U.P. Fighting Maroons: Another try for Glory

By Katherine Verances Marfal

Three years ago, University of the Philippines Fighting Maroons experienced their worst nightmare by having a winless season. Joe Lipa was relieved from duty in the following season and Aboy Castro took over the tactical choirs. In his two seasons, Castro compiled a dismal 6 wins and 22 loses. But, are they going to be forever distinguished as whipping boys? This year, Migs De Asis, Kevin Astroga and Arvhin Braganza are only key losses for them. Fighting Maroons will attempt again to end their 13-year final four drought with the strongest lineup in 5 years inarguably.


On their final year, the triumvirate of Woody Co, Martin Reyes and Magie Sison are the men who will be expected to carry the load for them. Plus the help from other guys who made significant contributions last season like, Mikee Reyes, Alvin Padilla and Mark Lopez. Co and Sision definitely assumed the job in operating and protecting the paint. Mikee Reyes finally gets the starting job at the point while Martin Reyes will help the flow of the offense of the Maroons through his outside snipping ability.

Padilla and Lopez are the men who are very eager to breakdown the defense and do some dirty works at will. However, the most interesting pieces in their campaign right now are their new recruits which will be very vital in their campaign and to the future of the team. One of them is former Jose Rizal University light bomber and scoring sensation Joshua Saret. He was remembered by most of his fans when he exploded with 89 points in a single game. Aside from that, Saret also proved that he is a versatile cager by posting 14 assists, 13 rebounds and 11 steals in that game. Another first year player who is on the watch is Filipino-American Michael Silungan. 6 foot 4 forward is being noted in one of their pre season matchups by scoring 35 points.

For coach Aboy, he guaranteed a different outcome this year.

His team is very different, more make up and more solid. He believes that they have already the tools to make it to the final four.

Let us see if the UP Fighting Maroons can finally move up to the next level, which they have never accomplished in more than a decade.

(Katherine Verances Marfal is a freelance writer. Among the publications she writes for are the Manila Bulletin, Sports Digest, Panorama and Pilipino Star Ngayon. She is also a Web Content Writer and teaches Pre-school at Philippine Normal University).

Call for Papers on UP-DECL Centennial and the 2nd Access Philippine International English Language Conference

The University of the Philippines DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH AND COMPARATIVE LITERATURE and the BRITISH COUNCIL are pleased to announce that the UP-DECL Centennial and the 2nd Access Philippine International English Language Conference will be held from 16 to 17 September 2010 at the SMX, SM Mall of Asia Complex, Pasay City Philippines. This event will coincide with the Manila International Book Fair, the biggest book fair in the Philippines.

Speaker proposals for the breakout sessions should fall within the conference theme and the plenary topics. Proposals on one of the topics listed below are also encouraged.

• Content Based Instruction
• Global issues in language learning / education
• Teacher development
• Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL)
• “Grammaring”
• Teacher training and education
• Critical Thinking
• Leadership and management
• Teaching large classes
• Cross Cultural Communication
• Literature, media and cultural studies
• Teaching methodologies
• English for academic purposes
• Materials design
• Testing, evaluation and assessment
• English for specific purposes
• Materials writing in ELT
• Varieties of English
• English for the workplace
• Pronunciation Young learners

Sessions should be as practical as possible and based on the experience of the presenter. They may take the form of a presentation (45 minutes) or a workshop (90 minutes). We welcome proposals from all sectors and levels of the ELT profession, including ministries, universities, schools, both primary and secondary and the business sector. Our aim is to provide as broad a range of ideas as possible. Workshop proposals and research for classroom practice are preferred.

Send your proposals to Adelaida F. Lucero at aflucero@gmail.com, or to Jansen Mayor at jansen.mayor@britishcouncil.org.ph and Digi Castillo at digi.castillo@britishcouncil.org.ph on or before 30 July 2010, Friday.

The U.P. Proposal Committee will review the abstracts/proposals accepted on or before Friday, 30 July 2010. The members will notify you whether your proposal has been accepted by the middle of August 2010.

Click this link for the conference program: http://tinyurl.com/34ptv3t

Attack at Shakey's Katipunan likely due to warring frats, says U.P. Law Dean

At 6:45 p.m. on July 1, 2010 a group of four unknown assailants entered Shakey’s Katipunan and injured two members of the University of the Philippines (U.P.) College of Law Office of Legal Aid (OLA) team.

The team was having a dinner meeting when the assailants entered the restaurant. Using blunt weapons, the assailants attacked two of the legal aid team. They escaped through the front and side entrances of the restaurant less than two minutes later, leaving on a green old model Lancer whose plate number ended in 742, said Facebook blogger Ren Aguila who was a witness to the incident.

U.P. Dean Marvic Leonen believes that the attack may have been the result of a fraternity war between the Upsilon Sigma Phi and Sigma Rho fraternities, Aguila said. Dean Leonen is the first non-fraternity member UP Law dean since Dean Irene Cortes in the 1970s.

"Inside the party place/conference hall ng Shakey's. Parang may business meeting tapos may 2-3 guys na pumasok at sinaksak ang isang yuppie. Nagsuntukan bigla at nagtapunan ng weapons inside. Nasa ilalim na nga ng table yung karamihan. Buti walang natamaan. Nakakainis pa kasi po may group of policemen na kumakain sa loob, pero wala silang nagawa. Hindi ko po alam kung nahuli yung mga nanaksak, pero mukhang hindi yata," said Kurt Cendana on tweetlonger, an expanded twitter-style account service.

The team says that the assailants were unknown to them, but the assailants left behind one hood and several blunt weapons.

As of this writing, police are on the scene to conduct the investigation.

The Diminishing Public Character of the University of the Philippines: Some Thoughts of an Alumna of Class 1970 on U.P. as the National University

(The Oblation at U.P. Philippine General Hospital

Photo by: Dr. Iggy Agbayani)

By Judy M. Taquiwalo
Faculty Regent
University of the Philippines

(Editor's note: The following article was originally rendered by Regent Taguiwalo in a Presentation to the UP Alumni Association 2010 UP Alumni Council Meeting June 25, 2010, Bahay Alumni, UP, Diliman, Quezon City and is uploaded here with her permission).

I belong to UP Class 1970 which is commemorating its 40th jubilee this year. I would like to share with you the wonderful news that I received my senior citizen card last February and am now looking forward to enjoying the full 12% VAT exemption starting July 6 when the expanded VAT law is implemented.

