SINAG Issue No 1 September-October 2017

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NEWS

ISSUE NO. 1 SEPT OCT 2017

UPD STUDENTS MARK 21ST WITH PROTESTS, JOIN LUNETA RALLY ENRIQUE NAVERA

DU30, HITLER, TUTA - The many faces of the Rody’s Cube burn as thousands join a mass demonstration in commemoration of the 45th ML Anniversary.

LUNETA, MANILA- In commemoration of the 45th anniversary of the declaration of Martial law last September 21, hundreds of students from the University of the Philippines Diliman (UPD) staged several protest actions inside the university and later joined off-campus mobilizations, including the rally at Luneta where thousands of protesters from different parts of the country gathered.

In this series of mobilizations, the students opposed President Rodrigo Duterte’s war on drugs and denounced his threat of a nationwide military rule.

The local protests in different colleges started around nine in the morning and followed by a centralized protest at Quezon Hall where a caravan to University of Santo Tomas was set to leave at 10:30.

“Ngayon na may Pangulong nagbabadyang ibalik ang Batas Militar sa Pilipinas, hindi tayo papayag. Ang laban ng mga Pilipinong nabubuhay noong panahon ni Marcos ay ang laban

na patuloy nating isusulong sa harap ng nagbabadyang diktaturya,” read the statement given by the College of Social Sciences and Philosophy (CSSP) Student Council.

Various youth groups and mass organizations also urged the administration to stop the implementation of Martial law in Mindanao which has affected the educationand livelihood of many members of the national minority groups.

“Ang Martial law sa Mindanao hindi lamang nakakaapekto sa mga tagaMarawi, kundi pati na rin sa mga estudyanteng Lumad na nais lamang mag-aral,” said RJ Peres of the Save Our Schools Network, a group committed to defend children’s right to education.

Likewise, Arnold Delos Santos of Sandugo also condemned the declaration of Martial law and the state-facilitated killings perpetuated by it.

“Itigil ang Martial law. Igalang ang sariling pagpapasya at ang aming mga karapatan,” he added.

Furthermore, earlier that morning, a program in remembrance of Martial law entitled “Gunita at Kampana” was also conducted at the Carillion plaza, in which the UP Carillion vrang its bells to the tune of “Bayan Ko,” a song that was deemed seditious in the Marcos regime.The main protest was held at the Luneta Park, where thousands of attendees were reported. According to the Tanggulan Youth Network, UP Diliman was able to send 506 attendees to the Luneta Rally. Lumad groups which were currently in residence inside the UP Diliman Campus as members of the Lakbayan 2017 also attended and boosted the protest.

Some groups also mobilized at the Commission on Human Rights after attending the Misa para sa Katarungan (Mass for Justice) at the UP Diliman Chapel where former President Benigno Aquino III, Vice President Leni

Robredo and some members of the Liberal Party were reportedly present.

Amidst reports on social media that these mobilizations were to be used by the opposition to “destabilize” the Duterte administration, Malacanang responded positively to these movements, saying that they somehow “elevated public discourse.”

Presidential Spokesman Ernesto Abella further assured that the President acknowledges the issues and grievances that were raised, adding that the government has been “proactive” regarding looking into those issues. However, according to Abella, the President still stands with the belief that a majority of the people still support the drug war.

In congruence, Pro-Duterte groups also held their own event in support of the current administration, who also projected thousands of attendees, at the Plaza Miranda in Quiapo.

ISSUE NO. 1 SEPT OCT 2017

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NEWS

NO TUITION IN UP FOR AY 17-18 NEXT STEPS UNCLEAR

ENRIQUE NAVERA

No tuition fees will be collected from undergraduate students of UP System for the A.Y. 2017-2018, according to UP President Danilo Concepcion.

In a memorandum released on August 7, Concepcion directed administrators that tuition fees will be waived in the “spirit of the recently promulgated Universal Access to Quality Tertiary Education Act” signed

by President Rodrigo Duterte recently.

This directive came after series of mobilizations and campaigns staged by militant student groups in the university calling to scrap the three-decade old Socialized Tuition System (STS) and for free education of all.

Struggle for free education continues In a statement of UP Student Regent Shari Oliquino, “while our collective action has achieved a significant milestone with the passage of this measure,” she maintains that “much has yet to be done in our quest to fully emancipate the country’s colonial, commercialized and fascist education system.”

Oliquino refers to the on-going implementation of the profitoriented Socialized Tuition System hoarding nearly P 1 billion in tuition last semester.

As the memo has outlined those who are not qualified in the free tuition scheme, it encouraged them to undergo te ST System.

Non-qualified students include: 1) students taking their second degree, 2) “students who fail to comply with the admission and retention policies of the University”, 3) students who exceeded the Maximum Residency for their degree progrtams, 4) graduate students, and 5) Law and Medicine students.

“The continuous implementation of the profit-oriented Socialized Tuition Scam… while giving a portion of the national budget to private educational institutions” she points out, “are only some of the many grim manifestations of neoliberalism’s resistance to

radical change.”

While all undergraduate students qualified based on the memo released are to be given free tuition, Concepcion added that “students with financial capacity may voluntarily opt out by paying tuition and other school fees as their contribution to the University.” The same option is included in the enacted free tuition law.

Confusion among administrators A month before the announcement, Diliman Chancellor Michael Tan announced that there will be no tuition collection in UP Diliman for the first semester, in which other campuses followed suit.

However, Tan later clarified that tuition will not be waived for students rather tuition collection will jst be suspended until the Commission on Higher Education (CHEd) clarifies the guidelines of its Free Tuition Policy of 2017 (FTP).

The Free Tuition Policy of 2017 is joint policy of CHEd and the Department of Budget Management (DBM) so as to disburse the P 8.3 billion budget allocation for supposed free tuition. Later, the Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) of the said policy ended with a socialization of free tuition prioritizing CHEd scholars and 4Ps beneficiaries.

Concepcion later reversed the directive on suspension of tuition collection and released a memo that “supersedes all previous issuance” laying the two rounds of assessment, one for those who intend to have free tuition and the other for tuition discount.

Next steps unclear While tuition fees will not be collected for the current academic year, free tuition for the following years is unassured as the IRR of Free Tuition Law is still on the process. Budget secretary Benjamin Diokno, notably against the free tuition scheme, said he will head the committee that will prepare the IRR of the law.

ANOTHER USUAL DAY - Students gather at the Computer Laboratory to use computers, print materials, and charge their laptops.

COMP LAB PRINTING FEES CUT TO ₱2 RENEE LOUISE CO

Effective immediately on October 3, the College of Social Sciences and Philosophy Computer Laboratory lowered their local printing fees to P2.00 for black and white text, and a starting fee of P5.00 for colored prints per page.

Newly appointed Coordinator for the Computer Laboratory Prof. Jan Robert Go announced the approved decrease last Tuesday, two months into his new position. The costs were cut to more than half their original prices, which were P5.00 for black and white text per page, and a range of P7.00 to P20.00 for colored pages.

Exorbitant printing fees at the college were caused by the expensive maintenance of the Computer Laboratory’s printers.

According to Go, the old laser printers required periodical replacements of the inkcontaining drum, which costed around P11,000.00. He initiated the purchase of newer and costeffective inkjet printers that enabled cheaper printing.

The office of CSSP Dean Bernadette Abrera, a fellow newly selected administrator, funded the new printers.

According to Go, since there was no prior justification for 5-peso cost, it was easier to reduce the fees.

“Tinanong ko rin before: bakit five pesos ‘yung printing?

‘Yun na rin daw ever since, so

dahil wala ring [supporting] documents, maybe we can just lower it.”

The Comp Lab accomplished costing processes that calculated the best price that would assure self-sufficiency while also keeping printing charges low.

“Kasi ‘di naman tayo business.

Though we need funds to sustain ourselves, but not as much as five pesos per page,” Go said.

Another reason for the high printing fees is the Computer Laboratory’s complete reliance on printing revenues to provide for the income of the staff and to fund their activities.

“The reason why the Comp Lab has to charge the fees was also [so that] the computer technicians that we employ are actually non-UP contractual employees,” Abrera said. “They make the computers functional here and at all of the [CSSP] departments, [and] they are paid by the earnings of the computer laboratory.”

Go commented that they are currently undergoing processes to recognize the Comp Lab computer technicians as UP contractual employees so that they may be directly paid by the government.

The issue of high printing fees have been perennial in the college. Last year, former CSSP Student Council Vice

Chairperson JV Bautista addressed a letter to former Dean Grace Aguiling-Dalisay requesting for free printing and offered a compromise of ₱2.00.

In continuation of the previous goals this year, incumbent CSSPSC Vice Chairperson Mariel Cunanan also sent letters to Dean Abrera asserting a P2.00 printing fee.

“Maganda na nag-converge ang needs ng students and the desire of the college to improve the services to the students,” Dean Abrera said.

Go refers to this initiative as the beginning of reform for the entire Computer Laboratory.

