A Retrospect on Respect BRANDON JON YULOLO

Respect My Opinion

hhh basta, respeto nalang. Wag niyo kami huhusgahan sa mga desisyon namin sa pagboto, dahil opinyon namin yun.”

You’ve probably encountered something along those lines during the campaign period of the 2022 Philippine

Musings of a Perfectionist

Elections, especially during online discourses in social media involving someone expressing support for one candidate over another - which can get quite heated at times. Such was the cycle back then, wherein these back-and-forth exchanges eventually led to the words: “Respect my opinion”, in order to try to remove the “aura of hostility” within the conversation and to avoid escalating the argument even further.

There were also people who expressed openly that during election season, if you do not respect their opinions on who they want to vote for – then you are being a negative and hateful person, cutting off ties and ending meaningful relationships just because of varying preferences when it comes to public servants and their party lists. Famous individuals such as artists and influencers have also expressed hurt that other people are not respecting their stances on political matters and are bashing them simply because they want to vote for a certain individual.

The main question at hand here is, should we respect these opinions when it comes to situations like this?

Picking a candidate as important as a president or a senator of a nation can actually be boiled down into picking an opinion since it involves a voter’s beliefs, but the reality isn’t really that simple. These decisions are not comparable to the scale of just choosing what flavor of ice cream you prefer or choosing what your favorite K-pop group is. To be a voter means actively participating in a role that allows a person to choose how they want their life as well as the lives of others to be affected or even shaped by these candidates in the form of public service. With this much power, one must also be responsible enough to respect the facts before forming opinions.

of the pandemic would be best described as a nightmare for many students. Blindsighted to adapt to these new modes of learning, the students grappled to keep up with their academic requirements, and their parents found themselves grappling financially to get by. With the gradual return to face-to-face classes, students now face yet another nightmarish roundabout that threatens them with “falling behind,” especially those who have been disproportionately affected by the pandemic.

Financial burden

The COVID-19 pandemic further pushed many Filipino families against the wall with their financial adversities, which endangered not only their livelihoods, but the youths’ education. While writing this article, memories of my own family’s financial turmoil during the time resurfaced. Coincidentally, it was the same year I started college, whereas I enrolled in a program that requires costly investment in resources such as a graphic drawing tablet, a high-end laptop, and a stable internet connection for online classes.

Escaping the Crevice

akakapagod na mag-aral. Sana matapos na ‘tong sem na ‘to. Hindi ko na alam kung paano ko ‘to makakaya.”

Have you ever found yourself muttering these phrases when the fatigue of studying sets in? These words may seem clichéd and repetitive, yet delving deeper reveals that it speaks volumes of students’ unspoken struggles— sleepless nights, pressure to succeed, and weight of everyone’s expectations—all whilst tumbling and getting stuck into the crevice of our anxieties.

Since the onset of the pandemic, students all over the world have had to contend with a multitude of daunting challenges to at least try to cope with the wild transition of our educational setup. The government unconscientiously imposed self-serving directives, thus displacing many students and their families.

The transition to distance learning since the beginning

The Anglo-Saxon Mind

My tuition and other fees per semester were notoriously high, typically exceeding P30,000. It took my parents quite a while to figure out ways to get by with my education and acquire such equipment that I need. If it were not for my sister’s assistance, I might have neither been able to attend the university nor pursue my dream program.

Due to this, the weight of financial responsibility has been an unsettling matter that every Filipino family bears. The constant juggling of bills and expenses has been a struggle that left us feeling stretched thin. Despite our best efforts to stay afloat, the economic hardships have taken a toll on our mental stability and financial security.

Especially for low-income families like mine, attempting to manage transportation and accommodation finances barely keeps us sane while minding how to budget the allowance for daily expenses. All that stressful preoccupation while trying to maintain a somewhat acceptable academic performance which is the only thing I am supposed to be focusing on.

And with the current prevalence of social issues, including but not limited to poverty, inadequate employment opportunities, insufficient government government amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. While gathering information to write this article, I remembered the impact of this statement on all of us, knowing that many others also experienced the same. Hearing this kind of story and continuing to study at Ateneo, I realized how lucky and privileged we are. But more than just watching and listening to these harrowing realities, we too have a role to play in alleviating their struggles.

