Honors' Society Week

Last week we celebrated the Honours’ Society Week, wherein all the honor students in the campus were invited for a weeklong celebration in the hope to strengthen the zeal of each one in their studies and also to encourage them to help their fellow students and be sources of encouragement for fellow students to studying more.

Through arts, quiz bees and oratorical contests we celebrated the week-long celebration with glee. We also had some fun during the team building. Certificates of honours were given during the recognition day and it ended with a film viewing of “The Giver” on Friday.

What I think is the importance of this celebration is not so much of the honors that we all received but on how we used the talents that we have. I think it is not what we got but on the process how we got them. This is because in the end the world does not care at all in the plaques and medals and the pieces of paper that lay dusty on my showcase divider but on the heart and soul that I have. The character which I built as foundation of my personality is what matters in the end.

Presuming that I have the highest honor in all of the students yet I did it all for the sake of studying all is vain. Even if I have the highest honor yet I did it through cheating nothing is gain. But, if I have done it with love and thought of the other everything is rewarded.

Another important reminder which I have for myself during this celebration came from the movie that we have. In the “The Giver” Jonas – the main character – has the responsibility to learn all the former knowledge which is barred from the rest of their community. Only two of them has the responsibility to keepsake these knowledge and Jonas being the receiver, has his predecessor as the giver. The Giver who is now in his old age has to teach his knowledge to another so that the wisdom is continued and be beneficial to the community. But, only one has this responsibility because the leaders – called the elders – are afraid that if given to everyone, man has the tendency to be selfish and use it for himself.

The setting is that a utopian community which made its individual uniform with each other – in their words sameness. The members were genetically modified and take daily injections in the mask that these medication is for their benefit but actually this is to suppress their emotions and even to take away the sense of colors in their eyes making them only see in greyscale because colors as the Giver said is the source of difference and thus the source envy, hatred, etc.

This reminded me of how we always give priority to the logico-mathematical intelligence that we neglect the geniuses in art, music and even in the athletics. We always consider the intelligent in class in terms of their quiz performances, recitations and exams that we do not realize how hard it is to be people smart. We often refer to those which can solve the most technical problems in mathematics that we do not develop the spatial smart students that we have. We always focus on only one direction that we neglect the future that other intelligence holds in their hands.

Sometimes, we too unconsciously form in our community not unity but instead sameness. Given the list of do’s and don’ts and thus we embark on a journey single piled and robotic. When emergency comes along the way we all fall because all we know is how to make the line straight. But, if we take the journey having differences with only has the center to be united we will surely succeed for we do not only pile up but we are all connected.

So, what I think of every cluster of people to be called a community is for its each individual to find his own identity. It is a connected difference to a common center respecting the boundaries of each one but open to each other. It is not marked by sameness but by its diversity.

There is this cliché that goes like this: “We cannot all be teachers, we need farmers.” For if we are all teachers where will we get the food for the table, milk for the morning and fruits for the evening in such a way that though farming is a noble profession we also need teachers to teach us the basics of arithmetic and rhetoric.

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The Great Dictator and EDSA

The Great Dictator's Speech

I’m sorry, but I don’t want to be an emperor. That’s not my business. I don’t want to rule or conquer anyone. I should like to help everyone - if possible - Jew, Gentile - black man - white. We all want to help one another. Human beings are like that. We want to live by each other’s happiness - not by each other’s misery. We don’t want to hate and despise one another. In this world there is room for everyone. And the good earth is rich and can provide for everyone. The way of life can be free and beautiful, but we have lost the way.

Greed has poisoned men’s souls, has barricaded the world with hate, has goose-stepped us into misery and bloodshed. We have developed speed, but we have shut ourselves in. Machinery that gives abundance has left us in want. Our knowledge has made us cynical. Our cleverness, hard and unkind. We think too much and feel too little. More than machinery we need humanity. More than cleverness we need kindness and gentleness. Without these qualities, life will be violent and all will be lost....

The aeroplane and the radio have brought us closer together. The very nature of these inventions cries out for the goodness in men - cries out for universal brotherhood - for the unity of us all. Even now my voice is reaching millions throughout the world - millions of despairing men, women, and little children - victims of a system that makes men torture and imprison innocent people.

To those who can hear me, I say - do not despair. The misery that is now upon us is but the passing of greed - the bitterness of men who fear the way of human progress. The hate of men will pass, and dictators die, and the power they took from the people will return to the people. And so long as men die, liberty will never perish. .....