I would like to thank the UP Alumni Association for giving me this opportunity to look back to the time when we were young and strong and having senior moments was the farthest thing on our mind. .

What were some of the images and sounds of my undergrad days in UP Diliman The Catholic Chapel and UPSCA, the first organization I joined during my freshman year in Diliman; miniskirts and colored net stockings for the women, the shirt jack and pencil pants for men, British pop songs and pop groups with the Beatles leading the pack, Neil Armstrong announcing from the moon “ one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind”, the national euphoria over Gloria Diaz selection as the first Filipina to be crowned Miss Universe, the earthquake which turned to ruins the Ruby Tower in Manila.

But there was uniqueness not only in the culture but also in the politics and mood of those times. There was massive disenchantment with the capitalist model of development which had put the market as the key to development and a premium on material goods and individualism. This disenchantment would partly account for the upsurge of social movements whose content and global magnitude was staggering: the anti Vietnam War movement, the civil rights movement, the women’s liberation movement and the student rights movement in universities worldwide.

In the University of the Philippines, a strong nationalist movement emerged. The Philippine Collegian with Miriam Defensor (now Santiago) the first woman editor of the paper, carried the expose of then Sen. Lorenzo Tanada on the Americanization of the university under President Carlos P. Romulo citing among others the differences in salary and housing between American visiting professors and Filipino UP faculty. The Collegian was also instrumental in exposing the collaboration between UP Los Banos and Dow Chemicals in experimenting with napalm which was used by the United States in the Vietnam war.

A strong democratization movement in the university also emerged in 1969 during the start of the term of Salvador P. Lopez as UP President. A general strike on February 4, 1969 , launched by the broadest alliance of all student organizations on campus led by the UP Student Council and the Council of Leaders and supported by a number of prominent members of the faculty, was successful in asserting major democratic demands. These included the recognition of all student organizations on campus and making faculty advisers as optional not a requirement, student management and control of funds of the Student Council and the Philippine Collegian; transparency in the financial transactions of the university and opening of the university’s books of accounts to the public, tenure for faculty and non-academic personnel, additional medical insurance for the UP constituents, the removal of several key UP officials including then University Secretary Iluminada Panlilio, offices for student organizations; among others. . According to the Philippine Collegian in its February 6, 1969 issue, President Lopez critiqued the colonial character of the Board of Regents and suggested that the Board should be primarily composed of faculty and students, instead of businessmen. ‘

These movements inside the University and the succeeding First Quarter Storm 1970 , the UP Diliman Commune in 1971 and martial law in 1972 would transform many in my generation of UP students , to reject a life of individualism and consumerism, for a life, in the midst of the masses of our people, of resistance to tyranny and foreign domination Many of my UP contemporaries would suffer torture and imprisonment while still others would die in various fighting fronts in our country during the long harsh night of the Marcos dictatorship.

Members of my UP generation were not the first, nor the last from the University who aspired to live up to the ideals of the University as social critic and the ideal of service to the nation as symbolized by the Oblation.

This brief history and context and my emphasis on UP as social critic and in the service of the nation frame my views on UP as the National University.

Through the years the University of the Philippines has been widely recognized as the country’s “premier state university” which highlighted the public character of the university and its high academic standards

With the passage of a new UP Charter in 2008 , the university has abandoned its description as the country’s premier state university and is now officially known as the national university. Removing the description “premier state university” and replacing it with national university, according to University officials, aims to highlight UP’s national presence, the breadth and scope of its academic offerings and to assert that UP is the best not only among state universities but among all higher education institutions of the country. On the other hand, the term national university and the loss of the designation of UP as a state university in the name actually calls attention to the diminishing public character of UP, a process which has accelerated in the past decade.

Some of the manifestations of the diminishing public character of the University are the transfer to the students of a larger part of the cost of their education through increased tuition and the imposition of various fees such as higher and/or new laboratory fees , joint ventures with big business, the selling of naming rights, the privatization of former university services such as the University Food Service and the UP Printery, contracting a private entity to set up laboratory, pharmacy and radiology inside the PGH compound in exchange for providing space to UP doctors for their private practice, the private management of university dorms are only some examples of the accelerating and diversified ways of privatization of the University of the Philippines.

(No to commecialization parking sign

at Yakal Residence Hall, U.P. Diliman

Photo by: Chanda Shahani)

You may ask, what’s wrong with these if they generate badly-need resources for UP? Let me share with you some of my thoughts on the negative impact of the ongoing process which is eroding the public character of UP as a state university.

1. Transferring more and more the burdens of resource generation to the students is going to change the profile of the student population of the university. It was already difficult during my time, when tuition was a low P185 per semester for a family like mine whose father was a school principal earning P300 per month to cope with the cost of education, it is so much more difficult at present for children of the middle class and the lower income class to enter UP with an average tuition of P1,000 per unit. The 2006 reformulated socialized tuition scheme projected only about 10% of new UP students would be covered by the free tuition with allowance. Some of my colleagues foresee the day when UP would be like Ateneo with majority of the students coming from higher income families and a minority of poor with scholarships.

2. The corporatization of the university structure and governance.

a. Already Section 24, “Management of Funds” of the UP Charter, designates representatives of big business as investment advisers to the university through the creation of a so-called “independent trust committee” composed of the UP President and representative each from the Bankers Association of the Philippines, the Investment Houses Association of the Philippines, the Trust Officers Association of the Philippines and the Financial Executive Institute of the Philippines. This independent trust committee, a new structure in the university, “shall provide the Board with direction on appropriate investment objectives and permissible investments with the view to preserving the value of the funds while allowing the University to earn a reasonable return thereon. The Charter has now institutionalized the University going into business as an important mission.
b. The criteria for the selection of the college Deans, the primary academic leaders of the various degree-granting units, now also place high emphasis on the “resource generating” capability of the nominees.
c. An increase in the number of Vice Presidents and Assistant Vice Presidents as well as Executive Assistants in the UP System administration has also been noted. A case in point is the transformation of the title of the UP General Counsel into the Vice President for Legal Affairs indicating perhaps the expanded role of the legal office not only in academic and disciplinal questions but in the matters of contracts and agreements with business entities.

3. The increase in the number of contractual workers of the university as non-academic but vital services necessary for running the university are being privatized. Contractual workers have no job security, limited benefits and in most cases are “discouraged” from forming or joining unions.
4. The trend towards developing greater dependence on the private sector, particularly big business and foreign corporations, in generating funds, rather than in more vigorous engagement with the state. The danger of this trend is the question of accountability: the private sector is basically accountable to its investors; the state is accountable to the public and individuals could be removed via elections.

