Philippine Collegian Issue 4

TAON 91

BILANG 4

BIYERNES, HULYO 12, 2013

PHILIPPINE COLLEGIAN Opisyal na lingguhang pahayagan ng mga mag-aaral ng Unibersidad ng Pilipinas, Diliman

NOWHERE MAN

Alan P. Tuazon

Déjà vu

Stealth mode

8-9 Uncovering secret affairs

5

Artist groups call for release of activist couple

Balita

7

Code Red: A Closer Look at POC Privatization

Lathalain

11

Tala-Ngalan: Isang Pagmumulintuklas sa bansang Filipinas

Kultura

THE OPENING SEQUENCE OF AN INDIE movie ended. The Film Institute was cramped with cinephiles or random movie-goers as I made my way through the dark aisle. I found a vacant seat at the last row.

“These indie films become too mainstream,” a sleepy voice beside me uttered.

Surprised, I looked at your direction. The darkness of the cinema concealed your face.

You enthusiastically discussed the film to me as if we were friends from long ago. People were glaring at our direction. You were as much of a talker as I was.

As the movie ended and the lights went on, the first thing I saw was the dimple on the right side of your face, made more prominent by your smile.

We exited the theatre together. I offered you a ride home to prolong the conversation, but you refused.

“What is your name?” I shouted. People were murmuring hullaballoos outside the theatre.

“Ruby Tuesday,” you shouted back.

“Oh, like the Rolling Stones song?” I said. You just smiled and disappeared among the crowd.

I have always fallen in love with girls named after songs I love—Layla, Roxanne, Michelle, Darlene. Every year is a cycle of songs, of encounters alongside social issues. Similar concerns resurface themselves yearly: price hikes, privatization, militarization, failing grades and relationships.

I saw you again last Saturday at the showing of the restored version of Maynila sa mga Kuko ng Liwanag at the UP Film Institute: after sharing a semester of countless conversations with you over fries and unlimited coffee; after finding out your name was not really Ruby Tuesday; after you just disappeared the way you did on the first night I met you. All of these fragments of images were restored in full colours the same way Maynila sa mga Kuko ng Liwanag was.

The lights outside the theatre revealed your unchanged, talkative self with a bohemian aura. I have bulleted guesses on why you left: maybe you were just too pretty, maybe you’d rather read your existentialist novels, or maybe you loved Bob Dylan more than you loved me.

After ranting about Bianca Gonzales’ indifference to informal settlers and the inane changing of the Philippines to Filipinas, you suddenly grew quiet and became aware of the elephant in the room.

A fine-looking girl walked in and hugged you.

“My girlfriend,” you told me. After a long time, I saw that dimple on your right cheek again. I, too, smiled.

“I’ll give you a new playlist,” you added.

Sure, I need new songs to love.

∞

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OPINYON

PHILIPPINE COLLEGIAN

BIYERNES, HULYO 12, 2013

Uneven Ground PHILIPPINE COLLEGIAN SUBJUGATION CONSTITUTES the brand of “peaceful” friendship between our country and the US celebrated July 4 every year.

Before the celebration of the Philippine-American friendship day this year, the Aquino administration backed the proposal of Philippine defense officials to grant US and Japan greater access to our military bases.

More than six decades of friendship with the US has proven an otherwise unequal relationship. To add insult to injury, more than a decade of the implementation of the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) has only solidified how, across various facets, the inequality of such relations have placed our interests in an unequal level.

The lopsided agreements that forged the alliance with the US disregarded our sovereignty in our own territory in incidences such as the Tubbataha Reef incident.

The government dismissed liability to the US to retain the friendly alliance.

The presence of the US troops allowed under the VFA brought about human rights violations in places where military activities are exercised. It allows the US military to meddle with internal conflicts such as the insurgency in Mindanao.

As far as the Aquino government is concerned, military

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2013 - 2014 Punong Patnugot Julian Inah Anunciacion Kapatnugot Victor Gregor Limon Patnugot sa Balita Keith Richard Mariano Patnugot sa Grapiks Ysa Calinawan Tagapamahala ng Pinansiya Gloiza Rufina Plamenco Panauhing Patnugot Piya Constantino Margaret Yarcia

Ysa Calinawan intervention is necessary for their brand of peace and stability to flourish in the Asia-Pacific region.

Acting like a benevolent master to its subject, the US welcomes the fresh opportunity to further legitimize its presence in the AsiaPacific and to solidify its brand of “peace” and “stability” through its military might. Yet, the timing could not be any convenient.

EDITOR’S PICK

The Philippine Collegian republishes distinguished photographs from its past issues that captured its YEARS tradition of critical and fearless journalism.

In 2008, militant groups called for the pullout of US troops who allegedly participated in actual combat operations and committed human rights abuses against civilians in Mindanao.

UNWELCOME VISITORS

Photo by Candice Anne L. Reyes February 22, 2008

At the backdrop of this uncalled-for military intervention from the US is the rise of China as a superpower that challenges its dominance not only in the Asia-Pacific region but also in the world.

In fact, the US has made its intentions clear with its announcement of the Pacific Century, wherein US military power is reconcentrated from the Middle East to seal its control in the trade-rich and fast-growing economies of Asia-Pacific. In this point where power is being redefined and US hegemony waning, the superpower needs to reinforce its dominance through military forces and secure its position in the global order.

With the glaring one-sidedness of the US-Philippine friendship, the Aquino government is either naïve or a willing pawn to the US master plan.

Amidst the brewing tensions of the claimant countries with China regarding territorial dispute in the West Philippine Sea, the involvement of the US only serves to heighten instability instead of bringing security to the country.

By taking advantage of the conflict between China and the Philippines regarding the West Philippine Sea, the US is dragging the country to its war—

as ally—against China to retain its stronghold of power in the region.

A confrontation with China will primarily serve the interest of the US that owns a reputation of provoking military conflicts. Its wars of aggression against Iraq and Afghanistan, for instance, brought only chaos to citizens. This defines the extent the US is willing to take in the name of “national security.”

The country however, is not equipped to engage in war. Its capacity to provide immediate solutions to natural disasters foretells that any direct attack by China would lead to chaos.

The country should refuse and reject military confrontation, and consequently, any war mongering efforts by other countries with vested interests. Even with the assistance of the US military agreement, the country is not equipped to face China in direct war. If territorial disputes escalated to war, the Philippines would be the foremost casualty whereas the US is situated safely in a distant part of the globe.

The government must learn to defend the interest of the country on its own without relying on friendly alliances that prove to be onerous rather than mutual. As our government continues to be subservient to US imperialism, the country would have lost its sovereignty to foreign colonizers.

Mga Kawani Mary Joy Capistrano Ashley Marie Garcia Kimberly Ann Pauig Jiru Nikko Rada Emmanuel Jerome Tagaro Tagapamahala sa Sirkulasyon Paul John Alix Sirkulasyon Gary Gabales Amelito Jaena Mga Katuwang na Kawani Amelyn Daga Trinidad Gabales Gina Villas Kasapi UP Systemwide Alliance of Student Publications and Writers’ Organizations (Solidaridad) College Editors Guild of the Philippines (CEGP) Pamuhatan Silid 401 Bulwagang Vinzons, Unibersidad ng Pilipinas, Diliman, Lungsod Quezon Telefax 981-8500 lokal 4522 Online pkule1314@gmail.com www.philippinecollegian.org fb.com/philippinecollegian twitter.com/kule1314

BALITA

PHILIPPINE COLLEGIAN

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BIYERNES, HULYO 12, 2013

‘Military access for US, Japan violates PH sovereignty’ David Evardone AMID ESCALATING TENSIONS in the West Philippine Sea, the Aquino administration is opening up military bases in the country to “strategic” allies, a plan various groups criticized as a breach to national sovereignty.

Burning an American flag in front of the US embassy during the PhilippineAmerican Friendship Day on July 4, progressive groups including Kabataan Party-list opposed the proposal to grant the United States and Japan greater access to military bases in the country.

Allowing the agreement would again “bastardize” the country’s military bases and expose the nation to conflicts, like in World War II, and the Korean and Vietnam wars, said Kabataan party-list representative Terry Ridon.

Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin first announced the government’s plan to enter into military access agreements with US and Japan on June 27. The said proposal permits access to former US bases like the Subic Naval base in Zambales, the largest American military base in Southeast Asia until its closure in 1991.

Section 25, Article XVIII of the Philippine Constitution has since prohibited the establishment of foreign military bases in the country “except under a treaty duly concurred in by the Senate and, when the Congress so requires, ratified by a majority of the votes cast by the people in a national referendum.”

In 1991, the late President Corazon Aquino pushed for a treaty between the

US and the Philippines that would have allowed American troops to extend their stay in the country. The Senate, however, rejected the treaty in a 12-11 vote.

In the light of territorial disputes between the Philippines and China, President Benigno Aquino III is also reviving foreign military presence in the country. The Philippines only have the US and Japan as “strategic partners,” Aquino said.

The Philippines, along with other Southeast Asian states, is currently engaged in disputes with China over territories in the West Philippine Sea including Panatag, also known as Scarborough Shoal, and the Kalayaan group of islands.

It has been a practice in other countries to form such alliances like the Five Power agreement between Singapore, Malaysia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and Australia, said Political Science professor Jaime Naval of the UP Diliman College of Social Sciences and Philosophy.

“It is a [necessary] act of sovereignty not to allow foreign forces to enter Philippines. But because we do not see the threats and possibilities that would imperil Philippine interests, instead of being strategic, we address things in a ‘crisis mode,’” Naval added.

However, allowing US intervention in the territorial disputes will only push China to intensify its military campaign in the disputed areas, said Ridon.

On June 29, two days after Gazmin announced the planned military access agreements, China’s state media warned that a “counterstrike” may be inevitable

should the Philippines continue provoking Beijing.

On the other hand, the proposed military access agreements may lead to more human rights violations and abuses, said Arnold Padilla, public information officer of Bagong Alyansang Makabayan.

Irish reverend Shay Cullen, a

sa mga residenteng nakatirang 11.3 metro ang layo mula sa Agham Road.

Nang matapos ang palugit noong Lunes, nagtayo ang mga residente ng barikada bilang paghahanda sa posibilidad ng demolisyon.

Bandang tanghali, dumating ang humigit-kumulang 30 pulis sa pamumuno ni Sanchez, armado ng mahahabang baril at nakasuot ng mga helmet, ayon kay Kalied de Guzman, tagapagsalita ng San Roque chapter ng Anakbayan, isang pambansang organisasyong pangkabataan.

Sa paghupa ng gulo, nagmartsa ang mga taga-San Roque patungong munisipyo ng Quezon City upang makipag-dayalogo kay QC Mayor Herbert Bautista, ngunit hindi sila pinaunlakan ng alkalde. Sa halip, muli silang sinalubong ng mga pulis at binomba ng tubig, pinagpapapalo, pinagsisisipa, at pilit kinaladkad palayo sa munisipyo, ani Bagasbas.

Tinatayang hindi bababa sa 17 ang sugatan, kung saan anim ang pumutok ang ulo pagkatapos pagpapaluin ng batuta, habang tatlo namang pulis ang sugatan sa nasabing engkwentro.

Nauna nang inalok ang mga taga-San Roque ng relokasyon sa Montalban, Rizal, ngunit malayo ang nasabing lugar sa kanilang mga hanapbuhay, ani de Guzman.

Nababahala rin ang mga residente sa mahinang pundasyon ng mga bahay, at ang mapanganib na lokasyon ng mga ito. Malapit ang nasabing relocation site sa danger zone na pinangyayarihan ng mga landslide, ani Bagasbas.

Dahil dito, binenta na lamang ng ilang mga lumikas na sa Rizal ang kanilang lupa at bumalik sa kanilang

HULING PALUGIT Photo by Jiru Rada

missionary priest based in Olangapo since 1969, has been a vocal critic of the American bases, particularly raising concerns on the proliferation of prostitution. In an interview with the Sydney Morning Herald in November last year, the priest revealed the prostitution of children as young as 15.

