Shortlist for U.P. Diliman Chancellors has been set.

Sources from the University of the Philippines at Diliman Search Committee have identified the seven (7) nominees for UP Diliman Chancellor:

Dr. Patrick Azansa (UP alumnus), Dr. Guy Claudio (Director, UP Center for Women's Studies), Dr. Prospero de Vera (Vice President for Public Affairs and UP NCPAG Professor), Dr. Roger Posadas (retired UP professor), Prof. Nes Raneses (AVP for Administration and Directors, UP ISSI), Dr. Cesar Saloma (incumbent UP Diliman Chancellor), and Dr. Michael Tan (Dean, College of Social Sciences and Philosophy and Professor of Anthropology).

A special meeting to discuss the issue is expected on Monday, January 20, 2014 at 8:00 a.m. at Quezon Hall, U.P. Diliman.

Noynoy PDAF `abolition’ misleading, protests to continue – UP community

PRESS RELEASE
August 24, 2013

Noynoy PDAF `abolition’ misleading, protests to continue – UP community

Concerned students, faculty, staff and residents of the University of the Philippines denounced the misleading announcement of President Noynoy Aquino as regards the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF).

In a press conference last August 23, Aquino said that it is now time to “abolish” PDAF and put in place a new mechanism to meet the needs of the people. Members of the Senate and the House of Representatves can still recommend projects but they will have to go through the process of finalizing the national budget.

The concerned UP community members said that Aquino’s policy pronouncement is just a “sugar-coated reform of the inherently flawed pork barrel system.”

In a statement, they stressed that the PDAF will just be repackaged, “such that the Congress will be at the behest of the Department of Budget and Management and the Office of the President.”

They called for the “just distribution and rechanneling of funds to basic social services, NOT a rehashed pork barrel system that is even more vulnerable to corruption. These funds must be allocated through public agencies such as public hospitals, state universities and colleges, public schools, salary upgrading of teachers and government workers, etc. The skewed regional allocations in the proposed budget must be realigned, with sufficient allocations for neglected regions in the Visayas and in Mindanao.”

In this context, they stressed the need for people to rage against “unbridled corruption” in government. “On August 26, we shall march from Liwasang Bonifacio to Rizal Park to Mendiola to decisively assert our resolve to abolish the presidential and congressional pork barrel and rechannel funds to basic social services!”

The statement was signed by the UP Faculty for the Abolition of the Presidential and Congressional Pork Barrel System, UP Kilos Na, Multi-Sectoral Alliance, Office of the Student Regent, Office of the Staff Regent and the University Student Council.

For verification and more information, please call Prof. Sarah Raymundo at (0939) 925-9368

STATEMENT

Marching On: UP Community for the Abolition of the Presidential and Congressional Pork Barrel System

We, the University of the Philippines community, strongly condemn the deceitful and misleading announcement of President Aquino to “abolish” the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) and to institute, in its place, a supposedly “new” mechanism for allocation. This is a clear attempt to pacify and diffuse the just anger of the people and their clamor for the abolition of the pork barrel system and the rechanneling of funds to basic social services. In fact, PNoy’s proposal is by no means an abolition of the PDAF; rather, it is a sugarcoated reform of the inherently flawed pork barrel system. It drowns the more substantive problems of graft and corruption and patronage politics that result from this system. Worse, it conveniently leaves the president’s Special Purpose Funds, amounting to at least 310.1B, untouched, even increasing his discretionary power in the management of national funds.

In PNoy’s proposal, the congressional pork barrel (PDAF) will merely be repackaged, such that the Congress will continue to be at the behest of the Department of Budget and Management and the Office of the President. In the guise of transparency, the proposal actually places the PDAF under the stricter and more direct control of the President, making legislators more beholden to Malacanang. This farce is by no means an “abolition” but a perpetuation of the pork barrel system: it fortifies patronage politics both at the presidential and local levels, and violates constitutional principles by blurring the lines between the executive and legislative functions of government.

We are calling for just distribution and rechanneling of funds to basic social services, NOT a rehashed pork barrel system that is even more vulnerable to corruption. These funds must be allocated through public agencies such as public hospitals, state universities and colleges, public schools, salary upgrading of teachers and government workers, etc. The skewed regional allocations in the proposed budget must be realigned, with sufficient allocations for neglected regions in the Visayas and in Mindanao.

Let not the deceitful machinations of the PNoy Administration dampen our rage against unbridled corruption in government and attacks on our right to social services. On National Heroes Day, we shall continue the legacy of our heroes in upholding the people’s interests against the rich and the few who secure seats in government and reduce the national agenda to their own selfish interests. On August 26, we shall march from Liwasang Bonifacio to Rizal Park to Mendiola to decisively assert our resolve to abolish the presidential and congressional pork barrel and rechannel funds to basic social services!

Join the August 26 March from Liwasang Bonifacio to Luneta to Mendiola: 7AM mass-up at Quezon Hall, UP Diliman; 9AM meet-up at Liwasang Bonifacio and march to Rizal Park.