Aside from internet access to websites, the Comp Lab is currently formulating policies to install educational softwares and provide student resources.

“We have more initiatives to come,” Go said, “We’re planning to have softwares here for statistical courses. We’re still exploring that in terms of pricing, […] but we want the Comp Lab not to be just a computer shop, but a laboratory.” “[Professor Go’s] mandate is that [the Comp Lab] will become a media resource center,” Dean Abrera commented. “The college […] will be a repository of resources to provide for the educational facilities that will improve the services the college renders to its students.”

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7 ORGANIZATIONS TO BE RELOCATED TO 3RD FLOOR LOBBY

NEWS

ISSUE NO. 1 SEPT-OCT 2017

RENEE LOUISE CO

The CSSP Student Council and 7 other college-based organizations residing in the AS Basement will be relocated to the 3rd Floor Lobby within the first semester.

Organizations that would be affected include the College of Social Sciences and Philosophy Student Council (CSSPSC), UP Junior Philippine Geographical Society (UP JPGS), UP Kalipunan ng mga Magaaral ng Sosyolohika (UP KMS), UP Kalipunan para sa Agham Panlipunan at Pilosopiyang Pilipino (UP KAPPP), UP Lipunang Pangkasaysayan (UP LIKAS), UP Philosophical Society, UP Samahang Linggwistika (UP SALIN), and UP PROCSSP. According to CSSP Office of Student Affairs (OSA) Coordinator Jairus Espiritu, the AS Basement was declared structurally unsound to house organizations as it poses an earthquake hazard to students.

“Risk talaga siya as it is prone to a stampede,” Espiritu said. “Iyon na mismo ang kaisa-isang exit at napakakipot niya for hundreds of people going out at the same time. Kasabay pa nila ang Third

World paglabas so magkakagulo talaga if ever it happens on a work day.”

Among all the options available, the 3rd Floor Lobby was mainly considered as it was historically an area for organizations until former CSSP Dean Michael Tan opened the basement for student organizations.

Espiritu spearheads the coordination for the transfer of organizations on both sides of the administration and student body. Last September 6, CSSP OSA attended the Third KAPP Core General Assembly to inform the organization heads of the upcoming plans to transfer and to open to issue for discussion.

Among some concerns raised in the GA were the lack of electrical sockets and proper org spaces.

As of writing, CSSP OSA had indicated plans to discuss with the building administrators installation of electrical sockets for student use.

“The transfer will only happen after the sockets have been placed,” Espiritu said.

The Student Council is also campaigning to CSSP departments

to adopt and provide spaces for their respective discipline-based organizations.

“They’re [CSSPSC] drafting letters to department chairpersons asking them if they have spaces for department based organizations,” Espiritu said. “I have told them to expedite the letters so that before the transfer commences, we have more options for the orgs.”

“As of now, pumayag na ang Geography Department,” CSSPSC Chairperson Renzo Relente said. “Ang GSUP at JPGS ay lilipat na, by the end of the month, doon sa bridge sa gitna ng [Pavillion 2] and [Pavillion 3].”

The Student Council is also hopeful that as soon as reconstructions of Pavillion 4 are completed, there could be more secure spaces available for organizations. “‘Yung ibang departments nahihirapan maghanap ng spaces from them,” he said. “Goal namin ngayon ay maging tambayan iyung Anthropology Museum (on the 3rd floor) na malilipatan ng orgs kapag natapos na ang Pav 4.”

At last year’s disaster risk and

reduction management college seminar, the UP Vanguard Inc. assessed that the baseVment poses a high risk due to the number of people staying there and the size and number of available exits. Since the administration of last year’s CSSP Dean Aguiling-Dalisay, the possibility of transferring organizations was already being entertained.

Several organizations expressed their concerns regarding the transfer ever since it was officially announced during the Third KAPP Core GA. Many of the issues raised were about the security, privacy and logistics afforded to the organizations. According to basement-residing organizations, the openness of the area is not favorable for organizational activities and the safekeeping of materials.

“Sa 3rd floor, walang enough closed space para ma-secure ‘yung materials namin,” UP JPGS Secretary-General Tanya Saure said.

“Mas private dito at doon kasi may classes na baka maingayan. Marami kasing activities ng org na unsuitable para sa pinaplano nila,” UP KMS Kalihim

Mass organizations, such as collegebasedV League of Filipino Students CSSP, problematized the transfer as a symptom of a wider problem, which is the lack of adequate spaces for student organizations.

“We have to recognize that the issue of organization spaces did not sprang out just yesterday,” LFS-CSSP Chairperson Miguel Garcia said. “This relocation is a palliative solution and a smokescreen to what has long been attacks of the administration to our democratic rights particularly the right to organize.”

The CSSP Student Council assured organizations that they aim to conduct the transition as smoothly as possible, striking a balance between safety and convenience.

“Safety ng students ang priority.

We do understand na maraming ayaw, so uunahin namin ang pag-asikaso ng department spaces, at kapag wala, doon isa-safe guard ang 3rd floor para maging conducive, useful sa orgs [ang space] and safe sila,” Relente said. s

Sai Pambid agreed.

Dr. Maria Bernadette L. Abrera: Her story to CSSP’s history GIANA LARRAURI

Dr. Maria Bernadette L. Abrera is a distinguished and beloved figure in any setting. From her prominent family and her history department, to the many handled students and the entirety of CSSP – her presence has become a stronghold of stability and gentleness.

Her impact told in anecdotes and stories reverberate within and beyond the walls of Palma Hall It is not difficult to know Dean Abrera. Wearing the college colours, she approaches you with a smile and a story. As she brings new blood to the notoriously bureaucratic administration and takes on the symbol of the Konsensiya ng Bayan, SINAG has taken the opportunity and the honor to be fully familiar with the figurative mother of the college.

Her story to CSSP’s history Being in the academe for more or less 30 years, Dean Abrera has been involved in the upkeep and service for the college.

She started as a simple professor from the Department of History before becoming the chair of the said department. She has published tons of academic work that shaped how history is viewed and studied in the Philippines.

As a matter of fact, Seclusion and Veiling of Women: A Historical and Cultural Approach is one of her popular works familiar to students of Kasaysayan 1.

History as a discipline never left her

side even as she stepped outside the walls of the classrooms. Many of her recent office-backed tprojects are about Martial Law, such as reliving the ML era as it happened in the campus, and even avidly participating and endorsing student initiatives to condemn the present ML declaration. More than ever, her discipline has made greater conscious efforts to educate the masses of the Philippine collective experience.

Through this, previous events become connected with our present realities.

finished within her term. The dean also wants to develop permanent homes for all departments, particularly pertaining to Pavilion 4 and Llamas Hall for displaced departments of Anthropology and Linguistics. Apart from this, her plans of developing and utilizing the open spaces and gardens to conducive learning thrills her passion for building a greater CSSP community. Dean says there should be a sense of belonging among students through areas where they can feel secure and valued.

Assuming her position last July 17, 2017, she continues to challenge her time and her story as she sets out to pursue her plans in her term of three years.

Asked about her greatest achievement, Dean Abrera answers “I think that would be promoting the welfare of the junior faculty… so that they can be able to pursue their careers and their professions not only in the university, but they can [also] study elsewhere so that we can develop.” This is primarily in the discipline of History and how faculty members can contribute to the continuous advancement of the discipline. Dean also emphasizes the ongoing concern of the department in developing areas where History is weak, due to the lack of specialists from countries outside Philippines. Right now, there are no specialists from West Asia, Africa, and the Pacific Islands.

Dean Abrera’s secret to a motivated outlook is her main vision for the college as tahanan, tagpuan, and tagisan. “That is what I would want to realize during the three years that I have as dean of the college,” she remarks. Tahanan, the Filipino word for ‘home’ represents not only the physical structure, but also emotional and moral conditions of dependence and comfort. As a tahanan, the college recognizes that a home is where our values come from, and aims for the students to cultivate their values in college discussions.

A home is not complete without its various foundational rooms; thus, the CSSP Food Court, an initiative by former Dean Aguiling-Dalisay, is projected to be

Issues vs. Dean Abrera As a newcomer to the college-wide administrative staff, SINAG: What particular issues do you

want to be addressed in the college?

[…] what to ask them to provide us with.

Dean Abrera: Right now, we are transitioning to the entry of the first graduates of K-12 […] and at the same time to prepare for that, the university has unveiled a new GE program, so we will be working on nurturing the new courses that will be offered especially by departments in the college—it will be offered in the new GE program.

SINAG: What would the CSSP Food Court look like?

SINAG: Will this affect the previous batches in their old curriculum?

Dean Abrera: No, it will be a new GE program that will be applicable starting from 2018. They will remain in their old curriculum.

SINAG: What are your plans for CASAA? Would CSSP start to have a cafeteria?

Dean Abrera: It’s no longer to be the CASAA. [Because] it’s now the tricollege of [CAL, CSSP, CS], it’s going to be the “CSSP Food Court.” It is going to be more open structurally, and to be more in touch with the environment; at the same time it’s more economical, so that way we may not have to put air conditioning.