For a number of us in the university, the most dangerous impact of the diminishing public character of the university is the erosion of the ideological mooring of service to the country and to the people among the students and among the faculty with the prominence being given to market rates as the standard for tuition and for salaries. Already, some quarters in the university have adopted “Iskolar para sa bayan” rather than Iskolar ng Bayan, a term which emerged during the height of martial law and which captures the fact that UP students are subsidized by the public and have an obligation to serve the people. This is not true for the term “iskolar para sa bayan” which can encompass Ateneo’s description of “person for others”

The salary of the UP faculty is constantly compared to the salary of Ateneo and La Salle professors, to emphasize the comparatively lower pay of the latter and/or to explain the resignation of a number of UP faculty. The emphasis on economic standards alone will never be sufficient to retain professors in the university as private corporations, big private universities charging astronomic tuition and transnational corporations will always have the capacity to pay more than UP.

Improvement of salary and benefits for UP faculty and personnel are of course necessary but not at the expense of the students and the erosion of the public character of the university that distinguishes it from Ateneo or La Salle. I have talked to retired UP professors who spent the best parts of their lives in the University and heard them recount why they were happy in the university and why they stayed. It was never about the money but of the joy of teaching bright students in an atmosphere of academic freedom and collegiality in a secular university with the highest stature in the country, Housing on campus, study privilege for children and the privilege to enjoy the acacia and the fire trees along the academic oval and were additional and important incentives.

It is difficult but not impossible to demand from the state higher subsidy to the University. The passage of the third Salary Standardization Law last 2009, which would bring about annual increases in salaries of government personnel in government agencies, was a product of intense and consistent lobbying by public sector workers including the university’s workers unions.

Tomorrow, June 26, is the 4th year of the abduction and disappearance of two UP students, Karen Empeno and Sherlyn Cadapan, two of the more than 100 victims of enforced disappearances during the Arroyo administration.

Let me therefore end by sharing an excerpt from the statement “Soul Searching, A Statement for the July 20, 2006 Activity for the Missing Students”

It is now easier to take stock of the conditions that shape a university’s soul. Unlike other institutions that are primarily driven by the inertia of capital and power, a university ideally enjoys relative isolation from these imperatives to allow it to fulfill its important
role as a social critic and repository of social memory. This historic role has been played by UP time and time again. Generations of UP students and faculty have lived these ideals of speaking the truth against power whether it be against foreign domination, corruption or tyranny. Many of the activists, nationalists, and intellectuals that help chart the destiny of this nation towards more democratic ideals came from the university. In an apt symbolism represented by the Oblation, countless have martyred themselves offering their lives for the ideal that the university stands – the courage to speak the truth when no one dares to, and to sacrifice one’s life for such convictions. It is the capacity of the university to witness for the truth that gains for it a soul. Karen Empeño and Sherlyn Cadapan are embodiments of this core of university traditions.”

In sum, the challenge to UP as the national university is to retain its soul by arresting the ongoing processes which are diminishing the public character of the university, by arresting the drift of UP Naming Mahal turning into UP Na Naging Mahal and to continue to call on its constituents that “UP ang galing mo, ialay sa bayan.

Post script: I have been requested prior to my presentation this morning to suggest concrete ways by which the UP Alumni Association can assist the university. I have two proposals which would contribute to help arrest the diminishing public character of the university:

1. For UPAA to assist the University in lobbying for a higher 2011 budget. The Administration is proposing an P18 billion budget. At the minimum, the 2011 budget should be higher than the 2010 UP budget.
2. For UPAA to assist the University in filing and lobbying for a bill that would earmark to UP a percentage of current revenues generated from corporate taxes on top of the regular budget allocation.

Editorial: If Dr. Jose Gonzales is not (yet) the Director of the Philippine General Hospital, then neither is Dr. Enrique Domingo. Then who should it be?

Even as this editorial is being written, reports streaming in from the field indicate that there is now a standoff today at the University of the Philippines (U.P.) Philippine General Hospital (PGH) with two directors attempting to occupy the same physical office. Members of the All U.P. Workers Union, students and doctors are providing peaceful passive resistance and protection to ousted PGH Director Dr. Jose Gonzales, who continues to occupy the Director's office, while Dr. Eric Domingo and several security guards opened the director's office without Dr. Gonzales' consent.

Who has the legal rights to occupy the office? This question must be answered decisively and in such a manner that there are no questions about the integrity of the selection process itself.

Ironically, it is the bumbling but arrogant bureaucrats from the University Administration ensconced in Quezon Hall in U.P. Diliman who appear to be the chief instigators of a crisis that nobody wanted in the first place. Even as the University Administration-dominated Board of Regents voted to remove the Student Regent Charisse Bañez on February 25, 2010 on grounds that her credentials were expired, three of the Malacañang-appointed regents themselves had expired papers. Talk about hypocrisy. Talk about the pot calling the kettle black. Talk about the sheer incompetence of the Administration of U.P. President Emerlinda Roman and its inability to track and renew their own regents' papers after the one-year legal period had lasped after their original acting appointments in 2008.

The U.P. Administration adamantly insisted on a legally questionable two-year rule interpretation saying it applied to the acting appointments of Regents Francis Chua, Nelia Gonzales and Abraham Sarmiento in 2008. But it was the same U.P. Administration that also applied to the Office of Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo for a renewal of terms of the same regents last March 2010, for even those regents whose terms would not have been deemed expired under a two-year interpretation; which shows that even they did not have a faith in their own spurious arguments.

On February 25, 2010, Six regents - namely Commission on Higher Education and Development (CHED) Chairman Emmanuel Angeles, U.P. President Emerlinda Roman, Rep. Cynthia Villar and Malacanang Regents Chua, Gonzales and Sarmiento voted to oust Student Regent Bañez as a regent on the grounds that she was no longer a student and thus no longer a Student Regent.

To be more detailed about it, out of a total of eleven regents, the other five did not participate in the voting for the following reasons:

1) One regent, Senator Mar Roxas, was already on the campaign trail, and could not participate in the voting on that day, as he was campaigning for Vice-President under the Liberal Party.

2) Student Regent Charisse Bañez was not allowed to attend the BOR meeting, not even as an observer.

