Diliman Videos of the Week: Borderline Film and What is Queer Theory for You?

Video No. 1: Borderline Film



Borderline Film 2011
A short film by Visual Communication major students, College of Fine Arts, University of the Philippines, Diliman

Joanna Malinis (UP FA)
Pampy Manalac (UP FA)
Margaret Morales (UP FA)
Kit Singson (UP FA)
Valerie Villaflor (UP FA)

Lucho Ayala (actor)
Millie Morales (story, make-up, actress)

Video No. 2: What is Queer Theory for You?



French 197 under Prof. Richard Karl Deang University of the Philippines, Diliman. Creators: Jamie Isabelle Arellano & Nico Angelo Pili Special participation ...

Editorial: 21st Century University of the Philippines Health Sciences Center

We are embedding below the scan of an editorial written by Silverio Cabellon, Jr., M.D., a graduate of the University of the Philippines College of Medicine (UPCM), Class of 1972. Dr. Cabellon, Jr. is currently the Chair, Board of Governors of the University of the Philippines Medical Alumni Society in America (UPMASA). The editorial originally appeared in the UPMASA Journal in 2004, but Dr. Cabellon just sent this in to us, and as it is newsworthy and still very current, we are republishing this. The editorial calls for planning for the future of the Health Sciences in the University of the Philippines. Dr. Cabellon now chairs the Ad Hoc Committee for the Development of the 21st Century University of the Philippines Health Sciences Center of UPMASA. With the National Science Complex now about to be finished in U.P. Diliman, Dr. Cabellon proposes that the next project should be the 21st Century Health Sciences Center.

(To enlarge the scan, just click on it)

I vote for MDGS: A Citizen Journalism Workshop

(To enlarge the picture, just click on it)

Want to learn how to tweet the way newsmen do it? Want to learn how to use everyday gadgets like your cellphones, digicams, iPod, laptops PDAs, and smartphones for citizen journalism? Want to become a certified CITIZEN JOURNALIST?

Join “I Vote for MDGs!” A Citizen Journalism Workshop” on August 21-23, 9-5pm at the UP College of Mass Communication. Open and FREE for all UP Diliman students. You don’t have to be a mass communication student to join. Even if you’re taking up Biology, Engineering, Food Technology, Political Science, European Languages or any course in Diliman, you’re welcome to join! As long as you’re an ISKO or an ISKA!

This FREE workshop will be held for 3 days and it will include discussions on journalism ethics and lectures on how to use everyday technology (digi/videocams, cellphones, laptops, mp3s) in producing stories for broadcast. A hands-on exercise will be part of the workshop, where participants will be divided into groups, will be asked to do filming and editing to create a 3-minute news story. These stories will then be screened and critiqued on the last day by Probe’s producers and UP College of Mass Communication’s faculty.

The training will focus on the basics of journalistic storytelling with the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) as the framework. The MDGs are 8 time-bound goals, set by member states of the United Nations which addresses global concerns such as poverty and hunger, universal education, gender equality, child health, maternal health, HIV/AIDS, environmental sustainability and global partnership between first and third world countries.

“I VOTE FOR MDGS! A CITIZEN JOURNALISM WORKSHOP” presented by UP Journalism Club in partnership with Probe Media Foundation, Inc., Probe Productions, Inc. and the United Nations.

For more information and to reserve slots: PRE-REGISTRATION IS A MUST!

- You may contact Iya Cailao at 09065005867

- Send an e-mail to upjc1011@yahoogroups.com

UPDATE

This workshop has been indefinitely postponed. To get updated on the new workshop dates, please communicate by utilizing the contact details above.

Breakfast @ Chocolate Kiss on Twitpic

http://twitpic.com/2bddfg

Kamikazee fires up Lanao del Norte's People's Day celebration

Tubod, Lanao del Norte -- It was an explosive mix of phenomenal stage performance, alternative and punk rock music loaded with an ample dose of quirky and suggestive movements that brought the house down last July 3 as Kamikazee set the MCC stage ablazed in their first-ever concert in the province.

