The keywords of my presentation are youth, good governance, and sustainable human development. The thesis is easy to formulate: The youth have a significant role to perform in promoting good governance in the country to achieve sustainable human development. But how do we concretely realize this mission? How do we effectively tap the youth’s vast potential to bring reforms in our country? Let’s discuss the keywords first.

Youth

The Philippines has a very young population; the youth sector comprises about one-third of the population. If we will include children, almost half of the country can be considered young. How young is this generation? Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile was already 73 years old when our teenagers today were born in 1997.

A big youth population is good for the economy since we can benefit from the talent, skills, energy, and idealism of young people. In short, young people are our human resources, our human capital. But certain conditions exist in order to maximize the potential of the youth. First, young people must be given adequate education and training. Second, their other basic rights are fulfilled like health, leisure time, and participation in societal affairs. Third, they must have access to decent jobs and opportunities for career growth. And fourth, they must be encouraged and given the freedom to lead in various organizations and institutions. I must add that the right of young people to dissent, to criticize, must be respected. Recently, the UN declared internet access as a human right. Are your human rights being violated?

What are the characteristics of today’s generation? Many of you can be called ‘Arroyo Babies.’ You grew up in the decade dominated by this politician, former President now Congresswoman, and Veteran Hospital’s most famous patient, Gloria Arroyo. You are also called ‘Digital Natives’ since IT almost became mainstream during your formative years. My generation sang ‘Ibon man may layang lumipad’ in Edsa while you on the other hand are playing with the angry birds.

To leave the country as OFWs is still the popular option of many young Filipinos. The BPO sector, meanwhile, continues to attract more young workers. Contractualization is accepted as a standard business practice instead of viewing it as an affront on human dignity. There are two career choices which seem to be anathema to young people: one is to work in the farms (students prefer Farmville over real rice fields) and second is either to be a politician or to be active in politics.

Good Governance

I can understand why many young people turn their backs on politics. Who would want to be associated with trapos, warlords, and other dark characters of Philippine politics? But if we will abandon politics, the government will be dominated forever by political dynasties. And why should we reduce political participation into electoral politics? We can still take an active role in politics without necessarily becoming politicians.

Good governance these days is defined by identifying the negative behavior of political leaders. It’s often invoked to battle corruption, abuse of power, and inefficient delivery of services. During my student days, Marcos was the supreme evil symbol for bad governance. Then Estrada came in 1998 and while he was no Marcos, he was ousted from power in our pursuit of good governance. Today, it’s clear that Arroyo is the preferred target of our righteous indignation. The Corona impeachment must be viewed as part of the demand to make Arroyo accountable for her many sins against the people.

Good governance is often discussed separately from people power which I think is wrong. The first term usually refers to the behavior of public officials while the latter is invoked during great political moments. But good governance and people power are directly related. We can successfully achieve good governance through people power. Politicians must not be given the exclusive right to enforce good governance since they can distort or dilute its substantial meaning. Magiging business transaction, accommodation, wheeling-dealing, horse-trading ang mangyayari kapag sila lang ang lalaban. We, the people, the boss, must reclaim our leadership in this battle.

On the other hand, the failure or refusal to empower the grassroots, the rejection of people power politics, must be condemned as a violation of the principles of good governance. How can you preach good governance while depriving the people of their right to take a greater role in the country’s political affairs?

Transparency is the buzzword today and it’s often cited as an effective approach to promote good governance. Thus the campaign for the swift passage of a Freedom of Information law. Young people are also being asked to join the transparency bandwagon by reminding them to engage our leaders and agencies through the aggressive use of social media networks. It’s convenient because the tools are already available, internet use is on the rise, and virtual collectives can be organized in support of a campaign (think of #itsmorefuninthephilippines).

Last year, netizens demonstrated how public officials can be humiliated if they are less honest about their work. DPWH officials learned it through the photoshopped way. But there are other tools we can develop to expose bad governance like maps, videos, and the ubiquitous use of twitter hashtags.

The transparency campaign must be sustained and it must be pursued even if the FOI bill becomes a law. Why? Because we have numerous anti-corruption programs and laws yet we still have one of the most corrupt regimes in the world. Corruption is the best Public-Private Partnership showcase in the country.

From Quirino’s Integrity Board, Magsaysay’s Presidential Complaints and Action Committee, Garcia’s Presidential Committee on Administrative Performance Efficiency, Macapagal’s Presidential Anti-Graft Committee, Marcos’ Complaints and Investigation Office, Aquino’s Presidential Commission on Good Government, Ramos’ Presidential Commission Against Graft and Corruption, Estrada’s Inter-agency Anti-Graft Coordinating Council to Arroyo’s Presidential Anti-Graft Commission – we don’t have a shortage of anti-corruption initiatives in the past half-century. Should I mention too the anti-corruption laws that are still in effect today?

So yes, pass the FOI bill. Release the SALN of Corona and other officials. But let’s not stop with that. Good governance requires that we must be vigilant and aggressive in demanding the implementation of our laws and programs. When was the last time you wrote to your public officials?

‘It’s the economy, student’

Aquino said ‘Kung walang corrupt, walang mahirap.’ It’s simplistic but it made him a winner in the polls. It’s a catchy and impressive slogan but it doesn’t mean we have to believe it. Last week, Arroyo the professor published an essay entitled ‘It’s the economy, student’ to criticize the weak leadership of his successor. In the essay, Arroyo ridiculed Aquino’s anti-corruption slogan: “It is in poverty that we find the material roots of the problem of corruption – because the political system based on patronage–and ultimately, corruption to support patronage–is made possible only by the large gap between the rich and the poor. This will persist until and unless we enlarge the economic pie.”

Arroyo made some valid points in the essay especially about the need to expand the economy. Unfortunately, she should be the last person to lecture us about inclusive economic growth. Yes, GDP numbers improved during her watch but it didn’t lead to equitable growth. The rich became richer while the poor became poorer despite losing their kidneys.

If Aquino doesn’t want the ‘boss’ to be busabos, he must reverse the policies of his predecessor. Unfortunately, he is even expanding the bad legacies of Arroyo like the misnamed conditional cash transfer, foreign debt accumulation, and labor export.

Indeed, the economic fundamentals seemed sound during the time of Arroyo but quality of life deteriorated in the country. Lesson: economic numbers are rendered meaningless by the continuing poverty in the country. But this is no longer a new conclusion. In fact, the Philippines is supportive of innovative international campaigns to combat poverty like the Millennium Development Goals 2015. There is already consensus that the broad human development framework must be adopted if we want our people to escape the inter-generational poverty curse.

So why are we still poor despite the recent tweaking of poverty statistics by our so-called poverty experts? Again, the answer is no longer a mystery since we already knew that the problem is structural. Poverty persists because the system is designed to benefit the privileged few.

