is by using the sense of sight and smell, you look at your favorite flower and smell its fragrance. Visualization and imagination. You can just simply close your eyes and picture a place that brings a sense of calm and peacefulness (e.g. a forest, the beach). Affirmations. You can relax using Bible verses, such as this: Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee; because he trusteth in thee. (Is 26:3) Meditation. This refers to the practice of quieting the mind from external noise and internal chatter and concentrating on something. Reciting the rosary and reflecting on the mysteries is an example. Progressive muscle relaxation. You do this by tensing and then relaxing all the major muscle groups in the body (e.g. neck muscles) from head to toe or vice-versa.

in the Age of Social networks

INTRODUCTION

Humor. Laughter is the best medicine. A good sense of humor has been and always will be a tool of the mind to combat stress. Beside collecting and sharing jokes and watching funny videos, see the “comic” side of life. Learn to laugh at yourself. Friendship. You can always go to a trusted friend who listens more than advises. Ask him/her to be your sounding board for now and return the favor at another time. A much better option is to talk it out with God (He is always available and never interrupts) and listen to His gentle voice within you whenever you’re ready.

Since its early stages, the presence and influence of the Internet on the lives of people has been rapidly increasing. As a tool, the Internet has made communication much faster and more convenient for both personal and professional uses. Also known as the information superhighway, it has also become a means to have quick and immediate access to a vast amount of information that can be found easily with the help of search engines and other applications. Aside from these, the Internet has been used to push and promote one’s business with its ability to host information on products, companies, and profiles. It has likewise become a means by which people are able to share various digital files with other users through various file-sharing programs and applications. The World Wide Web has also evolved from being a means of communication to a “virtual world” along with the creation of social networks. Nowadays, the line that separates the real world from the virtual world has become increasingly blurry due to the rapid changes that the Internet is bringing to the lives of its users. Communication is a natural activity for man, and the Internet has given rise to new forms and means of communication. The right to free speech and expression has now found a new home in the Internet especially with the advent of various social networking sites. While the users were primarily “consumers” of information, now they can participate in the dialogue by also being “producers” of information, which is shared with other Internet users.

Man’s freedom has expanded rapidly because of the possibilities brought on by the Internet. Now, users have a voice which could be heard by an audience whose number was quite unimaginable around a decade ago. Ordinary users can now communicate directly with representatives of big corporations, celebrities, and other public figures, thanks to the social media platform. In a sense, the Internet has leveled the playing field and has somewhat made each individual equal with another. With each user’s freedom in using the Internet, however, a risk arises alongside it. This paper wishes to reflect on the existential themes of authenticity and responsibility and their role in the age of social networks. SOME NOTES ON FREEDOM Freedom is a term and a concept given primacy in discussing the human person because it is one of those definitive qualities that set a person apart from all other creatures in the created world. Man is a free being capable of making decisions and directing oneself toward a goal without being moved by anything other than the self. It is also because of freedom that man is able to make ethical choices and perform ethical actions. Because of freedom, man may perform good or evil actions. The performance of good or evil actions has its corresponding consequences: If I am free, I can make good or bad use of my freedom. If I use it well, I in my turn become more ‘good’ as a result, and the good I have accomplished has a positive influence on those around me. If, on the other hand, I use it wrongly, evil will take root and begin to spread both in me and around me.1 Today, there is a certain concept of freedom with widespread support in public opinion that diverts attention from ethical responsibilities. 2 This view of freedom seeks

SCi en Ce An D t eCH n o LoG y

s p o R T s an D WElln Ess

taking Control of Stress

Authenticity and responsibility

freedom for its own sake—what matters is to be free and released from every form of restraint and limitation. It certainly sounds empowering for it breaks away from any norm that may put a limit on it. Although liberating, this view of freedom poses a lot of risks for the agent of action as well as the people around him. Freedom that cuts itself from ethical considerations will inevitably give rise to various forms of violence against the self and against others. As stated previously, the freedom of speech has found a new means and place of expression because of the rise of social networks. In this light, people are free to express and communicate what they wish and also in the manner in which they wish to do so. Freedom of speech has found a new home where one can be as one wishes to be. All this is possible because the general attitude in social networks is that one may freely express what he wishes to, and the rules and restrictions regulating the content are usually loose and relative. There are, of course, some considerations when one exercises his rights regarding social networks. The common questions one may have to deal with are the following: “What may I say?” “How should I say it?” “How will this affect the people around me?” The problem is that, in the Internet, what may be acceptable to one may not necessarily be acceptable to another. External (or sometimes referred to as “imposed”) norms of behavior are thought to be contrary to the freedom of speech. These days, subjectivity and private judgement are the only norms that do not deny personal freedom. Again, this kind of understanding of freedom poses risks to those using the social networks as a mode and means of communication. It also poses a challenge to the existential themes of authenticity and responsibility.

AUTHENTICIT Y AND RESPONSIBILIT Y In existentialism, the notion of authenticity is presented in different ways by the different existential philosophers. It is about the life that is worth living for the human being. An authentic life is that which aff irms and celebrates one’s existence, while an inauthentic life is a lower kind of life that is to be avoided. Etymologically, the adjective authentic means original, genuine, and principal. 3 Authenticity is also connected with the notion of truth, and in the case of this paper’s theme, it is about being true to oneself. By connecting through social networks, one is able to be closer than ever to others and to let oneself be known better. The sharing of one’s inner life is mediated and enhanced with the use of social networking sites and applications. Man’s search for truth is also manifest in his engagement in social networks, that is, he is also seeking authentic human relations, for instance, friendship and love. Because of social networking sites and applications, the number of people that a person may interact with has increased exponentially, but the core value of wanting to form authentic bonds remains. This desire for an authentic relationship is mutual, and such a relationship is possible only if each person presents himself in an authentic manner. What does it mean to be authentic in the age of social networks? One may be authentic if what one manifests of oneself reflects the truth about himself. A person sometimes pretends to be someone other than what he

or she really wishes to be usually because of external norms and dictates imposed by society. The “stare” of the other(s) affects an individual because one is concerned about how he or she is seen by others. In the case of social networks, the norms of society are less prevalent because of the premium placed on one’s individual freedom. Thus, I need not pretend or seem to be someone other than myself because I am free to express myself in the manner that I want. Authenticity—being true to oneself—finds comfort in the milieu provided by social networks. Because authenticity is highly regarded, one would like to believe that the individual on the other side is being as authentic as oneself. This is the meaning of the desire for authentic human relations in social networks. Now that one finds it easier to be authentic, one also wishes that the other is also being authentic and this is the foundation for building authentic human relations even if it is mediated by digital technology. Just as being authentic has become much easier, it has also become increasingly easier, however, to be inauthentic. Given that one has control over what one makes public in a social network, it is very easy and convenient to create a false identity online. What one posts and shares may not necessarily reflect the sentiments one holds intimately in his or her inner life. The danger here is that I cannot tell if the other is being authentic toward me or not? There have been many instances of fraud and deception done through these social networks. And if external norms are generally kept out of social networks, how can this concern be addressed? The Holy Father recognizes these realities and difficulties and this paper is generally a reflection on his 45 th Message for the World Communications Day. He says that there is a challenge to be authentic and faithful and not give in to the illusion of constructing an artificial public profile for oneself. 4

With the relatively unregulated nature of social networks, the burden of authenticity inevitably falls upon each user to employ the available tools in a manner that is free and responsible. Exchanges in the social network will be authentic if communication is honest and open, responsible and respectful of others. 5 Although I have complete dominion over myself and the content that I share with others, I must take into consideration ethical norms that ought to regulate the content and manner of communication. This goes back to the idea of freedom and how its use not only affects others but ultimately determines the self as well. Freedom is a power, a gift given to a person but freedom is not to be understood simply as a freedom from but also a freedom for. The notion of a freedom for points to the idea that freedom has a purpose, a goal, or a proper use. In the context of this paper, the freedom of speech and expression is not just something that one may use arbitrarily according to one’s whims and impulses; it must be used to form authentic human relations that enrich the self as well as the other. The freedom to communicate must end up in the formation of a community of persons—it must lead to solidarity. Freedom then must be used responsibly by every user of social networking sites. Every user must regulate himself or herself, always with a view to charity for the other in order to avoid violence against the other. A real community of persons may only be grounded on personal authenticity, and it is ethical responsibility that provides the basis of authenticity.

The Holy Father writes in his Message for the 47th World Communications Day: These spaces, when engaged in a wise and balanced way, help to foster forms of dialogue and debate which, if conducted respectfully and with concern for privacy, responsibility and truthfulness, can reinforce the bonds of unity between individuals and effectively promote the harmony of the human family. The exchange of information can become true communication, links ripen into friendships, and connections facilitate communion. If the networks are called to realize this great potential, the people involved in them must make an effort to be authentic since, in these spaces, it is not only ideas and information that are shared, but ultimately our very selves.6 These reflections of the Holy Father are reminders for each user to always keep in mind that ever y message shared on a social network has its roots in one’s inner life and has implications and consequences far greater than what one may think. The message is clear: we must be authentic and responsible in the use of the social networking sites and applications.

CO N C LU S I O N The idea of authentic and responsible posting/sharing/blogging is certainly not new to anyone. Yet many in the digital world choose to ignore or need to be reminded of this lesson. Because of the Internet’s speed and convenience, people tend to give in to impulse, emotion, and random thought whenever they share content and post messages in their social networks. But lack of self-control certainly goes against the rational nature of a person. While the Internet and social networks have definitely pushed the boundaries of communication much further than what was conceivable, this should not be a reason for the human element in communication to be cast aside or taken for granted. To keep up with the pace of development, external and material constraints have been put in place to help filter and regulate content but the bigger responsibility still lies in the user itself. One must always be conscious of the importance of the values of authenticity and responsibility as one makes use of these tools readily available for his or her disposal. We must always remember that the value of a post (and of the self as presented online) is not measured by popularity but by the good that it brings to the person and the others around him.

1 Pope John Paul II, Memory and Identity, (London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2005), page 37. 2 Ibid. 3 From the Online Etymology Dictionary’s entry on “authentic” http:// etymonline.com/index.php?term=authentic&allowed_in_frame=0 4 Pope Benedict XVI, “Truth, Proclamation and Authenticity in the Digital Age,” Message of His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI for the 45th World Communications Day, accessed through: http://www.vatican.va/holy_ father/benedict_xvi/messages/communications/documents/hf_benxvi_mes_20110124_45th-world-communications-day_en.html. 5 Ibid. 6 Pope Benedict XVI “Social Networks: Portals of Truth and Faith; New Spaces for Evangelization.” Message of His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI for the 47th World Communications Day, accessed through http:// www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/messages/communications/ documents/hf_ben-xvi_mes_20130124_47th-world-communicationsday_en.html.

akira Kurosawa’s Ran A lady sits on a shore sloping down to the sea, gazes at the calm, bluegreen waters, reflects, and feels gratified. Another lady dives