The band is composed of five members who met in college at the College of Fine Arts of the University of the Philippines Diliman.

Kamikazee's early gigs were mostly on campus events in UP Diliman like the annual UP Fair.

Before they were signed in a major label, they went by the name "Kamikazee Cornflakes" (eventually shortened to its current state as "Kamikazee" which is easier to remember).

Their early shows included renditions of the songs "Mmm Sarap," "Tsinelas," a cover of Ariel Rivera's "Sana Kahit Minsan," and Britney Spears' Lucky.

Kamikazee consists of Jay Contreras, Jomal Linao, Led Tuyay, Puto Astete and Bords Burdeos.

"I love the melody and funny message of their songs. It's what appeal most to the youth," Kamikazee-fanatic Christopher Capio explained.

Winners of the Band Explosion competition held earlier on July 1, Genesis (1st place) and Line 1 (Champion) provided the front acts for the premier rock band in the country.

The Mindanao Civic Center Sports Complex was swarming with people from Lanao del Norte and nearby provinces who came to watch the sought-after rock group perform live their hit songs.

The evening was capped with a breath-taking musical fireworks display dubbed as "Ilaw ng Lanao del Norte" that left the people in Tubod and neighboring municipalities mesmerized.

This annual spectacle is the only one of its kind showcased in Mindanao and boasts of world-class pyrotechnics effects and effect combinations. (VNL/PIO-LDN)

Ayala Land, Inc. proposes to take over U.P. Integrated School. Is a "monopsony" in the offing?

In this satellite picture, Narra Residence Hall and U.P.

Integrated School (left and right of Katipunan Avenue) http://tinyurl.com/2uqbmdx

By Chanda Shahani

The University of the Philippines (U.P.) Board of Regents (BOR) meeting scheduled for May 27, 2010 will include an unsolicited proposal by Ayala Land, Inc. to lease the current U.P. Integrated School (UPIS) site for "commercial and academic purposes" and to transfer UPIS to the current location of the former Narra Residence Hall.

This according to an email message sent on May 26, 2010 to this writer by U.P. Faculty Regent Judy M. Taguiwalo. The UPIS property is located along Katipunan Avenue while Narra Residence Hall is located inside the U.P. campus proper. Narra was already abandoned in October of 2007 due to its deteriorating condition before a fire hit its east wing in January of 2008.

If the BOR favourably entertains Ayala Land, Inc.'s unsolicited proposal without giving competing parties a fair chance to bid for the same project, then U.P., which is a government entity, is setting itself up to be in open violation yet again of current Philippine government practices for unsolicited bid proposals which allow for a "Swiss Challenge" to take place. U.P. will also be on the fast track to granting Ayala Land, Inc., a virtual "monopsony" to commercialize choice U.P. System properties which would allow Ayala to dictate its own terms to U.P.'s and therefore the taxpayer's disadvantage, creating a buyer's market or an auction with Ayala as the sole participant.

Under the Swiss Challenge system as it is practised in the Philippines, the government grants the original project proponent a predefined advantage through a point system in a competitive bidding process. This allows third parties to make better offers or "challenges." The original proponent then has the right to match a superior offer (http://tinyurl.com/3yow9r8).

Executives from Ayala Land Inc. headed by ALI Chairman
Fernando Zobel de Ayala together with the UP BOR Chair
Emmanuel Angeles and UP President Emerlinda Roman at
the U.P.-Ayala Land Technohub http://www.ayalaland.com/

One prominent example of  a successful Swiss Challenge was the original proposal for the construction of a third terminal in the Ninoy Aquino International Airport which was proposed by Asia's Emerging Dragon Corporation (AEDP). AEDP eventually lost the bid to PairCargo and its partner Fraport AG of Germany, who went on to begin construction of the terminal under the administration of former President Joseph Estrada in 1998; although President Gloria M. Arroyo later ordered the contract scuttled for being "onerous" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ninoy_Aquino_International_Airport).

