‘Ferdinand Magellan Jr.’: The World Tour

PRESIDENT Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.’s frequent travels abroad have generated controversy and condemnation from activists and progressive organizations. Since taking office on June 30, 2022, Marcos Jr. has traveled to 11 foreign trips to 10 countries, including the United Kingdom, where he recently attended King Charles III’s coronation, becoming the first president of the Philippines to do so. More travels have been scheduled for Marcos, Jr. despite the fact that the nation is struggling with extremely high levels of unemployment and inflation, rising policy rates, and a declining peso against the dollar.

During his repeated trips overseas, the country’s president-vlogger gained the new moniker “Ferdinand Magellan Jr.”. He was mentioned in an episode of the popular American game show Jeopardy! as someone who has “taken so many foreign trips.” During the final round, the host revealed the name of the country whose president is “in office from 2022,” has traveled to numerous foreign countries, and “a play on his name is ‘Ferdinand Magellan Jr.’” The moniker was a nod to Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan, who led the first known expedition to circumnavigate the globe.

It was not the first time the President was reminded of his numerous overseas excursions. Marcos Jr. also revealed that her mother, former First Lady Imelda Marcos, who is known f for her extravagant lifestyle, believed they were extravagant as well. “Like my mom says, ‘Kailan ka nag-oopisina (when do you go to the office)?’” the President told the reporters.

The Philippines continued to suffer from the economic turmoil while Marcos Jr. racked up overseas visits and traveled from one continent to another while using taxpayers’ money. The Filipino people, to whom he promised Php 20 per kilogram of rice during his campaign, are struggling to make ends meet due to high costs for products and services. While the President travels out to enjoy himself while attempting to change how the world views his family, citizens are forced to endure long hours of traffic and huge queues at bus terminals due to the country’s insufficient public transportation system..

Furthermore, our beloved President’s foreign trips appeared to be family outings, since Marcos Jr. made certain that his family members accompanied him. His wife, First Lady Liza Araneta Marcos,and his first cousin, House Speaker Martin Romualdez, joined him on all of his journeys. Many of the travels were attended by his eldest son, Ilocos Norte’s first district representative Sandro Marcos, as well as his other two sons. Unity in traveling. Unity in wasting citizens’ money! Meanwhile, the Marcos administration defended the international trips, claiming that they were an opportunity to “foster and maintain” contacts with other world leaders and nations. The Presidential Communications Office (PCO) reportedly stated that the tours generated over Php 3.4 trillion in investment pledges. “We’re moving very quickly to, as I say, make sure that while the Philippines is still top of mind of these investors that we immediately explore those opportunities and take advantage of the contacts that we made during these trips,” Marcos Jr. said. However, activist youth group Anakbayan does not believe any of this and called those excessive travels abroad, particularly the recent trips in Washington, DC, and London, “selfserving and decadent.” The group believes that they were carried out not to advance the interests of the people, but rather to strengthen foreign interests’ grip on the country. “Let us not pretend that these ‘partnerships’ are out of good faith; it is nothing more than foreign governments and corporations taking advantage of our country’s strategic location, cheap labor, and abundance of natural resources,” Anakbayan stated. Although the present administration has pledged trillions of pesos, it is critical to recognize that these are merely commitments and not actual investments. The Filipino people have yet to see if any of those promises would be kept. Countries such as China and the United States can easily entice money-hungry individuals like our President, but as usual, those promises made are like the apology the Martial Law victims get from the Marcoses— nothing.

The Philippines has definetly not recovered from the effects of the pandemic, with many Filipinos still unemployed. But the universe saw their anguish and sent them a slacker and travel-obsessed President whose primary goal is to clear the name of his infamous family. Obviously, Marcos Jr. is unconcerned about the country’s economic crisis. And this is the result of electing an incompetent person to public office. No other plans, just travels. Like Ferdinand

Women in the Lenses of a Prejudiced Society

BEING a woman in a country with prevalent gender discria woman in a country with prevalent gender discrimination is a constant struggle in the 21st Century. Our words and acts are perceived as provocative, our attire as a method of asking ‘it,’ while our accomplishments are overlooked and the credit that goes with them is seized. Not only that, but the very moment we ask for something for our own wellbeing, we are ‘asking for too much.’ A recent example would be the contentious issue of menstruation leave, where men argued that it would impair women’s work momentum and could be detrimental in the long run in terms of employment. However, wouldn’t it be better to work comfortably and provide high-caliber outcomes rather than exhaust our bodies and end up producing a lesser quality of our responsibilities? And is it really right to hire based on one’s gender over their skills and qualifications?

