THE OFFICIAL STUDENT PUBLICATION OF THE UNIVERSITY OF THE PHILIPPINES LOS BAÑOS

NEWSSR vows systemwide supportpage 2

CULTURE How (not) to get lost in UPLB page 8

FEATURESTracing the roots of dissentpage 7

V O L U M E 3 5ISSUE 1

A u g u s t 1 , 2 0 0 8

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LIFELINES:Relieving a dying nation with band-aid solutions

Along mercury drug stores, people can be noticed lining up with the hope that Go Bingo Cards will alter their fates. These lines seem to be the mirror image of the only hope left in the hands of most Filipinos nowadays.

The prices of commodities especially rice and oil create their line in the graphs of the economy and industries— a line that has recently been sloping steeply upward.

FALL IN LINEUnder a sea of umbrellas, young and old mostly from urban

communities line up sweating in expectation of the NFA rice that is cheaper than commercial rice.

“There is rice shortage”—this has been claimed by the administration as reason for the hike in rice prices.

According to the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), rice prices are likely to keep rising for some time as production of the popular cereal fails to keep up with soaring demand.

Dr. Robert Zeigler, director general of IRRI, said the Philippines has secured import supplies from Vietnam and other countries last April. The Kyodo News agency also reported that Japan plans to send 200,000 metric tons of rice from its stock as emergency exports to the Philippines. Zeigler added that if ever our country experienced problems in importing rice, it could consider crops such as kamote and gabi as alternatives.

IRRI trustees stressed that the issue is mainly on “rice-price crisis” not “rice shortage.” Problems on the food budget among households nowadays, IRRI believes, are caused by the soaring prices of rice.

The rice industry also stumbled upon hoarding among rice producers. According to an article published in the Philippine Daily Inquirer (PDI), Central Mindanao, which is one of the regions that used to be a leading source of rice, faced the problem of such hoarding. Main rice producers argued that they are just securing their business.

The administration tries to fulfill rice sufficiency plans for the next years in order to realize their responsibility amid rice price problems today.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo announced a P43.7-billion Fertilizer, Irrigation and Infrastructure, Extension, Loans, Dryers and other post-harvest and post-production facilities, and Seeds (FEEDS) program, which they claim to be a support package for the agriculture sector aimed at food security. Later, the government showed this complementary Rice Self-sufficiency Plan with the intention of boosting local rice yield that would match the country’s consumption by 2010.

United Opposition spokesperson Adel Tamano, however, expected the government to do what is needed rather than continue resorting rice imports from abroad and long-term food security plan.

Another article from PDI states that the Philippines is one of the world’s top rice importers and it has been struggling to secure sufficient rice supply in the face of rising commodity prices. However, this particular problem is not only prevalent in our country but all over the world, sparking violent protests in other countries such as Haiti and Egypt.

Meanwhile, the National Food Authority (NFA) is providing additional stocks to accommodate the long line of people who cannot afford to buy commercial rice because of inflation.

According to Anna Paje, BS Development Communication ’08, the increase in the price of rice truly affected her family. “Problema talaga siya. Kahit kasi sa bahay, nakikita ko ‘yung parents ko na nag-aargue pa sila kung sa’n bibili; pipila pa ba para sa NFA rice o dun na lang sa mahal? Kasi tinitingnan din namin kung worth it ba kung pipila pa para sa mura,” she said.

LIBERTY NOTARTE

FEATURES

Lifelines...ON PAGE 6

HODGE

HP PODGE

OPINIONPaano tumawid sa isang ilogpage 14

PUMP(ED UP) PRICE. Oil prices continue to escalate togetherwith other commodities such asrice and electricity --forcing the masses to further tighten their belts.

PHOTO FAITH ALLYSON BUENACOSA

NEWSVOLUME 35 | ISSUE 1 | August 1, 2008UPLB Perspective 3NEWS UPLB Perspective2 VOLUME 35 | ISSUE 1 | August 1, 2008

USC, orgs decry campus repression

Campus repression may not be a pleasant greeting, but the Student Regent (SR) has to deal with it.

During her first consultation with UPLB students, SR Shahana Abdulwahid was greeted with campus repression issues which include the delayed University Student Council (USC)-College Student Council (CSC) elections, late appointment of the UPLB Perspective Editor in Chief (EIC), new mode of payment in some university dormitories, alleged policy disallowing students from using university facilities beyond 7 p.m., and tambayan phaseout.

The SR consultation was part of the Council of Student Leaders meeting held on July 1 at the Makiling Ballroom Hall, Student Union Building.

NO ELECTIONS STILLRegarding the delayed USC-CSC

elections, Abdulwahid commented that the USC-CSC elections “should be done as soon as possible.”

The UPLB administration, through the Office of Student Affairs (OSA), has already decided that the 1978 version must be upheld despite contentions

from the USC, CSCs, and a number of student organizations (See related article on page 12).

USC Chairperson Leo ‘XL’ Fuentes said student representation suffers with the delay of the USC-CSC elections. He added that Cuevas has already given the incumbent USC and CSCs until the end of July to stay in office. Cuevas, however, denied giving any ultimatum.

LATE APPOINTMENTPerspective EIC Christian Ray

Buendia received his appointment from the Office of the Chancellor only last July 2, instead of last summer. His appointment was delayed due to his late response to Chancellor Luis Rey Velasco’s inquiry if the Perspective has been publishing financial statements of the USC.

Buendia claimed, however, that the Perspective Charter does not state that the publication of the USC financial statement has any bearing on the appointment of the EIC.

He said that the USC’s financial statement “must not be used as a leverage” to delay his appointment. During the consultation, Buendia sought the support of student organizations in defending their right to

information.Abdulwahid, meanwhile, expressed

alarm on this issue. “Sa palagay ko, isa talaga siyang (late appointment) malaking uri ng represyon sa student movement dito sa UPLB,” said Abdulwahid.

NOT LATER THAN 7 P.M.Another issue raised was the

policy allegedly disallowing student organizations to use facilities for activities beyond 7 p.m. (see related article on page 4).

Abdulwahid stressed that a consultation with students must be held first before imposing such a policy.

“Dapat kasi may proper consultation. Hindi pwedeng magbaba ang admin ng mga ganitong directives nang hindi napapakinggan ‘yung concerns ng mga students,” she said. She also stated that imposing such a policy deprives organizations of a venue to develop since their chances of conducting more activities will be limited.

PAY (IN FULL) AS YOU ENTERResidents of Makiling Residence

Hall (MAREHA) and Forestry Residence Hall (FOREHA) face a new mode of

payment by paying fees per semester instead of paying on a monthly basis since the semester started.

MAREHA and FOREHA dormers have until the end of July to settle their fees for the whole semester; otherwise, the dorm management will ask them to leave their respective dormitories, Fuentes related. MAREHA dormers will have to pay Php 1,406 while FOREHA dormers will pay Php 1,408.40 to be safe from being “displaced,” according to Nikko Macalintal, a MAREHA dormer.

Abdulwahid said the UPLB administration has the power to decide on the changes on the mode of payment. If additional fees are to be collected, the approval of the BOR must be secured.

Fuentes, meanwhile, said the imposition of the new system of payment “might be a problem for some dormers since not all are capable of paying the fees in full.”

NO SPACE FOR ORgSAfter student organizations based

in the Institute of Biological Sciences experienced relocation of tambayan last semester, other student organizations have also registered complaints on the administration’s rule regarding their tambayan.(See related article on page 3).

Abdulwahid said the tambayan phaseout is not an isolated case as it also happens in other UP units. “May mga natatanggap din tayong reports from other UP units na pinapatanggal ang mga tambayan ng mga orgs from their designated places dahil eye sore daw sila,” she said.

She related that the UP administration has a proposal requiring student organizations to raise funds if they want to acquire their own tambayan.

SYSTEMWIDE SUPPORT

Abdulwahid said she is saddened that UPLB students are faced with these issues despite the university’s celebration of its centenary. She stood firm, however, in claiming that the OSR will continue to support the students and will tap the Katipunan ng mga Sangguniang Mag-aaral sa UP or KASAMA sa UP, the sole alliance of student councils in the UP system, to launch intensified campaign against campus repression in UPLB.[P]

Karen Lapitan

SR vows systemwide support

‘BONSAI-LIKE BEAUTY.’This marker replaces the tambayan of the Beta Kappa Fraternity and Beta Kappa Sigma Sorority, which previously was the benefactor of the shade given by the tree referred to by the inscription.

PHOTO MARK VINCENT BARACAO

BELEAGUERED.Various student issues welcome Student Regent Shahana Abdulwahid in her first consultation with students of UPLB last July 1 at the Makiling Ballroom Hall.

UPLB ginunita...SA PAHINA 11

Harriet Melanie A. Zabala

UPLB welcomes centennial freshiesUPLB greeted the UP Centennial

batch of New Freshmen (NF) last June 18 with a string of activities that showcased the university’s homegrown talents, introduced the administrative officials and student leaders, and showed the freshmen the benefits and duties of being an Iskolar ng Bayan.

To start the day with a healthy breakfast, student organizations, fraternities, and sororities prepared meals intended for NF during the “AlmOSAlan” organized by the Students Organization and Activities Division (SOAD).

An Opening Convocation was then held at the Baker Hall where the NF were oriented with the things they have to know in the university. Chancellor Luis Rey Velasco and UP system Vice President Amelia Guevarra gave their messages to the NF.

At 4 p.m., an intracampus parade

UP being the leading university in the country and the university’s nationalistic orientation.

Before the end of the parade, University Student Council (USC) Vice Chairperson Charisse Bernadine Bañez also gave a message in behalf of Student Regent Shahana Abdulwahid. She encouraged the NF to be faithful to the Filipino people to whom they “ought to serve”.

“Mataas na ang presyo ng bigas, langis at iba pang mga bilihin, [kaya] bilang mga bagong Iskolar ng Bayan, kilalanin natin kung sino talaga ang nagpapaaral sa atin,” she said.

FROM THE PARTICIPANTSThe NF expressed their gratitude to the

people behind this activity.Meryl Regine Algodon, BS Applied

Physics ’08, said, “Nakakaoverwhelm kasi noong una, kinakabahan pa ako pero okay naman pala, masaya, [and I’m] proud to be here.”

Another freshman, Aga Vincent Dominador, BS Development Communication, said the event made him feel what college life actually is.

On the other hand, the upperclassmen also expressed positive comments regarding the event.

Fara Faye Regis, a member of the Veterinary Students Achievers Society said “I’m quite surprised with what happened because unang beses lang ‘yung parade. If I would be one of the freshmen, I’ll be overwhelmed.”

“Very successful kasi maraming nagparticipate lalo na doon sa parade,” Jaet Dolor, SOAD Head, added.

SOAD organized the said event, in cooperation with SOAD volunteers, GABAY volunteers, the USC, College Student councils and student organizations. [P]

After the tambayan of student organizations based in the Institute of Biological Sciences (IBS) were ‘evicted’ last February, another case of tambayan removal welcomed a student organization with the opening of the semester this academic year.

REPLACED BY A HERITAgE TREEThe tambayan of the Beta Kappa

Fraternity and Beta Kappa Sigma Sorority in front of CAS Annex 1 building (formerly New CAS building) was removed last June to give way to the “12 UPLB Heritage Trees,” one of UPLB administration’s UP Centennial activity. Today, a marker with an inscription stating ‘bonsai-like beauty’ is seen in place of the tambayan.

The UPLB Heritage Tree Committee of the UPLB administration spearheaded the said project.

The Beta Kappa Fraternity and Beta Kappa Sigma Sorority, however, protests on the administration’s action.

“Hindi na kinonsult ang mga estudyante. ‘Yung mga ginagawa nilang (administrasyon) represyon sa estudyante ay ‘di tama,” said Mic Ivan Sumilang, a Beta Kappa fraternity member.

Sumilang said they were not warned that their tambayan will be removed. As of press time, the fraternity is using the CAS Annex I building steps as their temporary tambayan.

“Karapatan naman namin talaga sa pagkakatanggal noon (tambayan) na malaman before, magkaroon man lang sana kami ng notice,” Sumilang added.

On the other hand, Dr. Arlene Saniano, building administrator of CAS Annex I building, claimed that the university administration, not the CAS administration, was responsible for the removal of the tambayan. Though the fraternity was not considered a CAS-based organization, its members were still given a copy of the rules regarding tambayan.

Dr. Saniano said, however, that the fraternity and sorority failed to attend the meeting called by the CAS administration regarding a “tambayan contract” last semester.

“REMOVABLE” TAMBAYANEven before the relocation of the

tambayan in the IBS, the tambayan of the UP Human Ecology Student Society (UP HESS) in front of the College of Human Ecology (CHE) building was already removed last September 2007.

“Nagpaalam kami sa dean (Dr. Sue Liza Saguiguit) namin kung pwede kaming magtayo ng tambayan doon. Ang naging usapan, sige magtayo kayo ng tambayan doon as long as it is removable,” Mitz Bernardo, BS Nutrition’04 and member of UP HESS, said.

Bernardo stressed that the CHE administration will only allow tambayan to be set up in front of the CHE building as long as it can be removed after 5 p.m. daily.

On the other hand, Dr. Benjamin Bartolome, CHE professor and university landscaping committee head, said, “bawal talaga dito sa CHE ang tambayan. Kaya sila nandito [ay] para mag-aral at hindi para tumambay at magkwentuhan maghapon.”

According to Dr. Saguiguit, the organization from CHE can only set up tambayan if their organization can raise funds for constructing a gazebo that amounts to Php 80,000.

“Ipasa daw sa org namin ang pagpapatayo ng ganitong facility for the college. Ayos lang sana kung limang libo ‘yun,” Bernardo added.

Subsequent to the series of dialogues with the IBS administration, the tambayan

of student organizations based in the IBS building were relocated to the Student Union (SU) building last February 25.

The administration said the position of the tambayan, which blocks the passageways of the IBS building, is in violation of Section 9 of the Fire Code of the Philippines, which states that “exit ways [of buildings] should be free from obstruction.”

USC’S SUPPORTArbeen Acuña, University Student

Council (USC) Councilor, said the removal of the tambayan is a direct attack to the students’ right to organize.

“Mahigpit pa rin naming kinokundena ang kawalan ng democratic consultation sa mga na-aalis na tambayan,” Acuña added.

The USC is campaigning for the restoration of the evicted tambayan as part of their “continuing fight against campus repression.” [P]

Tambayan ‘eviction’ threatens orgs anewNikko Angelo Oribiana

took place, participated in by recognized student organizations, fraternities and sororities, to serve as their courtesy call to the NF. The participants assembled at the College of Arts and Sciences Building and marched to Baker Hall where the Centennial Welcome Concert Party was held at 7 p.m.

CHALLENgE TO NEW ISkO’T ISkASome key persons in UPLB gave

messages to serve as challenge to the NF.During the AlmOSAlan, University

Student Council (USC) Chairperson Leo XL Fuentes said, “lalo na ngayon na hindi lang freshies, hindi lang ang ating unibersidad, kundi ang buong bansa ang nasasadlak sa isang krisis pampulitika, dapat silang (NF) mamulat at makibaka. Sa tatlong salita dapat silang mag-aral, maglingkod at makibaka.”