But it is the U.P. Administration's constant choice of Ayala as a partner in developing its vast tracts of real estate properties that has lead observers to say that Ayala is now enjoying a virtual "monopsony" in its dealings with the entire U.P. System, leading to fears that U.P. may not be able to wrangle the best possible deal if it had a variety of competitors to choose from.

In economics, a monopsony is a market form in which only one buyer faces many sellers. It is an example of imperfect competition, similar to a monopoly, in which only one seller faces many buyers. As the only purchaser of a good or service, the "monopsonist" may dictate terms to its suppliers in the same manner that a monopolist controls the market for its buyers (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monopsony).

Ayala's stranglehold over U.P. in terms of the number of projects it already is implementing with the premier state university may grant it unwarranted clout with the U.P. Administration, as U.P. technocrats bend over backwards to grant this real estate developer even more accomodations.

For example, the Ayala Foundation, Inc. currently manages and runs the U.P. Ayala Technopark which comprises 5 hectares. According to the U.P. System website (http://www.up.edu.ph/upforum.php?i=109), U.P. and Ayala Foundation, Inc. grossed PhP 3 million from 2001 to 2004 which essentially amounts to a gross income (before profit sharing with Ayala Foundation, Inc.) of a mere two pesos or PhP 2.00 per square meter per year. U.P. only gets 60% of the gross income under this arrangement.

U.P. also leases out  the 37.5 hectare North Science and Technology Park, located along Commonwealth Avenue in Diliman where the U.P.-Ayala Land Technohub is located. U.P. also signed a memorandum of agreement last April, 2010 by and between the U.P. Visayas Cebu College (UPVCC) and the Ayala Foundation, Inc. (AFI) to establish the U.P. Visayas Cebu College (UPVCC) Technology Business Incubator (TBI) (http://www.up.edu.ph/upnewsletter.php?i=777).

The TBI facility will boost the creation of new high technology businesses and industries, while providing an environment where scientists, engineers, faculty members, technology innovators, along the same lines that the Ayala Foundation operates the U.P. Ayala Technopark in Diliman. It could also bethe tip of the spear for future Ayala Land, Inc. development of other vast tracts of U.P. properties in the Visayas and Mindanao, leading to a virtual "monopsony" for one corporation, without diversifying and allowing for other proposals to enter the fray, allowing U.P. to pick and choose which are the most advantageous to the University.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) has previously criticized the U.P. Administration for its lack of transparency in a contract signed on June 18, 2009, for the UP PGH Faculty Medical Arts Building (FMAB) Project by President Emerlinda Roman and Dr. Edwin Mercado, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Daniel Mercado Medical Center (DMMC) to privatize portions of the Philippine General Hospital (PGH) and to construct the FMAB.

In a legal opinion the DOJ said RA 9500 or the University of the Philippine Charter of 2008 requires that any large plan to commercial U.P. assets must protect U.P. "from undue influence and control of commercial interests" and that it should be "approved by the Board subject to a transparent and democratic process of consultation with the constituents of the national university."

Recent protests by the Laban PGH movement, which is made up of U.P. College of Medicine Faculty, staff and students indicate that there was not enough -  if any - consultation for the FMAB project as it is currently defined in the final signed contract. Critics say that the project, while beneficial in some respects, would nevertheless still hurt the essential constituents of U.P. PGH, who are the disadvantaged poor, by siphoning away much-needed income needed by PGH for its programs and benefitting DMMC instead (Please see Diliman Diary, March 3, 2010 at http://tinyurl.com/24kp34e).

In the case of UPIS, the satellite picture embedded above would show that UPIS would be giving up much more real estate than it would receive in return (the former Narra Residence Hall). Additionally, RA 9500 would require that there be a transparent and democratic process of consultation which would also require asking if U.P.'s and therefore the taxpayer's interests are being adequately served if enters into yet another binding contract with Ayala Land, Inc., in order to avoid creating a situation best described by the word, "monopsony."

(Chanda Shahani is the editor of the Diliman Diary).