Today's CAROLINIAN - November 2016 Newsletter

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November 2016 | Vol. 4 No. 3

Photo via USC Supreme Student Council

USC-SSC Forms Constitutional Convention Zarah Majam The University of San Carlos - Supreme Student Council (SSC), through its ad hoc Committee on Constitutional Review and Reform (CCRR), created and organized the SSC Constitutional Convention (ConCon) in order to review and revise the 2001 SSC Constitution. The Constitutional Convention aims to edit and clarify any indiscretions of the current constitution and one of its goals is to attain a draft of the Constitution by the end of the academic year.

The second session was held last Nov. 11, 2016 at the SSC Downtown Campus office for the election of the permanent officers, who are are as follows: Mar Louie Vincent Reyes as chairman, Jodimarie Tio as vice chairman, Beatrice Mel and Resdale Venz Palabrica as secretaries, Denise Albarina as treasurer, Earnest Buzon as auditor, and Honey Babe Tagalog as sergeant at arms.

The delegates of the Constitutional Convention consist of representatives from the seven collegiate councils; International Students sector; political parties STAND, SPP, and Tingog; USC -COMELEC; Today’s Carolinian; Conglomeration of Student Organizations (CSO) and the SSC.

The ConCon is comprised of the Committee on Principles and Objectives; Committee on Membership; Committee on Rights, Duties and Suffrage; Committee on SSC Council Reform; Committee on Student Judiciary; Committee on Collegiate Councils; Committee on Constitutional Convention; and Committee on Amendments and Transitory Provisions.

The ConCon held its first session at the Damayan Hall, Downtown Campus last Oct. 1, 2016 to discuss about the objectives, the rules and the policies of the ConCon and to form its committees. Interim officers were also elected to organize the next session.

The new Constitution will be finished before the end of the academic year. A referendum will be organized to let the students vote on its ratification, which will happen also before the end of the academic year. TC

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Today’s CAROLINIAN

NEWS

NOVEMBER 2016 | Vol. 4 No. 3

USC Warriors Fails to Defend CESAFI Basketball Throne Jet Mangubat A year has passed since the USC Warriors made history by defeating the UV Green Lancers, thus ending their 57-year championship drought. To defend their title for the upcoming CESAFI season, they once again faced the Green Lancers in a rematch of last year’s matchup.

However, the USC Warriors lost to the UV Green Lancers, who are once again champions of the CESAFI collegiate basketball tournament after clinching their 11th title with a Game 4 victory, with the score of 66-53. This is the first time that the series ended in Game 4 since 2010.

In Game 3, the Warriors’ collective efforts in both defense and offense forced the Green Lancers to commit a lot of turnovers that helped USC survive a game that was going the Lancers’ way in the final 93 seconds. The Warriors were so determined as they scored the final seven points of the game that gave USC the lead for good.

The USC Warriors avoided a sweep by winning Game 3, 56-54. Despite winning Game 3, UV still held a 2-1 lead in the best-of-5 series.

“The players really wanted it. I just told them to stay in the moment, keep their calm and to stay together. I am very happy that they delivered,” said the jubilant Rasmo after the match.

In Game 4, with the score of 42-43, the Green Lancers suddenly broke away with a 10-0 blast that bridged the third and fourth periods to pull in front, 52-43. They led by as many as 11 and kept their distance the rest of the way to earn the victory and close out the best-of-five series, 3-1.

UV head coach Gary Cortes said that he feels blessed to have won a CESAFI title in just his second year of coaching.

“Blessed kay gihatag dayon sa Ginoo sa ako ni nga title, hasta sad ang first runner-up title last year. I am proud of it,” he said. TC

Photo by June Kirsllie Escudero

USA, Russia Dispute over Hacked E-Mails Reanne Go and Von Daniel Plasencia The Obama administration pointed its finger at Russia for the alleged hacked emails from within 2016 presidential nominee Hilary Clinton’s campaign, including “The Podesta E-Mails,” a series on deals involving her campaign chairman, John Podesta, which appeared on websites such as DC Leaks and Wiki Leaks.

The administration was convinced that the computers of the Democratic National Committee and other political organizations were hacked by Russia’s most senior officials.

“These thefts and disclosures are intended to interfere with the U.S. election process,” the spokesperson of the U.S. Intelligence Committee stated.

Senior Democratic and Republican lawmakers embraced the public finger pointing with open arms, expecting the administration to make its move.

“Moscow orchestrated these acts because Vladimir Putin believes Soviet-style aggression is worth it. The United States must upend Putin’s calculus with a strong, diplomatic, political, and economic response,” said

Sen. Ben Sasse, a member of the Homeland Security Committee.

However, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov denied the accusations, saying they lacked proof. Dmitri Peskov, Putin’s secretary, retaliated by saying that Putin’s site also gets attacked; yet, they do not accuse the White House of having involvement.

Moscow has also taken steps that troubled the West by publicly raising the possible use of nuclear weapons, and leaving a nuclear security pact.

The friction between the two countries led Mikhail Gorbachev, the last leader of the Soviet Union, to call for a renewal of dialogue and deescalation.

“This needs to stop. We need to renew dialogue,” he commented.

It’s unlikely that the tensions will recede anytime soon, with the possibility of a growing dynamic slowly developing at a time when communication between the two has dwindled.

