Do visit UPD-USC.net, the official website of the UP Diliman University Student Council (USC). I’ve been working on it the past weeks, as chairperson of the Mass Media Committee. I hope it becomes a venue for the USC to reach out to the students better, and for our constituents to get to know and get in touch with their USC with regards to various issues that they, the UP community, and the nation face.

Below is the USC statement regarding the rice crisis prepared by the University Student Council’s (USC) People’s Struggles Committee under Councilor Fudge Tajar with inputs and reports from other members of the USC.

The University Student Council believes that the present crisis on rice production demands for immediate, sustainable pro-people solutions. The government should immediately increase its support to the National Food Authority (NFA) in its procurement of palay, dismantle the rice cartels and impose a crack down on illegal acts of price manipulation, implement a moratorium on the land-use conversion of agricultural land, and increase its investment in the agricultural sector, all for the benefit our local farmers and the Filipino people.

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Tags: agriculture, cartel, IMF-World Bank, land reform, rice crisis, University Student Council, USC statements

Two Saturdays ago, to cap off my mother and my brother’s birthdays (which both fall within the same week), we went to Hacienda Escudero (formerly Villa Escudero) for a short day trip.

It was my first time at the estate-turned-tourist destination. It took us a almost four hours to drive down to San Pablo, Laguna / Tiaong, Quezon from Manila. We passed by the route crossing Batangas.

When we arrived at the place, we were toured briefly at the church-turned-museum. It looked familiar for me. No, not because I’ve seen it in the many postcards that it may have appeared in. It was after a few minutes when I realized this was where Wong Kar Wai shot parts of his film Days of Being Wild. Anyway the museum was basically a hogwash of various antiques and Escudero memorabilia, which I found quite interesting.

After the museum tour, we rode these carabao trolleys to the resort’s main recreation area, where we had lunch at the foot of a man-made dam with fresh water falling off the dam’s slope and streaming through our feet. If not for the heat of the midday sun, it would have been a very relaxing and refreshing lunch.

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Tags: Batangas, estates, family, farmers, Laguna, land reform, Quezon, resorts

A few weeks ago, I went to the UP College of Law for the interview portion of my application process. I was really apprehensive. I was among the last applicants to be interviewed from among the almost-300 who applied, and I was thinking the panelists would have probably heard everything from all the interviewees, and there’s probably nothing else I would say that would please them.

Just a few days after that, the list of eligible enrollees came out and I was fortunate enough to be included in it. One of my brods asked me why I didn’t blog about it. With all modesty, I didn’t want to make it too known, as I am not too keen on attracting too much attention and expectations that I don’t want to be pressured to fulfill.

A few days ago, I submitted my letter of intent to enroll at the UP College of Law. I’m excited, yes, but I’m really also quite anxious about it. I’m graduating from my undergraduate degree in Film this Sunday, and honestly, if I didn’t get accepted into UP Law, I wouldn’t know what to do after. Here’s to four (or more) years of studying in UP!

Tags: application, graduation, UP Law

Hi, folks. I haven’t been updating lately. Though it’s summer, and I’m just supposed to be waiting for my graduation day, my days are actually filled with meetings and activities and last week, dinner-outs and other such gimmicks.

My mother and brother celebrate their birthdays within the same week in April. Needless to say, last week was filled with dinner-outs and take-outs and food at home.

Last Monday, we celebrated my younger brother’s birthday with a hearty dinner-out at Italianni’s restaurant in Trinoma Mall. After dinner, we strolled a bit and came across this large picture of a little girl which looked like Tisay. Funny, she was the one who actually ran towards it and screamed her name. He he he. Last Thursday, on the other hand, after spending the day with my mom in our Bulacan hometown, we celebrated her birthday at Crustasia restaurant, also in Trinoma with some of her college friends.

Looking at my calendar, it would also seem to me that April is the month most filled with birthdays of friends and acquaintances.

Tags: family, Gino, Mama, restaurant, Trinoma

We would like to gather reactions on how the One-Way Acad Oval traffic policy has affected students since its implementation almost a month ago. What can you say about this policy? Do you think converting the inner lane of the oval into a bike lane is beneficial to students? Or the re-routing of the Katipunan and Toki jeepneys?

We have done initial consultations with the organizations of jeepney drivers and operators in UP a few days ago. According to them, the re-routing policy removed the competitive advantage of Katipunan jeepneys, them especially, because instead of their usual clockwise route they are now forced to compete with other jeepney franchises in a counter-clockwise direction. Such competition, among other issues like the saturation of jeepney franchises due to the corrupt tendencies of government offices like the LTFRB (Land Transportation Franchising Regulatory Board), has lead to internal feuds within the ranks of jeepney drivers themselves, among other such difficulties.

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Tags: Academic Oval, campus issues, university policy, University Student Council, UP Administration, UP Diliman

Still, three days of University Student Council (USC) meetings weren’t enough to resolve the establishments and the leaderships of all the USC’s committees. Another special session was held last Friday, April 11, 2008, to tackle the remaining committees.

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Tags: meeting, student council, University Student Council, UP Diliman, Vinzons Hall

My lower limbs are still sore right now. Last Sunday, I ran with some brods at the On Your Mark - Draw the Line Run-For-A-Cause run at the Bonifacio Global City in Taguig, due to the prodding of one of our brods who’s very passionate about running. Do visit his Run For Change blog for more info, like schedules of other runs!

It was my last run after the Subic Marathon run (where I ran the 10 kilometer route), and that was months ago. I also woke up at 5:30 AM, just half an hour before the start of the run. And come on, I live in Quezon City! Believe it or not, however, I made it to Taguig all the way from Diliman in under thirty minutes (yes, I did not take a shower before leaving the house anymore).

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Two days weren’t enough to allow the University Student Council (USC) to deliberate, establish and elect the chairpersons of its various committees, so we held a special assembly last Thursday at the USC Office in Vinzons Hall to discuss such unresolved matters.

We started promptly at six in the afternoon, but as expected, deliberations ensued for more than six hours. The assembly adjourned by almost midnight with only three committee establishments and leaderships resolved. That gives us a rate of a committee resolution every two hours.

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Tags: meeting, student council, University Student Council, UP Diliman, Vinzons Hall