Vote for a Better Philippines, One Vote Can Change the Future, Invest on the Future: Fellow Filipinos, let your voice and sentiments be heard: never miss to vote and vote wisely! Ang inang bayan ay hindi natin minana mula sa ating mga ninuno kundi utang natin sa ating mga anak! Ingatan, respetuhin at alagaan natin siya, huwag nating abusuhin at huwag nating lapastanganin.

Why Should I vote? It is only a single count after all! Who’s to vote? Maybe I vote for my cousin?

1. No, it is NOT a single count but millions. Our public servants (supposed to be) are in position courtesy of a single vote- YOUR single vote, my single vote, my mom's single vote, your mom's single vote and soon! Yes, a single vote from a lot of Filipinos. Do not think in minuscule but paint the bigger picture. Your vote will never be wasted. Practice your right. Not all have it, you know.

Voting time for Filipinos is near. Six (6) more days and the big day is there. I am sure most of you, my beloved fellow Filipinos, have your own candidates in mind already. I know in some cases it is not very simple to exercise your voting rights as I heard before that there were cases of threats and intimidation to force voters in choosing a certain candidate. Thus, for those who can do the voting freely, without problems but an hour or two to spare, it’s a wonderful thing to do.

2. My candidate is not number one in the surveys, why should I vote? My dear brother or sister, the survey is only statistical. They pull out a few thousands of people out of millions. Your candidate deserved your vote. Let the whole nation know that YOU voted your candidate, that you prefer his/her style of government

3. “TV says… radio says… I read in newspaper that… “Don’t think that way. If you are very sure of your candidate, go for it! Don’t forget that media entities get paid for advertising or for making propaganda moves against or pro a certain candidate. I don’t think media entities can be 100% trusted of what they tell you.

4. He is from my province, I vote him! That is why Philippines is being left behind because we have this sympathy votes. We vote by feelings and in the end, we take all the pain. If you are sure that a person governs not go good, even if that candidate is from your area, vote for the correct one!

5. I will vote for A as he is nice and he is handsome or for B because she is sexy, young and beautiful and she shook my hand during the candidate. My dear voter, this is not the way to have our nation should have its fate. Smiling is not enough, facial value is nothing. What we need for our country is someone strong and with a good platform of government and who surely can manage to follow that platform he/she’s presenting.

6. “Politician A promised this to me… politician B, said he’d give me…” My dear brother and sister, if you think like this, do not complain about corruption. You’ve just been corrupted in broad daylight and you don’t know it! Never trust politicians who do personal promises. They will only waste your taxes later on. Can you imagine how others like you he/she promised to? And you know what? What he or she would spend to fulfill that promise is the money of the public! What a shame!

I think I have said enough. I just hope you are guided with your choice and not clouded with doubts or biases. God bless the Philippines. Hopefully a good leader can be chosen this time.
But you know what? Still to make our lives better depends mainly (99%) upon us, and does NOT depend upon any promising corrupting politician. Vote wisely. Your children need it. Philippines need it. Vote for your children and for the Philippines!

Being away from this mother nation Philippines for quite two years made me realize a lot of things. When I saw that article you see below from reading some current news about Philippines, it made me think right away. Did I dream to be abroad? What was my fellow professionals and student by then think about going abroad? What lies ahead in our own dear country? There are a thousand questions, there are a million probable answers but who knows? Who really know? As one of the professionals who's abroad, although I am no teacher at all, I ask myself who's to be blamed in the situation. I have to say that the quality of teachers and teaching methods in the country would worsen if all of those who have capabilities, greater talents and more responsible and brilliant teachers teach somewhere else instead of teaching their fellow Filipinos.

What I can say is, the quality of life and the surroundings where one has to teach also motivate the teacher: they have dream! Until these teachers see what lies ahead abroad, their dreams would be there, within themselves and so strong. We have the shortage in our own country and we have surplus for those who dream to be abroad.

The fact is, if one cannot eat and enjoy in his/her own country, it's better to be out, right? Government does not do nothing at all to alleviate the poverty. I mean, to do something does not necessarily mean to spend a lot of resources. Change start from the mind and the ideas, thus, implementing ideas that can stick in each Filipino mind, and heart and if the leaders themselves practice what they preach (this can be done on media ads in TVs, Internet, etc), change would come slowly. As they say, "Rome was not built overnight" so expect the long term effect of a long term plan!

Staying in Philippines for 22 years has its ups and downs. I was born in this motherland of ours, I was raised there and I was educated there. Living here in Europe is no bed of roses as well. It's always a different feeling to be at home and feel at home and just do the normal stuff I have been doing before. I tell you guys that it's no easy thing to go against what you have been doing for 22 years: culture, customs, weather, climate, people, language, race, beliefs and many other things. I really need to be adaptable, which I am lucky I am, but I still tell you that here is NOT my home.

Here, I have to obey everything. Here, I have to feel so much cold. Here, I have to do a lot of bureaucratic procedures to make one thing. Here I do not have a clue where to see bargains, which store is for the right budget, etcetera, etcetera. Here they speak Dutch and I speak English. There's always the difference here but here it's also cleaner here and people are making their nature livable, not only today but also in the future.

Although I never went abroad before 22 years, I had a lot of Korean buddies back in the University. And I quote one of them (Lee) when we talked about rivers: "We are not as stupid as you Filipinos to pollute our rivers." That was a piercing statement but that was true. What could I tell him? Should I tell him what he noted was not true? I could not! Why? Because the evidence was slapping my face right in front of us when he made that statement.

I was Lee's tutor for English conversations and proper usage of words and anything to have him pass the TOEIC examination. We made lessons in the hotel suite he rented until the examination time came. Such hotel is beside the river and the river stinks at certain hours of the day... more specifically, when we made lessons at around 3-4 in the afternoon. Outside that time frame, I don't know if the river still stinks because I'm out of the place already.

Lee explained that he took the hotel expecting a great river view and a good contact with nature. He noted that when he reserved that place, the photo he saw from online was clean. He did not expect that Philippines could be so dirty with thrown garbage and plastics right in the river as during low tides, these thrown objects rush to the river banks and the residue make up the stinky waters.

Why do we Filipinos are so selfish? Why are we not thinking of the future? Why do we throw garbage anywhere whenever we get the chance to? I don't know why! Maybe we are indeed stupid that we cannot understand what lies ahead in the future. We are so stupid to understand that we cause our own floods, we create our own land slides, and flash floods. That's for today and we just imagine the exponential effect to our next generation because of our irresponsibilities.

It's time to be properly educated. At least a little by little. If each one of us, around 100 million, just throw a single candy wrapper in the correct place, can you imagine what big improvement it already makes? Imagine those wrappers where thrown not in the trash cans but in open places? When rainy season comes, these wrappers will be carried by the water to water ways, drainage and rivers and would eventually cause clogs and floods.

Be a real Filipino who thinks of the Philippines. Be responsible at least for the little acts that can save our nature and save our future.

Honestly, all of us are complaining for inflation, or shall we say, in vernacular terms, "increasing prices". But what does make the prices of almost everything go up? Why do we have to suffer so many consequences of rising prices? The answer is simple: We Deserve It!
The protests say it loud already...
But what really makes prices go up? Honestly, this is very technocal and more on analysis of the basics and complications of economics but believe me if I say it has to do with one very strong factor. I don't know if you have an idea by now what is this BIG FACTOR. All I know is, everyone is aware of it.. Yes, I remember my university days as "Iska" (mostly, only my fellow Isko and Iska understand this and I wont elaborate here what this means unless you are too curious and ask me to email you for the word's meaning) where we have this economics subject analysing supply and demand and all that stuffs giving rise to this and fall to that. However, there is only one answer: THE OIL! Yes, with oil, the world has become mad, has become too greedy, get involve in war, has weakened, has progressed, has risen to power or anything else. Oild cause many things to the world's existence, thus, a little movememnet in oil prices, moves the hell out of all the goods' prices.