In the Welcome Convocation, Velasco said that being among the brightest

students, the NF have a big responsibility to the country because part of their tuition is subsidized by the government.

“You (the NF) should not forget that you are Iskolar ng Bayan to become Iskolar para sa Bayan,” Velasco added.

Also, Guevarra, in behalf of President Emerlinda Roman, specified Roman’s four reasons why UP is regarded as a national university, namely, geographic importance because UP campuses are almost all over the Philippines, depth and worth of UP education,

UPLB ginunita ang pagkawala nina Karen at SheRogene Gonzales ulat mula kina Liberty Notarte at Nikko Angelo Oribiana

Makalipas ang dalawang taong paghahanap sa dalawang desaparecidos, tuloy pa rin ang laban ni Linda Cadapan para sa pagpapalitaw ng kanyang anak na si Sherlyn at kasama nitong si Karen Empeño.

Ang mga desaparecidos ay mga taong sapilitang dinukot, kalimitan dahil sa mga pulitikal na motibo, na hindi pa inililitaw.

Isang gabi ng mga pangkulturang pagtatanghal na ginanap sa Humanities Steps ang inialay ng mga estudyante ng UPLB sa dalawang mag-aaral na ito ng UP upang gunitain ang kainlang pagkawala. Humigit-kumulang 80 estudyante ang dumalo rito noong ika-25 ng Hunyo.

Pinaghihinalaang dinukot ng mga miyembro ng militar sina Karen at Sherlyn habang nagsasagawa ng community immersion sa mga magsasaka ng Barangay San Miguel, Hagonoy, Bulacan noong ika-25 ng Hunyo 2006.

“Bawat segundo, hinihintay ko ang pagbalik ni Sherlyn, mayakap muli, mahagkan man lang ‘yung aking anak,”

ani Gng. Capadan na nagtapos ng kursong BS Biology dito sa UPLB.

Idinetalye ni Gng. Cadapan base sa testimonya ni Raymond Manalo, ang testigong nakatakas sa kampo ng militar makalipas ang 18 buwan ng pagkakakulong, ang pagtotorture kay Sherlyn.

Dagdag pa ni Gng. Cadapan, “May panahong hindi lang ako lumuluha dahil nasasabik kay Sherlyn ngunit para [rin] sa bayan na makamit ‘yung hustisya at mapatigil ang karahasan na ginagawa ng estado.”

Nagtapos si Sherlyn ng hayskul sa Makiling School, Incorporated at kumuha ng BS Human Kinetics sa UP Diliman. Naging miyembro siya ng konseho ng College of Human Kinetics, at ayon kay Gng. Cadapan, tatlong kurso na lamang ang kakailanganin ni Sherlyn upang makapagtapos. Samantala, si Karen Empeño ay estudyante ng BA Sociology at miyembro ng League of Filipino Students (LFS) sa UP Diliman.

Noong ika-29 ng Mayo 2007, napagdesisyunan ng Korte Suprema na bigyan ng karagdagang imbestigasyon dahil sa kakulangan ng ebidensiya ang

kaso nila Karen at Sherlyn. Ang writ of habeas corpus na isinampa ni Gng. Cadapan ay pinayagan ng korte noong ika-24 ng Oktubre 2007. Subalit bago ipinataw ang desisyon, pansamantang inilitaw si Sherlyn noong ika-11 ng Abril 2007.

“Dinala po [si Sherlyn] sa bahay ng kanyang boyfriend sa Bulacan, dahil daw po may dala-dala siyang sulat [na] nais ibigay,” kwento niya.

Subalit, ‘sing bilis ng sindi ng sigarilyo’, hindi na naiabot ni Sherlyn ang sulat dahil napansin ito ng tatlong kababaihang nagbabantay sa kanya.

Maging ang writ of amparo na hiniling ni Gng. Cadapan noong ika-24 ng Oktubre 2007 ay wala pa ring desisyon sa ngayon.

Ang writ of habeas corpus ay utos galing sa korte para sa isang indibidwal o opisyal ng gobyerno na ilabas ang taong nakakulong upang mapagdesisyonan ng korte ang kaso. Ang writ of amparo naman ay pagbibigay tulong sa mga biktima ng extrajudicial killings sa pamamagitan ng pagbibigay ng malayang pag-iimbestiga sa militar.

Ayon kay Mark Velasco, tagapagsalita

Buendia retains EIC post

Last year’s Editor in Chief (EIC) retains his post in the UPLB Perspective, leading the publication as UP celebrates its centenary.

Christian Ray Buendia, a fourth year civil engineering student, said he is set to make UPLB Perspective reaffirm its existence in the university by upholding the publication’s pro-student and pro-people tradition.

Buendia added that amid the festivities UP launches on its centenary, there are critical student’s issues to be dealt with.

“We see that this is not just an ordinary year for the publication. It is important that we give our publishers something different,” he said.

Buendia intends to make relevant articles regarding the approval of the new UP Charter and its implications, such as further increases in tuition and other fees, the ecotourism project and other commercialization and privatization schemes for education.

He sees his second term as an opportunity to disprove allegations like publishing “biases” by remaining loyal to the paper’s advocacy of advancing students’ rights and welfare and by sticking to what he says are the journalist’s weapons: truth and apt analysis. Buendia aims that Perspective this year will not only be a source of information but also a reflection of “what UP should be to its students and what students should be to UP.”

With an accumulated score of 93.36 percent in the EIC selection exam, Buendia bested four other EIC hopefuls: Mark Vincent Baracao (BA Sociology ‘06) with 89.39 percent, Arbeen Acuña (BA Communication Arts ‘04) with 86.27 percent, Rogene Gonzales (BS Development Communication ‘05) with 85.48 percent and Carlo Angelo Cruz (BS Development Communication ‘06) with 76.12 percent.

By topping this year’s exam, Buendia joins the ranks of Bayan Muna Representative Teddy Casiño and Lourie Victor, who were all able to hold two consecutive terms as EIC. Moreover, Buendia is the only student to top the EIC exam for three consecutive years,

Buendia...ON PAGE 11

Sugar Marie Baula

PHOTO RALPH SELGACENTENNIAL WELCOME.The UPLB community treats the new Isko’t Iska to a grand welcome featuring the university’s homegrown talent. Meanwhile, the University Student Council reminds them of their duty to ‘Serve the People’ amid escalating socio-economic crisis.

Pagkalipas ng dalawang taon

NEWSVOLUME 35 | ISSUE 1 | August 1, 2008UPLB Perspective 5NEWS UPLB Perspective4 VOLUME 35 | ISSUE 1 | August 1, 2008

Sa pagdiriwang ng ika-147 kaarawan ni Gat. Jose Rizal noong ika-19 ng Hunyo, nagsama-sama ang mga kabataang kinatawan ng labindalawang organisasyon sa Timog Katagalugan (TK) upang muling ipaabot sa mga kabataan ng kasalukuyang panahon ang hamon ni Rizal na “ang kabataan ang pag-asa ng bayan.”

Nagsilbing hudyat ng pag-uumpisa ng programa ang pagdating ng mga kinatawan ng Kabataang Pinoy Party,

NIkko Angelo Oribiana

Kabataan isinabuhay ang mga aral ni Rizalisang pulitikal na samahan ng mga kabataan mula sa iba’t ibang sektor sa Laguna, matapos silang manggaling sa paradang bayan na inorganisa ng Munisipyo ng Calamba.

Pinatampok sa programa ang kasalukuyang kalagayan ng edukasyon at agrikultura kasabay ng mga usapin gaya ng Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program extension at pagtaas ng matrikula at iba pang bayarin sa eskwelahan.

Bilang pagtugon umano sa mga isyung ito, binigyang buhay ng Kulturang Ugnayan Alay ng Kabataan para sa

Bayan (KULAYAN), isang organisasyon na naglalayong ipahayag ang kanilang mga hinaing sa pamamagitan ng pangkulturang pagtatanghal, ang mga aral ni Rizal tulad ng “pagmamahal sa bayan” sa pamamagitan ng mga malikhaing skit at tula.

“Dapat tingnan natin [si Rizal] bilang isang modelo kasi matanong siya, kritiko siya sa Kastila. Ngayon i-apply natin siya sa nangyayari ngayon, wala ngang mga Kastila pero nandiyan naman ang administrasyon na siyang nagpapahirap sa

atin.” Pahayag ni Marifel Geronimo ng SAKBAYAN.

Ayon naman kay Edward Lansanas mula sa Calamba Youth Organization, ang pagsama ng kanilang organisasyon sa mga programa gaya nito ay isa lamang sa maraming paraan ng pagtupad sa mensahe ni Rizal para sa mga kabataan.

Dagdag pa ni Vanesa Alporha ng Save Our Education Movement-Batangas, bilang mga kabataan ay “kailangan manghikayat ng ibang kabataan para makatulong sa ating bayan.”

Sabi naman ni Nyka Serrano ng ANAKBAYAN-UPLB, ang naganap na programa ay nagsilbing daan para maipaabot sa kinauukulan ang boses ng kabataan.

“Hindi dapat i-confine ang pag-aaral sa loob ng eskwelahan. Maging aware [tayo] sa issues na kinahaharap ng ating lipunan,” dagdag pa niya.

Para naman kay Resty Frado na naniniwala sa iba pang bayani tulad ni Andres Bonifacio, kailangan na umano nating labanan ang mapagsamantalang dayuhan at ang mga nakikipagsabwatang mga politiko na dapat ay nagbibigay ng hustisya sa ating bansa.

Sa hanay ng mga tagapag-organisa ng programa, si Pedro Santos Jr. ng ANAKBAYAN-TK ay nagpahayag na hindi man umano ganoon kalaki ang bilang ng mga dumalo sa programa, “well represented” naman umano ang iba’t ibang organisasyong pang-estudyante ng Laguna. [P]

REPSA naghapag ng mga hinaingMark Angelo Ordonio

Naging pagkakataon ang nakaraang flag ceremony nitong ika-16 ng Hunyo para sa Research, Extension and Professional Staff Association (REPSA) at All-UP Workers’ Alliance, ang alyansa ng All UP Workers Union (AUPWU) at All UP Academic Employees Union, upang iparating ang kanilang mga petisyon sa kasalukuyang administrasyon ng UP.

Ang REPSA at All-UP Workers’ Alliance ay kapwa mga sektor ng unibersidad na binibigyang pansin ang pagtataguyod ng demokratikong karapatan at mga kapakanan ng mga empleyado sa buong UP System.

Iminungkahi ni Chancellor Luis Rey Velasco ang pagkakaroon ng isang multi-sectoral forum kasama ang REPSA at All-UP Workers’ Alliance upang mapalawig at mas mapag-usapan umano ang ilang mga isyu (tignan ang sidebar).

Ngunit ayon kay Assistant to the Chancellor at Office of the Alumni Relations Director Dr. Emmanuel Rodantes Abraham, wala pang natatanggap ang administrasyon na pormal na petisyon mula sa dalawang nabanggit na grupo maliban sa impormal na pahayag ng mga ito sa naturang flag ceremony.

Gayunpaman, sa flag ceremony na iyon ipinahayag ng REPSA ang ilan sa mga hiling nito gaya ng makatarungang pagkilala sa kanilang ambag sa pagtupad ng mandato ng unibersidad, tulad ng serbisyong propesyunal.

Ayon kay UPLB REPS President Danny Mendoza, “[Ang] classification ng REPS na tinuturing ng unibersidad na parte ng academic staff [ay] parang nawala.”

Nais din nila na magkaroon ng REPS Regent sa UP Board of Regents, ang pinakamataas na tagapaglikha ng mga desisyon at polisiya ng UP, at REPS Representative sa bawat komite ng unibersidad.

Layon nilang mapasama ang kanilang sektor sa pagkakaroon ng aktibo at regular na partisipasyon sa pagbabalangkas at pagpapatupad ng mga polisiya ng unibersidad.

Isa pang mithiin ng REPS ay ang pagkakaroon ng patas na pagbabahagi ng mga benepisyo katulad ng merit promotions.

Ayon kay All UP Academic Employees Union President Ted Mendoza, ang hatian ng alokasyon para sa promotion noong 2005 ay 80 bahagdan para sa 4,500 faculty staff at 20 bahagdan lamang para sa mahigit 9,000 REPS at administrative staff.

Sinabi rin ni Ted Mendoza na mula sa mga bilang na nabanggit “makikita na parang lop-sided ang allocation.”

Ayon naman kay Danny Mendoza, hindi naging malinaw ang isyu ng merit promotions noong 2005.

Isa sa mga sinasabing dahilan nito ay ang papalit-palit na mga patakaran, na sa pagkakaalam ng REPS, sadyang hindi sapat ang pondo para sa promotions.

“Kung ang ibibigay na pondo ay talagang magkukulang, syempre iisip ng paraan ang administrators natin na

gumawa ng ibang klase ng guidelines,” dagdag pa niya.

Ayon kay Ted Mendoza, mula sa P20M na inilaan ng Department of Budget and Management para sa nakaraang promotion, P37M ang nagastos na, at nanatiling tanong ang pinagmulan ng dagdag na P17M.

Gayundin, wala pa ring kasagutan hinggil sa sinasabing hindi pagkaubos ng pera para sa merit promotions. [P]

Ang UPLB REPSA ay sumusuporta sa mga sumusunod na kahilingan na isinusulong ng All-UP Workers’ Alliance:

1.P20,000 minimum centennial bonus para sa lahat ng kawani ng UP 2. P1,700 na rice subsidy para sa bawat kawani ng UP 3.10 araw na karagdagang sick leave benefits para sa REPS at Administrative Staff 4. 50-50 na hatian ng alokasyon para sa merit proportion (50% para sa Faculty at 50% para sa REPS at Administrative Staff)

Bukod dito, mithi ng UPLB REPSA ang mga sumusunod: -Makatarungang pagkilala ng kasalukuyang administrasyon ng UP system sa ambag ng REPS sa pagtupad ng mandato ng unibersidad, partikular sa RDE at serbisyong propesyonal -Pagkakaroon ng “makabuluhan, makatarungan at malinaw na pamantayan” sa pagsuri ng REPS’ performance -Patas na pagbabahagi ng mga biyaya at benepisyo (merit promotion, rice subsidy, atbp.) -Maayos na dokumentasyon ng GSIS at PAG-IBIG membership records at UP service record -Aktibo at regular na partisipasyon sa pagbabalangkas at implementasyon ng mga polisiya ng unibersidad (magkaroon ng REPS Regent sa UP Board of Regents at REPS representative sa bawat komite ng unibersidad)

Rogene Gonzales with reports from Karen Lapitan

CDC admin restricts facility use beyond 7 p.m.The College of Development

Communication (CDC) administration is allegedly implementing a policy restricting CDC student formations and institutions from holding activities within the CDC building and using university facilities beyond 7 p.m.

Meanwhile, some students from other colleges worry that this measure is already implemented throughout the campus.

