PHILIPPINE COLLEGIAN Opisyal na lingguhang pahayagan ng mga mag-aaral ng Unibersidad ng Pilipinas, Diliman › Miyerkules 31 Agosto 2016 › Tomo 94 Blg 2
RATIO OF THE NUMBER OF APPEALS TO THE NUMBER OF APPLICANTS
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3 OF 4 STUDENTS AWAIT STS APPEAL RESULTS DURING ENROLMENT
AY 2014-2015
AY 2016-2017
KAREN ANN MACALALAD Three years ago, the Socialized Tuition System promised a faster way to process the application for tuition discounts and appeals, and early posting of results. However, a large volume of students still await for their appeal results even as the registration period in UP started on August 1. In addition, the number of students who were granted free tuition and stipend decreased even more this year compared in 2015.
lathalain
AY 2015-2016
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9.12%
8.96%
7.5%
23.5%
25.5%
30.1%
AY 2014-2015
TUGON SA TUNGGALIAN
AY 2015-2016
AY 2016-2017
DATA ON THE GRANT RATE FOR FULL TUITION DISCOUNT philippinecollegian.org philippinecollegian phkule phkule phkule phkule@gmail.com
10 TIPPING SCALES balita SOLVE POVERTY TO ELIMINATE DRUG ABUSE — KARAPATAN
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opinyon
kultura ON THE ROAD
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balita DBM SLASHES HALF OF UP-PROPOSED BUDGET
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EDITORYAL MIYERKULES 31 AGOSTO 2016 ISKO ON THE STREET
No escape ONE IS EASY TO ESCAPE WITH impunity through corruption of public memory. Such is the victory so close at hand for the Marcoses, should the clamor against the late dictator’s burial at the Libingan ng mga Bayani finally be conquered. The tyranny of former president Ferdinand Marcos may have ended in 1986, but the atrocities and corruption rampant in his time remain shrouded in illusions of peace and development. His son even ran as vice-president and almost won with 14.1 million votes during the 2016 elections, while his family earned the current president’s approval for his burial in the heroes’ cemetery. The economic progress under the dictator’s rule is one of the most used proofs for revising history, citing his contributions to the infrastructure sector. What was never told was that foreign debts funded these projects, effectively increasing the country’s external debt to $26.4 billion in 1986 from $599 million in 1966, which Filipinos are obliged to pay until 2025, according to IBON Foundation. The country was further led to the delirious path of economic decline and poverty after Marcos and his cronies amassed around $8 billion of foreign debt and at least $5 billion of public funds. Thousands were pushed to work
Heroes are expected to save lives, much unlike the dictator who caused bloodbath under his rule.
abroad despite the danger of exploitation, as unemployment rate rose and real wages of skilled workers decreased to P35.38 in 1986 from P126.74 in 1962. President Rodrigo Duterte, who is vocal in giving recognition to Marcos, has cited on his defense that the dictator served as a war veteran. But historical records has long unmasked this image of Marcos as a fraud, which further showed that some who claimed to be part of the Marcos-led Maharlika were involved in the massacre of ordinary Filipino people. Heroes are expected to save lives, much unlike the dictator who caused bloodbath under his rule. The sense of discipline during the 1980s boasted by his apologists cost lives of civilians and those who fearlessly stood against repression but were silenced by his fascism. The social unrest left 70,000 arrested, 34,000 tortured, 3,240 executed, and 1,000 victims of enforced disappearances, according to Amnesty International. While the Human Rights Victims Reparation and Recognition Act was signed in 2013 to provide compensation to victims, claimants first had to prove that they are victims through the screening process for “money rewards.” History threatens to repeat itself this year. Under the Duterte administration,
hundreds of extrajudicial killing cases of the poor have been recorded due to the kill-all attitude for the war on drugs. At this point, the public should be enraged to refute Marcos’s recognition and prevent the grim history of atrocity from happening again. Allowing the Marcoses to escape with impunity and live lavishly with their ill-gotten wealth is an utter disregard for history, especially to those who fought for democracy. The press plays a crucial role of ensuring that individuals who were born after the turbulent dictatorship will learn the correct side of history. The mass media, including the Philippine Collegian, is more capable to publish radical ideas and anomalies in the government—the media that survived extreme censorship under the Marcos regime. The rise of social media serves as a new democratic space for the press to circulate a counter narrative to one presented by Marcos and his cronies. Stories of Martial Law victims and the battles fought before against subjugation should be retold and highlighted in every article, photo, and illustration, to dispel the major myths during the bloodstained regime. For the public can only counter the culture of impunity if it willfully dares to demand justice where it is due. −
Ano ang pinakamahirap na bahagi ng buhay mo bilang dormer sa UP Diliman? ‘Yung admission process sa dormitories ‘yung pinakamahirap na part ng pagiging dormer. Pwede kasing dormer ka ngayon then bigla ka na lang mawawalan ng slot in the next year. Tapos you have to write appeals and undergo all this bureaucratic process para lang mabigyan ng slot. Nag-start na yung class pero hindi mo pa rin sure kung may matitirhan ka o wala.
Leonardo Jaminola Yakal Residence Hall
‘Yung malayo ka sa parents mo. ‘Pag may sakit ka walang magaalaga sayo kundi sarili mo lang din. Madalas ‘pag nagsisimba ka or umaalis para mag grocery or kumain, makakakita ka ng mga families, mas mafefeel mo yung pagka-homesick.
Gy-Anne Yepes
Kamia Residence Hall
Punong Patnugot Karen Ann Macalalad Kapatnugot Arra Francia Tagapamahalang Patnugot John Reczon Calay Patnugot sa Kultura Andrea Joyce Lucas Patnugot sa Grapiks Rosette Abogado − Jan Andrei Cobey − Adrian Kenneth Gutlay − Chester Higuit Tagapamahala ng Pinansiya John Daniel Boone Kawani Hans Christian Marin Pinansiya Amelyn Daga Tagapamahala sa Sirkulasyon Paul John Alix Sirkulasyon Amelito Jaena − Glenario Ommamalin Mga Katuwang na Kawani 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 kule1516@gmail.com − www.philippinecollegian.org / fb.com/philippinecollegian / twitter.com/phkule / instagram.com/philippinecollegian
‘Pag namimiss mo na yung pamilya mo pero alam mong di ka pwedeng umuwi kasi may iba ka pang responsibilities.