Why am I discussing this? Isn't it obvious that we Filipinos is still sufferring from poverty? I know the rest of the world is complaining about oil prices too but let me focus on the Philippine situation for this is where this blog belongs. Expenxive oil = expensive prices. Expensive prices = inflation. Inflation = lesser purchasing power of money. Lesser purchasing power of money = getting poor. Getting poor now, tomorrow, the next week and so on = poverty. Yes, POVERTY! Poverty results to crime! POVERTY RESULTS TO CRIME! And crime results to greater poverty. And so on and so on.
How obvious the situation is... Poverty at its peak in Philippines...
I even rememebr the government having this summer program to lessen the number of office days simply to lessen the energy consumption in the offices. I was aware of this when I was sill back in the Philippines and the days of works has became Monday - Thurday, ommitting the Friday for the sake of "belt tightening" (I forgot the real term Macapagal used for it). However, this only happens in summer and during June-March, the regular working hours resume. I do not have any idea if this was indeed successful or simply made the workers enjoy their vacation and advantageous to thos lazy butts.. I just don't have evidence against it.

What I am tryin to suggest here is to lessen the use of oil. We have to admit that the roads in the Philippines are full of vehicles already. We have to admit from time to time we have the protests about oil. Why not make a long-term solution about it? Encourage an alternative then. Something that doesnt use oil! Yes, that is definitely my suggestion. If we can make skyways and rails, for sure we can make this project as well, and I do not think this entails a lot of money than those being pocketed by beefy and steeling and grafting politicians out there..
Protests are useless without suggesting a solution...
I have seen the bicycle culture around here in Europe and I see its potential if encouraged in the Philippines. I know for now that we do not have the culture of bicycle in the Philippines because everyone is complaining that it is "MAINIT" (HOT). Indeed it is! And my complain? NOT the HEAT but the Unhealthy Road side and UNSFAE Roadsides! There is just no place for bicylces!

What I am trying to push here is, the amount of oild consumed would be really diminished plus, the traffic would at least lessen in the main road when many shift biking instead of taking a taxi for short distances or taking a jeepney. It is a healthy act as well. However, this cannot be done without the government's mercy, or as long as the congress members receive payouts from oil companies or shall we say kickbacks?

The government needs to have the following and do and implement the following before this dream be true:

1. Make a cycle paths, either beside the road or in a different places as long as it can access like the roads.

2. Prohibit honking of cars to not make the cylists/cyclers not go deaf in their everyday life because of "bastos" (impolite) hoking-to-death vehicle drivers.

3. The cylce path must have at least roofs/covers or have trees alongside to prevent the HEAT which more "maarte" Pinoys always complain about.

4. Truly screen vehicles for the emissions they have to protect the health of the cyclers.

5. Encourage the cycling industry. Give incentives to bike makers, incentives to cyclers, make cars more expensive and cycles very cheap.

6. Provide cycle parks in offices adn other places.

7. Encourage. Encourage. Encourage and LEAD!
See those very useful bikes...
Now I make my points here. This also cannot succeed without the participation of the public but government is in power to make the actions. Advertisements..yes, advertisements in various media always help. Be a model, let politician cycle and its followers will do the same. Let an actor or two cycle their way to shooting setting or studio and I am sure many will follow! This act is healthy Dude!

Bicycles here in Europe is a culture. Especially where I live. It is sometimes funny to see in my everyday life here that a military corporal in uniform is just cycling his way around... or an executive in perfectly elegant coat n tie cycle around with another executive riding behind him in the same bike.. Women in elegant skirts, dresses cycling their way to health and beauty!
..and more biky solution....
It is possible. I know not in all parts of the country but at least in cities. I know it is. Cities are flat and if the government is serious about it, it can be done. I am dreaming to cycle our way to health, poverty alleviation and progress!

The following articles was sent by a friend from the Philippines. I posted it here and it is all about the importance of Filipinos to the world... I d hope we Filipinos realize this too and it is supposed to be felt by us and not by a foreign individual..sad, huh?

The following was a letter to many of us from our dear professor back in the university, but now, since we are in the same level, some of my friends comfortably call her in her first name, Mariel... I quote the very good content of this mail and I would like to share this all to all of you, for this NOT only apply to us who are/were connected with UP but to everyone... I have yet to write my reaction on this...

Note: Prof. Diokno was former UP Vice-President for Academic Affairs, daughter of the late Statesman Jose Diokno, and a great historian.

The Future of Higher Learning and UP* by Maria Serena I. Diokno

It might surprise you that a historian like myself has chosen to address the future rather than dwell on our past. My reason is straightforward. We have begun our second century! Invigorated by our first hundred years of achievement as the nation’s university, the university of our people, we embark on our second century standing on solid ground, confident of our strengths, humbled by the lessons of past failures and yes, proud that despite our imperfections, we have been able to attract young Filipinos who, at least while under our guardianship, represented the promise of a bright future. It is this promise that in the main has kept us going. The future that has yet to unfold, the future we have some power to direct, is the university’s logical orientation. We converse with the young who represent tomorrow’s players and decision makers; we design programs with the future in mind; we produce knowledge that does not always have instant application but which we believe, or earnestly hope, will help create a better society and a more inhabitable world. That the university speaks to the future is the implicit backdrop of change in the academe: standards become more rigorous with time; curricula are updated and advanced; knowledge is constantly pushed beyond what we once saw as its limits. Our job as academics, in short, is to hark to the future; our job is also to help create it.

Recent studies of tertiary education show that the future of societies, local, national and global, will rest increasingly on higher learning. In its report in 2000 on developing countries, the Task Force on Higher Education and Society proclaimed: “Higher education is no longer a luxury: it is essential to national social and economic development.”[1] Yet developments in recent decades have tended to undermine this assertion. My purpose in this lecture is to discuss trends and global projections about the future of higher education and the impact on or implications for UP. I will cite data on the United States and England on purpose, to draw out what, on the surface, are implausible comparisons.

What are present global conditions like? Three trends ended the last century and inaugurated the 21st: the massification of higher education, with more students entering college than ever before (the National University of Mexico and the University of Buenos Aires each have an enrollment of more than 200,000 students![2]); the differentiation of universities into basically teaching institutions, polytechnic colleges, junior colleges, and high-end research universities; and the exponential growth of knowledge at an ever-quickening pace.

In 2004, worldwide, there were 132 million students in higher education compared to 68 million in 1991. About a quarter came from the East Asia and Pacific region, which experienced the largest growth in absolute number (by 25 million from 1991 to 2004), and another quarter from the U.S. and Western Europe.[3] In Southeast Asia, as Figure 1 illustrates (slide 1), the Philippines until the 1990s had the highest gross enrollment ratio[4] at the tertiary level in the region (percent of population in the five-year age group following the official age secondary school is completed), second only to Singapore since then. We have long had the largest number of college students, overtaken by Indonesia only more than a decade ago, as Figure 2 shows (slide 2). But the largest expansion in college enrollment has taken place in Thailand and Indonesia (slide 3), from nearly 131,000 Thai students in 1975 to 1.2 million in 1995, and close to 280,000 Indonesian students in 1975 to 2.3 million twenty years later.

To cope with the demand for tertiary enrollment, many countries in the world responded horizontally, by creating more universities or taking in greater numbers, and vertically, by putting up institutions that cater to diverse capacities (community college, technical institute, comprehensive university, distance education, research university). In developing countries, however, higher education institutions are less diversified than in high-income countries. In our case, junior and community colleges do not exist perhaps because of the overwhelming cultural value we assign to a four-year college diploma, even if it comes from an institution hardly more advanced than a high school.

The challenge of marginalization

On the other hand, and this is the paradox of our century, higher education faces the grave challenge of marginalization at a time when knowledge so rigorously demands it. The university budget is typically the most visible articulation of marginalization efforts for several reasons. The global fight against poverty gives primordial significance to basic education; higher learning must take a back seat while functional literacy is raised. In the developing world, fundamental needs of health care, education and social security battle it out in the tragedy of the commons. And in countries like ours that are ruled by governments with self-serving priorities and without a vision of the future except for Fantasy Island (think Enchanted Kingdom), even the beleaguered budget for education becomes an arena of corruption, patronage and mediocrity (think textbook scam).

However, even in the developed world, or what used to be so, university budgets have remained at insufficient levels. Prof. Alison Richard, vice-chancellor of Cambridge University, laments that British universities are “hopelessly under-funded.”[5] All over the U.S., even prior to the implosion of Wall Street, public universities voiced a similar complaint.