TC

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NEWS

Today’s CAROLINIAN

Police van rams protesters outside US Embassy

Trump Triumphs

Kaye Diamos

Janzyl Go and Joshua Uy

Dispersal of anti-American protesters outside the US Embassy in Manila last Oct. 19, 2016 ended in violence as a police van rammed into the crowd, resulting in injuries to several protesters after being hit by the vehicle.

The police claimed that these protesters were tolerated, even though they did not have the proper permits to conduct the protest. When the protest started to get too near to the US Embassy building, the police took action and the dispersal started.

The protesters and police clashed as the former threw bottles, paint balls and rocks while the latter retaliated by using tear gas and eventually driving the van through the crowd, injuring people in the process and leaving at least one man stuck under the wheels.

According to Chief Superintendent Oscar Albayalde, head of the National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO), the protesters were not supposed to be rammed; the driver was attempting to free the van as the protesters were attempting to flip the vehicle over.

The police, meanwhile, claimed that 32 civil disturbance management cops had been injured with their uniforms smeared with red paint.

However, Jerome Aba, the national spokesman of Suara Bangsamoro, a leftist group that represents the indigenous people in the Philippines said that, “We condemn in the strongest possible terms the violent dispersal of the protest here at the US Embassy which was led by our fellow Moro and Indigenous Peoples.” He continued to say that the protest served to highlight the continued domination of the US in the country.

In the end, PO3 Franklin Kho, the cop driver of the van was placed under custody of the NCRPO, nine cops were relieved from office including Senior Superintendent Marcelino Pedrozo, whom the witnesses heard issuing the dispersal order, and 21 protesters were arrested and will be charged with cases of direct assault and illegal assembly. TC

Rumors of Abu Sayyaf in Cebu Debunked Joen Jacob Ramas After receiving reports that six members of the Jihadist terror group Abu Sayyaf were spotted in Cebu, the Police Regional Office – Central Visayas (PRO-7) alerted the people on possible terrorist attacks in the region on Monday, October 24, 2016. However, Regional Intelligence Division 7 Chief Julian Entoma said that the alleged presence of the group in the province is false on Tuesday, October 25, 2016.

According to Entoma, the group reportedly came to Cebu, led by sub-commander Al Habsi Misaya to “abduct prominent personalities” although terror threats in malls, hotels, restaurants and other major establishments may also happen.

The initial reports were proven wrong upon validation of a report that yielded negative results of the presence of the group in the province.

The Islamic Propagation Society of Cebu has previously said that they have seen new faces among their ranks, none of which were

part of the Jihadist terror group as these were businessmen.

Additionally, a 17-year-old female information and communications technology student from a state university in Argao apologized on Tuesday, November 8, for posting false information about the presence of Abu Sayyaf in Barangay Ocaña, Carcar City.

The student said in a Facebook post that the bus that they were riding had been barred from passing through Barangay Ocaña by alleged Abu Sayyaf members. The student admitted to the police and university authorities that the Facebook post was false after its origin was traced to her by Argao police. She also apologized to the Carcar City government and the bus liner she rode on for the misleading information.

The PRO-7 are still calling on the public not to be complacent and to be vigilant at all times.

Anything suspicious and hearsays regarding alleged presence of Abu Sayyaf are to be reported immediately. TC

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Republican party presidential nominee Donald Trump was declared as the 45th President of the United States of America after Democrat Hillary Clinton conceded last November 9, 2016.

Despite Clinton’s victory of the popular vote by nearly 59.6 million compared to Trump’s 59.4 million, Trump took 279 electoral votes over Clinton’s 2281.

Trump’s winning campaign created traction with his slogan, “Make America Great Again,” which promised drastic changes to the country’s administration. One of his most popular promises was regarding immigration and illegal settlers.

He proposed a 2,000-mile wall along the US-Mexico border as part of his immigration reform plan as well as a proposal to refuse all Muslims from entering the US in response to the December 2015 San Bernandino attacks. In June after the Orlando shooting, he announced his plan to suspend immigration “from areas of the world where there is a proven history of terrorism against the United States, Europe or [their] allies2.”

Although Trump previously named the Philippines as a terrorist nation3, he has not made any statement regarding immigration with the Philippines. President Duterte claims that the PH-U.S. relationship will remain as is4 if not improve5. The U.S. troops are also expected to focus more on the ISIS threat in Trump’s administration instead of continuing the pivot they made to Asia which Duterte opposed. Among Asian voters, a New America Media Poll places Filipinos with the highest support for Trump.

That said, Trump also warned about imposing taxes on U.S. companies that outsource jobs abroad6. Economist Jun Trinidad claims that this could lose around $2 billion in the Philippines’ business processing outsource industry7.

The Republican is set to replace Pres. Barack Obama in Washington, D.C. on Friday, Jan. 20, 2017. TC http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/730660/US-election2016-results-Donald-Trump-electoral-votes-Hillary-Clinton 2 http://www.cnbc.com/2016/06/13/trump-if-elected-ill-banimmigration-from-areas-with-terrorism-ties.html 3 http://www.rappler.com/move-ph/balikbayan/142112-trumpimmigrants-pose-hidden-threat 4 http://cnnphilippines.com/news/2016/11/11/Duterte-PH-USrelations-remain-as-is-with-Trump.html 5 http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/730610/Philippinespresident-Duterte-vows-better-US-relations-Donald-Trump 6 http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/588154/money/ economy/trump-presidency-to-hit-phl-bpo-industryeconomists 7 http://business.inquirer.net/218668/trump-win-a-threat-tobpo-industry 1

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MAIN OPINION

Today’s CAROLINIAN

NOVEMBER 2016 | Vol. 4 No. 3

ISMISery 2.0

Illustration by Zachary Borromeo Without a doubt, the University of San Carlos is considered premier among the educational institutions in Cebu. Perhaps, one can consider himself proud to be honed holistically and academically by the quality education, service and facilities the university offers.

