blackshama's commentary on Philippine issues

The tragic suicide of UP Manila freshie 16 year old Krystel Tejada, a daughter of a cab driver and a homemaker, allegedly due to her family's inability to pay the fees, has caused generated rage from the students, alumni, faculty of the publicly funded national university. And rightly so. A retired professor emeritus exclaimed "That's because UP has become the university of the rich" "UP has to look into its soul which appears to have been lost" The particulars of Ms Tejada's death and family's financial status has publicly come out and it is beginning to appear that she just fell through the bureaucratic net. And throughout this the issue of STFAP pops out. Here I won't be speculating on her psychological state prior to her death. For that is not the major issue here and since I am not privy to her psychological condition. I will leave that to the professional psychologists and counselors, should they wish to elaborate on these. My quest...

I concede.. It is not LIKE  the Galileo affair of the 1600s but it is notable since this is beginning to look like the first major Church vs. secularism tiff in almost 60 years in PH. And like the Galileo affair this present one involves Jesuits and Roman bishops in high and low places, or better yet in all SORTS of PLACES! Jesuits always find themselves in the darndest places! And like the Inquisition's missing out of the truth of Eppur si Muove , the Roman bishops fall into the same old trap! I am referring to Jesuit padre, renowned atmospheric scientist and Ateneo de Manila's President Fr Jett Villarin and his official statement adhering to official Church teaching and how it situates Ateneo's professors who don't agree with the Church on the issue King's  Great Matter. Prof Randy David comments most interestingly on the issue not by rehashing and flogging the anti vs pro RH debate but by commenting on academic freedom in a Catholic affiliated university. ...

2012 marks the centennial of citizen's military training in the Philippines which began at the University of the Philippines on 17 March 1912. While Filipinos have throughout history responded to calls to defend their land (Filipinos resisted British occupation in 1762), the Spanish Army having earlier established a militia at the University of Santo Tomas (General Antonio Luna learned his basic military tactics here), it was only in 1912 when the citizen's army was really meant to defend the Philippines and not just the imperialist power which had sovereignty over the islands then. This is the essence of a citizen's armed forces to defend the home and hearth. The idea wasn't new. The British Army established militias in their colonies and it eventually became the nucleus of the revolutionary army that forced the British out of the American Colonies. In other British colonies which had a peaceful transition to independence and sovereignty, the militias became the nu...

With the University of the Philippines (UP) and the rest of the public higher education sector facing Noynoy Aquino's budget cuts which resulted in UP slipping down in international university rankings, Alfredo E Pascual was formally installed as UP President today at the University Theatre in Diliman. The following photos are from the UP Information Office Pascual is presented with the University Mace as symbol of his authority as chief academic officer Mr Pascual reviews the Rayadillo Honor Guard. The following photo is from my camera Giving the investiture speech In a ceremony with medieval roots, Pascual received from CHED Commissioner Dr Patricia Licuanan the symbols of office, the Mace and the Chain of Office. In one video spiel presented before the ceremonies, Fred Pascual seems to carry the Mace as if he were to hit and bludgeon those who threaten the UP with a budget cut! Very appropriate and true to the medieval ideal!   For the original use of the Mace is f...

UP President Alfredo Pascual gives his views on research at the UP With apologies to Blaise Pascal we paraphrase his famous wager as "If the fact that UP is really a top notch university cannot be revealed by reason alone, then a rational UP alumnus should wager as if UP really is tops!" This probably was in the mind of UP President Alfredo Pascual when he spoke to the scientists and researcher academics at the latest "Kapihan" at the UP Marine Science Institute newly refurbished auditorium last Friday, August 5, 2011. Diliman Diary has reported on what was discussed. Do you notice what is wrong with the above wager? Answer: Any rational mind will be able to conclude that the wager has a false predicate! UP is not tops! To insist it is, is to hold on to a delusion! The University of the Philippines is faced with a serious and increasing budgetary shortfall. The coming fiscal year saw the university budget slashed by Congress to the tune of 800 millio...

I am in the process of finishing lectures to the Science, Technology and Society (STS) class and we were discussing the medieval origins of science. In this tale, two popes are significant. Pope Sylvester II or the mathematical pope reigned from 999-1003 and is credited by setting the mathematical foundations of modern science in the West. The other one Pope John XXII (reigned from 1316-1334) is not very known to us today but he issued an edict that all scientific studies must have experimental proof since alchemists were into making fake gold at that time. Also we discussed that the university is really a medieval institution and what we call pompous rites of passage like the college recognition and university graduations are medieval survivals in a 21st century University of the Philippines. The students don't realize that there is even a more significant medieval survival at UP. And this is none other than the closed door election of the Board of Regents of the UP president!...