One effect of marginalization is the tendency toward market-driven education, or what some call the corporatization of the academe. Public universities struggle to survive amid reduced budgets, growing competition among tertiary institutions, faculty piracy prompted by indecent salaries, and reputations that increasingly rest upon global rankings of universities. The current drive for the internationalization of universities, which the survey of The Times Higher Education Supplement lays heavy emphasis on, is partly an attempt to pirate the best talents in the world, both faculty and students. Countries like the UK, where tuition at top universities has remained low compared to Harvard and other American universities in their league, are under tremendous pressure to raise fees. Vice-Chancellor Richard of Cambridge complains: “There is a prevailing view in the UK that students, all students, are a source of income, not an investment in the future.”[6] Across the Atlantic, scholarships based on need are being replaced by merit-based awards as American universities attempt to raise their ranking by taking in better qualified students, who usually do not come from lower income, black or Latino families.[7]

The issue of access

Access to higher education, then, has become a major global concern and not just in obvious cases such as ours and other developing countries. Although tertiary enrollment in England rose in 2000 compared to 1994, for example, the Higher Education Funding Council pointed out that the proportion of poorer students “hardly changed at all.”[8] Furthermore, college-age students in England’s wealthiest neighborhoods have a better than 50% chance of entering university, compared to 10% for students residing in the poorest areas. In the U.S. the trend favors white American students, 30 percent of whom obtained bachelor’s degrees in 2006, compared to only 15 percent of African American students and 10 percent of Hispanic students.[9]



While entrenched divisions between rich and poor in the West might offer solace to those who have long been familiar with inequity, the issue of access in the ‘developed’ world is approached quite differently from ours in the less developed countries. In the United States, for instance, the issue of access arises from the shift in a manufacturing-driven industrial economy to a Third Wave service economy propelled by information and technological innovation.[10] About 54% of new job openings in America in the decade 2004-2014 are expected to be filled by workers with some postsecondary education,[11] unlike the old economy, which did not require college-level knowledge and skills. Today, in anticipation of greater changes to come, a call to develop a ‘college-going culture’ has been made.

Ironically in the Philippines, such a culture has not been foreign to us. Even a secretary here is required to possess a college degree, unlike in England, for example, where ‘O’ level credentials are sufficient. Yet, the fastest growing domestic job openings here do not demand higher-order competencies; only the ability to speak English with an alien twang. The fact is that in the developing world outside the West, the concern with access emanates from the stark condition of poverty and its twin, social inequity. Our Commission on Higher Education frames its vision and thrust toward poverty reduction but unfortunately, makes no projection about the local job sector in its Medium-Term Plan for Higher Education, 2005-2010 and says little else beyond a bland statement about the need to advance knowledge “for the improvement of academic instruction, productivity enhancement and job creation, and in addressing the key issues confronting the Philippine society.”[12]

Marginalization also finds articulation in the quality of learning. Listen to this: “73% of all colleges still find it necessary to offer remedial classes for entering students.”[13] Sounds like universities in a third world country, right? Wrong! The description speaks of the U.S.A. The OECD (Organization for Economic Development and Cooperation) found that 15-year-old American students placed 35th in mathematics and 36th in science among 57 countries that took part in the 2006 Programme for Student Assessment. Moreover, even the highest-achievers among American students performed below their international peers.[14] There is, too, concern in the United States that it will soon pale in the shadow of Asian universities, particularly Chinese, in the field of science and technology. For instance, The Task Force on the Future of American Innovation singles out as a contrast to the U.S., China’s recent declaration that it would transform 100 of its universities into the world’s best research institutions, a matter of Chinese national priority. China expects to do this by tapping Chinese specialists trained abroad and Chinese-American experts.[15] I have little doubt China will command its resources and meet this objective.

Now what about us? We all agree that our education pipeline is poorly constructed to begin with, and being at the other end of the pipeline, there is little we can do to clean out the rot or remove the rust or deepen the pipeline. But even in UP, higher education has become increasingly remedial not just at the level of incoming freshmen, who experienced the XDS program in the late ‘70s and early ‘80s, and summer bridge programs in the ‘90s, but also juniors and seniors who do not possess or are not adequately being prepared for 21st century competencies. Yet, they enter the world with our diploma.

Each year I worry that we will graduate students with a bachelor’s degree who do not know how to write, or do not understand what they read in a critical way (or perhaps read very little), or are unable to analyze what they learn before recycling it in an essay exam or a term paper. The inabilities of incoming students we can blame on basic education—the clog in the pipeline—but the responsibility for the failed abilities of upper undergraduate students rests at least partly on our shoulders.

Dealing with corrective needs

My sense is that we are not prepared to deal with the corrective needs that plague higher education. First, our attitude is that we are here to advance knowledge, not to cure it. When students enter UP, we assume they possess the prerequisites and if they do not, that is their problem, not ours. Second, if we were to spend our energy and resources on remedial education, less would be left for real education, which is our primary, many would argue, sole, task. Third, by doing remedial courses we diminish our standards and thereby shortchange our students.

All these are valid arguments. But what is not acceptable is when we ourselves lower standards to ensure that our courses will always have students or because teaching is too painstaking and eats up far too much of our time. For instance, a number of colleagues have suggested to me that the reason for the surprisingly large number of honor graduates is that our GE program has become effortless. With 45 units easily in the bag, our students can still attain honors even if they perform less ably in their major courses. I do not know if this is true but if it is, the fault is ours and ours alone. Have some of us succumbed to the market orientation that in order to attract students and sustain departmental access to, say, equipment funds, our GE courses must be easy to pass? Are the learning materials we have developed, including those that apply educational technologies, too simple, too remedial that we end up sacrificing substance for form? Do the GE readings challenge our students? And do the exams we subject GE students to actually test their ability to think critically, to be creative, to write coherently, to argue on the basis of sound judgment, and so on? The strength of the GE program is its ability to challenge, and this is, or ought to be, the very source of its attractiveness.

Whenever I cringe at my students’ essays, whether written in Filipino or English, they tell me that one reason they did not learn to write in UP is that when their papers or exams are returned, all they see is a number. No indication whatsoever is written about what the number actually means, about which part of the essay is poorly argued or badly written and why. So they repeat the same mistakes—because they passed those courses anyway—until they get to me. I tell them that at the senior level it is a little too late for me to undo what they have internalized, even as I apply the weapon of fear followed by horrifying grief upon reading their first draft.

Working backwards

What strategy could possibly address this problem? First, I propose we take a look at our methods courses and work backward in terms of the knowledge and competencies we expect our majors to acquire along the way. We can do this in clusters of disciplines although, given the transdisciplinal nature of knowledge, discussions across fields would be instructive. Second, let us review the GE program along the lines I noted above. Third, I strongly urge the administration to bring UP into the network of universities that do CPR, Calibrated Peer Review, an online self-learning tool developed by UCLA that began in chemistry because American educators were alarmed that science majors did not know how to write. CPR exposes the student to excellent reading material, teaches the student how to read the article, and finally, how to tell whether an essay is well or badly written. Hence the term ‘calibrated peer review.’ As its website explains, CPR “enables frequent writing assignments even in large classes with limited instructional resources” and actually “can reduce the time an instructor now spends reading and assessing student writing.”[16]

What we should work on is our own web-based tool for writing in Filipino. Alternatively, although this could be costlier, there is the model of the University of Cape Town in South Africa, which has a writing center (called Center for Higher Education Development) where students are sent and then, in groups, are guided to rewrite their essays. The center also deals with remedial problems in numeracy. Faculty at the center work full-time and, like any other faculty, are expected to research on problems in their field in addition to mentoring students.

Finally, and this is where we as an institution have been remiss, we need to make public our expectations of basic education. I do not suggest this as a guide to passing the UPCAT but as a response to the changing demands on pre-collegiate education arising from the pace of knowledge creation, with which we are most familiar. If we inform the Department of Education and schools about rising expectations, the more committed ones will hopefully strive to meet them.

