The following article appears in the latest issue of Oblation, the newsletter of the UP Diliman University Student Council (USC). The last issue was the last of our term, 2008, and serves as a joint/transition issue with USC 2009.

The University of the Philippines bore witness to our militant history of collective struggle. It has been a testament to the tide and ebb of our national affairs which have propelled thousands of students to forge an inextricable link with various sectors in our society in our clamor for a common aspiration—genuine social change.

At the dawn of the decade 60’s, the country was swept by the massive waves of rage and discontent among the youth, laborers and peasants and other sectors of the society weary of the existing social order favoring foreign interests and the ruling class. It was further aggravated by the government’s incapacity to ease the worsening crisis, tolerance for corruption and the use of fascism to quell the progressive mass movement.

At the height of political repression, the students of the University took both issues of national and local significance to the streets: from tuition fee increases, campus repression and the fight for academic freedom to US imperialism and its war of aggression in Vietnam, oil price hikes, land reform and decent wages for the workers.

Youth organizations that were founded in the University along with University professors propelled the progressive movement in the campus as they packaged militant ideas in fora, convocations, cultural performances, educational and classroom discussions and teach-ins.

As a reaction to the government’s inaction involving the release of its 9-millon budget, the Council of Leaders which includes traditional organizations, fraternities and sororities and progressive organizations such as the Kabataang Makabayan, Student Cultural Association of the University of the Philippines and the University Student Council led the picket protest.

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Tags: 1960's, campus issues, history, Oblation, picket, protest, University Student Council, UP Diliman

I’ve been trying to be as diligent as I can with my studies right now. I rarely hang out in school after class anymore, unless there are really important meetings, activities or errands. And when our internet connection was cut a few days ago, I didn’t quite mind it, as I was too busy reading cases and textbooks when I’m at home. Right now, I’m just finishing this entry before going back to my readings.

Anyway, last night, since all the other cinemas were booked because of Transformers: The Revenge of The Fallen, we found ourselves rediscovering the cinemas of Metro Manila’s first mall (okay, apparently, Harrison Plaza claims to be the older mall). The last time I was at the cinemas of Ali Mall was two or three years ago, when it was still all dingy and dark. It was the opening weekend then, I think, of The Da Vinci Code, and my friends and I gave up upon seeing the humongous crowd at Gateway Mall in Cubao. Upon my suggestion, we walked to Ali Mall and watched the movie in its large, decrepit, and largely empty cinema. Last night to our pleasant surprise, however, it’s a lot, lot better. Together with the rest of the mall, the cinemas have been renovated. The large cinema has been divided into three smaller and cozier modern theaters that look like the cinemas at Gateway. And since I don’t think a lot of people are aware of Ali Mall’s recent transformation, the box office lines were pleasantly short.

Transformers was a great visual treat. Nothing artsy-fartsy. Funny how I think like a law student sometimes even when watching movies. The moment Sam’s family home was destroyed my first thought was, damn, I wonder if their house is insured (or if the insurance policy will cover destruction by robot).

Tags: academics, Ali Mall, cinema, Cubao, mall, random notes

Kabataan Party-list commemorated last June 19, 2009 the 148th birth anniversary of national hero Jose Rizal and its founding anniversary with a Youth Action Day against the convening of a constituent assembly and charter change.

The Youth Action Day kicked off with a Morning Jog against Cha-Cha at 8:00 in the morning around Rizal Park. After which, youth and student leaders led by Kabataan Party-list Mong Palatino went back to the Rizal Monument to offer a wreath symbolizing the youth’s respect and honor for the national hero.

In the main program held in Luneta, Palatino said that “Rizal should be honored for his patriotism and nationalism and today’s youth should all be made aware of the lessons he bequeathed upon us.”

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Tags: charter change, jog, Jose Rizal, Kabataan Party, Katipunan, Luneta, Manila, Mong Palatino, noise barrage, protest, Quezon City, youth sector

On the issue of the UP Student Code and national issue of the Constituent Assembly

It was modern thinking that placed a high premium on Consent as a foundation of law. Consent has a transformative moral power, but it has its own pitfall: it can transform a wrongful action into a rightful one. If Manny Pacquiao had knocked down Ricky Hatton outside of the ring, he would have been prosecuted for serious physical injuries.

Still, this philosophy stems from the core belief that all men are reasonable, and that Reason will then lead us all to a single, unassailable conclusion. This legal theory, stridently discussed in Malcolm Hall, is relentlessly tested in practice. We note two particular instances: in proposals for a new code for student discipline in Diliman, and for a constituent assembly to change the Charter.

