news | 04

Congress shelves UP charter billThe bill, containing contentious provisions, failed to be ratified as Congress adjourned on June 7

kultura | 06-07

This Side UPSuyurin ang iba’t-ibang sulok ng ating 100-taong gulang na unibersidad

features | 08

Institutional MemoryThe Philippine Collegian and 85 years without apologies

13 Hun 07

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

Nº 01PhilippineCollegian

19 hun 2001 | 01

More private school studes apply for UPDAbout two-thirds of UPCAT examinees who applied for Diliman came from private high schools yet public school students still account for more than half of those who qualified for admission.Of the 41,923 applicants, 65.7% were from private schools while 34.3% were from public schools.

On its 85th year, the Philippine Collegian looks

back at eight decades of headlines that saw print on its

and sent ripples within and outside the university.

COLLEGIAn

stfaP bracketing results in uPD alone reveal that a total of 596 out of 667 freshmen stfaP applicants or around 89 percent will be shouldering the tuition increase, and only a few will receive full tuition subsidy and stipends, as of June 4. news | 03

Philippine Collegian Opisyal na lingguhang pahayagan ng mga mag-aaral ng Unibersidad ng Pilipinas - Diliman

Punong Patnugot / Jerrie M. Abella • KaPatnugot / Frank Lloyd Tiongson • tagaPamahalang Patnugot / Karl Fredrick M. Castro • Patnugot sa graPiKs / Ivan Bryan G. Reverente • tagaPamahala ng Pinansiya / Melane A. Manalo • mga Kawani / Louise Vincent B. Amante, Piya C. Constantino, Alaysa Tagumpay E. Escandor, Paolo A. Gonzales, Candice Anne Reyes, Alanah Torralba • Pinansiya / Amelyn J. Daga • tagaPamahala sa sirKulasyon / Paul John Alix • sirKulasyon / Gary Gabales, Ricky Icawat, Amelito Jaena, Glenario Omamalin • mga Katuwang na Kawani / Trinidad Basilan, Gina Villas • Pamuhatan / Silid 401 Bulwagang Vinzons, Unibersidad ng Pilipinas, Diliman, Lungsod Quezon • telefax / 9818500 lokal 4522 • email / kule0708@gmail.com • website / http://philippinecollegian.net, http://kule0708.deviantart.com • KasaPi / Solidaridad - UP System-wide Alliance of Student Publications and Writers’ Organizations, College Editors Guild of the Philippines

Walang pasintabing

ilalathala sa kanyang

mga pahina ang

mga tala ng kaapihan,

ng paglaban at pana-naig, ng

pagsulong at pagpa-patuloy. Walang

pauman-hin itong papanig sa mga

digmaa’t karahasang nagaganap sa loob at

labas ng uniber-sidad.

Sa pagpanig, walang paumanhin

PhilippineCollegian Ika-85 taon Blg. 01 Miyerkules 13 Hun 07

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Editoryal

May paalala’t babalang tangan ang Philippine Collegian sa kanyang pagbabalik sa mga

mag-aaral ng pamantasan. Mahirap buksan ang bagong

termino ng Collegian sa pamamagi-tan ng mga pasintabi’t paumanhin, lalo’t higit sa pagpapaliwanag kung bakit hindi regular na lumabas ang mga isyu ng pahayagan noong nakaraang taon. Labas pa sa debate kung ang 85-taong gulang na insti-tusyong pang-mag-aaral na ito ay ahensya ng gobyerno o hindi, isang prinsipyadong pakikitunggali ang sinuong ng nakaraang patnugutan upang igiit ang kanyang kalayaan sa nagsasariling paglilimbag at pamamahala sa pahayagan.

Magkagayunman, pinasisina–yaan ang bagong terminong ito ng paalala sa kanyang mambabasa na ang dyaryong kanila ngayong bitbit ay iniluwal ng mahaba-maiksing pakikipaglaban para sa interes ng kanyang tanging tagapaglimbag: ang mga mag-aaral ng Unibersidad ng Pilipinas. Sa harap ng mga pwersang naglalayong gumupo sa kanyang paninindigang kakabit na ng kasaysayan ng pamantasan at maging ng lipunan, nagpapatuloy ang pangangailangang pumanig at bumalikwas.

Subalit kasabay ng paalala ang paghahapag ng babala: ang maiitim na ulap ng tag-ulan ay nagbabadya ng hindi magandang kaganapan sa loob at labas ng pamantasan.

Ipinatupad na sa mga bagong mag-aaral ng unibersidad ang halos 300 porsyentong pagtaas sa matrikula, habang papaba-ba ang bilang ng mga mag-aaral ng mga kursong “hindi popular” (sang-ayon sa mga kahingian ng kapitalistang pamilihan) gaya ng mga aralin sa Kolehiyo ng Arte at Literatura. Hindi pa rin naibabalik ang malaking bilang ng mga janitor ng UP na tinanggal sa trabaho.

Walang habas ang demolisyon sa kabahayan sa mga komunidad ng UP upang bigyang-daan ang mga komersyal na proyekto ng pamantasan.

Papataas naman ang bilang ng mga kaso ng pagpatay at pagdu-kot sa mga aktibistang kritikal sa rehimeng Arroyo. Mag-iisang taon nang nawawala ang dala-wang estudyante ng UP na hini-hinalang dinukot ng militar sa Hagonoy, Bulacan. Nananatiling uhaw ang mga pesante sa tunay na repormang pang-agraryo habang patuloy ang pagkamal ng tubo ng mga panginoong maylupa. Malayo pa ang lalakbayin ng laban para sa mas mataas na sahod ng mga manggagawang sinisikil ng kapi-talistang interes.

Ang mga talang ito ng simbo-liko at literal na karahasan ang materyal na kondisyong iniinu-gan ng pag-iral ng pahayagan. At sa mga banta ng ganitong tipo ng kaligiran, ang manahimik at magkibit-balikat na lamang ang pinakamabigat na kasalanan.

Sa ganitong pagposisyon hina-hawan ng Collegian ang landas tungo sa pagbuo ng haraya ng paglaya at pagpapalaya , na walang pag-aatubiling itatang-hal sa dambana ng katuparan. Ipinagpapatuloy ng kasalukuy-ang patnugutan ang kritikal at mapanuring pagpanig sa mga isyung nananalasa sa loob, at lalo’t higit sa labas, ng kulungan ng silid-aralan. Itinatakwil nito ang mapanghating ilusyon ng pluralismo, na sa katotohana’y lohika lamang ng mga naghaha-ring-uri sa pagpapanatili ng status quo at nagsisilibing lambong sa mga mapang-aping istruktura sa lipunan. Tinutuligsa nito ang walang patumanggang pandara-has ng estado sa lehitimong mga pagkilos na nagsusulong ng tunay na pagbabago. Nananatili ang paninindigang magsilbi sa mga sektor na malaon nang iginapos sa laylayan: mga magsasaka, mang-

ingisda, manggagawa, maralitang taga-lungsod, kabataan, kababai-han, bakla at lesbyana.

Higit sa lahat, primaryang isinu-sulong ng Collegian ang interes ng mga mag-aaral laban sa mga mekanismong pinagmumukhang popular ngunit sa dulo’y tinatang-galan ang kabataan ng kanilang batayang karapatan sa edukasyon. Pangunahin na ang kabalintunaan sa pagtataas ng matrikula sa isang pampublikong institusyon gaya ng UP at ang mapanlinlang na STFAP, na base sa mga inisyal na datos ay napatunayang kaparaanan lamang para pagkakitaan ang mga estudyante at bigyang-katuwiran ang pagtataas ng mga bayarin. Ililimbag sa bawat artikulo ng Collegian ang walang pagpapau-manhin at subersibong pagkiling sa kabutihan ng mas nakararami.

Ngunit lagi’t lagi, hungkag ang retorikang hindi idinarang sa apoy ng praktika, kaya’t hindi mangingimi ang Collegian na bumaba mula sa kanyang tuktok na opisina at makiisa sa mga laban ng mamamayan. Nakasandig ang pahayagan sa paniniwalang higit na nakapangyayari ang kolek-tibong pagkilos, at pinakama-halaga pa rin ang mga leksyong iginuguhit sa lansangan. Kaya’t kung kinakailangan, aktibong pag-aaralan ng mga kasapi ng

pahayagan ang kasaysayan sa ganitong mga uri ng lunan.