3) Alumni Regent Alfredo Pascual was not physically present in the board room when the voting took place.

4) Staff Regent Clodualdo "Buboy" Cabrera abstained from voting.

5) Faculty Regent Judy M. Taguiwalo abstained from voting.

The remaining six regents voted anyway to remove Student Regent Bañez and had a new round of votes to choose a new director of the PGH under the argument that the duly selected director, Dr. Jose Gonzales only had five votes when the round of votes took place on December 18, 2009, and not six votes, as the Student Regent's vote was void. As a result, Dr. Enrique Domingo was chosen as the new PGH Director.

However, the Diliman Diary has been able to do a comparison of the 2008 appointment papers of Regents Chua, Gonzales and Sarmiento and compared and contrasted them with the appointment papers of these same regents in 2010 (see Diliman Diary, March 23, 2010: http://diliman-diary.blogspot.com/2010/03/success-diliman-diary-finally-gets.html).

Based on a one-year tenure argument for an acting regent which the Diliman Diary subscribes to, the following problems emerge with respect to the ouster of Student Regent Bañez:

1) Regent Chua's papers had expired on January 1, 2009 or more than a full year before he voted to remove Student Regent Banez on February 25, 2010 for having expired papers.

2) Regent Sarmiento's papers had also expired on September 29, 2009 and was also not a regent when he voted to remove Student Regent Bañez on February 25, 2010.

3) Regent Gonzales also had expired papers which expired on March 18, 2009 and was therefore not a regent when she voted to remove Student Regent Bañez on February 25, 2010.

Thus, out of the six regents who voted to remove Student Regent Bañez and install Dr. Domingo as the new Director of PGH, only three had the legitimate right to vote: Chairman Angeles, President Roman and Rep. Villar. There was therefore no majority vote to remove the Student Regent and Dr. Gonzales. There was also no majority vote to select Dr. Domingo.

However, if the U.P. Adminisration still adamantly insists that the three Malacañang regents enjoyed two year terms, and if for the sake of dicussion, we adopt their point of view, then there was still no majority vote anyway, as Regent Chua's term would have expired on January 1, 2010 under a two-year term; thus depriving the U.P. Administration dominated BOR of a single vote, resulting in five votes cast out of eleven which is no longer a majority vote.

Under a two-year term argument, Regent Nelia Gonzales' term should have expired on March 18, 2010, but she was appointed by President Arroyo on March 8, 2010 before there was any vacancy. Given that President Arroyo was banned by the Constitution from making any more appointments beginning March 10, 2010, then there now exists a vacancy in the BOR and Regent Gonzales is now not a current but a former regent and she clearly does not have the authority to participate in any future BOR meetings.

Since there was no legitimate majority vote to remove Student Regent Bañez, then she remains - by default - unousted as the Student Regent - unless a legitimate majority of the BOR decides otherwise.

In view of the legal infirmities bedevilling both sides regarding the legitimacies of various regents as well as the growing anger, the outrage in U.P. Manila and the entire U.P. System over what has happened so far and the potential for long-term damage to the reputation of the institution as well as the disruption of services to 500,000 indigent constituents over legitimate concerns that remain unaddressed; we believe that the only solution is for the BOR itself to enter into a new round of voting or a "sudden death" vote choosing between Dr. Gonzales and Dr. Domingo, with both sides agreeing to abide with the outcome. After all, both doctors have actually had the chance to run PGH for more than a month so that recent track record, as well as their previous performances as distinguished doctors elsewhere can be taken into account and seen in a fresh light.  Meantime, so as to put to rest any disputes, the vote by the Board of Regents must be undertaken by regents with updated and legitimate credentials to choose who should be the director of PGH, with both sides abiding with the outcome; and taking into consideration sentiments from the U.P. College of Medicine and U.P. Manila faculties.

Then and only then can we have a credible selection process and we can then all put closure to the longest running dispute ever regarding the Directorship of the PGH, and concentrate on the main task at hand, which is to close ranks behind the glorious PGH doctors and its medical staff and to put into action U.P.'s most famous motto: which is to "Serve the People."

(Chanda Shahani is the editor of the Diliman Diary)

EYE SPY on the Social Media: Cristina Gonzales on Facebook's Narinig ko sa UP (Overheard at UP): La Salle and UST have been bumped off the list of the World's Top 500 Universities (www.starmometer.com)

The Diliman Diary picked this up from Starmometer.com via Ms. Cristina Gonzales on Facebook's Narinig ko sa UP (Overheard at UP). Last year, four (4) Philippine universities made it to the global rankings of the Top 500 universities. This year, all the Philippine universities received such low rankings such that UST and DLSU missed the top 500 with UP and Ateneo making it to the pretigious list this year. To read more about this, please click on the following link:. http://www.starmometer.com/2008/06/19/la-salle-and-ust-out-of-world-top-500-universities/

Public Service Announcement: Call for Blood Donations at U.P. PGH from April 13 to 16, 2010

Dear Friends of Laban UP-PGH:

Last week at the Philippine General Hospital, Neurosurgeon Gap Legaspi was operating on a patient that required emergency blood transfusion. The hospital officer in charge, an appointee of Dr. Eric Domingo, apparently delayed the approval for requisition because she claimed that Dr. Legaspi was on mass leave of absence and hence do not deserve assistance from the hospital. Eventually 6 units were approved after warnings from Dr. Legaspi and anesthesiologist Dr. Loreto Felizar. The patient was eventually not harmed. A formal complaint will be filed with the PGH administration as soon Dr. Gap Legaspi and his team have collected all the necessary documents.

This event depicts the kind of petty and malicious attitude we are up against in our cause to bring back truth and justice back to PGH. In response we the Laban UP-PGH Movement will be launching a blood letting campaign "Ibalik ang Dugo para Ibalik ang Tama" that aims to donate 102 units of blood to UP-PGH on Monday April 12 during the regular flag raising rally at 8am. 102 units corresponds to the number of PGH Doctors on mass leave of absence. We will show the cold and anemic leadership of UP and PGH that our protest is really about helping our patients at PGH and not a petty and malicious quarrel that they are making it to be. Blood letting activities and /or collection of blood donation pledges will be held at the PGH quadrangle daily from April 13 to 16.

Everyone is invited to donate blood or find donors. UP students, nurses, faculty, the all UP workers union have all committed to help. We need your help and every drop of blood we can get. Please e-mail iggyagbayani@yahoo.com or contact JF Gutierrez at 09272061609 if you wish to pledge blood or to give assistance in whatever form.