PHiLiP PeCKSon

In 1984, the german director Philip gröning writes to the Carthusian order of monks proposing a film on their way of life. They respond but make no decision. Sixteen years later, he receives a letter: the monks are now ready to be filmed. For more than four months in 2002, Gröning lives in the Grande Chartreuse, the Carthusian’s normally inaccessible main monastery high in the French Alps. He shoots the film without a crew and uses only natural light. Editing Into Great Silence takes two years for a release to critical acclaim in 2005. The Carthusians are distinguished from other monastic orders by their vocation of solitude. Hence, there is barely any dialogue in the film. Absent too is the voiced-over narration typical of network documentaries. We are not even told the names of monks who appear in the film. It becomes obvious, early in the documentary, that no attempt will be made to answer curious questions: What do they eat? What are their conversion stories? How do they make their liqueur? How are they not bored? Instead, the film draws its audience into the silence of Carthusian life, proposing to them the deepest reasons for choosing a life so opposed to the conventional. It does this with perfectly distanced shots of life in the Grande Chartreuse— prayer, study, the Divine Office, meals, and manual labor. No attempt is made

to exaggerate “holiness,” “reflection,” or any other qualities we expect to see in monasteries. Shots are held much longer than they would be in a blockbuster film but not long enough to tempt any avantgarde affectations. This careful austerity carries over into the sequencing: scenes are joined together less by narrative than by the time of the day, the passing of the seasons, snowfall, and sunlight. Periodically, relevant Biblical passages are flashed against a black background. This sudden appearance of powerful literar y language in a world of silence is surprisingly moving: it is the only clear indication of the great drama, human and divine, within each monk. The effect of all this is that every scene suggests an answer to the question that must have been on the minds of viewers— surprisingly numerous—who saw this film in German cinemas: how can anyone refuse the world and live a life of solitude and prayer? The profound peace, it must be, and anyone sensitive to the noise and stress of our everyday world would realize this. What follows, however, is the deeper conviction that people become monks to be happy. This is almost a truism, and yet it is the resolution of a question brought to the film by the outside world: how can monks be happy? To this the film answers not with words but with a world quiet, gentle, respectful of unbelief like Gröning’s, but at all moments numinous.

into the depths of a vast ocean, contemplates the remarkable beauty of marine life, and “touches” the power and beauty of the Creator. I wish I could be like the second lady as I review what Akira Kurosawa himself considers to be his best film, namely, Ran (1985). Unfortunately, I have to be content with being like the first since the assignment is to write a short film review and not a thesis “Fortunately, dozens of film reviews and critical analyses have already been written about Ran, which literally means chaos or turmoil. Google “character” and/or “thematic analysis of Ran” and you will see a good number of pages. Several more will appear if you google Ran and King Lear. However, Ran is one of those rare masterpieces that yield more insights with every repeated viewing. Hence, another piece will not hurt. Kurosawa brilliantly integrates the basic storyline of Shakespeare’s King Lear, the traditional forms and motifs of Japanese Noh Theater, and key Buddhist ideas in a film that intends to teach rather than to bring about catharsis. Kurosawa masterfully employs all the tools of his trade to illustrate a moral truth and not to make the audience empathize with the agony of Lear. This is why close-up shots are almost non-existent. The said moral truth is explicitly conveyed in a dialogue toward the end of the film: Kyoami: Are there no gods, no Buddha? If you exist, hear me. You are mischievous and cruel. Are you so bored up there that you must crush us like ants? Is it fun to see us, men, weep? Tango: Don’t blaspheme. It is the gods who weep. They see us killing each other over and over again since time began. They can’t save us from ourselves. It’s how the world is made. Men prefer sorrow over joy, suffering over peace... they revel in pain and bloodshed. They celebrate murder. That heaven can only watch in the face of human folly is conveyed through the use of bird’s-eye view shots and extremely high-

angle shots in many scenes. Indeed, Ran is a series of events viewed from heaven. Buddhism teaches that discontent is an outcome of desires grounded on false beliefs— beliefs such as “one’s own individual existence is more important than those of other individuals” and “fulfillment can be achieved only by acquiring and owning property.” Adhering to these false beliefs, the characters Hidetora, Taro, and Jiro sought to expand their kingdoms in order to attain contentment and believed that their own survival is more important than anyone else’s. Significantly, the mise-en-scene, particularly through the use of extreme long shots and extreme highangle shots convey the opposite, namely, the insignificance of individuals amidst a larger universe. When selfish ambition ceases, so will discontentment. Saburo, who did not crave for power and wealth, was the only contented son. As long as men are afflicted by lust for power and revenge, peace will always be precarious. This is precisely what unfolds in the film. Thus, the opening scene that shows the major characters in a circular formation as they sat under a blue sky and as Hidetora

talked about harmony and mutual support among his three sons is the last that viewers will see. Buddhism believes that people are accountable for their actions and that no one can escape the ill effects of their intentionally harmful actions (karma). Hence, Hidetora and later on Taro and Jiro, suffer the same things that they mete out to others. Moreover, the wives of Taro and Jiro represent two opposing reactions to Hidetora’s crimes. While Lady Sue represents forgiveness, Lady Kaede embodies revenge. The aesthetics of Japanese Noh drama, which combines music, dance, and acting to communicate Buddhist themes, is very evident in the film especially through the use of ostentatious and colorful costumes with long sleeves to emphasize arm movements and gestures. Lady Kaede’s Noh-like costume allows her to rip her kimono dramatically. The color of the characters’ costume is symbolic— yellow for Taro symbolizes his lust for war; red for Jiro symbolizes not only violence but also immoderate passion; and blue for Saburo symbolizes nobility and loyalty. Topped by Noh-like hats with strings tied tightly under the chin, the made-up faces

M ovi eS

a R T s an D cU lT U R E

into great silence

veroniCA iSLA, PhD

of the characters assumed the specter of Noh masks. During the burning of the castle, the face of Hidetora became more and more Noh-like in each succeeding shot. The stomping of the characters, the sound of Lady Kaede’s silks sliding across the polished wooden floors, the piercing, plaintive flute associated with Tsurumaru, among others, are also inspired by Noh drama. The formal, symmetrical composition of many scenes where the positions of the characters are precisely set is common to Noh drama. The orderly composition of interior scenes provides a striking contrast to the turmoil or chaos besieging the Ichimonji clan. Interestingly, the camera, which hardly moves and is almost static even during battle scenes, takes the point of view of stage play spectators. Long pauses precede scene changes, mirroring theater when the curtain falls slowly and the stage is readied for the next scene. The acting is Noh-like—stately, formal, and stylized—because the aim is to convey strong emotions and the characters’ essence. The sing-song dialogue especially evident in scenes involving the fool Kyoami is also influenced by Noh. If one gets to be like the forgiving Lady Sue, much more could be gleaned from the exquisite blending of the basic storyline of Shakespeare’s King Lear, key Buddhist ideas, and the forms and motifs of Japanese Noh theater in Ran, and thus, be convinced of Kurosawa’s genius. A close reading of the use of characters, props, sound, costume, dialogue, space or composition, figure movement, etc. as metaphors alone will yield a paper of significant length. Needless to say, Ran is a must-see for all, given its philosophical, literary, filmic, historical, and cultural significance.

B oo KS

The excitement of writing about everyday life gaB asUncion

hat are the writing secrets of Dr. Joem Antonio, Palanca awardee for three English one-act plays and two Filipino children’s short stories? Where does he get his inspiration? What keeps him motivated to write? Dr. Antonio’s works are unlike today’s hot sellers that mix drama with the spectacular elements of fantasy and action. He reduces the “dramas of life” into more basic forms. For him, there is no need to use fairies or talking animals to come up with works that are reader-worthy. “The end of every writer is to be read,” he says, “(and) the True Artist connects with his audience while writing about what he loves.” Dr. Antonio identifies three types of writers: a sellout (one who writes against his principles for monetary gain), an auteur (one who does not care about what people say about his writing), and a true artist, which was described earlier. His latest winner, “The Dust in Your Place,” is about a girl (space) friend telling her boy (space) friend why the latter’s relationships were not working. Nothing fantastic, just as he wants, but very relatable and, hence, interesting for people. In terms of form, Dr. Antonio admits being meticulous. One of his, “Love CAFÉ,” was on the drawing board for eight years because of his penchant for detail. “You have a greater appreciation when you know how it is made. It is not because I am talented; it is because I study the craft of writing,” he said. Dr. Antonio inserts multiple layers of discussion in his works; in other words, the story’s surface value points to a deeper interpretation of reality, which ultimately reveals his commentary of society. However, he is quick to avow that he is “not too fond” of writing about social cancers. Instead, he finds his inspiration and writing material out of the mundane everyday things that happen to people. “Why does that kid refuse to eat his vegetables?” he asks (that was actually the theme of yet another Palanca winner). When pressed to give tips for aspiring writers, just like his works, his advice is straightforward: read a lot, write a lot, submit a lot. “Live your life well, because you draw your experiences from it.” He shares three other prescriptions: master the language to be used, have at least basic competence of your topic, and care for your reader. “There are millions of books out there...why should your reader spend a few hours re ading your work?” In his quest to be read, Dr. Antonio has ensured that he creates works that are value-adding and worth reading (not caring to be a sellout or an auteur). Rather, he somehow finds a balance and proves himself a “true artist.” 70

into the frontier CAMiLLe DioLA

UA&P history faculty member Dr. Yvette Camacho gives tribute to famed Spanish historian Lourdes Diaz-Trechuelo in the book Into the Frontier: Studies on the Spanish Colonial Philippines. The book edited by Camacho is a follow-up to a conference on the late Diaz-Trechuelo’s legacy held at the University in March 2009. The book’s chapters take off from DiazTrechuelo’s pioneering work on the period, at the same time use various approaches to historiography in the country. They also touch on a range of areas including architecture, economics and politics, making the publication not only historiographic, but truly multidisciplinary. The publication compiles studies from fellow historians from Spain and the Philippines, including the University’s own History Department chair Dr. Juan Mesquida and renowned playwright and Rizal scholar Dr. Paul Dumol. Dr. Mesquida’s study “Spaces, Material Culture, and Changing Roles: The Misericordia of Manila” covers socio-political and economic networks in the eighteenth century capital. Dr. Dumol’s chapter “The Drafts of the Handbook for Confessors of the Synod of Manila of 1582” explores archival documents that shaped the historic event. A study by the book’s editor is also included. Dr. Camacho’s “Ciriaco Gonzalez Carvajal’s Development Programs: Promoting Prosperity through Work in EighteenthCentury Philippines” introduces readers to the political and social changes promoted by the historical figure of Spanish-born judge Gonzalez Carvajal. The roster of authors includes names familiar in historical circles such as Ateneo de Manila University’s Jose Arcilla, S.J. and the University of the Philippines’ Ferdinand C. Llanes.

Toward building a strong society h.E. RoBERTo mayoRga Ambassador of Chile

he building of a strong society, a civilization of love, is only attainable if based on the integrity of the family and on leaders and citizens with virtues and values. The author does not only provide a theoretical description of virtues and values but also analyzes how the current global financial crisis has been influenced by a lack of virtues and values on the part of world leaders and citizens in general. To quote Professor Villegas, “Today’s crisis is a result of decades of the belief among many economists, policy makers and business people that the running of business and the economy can make human virtues irrelevant.” In certain ways, the history of humanity has been an eternal quest to build a better society that began even before the Greek philosophers Plato, Aristotle, and Socrates. The theories of Adam Smith, David Ricardo, Keynes or Friedman, among others, have contributed to developing the economy, but they have not encompassed building a civilization of love. Nevertheless, Professor Villegas sees the answer to this human dilemma not only in the thoughts of economists, politicians, or intellectuals, but essentially in absolute moral principles and the teachings of the Catholic Church. In fact, in spite of the economic development achieved by countries in different continents, there is deep dissatisfaction among large groups of their citizens. We have only to look at what is happening in Europe, in some sectors in

the USA, or in some people of the emergent countries around the world. Furthermore, because of the lack of leadership, anarchic groups, often violent ones, have emerged. Is this global crisis putting capitalism at risk, asks Professor Villegas. In fact certain minority groups in some countries are currently updating the former slogans of Marxism. We know that as a result of the failure of socialist experimentation, neoliberal models are prevailing in the world. But just like Marxism, it has been unable to ensure “true wellbeing.” Professor Villegas speaks of a “market fundamentalism,” an economic freedom without limits, and often an abuse of freedom. This model is extremely far from being an authentic social market economy. In spite of the great material progress it has achieved, this model has lacked social content and has led to a society with huge social gaps and increasing economic inequalities. Consumerism and greed run rampant. Privileged groups have developed an arrogant attitude toward the poor. On the other hand, there is a growing sense of frustration among people who essentially feel marginalized from the system.

