Cyber censorship in HCDC?

Holy Cross of Davao College always says, almost as an article of faith, that just because it is a Catholic school doesn’t mean that it will only take care of the students’ spiritual aspect. It will also work for the development of the social, mental, and intellectual aspect of the students.

It may have achieved some successes in developing the mental, intellectual, spiritual, and social aspects of the students. But the social aspect? Fuhgeddaboudit!

If the IT Office of Holy Cross will have its way—and it probably has—it is doubtful if Holy Cross will succeed in developing the social aspect of the students.

HCDC 'mourns over the senseless death of Carl Anthony Gaudicos'

Below is the statement of Mr. Marlan T. Jose, Coordinator of Student Affairs of Holy Cross of Davao College, regarding Carl Anthony Gaudicos' death. Gaudico, a second year engineering student at HCDC, is the latest victim of fraternity hazing--- a "brutal expression of brotherhood." See Patay sa Hazing?

AS PER school policy (Student Handbook Disciplinary Measures #55), the school does not recognize fraternities and sororities inside the school campus. The school is not against students’ right to peaceful assembly but utterly against hazing. Pursuant to Republic Act 8049 or the Anti-Hazing Law, the school had acted on crack down of students who are members of existing fraternities and sororities outside the campus to sign a waiver promising not to be active nor recruit neophytes inside the school premises. Violation of this provision means exclusion or expulsion.

In this fateful moment, the school mourns over the senseless death of Mr. Carl Anthony Gaudicos. No words can appease the pain it brought to the bereaved family and the HCDC Community. Together we work hard in order to seek justice for his death.

The cycle of fraternity violence (hazing) will continue as long as there are fraternity and sorority members who recruit innocent first and second year students. Hence, a lesson should be learned from here. To all students, be vigilant and focus on your studies. Prevent falling prey to this brutal expression of brotherhood. Let us all follow the true spirit of Christian Brotherhood taught by Jesus Christ where love, peace and forgiveness abound.

To this end, the struggle against hazing is never ending. We denounce hazing as a means of brotherhood. The struggle is inside. Let us all together work for justice to our brother, Mr. Gaudicos!

Marlan T. Jose
Coordinator, Office of Student Affairs
Holy Cross of Davao College

Have we a sense of country?

Seth Mydans, of the New York Times, wrote:

The Philippines, with a population of 92 million, is one of the most vibrant nations in Asia, with a flamboyantly free press and a creative, assertive body of independent organizations and interest groups.

But it has not managed to tame its Communist and Muslim insurgencies or its restive military, which seems constantly to be plotting coups. Human rights groups say abuses by the military have returned to the levels of the Marcos years.

And the political arena sometimes seems more like a form of mass entertainment than a place of governance.

Where does the fault lie?

Conrado de Quiros confronted the same question in his speech at the graduation rites of UP Visayas in Ilo-Ilo City. He said:

We have no dearth of examples to show the lack of will on the part of this country's leaders and citizens. But where does this lack of will come from? Is it in our nature? Are we naturally flawed? Is it in our character? Are we naturally weak? Or is it, to quote Cassius, in our stars that we are underlings?

It is none of these. From where I stand, it is simply this: We have no sense of country.

Cory Aquino: Transformed by her times

Corazon Aquino was not the patriotic woman that we've come to know and love until her death. She was in her own words "a plain housewife"--a housewife who belonged to a wealthy land-owning family at that.

But like Lorenzo Tañada, another Marcos opposition stalwart, who, in Randy David's words, "belonged to that generation of aristocratic Filipino leaders—the legatees of a Filipino “ilustrado” class that imagined itself, in Jose Rizal’s words, “the brains of the country, within a few years … its entire nervous system” and whose "advocacy of civil liberties matured into a commitment to fundamental social rights"---like Lorenzo Tañada, Cory was transformed by her times.

From a plain housewife, she had become an icon of democracy.

Maligayang kaarawan Presidente Manuel L. Quezon

Today is the 131st birthday of ex-President Manuel L. Quezon, the first president of the Commonwealth of the Philippines and "Father of the National Language."