UP CMC calls for abolition of pork barrel, investigation of corruption, arrest of plunderers

N.B. – This is the official statement of the UP College of Mass Communication on the pork barrel issue, signed by 29 faculty members and 14 staff led by Dean Roland Tolentino and former deans Luis Teodoro and Georgina Encanto.

Statement of the University of the Philippines
College of Mass Communication
August 23, 2013

THE FACULTY, students and staff of the University of the Philippines College of Mass Communication (UP CMC) will join the people’s assembly and march at the Luneta on Monday, August 26 to express our collective outrage. We demand the abolition of the pork barrel system; the immediate arrest of, and the filing of appropriate charges of plunder and other high crimes against those involved in the P10-billion pork barrel scam from both the private and public sector; and a thorough and non-partisan investigation into the entire system of which the scam is only a small part of the estimated P250 billion lost to corruption in the public sector.

Together with the rest of the Filipino people, UP and its constituents, as well as the other state universities and colleges, are among the victims of the corruption that has metastasized throughout officialdom as well as the private sector. While our budgets are being reduced to the detriment of our mandates to train those among our young men and women with the most potential to serve this country and its people, billions are funnelled annually into the pockets of scoundrels and thieves both in and out of government so they may indulge their greed for fleets of luxury cars, palatial homes, and shopping binges abroad.

This is a horrendous crime for which those guilty of it should be penalized. President Benigno Aquino III should first of all forthwith cause the withdrawal from the 2014 General Appropriations Act of the P27 billion in pork barrel funds for Congress, selected agencies, and his own office the Department of Budget and Management has appropriated. He should immediately organize an investigative body credible enough to look into the extent to which not only pork barrel but also other funds have been and are being misused, while ordering the Department of Justice to file the appropriate charges of plunder against those involved in the P10-billion pork barrel scam.

President Aquino’s “bosses” have spoken. His defense of the pork barrel and his insistence on keeping the system intact despite widespread outrage and opposition of the Filipino people are unacceptable. These are completely at odds with the people’s sentiments and the objective interest in seeing to it that taxes are well-spent for the people’s own benefit rather than that of a handful of rapacious individuals whose greed knows no limit.

COLLEGE OFFICIALS
Dr. Roland B. Tolentino, Dean
Prof. Danilo A. Arao, Associate Dean
Prof. Randy Jay C. Solis, College Secretary

Dr. Georgina R. Encanto, Former Dean
Prof. Luis V. Teodoro, Former Dean

Prof. Jane O. Vinculado, Chair, Broadcast Communication Department
Prof. Lucia P. Tangi, Officer-in-Charge, Journalism Department
Prof. Patrick F. Campos, Director of Office of Extension and External Relations

FACULTY
Broadcast Communication Department
Dr. Elizabeth L. Enriquez
Dr. Perlita G. Manalili
Prof. Rosa Maria T. Feliciano
Prof. Victor C. Avecilla
Prof. Josefina C. Santos, DZUP Radio Station Manager
Prof. Fernando A. Austria, Jr.
Ms. Ma. Ivy A. Claudio

Communication Research Department
Prof. Jacques Rusanna Yves DM. Gimeno

Journalism Department
Prof. Evelyn Katigbak
Prof. Ma. Diosa Labiste
Ms. Teresa Congjuico

UP Film Institute
Prof. Shirley P. Evidente, Faculty Coordinator for Academic Programs and Research, UPFI
Prof. Eduardo J. Lejano, Jr., Faculty Coordinator for Film, Theater and Extension Services
Prof. Jose C. Gutierrez III, College Webmaster
Mr. Roy C. Iglesias

LECTURERS
Broadcast Communication Department
Prof. Melba S. Estonilo
Prof. Marinela M. Aseron
Mr. Dexter Mantes

UP Film Institute
Maria Lourdes De Guzman
Carlo Gabriel Pangilinan
Bryan Quesada

ADMINISTRATIVE STAFF AND REPS
Gina Villegas
Marianita P. Cinco
Rosalita S. Burlat
Armando H. Hirao
Nemesio B. Faulan
Clarissa S. Concepcion
Raquelita Bacarra
Jacqueline Manalo
Teresita Santos
Irene Sia
Hermana Dela Paz
Ma. Christine Hernandez
Jam Tolentino
Janette Pamaylaon

CMC Student Council (composed of 13 elected student leaders)

Ladies of the UP Corps, to unite alumnae group on March 16, 2013, International Women’s Month

Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago as head of the
UP ROTC Corps of Sponsors in the late ’60s.

Corps Sponsor ’97 Joyce Marie Rose Cuaycong during the

traditional Presentation of Sponsors at the UP Sunken Garden, 

on board the “white carabao” while trooping the line of cadets.

