Respect: A reflection on the UAAP

The following is a blog entry written by long-time Shale contentact and friend Carmel Puertollano. Now, I haven’t really followed the recent UAAP men’s basketball games, which led to the Ateneo Blue Eagles sweeping the De La Salle Green Archers and claiming the championship, but obviously things have been (usually) tight post-celebration. In light of the hullabaloo regarding what happened at the Ateneo bonfire – a fact that already earned an official, if not quiet, apology from school bigwigs – she finally writes her thoughts as a DLSU student. But this isn’t one-sided – at least that’s what I think. The entry’s been edited for style requirements, but everything else remains the same.

Three years.

It only took me that long to enjoy the privilege of being bona fide student of De La Salle University Manila. During the orientation or LPEP, as Lasallians commonly know it, basic Lasallian values and principles were taught. We were also taught how to cheer (and not to jeer).

Common sense

Finally, some common sense.

After negotiations with United Nations chief Ban Ki-moon, the military government of Burma, headed by Than Shwe, recently decided to finally allow aid workers in, regardless of nationality, after years of nonsense reasoning brought about to avoid any form of foreign influence which could threat the junta’s rule which took place way back in 1962.

On the second and third days of May this year, roughly a week before the junta was set to hold a constitutional referendum criticized as a move to strengthen its grip on power, the rather isolated and secretive country of Burma was torn apart by the cyclone called Nargis. To date, the tragedy left nearly 134,000 people either dead or missing. Many more were left homeless and sick. To make things worse, the Irrawaddy Delta, recognized as “Burma’s rice bowl,” was destroyed by a vast surge of water estimated to be about 3.5 meters high. Along with it were tdeltahe corpses and destroyed homes of its farmers.

What about solidarity?

One of the most powerful images I’ve seen in the past few days came from the aftermath of the strong earthquake that hit China last week. It didn’t lie in the rubble where almost 40,000 lie dead as of last estimates. It didn’t lie in the rescue efforts. It was in the tribute.

China started three days of mourning for the earthquake’s casualties with a literal pause in activities. Government officials stood in front of their offices in silence. Soldiers in salute. Passers-by in the middle of sidewalks. Even cars in the middle of the road, with drivers honking their horns. The emotions may be more intense in area where the quake struck the worst – at this point, successful rescues are getting fewer, and the efforts are moving towards recovery and caring for the survivors. But, for one minute, they were in a standstill; apparently the first time the country did so.

In an instant, my mind fluttered towards our case. We were in a middle of our own problems, although more man-made than most. Rising prices get people blaming each other – everybody, from alleged rice hoarders to the Lopez family which owns Meralco, are getting hot heat. The government’s efforts are getting the same treatment, too; mistrust meets these moves. We’ve been at it for a while – it needs no reminding.

You’ve gotta be kidding me

Everybody, welcome Shale’s first – and hopefully not the last – guest columnist, Travieso. Starting today, and probably once in a month or so, he will be writing his thoughts about everything that’s going on around him, from national issues to ones that are closer to his backyard. And, no, this really is a new columnist, although obviously Travieso is a pseudonym…

Other than the government-subsidized rice access cards currently being distributed to the “poorest of the poor” by the DSWD, the Arroyo administration has come up with another significant poverty reduction program triggered by the shortage in supply and price increase of rice. The Ahon Pamilyang Pinoy (APP) is a five-year program that seeks to aid about 300,000 families living beyond “poor” belonging to the 20 poorest provinces in the country by handing them P500 every month and an additional P300 for every child who goes to class at least 85% of the time with a maximum of three children. The administration has declared its willingness to allot five billion pesos for this program.

Whether or not the administration is doing this to save itself from the havoc hunger can create doesn’t matter – for now, that is. That’s simply because the only thing that matters right now is survival – something which Fr. Anton Pascual of Caritas Manila, with all due respect, of course, seemingly hasn’t realized yet. The latter claimed that the APP was “antipoor, gives the poor no dignity, and only breeds dependency.”