“Freedom-loving Filipinos should

stand up and oppose the proposal and call for the scrapping of the Visiting forces Agreement and other agreements detrimental to national interest and which violates Philippine sovereignty,” said Anakbayan National Chairperson Vencer Crisostomo. ∞

Binigyan ng lokal na pamahalaan ng lungsod ng Quezon ng hanggang Hulyo 31 ang piket ng mga manggagawa ng Pentagon Steel Corp. bago tuluyang paalisin. Nagsimulang magprotesta ang may 130 manggagawa noong Abril upang igiit ang kanilang karapatan sa mga benepisyo at maayos na sahod.

23 residente ng San Roque, sugatan sa tangkang demolisyon Franz Christian Irorita SUGATAN ANG 23 RESIDENTE ng Sitio San Roque, kabilang ang isang 57-anyos na lalaki, matapos ang tangkang demolisyon sa tahanan ng 10 pamilya sa Baranggay North Triangle, Quezon City noong ika-1 ng Hulyo.

Nagtamo ng mga sugat sa ulo at kamay si Mario Bersa, 57-anyos, pagkatapos siyang paluin nang ilang beses ni Supt. Pedro Sanchez ng Masambong police station, habang dalawa pa ang napilayan at tatlo naman ang sugatan, ani Estrelita Bagasbas, national vice-chair ng Kalipunan ng Damayang Mahihirap (Kadamay), isang alyansa ng mga mararalitang taga-lungsod.

Naganap ang engkwentro sa pagitan ng mga pulis at mga residente nang tangkaing baklasin ng mga pulis ang barikadang itinayo ng mga residenteng apektado sa planong road-widening project sa Agham Road.

Isinugod sa ospital si Bersa na nagtamo ng anim na tahi sa ulo, kasama ang dalawang napilayan at tatlong nasugatan. Isa si Bersa sa mga residenteng higit 30 taon nang naninirahan sa San Roque.

Nagbigay ang lokal na pamahalaan ng Quezon City ng 30 araw na palugit

mga tirahan sa Sitio San Roque, ani de Guzman.

Bagaman hindi natuloy ang demolisyon noong Lunes, patuloy pa ring nangangamba ang mga residente sa nakaambang demolisyon. “Kahit hindi natuloy [noong Lunes ang demolisyon], alam naming may kasunod pa, dahil [sinabi ni] Mayor [Bautista] na, by July, dapat na

aalis na yung mga nasa 11.3-meter [radius],” ani Bagasbas.

Sa pangambang baka mauwi sa karahasan ang demolisyon, pinili na lamang ng sampung pamilyang nakatira sa loob ng 11.3-meter radius na boluntaryong lumipat sa isang relocation site sa Gaya-gaya, Bulacan, ani Bagasbas. Nakatakda silang lumikas sa ika-15 ng Hulyo. ∞

Youth party-list files ‘Internet Freedom’ bills Jul Mar Esteban THE RIGHTS AND FREEDOM of netizens may become official state policy should youth party-list Kabataan’s twin “Internet Freedom” bills pass congressional approval.

Kabataan Party-list Representative Terry Ridon filed the two bills on July 4 to cap the first week of the 16th congress in the House of Representatives.

“The growing importance of the internet and the critical role it plays in national development necessitate the enactment of measures to protect the rights of its end user,” said Ridon.

One of the proposed laws, House Bill 1132 seeks to repeal the Republic Act 10175 or the Cybercrime

Prevention Act of 2012. “[The Cybercrime Law] defined unlawful acts on the Internet yet forgot to define the freedoms it needs to protect, and ultimately curtailed those freedoms,” said Ridon.

When passed into law in September last year, the Cybercrime law sparked both online and offline protests for its provisions expanding the scope of libel to Internet and allowing the government to monitor electronic data real-time, among others.

Following questions of constitutionality, the Supreme Court issued an indefinite temporary restraining order on the implementation of the law on October 9, 2012.

Kabataan Party-list

Representative Raymond Palatino, meanwhile, filed a bill to repeal the contested provisions of the Cybercrime Law, in the last congress.

The bill only got through the first reading before the 15th congress adjourned on June 6.

However, striking down the Cybercrime Act “necessitates a law that will ensure that the rights of Internet users will not be left out in the open,” said Ridon.

Along with HB 1132, Kabataan also filed House Bill 1100 or the Internet Freedom Bill outlining the rights of Internet users to privacy, secrecy of communications and freedom of expression online, Continued on page 6

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BALITA

PHILIPPINE COLLEGIAN

BIYERNES, HULYO 12, 2013

UP disqualifies security agency amid labor dispute Klidel Rellin

BURNING BRIDGES Photo by Jiru Rada

Militant groups slam the renewal of US access agreements during the Filipino-American Friendship Day mobilization on July 4 near the US embassy. The Mutual Defense Treaty and Visiting Forces Agreement allow US military operations to be performed in the country, leaving civilians as internal refugees.

THE UP ADMINISTRATION disqualified Bolinao Security and Investigation Services, the university’s security service provider in the last three years for the south sector, from bidding for another P40-million contract for security and janitorial services this year.

Bolinao failed to meet the requirements specified under Republic Act 9184 or the Government Procurement Reform Act for the security and janitorial services contract, according to the university’s Supply and Property Management Office (SPMO).

The SPMO, however, declined to disclose the details on the disqualification of Bolinao without the agency’s consent. The agency has refused to comment fearing that it might affect their application to bid in the following years, said Bolinao Vice President

Geoffrey Mendoza.

A group of security guards have earlier petitioned the UP administration to disqualify Bolinao from the bidding process, pending the resolution of a labor case they filed in September 2012.

According to the group, about P5.2 million worth of cash bond and insurance have yet to be released to around 200 Bolinao guards.

Bolinao, however, was allowed to participate in the pre-bidding conference held last year. In the prebidding conference, the SPMO invited prospect bidders and evaluated all applications.

The final list of bidders was then submitted to the BAC for further evaluation.

The committee has yet to award the contract to a qualified winning bidder, after Bolinao was “post-disqualified,” said SPMO Acting Director Dan Saguil. ∞

Maroons go down fighting vs Tamaraws, 57-75 Franz Christian Irorita & Kira Chan THE UP FIGHTING MAROONS were outplayed, 57-75, by the Far Eastern University Tamaraws on July 7, with State U star guard Joseph Marata held back by a sprained ankle he sustained during the July 3 match against the De La Salle University.

The Tamaraws kicked off the first quarter with a 10-2 run, prompting Maroons Head Coach Ricky Dandan to call a timeout with 7:38 still on the clock. The Maroons fought back with a short lived 8-4 run of their own, but the Tamaraws were able to turn the tables with a 9-2 run in the last three minutes of the quarter, ending with an 11-point lead, 12-23.

The dry spell continued for the Maroons as they entered the second quarter. The Maroons committed several fouls, allowing the Tamaraws to bag four points from free throws. The Tamaraws scored twice as much as the Maroons, ending the first half, 21-41, in favor of the Tamaraws.

"So far our boys have fought hard, pero meron talagang dapat pang [i-improve]," commented UP Diliman (UPD) Chancellor Caesar Saloma during the halftime break.

The Maroons entered the second half with a more aggressive campaign, forcing the Tamaraws to commit fouls to reel them in.

However, the Diliman-based Continued on page 5

PORTRAYING INJUSTICE Photo by Angerica Hainto

In “A Story’s Sketches” at the UP Diliman Faculty Center, artists attempt to give a face to political prisoners through sketching Nicolette Gamara, the daughter of Renante Gamara who has been illegally detained in Camp Crame for over a year. According to the 2012 Karapatan’s Human Rights report, there are more than 269 political prisoners in the Philippines.

BALITA

PHILIPPINE COLLEGIAN

Mga nakatira sa tabing-estero tutol sa P18k subsidyo Arra B. Francia PAGTUTOL ANG SAGOT NG ILANG

grupo at mga residente sa P18,000 alok ng gobyerno kapalit ng pag-alis mula sa kanilang mga tahanang nakatayo malapit sa mga estero ng Kamaynilaan.

Hindi umano tiyak kung hanggang kailan aabot ang nasabing halaga at kung mabibigyan ng pabahay ang 19,940 pamilyang maaaring tumanggap ng nasabing halaga, ayon sa Kalipunan ng Damayang Mahihirap (Kadamay), isang alyansa ng mga maralitang tagalungsod.

Pinangangambahan rin ng mga residente ang kawalan ng hanapbuhay sa mga relocation site na paglilipatan sa kanila, dagdag ng Kadamay.

TEENAGE MOTHERHOOD Photo by Kimberly Pauig

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BIYERNES, HULYO 12, 2013

Samantala, naglunsad ng kilosprotesta sa harap ng tanggapan ng Department of the Interior and Local Government ang mga grupo ng kabataan, tulad ng Kabataan Party-list at Anakbayan. “[I] nformal settlers are constituents of the government [who] should not be deprived of their right to decent living. Estero dwellers don’t reside near waterways because they want to but because they don’t have a choice,” ani Terry Ridon, kinatawan ng Kabataan Party-list.

Enero nitong taon nang ipahayag ng Department of Interior and Local Government ang planong demolisyon sa mga nakatayong bahay malapit sa walong pangunahing daluyan ng tubig sa Metro Manila: San Juan River, Manggahan

Floodway, Ilog Pasig, Tullahan River, Estero Trippa de Galina, Maricaban Creek, Estero de Maypajo, at Estero de Sunog Apog.

Ang nakatakdang demolisyon ay bahagi ng proyekto ng kasalukuyang administrasyong linisin at ayusin ang drainage system sa Metro Manila upang maagapan ang mga matitinding pagbaha sa tuwing bubuhos ang malakas na ulan.

Gayunman, hindi dapat isisi sa mga residente ang pagdami ng basurang dahilan umano ng pagbaha, kundi sa walang humpay na pagtambak ng lupa sa mga katawan ng tubig upang gawing mga subdibisyon, ani Gloria Arellano, pambansang tagapangulo ng Kadamay.

“Binibenta ng gobyerno ang

A young Filipina mother nurses her children in a shanty in Tondo, Manila. The number of Filipina teenagers giving birth rose by more than 60 percent in the last decade, according to data released by the National Statistics Office on July 8. The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA)-Philippines stressed that sexuality education must be given to teenagers to help them make responsible life choices and safeguard their health.

mga lupain sa mga pribadong kumpanya na dapat ay inilalaan para sa mahihirap. Sila rin ang nagtutulak para manirahan sa mga estero ang mahihirap,” paliwanag ni Arellano.

Naglabas ang Department of Budget and Management ng kabuuang P374.4 milyon na ipapamahagi bilang rental subsidy sa mga pamilyang maapektuhan ng proyekto at kusang lilisanin ang tirahan.

Maaring gamitin ng mga pamilya ang halagang ito upang pansamantalang mangupahan.

Isa si Mariz, ang kanyang asawa at tatlong anak sa mga pamilyang naninirahan sa gilid ng San Juan River. Hindi umano sasapat ang P18,000, o P1,500 kada buwan, sa pambayad upa kahit pa idagdag ang buong kita ng kanyang asawa mula sa pangangalakal ng basura.

Tutol din si Mariz sa planong paglipat sa kanila sa mga relocation site, kung saan wala umanong naghihintay na trabaho para sa kanila. “Nais lamang kaming linlangin ng gobyerno upang mapaalis sa aming mga tirahan. Imbes na relokasyon ay permanenteng trabaho dapat ang binibigay nila sa mga tulad namin,” ani Mariz.

Nakatakdang ilipat ang mga residente sa relocation sites sa Bulacan at Cavite matapos ang isang taon.

Gayunman, may 4,500 housing units pa lamang ang naipatayo ng National Housing Authority sa kasalukuyan at inaasahang madadagdagan lamang ito ng 3,500 units sa pagtatapos ng taon.

“Isa na naman itong kahungkagan sa programa.

Dapat ay ayusin na nila ang mga itatayong relocation site para sa mga nakatira sa estero, hindi yung paalisin nila ang mga pamilya ng wala namang kasiguruhan kung bibigyan talaga nila ng pabahay o hindi,” ani Arellano. ∞

Maroons go down fighting vs Tamaraws, 56-75 Continued from page 4

team failed to capitalize on the free throws scoring only 7 out of 13. The Maroons also failed to cash in many of their second chance shots, which could have given them the upper hand.

The third quarter ended with the score 41-63, in favor of the Tamaraws.