Annual sick leave is a given, but having the opportunity to rest once or twice a month owing to terrible cramps and discomfort is a huge benefit to women. Although not everyone suffers from it, we cannot disregard those who find it difficult to proceed with their regular routines, especially those diagnosed with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS). What makes the said proposed leave distinct from regular sick leave is the fact that the latter is only limited to five (5) days a year, while the former reiterates that it must be one to two (1-2) days a month. For common knowledge, the first two days of a menstrual cycle are the worst, as they are when the heaviest bleeding occurs. This comes with low back pain, pain down the legs, diarrhea, fatigue, headaches, nausea, and even fainting, according to Johns Hopkins Medicine. It could be a combination of the mentioned conditions or none at all if you are lucky enough. Hence, this is why it is necessary for us, as women, to have menstrual leave, as it disrupts our routines and hinders our productivity.

Let us also bring to light the discussion about the possibility of employment difficulties or the termination of women over men if there is a need for the reduction of the workforce once the menstrual leave is approved, as reiterated by President Sergio Ortiz-Luis Jr. of the Employers Confederation of the Philippines (ECOP). It is both amusing and disheartening to discover that there are still many people today who have preferences based on gender rather than knowledge. It is definitely inappropriate to dismiss a woman’s competence just because she is requesting a basic reproductive health benefit. The truth is that no one deserves to be denied an opportunity or fired from a job because of their gender. After all, if they create high- quality results, then that is what should matter most to employers.

It is high time for us as a society to act compassionately and embrace gender equality, given that we did not seek to be treated differently, but rather equally. Menstruation is a natural cycle in our bodies that we cannot avoid and obviously did not ask for. If you think that granting women menstrual leave is some sort of privilege and not a right, you might as well reflect and be grateful that you are not experiencing such a painful process frequently. Employers should also avoid gender preferences in the hiring process or in the workforce, and they should not have prejudices against women in general. In doing so, our country would lay the groundwork for a genderinclusive society in the 21st Century.

A Shift to Success or Failure?

THE ACADEMIC calendar shift is a stumbling block for the Philippines’ educational system. To aid in the conduct of research with local and international universities, the country must synchronize the academic calendars of all Philippine schools by changing the start of classes from June to August. The government is eager to make the country more competitive and wants to assure the development of Filipinos’ knowledge and abilities. As a result, it emphasizes that the shift in the academic calendar will encourage more students to participate in exchange programs, thus benefiting the local education system. Not to mention the agricultural benefits, as the children can help their relatives in the rural area during the wet season.

Former Chairman of the Senate Committee on Education, Arts, and Culture, Senator Francis “Chiz” Escudero stated, “Our engagement with the world’s top universities will be greatly facilitated with the alignment of our academic calendar with the rest of the world.”

Therefore, altering the academic calendar appears to be the key to the country keeping up with global trends. Globalization can be defined as the interconnected and interdependent of people and institutions all across the world. Because of this, countries have had the opportunity to observe the best education systems in the world and thus replicate them. Indeed, globalization was one of the reasons for this shift. As the country’s top universities started to implement the new academic calendar, one could say that the academic shift was a success.

After nearly three years of implementation, is it still safe to say that the shift was a success? Or is this just another result of the government’s poor decisionmaking? Did the government become blind because of its desire to keep up with global trends?

On April 20, 2023, Metro Manila alone experienced a heat wave of 36.2 degrees Celsius, the highest recorded temperature in the capital region during the current hot dry season. Young students are cooped up inside a classroom for hours, as they endure the extreme heat exacerbated by global warming. Students are dehydrated as a result of continuous water caused by the hot weather, as well as the fatigue. In general, this distracts the students from learning.

As problems arise, the government is considering reverting to the old academic timetable. Changing the educational system just as learners were adjusting to weather circumstances. The present academic calendar required months to implement for both students and teachers. We cannot implement a new system overnight in view of the fact that we still need to consider the quality of education the students will get. However, reverting back to the old will take less time considering that it was implemented in more previous years.

Before making the decision, the government should realize that learners are not robots that can change their function every time the system changes. How will the country engage with the top educational institutions of the world and benefit from these experiences to raise the standards of the Philippines’ education if we keep on changing the system? Globalization, along with the weather that we cannot control, is inevitable. The more we run after it, the less we focus on our country’s quality education.

The government should focus on what Filipino students are capable of, at the very least in terms of obtaining a higher-quality education. We can focus on our own ways, like maintaining the old June to March academic calendar to keep up with the world trend, thus not affecting how the world is telling us to perceive “global education”. After all, the continuing desire to keep up with world trends should have a great impact when it comes to education. The government should consider how well the system affects the quality of education in our own country instead of pushing to become a replica of another country’s system.