At sa harap ng daluyong ng krisis na sumasalimpad sa loob at labas ng pamantasan, muling inilalapit ang Collegian sa kanyang mga tagapaglimbag sa pama-magitan ng iba’t ibang lunsaran. Maglulunsad ang patnugutan ng mga forum, diskusyon, palihan, kumperensya, alternatibong klase at iba pa, na inaasahang makapagbibigay ng malalimang pagtalakay sa mga napapanahong isyu. Maliban pa sa lingguhang paglabas ng mga balita, lathalain, opinyon at ilustrasyon, ipina-palagay na ang mga interaktibong gawaing ito ay magbibigay porma sa tila abstraktong mga konsepto sa mga artikulo.

Sa huli, hindi magbabago ang tunguhin ng Collegian sa kanyang pagtangan at pagbandila sa alter-natibong uri ng pamamahayag. Walang pasintabing ilalathala sa kanyang mga pahina ang mga tala ng kaapihan, ng paglaban at pananaig, ng pagsulong at pagpa-patuloy. Walang paumanhin itong papanig sa mga digmaa’t karaha-sang nagaganap sa loob at labas ng unibersidad.

Sapagkat ang pahayagan ay lunan din ng mga tunggalian, at karuwagan ang hindi pagsuong sa mga laban.

PhiliPPine Collegian | MiyerKules 13 Hun 07

First onslaught of tFi hits freshiesalaysa tagumpay Escandor and Victor gregor limon

Despite intense opposi-tion from students and other members of the UP community, the ap-

proved 300 percent tuition and other fee increase (TFI) pushed through with its first implementa-tion on incoming freshmen this year. According to the Office of the University Registrar (OUR), some 2,737 freshmen are cov-ered by the said increase as of June 4.

Likewise, the new Socialized Tuition and Financial Assis-tance Program (STFAP), which will determine the tuition rate students will pay as well as the stipends they will receive, was implemented. As of press time, 1,004 freshmen have applied for STFAP to avail of tuition dis-counts, Office of Scholarships and Student Services (OSSS) records show.

Freshmen who did not apply will automatically pay the base tuition of P1,000 to P1,500 per unit, depending on the annual family income and asset quan-tities they reported on their UP College Entrance Admission Test (UPCAT) application.

Under the new STFAP, stu-dents will be grouped into five socio-economic brackets. The new tuition rates will affect those students qualified under Brackets A , B, and C.

Those under Bracket D will pay the old rate of P300 per unit for Group I campuses and P200 per unit for Group II. Bracket E qualifiers will be provided 100 percent tuition subsidy plus a standard stipend. (see table I)

RhetoricsIn an earlier statement, UP

President Emerlinda Roman said the students’ bracket assignment is computed ac-cording to their families’ “ability to pay.”

Roman claims that the main objective of the new bracketing scheme “is to provide a safety net for the most economically under-privileged of students” who cannot afford the increase in tuition.

Furthermore, Roman stresses the “important features” of the new STFAP which supposedly improve the old one. This in-cludes “wider stipend coverage and higher stipend rates for quali-fied students.”

Under the new STFAP, brackets are determined through factors such as household appliances, family income and attributes like relatives’ occupation.

the real scoreHowever, STFAP bracketing

results in UP Diliman (UPD) alone

reveal that most freshmen ap-plicants will be shouldering the tuition increase, and only a few will receive full tuition subsidy and stipends. As of June 4, a total of 1,004 freshmen have applied for STFAP, and the OSSS has assigned brackets to only 667.

In the bracketing results, a total of 596 freshmen applicants or around 89 percent were classi-fied under Brackets A , B, and C. Moreover, 71 students, or about 10.5 percent of the applicants, will be paying the old tuition rates,

while only ten students, or 1.5 percent, are granted full tuition subsidy. (see table II)

Upperclassmen, on the other hand, can still apply for tuition subsidies under the old STFAP. Under this system, there are nine brackets available, with brackets 1 to 5 receiving full tuition subsidy. As of May 21, 297 upperclassmen have been assigned brackets, 38 percent of which are exempt from tuition fees and will receive corre-sponding benefits (see table III).

Applications for both new and old STFAP are open even after the registration period. Once the students’ brackets are announced after enrolment, those entitled to subsidies and stipends will be

UP admin holds off Narra’s closure Mini u. soriano

Faced with a petition from residents to open the dor-mitory for this semester due to insufficient reloca-

tion for qualified Narra residents, the UP Administration decided to suspend its planned closure of the Narra Residence Hall (Narra).

Vice Chancellor for Student Af-fairs Elizabeth Enriquez endorsed in May the closure of Narra, an undergraduate dormitory for male students, as it is no longer habitable and needs massive rehabilitation.

In a series of ocular inspec-tion, the Office of the Campus Architect (OCA) recommended that the 55 year-old dormitory be totally renovated as its exposed

COntinUeD On P.4

refunded. In 2004, 38 percent of the total

student population applied for the STFAP. According to the Atanacio committee, which proposed to rebracket the STFAP, the imple-mentation of the TFI may provide an incentive for more freshmen to apply for tuition subsidy.

unresolved debateWith hundreds of freshmen ap-

plying under the new STFAP, former Faculty Regent Roland Simbulan describes the bracketing scheme as a “guise” for collecting “more money in the form of tuition.” Ac-cording to him, the collapse of the nine brackets into five will cause anomalous bracketing: students from “poorer families” being as-signed to higher brackets.

For instance, students who might have been classified under Brackets 2 to 4 in the old STFAP, and are thus exempt from tuition fees, will now fall under Bracket D.

Meanwhile, around 400 par-ents of freshmen joined the Stu-dents and Parents for Accessible and Relevant Education in UP (SPARE UP), a system-wide al-liance of parents and students campaigning against the TFI and the new STFAP.

Student Regent Terry Ridon said SPARE UP is presently dis-cussing the possibility of cre-ating a scholarship fund for needy freshmen who cannot afford the tuition rates assigned to them by STFAP, while ultimately pushing for the junking of both TFI and the new STFAP.

prohibitive costsEven as the debate on the new

STFAP continues, the high tuition rates have already prevented some UPCAT qualifiers from enrolling in UPD.

Ilizel Retita, an UPCAT qualifier from Iligan, for example, did not enrol in UP because her family cannot afford the tuition rates. In an interview, Retita said that while she applied for the STFAP, “I didn’t check the results since even if I can avail [myself of ] the scholarship, the expenses will still be way too much.” She was classi-fied under Bracket C.

When asked what she thought about the TFI, she replied: “It’s such a surprise… [UP] is sup-posed to be for intelligent people in the lower classes…It’s a shame how they increased the tuition [such] that intelligent students in the lower classes can’t afford [it] anymore.”

Ilizel passed the cut-off score for the College of Science in UPD. However, she now studies at Min-danao State University-Institute of Industrial Technology, taking up BS Electronics and Commu-nications Engineering.

Despite this, studying “in a school as prestigious as UP ” re-mains one of her dreams. “I really want to study [in UP] if I will only be given a chance.”

low enrolmentMeanwhile, enrolment in some

UP campuses registered low turn-outs. The only campuses which recorded a freshmen enrolment rate of more than 50 percent were Diliman and Manila, each with 69.13 and 54.88 percent of UPCAT enrollees respectively.

Los Baños and Mindanao cam-puses registered the lowest turn-outs, with 16.67 and 16.76 percent, respectively.

Moreover, data from the OUR reveal that 1,331 UPD freshmen have either deferred or failed to confirm for enrolment as of June 6. This forms about 34.7 per -cent of the total 3,825 UPCAT UPD qualifiers.

To explain the low turn-out, University Registrar Pamela Con-stantino says students may have opted to study in other colleges that offered them scholarships, are closer to their respective prov-inces or have more affordable tuition.

Several degree programs in Diliman also registered a zero

Higher (cost of) learning

DesaparecidosCOntinUeD On P.4

n Linda Cadapan speaks outside the Court of Appeals after the court dismissed the petition for writ of habeas corpus for abducted daughter Sherlyn, fellow UP student Karen empeño and farmer Manuel Merino. the three were abducted June last year in Hagonoy, Bulacan where the two students were conducting their research. new witnesses have recently reported seeing Cadapan in the Central Luzon regions. alanah torralba

table I: new up tuition rates bRackEt gRoup I

(diliman, manila, los

banos)

gRoup II(baguio,

mindanao, san

Fernando, Visayas)

a p1,500 p1,000

b 1,000 600

c 600 400

d 300 200

e 0 0

table II: bracketing results of new stFap (as of june 4, 2007)

bRackEt no. oF FREshMEn

pERcEnt (%)

a 28 4.0

b 118 18.0

c 450 67.5

d 61 9.0

e 10 1.5

total 667 100.0

table III: bracketing results of old stFap (as of may 21, 2007)

bRackEt no. oF uppERclass stuDEnts

pERcEnt (%)

9 107 36.0

8 11 3.7

7 28 9.4

6 38 12.8

5 52 17.5

4 38 12.8

3 16 5.4

2 2 0.7

1 5 1.7

total 297 100.0

PhiliPPine Collegian | MiyerKules 13 Hun 07

Jecel censoro

Containing contentious provisions giving the Board of Regents (BOR) more fiscal autonomy

and exempting UP faculty from the Salary Standardization Law (SSL), the UP charter bill failed to be ratified as Congress adjourned on June 7.