Mass layoffs

According to the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), millions of workers in the country had no pay or received a decreased salary in late 2020 as a result of the temporary closure of establishments and the shortening of working hours, which recorded the highest job losses. Although DOLE was given a P16.4 billion budget under the Bayanihan to Recover as One Act, the cash assistance that was given to pandemic-displaced workers was not enough to cover their families’ expenses. Consider a common Filipino struggling to survive in the middle of the pandemic, experiencing sudden job loss and skyrocketing prices of goods and services, only to receive a one-time 5,000-peso government assistance. That’s exactly the situation of the laborers during the onslaught of the pandemic, which fueled the wave of uncertainty about workers going back to their normal jobs. Given this, the billion budget was not disseminated according to the people’s needs.

Horses and Blinders

In the context of last year’s elections, I was admittedly quite unnerved by these “respect my opinion” statements to a degree that I found it invalidating to those people who were affected by the facts. Let’s just say that for example, there is a candidate who is linked to incompetence, corruption, and oppression, whose legacy has ruined more lives than one could count. This candidate is running for the presidential seat despite all these, and this person still has a vast amount of supporters who either look away or completely disregard and even partake in revisionism to rewrite these facts.

If anything, this aspect of “blind” obedience and intentional disregard for the facts is the thing that is the most disrespectful. To claim that none of those ever happened is to claim that the experiences of the victims, and the ones that still continue to fight for them are nonexistent. That their suffering is seemingly just an illusion that is in vain.

In addition, enabling blindness towards these established facts just shows that you are fine with all that has happened in the past. That it is okay for them to be incompetent, lie to us, steal from us, and take away our rights along with our lives. To respect and adhere to such an opinion feels like placing ourselves in a position wherein we can only give respect that will never be given back to us.

Noises and Silence

And what about the activists? They were the ones who were always keen to voice out their opinions, criticizing the government and simply shedding light on the issues that need to be addressed. Yet they are met with the misconception that they are only there to make noise support, and alarmingly high inflation rates, money matters seem to be a never ending grind that will eventually cripple people at some point.

Psychological toll

The pandemic has wreaked havoc on many aspects of our lives—and education is no exception—to which we have barely recovered from. As institutions scrambled to adapt to the new normal, students found themselves thrusted into a remote learning environment that was unfamiliar, uncomfortable, and often downright challenging.

For many, this sudden shift to a distance learning setup was like being tossed into a raging sea without a life vest. Students like myself struggled to keep up with our studies, feeling adrift and ironically disconnected from our peers and instructors. As a result, students suffered and found themselves sinking deeper and deeper into a quagmire of stress and anxiety.

As time passed, the toll on students’ mental health became increasingly evident and harmful. Frankly speaking, I myself haven’t fully adjusted nor moved on from the online setup, and yet students are now expected to return to campus with the implementation of the hybrid setup with face-to-face classes.

Students, contrary to how we have been treated, are not a bunch of rats that can easily adapt to any type of environment given. Understandably, it was the only way for us to get the education that we non-negotiably need. Aside from our specialization, we cannot remain oblivious to the state of affairs whether in universities or society that we must be aware and well-informed of. Adapting, however, comes with a lot of challenges, from navigating complex social dynamics to mastering difficult academic concepts. We may be resilient and resourceful at times — but the thing is, we are not invincible.

It is aggravating to know that we lack control over our own education. One way or another, it feels like we are being pushed and pulled in different directions; forced to conform to a system that does not prioritize our interests.

At the end of the day, despite being a basic right, getting education seems to have become a privilege that we have to race for. A race where, many students have been and are still being left behind. Leading to a lack of as they have connections with the local government unit.

A question of competence

As various communities were flooded by voices of dissent and criticism, it is fair to say that Filipinos witnessed how the Duterte administration unsatisfactorily handled the crisis. Poor pandemic planning and response, the passage of extraneous policies, and rampant and downright acts of red-tagging, all point to the criminal negligence committed by the former administration. Although it is not a surprise to see these things, the same question lingers in my mind: who will be greatly affected by the incompetence of the government to handle this multifaceted crisis? None other than those in the marginalized—students, small-scale business owners, farmers—and the rest of the Filipino workers who are deprived of humane labor policies.

There’s more than what meets the eye and cause chaos – even going as far as being red-tagged and labeled as terrorists. The opinions of activists are not respected by those very same people who tell us to respect their beliefs, as well as the candidates that they support. It is a double standard, applied unfairly and selfishly by those who want things to go their way without giving much thought as to how it would really impact lives. motivation to pursue their studies, this is detrimental to students’ academic and personal development.

