My first wisdom tooth is growing. Sana maayos itong tumubo… Ayaw kong magpabunot. Totoo bang karaniwan nang kinakailangang bunutin ang wisdom teeth?

Lumuwas kami ng Amadeo kahapon para tingnan ang lupang tanimang ipinambayad-utang sa mga magulang ko. Hindi ako dapat sasama pero naisip kong pagkakataon din iyon para makasanayan kong gamitin ang SLR camera ko, at para maubos na rin ang kauna-unahan nitong rolyo ng film.

Para makarating sa taniman, kinailangan naming tahakin ang ‘gubat’ sa labas ng bayan. Hindi ko inakalang ganun kasukal ang gubat sa kabilang dako ng makipot na ilog mula sa bayan. Para kaming umakyat ng Bundok Banahaw. Akyat-panaog kami sa matarik na dalusdos sa gilid ng ilog. Walang access road kaya ganun. Masukal na gubat talaga, ang hirap marating. Pagdating namin doon sa sinasabing taniman, aba eh, iba ang nakita ko mula sa inaasahan. Taniman nga siya — taniman ng mga sari-sari at halu-halong ligaw na puno ng saging, kape, papaya, bayabas, at pinya sa gitna ng gubat. Sino kaya ang magtiyatiyagang sakahan ang lupang ‘to? Ang layo sa kalsada, at para maikalakal ang anumang aning maaaring pitasin mula sa mga puno, eh kailangan mong umakyat-panaog sa matarik na dalusdos at masukal na ‘kagubatan’.

Anupaman, kahit nakakapagod, eh kuntento naman ako dahil marami akong nakunang litrato sa aking SLR. Pero nang alam kong ubos na ang rolyo ng film, eh napansin kong napipihit ko pa rin ang film advance lever. Hindi maaari! Hindi pala nakakabit nang wasto ang film!! Wala akong nakunang litrato!

Yamut na yamot ako n’on. Pero ayos lang ngayon. Bahala na. Sa muling pagbabalik na lang.

Inatake ako ng kati habang kumakain sa Beach House kahapon. Ewan ko kung dahil ‘to sa higad o ano. Tingnan n’yo ‘yung larawan ng galanggalangan ko na kinunan ko kanina. Dumami pa d’yan ang mga butlig-butlig ko ngayon kasi kinamot ko nang kinamot. Eh ang sarap kamutin kasi ang kati-kati talaga. Ngayon namumutiktik sa butlig ang braso ko. Ang kati!!! At ngayon nagkakabutlig na rin ang ibang parte ng katawan ko. Ayoko na!! ‘Wag n’yo na kong dahil sa Beach House kahit kailan!

Sa wakas, nag-klase rin kami sa Film 100 noong Lunes. Puro kasi holiday ang dalawang Lunes na nakalipas. Oy, at holiday rin ang Lunes sa susunod na lingo. Wala na namang klase. Halos film-viewing lang pala lahat ng klase sa Film 100, at may discussion din s’yempre. Nung Lunes, Nuovo Cinema Paradiso and pinanood namin.

Kahapon, nagkaroon ng mobilisasyon at demonstrasyon ang ilang grupo ng mga mag-aaral ng UP laban sa budget cut at sa komersalisasyon daw ng edukasyon. Sinabay ito sa ginagawang deliberasyon ng Mababang Kapulungan ukol sa pambansang budget ng 2005. Galit at tutol din ako sa budget cut at sa paglalaan ng gobyerno ng napakalaking pondo sa pagbabayad utang at sa militar na ang pakinabang ay hindi naman ramdam ng mamamayan. Pero, pero hindi ako tutol sa paggamit ng UP ng mga ari-arian nito para makalikom ng karagdagang pondo. Mahabang debate pa ‘yan pero ‘yun lang muna. Nung break ko, naki-upo lang ako sa pagtitipon ng mga nagpoprotesta sa may AS lobby. Pero umalis din ako kalaunan at pumunta ng CMC.

Dun lang ako tumambay sa may application booth ng UP CAST buong hapon.

Noong Linggo, nahikayat ko ang mga magulang kong pumunta kami ng Quiapo para makakuha na ‘ko ng sarili kong SLR camera para sa Film 110 class ko. Nung Sabado kasi, pumunta kami ng SM para tumingin ng camera. Eh, ayoko namang magpabili ng masyadong mahal, saka kahit segunda mano eh ayos na sa ‘kin. Baka matakot lang kasi kong gamitin ang camera kung masyadong mahal. Kaya ayun, sa Quiapo na lang kami bumili. Isang 1997 na modelo ng Nikon FE10 SLR na camera. Ayos na ‘to sa ‘kin. Unang una kong SLR camera. Yehey.

