The Irate Spectator

I spent my Independence Day at the Laguna Garden Cafe across Ayala Center Cebu in a Democracy Forum sponsored by the National Institute for Policy Studies (NIPS for short...), the Liberal Party think tank. Besides the free lunch and snacks, I accepted the invitation to hear Sen. Mar Roxas, arguably the most vocal candidate for the presidency in 2010, and maybe ask him a few questions as a critical first-time voter.

By my personal assessment, Roxas, though a scion of the aristocratic Roxas and Araneta families, is one of the more progressive than the other candidates because of his close association with maverick legislators like partymate Rep. Erin Tañada, himself a member of a distinguished clan of nationalist politicians, a former student leader and current Chair of the House Committee on Human Rights. I've met Tañada twice and even then he had been endorsing his fellow Liberal so I figured, if Erin likes him maybe he's got something there.

Unfortunately, Mar didn't stay too long. After an entrance fit for a ead of State, he made a brief speech in his distinctly Ilonggo accent thanking everyone for coming and apologizing that he had to be home by noon as Korina was waiting for him in Manila. But he was still kind enough to stay for some picture taking and autograph signing as everyone in the jam-packed room mobbed him.

The questions were left to NIPS Director Lambert Ramirez who admitted that he wasn't really authoritative on the candidate's views but whose answers i suppose was congruent with the party line. Concerned student that I am, I asked him about their plans on tution fee increase and the commercialization of education. He replied by saying how ticklish the tuition fee issue was and that Sen. Roxas had already consulted with the National Union of Students of the Philippines and was tilting toward socialized tuition fees (which I think is applicaple only to State Universities). Then the forum went back to the LP's networking campaign strategy for 2010.

Let us digress for a while. Once upon a time, freshman year in college to be more specific, I was a staunch advocate of Charter Change aka Cha-Cha. I would argue with anyone who challenged my views, even if it meant it was the whole class. The Philippines was a mess and everyone knew it.Change was something we needed, I reasoned, and change should begin with the Constitution that serves as the framework of our political system. Parliamentary government will reduce deadlocks between legislature and executive, Federalism will free up the supressed energies of local government and Charter Change was, as I pointed out in a term paper, justified by Aristotle's political philosophy.

Fast forward to the present and you see me now as an active member of the No to Con-Ass Facebook group and trashtalking pro-ConAss lawmakers whenever I have the chance. Why the about face? I realized that you need more than just Charter Change to fix this country. No, I'm not into the "It's not the system but it's the people" thing. Our political and economic woes go beyond our Constitution and is deeply rooted in the very structure of our society. We can't get anywhere without dismantling elite rule which has thrived in Philippine politics no matter how many times we changed constitutions. However, middle class thinking, which was initially mu stanpoint, sees things differently. Recognizing the need for change but reluctant to take steps that might drastically alter the status quo, Charter Change is the easy answer.

This is the kind of thinking i see in the LP, as the answers to my questions show. Most of the Liberals' position are cautious middle-of-the-road compromises. They are against Con-Ass but push for Charter Change through Con-Con. They are concerned with agrarian reform but prefer extending and reforming the gradualist CARP instead of the more forceful GARB. Like any mainstream party, they are also quiet on political dynasties.

We keep on hearing how the 2010 polls will bring change. That's a given, but maybe we should also be thinking about how far we ought to go. Perhaps the more progressive presidentiables should be more progressive.

Posted by Patorres at 9:00 AM | 0 comments  

It has been months since my last post. It's not that my highly sensitive sense of moral outrage has lessened. I'm just either too busy or too lazy. But I digress.

All these cheesy commercials keep reminding us that the bourgeois charade of democracy called the elections are now near enough for the numerous presidential aspirants to obsess themselves with catching the public eye. It seemed only yesterday that candidates tried to outdo each other in projecting the hip pro-youth persona by championing education and the kabataan. Again we find sanctimonious political dinosaurs lecturing young people on how much the country needs them, about how we need to be involved in choosing our leaders, how they are so unselfishly committed to the cause of future generations and how crucial the youth vote will be in 2010.

Please. Tell that to the schoolchildren who trek for five hours to get to their dilapidated schoolhouse and share their textbook with three other classmates, to the families of the murdered student leaders and campus journalists whose killers remain at large. Tell it to the university student who has to quit school because he couldn't affor to pay for his "right to quality education" and tell that to the girl who got pregnant and doesn't know who the father is or the gay kid who can't go inside his school for "cross-dressing". I supose I'm not the only one feeling too busy or too lazy.