This is precisely the reason why the rise of global ‘occupy’ movements in 2011 was welcomed as an inspiring development for those who dream of a better world. The ‘occupy’ protests questioned the system sustained by greed and obscene hoarding of wealth by a cabal of corporations and evil geniuses on one hand, and the pauperized conditions of workers on the other. The ‘occupy’ message is applicable in the Philippines and it should replace the condescending attitude of blaming the ‘lazy poor’ for their destitute conditions.

End of the (old) world

The answer to bad governance is people power. The alternative to poverty is human development. The youth who will inherit this society must decisively act now if they want a more prosperous and peaceful future. Most likely the world will not end in 2012 but for the majority who are excluded from enjoying the wealth of nations, life is nearly synonymous with death.

We need young people who will fight the old system of exploitation, oppression, and injustice. Fortunately, we have the militant example of young people who made a big impact in our history. Our republic was founded by young visionaries like Rizal, Bonifacio, Aguinaldo, and Jacinto; young revolutionaries fought the Spanish, American, and Japanese colonizers; our modern martyrs were students and young workers who defied Martial Law. We ousted Marcos and Estrada. We rejected the US Bases Treaty in 1991.

The promise of the new government is daang matuwid. Our task is to ensure that this new road will be open for all and not only for hacenderos and Porsche owners. Change should not be dictated to us; we should put forward our agenda of genuine change. Otherwise, we will only witness some cosmetic changes in the country.

It’s not enough that we merely absorb and accept the daily dose of information offered to us by mainstream media. Empowering the people requires that they are armed with correct information and a comprehensive understanding of our societal problems. We are in a unique position to perform the task of spreading and sharing relevant information to our various social networks. For example, we should aim to explain the relationship of good governance and sustainable human development, environment protection, and people empowerment. Yes, illegal logging is to blame for the floods in north Mindanao. But what about legal logging, legal mining, and other destructive practices sanctioned by the state?

I recognize that many of you are afraid, reluctant, and even doubt the power of young people participating in advocacy movements. We were told that joining or even supporting causes is dangerous, ineffective, and obsolete. But if we will examine our recent history, some of the most dramatic political episodes which made a huge impact in the country were direct actions and struggles of our people. Besides, do we want to inhabit a world where political engagement is limited to adding causes on Facebook, signing online petitions, and organizing virtual rallies? I can assure you that Filipino politicians are not afraid of online activism because 1) they don’t read; 2) they don’t manage their social media accounts; 3) you don’t vote in their districts and cities. But let’s replicate the outstanding practice of Arab Spring activists who have effectively combined online and offline activism to express their democratic demands.

While researching on employment issues, I stumbled upon an article written by a young American who defends the idea of working as a community organizer. He recalls this conversation he had with his mother. His mother asked him this: “You’re a bright young man. You went to college, didn’t you? I just cannot understand why a bright young man like you would go to college, get that degree and become a community organizer.”

His mother added: “’Cause the pay is low, the hours is long, and don’t nobody appreciate you.”

What was the reply of the son? He said: “It needs to be done, and not enough folks are doing it.”

Who is this young graduate who decided to become a community organizer right after college? His name is Barack Obama and he is now the president of the United States.

American poet Samuel Ullman explained how people grow old. “Youth means a temperamental predominance of courage over timidity of the appetite, for adventure over the love of ease. This often exists in a man of sixty more than a body of twenty. Nobody grows old merely by a number of years. We grow old by deserting our ideals.”

My fellow youth, stay young, dream big for our nation, be brave and fight the oppressors. We are young and we should dedicate the best years of our life in the service of the poor. We should be like the angry birds. We should be like the plants fighting the zombies. Tanong sa isang commercial: Para saan ka bumabangon?

When I (first) arrived here (in 2008), people were talking only about two things: Obama and the recession. Obama promised change and the voters believed him. His victory was seen as something that would usher in a new political era. But the political euphoria immediately died down when the inconvenient truths of the economy were finally revealed. It soon became apparent that the minimum wage earners will be the most vulnerable sector if the recession worsens. Indeed, workers lost their homes while banks received bail-out funds, thousands were laid-off from work while bank executives were given fat bonuses. The American Dream became a nightmare for those who are barely surviving from paycheck to paycheck.

This was America in 2008. Three years later, it seems the situation has changed for the worse. Obama is still Obama, promising here and there about hope and change. Wall Street is still Wall Street, accumulating more fictitious wealth for the corporate shareholders at the expense of the working classes which produce the real wealth of society. Bank executives are allowed to ruin the economy through their black magic (popularly known as speculative investments) and their irresponsible behavior is ignored by the government. They hoard the money during good times but they require everybody in society to make a lot of sacrifice to help solve the financial mess they created.

During the Cold War, it was believed that if the US sneezes, the world gets a cold. It’s still true today: the virus of the US financial crisis has spread to many parts of the world.

But if there is something to cheer today, it’s the rising and visible resistance of the masses in the virtual and offline worlds. The people’s struggles are intensifying. The birds are even angry, the plants are fighting the zombies, and the fighting collectives are multiplying.

What is the role of Filipino migrants in this global counterstrike against the exploitative financial and economic system whose controlling apparatus is located here in the US?

You perform a very special and significant task. Special because you echo the devastating impact of neoliberal globalization in the Third World. Your militant presence, your voices, your status updates, your organizing in the grassroots can unmask the evil economic order. Significant because as you struggle for better protection for migrants you are also strengthening the people’s capacity to defeat the empire. You are slaying the dragon inside its lair.

It’s inevitable that your actions are both local and global; and you must realize that their impact is also felt locally and globally. I admire the inventiveness of the migrant’s movement because you are able to articulate your demands in a foreign land without losing your symbolic and organic ties with the homeland. I salute NAFCON for affirming the link between the immigrant rights movement in the US and the struggle of the Filipino people in the Philippines for genuine democracy, freedom, peace and justice. This admirable political standpoint must inspire Filipinos in the US to act decisively against economic inequality, corporate greed, racism, and political repression; and this should bring them closer to the revolution which is raging in the Philippines as they become part of the global people’s movement for genuine change.

Or in other words, Filipinos must realize that shouting and marching for immigrant rights in the US will also contribute to the victory of the people’s movement in the Philippines. As you militantly assert your political demands here, the unjust domination of a corrupt and highly abusive political-economic system in the Philippines is weakened too. You can’t present a genuine alternative to the public without disturbing the hegemony of the empire here in the belly of the beast and in the peripheries of the kingdom. If you punch, a tyrant somewhere in the Philippines will receive the blow. So punch hard like Pacquiao.