Akkiara Sawali
Yakal Residence Hall
MIYERKULES 31 AGOSTO 2016
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3 of 4 students await STS appeal results during enrolment
SIDEBAR 1A BRACKET ASSIGNMENT OF STS APPLICANTS AND NON-APPLICANTS IN AY 2016-2017 SYSTEMWIDE
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KAREN ANN MACALALAD
LESS THAN THREE OF FOUR STUDENTS had pending appeal results under the three-year old Socialized Tuition System (STS), a week after the registration period in UP began, data from the Office of Student Financial Assistance revealed. A total of 6,592 out of 9,112 appeals have yet to be processed by August 9, where zero appeal grants were reported in Los Baños (UPLB), Visayas (UPV), and Mindanao. In Diliman (UPD), only 1,794 out of 4,543 appeals or 39.5 percent have been processed. Less than 10 percent or 2,230 of 31,047 students have been granted free tuition systemwide during the initial granting of STS results. In UPD, only 958 of 12,385 applicants and non-applicants have been given full discounts (see sidebars). Each unit has a different way of processing appeals, where UPLB and UPV classify appeals before holding a meeting to decide upon all the cases at once, said STS Director Richard Gonzalo. The slow-paced processing of appeals in UPD is a result of the large student volume and their late submission of STS applications, he added. Under STS, undergraduate students are required to accomplish an online form which will assign them to brackets ranging from zero to full tuition discount with stipend, shorter than the 14-page questionnaire of the Socialized Tuition and Financial Assistance Program (STFAP). Before the STFAP implementation in 1989, UP had been charging a uniform tuition rate of P40 per unit for 80 years. The introduction of STFAP effectively increased the base tuition to P300 per unit, further ballooning into P1,500 per unit under STS. Loan as payment Only one committee evaluates UPD’s petitions which includes the Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs, the Office of Scholarships and Student Services (OSSS), and student and faculty representatives. “Ang advise sa UPD at UPLB, baka pwedeng mag-assign ng several committees. Ang problem, ‘yung consistency at paano ipapasa ang institutional memory,” Gonzalo said. The percentage of applicants appealing for higher discounts systemwide significantly rose to 30.1 from 25.5 in 2015, while UPD’s appeal rate increased to 38.4 from 29.5 percent. In contrast, UP’s free tuition grant rate decreased to 7.5 percent from 8.96, with UPD having a 7.8 percent grant rate from 10.73 percent in 2015. “[Ipinakikita nito] na hindi totoo ‘yung pangako na ang STS ay financial assistance program na nagbibigay ng mas murang matrikula sa estudyante. [dahil hindi] umababa ang bilang na nakakakuha nang mas mataas na tuition discount,” said Student Regent Raoul Danniel Manuel. Nivard Daliva, 4th year Mechanical Engineering student, is among those who have yet to enroll and receive their appeal results by August 25, despite early
submission during the first batch run. He was granted 60 percent discount, costing him P11,400 for 19 units on tuition fee alone. Since first year, Daliva has been appealing for free tuition with stipend after being consistently assigned to paying brackets under the STS. With both parents unemployed, majority of his expenses are shouldered by their relatives and other loan programs. Even if the deadline of payment was moved to September 7, Daliva intends to apply for a full tuition loan. “Sobrang nainis ako noong [magkaroon ng] no late payment [policy] dahil wala pang appeals at kulang sa slots. Sana naman maging pro-student ‘yung approach ng admin… Maraming nagsasakripisyo para makapag-aral dito,” he said. Appeal results should be posted before the registration period, but processing appeals takes at least three months, Gonzalo said. Should the results be released late, the student can opt to apply for loans which is interest-free if paid within the semester, he added. Last semester, a total of 1,728 out of 15,256 students applied for loans, where around 40 percent had been granted 60 percent tuition discount. Increasing fee collections More students are assigned to paying brackets since STS is a tool of the administration to ensure profit, while the remaining huge amount acts as savings, Manuel said. From 2010 to 2014, the university earned P1.94 billion pesos which went to various revolving funds not used in UP’s daily operation, according to UP’s annual financial report to the Department of Budget and Management (DBM). “Ang logic ng administration under President Alfredo Pascual, kailangan taasan ang bayad para makakuha ng education sa UP dahil mayaman na ang karamihan. Hindi nakikita na ang mataas na tuition sa UP ang dahilan kung bakit maraming estudyanteng matatalino naman ang hindi nakakapasok,” Manuel added. Tuition collection rose to P473.43 million in 2015 from the P355.49 million in 2010, data from DBM showed. Meanwhile, collection of other school fees (OSFs) also increased in 2015 amounting to P28.81 million in 2015 from the P20.41 million in 2010. Due to the framework of STS as a profiteering scheme, student leaders have called for the removal of the STS and OSFs. Should there be a move to implement free tuition in UP, the office will find a way to understand the student’s situation as a financial assistance agency, Gonzalo said. The Office of Student Regent, together with local councils, plans to hold a series of discussion on STS to enjoin more students in their campaign, Manuel said. “Kung ibabasura ang STS mapipigilan natin yung patuloy na panghuhuthot sa mga estudyante. Kaya mabuhay ng UP kahit wala [ito],” he added. −
SIDEBAR 1B BRACKET ASSIGNMENT OF STS APPLICANTS AND NON-APPLICANTS IN AY 2016-2017 IN DILIMAN
SIDEBAR 2 FULL TUITION DISCOUNT GRANT RATES ON STS APPLICANTS PER CAMPUS
AS OF 10:47 AM OF AUGUST 9, 2016
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MIYERKULES 31 AGOSTO 2016
DBM slashes half of UP-proposed budget SIDEBAR 1 UP-PROPOSED BUDGET VERSUS ACTUAL BUDGET SINCE 2010
PROPOSED BUDGET
ACTUAL BUDGET
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ARJAY IVAN R. GOROSPE
UP MAY STILL RECEIVE ONLY HALF of its proposed budget for 2017, after the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) upped the university’s allocation to P13.09 billion from 2016’s P11.6 billion, or around 50 percent of what UP needs. The P1.49 billion leap in the proposed budget is attributed to the increased funding for personnel services (PS), surging to P9.9 billion from this year’s P7.6 billion, according to the National Expenditure Program (NEP) submitted by DBM. Despite the increase, the 2017 budget is just half of what UP proposed, pegged at P26.2 billion as approved by the Board of Regents. Since the budget for 2017 is not what UP has requested, it will request more funds in Congress for additional faculty and administrative items, said Joselito Florendo, UP Vice President for Planning and Finance. For the past years, the budget allotted to UP has consistently been half of the proposal submitted by the UP administration. “Ang ganitong patakaran ay nakapailalim sa Roadmap for Public Higher Education Reform (RPHER) ng ating gobyerno, na layuning gawing 50 porsyento na lamang ng pondo ng mga state universities and colleges (SUCs) ang nanggagaling sa gobyerno. Habang ang natitirang 50 porsyento ay dapat nang
magmula sa mga income-generating projects,” said University Student Council Councilor Ben Te. RPHER was a policy implemented by the Aquino administration that seeks to push SUCs into generating income for themselves. The NEP will first undergo three rounds of readings in the House of Representatives, which started on August 22. The Houseapproved budget will then be endorsed to the Senate for the same round of procedures. The bicameral conference committee, composed of representatives from both houses, will consolidate the bill before being transmitted to the president who will sign it into law. Budget for student housing UP’s budget is divided into three parts, which includes PS or the salaries for employees and staff, maintenance and other operating expenses (MOOE), and capital outlay (CO), or the budget for the construction of buildings. The total budget for basic salary will increase to P6.1 million from P4.7 million, including bonuses and benefits. More than P736 thousand of the allocation for PS will be allotted for the retirement and life insurance premiums of faculty and staff. Around P860 million was deducted from this year’s CO of P1.1 billion, from
P2.0 billion in 2016. Despite the decrease, more than P200 million will be allotted for the construction of new dormitories in UP Diliman (UPD). Chancellor Michael Tan affirmed last year that UPD will be requesting budget for at least five additional dormitories, after students faced a dorm crisis due to the lack of slots. “Sa kasalukuyan, nariyan ang mga semiprivate dormitories sa loob ng campus katulad ng Centennial at ng Acacia, na sa halip na itiyak na matatamasa ito ng mga estudyante nang libre ay ginagawa itong pamamaraan upang higit na pagkakitaan ang ating unibersidad,” said Te. The procurement process for the additional dormitories will be prepared as soon as the university’s budget is finalized, Florendo said. “Hindi tayo kailangang hiwa-hiwalay, at magkaisa tayo [upang maisakatuparan ang mga proyekto para sa unibersidad],” he added. Student leaders meanwhile expressed that more than an increase in budget, the university should move toward calling for free tertiary education that would be accessible to all. “Dapat kasabay ng paghingi ng mas mataas na pondo para sa edukasyon ay ang panawagan na itigil ang komersyalisasyon at igiit na ang pondong magmumula sa gobyerno ay dapat direktang mapapakinabangan ng mga
