Perspectives Archives

Feb152019 No Comments

Ressa arrest a timely reminder of the value of a free press

THE ARREST of Rappler CEO and Executive Editor Maria Ressa hardly came as a shock to anyone even remotely aware of the recent issues surrounding the news website, most especially Ressa herself, who has taken a beating from both the administration and the public in the years since Duterte took office for Rappler’s critical coverage of the Duterte regime. While the government was busy scrutinizing the law in search of loopholes to get Ressa behind bars, the public gladly did Duterte’s bidding by placing her at the center of a social media persecution in which she and the start-up she founded were the usual targets of ruthless and relentless insults and often baseless accusations. While the comments and tweets might have been easy to simply ignore, the legal actions eventually taken

Jan12019 No Comments

The bane of Intramuros and Binondo

Perspectives

By KRISTELA DANIELLE S. BOO No matter what other benefits it may give, any improvement that causes harm is not an improvement at all. The Chinese government-funded construction of the bridge that will soon link Binondo and Intramuros aims to ease traffic congestion and increase commercial activity in the area. However, this development can be considered a threat to the Walled City. Heritage conservationist groups have expressed their opposition to the planned four-lane, 734-meter bridge, saying that the construction will affect the Aduana Building and the walls of Intramuros due to its old age and soft foundation, as well as the Chamber of Commerce Building and Plaza Mexico. UNESCO has also warned that the construction of the bridge may result in San Agustin Church and thr

Jan12019 No Comments

Fearing the shears

Perspectives

By DANEA PATRICIA T. VILOG ‘Tis the season for graduation photoshoots and the season that one and a half years of avoiding beauty salons have finally boiled down to. Perhaps one and a half years is a slight exaggeration, but growing a shoulder length Dora the Explorer bob into a waist length waterfall of dark locks does demand much time to pass by. I grew up disliking my hair for the problems shampoo ad models ask through the fourth wall of my television screen: dry and frizzy most of the time, split ends, hair loss, and a bald spot somewhere that I desperately hope no one ever notices. The soft spoken lady who dolled me up for the photoshoot praised me for my long hair as she curled it upon my request, but that same day, I was met with a different comment from an

Jan12019 No Comments

“Walang kwenta,” really?

Perspectives

By REYANNE LOUISSE AMPONG Last October, I turned 19 and I spent it with three of my friends in a place I never thought I would spend my birthday at: the Department of Health Treatment and Rehabilitation Center Bicutan (DOH-TRC Bicutan). We were a little bit nervous the first time we went there; almost all eyes were on us and we did not know how to act. We soon learned it was because the patients become happy every time someone visits the center because they get to see someone new. It is like a break from their everyday routine. In almost every building inside the facility, there is at least one patient who is at the door or the lobby, ready to answer queries or address needs. It made me happy how accommodating and kind they are, contrary to the stigma attached to dru

Dec302018 No Comments

Lack of candidates reflects Artlets’ apathy

Perspectives

by JULIA MARI T. ORNEDO In April 2017, elections for the new set of Central Student Council (CSC) Executive Board officers was marred by mass abstentions by the Thomasian electorate. The question that loomed immediately after the controversial elections was: have Thomasians become apathetic? Many Thomasians argued that the outcome was caused by a lack of competent and deserving candidates and not of interest from voters—a fair point, considering the shameful apologism of martial law by a candidate for vice president that made rounds on social media. Artlets, ever the articulate and outspoken, were some of the first to decry the suggestion that Thomasians had become apathetic to politics when news of the controversial CSC elections broke out. Yet, over a year on, it seems that

Dec302018 No Comments

A bigger battle

Perspectives

By CORHEINNE JOYCE B. COLENDRES All three branches of the government have become terrifying since the beginning of the current president’s rule. It is as if all Filipinos have no one left to trust, because what can the people do when the ones who they have placed in power—people who were supposed to protect them—ended up catering to their own selfish needs? The administration has countlessly used and abused the name of the Filipino people to their advantage: the drug war was said to be for our safety, the alarming connections that were initiated with China were supposedly for the betterment of the Filipino citizens. We are all being sold, threatened, and violated in our own land, and in both subtle and literal manners by the institutions who have taken an oath to protect us. W

Dec302018 No Comments

Filipino Jokes Vol. 5

Perspectives

By ALI IAN MARCELINO V. BIONG In Aristotle’s Rhetoric, he says one way a speaker can make an audience laugh is by violating their expectations in telling a story. Philosophers such as Soren Kierkegaard and Immanuel Kant later took on this approach, which is now called the Incongruity Theory: a theory saying laughter is caused by the violation of our mental patterns, by seeing the incongruous. We Filipinos may see this theory on humor transcend into our own jokes: “Anong tawag sa asong tumalon sa ilog? Aso pa rin.” “Anong tawag sa maliit na unan? Unano.” This manner of joking may earn a good laugh or two, but when a president says during a speech that he uses marijuana to cope with his “killing” meetings and duties while leading a drug war that has taken thousands of lives—r

Nov282018 No Comments

The sorry state of affairs in AB

Perspectives

By JULIA MARI T. ORNEDO THE ST. RAYMUND de Peñafort building has not aged well. Like an ailing elderly man, the 54-year-old building finds itself plagued with more and more problems every year. The toilets in the building have never known the sight of clear water; the faucets, on occasion, dispense hot water without so much as a gentle transition from lukewarm; the airconditioners in certain rooms are either defunct or their temperature is impossible to turn up without asking the tallest student in class to step on a chair; some classrooms are too small to accommodate an entire class but are cramped with chairs anyway. With the emergence of technology also came more “high tech” problems for Artlets: VGA or HDMI cables that don’t work, laptops that are a cesspool of computer vi

Nov282018 No Comments

An entity on a leash

Perspectives

By CORHEINNE JOYCE B. COLENDRES WHEN MY doctor diagnosed me with Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS), the first thought that came to my mind was: now what? At that time, I was just recovering from a recent tonsillectomy, so when the doctor told me about the news, I found it quite amusing that just after some issues in my body were recently removed, something else popped up. But it was nothing to worry about, the doctor said. PCOS is a prevalent condition among women and it could be regulated easily. The doctor briefly taught me about medications, and that was it. Figuring out the depths and crevices of this condition was left in my own hands. PCOS has three main features: it causes hormonal imbalance because of elevated levels of androgen, it triggers irregular menstruation ...

Nov282018 No Comments

“Pinoy pride”

Perspectives

By ALI IAN MARCELINO V. BIONG EVER SINCE I was a child, the word Bisaya has always been used as an insult, other than just a term referring to our Visayan brothers and sisters. As a Tagalog, I, too, am guilty of using the same term for either close-minded insults or playful teasing, neither of which changed the fact that it was used as a derogatory word and in a bigoted manner. “Ew, Bisaya ka talaga e, no!” It is as if being born Visayan is something to be ashamed about. Other than being discriminated against for their hard accents when speaking other languages or dialects, Bisaya has started to also mean “jologs” or “jejemon.” “Ano bang pormahan ‘yan, bai na bai!” We take pride whenever a Filipino achieves something abroad; we supported Jessica Sanchez in her American I