The pending UP Charter bill is a reconciled version of Senate Bill ( SB ) 1833 and House Bill (HB) 5008 which was drawn by the bicameral conference com-

turn-out, failing to attract any enrollees during the confirma-tion period for original qualifiers of UPCAT. These are BA Filipino, BA Araling Pilipino, and BA Ma-likhaing Pagsulat sa Filipino.

In an interview, Professor Vina Paz, chairperson of the Departa-mento ng Filipino at Panitikan ng Pilipinas, described such trend as “normal” because the Filipino language is not popular to begin with.

She maintained however that such a trend does not necessarily mean that the department faces the danger of being closed due to low enrolment turn-out, since there remains a need for the Fili-pino as our national language.

higher... frOM P.3

Congress shelves UP charter bill

up admin... frOM P.3

electrical wirings and termite-infested roofs pose threat to resi-dents. According to OCA Director Fernando Germar, Narra’s dismal condition requires immediate action as “hazards can strike anytime.”

Narra House Council Auditor Jonard Roperez said that during the super typhoon Milenyo in Sep-tember 2006, a roof in Wing 4-A, which was unoccupied by students, was carried by a strong wind. “ The incident, which was checked by the Campus Maintenance Office, triggered the series of inspections of Narra,” Roperez said.

RelocationIn the partial list of qualified

dormers issued on May 25 by the Office of Student Housing (OSH), 39 qualified Narra residents were placed in Ipil Residence Hall (Ipil), a coed dormitory for grad-uate students.

Enriquez, OSH Officer -in-Charge Ruby Alcantara, and Dor-mitory Admissions Committee Chair Corazon Rodriguez, iden-tified on June 5 an unoccupied basement in the International Center, a dormitory mostly for foreign students and for some Filipinos, as relocation for 70 other qualified Narra residents. The CMO then transferred 70 beds, tables, and chairs from Narra to IC.

The UP administration, how-ever, decided to defer Narra’s closure, as available slots in Ipil and IC are still insufficient to ac-commodate would-be-qualified Narra residents for dormitory accomodation.

As requested by Enriquez, Germar identified parts of Narra that remain “relatively safe” so that they could still be occupied by Narra residents. Wings 1 and 2 of Narra whose roofs were re-placed and are less termite-in-fested were identified relatively safe for habitation.

Narra dorm manager Romeo Bernardo confirmed that the two Narra wings can house 110 quali-fied Narra residents.

According to Enriquez, al-lowing residents to inhabit Narra for one semester, as an adjust-ment period for relocation, will be

mittee on June 4 and ratified by Senate on June 6. Lack of quorum in the House of Representatives’ last session before it adjourned, however, resulted in the shelving of the bill, which seeks to replace UP ’s 100-year old charter.

The reconciled version con-tains mostly provisions from SB 1833 or “An Act to Strengthen UP as the National University” like SSL exemption and the granting of corporate powers to the BOR, UP ’s highest policymaking body.

HB 5008 or “An Act to Strengthen UP as the Premier State Univer-sity,” meanwhile, pushes for the

formation of a UP System Assembly as a consultative body to the BOR (UPSA) composed of elected rep-resentatives from the administra-tive staff, students, faculty and alumni from the seven constituent universities of UP. The bill also re-duces the number of Malacanang appointees from five to three.

contentious provisionsThe proposed UP Charter re-

tains the BOR structure, save for a few changes such as the addi-tion of a staff regent to represent full-time permanent research and extension personnel and admin-

istrative personnel, as well as the reduction of Malacañang appoin-tees from three to five.

The BOR is currently composed of 12 members: the chair of Com-mission on Higher Education as the chair, the UP president as the vice-chair, the chairs of the Senate Committee on Education, Arts and Culture and of the House Committee on Higher and Tech-nical Education, the UP Alumni Association president, faculty regent, student regent, and five appointed regents of the Presi-dent of the Philippines.

The board will also retain its

administrative and corporate functions, but will also now be allowed to implement mecha-nisms for the outright selling of UP lands and research projects to raise revenues, and to enter into joint ventures, long term leases, fully-owned subsidiaries and securitizations.

Exemption from the SSL, which specifies salary levels for all gov-ernment employees, meanwhile, allows UP to freely fix the faculty’s compensation.

opposing viewsThe shelving of the UP Charter

Bill drew opposing reactions from its critics, like the All-UP Workers Union (AUPWU), the All-UP Aca-demic Employees Union ( AU-PAEU), and the Office of the Stu-dent Regent, and its proponents, led by UP President Emerlinda Roman.

AUPWU President Clodualdo Cabrera said the shelving of the bill gives UP the chance to pursue a progressive charter that will en-sure UP ’s being a state university for people.

“Ito na ang pagkakataon na magbabago tayo ng charter pero dapat demokratiko at para sa lahat ng sector. Hindi ito dapat madaliin dahil minsan lang ito mangyari after 100 years,” Ca-brera said.

Student Regent Terry Ridon also expressed rejoice at the bill’s shelving, saying there was no substantial system-wide con-sultation done prior to the bill’s formulation and that provisions pertaining to appointing sectoral representatives in the BOR have yet to be included.

“Dapat pang-academic at re-search ang maging purpose ng charter kung saan democratized ang education at may adequate safeguard, na ang purpose ng pagbabago ay para sa Iskolar ng Bayan,” Ridon said.

Prof. Judy Taguiwalo, president of the AUPAEU, also expressed concern that the new charter will push UP further towards commer-cialization given the extension of the BOR’s corporate powers.

While recognizing that the salary of the UP faculty should in-deed be increased, Taguiwalo dis-closed that government agencies enjoying SSL exemption imple-mented salary increases through commercial ventures.

Roman, meanwhile, vowed to continue engaging in aggressive campaign and lobbying in Con-gress for the bill’s passage.

“ There is really nothing to rejoice about [because] we are back to square one in the next Congress,” she said.

the worst-case scenario. As of press time, qualified

Narra residents who will either occupy the IC basement or remain in Narra are yet to be identified by the OSH.

“Since there will be some Narra residents who will not be qualified for a dormitory admission, they will most likely settle in boarding houses and pay a high-cost lodging rate,” Conrad Lacsina, Narra House Council chair, added.

Displaced Ipil dormersMeanwhile, Ipil residents who

were qualified and displaced in Ipil under the new dorm admis-sion rule questioned Alcantara on June 8 about the 39 slots and the priority allegedly given by the OSH to qualified Narra residents

over old residents of Ipil. However, Alcantara declined

to give any comment, saying that the OSH is still deliberating on dorm issues.

Enriquez also said slots in dor-mitories are a scarce resource and that the UP administration should be objective in giving them to the “most deserving students.”

Narra residents to be acco-modated in Ipil and IC will be charged the Narra lodging rate of P175 per month for a year. How-ever, should they opt to stay in these dorms beyond a year, they would be charged Ipil’s monthly rate of P350 and IC’s P800. Ac-cording to Enriquez, “[that would be] in consideration of the urgent situation.”

Dahas: 19 taon ng caRp

n Karahasan ang sumalubong sa pagsulong ng mga magsasaka ng timog Katagalugan at Gitnang Luzon sa Mendiola, Maynila noong Hunyo 8 upang kundenahin ang Comprehensive Agrarian reform Program (CArP), na nasa ika-19 nang taon ng pagpapatupad. Ayon sa pag-aaral ng Kagawaran ng repormang Agraryo noong Abril 2006, tumuon lamang ang CArP sa pamamahagi ng lupa at hindi sa pagbibigay ng suporta sa mga magsasaka at pagtiyak sa kaangkupan ng lupa sa pagsasaka. juan paolo Versoza

Gusto mo bang isulat ang pinakamagandang balita sa buong buhay mo?Akyat na sa Kulê at mag-exam sa seksyong Ba(k)lita! Magdala ng bolpen at dalawang bluebook, at hanapin si Mel Tiangco. Dali!

