August « 2009 « Victor Villanueva

Posts published during August, 2009

August 24, 2009

First two days in Batasan

I just got home form my second day at the House of Representatives (Batasan) as part of the Kabataan Party staff under the office of Rep. Mong Palatino. I’ve been getting the hang of the tasks around the office, so far.

I filed two resolutions today, then stayed at the floor of the plenary behind the congressmen, supposedly to conduct the slideshow presentation for Mong’s privilege speech. The session, however, dragged on (they debated on the rules on attendance for almost an hour, among other administrative matters) until the congressmen sneaked out of the hall one by one after the roll call. By the time majority of the seats in the session hall were empty, we decided to postpone the privilege speech for Wednesday.

Kabataan’s office is one of the makeshift offices made from the partitioning of one large empty room in the main session hall building, divided into cubicles for the newly-proclaimed party-lists. To go there, one has to go up and down several flights of stairs, through back corridors and storage areas. Such makes it a relatively tiring chore to run papers such as resolutions and other letters through the different bureaucratic offices in the vast Batasan complex. I’d say come visit us, but we don’t even have an official room number, and unless you are ushered in by an insider, you’ll surely get lost.

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August 22, 2009

Isang Milyon, Isang Panata Launch

With two months left before the Commission on Elections ends the continuing registration for new voters for the 2010 elections, and with only less than one million registrants out of the target five million new voters, Kabataan Partylist and the National Union of Students of the Philippines launched last Thursday, August 20, the Isang Milyon, Isang Panata campaign to rally and encourage the youth to participate in the upcoming elections. The program was held at a conference room in Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila. Student representatives from different schools around Manila were present.

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“Bagati” Production Stills

Last weekend, I joined the thesis short film production of one of my colleagues in the UP Film Institute and STAND-UP. It had been a long time since I took part in a film production ever since I entered law school. Interestingly enough, I got invited into one right after I decided to take a break from law.

The shoot was held in a peasant community in a barangay in Rodriguez (Montalban), Rizal, near Wawa Dam. It was, surprisingly, just a little more than thirty minutes from Diliman, if one takes the path through the winding Payatas Road.

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August 21, 2009

Ninoy Aquino 26th martyrdom anniversary

Today, the nation marks the 26th year since Senator Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino, Jr. was assassinated at the tarmac of the then-Manila International Airport. The 1983 assassination is currently regarded as one of the sparks that ignited the last waves of massive public outrage that eventually lead to the ouster of President Ferdinand Marcos in 1986.

A few days ago, I appeared (very) briefly in GMA 7′s 24 Oras newscast on a segment about Ninoy Aquino. The segment focused on the relationship between the late senator and the late dictator and strongman Pres. Ferdinand Marcos who both belong to the same fraternity, the Upsilon Sigma Phi. The popular theory, among brods especially, is of course though the rivalry was real, Marcos couldn’t have made a martyr out of his main political rival, and much more so out of his own fraternity brother. Aside form the fact that at that time, Marcos was bedridden and simply too sick to orchestrate and mastermind the assassination, we simply weren’t indoctrinated that way. Marcos also had very little political gain to compensate the great political risk entailed by doing the deed. This may be speculation to some, but for brods who understand the unique personal dynamics existing among fraternity brothers, it is a ‘theory’ worth more than a grain of salt.

Puzzled, the reporter asked me to explain how, in my opinion, the intense political rivalry between Marcos and Aquino, could have existed among two fraternity brothers. I told him (though, all these got cut from the final segment that went on air), it was a natural consequence of putting two ambitious politicians in the same fraternity. I added, that though we were indoctrinated to strive for a prosperous and progressive country, we were free to choose the means to achieve what we believed was for the good of the Filipino people.

Fraternity history recounts how the brods, especially in the late 60′s and 70′s were found in all sides of the political spectrum, from the side of the dictator and his ‘cronies’, who believed in authoritarian leadership to achieve prosperity, to the mainstream political opposition, who believed in the ideals of “liberal” democracy, to the communist left who believed in the Maoist armed rebellion and national democracy with a socialist perspective.

From my experience, I recounted how even in the university today, brods are encouraged to exercise their beliefs and fight for their principles by being active in their own political parties. In UP for example, while most of my brods were leaning towards conservatism and compromise activism, I was allowed to and encouraged to stay in the militant formation I belonged to even before I joined the frat. When I was in the University Student Council, the chairman then was a brod who belonged to a rival party, and a fraternity batchmate of mine belonged to the third party, and we had many principled differences and arguments with regard to various campus issues, but at the end of the day, we treated each other with great respect and still shared many fellowships.