estudyante. Sa esensya, ang panawagan na taasan ang pondo para sa edukasyon ay nasa layuning dapat maging libre ito para sa lahat,” said Te. The UP budget comprises almost 23 percent of the total funds allotted for the country’s 111 SUCs, pegged at P58.8 billion. This marks a P12-billion increase from this year’s P46 billion. ‘Pork barrel’ for congressmen If approved, the first NEP under the Duterte administration will be the highest for the country, increasing to P3.35 trillion, or 11.6 percent higher than the P3.002 trillion in 2016. Three-fourths or almost P2.2 trillion of the national budget will be divided to various government sectors, while the remaining quarter will be allotted for items that are immediately funded, including interest payment on government debts. An estimated P2.48 trillion of the budget will be collected from the people’s taxes, while government may resort to borrowing to augment the expected budget deficit amounting to P631.3 billion. The Department of Education (DepEd) will have the largest slice of the national budget, increasing to P567.56 billion from the P439.9 billion in 2016. The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) comes next with an allocation of P458.6
billion, followed by the P150.05-billion allotment for the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG). Moreover, each congressman will have an P80-million fund to be used for their constituents, allotting P50 million for hard projects and another P30 million for soft projects. Hard projects pertain to infrastructures like roads and waiting sheds, while soft projects refer to hospitalization and scholarships, among others. Kabataan Party-list (KPL) Representative Sarah Jane Elago likened the budget for lawmakers to the nowdefunct pork barrel fund under the Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP), which the Supreme Court affirmed as unconstitutional in 2014. The lump sum funds of P1.4 trillion have increased by four percent, from this year’s P1.35 trillion. Various groups like KPL have slammed this due to its unspecified purpose, which makes it prone to corruption and patronage politics. “The [special purpose funds] have been subject of much scrutiny in the past years due to its lump sum and discretionary in nature. So we have to ask why a third of the budget now belong to such funds,” said Elago. −
Solve poverty to eliminate drug abuse – Karapatan −
MIYERKULES 31 AGOSTO 2016
BALITA
P1.58B pondo ng 4Ps, nakalagak lang sa bangko
HANS CHRISTIAN E. MARIN
TO STOP THE USE OF ILLEGAL DRUGS, the government should focus on providing genuine social services to develop the living conditions of Filipinos, according to Karapatan Alliance for the Advancement of People’s Rights (Karapatan). The human rights group released this statement in time of President Rodrigo Duterte’s staunch war on drugs, wherein Philippine National Police (PNP) Chief Ronald dela Rosa revealed a total of 1,916 deaths—756 from police operations and 1,160 at the hands of vigilantes as of August 23. With the increasing number of extrajudicial killings (EJKs) under the new administration, the government must protect people’s social and economic rights as pure use of law enforcement usually leads to human rights violations, Karapatan stated in their position paper submitted to the Senate Committee on Justice and Human Rights for its hearing on EJKs from August 22 to 23. In the hearing headed by Senator Leila de Lima, senators interrogated the PNP, human rights officials, witnesses, and relatives of EJK victims to gather enough evidences for potential suspects. This is in light of PNP’s campaign, “Oplan Tokhang” under the Duterte administration that requires barangay captains to submit a list of people involved in illegal drugs, which will be used for police operations. Because of the rampant deaths under the police and vigilantes in the campaign, nearly 700,000 drug users and peddlers have already surrendered, according to dela Rosa. “The system that breeds the proliferation of drugs is the same one that causes unrest among the Filipinos. Thus, it is important that the root causes of poverty and others that give rise to armed conflict be addressed thoroughly,” said Karapatan Secretary General Cristina Palabay. Harra Bertes, pregnant wife of suspected drug user JP Bertes and daughter-in-law of Renato Bertes, said in the hearing that both were killed because they allegedly tried to grab a cop’s gun
while being detained. Another witness, Mary Rose Aquino, eldest daughter of suspected drug dealers Rodelio and Rosalie Campos said her parents were killed as they were about to remit P50,000 of drug money to cops. Based on the statements of the witnesses, the police officers committed torture and violation of right to not be arbitrarily killed by the state, according to Commission of Human Rights (CHR) Chairperson Jose Gascon. Over the course of the hearing, rights groups such as New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) and Amnesty International have also raised their concerns over the increasing number of deaths in the country. If the government fails to address the issues of EJKs, the International Criminal Court may file crimes against humanity to Duterte, added Gascon. The war on drugs is undemocratic and anti-people as it has only built a police state in the country that only benefits the ruling class seeking to prevent the people’s dissent, while continuing the suffering of the poor, according to University of the Student Council Councilor Arvin Alba. In just two months, the number of EJKs under Duterte already far exceeds the 318 that were committed under former President Benigno Aquino’s counterinsurgency program, Oplan Bayanihan from July 2010 to March 2016. The program was an extension of former President Gloria Arroyo’s Oplan Bantay Laya that was responsible for 1,205 EJKs and 206 enforced disappearances, data from Karapatan showed. Moreover, only 68 police killings were committed from January 1 to June 15 which is 91% lower than the 756 deaths in police operations from July 1 to August 23, HRW Deputy Asia Director Phelim Kine stated. “This culture [impunity] is deeply rooted in the class system that devalues the life of people in the lower class. More than law and due process, the true solution to EJKs is political and economic transformation of the country,” said Alba.
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CAMILLE JOYCE G. LITA
HUMIGIT KUMULANG P1.58 BILYONG pondo ng Pantawid Pamilya Pilipino Program (4Ps) mula 2010 hanggang 2015 ang hindi naipamahagi sa mga benepisyaryo nito, ayon sa ulat ng Commission on Audit (COA) para sa taong 2015. Nanatiling nasa Land Bank of the Philippines (LBP) lamang ang nasabing pondo dahil hindi umano nakasunod ang mga benepisyaryo sa mga rekisito para sa programa. Dagdag pa sa P1.58 bilyon, lagpas P1.2 milyon ang hindi nakuha mula 2.9 milyong bank account sa LBP para sa 4Ps noong 2015, senyales ng hindi kaagarang pangangailangan ng tulong pinansyal. Isa ang 4Ps sa mga proyektong pinaigting ng administrasyong Aquino, na naglalayong magpamahagi ng tulong pinansyal sa edukasyon at kalusugan sa mga kwalipikadong mahirap na pamilya. Umabot ng P62.3 bilyon ang naging pondo ng programa para sa taong 2015.
House to tackle mining bill anew
A HEAVY HEART Adrian Kenneth Gutlay A witness tearfully retells the story in a Senate hearing regarding extrajudicial killings in front of the Committee of Justice and Human Rights of how her husband and father-in-law were shot dead in police custody, August 22. According to the witness, the two victims were prior users of drugs who surrendered to the police. Philippine National Police Chief Ronald dela Rosa stated in the hearing that 712 were killed during police operations while 1,067 died in the hand of vigilantes.
GRAVE OFFENSE Chester Higuit Thousands attended the Citizens’ Assembly against President Rodrigo Duterte’s approval to bury the remains of former President Ferdinand Marcos’ at the Libingan ng mga Bayani, August 14, at the Luneta Park. The attendees called for the Duterte administration not to forget the history of Martial Law that had caused more than 3,200 cases of extrajudicial killings, 35,000 cases of torture, and 70,000 cases of incarceration from 1976 to 1983 according to Amnesty International. Martial Law victims and advocates had also filed petitions to the Supreme Court to stop the burial that was first scheduled on Sept. 18.
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CAMILLE JOYCE G. LITA
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MINING BILL PENDING IN the House of Representatives will support the rights of indigenous peoples and the environment, according to Kalikasan Partylist. First introduced in 2011, the People’s Mining Bill (PMB) has been filed for the third time in the 17th Congress, which seeks to replace Republic Act 7942 or Mining Act of 1995. Several mining mishaps were recorded under the implementation of the current mining law, such as the 1996 Marcopper minespill in Marinduque and water contamination in Itogon, Benguet by Philex Mining Corporation in 2012, according to IBON Foundation. Moreover, thousands of Lumad have been forced out of their ancestral lands to make way for the operations of mining corporations. “Now, our mining is oriented towards exporting cheap raw materials. With PMB, we will significantly reduce the volume of environmental destruction,” said Kalikasan Partylist President Clemente Bautista, Jr.