It’s going to be at the old CASAA space.

The construction is going to start by next year, we hope. Right now, we’re calling for the students, faculty, and staff to provide us with their food preferences and food choices, so that we will know when we call for food concessionaires

Dean Abrera: The food stalls will be at the center of the food court, and then all around, there will be tables and chairs for the students. It’s going to be open […] but it’s going have barred doors so visually, you can still see the food court inside. We hope that it can open [starting] at 6:00 AM to accommodate the early classes [to] provide breakfast for our students. There will be space in order to develop it to have wings eventually, so we can enlarge the space.

That’s the reason why we are putting the food stalls at the center.

SINAG: What are your plans regarding HARAYA 2020 and the vision of CSSP? Dean Abrera: We’re hoping that by 2020, the main items in our vision will have been achieved… so that we can move to visioning the college towards the next 10 years. Primarily we want the college to be really a very vibrant community of scholars, and we hope to do that with a lot of academic activities […] both conferences, research, courses… both new courses and review of existing courses.

SINAG: If you could improve anything in the college without the worry of budget, what would it be?

Dean Abrera: It would have to be

ISSUE NO. 1 SEPT-OCT 2017

FEATURES

5

This is where the training ground is for the future leaders. UP trains and educates students for leadership — but it is not just leadership, it is leadership with commitment, leadership with responsibility, leadership with a sense of social justice, leadership with nationalism.

with the facilities of the college because we need to provide students with facilities for learning that will enable them to respond to new conditions of learning. Right now, we lack space for students not only for their academic activities, but also for student activities, student organizations […] of course, the college supports student organizations especially the college based ones, but we cannot provide them with facilities.

We’re always looking for space and facilities for the students.

SINAG: What are your plans for a greater CSSP community?

Dean Abrera: Primarily, we want to have a more vital research community, so we are trying to initiate research projects that will be college wide. It will engage several disciplines in the college, involve the professors, and the same time we can make use of research assistants, student assistants, who can start being involved in these projects of the college.

[We will also] immediate in our responses as a Social Science and Philosophy community. If there are social issues and political issues, we’d like the college to immediately have discussions on those issues […] because the college has a lot of talent and knowledge, and it can contribute to the engagement in society — so that we can improve the responses of government to developments.

Beyond the walls of Palma Hall Being at the forefront of the nation’s

esteemed collective of social science scholars requires a rational and empathetic mind geared toward societal improvement and a beating heart to serve the people. Dean Abrera has both — and here, she shares with SINAG her intimate views and philosophies that will determine the discourse of longstanding issues for years to come.

SINAG: What are your views on the removal of the budget for the Commission on Human Rights (CHR)?

Dean Abrera: That is absolutely not acceptable. We need the Commission on Human Rights. That was an agency that came about as a result of long struggle so we need to retain that because it is necessary […] it continues to be very necessary in our political life.

SINAG: What do you think about the declaration of Martial Law in Mindanao?

Dean Abrera: Definitely, it is not necessary. Martial law in Mindanao is not necessary. The Marawi situation can be addressed without having to declare martial law, because that was a situation that needed the response of government.

Martial law was not necessary for that particular response, and we can see now that the effects of the declaration has affected very negatively so many people.

Even the people themselves from Mindanao, they have impassioned peace for the lifting of martial law…because the military response could have gone ahead without Martial Law. But right now, there is a lot of suffering and a lot of corollary damage.

SINAG: What are your views on the administration’s cases of extrajudicial killings, particularly the cases of youth such as Kian Delos Santos, Carl Arnaiz, and Reynaldo De Guzman?

Dean Abrera: The college definitely puts its foot down against all the extrajudicial killings that is happening in the country. That is not the way that we should be addressing the drug problem.

We recognize that there is a drug problem, the way that the government is going about trying to solve the drug problem is not the way to solve it. It is simply creating new problems without addressing the real root of the problem.

We are simply killing off poor people who have been involved in the tentacles of the drug syndicates. I don’t know if we have made any dent at all in addressing the real causes of the drug problem in the country.

SINAG: What is your opinion regarting politicians using alternative facts and perpetuating historical revisionism?

Dean Abrera: We have had several fora on historical revisionism since last year prior to the elections. So what we really want to push is for students to be critically aware of the issues and to be able to evaluate the items that come before them, and to know the sources— to evaluate the sources. These are the things that can safeguard [not only] young people from falling victims of fake news, [but also] adults. So, we want to raise the consciousness of students, particularly students whom we teach about critical evaluation of sources. That

is very important.

SINAG: In connection with the pride month, if you were to be a color from the rainbow, what would you be and why?

Dean Abrera: My favorite color has always been yellow, even prior to yellow becoming a political color in 1983. I have always liked yellow, because it’s very bright [and] cheerful, and I think it brings a lot of light.

SINAG: How do you think about the acceptance of LGBTQ+ community in the Philippines?

Dean Abrera: Philippine society and culture itself, the way I see it, has always been very open and accepting of people of all kinds. I don’t see any sense of discrimination against any person of any orientation. Maybe it will not involve gender orientation—‘yung historical or cultural discrimination that I cant think of at the moment, it does not involve gender, it may involve ideas of race, but for sexual orientation, I don’t see any.

SINAG: How are CSSP students vital to the future of the Philippines?

Dean Abrera: This is where the training ground is for the future leaders.

UP trains and educates students for leadership — but it is not just leadership, it is leadership with commitment, leadership with responsibility, leadership with a sense of social justice, leadership with nationalism. This is where you will be engaged in a lot of discussions and this is where you will see the concerns of the nation being discussed in using the talents that we have as academics, as

scholars, so that they will be grounded in our history, in our culture, and in our own capacities as a people.

SINAG: How do you see the Philippines five years from now?

Dean Abrera: Outside the political course we’re taking at the moment, we hope that there is still a lot of hope for the Philippines because the young people — they are aware, they are critical, they are engaged, and they are involved. That is where the hope comes form. That is the education that we want to put in our own sphere here in the university. So we continue to do our work — we continue to educate, we continue to expose the issues, and we continue to discuss and engage all sectors about current issues.

This is what we want the students to bring when they eventually graduate and become leaders in society.

SINAG: Give a brief important message that you want to voice out to the students.

Dean Abrera: I’d like students to be involved in the activities of the college and to engage in dialogue, and to communicate their concerns with the offices in the college. The college has an ear for whatever the students would like to bring to our concern. There should be also an openness to dialogue, an openness to hearing the other side, and not to be closed to one’s views […] and engage in dialogue so that we can live as a community and we can continue to function in our work, and support each other. s

FEATURES

6 Youth is hope, whose brilliance sets a lighted path onto tomorrow. They say that the youth is the future of the nation.

Youth is the driving force of change— they have since become the forefronts of social movements, and their potential to discover, innovate, and influence as they grow into their adulthood is an indispensable asset to the country.

Hence, all agree that youth must be guided, protected, and nurtured.

Youth is a seventeen year old boy from a poor family in an impoverished Caloocan community. He routinely helped his father run his sari-sari store after long days in school, and had a mother who

scraped by as an OFW in Saudi Arabia. He is an average student with no misdemeanors whatsoever, who had been studying for a test despite working all night, because he dreamt he would become a policeman—a brave champion of justice and protector of the people—someday.

Youth is also a nineteen year old son of an OFW mother working in Dubai. He graduated elementary a valedictorian, and earned medal upon medal and plaque upon plaque of achievements.

Youth is a boy of potential— a boy who scored 2nd highest in the Makati Science High School entrance test, and enrolled in UP Diliman, majoring in Interior Design. Youth suffered from clinical depression, dropped out after a semester, but proceeded to work diligently at his family’s sari-sari store, and at the French fries stand he himself put up and designed. Youth had no bad records and is said to have never fought with anyone.

Youth is a fourteen-year old boy who lived with his parents and four siblings in a small room rented for Php 1,500 a month in Chico Alley, a depressed neighborhood in Cainta, Rizal. He lived in extreme poverty and frequently was under his neighbors’ employ, working odd jobs in order to have school allowance.

Youth would often put what he earned from these jobs into providing food on the table for his parents and siblings, instead. Youth spent his days earning for his family in favor of attending classes, and thus, remained in 5th grade at the age of fourteen. Youth was kind, diligent, and resourceful.

On August 16, 2017, youth—Kian delos Santos—got embroiled in an anti-drug and crime operation, and got shot by two members of the Caloocan Police Community Precinct. Not even a week later on August 18, 2017, youth—Carl Arnaiz—was killed by Caloocan police

officers, and youth—Reynaldo Guzman—disappeared, suspected many to be by the police’s hands.

de by

The Case of Kian delos Santos

Police Report: On August 16, the Caloocan Police Community sent an 11-man team to conduct an anti-drug and anti-crime operation at Block 7, Riverside, Barangay 160, Caloocan city. They split into teams to cover more ground.

The team led by PO3 Arnel Oares met a group of males who scampered away after detecting the ongoing operation.

