(Article) "Like so many na ng Burgis in UP"

Like so many na ng Burgis in UP

By Andrew Estacio Having heard “Iskolar ng Bayan” gave me a wonderful impression that UP was the best university for the poor yet brightest Filipino youth. I thought UP education catered those who were born without silver spoons in their mouths, those who had less in life. Before, I expected tuition fee was not a problem for I was lucky to be in the Iskolar ng Bayan roster. And so the picture of me, with all the penniless youth who had dreams to attain quality education, was all I had in mind before entering the gates of UP. Wearing my old lousy shirt and Beachwalk slippers, I felt comfortable to walk along the road surrounded with intellectual beings. As I went further, I could not help but trigger my stereotypical mind. ‘Nah, UP students were neater and somehow elite than I looked! Most ladies flaunted their glossy shoulder bags and bracelets, with matching perky blouses and rainbowed leggings. Some men felt suited with highly fashioned polo-shirts, tailored shorts, and their mainstream Top Sider shoes. While me, dressed up like a peasant, was wandering in an elite kingdom with people, eventually transitioning to a new culture.

Day by day, I saw people wearing different facades. Still, I could not get rid of my judgmental thoughts, easily concluding who were rich and who were unfortunate. But with a show of student becoming flamboyant on their looks, fortunate ones were indeed dominant.

Aside from such a faulty hypothesis, I remember an upperclassman telling me that during his early days, UP students used to wear simple clothing as if commoners living in grassroot life.

But now, everyone has gradually changed, maybe because modernism infests the current culture.

There came a moment when I had an encounter with a bilingual who seemed problematic.

“Do I look like maganda sa DSLR? I’m gonna be using it kasi.” With that said, one could perceive how she tried to clash two languages to build up another stereotype on me—conyo. In the Filipino context, English is considered “language of the learned”; a reason why it is used to raise social class and status. Some students would prefer to say “how much po rito, ate?” rather than “magkano po rito?” Maybe their rich upbringing was too much exposed in the foreign setting or conyo schools or parents trained them talk bizarrely.

Oftentimes, I observed some Iskolar ng Bayan, looking meek and simple at first. You would thought she was a farmer’s son, but it would turn out that her family owns hectares of lands.

Some looked like bracketed under D or E1, yet they could still show off their touch-screen cellphones, laptops, and ample allowance for a week. Many can easily afford an Espresso in Café Ella, Bonitos restaurant for a lunch, KFC for snacks. Many have their own bank accounts and they can withdraw money from ATM regularly. Some enjoy the conduciveness of expensive dorms and apartments and even withstand the 1,500 tuition per unit. Surprisingly, lavish cars owned by students are now an issue on the increasing number of rich kids in the university.

Observably, most students have the financial capacity to survive the high-cost of living in UP. The poorest in the society do not attain this privilege that easy. One has to plan for daily allowances, tuition, dorm fees, and other miscellaneous expenses; that is difficult for a son of a farmer.

Being one of the most expensive universities in the Philippines, no doubt that UP is a university for the rich and fortunate. Being born under the lower class, I always witness how the wealthy bourgeois frown upon us. “Iww, like so mabaho d’yan sa farm. I hate carabaos pa naman and dirty farmers.” “Ang cheap mo. Sulyaw na naman if there is McDo and GoBalds for breakfast.” “What?! You have an old Nokia phone? Disgusting. Well, I got Iphone 6!” They do not say these words explicitly but a poor would always have a feeling that the higher class are superior to antagonize the lower class and bash with “you’re so mahirap talaga!”

There is this concept in my mind that the elite oppress those under their feet. History gives us the picture of landlords and gentries, enslaving the working class and disenfranchising the proletariat. The rich and the poor; this binary opposition is in rivalry within the society. They antagonize each other because of economic capacity and power differences; that is why oppression is inevitable. This mindset gives me an image of people, looking at me from head to toe with rolling eyes, and they would judge in their minds: “you’re so mahirap talaga!”

But to hastily judge classes is wrong, and it is not about their separation we are dealing with.

In UP, the problem deals with the education’s accessibility. UP has become a university for the rich because its portals are permeable for those who can survive skyrocketed tuition fee, dorm fee, exorbitant fees, and a year-long need for high allowance. The system has closed its doors to those who are underprivileged to afford UP education. This is a reason that manifests in the increasing number of higher brackets, while the lowest bracket catered only less than ten percent of the student population; a reason why a student committed suicide because her economic status does not satisfy UP’s demand.

The elite also mandate the strict permeability of education and with that now, they antagonize and disregard people who are incapable to enter UP. Education that is accessible for all is overlooked. With this system, benefits will centralize to the rich and the poor will be secluded in dust. Hence, the system makes the triangle, causing the gap and separation [P].