UP begins search for new prexy ON PAGE 11
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31 AGOSTO 2016 LATHALAIN MIYERKULES
PARALLEL STORMS
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MIGUEL CAACBAY
THE EVE OF ENROLMENT FOR regular students in UP Diliman resembled the aftermath of a great typhoon. Bodies were strewn all over the pavement. Armed guards urged people away. The students’ frustration stemmed from a simple yet loaded declaration: “Classes are full. We cannot help you.” The latest enrolment period shared one thing with the super typhoon that ravaged Western Visayas in 2013—the administration knew what problems to expect, yet the preparation for disaster remained inadequate. Solutions on the ground were scarce, and so the people dissolved into a mess of confusion and anger. The lack of class slots in UP Diliman has become so common that people now merely shrug it off as tradition. But despite the fact that only 805 new freshmen were admitted this academic year, subjects remained insufficient for everyone. Forced evacuation Camp-outs in UP every enrolment period manifest the insufficiency of the university’s classes and professors. Hoping to get a slot for a sorely needed class, I lined up at the National Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology (NIMBB) the night before the actual enlistment. Though the volume of students lining up for their classes was overwhelming, with queues spilling outside buildings and even out into the streets, NIMBB was among the college administrations and student councils that barred students from camping out, supposedly for security reasons. At past 11 PM, our small group of 20 students were shooed away by security personnel. Professor Alvin Bello, then Instructor and Program Coordinator of the institute, explained to me later that day that their no camp-out policy was for the safety of the students. Jarms Magalang, College of Science (CS) Representative to the University Student
Illustration by Guia Abogado
Council, did not so much agree. “The [NIMBB a d m i n i s t r a t i o n] should have been less strict with their policies if they were genuinely concerned about the safety of the students. [They] should have allowed students to at least line up inside [the building],” he said. Just as the Yolanda survivors scampered for resources during the aftermath of the storm, so too did students slaved to get classes. Both were turned away, betrayed by the administration that should have provided their needs. Repressive policies For the longest time, calls to reform and improve enrolment procedures have been made to make them simpler for students. But to this day, these remain unaddressed—no standard operating procedure for enlistment centers and students is in place, since enlistment centers have the liberty to create their own system according to their needs. In some instances, this results in a set of self-contradicting and incoherent policies disadvantageous for the students. A good example of such with selfcontradicting policies would be in NIMBB, where they maintained their first-comefirst-served (FCFS) policy for enlistment naturally encouraging students to line up as early as they dared, while at the same time stopping them from doing so, confusing students and making it harder for them to line up. Additionally, it made their FCFS policy
impossible to be fairly facilitated. The line begun by the guard at 4 AM, wherein protocol was not made based on who came first, but by who happened to be close to the entrance at the time. Lean Labala, 3rd year BS Mathematics student, was first in the list signed by the group evicted at past 11 PM. He was the 22nd student in the new line. “Bakit ako naunahan ng ibang [tao], most of whom were the ones na pinapasign ko pa for the list,” complained Labala. Instructions were also vague. At first, the guard said he would accept 51 from the “tri-colleges (College of Arts and Letters, College of Social Sciences and Philosophy, and CS),” not clarifying where other students requiring MBB 1 in their curriculum should line up. Later on, it was announced that only 22 slots were available, and students requiring MBB 1 in the line would actually be prioritized. There were 12 of them, but had they followed the guard’s instructions for non-tri-coll students to not line up, they wouldn’t have gotten slots, which many other students like them did. Only 10 slots were left for the remaining 39 students. Upon hearing the news, Georgie Vinagrera, 2nd year from the College of Home Economics, who was number 48 in the line, left NIMBB along with several others. Unlike Vinagrera, the rest of the 51 who stayed at NIMBB – including Labala – were given classes by the end of the day. Even though the NIMBB administration showed intent to help the students, much time and effort could have not been wasted if a set of public, coherent, and efficient rules were followed.
Temporary relief The administration could have been more prepared y e t it chose to implement the no latep a y m e n t policy in Diliman and Student Academic Information System (SAIS), a component of eUP in Los Baños which further exacerbated student woes. The individual steps taken by few colleges in Diliman at least helped ease the enlistment crisis. In the Department of Philosophy, the long lines were unusually absent as Department Representative JC Katigbak honored student-made lists and gave out priority numbers to students after initial empty slots were taken, allowing them to leave and only contacting them when a slot would open. The School of Economics used their “E-Pila,” an online enlistment program, effectively preventing camp-outs their school had been infamous for. CAL College Secretary Professor Carlo de Pano says that their college is also coming up with a new online system for next semester. However, these two efforts only serve as temporary relief to the effects left out by the enrolment to students. The policies were no long-term solutions to the root cause of the problem: the lack of classes and professors. While there are approximately 23,000 students in Diliman, the number of faculty members lies at 1,526, according to the constituent unit’s website. Long before the next registration period in UP, students must demand effective solutions from UP authorities to make the enlistment process more convenient. To this day, Yolanda survivors continue to demand the government for relief over the disaster that happened three years ago. UP students must do the same, lest the same storm hamper enrolment dates that are yet to come. −
Page Design by John Reczon Calay
MIYERKULES 31 AGOSTO 2016
LATHALAIN
TUGON SA TUNGGALIAN −
CAMILLE JOYCE M. LISAY
MAY ILANG BUWAN LANG ANG nakalilipas, nasa loob pa rin sila ng piitan. Nagsisiksikan ang anim na bilanggo sa loob ng isang maliit na selda. Dagdag pa sa hirap ng buhay sa loob ng bilangguan ang panggigipit ng mga warden at iba pang opisyal: sapilitang paghah lungkat ng mga gamit, pagkukumpiska ng mga babasahin, at pambababoy sa mga imbak na pagkain. Pandarahas ang naging kapalit ng paglaban para sa kapayapaan. Ngunit tila sumisibol na ang pagasa para sa inaasam na kapayapaan. Idineklara na ang tigil-putukan sa pagitan ng Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) at New Peoples Army (NPA). Tinakdaan na rin ang pagsunod sa ilang dokumentong papanday sa pagkakasundo ng dalawang panig. At sa wakas ay lumaya na ang ilan sa mga bilanggong pulitikal sa bansa, mula sa hanay ng mga National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP)t consultant, upang makilahok sa mga pulong sa Oslo, Norway hinggil sa usaping pangkapayapaan. Nag-aanyaya ito ng pangako— sinisikap ng dalawang panig na taluntunin ang pinakaugat ng tunggalian upang isakatuparan ang mga layunin ng usaping pangkapayapaan. Ugat ng tunggalian Taong 1968 nang itatag ni Jose Maria Sison ang Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) bilang tugon sa lumalalang kahirapan, kawalan ng soberanya, at pananamantala sa sambayanan. Simula’t sapul, layunin na nitong itaguyod ang mga nasasadlak na sektor sa lipunan: magsasaka, manggagawa, kababaihan, at mga katutubo. Binuo ang NPA bilang militar na sangay ng CPP. Malawakan ang naging pagtangkilik sa grupo—umabot sa 60,000 katao ang napabilang sa armadong puwersa nito dahil na rin sa patuloy na panggigipit ng estado sa ilalim ng diktadurya ni dating Pangulong Ferdinand Marcos. Tinatayang 75,730 kasong pulitikal ang isinampa sa ilalim ng dating diktador, habang naging agresibo ang AFP sa pagtunton sa grupo ng NPA. Nang ideklarang terorista ang CPPNPA sa ilalim ng Anti-Subversion Act ni
Marcos, itinatag noong 1973 ang NDFP upang pagkaisahin ang puwersang masa laban sa diktatura. Nagsisilbing legal na sangay ng CPP ang NDF na pinamumunuan ni Luis Jalandoni upang kumatawan sa grupo sa mga usaping pangkapayapaan katuwang ang gobyerno. Pangako ng negosasyon Naganap ang unang negosasyong pangkapayapaan sa Maynila noong 1986 sa termino ni dating Pangulong Cory Aquino. Dito sinimulang palayain ang mga bilanggong pulitikal. Ngunit pansamantala lamang ang naging tigilputukan nang pumutok ang Mendiola Massacre noong 1987 kung saan 13 magsasakang nagmobilisa ang nasawi. Bunsod nito, inilunsad ang negosasyon sa Oslo simula 2001 kung saan magsisilbing tagapamagitan ang pamahalaan ng Norway. Nalagdaan na ang mga dokumentong siyang katuwang sa pagpapadaloy ng negosasyon: ang The Hague Declaration noong 1992, Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees (JASIG) noong 1995,t at Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law (CARHRIHL) noong 1998. Sa ilalim ng naunang dokumento, napagkasunduan ang pagkakaroon ng apat na substantibong adyenda bilang
Dibuho ni John Kenneth Zapata
