UP Centennial Lecture Series: Dr. Francisco Nemenzo

Former UP President Francisco “Dodong” Nemenzo's lecture coincided with the mobilization Ayala, Makati, following the ZTE Deal revelations of Rodolfo “Jun” Lozada, so I thought it was cancelled. I came in 15-30 minutes late so I wasn’t able to secure a seat inside the NISMED Auditorium. I had to stay outside and watch the lecture through the screen prepared for that occasion.

Entitled UP: View from Inside "Beyond the Classroom: Rebuilding a Damaged Nation", Dr. Nemenzo’s lecture tried to discuss the ways students, and the youth in general, can help repair the damaged Philippine society.

It isn’t just the academics that is important, according to the Professor Emeritus teaching Political Science in UP Diliman. The youth should engage in public debate, and examine assumptions, as what the students during the height of activism in the 1960s did. Especially with the issues of mismanagement and corruption thrown against the current administration, the student body should be vigilant. The next generation of the Philippines’ leaders should stop being silent observers. His lecture, which went along the lines of “collective action is the only way to get results” is reminiscent of Jose Ma. Sison’s “it is only through militant struggle can the best in the youth arise”.

Student activism in the country’s premier university, he said, has deteriorated and continues to deteriorate both in numbers and in quality. He wasn’t able to pinpoint a single cause (as I believe and maybe he too, that there is none) as to why the tradition is slowly fading away, but proposed a solution: It is not nationalism that should be instilled to the minds of the young people, but the sense of responsibility - responsibility to other people and to the country. Especially to the students of UP, whose education is being subsidized by the people.

Students today go to college because they (and their parents) see education as an investment for their future. It is a sad thing, but the government is capitalizing on this fact to serve its own interest. Take for instance the case of the nursing students in the country. The Philippine government itself is the one pushing them to go abroad once they graduate. Nemenzo said that it should be made mandatory that the nursing graduates serve in our hospitals for a number of years first before they be allowed to work in other countries.

Nemenzo said that the media is partly to be blamed for the country’s situation, and the lack of initiative on the side of the people to change it. He said that the media became a tool of the government and the business-minded people, instead of the people. The media (its owners particularly) has turned its back on its responsibility of being the “watchdog” for the people because it is afraid of the possible financial losses it might incur if it will put out too much of the powers that be’s dirty laundry.

The country has its own television station - NBN Channel 4. This station, instead of doing its job that was paid for by the people’s taxes, serves as the propaganda mouthpiece of the current administration for its pailaw and patubig projects.

The Filipinos cannot rely on its military forces as well. The military, which supposedly is neutral and apolitical, has also become a tool for the government. It is being used to silence the critics of the president and her cohorts. Even the other nations have called for the end of the ruthless political killings and enforced disappearances.

But the country is not hopeless, Nemenzo said. The Filipinos need not resort to bloody revolutions as well. He said that there are creative ways, and all the people need is to be always vigilant.

2.15 FAIRenheit: Burning Passion to SERVE THE PEOPLE

To celebrate my birthday, which was the day before, I treated my two closest friends to dinner and to the Friday night UP Fair. Usually sponsored by the University Student Council, the Friday night fairs are almost always jam-packed, with the next day being a no-class Saturday and all, and are almost always attended by the coolest bands in the country. I was a bit disappointed that the line-up for the bands was meant to make only the JJIBs (jumping jologs in black) jump for joy.

The bands who played that night according to the ticket (I got to stay only halfway through the concert because one of my friends decided her boyfriend is a better companion for the night, while the other has a Cinderella curfew and lives in Valenzuela) were: Queso, Chicosci, Itchyworms, Sinosikat, Datu's Tribe, and other lesser known bands. I had a bad experience with the hormonal, Emo-Punk worshipping teenagers during last year’s fair so I was lucky to have left the area before Chicosci played. Hale (which was not included in the original line up of bands) noticeably attracted the female population that night, including my very bored and jerky (probably because of the curfew) girl friend.

All in all I would call it a waste of money, except for the performances by Alay Sining and the band that played the song “Rage Against the Dying of the Light”. Serve the People!

Komedya 2008

On the day after the Valentines Day (and my birthday), I took a break from the suffocating pressure of having to finish my thesis so that I can graduate this semester. It was lucky that the Komedya 2008 was still on. The Manila City Band was playing that night. They serenaded the audience with original Filipino music such as the captivating Kayganda ng Ating Musika, popular Ilocano song Pamulinawen (Ilocano song), and the heart warming Anak.