According to the police report, the team chased after the men and were fired at at a road bordering Valenzuela city, prompting them to fire back to avoid further aggression. Kian allegedly fought back and in the ensuing gun fire, was killed.

Recovered from the scene were 4 fired 9 mm cartridges, a caliber .45 pistol, and 2 sachets of a crystalline substance believed to be shabu.

Witnesses: On August 17, the policemen of PCP7 conducted another operation along Tullahan Road, Appleville, resulting in the arrest of Renato Loveras, who claimed Kian was a drug runner for his father and that Kian received 10 grams of shabu daily from a certain Jeslyn Escolin. However, Kian was never on any drug watch list.

At the Senate Inquiry, eyewitnesses claim Kian did not fight back. One witness says Kian was given a gun by the policemen, and was told to fire the gun and run. He was then gunned down.

These claims were supported by CCTV footages which showed an unarmed Kian being manhandled and dragged by two plain-clothed men.

PNP (Philippine National Police) and PAO (Public Attorney’s Office) Autopsy Report: Kian tested negative for gunpowder residue in a Paraffin test conducted by the PNP crime lab. This belies police claims that Kian shot at the police. The results of PNP crime lab’s autopsy further showed 2 gunshot wounds fired at a range of no less than 2 feet away.

On the other hand, the PAO autopsy showed 3 gunshot wounds. One wound was located on Kian’s back, and hard to miss.

The PNP Chief Medicolegal Officer claimed they might have overlooked some wounds because they performed the autopsy when Kian’s body was already embalmed. This explanation was disputed by PAO. They said the gunshot wound at the back was markedly obvious.

Both camps agreed, however, that the trajectories of the bullets indicate that Kian was shot at when he was in lower position, suggesting he was probably kneeling.

The Case of Carl Arnaiz According to Carl’s Family: Carl, and his friend, Reynaldo de Guzman left in Cainta, Rizal, in the wee morning on August 17 to

14 year-old their homes hours of the buy snacks.

ISSUE NO. 1 SEPT-OCT 2017

KIAN, CARL AND KULOT TEEN SLAYS: The Bloody Price of the Drug War MAITA MAGBUHOS

They did not return home. Carl was missing for 10 days, until a funeral parlor, Ezekiel Funeral Homes in Caloocan sent a message to Carl’s sister, Camille, in response to her missing person post on Facebook. She was told there was an unclaimed person in the morgue who was found on August 18.

The unclaimed person wore Dickies shorts, a Vans hoodie, and a cap. Camille was certain this was not Carl, since he did not own any of the things mentioned by the morgue attendant. Nevertheless, she sent her boyfriend to receive the photos.

A few minutes later, her boyfriend sent her a one-line message that broke her heart: “Love, putangina.”

The Autopsy Report: According to Dr. Erwin Erfe, PAO Medicolegal officer, the trajectories of the bullets that killed Carl suggest that he was kneeling initially (first 2-3 shots), then lying on the ground (last 2 shots). There were 3 gunshot wounds to the middle and left side of the chest, and the back of the arm. Carl also had severe facial and body injuries that suggested that he was handcuffed and beaten up or tortured before being shot.

According to the Police: According to the Caloocan Police Report, Carl hailed a cab in Navotas City at 3:30am on August 18. He asked to be brought to 5th Avenue, but at C3, Carl allegedly drew a gun, declared a hold-up, took taxi driver Tomas Bagcal’s wallet, and fled.

In Bagcal’s first affidavit, the taxi driver supposedly sought help from policemen on patrol. They went back to the place of the hold-up where they spotted Carl, and attempted to apprehend him. Carl successively fired at the police, but missed. PO1 Jeffrey Perez and PO1 Ricky Arquilita of Caloocan PCP-2 retaliated and killed Carl in the process.

Recovered from the crime scene were .38 caliber pistol, 2 sachets marijuana, 3 sachets shabu, and a cellphone, which Carl’s family claims he did not own.

According to the Taxi Driver (First vs.

Second Affidavit): Tomas Bagcal went missing for weeks after the incident, claiming he feared for his life. He resurfaced on September 10, and executed a second affidavit which was a lot different from his first.

In his first affidavit, Bagcal said Carl declared a holdup as they reached the barangay hall Barangay 28 and mentioned the words “mga suspect” while in the second, he claimed Carl declared a holdup along C-3 road, and emphasized there was “only one suspect.”

Bagcal did not provide details of the supposed robber’s appearance in his first affidavit. He simply answered “no” when asked if he knew who held him up.

In the second affidavit, Bagcal’s description of the supposed robber’s appearance even matched the clothes Carl was wearing when he was brought to the funeral home. Bagcal claimed the police prepared the first affidavit, and only asked for his name, birthdate, and details of the taxi cab he drove. He also claimed that Carl was alone. The affidavit also seemed to explain Carl’s injuries by stating that before he was brought to the police, Carl was mauled by bystanders.

Carl was alive when Bagcal brought him to the precinct.

After disappearing from public scrutiny for about a month, Bagcal resurfaced and issued more confusing statements. During his media conference on September 10, Bagcal stated he was attacked by Carl with a gun and robbed of his earnings. He also said that the police’s killing of Carl was “scripted” and that the policemen in PCP-2 insisted he implicate a 14-year-old in the robbery.

At this time, Bagcal was under the custody of the human rights group Rise Up for Life and for Rights. Later on, however, Bagcal sought the protective custody of the NBI, and went on to state on Septemeber 22 that Carl did not use a gun but instead a knife, and that he was with 14-year-old Reynaldo de Guzman in the taxi.

The Case of Reynaldo “Kulot” de Guzman Of the three victim’s stories, Reynaldo “Kulot” de Guzman’s seems to one that is never-ending, only getting more and more complicated by the minute. Kulot was last seen with Carl Arnaiz on August 17. His disappearance led his parents Lina and Eduardo Gabriel on a search for him that lasted more than two weeks.

On September 5, a Facebook post surfaced, describing a corpse floating on a creek in Nueva Ecija, more than a hundred kilometers from where Kulot lived in Cainta, Rizal. The boy’s body bore anywhere from 6-30 wounds, depending on who was performed the examination.

The parents identified the cadaver as Kulot’s based on certain identifying marks and prepared for his wake and interment.

However, on its own initiative, the PNP Crime Laboratory tested DNA from the recovered body; the DNA did not match samples of his supposed parents. This prompted a struggle of custody for the body, now tagged “unknown” between the parents and the police.

According to Parents and Friends: Neighbor Rashelle Pascua was the first to post the photo of the missing Reynaldo.

She received a reply via FB messenger that a dead boy’s body was found thrown in a waterway in San Roque, Gapan City, Nuevo Ecija.

Dariz Funeral Parlor retrieved the body, and it was here where Lina and

Eduardo Gabriel confirmed the body was their son’s: he had a birthmark at the back of his ear, a scar on his neck, and a wart on his knee.

On September 6, the neighborhood erupted in shock when news spread that a boy found floating in a creek in Nueva Ecija—head totally covered with packing tape and body disfigured with 31 scars—had been identified as their “Kulot.”

Kulot’s disappearance since August 18 along with UP student Carl Arnaiz had been the subject of countless headlines.

To many minds in Kulot’s neighborhood, even before investigations of this crime had truly begun taking place, Kulot was witness to a crime: Kulot was last seen by neighbors as Carl’s companion, who would then be found in a morgue 10 days after both boys disappeared. Carl was allegedly shot in a gun battle by Caloocan cops who responded to a taxi driver’s claim that Carl tried to rob him at gun point.

News platform Rappler voiced a question foremost in most people’s thoughts: From their neighborhood in Cainta, how could Carl end up dead in Caloocan; and Kulot in Gapan City, when they supposedly had just gone out for a midnight snack?

The Autopsy Reports: On September 7, CHR and NBI performed autopsies on the body. Dr. Carlomagno Yalung of the NBI said that the overlapping wounds on Reynaldo de Guzman’s body made accurately confirming how many times the boy was stabbed difficult. The wounds had also been “modified” by sutures.

In the same room, CHR performed a separate autopsy with representatives from PNP. CHR Medicolegal Dr. Joseph Jimenez said the stab wounds on the body punctured his heart, chest cavity, and lungs. At least 17 stab wounds were seen on the body.t Kian delos Santos and Carl Arnaiz are only 2 of at least 52 minors killed in the name of the administration’s drug war since July 2016. They were among the 81 killed in a three-day period from August 16-18 in what now appears to be the bloodiest war against drugs waged by the Philippine National Police.

There have been 52 unjust killings of youth—of hope, of the future, of change.

Many consider these necessary to be able to cleanse the country of its dirty, heinous, narcotics problem. The blood spilled and dreams forsaken are made into mere collaterals. The youth are progenitors of the next generations, and are stewards of the future— yet, all this violence have costed their precious lives.

