I’m sorry I haven’t been updating a lot lately. It’s summer break, I know, but there seems to be an endless string of tasks for me. Whenever I have the time late at night to sit down and write, I get frustrated with the list of blog-backlog that I have to catch up on, I end up just sleeping altogether or do something else.

Being the head of the University Student Council‘s (USC) main public information office can be toxic. It’s inspiring and amusing, everyone’s so fired up and eager to do well in their respective committees. Ang dami-dami na naming ginagawa–all of which I need to report, of course. It doesn’t help that the students and the country are facing a number of issues and campaigns this summer, hence the need for a USC that’s active in its campaigns and services even before our term formally begins in June. I seriously need to recruit volunteers to help me. Especially because I don’t think I’d have all the time in the world once I formally start studying at the College of Law. If you wish to lend me a hand as a volunteer, just email me.

Back to the graduation chronicles. After a hearty lunch and a brief rest time at home, the family and I went back to UP Diliman for the university graduation rites. It was in the middle of the afternoon. The graduates, well, everyone actually, had to sit under the torrid heat of the summer afternoon sun. It was quite an uncomfortable ordeal.

We, the graduating students of the University of the Philippines, are united in our call to hold accountable President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo for her grave crimes against the people. As Iskolars ng Bayan, we are determined in upholding our historic and traditional roles as the nation’s scholars, inherently burdened with the duty of enjoining and taking part in our countrymen’s struggle in defending and upholding our democratic rights and interests.

Oddly, in the middle of the four-hour program, dark scary clouds hovered over the open-air ampitheater. Fortunately, it didn’t rain. That was such a welcome relief from the heat of the sun.

We, the youth of our country, have consistently been betrayed by the present leadership who has continuously implemented policies that has further made education and opportunity inaccessible to many Filipino youths.

We are firm in our resistance of attempts by the present administration with its vast propaganda machine to manipulate the youth’s collective consciousness to render us pessimistic and resigned to a prevailing leadership that continuously deceives the youth with empty promises.

The reading of the honors’ roll got quite monotonous. There were more than 800 honor students out of the four thousand graduates. Each laude-honor students’ name was called and awarded a medal.

I was a little disappointed with the valedictory speech delivered by one of the summa cum laude graduates of the batch. There was a line there which simply echoed the administration and the establishment’s demonizing propaganda against militants. She said something like the militancy of some UP students waste taxpayer’s money. What an insult to UP’s history and traditions. In fairness to her, she did remind the graduates to ‘serve the people’, though I didn’t quite get how. All I remember are the sad attempts at romanticizing poverty and scholarship.

Speaking of militancy, if you’ve seen the news a few nights ago, you’ve probably seen or heard about the lighting protest some students at the Polytechnic University of the Philippines (PUP) staged at their graduation rites while Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita was speaking as the guest of honor. We had a similar lightning protest at our graduation, towards the end of the program.

Here’s a video taken by a friend’s friend, that documented the lightning protest that we did.

Here are the pictures that appeared in some news sites.

While people were secretly planning the protest, I was asked if I wanted to mass-lead, meaning do the rally speech with the megaphone. I begged off, partly because I didn’t feel confident enough. I did, though, draft a manifesto with things that I would say in case no one else was willing to speak and I would have been be compelled to mass-lead.

We are firm in our belief in the power of the youth to fight for social change. We are firm in our belief in the power of the Filipino people to determine our future. We are determined to take part in our people’s struggle to oust President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.