PhiliPPine Collegian | MiyerKules 13 Hun 07

kristoffer c. Reyes

Tatlong kabahayan ang gini-ba umano ng Task Force UP (TFUP) nang walang malinaw na court order sa

Pook Amorsolo, Brgy. UP Campus noong tanghali ng Mayo 22.

Matatagpuan ang Pook Amor-solo sa C.P. Garcia, di-kalayuan mula sa College of Fine Arts.

Ayon kay Grace Lim, residente ng nasabing lugar at pangulo ng Task Force Anti- Demoli-tion (TFAD) na binubuo ng mga apektadong residente, walang naipakitang court order na mag-sasaad na ligal ang isinagawang demolisyon ng mga pulis, dahilan upang ito’y ihinto.

“ Na-harass kami sa ginawa ng mga pulis. Wala na nga silang demolition order, armado pa ng mga baril,” ani Lim. Dagdag ng University Student Council (USC), nilabag ng TFUP ang Omnibus Election Code na nagbabawal sa pagdadala ng armas sa panahon ng eleksyon.

Ayon pa kay Lim, hindi nagpak-ilala ang mga pulis na pumunta sa kanilang lugar. “ Wala silang suot na mga nametag, nakilala lang namin dun si Capt. Villaluna,” aniya.

Tinangkang kunin ng Collegian ang panig ni Capt. Ruben Villaluna ng UP Diliman Police na nanguna sa demolisyon, subalit wala siya sa kanyang opisina.

Ayon sa USC, nilabag umano ng mga pulis ang Republic Act (RA) 7279 o Urban Development Housing Act of 1992, kung saan nakasaad ang mga probisyon ukol sa pagsasagawa ng demoli-syon gaya ng takdang araw ng demolisyon, konsultasyon, re-

Demolisyon sa Amorsolo, iligal ayon sa mga residente

lokasyon, pagpapakilala ng mga tauhang magsasagawa nito at pagpapakita ng opisyal ng lokal na pamahalaan.

“ Walang consultation at plano ng relocation… dapat talagang ma-revoke ang order ng demo-lition ng OVCCA (Office of the Vice Chancellor for Community Affairs) kasi nahaharass na ang mga tao sa Amorsolo,” ani USC Councilor Sarah Cabrera, tag-atipon ng TFAD.

Ani All-UP Workers Union Vice President Noli Anoos, isinagawa ang demolisyon sa Pook Amorsolo upang gawing relokasyon ng mga residenteng maaapektuhan ng demolisyon sa mga komunidad ng Ricarte, Palaris at Dagohoy (RI-PADA). Matatandaang apektado ang RIPADA sa planong C-5 road

angelo Muñiz and Victor gregor limon

The All-UP Workers Union (AUPWU) is pushing for additional financial bene-fits and rights for adminis-

trative employees in UP through its proposed Collective Negotiations Agreement (CNA) forwarded to the UP administration on Febru-ary 14.

The proposed agreement, which is an amendment of the existing CNA , was drafted after a series of conferences conducted by the AUPWU chapters in Dil-iman, Los Baños, and Manila. AUPWU, a 5000-strong labor or-ganization, is the official union that represents all administrative

employees in UP.The existing negotiations

agreement signed in 2002 expired on April 19, and the amended CNA, if approved, shall take effect until 2011.

Workers’ benefitsAmong the demands contained

in the proposed CNA is a P20,000 incentive for every worker once the new CNA is signed. In 2002, the first CNA provided for a P5,000 signing incentive.

The proposed CNA includes an additional annual subsidy of two sacks of rice, from only two sacks in the old CNA , as well as a centennial bonus not less than P20,000, P5,000 for medical as-sistance, and retirement benefits amounting to P20,000.

Aside from financial incentives, the amended CNA also advances additional non-financial benefits for UP employees like safeguards against gender discrimination and additional sickness leaves especially for women employees. The proposed CNA also recog-nizes the right of the union to directly represent employees in cases of employee movement like reorganization.

Meanwhile, Vice President for Legal Affairs Marvic Leonen, the chief negotiating officer of the UP administration on the CNA , refused to give his opinion on the CNA as he is still waiting for the outcome of the negotiation.

The UP administration and its employees first entered into a CNA in 1995. Governing the

UP workers union pushes for cash, fringe benefits

banta ng pagbaklas

widening ng Metropolitan Manila Development Authority.

Sa liham ng USC na ipinadala kay Gregorio noong Mayo 23, nabanggit na noong Abril 10 pa ipinaabot sa mga residente ang babala ng demolisyon. Anila, wala na dapat mangyaring demolisyon 30 araw matapos ibaba ang ba-bala, batay sa RA 7279.

Samantala, hindi pa sinasagot ni VCCA Grace Gregorio ang liham na ipinadala ng konseho. Tumanggi ring magbigay ng pa-hayag si Gregorio ukol sa sinabi ng USC.

Laman rin ng liham na ito ang pagtutol sa planong demolisyon, pagkundena sa sistema ng opera-syon ng TFUP at paglaban para sa karapatan sa paninirahan ng mga residente ng Amorsolo.

relationship of UP and its ad-ministrative employees, the CNA determines the employees’ rights and other benefits except for the salary, which is subject to the Salary Standardization Law.

Election of official representative union

Clodualdo Cabrera, president of AUPWU, however, said the ne-gotiations between the union and the UP administration were tem-porarily halted due to a petition for Certification Election filed with the Bureau of Labor Relations (BLR) by a group identified as the Organization of Non-Academic Personnel in UP (ONAPUP).

The AUPWU and the UP ad-ministration have already started

COntinUeD On P.9

n Mahigit sampung armadong “blue guard” at UPD police ang nagsimula ng demolisyon sa Pook Amorsolo noong Mayo 22. Agaran itong tinutulan ng mga residente at nanawagan sila para sa karapatan sa disenteng pabahay at pagtigil ng pananakot sa kanilang komunidad. ambag na litrato

Theater students slam withholding of reg matsdup requires payment of collectibles before enrolmentJohn alliage Morales

A group of Theater ma-jors decried the with-holding of registra-tion materials of about

“90 percent” of Theater students by the Department of Speech Communication and Theater Arts (DSCTA) until the students settle their accounts incurred during theater productions.

The group, which requested anonymity fearing administration reprisal, exposed that students are “forced” to pay “questionable accountabilities,” ranging from P100 to P33,000 per student, to Dulaang UP (DUP) before they could enrol for this semester.

DUP, run by UP professors and employees, is the official non-profit theater organization of UP and the production arm of DSCTA. A clearance from DUP is needed before students could go on with their enrolment.

Required courseThe students said that Theater

110, a practicum course taken for three consecutive semesters, requires them to take part in two DUP plays every semester as pro-duction staff. DUP plays are funded by the UP administration.

The group questioned a policy on required ticket sale, where all tickets given to students are considered sold. One student de-scribed the policy as an “outright extortion” and a “fallback” for DUP should its plays flop.

“Nagkakaroon daw kami ng ac-countabilities dahil hindi namin nabebenta lahat ang ticket at hindi raw namin naire-remit ang mga official receipt (OR) sa ta-mang oras,” University Student Council (USC) Councilor and The-ater major Jay del Rosario said.

The Theater students cited instances when DUP heads and managers refused to honor ORs despite knowing that such ma-terials were actually bought and used in the production, or when they shell out their own money to buy materials but are discour-aged to get the refund because of the long-drawn reimbursement procedure in DUP.

Rosario said that during en-rolment, a “DUP hold” list is re-leased which contains the names of students who have account-abilities and whose registration materials will thus be withheld. A document obtained by the Colle-gian, however, did not specify the nature of such collectibles.

The Collegian tried to reach the DUP administration, but DUP managing director Teresa Paula de Luna and theater manager Manuel Casalan refused to comment on these allegations, saying they are not the “proper authority” to

COntinUeD On P.10

PhiliPPine Collegian | MiyerKules 13 Hun 07

Kung isa kang baguhang iskolar ng bayan, para kang isang paketeng

ibabagsak sa UP. Fragile at kailangan (daw) ingatan. Mapupunta ka sa kung

saan-saang sulok sa UP at makakikilala ng mga sikat na personalidad dito.

Pero sa likod ng mga pagdiriwang at krisis sa pangaraw-araw na eksenang

peyups, ikaw pa rin ang nananatiling bida.

dibdibin ang palaisipan. ang unang limang freshie na aakyat sa Kule bitbit ang kopyang may mga kasagutan ay may premyo!