Youth must live to see the tomorrow they are instrumental in building. s

ISSUE NO. 1 SEPT-OCT 2017

FEATURES

7

BANGUNGOT NG MARAWI: Hanggang saan pa ba ang lalakbayin?

GIANA LARRAURI

Pagbobomba— “Kailangan niyo nang lumisan dahil bobombahin na ang Marawi!”

Ito ang naulinigan ng bawat mamamayan sa Marawi noong sila`y mabilisang pinalilikas ng mga militar. Ayon kay manong Jalil, hindi niya maiwasang maiyak at maging emosyonal sa tuwing naalala niya ang mga pangyayaring mismong nagaganap sa kaniyang sariling tahanan. Sa katunayan pa nga`y hindi lang natatapos lahat sa pagaalala, mayroong pagdadamdam ng sakit na naidudulot ng pagdaplis ng mga drone sa kanilang mga balat. Isiniwalat din niya na ang Marawi ay unti-unting winawasak dahil sa mga heavy equipment na araw gabi`y pinapakawala ng mga Militar. Ito ay isa sa kanilang mga paraan upang sugpuin ang `di matapos-tapos na hidwaang hindi kailanman inasahang darating.

Pakikipagdtigma— “Sa totoo lang, hindi mapasukan ang Marawi ngayon dahil sa patuloy na pagpapaputok.”

Tulad na nga ng ating mga nauulinigan sa balita, namamatay hindi lamang ang ating mga sundalo, kundi pati na rin ang mga inosente at walang kamalay-malay na mga sibilyan. Ipinaliwanag rin ni manong Jalil na tinatamaan rin ng mga ligaw na bala ang evacuation centers na dapat nga`y silungan ng proteksyon kahit sa sandaling panahon lamang. Subalit dahil din sa pakikipagdigmaang ito, nagkahiwa-hiwalay na sina manong Jalil at ang kanyang mga kapitbahay, anak, asawa, at pamilya na minsan na niyang inalagaan at hinugutan ng pang-araw-araw na lakas. Nakapanlulumo isipin na hindi lubusang maiiwasan ang ganitong mga pangyayari sapagkat patuloy na umiigting ang hidwaan sa Marawi.

Pagpataw— “Kahit sino ka, basta`t batas militar, wala kang kawala.”

Naghahalo ang takot, pag-aalinlangan, pighati, at sakit ng bawat mamamayan sa ideya lamang ng Martial law. Ito ay sa kadahilanang maaari kang dakpin at hulihin kahit na walang patunay ang iyong pagkakasala. Ayon kay manong Jalil ay pinasok na nga ng mga Maute ang kanilang evacuation center kaya lahat na sa kanila ay pinaghinalaang bahagi ng nasabing grupo.

Walang pakundangang na ngang inaresto at hinuli ang isang kasamahan nilang pinaghinalaan ng mga militar at hanggang ngayon ay hindi pa rin binabalik.

Paano nagsimulang gumuho ang mundo ng Marawi?

Tandang-tanda pa ni manong Jalil kung paano nagsimula ang matinding bangungot na kasalukuyan nilang nararanasan…

“Alas tres ng hapon noong Mayo 23, 2017 nagsimula ang mga putukan.”

Ngunit pagsapit ng gabi, nilusob at pinasok na sila ng mga rebelde hanggang sa nag-umpisa na ang katakot-takot na

kaguluhan. Sinimulang paliyabin ng mga terorista ang headquarters at ang mga paaralan. Sa panahong ito, na sa Russia ang ating Pangulo at ang kanyang mga top security officials para sa isang opisyal na pagbibisita; subalit nang malaman niya ang mga kabigla-biglang pangyayari sa Marawi ay kinailangan niyang magdeklara ng Martial Law sa lalong madaling panahon.

Mula noon, tuluyan na ngang nilamon ng nakasisindak na bangungot ang bayang minsan nang tapahimbing sa kanyang pagtulog.

400-500 na katao ang nasasawi sa gulong naidulot ng mga rebelde; kung kaya`t ang mga mamamayan, mapaMoro man o Kristiyano ay masugid na pinalikas na ng mga militar. Malinaw pa sa alaala ni manong Jalil na alas diyes ng umaga nagsimulang magpaalis ang mga sundalo sa kani-kanilang mga tahanan at “ipinapadouble time pa nga…” sila dahil nag-uumpisa na nga ang digmaan at ang pandarakip ng mga Maute sa mga sibilyan bilang kanilang mga hostage. Paspasan rin silang pinatakbo at hindi na binigyan pa ng pagkakataong kunin ang lahat ng ari-arian dahil sa pagsapit ng alas tres ng hapon ay bobombahin na ng mga militar ang kanilang tahanang Marawi. Subalit may ilan-ilan pa rin sa kanilang hindi na kailanman ninais pang iwanan ang kanilang mga tinitirhan kaya “…sorry sila natamaan na sila ng bomba..”

Buhat noon ay kanya-kanya na sila ng diskarte sa paglisan at pagtakas mula sa bangungot na hindi na mapapawi ni mababago pa ng kahit anong paglimot.

Nasan na ang kalaban?

Matapos ideklara ang batas militar noong Mayo 23, hindi inasahang pahahabain pa ito ng dalawang buwan. Sa kadahilanang ito, minsan nang sumagi sa isipan ni manong Jalil na baka eksperimento lang ang lahat ng nangyayari sa Marawi dahil “hindi makita ang mga kalaban… sa tingin ko`y ito`y isang eksperimento lamang..” Nangatwiran din siya na kung napalilibutan na nga ng militar ang buong Marawi, bakit hindi pa natatapos ang digmaan? Bakit hindi pa rin sila pinapabalik? At bakit hindi nauubos ang mga Maute? Ilan lamang ito sa mga tanong na umikot sa kanyang naguguluhang isipan.

Hindi niya maiwasang hindi umusisa sa mga nagaganap na pinaniniwalaan niyang matatapos at malalampasan pa nila sa lalong madaling panahon.

Kalagayan sa evacuation center— Nang siya`y tanungin kung ano ang kanilang kalagayan sa mga pansamantalang pinanunuluyan, isiniwalat ni manong Jalil na kahit namamalagi ka roon ay wala pa rin sa inyo ang ligtas sa kahit na anong panganib lalo na sa panahon ng batas militar. Tunay ngang mayroong mga dumadaplis na bala sa mga bubong at pader ng evacuation center ngunit higit pa sa mga daplis ang maaaring matamo ng kanilang pansamantlang sinisilungan sapagkat minsan na rin silang

nalooban ng mga rebeldeng mula sa grupo ng Maute.

“Takot na takot kami…dahil kahit sino ay pwedeng pagkamalang rebelde..”

Nakakulubot ang mukha ni manong Jalil nang sinabi niya ang mga ito.

sa inyo” Ang mga katwiran sa pakikilahok sa LAKBAYAN 2017: •

Nais niyang iparating sa gobyerno na itigil na ang Martial law.

•

Kung magkaroroon ng mga programa para sa relocation, hinihiling niya na sana sa Marawi pa rin ito ipatupad sapagkat nakalibing ang kanyang lolo`t lola sa tabi ng kanilang tahanan— isang patunay na makasaysayan at napaka mahalaga ng kanilang lupain.

Sa katunayan ay mayroon nang kinuha sa kanila ang mga militar dahil pinaghinalaang terorista, at hanggang ngayon ay hindi pa rin ibinibalik.

Bukod sa presensya ng takot ay mayroon ring presensya ng karamdaman. Ibinahagi rin ni manong Jalil ang kanilang realidad sa kakulangan ng masustansyang pagkain.

Minsan ay mayroon nang nakapagbigay sa kanila ng mga panis o expired donations mula sa gobyerno.

•

Nais niyang makapag-aral nang libre ang kanyang mga anak dahil nasunog na ang mga eskuwelahan sa Marawi, at walang-wala na rin sila.

•

Sa kadahilanang salat ang bawat isa sa salapi, nais niyang mabigyan ang bawat isa sa kanila ng hanap-buhay upang makabangong muli.

Bakas ang panghihinayang sa kanyang mukha kaya`t siya`y napabuntong hininga.

“Hindi ka nga namatay sa giyera, namatay ka naman sa gutom.”

Pagtuntong sa LAKBAYAN 2017 Dulot ng kakulangan ng pamamahagi sa masustansyang pagkain, mayroong nabuong mga organisasyon sa loob ng mga evacuation centers upang pangunahan ang pag-aabot ng kamay sa mga nangangailangan at pagprotekta ng kanilang mga karapatan. Isa na rito ang grupo ng Tindeg Ranao (Rise up Ranao) na nabuo sa loob mismo ng mga evacuation centers upang maiparating sa buong Pilipinas kung ano nga ba ang tunay na nagaganap sa kanilang lugar.

Sumali si manong Jalil sa organisasyong ito dahil nais niyang ipahayag ang kanilang kalagayan at ipaglaban ang mga karapatang tila kinaligtaan na. Kabilang din siya sa Sandugo-Kilusan ng mga Moro at Katutubo para sa Pagpapasya sa Sarili na naitatag noong Lakbayan 2016.