But NAFCON and its member organizations are relevant not only because of your interventions in behalf of all Filipino migrants but also because you are determined to address the roots of the problems confronting the community. You are correct to highlight the feudal backwardness of the Philippines and the despotic rule of oligarchs in the archipelago as the culprit for the forced migration of Filipinos to distant shores. It’s essential to pinpoint the criminal responsibility of politicians, past and present, in maintaining a system that draws its sustenance from the sweat, blood, and labor of migrant Filipinos.

What kind of government allows its own people to be exported to other countries and expects the continued inflow of remittances to keep the economy afloat? What do we call a policy that shamelessly sells the labor power and dignity of Filipinos to the altar of the global market? How can we accept the argument that the damaging impact of migration like separated families, the exodus of skilled professionals, the exploitation of cheap Filipino labor, the silent agony of discriminated Filipinos who experience various humiliating forms of racism – can we endure and ignore this suffering just because the OFW remittances constitute the black gold of the Philippine economy?

Only a leadership with a shortage of imagination could proclaim that no alternative is available to this social set-up; that we have to continue exporting our own people; and that we still need to experience more pain and anguish for a longer time. If this is the way our government thinks, then we have no choice but to do the only honorable and right thing and that is to export all our politicians to other countries. Or to Mars if no one will accept them.

I have some bad news to share and also some good news as pasalubong from Pinas.

The bad news is that the present supremo of the Philippine Islands is no torch bearer of genuine change so the situation in the country is bound to worsen. Why do we say that? Because 1) President Noynoy Aquino, the son of two democracy icons, the country’s most illustrious bachelor, the brother of Kris, the former owner of a second-hand Porsche, the hacendero president is surrounded by advisers who faithfully cling to the neoliberal dogma; 2) After more than a year in office, his single concrete achievement as president is the elimination of wang wang in the streets but the more insidious forms of wang wang mentality like the refusal of landlords to distribute their lands to small farmers are tolerated; 3) There is no review of anti-people policies implemented by previous governments like the reduction of state subsidies to social services, unabated profiteering of oil companies, and active promotion of labor export.

The Daang Matuwid is now operational but it’s only for Porsche cars, the president’s friends and kamag-anak. And if you are lucky, you can pass but you must pay high toll fees, VAT included.

What should migrants do? As the boss of Pnoy, demand reforms, assert your migrants’ agenda. Remind him that decent jobs will not be created if he continues to subscribe to a discredited economic thinking. Make him understand too that progress shouldn’t be equated with abstract numbers like GDP, foreign investments, and rising profits of big corporations. We are more concerned about the quality of living in society like the social opportunities for the poor, relevant education, accessible health care, peace in the community, delivery of social justice, solidarity, bayanihan in society. These are the things that truly matter.

Most of all, migrants should show to Pnoy and to other ruling oligarchs that you are prepared to exert the full potential of your power, and I do not only mean your purchasing power, but the power to change the world, the power to refashion a new social order.

2011 is an important year for the people’s movement. This year is the 10th anniversary of the Edsa Dos Uprising, the 20th year of the historic Senate vote that rejected the US Bases Treaty, the 25th year of the EDSA People Power, the 40th year of the Diliman Commune. The year started with the Arab Spring uprisings; then the Occupy Wall Street protest inspired several ‘Occupy’ actions. In the Philippines, farmers and workers conducted an ‘Occupy Mendiola’ protest a few days ago. They said they are the 75 percent of the population who are urging the other 24 percent to join the struggle in resisting the oppressive rule of the 1 percent.

But after we ‘Occupy’, we must organize. Otherwise, the repressive state will attempt to seize control of the spaces we liberated. The protesters in Wall Street and other ‘Occupy’ sites need to regroup, expand, and organize the people, the masses who are preoccupied with something else.

I said earlier that I have some good news as pasalubong. I’m happy to announce that the people’s movement in the Philippines is getting stronger and bolder. The parliament of the streets has been successful in presenting the people’s agenda; and it has been consistent in unmasking the bankrupt and reactionary programs of the Aquino government. Meanwhile, the mass movement in the countryside for genuine agrarian reform and the protection of our finite natural resources continues to frighten the enemies of the people. Day by day, inch by inch, zone by zone, victory is getting nearer.

This is my pasalubong. What about your pabaon to me? Well, I can report back to our kasamas in the Philippines that the Filipino community in the US, led by NAFCON and other allied organizations, is ready to enter into a new era of resurgent struggles. The community is prepared to boost the full potential of the mass movement in advancing the rights of migrants, the workers, the poor, in solidarity with all those who are struggling for a better world, a new future.

Once again, I salute the NAFCON for leading the noble fight of Filipinos in the US. Laban mga kasama! Tuluy-tuloy sa pakikibaka! Mabuhay ang migranteng Pilipino!

I salute all our teachers this morning (special mention to my elementary math teacher and philosophy teacher in college who are both here). Thank you for the gift of knowledge. Congratulations to the organizers of the conference, our participants, our speakers, all of us who are gathered today as we affirm our commitment to share the power of learning and dignity of teaching in the world.

I’m often introduced as a blogger, activist, and legislator. But before that, I was an educator. To teach was my original dream in college. Mr Fermin, the Principal of Miriam High School and one of the core initiators of the conference can attest to that since he was my blockmate and seatmate in college. Through this conference, my desire to be a teacher was rekindled. So thank you Miriam College.

Today, the world mourns the death of Steve Jobs. We pay tribute to a man who gave us Apple, Macintosh, iPod, iPhone, and iPad. Most of all, we are thankful for all the revolutionary ideas and dreams that he had shared with us. Jobs was a school drop out. So is Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook, Bill Gates of Microsoft, and Joseph Estrada of San Juan. Except for the last person I mentioned, these individuals are hailed by almost everybody in the world for inventing things and ideas that change the way we live and work.

So should we all drop out from schools? Of course not. But the story of Jobs and other superstar drop outs should force us to re-examine the schooling process. Schools will never lose their relevance but the learning process can either improve or deteriorate depending on our efforts to make it work. Then and now, we try to answer these questions: Do students always learn better through formal schooling? How do we harness and integrate formal and informal learning? How do we make education responsive to the needs of individuals, families, and our communities?

Teachers play a big role in motivating students to experiment with ideas and to believe in their abilities. They make it easy for us to accept, understand, and even change the present conditions of the world. But if students stumble along the way, teachers are often the first to be blamed by arrogant bureaucrats, clueless commentators, and shallow scholars. If students get low grades in national examinations, teachers are criticized for failing to educate the youth.

When Soviet Russia launched the Sputnik satellite into space in the 1950s, policymakers blamed the U.S. education system for causing the United States to lose to Russia in the bid to conquer space. No less a statesman than former U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower wrote then: “Educators, parents and students must be continuously stirred up by the defects in our educational system. They must be induced to abandon the educational path that, rather blindly, they have been following as a result of John Dewey’s teachings.”