On the other side of the spectrum, those who choose to be silent about political matters are voicing out that since they are not deciding in the realm of politics, then they are not being offensive or hurtful towards anyone, and that stance of theirs should be respected. Unfortunately, that is not really the case. Staying silent in a time wherein you could contribute to a change that can combat discord is actually helping out the oppressors. Those who stay neutral and those who willingly side with the oppressors may have entirely differing opinions from one another, but they play a role that benefits how corrupt officials plant seeds of conflict that will continue to grow unless we amplify the call for accountability and justice until the day that we attain it.

At the end of the day, I still firmly agree that everyone has a right to have an opinion about anything. I’m not telling you that having an opinion that is not always similar to mine makes you instantly wrong. What I want to say is when it comes to having opinions that could especially affect others’ lives, the wrong thing to do is morph baseless opinions into a notion of the truth. There are instances wherein your opinions cannot be simply respected and acknowledged. There are opinions that we always have to criticize with facts.

So, if you have a problem with this article or all my statements – just read the headline once more.

The struggle to keep up with our studies is real and valid. The crippling anxiety of falling behind in class or the possibility of failing in the face of all the sacrifices done by our family eats us up; and eventually gets us stuck up the cycle of setbacks — flunking in classes, a sense of disconnection from everything, and even not having enough energy to get off the bed every day.

In my second year in college, still in the remote learning setup, I honestly struggled with a course that discussed complex software during online classes. Understanding lessons and complying with the coursework was an endless sequence of back-breaking and fatiguing cycles as well. The lack of in-person instruction, the inability to utilize the university facilities, and the distractions in the online environment all contributed to my failure in the course. I do not know what else it could be other than an ineffective education system. Online or not, this experience stresses the importance of having effective learning strategies and support structures in our educational system.

The issue of students being left behind is complex and multifaceted; however, the government bears a huge chunk of responsibility for the ongoing and yet unresolved nature of these drawbacks. It is imperative that the Deparment of Education look into the longstanding problems within its own system, such as inadequate funding, outdated curricula, and the shortage of qualified teachers.

Essentially, to give justice to students who are catching up, and those who are still seeking the motivation to, their needs may be addressed by providing targeted support, resources, and interventions. This includes addressing systemic barriers that prevent equal access to educational opportunities, providing individualized support for students with learning challenges, and creating inclusive and supportive learning environments where all students can thrive.

It is not surprising that, as a student, you may find yourself venting about the difficulties of studying. After all, we are faultless. It’s completely understandable to feel frustrated by it. So, be kinder towards others, too. Don’t be too hard on yourself!

Crossing the Unchartered Waters

Three years ago, we heard this line from a taxi driver on national television. It was when public transportation operations were halted because of the enhanced community quarantine imposed by the

The corruption further deepens as the Tulong Panghanapbuhay sa Ating Disadvantaged/Displaced Workers (TUPAD) program, which was supposedly for informal laborers, is given to middle-class people so long

Due to the pandemic and the failure of the government to manage the crisis, pandemic-displaced workers were left with no choice but to expose themselves and their families to the virus. For these laborers, it’s only either work and risk contracting the virus or starve themselves because of a lack of financial capacity and support. Again, it all boils down to the failure of the government to plan and manage the situation. Yes, there is a budget for it—but where has the 16.4 billion gone? We have been seeing TUPAD payouts and reports that 85% of that billion budget was disbursed, but not all workers received a penny from it. It would not be a surprise if I woke up to an exposé in the future containing all of the kickbacks received during the pandemic.

People have been worrying about how they would handle the uncertainty of going back to their job. During the onset of the 2022 National Elections, several politicians vowed to battle rising unemployment and promote pagbabago. According to his Pagpaparami ng Trabaho vlog released in March 2022, the dictator’s son, Bongbong Marcos, promised to prioritize generating employment in infrastructure, agriculture, tourism, and business. Surprisingly, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported a decrease in the unemployment rate in September 2022. Yet, many Filipinos are still wound up in the gutter due to the financial crisis and neoliberal policies that keep burdening the people. Unemployment is one of the most pressing issues in the country and if the administration truly has the slightest bit of concern over the condition of its people, it would not prioritize phasing out traditional jeepneys that would jeopardize millions of drivers and their livelihood, for example, but would set out concrete and mass-oriented solutions

The government must see the real struggle of our workers, act upon their needs, and support them. Moreover, it’s not just the government’s duty to help them. We all should be aware of what lies in the reality and commit to a collective effort to help one another navigate the ambiguity of the future, despite our individual struggles to hold out in this horrid living condition. With the existing culture of impunity in the country, it must be our collective goal to provide more safe spaces for our fellow Filipinos by relentlessly fighting for their rights and genuinely serving as their voices.