gabay sa pagpapadaloy ng negosasyong pangkapayapaan. Kabilang sa adyendang ito ang usaping karapatang pantao, sosyo-ekonomikong reporma, politikal at konstitusyonal na reporma, at disposisyon ng mga armadong pwersa. Ipinagkakaloob din ng JASIG ang proteksyon sa mga nahabla ng kasong pulitikal. Gingarantiya nito ang seguridad ng mga bilanggong pulitikal mula sa detensyon, interogasyon, at prosekusyon. Nagsisilbi namang balangkas ang CARHRIHL sa pagtamasa ng unang adyenda na nagpapaigting sa proteksyon ng karapatang-pantao kabilang na ang mga mamamayang kaisa sa armadong pakikibaka. Ngunit sa kabila ng CARHRIHL at JASIG, nagpapatuloy ang paglabag sa karapatang-pantao maging ng mga kasapi ng NDF. Aabot ng 600 ang mga biktima ng extrajudicial killings habang 543 ang nanatiling bilanggong pulitikal, kung saan 304 dito ang napiit sa ilalim ng administrasyon ni Pangulong Benigno Aquino III. “Dapat ipatupad ng gobyerno ang CARHRIHL. Ito ay para maprotektahan ang mga komunidad na apektado ng labanan upang masubukan natin ang kooperasyon at palaguin ang koopersayon sa pagitan ng CPP at ng pamahalaan. Gusto natin na maging maayos ang
relasyon nilang dalawa. Makakatulong din ito upang mapagpatuloy ang usaping pangkapayapaan,” pagbabahagi ni Propesor Dennis Quilala ng UP Departamento ng Agham Pampulitika. Humarap rin sa patung-patong na kaso ang 22 NDFP consultants sa kabila ng proteksyon mula sa JASIG. Naglabas ng pahayag ang panig ng estado na maaari lamang maisaalangalang ang bisa nito sa mga beripikadong pangalan dahil sa mga naitalang kaso ng palsipikadong pangalan. “Hindi dahilan ang paggamit ng aliases upang hindi itakda ang pagsunod sa JASIG. Pinahihintulutan nito ang paggamit ng assumed name dahil maaaring may peligro. Lalo na ang mga mula sa underground, para na maengganyo ang lahat na lumahok sa usaping pangkapayapaan,” giit ni Atty. Edre Olalia ng National Union of Peoples Lawyers (NUPL). Hamon sa administrasyon Bagaman tinatanaw na oportunidad ang negosasyon, nahahaharap pa rin ang dalawang kampo sa pagkakaroon ng kapasyahang tumindig sa mga napagkasunduan. Isang hamon para sa delegasyon ng bansa na magpanday ng ilang inisyatibo upang patibayin ang adyendang kapayapaan. “Kinakailangang may umiral na kagandahang-loob, tiwala at kapasyahan na sinserong harapin ang nakasalang sa negosasyon. Nananalig ang maraming sektor na mayroong aabutin ang negosasyong magaganap sa Oslo pero hindi puwedeng magtakda ang dalawang panig ng agarang demand mula sa isa’tisa,” ani Olalia. Isa lamang ang pinatutunayan ng usaping nagaganap sa Oslo: sinisikap ng estado at ng militanteng grupong lutasin ang 45 taong tunggaliang umangkin ng laksa-laksang buhay at tumupok sa milyon-milyong pisong ari-arian. Estatistika lamang sila sa mga pahina ng kasaysayan, ngunit dala nila ang mga alaala ng pagiging mamamayang minsa’y nilupig ng bayang mahirap – ng kapwa mahirap. −
Disenyo ng Pahina ni John Reczon Calay
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KULTURA MIYERKULES 31 AGOSTO 2016
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ALDRIN VILLEGAS
THIS IS THE STORY OF THE “GREATEST SHOW on Earth.” Enlivened by multicolored fireworks and the rhythm of people dancing the samba in festive national costumes, the Maracanã Stadium staged a spectacle of Brazilian culture and natural beauty to open the 2016 Games. In this city of white sandy beaches and soaring mountains, the Olympic Games brings the world’s attention to Rio de Janeiro. To tell the story of Rio is to tell a tale of two cities. The Rio brought to the world’s attention is the city advertised in Olympics videos: Sugarloaf Mountain, Copacabana, the statue of Christ the Redeemer, Ipanema. However, the real city is the one behind the scenes: shantytowns known as favelas, a sea of cinderblocks with narrow roads snaking in between the vast expanse of urban slum. Rio 2016 is thus an arena of polar opposites. This is an Olympics set in a backdrop of crises—a corruption scandal; a deep recession; a president battling an impeachment trial. The Olympic torch has been extinguished, but the game continues in an arena of warring narratives. A new world Hosting the 2016 Olympics is Brazil’s shot to establish its status as a developing country and tell its story to the world. Rio 2016, with its slogan of “A New World,” paints a picture of transformation and progress. But what makes a story powerful is not necessarily facts. Instead, it is how the audience creates meaning from the story. Porter Abbott, author of The Cambridge Introduction to Narrative, includes narrative discourse in his definition of narrative in addition to the story. In Rio’s opening ceremony, the discourse is a combination of theater, cinema, and technology all working together to present Brazil favorably to its worldwide audience. This Olympics tells the story of the city of asphalt. The cosmopolitan neighborhood basks in the sun with Ipanema at the forefront of beach culture. When the sun sets over this city, the elite head home to wash off the sand and prepare for a nightlife in clubs and restaurants. As people flock to Rio for the Games, a wall enclosing the freeway welcomes them towards the asphalts. However, lurking behind the shadow of the city is a contrasting scene—the favelas on the hill. Here, basic social services like sewers and running water are scarce, while a strikingly different system of laws and conduct prevails. Here, gang members live a life where it is either blood or glory, and confrontations between police and drug traffickers are part of the daily grind.
As the city rushed to make ready for the first Olympics in South America, it swept off more than 77,000 locals to turn their homes into something else—an Olympic park, a sporting venue, or perhaps just to clear the view. Inspire a generation Creating a fantasy of what it means to be a country, the Olympics is not just about winning medals but changing how the world sees a nation— like a story that is always mediated, the Games is a spectacle that is constructed. Following the success of London 2012, the world has been skeptical of Brazil in a time of recession and political turmoil. From the opening ceremony’s gutted budget to the modest demand for tickets, the Olympics has been surrounded with contradictions—one of which is sustainability in a celebration of extravagance. In recent years, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has been creating a rhetoric of legacy in the story of the Games. In London 2012, the slogan “Inspire a Generation” boasted of a legacy to transform the lifestyle of people through sports. However, assessments later showed that sporting numbers plummeted—an Olympic legacy failure of a sedentary nation. This only affirms that the impact of narrative, including its meaning, is not something that is securely under the author’s control. Readers are always called to be active participants in narrative, since the story is really something that we construct, according to Abbott. A glamorized story of inequality is revealed in the Olympiad world created by the IOC. Reserving bids exclusively for major world cities, the Olympics excludes smaller cities in the quest for global relevance. In the end, the glitter of the Games fails to hide the tilted global order embedded in the narrative of the Olympics. One world, one dream While the IOC professes political neutrality, the Olympics however fails to transcend the influence of international politics. It is in fact a powerful political space, often used as a platform for enacting or dramatizing political conflicts, according to sociologists David Karen and Robert Washington. The official narrative we are told is a story of universalist aspirations. The 2008 Beijing Olympics, a debut for China as a major power, captured this well in the slogan “One World, One Dream,” purporting equality among competing nations. However, the reality of power relations shaping the course of its narrative stands as an undeniable contrast.
Despite the Olympics’ goals of promoting international peace and harmony, these goals remain hollow in reality. Political injustices within and between member nations were protested at various point in time in the Olympics, but the IOC chose to remain silent. A notorious example is the 1968 Olympics, where two black American athletes displayed a “Black Power” salute to call attention to racial injustice in the US. The US Olympic Committee banned them not only from the team but from competing in the Games permanently, while the IOC kept mum. Decades since then, the organization now claims to give voice to the victims and unsung heroes of the war. Rio 2016 presents the world the story of the ongoing refugee crisis with the first ever refugee Olympic team. “Having no national team to belong to, having no flag to march behind, having no national anthem to be played, these refugee athletes will be welcomed to the Olympic Games with the Olympic flag and with the Olympic Anthem,” said IOC President Thomas Bach. Aside from being a battleground for sports, the Olympics is a political arena. Rio 2016 could have served as a unique platform to make a political stand. But even after the spectacles in Rio were finished and the Olympic torch was extinguished, no real commitments were made to address the refugee crisis. When confronted with political conflicts, the Games’ commitment to peace and harmony is just empty rhetoric. The Olympics may frame its narrative as “The Greatest Show on Earth,” but it is for the spectators to judge this story, set in an arena of contrasts. −
Illustration by John Kenneth Zapata Page Design by John Reczon Calay
MIYERKULES 31 AGOSTO 2016
KULTURA
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development, even if it keeps us farther from the change we need.
