Posts tagged with 2010 elections

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March 15, 2010

A career in law?

A few days ago, I submitted the initial set of requirements for my entry into another law school. It’s been more than half a year since I got dismissed from UP Law. I really don’t want to give law up. I don’t really mind repeating the classes I’ve taken during my freshman year. In fact, I want to take them again in order to refresh myself and relearn the lessons I’ve taken.

Today, as it has always been, I still do not want to become a career lawyer, a lawyer working overtime with law firms in some office, defending random clients. That kind of lifestyle doesn’t appeal to me at all, notwithstanding the benefits or compensation. I want to study the law and be a lawyer so that I can promote and defend what I do as an activist, and do it better, from researching and drafting resolutions and bills in Congress to taking part in campaigns to protect and promote the rights of people. I want to study the law to make sure that the people I work with, the people I serve, and the people I care for and love will not be taken advantage of. Sure, I can read and study law books here and there without having to go through with the formality of attending school and passing the bar, but I have to recognize the fact that the social status of being a lawyer commands respect. It’s a kind of authority to challenge authority.

Yes, I’ve also thought about having to earn a living and provide for my family in the future. But I can set up a small shop take on a few “rakets” anyway. All I need is to support a simple family lifestyle. The idea of using law as a primary source of income is not appealing to me, too.

A few days ago, a group of disgruntled and desperate parents of University of the East students went to the headquarters of Kabataan Partylist. They have been calling our office almost every day the past weeks narrating their despair with regard to their children being maltreated in the school’s apparently abusive CAT training, among many other complaints. They have coursed their concerns to many politicians and government officials but they were not being given the attention they needed. I was talking to them about the kinds of campaigns we can mount in order to put a stop to the abuses, among other things. But then I also realized that it has to be complemented with legal action, of which I couldn’t properly advice them on. These kinds of situations reinforce my desire to study the law.

I apologize for not being able to update my blog the past month. Most of the tasks I have been assigned the past months for Kabataan Partylist is to speak and keep in touch with like-minded politicians and youth candidates from all over the country from different persuasions and political parties, forging formal and tactical alliances with a common agenda of change. One of these days we will launch an alliance of young men and women running for office this elections, united in upholding new politics from the youth for the people.

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February 16, 2010

First days of 2010 campaign

Kabataan Partylist Campaign in Cavite Kabataan Partylist Campaign in Cavite Kabataan Partylist Campaign in Cavite Kabataan Partylist Campaign in Cavite Kabataan Partylist Campaign in Cavite Kabataan Partylist Campaign in Cavite
Nacionalista Party Rally at Tanza, Cavite Nacionalista Party Rally at Tanza, Cavite Nacionalista Party Rally at Tanza, Cavite Nacionalista Party Rally at Tanza, Cavite Nacionalista Party Rally at Tanza, Cavite Nacionalista Party Rally at Tanza, Cavite
Nacionalista Party Rally at Tanza, Cavite Nacionalista Party Rally at Tanza, Cavite Nacionalista Party Rally at Tanza, Cavite Nacionalista Party Rally at Tanza, Cavite Nacionalista Party Rally at Tanza, Cavite Nacionalista Party Rally at Tanza, Cavite

In between spending the day at the headquarters and meeting with allied candidates, organizations and supporters, I joined some of Kabataan Partylist’s sorties this past week, the first in the official campaign period for the May 2010 national elections.

Our campaign platform for this elections is E 4 ALL: End corruption and tyranny, Education and employment, Environment and national patrimony, and Empowerment and equality.

Our campaign slogan is “Ipagpatuloy ang Magandang Simula,” which is a call to continue advancing the rights and welfare of the youth in Philippine Congress through the representation of Kabataan Partylist. We are proud of what we have accomplished the brief six months we were seated in the House of Representatives and we look forward to continuing our work, with two more Representatives next Congress. We may not have had constructed classrooms nor bridges like other congressmen, because as members of the opposition we are not being given our proper fund allocations, but we have filed countless bills and resolutions aimed at promoting the welfare of the youth, and successfully pushed for various campaigns including the extension of the voters registration and and the suspension of the implementation of various “no permit, no exam” policies in colleges and universities nationwide.

Kabataan Partylist 1st Day of Campaign (Manila) Kabataan Partylist 1st Day of Campaign (Manila) Kabataan Partylist 1st Day of Campaign (Manila) Kabataan Partylist 1st Day of Campaign (Manila) Kabataan Partylist 1st Day of Campaign (Manila) Kabataan Partylist 1st Day of Campaign (Manila)
Kabataan Partylist 1st Day of Campaign (Manila) Kabataan Partylist 1st Day of Campaign (Manila) Kabataan Partylist 1st Day of Campaign (Manila) Kabataan Partylist 1st Day of Campaign (Manila) Kabataan Partylist 1st Day of Campaign (Manila) Kabataan Partylist 1st Day of Campaign (Manila)

On our first day, we held a motorcade around Manila, starting off at Liwasang Bonifacio, onto Taft, then Espana, Morayta, and Recto through some of Manila’s major universities, distributing campaign flyers to and speaking with students and residents of nearby communities. We also passed through Sampaloc on our way back to Quezon City. Our local chapters in other parts of the country also made their own campaign kick-off activities. Our Quezon City chapter held their own motorcade in the metro’s largest city. In Baguio City, members held ‘Kabataan Fest’ at the Malcolm Square. Meanwhile, Kabataan Partylist in Panay released doves and balloons while Southern Tagalog, Negros, and Davao City chapters held grand caravans to declare the youth’s intent to continue its service to the people.