Pardon my cynicism but as a Political Science Major and student of Philippine Politics, I have lost the luxury of blissful ignorance. A semester and a pile of reading materials on this subject and I look at the beleaguered Arroyo Administration besieged by Hello Garci and ZTE and I flash back to the 1950s when Elpidio Quirino facing accusations of fraud and violence in the 1949 elections (which by the way is considered the dirtiest Philippine election, that is, until Marcos took dirty to new heights) as well as numerous graft scandals finds an impeachment complaint in the House of Representatives with his name on it. Familiarly, his Congressional lap dogs squashed the complaint when it was put into a vote an omen of things to come. My bottom line, it all happened before and it's all gonna happen again. Even if we keep reshuffling the people we're all doomed unless we change the system.

Of course, like any good Catholic, i give the politicians the benefit of the doubt and to see what they had to say for themselves I stayed up to watch the ANC Leadership Forum last night where rumored presidentiables(actually announcing candidacy would prevent them from prematurely campaigning after all) answered a few queries courtesy of ANC and the Ateneo School of Government. Present were Senators Mar Roxas, Chiz Escudero, Dick Gordon; Governor Ed Panlilio and Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro. MMDA Chairman Bayani Fernando, Mayor Jejomar Binay and Sen. Ping Lacson were also invited buts sadly couldn't make it.The questions ranged from the personal (What was the last book you read/movie you watched, Which person inspires you?) to the serious political ones (Would you join a coalition with Manny Pacquiao's Party?Do you support an investigation on the Arroyos alleged corruption?).

Ex-priest Among Ed sounded, expectedly enough, like our parish priest. He talked about St. Paul's open minded leadership style and how corruption is not just endemic to government but in the whole of society and requires a regeneration of moral fiber to combat. Gordon appeared dull and boring, perhaps overshadowed by his more charismatic fellow speakers. He kept on droning about Thomas More and Lord Acton while the moderator was calling the time. He did give an emotional account on how his father, the American-born mayor of Olongapo killed by political opponents, inspired him to enter public service, choking up when he quoted Lorenzo Tañada's eulogy for him ("He was born American, but raised a Filipino and died a Filipino"). Mar Roxas, was the one most obviously gunning for the presidency and you could feel the pressure he was in to get the limelight. His answers were insightful but Escudero got more laughs. Well, except for his melodramatic defense that he was marrying Korina Sanchez for love and not political gain. Chiz was the darling of the crowd, drawing chuckles even as he made veiled attacks on the President. Asked the Pacquiao question he bluntly replied he would support the People's Champ, as long as he's not with the one he visited at Malacañang earlier in the day. Asked the movie question and he answered "Kasal, Kasali, Kasalo".

Arroyo herself wasn't there but the shadow of her presidency was ever looming especially for Admin ally Teodoro. "Gibo" Teodoro dutifully took up the cudgels for the President, extolling her many achievements (i.e. the usual fare: infrastructure, 7.3% GDP growth in 2007, peace and order blah, blah, blah...) and expressing his support on a probe on her family but cautioning that if it was only political harassment "I will protect my President." Mr. Palengke Roxas and Gordon focused on their personal relationship with the President, Mr. Palengke admitting she supported him against the cement and pharmaceutical cartels while DTI Secretary and Gordon about how they used to work together in the Senate. Panlilio discoursed about the inherent goodness found in everyone and praised Arroyo for her commitment to the environment through the Solid Waste Management Act and the Alternative Fuels Law. (I suppose Among Ed isn't familiar with the trouble in the Tañon Strait which is nothing but an outgrowth of her neoliberal policies, but i don't take that against him).