UP Diliman, QC -  “We are calling on our co-alumnae to join us in addressing contemporary challenges of the ROTC and the UP Corps of Sponsors, as well as relive our distinct culture of relevant and altruistic service,” the UPCOS Alumnae Assembly Organizing Group proposes.

The UP Corps of Sponsors alumnae will conduct their initial lunch workshop at the Bahay ng Alumni on March 16, 2013 from 11am to 3pm.  Ladies who served as mediators between the cadets and cadet officers of their battalions in the ROTC during their college years, from all over the UP System shall meet to relive their glorious years in the Corps, relish friendships, and discuss the organizations’ contemporary social relevance. 

The UP Corps of Sponsors is the socio-civic arm of the UP Department of Military Science and Tactics. It is an organization known to select the beautiful and bright young women leaders in the University of the Philippines, and offers a distinct paramilitary training for its members preparing them to be graceful and empowered women leaders under its shibboleths of Honor, Excellence, and Service. 

Among its notable alumnae are Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago, Prof. Solita ‘Winnie’ Monsod, Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales, Commission on Human Rights Commissioner Coco Quisumbing, Philippine Information Agency NCR Director Riza Baldoria, and former Congresswoman Lorna Verano, who will be keynote speaker during the event.

The corps ladies will also grace the Parade and Review of troops at the UP Sunken Garden organized by the UP Vanguard Inc. The parade and review shall be in celebration of UPROTC’s 52nd anniversary.  No less than the Philippines Vice President Honorable Jejomar Binay shall grace the said event. 

The workshop will be facilitated by Dominique Monera-Tabora, another distinguished alumna from UP Baguio and the current World Vision Asia-Pacific Communications Specialist.  Discussions will cover the formalization of the organization’s objectives and next steps. 

Former UPCOS members can reach the Organizing Committee of the UP Corps of Sponsors Alumnae Assembly through email at upcosalumnae@gmail.com or access their facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/UPCOS for related information and updates.

U.P. Board of Regents denies Posadas extension

Source: Technology Management Center

Statement of former College of Science Dean Roger Posadas:


To all my fellow faculty members, my students, UP alumni here and abroad, old and new friends, and all others who supported me in my appeal to the UP Board of Regents (BOR) for the extension of my full-time faculty appointment, I am very sad to inform you that the BOR today (February 28, 2013 - ed) denied my appeal with finality and decided to downgrade my faculty status to Professorial Lecturer, a part-time faculty position with a salary that is about 50% of my last full-time salary. This setback for me and other professors who are older than 65 (Jun Cruz Reyes, Naida Rivera, Daisy Carlota, Claro Llaguno, et al.) is a triumph for UP President Pascual's, UP Diliman Chancellor Saloma's, and the All UP Workers Union's new policy of regarding senior professors as unwanted costs and unneeded old fogeys that have to be discarded.

The principal thrust of the incumbent UP administration is not to achieve world-class academic excellence nor to produce UP graduates that embody expertise coupled with virtues but rather to achieve operational excellence by reducing faculty costs and computerizing UP operations. I am very sad not so much for myself -- because my family and I will find ways of surviving somehow -- but for the future of our UP beloved which is now going to the dogs and becoming UP benighted as we keep losing our excellent faculty members to other local universities and to other countries.

I wish to thank all of you sincerely from the bottom of my heart, especially those who have not met me in person, for all your expressions of support and for signing the petitions to the BOR. I am also very grateful to all those who extended their support, comfort, and love to my son, Gregor Ethan. We may have lost this particular battle, but we have won many new genuine friends. My family and I will never forget your help and support. Maraming salamat. Tuloy ang laban. Ipaglaban ang UP.

Spratly Islands status quo most favorable to China - Asian Center Professor Edgardo E. Dagdag

By Chanda Shahani

The non-resolution of the South China Sea dispute in the immediate future is most likely and this unresolved status quo is most favorable to the country with the most dominant military force, which is China, U.P. Diliman Asian Center Professor Edgardo E. Dagdag said in a presentation.

Speaking last October 15, 2011 at the National Chengchi University (NCCU) in Taiwan, Professor Dagdag who is also concurrently the President of the Philippines-Taiwan Friendship Society, said that the current developments which reflects the Philippine position is as follows:

• The Philippines is urging Association of South East Asian Nation (ASEAN) member states to take a common stand and seek common positions with respect to addressing the concerns in the South China Sea.
• It has lodged a diplomatic protest before the United Nations International Tribunal on the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) agaisnt China's territorial claim over the whole SCS.
• The Philippines says that it would defend its position in the SCS, and calls this the West Philippine Sea.
• The Philippines is proposing that the SCS be converted into a Zone of Peace, Freedom, Friendship and Coioperation (ZPFF/C)

