THE BIAS YEAR END REVIEW

The 2007 My Life Year End Report. Watching almost all local news channels airing yearend stories from politics to showbiz and the CNN’s awesome condensed report of stories that made headlines around the world made me rethink of the year that has gone by. What did an individual such as I faired in the year of the Pig? Note: The only thing I remember and hope to remember is the positive events.

Jan – Feb. The New Year 2007 as I can recall ushered in my interest for the sci-fi. I was practically obsessed with the idea of the star wars, empires, republics, jedi, sith, and the force. I also started to record my daily dealings and thoughts in a small blue notebook. I also started to discern the possibility of being a Jesuit which raised the eyebrows of my classmates. It was also in February when I joined the Alyansa Atenista and ran for a public position as 2^nd year Chairman uncontested. I joined the corps of Volunteers of the KKP and was appointed to be Buklod Ambassador of Xavier University by the CSG. In sum, these months called me to be a mover of school affairs again.

March – April. The blue notebook evolved into a big hardbound red record book that would become my first ever personal history book. The summer was both academic and political. I entered summer classes with 2 accounting subjects and one minor. I need it be regular in units for the coming school year. I practically aced my grades (Hangin ba oi!). This is also the summer were I actively participated in the political process. I joined the campaign trail of my uncle Pio for his bid for City Councilor for the 2^nd district. I volunteered in KKP’s candidates’ forum, a huge event were candidates interact with the voters and the very fulfilling NAMFREL quick count in the Xavier Gym! It was one great series of experiences that exposed me to the political realities of our city.

May – June. The Buklod Leaders’ Summit in XU and my decision to shift was the major highlight of these months. The Buklod gathered student leaders of all ateneos to discuss issues, share ideas and synchronize stances and mobilization efforts. It was a great experience that reshaped my notion of “collaborative efforts” and “idea synergy”. This was also the time were I decided to shift to BS Accountancy, the allegedly dubbed as one of the most difficult courses in the University. I decided to shift after i made a deal to myself. If I get straight A’s in my accounting 1, 2, and 3 then I will shift. Miraculously I got A’s and A-‘s and its good enough for me. I just want to grab the opportunity of being an accountancy major. But I still didn’t figure out why I really shifted. I was left hanging that made me dig my past to look for a link between my strengths or interests, and my course.

July – August. The first months of the school year was filled with so many activities which I can no longer recall. The only thing I remember was my discovery of the “link” which finally told me that my decision of shifting was correct. When I was in grade school, I was really interested in the stock market to the point that I recorded the daily movement of the Philippine Composite Index and made reports about it. How weird! It is between economics or accounting, both answering the need to maximize wealth. But with an atenean trademark, I hope to maximize wealth and fight for its equitable distribution. I would like to do development works in microfinance and cooperatives. Finally, with a solid vision of what I ought to do with my course, I can now peacefully study and somehow enjoy the thick books. It was also the first and last time in my life that I joined a series of “beauty contest” the Mr. and Mrs. JPIA thing. I tell you! This experience was quite deviant to my identity. I ended up in the regional level winning the school and city levels. Substance over form was the concept of focus. I may not be that good looking. Ehehem! But I surely deliver my point clearly and deeply when asked. I think that made me win.

Sept – Oct. My first trip outside the country happened in this month! We went to Hong Kong with my family and relatives. The experience was so awesome i can’t find the exact words to describe it. You just have to go there to find out. It made me compare the world in the Philippines and in China. It was right there and then that I saw the world a degree bigger.

Nov. – Dec. The last two months was quite interesting. I’m now in the 2^nd semester of the school year. Scholastic wise, I still am a dean’s lister and luckily got the top spot in the best speaker of the Xavier Cup, a debate competition. I also enjoy joining the open house every Tuesday in Haggarty House. At home, I filled my book shelves with new themes other than sci-fi. I fell in love with Philosophy, history (as always) and political science and these are the kinds of books I am reading and extracting new thoughts from.

SOME OF THESE ARE ONLY SUPERFICIAL. WHAT TRULY DEFINES A YEAR IS THE NOT THE EVENT BUT THE PEOPLE WHOM I SHARED THE MOMENTS WITH AND THE LESSONS I GOT FROM THESE EVENTS. TO ALL MY FRIENDS, FOE, FAMILY AND MENTORS, THANK YOU AND HAPPY NEW YEAR! GOD BLESS

The Cogon market is a goldmine!

Too many gold nuggets perhaps that it was thrown all around. One even struck my head. It bled.