Yet what is another thing that can make one be proud to call himself a Carolinian?

It’s the endurance he has built within himself to withstand USC’s enrollment process.

The university’s Integrated School Management Information System — ISMIS, as it is famously called — has given us students the convenience of online access to student information, such as our financial assessments, our grades, our class schedules and others.

It has also provided us the ability to enroll ourselves online, but while it has given the convenience of enrollment in the comforts of our homes, it has also given us the stress of dealing with the lapses of the system, like its inability to open in strict accordance to the enrollment schedule and to handle a huge amount of user traffic.

One day, redemption in the form of ISMIS

2.0 was introduced, and Carolinians reacted with both excitement and apprehension. Either way, we hoped this would solve our ISMIS woes.

It didn’t.

For one, the new version was released a few days before enrollment. Even when pilot tests were conducted in selected departments beforehand, a lot of issues were still encountered in the website during the official release. For one, paying the down-payment for the next semester was shockingly required before our final grades during the past semester could be viewed, but even when we had suffered the long lines at the teller just to do so, no single record of a grade could be seen.

Matters were worse during the enrollment period, where we dealt excruciatingly with further delays — with not being able to enroll even when our grades were already complete and passing, being blocked when we are not supposed to be blocked, subjects and schedules not reflecting on the site’s enrollment module, and so much more. Yet what frustrated us more is the usual problems remained the same — the site continued to be slow (or worse, inaccessible) in the midst of huge traffic.

Some of us had to go to school just to be able to access the site, which totally defeated the purpose of online enrollment.

In the end, the new version paved way to, ironically, what some of us dubbed as the worst enrollment period yet, which then paved way to, of course, the uproar in social media that had magnified a bunch of times worse than what was usual.

It was a wrong move to release ISMIS 2.0, when it was glaringly half-baked, at a time that a whole lot of users will be using it and a whole lot of procedures will be compromised, but we cannot do much about that now. At the time of writing, the site has been accessible and wellpaced for most of us students, with a few more bugs yet to be fixed. By the time of publication and, for heaven’s sake, the next enrollment period, we can only hope that ISMIS 2.0 will be hassle-free.

We are, after all, the premier university of the south, with quality education, service and facilities to offer. We cannot expect everything to be perfect, of course, but with all the inconvenience we suffer that never gets resolved, we do indeed deserve better. TC

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OPINION

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I Refuse to Acknowledge Marcos as a Hero It was announced last Nov. 8 that the Supreme Court has made the decision that Ferdinand Marcos shall be given a “hero’s” burial at the Libingan ng mga Bayani. My ability to retweet and react with the angry emoticon can only go so far, but suffice to say, I am with anyone who has reacted with rage towards this decision.

Zarah Louise Majam

Giving Marcos a burial worthy of a hero’s is disrespectful and unjustifiable, given the long list of his crimes. It is a pathetic movement that hopes to cover up the damage that he has done

to this country.

To witness this decision now is heartbreaking, and even more so to be told to simply “move on” as if the martial law was a tiny road bump in the past. I refuse to move on from the people who have been tortured and killed under the Marcos’ regime. I refuse to move on from the fact that up to this day, not one in Marcos’ family acknowledges the destruction their family has done, and I surely refuse to move on from the fact that Marcos’s sad excuse of a grandson reduced the pain

of the victims of the martial law to a peace sign emoji on Twitter.

We cannot just label Marcos as an instantaneous hero simply because he is buried in a cemetery filled with people worthy of that title. I fear for the future of this country, as well as the opportunity of progress.

Have we reduced ourselves into a nation that fails to give justice to the people who have fought and died for the rights that we take for granted now? TC

Thoughts on Criticism Whenever we create something, no matter how personal it is, we should be prepared for others to opine whether or not it is to our liking. This is not necessarily a bad thing.

As creators, we need to welcome and listen to helpful feedback. Criticism is an invaluable tool to enhance our craft.

Ynaro San Juan

Though quality criticism hones a creator’s art, one should never forget that not all feedback and criticism are of quality. Appreciation may cause a feeling of proudness, but appreciative comments that do not explore the dimensions of the art are possibly the most unconstructive we can receive.

Let us consider professors discussing our strengths in their subjects against those who merely tell us we’re brilliant. Whose comments hold more weight? Not all praise is equal indeed.

Similarly, not all critics are equal in their dispensing of criticism. It falls upon the artist to differentiate the constructive from the unconstructive. The critic being a colleague does not necessarily mean his opinion will be helpful. A bad artist can be a valid critic while a good artist, a poor one.

Any good critic worth his salt has a few goals in mind, and the most important of these goals is

to help us become better than we were one draft ago, as long as we take the criticism to heart. It can be specially upsetting, but we should not simply toss advice away. We fall so that we may learn to get up.

Whether we like or hate their feedback, critics are crucial in the fields of creation.