Dewey was the foremost American educator and philosopher during the first half of the 20th century. He criticized the methods of teaching in schools and successfully required the inclusion of play, vocational studies, work and leisure in the curriculum. His works became a bible for educators disillusioned with the ravages of industrial ideology over education. Experiments in pedagogies concerned with encouraging the experience of the learner as a first step in learning became widespread.

Of course Eisenhower was wrong to blame Dewey. But the president and military strategists found a convenient scapegoat for America’s failure to send the fist satellite into orbit. The U.S. government used Sputnik to justify widespread reforms in the education sector. Sputnik suddenly created a high demand for scientists, engineers and technology experts. The United States started producing thousands of PhD academicians in weeks.

The obsession to beat the Russians forced U.S. schools to abandon the educational reforms proposed by Dewey and other radical philosophers. A decade later, students from major U.S. universities criticized the undemocratic character of American schools. On the other hand, many insist that the focus given by the government and academe on science, technology and math after the launching of Sputnik has allowed the public to own and enjoy their laptops, cell phones and the Internet today.

Earlier this year, President Barack Obama said that he hopes for another ‘Sputnik moment’ that would spur American education. He clearly saw the direct link of education in revitalizing industries that will not only create jobs and livelihood but also contribute to the economy’s competitiveness.

But the view that education should faithfully sustain the imperatives of the corporate economy is not universally embraced. Radical educators of the 1960s like Jonathan Kozol, Paul Goodman, and Ivan Ilich criticized the dehumanizing set-up in our schools. Instead of enriching humanity, schools are systematically redirecting the creativity and passion of the youth to strictly conformist and conventional directions.

Paulo Freire, author of the book ‘Pedagogy of the Oppressed’, emphasized the value of dialogue, reflection, and action in schools to help the oppressed articulate their oppression, break the culture of passivity, and begin to understand social reality and how to change their present condition. In order not to be tools of oppression in a very exploitative society, teachers should consciously adopt a democratic teaching method that respects the ‘cultural capital’ of the learner.

Resistance Theorists like Henry Giroux, Peter Mclaren, and Michael Apple warned against the creeping invasion of conservative and corporate ethos in the formal schooling system. Under the guise of promoting efficiency, schools are transformed into mass-production assembly units producing graduates who possess skills and the right attitude required by the corporate and global economy.

There was a time when schools trained students to become responsible citizens. Today, schools mold students to be competitive in the job market. But education should be more than just job preparation. The liberating power of education shouldn’t be misused to convert students into mere consumers who are interested on how to increase their purchasing power instead of their real power to change the world.

In the 1990s, school reforms were justified to promote globalization. While I support the globalization of research, the healthy exchange of academic discourse, the improvement of communications and distance learning, I’m against the globalization of education-for-profit which translated into reduced state subsidies for schools, anomalous partnerships with big business, and attack on the democratic rights of teachers and students.

As schools scrambled and competed for dwindling public funds, they instituted reforms that conform to the narrow standards of business efficiency like non-unionized teaching workforce, market-driven academic programs, and depoliticized student body. In short, what deteriorated in the past decade was not merely the quality of education but also the fighting capacity, the democratic potential, of our schools.

And maybe we didn’t notice the transformation because we got distracted with the ubiquitous emergence of Information Technology. We immediately recognized its varied pedagogic applications. Somehow, we expected it to be a solution to some of our problems like rural-urban education gap, shortage of resource materials, and inequality in schools.

Indeed, it initially made teaching a little bit easier. Communication is now faster, news and information are instantly available, and teachers can share experiences through virtual means. Classroom teaching can be more fun if IT is effectively utilized. So many web and mobile applications, including interactive teaching modules, can still be developed to address the needs of the academe. IT is still in its infancy and schools should continue to embrace the wonderful opportunities offered by this technology.

But IT also created new problems for teachers. For example, the digital gap has contributed to inequality in society. But the biggest challenge is how to properly motivate the new generation of students, the digital natives, whose worldview, attitude, and behavior were already shaped by the rise of IT in society.

Thanks to the internet, many students today are obsessive fact-checkers who expect instant results for the little effort they exerted. They equate googling with research while Wikipedia is seen as a reliable online library. There are students who do not even rephrase what they copied from websites. Thanks to texting, online chat and microblogging, many students are incapable of expressing beyond 140 characters. Reading is reduced to monitoring the status updates of their Facebook friends. Multitasking means opening several tabs on the internet browser. Good citizenship is accomplished by signing online petitions or supporting advocacy pages.

IT didn’t render teachers obsolete. On the contrary, we need more teachers who will guide students on how to maximize the learning potential of IT. It isn’t the capacity to absorb information that counts but the skill to filter the relevant data from trash or spam. Students must learn how to effectively organize, interpret, and use the data he receives from the web. IT is useless if students don’t have the basic communication skills. IT is just empty entertainment if not linked to other meaningful and offline activities of students. Teachers will continue to be relevant despite the laughable prediction that robots will replace teachers in the classroom. Didn’t they predict the same thing when TV was invented?

The internet can make a person a walking encyclopedia but not necessarily an enlightened or educated individual. One can be obese with excessive data intake but it doesn’t instantly make him a better person. The role of schools and teachers is still to educate a new breed of ‘total’ persons, critical thinking persons, who can contribute to the advance of civilization.

But enhancing the skills of students is only one of the duties of our educators. Part of their mission should be to cultivate individuals with a strong sense of social responsibility. Students must see themselves not as individuals competing against each other but as members of the same community. The spirit of solidarity must be promoted in schools so that students will be inspired to stand up for the rights of the weak and minority. It’s a necessary antidote to the dominant thinking which reinforces individualism and unhealthy competition.

Teachers are political creatures and schools are political institutions. Teachers must realize that they can’t completely hide their own biases inside the classrooms. Instead of denying it, they must admit in the open their political standpoint. They must be encouraged to participate in the social struggles of the day. Why? Because political solutions are needed to fix education problems because the organization and distribution of knowledge in a society has always been a political question. And teachers are most credible in articulating the essential issues that confront the schooling system.

At the minimum, schools must be cultural sites where there is “contestation and struggle for meaning,” where student resistance is positively analyzed, where conflict is theorized as a step in completing the project of democracy. But it shouldn’t stop there. Schools are not autonomous sites that operate in an uncorrupted social universe. They mirror the imperfections of the community. They reproduce the values, habits, and know-how that are required for the survival of our social institutions. Therefore, we cannot sincerely advocate a better education system without yearning and fighting for a better social set-up. If we really desire good schools, we should build a more progressive society. Therefore, the democratization movement inside schools should not be divorced from the struggles of various social forces. If we refuse to recognize the political character of education issues or the relationship of the struggle for meaningful schooling with the broader socio-political process, all conflicts inside schools would remain parochial concerns with no power to alter the educational landscape. De-politicized school conflicts pit teachers, students, and administrators against one another while the real enemies of the people are unscathed. Political school struggles should involve everybody in the campus against the unequal social order and those who defend and control it.