When the UP administration moved for the codification of student rules sometime in 2005, students were only allowed piecemeal participation. In a university where 80% of students are older than 18 years – the age of consent – the lack of active and inclusive student participation is suspect. The drafting of the Code undermines the basic right of students to be consulted, represented, and decide in the formulation of policies that affect their rights and welfare.

UMAKSYON last year joined 100 other student organizations, in submitting to the Board of Regents an 18-point demand “reclaiming the rights of student organizations in the University of the Philippines”. The document specifically demanded student council control over two properties; softer rules on organization and assembly; and secure student representation or participation in important campus activities.

In contrast, the draft Diliman Student Code emphasizes that the use of university facilities and the use of a tambayan is a grant, a privilege. It also offered stricter guidelines on student organizations, and barely promised solutions to staffing and appointment issues of student publications and representatives. What the draft code puts forward is a simpler procedure for discipline cases.

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Tags: campus issues, charter change, code of student conduct, Gloria Arroyo, political repression, student rights, UMAKSYON, UP Administration, UP Law

My parents decided to celebrate Fathers’ Day a week earlier this year, probably to avoid the crowds of families this weekend, and more importantly because we will all be probably a little more busy by the time school had already started. So last week, we had lunch out at PowerPlant in Makati. We also did a little family shopping the rest of the afternoon.

Today, the actual day of fathers, we just went to mass, then had pizza at home.

Now I’m just making digests for cases to be discussed in class tomorrow. I’m back to the law school routine, hopefully for good. It’s unfortunate I don’t have much time to write a more profound entry suited for fathers’ day so I guess this will do for now.

Tags: family, Father's Day, mass, Papa

Sign the online petition of the youth against Con-Ass (Constituent Assembly) and Charter Change here.

We are today’s generation of Filipino youth, young, vibrant and spirited, transcending professions, cultures and boundaries, and to whom the hopes and aspirations for the nation’s future is bequeathed.

Together, we vehemently oppose all attempts by the ruling Arroyo clique and its cronies in Congress to tamper with the Constitution and perpetuate itself in power. We denounce in the strongest possible terms the blatant abuse of power and treachery that have come to characterize this regime.

The shameless display of arrogance and callousness of the Arroyo government sends for all patriotic and freedom-loving young Filipinos to dissent. The signs of times are rallying us to lives of involvement and action.

The youth have always played a pivotal role in ushering in significant changes and junctures in history. We have always been at the forefront of uprisings and revolutions every time the social, political and economic conditions in society become too intolerable for Filipinos to endure.

Today, we have a moral and sacred duty to perform. We cannot remain silent or with our arms crossed. We cannot remain indifferent while our own future as a people and a nation are being compromised for selfish political ambitions. The stakes are too high for us to take a pass.

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Tags: charter change, congress, economic crises, Gloria Arroyo, Kabataan Party, petition, youth sector

On June 19, the nation would be commemorating the 148th birth anniversary of Dr. Jose Rizal. It was Rizal who coined the popular notion, ang kabataan ang pag-asa ng bayan. Indeed, on the youth, with their unbridled idealism, aspirations and enthusiasm, can rest any people’s hope and desire for social change.

June 19 is also the founding anniversary of Kabataan Party, currently the only party-list representing the youth sector in the House of Representatives, with advocacies and campaigns inside and outside the halls of Batasan.

On Friday, there will be a whole-day festival of activities to showcase youth unity for change, starting off with “Morning Jog vs. ConAss” at 6 in the morning from Baywalk towards the Manila City Hall where first time voters will collectively register to be able to vote in the 2010 national elections. After the run, a youth mobilization will be held from 10 AM to 12 PM at Luneta, from where participants will embark on a march-parade around schools along Taft and Intramuros.

Participants will then converge in front of the Commission on Elections by 2 PM for a closing program to call for clean and honest elections in 2010. A youth concert will also be held at 6:00 in the afternoon in Quezon City.

See you all there!

Tags: anniversary, charter change, Jose Rizal, Kabataan Party, Luneta, Manila, youth sector

Youth Action Day set on June 19, Rizal Day

Kabataan Party-list Rep. Mong Palatino today said that youth groups will launch a nationwide petition campaign against the convening of a constituent assembly when classes open on Monday, June 15.

“We expect to gather one million signatures until the State of the Nation Address in July. Let this be a testament of how youth and students everywhere despise con-ass and attempts of the Arroyo administration to extend her term,” Palatino said.

Palatino said that Kabataan Party-list will be putting up signature campaign booths in schools and universities nationwide starting Monday.

Palatino’s office would also be sponsoring forums and campus tours dubbed ‘Konsultahang Kabataan’ with the topic, “Con-Ass and the 2010 Elections.’