Maroons' team captain Moriah Gingerich led the charge at the start of the fourth quarter with a three-pointer, sparking a 9-0 run. FEU fought back with seven straight points, shot by guard Terrence Romeo. The Maroons managed to outscore the Tamaraws in the fourth quarter, but it was not enough to overcome the overall score gap.

Marata, who scored 21 points in their previous game against the Green Archers, scored only four points in this game, due to his injury. The Maroons had to struggle to get points without his offensive skills.

For the first time, the Maroons outrebounded the opposing team, 63-52, but the Maroons were unable to score with their second-chance shots.

Romeo finished first in points, scoring 20, with FEU guard RR Garcia placing second with 15.

The Maroons’ biggest output came from center Raul Soyud, who registered a double-double, with 10 points and 10 rebounds.

Maroons’ coach Ricky Dandan remarked upon the need for improvement in certain skills, "We dominated reboundingwise, but we were unable to limit their three scorers: [Michael] Tolomia, Romeo and Garcia."

Currently tied at fifth place with last year’s champion Ateneo de Manila University Blue Eagles, the Maroons will be facing the National University Bulldogs on July 14 at the Mall of Asia Arena. ∞

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BALITA

PHILIPPINE COLLEGIAN

BIYERNES, HULYO 12, 2013

UP lady guard recovering from on-campus assault Kira Chan A LADY GUARD ASSIGNED at the Sampaguita Residence Hall is recuperating from multiple stab wounds and mental trauma she sustained after escaping from a construction worker who attempted to rape her on June 27.

In an official statement to the Quezon City Police District (QCPD), the lady guard said she was on duty when Pedrito Ravelo, 31, and his co-worker asked her if they could use the comfort room at the dormitory.

When the workers supposedly left the dormitory, the 41-year old lady guard then took a nap. At around 3:30 AM, the lady guard woke up with Ravelo holding a kitchen knife to her neck to force her to have sex with him.

Contrary to a report from the UP Diliman Police, however, the lady guard denied that she was acquainted with Ravelo, who was one of the construction workers hired for the renovation of the dormitory.

The guard said she pretended to give in to the threats of Ravelo, who was then allegedly

drunk. She then accompanied the suspect to a room opposite the Institute of Biology, where she had hoped to attract the attention of other guards.

At the same time, the guard also started to press her radio’s distress button. The lady guard said she tried to grab the knife, but her attempts only provoked Ravelo to repeatedly punch and stab her.

The lady guard sustained wounds on her neck, mouth, and nose. She also suffered an interior mouth cut, bruises, and a concussion, said Julie MarconDavide, attending physician at the University Health Service (UHS).

Davide said she is worried most about the mental health of the lady guard. “Physical injuries are easier to heal. What happened to her is very shocking. Her 30 days minimum healing period is for both physical injuries and mental trauma.”

Aside from spending six days at the UHS for her injuries, the lady guard also underwent counselling with the Diliman Gender Office (DGO) on June 29 and July 1.

Ravelo, on the other hand, remains at large. He managed to jump from the second floor of the dormitory before other guards could arrest him. On the same day, the QCPD searched Ravelo’s known addresses in Bulacan and Quezon City, but the suspect was nowhere to be found.

The lady guard said she will file charges against the suspect with the assistance of DGO legal advisor Alnie Foja as soon as she recovers from the attack.

Meanwhile, following the incident that could have potentially harmed Sampaguita dormers, the university administration ordered the dismantling of barracks of construction workers set up within the campus.

The Office of the Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs and the Office of Student Housing have also asked the Office of the Chancellor to assign additional guards in dormitories.

“This incident should set a precedent for higher levels of security,” said Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Ma. Corazon Tan. ∞

Artist groups call for release of activist couple Victor Gregor Limon YOUTH ARTIST GROUPS HAVE called for the immediate release of former UP Diliman Fine Arts student and Collegian photographer Juan Paolo Verzosa and his wife Grace, who were arrested by police authorities in La Colina Subdivision, Marikina City on June 28.

The two are currently detained on charges of illegal possession of explosives and robbery with homicide at the Catbalogan, Samar Provincial Jail since they were transferred from the Eastern Police District Headquarters on July 1.

In a statement on July 2, Kabataang Artista para sa Tunay na Kalayaan (Karatula) said the couple were arrested based on two defective warrants issued by Branches 27 and 28 of the Regional Trial Court (RTC) of Catbalogan, Samar.

According to actual copies obtained by the Collegian, the said warrants did not specify the names of Verzosa and his

wife. The warrants contained only a list of several aliases of various suspects charged with robbery with homicide and illegal possession of explosives.

EPD director Chief Supt.

Miguel Laurel said the two reportedly use the same aliases listed in the warrants issued

by Judges Esteban de la Peña and Manuel Torrevillas of the Samar RTC. Verzosa reportedly uses the aliases Arvin, Cocoy, and Egay, while Grace is also known as Joy and Lenon, Laurel said.

“How can an alias legitimately be used in an arrest? [Those aliases] could be anybody, yet they choose to target two innocent people.

There is no basis for the arrest,” said Jay del Rosario, Karatula vice chair.

Verzosa had been living in Marikina City with his wife for a year now. They have a threemonth old infant, who is now in the custody of the couple’s relatives.

Police authorities however said the two were identified

as officers of the New People’s Army (NPA) based on a statement by a rebel returnee who supposedly worked with the two until his surrender to the government.

The authorities arrested Verzosa just hours after members of the NPA attacked 120 policemen who were doing morning exercises in Tadian, Mountain Province.

“This comes at a time when another UP student, Maricon Montajes, enters her third year of detention in Batangas.

The systematic crackdown on youth activists and artists has heightened in recent years and proves how deperate the administration is to silence critics and preserve the illusion of the ‘tuwid na daan’” explained Del Rosario.

The clampdown on youth activists and artists reflects only the worsening human rights situation under President Benigno Aquino III, said Marie Angeline Red, vice chair of UPD youth artist group Alay Sining, where Verzosa was a member

UPSET Photo by Kim Pauig

Lady Maroon Bea Daez is denied of a baseline drive by Lady Bulldogs Denise Escoto and Jane Seno in the first outing of the 76th season of UAAP at the Blue Eagle Gym on July 4. UP missed eight charity shots and were forced to commit four turnovers in the final canto to suffer a 9-point deficit, 60-51.

during his college days.

“Itong nangyari kina Kuya JP ay paalala sa ating imbes na matakot o mangamba, lalo dapat siguraduhing nagagamit

ang sining [at iba pang mga pamamaraan], para maging kritikal at tutulan ang ganitong mga paglabag sa ating mga karapatang pantao,” Red said. ∞

Youth party-list files ‘Internet Freedom’ bills Continued from page 3

among others.

Acts such as monitoring, surveillance and data collection on the Internet shall be considered violations to the rights of Internet users and punishable under the proposed law.

The two bills have yet to be calendared for first reading.

Once approved, a committee will deliberate and revise the bill before presenting it to the House for second and third readings.

The bills will undergo the same process in the Senate, where Senator Mirriam Defensor-Santiago filed Senate Bill 53 or “The Magana Carta for

Philippine Internet Freedom.”

The senate bill also aims to repeal the Cybercrime law and uphold the rights of Internet users.

A bicameral conference committee will then reconcile differences in the Senate and House versions of bills. The president will have to sign the consolidated and final version of the bill before they form part of the land’s law. “[W]ith the people’s support, we are hopeful that we can transform the framework of internet legislation from being restrictive to becoming responsive to the needs of netizens,” said Ridon. ∞

LATHALAIN

PHILIPPINE COLLEGIAN

THE FAINT SMELL OF ALCOHOL lingered in the air. Bright lights drenched the bare walls as nurses moved about, assisting patients in wheelchairs. Medical staff rushed to attend to patients in crowded rooms, and stretchers start to fill the hallways. In the corners, relatives are huddled together; some try to catch some sleep while sitting, others shared small talk.

This is how an ordinary day is like at the wards and corridors of the Philippine Orthopedic Center (POC), the only hospital in the country focusing in orthopedic medicine. Located along Banawe Avenue in Quezon City, the 68 year-old hospital has a 700-bed capacity catering to an estimated 140,000 indigent patients annually, or 390 a day.

As a government-owned hospital, POC provides free medical services such as consultations, x-rays and doctor’s fee to indigent patients. But like all public hospitals, it is crippled by the inadequate and outdated facilities, scarce medical supplies and an insufficient budget of P413 million.

Ailing system The government had since pointed to the dismal state of public hospitals as a basis for Public-Private Partnership (PPP) programs, which it claims to be an effort to ‘modernize’ the sector.

But the move has been criticized by militant groups who view it as a disguise for privatization, and foresee its impact on indigent patients’ access to healthcare.

The POC is the first hospital to undergo ‘modernization,’ which began in 2012 and attracted nine prospect bidders. To make the POC’s complete rehabilitation attractive to investors, the government allotted P1 billion for the project, according to the Department of Budget and Management.

In pushing for the PPP, the government opines that public hospitals will become more efficient in providing healthcare, and emulate the condition in private hospitals, where there are sufficient rooms, state-of-the-art equipment and a pool of specialist doctors, all readily available to accommodate patients.

Historically, however, privatization efforts of public entities had been shown to limit people’s access to social services

Photographs: Kim Pauig Illustration: Ysa Calinawan Page design: Ashley Garcia

7

BIYERNES, HULYO 12, 2013

such as healthcare, water and electricity. Once these had been privatized, the services become much less affordable for the common Filipinos.

Old strain Privatization is not a new trend.

Over the past decades, it has been shown as the government’s way out whenever the government’s treasury cannot shoulder a costly upgrade of public enterprises.

Several state-owned establishments providing social services had been privatized throughout the years, such as the National Power Corporation, Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company (PLDT) and Manila Water. Now, under House Bill 6069 or An Act creating National Government Hospital Corporations, 26 hospitals nationwide will be turned over to private companies.

Under the PPP framework, the administration will enter a build-operatetransfer (BOT) agreement with Megawide Construction Corp., the remaining bidder for the POC modernization project. The BOT agreement stipulates that the concessionaire will build a new orthopedic center at the National Kidney Transplant Institute compound, operate it for 25 years and transfer it to the Department of Health (DOH).

DOH and the PPP Center maintain that the government does not aim to sell the POC. “PPP is not privatization. [ T h e ] government r e t a i n s ownership of the projects as well as defines the extent of private sector’s participation in

a PPP project,” said Atty. Sherry Austria, director of policy formation, evaluation and monitoring service of the PPP Center.

‘Modernization’ PPP as a ‘modernization’ tool has drawn opposition from such movements as the Network Opposed to Privatization (NOP), an organization of patients and health workers against privatization and Health Alliance for Democracy (HEAD).

“The promotion of PPP by the Aquino Administration has left public hospitals in a state of disrepair and neglect to justify the entry of private investments.

Unfortunately, the poor and indigent patients are left to shoulder the burden,” reads HEAD’s statement.

Jossel Ebesate, national president of Alliance of Health Workers shares that based on their experience in most public hospitals, PPP of selected services only led to an increase in the price of health services.

“If the private investors are bent on operating such kind of hospital, ostensibly to “help”, let them build a private hospital, but leave the public Orthopedic Center alone. Then the public will have options for a public or a private hospital and poor patients will not be deprived of public health services,” he added.

: d e r k e o o d n L o r i o t e c A Clos ivatiza r P C O at P

n elli el R d i l K

Privatization: a crutch Dr. Giovanni Tapang, national chairperson of AGHAM, an advocacy group for science and technology, argues that privatization should be mainly for bankrupt enterprises, not basic social services.

“Healthcare is primarily a social service. The problem with privatization is that only those who can pay will be able to access

[healthcare]. People will [then just] rely on albularyo to avail of healthcare, and [endanger their life],” Tapang said.

Moreover, privatization obscures how the government cannot provide sufficient funding to the healthcare sector. According to NOP, the government dedicates only 4.1 percent of the gross national product to healthcare, lower than the five percent ideal standard set by the United Nations and lower still compared to neighboring Asian countries like Cambodia at 5.3, Mongolia at 5.7 and Vietnam at 6.9.

“Lugi ang government in the long-run. Kikita lang sila sa umpisa, afterwards wala na.” Tapang explained. “Sa privatization, give [POC] to private companies and they will monopolize it,” he adds, citing PLDT as an example.