guitar music through the centuries

amberJive! RoBERT coRTEs

When I started AmberJive! as an all-male a cappella choir upon the suggestion of some friends, I didn’t really expect it to go out of the confines of Amber Drive University Center (Amber, for short) where it is based. My idea back then in June 2010 was just to gather some students and friends who frequented Amber (all studying in the University of Asia and the Pacific, 1st to 5th year) and to engage in what we all loved doing—a cappella singing. In my mind, the basic objective was to keep me and the fellows productive during our free time; also perhaps to raise some funds for Amber, specifically, the Work Camp that it organizes every summer, by caroling during Christmas. Part of the reason that I had very simple objectives for AmberJive! was that I am not a professional conductor; as a university instructor who teaches English and Latin and obtained an undergraduate degree in Medical Technology and a master’s degree in Education Leadership, I only have my experience conducting choirs since high school and personal study to guide me. As well, I don’t have a very stringent audition process in admitting members—I don’t require experience or knowledge of music from applicants. In fact, most of AmberJive!’s members did not have experience in choral singing or reading sheet music before joining. What is most important for me is that each one aspires to be a better person (a concrete sign of which is that he goes to Amber for some means of formation). For me, the choir is part of that process. Of

course, equally important is that he can at least carry a tune. I’ve always believed that as long as one isn’t tone-deaf, with enough training and willingness to learn, one can contribute productively to what would be a decent-sounding choir. AmberJive! has not disappointed. For the last three years, the choir has performed and experimented on both traditional and contemporary musical genres, but it is most known for its rendition of sacred music, especially Latin polyphony and Gregorian chant. I think this latter form of music has earned for us a place in the hearts of the men and women who frequent the Stella Orientis Chapel. I say that because in less than a year of being together, we were invited to become one of the “accredited” choirs of the University chapel. In the last two years we have become “mainstays” in the Eucharistic processions, the Simbang Gabi masses, and the CAS Foundation Day masses. We were also part of “Mater Omnium,” the 2011 Marian Serenade. Most recently, we were the choir for the Good Friday services. Outside of UA&P we performed a short Christmas concert in the main office of the Bank of the Philippine Islands and sang in several Masses in the Church of St. Benedict in Ayala Westgrove, Sta. Rosa. Perhaps our biggest performance to date

People feasted on guitar music at the Li Seng Giap Auditorium in February 2012. The Sta. Isabel College Guitar Quartet’s repertoire covered several stylistic periods—Renaissance, Baroque, Classical, Romantic, and 20th Century—in the concert “Guitarissimo: Centuries of Guitar Music.” The group also played pieces in the Filipino guitar music tradition.

was the 2012 Mass of St. Josemaría held in St. Therese Church, of which we were the official choir together with the Van De Steen choir. As of the moment neither I nor the members of AmberJive! have a clear idea of how long we will continue, or if we will manage to survive at all—what with members coming and going and me conducting AmberJive! only on the side. What is clear, though, is that the people’s reception of our rendition of sacred music has made us more aware that they are seeking the more profound expression of the sacred. To a certain extent, therefore, we do feel some responsibility for providing that. So for the moment, we can perhaps safely say that given the opportunity, AmberJive! will explore sacred music more deeply, improve our rendition of it, and in the process continue to make good music, share it, and contribute to the reawakening in society of the culture of the beautiful. Photo by Jojo Nicdao

M U Si C

Professor Villegas deplores the loss of the sense of the common good in current society, both in the public and private sectors, which has been the preamble for corruption, causing serious damage to political action and credibility. The essential republican virtue of civic friendship has been replaced by increasing intolerance and defamation of adversaries. The defense of principles is often set aside for the sake of populism, in a flood of global relativism, which is unable to draw a clear distinction between liberty and licentiousness and which highly praises rights but not duties. Those who say that God does not exist or is dead and thus undermine the basis of faith also have their share of responsibility for this global crisis, leaving empty the souls of thousands of people. This, Professor Villegas says, is not only a political, economic, or financial crisis, but also one that deeply affects our humanity and spirituality. We know that sometimes a crisis also brings opportunities. Like Erich Fromm in his book To Have or to Be, Professor Villegas hopes for the “possibility that austerity would make a comeback and raise a new generation of people who will value being more than having.” Dr. Villegas affirms that the ongoing crisis of Western capitalism may still give rise to a new society. But, how must this new civilization be structured?

Is it politically possible for a real democracy to represent the very diverse sensibilities of the people? According to current research, people in different democratic countries around the world do not identify with their governors. Do we need to review the mechanisms of democracy to avoid a dangerous crisis of representation? Is it economically possible to rebuild the authentic pillars of a social market economy like that envisioned by Ludwig Erhard and Alfred Muller-Armack in Germany? Can we imagine the establishment of a State truly under the Rule of Law, with strict respect for Human Rights, in which authorities and people place the common good before their particular interests? How can we build a society that protects and guarantees the life, the family, and the dignity of the people? Internationally, how can we construct societies that will work for permanent peace, security, and welfare for the whole world? In the global context the Philippines and a few other countries are an exception. Their people, in general, have Calidad Humana, a Spanish concept that pertains to a person who is endowed with virtues and values and is able to transmit them. Of course there are exceptions. After all, we are on earth, not in heaven. The Philippines faces a huge challenge: the economic progress that it will enjoy in the future should not weaken this human wealth, a sad scenario that has happened in other countries around the world. What can the Philippines do to preserve the Calidad Humana of the majority of its people? Without doubt in the work of Professor Villegas the right answers can be found to the questions raised. A final reflection: Francis Fukuyama was wrong when he announced the end of history. On the contrary, as Dr. Villegas states, we are in the middle of history, or perhaps in an endless history aspiring to attain a new civilization. As Arnold Toynbee explains in his studies, history is in a continuous process of change. Dr. Bernardo Villegas invites us in his Book of Virtues and Values to move through it with faith, hope, and most importantly, charity. Originally transcribed by Random Jottings for Manila Bulletin

Th eat er

Into Time and Space Nicole Fuentes

What man cannot experience for himself

he experiences in imitation—usually one that emphasizes aspects of its subject, breaking it down into parts, and paving the way for an awareness of that which normally occurs instantaneously. Deconstructing in order to create, art is an imitation of life, with theater being the reflection in the mirror held up to nature. It is in theater that one sees people, first physically through one’s eyes, and then metaphysically through the mind’s eye; and it is in theater that the imitation occurs not only in the final artwork—a moving, ever-changing artwork—but also in the process that makes it possible. On the stage, there is an exchange among performers—a giving and a receiving— to the point that it becomes a response to one another, to seeing one another as more than just a body in time and space. Awareness of a reality made up of body, time, and space was a key concept in Noa Rotem’s physical theater workshop held at

UA&P from the 22nd to the 25th of October 2012. The workshop taught “Viewpoints,” an improvisation-based technique that provides actors with a toolbox and vocabulary for exploring a play through movement and gesture. It addresses performance concepts such as trust, spontaneity, and spatial relationships. The Viewpoints technique fosters an understanding of the fundamental elements of time and space in theater: kinaesthetic response, tempo, duration, repetition, spatial relationship, floor pattern/topography, architecture, shape, gesture. Because it is a deconstruction of these nine elements of theater, it does not have a hierarchy, and this allows its application into a technique of improvisation, as well as a framework for analysis. As long as an awareness is present in the performer, response as an improvisation becomes an accurate imitation of reality. Anne Bogart, the developer of the nine Viewpoints reiterates that “In the Viewpoints work, nothing is invented—everything is a response.” Through the use of the five senses, life can be perceived as art and responded to according to the truth. If viewed as a service and gift to others, theater creates

an atmosphere that increases man’s observational skills, his wonder at his surroundings, and a sense of freedom from hesitation. Several times Noa told the ensemble to take in what was happening around them, to avoid thinking, and to focus on acting and reacting as a response to what was taking place and observed prior to introducing the self to the space, in time, using one’s body, sometimes in relation to another—an exercise of trust and spontaneity. What one gets out of a physical theater workshop like this is that the awareness and response does not end in theater. Members of the ensemble looked forward to commuting home and applying in a bus or an MRT full of strangers their strengthened (or even newfound) ability to look into people, observing them as more than just a part of their surroundings but as human beings, just like them. There is so much out there. All the world is a stage, after all.

Photos by Abbygail Reyes

Makbet

TET RIVERA

Makbet

Balaraw ba itong nasa ’king harapan, tinuturo ako ng kanyang hawakan? Halika, pahawak-Di kita maangkin ngunit nar’yan ka pa. Natatanaw lang ba at di nalalasap, Itong pangitaing hinain sa palad? O balaraw ka ba sa aking isipan, isang panlilinlang na likha ng diwang inapi ng init at ng alisangsang? Natatanaw kita, sintalas, sintahas nitong balaraw na aking ilalabas. Inaakay mo’ko sa’king tatahakin, at hawig mong punyal, aking gagamitin. Mga mata’y tanga dahil sa pandama, O sa mata lamang dapat magtiwala: Nariyan ka pa rin! Dugo sa patalim ay wala kanina! Hindi ka totoo! Madugo kong balak ang lumilikha ng gan’tong deliryo. Habang patay lahat sa hating daigdig, Ginagahasa ng buhong panaginip ang tagong pag-idlip; Mga mangkukulam ay nagdiriwang sa alay ni Hecate; Lantang Kamatayan, ngayo’y nagmumulto Tangay ng alulong ng bantay n’yang lobo, kasabay ng tiyak na hakbang ni Tarquin, marahas na gapang patungong layunin. Matatag na lupa, mabingi sa yapak, ’Wag mong pakikinggan, kung saan tatahak ayokong ibunyag ng bato at bitak kung saan mang lubak paa ko’y tatapak, Hubdin ang hilakbot na suot ng gabi-Habang nagbabanta, siya’y naghahari; Pinalalamig lang ng mga salita itong nagniningas kong balak at gawa

Photos by Cecilia Forbes

LADY Makbet

Makbet

S’ya rin nama’y mamamatay kung sakali. Maglalaan naman ng ukol na oras para sa balita. Bukas, at bukas pa, at bukas na, tila ba walang halaga paggapang ng bawat araw hanggang sa huling pantigan ng takdang oras, at lahat ng sa ating nakalipas ay naghahatid ng tanglaw sa mag-abok na hantungan. Hipan, madaling kandila!

Buhay ay aninong gala: isa s’yang aktor na hamak na nagpapakitang-gilas at naliligalig habang nasa tanghalan, at biglang hindi na maririnig pa. Istoryang inilalahad ng isang mangmang, na sagad sa ingay at pagngangalit, ngunit walang ’pababatid. Narito upang ang dila’y magamit; agad ’salaysay.

Ang uwak mismo’y namalat Sa paglalahad ng ulat Nitong madugong pagdaong ni Duncan sa aking bubong. Hali kayo kaluluwang bantay ng aming haraya, Hubarin ang kasarian at ako’y inyong damitan mula ulo hanggang paa saplot ng kawalang-awa. Ang dugo ko’y palaputin: Barahan ninyo’t harangin Daluyan ng alinlangan, upang walang makahadlang na anumang pagkahabag sa nangingitim kong balak. Sumuso sa aking dibdib, ministro ng kamatayan Gatas ko’y gawing mapait

Sa’n man kayo nag-aabang Sa n’yong bulag na pag-iral Pagkagat ng kasamaan. Halina, gabing kulimlim ikubli ako sa dilim, sa sulasok ng impyerno, ako ay iyong itago upang hindi na matanaw ng matalim kong balaraw sugat nitong iguguhit at nang di rin makasilip ang lahat sa kalangitan sa kumot ng kadiliman at hindi makatangis ng: “Tigil! Huwag! Sandali lang! Pinuno ng Glamis at ng Cawdor na rin, higit sa pareho, pag trono’y naangkin. Ako ay tinangay ng ’yong mga liham, dinala sa ngayong walang nalalaman. Ngayon ay ramdam ko ang kinabukasan.