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February 2, 2010

Lakbayan 2010

Lakbayan Peasant Rally at Mendiola Lakbayan Peasant Rally at Mendiola Lakbayan Peasant Rally at Mendiola Lakbayan Peasant Rally at Mendiola Lakbayan Peasant Rally at Mendiola Lakbayan Peasant Rally at Mendiola

Why should Land Reform be a major election issue?

A huge part of our population still depends on agriculture for their livelihood. 75%, or three-fourths, in fact are farmers and farmworkers. And for every ten farmers, seven do not own the land they work on.

Farmers who do not have their own land have to work on the haciendas and estates of landlords, and corporate farms of foreign agribusinesses. As a consequence, they do not own the harvest even if they did all the labor. They do not even have a say on how the harvest should be divided and almost all the time, the division is unfair.

Many of our presidents have passed so-called land reform laws, the latest of which is Cory Aquino’s CARP (Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program). CARP was supposed to expire in 1998 but was extended. On the eve of CARP’s second expiration in 2008, peasant group KMP released a study which showed that from 1988 to 2008, the figure of 70% of peasants being landless did not change.

According to the KMP, the CARP contained many ‘loopholes’ which allowed landlords to either evade CARP or regain their lands from farmer-beneficiaries. One is the SDO (stock distribution option) of Hacienda Luisita notoriety. Instead of land, peasants are given shares of stock in the corporation owning the land. Land can always be planted with crops, meaning it is a steady source of income, or at least food. Stocks can only be exchanged for cash once, and most of the time, it has little or no value.

Another loophole is that the peasants have to pay for the land. This is unfair considering that in most cases, it is the sweat and blood of the peasants and their ancestors who made the land bloom in the first place. The decades of exploited labor by the farmers are more than enough payment for the land. Additionally, the landlords overvalue their land when it is being covered by CARP. The peasants have no say because only the landlord, DAR (Dept. of Agrarian Reform), and Land Bank get to determine the land value.

The KMP also criticized the CARPER (Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program Extension with Reforms) which is brainchild of Akbayan and its Representative, Risa Hontiveros-Baraquel. The CARPER did not change any of the loopholes. It only added more funds for the CARP. Coincidentally, many NGOs allied with Akbayan receive CARP funds.

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December 7, 2009

Kabataan Partylist National Convention

I had almost forgotten to write about our partylist’s national convention. Kabataan Partylist held its national convention last November 17 and 18, 2009. The first day was allotted for a plenary session among delegates from our chapters across the country. The second was a public convention with speeches from guests and performances from cultural organizations, capped off by a concert from a handful of popular bands. More then three thousand students from different schools, residents from various communities and delegates from all over the country filled the UP Bahay ng Alumni that night.

Senatorial candidates Liza Maza & Satur Ocampo were also in attendance to give solidarity messages to the youth. Other politicians also arrived and delivered brief speeches.

In his speech, Kabataan Rep. Mong Palatino laid out a youth agenda for the 2010 elections. From reforms in the education system (increase budget of public schools, universities and colleges, among others) to providing decent employment and protection for the rights of workers, Mong also stressed that good governance should also be a key platform of every candidate, taking off from the myriad of corruption scandals of the Arroyo administration. Mong also reiterated the need to prioritize the needs of the Filipino people over that of foreign interests. He stressed that the youth will make up almost 40% of the votes in the 2010 elections, and that the collective strength of the youth can determine and greatly influence the outcome of the said democratic exercise.

Kabataan Partylist 2009 National Convention Kabataan Partylist 2009 National Convention Kabataan Partylist 2009 National Convention Kabataan Partylist 2009 National Convention Kabataan Partylist 2009 National Convention Kabataan Partylist 2009 National Convention
Kabataan Partylist 2009 National Convention Kabataan Partylist 2009 National Convention Kabataan Partylist 2009 National Convention Kabataan Partylist 2009 National Convention Kabataan Partylist 2009 National Convention Kabataan Partylist 2009 National Convention
Kabataan Partylist 2009 National Convention Kabataan Partylist 2009 National Convention Kabataan Partylist 2009 National Convention Kabataan Partylist 2009 National Convention Kabataan Partylist 2009 National Convention Kabataan Partylist 2009 National Convention
Kabataan Partylist 2009 National Convention Kabataan Partylist 2009 National Convention Kabataan Partylist 2009 National Convention Kabataan Partylist 2009 National Convention Kabataan Partylist 2009 National Convention Kabataan Partylist 2009 National Convention

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November 3, 2009

A collective struggle privatized: ‘Ang laban ni Ninoy at Cory’

I am reposting this excerpt from this blog post from Viewer Discretion with regard to the recent political music video advertisement of presidential aspirant Noynoy Aquino.

If there is anything stark about how election campaigns are shaping up, it is that there is a general agreement that the current Arroyo administration is so horrible, so corrupt, and indeed so dark (ang “paligid ay madilim”) that there is an urgent need for a way out. But decades of personality politics and the class-biased nature of our democracy and elections have and will still practically forbid the possibility of having any presidentiables from the middle/working class by mere virtue of the huge costs of an election campaign. The song “Hindi Ka Nag-Iisa” reflects this hopelessness—and more strikingly, the passivity of the bourgeoisie (“ang Pilipinas ay naghihintay, kami ay susunod”).

Of course, to deflect focus on this passivity, the song uses images of activism and rallies (“magkapit-bisig tayo”), which is strange because these are the very techniques that many petty/bourgeoisie deem “outdated” and “ineffective.” Apparently, the image of a mass demonstration (most notably used in Boni Ilagan’s historical documentary “Sa Liyab ng Libong Sulo,” definitely a more progressive and highly contextualized use of the sulo imagery, which you can watch online in six parts: 1 2 3 4 5 6) remains acknowledged as the most powerful tool in the collective struggle for social change—and while those in a comfortable social position are wont to avoid it like the plague, they are also quick to use it in pursuit of their own interests.

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