The Varsitarian

SO NEAR, and yet so far.

As the days before “E-day” slowly run out, so do the chances of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to prove to the public that the first automated elections will be a success.

Months before the elections, the public continues to be bombarded with bad news hinting of problems of the automated “ballot box”— fluctuating signals, ballots becoming invalid, the presence of signal jammers near the precincts (which will allegedly affect the transmission of election returns), not to mention the problem of overcrowding, with as much as 1,000 people expected in a precinct. All this and more would probably make voting an arduous task.  read more »

THE FATE of the most dreaded man in the country today lies in the hands of a Thomasian.

Former Datu Unsay Mayor Andal Ampatuan, Jr., who was alleged to have masterminded the murder of 57 people, including 31 journalists, in Maguindanao last November 23 is facing multiple murder charges before the Quezon City Regional Trial Court (RTC) with Thomasian Judge Jocelyn Solis-Reyes holding the gavel.

The same is true to the whole Ampatuan clan and around 200 others who are undergoing investigation at the Department of Justice over a panel of prosecutors led by State prosecutor Roseanne Balauag. read more »

A STUDY by former Arts and Letters dean Armando de Jesus shows the Catholic Church losing her hold on the young. With one out of three Thomasians surveyed saying that “there is nothing wrong with using birth control pills” and that “euthanasia is justifiable if the person has a disease that cannot be cured,” the Church has become much like a cassette tape on repeat mode, playing the “pro-life” manta over and over, but getting no hearing— not even in the so-called “Pontifical” University of Santo Tomas, “the Catholic University of the Philippines.” read more »

THE VISIT of United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to the Philippines was made doubly memorable by the interview forum she gamely took part in and which was hosted by the University of Santo Tomas. “The Manila Forum,” which was produced by the cable news channel ANC and held at the UST Medicine Auditorium, was participated in by college students from all over the University Belt as well as other students across the land via teleconferencing. It afforded Filipino students a chance to see Mrs. Clinton up close and appreciate the intricacies--and evasions--of American diplomacy.

Although Mrs. Clinton’s visit had all the making of a media hype, and perhaps the ANC journalists who led the interview were a tad too slavish in their questions, the forum provided substance to the trip and it was well and good that it was held in an academic setting with no less than the Pontifical University providing that intelligent and historic setting. read more »

THE EFFECTS of tropical storm “Ondoy” in Luzon one month ago were what Manila and its neighbor cities could consider traumatic. Yet despite the deaths and damaged lives, the incident should serve more as a wake-up call than a reason to lose hope.

The worst flooding in 40 years brought back to our time a study by Felino Palafox in July 1977. The study, which was funded by the World Bank and was finalized by Hong Kong-based consulting firm Freeman Fox and Associates, laid out measures and suggestions on how the government should strictly enforce zoning to avoid tragic incidents like that which happened last September 26.

The study zeroed in on low-lying areas such as Marikina, one of the hardest hit during the recent storm, saying that the place was “unsuitable for urban development.” read more »

First, the deluge. The wet wrath of Ondoy has exposed once again the Philippines’ lack of disaster preparedness. All right, Ondoy was unusual: it unleashed a historically unusual amount of rainfall – the worst flooding in the Philippines in 40 years. And yes, the tremendous rainfall was just a symptom of the aberration of global weather patterns as a result of climate change. But it is quite galling that for all of the Philippines’ history of disasters, for all of its status as the most storm-beaten country in the world, our disaster preparedness remains a hopeless mess. It’s a disaster. It appears that our civil defense and the rest of the Philippine state have only one perennial response to disasters, potential and real: let the populace sit as ducks, wet and wasted. read more »

THOSE who want to vote next year have only a month to register with the Commission on Elections (Comelec). The first automated national and local elections are a history in the making, considering the dirty record of Philippine electoral system, which has always been characterized by violence and fraud.

But there is another thing that can make the polls next year an event to remember: participation of the youth. Comelec Chairman Jose Melo has called on the young people to be involved by practicing their right on suffrage and by contributing to voter education. Figures are not readily available to tell how much of the youth’s population have voted in the previous elections, but judging from the campaign the Comelec and other non-government organizations— and even the media— have been undertaking to capture the youth’s interest, there seems to be a long way to go. read more »

PAANO nga ba natin sila pananatilihing buhay?

Ito ang mga salitang binitiwan ng isang dyaryo sa kaniyang mambabasa, ilang araw pagkatapos mamatay ni Corazon “Cory” Aquino. Sa kaibuturan ng tanong na ito, makikita ang mukha ni Cory at ng asawa na si Ninoy Aquino, ang tinutukoy ng tanong.  

Kilala sa atin ang mag-asawang Aquino bilang tagapagtanggol ng kalayaan at simbolo na rin ng demokrasya sa bansa. Naging catalyst ang brutal na pagpaslang kay Senator Ninoy Aquino habang pababa siya sa tarmac upang magising ang mga Filipinong nagbubulag-bulagan sa talamak na karahasan at kahayupan sa kanilang paligid, dala ng “martial law.” Subalit hindi ito sapat upang maudyok sila na lumaban at kumilos; kinailangan pa ang presensya ng asawa ni Ninoy na si Cory, isang naghihinagpis na biyuda galing sa Tarlac (suot-suot ang kaniyang bistudang dilaw at “Laban” sign), upang bawiin ang kanilang kalayaan mula sa kamay ng isang diktador sa pamamagitan ng malawakang “People Power Revolution.” read more »

A MAD person cannot think straight. Well, so does an angry one.

If what presidential spokespersons were saying is true, President Macapagal-Arroyo should calm herself down and think first before making any move.

Of course, people cannot blame the President for reacting vehemently on an “unverified” report of how members of an anonymous drug syndicate allegedly kidnapped and raped a daughter of an anti-narcotics agent. Nevertheless, impulsive reactions, as evinced from her own people in the executive and her allies in the legislature, may sometimes lead to hasty decisions and actions that may reflect on the mercurial -- and ultimately shallow -- way of Filipino governance and policy planning. read more »

BRIGHT and captivating—these are the words that best describe the color yellow. But for former President Corazon “Cory” Aquino, yellow holds a deeper meaning—it symbolizes peace, democracy, and liberty. And hope.

Cory became the last flicker of hope for the Filipino people after her husband Ninoy was killed by agents of the Marcos dictatorship. What followed was a peaceful revolution leading to the historic installation of the first woman president of the Republic of the Philippines, following the overthrow of the iron-fisted Marcos regime in 1986.

Cory’s presidency was hailed as the golden age of Philippine democracy, when all civil liberties were returned, and when the voice of the people was again heard through a plebiscite that put the 1987 Constitution in effect up to this day. read more »