Teachers as ‘organic intellectuals’ who recognize the humanistic value of the teaching process, the political impact of their work inside schools, and the imperative to speak, organize and act for genuine social change.

Che Guevarra said that “a true revolutionary is guided by great feelings of love.” Teachers teach because they believe that it’s a noble thing to do. They teach because they are dedicated to the idea of sharing the power of life and love. They teach because they continue to believe in humanity and progress. Teachers are therefore among the genuine revolutionaries of society.

Mr Speaker I rise to defend the right of our youth to participate in political activities. Last Saturday, Deputy Presidential Spokesperson Abigail Valte urged the students to focus on their studies instead of participating in rallies. The remark was issued a day after the successful staging of a nationwide strike of students, teachers, school officials and members of concerned sectors who forged a strong unity to defend of our State Universities and Colleges (SUCs). The strike was organized for three reasons: 1) To protest the budget cuts and insufficient funding for our state schools; 2) To demand the realignment of the budget bill so that more funds can be used for the expansion and improvement of public higher education; 3) To urge the Aquino government to review its higher education policy.

Instead of belittling last Friday’s protest action, Malacanang should properly address the demands presented by the students. Instead of discouraging the youth to actively engage our political leaders, Malacanang should welcome the participation of young people in politics.

Ms Valte and other Malacanang propagandists should not underestimate the students who joined the strike. They might be surprised to discover that the strikers are among the most committed scholars of our schools. The students must be commended for finding time and sacrificing so that they can link arms with other iskolars ng bayan in collectively asserting their legitimate demands to the government. They skipped classes not because they are abandoning schooling but because they wanted better education. They marched on the streets not because they are school delinquents but because they wanted to remind the government that its policies on education and funding priorities are forcing many young people to drop out from schools. It is precisely out of supreme dedication to learning that motivated the students to organize the strike.

Malacanang should know better that students are capable of performing well in schools while taking an active role in campus and even national politics. To speak and act decisively on various social and political issues are among the important duties of our young citizens. These are part of the youth’s learning development; these are essential components of citizen education in a democratic society.

Valte and the other propagandists seem to forget that from time to time, Malacanang itself is organizing public assemblies and even rallies where student participation is often made a school requirement. The President himself has been very consistent in his appeal for active youth participation in the public affairs. In a recent speech, the president even reminisced about his involvement in the student movement during the Martial Law years.

It is wrong for student activists to organize rallies but it becomes acceptable if approved by Malacanang? Public assemblies and rallies are not beneficial to society but they become an integral component of citizenship if endorsed by Malacanang? Our elders did the right thing when they marched on the streets in their youth, but students today are irresponsible if they skip classes to attend protest actions?

Encouraging the youth to study better isn’t wrong. What is unacceptable is the refusal to recognize that the youth become better educated if they are also immersed in the social and political affairs of the country. We need more student strikers, not less.

Malacanang shouldn’t limit the capacity of young people to perform great political actions. It shouldn’t reduce youth political engagement into wearing of yellow ribbons and posting comments on the President’s social network pages. Young people today, like the earlier generations, are willing and capable of creating history.

Last week’s strike was something we should have anticipated. We cannot reduce the funds for social services without provoking the anger of our citizens. We cannot impose budget cuts and allocate insufficient funds for social services without generating public unrest.

Mr Speaker, distinguished colleagues, we live in dire times. Domestically and globally, budget cuts, price hikes, continuous rights violations and social strife continue to inspire countless young people to rely on the collective wisdom and power of the oppressed to build a better and more humane, progressive society.

Youths all over the world are up in arms. Youth and student riots in London, Chile, Spain, Madagascar, Columbia, Germany, Malaysia and elsewhere in the world are testament to how volatile the present global economic crisis is. Youths 17-25 years old are jobless, students are protesting against budget cuts and tuition and price increases. The whole world is in debt.

The Philippines is not an exception. Our conditions are not different, if worse, from other countries. And as in other countries, the youth and student movement is undeniably a moving force in the fight for substantial social reforms.

Indeed, the string of massive student protests that erupted during the past few months were only a logical response to the aggravating crisis brought about by the disarray in the current global economic order. Economies that once seemed unscathed are now experiencing economic recessions. In order to curb their impending decline, countries intensify their privatization, deregulation and liberalization schemes—the three essential components of the current dominant economic framework notoriously known as neoliberalism.

Malamang ay nagtataka rin kayo: Di hamak na mas mahirap na bansa ang Pilipinas kaysa mga bansang nabanggit ko, pero bakit hindi pa nagra-riot ang mga kabataan dito?

Mr Speaker, distinguished colleagues, we have our youth and student movement to thank for. Kailangang maunawaan ng marami na mapagpasya pa rin ang organisasyon ng mga kabataang aktibista sa paghikayat na magkaroon ng pagkakaisa sa ating bansa. Kung ano ang mayroon tayo at wala ang iba – ito ang buong kilusang kabataan at estudyante na naninindigang hindi riots at hindi anarkiya ang sasagot sa krisis. Sa kabila ng lahat, namamayani ang disiplina at matibay na organisadong pagkilos ng ating mga kabataang aktibista. Sa ganitong diwa, dapat pa nga natin pasalamatan ang mga organisasyong tulad ng League of Filipino Students (LFS) at iba pang mga makabayang organisasyon ng kabataan na nakikibaka para sa mas magandang bukas para sa ating bayan. Kung kaya’t ang pahayag kamakailan ng Pangulo kung saan hinambing niya ang Executive Committee ng LFS sa diktaturya ay hindi makatwiran at lalong hindi katanggap-tanggap.

The social policies of the Aquino administration, clear as clear can be, nourish the ground for critical dissent. What the Palace is telling our youth now is to be silent while their right to education and social services is continuously violated. Reports early today contain a statement from DBM Secretary Butch Abad saying that our youth should make do with insufficient funds for our public higher education. It is this kind of utter insensitivity of the Aquino administration that forces our youth and people to heighten the struggle for their basic rights.

More strikes, not less, will definitely rock the nation as the youth and people fight for their future.

1. The president, through the budget message, reported that in order to improve maternal health, and the well-being of infants, the government has allocated P5.1 billion for the implementation of the Health Facilities Enhancement Program. But what he failed to mention was that the funding was actually reduced from the current P7.1 billion to the proposed P5.1 billion. I hope that the reduction will not seriously affect the delivery of maternal and infant healthcare in the country.