NO MEMORANDUM CDC Student Council Chairperson Arjay

Garcia said CDC Dean Cleofe Torres told the council in a consultation last July 4 that the policy’s goal is to improve security, as well as to cut on electricity expenses.

Garcia, however, pointed out the lack of student consultation prior to the implementation of the policy.

“Early this sem, nagulat ‘yung mga orgs na planong mag-conduct ng activity within the college na bawal na pala. Siyempre nagmanifest sila na nahirapan sa new policy.” he said.

He added that student organizations are discouraged from holding activities inside the building during class hours because these may disrupt classes.

Garcia said Dr. Torres even pointed out the absence of a rule allowing organizations to hold activities beyond 7 p.m. in university buildings.

“Pero wala rin namang official policy [noon] na nagsasabi na bawal maghold ng activities beyond 7 p.m.,” Garcia said.

Mark Andrianne Ng, head of UPLB Development Communicators’ Society, said that holding activities outside is less safe than inside the campus.

He related that their organization is having difficulties securing a venue for activities and even for regular meetings. The alleged policy has made them resort to intensive income generation to afford rental fees of venues outside campus.

“Hindi namin ramdam na college org kami dahil hindi kami makagalaw sa sarili naming college,” he stressed.

Garcia fears that other colleges may soon be affected by this policy. “Madalas kasi ang admin inuuna ang pag-implement ng policies sa CDC tulad na lang ng income generating projects for the UP Centennial celebration.”

LIMITED USEDr. Torres, however, declined to

comment on the issue and told Perspective to interview the college’s property custodian instead.

In an interview, CDC Property Custodian Jaime Almazan said that not only students but also faculty members and staff are affected by the rule. He confirmed that the policy was done for security reasons.

“May mga cases kasi last sem na may nawalang LCD projector pati cell phone ng estudyante at staff. Nagiging madalas sa gabi [‘yung ganitong insidente] kaya kailangang maging mahigpit [sa pagbibigay ng late permit],” he said.

He confirmed that the policy is also an energy-saving measure by the administration.

“Hindi na siya tulad ng dati na malimit [payagang ipagamit], kasi maraming

factors. Halimbawa [sa] Lecture Room, sampung aircon ‘yan [kaya] malakas sa kuryente,” he added.

Almazan clarified that only DevCom-related student activities would be granted permission for facility use beyond 7 p.m. He also said that it is more advisable to hold activities on Mondays since there are no classes.

‘ISOLATED CASE’Student Activities and Organizations

Division (SOAD) Head Janet Dolor said the alleged policy is not a university-wide policy. She said students of other colleges should not worry since what happened in CDC is an “isolated case.”

University Student Council (USC) Chairperson Leo XL Fuentes shared, however, that the Office of Student Affairs (OSA) “explicitly” restricted USC’s activities.

Last June 25, the USC spearheaded a

cultural night and candle lighting activity to commemorate the disappearance of UP students Karen Empeño and Sherlyn Cadapan (see related article on page 3).

Fuentes said that Dr. Zita Albacea, building administrator of the College of Arts and Sciences Building, disallowed them from using the building and told the USC to notify the OSA. OSA granted permission but Albacea still denied them access to the building’s electricity source, saying she has already “made her decision”, according to Fuentes.

“Kung may mga ganitong isyu kasi na hindi nakonsulta, ito pa rin ay isang pagtapak sa kalayaan natin sa paggamit ng pasilidad ng university,” Fuentes stressed.

He added that even if the issue is “isolated,” what happened in CDC is “still a repression of democratic rights of students.” [P]

RIzAL SA MAKABAGONG PANAHON.Pinananatili ng mga progresibong kabataan ang pagmamahal sa bayan - isa sa mga turo ni Gat Jose Rizal - sa kanilang protesta laban umano sa kahirapan.

PHOTO AARON JOSEPH ASPI

Congrats sa mga bagong miyembro ng

aming [P]amilya:Michael Angelo Clabita

Samantha Isabel CoronadoGerica Patricia Rejinald de Chavez

Alvin de Los SantosEstel Lenwij Estropia

Katrina ElauriaJarienill Daquioag Namit

Rick Jason ObreroYves Christian Suiza

Andrea Velasquez

Magsulat.Maglingkod.Magpalaya.

DARE TO WRITE. DARE TO ACT.

DARE TO STRUGGLE.

DARE TO TAKE

THE [P] EXAM!

We are in need of News, Features and Culture writers, Layout Artists, Graphic Artists,

Managing, Business, Copy Editing and Web staff.

In our special election issue dated July 11, 2008, the last paragraph of Nikko Angelo Oribiana’s article titled “USC vice chair accused of ‘gross misconduct’” was truncated. It should have read “As of press time, the SDT has not yet decided whether to dismiss [the case] or give Bañez any disciplinary action.”

To clarify arguments in the editorial published in the same issue, the UP Code, not the 1978 Student Organization constitution, gives legal mandate to the Office of the Student Affairs Director to serve as the USC’s ex-officio adviser. Also, the 1978 Student Organization Constitution states that the council should only “coordinate” its activities with the Chancellor, not “secure” his approval.

Our apologies.~UPLB Perspective

ERRATA

Nikko Angelo Oribiana at Rick Jason Obrero

Bilang pagpapahayag ng protesta laban sa iba’t ibang krisis na kinakaharap ng ating lipunan, nagdaos ng isang kultural na pagtatanghal na pinamagatang Aral at Sining ng Kabataan sa Kalsada (ARANGKADA) ang mga mag-aaral ng UPLB at kabataan ng Timog Katagalugan na sinundan naman ng isang walkout sa klase kinabukasan.

Nagsimula ang ARANGKADA noong ika-10 ng Hulyo sa Humanities building na may temang “Sakbay-lakbay kontra korupsyon para sa edukasyon, pagkain at hustisyang panlipunan.” Naglalayon ang naturang proyekto na mag-organisa ng kabataan sa pamamagitan ng pagbibigay ng cultural workshops at training upang palakasin ang suporta sa sektor ng kabataan sa gitna ng mga krisis panlipunan gaya ng sa bigas at langis.

gILAS Ng kULTURAAyon kay Pedro Jose Santos Jr. ng

ANAKBAYAN–Timog Katagalugan, isa sa mga tagapag-organisa ng ARANGKADA, “Ang gawaing kultura ay isang effective way para maipakita ang kasalukuyang nangyayari [sa pamamagitan ng] theater arts, music, visual arts - ganun ang laman [ng ARANGKADA].”

Saad naman ni Rayan Brozula, Pangkalahatang Kalihim ng National

PHOTO CHRISTIAN RAY BUENDIAKLASE SA KALYE.Pinangungunahan ng University Student Council at iba pang organisasyon sa kampus ang halos isang daang estudyante na lumabas sa kanilang mga klase upang ipahayag ang kanilang pagtutol sa tumitinding krisis panlipunan.

PHOTO ARBEEN ACUÑA

administrasyon sa ganitong mga usapin (usaping pang-estudyante).”

Dagdag ni Fuentes, dahil din umano sa mga problema ng represyon sa kampus, nagsama-sama naman kinabukasan ang halos 80 estudyante, para makibahagi sa walkout sa mga klase. Ipinakita din ng mga estudyante ang kanilang protesta sa pamamagitan ng pagmamartsa mula Humanities building hanggang sa Junction, College.

PAHAYAg Ng PROTESTANilalayon ng magkasunod

na aktibidad na ipaalam sa mga estudyante ang mga usapin ng umano’y represyon sa mga estudyante

sa kampus gaya ng pagkaka-antala ng eleksyon ng USC at College Student Council (CSC), hindi pagrerecognize ng ilang mga organisasyon at pag-aalis ng ilang tambayan ng mga organisasyon, at iba pa.

Lumibot ang cultural caravan ng nasabing programa sa Timog Katagalugan na nakahikayat ng mga lumahok sa “people’s State of the Nation Address”, isang kilos-protestang sumalubong sa State of the Nation Address ni Gng. Arroyo sa ika-28 ng Hulyo. [P]

Union of the Students of the Philippines –Southern Tagalog (NUSP-ST), “Ang sining ay isang mahalagang porma para sa ating kabataan, sa mamamayan, at sa nangyayari sa ating bayan ... upang isulong ang panlipunang pagbabago.”

Ang ARANGKADA ay isinagawa ng mga miyembro ng iba’t ibang organisasyon at samahan dito sa Timog Katagalugan gaya ng National Union of Students of the Philippines (NUSP), College Editors’ Guild of the Philippines (CEGP), ANAKBAYAN, Kabataang Pinoy Party at Southern Tagalog Cultural Network.

Ayon kay Leo Fuentes, University Student Council (USC) Chairperson, ang programang isinasagawa ng ARANGKADA rito sa UPLB ay dinaluhan ng 50 katao na karamihan ay freshmen na bahagi ng “Isko’t Iska 2008,” isang taunang pagtatanghal sa pangunguna ng USC at ng Teatro Umalohokan, Inc. na tumatalakay sa mga usapin sa ating lipunan.

Para kay Vladimir Recidoro, BS Agricultural Economics ‘08, “Ang pakikilahok ng mga freshmen sa ganitong mga aktibidad ay mahalaga upang mabago ang opinyon ng ating

Bilang pagkondena sa palalang krisis panlipunanPalihan ng kultura’t sining inilunsad

UPLB ginunita... MULA SA PAHINA 3

ng ANAKBAYAN-Timog Katagalugan, sa kabila ng hindi pagpayag ng Office of Student Affairs at Building Administrator ng College of Arts and Sciences Building na gumamit ng kuryente mula sa Humanities, naging mainit ang pagtanggap ng mga mag-aaral ng UPLB kay Gng. Cadapan.

“Sina Karen at Sherlyn ay hindi kaiba sa atin, pareho silang nakararanas ng mga problema dahil sa krisis sa edukasyon at naghahanap din sila ng mga solusyon para sa mga problemang iyon,” ani Velasco.

Ayon naman kay Joyce Ann Therese Oracion, BS Development Communication ’08, isa ang aktibidad na ito sa mga nagbibigay ng pagkakataong mamulat ang isang indibidwal sa kung ano ang tunay na nangyayari sa bansa.

exam for three consecutive years, although he was not appointed when he first topped the exam.

A selection committee with members appointed by the Chancellor administered the EIC exam conducted last April 16. This year’s committee was headed by Dr. Bella Cruzana of the College of Veterinary Medicine. Other faculty members include Dr. Jovita Movillon of the College of Engineering and Agro-Industrial Technology and Dr. Emilia Visco of the College of Human Ecology. Beverly Christcel Laguartilla of the College of Economics and Management and Aaron Joseph Aspi of the College of Development Communication served as student representatives, both from last term’s UPLB Perspective.

The EIC exam is based on the following criteria: editorial writing (40%); news writing (30%); front page layouting (15%); and interview (15%).[P]

Buendia... FROM PAGE 3

Sa kabila umano ng hindi pagtugon ng gobyerno sa mga pakiusap ni Gng. Cadapan, nagpasalamat siya sa suportang natatanggap mula sa iba’t ibang non-government organizations tulad ng KARAPATAN, human rights watchdog ng Pilipinas, mga taong-simbahan at estudyante mula sa UP.

“Sana ay mas palalawakin pa ng mga estudyante ang kampanya na mailitaw ‘yung dalawang UP students,” ani Gng. Cadapan.

Nagkaroon ng candle lighting ceremony at mensahe mula sa University Student Council sa pagtatapos ng programa. Isinasagawa ang aktibidad na ito sa iba’t ibang kampus ng UP sa pamumuno ng ANAKBAYAN, LFS at Gabriela-Youth. [P]

HISTORICAL PUMP PRICES OF gASOLINE AND DIESEL (IN PESOS/LITER)

FEATURESVOLUME 35 | ISSUE 1 | August 1, 2008UPLB Perspective 7FEATURES UPLB Perspective6 VOLUME 35 | ISSUE 1 | August 1, 2008

IN THE MIDST OF REPRESSIONThe Marcos Regime has been

highlighted for its repression of the media. In a national perspective, it could be noted that the regime suppressed what could be regarded as the “true” exposition of truth. Towards the latter part of Martial Law, there were countless cases of human rights violations amid political and economic turmoil. These very conditions have urged the various institutions to put forth actions that both expose and condemn the intolerable acts done by the regime.

Among these institutions are campus publications that have been exposed to the prevailing injustices at the time. These publications were driven to provide the necessary information that the masses are being deprived of. Various publications such as the Philippine Collegian (UP Diliman) and the UPLB Perspective participated in the unrelenting advocacy for free exchange of ideas and information. UPLB Perspective was once a part of the “Mosquito Press” that President Marcos himself had dubbed. The name Mosquito was also a manifestation of the repression and negative attribution of the Marcos regime to the media that time.

In the battle for continuous publication and dissemination of information, student journalists were once put under perilous situations. The Marcos regime has been extremely stringent in permitting articles given to the public. Many student journalists were hunted down. There was a long struggle for press freedom towards the end of the regime. UPLB Perspective has taken on a more essential role for the rise of student publications after Martial Law. In the year 1973, after the release of its first issue, UPLB Perspective became the first student publication in action again.

REGAINING IMPETUSFollowing the year after, the UPLB

Perspective constitution was ratified on May 30, 1974. In the same year, the campus paper was able to name its first Editor in chief (EIC), Rogelio Sese,

together with its first Associate Editor Engelbert Peralta.

Although the paper has had its reestablishment after Martial Law, it still faced setbacks such as budget problems. Particularly because of the lack of funds, the UPLB Perspective under the editorship of Ma. Victoria Ortega-Espaldon launched the “Piso para sa Perspective” in the year 1980. Dr. Espaldon is now the dean of the School of Environmental Science and Management (SESAM).

Teddy Casiño added his name to the roster of UPLB Perspective’s EICs when he assumed editorship for the academic year 1989-1990. The following year he was again appointed as the EIC, making himself the first EIC to hold

two consecutive terms. After Casiño’s term, Ma. Lourie Victor was appointed as the paper’s EIC. Serving from the academic year 1992-1993, Victor was chosen again to head the campus publication, becoming the second EIC to hold two consecutive terms. Victor was also nominated for the post of Student Regent at that time.

UPLB Perspective also faced budget drawbacks during the year 1992-1993. UPLB Perspective was not able to release its series of regular issues that year. The paper resorted to posting wall news for news and editorial, as well as opinion section alternately. Feature and culture articles were the ones mass-produced and distributed.

As the paper progressively took on

WORDS PRECIOUS VALERIE SILVA | LAYOUT ABRAHAM FINNEY SANTOS

UPLB Perspective has long stood its ground as one of the student institutions in the university. For the longest time, it has reflected and served as a venue for students’ opinions, provided analyses of both national and

local issues and also maintained to be the conveyor of truth. Given the paper’s long existence, many would have placed the paper as a long held tradition for the university. This long standing institution not only has it

glorious moments to ponder and bask on; for the most part, it also has gone through struggles and conflicts to become the campus paper everyone has come to know. Tracing the history of Perspective would render how

time and events have shaped the nature which the publication has taken on at present.

its role, it also underwent a series of modifications. This was manifested in the years 1994-1996. UPLB Perspective’s staff became more involved with the production of the paper in terms of layout and editing.