Highlights of the Philippines' ZPFF/C proposal

• The disputed areas in the SCS would be segregated from the non-disputed areas in accordance with the UNCLOS.
• Only the Spratly island and Paracels are considered the disputed areas.
• The disputed areas would be enclaved and designated as Joint Cooperation Areas (JCA). It would be managed by a Joint Permanent Working Committee (JPWC) composed of claimants from the ASEAN. The JPWC would report to the ASEAN-China Senior Officials Meeting (SOM).
• The JCA will be demilitarized. The military personnel will be replaced with police or coast guard personnel.
• The undisputed areas shall remain under the jurisdiction of those countries whose rights are protected by the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).
• A two-day meeting of the ASEAN maritime legal experts in Manila last Sept 2011 concluded that there is a legal basis for the Phil proposal.
• ASEAN tasked its SOM to study further the Phil proposal and the results of the meeting of the ASEAN maritime legal experts and to submit its report to the Nov 2011 ASEAN summit meeting.
• Sources from the Philippines Department of Foreign Affairs say that the Phil proposal has the support of Vietnam, Singapore and Indonesia.
• China’s reaction (Ambassador Liu Jianchao, Chinese Ambassador to the Phil): (a) The meeting of the ASEAN maritime legal experts is not an effective way to deal with the dispute; and (b) The ZOPFF/C concept of segregation is not feasible at this stage due to the claimants’ overlapping claims.

Professor Dagdag said that the increasing interest shown ny the Unitred States on the SCS issue will have the resulting effect of thee not be a peaceful resolution for the forseeable future. Moreover, China opposes the internationalization of the dispute and the involvement of non-claimant countries such as the United States.

He added that China is not likely to give up its announced preferred position which is to address the SCS issue through bilateral negotiations. This is a stumbling block to the immediate resolution of the SCS issue since ASEAN prefers a multilateral approach.

Professor Dagdag said that ASEAN ismore likely to press for the adoption of a regional code of conduct to address the issue. This projected stance would in all probability be supported by China but not the U.S.

He said that a recent conference on the Spratlys held in the Philippines on October, 2011 showed China's true mindset. Chinese academics declared that the UNCLOS cannot address the Spratlys issue. This is revealing, Professor Dagdag said, because “Chinese academics generally toe and articulate the 'official line'.”

He said the SCS issue will remain a big irritant in Philippines-China relations and will give the Philippines the reason to seek closer security relations with the U.S. To protect itself and its Kalayaan Island group claim.

U.P. Diliman is situated near West Valley Fault Line - Government geologists

West Valley Fault Line near U.P. Diliman
Source: Phiilvolcs

MANILA, Philippines - Government geologists have found evidence of ground displacement along the West Valley Fault line, validating earlier warnings by national and local authorities that the fault - running 7.2 kilometers from Parañaque through Makati, Taguig, Marikina, to San Mateo along the periphery of Quezon City - remains active.

This came to light as the Quezon City government and the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) on Monday completed trenching work across the West Valley Fault line at Barangay Bagong Silangan, Novaliches. Intended to identify ground rupture movements and slip rates across the fault, the trenching activities found abrupt changes in sediment layers in the area, Quezon City officials said.

The activity involved excavations of two trenches, about 50 meters apart, within a 50-hectare property owned by Banco Filipino at Barangay Bagong Silangan. The area, according to a Metro Manila Earthquake Impact Reduction Study (MMEIRS), shows high susceptibility to earthquakes, along with Barangay Payatas, also in Novaliches.

The exposed trench walls indicated that at least two to three earthquake events had in fact already taken place in the area in the past. Phivolcs is now collecting charcoal pieces for carbon-14 analysis to determine the approximate time of the occurrence of the said earthquakes and the estimate of the age of the sediment layers affected by the ground displacement.

"The Phivolcs findings just validated the claim that the West Valley Fault Line is indeed active," said Elmo San Diego, action officer of the QC disaster risk reduction management council and head of the city's department of public order and safety. The MMEIRS suggests that a magnitude 7.2 earthquake may originate at the West Valley Fault line at some point in the future.

San Diego reiterated QC Mayor Herbert Bautista's call to declare the 7-kilometer stretch of the fault system that runs through QC's periphery a danger zone. "The safety of our residents, particularly those living on top of the fault line, is non-negotiable," San Diego said. "The fault line is unlivable."

The fault line cuts across major cities in Metro Manila, and has in its path scores of large subdivisions and schools. Ateneo de Manila and the University of the Philippines in Diliman are both situated near or atop the fault line which has not moved in 200 years, but which Phivolcs had warned may therefore be "ripe for movement".

Batasan Hills in the northern stretch of the fault has within its vicinity the House of Representatives of the Philippines. To the south, subdivisions such as Green Meadows, Valle Verde, and McKinley Hills all sit atop the fault. Ayala Heights in Quezon is similarly situated in an area within the potential influence of movements along the line.