Th eat er

Tet RIVERA

World of Wonders Five artists—three of whom are part of the University—lent their visions of a “Beautiful A Serene World by Leni de Leon

World” in an exhibit so-titled that went on display until February 2012.

C Bamboo on Purple by Bett Ramirez

A Clearing by Leni Sunico

RC associate director Dr. Bett Ramirez, UA&P finance director Lydia Yuson, and School of Sciences and Engineering faculty member Leni Grace Sunico joined bankers and fellow painters Babes Yuson and Leni de Leon to present their collection of works depicting the grandeur of nature.

Flowing by Lydia Yuson

All fully dedicated to their professions, the artists came together a few years ago to paint on Saturdays in pursuit of a common passion for shapes, space, and color. Dr. Ramirez comments that the theme of the exhibit is straightforward—the paintings show how the artists share, and wish to share with the viewers, a beautiful world. The educator’s Bamboo series offers a distinct style suggesting her maturity as an artist. Although she believes that wisdom does come with age, Dr. Ramirez was anxious about falling into the stereotypical expert who can offer only conventional depictions of people and experiences. She aspires to always maintain an open mind and to use her art “to train the mind,” she says. The bamboo painting experiment was thus inspired by her brief stay in a place in La Union where bamboo grows topically. “I probably inhaled the bamboo scent and when I exhaled, they took the form of paintings,” she says, explaining how she decided to remove all the greens and replace these with various other colors in a series of 11 paintings.

Nol’s Rainforest by Babes Yuson

Lydia Yuson meanwhile considers painting as a “necessary stress-reliever.” In contrast to a fast-paced world, she paints to create mementos of the places she’s been to, aiming to re-create her experiences from memory. Her piece “Grand Design” was born on a trip to Palawan, while “Cool and Green” was finished after a visit to Baguio’s Camp John Hay. Seeing familiar sights of familiar places, one can create connections between their memories and those of the artist. That painting is a therapy, Leni de Leon agrees. She describes her works as “happy paintings,” since she tries to paint only when she’s happy, in hopes of stirring the same feeling in the viewers. After all, in creating art, she believes one should not be mechanical. Babes Yuson, on the other hand, sees painting as a “temporary escape” that allows a kind of freedom to create things as one wills. This is especially meaningful for her, having been in the corporate world where things do not necessarily go as planned. “When things cannot be explained anymore, and you want things to happen, painting allows you the flexibility to create things, and to start from scratch,” she says. Through the paintings, she wishes the viewers can be reminded of how one can “own a place and its beauty.” This was affirmed by Leni Sunico who says that as artists, they want to share what is beautiful, something “people want to put on their walls.” A scientist, Sunico does painting in her spare time to revel in “simple things” like flowers and landscapes that, for her, can effectively remind people of beauty.

alU m n i

Pursuing the true meaning of excellence REgina DaViD

life can be effortlessly easy or hopelessly difficult by chance, but what a person does with the “lottery ball” assigned to him in life is almost entirely a matter of choice.

his was pointed out by UA&P alumna Atty. Karen Jimeno, citing the theory of “The Ovarian Lottery” created by iconic business magnate Warren Buffett, during the second session of the University Scholars’ Program last September 5. Quoting Buffet, Jimeno explained that each person is born with a set of circumstances or a “lottery ball” that “will determine your gender, race, nationality, natural abilities, and health—whether you are born rich or poor, sick or able-bodied, brilliant or below average. You’re going to get one ball out of there, and that is the most important thing that’s ever going to happen to you in your life.” Jimeno, who was in the defense panel of former Chief Justice Renato Corona, used the theory as a springboard for her talk, which centered on the theme “Excellence: Active Learning and Fostering Academic Skills.”

Focusing on the value of hard work and education, Jimeno lauded her audience for being “creators of their own opportunities,” having been able to enter the University through the merits they earned in grade school and high school. She also warned them against the distorted perception of excellence presented by today’s society, saying that instead of merit, it is the entitlement lifestyle that is highlighted by the media. “We have to form our own perception based on our principles of what success is, instead of placing our belief in mainstream definitions,” she said. Jimeno also talked about social responsibility and a meritocratic society as catalysts of excellence, allowing for what Buffet called a supporting system that grants opportunities even to people who get the wrong ball. These catalysts encouraged her to take up education as an advocacy and she advised the audience to pursue advocacies of their own, asserting that to whom much is given, much is expected. She also cited passion as an indispensable factor, along with time management. The way we manage our priorities, she said, is indicative of our long-term growth, and we must make sure that we are trading off the things that are less important to us.

UA&P alum ordained priest in Rome Mass on February 2 at his alma mater amid former teachers, classmates, and colleagues. Fr. Menchavez was ordained by Opus Dei Prelate Bishop Javier Echevarría in Rome last May 2012 and came back to the Philippines last December. Having graduated cum laude from the School of Economics, Fr. Menchavez worked in UA&P’s Executive Offices before he left for

Spain to finish his theology degree. He now holds a doctorate in canon law. Among the congregants were Fr. Menchavez’s family, relatives, and high school friends. Several priests of the University Chaplaincy were also present at the Mass, including Msgr. Carlos Estrada, the Regional Vicar of Opus Dei to the Philippines and Indonesia. Fr. Victor Santos delivered a homily recounting Fr. Menchavez’s journey to the priesthood. He also outlined the mission of a priest and asked for prayers from those present.

Fr. Menchavez celebrates his first Solemn Mass in the Philippines

“Let us…make use of this Mass to pray that the new priest and all the priests of the Work will be ‘holy, learned, cheerful and sportive,’ as St Josemaría Escrivá indicated,” he said.

Photos by Lalay Fuster

he phrase “middle class” is almost synonymous with the new exciting phrase in development economics, i.e., “emerging markets.” Besides having large domestic markets, the attractive feature of emerging markets like China, India, or Indonesia (Chindonesia) is their rapidly growing middle class as their annual per capita income transitions from low levels below $3,000 to higher levels of $5,000 or more. Following Engel’s Law, as consumers’ incomes rise from levels at which they can only afford the barest necessities, their consumption pattern shifts to more sophisticated consumer goods and services such as higher quality education, health services, processed food products and beverages, consumer durables, cars, and entertainment, among others. In a report entitled Mr. and Mrs. Asia: Moving up the J-curves (Spring 2011) by Mr. Anirudha Dutta of CLSA AsiaPacific Markets, some figures on the Asian middle class were presented: “The Asian middle class will continue to be the biggest investment story out of the region over the next decade...We project that by 2015, a billion people in Asia ex-Japan will join the middle-income category by earning an average per-capita disposable income

of US$3000 annually. Asian Development Bank (ADB) has a more liberal definition of the middle class—those who spend US$220 daily—and estimates that the group comprised 1.2 billion people in Chindonesia in 2010. If we take away the lower US$2-4 segment, then the number comes to 450 million.” Because of the rising middle class in these populous countries (including the Philippines), consumption will increasingly drive the growth of the economy. Even more than in the other Asian countries, the vast majority of the middle class in the Philippines falls in the $2-4 daily-spending range. For example, the households who have one or more members working abroad as OFWs belong to the lower range of the middle class. These households can number close to 10 million and are no longer below the poverty line of $1.5 per person per day. They, however, are still quite vulnerable and can easily fall into poverty. If they maintain their incomes at the level of $2-4 per day, they can be lucrative targets of numerous non-durable consumer goods like food and beverage, fast food, personal care, cell phones, and pharmaceutical products as well as smallticket durable goods like television sets, cell phones, and motorcycles. Only those who are at the $4-20 range (estimated by Mr. Duta to be about 15 percent of the total population) can afford cars, low- to middle-cost housing, personal computers and other high-value electronic products, quality private education, and domestic and foreign travel. Among these Filipino households are those who are the 600,000 employees of business process outsourcing

Co lu m n s

UA&P alumnus Fr. Dean Johnpaul Dumlao Menchavez celebrated Thanksgiving

Middle Class Bernardo Villegas, Phd

The Asian middle class will continue to be the biggest investment story out of the region over the next decade.

As emerging markets see their middle class expand in the next twenty years, there must be serious efforts of the Government, business, and civil society to make sure that their populations avoid the excesses of consumerism of the West that have led to unsustainable development.

(BPO) and knowledge process outsourcing (KPO) enterprises. A good number of these individuals are single women and men in their early twenties, still living with their parents but earning P15,000 to P25,000 or more, making them large spenders on a host of consumer goods and services. Note, for example, the boom in restaurants and retailing outlets in the Metro Manila area, Cebu, and other regional sites of the BPO and KPO sector. As the Philippine Government shifts its attention from capital-intensive industrialization to countryside and agricultural development, we can expect the middle class also to expand in the rural areas, or at least in what are called â&#x20AC;&#x153;rurbanâ&#x20AC;? areas such as Davao, Central Luzon, Southern Luzon, Central Visayas, and Western Visayas. There will be more households who will graduate from the $2-4 lower middle-class category to higher levels of income ($10-20 per day), making them catch up with the middle class in the Metro Manila area. The two regions that are almost there are Central Luzon and CALABARZON. I am especially bullish about the prospects of Central Luzon. Once the international airport moves to Clark, a metropolitan complex will evolve around the Angeles-San Fernando cluster that will rival Metro Manila as a highly urbanized and industrialized zone. I expect that 60 percent or more of the 5 to 6 million people who live in Central Luzon will belong to the upper middle-class households. A great advantage of Central Luzon is that it has its own food basket right in its midst, i.e. Nueva Ecija and Aurora provinces. What can we expect of the rising middle class in the next 10 to 20 years? We can learn from what has happened in China and India in the last 20 years when hundreds of millions of their citizens joined the middle class. The CLSA report cited above provides some useful insights. The middle class has significantly more progressive views, such as on gender equality, competition, political activism, and technology. They demand greater accountability and transparency from the public sector. They are likely to have smaller families, as marriages happen at much later ages and as both husband wife take on full-time jobs. This trend,

however, can be mitigated by private initiatives to promote large family sizes through appropriate values education and work-life balance management. Education and healthcare will become big growth areas. More households will invest in the stock market. Innovations will tend to increase as can be inferred from the experience of the West in which innovation coincided with the rise of the middle class and economic growth. As emerging markets see their middle class expand in the next twenty years, there must be serious efforts of the Government, business, and civil society to make sure that their populations avoid the excesses of consumerism of the West that have led to unsustainable development. The CLSA study cites the UK journalist and author Jonathan Watts who stresses that the biggest of the emerging markets, China, cannot and will not survive if it adopts the levels of consumption in the West. He warns that environmental degradation is already reaching a level that is hurting the welfare of the citizens. He opines that water will be the single-largest growth challenge. And may I add food, because you need water to produce food. It is incumbent upon our leaders to develop among the citizens the necessary human virtues of temperance and self-sacrifice to prevent them from falling into the deadly disease of consumerism that has already wreaked havoc on many Western societies.