2. In the 2010 budget, under Healthcare Assistance, the government allocated P36 million for ‘Subsidy to Indigent Patients for Confinement in Specialty Hospitals and for the use of specialized equipment.’ In 2011, the budget was reduced to P16 million; but at least there was a subsidy intended for indigents because the item was completely removed in the 2012 budget bill. I’m worried that this fund scrapping will deprive the indigent patients of health services that are unavailable in government hospitals. Is this the government’s latest poverty reduction measure? Eliminate the poor by denying them access to appropriate healthcare and service?

3. It’s unfortunate that the Maintenance and Other Operating Expenses item of several hospitals was not increased. In fact, 5 of the 12 Metro Manila-based special hospitals, and 18 of the 54 local hospitals nationwide didn’t receive an increase in their MOOE allotment. Because of this limited MOOE budget, hospitals have implemented an increase in the rates of health services they are offering to our people. Also, mandatory discounts like senior citizens’ and government employees’ discounts remain unfunded thereby competing for limited MOOE allotment.

While we welcome the P94 million token increase in the MOOE of our specialty hospitals or Government-Owned and Controlled Corporation hospitals (Lung Center of the Philippines, National Kidney and Transplant Institute, Philippine Children’s Medical Center, and Philippine Heart Center), it’s important to highlight that the hospitals have not regained the P970.6 million cut in their MOOE since 2010.

4. We learned too from the president’s budget message that the government has allotted P224 million to fund programs against HIV and other infectious diseases. I have two suggestions to the Department of Health with regard to this allocation: 1) Specify the amount to be used to address the particular diseases. How much from the P224 million will be used to combat HIV? How much for dengue? And how much for food and water borne diseases? 2) The DOH should also allot more funds to address HIV/AIDS. This is now a youth problem and I hope the government will realize the urgency of strengthening our health system to curb the rise of this dreaded disease.

5. At the proper time, this representation will be proposing amendments to the budget bill so that social service institutions like the DOH will receive more funds from the government. The UN prescription is that at the minimum, 5 percent of the country’s GDP is allotted to health service.

It’s quite disturbing that our health agency doesn’t receive the high fund support that it deserves to get from the government.

Related articles

First week of budget deliberations
SUC budget 2011

In lieu of an interpellation, this representation will be making an appeal to the leadership of the House, and to all Members of this Chamber to challenge the budget priorities of the Aquino government, as far as the funding of the education sector is concerned. Unfortunately, the government, through the Department of Budget Management, adopts the policy of gradually decreasing the subsidies for State Universities and Colleges.

If the Executive refuses to recognize the importance of substantially increasing the budget of our public higher education institutions, then Congress should make a stand today.

Instead of accepting a budget proposal which reduced the Personal Services and Maintenance and Other Operating Expenses of SUCs, Congress should restore the cuts at the minimum and allot more funds so that SUCs can hire more teachers, accept more students, and expand their research programs.

Instead of zero capital outlay, Congress should allot funds for the building of new facilities, upgrading of laboratories, and modernization of school infrastructures.

It was Congress which approved the creation of the country’s SUCs. It is the duty of Congress, therefore, to guarantee sufficient state funding for these institutions who play an important role for the national development agenda.

But the government seems to ignore that. By giving low funding priority for our SUCs, the government deprives young people of the chance to access higher education. Our SUCs, which are barely surviving, are expected to produce quality education and provide assistance to their local communities. Despite this expectation from our SUCs, the government refuses to invest heavily on higher education.

Concretely, Congress should return the budget for unfilled positions to the SUCs. In return, SUCs should be requested to ensure that such funds will not be used in anomalous expenses similar to what was discovered in the military. Additionally, Congress should infuse more funds to SUCs by reducing the funds of other questionable, if not unproductive expenses like the bloated budget for CCT, intelligence funds, and debt servicing.

More funds for SUCs mean enhanced capability to implement programs that are vital to the progress of the nation. Investment to higher education is good politics. Support the SUCs, support the future of the Filipino youth!

Transcript of press conference with Senator Koko Pimentel

Rep. Raymond Palatino: Nandito po ang Kabataan Partylist kasama ang PASUC (association of state universities in the country) at Anakbayan, si Mr. Vencer Crisostomo at nagpapasalamat tayo kay Sen. Koko for hosting this presscon to express our concern sa pagbawas muli ng budget ng state universities and colleges. Ngayong araw po na ito ang simula ng budget deliberations sa lower house, sa plenary. Tomorrow po pag-uusapan ang budget ng state universities and colleges at ang ating demand po ay itaas ang budget ng state universities. Ang hinihingi po ng ating mga state universities ay 45 billion. Ang binigay lamang po ay P 21.8 million and this allotment is almost P200 million lower compared to last year. Para sa atin, ang makatwirang demand ay at the minimum ibalik po yung kinaltas. Pangalawa, lagyan po ng capital outlay ang ating mga state universities. Tulad po last year, wala pong mga capital outlay ang ating mga state universities. Ito po ay napakahalaga para sa upgrading of laboratories, modernization of facilities, pagtatayo ng mga building. Last week sinabi ni Pres. Noynoy na ang kanyang love life ay parang Coke from regular to light to zero. Sa totoo lamang, ang mga state universities ang dapat gumamit ng metaphor na yun. Ang kanilang capital outlay dati regular. Nung panahon ni Pres. GMA ay light. Since 2011 and the proposed budget ni Pres. Noynoy, zero capital outlay. Ano po yung impact ng pagbawas ng budget sa state universities? May impact sa access in terms of higher tuition, then impact din sa quality kasi (ang mababang badyet ay may negatibong epekto) sa operations. Yung survey po kahapon na lumabas sa top 300 universities sa mundo, walang lumabas sa Pilipinas. Nakakalungkot po yung survey na yun pero hindi na po surprising kasi ito na yung direct consequence ng reduced subsidies for reduced higher education. Our appeal is to reverse and rethink the policy (of reducing subsidies for public higher education institutions). Ang problema sa kalidad ay may kinalaman sa underinvestment o weak spending of the government for public higher education. – September 6, 2011 Padilla Room, Senate.

Unknown to many, it was Joseph Estrada who provided the simplest if not original definition of global warming when he was still president in 1998. Responding to the allegation that he has been appointing close associates in juicy government posts, he said: “Weather Weather lang yan.” And like politics, global warming is ‘Weather Weather lang yan.”