We are our own worst proofreaders; by nature, we are too close to our work to see it objectively. We need a good critic, one who generously takes time out of their day to analyze and criticize our works, in a bid to help us improve. TC

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Today’s CAROLINIAN

OPINION

NOVEMBER 2016 | Vol. 4 No. 3

Making Change Great Again

Paolo Perez

A presidential candidate’s path to victory, paved by tempting promises and braggadocio, was met every step of the way by voices concerned that it could be the deciding blow in a nation already fractured along the lines of race, sex and economic class. Amongst his many faux pas were jokes aimed at the disabled, vague answers to questions regarding his economic plans, and the resurfacing of old footage exhibiting a cavalier, almost proud attitude towards sexual assault. However, none of this seemed to matter to his supporters, who saw him as a champion of the common man and an end to the nepotism

and corruption that career politicians would bring to office.

Now, am I talking about Donald Trump or Rodrigo Duterte?

More importantly, do their attitudes truly betray them as little more than puffedup, overconfident bullies?

We are several months into Duterte’s term, and camps both condemning and lauding his every move are still locked in an endless firefight that is only stoked with every controversial headline.

One can only imagine what the conversation will look like when Trump is handed his seat in the Oval Office, and with it one of the highest seats of

power on the planet.

In spite of all the division, though, our presidents are only men, elected by people who hold faith in them. When the dust clears, there will still be room for hope, optimism, and above all, action.

Bills and amendments are not the only way to make change happen and voices heard.

The sun will come up, and the world will spin. Let us greet it not by lamenting who we elect, but by channeling the best of those we vote for. Not out of pity nor pride, but because we believe in them. TC

The “Under-explained” Death Eyebrows were raised when the death of Albuera Mayor Rolando Espinosa, Sr. reached the public’s ears. He, along with a fellow inmate Raul Yap, was killed during a shooting incident with the PNP’s Criminal Investigation and Detection Group Region 8 (CIDG-8) in the Baybay Provincial Jail.

Mikhailah Rañada

The shooting was allegedly prompted by Espinosa and Yap’s resistance to the CIDG, who were there to serve a search warrant.

Someone should tell the PNP that the “drug criminal outrightly defied authority” excuse is overused.

Using the 0.38 pistol found in his cell, how much of a fight could Espinosa have

put off against a group of armed policemen to justify the bullets found in his corpse? The bullet that went through his body and the head wound he sustained?

The autopsy result that said he might have been shot while lying down can mean two things: He might have been shot while asleep; ergo, any resistance to the “search” was not asserted.

Or he might have been shot again while dead or wounded on the floor, which would have been completely unnecessary if these men were only there to search him for weapons and drugs. Sadly, the truth would not be known until

the hard drive with the video of what transpired during the incident is found.

Is it true that the operatives were truly there to serve a search warrant? Or were they there to murder a possible witness against narcopolitics?

Without Espinosa’s testimony, the accusations involving powerful government officials and private individuals written in his affidavit would have no influence in court.

The PNP has to investigate this case further and do so promptly. The people’s trust in the integrity of our police force cannot die with Mayor Espinosa. TC

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FEATURE

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Photograph by Garel Sison

Traffic man gud, Ma’am Janzyl Mae Go

“Sikit-sikiti lang! Unom pa ni kabuok!”

It is late and the jeepney is packed, but the barker is still hallucinating free space to squeeze more people into. The driver hears this and continues to stop for any person who flags the jeepney down. Inside this makeshift sardine can, we curse these many stops for making us even later for class.

Outside, traffic directs itself around our jeepney, creating a bottleneck in the left and middle lanes and navigating past double parking vehicles and jay-walking pedestrians.

Suddenly, we hear a screech, a thud and a second of silence before everything is drowned out by screams of angry men pushing the blame against each other.

We immediately picture a motorcycle.

It’s always those guys. They are always way too confident on the road, carelessly weaving in between traffic. Then again, it might also be those reckless jeepney

drivers who speed when they can. We never bothered to look though for we might risk getting too intimate with our seatmates.

Why are we always surrounded by terrible drivers? We ask ourselves this as the jeepney picks up at a snail’s pace. Ideally, the bad drivers should have been kept off of the road. Drivers are supposed to go through hoops and bounds to acquire a license. However in reality, only a thousand pesos stands between us and the next car accident.

“Why are there so many vehicles in this city anyway?” we grumbled as we caught a glimpse of the cramped scene outside.

Our city is small. There is no reason for so many individuals to have their own private cars. Some people should get off their high Fords and join the rest of us in jeepneys.

We know that we are being unreasonable.

The number of private vehicles is not the problem but proper traffic management is.

The jeepney stops once again at a glaring ‘No Stopping’ sign. We sighed in defeat.

All of us are victims of our culture’s need

for immediate satisfaction and comfort. We are all too impatient to wait for the jeepney stops to alight. We can’t be bothered to walk to the pedestrian overpass or to the zebra crossing. We can’t wait for the light to turn green so we cross when we can and the yellow light sometimes tell us it is time to speed up. Most of all, we are officially late.

“Traffic man gud, ma’am.”

Naturally, we blame the public transportation system. If only people followed through with traffic laws then we might have made it on time, but the penalties for traffic violations can only be raised by so much. Politicians may create or amend as many traffic codes as they want but as long as there is a great demand for jeepneys to stop where it is convenient for passengers, then there will be a supply.

