8 U.P. Newsletter
October 2012
Letter to the Editor On COMELEC’s screening of partylists May I share my official statement (and contribution) to one of the pressing concerns today—that of COMELEC’s cleaning of the list of qualified partylists for the coming 2013 elections. We just signed our agreement with COMELEC and I believe that UP should join in the discourse regarding the partylist system, the groups involved, and the politics of representing the marginalized. I hope that you will find this useful for our upcoming monthly UP Newsletter.
Balitang Unyon Mga bagong URC-CMO hinirang na
Ang eleksyon ng mga kinatawan ng unyon (Union Representative CommitteeURC) sa hanay ng mga empleyado ng Campus Maintenance Office ay idinaos sa Diliman Community Affairs Complex noong Nobyembre 12. Sa kasalukuyan, 84 empleyado ng CMO ang aktibong miyembro ng unyon. Ang naganap na eleksyon ay para sa
Samahang Manininda launches enterprise development project Stephanie S. Cabigao
A UPSIO file photo of Student Regent Arguelles
Reclaiming Genuine Representation Since the fall of the Marcos dictatorship, we have always been proud of our dramatic transition to democracy. Decades after, we’ve witnessed how this democracy has turned into a joke, with the halls of Congress restricted to the rich and landed elites co-opted by foreign and business interests. Genuine people concerns such as agrarian reform, job creation, social services, and economic development have been sidelined in the name of the interests of the few. As a concession, and in recognition of the failure of the Congress to be representative of the people’s interests, the party-list system was introduced to secure a few seats for the representatives of the marginalized and underrepresented—almost 99% of the population. But this too has easily been bastardized and co-opted by the ruling elite. With partylist representatives coming from the same dynasties that have dominated Philippine politics for the past decades to government-funded and backed partylists, they have robbed what is left to the voiceless, silenced, and oppressed in the present social system. The recent case of Akbayan Citizen Action Party fits into this picture. With Aquino government appointees as representatives, policies kowtowing to foreign and feudal interests, and its members dominating government agencies, how can one not tell that this is another case of political opportunism and patronage? Even the partylist system has not been safe from our traditional politicians who have always dominated Philippine politics. Let it not be said that UP, especially the students and its Office of the Student Regent, have been silent and blind in these times of heightened hypocrisy and treachery to the Filipino people.
In the Service of the Students and the People, Cleve Kevin Robert V. Arguelles Student Regent, University of the Philippines System Mobile#: +639277334302 Telephone#: 9818500 loc 4511 Email: clevearguelles@post.upm.edu.ph Office: Office of the Student Regent, Vinzons Hall Basement, UP Diliman, Quezon City
Signature Campaign
Samantala, iniikot naman sa bawat yunit ng kampus gaya nang naganap na eleksyon ng kinatawan ng unyon sa CMO ang petisyon para sa agarang promosyon sa serbisyo ng mga guro, REPS at kawani ng UP. Layunin nito ang mabigyang impormasyon ang mga empleyado ng UP ukol sa nasabing isyu at makakalap na rin ng lagda na magpapakita ng suporta sa panawagang ito. We Urge the UP Administration to Call for Immediate Merit Promotion of the UP Faculty, REPS and Administrative Staff Now WHEREAS, the Department of Budget and Management is poised to implement the National Payroll System in which budget releases would match the actual salaries of government employees; WHEREAS, the faculty members and other employees of the University of the Philippines are occupying slack items which are now still within the authority of the UP administration (According to the available data, in UP Los Baños alone these slacks are worth above 300M); WHEREAS, there has been no call for promotions since 2010; WHEREAS, the University has already set criteria for merit promotions that were implemented during the last round of promotions; Continued on page 9
help UP create a community that is both nurturing and enabling through a waste audit and management program. Flores also praised the project for strengthening and “unionizing” the organization. Such initiatives, she said, are significant in fostering responsibility and unity among UP and non-UP sectors and bringing a dignifying effect into these units.
Photo courtesy of Narry F. Hernandez
In the following days, the challenge for us is to reclaim genuine representation. Elections can be our first step, but we must not stop there. It is not elections that create political monsters but our present social system that continues to breed political opportunism a la Akbayan and political dynasties a la Angara, Enrile, and Aquino. Reclaiming genuine representation means working inside and outside, serving as the people’s voice in the halls of Congress and in the streets, educating people in the cities and in the mountains, and being agents of change in our schools, workplaces, homes and anywhere possible. I joined a petition by Archbishop Oscar Cruz, BAYAN Secretary General Nato Reyes and other sectoral leaders to disqualify Akbayan Citizen Action Party from running in the 2013 elections. Thank you.
Various government agencies showed their suppor t for the Community Enterprise Development Project initiated by the Samahang Manininda sa UP Campus (SMUPC) Diliman launched last October 16. At the launch held at the University Hotel, officials and members of the SMUPC were present along with representatives of agencies involved: UP Diliman, UP Diliman Task Force on Solid Waste Management, Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), the Quezon City Local Government Unit (QC LGU), Department of Environment and Natural Resources- Environment Management Bureau (DENR-EMB), Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), and Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA). The project aims to develop an enterprise for the vendors in the Diliman campus that integrates into their livelihood the recycling of the large volume of waste or post-consumer products such as used plastic bottles. A materials recovery facility (MRF) will be granted to the project through the support of the UP Diliman Task Force on Solid Waste Management. In an inter view, current SMUPC president Edna Sinoy said that the project will add value to their livelihood and create a network of beneficiaries as well as contribute to efforts in saving the environment. DENR-EMB OIC Director Juan Miguel Cuna said the project is in line with DENR’s community efforts which include inter-agency and mutli-sectoral campaigns addressing waste segregation. DTI Area-3 Provincial Director Ma. Gracia Soler offered skills training by DTI for SMUPC members on materials recovery. Vice-Chancellor for Community Affairs Melania Flores expressed UPD’s gratitude to SMUPC for the project that would
paghirang ng mga bagong kinatawan ng unyon mula sa Administrative Personnel Division (APD), Ground Service and Arboretum Division (GSAD) at Building Maintenance Division (BMD) ng CMO. Ayon sa opisyal na bilang ng mg a itatalagang kinatawan sa bawat dibisyon ay magkakaroon lamang ng isang kinatawan mula sa APD at dalawa naman para sa BMD at GSAD. Si John Paulo Gonzales ang nahalal na kinatawan ng APD, habang si Rufo Bengco at Marciano Bondoc naman ang mga nahalal na kinatawan ng GSAD. Ang mga nahalal para sa BMD ay si Virgilio Guevarra na nagtamo ng anim na boto kasama sina Eduardo Barawed, Alfredo Olorvida at Dennis Pucyutan na pawang nagtamo ng patas na limang boto. Ang mga bagong nahalal na mga kinatawan ng unyon ay magsisilbi sa loob ng tatlong taon base sa nakatakdang batas ng konstitusyon.
Community enterprise development project contract signing: (from left) PESO representatives Edelyn de Castro and Carlo Magno, DENR-EMB OIC Director Atty, Juan Miguel T. Cuna, TESDA-QC OIC District Director Pena G. Medina, DTI-NCR OIC Area 3 Provincial Director Ma. Gracia R. Soler, DOLE-NCR Assistant Regional Director Nelson Jornilla, QC-LGU representative Marlyn S. Siapno