Posts tagged with KASAMA sa UP

4 comments

April 13, 2009

It’s not just a Plan B or C

A few weeks ago, my colleagues in the UP Diliman University Student Council and representatives from the College Student Councils in Diliman deliberated among each other and chose to send me as the Student Regent nominee of UP Diliman to the UP System-wide Student Regent selection tomorrow in UP Miag-ao in Iloilo.

Hay, the things I [allow myself to] get into. I don’t know how to plan my life for this year anymore. With all these present uncertainties and possibilities. I’m just very indecisive right now. I don’t know which ones to do, which to drop, which to prioritize. Let’s see what will happen.

So it’s off to Iloilo for me today for a KASAMA sa UP (Katipunan ng mga Sangguniang Mag-aaral sa UP) National Congress then for the SR Selection sessions of the General Assembly of [UP] Student Councils (GASC). See you all when I get back.

I’m pasting below a short essay I wrote after some of my law blockmates nominated me with the College of Education Student Council endorsing the nomination.

Read the rest of this entry »

5 comments

December 10, 2008

A heavy Christmas workload

This has got to be my most hectic Christmas season yet. From big campus and national campaigns to extra-curricular functions, and almost none of them related to Christmas.

This week, for example, as part of the Defend the Office of the Student Regent campaign of KASAMA sa UP (Katipunan ng mga Sangguniang Mag-aaral sa UP), we’re going to have a twelve-hour concert this Friday, right after the broad multi-sectoral mobilization in Makati against the Arroyo administration’s attempt at Charter Change.

This week is also the 12th anniversary week of STAND-UP (Student Alliance for the Advancement of Democratic Rights – UP), where starting last Saturday, we’ve been having daily activities, from an all-day road painting, to an alliance congress to a cultural night tonight to an alumni night this Saturday.

In the University Student Council, we’ve also been having our last activities and assemblies for the year. We’ve just co-launched the Cine Veritas Human Rights Festival and wrapped up Karolfest yesterday, then there’s a big University Convocation tomorrow–and that’s not all, I still have to produce our last newsletter for the year.

For the past weeks up until this coming Friday, we’ve also been having weekly events and functions in Upsilon Sigma Phi for our 90th anniversary. We had our annual car stuffing and food stuffing event last Friday.

I haven’t even mentioned the increasing pile of academic workload for this semester. And speaking of law school, my block organized a forum this Friday, about judicial integrity, then we’re also having the annual Malcolm Madness this Saturday.

Next week, there would still be preparations for the Lantern Parade, then there’d be the KASAMA sa UP NC Meet, and to cap it all off, an All UP Student Councils Assembly which promises to be a stressful and heated assembly of student councils with conflicting ideologies and interests.

So, where’s the Christmas spirit? Where are the Christmas parties? I haven’t had time for any! Masyadong maraming kailangang isipin, gawin at napakaraming problema lang talaga sa UP at sa Pilipinas. I need to cheer up, and well, gear up for another year soon.

2 comments

December 5, 2008

Defend the OSR Free Concert

0 comments

November 13, 2008

Ipaglaban ang Office of the Student Regent!

[Katipunan ng Mga Sangguniang Mag-aaral sa UP (KASAMA sa UP) statement]

Pinakamainit na pagbati, mga Iskolar ng Bayan! Nagbukas na naman ang bagong semestre at kasabay nito ang panibago na namang hamon sa ating mga Iskolar ng Bayan na harapin ang iba’t-ibang usaping kinakaharap hindi lamang ng Unibersidad ng Pilipinas kung hindi pati na rin ng buong sambayanang Pilipino. Sa harap ng kabi-kabilang isyung kinakaharap natin kagaya ng papatinding pang-ekonomiyang krisis, ang walang habas na pagtaas na presyo ng mga bilihin at matinding kahirapang hinaharap ng mamamayan, ang kabiguan ng kasalukuyang rehimeng Arroyo na tugunan ang tungkulin nito sa mamamayang Pilipino at ang pasismong hinaharap nito sa mga mamamayang lumalaban para sa ating mga demokratikong mga karapatan; ngayon, higit kailanman ang panahon upang sama-samang kumilos, mangahas at manindigan!

Ang taong ito ang nagmamarka ng pangalawang taon ng pagpapatupad ng pagtataas ng matrikula sa Unibersidad ng Pilipinas: mula sa Php 300 per unit ay naging Php 1000 per unit sa autonomous units at mula sa Php 200 per unit ay naging Php 600 naman para sa mga regional units sa kabila ng matinding pagtutol ng mga estudyante; kasama pa dito ang nakaambang taunang pagtataas ng matrikula ayon sa inflation rate. Habang napakataas ng binabayaran ng mga Iskolar ng Bayan, nanatili namang lugmok ang kalagayan ng iba’t-ibang kolehiyo sa iba’t-ibang yunit ng Unibersidad ng Pilipinas; nariyan ang pakikigamit ng mga kapwa nating mga Iskolar ng Bayan sa UP Visayas Cebu College ng mga libro sa aklatan ng ibang unibersidad sa Visayas, ang pagpapalipat ng mga estudyante sa kursong Chemical Engineering sa UP Visayas School of Technology sa UP Diliman at UP Los Banos dahil sa kakulangan ng mga pasilidad at instruktor at ang laganap na kakulangan sa mga pasilidad sa buong UP system: ito ang tunay na kalagayan ng Unibersidad ng Pilipinas.