State duty, not business NOP also argues that the privatization trend undermines the government’s own health insurance corporation, PhilHealth, which currently subsidizes in-patient expenses such as accommodation, operations and laboratory exams as well as outpatient expenses for follow-up consultations and medicines.

“The government’s [efforts to ensure] universal access to healthcare will be strained [by] private-public partnerships. The PPP passes on [the] responsibility of providing quality health care to the private sector, increasing outof-pocket expenses [and making] access to quality healthcare more difficult for patients,” said PhilHealth Project Officer Dr. Lee Edson Yarcia.

Healthcare privatization may hold the promise of improvement, but it is one that comes with a hefty tag. And while it is the state’s duty to provide quality healthcare, the government appears to view Philippine healthcare facilities, including the POC, as ventures that can simply be turned over to businesses.

In the end, privatization becomes a crutch for the crippled healthcare system. But it is one that the latter could have done without, if only the state turned to where the true problem lies. ∞

BIYERNES, DISYEMBRE 3HULYO 12, 2013

Page design: Ashley Garcia

When keeping secrets become the norm, telling the truth becomes a crime.

Tales of corruption, war crimes, and bribery –narratives deliberately concealed from the public’s gaze—are open secrets widely popularized by spy and action films. But when the reality-fiction divide crumbles, the world is caught in scandal.

Familiar characters emerge—victims and perpetrators, heroes and traitors.

For those who thrive in lies and deceit, some secrets are meant to be kept in the dark and even carried to the grave for the sake of “national security.” But for those who know better and are brave enough, there are secrets worth revealing to the world, even at the expense of their own safety.

Uncovering secret affairs

PHILIPPINE COLLEGIAN

Stealth mode

LATHALAIN

∞

BIYERNES, DISYEMBRE 3HULYO 12, 2013

Illustration: Ysa Calinawan

AUSTRALIANborn journalist Julian Assange founded WikiLeaks. Its mission, he explained, is to bring important news and information through the public, through the distribution of secret information and classified media it receives from anonymous sources around the world.

“We must think beyond those who have gone before us and discover technological changes that embolden us with ways to act in which our forebears could not,” said Assange in his philosophy statement for WikiLeaks.

By 2010, WikiLeaks had released at least 400,000 diplomatic cables between the US and the Middle East – the largest disclosure of confidential information in world history. It exposed the US’ strategies to agitate and destabilize the region, among reports of torture and civilian casualties on the ground.

One of his most prominent leaks was the video dubbed “Collateral Murder,” from Private Bradley Manning (see related story), which he hoped would help bring justice for slain innocents.

“If those killings were lawful under the rules of engagement, then the rules of engagement are wrong, deeply wrong,” he said.

Assange and other whistleblowers have since successfully sparked unprecedented media attention and public scrutiny on how the US operates its military troops overseas. More importantly, revealed “contradictions between the American public image and what it says behind closed doors.”

In waging its War on Terror for instance, US has consistently presented itself as the enemy of terrorism, vowing to bring justice to the 9/11 attack in 2001 by fighting what it tags to be ‘terrorist groups’ in the Middle East and around the world.

But WikiLeaks has helped expose the true American agenda.

Since the Middle East has been notoriously rich in oil reserves, the region has been pivotal for the US’ power play as the largest economy in the world, UP Diliman (UPD) Center for International Studies Affiliate Professor Ramon Guillermo explains.

And there is a lot to glean from the secrets being revealed. After all, explains Guillermo, “the more secrets a government have, the less it is run by the people.” UPD Political Science professor Nelson Cainghog adds, “When people leak secrets, it only shows the vast discrepancies between what governments claim to be and what they are in reality.”

As far as WikiLeaks’ revelations have shown, US loses its moral ascendancy as regards being a champion of peace and democracy.

Moreover, the leaks point to its hypocrisy in waging wars to further its own political and economic interests especially in the Middle East.

For disclosing these to the world, US would make sure that Assange and his collaborators would suffer. In the same year he leaked the diplomatic cables, the US government accused him of violating their Espionage Act of 1917. Later on, a Swedish court filed rape raps against him, which he claims to be politically motivated.

Now, Assange has his back against the wall, as British and American authorities trap him in the Ecuadorian embassy in London, where he was granted asylum. The US has not yet used all of its cards to prosecute him, and it could always pull a clandestine operation akin to the one that eventually killed Osama Bin Laden.

Nevertheless, he has already spurred a global effort towards leaking uncovering government secrets, so that the public can no longer be deceived.

“One of our most important activities is to publish original source material alongside our news stories so readers and historians alike can see evidence of the truth,” the WikiLeaks website reads.

The truth. In exposing government secrets, especially of the world’s lone superpower, Assange hoped to be able to lead us there.

It is a mission he would pay for dearly, but perhaps if it meant inspiring humanity to struggle for what is right, the price is small and sweet. ∞

sta uti a aB hu s Jo IN nn o R 2006,

PHILIPPINE COLLEGIAN

y c e r c e S n o r Wa

A HUNDRED and fifty years, or two lifetimes for most of us, spent in jail. That’s what US Private First Class Officer Bradley Edward Manning faces for leaking hundreds of thousands of classified digital files to Wiki Leaks.

Last November, Manning pleaded guilty to sharing 400,000 Iraq war files (CIDNE-I), 90,000 Afghan war files (CIDNE-A), the 12 July 2007 aerial weapons team or AW team video, and 250,000 diplomatic cables he acquired in the databases while working as an intelligence analyst at Forward Operating Base Hammer outside Baghdad.

“I believe that if the [general public] had access to the information contained within the CIDNE-I and CIDNE-A tables, this could spark a domestic debate on the role of the military and our foreign policy in general as [missed word] as it related to Iraq and Afghanistan,” he said.

Manning is an intelligence analyst, whose security clearance allowed him to access US military activities, diplomatic information, and intelligence reports. On a mission in midFebruary 2010, their specialist showed them a video of their aerial weapons team’s operations.

The team consisted of two Apache helicopters that assembled in Al-Amin al-Thaniyah, a suburb in the district of New Baghdad.

The team targeted Iraqis carrying rifles and grenades, but killed 12 civilians and wounded two children.

First, the helicopter crew mistook the photography equipment as weapons, and fired missiles on two Reuters journalists, Namir Noor-Eldeen and Saeed Chmagh.

Then, a father and his two kids on a van saw Chmagh on the street and tried to help. They, too, were shot, as they were suspected of picking up bodies and weapons. “We were coming back and we saw an injured man. My father said, let’s take him to hospital. Then I heard only the bullets...Why did they shoot us?” one of the surviving children said.

Finally, several men with weapons entered a building, and the crew released three Hellfire missiles even as unarmed people were still in the area. In the video, soldiers can be heard chuckling as the tank rolled over a dead body.

Outraged by the utter disregard for human life, Manning sent a copy of the video to the Wiki Leaks. He said, “I [hope] that the public would be as alarmed as me about the conduct [of the team],” he explained, adding, “I wanted the American public to know that not everyone in Iraq and Afghanistan are targets that needed to be neutralized, but rather people who were struggling to live in the pressure-cooker environment of what we call asymmetric warfare.” It was just one of the voluminous classified information he would go on to leak.

Weeks before leaking the information, he shared his plans with another hacker, Adrian Lamo. However, Lamo immediately informed the Department of Defense (DoD) about their conversation, and soon the police and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) chased Manning.

From the day of his arrest, May 27, 2010, Manning has met countless violations of his human rights. He waited for three years for a trial, two and a half years longer than the legal maximum. Then he was transferred to a Marine Brig, a solitary confinement cell in Quantico, Virginia, and isolated in this cage for nine months.

Further, he was forced to sleep naked without pillows and sheets on his bed, and was deprived of physical recreation or access to television or newspapers even during his one daily hour of freedom. All these things happened before he was convicted of any crime.

Now, Manning is being tried in a sequestered room at Fort Meade, Maryland. Thus far, his defense lawyers argued that the information he leaked were classified for wide distribution, although placed in a computer network reserved for classified materials.

Outside the courtroom, the case of Bradley Manning has done precisely as he hoped. He sparked a great debate about America’s ruthless war and diplomatic strategies, while also revealing sad truths about military secrecy, human rights, and international power struggles.

Whether or not his revelations will actually spur significant change in the US’ military policies however, remains to be seen.

m Je

hit Gu

LATHALAIN

r e v o c r e d n U

T HE FEAR OF being constantly spied has been on Edward Snowden’s nerves, ever since he decided to blow the whistle on the massive surveillance largely of United States (US) government over its citizens, as well as residents from across continents.

After all, as a former technical contractor for National Security Agency (NSA), the largest intelligence agency in US, Snowden knew what he was going up against.

In Hongkong, where he took refuge as he leaked the top-secret documents to journalists, he refused to leave his hotel room, and placed pillows in his door to prevent eavesdroppers from hearing his conversations on the phone, and wore a large hood over his head and laptop whenever he typed his password.

Following The Guardian and The Washington Post publication of reports based on his revelations, the US government has been trying to seize him, accusing him of theft of government property, unauthorized communication of national defense information, and willful communication of classified information to an unauthorized person.

His government’s reaction is expected. After all, the documents he leaked revealed the extensive power of US to spy practically anyone with access to the Internet, thus being called as “the biggest intelligence leak in NSA’s history”. He exposed the existence of PRISM, an electronic surveillance program operated by NSA, permitting the latter to have direct access from the servers of the giants of cyberspace Google, Yahoo!, Microsoft, Skype, Facebook and Apple, among many others.

Moreover, the documents discussed PRISM as an all-powerful tool with the ability to gather real-time information on live voice, text, email or internet chat services, as well as to analyze stored data.

In the end, Snowden brought to light not only how US essentially infringes upon civil liberties, but also the government’s capacity to use the collected information against Internet users later on, whenever it pleases to.

Prof. Jose Jesus Disini, a Law on Cyberspace expert from the College of Law, says that in the Philippines, surveillance of particular individuals actually leads to enforced disappearances, citing the case of activist Jonas Burgos who is still missing after six years. “Whistleblowers are valuable in the sense that they expose excesses and abuse of power [of the government],” he adds.

Even data on local and foreign calls made in the US were requested by NSA. A secret court order issued in April 2013 mandated Verizon Business Network Services, one of US’ largest telecommunication providers, to supply NSA all phone data in its system including the numbers of both parties, their locations and the time and duration of calls for three months.

The reports sparked indignation among many Americans.

“Collecting this data about every single phone call that every American makes every day would be a massive invasion of Americans’ privacy,” says Democrat Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon in a statement, who led 25 other senators in questioning National Intelligence Director James Clapper.

Aside from US’ unwarranted methods of surveillance, it is alarming to know the staggering amount of information available at their disposal. Every year, intelligence analysts who summarize information obtained by foreign and domestic spying produce 50,000 intelligence reports, a 2010 investigation of The Washington Post reveals.

In addition, around 854,000 people hold top-security clearances to sensitive information such as military operations or foreign activities of US. In 10,000 locations across US, around 3,200 government and private organizations work on counterterrorism, homeland security and intelligence programs.

“Governments should not have this capacity. But [they] will use whatever technology is available to them to combat their primary enemy – which is their own population,” says Noam Chomsky, a celebrated American political theorist, in his interview with The Guardian.

These methods of surveillance of the US government aid them in incriminating innocent citizens merely by the activities they do online. By calling whistleblowers like Snowden ’traitors‘, US avoids the real discourse about how it disregards its promise of a constitutional, democratic government that values its citizens’ freedoms, especially privacy.

“I can’t in good conscience allow the US government to destroy privacy, internet freedom and basic liberties for people around the world with this massive surveillance machine they’re secretly building,” says Snowden.

These days, while governments engage in debates about his future, Snowden is holed up at the Sheremetyevo Airport in Russia, where he is in a proverbial limbo: his passport was revoked, and he cannot leave the premises without proper identification.

He now waits for a country that will offer him asylum, after sending out 21 applications. Ten countries have rejected his bid, citing unmet requirements as the reason. Meanwhile, three governments — Bolivia, Nicaragua and Venezuela — are willing to provide sanctuary, but the prospects for being able to easily leave Moscow are bleak, with the mounting pressure from US to arrest Snowden.

