Category Archive for: kalalakihan

komentaryo

Where were the teachers?

My question really is to the teachers of those kids, both bully and bullied: no one noticed the dynamic was different in relation to that bully? No one saw how the other kids would react to being grouped with him for projects, or being told they had to partner with him for anything? No one saw how the other kids would avoid the bully, or would get nervous, or would not look him in the eye? No one saw that kid and thought, hmmmm, he seems to be more yabang than the others, we wonder if that means anything? No teacher, across all the subjects, discussed with the other teachers if they noticed anything in relation to the kid who turned out to be bully?

Halfway through a semester in a college classroom, you tend to already see the dynamic of the collective, you see the students who dominate the activities and discussions, as you see those who decide not to engage, as you see those who try with all their might to participate no matter how scared or insecure they might be. We’re talking seeing kids, twice, three times a week. I cannot imagine teaching in high school, where you see these kids day-in, day-out, and not be able to see the dynamic of power that exists among the students you gather in the classroom. (more…)

komentaryo

#Duterte to address the nation: here’s what to expect

From two years of experience, i.e., actually living in this country, suffering in real time the daily bombardment of anti-people rhetoric, the large-scale violence that is happening on our streets and in the countryside, the heavy burden of inflation and price hikes, the general exhaustion of having to deal with an incompetent unkind leadership, one already has a sense of how Rodrigo Duterte and his people operate. It is in fact a by-the-textbook populist strategy, one that they’ve been using since the campaign, one that they have continued to use with much success — he’s still President after all — the past two years. We’ve thought this government out-of-control, we’ve thought the communications team stupid and idiotic, we’ve called the President bastos and misogynist — but all of that is part of the plan, it is all chaos-by-design.

The announcement that the President will be speaking to the nation today, September 11, is no different. And because we’ve been here all this time, and we’ve heard Duterte doing his slurred, confused speeches too many times the past two years, we can already imagine what it is he’s going to say. Because unsurprisingly, he is redundant, and repetitive, and goes around in circles like a crazy person. And the only way we can continue to be productive and not get caught up in the shock of hearing him saying something offensive (because he will) and oppressive (because he will), is to already prepare ourselves for the worst. And with Duterte, everything IS already at its worst.  (more…)

komentaryo

The revelation of Robin Padilla

It’s easy to dismiss the Duterte decision to revoke the amnesty that Senator Antonio Trillanes was given (along with 299 others) by President Noynoy Aquino in 2010, as just another way for the government to silence a critic. After all, this is consistent with what Duterte has done the past two years: from Senator Leila de Lima to former CJ Lourdes Sereno, from Teddy Casiño, Liza Maza, Ka Paeng Mariano, and Ka Satur Ocampo to Sr. Patricia Fox. This is the way Duterte has moved against his perceived “enemies,” who are so quickly transformed as he and his followers see fit, into “enemies of the state” for being critical of his policies, for questioning the wars he wages, for pushing back against his anti-people policies.

It has been a successful strategy for them so far. A government that operates on shock is able to keep the populace frazzled and distracted and always preoccupied. The smaller shocks are those soundbites (drop a rape joke here) and the moves that flout the law (order the police to kill or illegally detain citizens here) or dismiss questions about government’s accountability (insert economic managers defending TRAIN here). When those are not enough, have your team create a show of idiocy (insert Mocha here), which can easily be dismissed as government enemies just nitpicking on Duterte and his people (insert anti-elite and anti-Dilawan statements here). 

The bigger shocks are of course the systemic ones: a tax reform law that is taxing the poor and middle class to oblivion, a questionable infrastructure program in the billions that buries us deeper into debt while making traffic even more unbearable than it already is, the highest inflation rate in nine years, two wars that have killed thousands and pulverized a city, the militarization of farmers’ and indigenous people’s lands for big business, a food crisis, a lack of transparency and accountability, an economic crisis. (more…)

komentaryo

Portrait of Spocky Farolan as UP Regent (Part 2)

Does this man deserve two blog entries?

Yes, for two reasons. One, he has not stopped. After he went ballistic on that first thread, he actually posted another status, this time saying that he might now be open to the proposal to make the State University a post-grad university, so that he doesn’t have to deal with UPCAT examinees anymore. He hashtagged this thoughtless assertion “Not really a proponent of this but I’m pissed so screw you” and “galit sa mga punyetang ingrato” and “I have been anger free for a while ngayon pumutok so putangina niyo.”

Two, while he *tries* to admit that he lost his temper when he shouldn’t have, he also spends as much time defending his original violent, angry, and absolutely uncalled for responses to the public on his Facebook page, saying that in fact, if you look at his thread, whenever there’s a proper comment, he actually responds properly as well.

That is not only the weakest excuse, it’s also a lie.  (more…)

komentaryo

Portrait of a Duterte appointee as UP Regent (Part 1)

One wanted to give UP Board of Regents member Spocky Farolan the benefit of the doubt, and imagine that whatever was posted by the Philippine Star on Twitter on April 7 about his response to UP entrance exam (UPCAT) takers on his Facebook wall was just taken out of context. But as I read through Farolan’s Facebook comments thread myself, I realized that what was tweeted by Philstar was but the tip of the iceberg.

This government official and Presidential appointee, went ballistic on social media unlike any Duterte appointee so far. This is a man who represents first of all the President of the Philippines in the UP Board of Regents, and here he was using foul language, calling K-12 graduates names, throwing invectives their way, and saying to kids and parents waiting for the UPCAT results that they didn’t have to go to UP anyway — UP doesn’t need them.

It’s easy to dismiss Farolan as just another one of Duterte’s men — after all, we’ve got many Farolans in Congress and the Senate, across the Cabinet and our government agencies. What else is new?

But what is new is that Farolan is speaking for the State University, which (we would like to think) is held to higher standards of professionalism and ethics and public service. This is not the kind of behaviour we stand for in the State U. In fact my UP education taught me to stand against displays of arrogance and entitlement such as that which Farolan displayed for all the world to see on social media.  (more…)