Besides, every day is a race against time toward our destination and the road is paved with hurdles. TC

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Today’s CAROLINIAN

FEATURE

NOVEMBER 2016 | Vol. 4 No. 3

Looking Back on the First Semester Joshua Cesar Uy Photographs by Jessa Pedrola, Keith Ayuman, Angelo Nico Daroy, Shekinah Danong, Kay Conales (Contributor) We greet stress as an old friend as the new semester slowly opens its doors. Tons of paper work will soon pile up as we head closer to the end of this academic year.

While our minds are still roaming around our stress hiatus, let us recall some of the more unforgettable moments during the past semester.

The academic year opened with the launching of the Week of Welcome, an activity spearheaded by the USC Supreme Student Council that empowered and mobilized the university’s student organizations to demonstrate their mission and vision for the academic year. The SSC also organized the USC OrSem, a freshmen orientation seminar which exposed students to Carolinian student life through forums, campus tour and affinity party.

The USC Days is another highlight of the first semester, where the hissing snakes of the School of Architecture, Fine Arts and Designs dominated the Anselmo Bustos Complex as they bagged the championship for this year’s pop jazz and

cheer dance competitions. The week-long festivity ended with the Student’s Night that showcased the diverse Carolinian talents – GADJA. Carolinians learned a lot outside the four walls of the classroom, too. The much-awaited annual Carolinian Summit was there to enhance the leadership skills of Carolinian leaders with this year’s theme “Think Global, Engage Local”.

TEDxUSC: Why Not?, meanwhile, gave us five speakers instilling us with different ideas worth spreading in Cebu.

On a sober note, a silent protest against extrajudicial killings and violation of basic human rights was participated by political science majors and faculty last July.

The Silent Student Mobilization against “Cardboard Justice” was a collaborative student movement of the Carolinian Political Science Society, Dean of the School of Law and Governance and Chair of the Department of Political Science. This bold move against current societal issues garnered both ire and support across social

media platforms.

Last semester also saw the many triumphs of Carolinians in different competitions.

The USC-JPIA bagged back-to-back champion during the Accounting Quiz Bowl and was proclaimed National Hall of Fame for dominating National Federation of Junior Philippine Institute of Accountants.

The USC-SBE was included in the top 5 in region for the Bank of the Philippine Islands Sinag Youth Business Competition.

The Carolinian Economic Society placed second in Public Policy Competition.

Lastly, the USC Department of Hospitality Management bagged overall champions for Cebu Goes Culinary 2016.

With the events that transpired, this semester will surely have a lot of good things in store for us. As a series of challenges await, we must channel our determination toward what we do. If the stress gives us hell still, then let us continue to keep the fire burning. TC

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FEATURE

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Today’s CAROLINIAN

FEATURE

NOVEMBER 2016 | Vol. 4 No. 3

The New Philippine Foreign Policy

By Laura Posadas Illustration by Justine Patrice Bacareza A new Philippine foreign policy has taken its place as President Duterte declared that he was breaking the Philippines’ military and economic alliance with the United States 1 during his visit to China. This mighty shift to a more independent foreign policy effectively means less reliance on America 2 and more dependence on China. 3 This brings a stir of commotion to the Filipino nation because aren’t we heavily dependent on the United States? And weren’t we in conflict with China just a few months ago when they described the UN tribunal ruling on the West Philippine Sea “null and void”?

The Philippines and the United States have long been best friends — a friendship that has been built on a foundation of treaties namely, the 1951 Mutual Defense Treaty and the 1998 Visiting Forces Agreement. Moreover, the Philippines is still heavily dependent on the U.S., especially in the defense realm 4 . The United States is its biggest foreign direct investor, second major source of official development assistance, and key source and conduit for remittances for Filipino workers, which still contributes around one-tenth of the country’s gross domestic product 5. How can we separate from them?

Much of this separation is very much rooted in Duterte’s grievance about the U.S. colonial legacy in the Philippines and let’s face it – his current frustration with Washington which is partly due to the criticisms he got from how he was addressing illegal drugs and crime in the Philippines 6, outgoing U.S. ambassador Philip Goldberg’s comments that were directed against him during his campaign and the unfair treatment he has received from the Obama administration. 7

With less reliance to the western superpower, the Philippines now largely depends on Asia’s hegemon when it comes to economic matters 8, since China has been our largest trading partner too. Also, Duterte’s goal when he visited China was to befriend it first. His visit did not involve the maritime dispute; rather, it only involved the economic and business deals forged in Beijing.9 More importantly, China is ready to help the Philippines with the latter’s problems on drugs.10 Nonetheless, the Department of Foreign Affairs defines the government’s “independent foreign policy” as one characterized by balance. According to DFA spokesperson Charles Jose, an “independent foreign policy” means that the Philippines is no longer subject to outside pressure and interference.11 Furthermore, Foreign Affairs Secretary Perfecto Yasay clarified that “separation” from the U.S. means separation from the economic and defense dependence of the past.12 It is only freeing itself from America’s tight grip on many of its affairs. Also, according to Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez, separation from the U.S. is a positive move towards restrengthening ties with Asian neighbours that open deeper commitments in enhancing economic, trade and investment ties, and reaffirming our vision of regional economic integration.