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Youth solon condemns violent dispersal of youth protest

Regardless if Malacanang grounds was a no-rally zone, the police clearly exceeded the necessary force to repel or to prevent any danger, real or apparent, that the students posed. Sure, the students may have risked being arrested, or blocked at the least, but they did not have to be confronted with rifles, contrary to well-settled rules of engagement, be dragged on asphalt, have their clothes ripped apart, and be be beaten up.

Kabataan Party-list Rep. Mong Palatino strongly condemns the violent dispersal of youth and student protesters who held a lightning rally in Mendiola earlier today.

Palatino said, “After insulting the public’s intelligence by spewing out ridiculous lies and alibis to justify Arroyo’s lavish dinners, authorities are now resorting to excessive force and violence to quell disgust over the administration’s gluttony amidst widespread crisis and poverty.”

“This is not right and downright unjust. Hindi natin puwedeng palagpasin ito. Hindi na nga makapagpaliwanag ng maayos ang pangulo sa publiko, ngayon naman halos patayin sa suntok, bugbog st sipa ang mga kabataang nagpoprotesta. Kung dati’y mga mamahaling dinner lang ang hindi natin masikmura, ngayon nadagdagan pa ang dahilan para lalo tayong masuklam sa administrasyong ito,” Palatino said.

The young solon said that he will file a resolution directing the House Committee on Human Rights to immediately conduct an investigation of the violent dispersal.

Palatino added that his office’s legal team is also studying filing legal charges against police authorities and members of the Presidential Security Group who clearly used excessive force and have violated their protocols of engagement, with news footage and photos as evidence.#

photos from the Associated Press (by Aaron Favila) and Reuters (by Romeo Ranoco)

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August 18, 2009

The Call of Call Center Agents

Privilege Speech of Rep. Raymond “Mong” Palatino
Delivered on August 17, 2009

Mr. Speaker, distinguished colleagues, I rise on behalf of fellow young Filipinos denied of their dreams and were forced to enter the illusory world of call centers.

The tale of Filipino youths setting aside their childhood dreams to enter the call center industry is fast becoming a common story. More and more young Filipinos are being lured into working in a call center regardless of their educational background. A starting salary of P15,000 on average is indeed attractive, not to mention the signing bonus and incentives for good work performance.

As the global financial crisis sweeps ominously into Asian shores, the Philippine government has continuously promoted and relied on the Business Processing Outsourcing (BPO) industry to provide opportunities to millions of jobless Filipinos. The number of jobs generated grew robustly from 99,000 workers in 2004 to 372,000 workers in 2008, most of them in their 20s.

For the government, the BPO sector is a major contributor in terms of revenues and employment generation. From $350 million in 2001, revenues generated from the BPO sector surged to $6 billion in 2008. The government was quick to conclude that the BPO sector is poised to benefit from the global recession.

This has prompted both the administration and the vanguards of globalization to brand the BPO sector as the “sunshine industry.”

But there is a need, Mr. Speaker, to bust the myth surrounding the so-called sunshine industry. For behind the seemingly innocuous statistics and improving figures lie tales of exploitation, false hopes, and dim working conditions inside the call center.

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August 15, 2009

The Big Binondo Food Wok

There’s always something fascinating I find with Binondo. Its being Manila’s Chinatown definitely sets it apart from the city’s other districts, it almost feels like another foreign place, but then it’s just unmistakably very Manila.

The Big Binondo Food Wok is one of the “walking tours” of Old Manila Walks conducted by Ivan Mandy. The tour takes guests around the streets of Chinatown and allows them to take in the sights and sounds while enriching one’s mind with bits of history lessons and trivia and while nibbling on unique Binondo treats.

The tour started off with a brief introductory history lesson at Plaza Calderon dela Barca, which was continued across the street at the historic Binondo Church. Ironically, as Ivan Mandy points out, the baroque Catholic cathedral is Chinatown’s most prominent landmark. It, however, features a bell tower that has pagoda-like characteristics.

The first food stop was Eng Bee Tin‘s second-floor cafe, which is also called the volunteer firemen’s coffee shop. The cafe pays tribute to the volunteer firemen of Chinatown. The earnings of the place are donated to the firemen. There, we had kiampong or salted rice, which didn’t turn out to be that salty, but really tasty nonetheless, eaten together with fishball soup.

The next food stop was Dong Bei Dumplings, the now acclaimed hole-in-the-wall restaurant of a couple from Northern China which serves authentic Chinese cuisine distinct from the Canton-type of Chinese food most of us are familiar with. Guests will be served, well, dumplings. I’ve been to the place twice before, so I knew what was coming. Nonetheless, Dong Bei dumplings are always a unique treat.