Ang ating mga pambansang minorya ay nagtipon-tipon hanggang sa makatuntong sa Maynila. Lahat ng kabilang dito ay mga biktima ng paglabag sa mga sariling karapatan. Ayon kay manong Jalil, dinaraanan na lang nila ang mga kapwa lumad hanggang sa makarating sa UP Diliman para magsama-sama sa Lakbayan 2017. Ang ilan sa kanila ay sumakay ng bus at ang iba naman ay naglayag pa sa dagat sakay ng barko.

Ngunit sa bawat pagtuntong, ay mayroon ring pagsisikap na makatindig.

Ibinahagi niya kung paano nila masugid na binibisita ang mga opisina ng gobyerno upang sila ay pakinggan bilang isang pambansang minorya habang sila`y na sa Maynila pa.

Kaya naman tinanong ko siya kung sila ba`y nabisita naman sa kanilang kampuhan ng mga opisyal mula sa gobyerno, at kita sa kanyang mukha ang paghahalo ng pagkayamot at pagkabigo.

“Nagpapasalamat na lang kami sa mga estudyanteng pumunta dito dahil kung hindi sa amin maniwala ay maniniwala sila

•

Hangad din niya ang pagkakaroon muli ng mga peace talks sa pamamagitan ng mga magkakatunggali.

Si manong Jalil noon Mayroong maayos at mapayapang buhay si manong Jalil bago sila tuluyang lamunin ng dilim. Ang kanyang tahanan ay katabi ng isang college school at pumapagitna ito sa dalawang boarding house na kanya namang pag-aari. Sa puwestong ito ay makakikita rin ng apat na malalaking side car kabilang na ang puntod ng kanyang lolo at lola.

Nagkawatak-watak na nga ang kanyang pamilya mula nang sumapit ang hindi inaasahang pangyayari sa Marawi. Hindi niya alam noon kung nasaan na nga ang kanyang kapatid, ngunit mayroong mga mabubuting loob na nakapagsasabing nakita nila ang kanyang kapatid sa Iligan city; “it`s 29 kilometers away from Marawi.”

Kaya naman gumaan ang kanyang loob nang malaman niyang malayo-layo sa kapahamakan ang isa sa kanyang mga mahal sa buhay.

Upang makilahok naman sa Lakbayan 2017 at magkaroon ng pagkakataong madinig ng pangulo, iniwan niya muna ang kanyang mga anak sa isang evacuation center “1.5 kilometers away naman from Marawi.”

Sa kabila ng mga distansyang namamagitan, hindi pa rin maiwasang hindi marinig ang mga pagsasabog mula sa Marawi.

Si manong Jalil ngayon Dahil na nga sa hindi

inaasahang pangyayaring bumulabog sa kanilang katahimikan, hindi niya lubos maisip kung bakit nangyayari sa kanila ang lahat ng mga ito. Patuloy pa rin siyang nagiisip.

“Bakit, Marawi? Anong intensyon nila…. kung alam lang namin ang mangyayari ay kami mismo ang makikipaglaban para ipagtanggol ang Marawi..”

At kung siya nga`y tatanungin sa kanyang kalagayan, siya ay madalas natutulala at emosyonal sapagkat traumatizing ang bawat pangyayari sa kanilang nadaramang kasindak-sindak na bangungot.

Hindi rin niya maiwasang makaramdam ng galit sa gobyerno dahil, “Ano nga ba ang plano ng gobyerno sa mga sibilyan pagkatapos ng Martial law?” Ngayon na walang-wala na sila, paano na nga ba sila makababangon pa? Makatatanggap nga ba sila ng tulong mula sa ating gobyerno? Sa mga pag-aalinlangan at palaisipang ito, malungkot ang mga mata ni manong Jalil nang sabihing “Bakit galit ang presidente sa amin? Bakit kailangan namin maranasan ang lahat ng ito?”

“Sana itigil na talaga ang giyera…”

Pagtatanto— Mula noong Mayo 23, 2017 hanggang sa kasalukuyan, namamayani pa rin ang batas militar sa lupain ng Marawi. Nagpapatuloy ang mga putukan at pagbobomba sa mga lansangan kabilang na rito ang walang humpay sa paghingi nila ng kakapitang saklolo.

Saklolo upang makabangong muli Saklolo upang matigil na ang hidwaan Saklolo upang magising at makatakas mula sa bangungot na hindi na mapapawi pa ng kahit anong paglimot. s

8

OPINION

ISSUE NO. 1 SEPT OCT 2017

EDITORIAL

EXERCISING EMPHATHY O

n May 9, 2016, Rodrigo Duterte was elected the President of the Philippines. In the months leading to that, he launched an assault on truth by creating overblown and false narratives to further his own agendas, distorting reality as it can be empirically observed and critically analyzed. Now, more than a year after change was promised, the social sciences faces attacks from all sides and disciplines. Whatever the social sciences stood up for, Duterte spat at and shot dead. How can the academia and the budding studentry cope – and fight back?

The social sciences, from the two terms social and sciences, can be most generally defined as the scientific studies of human society and social relationships. These sciences employ rigorous methods of observation and analyses to derive patterns and, hopefully, meaning. Likewise, its social aspect is not only seen in the subject of the study, but in how the field hopes to create consequences. They deal with ‘what is’ and ‘what ought to be’; they objectively study societies and mould the functionality of humankind.

From its definition, the fundamentals of the social sciences are research and empathy. A social science scholar is required to conduct thorough social investigation before making any claims or decisions. It must see all sides, deeply consider each of them, and then adopting or creating a model most suitable to the circumstances.

A social science scholar must also exhibit profound understanding of the human condition. They must understand what drives people, how they operate, and why. They must show not only internalization of these but successful translation of the learned to the discourse. The proper employment of these skills are what sets the social sciences apart: it is the exercise of studying humans – the most unpredictable variable – and attempting to draw the greatest good out of it.

The social sciences holds its chin up in prestige, separating it from the haka-haka with established and consensus-based facts backed by logical interpretations. All these are discarded, much like Duterte’s manner of dealing with truths and the people. For him, truths are a suggestion taken only when convenient and the people are a mirage only relevant when questioned.

Duterte’s drug war is the greatest affront to Philippine social sciences.

Firstly, the numbers that he passes for statistics are lies. He frequently asserts in his presidential speeches a figure of

3,000,000 drug users. However, the Dangerous Drugs Board (DDB) puts the number lower at 1.8 million, but even that agency defends Duterte’s proclamations because of a “5% margin of error” (somehow resulting in the number doubling). He inflates the violence and crimes done by drug abusers by singling out specific cases, and he also exaggerates the number of killed policemen in action (from 2 everyday to just 7 in total), possibly to give more legitimacy for his actions and to incite vindictive sympathy. His claims are not created with rigor, not gathered with appropriate methods, and not factual.

2017 - 2018

RENEE LOUISE CO EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

DANIEL BRAZA ASSOCIATE EDITOR

ENRIQUE NAVERA

MANAGING EDITOR

Secondly, and worse, he does not understand the roots of the drug problem. Drug abuse is not only exaggerated, it is also misrepresented.

The drug economy is not continued by a circus of freaks with a penchant for the evil, but by hidden wealthy drug personalities selfishly hoarding profit

SEAN APOSTOL

and poverty-stricken drug pushers looking for food and shelter. Sociologist James Scott calls this state simplification.

The drug war is forcibly fit into the clothes of a crime, but it is beyond that; it is the manifestation of growing urban poverty and neglect, the deterioration of public health, and a need to overhaul rehabilitative measures. But his allies ignore all these, ignore the perils of the people.

HERBY ESMERALDA

Lastly, and worst of all, he pays no mind to the devastating consequences it has to the people. This is the greatest failure of empathy. Even as the number of extrajudicial killings rise to 8,000, even as thousands mobilized to oppose, and even as approval ratings for the drug war decline, the administration proceeds on the massacre of the urban poor. He is disconnected with the people on

purpose.

The drug war is not the only example of his attacks. As we uncovered the truths and collated the forgotten events of oppression, Duterte bulldozes our collective experience with alternative perspectives of “Marcos is the best.”

Suddenly, the claim that Martial Law is required for discipline now stands on equal ground with the thousands of lives killed and tortured. CSSP’s Department of History has been pointing at “historical revisionism” with fora, books and discussions for a long time, but their fight becomes harder and harder to battle. His administration heavily endorses Marcos’ “successes” (piggybacked on the suffering of the many, still) and downplays his horrors, endangering the very essence of history as a discipline.