From Dr Villegasâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s website. Posted on 10 May 2012

Katerina Lorenzo-Molo, Phd

The Not so Miserable Message of Les Miserables

he morning after I watched the popular media’s latest attempt to transform book and musical into the moving picture, I shouted out into my social media account: “Watching Les Miserables makes one remember just how great it is to be Catholic— the symbolisms, the contrast between Jean Valjean and Javert, Bishop Myriel’s compassion vs. Javert’s Calvinist outlook, which led to his untimely demise...I’m glad movie makers can still get it right. The message at the end as Valjean faced his death was perfect. The Catholic faith is strict in its faith and doctrine; but it most certainly is compassionate to all within and outside its flock.” Having read the novel when I was just 16, and never having the chance to watch the musical, my memory of small details was blurry and vague. Given my joy and excitement, I wanted to know more. Deviating from my academic training, I chose a less scholarly path. I decided to utilize the most popular, practical, and yes, easiest way to gain what we often think is knowledge and information. I googled Victor Hugo. I was excited to learn more about the man who inspired a musical and a movie that would be such a great tribute to the Catholic faith. Hugo was born and raised a Roman Catholic. But as I read on— from blogs, short articles, reviews, and the most popular one of all, Wikipedia, my excitement turned to disappointment. The

man who had inspired what I thought was such a realistic depiction of the Catholic faith became popular for his anti-Catholic and anti-clerical sentiments and allegedly declared himself a freethinker. As I read on, I saw a picture of a man, who made it difficult for me to believe how he could have written a book that would frame a member of the Church hierarchy, pivotal in the positive transformation of the character who would be the novel’s main protagonist. Interestingly, however, it is said that Hugo’s son Charles, objected to the reverential treatment of CharlesFrançois Bienvenue Myriel or Monseigneur Bienvenue, insisting that the portrayal gave undeserved respect to a corrupt clergy, bestowing credibility on a Roman Catholic Church opposed to the democratic ideals he and his father held. Charles, instead, proposed that the catalyst for Jean Valjean’s transformation be a lawyer or doctor or anyone else from a secular profession. But Hugo held his ground and even amplified the importance of the bishop by devoting the book’s first hundred pages to Monseigneur Bienvenue and his exemplary life. Without any background or context as to what Les Miserables is, one would think the novel was about the Bishop at the onset. This article, however, isn’t about Victor Hugo or Les Miserables in spite of the first numerous chunks of sentences devoted to the man and his novel. It is about the crucial issues that govern and surround all other issues pertaining to a communication media-dominated world, with dominance as one of those main issues in consonance with truth. To simply state that the media are everywhere is simplistic. To simply state that the media are pervasive is an understatement. And to simply say that the pursuit of truth has been gravely jeopardized by the media— from history books to the news to reality depictions by the moving picture—seems sweeping and radical. This is why it is vital that one understand the intricacies of the media world. While this can be a complex process that often requires one to take on an entire field of study immersed in both the social sciences and the humanities, it is possible and perhaps even more persuasive to understand it through experience and common sense.

Most people wanting to find out more about almost anything nowadays would do exactly this—get on the Internet and utilize one of their various computer and digital devices to read and view various types of articles and videos for information on any topic or subject they wish to know more about. As a consequence, many are quick to posit that never before has information been so easily and readily accessible. While this could be true (subject still, to various other debates), accessibility is one thing, but truthfulness is another. And with the dominance of media right into the very fabric of history and life, the issue of truth is an even greater concern. This brings us back to the man whose novel inspired what I thought was a glimmer of light behind the media’s penchant for the bad, the ugly, and the untruthful. This time, however, it seems the media decided to depart from its often anti-religion stance and took on the higher road by choosing to showcase Hugo’s more idealistic and positive side. With the exception of some Christian websites, however, this move is received with much criticism from more secular and mainstream sites. One critic states: “Adapted from the immensely popular musical version of Hugo’s classic, [Tom] Hooper’s cinematic rendering cuts the author in half: it gives us the religious Hugo, not the revolutionary one. It tells the story of individual redemption through an odyssey of Catholic conscience, not of France’s collective redemption through political violence.” Another even perceives the more positive rendering as a shortcoming or ‘fault,’ which the current filmmakers adopted from the 1980 stage musical, which ‘failed’ to showcase the revolutionary Hugo and his anti-religious leanings, instead, focusing on the story’s more romantic themes of individual redemption and ‘simplified’ ideas of social justice. So while the media are said to be extensions of men and Les Miz should thus be an extension of the man who crafted the story, there seem to be contradictions in Hugo that makes the plight to know just a bit more difficult. While he was born and raised a Roman Catholic, he wrote poems that criticized the clergy; and while

While he was born and raised a Roman Catholic, he wrote poems that criticized the clergy; and while he criticized the clergy and called himself a freethinker…

pages to a member of the church hierarchy, depicting him as the compassionate change agent that would alter the course of our hero’s life as a true hero in the Catholic mold. he criticized the clergy and called himself a freethinker, he, nonetheless, chose to devote pages upon pages to a member of the church hierarchy, depicting him as the compassionate change agent that would alter the course of our hero’s life as a true hero in the Catholic mold. This brings us to the significance of common sense, most especially in the effort to try to find the truth in a world where the simple error produced in a simple game known as ‘passthe-message’ is trivial in comparison but nonetheless reflects the very real difficulty with the subject of truth, especially given a more complex set of relations, systems, contexts, characters, and situations. At the very least, Hugo was conflicted, perhaps, even frustrated with many of the inequalities and injustices he saw during his lifetime; and perhaps, some of his frustration was a consequence of frustration and disappointment over men whom he expected to act in accordance with the faith he was brought up to love and respect. In the end (at least for the duration of writing Les Miz), Hugo chose to put his trust in his faith and tradition. Hugo chose hope over despair when he decided to depict Monseigneur Bienvenue as an exemplary servant of the Church, filled with cheerfulness and compassion for the downtrodden. So pivotal was he in Valjean’s transformation and in the various subtle comparisons between secular law and moral order, which the novel heavily focuses on, that it reveals Hugo’s commitment to and understanding of the true nature and essence of the Catholic Church. He went even further when he seemed to showcase the stark difference between hope (epitomized by Monseigneur Bienvenue and Valjean) and despair (typified by Javert)— contrasting qualities that are at the very heart of the Catholic quest to keep up the struggle. And the positive depiction, most

especially in the end, is indeed a testimonial to a compassionate Church hierarchy and the Sacrament of Reconciliation. But as the moving power of the motion picture proves, it can dominate public perception and win human hearts (as the accolades and box office reveal) most especially when it chooses a topic that properly captures human nature, celebrating the best of humanity (whether in tragedy or triumph) in consonance with man’s traditional inclination to believe in God. Perhaps even the film’s producer (Cameron Macintosh), in spite of a nonconventional lifestyle, and screenplay writer (William Nicholson), both born and raised Catholic, may have somehow recognized the universality and sheer beauty of the faith they were born into and decided to depict it with much reverence and respect. And perhaps, like Hugo, they too have a longing for the Church and have at least an intellectual understanding of its nature and essence. Les Miz is indeed a refreshing change from the usual fare of fear and disappointment brought on by a powerful media, which seems to often celebrate masochism by either showcasing man’s darkness or frivolity; and its enormous critical and commercial success proves two significant points about the issues of media dominance and truth: (1) media dominance enables power, as revealed by the 1980 musical’s positive depiction of the clergy, which may have prompted the Catholic upbringing of the recent film’s screenplay writer and producer, thus sparking such a fine tribute to the Catholic faith from both average viewers and critics; and (2) even if the truth is often difficult to surmise, it tugs at the human heart and mind, even among those unlikely to see the light— because the truth is premised on human nature and common sense. One just needs to struggle to dissect the layers of complicated distractions with a little work and common sense. With Les Miz, it really seems that the producer, director, and writer captured Victor Hugo’s real sentiments of hope and reverence for the compassionate Church Monseigneur Bienvenue represents.

B r avo !

…he, nonetheless, chose to devote pages upon

“Beauty and the City” In Summer 2012 , a group of UA&P students bagged an international award for their video’s technical excellence. According to team head Jake Morales, the “Pigna Calidad Technica” was a special award given to the video with the best look, editing, and cinematography. “In layman’s terms, the most visually beautiful video,” he said. Given yearly at the UNIV Forum in Rome, the award was shared by Morales, Troy Bautista, Andreo Bongco, Manfred Salandanan, Martin Verdejo, with CAS faculty member Robert Cortes as adviser. Morales said the video says that ultimately, the city and its rhythms are not what allow or bar anyone from developing a love for the beautiful. “The city dweller and his rhythm are what’s doing that,” he explained. “Because beauty in the city is always there for the taking. It’s really up to the city dweller to decide to stop his constant movement, listen in silence, and contemplate the beautiful that’s found all over the city.”

The University’s all-female cheering squad Firestarters triumphed at the Women’s National College Athletic Association (WNCAA) Cheerleading Championship last February when they performed a flawless, entertaining routine that defied gravity and stunned the crowd at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium. The group, headed by team captain Crystal Avanceña, broke into tears when the announcement was made at the end of the competition. The victory marks the first in the University’s young history, having topped contenders from Centro Escolar University and Miriam College that landed at second and third places, respectively, while defeating five other schools. Showing off their dancing and near-acrobatic skills to represent the school were Avanceña, Ana Feline Avena, Rachelle Ann Baliao, Ashley Hope Barba, Eunice Bilog, Patricia Calma, Patriz Anne Cruz, Rochelle Anne De Mesa, Ma. Aurora Jzmyn Esguerra, Ina Gonda, Micah Gorostiza, Rosselina Angeline Ibuna, Teresa Beatriz Jose, Anna Maria Lucia Limbo, Bianca Mascenon, Ira Loyola, Iris Maligat, Isabella Manrique, Maria Dalisay Palabyab, Charybelle Quimbao, Erika Recomite, Princess Samson, Jamie Alyssa Tecson, Francine Turo, Juhanna Villaruz, and Kathlyn Louise Yu.

Firestarters grab championship in WNCAA

Photos courtesy of CSA

Top 5 lessons from Spikes Asia Creative Academy Jake Morales

Photos courtesy of Jolo Valdez

Jolo Valdez

1. Dream Big but Learn How to Start Small. Big opportunities abound. Though they don’t always present themselves as big the first time you see them, they do get bigger at one point in time. The only reason why people don’t see these opportunities is that they don’t look for them or they’re too proud to start small. I picked this lesson up from the former Regional CEO of McCann Erickson for North America. As a young professional, he dreamt of working for the big McCann agency but it never had an opening for him. So, just to get into the company, he decided to start there as a trainee with no pay. He then worked his way up and subsequently became president.

Lessons from the world

ttending the Roger Hatchuel Academy in Cannes, France was definitely an eye opener. It was amazing to see the myriad creative entries of diverse advertising agencies from all over the world. Being with other students from the different regions of the world was also an experience. Together, we listened to global and regional CEOs from the biggest advertising agencies in the world who talked about their impressive success stories and their company’s culture and take on advertising and creativity. Aside from the marketing tips and lessons we learned, my biggest take-away from the experience are the stories related by the different speakers and the pointers I picked up from them. I chose to discuss particular lessons that can apply to anyone whatever his work or interests are. Here are my top 3 lessons from the experience:

2. When times are hard, fight harder. This striking lesson came from the Global Chief Creative Officer of DDB—one of the most successful creative advertising agencies today. He served as an Iranian foot soldier as a teenager and made his way to Turkey as a refugee after the war. He was alone with nothing on him but his clothes. He didn’t know how to speak the local language but studied diligently while working as a part time janitor. He then set off for France to study again, and that is where opportunities opened up for him. Now he’s the global Chief Creative Officer with mansions all over the world. 3. Wherever you are, be a sponge. Learn whatever you can, suck it all up, maintain the network you have built, and bring it to wherever you will go next. I think this especially applies if we want to look for a job abroad. My Roger Hatchuel Academy classmates and I were all invited to apply by an agency in Milan. They didn’t really mind what country we were from. What they gave more attention to was the experience, skills, and knowledge we can bring to the table. It is almost a year since my Cannes experience, but I still look back whenever I need inspiration.

My experience at the Spikes Asia Creative Academy in Singapore loaded me with enough creative inspiration to be able to survive in my career for a long time. With focus and self-control, I was able to condense all I learned into just five points.