For two years, the UPLB Perspective published weekly. Previously, the paper was releasing issues every other week.

The roles of the paper’s staff were also changing. From the year 1995, the staff of the paper began doing the layout. During the earlier years, the staff was only concerned with design; the actual layout for the paper was done previously by the printing press.

In the year 2002-2003, the paper was faced yet again with another controversy surrounding its EIC selection process. The controversy revolved around the validity of the decision provided for the post of the EIC. Nonetheless, Nicolo Masakayan was named as the paper’s EIC instead of Zyra Marie Lopez, the one who topped the examination. Under Masakayan’s term, the paper’s membership in the College Editor’s Guild of the Philippines was withdrawn. The following year, when Karen Dagñalan took the post as the EIC, the membership was reestablished.

CONTINUING THE FIGHTOver the years, UPLB Perspective

grappled with the same line of issues such as budget cuts and selection process controversies. Despite the constant hammering on the paper, UPLB Perspective has always stood its ground, fulfilling its purpose of presenting the issue, rendering the truth and taking on the voice of the students. For the last 30 years the paper has upheld its editorial policies, “serving as a staunch defender of truth and of the people’s inalienable right to information.” It also presented “its nature as an alternative newspaper, serving as the voice of the marginalized sectors of the society, especially the students.”

And as the university celebrates its centennial, the paper has but one goal and that is to reaffirm UP’s tradition of dissent. [P]

Tracing

a

therootsdissent:of

account[P]

WORDS LIBERTY NOTARTE | LAYOUT PAUL ANDREW MANUALES | gRAPHICS JACOB LABITA

Because of the P 10 increase in price of commercial rice in the market, many Filipinos still choose to spend hours falling

in line for NFA rice to satisfy their primary need for food

while maintaining an intact domestic budget.

Due to the soaring costs of rice, carinderias were forced to increase

the price of a cup of rice— from P5 and P6 to P7 and P8.

As much as there are those who dare to struggle with inflation there are also those who bear with it. Gegi Irong, BS Economics ’07, said he understands that this problem

is not only rampant here in our country but also in other countries

in the world. “Naniniwala ako na meron at

meron pa rin namang solusyon ang problema na ‘to sa price ng rice ngayon.

Naniniwala akong bababa pa rin ang presyo ng bigas,” he added.

The rising price of rice has drawn various reactions from individuals—some

still hope that the price will go down; others are starting to forget the real worth of waiting

for prices to shrink.

MAINTAIN THE LINEThis crisis is also worsened by the oil crisis that

yokes the majority of countries at present. Petroleum products have been rising almost every week since the

latter part of May.A P1.50 increase in pump prices was the single biggest

increase imposed twice in a row during the first two weeks of June.

The impact of the fuel price increase has been greatly felt especially by the tricycle drivers and operators.

“Batid naming ang 14 beses na pagtaas sa halaga ng gasolina mula pa noong 2007 ay hindi nakatulong sa antas ng aming pamumuhay. Bagkus ito ay nagdulot ng kahirapan sa aming pamamasada, ni singko sentimos na diskwento ay wala kaming

nakuha, ganundin sa mga reporma at pagbabago ng batas sa mga ahensya at kumpanya,” said the Kongreso ng Tricycle Operators

and Drivers Association. The said sector also added that this soaring fuel price has

been affecting their sector since the start of the year.Oil price increases, however, do not only affect the public

transport sector but also the people who commute everyday, particularly students. The minimum fare boosted from P 7.50 to P 8.00—raising the discounted fare for students and senior citizens from P 6.00 to P 6.50.

Meanwhile, the increase in fare has taken its toll on the students.

James Bryan Gandia, BS Food Technology ’08, said his budget is affected by the increase in the minimum

fare in jeepneys and buses. “Sa tingin ko, hindi na rin bababa ang presyo ng gas. Halos every week na nga

nagtataas,” he added.The imminent crisis calls for actions that

can sustain people in the middle of crisis. As Renato Reyes, Jr., secretary-general of

Bagong Alyansang Makabayan stated, “The nation is facing grave crisis. The relentless

price hikes have become unbearable. Government must step in now to stop the

weekly round of prices increase and to remove the oppressive value added tax

on oil and power.” He added that people demand

immediate economic relief and change in policies, not just dole-

outs and band-aid solutions that only shows they are treating the

people like beggars.What makes the oil price

hike burdensome is the simultaneous increases in

rice, pork and other food prices. People find it

more and more difficult to cope with the price increases, dimming their prospects

for a better future.As a result, those who want to consume

goods at lower costs tend to form long queues, competing with other people to get goods that fit

their salaries. As an added burden, the increase in the prices of oil and rice also affects the costs of

other staples in the market.People temporarily curb their problems regarding

their domestic budgets by catching the crumbs dished out by the government.

LOOkINg FOR A LIFELINEManila Electric Company (MERALCO) and National Power

Corporation (NAPOCOR) signed a settlement in 2003. This agreement is related to electricity purchases that the company

has contracted to buy from the state but did not. According to NAPOCOR spokesperson Dennis Gana, MERALCO had stopped

making purchases from the said corporation three years before its expiration in 2004, as provided for by a ten-year supply deal. Gana said this is because MMERALCO had started buying from its independent power producers (IPP) that started deliveries in 2001.

MERALCO’s logic behind the settlement and why consumers should shoulder additional electricity charge is still questionable.

MERALCO has the highest distribution charge among all power companies in the country: P 2.44 per kilowatt-hour against P1.48 in Cebu, P 1.64 in Davao and P 0.91 in Bataan according to an article in PDI.

One article also pointed out that MERALCO has a sister company First Gen Corporation, which made “ghost deliveries” fully paid for by MERALCO. The said corporation is led by the Lopezes. MERALCO’s income tax tucked into our electric bills’ “Meter fees”. The electric consumption of MERALCO is charged to consumers.

Because of the issues and questions it faced for charging such amount, the government ended up providing P500 subsidy for

electric users consuming not over 100kwh. On June 6, the Land Bank of the Philippines was ready to reimburse the surplus

charges levied on their consumers.The subsidy is part of President Gloria Macapagal-

Arroyo’s “Katas sa VAT: Pantawid Kuryente”. The P 2 billion funds for the “Katas sa VAT” were taken from the earnings of the expanded value added tax from imported petroleum products. Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye, however, stressed that this subsidy of P500 is “a one-time assistance.”

Those qualified for the subsidy would just have to go to Land Bank branches with their latest MERALCO bill and a valid identification card.

Some individuals who lined up for P 500 subsidy planned to use the money to pay their electric bill, but among them are the ones who lined up to get money to buy rice. The very first concern among households today is the budget allocated for food, not to mention the concern on everyday transportation.

LINE UP, STILLMost experts agree that the government must not

only focus on “quick fix” solutions that they have been resorting to. Distribution of crumbs in the middle of a crisis creates a long line of people who try to curb hunger and budget shortage brought about by the soaring prices of primary needs.

The line gets longer and the hope of people remains. But consider yourself a dot in the middle

of all others in a line, and try to look at the dots behind you—there you will see how other dots

persevere to benefit from the relief provided by the government today— only today.

Unless the government provide long-term solutions and prioritize

basic social services such as health, employment, education

and housing, the Filipinos’ lifelines will continue to falter.

Again, lest this government forgets, the people, when pushed to their limits, will always know how to draw the line between being satisfied with a hand-to-mouth existence and struggling for a just and humane society. [P]

Relieving a dying nation with band-aid solutionsLIFELINES:

FROM PAGE 1

REFERENCES: Philippine Daily Inquirer (May 21, 2008)http://www.gmanews.tv/story/99724/Series-of-protest-actions-planned-over-govt-failure-to-curb-weekly-oil-price-hikes retrieved last June 6, 2008http://gmanews.tv/story/99799/Presyo-ng-produktong-petrolyo-tumaas-tumaas-muli-ng-P1.50/L retrieved last June 7, 2008http://www.gmanews.tv/story/100098/Tricycle-groups-also-want-a-piece-of-gov’t-fuel-subsidy retrieved last June 9, 2008http://bulatlat.com/2008/06/pessimism-and-hope-surge-oil-prices retrieved last June 7, 2008http://bulatlat.com/2008/06/crisis-management-arroyo-style retrieved last June 6, 2008http://beta.ph.news.yahoo.com/gma/20080611/tph-govt-s-p500-power-subsidy-draws-prai-d6cd5cf.html retrieved last June 8, 2008http://www.gov.ph/news/default.asp?i=21136 retrieved last June 6, 2008http://opinion.inquirer.net/inquirer-opinion/metterstotheeditor/view/20080628-145270/Meralcos-distribution-charge-is-highest-in-Philippines retrieved last June 6, 2008

PERIOD GASOLINE DIESEL1975-1995 average 5.99 3.98April 1996 9.50 7.03January 2001 16.56 13.822003 average 18.52 15.712004 average 23.55 20.102005 average 31.91 28.742006 average 39.27 34.48October 2007 average 42.45 36.95June 28, 2008 59.47 52.48Source: Department of Energy

VOLUME 35 | ISSUE 1 | August 1, 2008UPLB Perspective CULTURE8-9

Kung naiyak man ang magulang mo dahil sa mahal na matrikula sa UP, hindi mo na kailangang

umiyak sa mga unang araw mo sa UPLB. Maraming good samaritans na handang tumulong sa mga pagkakataong hindi mo mahanap ang mga building na dapat mong puntahan sa loob ng campus. Malas lang dahil binago ng admin ang ruta ng jeep kaya mapipilitan kang mag-”walkathon” para makarating sa klase—rain or shine. Sobrang malas mo na lang kung magkakalayo ang buildings na kailangan mong puntahan, dahil baka wet look ka na bago ka pa makarating sa susunod mong klase.

At dahil hindi praktikal na komunsulta sa Google Earth sa tuwing mawawala ka sa campus, makatutulong ang isang freshman survival guide sa pagkilala sa UPLB.

Kung ma-home sick ka man sa mga unang linggo mo sa UPLB, hindi ito dahilan para magmukmok ka

sa apartment o dorm mo. Sa taas ng matrikula na binayaran mo, dapat lang na sulitin mo ang stay mo dito sa UPLB. Kasabay ng pagtutuon ng oras sa acads, kakabit nito ang hamon na tumugon sa mga issue na hinaharap ng unibersidad sa ngayon gaya ng Tuition and Other Fee Increases (TOFI), jeepney re-routing, pagpa-paalis sa ambulant vendors, ang nakabinbing University Student Council-College Student Councils Elections, at iba pang usapin. Sa paglahok sa mga kampanyang ito tunay na masusukat ang pagiging Iskolar ng Bayan. Maglingkod sa sambayanan! [P]

Ang nakahubad na pigura ni Fernando Poe, Sr. na gawa ng National Artist Guillermo Tolentino ang nagsisilbing simbolo ng UP. Ang hubad na machong ito na may dahon ng kataka-taka somewhere (read:censored) ang nagsisilbing simbolo ng pagsisilbi sa bayan ng mga Iskolar ng Bayan.

Makikita si Oble na may damit, streamer, o anumang abubot kapag may matinding isyu na kailangan tugunan ng mga Iskolar ng Bayan. Minsang nang nakita si Oble na may dalang timba dahil sa kawalan ng tubig sa dorms. Nakita na ring nakasuot ang gigantic UPLB ID kay Oble nang ipatupad ng admin ang compulsary wearing ng ID na umani ng protesta mula sa mga estudyante.

6. OBLATION

Ang orihinal na harapan ng gusaling ito ay ang parte na nakaharap sa Post Office, kaya baliktad ang pagkakasunod-sunod ng Wing A, B, at C. Dito ginaganap ang mga klase ng Statistics, Computer Science, Physics at Chemistry.

7. PHYSCI

Kung feel mong mag-review habang nasa isang mala-sauna na lugar, this is the place to be. Dito ka rin makahihiram ng ibang references na required sa klase mo na madalas na nakalagay sa Reserved Section. Kung minamalas-malas ka, makahihiram ka ng kulang-kulang ang pages dahil pinilas ng mga dating humiram nito (tsk..dala marahil ng kahirapan na pagpapa-photocopy). Sa Main Lib ka matututong maglaro ng hide and seek kasama ang mga libro. Dahil high-tech na ang kasalukuyang era, matatagpuan sa Main Lib ang Online Public Access Catalogue na madalas nga lang ay offline (as of press time).Ang gilid ng Main Lib ay lugar para sa group at org meetings. Ang likod ng Main Lib ay di maikakailang madalas tambayan ng mga holdaper at ng iba pang may “criminal tendencies” sa tuwing sasapit ang gabi. Ang building na ito ay donasyon ng SEARCA sa UPLB noong 1970s. Ang disenyo ng gusaling ito ay gawa ng National Artist na si Leandro Locsin. Itinuturing itong pinakamalaking agricultural library sa buong Asya na may mga libro mula pa noong 1910.

8. MAIN LIBRARY

Ayon sa alumni, ito ay nagsisilbing commemorative monument, pero mas nakilala ito bilang “kwek-kwek” tower dahil na rin sa itsura nito. Ginastusan ito ng milyong piso bilang pag-aalala sa kwek-kwek... este academic heritage ng UP College of Agriculture (dating pangalan ng UPLB).

3. ACADEMIC HERITAGE MONUMENT

Kilala bilang BioSci, ito ay matagal na panahong naging tahanan para sa BioSci-based orgs bago sila pinalayas papuntang Student Union Building noong nakaraang semestre. Parang refugees na lumipat ang mga orgs dahil umano sa pagiging fire hazard ng mga tambayan nila ayon sa IBS admin. Ayon sa Los Banos Fire Department, ang BioSci ay walang fire exit plan at ang tambayan eviction ang naging tugon ng IBS admin.

Sa BioSci ka rin pwedeng bumili ng palaka kung kailangan mo ito sa Biology class o bored ka lang at feel mong mag-disect on your own.

4. INSTUTUTE OF BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES BLDG

Sa harap ng building na ito nakadestino si Oble. Ito rin ang nagsisilbing meeting place ng mga tibak (aktibista) para sa mga mass-up at snake rally. Mukha man itong nagmamakaawa para sa isang major renovation, dito nagkaklase ang social science at humanities subjects. Bago ito naging Humanities Building, ito ang nagsilbing Main Library ng UPLB.

5. HUMANITIES BLDG (CAS bldg na ngayon)

Kahit parang malaking canteen ito sa ngayon dahil sa mga private concessionaire na pinapasok ng admin, ang SU building ay isa sa mga pinakonkretong katibayan ng militansya sa UPLB. Dito matatagpuan ang opisina ng University Student Council at ang UPLB Perspective. Ang USC at Perspective ang dalawang pinakamahalagang student institutions sa UPLB. Tuwing magsisimula ang semestre, mapapansin na halos araw-araw ay may mahabang pila sa isa mga sa opisina sa SU. Ang pilang ito ay para sa filing ng loan para makapag-enroll dahil na rin sa taas ng matrikula. Noong nakaraang enrollment, parang box office hit rin ang pila sa STFAP appeal.