Read the rest of this entry »

1 comments

November 1, 2008

KASAMA sa UP 28th National Congress

KASAMA sa UP 28th National Congress

I attended the 28th National Congress of KASAMA sa UP (Katipunan ng mga Sangguniang Mag-aaral sa UP) last October 27 to 27 at UP Mindanao in Mintal, Davao City. I was there primarily as Deputy Secretary General, partly as member of the UP Diliman University Student Council.

KASAMA sa UP is the broadest alliance of student councils in the University of the Philippines System, with almost thirty member student councils from all the UP units and campuses in the country, from Baguio to Mindanao.

Read the rest of this entry »

2 comments

September 29, 2008

Assessing Victories, Seizing Prospects

We have proven, time and again, that our democratic rights are not and will never be offered generously on silver platters; rather they are products of our assertions through collective and militant struggle. We have also proven that victories do not happen overnight; they are fought for intensely and tirelessly through sustained campaigns and actions.

In the midst of the heightening clamor for genuine economic reforms amidst the worsening economic crisis felt by the Filipino people, we have been steadfast in pursuing policy changes to ensure that every Filipino student is given the chance to enjoy the quality education of UP and that every UP student is given the opportunity to flourish as a true iskolar ng bayan.

Since the beginning of this semester, the campaign to reclaim students’ democratic rights, spearheaded by the UMAKSYON (Ugnayan ng Mag-aaral Laban sa Komersiyalisasyon) alliance of student councils, organizations, and individuals, has resounded increasingly in the classrooms, corridors and tambayans of our university.

As a product of the series of meetings and other consultations, UMAKSYON came up with a list of 18 student demands, which was then submitted to UP President Emerlinda Roman, through Student Regent Shahana Abdulwahid, in the July 31 Board of Regents (BOR) meeting in UP Manila. The demands included, among others:

Read the rest of this entry »

1 comments

June 4, 2008

KASAMA sa UP NC Meet in Cebu

KASAMA sa UP Nat'l Council Meet (May 23-24, '08) KASAMA sa UP Nat'l Council Meet (May 23-24, '08) KASAMA sa UP Nat'l Council Meet (May 23-24, '08) KASAMA sa UP Nat'l Council Meet (May 23-24, '08) KASAMA sa UP Nat'l Council Meet (May 23-24, '08) KASAMA sa UP Nat'l Council Meet (May 23-24, '08)

May 22-23, 2008. The NC (National Council) Meet of KASAMA sa UP (Katipunan ng mga Sangguniang Mag-aaral sa UP) was held from May 22-23, 2008 at a training center in Pit-os, a mountainous and less urban area of Cebu City.

KASAMA sa UP is the broadest alliance of student councils in the University of the Philippine system, with member college student councils and university student councils from UP Baguio, UP Pampanga, UP Diliman, UP Manila, UP Losa Baños, UP Visayas and UP Mindanao.

KASAMA sa UP Nat'l Council Meet (May 23-24, '08) KASAMA sa UP Nat'l Council Meet (May 23-24, '08) KASAMA sa UP Nat'l Council Meet (May 23-24, '08) KASAMA sa UP Nat'l Council Meet (May 23-24, '08) KASAMA sa UP Nat'l Council Meet (May 23-24, '08) KASAMA sa UP Nat'l Council Meet (May 23-24, '08)

The delegates first converged at the UP Cebu College campus morning of May 22 before proceeding to Pit-os on hired jeepneys. Since I wasn’t previously aware of the program, I was surprised that the venue wasn’t at UP Cebu itself. Instead the NC meet, as I’ve mentioned, was held at a training center in Cebu City’s Pit-os area, which was more or less half an hour from the city center.

Read the rest of this entry »

5 comments

May 25, 2008

Barely a leisure trip to Cebu (Part I)

May 20, 2008. I flew to Cebu last Tuesday night for a KASAMA sa UP (Katipunan ng mga Sangguniang Mag-aaral sa UP) meeting in UP Cebu. The meeting wasn’t until Thursday, but I flew in a few days ahead to able to catch up on however little rest and recreation I could squeeze in my free time. I had wanted to go about it by myself, book a hotel room for two nights and do anything I desired in Cebu City.

I told my mom that I could take care of myself, but she insisted that I stayed with a family friend of ours, whose family is actually one of the old-rich political families in Cebu. Yes, even the highway in Mandaue that we traversed from the airport to Cebu City was named after my host’s father. The long bridge we crossed form Mactan to Mandaue was named after my host’s cousin. They’re not active in politics now, though. This is the same family of my mother’s close college friend, whose father’s death and death anniversary were the reasons why we were in Cebu City a couple of times in the past two years.

Read the rest of this entry »