The Oxford Question

It is difficult to speak about remedial education apart from the question of access since there is a positive correlation between income and UPCAT score. The higher the applicant’s declared annual income category, the higher the subtest scores except in test items in Filipino. Tempting as it is to shy away from the question, access goes straight to the heart of our purpose as a public university, a purpose that is being debated elsewhere in the world. Posed by a professor who teaches at both Oxford and Stanford: “The fundamental question—call it the Oxford Question—underlying all the others is this: can we, in Europe, have social justice in higher education and world-class research universities? Or must we choose?”[17] Cambridge Prof. Richard argues that it is wrong for government to look upon universities as “engines for promoting social justice:”[18]

We try to reach out to the best students, whatever their background. One outcome of that is that we can help to promote social mobility. But promoting social mobility is not our core mission. Our core mission is to provide an outstanding education within a research setting.[19]

And yet this year Cambridge announced that the proportion of students it admitted from state schools rose to 59%, the highest since 1981. (State schools educate 93% of all English students.)[20] Oxford, for its part, applied a new procedure this year that takes into account the applicant’s neighborhood (poor, middle-income, wealthy). Mike Nicholson, the university's director of undergraduate admissions, explains why: “We want to make sure that we are not missing pupils because we are using A’s at GCSE [General Certificate of Secondary Education] on their own without more information about the context within which they were gaining those grades.”[21] Achieving top grades under difficult conditions, Nicholson maintains, suggests high potential. “Using grades alone,” he says, “is too crude. I want to make sure that, if students are applying from places that have very few people progressing into higher education, we recognise that they are breaking the mould.”[22]

I find it paradoxical that as elite universities in the UK are changing admissions policy to take in poorer students, we in UP have taken the opposite route. Dissatisfied with the affirmative action component of the previous admission scheme because, among others, it did not discriminate among high school grades, Diliman opted to correct high school grade inflation by pegging school marks to the UPCAT score. The high school grade, which is supposed to indicate student diligence in learning over a stretch of time, has thus been merged with the UPCAT, a one-time measure. Two students with identical high school grade averages—previously a one-to-one correspondence—can now be assigned entirely different marks, depending on the UPCAT performance of the school’s graduates. This adjustment index, which can be equal to, greater or less than one, is, according to proponents, a truer, more accurate indicator of student merit.

However, as Prof. Claude Steele, Psychology Department Chair at Stanford University, points out, scores on standardized admission tests are also inflated by such advantages as private school training, admission test review classes, access to books and computers at home, and so on[23]—advantages, in short, enjoyed by children in better-off families. It is thus no surprise that 93 of the 100 high schools with the highest UP adjustment factor in 2008 are private, while 70 of the bottom 100 schools are public (general).[24] The adjustment index, then, is also an indicator of affluence or lack of affluence. By correcting one sort of inequity, have we not created or aggravated another?

In a way our problem with social inequity is like that of deteriorating basic education. We are at the receiving end of both and are powerless to change the reality that precedes entry into UP. One could argue that it is not the University’s job to cure the ills of basic education or to reduce social inequity. Perhaps so, but neither is it ours to make policy that keeps qualified entrants at a remedial level, or that reinforces inequity or punishes those with less.

The purpose of the university

In all the discussions we have had on admissions, there is one thing we entirely overlooked, and that is the relationship between merit-based admissions and the purpose of the university. William Bowen, president of Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and before that, president of Princeton University for 16 years, explains that

the starting premise [of admissions] is that a school has an obligation to make the best possible use of the limited number of places in each entering class so as to advance as effectively as possible the broad purposes the school seeks to serve. Within the very real limits imposed by the fallibility of any selection process of this kind, a school should try hard to be fair to every applicant; but the concept of fairness itself has to be understood within the context of the obligations of a university. Accordingly, in making these difficult choices among well-qualified candidates, considerations other than just test scores and grades come into play.[25]


These considerations, in turn, are premised upon not just the qualities of individual students but also, Bowen adds, the shared features of an entire group of students who, by their common characteristics, enrich the learning environment and bring into it the diversity that is an indispensable part of university life. As a Princeton graduate remarked, “People do not learn very much when they are surrounded only by the likes of themselves.”[26]

And this is true. Before I entered UP I was exposed to only private school students, having studied in Catholic schools since kindergarten. My father, himself the product of private education, insisted we children study at UP precisely so that we would meet people from all walks of life. A few years ago De La Salle University tracked down its ‘Star’ scholars (the equivalent of our ‘Oblation’) who had declined admission. One reason they cited for choosing UP was our heterogeneous population in contrast to La Salle’s elitist character.

Valuing diversity

But I think the question before us is not that a diverse student population offers immense learning opportunities to everyone all around, but rather, whether UP values this diversity enough to count it among its purposes. If UP does, then merit in admissions would take on additional meaning beyond the rigid convention of high grades and test scores. If, on the other hand, this is not our purpose, then we can end all discussions on admissions here and now.

There are a couple of other implications of global trends that I wish to take up. The university will no doubt retain its role as arbiter of academic worth but with a difference, for in this century, goals and targets will no longer be fixed as before because of rapid advances across all disciplines. Just when we think we are nearing our mark, it moves farther away. Moving targets thus change the meaning of laggard: an intellectual laggard in this century is not only the one left behind but also the one who stays put. It will no longer be sufficient, and neither should it be permissible, for departments, colleges, campuses to simply coast along in our second century. The rapid movement of knowledge also demands that we select our leaders at all levels with this in mind. Academic leaders who find comfort in the isolated quiet of their offices, or are buoyed by the absence of discussion or debate, or who mistake the stony silence of faculty indifference as implicit support, will never take us forward. UP’s second century has no place for laidback leaders who move only when prodded or threatened.

To attract and encourage the best leaders, we also need to rethink our search process. The matrix of candidates’ strengths and weaknesses, which is usually the end product of the search process, actually ought to be just the starting point. In what context are candidates’ attributes perceived as strengths and weaknesses, and relative to what goals, needs or direction? A perceived weakness could, in a different context or relative to a certain thrust, actually be a strength and vice-versa. There is, too, little value added by search committees that are not allowed to exercise any judgment beyond the enumeration of candidates’ attributes.

In the final analysis, the kind of leaders we desire will depend on what we aspire for as an institution of higher learning and a community of scholars. For example, the presidents of the world’s leading universities were studied in order to answer the question: Are the best universities led by top researchers? The universities were taken from the 2004 edition of the Shanghai Jiao Tong University ranking, whose criteria are presented on the screen (slide 4). The study counted the number of each president’s scholarly publication citations, rated the numbers against disciplinary citation norms, and then correlated the normalized figures with the ranking of the universities.

The pattern that emerged is as follows. The higher the global ranking of a university, the more likely that the citations of its president are also high. Heads of the top 50 universities, for instance, are two and a half times more highly cited than those at the bottom 50. A president of a top 20 university is cited nearly five times more than a leader in the bottom quintile. In short, the study found that although “a simple link between the position of a university and the research history of its leader does not explain causality …. [the] results do, however, suggest that being a good manager and leader is enhanced in a university context if a president is a successful researcher.”[27]

I cite the study to stress that in light of the profound changes in knowledge and learning and at an unprecedented pace, the type of leaders we want at any and all levels, and the scale of scholarship we expect from them will, in the end, depend on what our collective and institutional ambitions are. So as with the question of access, we once again return to our purpose: what do we wish to become in the 21st century?

Thankfully it is not my task to answer all the questions I raise. Whatever we decide—and we must do so with deliberate thought and discussion—let us keep sight of our mission to advance and share knowledge in and beyond the classroom. The university, after all, is not a gated subdivision; it is and always will be engaged in the life of the community, the nation, and the world. We celebrate our successes at a time when nearly everywhere around us, at home and in the world, voices of optimism struggle to be heard amid the wail of human suffering or the deceptive silence of apathy or despair. The paradox of celebration amid tribulation is a stern reminder that we belong to a public community larger than our academic republic. More than a community that supports us and to which we are answerable, it is a community to which we are wedded, good times and bad.

The sense of belonging

It concerns me that our students have become more self-absorbed and less caring about this broader community. In my GE class last semester, most of them said they are moved to act only when directly affected. Since they rarely read the papers or listen to the news, they cannot get affected by what they do not know (or do not bother to know). A combination of hard times, parental pressure, desire for security in the face of an uncertain future, and disenchantment with today’s leaders have caused the young to look upon their degree as little more than a job ticket. As a result, grades have taken precedence over learning; their real world has shrunk to their family and friends, while the one world they can freely venture into is the chat room, Friendster and other social networking sites, where they control the shift in boundaries of anonymity and familiarity and decide whom to let in and out.

There is, of course, no point developing a sense of humanity that connects one only to the tiny radius of relatives and friends or to the self-created virtual world. The sense of belonging to a collective larger than ourselves, our families, our immediate circle of friends and colleagues is fundamental to our humanity. As our history and that of humankind demonstrate, the most significant and uplifting human successes have been those born out of collective action. What would one’s personal success mean amid a sea of people wallowing in subhuman conditions? Indeed, what kind of humanity is it that selects the individuals it can relate to and deliberately disregards the humanness of others? I hope this kind of inward pragmatism—heedless to the needs of others—is just a phase of youthfulness. My senior students assure me they think differently from the freshmen I cited.