(Philippine News Agency)

PAHRA to commemorate Martial Law at U.P. Diliman's Sunken Garden

PAHRA (Philippine Alliance of Human Rights Advocates), families of Martial Law victims and other Human Rights Defenders will gather to Inform, Inspire and to Remember Martial Law 40 years after it was first declared on September 21, 1972 by the ousted Dictator Ferdinand Marcos. The event will take place this Saturday, April 21, 2012 from 7a.m. – 10a.m.at U.P. Diliman's Sunken Garden.

This activity is a continuation of PAHRA's  national campaign to Remember ML @ 40.
Every 21st of the month, from March 21 until September 21 of this year, PAHRA shall strive to have the country’s younger generation remember the dark years of the martial law period through a series of jogging-running-walking-biking-kite flying, and sharing activities.

The overall aim of this campaign is to compel the Philippine Congress to urgently pass the Compensation Bill for Victims of Human Rights Violation almost three decades after the Marcos Dictatorship was forcefully terminated through a successful People’s Power Uprising on February 25, 1986.

For more information and/or details, please contact:
Mr. RASTI DELIZO (PAHRA-Campaigns Staff Volunteer)
@celfone #: 099908092461/office #: 436-26-33

U.P. Astronomical Society Summer Applicants Orientation

UP Astronomical Society is now open for Summer Applications!

See you this thursday, 19 April 2012 6pm at the PAGASA Astronomical Observatory Moon Deck near CHE (College of Home Economics).

Get the chance to look through the largest telescope in the country, Andre the Giant!
Don't miss it! :)

For inquiries, contact
Andro 09162309138
CR 09065880080.

On March 29, 1994 the Philippines, including U.P. Diliman was first connected to the internet.

As of March 29,1994 at 1:15 am Philippine time, unfortunately 2 days late due to slight technical difficulties, the Philippines was FINALLY connected to the Internet via SprintLink. The Philippine router, a Cisco 7000 router was attached via the services of PLDT and Sprint communications to SprintLink's router at Stockton CA. The gateway to the world for the Philippines will be via NASA Ames Research Center. For now, a 64K serial link is the information highway to the rest of the Internet world.

As to domestic connections, the following institutions will be the initial points of regional presence within the archipelago:

• Ateneo de Manila University 
• Advanced Science and Technology Institute 
• De La Salle University 
• UP Diliman 
• UP Los Banos 
• UP Manila 
• University of San Carlos, Cebu 
• University of Sto. Tomas 
• St. Louis University, Baguio 
• Xavier University, Cagayan 

Read the rest here.

Status Update on the Case of Miss Lordei Hina (as of February 29)

Released by the Office of the Chancellor of UP Diliman, 29 February 2012

Health Situation

• After being in the ICU of Capitol Medical Center for almost 10 days (since 1 February), Lordei was transferred to a private room but is still being closely monitored by a medical team.
• She is being taken care of by a team of six (6) specialists: A neurosurgeon, neurologist, internal medicine specialist, ophthalmologist, heart specialist and a physical therapist.
• A fourth CT scan conducted last 17 February showed the presence of fluid in her brain that must have given her fever/infection. Last 18 February, she underwent brain surgery to arrest the spread/worsening of infection in her brain. The surgery was successful - the fluid in her brain was removed together with bone fragments and remains of a sharp object that was embedded in her brain.
• Lordei has shown remarkable progress in her physical recovery given the serious injuries that received. Her doctors are greatly encouraged by her good recovery rate. She is now able to see, recognize her family and friends, move her right hand/fingers and sit on a wheelchair. She is currently undergoing physical therapy. However, she could not yet speak. 
• She is constantly attended to by her loving mother and family as well as by her many friends from UP Diliman. The OVCSA is closely monitoring the status of Lordei.

Legal Case Against Lordei’s Assailants

• One of Lordei’s assailants was caught immediately by the UP Diliman security personnel led by the UP Diliman Police. He has been in the custody of the Quezon City Police since 1 February 2012. The other suspect remains at large.
• After the inquest conducted by the Asst. City Prosecutor, based on the partial medical certificate then available, the suspect was charged last February 3 with only the crime of Robbery as defined under Article 294, Par 4 of the Revised Penal Code (Robbery with unnecessary violence or intimidation), instead of Robbery with Frustrated Homicide.
• A case conference was called by the OVCSA on 10 February 2012 to deliberate on the details of the legal case that was filed against suspects. Among those present were: Atty.Ma. Luz Raval (UP Diliman Legal Office), Atty. Victoriano Hipe (DLO), Atty. Allan Maximilian Roxas (DLO), Major Bernie Baltazar (UPDP), Representative from QCPD, Mrs. Conception Hina (Lordei’s mother), Dr. Rommel Rodriquez (OVCSA-OSADirector and VCSA Ma. Corazon J. Tan. The DLO is taking the lead as Lordie’s private prosecutors and UP would provide possible financial, legal and moral support to Lordie and the Hina family.
• On 21 February, the DLO filed on a motion to allow reinvestigation and to defer arraignment which was initially scheduled on 1 March. The DLO motion argues that the extent of Lordie’s injuries indicate a clear intent to kill, as evidenced by an updated Medical Record. The motion filed seeks a re-evaluation of the case and to upgrade the charge to robbery with frustrated homicide.
• The DLO has informed the OVCSA that it is still awaiting for the official reply from the handling Prosecutor to its motion for reinvestigation.

