The Irate Spectator

It's no secret that globalization, as it blurs borders and breaks barriers, brings with it its cousin, materialistic capitalism who quickly swoops in to make a profit by looking at something to turn into a commodity. Holidays aren't even an exception. Take what has become known as Halloween. A long time ago the first days of November in the Philippines was Todos los Santos or Undas when the faithful sought the intercessions of All the Saints and praying for the souls of the departed. Families would congregate at the graves of their deceased ancestors and loved ones and pray for their eternal repose.

But apparently, that wasn't so fun going grave visiting and all. Enter Halloween, a pagan festival with no previous connection to Filipino culture whose origins nobody really remembers, much less give a damn about. All it took is a little "tradition" called trick or treat and, presto! A perfect excuse to milk cash out of people's pockets. Of course, you're gonna need costumes to go trick or treating, treats to give out and spooky decorations to put up around your house to announce your participation in the season's celebration. The wonders of the modern market economy means you don't have to produce all those goods yourself since all you have to do is head to your local mall and relieve yourself of a sum of money to obtain these perfectly useful necessities.

I could go on and on about how commercialized holidays have become, Christmas being the ultimate expression of consumerist culture and don't even get me started on Flower-and-Chocolate-buying Day that was once St. Valentine's, but there are kids outside our front door dressed as witches that I have to attend to.

After years of hiding in the States former Agriculture Undersecretary Joc-Joc Bolante is finally back in Philippine soil promptly arrested by personnel from the Senate who want to make him spill about the Billion-peso fertilizer scam where funds intended for agricultural development were allegedly funneled to GMA's 2004 campaign.

Poor Joc-Joc must have been worried sick with what's waiting for him here. He was literally out of breath and couldn't even stand up on his own when he got off the plane prompting his arresting team to intern him at St. Lukes Medical Center instead of heading to the Senate. Plus his hair grew white after only a few years. Well, that's stress for you. Let's just hope Bolante doesn't get off the hook just because of health problems like a convicted plunderer I know.

***************************************************************************************

After authorities in Barangay Mabolo cracked down on a gang of young people calling themselves the Independent Human Society (IHS), formed by the Alpha Kappa Rho Fraternity according to barangay officials, for possession of marijuana and alleged group sex, Councilor Jack Jakosalem submitted a proposed ordinance regulating fraternities requiring, among others, parental consent for minors seeking membership and stiff fines for noncompliance.

The Hon. Jakosalem's legislation is certainly enlightened and his intentions are surely motivated by genuine concern for young people and the rest of the community, but what he does risks oversimplification of the problem. The government just can't regulate frats like you can't regulate, say, the Rotarians. The entire membership has to faithfully submit themselves to government scrutiny as the city fathers simply doesn't have the resources to watch every new member's initiation. And another thing, these groups are inherently exclusive with their secret handshakes and such to keep non-members in the dark about them. You wouldn't expect them to willingly throw everything open to outsiders. Should this ordinance be passed we're gonna see a lot of difficulty in enforcing it.

Also, a lot of people think that if we simply do away with frats we won't have juvenile delinquency problems like gang violence or teenage substance abuse. Again an oversimplification. Sure, a lot of drug addicts get into it because of hanging with the wrong crowd, not always frats by the way, but it's a complicated mix of peer pressure, desire for escape, family background and other social factors that drive young people to drugs. I know a lot of people who are frat guys but sure as hell aren't addicts, well at least not addicted to drugs.

On gang violence, Cebu certainly isn't a stranger to Akrho vs. Tau Gamma and Bloods vs. Crips maulings, beatings, and many times killings. But frats are actually different from gangs. Akrho,Tau, Alpha Phi Omega and other Greek letter groups and their offshoots are frats while the Bloods, Crips and many others, especially those with "Gangsta" in their names are gangs. In origins, the frats came from the drinking buddies and dorm mates in American University Campuses. In the Philippines they evolved into big boys' clubs with the older members who attained big shot status either in campus or in politics or business helping the younger members and neophytes like the PMA's mistahs. The Bloods and Crips grew out of African-American street gangs in Los Angeles with the same names transplanted to the Philippines via hip-hop subculture. Originally devoted to community-based social change the gangstas degenerated to crime ranging from drug dealing, extortion and robbery. Here in Cebu cross-membership used to be common, for example Akrhos who are also members of Bloods, but I'm not so sure about that now. We have to keep in mind that many frats have not been even accused of violence, like the Law School frats which are more like study groups for example. Without taking these into account I should say we're not getting to the root of the problem.

*************************************************************************************
PGMA is set to grace the opening ceremonies of the controversial Banilad-Talamban flyover today. Finally, they finished that piece of construction and hopefully that would ease all the traffic and make life a lot easier for our brother Carolinians in Talamban. Let's just hope the rains we're having won't cause another postponement. Spaeking of GMA, I also wonder how she's taking the Bolante fracas. Maybe she'll say something at the flyover opening. No doubt the media people will be swarming over there today just to make sure.

This week Acting President of the University of San Carlos Fr. Felino Javines, SVD released a statement apologizing for the technical problems of the ISIS enrollment system which all but paralyzed enrollment and encoding of grades. As an emergency measure the old ARIS enrollment system is back to accommodate enrollees beginning October 28 and the enrollment period is extended for another week with the start of classes for the Second semester being moved from Nov. 4 to Nov. 10.

In fairness to Fr. Javines, who is also VP for Administration, he couldn't have done much to prevent the breakdown of ISIS having just been appointed to his post at about the time ISIS replaced ARIS which was around June this year. Regardless, the new system already showed its inability to handle the sheer number of enrolling students and was already breaking down even then with a lot of students actually receiving different schedules than the one they had encoded (that included me). Plus, ISIS could only be accessed by 16,000 USC students on a few touchscreens (only two at the Main Campus). Since those problems were already evident then, perhaps the Administration should have been able to do something before the system ultimately crashed.

It's nice to go all hi-tech with the view-my-grades-on-myusc.ph thing but we students didn't really get much out of ISIS other than headaches, long lines and crappy class schedules; and yet we were still the ones who had to foot the bill.

The tragedy of Political Science as a discipline is that here in the Philippines, it's nothing more than a preparatory course for Law. PolSci graduates have limited career options other than proceeding to law studies, teaching or joining the ranks of the innumerable call center agents toiling in their cubicles in the most ungodly hours.

Now, the last option is not very attractive for a guy like me who's in bed by 10 pm and that rules that out. And so, as I enter my third year in college and start to ponder what would become of me after graduation the other two choices come under consideration.

That said, I never really wanted to be a lawyer. I can't bear to go back to another four years of academic torture under the Socratic mehtod to be followed through by the Bar Exams. And did I mention that the Bar is only the hardest exam in the whole history of examinations!

A teaching job at the University, on the other hand, sounds much better. Better hours, less stress and only two years of post-grad studies. In no time I'll be like those yuppies flaunting their I-pods and PSPs sipping coffee at Starbuck's.

Of course in the long-term a teaching job won't get me that far. The pay's great if I plan to live alone in a boarding house for the rest of my life but being human I also want to raise a family and buy a my own house and just settle down. Conversely, If I were a lawyer, the short-term may not sound attractive but, hell, I'll be able to afford to put my kids to college and find myself a cozy house with a home entertainment system! Perhaps we should rephrase our question: Short-term or Long Term?