ACROSS 5 slang na tawag sa up 8 iluminado campos, alamat ng

Vinzons hall 10 college of arts and sciences

alumni association 17 tanging jeep na dumadaan sa

math bldg. 18 neophytes ng oblation run 20 tanging dorm na hindi

bulaklak at punongkahoy ang pangalan

21 sikat na tapsilog ng sc 23 dinarayong selebrasyon sa up

kapag disyembre 26 daanang tumatagos mula sa

as patungong eng’g 27 moviehouse ng up diliman 28 night creatures na nagbaban-

tay sa up kapag gabi 29 isa sa pinakamatatandang

gusali sa up diliman 31 opisyal na tig-dalawang

pisong testpaper ng mga taga-up

33 phallic symbol na may pitong palapag at keyboard sa loob

34 dating artificial forest/nurs-ery/dumpsite ng up diliman

DOWN 1 sariling radio station ng up

na 10am to 3pm na lang ang

airtime last sem 2 up naming _____ 3 Kasalukuyang up president na

model ng curvaceous curls 4 hayop sa magkabilang gilid

ng main lib 6 general luna parade grounds 7 porsyento ng pagtaas ng tu-

ition ng mga freshies ngayong taon

9 gusali kung saan nakatago ang orihinal na oble

11 pinakamaingay na kaganapan sa up maliban sa mga rally

12 2 pesos manok, 4 pesos baboy

13 mga mutated na halamang lumilitaw sa u.ave kapag summer

14 dating tawag sa tindahan ng mga up manininda na inilipat na sa mga nirerentahang kiosks

15 bilang ng campuses ng up 16 itinayo ng abs-cbn sa lupain

ng up 19 simbolo ng katalinuhan at

kalayaan na nasa logo ng up 22 popular na inuman/tambayan

sa border ng up24 _________ tolentino, lumikha

ng oblation 25 pinakamahirap na kurso raw

sa up diliman 30 paboritong basahin ng taga-

up 32 major ni ely buendia noon

sa up

Pala-isipan!

teksto:John Francis losaria at Ma. carmela trono torres. Mga dibuho at disenyo ng pahina: Ivan Reverente.

PhiliPPine Collegian | MiyerKules 13 Hun 07

K u l ê 1 0 1n Jose Maria Sison’s Philippine

Society and Revolution and Struggle for National Democracy were first serialized in the Philippine Collegian under the editorship of Ernesto Valencia. The book was later edited by former College of Mass Communication dean Luis Teodoro, who was once Collegian editor in chief as well.

n Miriam Defensor-Santiago was the first woman editor in chief of the Collegian.

n National Artist Francisco Arcellana was the last Collegian faculty adviser.

n Current UP President Emerlinda Roman, then a College of Business Administration faculty member, is a former business manager of the Collegian.

n The Collegian is a founding member of the College Editors’ Guild of the Philippines, the only nation-wide alliance of student publications in the Asia-Pacific region.

n Vinzons Hall, the student center of UP Diliman, is named after the Collegian’s first editor in chief, Wenceslao Vinzons.

Frank lloyd tiongson

No single memory can adequately recount 85 years of institutional history. With more than

eight decades of changing for-mats, commitments, and staff, threading the Philippine Colle-gian’s memory lane is indeed no walk in the park.

It is easier, of course, to refer to tradition and reputation. The Collegian, or Kulé as it is more familiarly known, is one of the handful of weekly student pub-lications in the country. Reputed to be the most prestigious student publication in the Philippines, the Collegian has been distinguished as the exemplar of fearless jour-nalism, underlining the impetus for social critique and change.

Some have regarded it as the very “soul” of the University as it stands as a steadfast vanguard of academic freedom. As it assumes such, the Collegian has also been dubbed as the “freest” publica-tion in the country. It currently operates without the interven-tion of a faculty adviser and is not beholden to any commercial or corporate entity unlike main-stream newspapers. Within its pages, there is no room for taboo. Issues ranging from sexuality to armed revolution are openly dis-cussed without the slightest hint of trepidation.

The Collegian traces its roots to the College Folio, which was first published in 1910 under the editorship of Victoriano Yamzon followed by Maximo Kalaw. In 1917, the Varsity News replaced the

College Folio with Carlos Romulo as editor. Eventually, in 1922, the Philippine Collegian was born with Wenceslao Vinzons as the first editor in chief.

Former editors and staff of the publication would distinguish themselves in the field of politics, journalism, art, literature, as well as business. To cite, Leonardo Quisumbing and Reynato Puno, both stalwarts of the Supreme Court, were former Collegian edi-

tors. Some, however, also chose the path of anonymity and took up arms in the struggle for national liberation in the secluded regions of the Philippine countryside.

These accounts, however, are not mere instances of institutional narcissism. Understanding the Collegian’s history is to disclaim any supercilious presumption of providence. The tradition and reputation that the publication holds are material consequences. The pages of newsprint a UP stu-dent holds every week are the result of material contradictions occurring inside and outside the boundaries of the University as well as within the very walls of the Collegian office.

During the witch hunts of the 1950s, when nationalist ideals were dismissed as communist threats and conservative thought assumed the pedestal, the Col-legian staunchly defended aca-demic freedom and integrity and rallied the students to protect their rights. Under the repressive Martial Law regime, meanwhile, the most radical thought per -vaded the pages of the Collegian, which contended with the state-controlled media. Many editors and staff during the said period were persecuted and even lost their lives. It is also comical, therefore, to recall that the same publication which admonished feudal practices and apathy once sponsored the Miss Philippine Col-legian pageant and published the pictures of the famous co-eds in the campus.

As such, there has never been a single Collegian. Each term at-tempts to make sense of the illus-

trious tradition of the publication and align it with its own inter-pretation of the issues hounding the University and the society in general. Every term formulates its own thrust, or a paradigm with which the current staff would compose their articles.

In a University which hosts a myriad of competing discourses, committing to a thrust meant sharpening stances and engaging in principled debate. The Colle-gian, thus, does not hold on to a tradition of excellence because it assumes an enlightened position, but because it struggles in the most vulnerable of spaces.

Always, the Collegian stood for a journalistic practice that aimed not merely to passively observe the issues of the day but to actively intervene in them. Even the supposedly “pluralist” term of Herbert Docena in 2001 called for a boycott as a means to amplify the clamor for former President Joseph Estrada’s resignation. The Martial Law period, meanwhile, exemplified such interventionist tradition in the institution as writers went from simple writing to active organizing. Inevitably, the publication’s history is inex-tricably linked with the ruptures occurring within the turmoil of a society in perpetual crisis as well as within the student movement itself.

Constantly, the Collegian stretches the boundaries of above-ground resistance to dis-turb the hollow and illusory peace rendered by the status quo.

And for 85 years and counting, the Collegian will continue to do so without apologies.

The pages of

newsprint a UP

student holds

every week

are the result

of material

contradictions

occurring inside

and outside the

boundaries of

the University

as well as

within the very

walls of the

Collegian office

T h e P h i l i p p i n e Co l l e g i a n a n d 8 5 Ye a r s w i t h o u t A p o l o g i e s

PhiliPPine Collegian | MiyerKules 13 Hun 07

TUmiNDi ANg mAkA-DAyUHANg ORyeNTASyON SA eDUkASyON SA kASAlUkUyAN

kuro-kuro sa kinuhang kursocandice anne lucas Reyes

up workers... frOM P.5BalisongMelane a. Manalo

PiNAkA–mAPA–

NgANiB SA lAHAT

ANg...HiNDi kUmAWAlA

SA PANSA-RiliNg mgA SUliRANiN, NA BAHAgi

Ng HigiT NA mAlAkiNg kASiRAAN

SA liPUNAN

Hindi tunay na mabigat ang pinag-uusapan namin ng aking labintat-long-taong kapatid nang sabihin ko ito: “Huwag ka ngang magpa-

paniwala basta-basta sa sinasabi sa iyo. Pagdating ng araw na malalaman mong mali pala ang mga iyan, at paniwalang-paniwala ka na, ikaw rin ang pinakamahihirapang hindi na maniwala.”

Dalawang oras at kalahati at isandaan apatnapu’t anim na piso ang magugugol kung uuwi ako sa amin sa Batangas mula rito sa Maynila. Masuwerte ang Batangas, patuloy ang pag-unlad. Lagi itong kasama sa limang nangungunang lalawigan sa Pilipinas sa human development index ng UN, dahil marami umano ang batang na-kapag-aaral dito, mataas ang kita nito kung itatambal sa kanyang malaking populasyon, at mahaba ang buhay ng mga tao.