In 1998, climate change was still an esoteric term in the academe and only the geeks and scientists used it in everyday conversations. But in the past decade, it became mainstream because of numerous extreme weather events like Milenyo, Ondoy, Pepeng, Frank, Reming, and El Nino. Ondoy, if we recall, triggered the worst flooding in Mega Manila in four decades while Reming remains to this day the strongest super typhoon that ever hit the country. In popular culture, it was a subject of several Hollywood blockbusters like The Day After Tomorrow, Simpsons, and Ice Age. Al Gore won a Nobel Prize for lecturing about it. So it’s correct to assume that the new generation acknowledges that global warming is real (unlike some U.S. politicians) and young people are more or less aware of the obvious harsh impact of changing climate patterns.

Who are the members of the Greeneration? They are sometimes called the Post Edsa generation, digital natives, networked generation, Strawberry Generation. The muggles who grew up with Harry Potter. Kung may Marcos Babies noon, may Arroyo Babies ngayon. My generation, the Generation X, is most certainly still part of the Greeneration.

As students, we were bombarded with homilies reminding us to save the environment. If Miriam Santiago eats death threats for breakfast when she was still the country’s top Immigration chief, our generation has been fed with, well, aside from nutri ban during the Marcos era, green doctrines that made us aware about the fragile state of our environment and the urgency of action to reverse the deteriorating quality of life and living in this planet.

Our formative years, 1980s and 1990s, were influenced by great political events (like Edsa, coup d’etat, and the introduction of cono English by Kris Aquino) and destructive environment disasters (like Ormoc and lahar). When we were growing up, Pasig was already filthy and Manila Bay was already a dangerous and dirty place for swimming (sabi nga ni Villar, dagat ng basura). The symbol of Manila was Smokey Mountain (the dumpsite ha, hindi yung singing group. Oh yung ngumiti ibig sabihin kasing-edad ko), then it was closed down but the dumping of garbage was merely transferred to Payatas (which is symbolically close to Batasan).

The common indicators of environment degradation are denuded forests and polluted rivers; and their visible impact in the urban is the popularity of bottled drinking water. Until elementary, I was drinking water from the faucet. Today, it’s no longer safe to drink Nawasa juice hence the ubiquitous use of bottled water. And this modern lifestyle is a direct consequence of 1) unclean environment; 2) bad governance. Isn’t it odd that a nation surrounded by waters and blessed with abundant natural resources is suffering from a shortage of clean drinking water sources? Maybe we should copy what resource-poor Singapore is doing like building desalinization plants and recycling wastewater.

The Greeneration is our new breed of eco-warriors who can be easily persuaded to support green initiatives like green living and green jobs. But being kind to Mother Earth doesn’t necessarily translate into successful and sustainable green campaigns. There is a disconnect between what individuals think and feel about the environment and the practical, everyday solutions to help clean the environment. Environment advocacy to many people is just a habit and hobby, and not something that can lead to a successful career.

Why is it that despite the rise of green consciousness in society, there is a dearth of course offerings in the academe that would generate and support green industries? Why is it that despite the emergence of environmentalism as a safe and approved advocacy in campuses, there is a seeming lack of programs that would instill and enhance the green skills of our young?

The blame lies in the backward orientation of many of our schools. We produce college graduates to fill up the manpower shortages of other countries and not the needs of our domestic industries. The priority of profit oriented school, and they compose the majority of schools in the country, is to offer popular courses. The result is the oversubscription of some courses like nursing and under enrolment in the essential courses like agriculture, geology, and marine science.

To promote green jobs, we have to engage our schools, overhaul our curriculum, and subsidize the teaching of green skills. I suspect that colleges continue to operate conservatively because of a failure to imagine the opportunities to be gained if they offer green courses. We should tap the Commission on Higher Education to begin the review of higher education programs and consider the inclusion of green subjects that would lead to the establishment of green industries using green technologies in the future. We should ask TESDA to integrate more green industries in their training programs. We should ask the Department of Education to include green jobs and green entrepreneurship topics in the new curriculum which is being prepared for the K-12 program.

Why is ‘green jobs’ a bright alternative? Because it teaches the youth that saving the environment is more than just planting trees (look, we have green highways but we have brown mountains) and segregating our garbage (look, we carefully and dutifully separate the biodegradable and non-biodegradable trash but they are all dumped anyway in the dumpsite). We can be more than just green consumers who buy green bags (actually, an environmentalist will not entice you to buy green. Instead, he will encourage you to reduce your consumption of non-essential goods).

The ‘green jobs’ alternative is similar to other innovative approaches that aim to address the negative impact of global warming. Let’s learn from our initial experience with Renewable Energy – it’s a term which has gone almost mainstream and it has become a favorite slogan of many people including business leaders and politicians, but it’s mostly a grand dream with lofty objectives. It remains a very appealing idea whose widespread application would have benefited many people. But nobody is investing in Renewable Energy since most companies prefer clean coal and mining and besides, government budget support is negligible.

The success of Green Jobs requires political will, commitment from the private sector, and sustained public support. Political will means funding support, synergy in national and local policies, and serious mobilization of public resources and institutions. Commitment from the private sector involves the rethinking of business practices that harm the environment (you can’t preach Corporate Social Responsibility while your core business method requires the wanton plunder and destruction of precious, finite natural resources) and willingness to invest in green industries. Sustained public support means the active participation of the people – civil society, people’s organizations, media, church, civic groups – in the conversations and campaign to promote green jobs.

Tapping the idealism and passion of the youth is a step in the right direction. Yesterday, Paris Hilton arrived in the country and she immediately became the top trending topic in the local virtual space. I refuse to believe that young people today are only interested in gossip, leisure, and entertainment. Green jobs and saving the environment are way way cooler than Paris Hilton.

Maraming bago sa araw na ito: Bagong linis ang inyong mga sapatos, bagong plantsa ang inyong mga damit. Lahat naligo sa araw na ito (Hopefully). Makapal ang make-up ng mga kababaihan, yung iba may kulay ang mata, inubos ang spraynet at gel sa buhok, abot hanggang dito ang amoy ng inyong mga pabango.

Tiyak akong sanay na kayo sa ritwal ng graduation. Mahaba ang martsa ng mga magsisipagtapos, bawat isa aakyat ng entablado. Pero tatapusin natin hanggang dulo ang programa. Kasing tagal ng graduation ang magaganap na picture taking mamaya. At dahil napagod tayo sa hapong ito, bubusugin naman tayo ng mga kainan mamayang gabi. Yung iba nagkatay pa ng baboy.

Bakit spesyal ang mga graduation? Bakit kung graduation lahat masaya? Bakit ginagawa natin ang ritwal na ito?