10. STUDENT UNION BUILDING

Ito ang building na hinding-hindi mo dapat ipagtanong sa upperclassmen. Kahit 10 years kang umikot sa campus para maghanap ng building na may pangalan na TBA, hindi ka magtatagumpay. Ang TBA o “to be announced” ang madalas na pag-umpisahan ng trippings ng upperclassmen sa freshmen.

17. TBA

Ang upper campus ng UPLB ay mas kilala bilang Forestry. Bukod sa College of Forestry, dito makikita ang ilan sa mga paboritong spot para sa field trips gaya ng Makiling Botanic Gardens at Museum of Natural History. Pangarap din ng admin na maglagay ng cable cars dito. Siguro dahil relevant talaga sila sa isang academic community (read: sarcasm).

16. FORESTRY

Ang UHS o Infirmary siguro ang isa sa mga hindi malilimutang building ng mga freshies. Dito isinasagawa ng medical check-up na requirement bago ka mag-enroll sa university. Para sa upperclassmen, Infirmary ang nagsisilbing melting pot ng best actors and actresses para makakuha ng medical certificate na kailangang ipakita sa instructors o professors kapag lumiban sa klase. Malaking tulong ang Infirmary para sa ‘di afford magpacheck-up sa pribadong ospital dahil libre ang check-up para sa mga estudyante ng UPLB.

15. UNIVERSITY HEALTH SERVICE (UHS)

Isinusumpa ng mga allergic sa Math ang building na ito. Ang mismong biulding na ito ay ang dating UP Rural High School (UPRHS), bago ilipat ang huli sa Bay, Laguna. Ito ang dating Women’s Dorm bago ito naging UPRHS.

13. MATH BUILDING

Tinaguriang “mall” sa loob ng UPLB dahil sa itsura nito. Bukod sa engineering subjects, dito rin nagkaklase ng PE1 simula nang maipatupad ang large lecture class scheme. Makikita ito sa malapit Pili Drive.

12. ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING (EE) BUILDING

Ang CEAT ay dating nasa ilalim ng CA noong 1912 at naging ganap na kolehiyo noong 1983. Nagbukas ang Civil Engineering, Electrical Engineering, at Chemical Engineering nang sumunod na taon.

11. COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING AND AGRO-INDUSTRIAL TECHNOLOGY (CEAT) BUILDING

Ito ang nagsisilbing opisina ng mga UPF o “pigoy” in layman’s term. Bago pa man nauso ang blue guards at CSB na bantay ngayon sa karamihan sa mga building, UPF ang nangangalaga sa seguridad sa loob ng campus. Unti-unti nang lumiit ang bilang ng UPF dahil pinalitan na sila ng blue guards at surveillance cameras.

14. UNIVERSITY POLICE FORCE (UPF) HQ

WORDS KAREN LAPITAN | LAYOUT PAUL ANDREW MANUALES | gRAPHICS CHINO CARLO ARICAYA | gRAPHIC EDITINg KERVIN GABILO

Bago naging ganap na kolehiyo ang Development Communication noong 1997, ang gusaling ito ay dating nakapailalim sa College of Agriculture (CA). Para sa mga hindi nakakaalam, ang kursong Development Communication o Devcom ay dating nasa ilalim ng CA at nagsimula bilang Agricultural Communication. Sa ngayon, sa Devcom building matatagpuan ang LB FM 97.4. Ang College of Devcom ay itinuturing ng Commission on Higher Education bilang Center of Excellence for Communication.

2. DEVCOM BUILDING

Dito makikitang nakatambay ang walong tamaraw na nagpapanggap na carabao. Dito rin matatagpuan ang Man and the Beast of Burden (a.k.a. ang mama at ang kalabaw) na madalas itanong sa mga quiz contest ng mga orgs. Karaniwang Carabao Park ang meeting place ng mga group meeting. Dati itong pinupuntahan ng ambulant vendors dahil sa dami ng taong tumatambay dito pero hindi na ngayon dahil na rin sa pagbabawal ng admin na maglako sila saan man sa loob ng campus.

Main attraction rin sa Carabao Park ang fishpond na walang fish at tubig na nagsisilbing dorm ng mga lamok kapag tag-ulan.

1. CARABAO PARK

9. FREEDOM PARKKung feel mong magmuni-muni, magpaka-emo, makipagdate sa jowa, o mahilig ka lang sa amoy ng damo, magandang tambayan ang Freedom Park. Mamamangha ka rin sa ganda ng damo kapag malapit na ang graduation. Binubuo ng upper at lower fields, ang Freedom Park ang nagsisilbing venue para sa taunang graduation at February Fair.

Sa Freedom Park din matatagpuan ang sikat

na Fertility Tree. As the name implies, ang punong ito ay may kinalaman sa “fertility.” Hindi recommended para sa mga menor de edad na tumambay dito dahil sa mga posibleng makita. Patnubay ng magulang ay kailangan.Dahil feel yata ng admin makiuso sa Pinoy Big Brother, naglagay sila ng surveillance cameras sa Freedom Park para mamboso.. este pangalagaan umano ang seguridad dito.

FORESTRY

FEATURESVOLUME 35 | ISSUE 1 | August 1, 2008UPLB Perspective10-11

The administration has already initiated the selection of representatives for the College Electoral Board (which will facilitate elections on the college level) and the search for volunteers for the elections. Meanwhile, the USC and CSCs, clamoring for a halt of election preparations and the conduct of elections using the 1984 UPLB Student Council (UPLB-SC) Constitution, has elevated the issue to system-wide level.

The debate continues on, and while there is a pressing need to guarantee the students’ right to representation, we cannot afford an uncritical conduct of elections for the sake of compromise. The move by the UPLB administration to promptly administer student elections using the 1978 Constitution of the UPLB Student Organization (UPLB-SO), wittingly or unwittingly, brings in grave implications on the shape of the students’ fight for their democratic rights will take.

FALSE DILEMMAThe two constitutions under scrutiny

are distinct entities, and the nature of both student formations sets the most apparent differences.

The 1978 UPLB-SO Constitution considers all bona fide UPLB students as members of the Student Organization, and they shall be governed by the USC and CSC for their respective colleges. On the other hand, the 1984 UPLB-SC Constitution provides legal mandate for the establishment of USC and CSC as the highest governing bodies whose constituents are all bona fide UPLB students, thus establishing a self-governing student institution.

A common ground of both constitutions is that their members or constituents are the students. The two constitutions vary, however, in the rights and duties given to the students. The 1984 Constitution recognizes students’ individual and collective rights as it includes provisions that guarantee freedom of speech, due process of the law, and confidentiality of academic records, among others. The 1978 Constitution, on the other hand, merely ensures suffrage and organizational participation of students. This is so, again, because of the repressive socio-political context when the latter constitution was ratified.

Even in the simplest statements the striking differences between the two constitutions surface. For example, the preamble of the 1978 UPLB-SO Constitution pushed for by the administration pales in comparison with that of the 1984 UPLB-SC Constitution. It lacks the operative phrase “autonomous, representative and democratic,” a phrase with far-flung repercussions and inestimable gravity.

It is the weapon that has been used by students for more than 20 years to further their legitimate interests.

Charisse Bernadine Bañez, incumbent USC Vice Chairperson, said “Lagi nating tinatanganan na ‘yung 1984 Constitution ay nasulat doon sa intensyon na magkaroon ng autonomous, representative at democratic na University Student Councils at College Student Councils.”

This intention means a lot. Granting but never conceding that the 1984 Constitution is an offshoot of the 1978 Constitution (we will later prove that this is not so), the former embodies the aspirations of the studentry which the latter can only state in uncertain terms.

Moreover, Article II Declaration of Principles and Objectives of the 1984 Constitution includes such provisions characterizing the principles and tasks of the USC (see sidebar). These are crucial provisions, precisely because they recognize that a “nationalist, scientific and pro-people” education in orientation is a right and not a privilege.

A few significant dissimilarity stems from the organizational structure of the entities described in the two constitutions.

In the former Constitution, the CSC is composed of “at least two elected representatives from each of the Freshmen, Sophomores, Juniors, and Seniors in the college” and at least “two representatives for each of the masteral and doctoral students” in the Graduate School. The officers of the CSCs are selected within the college concerned. These officers will then vote among themselves those who will take a council position: four from each colleges and one from each of the masteral and doctoral students. Members of the USC will vote for a Chairman, Vice-chairman, Secretary and Treasurer.

Meanwhile, the 1984 Constitution stipulates an elections-at-large for the officers of the USC and CSCs. The USC is distinctly removed from the CSC in that it has organizational autonomy and only the college representatives serve a “liaison between the University Student Council and the College Student Councils.”

All these differences point out that the essence of the 1984 Constitution is actually a protest against the 1978 UPLB-SO Constitution. Why? Because the 1978 Constitution has already outlived its purpose – to be a means of securing our most basic rights amid a dictatorship – and the need for a militant council, with the advent of the EDSA Revolution, becomes pressing more than ever.

Then if it was a ‘revolutionary Constitution,’ intending to supplant a politically weaker charter, why should it follow the rules on amendment based on the 1978 Constitution? We have not

even stated the fact that, given the socio-political milieu of the pre-EDSA years (a period of growing unrest and defiance to the Marcos regime), it mustered the support of an overwhelming number of students and administrators. Then by consent, the Constitution of 1984 becomes legitimate.

In other words, as Bañez said, “[the] 1984 Constitution is not just an amendment of the 1978 Constitution. It was a revision, and it replaced the 1978 Constitution not in part but in whole.”

ASSAULTED AUTONOMYThe need for that more militant

student council could only have spurred the makers of the 1984 Constitution to remove provisions and dilute statements that allow the intervention of the administration in council affairs.

Article III Membership, Section 2 of the 1978 Constitution, for instance, states that members of the Student Body Organization shall “abide by all the provisions of this Constitution and the rules and policies promulgated by duly constituted authority (this and subsequent emphases ours).”

Nowhere in the Constitution was the phrase ‘duly constituted’ defined. Thus it can be rightly or wrongly interpreted. What’s worse, it can be abused and used to incapacitate the council in its dealings with the administration.

In fact, there are other provision in the 1978 Constitution that uses such words as ‘confirmation’ and ‘coordinate.’ Even in budget matters, the College Student Council shall “make its own budget which will become operational upon confirmation of the Dean” (Article IV The College Student Council, Section 3g). Article XII Funds of the Organization, Section 4 states that “actual disbursement of the funds can only be made after the approval of the budget by the respective councils and after confirmation by the Chancellor.”

The CSC also must “coordinate with the Dean of the College on student matters, affairs and activities” (Article IV The College Student Council, Section 3c) while the USC shall “coordinate with the UPLB Chancellor and other duly constituted authorities in student matters, affairs and activities” (Article V The University Student Council, Section 2e).

The 1984 Constitution effectively impairs the hands of intervention in student matters through resolute provisions. Compared with the 1978 Constitution, which in essence is a toothless and compromising charter, the former asserted that “a copy of the budget (of the Student Council) shall be sent to the Office of Student Affairs Director for notation” only (Article IX Funds of the Student Council Section 3).

We have not even mentioned how the Constitution should be amended based on the 1978 Constitution. Article XIII Amendments of the aforementioned states that amendments “shall be presented to the Chancellor by representative of the University Student Council in open discussions, for his confirmation,” while the 1984 Constitution only requires the ratification through the affirmation of 50

percent plus 1 of the total number of votes cast during a plebiscite.ANACHRONISTIC

The disparity between the 1978 and 1984 USC Constitutions can only be fully grasped when read in the context of the existing social and political conditions obtaining during the time these charters were drafted. It is only in this manner that we can establish the bases for our arguments.

Democracy’s death toll sounded with the declaration of Martial Law on September 21, 1972. Student councils, publications and organizations all over the country were immediately banned as President Ferdinand Marcos exhausted every possible means to stifle the intensifying dissent of the people. Organizations went underground, and the reign of “white terror” continued to hound the people’s right to organize.

In 1974, the early signs of a recovering militancy in UPLB came with the reaffirmation of academic freedom and democratic rights in UPLB manifested by the formation of the Council of Student Leaders (CSL). The CSL, composed by student organizations, led the re-establishment of the UPLB Perspective through its series of dialogues with the Office of Student Affairs (OSA) in the same year. The students also succeeded in forming the Katawang Tagapag-ugnay ng mga Mag-aaral (KTM) as a student assembly. But unlike a self-governing and representative student council, the KTM was only given limited autonomy as it was strictly monitored by OSA.

The KTM, however, served as a transition body that later on became the UPLB-SO. With the same aspirations, UPLB students organized the first recorded campus-wide protest in the university three years after the KTM was established. Held in 1977 and attended by around 3,000 students, the protest opposed UPLB administration’s new bracketing scheme of the grants-in-aids program.

The students eventually held a dialogue in front of the Administration building. One of the gains of the mobilization is the immediate conduct of elections for student representatives the following year.

The UPLB-SO, founded on August 28, 1978 through the 1978 Constitution, was indeed progressive considering that such an organization existed during the Martial Law period when the government prohibits organizations. The 1978 Constitution in nature, however, conforms to the political atmosphere during that time.

Consequently, Bañez said the period shaped the very character of the 1978 Constitution: “compromising” to the administration and “less autonomous” compared with the 1984 Constitution. Being so, the UPLB studentry remained in asserting genuine autonomy of their council in the succeeding years.

And in the eve of social unrest after the assassination of Benigno Aquino in 1983, the societal condition during that year fired various student actions in UPLB. While struggling alongside the basic sectors of society to topple the dictator, UPLB students also fought to reaffirm fully their democratic rights in

the university. Student leaders initiated the drafting of a new constitution that will give due mandate to an “autonomous, representative and democratic” student council. It was during the term of an interim body, which assumed its post on January 11, 1983, that this constitution was drafted.

Through a plebiscite conducted on August 22-23, 1984, 94.89 percent of the total 1,760 UPLB students favored the new student council constitution. Bañez said the students “deemed that it was necessary during that time to have a student council that will represent the genuine interest of students… ’yun nga ay ma-restore ang demokrasya sa ating bansa dahil kung ganun ang tatanganin ng konseho, kailangan nito by itself [maging] autonomous, representative and democratic.”

In an article titled Ang Munting Barikada noong 1984 published in the UPLB Perspective in 1989, Penny Calara recounted the militancy of UPLB students in 1984. The writer highlighted that 1,700 students marched to Malacañang Palace June that year to condemn the 169 percent tuition increase. A few months after, thousands of students also protested through snake rallies and class boycott. Once in November 1984, students even barricaded all known exits of UPLB community — UP gate, PCARRD, and IRRI.

“Because the students during that time are calling for the abolition of Martial Law at nakikibaka para sa demokratiko at batayang karapatan hindi lamang ng mga estudyante kundi ng buong sambayanan lumalakas ‘yung student movement,” Bañez said.