Whatever the Duterte administration is trying to achieve, we must bear in mind that it is still, though, an evolving foreign policy – one that had been crafted for only five months. Although, we must also bear in mind that our foreign policy must in no position be pro-American nor pro-China, but one that protects and champions the interest of the Filipino people. TC

1 http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/585803/news/nation/duterte-declares-break-from-us-in-military-economics 2 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/richard-javad-heydarian/will-duterte-overhaul-phi_b_11577870.html 3 http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/585803/news/nation/duterte-declares-break-from-us-in-military-economics 4 http://thediplomat.com/2016/10/will-duterte-end-the-us-philippine-military-alliance/ 5 http://thediplomat.com/2016/10/the-limits-of-dutertes-us-china-rebalance/ 6 http://www.forbes.com/sites/ralphjennings/2016/11/13/philippine-presidents-real-foreign-policy-goal/#4746988960b0 7 http://thediplomat.com/2016/10/will-duterte-end-the-us-philippine-military-alliance/ 8 http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/585803/news/nation/duterte-declares-break-from-us-in-military-economics 9 http://cnnphilippines.com/news/2016/10/24/ph-us-foreign-policy-separation.html 10 http://www.philstar.com/headlines/2016/07/19/1604474/china-ready-help-philippines-war-drugs 11 http://cnnphilippines.com/news/2016/09/15/department-of-foreign-affairs-independent-foreign-policy-balance.html 12 http://business.inquirer.net/217120/what-does-separation-from-us-mean-to-ph

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LITERARY

SOME ADDICTS DIE A SAINT Kyn Noel Pestaño Illustration by RK Tiu

The way I write down things I believe to be holy, you’d think I’ve somehow seen God after swallowing enough of what I swallow — for a lifetime, for less, for another day more, if I’m unlucky.

Sometime, somewhere, someone, some other life I’d like to think I’ll have, I am happy and not in a stranger’s bed yearning for home. I am in my own room, content with a weaker cup of coffee and a nonexistent prescription list. Perhaps in that other life, the midnight moon will not be such a loyal lover.

Sometime, somewhere, someone, some other house I could freely call home, I’ll have a family that sees this puzzle for what it is and not for the pieces that it cannot fit. In that house I am free to sink without drowning, or make light without burning. In that home I am someone unafraid of the spaces that my bed does not occupy, or the patches in my skin where other people have touched. I am free in that house, somewhere, sometime, someone else.

The way I write down things I believe to be true, you’d think I’ve somehow touched God. In the way I smile at strangers and laugh at everything I once cried for, you’ll think me lucky. How happy he must feel to touch something and know that it will stay.

And perhaps that is why prescription and illusion rhymes.

Sometime, somewhere, someone, some other figure inside the bathroom mirror, I’ll have enough reasons to unswallow an overdose. I’ll be outside and I’ll be walking, smiling at strangers without the need for an anti-depressant’s lightning.

And perhaps the sun will be a better lover then.

Right now, right here, I and the figure inside the bathroom mirror stares at each other and tries to see who can blink the most in a second. Blink, they never loved me. Blink, I wish they did. Blink, tomorrow they will.

Blink. Blink. Close.

TC

Today’s CAROLINIAN

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Today’s CAROLINIAN

“THE MIRACLE” The Prince of Egypt

Illustration by Jon Ahmed Durano

LITERARY

NOVEMBER 2016 | Vol. 4 No. 3

“Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God.” Romans 8:8 Let me tell you about the miracle. Did you ever wonder whether it would be feasible to be able to plug or maybe transfer our “consciousness” into say, the internet? Theoretically living in our own worlds guided by our own individual laws, where we create as we please, a personal website of sorts, but actually world of our own. Essentially becoming gods. Where our simulations create simulations and it all just trickles down or floats up further to an infinity of different realities.

In the same manner, we’ve created video games with exponential expansion through its popularity and refining, we may have been created as such by a God who will scrutinize over every little detail, but one who knows that eventually everything as a whole system will lead to “heaven” with nothing and no one really left behind. Perhaps, technology evolves alongside with God, or rather, God evolves alongside with technology.

But I’m getting ahead of myself here. Let’s wind the clocks back. In 2015, nearly 96 of a 100 people owned a cell phone. A decade after, the same could be said about computers. Five more years pass and the internet became fully globalized and was given out completely gratis. During this time, technology and innovation accelerated at a tremendous pace, and soon enough mankind reached a second renaissance. Before long, every single phone, radio, computer, car, airplane, building, social network and every single system out there was connected to the internet. The whole world was brought together as one in a way that had never been done before.

The irony of this is that as the world became more connected online, offline people started to disconnect from one another. Young men and women from all over the world began to feel a strange sense of discontentedness with their lives in the real world. People began to shut their hearts, minds and themselves away from society, content to hole up in their houses and apartments all day long to engross themselves in technological distractions and unrealities. Real human interaction has become a rarity at this point.

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The world in the early forties saw a steep decline in human population. Less people were getting married, and even less were having children. The crisis of overpopulation had been shoved aside for the crisis of infertility. I don’t know the scientific reasons behind all that, but I’m pretty sure that spending nearly 24 hours a day in front of a glowing monitor for years can’t possibly be good for your baby-making parts. More silver linings: Traffic congestion has become a distant memory, now that no one drives anymore and everything, automated. The problem of drug abuse has also been virtually eliminated, as people have traded in cocaine for computers, one addiction for another.

Forgive me for my rambling, we should get back to the main point. Let’s talk about the miracle. Let’s talk about virtual reality or VR for short. VR has been around since the early years of the 20th century. Well that’s not entirely right; the technology started during the 1920s, but really, virtual reality traces its roots back all the way to the illusionary artworks and 360-view murals of the first renaissance. From there, the technology took a step forward in 1929 with the world’s first flight simulator, then the Sensorama of the 50s, the head mounted display of the 60s, the interactive map of the 70s, and the Oculus Rift of the early 21st century.