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ANDREA JOYCE LUCAS
“PERO, MANONG, ‘DI BA NATIN sila pwedeng bigyan ng pagkakataon? Paano kung nagawa lang nila ‘yun dahil sa kahirapan?” I ventured. The driver dismissed my thought with a wave of a hand. “Dapat lang sa kanila ‘yun,” he said. “Dahil sa kanila, naaabala ‘yung mga tulad naming maayos na naghahanapbuhay.” He had been threatened at knife-point and robbed inside his own taxi by supposed drug users, the reason why he admired and fully supported President Rodrigo Duterte’s war on drugs. There couldn’t be innocents among those killed, he said. “Kaya nga may watch list si Duterte. Alam ng mga pulis kung sino ang itutumba.” This is what we are coming to, I thought, shuddering. After only two months under Duterte’s presidency, people have already begun losing their feelings of empathy, shrugging at the massive loss of life and justifying the bloodbath as a necessary means to attain a common good. Protracted battle Even when Duterte was serving his terms as Davao congressman and as City Mayor, he was already staunch in waging his war against drugs. Nowadays, he shows no sign of
Illustration by Guia Abogado Page Design by John Reczon Calay
relenting— both in his rhetoric and in his actions. In his first State of the Nation Address (SONA), Duterte asserted, “There will be no let-up in this campaign... We will not stop until the last drug lord, the last financier, and the last pusher have surrendered or put behind bars or below the ground, if they so wish.” Duterte has given incentives for the killing of drug lords and pushers, and has allowed police forces to “shoot to kill,” even affirming that he did "not care for human rights.” But while some of the criminals involved in drugs have now been apprehended and punished, the war on drugs is creating more problems than it solves. “Duterte’s ‘drug war’ has clearly become anti-people and anti-democratic,” said the Communist Party of the Philippines in a statement. Duterte’s war on drugs highlights the harsh realities of poverty in the country, as the moneyed and affluent drug lords roam free and continue their shady businesses, while the poor remain the most vulnerable to killings and injustices. That said, even prior to Duterte’s presidency, the poor have already been at the receiving end of a war. They suffer from the lack of productive employment opportunities and basic social services such as healthcare and education. The violence inherent in their daily grind, while made invisible and natural, has already claimed lives, and will no doubt claim more.
Warring narratives As in all wars, not only weapons clash, but also viewpoints, ideologies, and narratives. Differences in opinions on Duterte’s war on drugs often reveal class antagonisms. For some, this comes as an experience of a cab ride where a discussion ensues about Duterte and his campaign against drugs. There are often two constants to this tale: the taxi driver vocally advocating Duterte’s doings and the middle class passenger frustrated by the driver’s almost fanaticism and tolerance for the violation of human rights. This presents a seeming contradiction. The taxi driver in the story
experiences the same harsh realities as the impoverished drug users he has come to scorn. And the passenger, who knows less about the sufferings of the poor and the working class, is the one who cries foul over the summary killings brought on by the war on drugs. The differing beliefs of the taxi driver and the passenger are, of course, mediated by their experience and understanding of their respective social classes. What causes the rift is a false understanding, a false consciousness. Hungarian Marxist philosopher George Lukacs explains this confusion as the distorted understanding of one’s class identity and interest, due to material conditions and institutional processes. D u t e r t e had promised change, something so sorely craved by the Filipino masses after the term of former president Benigno Aquino III, a haciendero who was perceived to be out of touch from the realities of the masses. And indeed change has begun to come—summary killings claim lives almost every day and cardboard justice prevails. In our hunger for change, we have come to embrace this
Divided ranks Duterte’s declaration of war against drugs has not only set us against each other, it has also effectually obscured the bigger troubles already plaguing the country. Our attention is shifted away from the continuing hegemony of the rich landowners and big business holders. In essence, drug syndicates operate like businesses, with drug lords raking up the profits as they capitalize on the labor of the small drug pushers. Despite being the real forces behind the drug syndicates, big drug lords remain largely untouched by the violence of the campaign against drugs. Even among drug users, the rich do not suffer from the same stigma that oppresses the poor. In a statement, Duterte said that they use cocaine and heroin, which are "less destructive.” Duterte’s rhetoric has sown divisiveness even among the oppressed, so that instead of being united in opposing the yoke of systemic and structural injustices, we fight among ourselves. Consumed with thinking that drug addiction is the only threat that must be crushed, we fail to see the other ways in which we suffer—the continuing inequality and the skewed development that only favors the bourgeoisie class. It is often the powerful who benefit from this proliferation of false consciousness. But in the same way that the people resisted Aquino’s groomed successor Mar Roxas, it is within their power to affect the change we need. Maybe one day, we could all get on a cab ride and talk not of killings, but of driving forward into a better, more equal society. −
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OPINYON
MIYERKULES 31 AGOSTO 2016
Tipping scales −
DANIEL BOONE
AMONG MY BIGGEST REGRETS AS a Collegian writer was to never visit any political detainee in jail even if I had the best chances. But stories from fellow staff who visit them give me a clear picture of what their prison cells look like—cold, dark, tight-spaced, and humid. It is quite ironic, though, that people whose only crime was to care for the masses and rattle the administration were thrown behind bars and treated like animals inside metal cages. But people who stole and continue to steal millions indirectly from our pockets are treated as if they were gods, immune of criticism, ill-talk, and justice. Just a few weeks ago, the highest court in the land freed former President (and plunderer) Gloria Arroyo. Maybe the blindfolded lady has already forgotten how Arroyo took millions from the money that was supposed to go to farmers and employees; or how Arroyo rigged the 2004 elections to remain in power and continue using her position to gain more wealth. Maybe lady justice was deaf and did not hear about the
hundreds of people who died under Arroyo’s watch, including the 58 lives claimed by the Ampatuan Massacre. Or maybe someone put a coin on one side of her scale to tip it. Despite glaring atrocities and controversies under her term, Arroyo was never thrown in jail where she truly belongs. Instead, she got special medication at the Veterans Memorial Medical Center at the expense of the Filipino people’s taxes. She was given exclusive passes to bend justice by simply wearing braces around her neck. Being under hospital arrest never degraded her status as a powerful elite. She was able to run and win as Pampanga Representative—a manifestation of how the Filipino people forgive, forget, and move on so easily. On top of it, she was appointed as the Deputy House Speaker, acting as substitute in the absence of the House Speaker. Arroyo does not wear her neck brace anymore. She does not need to, especially in a place where it has just been proven that justice always sides
And while the likes of Arroyo remain seated on their thrones, unpunished, unmoved, there will be no putting end to the everyday plight of the common people
with the rich. And while the likes of Arroyo remain seated on their thrones, unpunished, unmoved, there will be no putting end to the everyday plight of the common people. With Arroyo’s recent acquittal and appointment, it’s somehow easy to understand how the new President wants us to “forget” and “move on” from what has already happened. In September, the government is set to give hero’s burial for Ferdinand Marcos Sr.—a national recognition to a plunderer, dictator, and human rights violator. But perhaps forgetting and moving on are things easier said than done, especially when abuse of power and extrajudicial killings persist, on top of massive plunder and corruption. Forgetting Arroyo and Marcos’s atrocities is one way of moving on… but it’s definitely not forward. And as old sayings go, those who never learn from the past are doomed to repeat it. Meanwhile, those who do must perhaps strive to help educate the former. −
Mga Gunita at Paalala ng Isang Tanders −
JOHN RECZON CALAY