1. Tech Guys Will Rule in the Future Technology is changing the way people do things. Businessmen, advertisers, and brands need to be where technology is if they are to be a part of what’s to come. During the last tsunami in Japan, someone came up with an app to help people avoid roads that were damaged by the tsunami, and he did it all in his office desk. I saw technology being used to come up with creative solutions, and create meaningful experiences for consumers of products. At the forefront of all of this development are tech savvy individuals who are about to change the game.

2. Good Ideas Can Go Global At the Academy, there were many opportunities to share and exchange ideas. There were ideas that I did not quite like because they were too localized and nonrelatable. However, some ideas stood out, despite their being crafted for the locals of another country. That’s when I realized that great ideas can transcend cultural barriers, capturing the hearts and minds of people everywhere.

4. Adversity Fosters True Development A person, a community, or even a country needs to go through hard times in order to develop. While I was at the Academy, I was tasked to present a campaign from the Philippines that tackled any social issue. While talking to my mentor there, I asked about some of the issues in his country, and he told me there was none. I said, “Wow, that’s great!” That wasn’t the case though. I learned that because his country doesn’t have a lower class and citizens rarely experience hardship, people (especially the youth) are not disposed to doing socio-civic work. That’s what happens when you run a country like a business. Sure, the country develops economically, but personal and social development staggers.

Photos courtesy of Jake Morales

5. Filipinos are creative Being the only Filipino at the Creative Academy, I wanted the people there to know that the Filipinos’ capability measures up to global creativity standards. That’s why when I found out that out of all the big names who were invited to speak at the academy, two were from the Philippines. I couldn’t have been more proud. LOWE Philippines Chairman and Chief Creative Officer Leigh Reyes and BBDO Philippines Chairman and Chief Creative Officer David Guererro really put on a show and proved to the participants from different countries that Filipinos excel in global creativity and leadership. That’s Pinoy power right there!

3. Creativity is Nothing Without Effectiveness Creative ideas abound out there. Some make you say, “Wow! Why didn’t I think of that?” I saw a lot of print ads that were simply mind blowing, but after some thought I asked myself, “I wonder if these creative print ads manage to increase the sales of the product?” Creativity is not the end in itself, but a means to an end. Really creative people harness the power of creativity to achieve a tangible objective that can be measured. The true measure of a good idea is effectiveness. Advertisers are not just artists making art for art’s sake, but artists with a cause.

Me ofreceís, oh ilusiones! la copa del consuelo, y mis jovenes años a despertar venís: gracias a ti, tormenta; gracias, vientos del cielo, que a buena hora supísteis cortar mi incierto vuelo, para abartime al suelo de mi natal país Cabe anchurosa playa de fina y suave arena y al pie du una montaña cubierta verdor, hallé en mi patria asilo bajo arbolena amena, y en sus umbrosos bosques, tranquilidad serena, reposo a mi cerebro, silencio a mi dolor.

Delivered by Dr Paul Dumol upon receiving his Rizal Award in June 2012.

Rizal

on Rizal

wish to thank the National Historical Commission for this singular honor. I think it would not be out of place to say a few words on our national hero at the end of the celebration of his 150th birthday. I have been told to keep this response to five minutes, and I promise not to abuse this request too much. One hundred sixteen years have passed since Rizal’s death, and in those years Rizal’s reputation has passed through two stages: adoration and vilification. We are in a third stage of his reputation. I would like to call it the Ambeth Ocampo Stage, after the one person who has perhaps done the most today to make Rizal come alive before so many. In this third stage we are getting to know Rizal, the human being with his human strengths (meaning they are limited) and his human weaknesses (meaning they are not few). This is not to detract from Rizal’s greatness. On the contrary, his greatness shines all the more brilliantly before our eyes the more human he appears. I think there is a fourth stage we will have to go through, and it will not be an easy one. This is to take Rizal on Rizal seriously, to take what Rizal says about himself seriously. One example from many: in his great poem “Mi retiro,” Rizal reviews his life from childhood to exile and describes his years outside the Philippines from 1882 to 1892, excluding of course his brief return to Calamba from 1887 to 1888, as a time in which he “squandered,” in Nick Joaquin’s translation—correctly, in my opinion—his youth. I usually ask my students whether Rizal is not dismissing the Propaganda Movement, including his two novels, as a waste of time. In contrast, he thanks God for his exile, and

Paul Dumol, PhD

therefore for his years in Dapitan—exactly the opposite of what we usually have in our textbooks, where we exalt his years in Spain, England, and Europe and see Dapitan as the time of his marginalization. But Rizal in “Mi retiro” was being consistent with what he says elsewhere in a letter written before his return to the Philippines: that he thought the six or seven months he spent in Calamba from August 1887 to February 1888 a time better spent than all his years in Spain before that, five years to be exact including the time spent writing the Noli. We would, of course, disagree with Rizal, but that is my point: we disagree with him, but do not usually try to see why Rizal said what he said. Rizal was nothing less than sincere in his assessments of his own life, and he is telling us something in these two instances about the value of direct contact with the people we would serve, the value of teaching people face to face, the value of actually living in the Philippines and serving directly the community, the value of an immediate, personal, living example. Thank you for your forbearance.

how disarming and open they all were. The head of HR said, “Don’t worry. You’re not in college to memorize textbooks—those things constantly change, and besides, you’ll learn 90% of what you’ll have to do when you’re on the job already. Enjoy college and take in all the life lessons it can offer you. That’s more important!” From that moment on, we let go of our inhibitions and decided to just enjoy the whole experience of iTaste. Indeed we were probably the noisiest and craziest of the five teams, and it certainly helped that we were all close friends in school. We visited Kraft’s Sucat headquarters a number of times for cooking lessons, inspiring talks, and the usual team-building activities, but perhaps the best experience we had was conducting real market research with representatives from PSRC, one of the leading custom research companies in the country. We spent a Saturday in the home of moms of Kraft’s target market, learning about how they live and how these supermoms feed their families for an entire day with a budget that a person here in Pearl Drive would spend for just one meal. Witnessing the truth of how Filipino moms live

Photo by Dixie Camua

The iTaste Story Jico Pascual

t was our first taste of a job application—crafting résumés, phone interviews, panel interviews, online exams, and the anxiety of waiting through it all. Since it began in 2008, the country’s top five universities (ADMU, DLSU, UA&P, UP, and UST) would enter teams of six members each for Kraft Foods Philippines’ annual iTaste Business Challenge. After a month of waiting, six Integrated Marketing Communication (IMC) students were chosen to represent UA&P in iTaste 2012. Isabel Agoncillo, Mari Barretto, Ysay Camus, Jico Pascual, Agi Recio, and Grayson Yañez took on the challenge of the competition in the midst of a tough semester of IMC and it was definitely worth it. iTaste was both an intercollegiate competition and a talent development program. We weren’t simply briefed on a case and left to our own devices. From the day Kraft welcomed us, we were exposed to real-world information, real-business scenarios, and the lessons and experiences of real-world professionals--including Kraft’s very own leadership team, their top management. We had a chance to “speed date” with each member of the leadership team—the GM, CMO, CFO, COO, heads of legal, HR, etc.—over Oreo cookies and shot glasses of milk. Our questions deal with our intimidations about entering the “real world,” and we were surprised at

for their children’s welfare and happiness was probably the most amazing and inspiring experience we had in iTaste. Luckily (or not), in the middle of the iTaste program was the IMC seniors’ field trip to Singapore for the Spikes Asia Advertising Congress. So we willingly sacrificed days of preparation for our business case presentation, in exchange for lessons and experiences from the global marketing and advertising industry and bonding and memories with our batch. After that was crunch time for completing our case presentation. We had to apply strategic thinking and creativity in order to solve a real business issue for Kraft’s heritage juice brand “Tang”. Thankfully, our classes in IMC—coupled with support from our batchmates, some upperclassmen, and even some IMC alumni—equipped us for the challenge. The sacrifices and sleepless nights proved to be definitely worth it when we emerged as the champions of the business challenge, earning a trophy and a substantial cash prize, not just for ourselves, but for the school as well. As if things weren’t overwhelming enough, our teammate, Mari Barretto was also offered by Kraft to be a Graduate Trainee. Indeed the experience was epic. If it makes you wonder, “iTaste” isn’t so named because it sounded cool. It’s actually an acronym for “I Take A Step Towards Excellence.” Reflecting on this, I can’t help but relate it to the ideals of excellence taught to us in school— from the teachings of St. Josemaría to the countless lessons from our many liberal education subjects. Doesn’t it sound like “blaze a trail”?

Students top Google contest in Asia Pacific

This competition requires deep analytical skills, an understanding of human behavior and motivations, and business writing.

hree School of Management graduates competed with 11,000 contestants from 86 different countries and made number one in the Asia-Pacific region at the recent Google Online Marketing Competition (GOMC), an event the technology company holds yearly for university students to experience marketing firsthand. The winning team of alumni Hannah Tan and Danna Lee, and current Master’s student Kyne Santos, crafted and implemented a Google Adworks marketing campaign for Olivia & Fifth, a limited-edition clothing shop co-founded by Gem Co, a UA&P alumna. As part of their prize, Tan, Lee, and Santos toured the Google headquarters in Singapore last September. Team coach Kahlil Corazo, an entrepreneur who teaches part time at the University, also formed a UA&P team that landed a spot in the global top 20 rankings of the same competition last year. “This competition requires deep analytical skills, an understanding of human behavior and motivations, and business writing. I think our emphasis on both liberal education and professional specialization is a great preparation for this,” Corazo said. To compete in the Google Online Marketing Challenge, student teams run a three-week campaign for a small or medium enterprise or an NGO using the online advertising platform Google Adwords. Google gives each qualified team a $250 Adwords credit. Winners are then chosen on the basis of campaign performance and the quality of their reports.

Photos courtesy of Kahili Corazo

My mother helped me realize that god is amazing, and that he has a plan for us.

i n T ER naT i o nal

the language of love 사 랑 하 랑 하 자 사 사 랑 하 는 나 님 을 알

는 자 들 아 ! 우 리 가 서 로 사 랑 은 하 나 님 께 속 한 것 이 니 자 마 다 하 나 님 께 로 나 서 하 고

사 랑 하 지 아 니 하 는 자 는 하 나 님 을 알 지 못 하 나 니 이 는 하 나 님 은 사 랑 이 심 이 라 하 나 님 나 타 난 바 독 생 자 를 암 아 우 리