But even if the US eventually gets hold of Snowden, it cannot be denied that Snowden has already uncovered the government’s dangerous and unconstitutional covert monitoring of its people’s daily lives. The fight has just begun. ∞

a oiz Gl

co en m Pla

e y E g n i e e -S l l A

8 9

BIYERNES, DISYEMBRE 3HULYO 12, 2013

Page design: Ashley Garcia

When keeping secrets become the norm, telling the truth becomes a crime.

Tales of corruption, war crimes, and bribery –narratives deliberately concealed from the public’s gaze—are open secrets widely popularized by spy and action films. But when the reality-fiction divide crumbles, the world is caught in scandal.

Familiar characters emerge—victims and perpetrators, heroes and traitors.

For those who thrive in lies and deceit, some secrets are meant to be kept in the dark and even carried to the grave for the sake of “national security.” But for those who know better and are brave enough, there are secrets worth revealing to the world, even at the expense of their own safety.

Uncovering secret affairs

PHILIPPINE COLLEGIAN

Stealth mode

LATHALAIN

∞

BIYERNES, DISYEMBRE 3HULYO 12, 2013

Illustration: Ysa Calinawan

AUSTRALIANborn journalist Julian Assange founded WikiLeaks. Its mission, he explained, is to bring important news and information through the public, through the distribution of secret information and classified media it receives from anonymous sources around the world.

“We must think beyond those who have gone before us and discover technological changes that embolden us with ways to act in which our forebears could not,” said Assange in his philosophy statement for WikiLeaks.

By 2010, WikiLeaks had released at least 400,000 diplomatic cables between the US and the Middle East – the largest disclosure of confidential information in world history. It exposed the US’ strategies to agitate and destabilize the region, among reports of torture and civilian casualties on the ground.

One of his most prominent leaks was the video dubbed “Collateral Murder,” from Private Bradley Manning (see related story), which he hoped would help bring justice for slain innocents.

“If those killings were lawful under the rules of engagement, then the rules of engagement are wrong, deeply wrong,” he said.

Assange and other whistleblowers have since successfully sparked unprecedented media attention and public scrutiny on how the US operates its military troops overseas. More importantly, revealed “contradictions between the American public image and what it says behind closed doors.”

In waging its War on Terror for instance, US has consistently presented itself as the enemy of terrorism, vowing to bring justice to the 9/11 attack in 2001 by fighting what it tags to be ‘terrorist groups’ in the Middle East and around the world.

But WikiLeaks has helped expose the true American agenda.

Since the Middle East has been notoriously rich in oil reserves, the region has been pivotal for the US’ power play as the largest economy in the world, UP Diliman (UPD) Center for International Studies Affiliate Professor Ramon Guillermo explains.

And there is a lot to glean from the secrets being revealed. After all, explains Guillermo, “the more secrets a government have, the less it is run by the people.” UPD Political Science professor Nelson Cainghog adds, “When people leak secrets, it only shows the vast discrepancies between what governments claim to be and what they are in reality.”

As far as WikiLeaks’ revelations have shown, US loses its moral ascendancy as regards being a champion of peace and democracy.

Moreover, the leaks point to its hypocrisy in waging wars to further its own political and economic interests especially in the Middle East.

For disclosing these to the world, US would make sure that Assange and his collaborators would suffer. In the same year he leaked the diplomatic cables, the US government accused him of violating their Espionage Act of 1917. Later on, a Swedish court filed rape raps against him, which he claims to be politically motivated.

Now, Assange has his back against the wall, as British and American authorities trap him in the Ecuadorian embassy in London, where he was granted asylum. The US has not yet used all of its cards to prosecute him, and it could always pull a clandestine operation akin to the one that eventually killed Osama Bin Laden.

Nevertheless, he has already spurred a global effort towards leaking uncovering government secrets, so that the public can no longer be deceived.

“One of our most important activities is to publish original source material alongside our news stories so readers and historians alike can see evidence of the truth,” the WikiLeaks website reads.

The truth. In exposing government secrets, especially of the world’s lone superpower, Assange hoped to be able to lead us there.

It is a mission he would pay for dearly, but perhaps if it meant inspiring humanity to struggle for what is right, the price is small and sweet. ∞

sta uti a aB hu s Jo IN nn o R 2006,

PHILIPPINE COLLEGIAN

y c e r c e S n o r Wa

A HUNDRED and fifty years, or two lifetimes for most of us, spent in jail. That’s what US Private First Class Officer Bradley Edward Manning faces for leaking hundreds of thousands of classified digital files to Wiki Leaks.

Last November, Manning pleaded guilty to sharing 400,000 Iraq war files (CIDNE-I), 90,000 Afghan war files (CIDNE-A), the 12 July 2007 aerial weapons team or AW team video, and 250,000 diplomatic cables he acquired in the databases while working as an intelligence analyst at Forward Operating Base Hammer outside Baghdad.

“I believe that if the [general public] had access to the information contained within the CIDNE-I and CIDNE-A tables, this could spark a domestic debate on the role of the military and our foreign policy in general as [missed word] as it related to Iraq and Afghanistan,” he said.

Manning is an intelligence analyst, whose security clearance allowed him to access US military activities, diplomatic information, and intelligence reports. On a mission in midFebruary 2010, their specialist showed them a video of their aerial weapons team’s operations.

The team consisted of two Apache helicopters that assembled in Al-Amin al-Thaniyah, a suburb in the district of New Baghdad.

The team targeted Iraqis carrying rifles and grenades, but killed 12 civilians and wounded two children.

First, the helicopter crew mistook the photography equipment as weapons, and fired missiles on two Reuters journalists, Namir Noor-Eldeen and Saeed Chmagh.

Then, a father and his two kids on a van saw Chmagh on the street and tried to help. They, too, were shot, as they were suspected of picking up bodies and weapons. “We were coming back and we saw an injured man. My father said, let’s take him to hospital. Then I heard only the bullets...Why did they shoot us?” one of the surviving children said.

Finally, several men with weapons entered a building, and the crew released three Hellfire missiles even as unarmed people were still in the area. In the video, soldiers can be heard chuckling as the tank rolled over a dead body.

Outraged by the utter disregard for human life, Manning sent a copy of the video to the Wiki Leaks. He said, “I [hope] that the public would be as alarmed as me about the conduct [of the team],” he explained, adding, “I wanted the American public to know that not everyone in Iraq and Afghanistan are targets that needed to be neutralized, but rather people who were struggling to live in the pressure-cooker environment of what we call asymmetric warfare.” It was just one of the voluminous classified information he would go on to leak.

Weeks before leaking the information, he shared his plans with another hacker, Adrian Lamo. However, Lamo immediately informed the Department of Defense (DoD) about their conversation, and soon the police and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) chased Manning.

From the day of his arrest, May 27, 2010, Manning has met countless violations of his human rights. He waited for three years for a trial, two and a half years longer than the legal maximum. Then he was transferred to a Marine Brig, a solitary confinement cell in Quantico, Virginia, and isolated in this cage for nine months.

Further, he was forced to sleep naked without pillows and sheets on his bed, and was deprived of physical recreation or access to television or newspapers even during his one daily hour of freedom. All these things happened before he was convicted of any crime.

Now, Manning is being tried in a sequestered room at Fort Meade, Maryland. Thus far, his defense lawyers argued that the information he leaked were classified for wide distribution, although placed in a computer network reserved for classified materials.

Outside the courtroom, the case of Bradley Manning has done precisely as he hoped. He sparked a great debate about America’s ruthless war and diplomatic strategies, while also revealing sad truths about military secrecy, human rights, and international power struggles.

Whether or not his revelations will actually spur significant change in the US’ military policies however, remains to be seen.

m Je

hit Gu

LATHALAIN

r e v o c r e d n U

T HE FEAR OF being constantly spied has been on Edward Snowden’s nerves, ever since he decided to blow the whistle on the massive surveillance largely of United States (US) government over its citizens, as well as residents from across continents.

After all, as a former technical contractor for National Security Agency (NSA), the largest intelligence agency in US, Snowden knew what he was going up against.

In Hongkong, where he took refuge as he leaked the top-secret documents to journalists, he refused to leave his hotel room, and placed pillows in his door to prevent eavesdroppers from hearing his conversations on the phone, and wore a large hood over his head and laptop whenever he typed his password.

Following The Guardian and The Washington Post publication of reports based on his revelations, the US government has been trying to seize him, accusing him of theft of government property, unauthorized communication of national defense information, and willful communication of classified information to an unauthorized person.

His government’s reaction is expected. After all, the documents he leaked revealed the extensive power of US to spy practically anyone with access to the Internet, thus being called as “the biggest intelligence leak in NSA’s history”. He exposed the existence of PRISM, an electronic surveillance program operated by NSA, permitting the latter to have direct access from the servers of the giants of cyberspace Google, Yahoo!, Microsoft, Skype, Facebook and Apple, among many others.

Moreover, the documents discussed PRISM as an all-powerful tool with the ability to gather real-time information on live voice, text, email or internet chat services, as well as to analyze stored data.

In the end, Snowden brought to light not only how US essentially infringes upon civil liberties, but also the government’s capacity to use the collected information against Internet users later on, whenever it pleases to.

Prof. Jose Jesus Disini, a Law on Cyberspace expert from the College of Law, says that in the Philippines, surveillance of particular individuals actually leads to enforced disappearances, citing the case of activist Jonas Burgos who is still missing after six years. “Whistleblowers are valuable in the sense that they expose excesses and abuse of power [of the government],” he adds.

Even data on local and foreign calls made in the US were requested by NSA. A secret court order issued in April 2013 mandated Verizon Business Network Services, one of US’ largest telecommunication providers, to supply NSA all phone data in its system including the numbers of both parties, their locations and the time and duration of calls for three months.

The reports sparked indignation among many Americans.

“Collecting this data about every single phone call that every American makes every day would be a massive invasion of Americans’ privacy,” says Democrat Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon in a statement, who led 25 other senators in questioning National Intelligence Director James Clapper.

Aside from US’ unwarranted methods of surveillance, it is alarming to know the staggering amount of information available at their disposal. Every year, intelligence analysts who summarize information obtained by foreign and domestic spying produce 50,000 intelligence reports, a 2010 investigation of The Washington Post reveals.

In addition, around 854,000 people hold top-security clearances to sensitive information such as military operations or foreign activities of US. In 10,000 locations across US, around 3,200 government and private organizations work on counterterrorism, homeland security and intelligence programs.

“Governments should not have this capacity. But [they] will use whatever technology is available to them to combat their primary enemy – which is their own population,” says Noam Chomsky, a celebrated American political theorist, in his interview with The Guardian.

These methods of surveillance of the US government aid them in incriminating innocent citizens merely by the activities they do online. By calling whistleblowers like Snowden ’traitors‘, US avoids the real discourse about how it disregards its promise of a constitutional, democratic government that values its citizens’ freedoms, especially privacy.

“I can’t in good conscience allow the US government to destroy privacy, internet freedom and basic liberties for people around the world with this massive surveillance machine they’re secretly building,” says Snowden.

These days, while governments engage in debates about his future, Snowden is holed up at the Sheremetyevo Airport in Russia, where he is in a proverbial limbo: his passport was revoked, and he cannot leave the premises without proper identification.

He now waits for a country that will offer him asylum, after sending out 21 applications. Ten countries have rejected his bid, citing unmet requirements as the reason. Meanwhile, three governments — Bolivia, Nicaragua and Venezuela — are willing to provide sanctuary, but the prospects for being able to easily leave Moscow are bleak, with the mounting pressure from US to arrest Snowden.

But even if the US eventually gets hold of Snowden, it cannot be denied that Snowden has already uncovered the government’s dangerous and unconstitutional covert monitoring of its people’s daily lives. The fight has just begun. ∞

a oiz Gl

co en m Pla

e y E g n i e e -S l l A

8 9

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KULTURA

PHILIPPINE COLLEGIAN

BIYERNES, HULYO 12, 2013

Tamis ng Tagumpay Mary Joy Capistrano

Nagpapaligsahan ang mga basketball. Ito ang bersyon nila ng hiyaw at palakpakan ng mga estudyante Philippine Basketball Association, pangunahing palarong basketball sa sa loob ng stadium.

Dumagundong ang stadium Asya at pumapangalawa sa National sa pagpasok ng mga manlalaro na Basketball Association.