NAALALA MO BA ANG NAGDAANG saglit nang maitanim sa isipan mong sa Unibersidad ng Pilipinas ka magkokolehiyo? Magkahalong galak, pagkasabik, at bagabag ang naramdaman mo, ‘di ba? Buong pagmamalaki mong ibinahagi sa lahat gamit ang iyong social media accounts ang screenshot ng pangalan mong nasa listahan ng mga pumasa sa UPCAT. Baon mo rito ang daan-daang mga likes at reaksyon pati na rin ang mga pagbati ng mga kaklase, guro, at kamaganak mo sa pagsabak mo sa kolehiyo. Nainip ka ba sa unang beses mong pagpila sa UP para makuha ang kaunaunahan mong Form 5? Mas nainip ka ba sa pagpila mo sa mga subjects na ‘di mo nakuha noong nakaraang buwan kahit na may “freshman priority” ka? Nakakuha at nakakumpleto ka ba ng units? Nakabili ka na ba ng mga damit, lanyard, sumbrero, planner, mug, at iba pang borloloy na tatak UP? Balak mo pa nga atang isuot ito ‘di lang sa campus, pati na rin sa panahong magkikita kayo ng mga kaibigan mo. Huwag na nating itanggi, gustong-gusto mo ring mapagusapan ang iyong buhay UP freshie sa barkada habang suot mo ang mga ito kahit saglit lang. Nakakain ka na ba sa mga sikat na kainan dito sa campus: Sa Isawan ni Mang Larry, sa Area 2, sa mga naglalako ng bitso-bitso, lumpia, ice
Huwag kang matakot na makihalubilo, pakinggan, at ipaglaban sila dahil ikaw ang lakas at pag-asa nila
cream, at taho sa Academic Oval, at sa mga naglipanang Cantonan? Nasubukan mo na bang mabuhay nang isang buong araw na Chilimansi Pancit Canton na may fishball at tinapay lang ang iyong kinain? Nakapili ka na ba ng samahang sasalihan mo? Hanapin mo na ang grupong gagabay sa ‘yo na magiging pinakamalapit na kaibigan mo pa sa pananatili mo rito. Oo, may ilang organisasyong mahirap ang application process, kahit ang sagot sa iyo ay “para ito sa kaganapan mo.” Hindi ko lang alam kung ilang beses mo nang naririnig ‘tong mga kwentong ‘to mula sa amin: Yung mga ninja sa CASAA na agad sinasamsam ang aming pinagkainan matapos ang aming huling subo. Yung akala naming makaka-strike kami sa duckpin bowling sa Alumni Center kaso gumigilid yung bola dahil sa malubak na eskina. Yung mala-maze na adventure mo sa paghahanap ng room ng prof mo sa Faculty Center. Nakabili ka na ba ng mamahaling mga damit at nakakain ng masasarap na pagkain diyan sa mahabang mall sa Katipunan? Dati ay sigawan at tawanan ng mga naghahabulang mga bata na naghihintay ng flag ceremony ang naririnig ko sa bawat umaga na daaan ang jeep na sinasakyan ko roon. Ngayon, kalansing na ng mga
kubyertos at pinggan, kuwentuhan at tawanan ng magbabarkada ang naririnig ko ngayon. Minsan ba ay naisip mo kung bakit hinayaan itong mangyari ng UP? Marahil ay paulit-ulit mo ring maririnig ang mga katagang "paglingkuran ang sambayanan." Minsa ba’y naitatanong mo: Paano ako maglilingkod sa kapwa ko Pilipino sa panahong nag-aaral ako? Mararanasan mo rito sa UP na pagaralan ang iba pang mga bagay sa labas ng klasrum. Matututo ka mula sa mga kawani, manininda, mga propesor, at kapwa estudyante ng UP, sa mga manggagawa, sa magsasaka, sa mangingisda, at sa katutubo. Huwag kang matakot na makihalubilo, pakinggan, at ipaglaban sila dahil ikaw ang lakas at ang pag-asa nila. Ngayon pa lang, katulad mo ako na pinapangarap na makita ang sarili na nakangiti, nakasuot ng puting pantaas, at sablay. Ang pinakahihintay nating saglit matapos ang ating pananatili sa Diliman. Ngunit sa pagsisimula ng iyong paglalakbay sa pinakamasaya at pinakamarangal na bahagi ng iyong buhay, huwag mong kalilimutan ang paalala mula sa aming mga tanders, na hindi sasapat mula sa kolum na ito: Gawing makabuluhan at huwag sasayangin ang pagkakataong maging Iskolar ng Bayan. −
Kalabit sa gatilyo TULUYAN NA ATA AKONG HINAWAAN ni Tatang sa pagka-allergic niya sa camera. Hirap nang mag-pose at pilit ngumiti kapag nahaharap sa lente ng camera, kahit sa mga simpleng selfie o groupie kasama ang mga kaibigan. Inayos ko rin ang settings ng aking Facebook account para hindi ako bastabasta mai-tag sa mga stolen shots at kung anupaman, at binura ang mga luma kong litrato sa takot na baka isang araw, magising na lang akong tampok sa isang meme sa internet. Nagsimulang lumala ang allergy kong ito sa camera nang lumabas ang stolen shots nina Carrot Man at Badjao Girl sa social media at maging sa telebisyon. Positibo man ang naging reaksyon ng nakararami at naging daan para sa dalawa na makamit ang kasikatan sa buhay, hindi ko masikmura kung paano sila ipinipresenta sa midya. Na parang bihira lang makakita ng katutubong may itsura, pasado sa (kanluraning) beauty standards ng nakararami, at may kwentong swak upang pumasa bilang balita sa mainstream o headline sa dyaryo. Halos kakatwa rin ang mga pangalang binansag sa kanila, ‘yung tipong gaya ng tawag sa akin noong elementarya na Uling Kid dahil sa maitim kong balat. Kakalipat lang namin sa Bicol at ‘yun ang unang beses na mag-aral at makihalubilo ako sa mga batang tagalunsod. Buti na lang at naroon si Ma’am Malaya, dati kong guro, na tumulong upang sawayin ang anumang panunukso sa akin ng mga kaklase. Kung may ipinagpapasalamat naman ako noon dahil sa kulay ko, ‘yun ay ang dami ng mga bumibisita sa akin upang kumustahin ang lagay ng aming pamilya. Isa kasi si Tatang sa mga bakwit na Dumagat, habang dating volunteer sa isang community school si Nanang para sa mga katutubo. Maraming kumukuha sa akin ng litrato, at gustong-gusto ko naman dahil minsan lang ako matutukan ng camera. Ngunit nanatili namang ilag at walang imik si Tatang sa tuwing mararamdaman na nakatutok sa kanya ang lente ng camera. Narinig ko nga ang minsang sinabi niya kay Nanang: “Aywan ko ba, para kasing baril ang nakatutok sa akin sa halip na camera. Malay mo, baka intel ‘yang mga ‘yan.” Hindi ko naintindihan ang sinabing iyon ni Tatang hanggang sa narinig ko ang mga kwento ng bakwit na Lumad, noong nakaraang Manilakbayan sa Diliman. Marami pa palang hindi naibabanggit sa amin sila Nanang—mga kwentong hindi ko alam kung sadya na nilang nakalimutan o ibinaon na sa kanilang mga alaala. Kaya ganoon na lamang ang inis ko dahil sa mga komento ng netizens kina Carrot Man at Badjao Girl. Hindi lang sila pinagpipyestahan ng mga tingin ng mga ordinaryong tao, kundi maging ng mga lente ng camera ng mga naglalakihang taong nais lang pagkakitaan ang mga katulad nila. Habang patuloy ang pagsikat nina Carrot Man at Badjao Girl dahil sa kanilang itsura, unti-unti namang nabubura sa gunita ang tunay na problema ng mga katutubo—ang kawalan nila ng karapatan sa kanilang lupang minana. −
MIYERKULES 31 AGOSTO 2016
UP begins search for new prexy −
SIPAT Ang Iniwan ng Abo −
ALIONA SILVA
AUGUST 2016
CAMILLE JOYCE G. LITA
UP HAS OPENED THE CALL FOR nominations for its highest executive officer, who will serve the university’s eight constituent units from 2017 to 2023. As UP’s highest policy making body, the Board of Regents (BOR) will take on the role of the Search Committee for the next UP President, co-chaired by incumbent UP President Alfredo Pascual and Student Regent Raoul Manuel as one of the members. “We need a President who will take a firm stance against neoliberal attacks on education. Instead, he/she must be one with our struggles,” said USC Councilor Arvin Alba. Pascual will end his term amid the implementation of his P752-million eUP project, which caused delays in the registration of UP Los Baños students under the Student Academic Information System. The call for nominations will run from August 18 until September 23. Preliminary evaluation of nominees will be on September 27 while the election will be on November 15. Pascual’s term will end on February 9, 2017. − NEWS RELEASE Harassment and violent AUGUST 27, 2016 PAMBANSANG LAKAS NG KILUSANG demolition in Patungan a MAMAMALAKAYA NG PILIPINAS (PAMALAKAYA-PILIPINAS) flaw to GRP’s sincerity in peace settlement with NDFP
MANILA, PHILIPPINES – The militant fisherfolk group Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya-Pilipinas) scores the Philippine National Police (PNP) and the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) for the violent demolition they perpetrated in Brgy. Patungan, Maragondon, Cavite on Monday; saying this might create clog in the peaceful negotiation between the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) and the communist-led National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP). The violent demolition happened the day after President Duterte restored its unilateral ceasefire on August 21. “In the wake of President Duterte’s unilateral ceasefire declaration, more than 500 elements of the PNP and Philippine Air Force (PAF) have trooped Brgy. Patungan to escort the demolition team and execute the demolition order issued on July 12,” “They were all fully armed. In response to the residents who collectively resisted the demolition, PNP and PAF have fired their guns in the ground and used tear gas to disperse and intimidate us,” Susan Agner, a resident of Patungan and Spokesperson of Save Patungan Now Movement (SPNM) said. Despite the violence and harassment by the state forces, the residents have frustrated the demolition, only 12 houses were demolished. With the militant defiance of the fisherfolk and residents to defend their houses, the PNP and PAF have turned into its last resort; red tagging. They desperately spread text messages that some residents are members of the New People’s Army (NPA) thus they need to intensify their presence in the community.