Nery-ed

In his yesterday's Inquirer piece, John Nery said:

The reluctant symbol. Cory Aquino, the self-effacing politician’s wife, became a national figure only—but immediately—after the assassination. Perhaps we can consider her speech during Ninoy’s funeral Mass on Aug. 31, 1983, as the moment she assumed her new role as the true leader of the opposition.

***

“If my children and I appear to be brave during this, the most difficult period yet of our lives, it is because we know this is what Ninoy would have expected of us. It is also because of our faith in God, and the belief that he is now helping us in this, our greatest need.”

This idea of subordinating personal need (giving in to one’s fears, in those uncertain days) to something greater than one’s self (“what Ninoy would have expected of us”) is the true legacy of the Aquinos.

Haven't I said something like that in this piece?

If there’s one thing that Cory has taught us, it is that we have to rise above our petty concerns, above our predicaments, and indeed above ourselves.

But I hasten to add that this virtue is not solely Cory's or Ninoy's. It is also Rizal's and Bonifacio's and Mabini's and all those who have fought the conquistas.

This lesson was imparted to us a long time ago by our founding parents. Cory is merely re-echoing, by example, what Emilio Jacinto, the Brains of Katipunan, wrote as the first of the thirteen teachings in “Kartilla,” the primer of the Katipunan: “Life which is not consecrated to a lofty and sacred cause is like a tree without a shadow, if not a poisonous weed.”

Thus ate La Gloria

It is a truth universally acknowledged, but furtively practiced, that a congressman in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wine.

Rising above ourselves

There will come a time in our lives that we have to make a big decision—a decision whose consequences we are uncertain of. It is not easy to make such a decision, so we’ve got to really admire those who have mustered a mammoth of courage and made that decision.

History is strewn with great men and women who bravely made a big decision even if that meant putting their lives and other people’s lives at grave risk. On a wintry day in December 1776, George Washington decided to cross the Delaware River. The supplies and provisions of Washington’s Continental Army were fast running out. The soldiers were hungry and destitute. Some of them were sick; others were dying. And many more would die, including their fight for independence, unless they would cross the Delaware River into the garrison of the Hessians where stores of food, clothing, blankets, and munitions, ran aplenty. On Christmas Day, Washington and his men embarked on a bold move that would, historians say, alter the course of the revolution the Americans waged against the British Empire. They valiantly crossed the river, swiftly defeated their enemies, and successfully resuscitated the revolution.

Corazon Aquino, “Cory” to many, made hers when her husband, the former Senator Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jr., was killed.

Don't heed Kennedy; Ask what your country can do for you

“Ask not,” said John F. Kennedy, the man whose presidency was cut short by a lunacy, “Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.”

Kennedy was, of course, goading no one else but the Americans. The complete version of that scintillating phrase goes: “And so, my fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.” He was in no way speaking to a Filipino audience because he was not in the Philippines; nor did he have a Filipino ancestry; nor was his skin brown or his nose flat.

The Filipinos, therefore, are under no obligation to heed Kennedy’s invitation. By all means, they can ask their government what it can do for them. They must not, however, feel as though they are mendicant, for they are not.

Like flowers from the rubble

We never ran out of witty phrases by which we call, or give tribute to, our teachers. At times, we call them the molders of the minds or the movers of civilization. Jose P. Laurel, himself a teacher, once called them "the meek molders of man's character."

But how can the teachers meet so daunting a task with so meager a supply? Indeed, how can they mold the minds of others when their minds, too, need molding? How can they move a civilization when they scramble to persuade their students to follow their instructions? How can they mold someone else's character when they are sometimes looked up to with little respect?

Is the 1987 Philippine Constitution's Preamble ungrammatical?

The Preamble of the 1987 Philippine Constitution goes:

"We, the sovereign Filipino people, imploring the aid of Almighty God, in order to build a just and humane society and establish a Government that shall embody our ideals and aspirations, promote the common good, conserve and develop our patrimony, and secure to ourselves and our posterity the blessings of independence and democracy under the rule of law and a regime of truth, justice, freedom, love, equality, and peace, do ordain and promulgate this Constitution."

The subject, which is ‘we,’ is far removed from the verb phrase ‘do ordain and promulgate . . .’ Could it be that the Preamble is one stellar example of an annoying English grammar error?

Read Jose Carillo's column to know the answer.