It wasn’t till 2030 when the revolutionary neuro-scan technology was developed, implemented and, within a decade, perfected.

The power to generate a completely identical copy of the human brain and to store its consciousness, personality and memories as virtual data sounds like the miracle I’ve been going on about, doesn’t it? Except it isn’t. Not completely. No, the miracle I’m talking about is the integration of neuro-scan technology with the latest and most advanced VR sims.

With a neuro-scan headset wired on to a user with a data copy of the user’s brain, one could generate through his conscious and subconscious desires a virtual reality of his choosing, projected into his own VR headsets.

You could be anyone, anytime, anywhere in the world, within and without, limited only to your own imagination. A Sherpa on the snow-capped alps. An astronaut walking on the surface of mars. A hero on a quest to save a princess. The leader of the free world. The God of the new world.

This is the true miracle: Mankind invented reincarnation, or at the very least, a close runner-up.

When people began to stop playing around, they started indulging in their own private fantasies. Frustrated workers could create and kill over and over again that one boss that they hated. Students, feeling pressured by their exams and peers, could virtually replicate, shoot up and blow up a realistic recreation of their school as many times as they desired. After that, it was a downward

LITERARY

slope. It wasn’t long before people figured out the most popular function of the VR neuroscan headsets. I am of course, talking about the sex. Any sort of sick sexual desire was game, no matter how debased, so long as you could think it, you could fuck it.

Moral guardians cried out against this usage of the neuro-scanners and were quickly silenced. Any talk of implementing laws to shut down any such behavior was abandoned and forgotten. People began to realize that, after all, what laws could chastise a person for killing and raping something that technically does not exist? It would be your mind, your world, your dream. There aren’t laws dictating what you can and can’t dream, what you can and can’t feel or what you can and can’t think.

Ironically, this violent use of the VR sims actually served society for the better. Crime rates actually started dropping like a stone since everyone had an outlet to take out all their aggression on. Teenagers and the sexually repressed could release all their pentup emotional and sexual energy into their own personal virtual reality porno. This was the golden era of the second renaissance.

It wasn’t long before the adrenaline died out and the violence had become dull. All the wild, virtual sex had become boring and monotonous. People went full circle and began generating sims of themselves in the perfect world. While the conscious mind cannot truly place what the perfect world really is, the subconscious definitely can.

Worlds where you found love and success.

One where you took that leap of faith. Where you didn’t give. Where dad never died. Worlds without regret. Without pain.

Today’s CAROLINIAN

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of the world would be like to him, he would tell you that the world’s death would come in the form of a nuclear missile or a mushroom cloud at ground zero of an atom bomb attack.

The world’s about to end for real, and it’s all due to an entire generation of depressed kids obsessed with escapism, too busy to breed or even give a damn. If humanity isn’t the cosmic butt joke of the universe, then I don’t know what is.

Anyways, I think it’s about time I wrap this up. I don’t know to whom I’m writing this to or why. Closure maybe? I could be the only one left in the offline world or not, I don’t know. I haven’t seen a human face-to-face in years. There’s a meme circulating around the various social networks. No, not one of those crappy captioned images like back in the 10s. Instead, an idea that’s rapidly gaining momentum on the net. This’ll sort of tie in with the question I asked in the beginning.

People are “plugging” themselves into their computers and “uploading” their brains onto the web. Not their neuro-scans, their actual brains. Freaky. I’ve just looked over the process and it looks extremely unsafe. I have no idea if this will even work, or if I’ll just end up committing suicide in the most bizarre of ways, but I’m going to do it.

Maybe it’s better if I end up dying doing this. I haven’t felt any real happiness in a long time.

I spent all day yesterday in sim and it seems like my neuro-scan copy of myself is having a fulfilling life in the VR. I suppose it’s better this way. This way at least I know that one iteration of myself has found happiness. It’s crazy how far it’s gone. How humanity has lost so much of its touch with reality.

No.

A dark mind develops from a lack of fostering of the light side of the mind because of circumstance and such, yet a world where you can truly be your own, you’d never really want to delve into the dark side. Why would you? Those are feelings that make people fall into depression and wish to end their lives in hopes of something better. Like the concepts of God and Satan, where God is a mind with what you want and have for the better, and Satan, simply a mind that is all the opposite of what you want and have for the worse.

I guess this is where the renaissance of technology ended and the dissatisfaction of reality set in. Why trudge on with the hell of real life when the garden of Eden is but a push of a button away? People shut themselves away from the world in order to hide in virtual enclaves on the net where they may lose themselves in dream. Eventually, everybody just stopped seeing each other. Everybody just stopped breeding. Everybody stopped living, or at least, lost sight of what it means to be truly alive. Everyone lost their grip on reality in order to latch on to a better one.

It’s sort of funny in a harsh, bitter kind of way.

If you would ask my grandfather what the end

We were never in touch with reality to begin with. Sitting down, typing this all out, I’ve come to realize a few things. What is reality?

There are 9 billion realities because there are 9 billion humans. Everything is upside down in our world. Schizophrenics are worshipped as prophets. Murderers are worshipped as war heroes. Spirit is nothing; matter is everything.