Soldiers! don’t give yourselves to brutes - men who despise you - enslave you - who regiment your lives - tell you what to do - what to think and what to feel! Who drill you - diet you - treat you like cattle, use you as cannon fodder. Don’t give yourselves to these unnatural men - machine men with machine minds and machine hearts! You are not machines! You are not cattle! You are men! You have the love of humanity in your hearts! You don’t hate! Only the unloved hate - the unloved and the unnatural! Soldiers! Don’t fight for slavery! Fight for liberty!

In the 17th Chapter of St Luke it is written: “the Kingdom of God is within man” - not one man nor a group of men, but in all men! In you! You, the people have the power - the power to create machines. The power to create happiness! You, the people, have the power to make this life free and beautiful, to make this life a wonderful adventure.

Then - in the name of democracy - let us use that power - let us all unite. Let us fight for a new world - a decent world that will give men a chance to work - that will give youth a future and old age a security. By the promise of these things, brutes have risen to power. But they lie! They do not fulfill that promise. They never will!

Dictators free themselves but they enslave the people! Now let us fight to fulfill that promise! Let us fight to free the world - to do away with national barriers - to do away with greed, with hate and intolerance. Let us fight for a world of reason, a world where science and progress will lead to all men’s happiness. Soldiers! in the name of democracy, let us all unite!

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Into the Pinhole

 

Every time I go to a place for vacation I always have my camera. I make sure that everything is fine before I go. I make sure that the battery is well. I make sure that the camera itself is well. Aside from the camera, I have the plane ticket and the money. As long as I have these three, I know I am well.

I am always into history when it comes to travel. Before I embark on my chosen destination, I always make sure that I know the historical facts and places of that place. Since I really don’t travel with much budget, I travel light and I walk grand. I choose walking to minimize my expenses. I also prefer restaurants and carinderias, this is because I do not like to move with fancy inside a first class ones and also the expenses.

Aside from historical places or should I say museums, my side-trip destinations are shrines. I also need to refresh myself with a visit to a spiritual place. But, this does not limit to a Christian place, since I am a Christian. This visit could also go to a Taoist, Buddhist or a Hindu temple. I have always been fascinated by these three religions by their fancy rites along with their architecture. Also, I find their philosophies intriguing. Theirs is very simple yet profound. 

I am an environmentalist by heart! I find it a need for us to conserve this mother of ours. So, I also visit places which advocate environmental awareness. I am interested in the endemic species of floras and faunas that thrive in our country. If not endemic, I prefer those native species. 

It seems a lot for a traveller, but it’s not that much if you really know how to talk human language. I find jeep and cabs easier than taxis. All I need to know is how to ask. Besides, when in a jeep you also have the chance to meet other people who can point you to other side-trips. For a man who is interested in history, you will also for sure be interested in culture and you would not find it entirely in books while reading inside a taxi. Why not expose yourself to it face to face?

So, to sum up I am interested in Culture – the collective totality of that which is in a certain place. But, lately I realized this lack in me. Those feelings of after all the years of travelling I still lack something. One feeling is that I need to go back to a certain place which I have already been to and relive certain moments.

At these moments, I scheme my archives. I look into the things which I collected from my travels – the maps that I marked, the postcards which I pasted on an album, the keychain which bears the name and even the tee shirts which bears “I’ve been there.” When I have the chance, I also open my Facebook account to look into the photos captured by my cam.

At one time, I was inside the “Dambana ni Rizal.” A museum inside Fort Santiago in Intramuros dedicated to the Philippine National Hero, Dr. Jose Rizal. The said place was the latter’s actual prison chamber where he was detained, trialled, and sentenced of death. I was peeking into the hole of my camera, just for the effects as if I am a professional photographer. I was taking a picture of the oil lamp Rizal gave to his sister where his last work, Mi Ultimo Adios, was hidden from the Spaniards. I felt a feeling of space. I felt as if was still very far from Rizal. Of course I am not talking about the years for it really is but I am talking about the ties between us. His presence being in the museum and the things he left and me inside it.

It seems hard to picture it that way. Put it this way, this feeling I also felt during the Papal Encounter with the Youth. We took a very long distance. We waited a very long time. We sacrificed a lot just to see the Pope. Yes, I saw the Pope for three seconds. The longest three seconds of my life. I saw the Pope, but not yet Cardinal Tagle.

The point is that, the Pope was riding in his pope-mobile and the cardinal was just in his back sitting and I did not take the chance to look at him. The reason behind you may ask. I was busier taking a video in my camera. Have I not peeked into Pope Francis, all my sacrifice been wasted. I will lose the experience.