The “new” constitution, which embodies an “autonomous, representative and democratic” student government and

Gains of student movement on death throeswhile constitution remains besieged

COMMENTARY

The so-called ‘crisis’ on the University Student Council-College Student Council (USC-CSC) elections has now escalated into an almost unsolvable clash between what the student leaders assert the true “autonomous, representative and democratic” constitution of the student council and what the administration maintains the ‘legal charter.’

MARK VINCENT BARACAO and CHRISTIAN RAY BUENDIA

Preamble of the 1984 Constitution of the UPLB Student Organization

“We, the students of the University of the Philippines at Los Baños, cognizant of the vital role of the youth in nation building, and conscious of its historical role in contributing to the task of social transformation, desirous as establishing an autonomous, representative and democratic student Council that will unite the whole UPLB Studentry, promote closer relationship with other sectors of the society in order to instill nationalist consciousness for the advancement of the Filipino people, bind ourselves in commitment to these ends and hereby ordain and promulgate this constitution.”

ARTICLE IIDECLARATION OF PRINCIPLES AND OBJECTIVES

Section 1. The UPLB Student Council subscribes to the following principles:

a. That education is a right and not a privilege and it should be afforded to everyone;b. That education should develop man’s physical, mental, social and cultural potentials in order to realize his part in social change;c. That education should enhance critical thought and ability to make informed judgment, free of dogma and myths;d. That UP as a state university, is and educational institution, supported by the wealth of the Filipino people, and therefore it should carry out its foremost obligation to promote and advance a humane Filipino Society; e. That UPLB, as part of the UP system pursuing its thrust for rural development should carry out its responsibility towards the genuine upliftment of the people’s condition in the country side;f. That in pursuing the tasks of the UP system in general, and in UPLB in particular, the university community should first and foremost uphold a meaningful education that is nationalist, scientific and pro-people in orientation.

i. Nationalist because it must liberate our thinking and values from the bonds of colonial mentality and advance the genuine aspiration of the Filipino people;ii. Pro-people because it must promote an education attuned to the real needs and interest of the majority of the society; andiii. Scientific because it must develop and enhance critical and objective thought responsive to actual conditions in the present Philippine Society.

g. That through collective effort and cooperation, we can effectively work for the fulfillment of our goals, of the educational sector in particularly and the large society in general.

Section 2. The UPLB Student Council shall, at all times, strive:

a. To uphold a truly representative, autonomous and democratic Student Council;b. To serve as an active forum for student ideas and sentiments;c. To uphold and ensure democratic participation and representations in any policy-making body which directly affect student rights and welfare particularly in the university;d. To promote and safeguard the rights and welfare of the UPLB students in particular and the Filipino people in general;e. To uphold the ideals and principles of the university that are geared towards ensuring a well-rounded, intellectual, social, cultural and physical development for every students;f. To develop social awareness and responsibility geared towards the development of a nationalistic spirit bounded on democratic principles;g. To seek and engender educational reforms for the full development of human potentials that respond to social realities and promote academic freedom;h. To forge unity with other sectors of the university and society towards the fulfillment of these objectives.

safeguards students’ fundamental rights, is the 1984 UPLB-SC Constitution that has been used for 20 years now.

NO ROOM FOR COMPROMISEBoth camps – the student leaders’

and the administration’s – claim that they are pro-student. Yet amid the intensifying threat of commercialization and privatization of UP education, the students, who certainly knows the nitty-gritty of their condition, would certainly stand up for the 1984 Constitution that more vigilantly furthers their legitimate rights.

“Malinaw na malinaw na mas democratic, representative at autonomous na constitution—mas progressive na Constitution ang 1984 Constitution,” incumbent USC Chairperson Leo ‘XL’ Fuentes said.

While we commend the administration’s initiative to proceed with the USC-CSC elections by implementing the constitution they deem to be their “sanction,” they should not have preempted the students, precisely because it is a students’ issue and the students must resolve it first. Administrative intervention on this crucial student issue is a blatant disrespect of the student institution that was fought for, and even died for, by thousands of students.

What’s more, as the university celebrates its centenary, students need, now more than ever, a student council that will truly safeguard their long-held principles.

“Malinaw sa tindig ng konseho sa kasalukuyan na hindi ito ‘yung student council na inaakala ng administrasyon na mapagkumpromisong student council kasi malayo na rin yung inabot ng laban na ito,” Fuentes added. [P]

Preamble of the 1978 Constitution of the UPLB Student Organization

We, the students of the University of the Philippines at Los Baños, in order to have a duly mandated body that shall embody our ideals, promote our general welfare, protect our rights, foster a closer fellowship among the students and other sectors of the society, train us to be active and responsible citizens of our country, and instill in us the spirit of nationalism, do hereby ordain and promulgate this constitution.

Article IIDECLARATION OF CONVICTIONS AND OBJECTIVES

Section 1. We stand on the following convictions:

a. We believe that man is a rational and a political being.b. We believe on the intellectual and physical development of man.c. We believe that the University is a microcosm of a larger society and that we should, therefore, work for its interest.d. We believe in truth, justice, and freedom.e. We believe that through collective efforts and cooperation, we can effectively work for the fulfillment of our goals.

Section 2. The objectives of the organization shall be:

a. To serve the interest of the UPLB students in particular and the Filipino people in general;b. To promote and safeguard the rights and welfare of the UPLB students and the Filipino people;c. To serve as an active forum for students’ ideas and sentiments;d. To provide representation or participation in policy-making bodies of the University which directly affect student rights and welfare;e. To develop social awareness and responsibility geared towards the development of a nationalistic spirit;f. To uphold the ideals and principles of the University; andg. To unite and mobilize the students and other sectors of the UPLB community towards the fulfillment of these objectives.

COMPLETE COPIES OF OF THE 1978 AND 1984 CONSTITUTION ARE AVAILABLE AT THE UPLB PERSPECTIVE’S OFFICE RM. 11 2/F SU BLDg

Dahil sa biglaang firedrill noong July 17 sa Physci, naisip ng mga estudyanteng mas mahalaga ang firedrillskaysa sa pagkaklase...

ni Chino Carlo Aricaya

FloodedR U L A YA E L G O N G O R A

Kwadrado

The Backseat kissIt’s just a crumpled paper under Sid’s bed—with Sid’s pen-manship and Sid’s “trademark” doodles on the sides. For an instant, I thought I smell Sid, too; through this scratch from his notebook.Heck, me and my imagination.

Sid. Drums. Wow. That’s… well… pretty nostalgic. Being their band manager has nothing to do with how much I

admire this kid. It definitely got nothing to do with friend-ship and other mushy crap. Sid is screaming with talent and appeal. Well all the boys are good, but Sid... he’s a different story. He was always hidden behind banging the drums and you’ll see fans facing hell just to have a closer look of him. He barely talks on press releases but he never fails to get the spotlight. Without any bias, I can tell that Sid’s the most popular Backseat Kisser.

Yeah, we got no freedom there. The sponsors just handed us the line-up of songs. Too bad. If the boys were in charge of what to cover, they’ll go old school for sure. But the third on the list is a favorite.

I smiled at the realization that my music preferences are dif-ferent from the band I’m handling.This is more like it—this is the music that the boys “worship”,

even though didn’t even put them on the list finalists on that par-ticular contest.

And as far as everybody’s concerned, Sid is a self-proclaimed Mr. Big fan. He must be really pleased with this line-up. I remember Sid commenting that night, “Okay lang. Nakapag-pasikat naman tayo. Haha!”

Oh God. Sid’s hearty laughter.

I scanned, then flipped the paper to see more lists of gigs. Then somebody entered Sid’s room.

“Hey, Megan.” It was Janus. Gone was the boyish grin he used to display every time he greets me. His Beatles-like hair-cut is unusually unkempt. His clothes, which are supposed to be predictably smoothened (we often tease him as an Fe lover), looks as if he failed to press them—or maybe he just couldn’t care less. Aah... the cruelty of depression out of losing your best friend.

Following him were the rest of the band and Patricia, Sid’s girlfriend. I never liked her. When Sid introduced her to us, we asked if we could call her Pat or Trish but she snorted, “No. I hate nicknames.” We were like “Oookay...” We got no idea why Sid was with her; she’s so demanding and tact-less. She’s a real pain. But today, I set aside my dislike of her. Maybe her attitude stinks but true enough, Patricia is dra-matically beautiful even in her messy brunette locks, plain clothes and blank eyes. I can’t help but pity her. Though we can’t really get along, we have to admit that among Sid’s girls, she was the only one who’s sincerely keen on him. We have no concrete basis on this of course; we just bloody feel it to our bones that sometimes, it oddly scares us.

My boyfriend Glen came near and kissed me lightly on the cheeks. Aside from his emphasized eye bags, he looks quite normal to me—still very good-looking in rugged clothing, at least in my opinion. But... oh, his shoulder length hair is carelessly tied up today. I can see strands coming out from places and if he is in his normal form, he would fix it. Glen. He’s always this way—acting as if everything’s okay. But he can’t hide from me; we’ve been together for almost two years. There was an urge to embrace him, just to let him know that I’m aware he’s miserable inside. But I found it inappropriate to so I just stared at his sad brown eyes and forced a smile. Maybe he got the message...

Ian who is normally sunny and loud with his blue-gray dyed hair (he changes his hair style every semester) and actual rock star physique (tall and bony) lost his cool as he stared anxiously on the piece of paper I was holding. Sid is his older brother; it hurts to notice that he resembles him a lot.

“Is... is that a suicide note?” Ian stuttered. He looks like as if he wants me to say ‘yes’.

“I’m sorry... it’s not,” I handed him the piece of paper and all of them peered on it. A mixture of disappointment and exhaustion spread on their faces after checking it out.

Then there was an effortless silence in Sid’s room. I know what they’re thinking; I think so, too.

Sid left us clueless.

THE BACKSEAT KISSIan- vocalsJanus- guitarsGlen- bassSid- drums

GIG @ LB SQUARE (our 1st):*we have no freedom here... hehe.1. Take Care- A Change of Pace2. Devil in Jersey City- Coheed and Cambria3. Let It Happen- Jimmy Eat World

BATTLE OF THE BANDS @ TANAUAN CITY:*talo! haha1. I Wanna Be Sedated- The Ramones2. Promise Her the Moon- Mr. Big3. I Believe in a Thing Called Love - The Darkness

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OPINIONVOLUME 35 | ISSUE 1 | August 1, 2008UPLB Perspective 13GRAPHICS UPLB Perspective12 VOLUME 35 | ISSUE 1 | August 1, 2008

INBOXThis space is allotted for comments, suggestions, rebuttals, public apologies, and what not. We reserve the right to edit for brevity and clarity. Only signed letters will be published but names can be withheld upon request. e-mail us at uplbperspective0809@gmail.com or drop by the [P] office.

The Iskolars ng Bayan were endowed not just with rights, but at the same time saddled with the great responsibility of serving the Filipino people. The University of the Philippines, which nurtures these scholars, should be a place of liberty and of mass-oriented education, not of lust for power, repression and social injustice.

We, the members of the UPLB Sociology Society, concretize equality and fundamental rights of students through the organization. And now, as one of the oldest academic organizations in UPLB, we are coming out of a larger society, which is the University, to fight for our rights during this time of repression.

Since 1975, the UPLB Sociology Society’s tambayan has existed in the Social Sciences Wing of the Humanities building (now, CAS Building). But with the issue of tambayan phase-out, which became known late last semester as a general plan of the landscaping committee in line with the “ecotourism” project of UPLB in UP’s centenary, we fear that petty reasons of “fire exit management” or centralizing tambayan in a mini park will repress our basic rights.

We are alarmed because the case of tambayan phase-out in the Biological Sciences Building, removal of the tambayan of UP Human Ecology Students’ Society, Beta Kappa Fraternity and Beta Kappa Sigma Sorority resulted from the administration’s futility in exhausting all means of democratic consultations to seek students’ consent on matters concerning their tambayan—as if a token dialogue is enough, as if the administration’s authority automatically gives them the privilege of executing arbitrary decisions. This kind of leadership has been the trend for the past years after the UPLB administration favored the skyrocketing tuition increase and the eviction of ambulant vendors, jeepney rerouting and large lecture classes.

Meanwhile, the UPLB administration has not yet released an official statement denying or confirming the issue of tambayan phase-out.

Lest the administration forgets, a tambayan, like an office, is a social identity of an organization. This means two things: first, the members of the organization have undergone a long recruitment process to belong to the organization which they share their ideals; and second, they have asserted a space in the university as a social reward for having the initiative to organize themselves for the full realization of what and how they have learned inside classrooms. These are because student organizations were in the forefront of shaping the foundation of the century-long advocacy of UP—safeguard the country’s democracy and sovereignty and its citizen’s rights through a liberal, nationalist and mass-oriented education.

And our tambayan has been in existence for almost 32 years, serving a vital role to each and every member who joined the organization—whether resident, non-resident, alumni, honorary, or ex-officio—who would eventually come back to that tambayan on Humanities Building.

Therefore, attempts to restrict or hinder student organizations in the exercise of their rights to organize and of freedom of expression mean the direct disregard of these rights. However, as our three decade-old history contributed to UP’s 100 years of service to the Filipino citizenry, such efforts of the administration to repress us, students, the UPLB Sociology Society firmly stands for a mass-oriented education that is further nurtured outside the four corners of the classroom.

Together with the University Student Council, our very voice and representative, and our fellow student organizations, the members of UPLB Sociology Society and its Alumni Association appeal for all of the students’ unheard sentiments. We express our condemnation of the UPLB administration and its undemocratic governance and inefficient leadership. We condemn tambayan phase-out. We call for the immediate elections of student councils and we condemn the late appointment of the editor in chief of the UPLB Perspective, which both repress (or delay) our right to representation and information. We condemn the banning of organizational activities, including meetings, in all campus premises beyond 7 p.m.

Militancy reveals the best of our dissent, and against campus repression, it is the worst for the administration.

NO TO TAMBAYAN PHASE-OUT!STOP CAMPUS REPRESSION!UPHOLD DEMOCRATIC AND CONSULTATIVE DECISION-MAKING!

UPLB SOCIOLOGY SOCIETYEstablished 1975Bounded by allegiance. Pride through tradition. Known for excellence.

“Nakakalungkot na naudlot ang elections kasi malaki ang parte na ginagawa ng USC sa atin, nawawalan tayo ng boses sa university. Sana matuloy [ang eleksyon], kasi importante ang USC.”~Patricia Demdam | BA Communication Arts ‘05

“Problematic na hindi nagkaroon ng election. As we all know, it’s a part of how student representation is being addressed. Pero in terms of legalities ng election, hindi namin siya natitingnan as the only basis for the hampering of elections. Sana nagkaroon ng compromise between the administration and the USC para magkaroon ng ganitong form of student representation.”~Ranie Catimbang | BA Communication Arts ‘05

“Parang ‘yung election naman ay hindi ko talaga nararamdaman. Hindi naman nagpaparticipate ‘yung mga estudyante kaya ok lang. Meron man o walang [eleksyon], parang wala pa rin.”~Jayson Vedad | BS Chemistry ‘06

“Parang pinapatagal lang lalo nila (administrasyon). [Kaya] lalong nag-iinit yung emosyon ng mga estudyante, so dapat i-push through na [ang eleksyon] kaagad.” ~Michelle Montiel |BS Development Communication, ‘07

Ano ang masasabi mo sa naudlot na USC-CSC

elections?