Dr Jose Rizal died so that people can read books! One of John Steinbeck's less known essays but perhaps the most remarkable is the one entitled "Some Random and Randy Thoughts about Books" which came out in his collection of Americana essays in "America and Americans". The prescient Steinbeck foresaw a day where there would be no reason why there should be books but he bravely predicted that there will still be books. This was the subject of my 2007 blog post on books and libraries being obsolete . Steinbeck who lived through the Depression, World War II and pre and post war totalitarianism as a reporter knew that books are the most subversive but magical thing our species has ever created. In fact he writes that in these oppressed countries, people don't ask for food first (since dictators make sure no one is hungry at first) but books. "A book is somewhat sacred" Steinbeck writes, because they invariably TELL THE TRUTH. People will distrust ...

Professor Caesar Saloma, Dean of the College of Science has been very recently selected as chancellor of the University of the Philippines Diliman campus by the university Board of Regents (BOR). Prof Saloma is credited for seeing the eventual completion of the National Science Complex (NSC). The complex is near completion as the buildings of all the science institutes are in their final stages of construction. This is no mean achievement given the scale of the project and the funding shortfalls of recent years. Professor Saloma was chosen in what is believed to be a close contest between two other chancellor-nominees, all of whom are capable administrators. Prof Saloma is a renowned physicist and is a Galileo Galilei awardee for optics research. A capable administrator who despite years in Diliman, hasn't completely lost his Boholano accent, Saloma will have to deal with issues that have plagued the Diliman academic community for years. These range from staff benefits, faculty...

The University of the Philippines high school department (now known as the UP Integrated School) will be moved from its Katipunan Road site on the periphery of the Diliman campus to near the UP College of Education. The move has been talked about for years. Katipunan Road over the decades has been turned into an extremely busy highway and students have been in real danger of being run over (and indeed some have and a few have been fatal). Just for this reason alone, moving the school nearer to the university academic core is most sensible. However the site has sentimental reasons to generations of old UPIS grads. But a cursory look at the campus would suggest that time has done its work and a new building on a new site is best. But the University of the Philippines had not much the funds to rehabilitate the buildings (the "new" building is 35 years old!) and so any talk of relocation or renovation was just that talk. And here comes Ayala Corporation, just fresh from put...

New UP President Alfredo Pascual last Feb 10 took over the reins of the University of the Philippines in a simple ceremony in Quezon Hall.  Mr Pascual served until Feb 9, 2017.His speech is here . The theme of Mr Pascual's  speech focused on the never ending effort to raise the standards of the university, modernize its infrastructure, turn it into a competitive research university without compromising the university's reputation for teaching excellence. However Mr Pascual, a chemistry graduate but development banker by profession, spilled out the necessary numbers. It is no secret that the salaries of professors are abysmally low and definitely uncompetitive. The same is true for the loyal staff which are even more disadvantaged. The numbers include that to make the salaries really competitive (professors on average should get 100,000 pesos a month from the measly 25,000 or so at present), the UP should have an endowment of at least 8 billion pesos (that is about 181 mill...

If this isn't a Christian religious metaphor, then I don't know what Christianity is! The Anglican Use Society Philippines prays regularly in the University of the Philippines Parish of the Holy Sacrifice. The society which is composed of Catholics and Anglicans meet once a month for prayer with intentions for the country, the world at large and the university. After the prayers, the members hardly talk much about religion but various issues that affect Philippine society.Of course this is seen through the lens of Christian experience but recently the topic on secularism has popped especially in this debate about reproductive health which the Catholic hierarchy opposes. Our Anglican cleric, the Reverend Dr Father Joe Frary who in his first visit to the church wanted to see if the main church was full. So he asked if he can join the Catholics for Mass. And he was amazed that the whole church was filled and most of the worshipers were students. And this was not Sunday Mas...

Outgoing University of the Philippines (UP) President Professor Emerlinda Roman writes in the UP Forum on the need to revisit the university system's Revitalized General Education Program (RGEP).  Prof Roman's essay is based on a 2010 series of surveys and focus grouped discussions (FGD) on the problems and successes of the RGEP. For those old (and not so old) and "loyal to thee" alums and those who didn't attend UP, the RGEP was conceived under the presidency of Dodong Nemenzo. Nemenzo is probably the only Marxist to occupy Quezon Hall. One chapter of R Kwan Laurel's iconoclastic and larrikinous book "Philippine Cultural Disasters"   is all about Nemenzo, Randy David's motorcycle and the RGEP recipe with a dash (or is it deadly dose?) of Ayala Corporation!  The larrikin , academic heretic and "loose cannon" that I am, I would recommend readers to grab a copy at your friendly reputable and credible bookshop. I'm not plugging, but ...

Anyone who has attended the University of the Philippines would have met and interacted with the activist a.k.a "tibak" in UP parlance. One of the unique attributes of a UP education is whatever socio-economic class you belong, you will have to interact with the tibak in your RGEP classes or even in other fora. One of the heirs to the Gokongwei business empire, Robina Gokongwei (who gave one of the most memorable commencement speeches to the university) reminisced her time with the Collegian in which she enjoyed the debates with the Maoists but was still respected despite her social class origins. But Robina Gokongwei has something to say to all UP alums of what they should strive to, and this is consistency. Gokongwei to her credit has remained a consistent capitalist in the Philippines (and in doing so continues to provide employment to the masses!) unlike others who were once tibak but ended up as Washington DC beltway bandits or as corrupt politicians or members of the ...