It shows how ignorant i am towards the real world. Cogon market is just one of the many centers of trade that somehow encapsulates all positive and negative realities of our political, economic and cultural traits. The hot humid air, the ghastly smell of fish, vegetables, food, and mixed with the garbage and sweat of people are not that tolerable in my "pampered" upbringing. It alarmed me to know that i have no clue in their predicament. Years of social awareness seminars can never fully be grasped if I can't live in these realities. This made me think. The venues the school have provided about immersions are quite adequate, quality - excellent. The problem is my decision on what to experience. In my council life, it mostly deals with a structures, orders, and deadlines which i find superficial. It is still service nonetheless but not quite the thing that hones the real social consciousness we need to have in order to genuinely serve them. First, i consider it logical and a need to go out to the real world, experience it first hand (living with them, working with them in a significant duration) before commiting to any cause, to any ideology, to any institution. Cogon market showed me this utmost need to live with the poor before you do any action, before you eye any position of influence, before shouting the need for change. Experience first before reflecting and doing the eventual action. Action derived from a real world experiences with the poor coupled with reflection on why the status quo is at it is is more effective, challenging, real, and life changing. The alarming situation now is that promising leaders immerse themselves first in the superficial reality rather than going deep into the real realities which our society is built upon and working with. This may breed misguided leadership unsupported by real sound experiences but filled only with technicalities, a personality based ethics, and politics.

The forefront of our actions should be the less fortunate ones, the ones who can't speak or even think for themselves.

Alyansa Atenista

8 at the 28th

It was a simple annual gathering of leaders .

The "Alas Otso sa Baynte Otso 07 " as it was called gathered together movers and shakers of the past, present and future.

In a relatively big room, after eating a very generous dinner with 3 gallons of ice cream, we arranged ourselves in a circle ( an ellipse to be exact) to hear each other speak. And it is in this ellipse that history came to life. It was like village elders passing stories through word of mouth around a fire preserving the story's essence, its purpose, it's the stuff where future heroes are inspired. Elders speak of their experience and how Alyansa tapped hidden potentials and unleashed their tremendous human energy to effect change.

Alyansa and campus politics

Alyansa Atenista is seen by some as an elite group of overinflated egotistic know-it-all students whose only aim is to fortify their power in the highest positions. Maybe, there is some truth to it. But surely, a party which lasted 21 years and is the only remaining political party has outgrown much from the negative label and emerged as a party to be reckon with, as a party who in one way or anther moved the students' perspective for the better. Alyansa, an alliance of college parties has long been an instrument for moderate ignatian ideals and it continues to strive to be one. Alyansa is still far from having an identity crisis because it clearly defines itself as a party which opposes radicalism, and advocates peaceful activism. Since 1986, the trend seems uncannily familiar. It was a political fight between centrist and leftist ideologies. The moderate and the extreme. Then, there comes a time when the left got exhausted and the call for extreme change simply wasn't a need anymore. Campus politics in the mid 1990s went uncontested.

Then the "independents" phenomenon came in the arena. They are labeled as "pro-admin". I only find the label negative when "pro-admin" equates them as simply mouth pieces or puppets of the admin. Alyansa countered this by advocated for a student centered platform emphasizing the need for dialogue and mediation between students and admin. These two forces must meet at a point and Alyansa provides a moderate communication mechanism to facilitate this convergence.

In the present times, Alyansa has animated the word "synergy" as an organizational and political mantra. Alyansa which is now in the highest position has reinforced "synergy" by creating strong linkages and networks laterally, up and down the chart. They take pride in their collaborative efforts. Major programs are even built upon this "synergy" such as tutorials, talent expos and awareness campaigns. There is no longer the buzz to passionately stand in one side of the line while opposing everything from the other. What we don't need is to create an atmosphere of animosity between two sides.

Alyansa and the future.

Alyansa has taken its identity into a new level. It is not anymore solely a political party per se but a "socio-political" party and a leadership support group. With this new identity it strives to be actively engaged in social issues outside and inside the school and also designs itself as a formation agent for students who seek to enhance their leadership skills in the context of Ignatian spirituality. Alyansa has become an equal option along side other formation oriented units for students who are willing to apply what they learned. The great difference is that it is manned by students themselves which is more intimate, personal and equal.

Tao, Estudyante, Bayan, Diyos!

Philo of Man

With a very humid air and cramped seating arrangement in SC 3, I attentively listened to Ma’am Quinones’ humorous metaphoric discussions of Descartes’ philosophy of dualism and daily manifestations of that philosophy in everyday life. It is in the immortal line of Descartes’ infallible truth: “Cogito ergo sum” that tipped the philosophical libido that was already building up in my mind. In that moment, I was consumed with the abstract concepts of possibilities and subjectivity. It is like your consciousness is focusing in itself thus trying to detach oneself from the self for the self to see the whole picture. It may sound illogical but it shows a point. It also creates a very clear boundary between me and the physical world which I can see, touch, feel, taste and listen. I can engineer my thoughts to reflect those of what my senses tell me. The concept of possibility of reality is infinitely uncompressible that my thought simply reduces that infinity into an ordered structure of expectations derived from past experiences. I simply don’t know what will happen the next moment. The subjectivity of our mind is also so fascinating in a sense that I myself has the insurmountable power to build my own universe and exist in it. I am very sure that I exist in it because my thought which is I myself is in it. What are the implications of these? I could somehow be capable of engineering a reality based on thoughts magnified by this consciousness of detaching from the very thought which is my self. In this way, thoughts are better filtered and this practice also unblocks the confined power of the mind and catapults it in a new way of looking at reality. Better yet to say that the ancient virtue of detachment is the foundation of my realization but with the inclusion of Descartes dualism, it created a fascinating (at least for me) insight between the immortal indispensable relationships of thought and reality.