“Two things: Una, magaling magpaikot ang gobyerno na mas masensationalize ang mga hindi importanteng issues upang hindi mapag-usapan ang mga isyu na dapat ay pinagtutuunan ng pansin. Pangalawa, dahil sa mga ito, dapat tayong mag-unite as Filipinos to make our country a better place for the future generations.”~Eena | BS Electrical Engineering ‘04

“Syempre ramdam ko ang krisis. Pero mas natuto akong mamaluktot sa mas umiikling kumot.”~Chara Lois Tallada | BS Nutrition ‘06

“Lagi nang tumataas ang bilihin at madaling i-approve ‘yung presyo ng gasolina, so pagdating dun sa ganun, hindi naman tumataas ang suweldo ng mga manggagawa, at [kung meron] konting taas lang. Kinakailangan talaga ng malakihang pagkilos.”~Oscar Bartolome | BA Communication Arts ‘07

“Dahil sa pataas nang pataas na presyo ng bilihin, napapansin ko hindi lang sa akin kundi maging sa ibang estudyante sa UPLB na kulang ang isang libong budget sa isang linggo.”~Efren John Buno | BS Industrial Engineering, ‘08

“Hindi naman siya bagong isyu, kumbaga. Syempre ang matatapakan lang ulit diyan ay ‘yung mga nasa lower class kasi [ang] nangyayari nga [ay] tumataas nang tumataas ang mga presyo [ng mga bilihin], wala namang nangyayari sa mga sahod. Iindahin at iindahin din ng mga mamamayan ngayon ‘yung epekto ng krisis na ito. Based na rin naman sa experience, mukhang haharapin na naman ng matindi ng mga tao ang bagong hirap na ito.”~Dan Michael Sadia | Instuctor, Dept. of Civil Engineering

Ano ang masasabi mo sapataas nang pataas na presyo ng mga bilihin?

CAMPUSFORUM

Isang Bukas na Liham para sa mga Iskolar ng Bayan ng UP Los Baños

Isang mainit na pagbati!Lubos na nagpapasalamat ang University Student Council-UPLB sa inyong

pakikiisa at pagsuporta sa ating kampanya upang tutulan ang represyon sa loob ng kampus at tuluy-tuloy na makibaka para sa ating mga demokratikong karapatan.

Nahaharap tayo ngayon sa sunud-sunod na mga anti-estudyanteng mga polisiya at atake mula sa panig ng administrasyon. Tampok dito ang pagka-kaantala ng halalan para sa mga panibagong miyembro ng konseho dahil sa pagkwestiyon ng administrasyon sa legalidad ng Konstitusyong ginamit ng mga estudyante ng lagpas 20 taon na.

Kung babalikan natin ang kasaysayan, kasabay ng pagpapatupad ng Martial Law noong Setyembre 21, 1972, ipinatigil ng diktadurya ang pag-iral ng mga institusyong pang-estudyante tulad ng mga konseho, dyaryo, at organisasyon. Ngunit dahil sa sama-sama at malakas na pagkilos ng mga estudyante at iba’t iba pang sektor noong panahong iyon, napagtagumpayang maibalik ang mga demokratikong karapatan ng mga estudyante at muling maitatag ang mga institusyong pang-estudyante na pangunahing nagtatanggol sa mga naunang tagumpay ng kanilang pagkilos. Marapat nating tandaan na ang mga ito ay hindi ibinigay ng basta na lamang bagkus ay pinagbuwisan ng buhay ng mga naunang Iskolar ng Bayan.

Kabilang sa mga demokratikong karapatan nating mga estudyante ang makapag-organisa. Ang konkretong manipestasyon ng mga karapatang ito ay ang pagkakaroon ng mga tambayan, paglulunsad ng mga aktibidad, paggamit ng mga pasilidad sa loob ng pamantasan at pagkilala ng unibersidad sa mga ito bilang mga institusyong nagsusulong ng kagalingan ng mga estudyante. Dagdag pa rito, karapatan nating mga estudyante na makonsulta sa lahat ng polisiyang makaaapekto sa atin at sa pamantasan. Gayundin, may karapatan ang mga estudyante sa impormasyon at malayang pahayagan. Lalo’t higit, tayo ay may karapatang bumoto at magkaroon ng representasyon sa pamantasan upang ka-gyat na matugunan ang ating mga hinaing at kilalanin ang Konstitusyon ng mga Konseho ng Mag-aaral na maka-estudyante at maka-mamamayan.

Sa kasalukuyan, muling inaatake ang ating mga demokratikong karapatan sa sunud-sunod na pagtatanggal ng tambayan ng mga organisasyon, pag-babawal na gumamit ng mga pasilidad upang makapaglunsad ng mga aktibidad at pagkaantala ng recognition sa mga varsitarian at religious organizations. Bukod sa pagtataas ng matrikula at iba pang bayarin noong 2006, marami pang polisiya ang naipatupad sa loob ng pamantasan na hindi dumaan sa tunay at demokratikong konsultasyon sa panig ng mga estudyante at iba pang sektor sa pamantasan. Madalas ding pinagpapasa-pasahan ng mga opisina ng adminis-trasyon ang publikasyon at konseho sa tuwing hihingi ang mga ito ng dokumen-to at iba pang impormasyong nararapat malaman ng mga estudyante. Hindi na rin bago ang panghihimasok ng administrasyon sa pagpili ng punong patnugot ng UPLB Perspective. Sa katunayan, muli na namang naantala ang pagkaka-luklok ng punong patnugot ngayong taon. Dagdag pa rito ang pagkaantala ng eleksyon ng mga Konseho ng Mag-aaral dahil hindi kinilala ng administrasyon ang kasalukuyang Konstitusyon ng Konseho, ang konstitusyong buung-buong pumalit sa ginagamit ng mga konseho noong Martial Law.

Ang pag-atake sa mga institusyong pang-estudyante ay katumbas ng tahasang pagtapak sa ating mga demokratikong karapatan lalo na ang karapa-tan nating magtamasa ng makamasa, makabayan at dekalidad na edukasyon. Marapat nating tandaan na ang dahilan sa pag-iral ng mga institusyong ito ay upang magsilbing tagapamandila at tagapagtanggol ng ating mga demokratikong karapatan. Muli tayong hinahamon ng panahon upang tindigan ang ating mga karapatan at patuloy na tutulan ang represyon sa loob ng pamantasan ga-yundin ang pagkokomersyalisa sa edukasyon dahil sa papaliit na pondo para sa edukasyon. Panghawakan natin ang mga aral mula sa kasaysayan na sa sama-samang pagkilos natin makakamit ang tagumpay. Nawa’y sa pagpasok ng Unibersidad ng Pilipinas sa kanyang sentenaryo, panatilihin natin ang tradi-syon ng militansya at pakikibaka para sa ating mga karapatan lalo’t higit ang mga karapatan ng batayang masa. Tanging ang paglubog sa masa at pag-aaral ng lipunan ang makapaghahatid sa atin sa pinakamataas na antas ng kama-layan. Ang patuloy at sama-samang pagkilos ng mga organisasyon at iba pang estudyante ay konkretong hakbang upang mapanatili ang mga batayang insti-tusyong mangangalaga sa ating interes at kagalingan. Marapat nating tandaan na anumang pagkilos natin upang makamit ang makamasa, makabayan, at dekalidad na edukasyon ay ambag natin sa sambayanang nakikibaka para sa panlipunang pagbabago.

Isang taas kamaong pagpupugay!

University stUdent CoUnCil-UPlB

http://uplbperspective0809.deviantart.com

*bang

Where is Sid? Could this be just one of his star antics? --or could this mean something grave? Could be. could be not.

Sketchpad

Opinyon mo’y mahalaga. Mag-text sa 09164298055/09187463168.

1. Ano ang tingin mo sa SONA ni PGMA?

2. Ano ang masasabi mo sa

maiden centennial issue

ng UPLB Perspective?

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option of generating fund independent of government assistance is considered a last, desperate resort. But this is not the case of UP. Economist’s point of view blurred the reason of UP’s existence.

Moreover, the new UP Charter removed UP’s State University status as it posed UP as a National University. Ironically, guaranteeing state subsidy, no matter how little this would be, the new charter comes with a plan of developing so-called “academic core zones” so that the “idle assets”—the campus areas not included in these core zones—can be used for leasing, selling and other activities to gain profit. These academic core zones will set the boundaries in terms of which area may be used for academic purposes and which are for income-generation. One question, however, may be raised here: Why set up these core zones when in fact, every square meter of the university should and must be utilized for academic purposes? And with a land area as big as UP’s, these academic core zones, figuratively, will be like small hills situated in a vast field of unabated commercialized academic institution.

This unabated commercialization of UP education may then be

”“...every square meter of the university should and must be utilized for academic

purposes

OPINIONVOLUME 35 | ISSUE 1 |August 1, 2008UPLB Perspective 15OPINION VOLUME 35 | ISSUE 1 | August 1, 2008

UPLB Perspective14

UNDERSCRUTINY

MUMBLINGSSome people, when talking about their poverty, tend to shy away and become reserved, as if their

very destitution makes them lesser beings. And maybe I, too, who have little business of saying these things here, writing under a false name, would have to curl up and wrestle myself to give it out to you, to put my condition under your scrutiny.

Stephen King once wrote that “the most important things are the hardest to say, because words diminish them.” Yet in most cases circumstances force you to speak up, because silence is the only thing that stands between you and the articulation of the personal truths you want people to understand.

My family, after a couple of hesitant advances and flinging stops, finally came to Mamatid in Cabuyao, Laguna when I was a year old, and maybe because of the nostalgia the rustic atmosphere stirs up, decided to settle there. My parents assumed then the optimistic attitude couples have, at least, at the start of their relationship.

Our lives were like the lives of other people in that peaceful town: a constant grapple with the exigencies of simple life.

And it is here that we came to build our castle - later on became the sole witness to the deterioration of our castle’s empty rooms and lonely towers.

The recollections of my childhood days are blurry, as if I’m peering through a car’s window where the rain makes a distorting liquid curtain. But I see the image of our life then as a life devoid of worries of not having enough.

And we began to build our castle. We worked hard so that it might stand on hopes and dreams of a better life, on

an unremitting promise of freedom from want. We threw in infinitely many rooms and skyscraping towers for good measure. We made sure that the mess hall must not see scarcity, the hallways must not be dank and smelly, and everywhere there must be lots and lots of candles so that we may not trip on our way to the dungeon or to the cellar. We took pains constructing the moat, so that poverty would be permanently kept at bay.

As I grew up, I did my share in completing the

castle. I went to school as a child who feels secured and satisfied, always giddy to return to our castle.

Maybe the gnawing effects of poverty become more evident with increasing maturity, and the reality, the painful reality, must pounce at you from within. It nags at you until you give in, and at

the point of fracture, all that matter starts to fall apart.

I cannot say categorically when I came to understand, or rather made to understand by social forces, our condition. It just happened. And while I hold on as much as I can to our castle, it starts to crumble away under my slightest touch.

It is such an unfortunate irony that our imagined castle that is supposed to shelter us and bring me closer to my family should force me to distance myself from them. Slowly, I took on the mindset that I was destined for a better life, and the ghosts of lost opportunities began to haunt me.

I could not, would not, look at what our castle has become. My eyes could not linger for more than a few seconds at the peeling wall paints, the disorderly cooking pots and plates, the rotten ceiling slabs, and the cold, uneven and unwelcoming floor. I could not even bear seeing my siblings, for each time I look them in the eye, I see another castle tottering on the edge of a reflected light. I decided that if I were to let go of our castle, I must also be rid of the things that helped me build it.

When I entered UP, I found the chance to escape from the castle. I let

myself become absorbed with other things – studies, friends, writing – and began to invent excuses not to go home. I became more reserved, and when my parents would ask me how am I, I would give only noncommittal replies.

This continued on for a long time, until I decided to become an activist. In the beginning I thought I have successfully evaded the castle, but then, I realized that I have known all along that the castle would not let go of me because, because you see, I am the castle.

I am still in a constant battle with myself to return to the castle and once again knock on its empty rooms where I would have to catch at elusive dreams I chose to abandon. And I will do this without quitting activism, precisely because it is this activism that redeems me and brings me closer to the castle.

I still have a lot to learn about poverty, inequality, fascism, imperialism, my family and myself, but I have set out, with stubborn determination, to understand them all. And I will, because my heart is filled with the hope that when I am ready, I will only have to look wistfully towards our castle, where my family is waving me back home. [P]

”“...I realized

that I have known all along that the castle

would not let go of me because,

because you see, I am the castle.

Living in our castle*crypticpoet

HODGEPODGEPaano tumawid sa isang ilogFAITH ALLYSON BUENACOSA

Sabi ni Heraclitus, hindi pwedeng tumawid ang isang tao sa parehong ilog ng dalawang beses. Dahil sa

pangalawang pagkakataon, iba na ang taong tumatawid sa ilog at iba na rin ang ilog na tinatawiran. Sa isang unibersidad na napakalakas ng pagragasa ng tubig, ang bawat Iskolar ng Bayan ay may kani-kaniyang paraan sa pagtawid.

UNANg HAkBANg SA RUMARAgASANg ILOgIsang bagong batch na naman ng

freshmen ang pumasok ngayong taon. Sila ang pangalawang batch na naging biktima ng 300 porsyentong pagtaas ng matrikula.

Dahan-dahan na ‘atang nasasanay (at sinasanay) ang mga kasalukuyang Isko’t Iska na makakita ng mga UPCAT passers at kanilang mga ina na umiiyak sa panahon ng enrolment dahil hindi nila kayang bayaran ang matrikula sa pinapangarap nilang unibersidad.

Sa pagbabayad ng mahigit P20,000 kada semestre, hindi naman masamang magtanong kung saan ito napupunta. Matapos ang isang taong implementasyon ng ToFI, hindi na nakilala ng mga bagong freshmen ang mukha ng kadiliman sa UPLB na naghahari noon. Hindi na rin nila mararanasang maglakad (lumangoy at madulas) sa gitna ng Freedom Park. Ngunit isa sa mga bagay na hinding-hindi ‘ata magbabago sa unibersidad ay ang mga librong amoy amag at naninilaw na.

IkALAWANg PAgHAkBANg: ISANg BAgONg ARAW Ng PAgSISIMULA

Hindi na nakagugulat pa ang dami ng taong gumigimik tuwing Huwebes sa mga establisyemento sa Grove at LB Square.