Do not think for a moment that I blame the students entirely for thinking this way. Such heedlessness could well be a reaction to or a product of a deeper pathology that engulfs our society. It is not my purpose to break down this social pathology into its anatomical parts. But allow me to offer a different take on the matter. Foucault explains that every conceptual apparatus sets its own restrictions of what is and isn’t possible, and within these limits, develops its own standard of normalcy.[28] During American rule, for example, the logic of imperialism deemed it rational to postpone political independence while we were perceived to be unready for it and in its stead, enjoy the benefits of progress American style. It was not rational and therefore not normal to insist, as the Katipunan and subsequent revolutionary societies did, that freedom is indivisible in all its forms and expressions. At the turn of the 20th century, Filipino society was classified into ‘poor and ignorant’ at one end, and ‘rich and intelligent’ at the other. Unthinkable it was to switch the colonial pairing around: ‘poor and intelligent’ or ‘rich and ignorant’ was simply not possible. And so each generation, each society declares its own meaning of normalcy according to its world of possibilities.

I hold that the task of the University is to depart from the realm of possibilities and the boundaries of normalcy it creates, and instead explore what historian Michel-Rolph Trouillot calls ‘the unthinkable’, or “that which one cannot conceive within the range of possible alternatives, that which perverts all answers because it defies the terms under which the questions were phrased.”[29] To return to the ‘Oxford question’ as an example, the thinkable frame juxtaposes social justice against a world-class research university, presenting the two as the only options available in the matter of admissions. The unthinkable, on the other hand, would turn the question on its head and challenge its underbelly: why these two choices in the first place?

Thinking the unthinkable

Thinking the unthinkable will be the University’s primary challenge in the 21st century in every discipline and field of endeavor. This challenge will demand not just a shift in our mental inclinations but also new ‘instruments of thought’—concepts, methods, frameworks—that will enable this shift to happen.[30] Oftentimes we do not realize how normalcy—that is, keeping within established and comfortable limits of possibilities—has become the hidden curriculum because, as Foucault again points out, people’s thoughts are basically shaped by rules or assumptions they are not always aware of. In our case, bureaucratic thinking and a politicized approach to problems, goals and decisions block the academic’s pathway to the unthinkable.

A bureaucratic mentality ties the power of policy to the authority that enforces it rather than to the substance and merit of the policy. Backed by the weight of office, the bureaucrat’s appeal is legalistic, not intellectual. Rules are narrowly construed rather than understood in relation to issues that question, and quite possibly subvert, the very basis of the rules. The only possibility in the world of the bureaucrat, therefore, is compliance, and any attempt to question it is met with technicalities. The inability to explain the rationale of a policy, or the reference to its longstanding existence as an explanation, are typically bureaucratic responses, feeble but effective only because the mental device of the bureaucrat has become part of the academic’s sense of normalcy.

I do not mean to belittle our rules but the University is not a bureaucracy; it is an academic community. In our next hundred years some of our policies and rules will have to change in reasoned anticipation of the demands of knowledge, new modalities of learning, evolving relationships within the institution, etc. We must prepare ourselves for this future by learning to think outside the box. To do so, we must avoid one other pitfall, the politicized approach.


Competition, vested interest, power—these are things that play upon human nature and human institutions, the university not excepted. The question is, how do we frame these within our domain of possibilities? In the arena of politics numbers count because they are the expression of popular will. In contrast, in the academe what counts are the discussion and debate that precede the vote and give it value.

As a young instructor dismayed by the politics of elders in the department, I once sought the advice of the late law Prof. Haydee Yorac regarding a decision obtained by the majority’s show of hands. Her response was unequivocal: a majority vote does not turn what is essentially wrong into something right, pointing to decisions of the Marcos-led Batasang Pambansa as an example. Politicians get away with the tyranny of numbers because the conceptual apparatus of politics deems this not only possible but normal. If the same kind of thinking persists in the University, it is because we, too, have imbibed the politicians’ sense of normalcy. Hence we agonize between the academic and the pragmatic or politically palatable, between merit and livelihood as the basis for promotion, between competence and closeness to officials as the pivotal point in making decisions.



In sum, the politicized and bureaucratic mental frames are averse to change, the former in defense of the status quo or of self- or group interest, and the latter, hampered by limp intellectual muscle. In this century we will need to break out of the conspiracy of the normal, wean ourselves away from our comfort zone, and develop a frame of mind that is open to different possibilities, that eclipses old boundaries and invites novel ways of thinking, doing and learning. From the practice of our disciplines to our pedagogy, from how we relate to one another as colleagues to the structures that govern us, from channels to processes, the framework of the unthinkable will be a valuable guide with long-reaching effect. To think, speak and do the unthinkable, that is the challenge of our century.

Thank you.

* Centennial Lecture, NISMED, UP Diliman, 18 November 2008.

[1] Task Force on Higher Education and Society, Higher Education in Developing Countries: Peril and Promise (Washington: The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, 2000), p. 14.
[2] Task Force, p. 27.
[3] UNESCO Institute for Statistics, Global Education Digest 2006: Comparing Education Statistics Across the World (Montreal, 2006), p. 21.
[4] Percent of population in the five-year age group following the official age secondary school is completed.
[5] Jessica Shepherd, “Cambridge mission ‘not social mobility’, The Guardian, 10 September 2008.
[6] Shepherd.
[7] Robert M. Diamond, “Why Colleges Are So Hard to Change,” Inside Higher Ed, 8 September 2006, http://insidehighered.com/views/2006/09/08/diamond, accessed 25 September 2008.
[8] “Student Access Inequality Exposed,” BBC News, 19 January 2005, http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/ fr/-/2/hi/uk_news/education/4185697.stm
[9] Edward M. Kennedy, “What Spellings Got Right and Wrong,” Inside Higher Ed, 3 October 2006, http://insidehighered.com/views/2006/10/03/kennedy.
[10] Partnership for 21st Century Skills, “21st Century Skills, Education and Competitiveness: A Resource and Policy Guide,” p. 2, www.21stcenturyskills.org.
[11] D. E. Hecker, “Occupational Employment Projections to 2014,” Monthly Labor Review (November 2005): 80, cited in Pathways to College Network, “The Facts: Postsecondary Access and Success,” Boston: The Education Resources Institute, Inc., 2007, www.pathways@teri.org.
[12] Commission on Higher Education, Medium-Term Development Plan, 2005-2010: Responding to the Challenges of a Dynamic Environment, p. xviii.
[13] Kennedy.
[14] Partnership for 21st Century Skills, p. 8.
[15] The Task Force on the Future of American Innovation, “Measuring the Moment: Innovation, National Security, and Economic Competitiveness,” November 2006, p. 26, www.futureofinnovation.org. See also: “U.S. Slips in Attracting the World’s Best Students,” The New York Times, 21 December 2004; “China Luring Scholars to Make Universities Great,” The New York Times, 28 October 2005.


[16] Calibrated Peer Review, http://cpr.molsci.ucla.edu/.
[17] Timothy Garton Ash, “Can We Have World-class Universities as well as Social Justice in Education?” The Guardian, 29 May 2008.
[18] Quoted in Shepherd.
[19] Ibid.
[20] Shepherd.
[21] Anushka Asthana, “Oxford Targets the Poorest Postcodes,” The Observer, 17 August 2008.
[22] Ibid.
[23] Claude M. Steele, Expert report prepared for Gratz, et. al. v. Bollinger, et. al., No. 97-75321 (E.D. Mich.), “The Compelling Need for Diversity in Higher Education,” January 1999, http://www.vpcomm.umich.edu/admissions/research/expert/steele.html
[24] Vice-President for Academic Affairs A. Guevara, October 2007.
[25] William G. Bowen, Expert report prepared for Gratz, et. al. v. Bollinger, et. al., No. 97-75321 (E.D. Mich.), http://www.vpcomm.umich.edu/admissions/research/expert/bowen.html
[26] Quoted in ibid.
[27] Amanda Goodall, “The Leaders of the World’s Top 100 Universities,” International Higher Education 42 (Winter 2006), http://www.bc.edu/bc_org/avp/soe/cihe/newsletter/Number42/p3_ Goodall.htm
[28] Michel Foucault, The Order of Things: An Archaeology of the Human Sciences (New York: Random House, Inc. 1970).
[29] Michel-Rolph Trouillot, Silencing the Past: Power and the Production of History (Boston: Beacon Press, 1995), p. 82.
[30] Pierre Bourdieu, cited in ibid.