Search for the 2nd Assailant

• The other suspect remains at large. The UP Diliman Taskforce Lordei Hina is appealing to the Quezon City Police during the Case conference held in February 10 to actively pursue/conduct a ‘manhunt’ to capture the other suspect and bring him to justice.
• Major Baltazar of UPDP suggested that UP elevate this appeal/request to the Philippine National Police (PNP). He suggested for the UP Administration to officially write and/or set a meeting with the PNP to discuss the active pursuit of the other suspect.

Provision of Financial Support

• The initial cost (PhP380,071.18) of Lordei’s hospitalization at the Capital Medical Center is being shouldered by UP Diliman.
• Students, faculty members and employees are initiating their own fundraising activities to help defray the costs of Lordei’s hospitalization and her other needs.
• Mrs. Hina informed the OVCSA that a staff member of the Office of Vice-President Jejomar Binay visited Lordei on 24 February and mentioned that their office will shoulder all the hospitalization costs. UP is very grateful for this generous gesture of Vice-President Binay and is waiting for his official confirmation.

This Bulletin is prepared by Office of the Vice-Chancellor for Student Affairs, UP Diliman.

CHRISTOPHER LAO AGAIN - BINAHA NA NAMAN II

Mr. Christopher Lao, the U.P. Diliman internet sensation who rocketed to infamy when he got into an argument over his stranded waterlogged car now appears to have the last laugh as he has been tapped by the Bank of the Philippine Islands in an advertisement marketing its car insurance products. Despite his numerous detractors (at the time), Mr. Lao may end up laughing all the way to the bank. Happy Ending?

COMIKAZEE: THE COMEDY CARTEL CAMPUS TOUR

ECIRCLE ENTERTAINMENT & UP Junior Marketing Association (UP Diliman) PRESENTS… COMIKAZEE: THE COMEDY CARTEL CAMPUS TOUR The Comedy Cartel, the country’s only point-of-view stand-up comedy group will have its first ever Stand-Up Comedy Campus Tour on Friday, October 7, 2011 – 6:30pm at CSWCD Auditorium, UP Diliman. Ticket Cost: P120

Donation-raising drive for the flood victims of Hagonoy, Bulacan by UP-CMC Graduate Students' Association

To enlarge the graphic just click on it

Let's help the flood victims of Hagonoy, Bulacan!

The UP College of Mass Communication Graduate Students’ Association invites everyone to share their blessings through Operasyon Damayan: Iskolar ng Bayan. Sumuporta. Mag-damayan.

Everyone is enjoined to donate noodles, canned goods, instant coffee, bottled water, crackers, and candles for the flood victims of Hagonoy, Bulacan through the Hagonoy Young Leaders Program.

Kindly place your donations in the GSA Donation Box located in front of the CMC Administration Office from October 4-8, 2011.

Contact us through 0916 302 55 68 or 0916 237 21 73 for more information.

Iskolar ng Bayan! Sumuporta. Mag-damayan.

Suspension of classes today at U.P. Diliman

Advisory from the Office of the Chancellor: To facilitate on-going efforts to restore UPD back to normal status, classes at all levels are suspended on 28 Sept 2011 from 7am to 1pm. Please disseminate this advisory, Thank you.

NCPAG Student Council 2011-2012 Official Statement of Solidarity Against Systemic State Abandonment

NCPAG SC 2011-2012 Official Statement of Solidarity Against Systemic State Abandonment

In the heat of UP striking back together with other State Universities and Colleges, the Student Council of the NCPAG Student Government joins the call for greater state subsidy. We are one in solidarity with the demand against systemic state abandonment of education and other social services.

The NCPAG Student Council, however, must clarify our non-usage of the term "budget cut" as to comply with proper terminologies discussed in the field of Public Administration, as the term budget is associated with the already formally legislated appropriations as opposed to what is commonly referred to budget proposal.

Despite this difference in semantics, we still stand among appalled students as we express our dismay against the blatant lack of importance that the Aquino administration is giving the education sector.

The NCPAG Student Council believes that investing in education is tantamount to investing in human capital development. The government has no excuse to not subsidize education, especially the State Universities and Colleges, when there are various way to realign the budget to augment the one for budget for it to meet the internationally recommended standards.

The proposed 2012 budget accounts for only 3.17% of our GNP, just a little over half of UNESCO's recommended 6%. As such, the NCPAG Student Council also supports the call for the legislation of the automatic appropriation of six percent of the country's GNP to the education budget.

We, iskolars and aktibistas of the nation, stand in solidarity as we demand for our right to greater state subsidy.

