April 30, 2008. This was more than two weeks ago. Since I need to catch up on a long backlog, I’ll just re-post a ‘press release’ I wrote and sent to some newspapers and news networks. This was one of the first things I did as the student council’s official ‘media liaison’ or public information officer. Just a disclaimer, until then, I didn’t have any previous experience writing sending press releases, so I found this task problematic. But I’ve gotten the hang of it now, I guess.

The University Student Council (USC) of the University of the Philippines (UP) today held a press conference and forum at Vinzons Hall, the university’s main student union building, regarding the rice crisis the country is currently facing. Together with representatives from residents of the UP’s residential communities and transport groups in campus and a representative from the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP), the student council demanded that the government take immediate, sustainable and pro-people solutions to the crisis.

According to its statement, the student council demanded that the government “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.”

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Tags: Alcantara Hall, forum, press release, rice crisis, University Student Council, Vinzons Hall

April 21, 2008. One of our first public activities in the University Student Council (USC) was a unity candle-lighting event almost two weeks ago with member organizations of the League of Youth For the Environment (LYFE) in UP Diliman and some representatives from other schools.

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Tags: candle-lighting, environmental issues, Sunken Garden, University Student Council, UP Diliman

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

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

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

The incoming UP Diliman University Student Council held its first planning seminar last weekend at the Claretian Seminary in Quezon City.

It was fairly all right. I have to say, however, that the meetings took excruciatingly long, and it came to the the point that I didn’t know if the length of our deliberations meant that we were genuinely concerned and that we would like to scrutinize all the proposals or if some members really wanted to delay the proceedings for one reason or another.

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Tags: meeting, planning, seminary, student council, University Student Council, UP Diliman

As a candidate, I wasn’t able to take a lot of pictures during the campaign. I couldn’t carry along my bulky camera all around campus. Here are some of the few pictures that I was able to take right before and during the campaign season.

These were taken on February 13, 2008 from one of the first discussion groups and training sessions we had as a slate right before the elections.

The ones below were taken on February 20, 2008, a Wednesday. After a brief discussion group regarding our General Program of Action, and right before we were interviewed at the Philippine Collegian office, we had some time off at the Sinagbayan tambayan on Vinzons Hill.

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Tags: CAL, STAND UP, student council elections, University Student Council, UP Diliman, Vinzons Hall