Maraming salamat sa patuloy nyong pag supporta sa ating laban,

Laban UP-PGH

Date: Monday, April 13 - 16, 2010

Time: 8:00am - 5:00 p.m. each day

Location: Philippine General Hospital Atrium

Street/City: Taft Avenue, City of Manila

Blood for the poor, the needy, the anemic?

 http://nourishingobscurity.com/2010/03/28/putting-dracula-in-charge-of-a-blood-bank/

"SHUT UP, THAT'S WHY!!!" U.P. and PGH Administration moves to silence mounting PGH Faculty, Staff discontent vs. removal of PGH Director Dr. Jose Gonzales

By Chanda Shahani

The University of the Philippines (U.P.) Administration and the U.P. Philippine General Hospital (PGH) Administration are now moving to silence the PGH Faculty and Staff regarding the removal as PGH Director of Dr. Jose Gonzales by the Board of Regents (BOR) by limiting their ability to strike and assemble; but the list of discontented doctors just keeps on growing anyway.

But ominously, the recent actions of the both the U.P. Administration and the PGH Administration towards the common faculty members of the PGH and the U.P. College of Medicine (UPCM) appear to be guided and best summed up by the West African proverb which advises a warrior approaching a wild, raging dangerous animal in the African bush to "Speak softly, but carry a Big Stick."

And what a Big Stick is now being wielded by U.P. and PGH against the equivalent of a raging beast which are hundreds of angry PGH doctors and medical personnel who oppose the removal of Dr. Gonzales and his replacement with Dr. Enrique Domingo. The threat of the loss of job security may be on the line for these doctors - who have gone on mass leave of absence to protest the removal of Dr. Gonzales - as well as  the use of state-sanctioned violence and intimidation through the use of PGH security guards to limit the doctors' right to assemble - may also be in the offing.

Here's what we know so far about the U.P. Administration and the U.P. PGH Administration's official pronouncements:

• On March 29, 2010 the U.P. Administration posted an announcement on its own website that was billed as a joint statement from PGH and UPCM (http://www.up.edu.ph/features.php?i=196) stating that: "Consistent with the University’s policy of respecting our constituents’ right to express their views, the reported leave of absence will be properly evaluated and approved upon submission, subject to existing University rules and regulations." This statement means that the U.P. Administration has the right to disapprove any LOAs and to impose sanctions for pesonnel who embark on unapproved leaves of absence.
• On March 31, right before the start of the Holy Week celebrations, Dr. Domingo issued a memo, Memorandum 2010-44 addressed to all department and unit heads, Memorandum Circular No. 6 of 1987 of the Civil ServiceCommission "which reminds all concerned of the prohibition for government officials and employees from staging strikes demonstrations, mass leaves walk-outs and other forms of mass action which will result in temporary stoppage or disruption of public service." However, while the concerned Memorandum Circular No. 6 prohibits government employees from effectively engaging in a strike by staging a mass walk-out, a mass leave is nothing but the sum total of several individuals filing their formal leaves of absence. As of March 31, 92 doctors had already signified their intention to go on mass LOA in the near future.
• On March 29, 2010 Dr. Domingo issued Memorandum 2010-39 which stated that "The Flag Raising Ceremony is a solemn activity honoring our flag and country at the start of every working week. To avoid any disrespect to the Philippine flag all programs following the flag raising are hereby suspended until further notice. The flag shall be raised every Monday at 6:00 am with full honor guard by the UP Manila Security Office and all those present at that time are invited to witness and attend." Since flag ceremonies in all government institutions, including U.P. are usually held at 8:00 a.m., this move is widely seen by observers as a tactic by Dr. Domingo to circumvent the kind of mass gathering that could take place at a later time when more doctors and medical personnel are around. The presence of armed security guards at that hour also ensures that all other programs remain suspended and creates a "chilling effect" against mass gatherings protesting the removal of Dr. Gonzales.

Dr. Domingo's and the U.P. Administration's tactics could be driving a bigger wedge between themselves and the UPCM faculty some of whom are also PGH medical staff and doctors. Memorandum Circular No. 6 of 1987 of the Civil ServiceCommission specifies the preferred alternative to a mass walkout or work stoppage in any given scenario is a series of dialogues between the bureaucratic administration and employees. In the case of the U.P. and PGH Administration and their colleagues in the faculty and the PGH, there have been none so far ever since Dr. Gonzales was removed by a new vote in the BOR, the legitimacy of which is openly being questioned, due to some regents having expired papers when they voted.

The U.P. Administration and the BOR has failed to intelligently explain to its own faculty and the public why Dr. Gonzales, who is more senior and experienced than Dr. Domingo was removed and replaced by Dr. Domingo beyond the legal arguments being peddled by the U.P. Legal Office. The majority of the faculty of the UPCM have voted to retain Dr. Gonzales and are insisting that their Academic Freedom be respected. But Dr. Domingo's administration seems determined to pursue a mailed fist policy against his own colleagues, including the cutting off of the electricity to Dr. Gonzales's office despite the U.P. Administration's unwillingness to to credibly answer questions about the legitimate right to vote of several regents who voted to remove Dr. Gonzales and replace him with Dr. Domingo when they had expired papers during those periods of time (See Diliman Diary, March 23, 2010: http://diliman-diary.blogspot.com/2010/03/success-diliman-diary-finally-gets.html).

Mu Sigma Phi Fraternity asked to join Phi Kappa Mu Fraternity in mass LOA to help UP-PGH

Meantime, Dr.  Iggy Agbayani, one of the organizers of the LABAN UPPGH Movement wrote today in his Facebook account that there was no correlation between the calls to protest the removal of Dr. Gonzales and the fact that Dr. Domingo was a member of the Mu Sigma Phi Fraternity. The only other medical fraternity in UPCM is the Phi Kappa Mu Fraternity.

He said therre were "those who have created a fake fraternity war between the Phi Kappa Mu and the Mu Sigma Phi fraternity to keep members of the Mu Sigma Phi from joining the protest activities against the oppressive and undemocratic governance of President Roman and BOR. Even if it is clear that no member of the BOR nor Roman herself is a member of the Mu Sigma Phi this mindset of Phi vs Mu abounds.”

“During the short period of Dr. Gonzales' directorship he even appointed five members of the Mu Sigma Phi to be chairmen of the various PGH Departments because he believes that what is good for PGH transcends the rivalry of fraternities. There exists a strong rivalry between these two organizations but I think the excuse of not joining a cause to help PGH because of affiliation or friendship has long expired.”