I actually thought that watching a band (as in the band we usually see in fiestas, composed of more than 30 people playing wind and percussion instruments) would be boring. I was surprised that I enjoyed it very much (my thesis partner did not though, but well, she isn’t a music enthusiast and wasn’t even able to appreciate Maroon 5 until I practically played each and every one of the alt rock band’s songs). It was also very well attended, and according to the man I talked to who was able to see the Komedya before, the past Fridays were jam-packed as well. Perhaps the admission being free helped a lot.

UP Centennial Lecture Series: Dr. Baldomero Olivera

The first centennial celebration-related activity I've attended after the kick-off was Dr. Baldomero Olivera's lecture and conferment. It was the second of the Centennial Lecture Series that will be feature different personalities in the academe all year round.

The 2007 Harvard Foundation Scientist of the Year’s lecture was one I couldn’t let pass. His achievements were so inspiring: a summa cum laude graduate of BS Chemistry in UP Diliman, he earned his PhD in Biochemistry from the California Institute of Technology and post-doctorate in the same area in Stanford University.

Dr. Olivera’s is a distinguished professor of Biology and a Neuroscientist at the University of Utah. He is known for his contributions in Biology, most notably for his discovery of a family of biomolecules called conotoxins (he named some of the conotoxins/peptides after Filipino terms like con-antukin and con-tulakin.

In his lecture, he focused on his and his groups’ latest studies on drug candidates, including a cone snail toxin whose synthetic from is currently being used as an alternative to morphine (the drug’s name is Prialt). He also shared his experiences when he was starting his research on snails which were native in the Philippines. He confessed that even though he had succeeded in his research, it was a sad thing that he was able to do it in another country and not in his own. Dr. Olivera wished that someday, the Philippines would be able to help its researchers and fund the researchers which he believes would remove the country away from the poverty it is currently in.

The inspiring scientist left a lesson for his audience in his lecture: keep your eyes open because you may find something more interesting than what you’re originally looking for.

UP Centennial Celebration Kick Off

What more can I say? It’s a kick-off, and kick-offs should be interesting. I’ll let the pictures (which I borrowed from the kind people who posted in multiply because my camera phone refused to cooperate that day and night) speak for the events that happened on January 9, 2008. I can’t help but say this though: UP, Ang Galing Mo!

pic from: http://lovefull.multiply.com/photos/album/39/
UP_Centennial_kick-off_party_#3

Serving UP

It was nice that this school year the CWTS-Geography class under the supervision of Prof. Marino Deocariza had UP as its community to serve. It is only fitting, since this year our beloved learning institution will be turning 100!

For years UP has been delivering its end of the deal – i.e., filling up the pool of the next generation of leaders for the Philippines - and now we must give back.

The prospect of creating a film tribute, an exhibit, or a website for the UP community sounded attractive when our professor first mentioned it the first semester of this year. This semester, with the bonding between old groupmates already formed, it was fun to be actually working on them.

Because of my busy schedule (primarily because of my thesis which is an investigative report on a government transaction) I wasn’t really able to give the task assigned to my group – the publicity team – my 100% attention. It was a pity really, since based on what I’ve heard, the rest of the group had become close.

I was able to join several of the group’s meetings (especially the online ones) but after the centennial shirt booth, Jaristi and the gang weren’t able to track me.

I missed three plenary meetings and wasn’t able to attend the launching of the three class project. I wasn’t informed despite my incessant request for my groupmates to keep me updated, but I don’t blame them. I wasn’t their responsibility. For reasons I can’t understand, my membership in nicenet was revoked, thus my not receiving any announcements for the class.

I don’t know if I will pass this class, but I hope Prof. Deocariza will consider the efforts I put (which I know was not enough) despite the many interviews I had to conduct and tons of documents I had to review.

Presentation of Shirts to the CSSP Week Planning Committee

Jaristi, our group leader asked me to represent the class to the CSSP Week Planning Committee. My task was to ask the professors present in the committee hearing for help with the selling of the centennial shirts. But lack of sleep and coffee or something must have gotten in the way of usually logical thinking, I got things mixed up. In the end I made the committee members think that the projects being done by the CWTS teams are for the CSSP Week celebration. I realized this when I talked to Patriz that night through YM and she told me that I made the committee confused. She said that Prof. Deocariza had to explain to the committee that what we are doing in class doesn’t have anything to do with the CSSP celebration. It was funny now, but I think our dear professor deserved an apology. Sorry Sir!