Kabilang ang UP sa nagtatag sinalubong ng matinding sigawan at masigabong palakpakan. Kitang- ng UAAP, kaya naman lagi itong kita ang kanilang pagkasabik sa mga inaabangan ng buong komunidad. kapwa kamag-aral at atletang ini-idolo May sarili tayong mga pakulo at paraan upang ipakilala ang ating sarili sa madla o crush nila.

Naglabasan na rin ang hindi at bunga ng ating suporta sa kapwa mabilang na mga “statement” o “angas iskolar na sasabak sa paligsahan.

Liban sa mga t-shirts, lobo, shirt” ng mga taga-subaybay ng bawat koponan, bukod pa sa ibang mga banners at kung ano pang mga abubot, nakawiwili ring pakinggan pakulo nila tulad ng mga lobo, ang mga inihanda nilang banners at mga pamatidcheers kasabay ang hiningang chants na dumadagundong na patutsada sa kalaban.

Sa lahat ng hampas sa drum.

Kaya sa kabila Ayon kay ng libo-libong sakripisyo ng mga mga estudyante, kalahok, mahalaga Michael Simms, team Captain ng mababatid pa rin kung kanino sila ang suporta mula sa UP Men’s Football kampi. kanilang mga kapwa Team (UPMFT), tila napapawi ang Opisyal na iskolar matinding pagod at ngang nagbukas hirap na pinagdaanan ang ika-76 na paliga nila sa kanilang ng University Athletic pagsasanay sa tuwing Association of the Philippines maririnig ang sigawan at palakpakan (UAAP), isang taunang palakasan sa pagitan ng walong tanyag na ng mga manonood. unibersidad sa bansa.

Kalahok Katulad ng iba pang mga Paliga Taon-taong ginaganap ang UAAP koponan sa unibersidad, tunay na upang ipamalas ang mga natatanging nagpapakitang-gilas ang UPMFT sa kakayahan ng mga estudyante sa iba’t mga paligsahan.

Hindi biro ang kanilang ibang larangan ng palakasan.

Binubuo ito ng Adamson University pagsasanay na ginaganap tatlong (AdU), Ateneo de Manila University beses sa isang linggo, mula 6 (AdMu), De La Salle University hanggang 9 ng umaga, ani Paul Melicor, (DLSU), Far Eastern University (FEU), miyembro ng UPMFT. “It [also] depends on the National University (NU), University of the East (UE), University of the condition [of the] field. If it’s not Philippines (UP), at University of Santo good, then we reschedule.

When the season is Tomas (UST).

Itinatag noong 1938 ang UAAP approaching, that’s when it na itinuturing na pinakamatandang becomes difficult because patimpalak sa pagitan ng mga we have training every unibersidad. Binuo ito ng 15 uri ng day,” dagdag niya.

Sa kasalukuyan, 16 na palakasan sa pangunguna ng apat na unibersidad—UP, UST, NU at FEU. beses nang naging kampeon Hinati rin ito sa tatlong dibisyon— ang UPMFT sa UAAP. Samantala, walong Senior, Juniors, at Womens.

Ilan sa mga larong tampok sa UAAP beses nang nauwi ng UP ay ang Badminton, Baseball & Softball, Pep Squad ang pinakaaasam Chess, Fencing, Football, Judo, Lawn na tropeo sa Cheerdance competition.

“Araw-araw kaming nagsasanay Tennis, Swimming, Taekwondo, Track kahit may dinaramdam—injury, sakit & Field, Volleyball, at Beach Volleyball.

Sa mga tampok na palaro, ng katawan, kulang sa tulog, at may dinudumog ng mga estudyante ang pinagdadaanan sa buhay. Tinitiis pa din

SPORTSCENE

kinukumpuni ang Aldaba Hall na dati namin dahil mahalaga ang magsanay ,” nilang tahanan. ani Luigi Catolico, miyembro ng UP Pep “Minsan, no permanent address Squad. kami , napipilitang magsanay na lang Makikita sa kanilang mga routine sa labas ng gym sa may semento,” ani na hindi sila nagpapakulong lamang Catolico. sa pagpapamalas ng perpektong Mauugat ang ganitong mga pagtatanghal. Sa bawat konsepto, suliranin sa kakulangan ng subsidyo na piyesta man, rock o Madonna, inilalaan ng pamahalaan sa edukasyon nagsusumikap silang imulat ang mga na nagbibigay-daan sa mga programang mag-aaral sa mga usaping nakakubli nagsusulong sa komersiyalisasyon nito. tuwing may kompetisyon.

Sa tulong ng Samsung at iba Sa lahat ng sakripisyo ng mga pang mga sponsor, matagumpay na kalahok, mahalaga ang suporta mula naisasakatuparan ang UAAP. Sa dami sa kanilang mga kapwa iskolar. Iba man ng sumusubaybay sa UAAP, sa ang paniniwala at kulay sa pulitika, arena man o sa telebisyon, iisa ang isinisigaw ng mga dumarami rin ang kita ng estudyante—“UP Fight!”

Sa kabila ng mga sponsors nito.

“Ang tunay na Maliban sa katuturan ng UAAP kawalan ng suporta pagharap sa ay hindi makikita ng pamahalaan sa matinding pagsa kompetisyon, eensayo, kailangan ngunit sa pamantasan, ding pangalagaan pagkakataong nagagawa pa rin ng ng mga manlalaro maibalik ng mga ang kanilang estudyante ang ating mga mga grado upang karangalan sa manlalarong manatili sa kanilang kanilang unibersidad,” kurso at kolehiyo. ani Catolico. makilahok mga “Ngayon pa lang, excited Sa kabila ng mga na ako sa UAAP. Hindi rin kasi karangalan, batid pa rin biro ang maging UP athlete, balancing sa bawat kalahok ang mga your academics with sports,” ani Simms suliraning kinakaharap ng Nadagdagan pa ang kanilang kanilang mga pamantasan. suliranin nang maglabas ang UAAP Tropeong tanso ng polisiyang maaari lamang silang Sa unang tingin, hindi maging lehitimong miyembro ng makikita ang samu’t koponan matapos ang unang taong saring problemang pamamalagi sa unibersidad. kinakaharap ng mga Sa kabila ng kawalan ng suporta ng manlalaro sapagkat pamahalaan sa pamantasan, nagagawa napapangunahan ito pa rin ng ating mga manlalarong ng mga natamong makilahok at patunayan ang kanilang tagumpay. husay sa piniling larangan.

“Facilities would be “It’s one of our motivations to do our biggest problem and better and to bring home the gold,” ani concern. The field we use Melicor. is shared among other Batbat man ng mga suliranin ang varsity teams, such as mga atleta ng UP, nagsisilbi itong the softball and baseball motibasyon upang mag-ibayo sa teams. When the field’s pagpapamalas ng kahusayan, hindi really bad, we usually lamang sa akademiya, kundi maging train [outside the sa larangan ng palakasan. Sa ganitong University],” ani Melicor tanaw, higit na tumatamis ang bawat Bukod pa rito, tagumpay na natatamo ng manlalarong problema rin nila ang iskolar ng bayan. ∞ mga equipment na kalimitang nahuhuling ibigay tuwing katapusan Photograph: Jiru Rada ng unang semestre, minsan hindi na Illustration : Glenford Lumbao nila nakukuha, ani Simms.

Page design : Jerome Tagaro Gayundin naman ang suliranin ng UP Pep Squad, lalo pa na kasalukuyang

KULTURA

PHILIPPINE COLLEGIAN

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BIYERNES, HULYO 12, 2013

Tala-Ngalan

Isang Pagmumulintuklas[1] sa bansang Filipinas [2] Lorenzo Magbanglo July 27, 2038 a samu’t nang Pilipino ng mg apailalim [1] Batbat ang lipu sa kasaysayan. Nap ago bab pag a mg saring sunod na uri ang mga sunodsa mariing pagsus aysayan no sa dahon ng kas rebisyon na pumupu . nito say say ang k upang matiya ng ap ang pagkakasulat Hindi absoluto o gan kasaysayan aring tingnan ang ngy ma n, aya ays kas lma sa ng luwad na hinuhu bilang isang kimpal ging nagbabago ang Pala o. any at is iba’t ibang hug hugis at anyo.

Araw ng Pagbabalik

ino isyon sa Wikang Filip

yon ng Kom [2] Panukala ngaang at pigilin ang salitang “Filipinas”

(KWF) na gamitin ang suliranin ng as” upang malutas paggamit sa “Pilipin to.” kali “pambansang pag gwistika at mga samahang ling Ngunit maraming F sa rason l sa panukala ng KW uto tum ang yon institus nistang sasakop muli ng kolo pag ng akto ay ang ito na na pa ang Pilipino, bukod on.

Espanya sa kamalay l at hindi napapanah tika rak imp ay ito gwaksi” hakbang na g ang tangkang “pa kun iin sur ng at aga Mahal realidad ay sumasalamin sa as. sa balarilang Filipino pambansa ng Pilipin kalagayan ng wikang

Malapit na rin akong makabalik sa Filipinas matapos ang 20 years ng pagtatrabaho sa USA. Natapos na ang contract ko sa trabaho at pwede na akong magpahinga o humanap ng bakasyunan.

Isa lamang ang pumasok sa isip ko sa mga sandaling ito— gusto ko nang umuwi sa bansa ko. Na-miss ko ang mga tanawin sa Filipinas.

Sa mga balitang nabasa ko noon sa internet, nagulat ako sa biglang pagpalit ng pangalan ng bansa. Pero, pagtagal, dahan-dahan ko naman itong nagustuhan. Mabuti naman at tunog mayaman na ang pangalan ng bansa natin. Maaabot na natin ang popularity ng ibang bansa at big step ito para sa progress ng bansang minamahal natin.

Pag-land sa Noynoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA), mabilis na nagbalikan lahat ng mga alaala ko noong nakatira pa ako dito.

I thought to myself, much had changed since then: airport’s not crowded anymore, marami na ring mga eroplano, at 28 na ang mga terminal.

Pagsakay ng taxi, inutusan ko kaagad si manong drayber na dumaan sa Cory Aquino Avenue[3]. God!

Walang palya talaga, isang inch lang ang iniuusad ng mga sasakyan kada minuto, siksikan pa rin ang mga kotse kahit 12 na ang lanes. Hindi pa rin nasolusyonan ng government ang traffic problem kahit tinakpan na nila lahat ng squatter’s area dito.

Told the driver to take another route. He thought of going to Katips[4] kung saan ako napapagimik dati nung college pa ako. Bago pa man mawala ang opportunity, sinabihan ko na rin siyang dumaan sa Unibersidad ng Filipinas[5]. Ang simpleng pag-uwi ko ngayon ay naging pagkakataon para sa isang quick nostalgia trip.

Sa Katips, nagsisitaasan at nagsisilakihan na lahat ng mga buildings. It’s become one gigantic shopping district! From end to end you can see nothing but shopping malls! This is the new Maximo Zobel de Ayala Mega Business District[6], by the way.

Sa UF, traffic pa rin sa loob pero malawak na ang tracks ng UF-Pascual AGT-X (University of

[6] Hindi alintana na ang kasaluku yang kalagayan ng lupain sa Pilipinas ay sinasamantala ng mga pribadong institusyon kung saan binabago nila ang mga lupain bilang mga sityo ng komersyo at natitipon lamang ang kinit ang pera sa iilang tao.

[7] Kung tutuusin ang kapa ngyarihan ng pagpapangalan ay nasa mga institusyon. Ayon kay Michel Foucault ang pagt atakda ay pagkontrol sa iba’t ibang sistema ng lipun an (ekonomikal, pulitikal, kultural). Ano ngayon ang layon ng pagtatakda ng pangalan, liban sa pagp upugay sa alaala ng isan g kilalang personahe? Heg emoniya.

g an upan g pangal . arihan an in ng kasaysayan uh Makapangy sa ng i tu al at at ap a gp w na di i g nd takdaan an mga puwersang hi an, sinasalungat ay pilit estado Ngunit m pairal ng sa salukuyang iyang pina hegemon kinakalaban ang ka at ang agos g unan. likwasin an ng ating lip i upang ba kamalian at t ay hind ga ga m un g al an gs Ang pa ng mga inawaksi ngunit iw ngyarihan pag-unlad dinudurog ang kapa saysayan. ka g sa tin to un ni tiak un at ang haw institusyon

[8]

Filipinas – Alfredo Pascual Automated Guideway Transit Extension). Wala na palang mga jeepneys sa loob ng university. Naging matagumpay pala ang expansion ng tracks ng UF-Pascual AGT-X last 2015 at umaabot na pala ito ngayon hanggang Cavite, pagmamalaki sa akin ni manong.