의 되 세 를

사 었 상 살

랑 으 에 리

이 니 보 려

우 하 내 하

리 나 심 심

에 님 은 이

게 이 저 니

이 렇 게 자 기 의 로 말 미 라 1 John 4:7-9

GrACe CHoi Youngblood article reprinted with permission from the Philippine Daily Inquirer February 2, 2013

believe I have the strongest and the most respectable mother on earth. She is a single parent and I am her only child, so there are only two of us in our family. But although my mother is my only immediate relation, I still consider our family complete because she plays different roles. My mother is my father who works hard to support me fi nancially. Like a pine tree, she is strong and full of fortitude. Whenever I get weary with the different people I deal with, I can always count on her to be the same loving mom who never gives up. She is my sister, to whom I can tell everything under the sun—all of my troubles in my love life, friends, academics, and spiritual life. The reason I can tell her everything is that she is always on my side. Although sometimes she gives me sharp, somewhat hurtful, advice, I know that it will make me a better person. Sometimes I don’t even have to tell her anything; she just looks at me and knows immediately there’s something bothering me. My mother is my brother who protects me from all the dangers that surround me. I remember when I was little, we’d be walking on rough roads and she’d pick me up and carry me on her back for my safe passage. She taught me to be street-smart, and she also taught me how to ride a bicycle. I feel like I can travel the whole of Korea on my bicycle because of her. She is my grandmother who always has her arms open for me to hide and cry in when the world hurts me. She is also my grandfather who dotes on me. When she sees delicious food and nice things in a store, she buys the stuff, not for herself, but always for me. When I was growing up, I could not understand why my father would leave my mother five days before I was born. Even harder to accept was the fact that I have brothers and sisters with different mothers. But what I could not understand the most was how my mother survived it all, even with my father leaving so many debts for her to pay. All his siblings, my aunts and uncles, turned their backs on us. Soon, my mother lost all the money and buildings she owned in Korea. Later, she found out that since the very beginning, my father just wanted her money, because she was one of the richest single women in her hometown. My immature perspective prevented me from understanding all these at the time. I could not understand

how, despite everything, my mother could forgive my father. She told me she could not have done it without God’s grace. She said she realized that she, too, was a grave sinner but God forgave her, anyway. That’s why she forgave my father. Because of her example, I learned to forgive my father, who is now in prison. I pray for him every day. My mother helped me realize that God is amazing, and that he has a plan for us. We may have been materially poor, but we became rich in our hearts. I came to understand those fatherless children who are having a hard time without a male figure to look up to in their childhood. My mother became a person who came to understand other single parents, and she helps them as much as possible and supports them through prayers. Through the grace of God, we are able to help the needy kids in the Philippines and Africa through World Vision. However, we don’t have enough money. My mother runs a clothing shop, which earns just enough to make ends meet. But she was able to send me to the Philippines to study. I’m so thankful for my mother who still financially supports me even if I’m here in the Philippines. I believe it’s a miracle that I’m studying abroad. Hopefully soon, I will be speaking and writing fluent English. My mother made it possible for me to dream for my future. All of my friends in Korea have become factory workers. It was also expected of me to become one. I grew up in a rural area in Korea called Nonsan City. A student like me normally goes to professional high school, where one can learn certain vocational skills before going into factory labor. I had such a difficult time in elementary school, and my grades were very low. I was starting to lose hope, but my mother continuously prayed for me. She wanted me to have an education suited for me, so she sent me to the Philippines. She had to wait, however, for five years before she could make that happen. All the while, she kept telling me that I am her dream. Considering the reality that I am the dream of someone I love the most, I’ve really wanted to lessen the burden on her. Her unconditional love sometimes makes me want to cry. There were times that her shop had to be temporarily closed because she could not pay the rent, but somehow she still managed to send me financial support. After some time, she revealed to me her true financial situation, and now I want to alleviate her burden of supporting me. I want my mother to retire and live the rest of her life in peace (she’s 60, by the way), and the only way I can do that is if I can support myself. My mother inspires me to persevere in studying here in the Philippines. I have had a hard time adjusting to the culture, the climate, the people, and most especially, the language. My English and Tagalog are still not perfect, but my mother has helped me in some way in getting along with new people. She taught me the language everyone understands: the language of love.

Cap t u r ed

Graduation: All’s well that ends well

Students have to pore over hundreds—probably thousands—of pages of “readings” and books only to possess a one-page diploma. So it was for more than 200 graduates in the commencement exercises of the Class of 2012.

But the happy graduates would probably agree that most of the honor went to their parents and families. They it was who saw them through Inferno and Shakespearean tragedies, yet ending up with a “comedic” finish that is nothing short of divine.

Photos courtesy of CSA

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Into the Dragons’ Lair: Talk about baptism of fire.

Photos courtesy of CSA

Early in June 2012, the freshest batch of UA&P students explored the campus, made new friends, and tumbled and posed in photos that would soon make them pine for times carefee and past.

The UA&P Orientation 2012 The UA&P Orientation (UAPO), organized by the Center for Student Affairs, provided students with various talks and workshops, as well as fun activities, that instantly got them to warm up to their “second home.” The program spanned five days. And here are some of the best captured moments of those gruelingly fun days.

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Sch o la r s

A Verdict on our

Education

Carl Francis C. Moog Valedictorian, Class of 2012

r. John Miller, our Commencement Speaker; Dr. Jose Maria Mariano, the President of the University; Management Committee members; Dr. Placido Mapa, the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the UA&P Foundation, Incorporated and other Trustees; members of the Operations Committees, Deans and Executive Directors, Administrative Unit Heads, Faculty members, our dear parents and relatives; friends; my fellow graduating students; ladies and gentlemen: good afternoon.

A verdict has been made: guilty as charged. The Senate impeachment court has spoken. The pieces of evidence have been presented. The person with the highest power in the Philippine judiciary has been found guilty of the charges against him. Fellow graduates, we are also guilty.

We sought a genuine education. We were given one. But what have we done?

(1) We are guilty of having spent almost a quarter of our lives in a university. If you haven’t noticed yet, some of the world’s most successful and wealthiest people today are college drop-outs. One created the world’s largest personal computer software company; another created the 21st century’s most used technological innovation, a social-networking service that allows you to invite your real life friends to be your friends online. We went to university to earn a college degree. We were expected to go to school every day to patiently listen, to meticulously take down notes, and to expectantly pass all the examinations. We went to university so that we can get that piece of parchment that will serve as our ticket to the workplace. But is this really what we paid for? Our parents funded our education. For the scholars, somebody else generously sponsored it. But for all of us, we paid with our time and effort. Lest we forget those sleepless nights just to finish a paper, those moments of bickering with some groupmates who were relentless free loaders, and those readings that we had to read but did not always understand—let us remind ourselves that our college education has been bought at a great price. But is it worth it? In their book Academically Adrift, Richard Arum and Josipa Roksa explained that, on average, almost “half of college students showed no significant gain in critical thinking, complex reasoning and writing skills during their first two years in college”—and even less as they progressed. Ironically, this suggests that college education does little for a person’s further intellectual development. For most people today, a college education is equated to training for a particular career. More specifically, many students enrol in college only because they want to get a degree in order to be able to work. Unfortunately, getting a college degree does not automatically guarantee employment. Nowadays, almost everybody has a degree. What difference does ours make? Now, many of you are thinking and reconsidering. But obviously, it’s too late to withdraw. Four years have already passed. Years forever taken. Today, the world recognizes what we’ve worked for through those years. But have we really received an education? What does education really mean? Etymologically, education comes from the Latin words educare and educere. Educare means “to nourish, to lead out, to bring up, to form, or to mold” while educere means “to bring out, to extract, to make progress, to elevate, or to move forward.”

Nowadays, almost everybody has a degree. What difference does ours make?

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Educare presumes that our minds are empty and that teachers have the responsibility to fill it with knowledge from their own head. Educere, on the other hand, is about drawing something from the student, thereby challenging teachers to know where that learning in the student’s head lies. Hence, “a true educator is not a sage on the stage, but rather a mere guide on the side.” Simply put, education is a two-way process. One educates. One learns. But both can learn from each other. In any case, if there is no learning, there is no education. In this day and age, there is no more excuse to be ignorant. Information can now be accessed easily with the movement of our fingertips. But the question is this: how are we supposed to use those pieces of information? Are our minds adept enough to handle the increasing load of information around us? Or are we just going to accept everything as a fact? Unlike most universities, UA&P did not train us only for our future work. While such training may help prepare an individual for a particular field of employment, how much does that contribute to the essence of being an educated person? Does it necessarily follow that a person without a college degree is uneducated, or even inferior, as some seem to believe?

Education is a two-way process. One educates. One learns.

(2) We are very privileged. We are fortunate to have received a liberal education. Unfortunately, some of us here are still guilty of not realizing its importance. Some would say that this form of education is elitist and outdated. Others would even say that it is impractical – giving its graduates a sentence of lifetime unemployment. On the contrary, our liberal education endows us with abilities that will prepare us for a lifetime. It gives us the tools for lifelong learning, the proper disposition for civic engagement, and definitely a right to employment [as proven by our commencement speaker who is a CEO]. The essence of a liberal education is to prepare ourselves to be human beings who are truly free. Provided that we have taken our UA&P education seriously, we have been liberated from ignorance. Free to think on our own; free to critically evaluate things; free to make connections and distinguish various ideas from one another; free to stand up for our own values and beliefs and defend them rationally; and free to decide which ones are right or wrong, good or evil. We sought a genuine education. We were given one. But what have we done?

(3) UA&P students have often been charged guilty of being apathetic. A recent study assessed the status of volunteering in UA&P and found that only roughly 30% of the study’s sample population is involved in any volunteering activities in the University—at least as of last school year. It’s sad but it’s true. Many of us have been too busy with our own things. Our education does How long do we intend to stay in our comfort zones? Haven’t we realized that we had received so much but had not even bothered to share? not end today. Is this how we manifest our UA&P education? We put pride in the quality of our graduates and the achievements of the few. Today, let us ask ourselves, what have we done? But the final verdict Young people do not want to be told what to do. But we have to realize that we can do a lot for other people. We have to make a difference in the lives of others—now. truly depends on us. Getting an education does not necessarily mean just getting a degree. Real education unites fragmented knowledge. It unifies the different dimensions of our lives. It makes us We are our judge. whole. It manifests itself and goes beyond oneself toward the service of others. As we look forward to a new phase in our life, we carry with us the principles of our beloved University. Her beacon of light will continue to guide us as we sail across the vast sea called life. The wisdom she shared will protect us from the approaching rocks, reefs, and all the shallow water that would come our way. Now, we are ready to sail on our own. Our education does not end today. But the final verdict truly depends on us. We are our judge. Thank you and congratulations.

A Scholar’s Profile

Name: Renz J. (Javier) Ayongao Age: 17 High school: PAREF-Westbridge School, Inc. Year and course: I, MA Political Economy with Specialization in International Relations and Development Ambition: To become one of the best lawyers in the country Hobbies: Public speaking, singing Type of scholarship: Merit How is the scholarship helping you? Without it, I wouldn’t be able to enter university. The scholarship granted to me especially made my parents happy. I know they find it hard to support me and my two siblings, considering that my father currently has no work and my sister is also a college student. When I was in high school, I was also granted full scholarship by my school. My UA&P scholarship grant is also a big help because it inspires me to give my best in everything I do.

What’s the best thing you discovered about UA&P? Its system of education is probably the best thing one could experience as a UA&P student. I really like the integration of the liberal arts curriculum in the system. Even though I am still a freshman, I know that our liberal education will give me and my fellow UA&P students a distinctive edge over other students. As what I always hear from my teachers and some upperclassmen, the liberal arts training UA&P offers makes students “universal.” They are trained to become effective and efficient professionals in any field they want to be part of.

Photos courtesy Renz Ayongao

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News B r i efs

New PhD holders Five UA&P faculty members were recently conferred doctorates in different fields. They all obtained their PhD from the University of the Philippines Diliman.

Dr. Ceferino Rodolfo Vice Dean of the School of Management PhD in Public Administration “A Study of the Decision-making Process during the Philippines-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement Trade Negotiations” Dr. Brenda Quismorio School of Management PhD in Business Administration “A Measure of Value-at-Risk (VaR) for FatTailed Distributed Philippine Stock Index and Philippine Portfolios with Selected International Stock Indices: An Extreme Value Theory (EVT) – Copula Approach”

Dr. Jose Marcelino Nicdao College of Arts and Sciences PhD in Comparative Literature “Translating Chinese Literature: Selected Contemporary Short Stories from Taiwan” Dr. Arnel Joven College of Arts and Sciences PhD in History “Medicine and Health Care during the Japanese Occupation Period, 1941-1945: Adaptations and Negotiations in Lowland Luzon”

Dr. Joachim Antonio College of Arts and Sciences PhD in Creative Writing “The Operatic Template of a Basic Plot and Other Plays for Young Adults”

Tambuli Awards confers prizes to local, foreign firms Now Asia-wide, the 2012 UA&P Tambuli Awards named Publicis Manila and Nestlé Philippines Effectiveness Agency of the Year and Effectiveness Advertiser of the Year, respectively.