Honestly, you can just be left open-mouthed at the simplicity of idea. But before that, I would like to note some things.

First, my country, the Philippines, has this outstanding clamour that its people just go out and work abroad rather than help the country improve.


The overflowing trash...
Second, scholars have been sent out to observe and share their ideas back home to give way to improvements, comparisons and better practices.

Third, I am sharing my ideas what I see from out of Philippine territoty/bounday and I am sharing through blogging for I cannot be personally there to make it happen.

Fourth, even if I am present in the Philippines, who would hear me if I don't have money? Not a politician, not an actress and not the one who can pay people to listen to me? Now this is the problem! We cannot really tell that those scholars do not go back or did not go back! It is also possible that they are/were back in the Philippines full of enthusiams but those ideas were just sprayed with malicious preventions from those who are in power and do not want change. However, it is also possible that those scholars and abroad workers, the creams of the crops, just choose to settle away in order to avoid a lot of disappointments that are currently going on in the Philippines.


How nature and beauty is damaged by these garbages...
What I am driving here? Ideas. Yes, ideas. Ideas are many. I have seen them in my friends back in the university supported by the entre Filipino tax-payers. Yes, the Iskolars ng Bayan (The Nation's Scholars) as they say and I was/am one of these people. I have to apologize however to my countryment for I am not there to burden the sufferings you are currently encountering. Plus, I want to admit that if indeedI was there, as I was a couple of years ago, I was only a slave of a multinational organization making me work 24 hours and draining my brain and body with pleasant thoughts and energy. So what is the difference? Nothing eally much... but in my opinion, much is the difference. I can blog and share my views and really see our own short-comings as Filipinos, admit it, and make move for the change. Moreover, since the value of money here is greater when spent there, a little savings from here can help me help my feelows in need in the future back there.

Back to the "move" I was talking about on top, it actually refers to minimizing the garbage. This is not just plain criticism but I have to admit that the cities in the Philippines are dirty! And so are the provinces, though the latter is not that obvious since they are not as crowded as the cities. One reason? Plastics! Yes, even that alone can constitue a lot of garbage!


Believe it or not, this grocery trolley can contribute hugely more than we realize how much...
Here, where I currenlty stay, plastics in department stores are sold. It is actually ranging from €0.30 - €2.50 depending on the quality and style and usability and durability and a lot more factors. This means, if one just throw his/her plastic bag, another expense would be made if there is another grocery purchase. And that hurts a lot! I mean the buget and the pocket!

What I am sugesting, is, since Filipinos are very difficult to discipline in terms of garbage, why would this plastics be sold instead of being freely given? This way, Filipinos would value these plastics better and not just throw them. A move from the congress making all stores put costs in the plastic bags would be a good "preventive" move to lessen garbage. Can you imagine 90 million individuals throwing at least 1 platic per week? Isn't that disturbing? It can be seen actually during low tide how dirty the seas get and the rivers and creeks are clogged due to garbage. I saw it myself in so many places in the country!

I know what will be the reply to this: A rally of opposition from the masses... but of we think of our future and the ultimate effect, this is for our own good. If you don't want to spend for plastic bags, buy one cloth or real bag for groceries and use it for years! It is just a matter of mind set how people can make situations to their advantage and not just oppose every move for progress everytime.

You dream of a clean environment for your children? So make this happen! Support and do not oppose! Plastics if burned are dangerous and it is really a thing that do not deconspose just on time... it is a very damaging material and we need to prevent the mutiplication of this kind of garbage (or any other garbage in the Philippines for that matter).

They say don't just complain unless you have a better solution. My solutions are set out in this blog and I do hope, people and some policy makers can discover this someday and they just stop dreamy beefy amounts in their pockets and bank accounts!

Please help a clean Philippines, try at least in your part. No littering, proper waste segreaìgating and use of recycled plastics will greatly help.

As I walked the old pavements of preserved Italian edifices and structures in Milano and Torino in Italy, I have seen much of my fello Filipinos. Actually, when I tried to have a burger from McDonalds, most crews were Pinoys. The diners were also Asians and mostly Filipinos. Moreover, this fast food chain here is known to pay lesser compared to others.

I feel sad to think that most fellow countrymen I have seen are living at the minimum expense possible. It is obviously seen on how they dress, what they do or work and as I have larned, they mostly work as nannies, grape harvesters, house cleaners, among others. I have nothing against these works for I too can do these if circumstances call. These are works that feed many mouths and spoil many family members back in the Philippines. Yes! Family members who have their mother or father or brother or sister abroad are so proud and, we have to admit the fact, braggart!

I hope those who have household members in abroad would realize that their relatives or parents are not on vacation. I hope they would realize that even earning 1000 euros in Europe is just enough to live here too. I do hope they realize that a Euro is at least 60 pesos but they should also consider that a meal in Europe costs at 10 euros too! Indeed this country is rich or European countries are rich for that matter. But it is a necessity for them. To be rich means to not die here in cold and hunger for all are proportionately expensive.

To those people there who brags about their relatives abroad, think before you brag what diffculties your falilies are doing. Earning 500 euros may seem to be big for you but you have to know that 500 is only to rent a place here!

The lesson? DO not abuse the time that you have a relative out there. Take the opportunity. Study and graduate as soon as possible and be responsible yourself without relying to anyone to feed you and support your bratness!

I remembered posting an article weeks back and I was surprised by the number and intensity of responses to it. I am not going to tell what post it was but it is still in my blog here. The reason? Simply t not broadcast the name of the person who made this reaction. It did struck me badly! I thought I am the only one who think this way but I have seen that most of the young Filipinos abroad have parallel thinking as of mine.

I’ll just post it here to see the real sentiment of some persons who reacted to one of my posts. I will never edit them. If I remembered it good, there are at least two of them. I see how some of you react to it and I will be happy to see the statistics what kind of reaction comes from who and from where..

Here they go..

I totally agree with you!!! I’ve often critiqued the Filipino parents’ mentality myself.

I am a 22-year old Filipino student in Canada about to graduate from university this year and youngest of two children.

What is bugging me recently is how my mom and her partner tries to manipulate the way I think regarding the financial and social responsibilities that I should keep in mind and should fulfill even after I move out of their place.

These financial responsibilities include:
1. Letting my mom retire early.
2. Give monthly allowance to parents.
3. Help them pay off their mortgage.
4. Send my OLDER IRRESPONSIBLE sister to school and pay off her $13,000 debts.
5. Pay for my own god-damn $30,000 student loan myself.
6. Sponsor at least one relative from the Philippines to Canada.
7. Send at least one relative to university in the Philippines.
8. Take over my mom’s financial responsibility by sending monthly allowance to her siblings, my cousins and other ‘poor’ relatives back home.

I am also expected to get a $40,000 salary right after graduation, my salary must be higher than their salaries combined. My boyfriend should also be rich and not someone who is also on student loan, which is the case (my 4-year bf is also expected to finish paying her mom’s mortgage and pay for his younger brother’s school; her mom also has a partner but he doesn’t pay shit for anything because he thinks her children should do those things for her).

I don’t plan nor intend to follow any of these traditional Filipino shit. I don’t mind helping my parents with household work nor giving them expensive gifts or even money on mother’s day, birthdays and Christmas, BUT it definitely should not go as far as the ridiculous monthly allowance nor the whole paying off their mortgage thing! What the fuck will be left for my own fucking mortgage, utility bills, food, gas in addition to the cost of raising children!?!?! Do they even think of how expensive the standard of living in Toronto is?! Or how about my own plans for my future children like sending them to prestigious schools, sending them abroad to study, and paying for their undergraduate, masters and postdoctoral education!?!

I hope to end this whole typecasting of Filipinos as socially and financially-disadvantaged race in Canada who only works as nannies or who are mostly found in retail, factory, hotels, and restaurants! Invest in your children’s fucking education for fuck sake. Send your children to PRIVATE SCHOOLS. Hire a tutor if you must. Help your children with their homework. Get involved in their school activities and find out about the school curriculum to see whether it is right for your kids. Send your kids to piano lessons, valet lessons, and what not. And most importantly, don’t have more than 1 child if you know you can’t afford it!!!