Andami ring bagong mga institutions dito na may bago ring mga pangalan[7]. Ang College of Mass Communication is now home to the “Vilma Santos Institute for Multimedia and the Dramatic Arts.” Ang College of Arts and Letters naman, home to the “Carlo J. Caparas Institute for Multidimensional Creative Writing” na. Ang dating shopping center, dinemolish para sa “Diversified Sy-Cojuangco Student’s Mall,” at marami pang iba.

[3] No sa kam ong 2011, n a a panga ra ng Hou gpanukala se an la tungo n ng Epifan Bill 5422 o g isang ko ng a C io matag ory Aquino Delos San ng pagpapa resista u to p ang p mpay na n Avenue. Ba s Avenue (E alit ng agpap apalita gama DSA) tw alit no mga m akasay ng katawag hindi, ma alang balita y mga k sayan an sa implik ung is g pan Pinu gyaya ang lugar na lun asyon ri. ng ma na ito ng m a n k g ng kung asaysayang a tao sa ras ip on na 1986 E a mapa apangalan palabn laman DSA Revolu ng diwa um g ito s aw, ku tion a papel ano a ii y n n mapa g masang P g matuloy m sang tao. H lalabnaw niil na il ig diktad ipino na lu an ang pag it pang m uryan b g Marc ahok sa pa abago, ang gpapa os. talsik s a

[4] May ilang pagkakataon na, kahit palitan ang bansag, hindi ginagamit ang bagong pangalan nito kundi bumabalik lagi sa lumang katawagan, tulad ng Katipu nan Avenue o Carlos P. Garcia Avenue, ayon sa pamahalaa n ng Quezon City.

[5] Sa bisa ng desisyon ng Board of Regents noon g nakaraang buwan, binago ang pangalan ng College of Business Administration sa UP Diliman tungo ng Cesar Virata School of Business (VSB) noong 2013. Sinalu bong ito ng mga protesta dahil umano sa mga problemang legal at moral hinggil sa pagpapangalan ng isang institu syon kay Virata, na kawing sa alaala ng diktaduryang Marcos.

Nakukwestyon ang pagpapanga lan ng isang institusyon kay Virata dahil sa integridad niyan g tigmak ng dugo ng mga taong lumaban at pinaslang sa ilalim ng Martial Law. Illustration : Ysa Calinawan Page design : Jerome Tagaro

It was night time when I got to my old house in Villa Villar subdivision in East Avenue. Renovated na pala ang buong bahay kung kaya nagmukha itong bagong tayo. No more cracks on the wall which I still remember when I was a child. I felt so estranged sa puntong hindi ko na maramdaman kung bahay ko pa ba ito o hindi.

Sadyang napakaraming nagbago sa bansang ito sa ilang decades ng pagkawala ko. Pakiramdam ko tuloy na ibang bansa na ang pinuntahan ko, parang nagbago ang mukha ng Filipinas. Tulad rin ng una kong punta sa USA noon, mahirap sa una ang pagtanggap ngunit pagtagal naman ay madali na akong nakapag-adjust.

It’s still fascinating to see Filipinas full of shopping malls, high rise condominiums, hotels, casinos, at marami pang ibang buildings. Tiyak, dahil dito, lalakas ang economy natin compared sa mga ibang bansa. Kaya saan man ako mapatingin, it’s full of progress and development!

In this forever changing world, hindi naman mahirap mabuhay kapag umuunlad ito[8]. ∞

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KULTURA

PHILIPPINE COLLEGIAN

Council’s gender committee’s was fortified, and the UP Pride Week is now a usual sight, evidence of the organization’s triumphant efforts to drumbeat LGBT advocacy in mainstream consciousness.

“At least now, three years after the annual Pride March, we can see the growing number of supporters.

It’s a nice sign, because even though we haven’t reached full acceptance yet, at least we get growing support from the student,” said 2012 UPD USC Councilor and Babaylan member Pat Bringas.

But the victory of the LGBT community does not end in the Pride March. The march is but a means to garner the attention of the public, to make them notice and recognize the undeniable presence of the LGBT community, not just in UP, but all over the world.

Their victory comes through unity, not just with members of the LGBT community, but with all the sectors of society who can also forward and support their cause.

Because, indeed, social struggles, even those relating to gender and sexuality, are not fought singlehandedly, but through collective action.

While fortifying policies and forwarding awareness-raising measures to strengthen the LGBT community, UP Babaylan now faces the challenge to further

strengthen links outside the LGBT community—with other student organizations and institutions, government agencies, and even the religious right—in order to claim greater victories for the LGBT cause.

And while the Pride March has been the traditional procession of LGBTs, UP Babaylan thus possesses the potential to also march with other members of the UP community and the larger society—for, indeed, the most genuine and most lasting of changes are those won by collective action. ∞

BIYERNES, HULYO 12, 2013

Tambayan 101 “Walang matambayan? Halika’t kilalanin ang bawat organisasyon sa unibersidad at ang kanilang mga samu’t saring kuwento— malay mo, maisipan mo pang maging bahagi ng kanilang kasaysayan.”

The Butterfly Effect UP Babaylan’s Rally for Gender Awareness through Collective Action Colleen Abesamis They are glittering royalties.

The lethargy of the afternoon dissipated as they strutted along the streets, waving and smiling, their rainbow banners draped in invitation. Placards condemning homosexuality were held up right beside them, threatening to rain on their parade. Yet these only attracted more photographers and television crews who scramble for the wires of their bulky cameras.

This is a usual scene during the UP Pride March, an annual parade held as a celebration of the LGBT community’s struggle for equal rights. This purpose glows not only throughout the march but also in the organization that spearheaded it on campus—the UP Babaylan.

Open to All A beautiful advocacy usually starts out dark and awry.

In 1992, several frat men beat up a gay resident at the Narra Residence Hall. This triggered the inception of a support group known as the UP Bakla ng Bayan Lumalaban or UP Babaylan. The group, then headed by Venir Cuyco, grappled for recognition as a university organization and succeeded in December of 1992.

Indeed, UP Babaylan has come a long way and is now known as the premier LGBT student organization in the country and currently home to 47 resident members.

Its logo— rainbow-colored butterfly wings of a butterfly spread behind the oblation—symbolizes service to the people and freedom, not only of expression, but also over one’s sexual identity. Although it is dedicated to the LGBT community, it is not an exclusive organization.

It welcomes everyone, even its heterosexual supporters.

Seeking Equality Society tends to oppress and ostracize those who stray from the norm. This is what propels Babaylan into action: that discrimination should be addressed and that

communities must recognize the LGBT population’s role in seeking social justice.

When its anniversary week whisked by, educational discussions (EDs), fashion shows, and film showings were held, seeking to shatter unfair portrayals and harsh stereotypes often attributed to the LGBT advocacy.

With the aid of UP Babaylan, the LGBT studies section of the UP Diliman Gender Office and the Gender and LGBT Studies and Literature Section of the UP Center for Women’s Studies Library have been institutionalized—two avenues that will enrich the students’ awareness of the LGBT and shelter the members of the community from further discrimination and prejudice. It also campaigns for the implementation of university policies that protect the rights of LGBTs. Outside campus, the UP Babaylan also joins in the Manila Pride March and is part of the National LGBT Student Organization Network.

Singh also recently attended a United Nations seminar that drafted the needed policies and programs for gender equality around the world.

“We want to set an example, so those outside campus can also get accepted for who they are,” Singh added.

More than a March Under the wings of Babaylan, many LGBTs are now learning to take flight. Aware of their struggles and taking pride in their sexual identity, these people are leaving their cocoons, sliding away from their insecurities.

“We want to encourage them to treat Babaylan as their comfort zone. We know how difficult it is to not be ‘out’ in the family, so here in Babaylan we want to become their family. We support our members not only in their sexual orientation, but in all problems they encounter,” Singh elaborates.

Through its support, Babaylan has nurtured student leaders who have become the torchbearers of its cause. The support of the UP Diliman University Student

Illustration : Rosette Abogado Page design : Jerome Tagaro

GRAPIX

PHILIPPINE COLLEGIAN

13

BIYERNES, HULYO 12, 2013

Liwanag sa Dilim Pagpasok sa komunidad sa ilalim ng Tullahan Bridge Kim Pauig & Jiru Rada Page design: Jan Andrei Cobey Walang katiyakan kung kailan tuluyang paaalisin ang anim na pamilyang naninirahan sa ilalim ng Tullahan Bridge.

Walang sariling linya ng kuryente ang mga residente, kaya gaya ng iba pa nilang mga pangangailangan, nabubuhay sila sa paghihintay ng pagkakataong mabahagian ng kahit kaunting liwanag.

Dalawa hanggang tatlong araw lang nakakasama ni Aling Editha ang kaniyang asawa dahil sa Makati pa ang pagawaang pinapasukan nito.

Mag-isa niyang inaalagaan sa ilalim ng tulay ang kanilang dalawang-buwang sanggol na anak. Ang 5x6 talampakang barung-barong na gawa sa tarapal at playwud na ang kamumulatan ng sanggol.

Napilitang manirahan sa dilim ang pamilya ni Mang Jimmy matapos ang hagupit ng Habagat noong nagdaang taon. Halos isang taon na ang nagdaan, hindi pa rin sapat ang kita niya sa paglalako sa tabi ng kalsada para makaupa ng bahay.

Tahimik na naglalaro sa cellphone ang isa sa mga anak ni Mang Jimmy. Ito lamang ang paraan upang makontak sila ng mga tao sa labas ng komunidad.

Nagtitiyagang magbasa ang isa sa mga anak ni Mang Jimmy gamit ang nag-iisang bumbilya ng kanilang bahay.

Pansamantala siyang tumigil sa pag-aaraln dahil hindi sapat ang perang kinikita ng kaniyang mga magulang upang mapag-aral silang limang magkakapatid.

Ang 3x2 talampakang pintuan ang nag-uugnay sa anim na pamilyang “taga-loob� kung tawagin at sa mga naninirahan sa ilalim ng tulay sa labas— mundong nasisilawan ng liwanag ng araw.

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OPINYON

PHILIPPINE COLLEGIAN

Maralitang may lupa Ali

Kamusta na kayo?

Balita ko nawalan daw kayo ng tirahan. Napanood ko sa TV noong isang araw na nagkaroon ng demolisyon diyan sa North Triangle, Quezon City. Nagkaroon ba ng gulo?

Binato ba nila kayo o binomba ng tubig? May mga nasaktan ba sa inyo? Lilipat na nga raw kayo ng tirahan sa ibang lugar. Malapit ba ito sa pinagtatrabahunan niyo? Baka naman delikado at malayo sa bayan.

Napansin ko nga rin ang kumakalat ngayong komento ng isang kilalang celebrity host sa mga networking site tungkol sa inyong relokasyon. Bakit daw kayo kailangang i-baby, gayong marami raw sa amin ang naghahanapbuhay para makaipon ng pambayad sa bahay at buwis? Sa inyo raw napupunta ang perang pinaghirapan namin.

Nakakalungkot isipin na may mga ganitong pananaw galing sa mga kilalang personalidad, lalo na sa

iniidolo mo. Maaari itong makaapekto sa pananaw ng mga tagasubaybay nila.

Buti na lang, hindi ako kabilang doon.

Hindi ko maintindihan kung bakit hindi nila maunawaan ang paghihirap na dinaranas niyo ― walang maayos na tirahan, pang-araw-araw na pagkain, sapat na edukasyon, at maayos na programang pangkalusugan.

Binabatikos nila ang pagbibigay ng panibagong tirahan para sa inyo, samantalang kami, walang natatanggap. Ni minsan hindi siguro sila nagawi sa lugar niyo.

Nakita na kaya nila kung paano kayo itinataboy sa sarili niyong bahay gamit ang tear gas, tubig at hanay ng mga pulis na may bitbit na batuta?

Siguro hindi pa nila naramdaman ang kaba at takot ng pakikipag-gitgitan o ‘di kaya mabugbog at pagtulungan.