“We will continue to work despite (Congress being on) recess. We will be reaching out to our constituents nationwide to gather their opinions and unite our ranks against this dreaded con-ass. Expect youth protests to snowball in the following days,” he said.

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Tags: charter change, concert, congress, Jose Rizal, Kabataan Party, Mong Palatino, youth sector

Tisay will begin her post-daycare schooling this week as a nursery student at some private school a few minutes from home. I’ve been doing errands for my mom with regard to her enrollment, so I’ve been to her new school a number of times the past week. It’s amusing how some of the people at her school mistook me as her father, that day I took her and bought the prescribed school uniforms. This time, she’d be taking the school bus, so there’d be no need for me to bring her and fetch her from school, as I used to do over the summer, when she was attending daycare school in UP.

A few weekends ago, we went to Amadeo for the Santa Cruzan. We had lunch at the residence of the presidente of the youth council of sorts in the community, organizing the festivities, who happens to be a second cousin also. It was the first time Tisay donned a gown for the parade. Too bad the dress made her itchy all over so she backed out from the parade the last minute. It’s hilarious how young girls are so excited over dressing up and parading, I don’t get it.

A weekend ago, the family went out for lunch together at the mall. It’s been a while since we did that. There are those rare times when we’re not all busy with our own preoccupations.

Tags: Amadeo, Cavite, family, personal, Tisay

Right after lunch time, students, teachers and other members of the University of the Philippines community in Diliman gathered at Quezon Hall to hold a short program and a press conference to condemn the moves of President Arroyo’s allies in the House of Representatives to convene itself into a Constituent Assembly (ConAss) to amend the 1987 Constitution.

ConAss is not what the country needs. Charter change will not address the youth’s problems with regard to education and job opportunities. We cannot allow this move to push through, seeing it as an initial step in a political scheme to prolong the Arroyo administration’s hold on power. We have witnessed how Arroyo and her allies have betrayed the aspirations of the youth and the rest of the Filipino people for a better government and a better life, and we must reject any move that is simply meant to prolong our agony. Wala tayong maaasahang pagbabago habang nandiyan si Gloria Arroyo. Either we oust her soon or we boot her and her allies out of office through the 2010 elections.

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Tags: Ayala, charter change, Gloria Arroyo, Makati, rally

You’re a famous blogger, and you frequently write about your advocacies in your blog and in social networking sites. Some people, particularly “moderates,” look at the Internet as their preferred mode of activism (sometimes only mode), and shun out street protests. Why do you continue to take to the streets despite already having other venues for protest?

The Internet is a potent and alternative tool for campaigns and advocacies, no doubt, especially among the youth. We have to remember, however, that majority of Filipinos still do not have access to the world wide web. Ordinary minimum-wage earners, farmers, out-of-school youth, even many among the middle class are not Internet users. We cannot win any nationwide campaign or struggle without them. Long-lasting social change is not possible without the fundamental and primary participation of the masses. The Internet is not the medium to engage them in, and whenever we try to achieve fundamental changes in government and society, we cannot rely on the Internet alone. It’s naivete to believe that changes can be won on the electronic front.

Street protests are among the most accommodating and reliable forms of protests. It does not exclude anyone from participating. It accommodates anyone regardless of computer literacy, economic or social stature. History has also proven its potency in advancing the struggle of citizens for changes and reforms around the world.

There’s nothing wrong when ordinary university students use the Internet as a venue of protest, and I personally don’t take that against anyone. But, we have to be conscious that it is not the only mode of expressing support for an advocacy or expressing dissent against government policies and actions. There are times, like today, when more is demanded from us, and we cannot afford to be complacent with the kinds of actions we are willing to take.

Tags: activism, internet, protest, rally

With the new de-blocking system in place at the UP College of Law, the traditional block culture may be gone. Starting this year, only freshmen will get to have the same classmates in all their classes. After their first year, UP Law students can choose their professors and classes individually, through a bidding and registration system similar to US law schools, apparently. There are various reasons to this, as explained by the Dean during his talk with Batch 2012 yesterday. Ultimately it is to give the individual student the privilege to take the classes and the schedule that would best suit his needs that would hopefully result to better performance.

Despite the de-blocking policy, however, my blockmates and I coordinated among each other, and along with other blocks in Batch 2012, in order for original blockmates to remain with each other in our classes this first semester of our second year. I guess most of us have become clingy with each other the past year. Undoubtedly, and speaking from experience, one’s blockmates is one of the more reliable support groups in law school a law student can have. Indeed, the bond that uniquely shared experiences can forge among law students can be strong for some.

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Tags: law blockmates, UP Law