“Even rivals can agree and see if real oppression has been done or when true democracy has been thwarted. I know that my many friends and colleagues in the Mu Sigma Phi are just as passionate and as keen to fight what is wrong and to bring back what is right. In this spirit I would like to call on the Mu doctors and faculty of PGH and even the students and alumni of my rival fraternity to join our protest. Signify your intention to join the mass LOA before it is too late. Sumama na kayo sa Laban para sa UP-PGH upang Ibalik ang Tama.”

(Chanda Shahani is the Editor of the Diliman Diary. He finished A.B. Comparative Literature from U.P. Diliman)

Sources:

1) The embedded video is from: http://www.youtube.com/

2) Picture of the Oblation at the U.P. College of Medicine is reproduced with permission: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ggermar/4174819993/)

U.P. Philippine General Hospital Doctors' Statement on March 29 Mass Leave of Absence to Protest the Blatant Disregard for a Democratic Process and Oppressive Ouster of PGH Director, Dr. Jose Gonzales

The Philippine General Hospital is in crisis because of a Hospital Director’s questionable appointment. When a tenured, democratically elected and functioning PGH Director in Dr. Jose C. Gonzales can be removed from office without due process and cause, it sends a message of oppression and shock to the PGH community. On February 25, 2010 upon orders from the University of the Philippines’ Board of Regents, Dr. Gonzales was replaced by Dr. Enrique Domingo. On March 2, 2010 the College Council of the UP College of Medicine whose membership represents the majority of doctors and faculty members of PGH, overwhelmingly approved a resolution (with a vote of 199 to 19) recognizing Dr. Jose Gonzales as the duly appointed Director of PGH until December 2012. 

We the undersigned have therefore decided to take a mass leave of absence starting the week of March 29, 2010 to express our anger and dismay over the oppression and dubious removal from office of one of our own PGH Doctor and to strongly protest the lack of a democratic process in selecting our Director. In view also of the fact that this matter has already been brought to the courts and has yet to decide on who should be the legally recognized Director, our leave of absence protects us from following orders from a de facto PGH Director. We wish to make it clear that our actions will not affect life threatening or emergency cases in PGH patients but may only delay elective surgeries attendance to outpatient cases or other non-life threatening illnesses for a limited time only. Those of us in very sensitive leadership posts will likewise continue working in a limited capacity despite our LOA. We will not abandon our patients already admitted in hospital and will be available for emergency cases and critical aspects of patient care.

To this end,

We call on our patients and the public for understanding, as we will not neglect the care of the critically ill and emergent conditions, but may sadly have to defer outpatient consultations, elective surgical procedures and non-essential administrative functions.

We call on our medical students and resident trainees for support, as we demonstrate in deed, as in word, what it means to uphold and enflesh the noble traditions we cherish and the timeless principles we value.

We call on our colleagues- physicians, health professionals and health workers alike for introspection, reflection and realization that we share a common situation, and that we are challenged to make a common stand in conscience and with conviction.

We call on our leaders, elected or appointed to positions of authority in the University system, to examine their consciences, rectify the situation and assume the rightful role of servant leader rather than that of lord and master, for they are accountable to the People for their words and deeds.

We particularly call on the other members of the Board of Regents and the President of the University of the Philippines, to heed our resounding call, expressed through the representative voices of our organic Faculty, Staff and Alumni Regents, and through the silenced voice of our Student Regent, as we echo the closing lines of UP Naming Mahal:

Ating pagdiwang, bulwagan ng dangal,
humayo't itanghal, giting at tapang,
mabuhay ang pag-asa ng bayan,
mabuhay ang pag-asa ng bayan!

SIGNED:
1. Manny Agulto
2. Marge Lat-Luna
3. Joey Lapena
4. Randy Abdullah
5. Eric Legaspi
6. JJ Cruz
7. Jonas del Rosario
8. Eric Talens
9. Butch Felizar
10. Gerardo Legaspi
11. Jojo Jocson
12. Randy Nicolas
13. Venancio Garduce
14. Mario Geronilla
15. CJ Gloria
16. Pio Villacorta
17. Jubert Benedicto
18. Abundio Balgos
19. Mariel Nicolas
20. Arnel De jesus
21. Abe Marinduque
22. Dennis Serrano
23. Ted Herbosa
24. Leo Cubillan
25. Delen Dela Paz
26. Herbie Uy
27. Alvin Marcelo
28. Atoy Manalo
29. Rene Tuazon
30. Leah Tantoco
31. Edison Ty
32. Ricky Salonga
33. Bebol Paterno
34. Maloy Calaquian
35. Butching Paterno
36. Felix Lukban
37. Pablo Lazatin III
38. Jimmy Tan
39. Aileen Cubillan
40. Portia Marcelo
41. Adrian Manapat
42. June Lopez
43. Telly How -Hidalgo
44. Ben Vista
45. Gene Abes
46. Pia Malanyaon
47. Carlos Chua
48. Eris LLanes
49. Charlotte Chiong
50. Gary Mercado
51. Peter Bernardo
52. Jun Kaw
53. Ting Leynes
54. Joan Ocobillo
55. Agnes Mejia
56. Grace Herbosa
57. Joan Ocubillo
58. Eduardo Bautista
59. Benjie Dela Paz
60. Lara Alentahan
61. Cynthia Dominguez
62. Eugene Reyes

If you are a faculty member of the UPCM and you wish to be added to this list please e-mail or call/txt the following cell phone numbers below ASAP. To determine the mechanics of applying for an LOA for this purpose please contact, text or e-mail the following:

Dr. Iggy Agbayani 09175318648 or
iggyagbayani@yahoo.com
Dr. Jonas Del Rosario 09178456627 or
delrosariojonas@yahoo.com
Dr. Joey Lapena 09179137258 or
joeylapena@yahoo.com
Dra. Marge Lat Luna 09189234718 or
margelatluna@yahoo.com

DEADLINE FOR JOINING IS Sunday APRIL 4, 2010

Maraming salamat po. Tuloy ang Laban para Ibalik ang Tama.

Unibersidad ng Pilipinas ang Eskwelahan ng Matatalino, Matatapang at May Malasakit sa Kapwa at Lalo na sa Mahihirap.

Laban UP-PGH Movement

(Editor's note: the Diliman Diary will give equal treatment to the U.P. Administration's comments or reactions on this issue when they become available).