Many more problems endemic to

LITERARY EDITOR

GIANA LARRAURI FEEATURES EDITOR

SOFIA VALERA GRAPHICS HEAD

PHOTOGRAPHY HEAD

NIKKA DE TORRES LAYOUT HEAD

RYAN MARTINEZ BUSINESS MANAGER

JETHRO CAMARA WEB ADMINISTRATOR

“ANG PAGKAWALA NG KONSENSIYA” BY BERNICE HENSON

certain fields can be attached to Duterte and his administration. Anthropology can claim Duterte’s incredulence of evidences as cited by reported cases of drug transplantation on unsuspected victims, philosophy can make a case for the degradation of ethics, linguistics can problematize his use of repetitive and negative language for manipulation, and psychology and sociology could look into damages of Duterte’s administration to the unsuspected individuals and the state institutions (particularly the family) . The common denominator found in every observation and analysis is this: his distortion of the truth and his disregard for human life pose a danger to the integrity of social sciences and the ones we value the most – people.

At this time when we are most threatened, we must be most connected.

Social science scholars were always accused of speaking from their ivory towers. In truth, the Philippine academia was always going to be at a disadvantage: the reality of our society won’t care much for highfalutin explanations for

the circumstances of the people. Many would be too busy trying to live and the powerful would be too busy playing a long game. In a state with systematized oppression on all fronts, the academe would find it difficult to insert itself.

That is why our role must be concrete, more than ever. Our fundamentals lie in research and empathy, thus social science students must maximize their skills to their utmost utility. One must employ their methods to ensure the people are given the right information and politically educated. One must use what they have learnt and apply it in practice; praxis must be achieved as the means of improving the human condition. And finally, our discourse must be elevated and always grounded to the masses. Our faculties for empathy can be used to their fullest potentials by understanding the plights of the people and responding to them accordingly.

Listen, konsensiya ng bayan, for the people are screaming, and it is up to you to discern them and act on it. S

SINAG was established in 1968 in a time when Philippine democracy was facing its biggest challenge since independence. The students of the College of Arts and Sciences deemed the need for an avenue to speak their critical minds and take a stand through an official student publication. Its name is portmanteau os SINing and AGham. Also meaning ‘a ray of light’ in Filipino, its name represents the paper as a source of light, especially in the dark times during which it was founded. While the dictatorship has fallen, the Philippines never left the darkness of social injustice and oppression. Thus, SINAG continues to strive to provide light that we may one day live in the light of true freedom.

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ISSUE NO. 1 SEPT OCT 2017

9

OPINION

KONSYENSYA NG KOLEHIYO

RIGHTS OF THE STUDENTS, BY THE STUDENTS DANIEL BRAZA

In the recently concluded elections, ALYANSA won the central positions in the USC, grabbing the position of Chairperson and grabbing most of the Councilor seats, and is now set to push forward with the passage of the Magna Carta. The Magna Carta for Student’s Rights, as it is formally known, is a document stating in effect a proposed list of rights that the students were supposed to have.

ALYANSA has been actively campaigning for the Magna Carta as part of its initial proponents, stating that this document would help safeguard the students against violations of their rights by codifying them to a legally binding document.

STAND UP, however, has vehemently opposed the Magna Carta and has termed it as a document that surrenders the rights of the students to the administration.

The recurring sentiment was that since the public voted largely for ALYANSA that supported the passage of the Magna Carta, the public was by association calling for the act of passage to proceed.The Council has indeed been aggressive in promoting the document, having lobbied to two departments as of now.

However, this association is hasty and ungrounded. There are certain assumptions that are made when we take this train of thought: firstly, we assume that a student voter only votes for ALYANSA because they support the Magna Carta campaign; secondly, we are saying that the electorate has completely rejected STAND UP as representatives; and thirdly, that no other legitimizing institution for the MC is needed except the votes that the supporting party receives.

We cannot assume that the percentage of the 11,951 total voters in UPD who voted for ALYANSA voted them for such a singular purpose, unless otherwise proven by study, given the diverse nature of your electorate. There were a plethora of issues that the party touched on that could have otherwise attracted voters in significant amounts: gender equality, mental health, or a general distaste with the candidates of the other parties or a satisfaction with the portfolio of their candidates. .Another is that there were some candidates, especially in

the college levels who were supporters of the Magna Carta but were not successful in their campaign, as was the case with CSSP Chairperson bet Allyson Maraon. However, it is undeniable that the Magna Carta was the primary platform of ALYANSA and therefore could still account for the majority of their voters. All this, however, is yet to be proven.

Another assumption that we cannot fully accept is the assertion that the opposing party has been rejected by the student body to represent them in the student government.

This denotes that the election results should reflect a large disadvantage on the part of STAND UP, hence the use of the word “reject.” However, the statistics at a glance may show that this may not be true. At the university level, 9 of the 19 representatives to the USC came from STAND UP, which is technically half of all the seats. This speaks to the general situation of the image of STAND UP in the UP community. In the college levels, STAND UP still garnered a fair amount of representation, and even dominated in some colleges, like the College of Arts and Letters and the College of Mass Communication. This implies that, in some colleges, STAND UP has still retained a mass base wherein they are still the choice representatives.

Furthermore, we can look in to the nature of elections: to determine a choice through democratic means. Did ALYANSA make it clear enough that if they were to be voted, they would pass the Magna Carta? Yes, and this is indisputable. However, if you were to consider the fact that there are a total of 22,765 total students in UP Diliman, and that the voter turnout was around 48%, it would show that there definitely is a significant amount of students supporting the Magna Carta, but the mechanism employed was definitely not inclusive enough..If we were to base it on the referendum conducted last 2016, when the issue was less well known and was conducted side by side with the registration process, causing a decrease in the focus on the MC votation, garnering 94% approval, it would still be inadequate given that the said referendum only included 7,140 students, only 31% of the total students in UP Diliman. In other words, we cannot definitely say through these

elections that the Magna Carta has been approved by the student body.

The Magna Carta isn’t just some policy- it deals with the most basic rights of the student body, the largest proportion of stakeholders in the university.

Therefore, democratic measures that will insure inclusivity in the decision making process have to take place, and this is why another referendum must be conducted. Since the referendum already happened before, and since then exposure on the issue has expanded, the populace is now much more informed and will be more willing to participate in this exercise of democracy. An all-inclusive referendum is not impossible when you decentralize

the process. A centralized referendum means the votation is centered around one physical location, and a one-time big time vote constrains it to only one or two days of votation. What it needs is to be spread out through both physical spaces and time for efficiency, and be policed by impartial entities (perhaps the faculty?).

A mentor of mine once said, “Democracy does not rest on [the individual], it rests upon the conscience of the people.” This is what is asked when a second referendum for the Magna Carta is called for, a chance to let the conscience of the people, the true essence of democracy, be heard, amidst the din of politics. S

SOCIAL FACT

COMMEMORATING CRISPINS RYAN MARTINEZ

The last Monday of August has been marked by the government as National Heroes Day, a day to which the nation pays tribute to its heroes and to celebrate their life in the continuing collective narrative of the country, as such it is usually given a status as non-working holiday to be in solidarity with the nation in commemorating the heroes that were. However, recent events made me realize how our concept of heroes transformed from a profound meaning of exemplary examples to just mere symbolic categories and attributed honors or placeholders. And do such conceptions still have a place in the paradigm of globalization and modernization?

Almost 11 months ago, the nation was robbed of its history when Ferdinand Marcos, a renowned dictator with several counts of human rights violation was buried in the Libingan ng mga Bayani with full military honors and behind the back of those who survived his regime of terror. This abruptly ended the debate and processes in our social memory – forgetting and remembering for the sake of “national unity”. More recent news transformed this day of commemoration into a day of mourning and action. The death of Kian De Los Santos,17, Carl Arnaiz, 19, Reynaldo de Guzman, 14, and Obillio Bay-ao ,19 of whose lives were among many, especially those of young age, in the growing list of “collateral damage” in the ongoing “war on drugs”. Immediately after the news of such killings especially with the aid of a video capturing the execution of Kian spread, the nation quickly gathered to condemn the atrocities as they took it into the streets while forwarding their

calls of “Justice for Kian, Justice for all” and “Stop the Killings! End Impunity!” too name a few. I personally witnessed this demonstration and how these relative unknowns and young innocent lives suddenly were reborn to foster a unified call and to awaken the people from their slumber.

In our society, we often imagine our heroes as one who took an active role in forging the concept of the nation and often gave his or her life towards the emancipation of the people.

“

However, in our case, heroism plays an essential role in guiding the path towards a desired destination. The likes of Bonifacio and Rizal, whose lucid illusions were realized as the foundations of our nation, lived and died young yet their death inspired movements among the youth. This process of imagining constructs heroes as part of the continuing narrative internalized in the form of social action.

If you recall, a similar fate was also portrayed in one of the classical text written 130 years ago. In Rizal’s Noli Me Tangere, Crispin suffered the same fate of abuse under an authoritative figure. Crispin was portrayed as an innocent sacristan who was accused of stealing and thus suffered punishment that lead to his presumed death.

His disappearance, led to a series of misfortune for his family, especially his brother which continued to haunt him 13 years after. His brother, Basilio, as we’ve seen in El Filibusterismo, has continued to be haunted by the ghost of his past, at a certain point the misfortune caught up to him which led him to join Simoune in his revolution.