Filipino parents in Canada should also stop emphasizing the GREAT OPPORTUNITIES and the HUGE INCOME that their children will get once they’ve managed to graduate in this so-called land of opportunity. Can’t we have a better conversation that is more productive like discussing school-related things and plans for further education? A discussion on current problems faced by Filipinos for instance instead of always saying that their children are so lucky to be in Canada? Clearly, ideas like these penetrate into the minds of newcomers who find themselves working as janitors, earning an hourly wage that is perhaps higher than the wage of doctors back home, and will say to themselves, “yeah, this job isn’t so bad after all.”, and next thing you know you are a 65-year old who have not really accomplished anything FOR KEEPS. There are better things than working as a janitor in Canada. Filipinos should stop comparing their income to the income of those back home, because in the first world people can earn up to $300, 000 as professionals if they would only invest their time and money on education instead of the $30-$35,000 average income that you can get as nannies, janitors, etc.
I am not saying these things to make some Filipinos feel bad or to discriminate against my own race but I am simply stating what I think is wrong with Filipinos’ mentality. So maybe instead of trying to look on the “bright” side of things by comparing your situation to the situation of those in the third world, why don’t you compare your situation to those in the first world? Look at the filthy rich Jewish lawyers and doctors for instance. Let’s stop attributing our situation to our colonial past, corrupted officials, and to the financial obligations that we have to our relatives back home, because to some extent, Filipinos invoke these things as an excuse for their failure to go beyond what they are capable of doing.

I appreciate your blog entry so much. I am glad to know that there are other Filipinos who think the way I do regarding the family structure and system of Filipinos. I hope blogs like this one are read by the many young Filipinos, especially Filipino parents.

This is another:

minsan alam nyo hindi "tulong" ang tawag dyan sa tinutukoy nyo eh, as this blog said "crab mentality" talaga. kasi minsan pag nagpapadala kami ng pera sa Pilipinas para lang i-abswelto kung ano mang' kataratuduhan ginawa ng iba naming kamag-anak don.

biruin nyo afford nga nilang mag-computer at mag-internet tapos pagdating sa sarili nila i-aasa pa sayo. ang mga taong tinutulungan ay yung mga: may kapansanan, lumpo, bulag, walang kamay at paa, na-aksidenteng tao, na-sunugan ng bahay at kung ano ano pa.

basta yung mga minalas sa buhay at hinde yung mga iresponsable at tangang tao na anak lang ng anak tapos i-aasa lang lahat sa mas masikap sa kanila. lahat naman ng nakatira sa ibang bansa ay may parehong access sa opportunity para baguhin sitwasyon nila.

pero magtataka kung bakit ang dami parin mga pilipinong kabataan ngayon sa ibang bansa na hinde nagsusumikap sa pag-aaral at pagta-trabaho. kaya tingin ko crab mentality talaga ang mostly filipino.

kapag alam kasi ng isang taong may maasahan sila, mas aasa pa sila at magpapahirap dahil alam nilang tutulungan parin sila kahit papano...at saka, kung narirealize pala ng mga pinoy sa pilipinas ang totoong hirap sa buhay, e bakit nagko-contribute parin sila sa hirap ng buhay nila? tulad nga ng pag-aanak ng madami at hinde pagsusumikap sa pag-aaral. madalas inaatupag pagba-barkada, inuman at pagso-syota.

ewan ko, masyado lang kasi tong' nakakapagtaka. ang taong alam ang totoong hirap, magpupursige dapat diba at hinde magpapahirap ng iba.

By the way,if one of these days, I cannot log here and wont be able to visit your sites upon each visit you make, simply buzz me here. When I can settle again and have a connection, I will be happy to visit your sites and read your posts or make comments. I’d love to return the effort and favor you make. Or, as I always do, I visit your blogs or sites but I am just having difficulties making a note in cbox or a comment with the mobile phone. It is very time consuming and a bit uncomfy. See you soon… Just leave a note here so it wont be lost. Because in my shoutmix, if in case many of you will leave comments, it tends to go away since I am not a premium member…Sorry for that.

As a student in the country’s subsidized university few years back, I was listening to an fm radio while I was doing my accounting worksheet assignment/homework. The dj at that moment have an opinion – related program where there is an issue at hand and listeners can share what they think about. That particular time, the question was something like the responsibility of politicians in our country, the Philippines.

As a strongly opinionated person, I immediately joined and got on air with my views. The same view I had then and now, which if I can count, it was about 5 years back! Is it really the responsibility of politicians? With the fact that they are called “POLITICIANS” and not “statesperson”, I don’t think there is a responsibility that they carry with their position. Don’t get me wrong on this, you nee to continue reading!

Who is to blame? Why is the political situation of the Philippines is very lousy and dirty? I never blame any side. Nor I do not blame any side. Sounds absurd? It is! It’s a big paradox that you need to untangle of what I mean.

First, people in the Philippines about the corruption of officials in the government. But here, I don’t put all the blame to the officials. Why? Because Filipino people are corruptible as well. Who the official would corrupt if each and every Filipino stands for the right? If one in authority asks for Php100, take the bill and slap on that person’s face! We will see what happens. When one politician retires and that politician is poor and never stole the public money the Filipino people would say, “He is so stupid! Look at him, he is still poor when the others simply enriched themselves while in power. If others keep on stealing, why he did not do the same? Poor guy!” It is in the attitude already that we Filipinos are so used being corrupted that we would likely react this way. I don’t see a big percentage of Filipino people clapping their hands for the effort of that retired politician, especially now that he is poor. Whether we admit it or not, MONEY moves the Filipino people.

Second, I don’t blame the Filipino people for putting dirty officials in the power. The voting public don’t have any better choice anyway. Whoever they vote, the same results happen. People run in election for public office and public authority with a financial gain in mind. Whoever disagrees with this note is blind and deaf of what is the situation in the Philippines. SUHOL! That is the term! Nasusuhulan ang lahat, from a child to an old man. I don’t know why. In the rallies, I often see old people, who seems ignorant of everything around them, yet they hold placards saying something. I don’t even have any idea if they have taken a look what the writings in the placards say!

For sure lots of Filipinos need education. For most the word “corruption” only refers to government officials and to the government together with people in authority. But this is not true! This is absolutely a wrong belief! The moment you give money to your child for a perfect score in school that is corruption! That child will be get used to that system and now, see what’s the nation is all about…CORRUPTED! How many parents use this practice in the Philippines? Millions, I am sure! Who is to blame then?


We are angry and felt oppressed of the government officials and people in authority when it’s in the news that they did something against our belief. But 99% of those who became politicians themselves get “dirtied”. People only clamor when they have nothing in them, no money given to them, but all have mouth shut if they are shoved with money! Look at the clamoring MNLF before… all clamors, all long to be given a representative. They had their leader put in power, and when that leader was in power, what he has done to his people? Never! All have their hidden motives, self interest and own goals. No one really stands for the real cause! All in the goal is the possibility of having money, thus, others use the organizations and the people. Who is to blame? If you let yourself be used, you are to blame as well.

Now, who is to blame? Look at yourself in the mirror before you can examine others!

Afraid to be poor? Afraid to be down? Why don't you pull your friends with you so you are not alone? Why don't you pull your neighbors down so you have companions? This is the usual understanding and explanation of a "crabness" or crab mentality. "If I cannot have it, no one must have it." When a crab doesn't want to get cooked inside a cooking pot or"kawali" or anything for cooking, they pull each other for survival or simply to get even but in the end, they all get cooked! This is the same situation in the Philippines. In short, INGGIT!

But is this really the case? The one that I see which is the biggest hindrance to the success of Filipinos is a little revision of this so called "crab mentality". It it not INGGIT per se but the "asa" thing. I do hate this concept and system in the country. I HATE IT SO MUCH! I know a lot of my readers and a lot of you may disagree but this is how I see it.

In a family where there are four children (typical of a Pinoy family), and of course, a mother and a father. The mother and father let (or force) child number 1 to study....study...study...study and make your life better. Then you will let your younger siblings study with your income. This we start with parents' irresponsibilities again. Because for me, the total welfare of the children are all the responsibilities of the parents. NOT of the other child, especially the older one.