NO TO SYSTEMIC STATE ABANDONMENT!
INVEST IN THE FUTURE!
6% of GNP TO EDUCATION NOW!

The Mat Project for the UP Pep Squad

By Eloi Hernandez

Grace Gregorio and I are spearheading this project so our champion team can train on new mats. Each mat (1mx1m) costs P900+ and the team needs 300 pcs. We are soliciting pledges for the MAT Project. If you want to show your appreciation to the UP Pep Squad, you can certainly express it by making a pledge now.

Thank you!

Please make deposits to Banco de Oro (BDO). Account name UP Varsity Pep Squad, CA #1078012117, Pls take a photo of or scan the deposit slip and email to graciegregorio@gmail.com

Grace Gregorio is the former Vice Chancellor for Community Affairs for UP Diliman. She is an associate professor at the Institute of Chemistry and teaches Spanish also. I am an associate professor at the Department of Art Studies. We are also known as MamG and MamE to a lot of UP varsity kids and UP Pep “mommies.”

UPDATE

The Diliman Diary donated PhP 5000.00 today for new practice mats for the U.P. Pep Squad. Attached is the response of Professor Gregorio. We encourage other interested individuals, including U.P. alumni to do likewise:

Dear Chanda,

I am with the UP Pep Squad right now and Coach Lala thanks Diliman Diary profusely for the generous donation. These mats will not only benefit the present squad but as well as future champions.

Thank you for your very prompt response. This means a lot to the team. More power! UP Fight!

Best,

Grace Gregorio

Sent from my iPhone

On Sep 21, 2011, at 6:49 PM, diliman diary <dilimandiary@yahoo.com> wrote:

Dear Ma'am:

This is to confirm the donation by the Diliman Diary of PhP 5000.00 for new practice mats for the U.P. Squad. As a U.P. alumnus, I am very proud of our team!

The deposit slip is attached here as a file.

Thank you very much.

Sincerely yours,

Mr. Chanda R. Shahani 

Mabuhay! Have a Great Day!

Chanda R. Shahani

Editor

The Diliman Diary

http://www.dilimandiary.com

UPDATE 2

As of September 22, 2011, donations for 277 out of the required  300 mats have been obtained, so additional donations are welcome for that final kick to cross the finish line!

UPDATE 3

As of September 23, 2011, the entire amount of PhP 300,000.00 has been raised already, but the U.P. Pep Squad has a need for further expenses, so potential donors please contact the contact persons above for more information.

2012 U.P. Budget Cut Protests: Freeze Mob at Tambulang Bayan.avi

UP STRIKE BACK CONDUCT!

September 21-23, 2011
Palma Hall (AS STEPS)
College of Social Sciences and Philosophy
University of the Philippines Diliman

-UP KILOS NA LABAN sa BUDGET CUTS-

Ms. Universe 3rd Runner-up Shamcey Supsup: From U.P. Diliman to the People

Ms. Universe 3rd Runner-up Shamcey Supsup paid a courtesy call today to U.P. President Alfredo E. Pascual and various U.P. officials in Quezon Hall, U.P. Diliman. Ms. Supsup graduated B.S. Architecture (magna cum laude) from U.P. Diliman and topped the architectural board exams.

Photo from U.P. System Information Office

Photo from U.P. System Information Office

From U.P. Diliman, Ms. Supsup proceeded to her high school alma mater, Makati High School, and then on to Ayala Avenue. Despite the fact that Ms. Supsup did not bag the Miss Universe crown, she emerged as a winner in the eyes of her countrymen and women who view her as, in the words of U.P. President Alfredo E. Pascual, "a combination of brains and beauty." Equally important to those in U.P. Diliman was that she faced a critical board of judges in San Paolo, Brazil, and stood up for a principle she believed in, which was to proclaim strongly her faith as taking precedence over the choice of a significant other and that that significant other had to conform to the principles of her faith, if he truly loved her. But this answer also resonated outside U.P. Diliman, throughout the deeply Catholic Philippines where openly proclaiming faith in one's Lord is its own victory; a victory that is as old as Christianity itself.

In Ayala Avenue throngs of crowds waited to greet her with emotion and excitement - and pride - and joy.

Moreover, Ms. Supsup has declared that when her 18 month contract is over, she wants to return to the University of the Philippines at Diliman and teach, as her way of returning something back to the country that subsidized her U.P. education. This move strikes a deep chord among U.P. graduates, where a culture of service to the country is ingrained in its graduates. In so doing, Ms. Supsup follows in the footsteps of other academically accomplished U.P. graduates such as Mikaela Irene Fudolig, the youngest summa cum laude in U.P. Diliman's history who is now teaching at U.P. Diliman's Institute of Physics and John Gabriel Pelias, a summa cum laude from U.P. Diliman with the highest grade point average on record, who is now teaching at the Institute of Mathematics at U.P. Diliman.