Ngunit sa lahat ng ikinapalad ng Batangas, wala nang mas ikapagpapasal-amat pa kaysa sa tila paglampas dito ng matinding pananalanta ng kalikasan. O baka ang Bulkang Taal ang tanging hini-hintay nito, na may kakayanang bumura sa mga karatig-bayan anumang oras? Ang totoo, iba pala ang anyo ng lavang unti-un-ting nagbabaon sa panutsa, kapeng barako, at balisong.

Sa bandang kanluran, naroon ang Haci-enda Looc, na gaya sa ibang malalawak na pataniman ay hindi patas ang ugnayan ng may-ari at mga magsasaka. Hindi naman tiyak ang relokasyon sa mga mamamayan ng ilang barangay sa Lipa na masasakop ng proyektong riles ng tren. Buo na umano ang planong magtayo ng mga komersyal na panirahan sa paligid ng mismong Lawa ng Taal. Malaon na rin palang nagaganap sa lalawigan ang hindi maipaliwanag na pag-kawala at pagpatay sa namumuno sa mga

mangingisda at magsasaka, at pananakot ng militar sa mga komunidad.

Sa pagkaalam nito isang linggo pa lamang, nahihirapan akong tanggaping nalinlang ako ng ilusyon ng kapayapaan at kaunlaran na siyang pagkakilala ko sa aming lalawigan. Higit pa rito, muli kong naisip na hindi ko makakaharap ang mga taga-Batangas na nagbahagi ukol sa kanilang ka-lagayan kung: hindi ako sumama sa dalaw

doon ng Philippine Collegian, hindi ako sumali sa Collegian bilang manunulat ng balita, at sa dulo, kung hindi ko pini-ling sa UP mag-aral.

Dito sa UP, sam-pung taon ng pag-aaral sa mababa at mataas na paaralan ang kalaban ng apat o limang taon, na b u b u u i n n g m g a babasahin, sulatin,

at pananaliksik sa loob at labas ng ak-latan. Kaya nga, pinakamahirap ang unang taon dito. Nakapapagod at nakalilito ang pagharap sa maraming mapagpipiliang paniniwala at pagtingin sa tao at kanyang kapaligiran. Dumating ang araw na natuk-lasan nating marami, kung hindi man lahat, sa inaakalang unawa at alam na natin ang hindi pa pala.

Gaya ng karangalan ang paggamit ng Fil-ipino, sa kabila ng pagpapakilala sa Ingles bilang wikang higit na dapat matutunan. Na hindi regalo ng ibang bansa ang hanap-buhay sa call center kundi paraan upang makatipid sila sa pasahod sa manggagawa. Na walang balitang makasasabing “panig sa katotohanan” dahil maraming paraan

ng paglalahad nito. Na ang mga tunay na bayani ay ang hindi natin gaanong kilala. Na nakasandig sa mayayaman at makakapang-yarihan ang mga pinaniniwalaan natin, gaya ng batas at katarungan, relihiyon, kagandahan, at tama o mali.

Sa isang banda, maituturing nating mapalad tayong nasa UP, na nabibigyan ng pagkakataong lumagpas sa nakasanayan, lumabas sa pagkakulong ng kaisipan sa silid-aralan, tumimbang sa mga nangyayari sa lipunan, at makisama sa nakararaming mamamayan. Ngunit nagkakamali tayo kung iisipin nating sapat na para rito ang pagpasok araw-araw at pagkakita sa Oblation. Nasa pagpili natin ito ng pagka-kaabalahang gawain at kasasangkutang samahan dito sa pamantasan.

Lalo na sa mga bago sa UP, susubukan mo rin bang sumali sa Collegian, o iba pang pahayagang pang-mag-aaral, at sumulat ukol sa kababayang hindi nabibigyang-pansin? Sa mga samahang nagsusulong ng karapatan ng kabataan, kababaihan, mahihirap, at kapwa mag-aaral? Sa nagsa-sagawa ng mga pag-aaral ukol sa ikagagaan ng pamumuhay sa ating bansa?

O sa mga samahang walang pinaninin-digan at naglalayon lamang ng pagkita at kasiyahan? O mag-aral lamang?

Sabi nga, may panganib anuman ang gawin natin. Ngunit pinakamapanganib sa lahat ang piliing manatili sa sulok, tanggapin kaagad ang mga katotohanang inihaharap sa atin, at hindi kumawala sa pansariling mga suliranin, na bahagi ng higit na malaking kasiraan sa lipunan. Taglay ang bukas na kaisipan at matali-nong pagpapasiya, tutugon tayo sa akti-bong pakikisangkot na hinihingi ng ating panahon.

Communication at iba pa. Sa paggawa ng tesis, karaniwang pinapaksa ang mga natatanging usapin at aspeto ng lipunan at pinagsasama ang dalawang disiplina sa iisang pag-aaral. Binuo ang kursong ito upang ipagpatuloy ang pagsusulong ng maka-Pilipinong adhikain na nagtataguyod ng makabayang kamalayan tungo sa maka-buluhang pagbabago sa lipunan.

Nakababahala na sa nalalapit kong pag-tatapos ay tatlong taon na palang walang kumukuha ng Araling Pilipino (Philippine Studies) sa UPCAT, isama na ang BA Filipino na unti-unti na ring paubos ang mga estudyanteng kumukuha. Kung uu-gatin, maaaring sabihing wala nang may interes na mag-aral nito; ngunit ang kawalan ng interes na ito ang mas dapat pagtuunan ng pansin.

Tumindi ang maka-dayuhang oryen-tasyon sa edukasyon sa kasalukuyan. Kailangang kumita, kailangang sumikat, kailangang yumaman, kailangang abutin ang mga pangarap at higit sa lahat, kai-langang umalis ng bansa. Ang sagot ay ang pagpili ng pinaka-“globally competitive” na kurso o iba pang kurso na mas sigurado ang trabaho. Walang masama sa pangan-gailangang kumita o pag-abot ng mga pangarap, ngunit laging nasasakripisyo rito ang tunay na interes ng estudyante, lalo

na ang napipilitan na lamang dala ng ka-kaunting trabaho at maliit na pasahod dito. Dulot nito ang kakulangan natin mismo ng mga magigiting na doktor, nars, guro, inhinyero, at iba pang mga propesyunal na pinanghahawakan pa rin ang paniniwala sa pagbabago kaya nananatili rito.

Wala pa akong nabalitaang nagtapos ng Araling Pilipino na walang napala sa buhay. Karamihan sa kanila ay nagtuturo sa iba’t ibang pamantasan at high school o nakapaglunsad na ng sariling aklat dito sa

bansa. Kung patuloy na mawawala ang interes sa Filipino courses sa UP, isa itong malaking b a n t a n a m a a a r i n g hindi na umunlad pa ang pag-aaral sa sarili

nating wika, panitikan, kultura at lipunan. Isa itong manipestasyon ng pagtindi ng maka-dayuhang katangian ng sistema ng edukasyon.

Malapit na akong magtapos ng BA Araling Pilipino. Hindi ko pinagsisisihan ang pagpili sa kursong ito at lalong hindi ako naniniwalang walang mangyayari sa akin, pagkat tayo ang mapagpasya kung nais nating may mangyari sa atin. Kanya-kanyang desisyon ang pagpili ng kurso. Hiling ko lamang ay matiyak ng bawat isa kung para kanino magsisilbi paglabas ng UP nating mahal.

Nab a n g g i t m i n s a n n g i s a n g katatanggap pa lamang sa Kulê na ginusto niyang kunin ang kur-song BA Araling Pilipino. Ang

kaso, gusto ng nanay niya na mag-Special Education siya dahil wala raw mangyayari sa kanya sa Araling Pilipino. Dagli akong sumagot na, “So, wala palang mangyayari sa’kin?”

Pinakamahalagang bahagi ng buhay kolehiyo ang pagpili ng kurso. Mula pa lamang sa salitang “kurso” na nangan-gahulugang landas o daan na babagtasin, nangangailangang masiguro sa sarili na may patutunguhan ka.

Ngunit paano nga kung maraming nag-sasabi na sa kursong kinuha mo ay walang mangyayari sa’yo? ‘ Yan ang paulit-ulit na ibinabatong komento sa akin sa tuwing sasagot ako na “ BA Araling Pilipino” ang kinukuha ko ngayon. Lagi’t lagi ring kinakailangan kong ipaliwanag kung ano ito.