President-elect Alfredo Pascual. Photo courtesy of Prof. Judy Taguiwalo Former alumni regent of the University of the Philippines, Mr Alfredo E Pascual was elected by the UP Board of Regents as the university's next President on Dec 3, 2010. He was elected on a plurality vote by the Regents casting secret ballots. Mr Pascual's term starts on February 9, 2011 and he will serve a term of six years. The election of UP President does not need Congressional or Palace assent. Mr Pascual will be the 20th President of the country's oldest and largest public university. He takes over from Dr Emerlinda Roman. Mr Pascual was initially not considered  as a leading nominee since for many years all UP Presidents came from the ranks of the active professors. The last "outsider" or non-academic elected to the post was Edgardo Angara in 1981, who was a practicing attorney before assuming the university's top post. Angara went on to become Senator of the Philippines. The ...

The University Council of UP Diliman has deliberated on its resolution regarding Noynoy Aquino's budget cuts to state universities. Some interesting pieces of information emerged from the "academic puffball" to borrow a Harvard phrase, discussion UP needs an allocation of at least 30 B pesos a year for at least a decade if it aims at least start catching up with top Asian universities like NUS in Singapore, Beida in China or Todai in Japan. UP proposed an 18 B budget this year. The University will require about 18-20 B per year if it is to maintain its present standard. A significant percentage of this budget goes to the operation of the university's teaching hospital PGH. PGH is not just an ordinary teaching hospital with a few beds, it is the largest tertiary hospital in the country that services a lot of indigent patients (and trains the best physicians and surgeons!) But UP's budget averaged only between 6 B every year and now it has been cut by 1.39 B. ...

The unpleasant reality of President Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III's 1.39 billion peso budget cut for next year has finally dawned on faculty, staff and students of the University of the Philippines , the Philippines' national university as defined by law. Administration officials have warned university constituents that the university will likely not hire anyone for next academic year. This includes non-academic staff (clerks, records examiners, department secretaries etc), research staff and faculty. This also means that professors who will retire at the end of this year won't be replaced by young assistant professors, research projects and programs can't hire new graduate students to work in the labs, and no new clerical staff will be hired. And we haven't even touched upon the subject of salary adjustments and promotions, which are even more likely to be cut or put on hold! This bodes ill for the university (and a "baptism of fire" for the new...

The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) has publicly expressed its desire to bring back the ROTC as a required college subject for males. Well I don't agree. It should be a required subject for females also! :-) Seriously, I don't agree with the proposal making ROTC mandatory at all. This for the following three reasons. 1) The national security environment has changed . The Republic has different threats to its security as compared to that 40 years ago. (My example to fellow ROTC alums is that before our "enemy" were the Commies across the China Sea now it is natural and man made disasters give or take a few terrorists!) 2) The AFP will have to have a more responsive training strategy and program for citizen soldiers given this new security environment. 3) The AFP is ILL EQUIPPED to train an effective citizen army more so with ROTC cadets that serve because they are required to do so. Making ROTC mandatory defeats the whole purpose of having an effective and re...

The allegation that a justice of the Supreme Court of the Philippines plagiarized articles published in legal journals is very serious matter not just for the court but for Filipino society as well. Plagiarism is simply closely imitating (copying) ideas of others and passing them as your own without due reference to the author. In academe, this is considered as The Sin as it represents dishonesty of the highest degree. Students, professors and researchers caught doing so face expulsion or termination of employment. In journalism, it is considered as a breach of journalist's ethics and may warrant a suspension and dismissal from the media outfit. The University of the Philippines in Diliman (UP) proposes in its code of student conduct penalties for plagiarism. For the first offense, suspension for a semester and for the second expulsion. These penalties are stiffer than previous ones when the length of the penalty of suspension was determined by the student disciplinary tribunal....

The hottest summer courtesy of El Nino in at least 10 years gave runners and walkers in the University of the Philippines Diliman campus a visual treat. This year the flame trees Delonix regia are in full bloom! In past summers it wasn't as hot and dry so the trees did not shed their leaves and few blooms were produced. It is the tropical version of the Japanese Hanami or the Cherry blossom viewing season. While Hanami tells us the fragile impermanence of beauty, the flame tree hanami tells us that summer burns but soon it will all be over.

Professor Torsten Wiesel 1981 Nobel Laurate in Medicine for his work on how the retinal cells in the eyes receive light and how the brain conjures an image, is now in town for a series of visits to our research universities. He was in DLSU earlier and proceeded to UP Diliman. He will visit other universities in his tour of the country. Over merienda at the Board of Regents (BOR) room at Quezon Hall, UP administrators briefed the professor about the University’s plans to further push forward our scientific development. Prof Wiesel is no stranger to the problems and pitfalls administrators face, for after receiving the Nobel, he became president of the Rockefeller University. Upon stepping down from this post, he assumed leadership of the Human Frontier Science Program which promotes and funds interdisciplinary collaboration between the sciences and helps train postdoctoral scientists. Professor Wiesel in these various engagements, advises government research bureaucracies on how the...