Matter dominates spirit; thus, everyone wants to obtain it. Greed, hatred, treachery, cruelty, narcissism are virtues we praise because they bring us closer to obtaining more matter.

Other people are not the fosterers and nurtures of our souls. They are the destroyers of our souls, because they foster exactly these toxic qualities that dominate like greed and hatred.

There is no objective reality. Everything is relative. You make up your own reality, make up your own beliefs. Think for yourself. That’s the epiphany I’ve reached, at least. Everything outside of you is not real. Everything inside of you is real. Understand that, and you understand the miracle.

TC

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COMICS

Today’s CAROLINIAN

NOVEMBER 2016 | Vol. 4 No. 3

MEAN, MEDIAN, RAGE! NI ZACH Instruction: Help Mrs. Imelda bring the coffin to Libingan ng mga Bayani by drawing a line quickly as you can. Try not to bump into the sides with your pen.

“Time to Enroll!”

ISMIS Things

by Eduard

HOROSCOPE ARIES

CANCER

LIBRA

CAPRICORN

Kanus-a ka last nitan-aw sa samin?

Kung pirmi ni nimong gibuhat, hunong na sugod karong buwana. Kaduha pa nga pagpanamin nimo, siguradong mabuta ka kay mabuak na gyud ang samin ug malagpot sa imong mga mata. Kaloy-i ang samin, dili na niya kaya.

Kabantay kas atong panahon run?

Diba sige og uwan unya dag-om kaayu?

Mao na’y mabati nimo gyud kay makit-an nimo si crush nga mas ha-it pa ug kilay kaysa sa imoha nga parehas kanipis sa nagnihit nga yellow pad. Hilak na lang pero ayaw pasobrahi kay basin ug ma-erase pud na imong kilay nga dinrawing. Sayang imong usa ka oras ganinang buntag.

I see what you cannot see. I see that you’re getting better sa imong mga klase. Ikaw na gyud! Gamay na lang ang kulang para di na magmahay imong mga ginikanan nga gianak ka nila. Pero ang kapait lang, sobra pa sa patis kaparat muhatag ug grado imohang teacher sa major. Sige lang, ma-flat one nimo ang ReEd bisan ug di pa ka kamemorize sa bag-o nga I Believe in God.

Opportunities only knock once so “take it“ – tag-Php200.00 ra karon sa Ayala Cinema.

Palita na samtang single pa si crush. Ayaw’g kahadlok mabasted kay dili ra siya ang muapas nimo ron! Magkauyab mo, and people will start coming to you for advice, kung unsaon pagmaster ang pagpangilad.

Ayaw’g katawa diha kay magabaan imong midterm grade.

Lucky Color: Patay nga Kuko Black

Lucky Color: Hugaw sa Ilong Green

Lucky Color: Egg Waffle Orange

Lucky Color: Yellow Pad Green

TAURUS

LEO

Ayaw nag palabi ug gasto gasto kay maglisod gyud ka sa gastohonon run. Apan ayaw lang pud ug hilak kay daghan man kag friends nga hilig sad manglibre. Ayaw lang ug expect nga kada adlaw nalang pud, kauwaw lang sa mga ginikanan nila nga tag-iya sa ilang gipanghambog nga car.

Ayaw ug lingi sa likod kay mabali imong liog. Kung mangopya man ka, mata lang ang palihoka. Look straight ahead, ayaw ug lingi sa Leo.

SCORPIO Wala ka’y future.

Lucky Color: Christian Grey

Lucky Color: Bayo-ok Purple

Lucky Color: Chris Brown

AQUARIUS “Never let anyone hinder you from the depths of the Jupiter’s sunrise makes chocolate pancakes the one who made the first photograph singing hymns on the top of the Jansport bag is nothing imperfect is claiming the throwback Thursday.”

Ing-ani ka wala’y klaro imong pagskwela ron.

Buhaton nimo ang tanan para makasabot pero hagbong gihapon ka sa exam.

Lucky Color: Just Give Me A Reason by P!nk

GEMINI

VIRGO

SAGITTARIUS

PISCES

You constantly seek for a change of pace, but ingnan lang tika da-an ha? STOP! I know na change is good pero karun ayaw lang sa.

Stick to what you know and develop it. Ayaw pagpinariha sa ISMIS 2.0, aw.

Ang imong grado karung semester kay patay gyud. Double time gyud ta ani unless ganahan gyud ka makig-dungan sa mga senior high.

Magka-manghod ka karong buwana. Angay ka makulbaan kay imong manghod ang musuyop sa tanang swerteng nabilin sa imong kinabuhi. Asta imong Mongol No. 2 nga pangshade sa answer sheet, mabali tunga sa exam. Imong grado sa major karon, 3.1.

Magkapahak ka sa ulo tungod sa sige nimo ug kalot. Duha ra ang rason ani - gikaspa ka o wala lang gyud ka’y matubag sa oral exam.

Lucky Color: Error 500 Red

Lucky Color: Kandila White (Para sa imong grado)

Lucky Color: Samok nga Revisions Red

Lucky Color: Aloe Vera Green

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PHOTO OF THE MONTH

Today’s CAROLINIAN

PHOTO OF THE MONTH

Photograph by Garel Sison

Don't let the past steal your present. This is the message of Christmas: We are never alone.

- Taylor Caldwell

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Today’s CAROLINIAN

NOVEMBER 2016 | Vol. 4 No. 3