Meanwhile, Pamalakaya criticized the armed forces for this is worse than violation of their own-declared ceasefire and also violates the ongoing peace negotiations between the NDFP and GPH. “Despite the unilateral ceasefire declaration of the GRP, AFP and PNP forces increase by the day. They have made Patungan a total war zone. Their presence escalates the tension among the residents of Brgy. Patungan and brought fear to the children,” Fernando Hicap, Pamalakaya Chairperson said in a statement. Pamalakaya said that one of the substantive agendas tabled in the peace negotiations is by addressing the right to livelihood of the Filipino people through NDFP’s Comprehensive Agreement on Socio-Economic Reforms (CASER). This includes the genuine land reform that will uplift the livelihoods of the rural people including farmers and fisherfolk. “We call on the attention of AFP Chief Ricardo Visaya and PNP Chief Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa to look into the possible cahoots between their forces on the ground with Henry Sy, a business-tycoon who is behind the coastal conversion in Patungan,” “How ironic that while representatives from both parties are talked about rooting out the armed conflict in the country through social and economic reforms, fishers and farmers are deprived from their right to livelihood through massive land grabbing and displacement with the backing of GRP’s state forces. We call on President Duterte to investigate this matter; immediately pull out his troops and stop the rampant demolition of fishing communities for the sake of a peaceful conclusion between the GRP and the NDFP,” Hicap ended.
Lumads troop DepEd to seek help for arrested teacher NEWS RELEASE AUGUST 25, 2016 SAVE OUR SCHOOLS NETWORK DAVAO CITY – Some 400 lumad indigenous people from different communities in Southern Mindanao together with the administration of Salugpongan School urged the Department of Education Region XI to demand the pull-out of military troops in indigenous people's schools. Military encampment in schools, communities and other public places is prohibited by law thus, Deped shall assert this to protect the students, teachers and villagers. Salugpongan also calls for DepEd to help in the immediate release Amelia Pond. Amelia Pond, who was illegally arrested last August 19 in Cebu City was Salugpongan’s Curriculum Development researcher since 2008. Later in 2013 she became the regional coordinator of Rural Missionaries of the Philippines. According to Sarika Calimbo, Field Operations Officer of Salugpongan School, Amelia was active in attending workshops and trainings of the Department of Education in formulating the Indigenous Peoples Education (IPEd) Curriculum since 2012. “Amelia’s contribution in IP education is paramount. Even before the creation of Indigenous People’s Education Office (IPsEO) by the Department of Education in 2011, Amelia have been working in research and Development” said Calimbo. Meanwhile, SOS spokesperson Rius Valle defined the arrest as an attempt to sabotage the ongoing peacetalks and at the same time destroy the education lumads have attained for years.
“As Amelia Pond was arrested in Cebu, we have received reports from several communities and schools that there is an ongoing heavy military operation in Compostela Valley Province” said Valle as he cited that schools are still being encamped by soldiers despite the president’s proclamation of ceasefire. “Amelia Pond is also an IP school teacher who devoted her life for the marginalized. The name specified in the warrant wasn’t hers. We will appreciate any help from the Department of Education to justify her identity as she have been active in promoting and creating IP education curriculum” Valle said. Valle also thanked and recognized Duterte’s sincerity in attaining just and lasting peace through peace negotiation with the revolutionaries and urge also the department to show the same by protecting lumad schools, their teachers and students. −
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OPINYON
11
A BA KA DA AYTA −
CHESTER HIGUIT
SINIMULAN ANG ARALIN SA PAGGUHIT SA PISARA; ISANG LINYA PATUNGO SA LUPAING NINUNO
Nakakubli sa kabundukan ang humigit kumulang 5,000 hektaryang lupain ng mga katutubong Ayta kung saan bahagi ang Brgy. Nabuclod, Floridablanca, Pampanga. Nagsisilbing kanlungan ito ng mahigit 100 pamilya ng mga katutubo sa kasalukuyan. Taong 1991 nang lumobo ang bilang ng mga naninirahan dito nang mapilitan ang karamihan sa mga Ayta na lisanin ang tahanan at pananim nila malapit sa Bulkang Pinatubo. Isa ang pamilya ni Benjie “Beny” Basit sa mga lumikas patungong Nabuclod noong 1991. Makalipas ang ilang taon, kahit humupa na ang trahedya, pinili ni Tatay Beny na hindi na bumalik sa lupain nila malapit sa Pinatubo upang maging maalwan sa kaniyang mga anak ang pagpasok sa paaralan.
SUNOD NA NILIKHA ANG MGA HUGIS, PARIHABA, PAPEL, SILID-ARALAN... Habang nasa paaralan ang mga anak, inaasikaso naman ni Beny ang mga pananim sa kanilang bakuran. Aniya, natutuwa siya at may paaralang elementaryang malapit sa kanila at nakapag-aaral ang kaniyang mga anak. Subalit, ikinababahala niya ang susunod na yugto ng pag-aaral ng mga bata dahil sa layo ng sekundaryang paaralan mula sa kanilang tinitirhan; umaabot ng mahigit tatlong oras kung lalakarin mula sa kanilang tahanan.
Hindi nakapag-aral si Beny noong kabataan niya dulot ng kawalan ng paaralan noon sa kanilang tinutuluyan. Mahirap umano ang buhay noong hindi siya marunong bumasa at sumulat lalo na kapag nagbebenta siya ng kanilang mga inaaning gulay. Buhat noon, lubos siyang nagsusumikap na ibahin ang daloy ng naratibo para sa kaniyang mga anak.
Tatlo sa apat na anak ni Beny ang nagaaral sa Paaralang Elementarya ng Nabuclod: sina Christine, Gustin at Mulawin. Parati silang maagang naghahanda sa pag-aaral at inuunahan ang kanilang guro sa paaralan.
Tinatayang nasa 431 ang populasyon ng mga mag-aaral na Ayta ang nagsusumikap makatapos ng pag-aaral sa Paaralang Elementarya ng Nabuclod. Binubuo ang paaralan ng 12 silid-aralan na hawak ng 11 guro.
Katuwang ni Beny ang asawang si Maryet. Nag-iigib siya ng tubig sa sapa na ilang kilometro ang layo sa kanilang tahanan. Hindi inda ang tarik ng daan at layo nito, bumubuhat si Maryet ng isang tarong tubig para sa kanilang pangluto at panghugas ng pinggan. Sa kanilang pamilya, kung ano ang ginagawa ni Beny ay siya ring ginagawa ni Maryet. Pantay sila sa gawain sa tahanan; pantay na nagsusumikap upang mapagtapos ang kanilang mga anak.
NILAGYAN NG DETALYE ANG MGA HUGIS UPANG MAKABUO NG LARAWANG BAKAL AT SEMENTO. Bukod sa zip line, kasunod na itinayo sa Nabuclod ang mga gusali kung saan maaaring magpamasahe ang mga turista. Tinuruan ang mga katutubo hindi upang bumasa o sumulat, kundi magmasahe at maging atraksiyon ng turismo. Dahil sa hinaing ng maraming katutubo hindi naglaon ay inabanduna na ng mga namamahala ng zip line at lugar na pangmasahihan ang Nabuclod.
Sa halip na sekundaryang paaralan, pinatayuan ng lokal na pamahalaan ng 480 metrong zip line at tatlong view deck ang Brgy. Nabuclod noong 2010. Sumakop ito sa mahigit 1,000 ektarya ng lupaing ninuno na naging dahilan upang mapaalis ang iba pang mga pamilyang Ayta sa lugar. Tinayo ang mga ito upang pasiglahin ang turismo, na sa kasamaang palad, ay sumasagasa sa karapatan ng mga katutubo.
Sa pagtatapos ng aralin ng mga bata sa eskwelahan, maaga silang umuuwi upang makapaghapunan. Naghahanda naman sina Beny ng gulay na galing sa kanilang bakuran at nagsasaing ng bigas. Alam ni Beny ang halaga ng edukasyon ng kaniyang mga anak at hindi naiiba ang araw na iyon sa araw-araw niyang paggabay sa bagong henerasyon nilang mga katutubo kahit patuloy ang pagbabanta ng pag-agaw sa kanilang lupaing ninuno.
Pinamumunuan ng mga “angaw” ang hinaing ng mga katutubo. Isa si Nelson Serano sa mga angaw sa Nabuclod. Aniya lumalabas sila ng nayon sa tuwing may legal na aksyon na kinakailangan ang pag-aasikaso ng papeles sa tuwing may nangaakin ng kanilang lupang ninuno.
TINAPOS NG GURO ANG ARALIN, BINURA ANG PISARA AT PINASA ANG YESO SA MAG-AARAL NA KATUTUBO.