Itinuturing na isang larangan ang Araling Pilipino na ang layon ay pagpapalawak ng kaalaman at perspektiba ng mga mag-aaral sa lipunan at kulturang Pilipino. Naiiba ito sa pagkakaroon ng pagsasanay sa metodong interdisiplinari. Nakapaloob sa mga kurso ng wika at panitikan ng Pilipinas ang unang disiplina at ang ikalawa ay maaaring mula sa Anthropology, Architecture, Art Studies, Comparative Literature, Economics, Fine Arts, Islamic Studies, Kasaysayan, Mass

Anlaki ng white

space na ito,

pakshet!Kung kaya mong punan ang

kakulangan sa aming buhay,

mag-apply na bilang layout

artist ng Kulê! Dala ang isang

bluebook, bolpen, sample

works at kakayahang gumamit

ng Adobe Photoshop, Page-

maker at/o InDesign, umakyat

ka na sa Kulê office sa lalong

madaling panahon!

PhiliPPine Collegian | MiyerKules 13 Hun 07

Write to us! COntACt us via snail mail or submit a soft copy to Rm. 401, Vinzons Hall, UP Diliman, Quezon City. ••• EmAIL us kule0708@gmail.com. Save Word attachments in Rich Text Format, with INBOX, NEWSCAN or CONTRIB in the subject. ••• FAx us 9818500 local 4522. Always include your full name, address and contact details. ••• InbOx We welcome questions, constructive

criticism, opinions, stands on relevant issues, and other reactions. Letters may be edited for brevity or clarity. Due to space constraints, letters must have only 400 words or less. ••• nEwsCAn Get free publicity! Send us your press releases, invitations, etc. DON’ T TYPE IN ALL CAPS and, go easy on... the punctuation!? Complete sentences only. Dnt use txt lnguage pls. Please provide a short title. Be concise, 100 words maximum. ••• COn-trIbutIOns We are open for contributed articles from student writers, subject to the approval of the Editorial Board. All submitted articles should have a maximum length of 900 words.

Call for signatures

The Free Jonas Burgos Movement calls on all our colleagues in the artists’ and writers’ circles to

manifest their support in our call to the AFP, PNP and the GMA govern-ment to double their effort in locating Jonas Joseph Burgos, son of late press freedom icon Jose “Joe” T. Burgos, who was forcefully abducted last April 28, 2007 at the Ever Gotesco Common-wealth in Quezon City.

We are humbly soliciting your sig-natures in support of our call to sur-face Jonas and all desaparecidos and demand justice for all the victims of

human rights violations of the cur -rent and previous government in our country.

We are hopeful that we would be in unison in this call. Every name counts. You count.

The full statement and other up-dates may be viewed at http://freejo-nasburgosmovement.blogspot.com. Please send your name to freejonasbur-gosmovement@yahoo.com. For more information, call 4546468.

Fr e e Jo na s B u r g o s . Fr e e a l l Desaparecidos.

Free Jonas Burgos Movement

We are rallying before the 7th Asia-Pacific Mining Confer-ence and the Asean Federation

of Mining Associations (AFMA) because we wish to protect our country, as well as other struggling countries throughout the Asia-Pacific region, from the envi-ronmental tsunami brought about by foreign mining giants.

We are not anti-mining. We believe that mining has a fundamental role in national industrialization, that it can be responsibly utilized for the people’s welfare: to meet the needs of hospitals and schools, homes and industries. Mining has its rightful place in a so-ciety where governance and science and technology are for the people, and not for corporate interests. We believe that mining can be made sustainable if pursued at a more balanced scale as opposed to the present practices of all-out mineral extraction, waste generation, and plunder.

But the kind of mining that the Ar-royo administration and the AFMA is promoting will never serve the inter-ests of the nation, nor of the majority of the toiling masses who do care for our lands and resources because they know that this is the only source of life for the people.

The kind of mining that Arroyo is rabidly promoting is based on greed, not on stewardship. It is based on a history of colonial plunder, not social change. Its overriding aim is profit, not the people’s welfare. Its primary benefi-ciaries are foreign mining giants, rather than ordinary Filipinos. Its end is to ex-tend Arroyo’s precarious rule over the country by collecting enough backers from foreign big business, at a time when majority of the Filipino people have rejected her administration.

President Arroyo, as a principal author of the Mining Act of 1995 and as an active promoter of mining liberal-ization, is guilty of treason. These poli-cies and programs practically sell the country’s remaining mineral reserves, lands and waterways to foreigners. These are pursued at the expense of grave ecological destruction, threats to the people’s health and livelihood, and dubious economic gains. When local communities oppose these foreign mining projects, the state uses its own military forces, the arms which are sup-posed to protect the Filipino people - to intimidate, threaten, or even kill.

The entry of the world’s largest mining

mining for the people, not for profittransnational corporations (TNCs) into the Philippines with the full backing of the Arroyo administration will bring this country into a state of calamity and will unleash an environmental tsunami that would engulf the people in a tide of unparalleled hardship.

Many of these mining giants en-couraged by the government to invest in the Philippines, such as BHP Billiton and Anglo-American, are notorious in other countries for their role in grave environmental disasters, spotty human rights records, and anti-labor histories.

BHP Billiton, the world’s largest mining company which is eyeing a multi-million dollar nickel project in Pujada, Davao Oriental, faces a $4 billion class suit by the people of Papua New Guinea. For two decades, it dumped 80,000 tons of mine tailings filled with toxic heavy metals such as lead directly into the Fly and Ok Tedi rivers, ruining the livelihoods of the people, poisoning forests, and contam-inating river systems. Anglo-American, the fourth largest mining company in the world, paid its South African laborers the world’s lowest wages and was named as one of the main toxic lead polluters in North America. Now, it has numerous mining operations in the Cordillera and Mindanao, some of which have been even classified by the government as “priority projects”.

We do not want this to happen in the Philippines. Certainly, we do not want these foreign mining giants to unleash its greed for profit and replicate the same human rights violations, anti-labor practices, health hazards, and environmental degradation here.

We resolve to unite against the presence of plunderous foreign mining firms and their collaborators in local governance and industry. We will struggle on until the Filipino people as well as all other mining-affected communities throughout the region will be able to forge a mining policy that will truly benefit the toiling masses of all lands.

Foreign mining TNCs out of Asia!Scrap the Mining Act of 1995!Defend our patrimony, promote a

Peoples’ Mining Policy!Defend Patrimony alliance

Kalikasan-People’s Network for the Environmentwww.kalikasan.org

theater... frOM P.5

Send in your opinions and feedback via SMS! Type: KULE <space> YOUR MESSAGE <space> STUDENT NUMBER (required), NAME and COURSE (optional) and send them to:

0915.310.8640Non-UP students must indicate

any school, organizational or sectoral affiliation. WARNING: We don’t entertain textmates.

NexT Week’S qUeSTiONS:1. Ano’ng masasabi mo sa unang isyu ng Kulê?2. May angas ka ba sa dorm admission?

DUP’S “PASyON” iN JUly & AUgUST

for its 32nd theatre season, Dulaang UP

stages “ang pasyon ni Kristo.”

Based on the Wakefield Cycle of 32

Mystery Plays, “pasyon” retells the Pas-

sion of the Christ – from His baptism in

the river Jordan up to His resurrection.

Mystery Plays presenting Biblical sto-

ries were first performed in europe over

700 years ago, usually in mid June on

the feast of Corpus Christi. the name

“mystery” play comes from an old french

word (mystere) for the Guilds, or union of

craftsmen, workers and laborers, which

financed and mounted the plays. the

plays were collectively called a Mystery

Cycle because they were performed in a

sequence beginning with God’s creation

of the world and ending with God at the

end of the world on Judgment Day.

Directed by tony Mabesa from the

filipino translation by Jon Lazam, “ang

pasyon ni Kristo” stars romnick Sarmenta

as Jesus Christ and Stella Cañete as the

Virgin Mary. More information on the

production and cast are available at 433-

7840 (Dulaang UP) or 981-8500 loc. 2449

(UP trunkline) or 09192160440 (BJ Borja,

Production Manager).“pasyon” runs July

18-29 and August 8-12 at the Wilfrido

Ma. Guerrero theater, 2nd floor. , Palma

Hall.

fROm THe UNiveRSiTy STUDeNT COUNCil

All dormers are invited to share their

opinions on the latest issues and air griev-

ances in the USC Dorm tour, 7pm on June

21, 26, 28 and July 3.