The lives of Kian, Carl, Reynaldo, Obillio and the children whose lives were taken at an early age represents the incarnations of Crispin of our time, victims of the injustices of the state which was supposed to have given them a brighter future for them to live.

Heroes that every so generation once get at times that desperately calls for one. Yet, their lives continue to live on more so as new heroes of the fostering

AS HEROES THAT CONTINUE TO LIVE ON AS PART OF THE PEOPLE’S EXPRESSION INTERNALIZED BY THE PEOPLE’S STRUGGLE FOR JUSTICE, FREEDOM, EQUALITY AND LIBERTY.

”

This definition has been continually reinforced by our appreciation of history ensured by our school systems and textbooks that portrayed and preserved such valiant acts for students to look upon as well as some irregular discussions amongst our peer which often ends in pitting our national heroes against each other.

call to end extra judicial killings. Heroes that continue to live on as part of the people’s expression internalized by the people’s struggle for justice, freedom, equality and liberty. They continue to live as part of the social memory alongside the heroes 45 years ago against the same pre-condition of a repressive regimes.

With the context of globalization and modernization, heroism becomes a thing of the past, almost passé. As the nation transitions towards modernity, acts of heroism and martyrdom, becomes mechanized with qualification and eventually loses its essence, as the past few months with Marcos have proven. It is reduced to a set of categories that exist a life of its own beyond the individual.

As we transition towards modernity and begin to foster global values, the need for more constructive reimagined definition of heroism that exemplifies the peoples call for robust institutions and cultivated values and norms allows us to reinvent ourselves as nation that is more ready to face the challenges together. S

LITERARY

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ISSUE NO. 1 SEPT OCT 2017

KCOHS SHOCK LO T S O P A N A E S

‘Tao po!’

There he was, the electric man—or so I called him—come to check the meter, which the leafy branches of the rambutan tree obscured.

His little telescope had trouble seeing, so he knocked and peered his head over the gate—mere inches from the bounds of propriety.

He needed to come inside.

I opened the screen door and started towards the gate. The clouds hid the sun from sight and cast all around a glow of morning moonlight. I bathed in it too, arms and legs exposed, a bracing white undershirt and plaid tattered shorts alone concealing unabashed youth. Smooth fair skin glistened under the diffused light, still pale from recent sleep.

Scattered branches littered the garden floor and brown withered leaves piled in heaps. A flat-footed 1970s Mercedes squatted deep in the compost—long unused and abandoned.

The neighbor’s fallen guavas colored the garage floor, where the tree crossed the border. The fruits sat there: bodies bruised, open, guilty—seemingly used and gratified—, flies pecking at their insides, yellow seeds dotting their blush-colored shame.

Tell-tale signs of desertion. Or a single tenant.

I opened the gate and he stepped in.

Immediately, Sophie—our Labrador— sniffed at him and circled him. He didn’t flinch. Not at all. He raised both arms calmly—a half-hearted imitation of a scarecrow.

His face was gaunt, skin tanned, body frail. A loose blue sweater clothed his torso, blue pajamalike pants draped his legs, and a blue bandana wrapped around his forehead. He was covered in blue—like the ocean around a stranded boat.

His face bore that strange contradiction of age and sun-drenched years with unblemished and

SEAN APOSTOL

untouched skin. And in his tired eyes was a glint of subtle fire.

He made small talk, not that I remember much of it. So I thought: he wasn’t all business, not too dull, and could spare the usual pleasantries. He did ask me if she bit. She did not. He eyed me strangely and for too long.

He halted beneath his object: the meter—no more behind boughs thick-set with barbed red fruit. Glued to the wall some distance from the ground, it bade him balance on his toes to read it.

Black sugarcoated ants grasped at the flaccid tendrils of a rambutan fruit, itching for the soft translucent sweetness beneath its red leathery rind.

He said something. Light began to breach its amorphous cell.

Had I heard it right? Did he ask me if I were alone?

Mother, hidden slumped on the couch before but standing now, appeared at the screen door to greet the visitor with her amiable smile.

Silence.

A gust of wind rustled the tree and wrenched the insects from their grip. He gave mother no response and carried on reading the meter.

Before long, he had finished. His former goodnatured demeanor had disappeared completely, extinguishing any hope for a word goodbye, which his seeming kindness had impressed upon me to expect. He composed himself and soon hurried to leave.

The sun dissolved its cloudy cage to mist and I cowered beneath the shade.

Mother mouthed her ignorant thanks.

He left for the gate, beat his boots on the stone, and with his back to me, flung an arm in the air, as if to mutter an annoyed, and frustrated, ‘Nevermind!’.

ISSUE NO. 1 SEPT OCT 2017

LITERARY

HANGGANG ILAN?

| SEARCH

HOMESICK AT HOME JUSTINNE TAPERLA TO:

CAROLE ANNE R. ALILIO

Isa, isang bala ang nanaig.

Dalawa, dalawang biglang patak, Tatlo, dumagundong ‘kala’y bagyo.

Apat, nagdahan-dahang pagsilip, Lima, bumulagta—walang laban.

Anim, dumilim sasabay sa takbo.

Pito, naiwa’t nahiwalay, Walo, makapal na usok, sira.

Siyam, paano hihinto sa bilang; Sampu, lumayo sa gulo’t poot?

csspsinag@gmail.com

CC: SUBJECT:

Homesick at Home

SEND

Tt

B

I

U

.. .

Dear Home, I’m sorry, it’s been a while.

You’re probably upset with me.

Truthfully though, despite what you may believe, I’ve been trying to find the words to tell you this. I’ve thought of all the letters and all the notes. I’ve balled up all the papers and crossed out all the words, but I still can’t rightly quantify what I felt when I returned to you after all these years and found you changed.

Frankly, I’m not even quite sure you exist anymore—well, not to me at least.

You’re probably surprised too.

I’ve grown taller since we last met. The way I carry myself is different now, I’ve grown older, I’ve developed both unhealthy and healthy work habits, and I’ve cut my ties. My heart has already been broken several times. Maybe you didn’t even recognize me anymore.

And even as I try to bridge this gap, there’s a disconnect now. After all these years, I thought I could come back to find everything exactly as I remembered it. Just wishful thinking on my part, honestly.

I was told, “Home is where your people are.” But where are you if not scattered in all parts of the world?

Living in distant continents, divided by miles of sea water? If home is where my loved ones are, why do I come back to you only to find you a fragment of what you used to be?

A-10-TION! Re: Bird Flu EJ BOLATA

Mga kababayan, wag na muna tayong kumain ng manok.

Sa mga apektadong area, dala nitong bird flu ang sandamukal na aberya.

Nasa state of calamity na ang Pampanga at Nueva Ecija.

Libo-libong manok na ang nagkandamatay.

Kaawa-awang mga nilalang. Walang kalaban-laban.

Maiging ligtas kesa maghanap pa ng lunas.

Ganun din sa mga areang di-apektado ng bird flu.

Mga kababayan, wag na muna tayong kumain ng manok.

Libo-libong tao na ang pinatay.

Nanlaban. May baril at pakete sa paanan.

Kailangan natin sa ngayon ng sandamukal na sisiw sa ibabaw ng mga kabaong.

You’ve torn yourself apart and flown in every flight away from me. You’ve taken pieces of yourself, packed your bags, and driven away.

And in your absence, my travels have made me witness to many cultures, a bystander in lifestyles I had no business of partaking in, and yet I did. You’ve made me a foreigner in all lands, fluent in languages except yours.

There’s no place for someone who grew up everywhere and nowhere at the same time, traveling far too much to take root—to claim ownership. And what’s a plant without its roots anyway?

And listen, I know you—well maybe the you in the past—would laugh at that analogy, but that’s not the point. It’s not about my being a plant without roots that bothers me. I could just as easily be an ant without its hill, or a wolf without its pack.

But that’s what it’s like to be a third culture kid, I guess. You grow up a part of these amazing cultures and you witness the world. The cruelty lies in the way in which you can’t ever be a part of anything. You can partake in it, sure, but is it yours? Is it innately yours? You can’t claim ownership over something you never owned to begin with.

I’m no more Filipino than I am Indian. Am I American because of my accent? Am I Asian because of my face? Am I Indian because of where I lived for most of my life? Am I French because of the languages I speak? Where should “me” begin and where should it end?

I’m an invader in my own country.

I open my mouth and my accent follows. The first thing they ask is “Why do you have that accent? You’re not from here are you?” So many questions, so many stories to tell. I’m tired of pouring out my soul and history in every encounter just for that shred of “belonging.”

And if I’m somewhere else? I open my mouth and all they see is my face. “Where are you really from?”

There’s no place for me where I feel like there won’t be questions or spaces I can simply exist in.

To them, I’m my accent. I’m my past. I’m my experiences.

Where can I be a part of something and have it be part of my identity without being reminded that I’m different? I wish I could go back to the version of you ten years ago. Everything was simple then.

No accents, no questions, no broken hearts.

But that’s just wishful thinking again.

Yours truly, Me

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