My evaluation? Chiz scored with the audience and all the rest were struggling to get a piece of the attention. Teodoro, particularly, passed off as little more than an Administration lackey, which is not good as negative SWS ratings dog his boss. Mar tried to get noticed but, let's just say he can still catch up with the publicity from the upcoming wedding of the century. But all in all, everyone was playing safe. Nothing much about Cha-Cha, Human rights, Extrajudicial kilings, Agrarian reform or any profound critique on the Philippine economy, society or political system. Nobody said anything about the Tuition Moratorium Bill or the Magna Carta for Students, not even about the Reproductive Health Bill. But yes, there was the usual appeal to the delicious chunk of two million first-time voters (which include me by the way) and their youthful compatriots.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not discouraging young people from voting. Your friendly neighborhood cynic is just telling all the young voters to not put their hopes up too high. If you really want change through the ballot, first, pray like hell that the polls will be clean. Next, pray like hell the people who get elected are clean. Then, pray like hell the next elections will be clean. Repeat steps 1 and 2 indefinitely. It's a long shot but, hey, nobody said change through the ballot was quick and introducing profound changes to the system is really messy and not that sexy compared to all the cool star-studded political ads and campaign jingles. As for me, I prefer to put my vote where it won't be wasted like on Kabataan Party-list, our sectoral organization who just recently was awarded a seat in Congress by the Supreme Court after years of litigation (and God knows how many more years of endless struggle before that). In fact, I' m going to get registered, when I'm not either too busy or too lazy.

Posted by Patorres at 5:43 PM | 1 comments  
Labels: ANC, Chiz Escudero, Dick Gordon, Ed Panlilio, Gilbert Teodoro, Kabataan Party-list, Magna Carta for students, Mar Roxas, Politics, Tuition Moratorium Bill, Youth

I never realized that nosing around our Department secretary's desk would be rewarding but I found some interesting finds. One was a memo from the Planning and Development Office. Apparently, Fr. Rod Salazar is wondering aloud whether USC should increase its tuition seeing as other Universities in Cebu are either freezing any increase or, like University of the Visayas and University of Cebu, are actually lowering tuition for the next year. UC's Augustus Go was quite proud of this accomplishment that he ran a full page ad on Sun.Star. Fr. Rod ends his memo with a brief appeal to the Holy Spirit for guidance in this dilemma and the Admin sure is going to need it, torn as they are between the College Faculty Association's call for salary increases and the usually adamant students who don't want a tuition fee hike as well as the looming Financial Crisis that's already starting to creep into Cebu.

But the real jackpot find I got was the memo from the top guy Fr. President Dionisio Miranda, SVD, MA, STD himself. It said that the remaining Departments of the College of Arts and Sciences (CAS) and some Admin offices would be transferred to the Talamban Campus by the summer of 2009. That means the Departments of Political Science, Psychology, Economics, Sociology-Anthropology, Religious Education, History, Philosophy, Languages and Literature and Library Science are going to pack up and transfer to TC along with the Offices of the President, Vice Presidents for Academic Affairs, Administration and Finance, the Registrar, Admissions Human Resources, etc. In short, only Commerce and Law and the Research Offices will be left behind. This is HUGE!!

Understandably, reactions were quite strong. A classmate of mine cannot but help express her sentiments in the most effective manner available: a Friendster Bulletin. Our longtime law professor, the (in)famous Atty. Aresnio Tan went so far as to tell us that next year he would quit teaching as Talamban is too far away for him. Now that's a real bummer as the guy's an institution in the Political Science Department. It's been widely accepted that if you are one of the select few who pass his subjects then, and only then, can you really consider a career in law. Not that I have anything against our lower years but it wouldn't be fair if they didn't go through what we went through!! And then there were the whines of people who didn't want to switch dorms, the outright threat to shift to another course just to stay in the same campus, the calls for a petition against the transfer and there was one query addressed to me if the Student Council was consulted in this matter.

Personally, I'm quite undecided on how to take all of this. I always liked Talamban's laid back atmosphere and its wide open spaces as contrasted to the Main Campus where all the congestion and pollution of the city salute you when you step outside. But I can't deny that Talamban, for all the amazing development it's had in recent years, is still at some distance from civilization, or at least the kind of civilization we Main people gotten ourselves used to. And the traffic, don't get me started on the traffic. Not even the new flyover will soothe the massive hordes of vehicles
after the transfer. Then, the floods, the floods we were fortunate enough to avoid in first year when we had our Biology there in the first semster. We were lucky the weather wasn't rainy that time.

But no doubt I'm gonna miss Main. I'm gonna miss P. del Rosario, Junquera, Sanciangko and Pelaez. Looks like it's goodbye to Bernard Wrocklage, Theodore Buttenbruch, Ernest Hoerdemann and Albert van Gansewinkel and hello to Bunzel, Rigney and company. I'm gonna miss Angel Mae's where I've been having lunch for three years. No more riding the ferry for me too. But as the memo said, migration will be completed by summer of 2009. So it's time to say my goodbyes and accept the change that's in front of me. Wait a second, their leaving the Law Library at the Main?!

Posted by Patorres at 6:13 AM | 2 comments