Calling all student councils! All Lead-

ers’ Conference, 5pm on June 21 at the

USC office.

w r I t E r sBring two bluebooks, a pen, and a portfolio of sample works (may be submitted later). You may join News, Features, or Kultura. Filipino and/or Eng-lish writers welcome.

A r t I s t sSubmit a portfolio of your works (to be returned, don’t worry). Illustrators, bring bond paper and art materials of your choice. Photographers, web staff and layout artists, bring two bluebooks and a pen.

Exams may be taken anytime at the Kulê office, Room 401, Vinzons Hall. Freshies are most welcome! For questions, text Jerrie 0920.308.2303 or email kule0708@gmail.com

J o I N T h e P h I l I P P I N e C o l l e G I A N !

Tapos na ang eleksyon pero nangangampanya pa rin kami.

Nagagandahan ka ba sa kuhang ito? Kung hindi, mag-apply na bilang star photographer ng Philippine Collegian! Magdala ng portfolio, bluebook at bolpen at umakyat sa Silid 401 Vinzons Hall. Hanapin si Alanah o Candice. Kung oo, pwede ka pa rin namang mag-apply.

Be a star!

PhiliPPine Collegian | MiyerKules 13 Hun 07

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Unang Sabak ng ePak!ana kumirina

shumusta naman ang mga friendivams natin matapos ang maharbang vacation na sing-harba ng the sisters Karamazov ay the brothers pala.

haha! ang darmi kong chika por awl op yu kaya humanda kayo.

mmDA gAlORehabang perking-

perky ang jusapan ng mga utaw sa loob ng vans na fafly pa-jur-tangas ay pinara ang mga ito ng dalawang mmda motorists along lirbis! balak pa yatang i-outshine ng mga alagad ni juyan-ing Fernando ang ss-

boys ng upam! gaaawd! sa di masenz na dahilan, pinara at inintriga ang hottie drivers ng vans na sinasakyan ng team kule! nafelt lang nilang colo-rum ang aming vans kaya naman pinatigil kami sa gilid ng daan at jinenterrogate nang fatally! mabuti na lang charming akey kaya wit naman sila pumalag.

STRiCTly fOR iRANiANS ONlynakakalerker ang grand luncheon with iranian

guests kung saan umattack ang mardarming uth-rell! pagkashopos ng maonggal at di masyadong bet na talk, nawindang na lang ang mga utaw nang palarbasin lahat ng mga pinoy at mag-coconvene daw among themselves ang iranian guests! imagine ang mga nawafaaaz na pezlak ng mga pinoy! por dat nagsumigaw na lang ang mga utrez bilang di nila kineri ang pagtaboy sa kanila sa sariling teritoryo.

kAgARgARHANWiz lang talaga bet at maka-utaw ang dormi-

tory proposals nitong si betsy la fea! ansakit sa bangs! parang nagising na lang s’ya at naisipang ipasara ang narra residence hall! Kalerker di-veyn? shumusta naman ang mga residente anez? at bilang gaga lang talaga si kumarzie, nung tinanong s’ya tungkol sa futureth ng narra, ay ateng, wiz n’ya raw knowslayn!

‘yan na muna. may bet na umattack sa opis! byers! D

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PhilippineCollegian nº 01Miyerkules 13 hun 2007

UP in the Face of

Privatization

glenn l. Diaz

Crystal is an incoming freshman, a behavioral science major, at the University of the Philip-pines (UP) in Manila. When her

matriculation fees reached P21,780, her parents were taken aback. It simply was not the amount they were expecting to pay for a supposedly subsidized educa-tion.

In the private Univer-sity of Santo Tomas, the same 18-unit load trans-lates to around P24,300. The almost negligible difference between the two amounts is telling. Indeed, fundamentally parallel decisions by the UP administration and the Commission on Higher Education (CHED), among a host of other factors, have blurred the distinc-tion between UP and private educational institutions.

show them the moneyIn December last year, the Board of

Regents, UP ’s highest policy-making body, approved a 300 percent “adjust-ment” in tuition and other fees. Its pro-ponents cited inflation as the primary motivation behind it. They argued that the P300 per unit cost, first applied in 1989, is only worth P98 today. Following the same logic, UP tuition rates will also hike annually based on the infla-tion rate.

In a BOR meeting in January, UP Presi-dent Emerlinda Roman admitted that UP “didn’t increase tuition just to break even or earn a dismal five million.” The policy is expected to earn P103 million to P154 million annually for UP.

Meanwhile, in February, CHED sus-pended its Memorandum (CMO) 14,

issued in 2005, which imposed a ceiling on tuition hikes based on the prevailing inflation rate. Instead, CHED re-imple-mented CMO 13, which was issued in 1998, that revoked the limit. This effectively gave the green light for private colleges and uni-versities to indiscriminately raise tuition and other fees. Not surprisingly, CHED permitted 88 schools shortly thereafter to jack up their rates.

The Coordinating Council of Private Educational Associations (COCOPEA), the largest consortium of private schools in the country, said the “unreasonable restriction” that is the tu-ition cap “endanger(s) the economic survival of pri-vate schools.” In addition, it “deprives the schools of the much needed rev-enues” which it calls its

“lifeblood.”Clearly, the underlying rationale behind

the two decisions is unmistakably iden-tical: income generation. And while private schools are often admittedly guilty of this attribute, it is an entirely new direc-tion for a state university such as UP to take.

access deniedNational Union of Students of

the Philippines (NUSP) National President Marco de los Reyes de-scribed economic reasons for -warded by private schools as “ironic.” To illustrate, from 1997 to 2002, the av-erage cost of one unit increased by 36 percent from P257.41 to P350.27. In the same period, college enrolment fell from a 6.47 percent growth rate to -2.80 percent in 2002. In other words, in trying

to boost revenue by tuition hikes, private schools actually experience fiscal setbacks as it loses more students due to exorbi-tant fees. When enrolment consequently drops, schools are once again compelled to increase tuition accordingly to cope with the loss.

In state colleges and universities, the situation is no less promising. In 1997, enrolment in public schools posted a mas-sive 20.75 percent growth. In 2002, while overall enrolment dropped by 1.58 percent, enrolment in public schools still posted a dismal 0.90 percent increase. This figure is attributed to the transfer of students from private to public schools when faced with exorbitant fees. Aside from transferring, the other and more prominent option is dropping out.

CHED puts the college drop out rate currently at 20 to 22 percent. Among these, 30.8 percent come from poor families, while 16.8 from non-poor families, while the rest are from middle-wage earners.

palace interventionConstrained by the tuition

hike ceiling provided in CMO 14, COCOPEA promised

its members that it would exhaust all available resources

to circumvent it. It then tried to arrange a meeting between

the CHED commis-sioner and President Arroyo. Two weeks

later, CHED suspended the tuition cap and in

an internal memo, the consortium said

it was the presi-dent herself w h o “ t o o k the initiative”

and exerted pressure on

CHED to suspend CMO 14 and revert to CMO 13.

In UP ’s case, Roman similarly pointed to government neglect as another major motivation for the tuition increase. She argued that UP simply could not wait “for the miracle of state subsidy” to come. According to the UP administration’s primer on the tuition hike, “not only do we not get this (state subsidy), but what we do receive is proportionally lower than the previous year’s budget.” Fur-thermore, Roman believes that tertiary education is not a constitutionally-pro-tected right, anyway.

In addition, the UP tuition hike seems to be aligned with Arroyo’s Long Term Higher Educational Plan and other state policies, which are geared to reduce the number of state-run educational institu-tions and consequently state subsidy to education.

spot the differenceThese factors such as the drive to gen-

erate profit, the restrictive character, and Palace involvement have indeed made it difficult to differentiate UP from private schools.

UP Student Regent Terry Ridon even claimed that there is no more distinction between the two. “ The tuition hike dis-mantled the concept of the state univer-sity as being subsidized by the state,” he said. “UP is now a private school under the management of the government.”

Meanwhile, to make matters worse for Crystal and her family, UP does not have a scheme that allows deferred payments through installments, which is typically available in private schools. The picture is clearly drawn: like Crystal’s, fewer and fewer families today are able to af-ford the cost of tertiary instruction. And attempts to seek refuge via state-sub-sidized education simply do not make sense anymore.

fACTORS SUCH AS THe DRive TO geNeRATe PROfiT, THe ReSTRiCTive CHARACTeR AND PAlACe iNvOlvemeNT HAve mADe iT DiffiCUlT TO DiffeReNTiATe U.P. fROm PRivATe SCHOOlS

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