Kuya/Ate has graduated and must spend for the other younger siblings. Also MUST give some amount to parents. While kuya/ate suffers from debts, tiredness and overtime and cannot even make even a 2% savings of her income, Nanay and Tatay are so proud of Kuya/Ate for he/she is the breadwinner now. And the younger siblings enjoy their allowance, spend here, smoke there and drink everywhere.

Kuya/Ate grow old with responsibility. At times, the younger siblings are not able to graduate because after all, kuya/ate is there to give money and provide. And kuya/ate who strived hard HAS NO WAY to improve his/her own life. Has no way to breath better, has no way to invest in his/her future. And this situation is not only one in the country...almost all. And among the four children, there is no one who becomes "better off" in life. When kuya/ate gets married, the parents feel bad. Yes, they don't have enough enjoyment of kuya/ate's remittance yet. And when Kuya/Ate starts a family, he/she must start from zero, debts, without investment and poor. And the cycle goes on and on and on and no improvement. And now we ask why majority of the Filipinos are poor? Just see at the syste, I have explained.

I can see that Filipinos can be caring and loving but all is priced with money. Only hypocrites do not admit this. Parents want their children to have rich spouse, or have better work...mostly because they are expecting something back. I hate the family system in my country. I have to tell. I hate the family system in Philippines. Where one relies to one in the family who has resources, where one of the family member has a chance to be better, the rich of the family is pulling him/her down. And the rest of the family become irresposnsible because the breadwinner is there. But overall, it is how the parents teach the children. The children are brainwashed and really feel that it is their responsibilty when in fact, it is the parents' responsibility. And if you/kuya/ate has little and save for herself/himself and just give out just enough, you/kuya/ate is already bad in the eyes of the public. THIS IS AN INJUSTICE THAT EVERYONE IN THE PHILIPPINES TOLERATES!




I do hope a law will be passed in the country that if a parent cannot make their child/children graduate in school of at least two years college, they will be imprisoned. In this way, population will be controlled and potential irresponsible parents wont F_CK simply to create a child without responsibility. I cannot tell how many of the parents in the country are irresponsible. But i can say AT LEAST seventy-five percent. This is my observation and you can comment what you have observed. You are welcome here.

To my fellow Filipinos, I hope this post finds you well. With more or less a hundred million of us in the country are you aware that the small thing that you do can be repeated a million times by other Filipinos? This is the law of multiplication and if one does this activity or action, for sure it will be done by others too and the effect is not as small as you or we might have thought. This is for all of us, but since I am already practising these things, it means now to be for YOU, Pinoys and Pinay!

First, is with our treatment of garbage. When you have the urge to throw a tinypiece of candy wrapper and you think that it is only a very little thing and will not impact the amount of garbage, I tell you that YOU ARE WRONG! It is not just a little garbage because if there are ten persons who thinklike you do, your ten little garbage put all together is not little anymore. And as I have said, we are around 100 million in philippines, what if all the rest think like you do? Philippines will be all garbage!


Second. For the men and boys of Philippines please refrain from pissing/urinating anywhere. You have no reason to pollute the country for free because the women are suffering the foul ammoniac on most walls and streets. Why are you so shamelss in doing so? This is just a little sacrifice for your country, for your fellow Filipinos and to the future generation. Aside from garbage, you add bad smell...and this is dirty as well! There are hundreds of thousand (if not millions) of you Filipino men/boys who do this shameful act!




Third: Be responsible! Not to others but to yourself. Don't allow anyone to corrupt you. Corruption in the country is anywhere. Even in the homes it exists when parents have to pay for a perfect score made by the child in school. Remember that if we planted garbage and wrong mindset, we will reap much more volume of garbage. Think of the future, do not just think of what is good for today. There is no "Bahala Na!" There is no "Mamaya Na!" and The saying that "Habang Buhay May Pag-asa". Why? People in comatose are alive... and not all of them have "pag-asa per se".

These three are so simple and yet if all do these, there will be a great impact in the country. Or even just one, the number one. Please let us make the Philippines a better place to live in and I hope in few years and in the next generation, it's still Filipinos owning the country and with freedom. Philippines is still opressed. No liberty, no freedom because of the poverty and abuse... well, cause by its inhabitants of course!

With my travels so far, only Filipino men I have seen are without shame pissing everywhere they feel like pissing! I don't really know where this habit have originated and how the country have tolerated this. To be honest, this is not only happening in the Metro manila area, nor solely in the cities but everywhere in the country.



When I was still a kid and was walking my way to school, friends and schoolmates just pee around like this is the most correct action ever! Until high school, college, university, work and until now, this pissing scene is still very active and growing!. Indeed the government has a big role in providing public toilets for everyone but this is not an alibi. Why women do not urinate just anywhere? It means that it is really the fault of men (Pinoys). If women can contain their urge to pee, why men cannot? And why are they excused to pollute the surroundings? Such a schifo!




Filipino men do not understand the meaning of respect and urbanity! I feel sad when they just blame the government for all the negative things in their lives but they do not look at the mirror and see how wrong they are even in the smallest of acts. They don't understand that with this kind of habit and attitude, they should be ashamed to ask anything from the government or from anyone. They don't even respect their own surroundins, their own country, and above all, no respect for each and every one. No respect for themselves as well because they are the ones who dirtied themeselves. If this is the case that the Filipinos don't have respect for their own race and nation, who else can respect Filipinos? NO ONE!



Aside from the polluton and garbage problems that are very rampant in the country, Filipino men's piss is another big problem. If this habit persists, there will come a time that there is no single square meter in the Philippines that does not smell of piss... Yuckkk... a real yuckkkky! Even with this sole habit, I don't think the country deserves to be better! It's people don't even respect it by pissing like dogs! Maleducated! Ignorant and a dirty act done by so many Pinoys! Have a little SHAME on yourself, MAN!



If you want to see another pissful article, see "this. You will see that I got the photos' links " here.

I have read a lot of comments on the note of the deposed President Estrada that God is punishing the country. I have seen that many commented on this issue and others go to the extent of addressing him as a crazy man. I have read the full report on this issue why Erap has said so about the country when I was browsing at the "" Inquirer Online.



As I have read, and as I was still in the Philippines when this 2001 ousting for Erap happened, I have a view of what was going on in the country. It was my first year in college back then and I have seen how his cabinet members resigned one by one. And yes, I have seen how the Catholic church have participated. I cannot blame Erap for musing his bitterness for he has point. Actually, it is not only now that the country is being punished... it has been since a long time ago! Yes, way back from the time of Marcos and so on.

I was still an unplanned child during the time of Marcos and I have never felt what the opressed Filipinos have felt back then. But yes, it was a punishment to the people and I do not understand what they have done to have it. During the time of Corazon Aquino, I was still a child all but I do not remember anything in progress for the nation that happened during her time, only her refusal of setting the Philippine debt to zero. Seeing the interest rates and interest amount of the country's debt today, Filipinos would understand how they are punished.. when the large cut from the national budget only go to he payment of the country's debt. And during the time of Ramos, yes, you are right that I was still a child but that time the only thing I can remember is his unlimited state visits! It seems to me that he used his presidency as an all time vacation and a world tour!




And during the time of Erap? This time I have a little understanding but I saw how the masses appreciated him, and I have also learned that it is not very advisable to be too close to the poor for the business (and rich) group in the country do not like this! Also, it was a punishment to have a president full of advisors who later on turned out to be advising against his power! I felt so bad for Erap how dirtied his name was and how things went on during that time on the country... how both opposing sides took people to rally for a certain cause paying them money and just look how low life poor are treated.. and yes, it was for both sides, either against or pro Erap... I felt so bad for I have felt there was no on who was PRO Philippines

And during Arroyo's time (this runs up to now), I am not anymore a child. I see the same things again. People asking her to do this to do that because it was this group of people who put her on power, these groups have supported her, this group have helped oust Erap, etc. etc! There are just unlimited wants and requests from a lot of Filipinos. Again, protest rallies are everywhere! There is no ending of all clamours and discontentment. I am not defending Arroyo because I too have seen how many scandals are going around her family and administration and I have a share of discontentment. But to complain all the time on the street without giving any solution is not my style of making my life better.

Erap is right. God is punishing the country. Because it is the country's action that made it what is it now. If it is suffering, it is because the people are corruptible. And yes, there would be no corrupt officicals if no one allows to be corrupted. Just think about it!


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