Ms. Supsup's plans to teach at her alma mater, in an era of massive budget cuts to her alma mater from the administration of President Benigno S. Aquino would be unsettling, if it was not already established that she is motivated beyond mere financial considerations; as she could easily earn large amounts of money by devoting most of her time to the private sector. This is especially poignant, since the budget proposed by the U.P. System to the Aquino Adminsitration was PhP 17 billion, but it has now been reduced to PhP 5.1 billion by the Department of Budget and Management in its submission of the entire national budget to Congress.

U.P. President Alfredo Pascual has argued that U.P. should not be treated as a cost, but as an investment in the country's future, which along with other State Univesities and Colleges produces thousands of qualified and competent graduates who can help in the country's national development.

Picture of slogan taken at Shopping Center, U.P. Diliman protesting the 2011 U.P. budget cuts

(Remaining pictures and text by Chanda Shahani)

Letter from the Student Regent: Invitation for all professors to strike!

16 September 2011

OPEN LETTER TO ALL UP PROFESSORS

Dear professor,

Next week is strike week, the highlight of this season’s campaign for greater state subsidy. Our unities are now beyond opposition to this year’s P800 million UP budget cut. Through sharp analysis, we have interwoven the many concerns of state college and universities and the school sector and now stand against the chronic education crisis.

In response, student councils and organizations, multisectoral alliances Kilos Na Laban sa Budget Cut and Ugnayan ng Mamamayan Para sa Karapatan sa Edukasyon (Umaksyon) across the UP system have agreed to conduct alternative activities and massive mobilizations to heighten the atmosphere of protest in the university. We will strike with utmost vigor especially on Wednesday, the anniversary of the declaration of Martial Law. We invite you to participate in the following activities:

Diliman
Tuesday, 20 September
 9-12 NN – forum on the budget with Chancellor Saloma and system officials

Wednesday, 21 September
AM – college walkouts and programs
1130 AM – march along acad oval and declaration of strike
PM – common program at AS steps
6-8PM – interactive fashion show
8-11PM – film showing and cultural night        

Thursday, 22 September
AM - Alternative classes (AKLAS) at AS
1-5PM – station of the cuts, per sector situationer
6-11pm – retro night “Walastik, dehins sa cuts repapapips”    

Friday, 23 September
7AM – almusalang bayan
9 AM – march to Mendiola

Manila
Tuesday, 20 September
Teach-ins, educational discussions       

Wednesday, 21 September
3PM – dodgeball event against budget cut        

Thursday, 22 September
AM – solidarity program
LUNCH – common program at PGH; boodle fight
PM – film showing; cultural night with smores bonfire             

Friday, 23 September
AM – morning exercises; solidarity program
10AM – march to Mendiola

Baguio
Tuesday, 20 September
10 AM – Forum on budget hearings with Rep. Mong Palatino  

Wednesday, 21 September
Discussion groups on UP, education and youth situation           

Thursday, 22 September
6-9 PM – “Camp  fire”, a culminating activity of different sectors         

Friday, 23 September
Black shirt day
AM – ecumenical service, org activities
LUNCH – boodle fight
PM – march against the cuts

Los Banos         
Tuesday, 20 September
Visual, cyber and verbal prop 

Wednesday, 21 September
Black shirt day
AM – mob on Martial Law anniversary              

Thursday, 22 September
AM – prop action
PM – film showing; videos on the budget cut to be aired during class days            

Friday, 23 September
Solidarity program

Visayas (Iloilo and Miag-ao)                                    
Thursday, 22 September
10 AM – All-Panay SUCs student leaders press conference       

Friday, 23 September
Black shirt day
PM –big protest in Iloilo City with other schools

Cebu       
Wednesday, 21 September
PM – multisectoral mobilization at city proper                             

Friday, 23 September
PM – consultation with President Pascual
5 PM – Candlelighting

Mindanao                                         
Thursday, 22 September
Cultural activities at the atrium
LUNCH – solidarity program             

Tentative schedules subject to adjustment.

May we note two shared activities where we specially need your help:
1)     Black or no to budget cut shirt days – We call on all sectors to display personal solidarity. Free t-shirt printing is available in Diliman, Manila and Los Banos; please bring your own shirts. Some organizations are also distributing merchandise at cost.
2)     Teach-ins, alternative class discussion – We hope to gather as many students as possible in the spirit of community teaching, and in search for holistic and responsive learning.
     a) Would you be amenable to sending your classes for alternative lectures? Kilos Na and Umaksyon teams would be glad to take them on.
     b) Could you bear the inconvenience of relocating your classes outside? We encourage all professors to conduct regular classes in the common areas if feasible (AS in Diliman, Los Banos and Manila, main lobby in Baguio).
Please do not hesitate to initiate your own actions to complement this schedule, to reach the widest audience for our campaign. In the midst of this crisis, we hope to be part of the solution by pursuing an education that is truly democratic, scientific, and geared towards serving the nation.


In solidarity and with thanks,

Maria Kristina Conti
Student Regent