Alaska Corporation’s Vice President for Marketing Belen Fernando also received honors as CMO of the Year, while the Contract Advertising India Private Limited won the Carmencita Esteban Platinum Award for the “Diwali Mithaas (Sweetness) Campaign” for Cadbury India Limited. Every year the Tambuli Awards celebrates integrated marketing communications (IMC) effectiveness and the promotion of societal values. Other award categories include Best Integrated Digital Program, Best Advocacy

Vice President Binay

Youth confab highlights

Experts, execs discuss

Linguists, polyglots

visits UA&P

‘unity of life’

social entrepreneurship

gather at UA&P

Philippine Vice President Jejomar Binay returned to his alma mater March 26 to speak at the Center for Research and Communication’s overseas employment conference. A graduate of the Strategic Business Economics Program of the University, Binay joined government officials, business leaders, educators, and representatives from non-governmental organizations to find solutions for challenges facing Filipino workers abroad who make up 10 percent of the current Philippine population. “UA&P has brought us together in this noble quest and I look forward to the synergies and advocacies that you shall propose,” he said. University co-founder and trustee Dr. Bernardo Villegas said that the purpose of “deepening our understanding of the OFW phenomenon by scientific research” is to contribute to global Filipinos’ economic, social, cultural, and spiritual growth. For Dr. Villegas, migration for employment is here to stay even with the country’s growing economy in the years to come. One reason he cited is the global community’s preference for Filipinos, known worldwide to be outstanding professionals and workers.

UA&P co-founder Dr. Jesus Estanislao addressed a crowd of high school studentleaders in a leadership conference in March 2012. The “Strong Person, Strong Nation” congress sought to introduce the value of “unity of life” as a framework for the ideal “Strong Person.” Other speakers were Chilean Ambassador Roberto Mayorga and leadership guru Francis Kong. Participating schools included PAREF Southridge, PAREF Woodrose, ERIS, Ramon Magsaysay High School, and home-school Kolbe Academy.

Microfinance executives and experts convened March 2012 to discuss social entrepreneurship in the Philippines. Among the speakers were Dr. Gary Leonardo (San Dionisio Credit Cooperative), Kamrul Tarafder (ASA Philippines Foundation), Arnold Morfe (Dualtech), Anton Sayo (Alay Buhay Community Development Foundation), Leo Parma (AsiaPro Cooperative), and Bienvenido Nito (UA&P). The son of Dr. Raul C. Hernandez also received his father’s posthumous award, recognizing the elder Hernandez’s dedication in initiating and promoting social enterprises.

The Linguistics Society of the Philippines (LSP) convened the 2012 LSP National Conference at UA&P on May 19 with the theme “Current Studies in Language and Linguistics in the Philippines.” UA&P President Dr. Jose Maria Mariano delivered a plenary session entitled “Language and Liberal Education.” The LSP is a national organization of linguists, polyglots, and educators who lead in the advancement of the scientific study of language in the Philippine context.

Campaign, Best Insights and Strategic Thinking, Best Innovative and Integrated Media Campaign, and Best Teens Brand Campaign.

Local moms receive

Chemistry whizzes clash

economics training

at UA&P Top high school students from around the country competed in the 11th Philippine National Chemistry Olympiad at the University of Asia and the Pacific, April 10. Organized by UA&P and the Kapisanang Kimika ng Pilipinas, the PNCO is the biggest high school-level national competition in chemistry in the Philippines. Part of the event is preparing to select the country’s student representatives to the International Chemistry Olympiad (IChO) in 2015.

Mothers who run micro-businesses in the Pasig-Mandaluyong district received training on basic economics from a group of UA&P students. Attendees were owners of flower delivery services, bakeries, and eateries chosen among clients of micro-finance firm ASA Philippines Foundation. School of Economics faculty member Bienvenido Nito, whose class organized the event, said it was a “win-win situation”—students got to review economic theories, while the moms acquired new knowledge.

Economic Summit cites creativity-dev’t link With the theme “Tapping the Human Creative Potential,” the 2012 Economic Summit brought in experts from the fields of education, information technology, and economics to explain how creativity fuels the growth and development of businesses. Three speakers emphasized this creativitydevelopment connection: School of Education and Human Development Dean Dr. Celerino Tiongco, School of Sciences and Engineering faculty member Christian Vallez, and UA&P co-founder and economist Dr. Bernardo Villegas.

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Dr. Villegas addresses

New website launched

diplomats “It’s the best time to invest in the Philippines,” UA&P co-founder and renowned economist Dr. Bernardo Villegas told diplomats in a special economic briefing last October. “We could be looking at growth rates of 7-10% in the next ten years as a result of over 25 years of slow and painful reforms,” he said. Dr. Villegas also traced this growth to the country’s stable democracy, strong macroeconomic fundamentals, labor peace, educated labor force, and strategic geographic location. The forum was attended by officials from the embassies of Chile, Sri Lanka, Syria, Iran, Thailand, Indonesia, Georgia, Sweden, the US, Canada, Vietnam, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Turkey, China, and the Gulf Cooperation Council.

UA&P has launched a new website that’s faster, snazzier, and at pace with the “rapidly evolving” Web. The website—now sporting a sliding screen-wide banner image—retains the University’s URL (www. uap.asia), but incorporates a slew of new features. Its homepage displays news and announcements, as well as institutional events. According to media officer Camille Diola, UA&P aims to keep its website dynamic and innovative, keeping up with the “rapidly evolving digital communications trends and technologies.” The website is a crucial tool for the University to reach more people and attain its mission of contributing to integral human development in the Asia-Pacific region, she said.

Educators convene

UA&P holds science

in UA&P for 1st nat’l

comm effectiveness tilt

mentoring confab

The UA&P School of Sciences and Engineering held the 2nd Science Communication Effectiveness Competition (SciComm) with the top prize going to Philippine Science High School - Main Campus. The second place winners were Makati Science High School, while third place went to students from Miriam College High School. SciComm is the first and only competition in the Philippines that aims to foster among students the skills needed for effective communication of scientific ideas. Following a pitch format, students are given only ten minutes to present effectively and substantially the content of a paper published in major scientific journals.

UA&P is one of the few academic institutions, and perhaps the first, to incorporate a one-on-one mentoring system as a means to progress the integral human development of its students. Last September, the Mentoring and Guidance Desk of the Center for Student Affairs reached out to other schools that hope to adopt similar methods in their teaching through the first National Conference for Student Mentoring entitled “Shaping Young Minds and Hearts (Towards Integrative Coaching, Counseling, and Mentoring).” More than a hundred school officials—administrators, guidance counselors, homeroom advisers, teachers, and parent leaders—attended. They came from as far as Baguio, Laoag, Tuguegarao, Naga, Bohol, Iloilo, Leyte, Iligan, Lanao Del Sur, North Cotabato, Davao, and Marawi.

UA&P holds educators’

UA&P hosts int’l confab

Vietnamese ambassador

conference

on Asian, Latin American

visits UA&P

studies

Prominent teachers and the leader of a US-based education movement poured in pedagogical wisdom in a conference held last October 2012 entitled “Raising Lifelong Learners: Future-Proofing Today’s Youth.” The forum drew nearly 300 participants from all over Luzon. Dr. Terry Roberts, director of the National Paideia Center at the University of North Carolina, addressed the audience online, urging teachers to help students become productive professionals and responsible citizens. UA&P Associate Professor Dr. Paul Dumol described the context of educational challenges faced by schools in the Philippines. Several local master teachers handled parallel sessions. Co-organizers of the event were the School of Education and Human Development, Bannister Academy, Diwa Learning Systems Inc., and the National Paideia Center.

The 5th International Conference of the Latin American Studies Council of Asia and Oceania (CELAO) on October 9-11 brought together scholars from across the globe at UA&P with the hope of furthering international ties. With the theme “Strengthening Exchanges Across the Pacific,” the conference gathered 60 foreign and local academicians to discuss relations between Asia and Latin America while seeking cooperation among the countries in the regions. The event was co-organized by the Philippine Academic Consortium for Latin American Studies (PACLAS), of which UA&P College of Arts and Sciences Vice Dean of Academic Affairs Dr. Marya Svetlana Camacho is currently the Chair. Foreign countries represented were Mexico, Colombia, Brazil, Spain, and the US.

Vietnamese Ambassador Nguyen Vu Tu visited UA&P last October. UA&P President Dr. Jose Maria Mariano welcomed the Southeast Asian diplomat, who is keen on collaborating with the Philippines in improving the education sector.

UA&P welcomes Brazilian ambassador

Spanish economist visits

Brazilian Ambassador George Ney De Souza Fernandes and his wife, Madame Celme Mathias Fernandes, visited UA&P last September. The ambassador expressed interest in forming academic and cultural projects with the University. He also proposed to create a memorandum of understanding between UA&P and the University of Sao Paulo.

UA&P Spanish professor Luis Ravina of the University of Navarra (UNAV) visited UA&P for a study on poverty alleviation. He was former dean of the UNAV School of Economics and is now director of the Navarra Center for International Development. His visit included a session with leaders of social initiatives and a trip to two social enterprises in Batangas.

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An official publication of the University of Asia and the Pacific

versita

Editor: Boots Ruelos Managing Editor: Daryl Zamora

Photographers

Associate Editor: Carlo Cabrera

Luigi Alba

Adviser: Chi-Chi Robles

Aaron Articulo Renz Ayongao

Writers

Carlo Cabrera

Gab Asuncion

Dixie Camua

Maria Svetlana Camacho, PhD

Erwin Canlas

Grace Choi

CATALYST

Robert Cortes

Center for Research and Communication

Concha de la Cruz

Center for Student Affairs

Regina David

Lesley Choa

Camille Diola

Kahlil Corazo

Paul Dumol, PhD

Cecilia Forbes

Jesus P. Estanislao, PhD

Lalay Fuster

Nicole Fuentes

Jake Morales

Veronica Isla, PhD

Jojo Nicdao

Leodivico Lacsamana, PhD

Jolo Valdez

Katerina Lorenzo-Molo, PhD Jose Maria Mariano, PhD

Design

H.E. Roberto Mayorga

Felix Mago Miguel

Dean Edward Mejos Aimee Mercado, MD

Artworks

Carl Francis Moog

Lani de Leon

Jake Morales

Bett Ramirez

Nicollo Ordoñez

Lani Sunico

Michael Lorenzo Padilla

Lydia Yuson

Jico Pascual

Felix Mago Miguel

Philip Peckson Tet Rivera

Printing

Delia Tantuico, LL.B

Inkwell Publishing Co. Inc.

Antonio Torralba, PhD

UA&P at a Glance The University of Asia and the Pacific (UA&P) is a private, not-for-profit institution of higher learning that offers some of the most outstanding academic programs in Asia. It provides a powerful combination of liberal education and professional specialization. The formation of UA&P students is facilitated by an environment conducive to learning, qualified and dedicated teachers, a superior faculty-to-student ratio, and well-maintained facilities. Since its inception in 1967, the Center for Research and Communication (CRC) has grown to become the University of Asia and the Pacific in a tradition of excellence, service and whole-person education. As its name suggests, communication is key in CRC’s founding mission that since its early years, UA&P has also striven to evolve with the rapid developments in the field. The University’s programs are distinct in their focus on the human person’s multi-faceted development. Faithful to our Credo, we aspire to form “individuals who are professionally competent, creative and enterprising, zealous for the common good, and capable of making free, morally upright choices, and who can thus act as positive agents of change and service to society.”

Francesca Nicole Torres

Jolo Valdez

Corporate Communications Office

Andrea Vicente

University of Asia and the Pacific

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Telephone No. : 637 0912 local 301/342

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Celebrating UA&P Culture