U.P. PGH Crisis Deepens with resignation of Associate Dean of the U.P. College of Medicine and Planned Mass LOA of UPCM Faculty over the issue of Academic Freedom

By Chanda Shahani

The Associate Dean for Planning and Research of the University of the Philippines College of Medicine (UPCM), Dr. Abundio A. Balgos, has resigned.

The resignation, which took effect last March 23, 2010 was done “in protest of the death of academic freedom and BOR tyranny. President Roman and her BOR cronies hav been downplaying d U.P. Manila PGH protests re student regent and PGH Director (Jose) Gonzales ... After my resignation as UPCM associate dean to protest the death of academic freedom and BOR tyranny, 50 more UPCM faculty are sumbitting mass leave of absence on Monday (March 29, 2010) during the PGH flag ceremony protest rally to b joined by fac(ulty), students and all U.P. Workers Union,” Dr. Balgos said in a message posted in the website, U.P. Issues (http://upissues.wordpress.com//).

The UPCM Faculty are protesting the decision by the U.P. Board of Regents (BOR) to disregard their academic freedom as faculty which they formally expressed in a resolution of the College Council last March 2, 2010. In that resolution they said that the appointment of Dr. Jose C. Gonzales as Director of the Philippine General Hospital from January 1, 2010 to December 31, 2012 should be respected by the very same BOR that selected him on December 18, 2009 and then removed him on February 25, 2010.

The Diliman Diary has extensively covered the intricate politics and the background behind the arbitrary removal of Dr. Gonzales by the BOR (please see Diliman Diary, March 22, 2010 (http://diliman-diary.blogspot.com/2010/03/alternative-copy1.html). The issue at hand that is being strongly emphasized by the UPCM Faculty, however is that the BOR, which is currently dominated by allies of U.P. President Emerlinda Roman should respect the academic freedom of the majority of the UPCM Faculty to determine that Dr. Gonzales, who is regarded as being more senior and experienced than his replacement, Dr. Enrique Domingo, complete his term of office.

Is President Roman contradicting President Roman?

For President Roman, the essential contradiction is that by tolerating the use of legal manuevers by U.P.'s legal department to justify the removal of Dr. Gonzales by the BOR, she is essentially riding roughshod over the UPCM faculty's much-cherished academic freedom to employ its collective judgement and expertise in determining that Dr. Gonzales should serve out his full term as PGH Director because of his performance and qualifications.

The resignation of Dr. Balgos as Associate Dean, and the planned mass leave of absence by such a large number of UPCM Faculty is seen by observers as a combined vote of confidence for Dr. Gonzales, and a vote of no-confidence in the BOR's decision to replace Dr. Gonzales with Dr. Domingo.

President Roman has said in the past that the BOR should not get involved in matters involving the academic freedom and expertise of a particular subset of faculty belonging to a particular discipline. For example, in a December 18, 2009 letter she wrote to U.P. Diliman Sociology Professor Sarah Raymundo denying her appeal to overturn the decision of U.P. Diliman Chancellor Sergio Cao denying her tenure, Roman said that:

“Our tradition in the university of upholding and maintaining sacrosanct departmental autonomy do not allow us – rightly – to make a decision simply on the basis of the number of people supporting a particular proposition.”

“Upholding the autonomy of the Department of Sociology in its determination that Professor Raymundo should not be granted tenure is vital to maintaining the institutional autonomy guaranted under the U.P. Charter. This is also what the Department and the CEB (College Executive Board) have been insisting throughout the entire process."

"The implication of asking the President and the Board of Regents, at every turn, to substitute their judgement for that of members of the faculty of a department, unit, college or university is fraught with danger as it may transform a purely academic function into a political exercise.”  (http://tenureforsarahraymundo.blogspot.com/)

Other points in the UPCM College Council resolution

Other points in the UPCM College Council resolution commenting further about Dr. Gonzales said that:

• He had already taken his oath of office as Director of Philippine General Hospital, University of the Philippines Manila before the BOR Chair on December 21, 2009 and before the UP Manila Chancellor on January 7, 2010;
• Served as PGH director and has performed responsibly since January 4, 2010 with honor , integrity and transparency;
• Under Civil Service Laws, Dr. Jose Gonzales can only be removed as PGH Director for due cause;
• His removal as PGH Director is unjust and arbitrary, he should therefore continue to perform his duties and functions as Director of PGH.

The Final Reality in the PGH case: the U.P. BOR also enjoys its own Academic Freedom

But no matter how vocal protests become against the decision to remove Dr. Gonzales, the Diliman Diary has concluded that the U.P. System still holds one trump card over the UPCM Faculty - the U.P. System's institutional academic freedom outweighs Dr. Gonzales' legal complaint against being unjustly removed - or at least that's how the courts see it.

The Diliman Diary's legal consultant, Atty. Noel C. Ducusin has analyzed the issue of how academic freedom always benefits the institution over the individual litigant in a court of law, no matter what the circumstances are. This means that a case in courts regarding Dr. Gonzales' tenure may have difficulty in succeeding if the U.P. Administration invokes its institutional academic freedom. In court cases, judges routinely defer to the U.P. Board of Regents' presumed expertise in academic matters. The U.S. case of the Garcia v. Faculty Admissions Committee which has been extensively referred to in Philippine jurisprudence, summarizes this reflexive bias in this manner:

"There is, as previously noted, the recognition in the Constitution of institutions of higher learning enjoying academic freedom ...  Justice Frankfurter, with his extensive background in legal education as a former Professor of the Harvard Law school, referred to what he called the business of a university and the four essential freedoms in the following language: "It is the business of a university to provide that atmosphere which is most conducive to speculation, experiment and creation. It is an atmosphere in which there prevail "the four essential freedoms" of a university - to determine for itself on academic grounds who may teach, what may be taught, how it shall be taught, and who may be admitted to study." (Garcia v. Faculty Admissions Committee, 68 SCRA 277, G.R. No. L-407779, November 28, 1975).

The irony here is that because it is Dr. Gonzales who has filed an individual suit - and not the majority of UPCM faculty who have filed a class action suit - then the U.P. BOR has the luxury of preempting the UPCM's academic freedom argument by invoking its own institutional academic freedom in its defense against charges of unjust treatment of Dr. Gonzales. The U.P. Administration can easily say that it has the necessary expertise to determine who may teach , assuming for the sake of discussion that PGH is not just a hospital but is also a learning environment for UPCM students and that the court should defer to its institutional expertise on the matter. Based on Attorney Ducusin's extensive study of Philippine jurisprudence, the courts will, in all probability, defer to the academic institution's arguments.