Tila nakatatak na sa tradisyon ng lahat ng mga gimikero’t gimikera sa UPLB ang Huwebes bilang “official gimik night.” Ngunit matatapos na ‘ata ang masasayang araw nila, o para mas angkop, masasayang gabi nila sa pagpapalit ng “rest day” ng unibersidad. Taong 2006 nang magsimula ang Four-Day Class Policy sa buong UP System. Isinagawa ito bilang isa sa mga paraan ng pagtitipid ng unibersidad. Mula sa Biyernes na swak na swak sana sa mga mahilig gumimik at gustong umuwi ng maaga sa kani-kanilang mga bahay, inilipat ng administrasyon ang “rest day” ng Lunes. Simple lang ang lohika. Dahil madalas nang inililipat ang mga holiday mula sa orihinal na araw nila patungo sa kasunod o naunang Lunes sa linggong dapat ay ipinagdiriwang ito, sinakto na ng administrasyon na Lunes na rin ang rest day natin.

Ang pagpapalit ng “rest day” sa unibersidad ay parte lamang ng Holiday Economics, na pinatupad noong nakaraang taon pa, para hindi makaapekto sa ekonomiya ang pagdiriwang ng mga holiday. Ngunit sa kabila ng pagtulong nito sa ekonomiya, nagkakaroon naman ng pagkwestyon sa epekto nito sa pagdiriwang ng nasabing holidays. May ilang nagsasabi na nawawala ang tunay na diwa ng pagdiriwang kapag inililipat ang araw na ipagdiriwang ito. May iba namang nagsasabi na kawalan ito ng respeto sa tunay na dahilan ng nasabing holiday. Tila ipinagpalit ang mga importanteng araw sa kasaysayan sa mga long weekends at perang paambon ng mga negosyo sa ekonomiya ng bansa.

MALAkAS ANg AgOS Ng kOMERSYALISASYONKung bukas ang mga tenga niyo

noong bakasyon, siguro narinig mo na naipasa na ang bagong UP Charter. Naging usap-usapan ito maging sa Multiply at sa Peyups.com.

Ang ibang mga Iskolar ng Bayan ay natuwa sa pagpasa ng bagong UP Charter dahil na rin siguro sa pagiging “Pambansang Unibersidad” ng ating mahal na pamantasan. Ayos! Kalebel na ng UP ang bangus, sipa, tsaka baro’t saya. Gayumpaman, kalakip ng pagiging Pambansang Unibersidad, responsibilidad na rin ng UP ang paggawa ng paraan upang magkaroon ng pondong panggastos. Paano niya ito gagawin? Magagawa niya ito sa pamamagitan ng paggamit ng mga idle assets sa loob ng unibersidad. At dahil sa nagaganap na paggamit ng mga ito, bukas na bukas ang UP para sa mga pribadong institusyon na gustong “tumaya” dito.

Isang pampublikong institusyon ang UP at responsibilidad ng pamahalaan na tustusan ang mga pangangailangan ng bawat pampublikong institusyon. Sa paggamit ng mga idle assets para magkaroon ng pondong panggastos ang UP, pinababayaan nito ang pamahalaan na talikuran ang responibilidad nito na suportahan ang pinansyal na pangangailangan ng unibersidad.

ANg HULINg HAkBANg PATAWID: NAPAkALAYO PA RIN SA kATAPUSAN

Marami ang nagbalik buhay couch patato noong bakasyon. Kaya malamang ay marami ang nakapanood ng “UP Commercial” na pinatatampok si G. Melchor at ang Melchor Hall ng UP Diliman. Layunin

ng nasabing patalastas na makahingi ng donasyon para sa 5 bilyong UP Fund para sa mga programa ng UP sa kanyang sentenaryo.

“’Pag tumaya ka sa UP, tumataya ka sa bayan.” Parang pabingo o lotto ‘ata ang panghikayat na linyang ito sa mga gustong magbigay ng donasyon. Kung ganoon nga ang gusto nilang iparating, ano kaya ang premyo sa pagtaya sa UP?

May ilan ‘atang nakalimot na pampublikong paaralan pa rin ang UP sa kabila ng pagdiriwang ng ating centennial year. Hindi ba’t pangahas at konkretong halimbawa ang pagpapalabas ng patalastas sa komersalisasyong nagaganap sa loob ng UP system? Hindi naman mali ang paghingi ng donasyon ngunit hindi ba’t responsibilidad ng pamahalaan na bigyan ng pondong

pantustos ang unibersidad? Ako naman ay nagtatanong lang. At panigurado tulad ko, marami rin ang mga naghihintay ng sagot.

PAgTANAW SA TINAWID NA ILOgIba’t iba ang paraan ng bawat tao

sa pagtawid ng isang ilog. Ang iba ay nagpapadala lamang sa agos sa kabila ng walang kaalaman sa patutunguhan nito. Ang iba naman ay nagpapakasaya sa paglangoy nang hindi nalalaman na tinatangay na sila ng agos.

Ngunit ang ilan ay sumasalungat sa daluyong. Pinababagal sila ng rumaragasang tubig ngunit hindi nila ito alintana sapagkat higit na malakas ang agos ng pag-asang ang pagtunggali sa rumaragasang ilog ay magdudulot ng pagbabago. Nasa pagpapasya ng bawat Iskolar ng Bayan kung paano niya tatawirin ang mga ilog na ito. [P]

”“ Ang iba ay nagpapadala lamang sa agos sa kabila

ng walang kaalaman sa patutunguhan nito.

Bogus changeThe inevitability of change, even

how gradual or drastic, has been established as a fact, like the

sun’s rising in the east and its setting in the west. However, its inevitability does not give one the opportunity to make change for the mere purpose of making them. Ideally, changes should be made for the advantage of the most people. If this is not the case, why change the existing? It will only be an effort put into waste.

UP is not one to be left behind in the course of change.

When the Board of Regents (BOR) approved the tuition and other fees increase (ToFI), the UP community was taken aback thinking that this could be one of the worst blow the government can ever give the education sector. Not to mention, of course, that the government cuts every year the allocated budget for education while the military budget is escalating.

Despite these, the government has something bigger in store for the new UP freshmen: the UP Charter Change. To make these changes in the UP Charter for the better, one may consider two things. First, the change must advocate the principle of democracy in the university through collective decision-making that will involve consultations

with the different sectors in UP. Since the effects of the decisions made are to be felt by the whole of UP population, collective decision-making will yield the most benefit. And second, it should be maintained that UP as a public institution has to provide affordable quality education to Filipinos.

But as how the new UP Charter turned out, it seems that these crucial points of consideration were overlooked—perhaps, even ignored on purpose. The new charter still favors a domineering nature of decision-making in the university as it retained the structure of the BOR, the highest decision-making body in the university. In fact the BOR is further given the right to increase tuition and use these funds for whatever purpose they see suitable for. The power given to the BOR sounds very much like the stockholders’ in a corporation, for they can decide the fate of the whole university and its constituents.

In the new Charter, it is not only the system of decision-making that is being turned like that of a corporation. The goal of the university to provide affordable education for Filipinos is not spared from the claws of commercialization. For a state-supported institution like UP, the

equated to funds—funds generated from the students’ pockets, selling of UP assets and the like. And what can be a better investment made of these funds other than investing it to the people who maintain the high quality of UP education? The exception of the faculty staff from the Salary Standardization Law is seen as a means to keep the quality of the education given by UP through providing ample benefits for its teaching staff. With this exception,

the faculty members are allowed no lower than 25 percent increase in salary. How dismal it is for an institution like UP to use these increases in salaries as a means to sustain the quality of its education. However, it seems a question worth asking why the charter did not give the university’s research and extension personnel these same ample benefits, when they also do their parts in maintaining UP’s

quality education.Changes that will happen to UP

because of the new Charter does not end here. There are some explicitly stated, some implicitly and some could not even be fathomed, but what is seen here, just like the sun’s rising in the east and its setting in the west does not assure a good weather, the inevitability of change could give the most benefit or the most detriment. Sadly, it seems we have the latter. [P]

SUGAR MARIE BAULANOFURYSOLOUDSteadfast dissent

President Gloria Arroyo’s popularity rating dipped to a negative 38 for the first quarter

of 2008, according to the latest Social Weather Station survey. This rating is the lowest garnered by any Philippine president since democracy was restored after Martial Law in 1986.

Such statistics in a way interprets the intensifying disapproval of the Filipino people from across different social strata of the government’s response to social problems of the country — from the rising prices of basic commodities to the escalating cost of education, from the depressing health condition to environmental degradation. In the same light, such statistics reveals the incapacity of the Arroyo administration to govern the country. Therefore, Arroyo’s popularity is more an issue of her administration’s governance than of her public charisma (which Arroyo apparently has less than

what Aquino and Estrada have).As Arroyo receives unpleasant

ratings, the present state of the nation that she conceitedly described as experiencing economic progress sets the irony of her administration’s slogan, “Ramdam ang Kaunlaran.” Oil price, one of the basic determinants of price adjustments of other basic

commodities, increased by not lower than 100 percent since Arroyo took her post as President in 2001. Diesel price, particularly, increased by 177 percent during this period. Given this, the Arroyo administration was unable to provide significant increase in the minimum wage. As expected, the gap between

minimum wage and cost of living in Metro Manila is Php 444 in December 2007, up from Php 244 in 2001.

Even the basic social services were not spared. Last year, the Arroyo administration only alloted insufficient

budget to the education and health sectors as compared with the prescription of UNESCO: three percent instead of the prescribed six percent for education and only 0.5 percent instead of the prescribed five percent for health services. This amid the Arroyo administration’s allocation of a large chunk of the national budget to military spending and debt servicing.

These are long-standing contentions. But despite these, for Arroyo to remain in power, she has to compensate - if not conceal - the inefficiency of her administration to govern the country. And her idea of maintaining order in the country is to silence those who are critical to her administration by abusing human rights, particularly the deafening yet quiet tactic of political killings. For the President who is also the Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces, power becomes a stagnating element in her claws.

Consequently, while the victims of hunger become more indignant in their

various forms of protest, Arroyo recently passed Executive Order 731, employing the Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines to “issue timely intelligence assessments of political and security developments related to the oil price issue and alert government offices on the same. It shall provide advice on matters affecting national security.” Again, by surfacing its tacit reactionary nature, the Arroyo administration is indeed unyielding to any attempt, from the camps of the opposition or from those it tags as “leftist” groups, of obstructing its plans. Not to mention her resolute efforts to stifle the protesting masses through calibrated preemptive response and media repression.

It is in these grounds, among many others, that the Filipino people establish their declining approval of President Arroyo. For the Filipinos, the state--which deprives them of life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness--and the political and economic systems that perpetuate it both deserve steadfast dissent. [P]

”“ Arroyo’s popularity

is more an issue of her administration’s governance

than of her public

charisma.

MARK VINCENT BARACAO

16 OPINIONVOLUME 35 | ISSUE 1 | August 1, 2008UPLB Perspective

MuckrakerEDITORIAL

In a society that abets a lopsided state of affairs between the disadvantaged and the ruling class, it is but imperative for members of a publication that purports itself a vanguard of its publishers’ interest to crumble their ivory tower and take on the struggles of the oppressed people.

This requires embracing the triumphant and sorrowing realities of the people’s existence and joining them in the realization of their genuine hopes and aspirations. While the masses are tormented by the social, economic and political crises perpetuated by the status quo, those who are deemed as the staunch defenders of the truth and the people’s inalienable right to information must never be remiss in fulfilling their urgent task.

Indeed, the current societal set up allows for the exposition of the plight of the masses, and the journalist who is in tune with his or her time must take every chance to bring the people’s issues to the fore, lambasting the very system itself in the process. But doing so will never be easy, especially in a society gripped by the constant, nip-and-tuck battle between contradictions. Always, the conscientious journalist will be caught in the cross fires of the war between clashing interests.

And precisely because of the mainstream media’s servility to the dictates of the ruling order, as it is shackled by the demand of profit, it is up to the alternative media to uplift the dispossessed and articulate their grievances.

The UPLB Perspective, as an alternative newspaper that safeguards the interest of the students, will take the forefront

in its publishers’ struggle for a truly nationalist, scientific and mass-oriented education.

Such task assumes the role of absolute obligation when seen in light of UP’s celebration of its centennial. Barely recovering from the lashings inflicted by the increase in tuition and other fees, the democratic access to UP education that has defined the university’s 100 years of existence is again on the defensive position. Indeed, with a renewed and intensified wave of commercialization and privatization schemes, a heightened vigilance is required of every Iskolar ng Bayan, and the publication of the students must respond to the need for a potent avenue of opposition.

Thus, the Perspective cannot be mime where the integrity of the university as a bastion of democracy is jeopardized. Now that UP is gradually losing its grip on its role in a country under a neocolonial bondage, there is definitely no room for capitulation.

But we cannot fulfill our mandated task to protect the rights of the students if we remain weak and submissive to the dictates of the authorities, because fear of dissent can only blunt the pen we wield against the unjust social order.

In matters concerning the studentry, we refuse to be ambivalent and compromising.

We can never take a neutral stance. While we will uphold fairness by promoting responsible journalism and providing sharp

analyses of the issues that hound the students in particular and the Filipino people in general, we will relentlessly reject the myth of objectivity. That a publication wants to put into light certain issues is already a confirmation of its bias: the only

decision left for it is to choose whether to champion students’ interest or to reaffirm the injustices of the society.

More so, during these times when the current societal set up forces us to believe in the validity and inevitability of a dystopic status quo, cowering behind the false impenetrability of neutrality becomes an assassination of the principles.

All of these will only be an exercise in futility if the publication will isolate itself from the other sectors of society and consider its fight excluded from the fight of the people. We must therefore humbly cast our loyalties to the growing ranks of the organized masses.

As we look back on the university’s one century of existence, we look back on a hundred years of truly serving the people. More than anything else, this year must herald the continuing defense of our cherished ideals and principles that has always spurred us ceaselessly forward.

This year, we offer you a more militant, a more fearless UPLB Perspective. [P]

”“...cowering

behind the false

impenetrability of neutrality becomes an

assassination of the principles.

Christian ray Buendia, Editor in ChiEf; Mark VinCent BaraCao, AssoCiAtE Editor; Faith allyson BuenaCosA, MAnAging Editor; BeVerly ChristCel laguartilla, BusinEss MAnAgEr; karen lapitan, CulturE Editor; preCious Valerie silVa, fEAturEs Editor; rogene gonzales, nEws Editor; sugar Marie Baula, Copy Editor / produCtion Editor;

nikko angelo oriBiana, harriet Melanie zaBala, nEws; Mark angelo ordonio, BeVerly May indino, CulturE; liBerty notarte, fEAturEs; Chino Carlo ariCaya, kerVin gaBilo, JaCoB laBita, grAphiCs; paul andrew Manuales, angeliCa Mendoza, aBrahaM Finney santos, lAyout;

riCk Jason oBrero, salVatorre de VinCe olano, Jonathan rayMund pandi, ellysa rosales, ApprEntiCEs; uplB pErspECtivE is A MEMBEr of thE CollEgE Editors guild of thE philippinEs And solidAridAd - up systEMwidE AlliAnCE of studEnt puBliCAtions And writErs orgAnizAtion

Editorial Office: Rm. 11, 2/F Student Union Bldg, UPLB, College, Laguna | e-mail: uplbperspective0809@gmail.com | website: http://uplbperspective0809.deviantart.com

the oFFiCial student puBliCation oF the uniVersity oF the philippines los Baños