Sana ganoon lang kadali magbagong-buhay sa ibang lugar, kasing bilis ng pagtataboy sa inyo sa mga tirahan niyo.

Kailanman, hindi ako naniwala na kasalanan ang maging mahirap

Kailanman, hindi ako naniwala na kasalanan ang maging mahirap.

Malay lang siguro ako na hindi sapat ang mga pagkakataon para mai-ahon niyo ang sarili sa kahirapan. Marami ang hindi nakapagtapos ng pag-aaral samantalang hindi naman nagawang makapag-aral ng iba. Bunga nito, walang sapat na trabaho para sa kanila, kahit buong buhay mo pa ang igugol mo para makaahon sa hirap.

Sa kabilang banda naniniwala ako na kung bibigyan kayo ng pagkakataon na iraos ang inyong sarili sa kahirapan, hindi niyo na kailangan pang suungin ang dahas ng pakikipag-salpukan sa mga taong pinagtatabuyan kayo sa inyong mga tahanan.

Ang bilis natin manghusga sa ating mga kapwa. Marahil kailangan lang nating maranasan ang buhay na kinsasadlakan nila upang lubos na maunawaan ang kahulugan nito. ∞

Minsan sa may Kalilayan Jiru Rada Middle Kiosk, East Wing, Palma Hall ¬– isa ito sa mga tinuri kong home address sa UP. Hindi bababa sa apat na oras ang biyahe pauwing probinsya kaya madalas sa Kalilayan ang inuuwian ko.

Kalilayan ang organisasyong nagbubuklod sa mga iskolar na galing sa probinsya ng Quezon. Dito nagsasama-sama ang mga malalalim mag-Tagalog, ang mga mahihilig sa pansit habhab at “langgonisa,” pati na rin ang ilang die-hard fans ni Ebe Dancel.

Nakatutuwang isipin na kahit halos isa’t kalahating dipa lang ang lapad ng tambayan, napuno ito ng mga samu’t saring alaala ng aming probinsya. Mula sa walang katapusang UPCAT reviews sa mga high school students taga-Quezon hanggang sa mga naglalakihang quiz bees at lecture seminars, walang humpay na nagsilbi ang Kalilayan sa kaniyang mga kababayan.

Naging saksi ang mga tambayang ito sa mga namuong pagkakaibigan at pag-iibigan, sa umpugan ng mga ideya at pananaw, maski sa pagbuo at pagkamit ng mga pangarap.

Nakatanim sa dalawang dekada nitong kasaysayan sa Bulwagang Palma ang paglilingkod sa bayan.

Kalakip ng mga taong inilagi nito sa

Ngunit sa kahit anumang samahan, mabubuo ang tahanan kahit sa ilalim ng ibang bubungan

tambayan ay ang mga alaalang bitbit namin kahit saan.

Ngunit sa mahigit 30 taon nitong pagkabuhay sa pamantasan, nabulabog ang Kalilayan sa pagkawala ng kaniyang tirahan sa Bulwagang Palma. Dito sa UP, hindi ko inakalang mawawalan ako ng tahanan.

Sa pagpatak ng taong 2011 nagsimulang lamunin ng anay ang mga haligi ng tambayan.

Kinalawang na ang bubungan nito, unti-unting bumigay ang pundasyon at isa-isang nalaglag ang mga bahagi nito. Naging mapanganib na ang tumambay sapagkat nagbadya ang pagguho at tuluyang pagkawasak ng aming munting tirahan.

Pinilit namin itong ibalik sa dati at ipinaayos upang higit pang mapatibay. Naniwala kaming hindi ito mabubuwag ng mga anay. Ilang bagyo na rin ang nagpatunay sa katatagan nito. Ilang beses kaming nakipag-usap sa admin, at hiniling na muling mapaayos ang nasisirang tahanan.

Pagtagal, naramdaman namin ang hangganan ng aming paglaban.

Hindi anay o ano mang peste ang sumira sa tambayan. Winasak ito ng bulok na patakaran.

Ang pagkasira ng aming tambayan ang naging dahilan

upang tuluyan kaming mapaalis sa Bulwagang Palma. Hindi naging sapat ang anumang paggiit sa aming karapatan sa espasyong aming inalagaan. Para sa mga organisasyong tubong-Palma lang daw ang espasyo na kinatatayuan ng aming naaagnas na tambayan.

Matinding problema ng mga organisasyon sa unibersidad ang pagkakaroon ng tambayan. May ilang suwerte na nabigyan ng kubo sa ilang kolehiyo, air-conditioned room o ‘di kaya’y mga sulok ng gusali na hindi nadadaanan. Ngunit hindi kami kabilang doon.

Sa tinagal-tagal na panahon na namalagi ang tambayan sa Bulwagang Palma, malamang mas mahihigitan pa nito ang mga taong nagpaalis sa amin.

Higit pa ang pagkawala ng tambayan ang naranasan ng Kalilayan nang mapaalis kami sa Bulwagang Palma. Ngunit sa kahit anumang samahan, mabubuo ang tahanan kahit sa ilalim ng ibang bubungan.

B1, Cluster B, Tambayan Complex, Vinzons Hill – minsan sa may Palma namalagi ang Kalilayan. Ngunit mabilis lumipas ang kahapon, at ito na ang bagong tambayan ngayon. ∞

BIYERNES, HULYO 12, 2013

OPINYON

PHILIPPINE COLLEGIAN

15

BIYERNES, HULYO 12, 2013

EKSENANG PEYUPS

TEXTBACK

Anong masasabi mo sa panukalang muling pahintulutan ang mga US military bases sa bansa? ∞ ou. 2008-*81*1 ∞ pabor po ako sa pagbubukas ulit ng mga base-militar ng mga amerikano sa ating bansa. Pero sana ma-regulate to ng ating gobyerno at magamit para sa ating advantage, not the other way around :) 11-09**4 AFAN BSCE ∞ More rape victims in Clark. 201109237 ARNOLD BSME Kung ikaw ang writer ng My Husband’s Lover, ano ang pwede mong gawin para maging katanggap-tanggap ang kwento sa simbahang Katoliko? ∞ Ang pagmamahal ay walang pinipiling kasarian. Ang Panginoon ay marunong tumanggap ng buong pagkatao. SCMP BSCD 2010*886* ∞ s question 2, sna gawing pari s denis trillo s ending, 4 sure tangap n ng mga pari at papa mu un. Wahaha. 2006-24568 ∞ Magcacast ako ng isang buong kumbento para matanggap nila ang katotohanan.ganda kaya ng tambalang Tom-Dennis bwahaha 1101517 Comments ∞ pogi ni valmayor #9 ng football team. wooh!!!! 2010-4**** BA CW ∞ hi buko! natanggap mo ba yung ko? pinabigay ko kay kuya guard ng vinzons jejeje 2012-6**5* BS ChE ∞ YSA CALINAWAN I LOVE YOU! -pata circa 2007 ∞ maganda sana yung cover pero hindi ko masyadong naintindihan. parang kulang pa sa data.

NEWSCAN

Ze late edisyun!

Haruwa mga juwa! Biyernes na imbyerna! Patawad sa mga naghihintay ng mga crispylicious juicylicious chika-joy. Ajujuju. Sabaw na talaga ang head biyotch niyo sa ivory tower and you wouldn’t belieeeeve what’s happening up here, down there…especially down there where all magical unicorns and leprechauns freely interbreed with each other charararat! Sorry for the noncoherence but I’m certainly lost with all the lack of sleep and cheughrge.

Up here Sinetch iteng kuluterogue na ito na nag-out sa kanyang new sex-shun via book of feces. Sabi ni kuluterogue wholesomely aroooound 11 ng gabi kay ate: “inlababo na ako kay newly act-sexted mate natin. I even listen to Britney Spears to make aketch feel pretty.” Si ate naman, kebs lang at although na-awkwardan ay mukang lumalayo layo na kay koya kapag nasa opis. May friction ‘teh? You jelly? What she doesn’t know, iz we was, we were, ah-hohoho. I am so sorry, koya! A set-up!!! Naf*ck lang este nahack lang si kuluterogue keri? Log-out log-out din kasi sa fez bukbukins pag may time.

Ahahaha Down dur In a jeepney to the opis, nakakita kamo ‘tong lolo mo ng magsyota na sobrang makaPDA ang isang koya as in Pleeeez Duwit Agens. Si ateng is keri lang even if koya is almost playing tongue twister on the various holes on her face and other parts of the body. Who could blame koya nga naman when ang kanyang pekpek este perfect girlfriend ay walang magawa kung hindi mapanggap na mukang hiyang-hiya. Naku girl ha, I know nakamot ang iyong itch! Especially ng tinanong na ni koya out loud with at least ten passengers in the jeep: “Kung zombie ako anong parte ng katawan mo ang gusto mong…

KAININ ko?” And then. Kroo kroo kroo. Kainan pala haaaa, how about makikain ako jan? Sarap niyong panuorin eh!

Down dur dur Eto nakakaloka, on another jipney ride may isang koya na sumakay at attire from the College of taong kin-etits. He sat down at soon, mga beks, he was scratching his C*CK…from the inside! What’s funny is ay nung inaabot niya na ang sukli sa katabi niya, bigla itong sumigaw ng “PARAAAA.” More like saraaaaaap ang aking nabanggit from the inside mga gurl! More! hahaha Oh yan lang mga chikadur ko sa inyo maylabs. Kita-tits sa inyo next week for a more masarap and mainit na pasabog. Om nom nom. ∞ Next week’s questions 1. Ano ang isasagot mo sa tweet ni Bianca Gonzales?

2. Kaninong puso ang gusto mong muling buksan?

Key in KULE <space> MESSAGE <space> STUDENT NUMBER <required> NAME and COURSE (optional) and send to

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CONTACT US! Write to us via snail mail or submit a soft copy to Rm. 401, Vinzons Hall, UP Diliman, Quezon City. Email us pkule1314@gmail.com. Save Word attachments in Rich Text Format, with INBOX, NEWSCAN or CONTRIB in the subject. Always include your full name, address and contact details.

Congratulations!

David Immanuel Angel Evardone & Arra Francia New News Writers

SIPAT

Jiru Rada

Glendford Lumbao New Illustrator

www.philippinecollegian.org

#BeTheOneToJoinTheFun The UP DOST Scholars’ Association invites you to attend its applicants’ orientation. It will be at the Kamia Multi-Purpose Hall on July 10, 2013.

For more info contact: Arnold – 09058611005 #JoinUPDOSTSA WANT TO BE COOL? PLAY POOL! Join us @ the UP Pool Club!

An extensive pool basics training will be given to applicants as the only requirement on the Application process. No hassle!

Join us to get discounts at pool table rents. For more details, contact 09228154622 or visit http:// facebook.com/UP.Pool.Club/ You can also visit us @ the Alumni Center. Look for Mr. Jun Rosaceña. We are always open for new applicants throughout the semester!

UPFI FILM CENTER SCREENINGS THIS JULY 2013 CINE ADARNA: Eddie Romero - National Artist Special Retro screening for The Passionate Strangers to relive the legacy of one of the country’s six National Artists for Film July 12 Fri 5 p.m.

Pete Lacaba UP Gawad Plaridel Awardee 2013 Screening of Brocka’s another masterpiece, Bayan Ko: Kapit sa Patalim, in honor of its acclaimed screenplay by this year’s recipient of UP Gawad Plaridel for Outstanding Media Practitioners July 22 Mon 2:30 and 5 p.m.

VIDEOTHEQUE: Tribute to Danny Zialcita UP Film Institute continues its retrospective in honor of the memory of one of Philippine cinema’s most hailed master directors July 19 Fri 2:30/4:30/6:30 p.m.

Cinemalibre Film Club Screening with CINEPHILES! July 20 Sat 12:30 p.m. onwards Eddie Romero - National Artist Special More features for the special to relive the legacy of one of the country’s six National Artists for Film July 25 Thurs & 29 Mon 5/7 p.m.

For the Learned Film Buff Random picks for a screening that film buffs may truly enjoy July 30 Tue 5 p.m. onwards University of the Philippines Film Institute (Member, CILECT/International Association of Film and Television Schools)

filminstitute.upd.edu.ph

Illustration : RD Aliposa