Habang pinapatagal ko ang panahong lumilipas mula nang huli akong nagpo-post ng entry dito, tumatamad ako nang tumatamad. Kaya bago pa ako tamarin nang tuluyan, mag-uupdate ako.

HUWEBES, Nobyembre 18. Unang beses kong sabayan ang rush hour na trapik ng Commonwealth Avenue para pasukan ang 7AM PE class ko. Ako ang nagmaneho ng sasakyan habang pasahero ko si Mama. Pagdating ko ng gym at matapos umalis ng Mama ko kasama ng sasakyan, natanto ko na naiwanan ko pala ang Form 5 ko kaya hindi ako maaring pumasok. Wala akong ibang p’wedeng gawin kundi lumiban sa klase at umuwi na lang ng bahay. Unang pagliban ko sa ikalawang semestre.

BIYERNES, Nobyembre 19. Nung gabi, nagkaroon ng cultural night sa kolehiyo ko, na pinasumunuan ng CMC student council para isulong ang pagutulol sa UP budget cut. Ginanap iyon sa madilim na parking lot ng CMC. Mga maliliit na kandila at ang kaisa-isang fluorescent bulb malapit sa lobby ang nagsilbing ilaw, maliban sa mga bitwin. Nakalapag sa lupa ang mga banig at kumot at doon lang nakaupo ang mga tao. Nagkaroon ng mga pagtatanghal mula sa iba’t ibang orgnisasyon sa kolehiyo. ‘Yun lang. Kakaunti lang ang mga freshmen na pumunta.

Apat na rounds ng sikretong botohan ng labindalawang kataong bahagi ng Board of Regents ng Unibersidad ng Pilipinas. At wala pa ring presidente ang UP dahil sa hindi mabuwag na stalemate.

FOR THE first time in nearly five decades, the University of the Philippines, considered the country’s premier academic institution, has been unable to elect a president.

The 12 members of the UP Board of Regents (BOR), the university’s highest governing body, remained split after an unprecedented fourth round of secret balloting on Wednesday morning between UP-Diliman Chancellor Emerlinda Roman and Ambassador to the United Kingdom Edgardo Espiritu.

…

All state universities are governed by their BORs, whose members are mostly appointed by Malaca�ang.

For UP, the ex-officio BOR members are Fr. Rolando de la Rosa, head of the Commission on Higher Education, who serves as chair; incumbent UP president Dr. Francisco Nemenzo, vice chair; Sen. Juan Flavier, chair of the Senate committee on education; Rep. Cynthia Villar, chair of the House committee on education; Prof. Sergio Jocao, faculty representative; Gen. Jaime de los Santos, alumni representative, and Marco Dominic de los Reyes, student representative.

The other members are the five presidential appointees: Filemon Berba, Edmundo Varona, Nelia Gonzales, Fatima Sinsuat and retired Supreme Court Justice Abraham Sarmiento.

[from The Philippine Daily Inquirer, November 19, 2004]

Ito naman ang opinyon ng natatanging kinatawan ng mga estudyante sa BOR. (Kung bakit kung sino pa ang pinakamalaking nakikinabang at pinagsisilbihan ng Unibersidad, ang meron lamang isang kinatawan sa BOR kumpara sa lima hanggang siyam na regents na hinirang direkta o kung ‘di ma’y kontrolado ng Pangulo ng Pilipinas, ewan!)

Carry on the Fight for Our Right to Education! Defeat Malaca�ang Intervention in the Selection of the Next UP President!
An Open Letter from Student Regent Marco Dominic delos Reyes
19 November 2004

To the iskolars ng bayan and members of the UP Community,

Last 17 November, the Board of Regents met to elect the next UP President. For four rounds of voting through secret balloting, a stalemate persisted; six votes went to former Finance Secretary Edgardo Espiritu, six votes to UP Diliman Chancellor Emerlinda Roman. The BOR decided to hold another meeting on 22 November with the hope of breaking the tie. For the meantime, UP has yet to elect a new president.

The results, I think, reflect the division in the BOR between those who voted for Chancellor Roman for various reasons on the one hand, and those who wanted to impose upon UP a Malacanang puppet in the person of former Finance Secretary Espiritu on the other. Given Malacanang’s strength of will and numbers in the BOR, I believe the stalemate is a victory � albeit a tactical one � for the UP Community.

The criteria I used for voting was formed through consultations with the iskolars ng bayan and other sectors of the UP community. The Congress of the Katipunan ng mga Sangguniang Mag-aaral sa UP provided a most important help in creating a students� agenda for the selection of the next UP President. I also consulted other student formations, the All-UP Worker�s Union and the All-UP Academic Union.