OP-ED: Rolando Tolentino: Hindi magiging mabuti ang kasaysayan

Ni Rolando Tolentino

Hindi magiging mabuti ang kasaysayan.

Hindi naman ito usaping personal. Mabuting makitungo si Emerlinda Roman, pangulo ng Unibersidad ng Pilipinas. Makwento ito, at kahit paulit-ulit ang kwento sa iba’t ibang pagkakataon, buhay na buhay pa rin ang kwento. Noong Chancellor pa ito ng UP Diliman, decisive ito kapag may itinanong o hiniling ang unit.

Kaya nakakalungkot isipin na ang sentenaryong pangulo ng UP, ang unang babaeng pangulo nito, ay hindi paborableng huhusgahan ng kasaysayan. Hindi kakatwa na sa dulo ng termino nito bumulwak ang mga isyu, pawang pahiwatig sa kalidad o kawalan nito ng demokratikong governance sa unibersidad.

Dati rati pa nga ay kasama si Roman sa pagtutol sa CPDP (Commonwealth Property Development Plan) ng nauna nang presidente Emil Javier. Gayon naman pala, ang pinakamalaking proyekto ng pribatisasyon, ang UP-Ayalaland Technohub ay maisasakatuparan sa termino ni Roman sa mismong sityo ng CPDP.

Ang walang dangal na pagpataw ng 300 porsyentong pagtaas ng matrikula ay naganap din sa watch ni Roman. Sa isang desisyong itinago sa mga nagproprotestang komunidad, naetsapwera ni Roman ang dakilang misyon ng UP na bigyan ng pinakakalidad na tertiaryong edukasyon ang pinaka-deserving at mahihirap na estudyante.

Dagdag pa sa tiwaling pamamalakad ni Roman, ang malawakang subkontraktuwalisasyon ng mga serbisyo, pagpasok ng unibersidad sa mga kwestiyonableng kasunduan sa pribadong entidad, pagpapalakad ng Board of Regents, ang pinakamataas na policy-making body ng UP, na expired na ang termino ng tatlong Malacanang appointees, at matapos madiskubre ito, nang walang konsultasyon sa kanyang constituency, nirekomendang magkaroon ng full term pa ang mga ito.

Dahil sa sistematikong kawalan ng konsultasyon ni Roman, bumuyanyang ang bigat ng kanyang plano’t aksyon. Tinanggal ang rehente ng mga estudyante, tinanggal ang nahirang nang direktor ng Philippine General Hospital (PGH), inuluklok muli ang Chancellor ng UP Mindanao nang hindi tinutugunan ang mga komento ng Commission ng Audit hinggil sa inagurasyon nito, at iba pa.

Marami nang presidente ang UP. Marami ang makasaysayang pamumuno dahil sa ginawang Filipinisasyon ng unibersidad at sa termino ni S.P. Lopez, ang demokratikong konsultasyon na nauwi sa pagproprotekta nito sa mga lumahok sa Diliman Commune laban sa militar ni Marcos.

Ang di-demokratikong pamamalakad ni Roman ay sarili niyang kagagawan. Sinasabi niyang maliit na pumpon ng nagproprotesta lamang ang nasa Quezon Hall. Tunay na ngang nasa ivory tower si Roman. Wala na itong interes na makinig, itinatatwa na niya ang radikal na tradisyon ng unibersidad na naghirang sa kanya bilang sentenaryong pangulo.

At hindi ito kataka-taka para sa “reyna ng komersyalisasyon.” Pinindeho ni Roman ang kasaysayan ng UP sa poder ng negosyo at reaksyonaryong estado. Hindi hiwalay ang kinikilos ni Roman sa neoliberalismo at fasismo ni Gloria Arroyo, ang napagtagumpayan niyang i-bypass dahil nakakolekta ng bilang ng boto si Roman mula sa mga rehenteng niluklok ni Arroyo.

Hindi naman pala sila magkaiba. Magkahalintulad ang kanilang bisyon sa isang sitwasyon limitado ang resources at may engrandeng bisyon na maging globally competitive ang kanilang pinaghaharian: papasukin ang negosyo, supilin ang demokratikong proseso, buwagin ang natitirang espasyo ng demokratikong karapatan. Ang resulta ay ang pamamayani ng kultura ng impunity.

Walang takot sa parusa si Roman o si Arroyo, walang remorse sa pinaggagagawa kahit natitiyak na natitinag din ito sa ilang beses na paghiyaw na “Roman resign!” ng mga nagproprotesta. Sino ang hindi? Dagdag pa ito sa kanyang makasaysayang panunungkulan: sentenaryong presidente, unang babaeng pangulo, at unang pinanawagan magbitiw na sa panunungkulan?

Na pati ang fasistang Chancellor ng UP Los Banos ay nahawahan na ng kulturang ito, walang takot na naghahari at nananakot sa kanyang kampus? Pati ang iba pang hinirang ni Roman na maging reservoir ng kapangyarihan niya, kasama na ang midnight appointments ng tatlong rehente ng Malacanang, ay namamayagpag sa kanilang kingdom come.

Tulad ni Arroyo, si Roman ay hindi rin natatakot maparusahan, hindi rin bibitiw sa kapangyarihan, kaya ang kasaysayan ang huhusga sa kanila. At tulad ng mga linya sa puntod, dito nakahimlay ang empire ni Roman, magarang monumento pero mabilis na naaagnas na, tulad ng maraming naghari nang may pag-iimbot, naglilingkod sa makauring interes ng negosyo at gobyerno.

Nabigwasan na ng progresibong kilusan sa unibersidad ang akala ay toreng pinagtitirikan ng kapangyarihan ng empire ni Roman. Mula sa kanyang posisyon, di na lamang alapaap ng sariling kapangyarihan ang natatanaw. Nasira na ang view ng mga graffiti at nagproprotestang komunidad.

(Prof. Rolando Tolentino is Chair of CONTEND-UP (Congress of Teachers and Educators for Nationalism and Democracy); and a Faculty member of the UP Film Institute)

(Source: http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=377938957884&id=649247642&ref=nf)

(Graphic courtesy of Karl Castro and CONTEND-UP)

(Photos by Mykel Andrada)