As John Eldredge put it:

Something awful has happened; something terrible. Something worse, even the fall of man. For in that greatest of all tragedies, we merely lost paradise – and with it, everything that made life worth living. What has happened since is unthinkable: we’ve gotten used to it. We’re broken in to the idea that this is just the way things are. The people who walk in great darkness have adjusted their eyes...We dismiss the whispers of joy with a cynical “Been there, done that, bought the T-shirt.” (The Journey of Desire) 

Sometimes, we try to make a definite and determinate capture of the experience that we fail to experience the vastness of experience in the indefinite face to face encounter. We merely woke up, study, work then die.

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The Family Threat

The Church today is facing a very serious problem. There wages from different corners of society serious injury to the most basic building block of community life – family.

The church has always held this post for a Christian, to have a family, to be very hard. The apostles would even suggest that it is better for a Christian to instead stay single rather than to find for himself or herself a husband or a wife. The apostles even released letters to different Christian communities founded around Jerusalem to guide those who have chosen the life of marriage so as for them to lead their life more orderly. The best example for this is the letter of Paul to Corinth where he made his statement about staying single and some remarks on how a widow, a married man and a married woman would behave.

I think that the difficulty arises from the different roles and obligations somebody has to perform when he is in that state. Apart from his self needs, a married man or woman has also the obligation to perform obligations which should make his partner happy. Which means, then that the obligations for these people are multiplied.

Aside from the wife or the husband to serve as part of the obligation and role in marriage, they also have the further obligation for their kids. In the family come values instilled in the still innocent minds of the young. In the family comes the character that the individual may possess in his whole life. It is where the very basic tenets of life come. Some would say it is our first school with our parents as our first teacher. That would precisely be it.

What I am tomorrow is because of what I am learning today in my family. My character, my values, my path is because of the kind of family I belong to. It is from my family that I took the discipline which will become my arm against the world. 

But, there is one thing which binds why we learn it all. One powerful thing we can only get authentically in our family. It is as if all the things we have because of the family branches because of this thing which binds a family – Love. 

Some would say that what we say of love is because of the love that we experience. It is not learnt, it is felt and it is best felt in the warmth of the family. We can never know what love is if we will never know it from our family.

Sadly today, this experience of love is making its end. Not because that there is no more love but because of the attacks that is being made to that which is the source of our experience of love. 

We come to know now attacks from many parts of the society. Lately, grudges in the family are not anymore settled. Instead, they end not the grudges but the end the family. It is becoming more and more easier to tell a husband or a wife to end a relationship. It is becoming more and more easier to decide for a husband or a wife to split without thinking of the children that they have and the government would even support it.

The government whose ideals are to uphold the family for being the nucleus of the society is becoming more and more ready to split a family.

I think that the problem with husbands and wives today as to why they are becoming more and more ready to split is because they have lost that sense of astonishment. They have succumb more and more to intellectualize everything and forgotten that original feeling of mystery. They have forgotten to live out that sense of wonder in the things that is happening because of the workings of a mystery – Love.

In this age of unlimited, we have thought that everything could only be an option. After failing at one thing, we will run and chose the other thing. We will prefer choosing again, hoping that we may mask the past with the future when in fact we are just wasting our time and fooling ourselves.

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Andres Bonifacio Shrine

I have always been into history when travelling. I wish to visit the places which I only encountered in books and the internet. I am not always into convenient travelling like taxi, bus or tourist shuttles. But, I am more into care-free roaming spree.

On my first time alone in Manila, I find it easier to roam via MRT and LRT. You can just buy a 'stored value' card for each railway transport and voila! You can step-by every station for fun walking experience.

I passed-by this very iconic symbol of heroism. This is the monument dedicated to the national hero Andres Bonifacio. He was the founder and leader of the KKK, the revolutionary group which won the Philippines its independence from Spain.

During the course of winning independence from Spain in 1896, different kinds of flags evolve and was used to unify the outcry of the people. These flags are now reproduced and are flying side by side each other beside this monument.

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Never Again!

We always talk about the People Power. There are succeeding subjects for students from grades 1-6 and year 1-4. All talking about the scores of Filipinos marching towards the Palace. Armed with nothing but rosaries and statues of Jesus, Mary and the Saints. Giving flowers and praying in front of hundreds of war tanks and armed men. Men in soutanne. Young men also. Women in their habito but especially thousands more of young and old in simple clothes. All to subvert a powerful ruler. All subversive through silence and prayer.

