Tag Archives: UP Board of Regents

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…)

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…)