In the end, I voted for Chancellor Roman. In the past, we iskolars ng bayan have either united with or struggled against her on particular issues. We have united with her most notably in fighting for greater state subsidy for UP and education and against US wars of aggression. On the other hand, we have struggled against her on the issue of commercialization, RGEP, Senate Bill 2587 and UP Charter Change.

What clinched my vote, however, were reliable information from different quarters that President Macapagal-Arroyo is hell-bent on intervening in the selection of the next UP President in order to impose someone who will be rabid in defending and implementing her policies for UP and education, and in supporting her national policies and stands. In short, she wants a Malaca�ang puppet as UP President.

Of course, I expected Malaca�ang intervention, given the high stakes UP has for the government. The government is beset with a fiscal crisis it plans to solve by, among other measures, reducing the budget for UP, education and social services. Large-scale commercialization measures are in the offing for UP: tuition fee increase through STFAP Rebracketting and commercialization of lands.

The violent dispersal of striking farmers in Hacienda Luisita comes to mind: With the fiscal crisis, the government is desperate to quell dissent, uphold the interests of a few and attack the democratic interests of the youth and people. One way for the government to do that in UP is to install a puppet president whose loyalty and service will not go to the UP Community but to Pres. Macapagal-Arroyo herself.

From this analysis, it became clear to me that my responsibility and task to the iskolars ng bayan and the UP Community is not just to choose a UP President but more importantly to expose and oppose Malaca�ang intervention in this process. The BOR meeting held yesterday merely validated the correctness of this analysis.

Who is Espiritu? He served as Finance Secretary in the cabinet of former President Estrada and held key Philippine posts of the ADB, World Bank and the IMF. He did not attend any of the public fora held in the UP campuses. On June 2005, he will be 70 years old, past the age limit for a UP president set by the University Code. This merely underscores the brazenness of Malaca�ang in trying to elect him.

In his vision paper, Espiritu attacks our fight for greater state subsidy, and says that UP does not need to �beg for subsidies from the national government.� While UP has been commercializing for years, Espiritu asserts that UP has not done enough. He proposes to further commercialize UP and reduce student admission. This vision for UP could only endear him, and others like him, to Malaca�ang.

In the same way that President Arroyo dwarfs her predecessors in wreaking havoc to the country and economy and serving the US, a Malaca�ang puppet � if not defeated in its quest for power � is headed to surpass other UP presidents in commercializing UP and attacking our right as iskolars ng bayan to education. He or she is a clear and present danger to the UP Community that must be opposed.

History teaches us a lesson. The last time there was an impasse in the selection of a UP President was in the late 1950s. It was widely believed that the Archbishop of Manila of that time, through President Ramon Magsaysay and the Education Secretary, was maneuvering for the selection of a UP President sympathetic to the Catholic Church. Because of this, UP had an acting president from 1956 to 1958.

The deadlock was ended after the students launched a strike and defiantly absented themselves from classes. The Board of Regents was forced to take action in electing Vicente Sinco, who is now known for �clashing with conservatism� in his term.* With the persisting undemocratic structure of governance that is the BOR, Malaca�ang can make the battle long and arduous for us iskolars ng bayan. But our weapons of vigilance, unity and collective action can be decisive.

Our fight is correct and just. Our opposition to Malaca�ang intervention is principled and not opportunistic. It is based on our democratic rights and interests. The proposed P67.9 M UP budget cut for 2005 is proof of the thrust of the Arroyo administration � that is, to pass on the youth and people the burdens of the fiscal crisis. Malaca�ang having its way on the UP presidency means more budget cuts, more attacks on the right to education of the iskolars ng bayan.

I therefore call on the iskolars ng bayan: It is our militant and collective action that can tilt the balance in the BOR. Let us carry on the fight for our right to education and defeat Malaca�ang intervention in the selection of the next UP President. Let us oppose the proposed P67.9 M budget cut, as well as other anti-student and anti-youth policies of the Arroyo administration. Let us also push for the democratization of structures of governance in the University.

Even if we succeed in defeating Malaca�ang intervention, we must and will continue to act and fight for our rights and interests. We will remain vigilant with every actions and policies of the UP President. What is pressing right now, however, is for us to come together, dialogue, and act as one to defeat Malaca�ang intervention.

I call on fellow iskolars ng bayan to join the mobilization at the Quezon Hall on 22 November, so we can assert our call directly to the BOR. Most important of all, let us walk-out of our classes and join the mobilization on 23 November to oppose the proposed P67.9 M UP budget cut. History is in our hands. I trust that the iskolars ng bayan will not default in acting to change it for the
better.

Seize the day!

Mabuhay ang mga iskolar ng bayan!

*Milagros Guerrero, �Sinco�s Clash with Conservatism� in Oscar M.
Alfonso, ed.
University of the Philippines: The First 75 Years (1908-1983). Quezon
City: UP
Press, 1985.