One friend of mine told me about the holiday set on the 25th of February. I asked her what would be the occasion to commemorate? She said its the anniversary of EDSA revolution! I was: OH! It was such a realization. I have always thought that I am one of those lads whose ideals fit for a nationalist one. I have always memorized and known by heart some history's bits and facts that I thought it is enough.

We always heard big names when the anniversary comes. We always hear 'never again' slogans. But have we heard of these simple people? Whose names might be forgotten but what they fought for made big people.

The greatest tragedy for these unsung heroes is that the 'Never Again' will become: we will, we would, we can, we could 'never again' hear their names.

Let us again review our past and say 'NEVER AGAIN' will we forget your names. It is not their loss but especially ours for time may come that without their memories to inspire us will we 'NEVER AGAIN' see names like theirs to fight with us.

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Intramuros: The Walled City

After 4 days of stay in Manila for the 2015 Papal Visit I made my way to the center of historic Philippines - Intramuros. This walled city became the center of the archipelago for 333 years of Spanish colonization. It became the headquarters for the Government and Church authorities.

This 64-hectare stone citadel was founded by the Spaniards in 1571 and from then has withstood wars, natural disasters and successive colonial invaders.

Intramuros is also visited for the detention cell of the National Hero of the Philippines. It was here that Dr. Jose Rizal was detained, accused and was sentenced to death. Literally, it was in Intramuros where the hero spent his last days.

Inside the renovated cell of Dr. Rizal is displayed a collection which commemorates the life and works of this great son of the Malayan race. One can see inside different apparatuses he used as a doctor, different tools he used as an artists, different specimen he used to send to scientific colleagues abroad and the book which brought him to his fate.

Dr. Rizal after detained and sentenced to death inside this walled city was shot in the nearby Bagumbayan which is now Luneta or Rizal Park.

This walled city lies along the banks of the Pasig River for the purpose of good military location and even transpotation.

It hosts for the office of the Catholic Bishop's Conference of the Philippines. The conference where every Roman Catholic Bishop is a member and who manages correspondence between Rome and individual dioceses in the Philippines.

Inside the walled city also is located the mother church of all churches in the Philippines known as the Metropolitan Cathedral of Manila or the Minor Basilica of the Immaculate Conception. This mother-church holds the seat of the Archbishop of Manila.

Scores of Museum offering local and foreign visitors line in the streets of this historic city. An example of this is the San Agustin Church Museum which holds the relics and artifacts of this historical Church of the Augustinian Order. This is the only church which has withstand the disaster brought about by the Japanese Soldiers during the second World War.

Casa Manila is another example of the many museum inside Intramuros. Its setting is that of a typical house setting during the Spanish era and showcases furniture and other embellishments.

One of the iconic symbol for historic Manila is the typical transport during that time. The status symbol used by the Illustrados or the educated and enlightened branch of Filipinos which is the Calesa.

For a rate, these Calesa drivers will take you for an hour ride around the walled city and explaining you bits of facts about history.

Most of the original buildings inside the walled city were destroyed during the Japanese invasion and brought about destruction inside this historic walls. But today, some were already renovated and put to its original make-up while others were totally changed.

Walk by Intramuros and know the Philippines of long ago.

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Papal Hangover

 Last January 15, 2015 the leader of the worldwide 1.2 billion Catholics arrived in the Philippines via Villamore Airbase. He has the mission of bringing the message of Christ of Mercy and Compassion to the 80 million Filipino Catholics. Arriving in the said airbase he was greeted by scores of Filipinos including church officials and that of the government. He was greeted with smiles by both the Filipino youth and seniors alike. Also, he was greeted by his constituents in church matters and was greeted by the President as leader of a state - the Vatican.

Cabinet members of the Philippine government pile up to kiss the ‘Ring of the Fisherman’ which is the sign of the pope’s leadership to the flock of Christ. “You are Peter, the Rock, and upon this rock I will build my Church.” Matt. 16:18 says Jesus to Peter, making him the leader of the Church. Their kisses reminded me with the kiss that brought death, death on the cross. After the tragedies happening in the Philippines they seem to wait for the pope before they would do some charity and find a place in the limelight of that Church affair and be dubbed as one of the Good Samaritan. They are like the Pharisees in Jesus’ time who follow and follow the Lord not to learn from his wisdom but finding holes to discredit him. They are kissing and kissing the ring of Peter and yet they forgot the message of Jesus carried by this man: “Tend my Sheep.” John 21:15

I left General Santos City in January 16, 2015 for the Papal Visit. At 7:45 I arrived at Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 3. I rode a shuttle bus going to Taft Avenue for an MRT ride going to our host parish. This will give us lodging for our next 5 day sojourn in the country’s capital. The parish convent is a modern design building. It has a common air-conditioning system not including the rooms for every room has its own air-conditioning. Life in that parish is very smooth. With parishioners coming from the upper social strata, no jeepney ride comes in front of that Church. Only taxi is the available public transport in that area. With such commodities present in a convent who can ask for transfer? After we arrived in the parish we took dinner offered by the parish priest.

After making it to the parish convent we made our way to the host family who will be giving us also an accommodation. My companions were first to arrive in Manila in the 15th so they told me about the ‘wonder’ inside the house of our host family. We reached the house inside a private village. We were asked what business do we have inside the village and we said the name of our host which they eventually called. After calling we were asked to log in our names in a log book in the guard house and we proceeded. Upon reaching I was amazed by the truth they were telling me. It has three floors and an elevator. 48-inch television is catering our recreational needs and it has an ‘azotea’ overlooking Quezon City. It took me some time to process the feeling I have with the house of our host family. Thinking that we have an unfinished house in a remote barangay in Mindanao the feeling inside this three-storey house is amazing!

For three days in Manila I was in the midst of the upper social strata of Manila. Living and doing everyday things in the way how a Quezon City rich club member would do. I do shower under hot and cold and spent time inside a spacious C.R. Touring and touring Manila with nothing in mind but enjoying life. We also joined a Saturday mass in the parish chapel. We were in the midst of the rich and when the offering part came bills not smaller than Php 100 came out from the pockets.

From my experience inside that village of the Rich I saw the real other face of men. I realized that we should stop stereotyping the rich and realize that they too keep their pace in their spirituality.

The other side of the face of man that I saw is that of the more common – the Poor. I saw that the face of the poor of Manila is different from the poor I was used to. Atleast in Mindanao the poor can be seen but the poor in manila is ignored more. I saw a man pleading just for rice and he was sitting in front a fast-food chain. Nobody who heard him ever listened to him. It broke my heart for during at the papal mass in Luneta there is about 7 million who participated, cried and said: “Oh! I was really transformed!” I doubt if they ever listened to the pope of his pleadings of mercy and compassion and ready to turn the word upside down or were they only there hoping to take for themselves a Papal Selfie.

I stopped at him and later on realized what I asked to the man: “What happened to you!” in Tagalog. I normally don’t do that to strangers but in that moment my feeling was so different that I need to explode. As I look into my wallet for what to give to the man I saw him crossing himself with the sign of the cross. Thanks God he has not lose his hope – in Jesus.

He told me after I asked that exploding words that he was finding a job. But, why? He is lame! How can one man could be so hardworking and not be given the opportunity? How heartbreaking it is to hear from the news the millions and millions or even billions of pesos being lost in the hands of those who promise hope, justice, equality, progress and many other things which could make the lives of these simple people better. Last election we hoped of the best from the son himself of the couple who fought in the front for the people against the regime of martial law and we again were disappointed. He is always there talking and talking about the corruption of the past government that he mask his own puppets in their money laundering spree.

This is the problem with kind words. Rhetorical words put great people to death. Nice and appealing words which took the hearts and souls of those who listens away from God. The Socrates of Athens and the Jesus of Nazareth were speaking of truth and yet put to death for it. The Rizal of Dapitan was shot because of the truth he spoke. The Gandhi of India was assassinated due to the truth he fought. All for the words that pierces more surely than the two edged sword. Martin Luther King Jr., Malala Yousafsai, Ninoy Aquino, Aung San Suu Kyi and scores of others who suffered from the rhetoric of selfishness.

Rhetorical words disillusion us from the truth. As we listen and continue to hope, there come those who take advantage. Most often they are those who has promised. An old anecdote goes that: what differentiates us from those who are in the prison cells is that they were caught and we are not.

At UST I met thousands of others who is ready to meet with the Pope. They were mostly from top institutions of learning such as Ateneo, UST, FEU, etc. In essence we are all the hope of the fatherland for in our hands lies the future. We are the future. This was actually a very old saying said by a man born almost 150 years ago and was also killed because of his fight for truth – Dr. Jose Rizal. Yet, after the years spent where are we?

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