Kayo na nagsipagtapos ng kinder noong 1996, elementary noong 2003, at hayskul noong 2007 ay alam na ang sagot sa mga tanong na ito. Spesyal dahil minsan lang ito magaganap sa ating buhay at maaaring ito na rin ang huling beses na kayo ay tatawaging bagong graduate; masaya dahil nagtagumpay tayo – naipasa natin ang mga eksam kahit yung ibang sagot ay hula lang, nasulat natin ang thesis kahit walang computer sa bahay, nagawa nating matapos ang OJT kahit boring. Yung iba magna at summa: magna, magnanine years sa kolehiyo; summa, sumampung taon sa kolehiyo.

At kung bakit natin inuulit ang ritwal na ito; at bakit walang nagrereklamo sa matagal na paghihintay na matapos ang programa: dahil gusto nating ialay ang araw na ito, ang spesyal na araw na ito, sa mga spesyal na tao sa ating buhay. Ito talaga ay hindi ninyo araw; ito ay araw ng pagpapasalamat sa inyong mga guro at magulang.

Graduation is more like a Thanksgiving Day. It is our opportunity to thank the people who made it possible for all of you to reach this stage. Not all students who entered Grade One in 1996 or 1997 made it through college. In fact, out of 100 students who enter grade one, only 14 are able to finish college. You are part of the lucky 14, congratulations!

And one of the reasons why you’re here this morning is because of the sacrifices made by your teachers and parents. So thank you teacher for the lectures (we were listening most of the time); thank you teacher for the patience; thank you teacher for the good and not so good memories; thank you for the friendship. Mababa ang sahod ng guro pero walang patid ang kanilang pagtuturo bawat semester. Batch 2011, let us give a round of applause to our teachers.

And for the proud parents; thank you for the tuition payment, thank you for the allowance (although sometimes we use it play dota), thank you for believing in us, and most of all, thanks for all the sacrifice and hardwork (we know that some of you had to leave the country, others were forced to sell properties) just to make sure that we were able finish our studies. Students and soon to be graduates of MSC, clap your hands and honor your parents.

Masaya ang mga teacher natin hindi dahil ang mga pasaway ay aalis na ng campus; masaya sila dahil nagbunga ang kanilang pagod. Sa araw na ito, muli nilang mararamdaman ang dignidad ng propesyon ng pagtuturo. Sapat na para sa kanila na makita ang inyong mga ngiti at ang kaalamang ang mga batang tinuruan nila ng maraming taon ay handa nang sumabak sa mas malaking mundo sa labas ng campus.

Pero pinakamasaya ang mga magulang natin. Mamaya habang naglalakad kayo papunta dito sa stage, kung pwede lang sumigaw ay isisigaw ng inyong mga magulang na “Anak ko yan.” Mamaya pauwi ipapakilala kayo sa lahat ng tao sa daan, kahit hindi nila kilala, at buong pagmamayabang na sasabihin na bagong graduate ang kanilang anak. Umaapaw sa galak ang puso ng inyong magulang dahil ang kanilang anak, na dati rati’y isang inosenteng musmos na walang alam sa mundo, ay kinikilala na ng komunidad bilang isang edukadong indibidwal. Marami sa mga magulang natin hindi nakatapos ng kolehiyo kaya nagsikap sila nang husto para kayo ay makapag-aral at matupad ang inyong mga pangarap. Sa mga minamahal kong magulang, congratulations po!

After school, you have a responsibility to fulfill to the community. You must serve the country which subsidized your education. We expect that you will use your talent and training to improve the lives of others. Think of the farmer, the market vendor, the tricycle driver, your parents – all the taxpayers who contributed to your education. I cannot prevent you from seeking greener pastures in other lands because it is your right; but I am making this appeal: serve the community first, serve your country first.

After school, your first instinct is to look for a job. It is also the expectation of almost everybody. My sympathies are with you dear graduates. Soon, you will realize these “inconvenient truths” about life after college: 1) Good jobs won’t be easy to find; 2) Many companies prefer applicants with job experience and the pay offer is not enticing; 3) Some of you will realize that you are best suited for a career which is different from the job prospect you had been preparing in the past four years. In other words, some of you may want to do something different in your life right after graduation.

The first few years after college are difficult, but exciting. Often your eagerness to apply what you learned in school is rendered irrelevant because of insufficient opportunities available in the country. Failing to secure immediate employment, fresh graduates become disappointed.

Traditionally, those with high paying jobs and those working in prestigious firms are recognized as successful graduates. I believe we should also praise our young graduates who chose to be involved in less popular, low paying but socially relevant causes. We should also encourage the new graduates to pursue their dreams even if these dreams will not give them instant fame and fortune. Civilizations advance not because there are high salaried slave workers but because there are individuals who are bold, daring, and innovative.

While researching on employment issues, I stumbled upon an article written by a young American who defends the idea of working as a community organizer. He recalls this conversation he had with his mother. His mother asked him this: “You’re a bright young man. You went to college, didn’t you? I just cannot understand why a bright young man like you would go to college, get that degree and become a community organizer.”

His mother added: “’Cause the pay is low, the hours is long, and don’t nobody appreciate you.”

What was the reply of the son? He said: “It needs to be done, and not enough folks are doing it.”

Who is this young graduate who decided to become a community organizer right after college? His name is Barack Obama and he is now the president of the United States.

Lesson: Don’t limit your post-college options to what our elders expect you to accomplish. Young people should always strive to challenge conventions and to resist conformity. Ok lang na sa umpisa ay maging bigo sa tradisyunal na career pero huwag huminto dito. Maging mas mapangahas sa pagbubuo ng mga bagong ideya. Ang kumpetisyon ay hindi dapat kung sino sa inyo ang unang kikita ng isang milyong piso o makakabili ng kotse o makakapagpatayo ng mansion; dapat ang labanan ay kung sino ang mag-iiwan ng pangmatagalang impluwensiya sa lipunan. Sino ang susubok ng mga ideyang hindi pa naisip ninuman? Sino ang lilikha ng mga bagong teorya na pakikinabangan ng komunidad?

Yes, education is job preparation but it is more than that. It should be more than that. Yes, formal schooling allows students to absorb the technical knowledge about the world of work but it also teaches them to develop a passion for new learning, the craving to acquire new ideas, the desire to seek new truths. You are an educated person the moment you realize that your education is incomplete.

If your job search is getting you nowhere and if you feel that you have not benefited from your more than a decade of schooling, I hope this will not make you belittle the value of education. Education will never become obsolete. More than your high grades, college is memorable because of the critical thinking and critical skills you develop in school. These skills will prove to be useful to survive in these uncertain times.

Education is needed to harvest the benefits of globalization and to confront its negative aspects. Education is essential to adapt to climate change. Education inspires us to value our culture and tradition. And most importantly, education makes us empowered individuals who are always questioning the old order and actively seeking reforms in society.

Today everybody is overwhelmed by the revolution in Information Technology. But we shouldn’t be too surprised with this phenomenon. We should remember that all societies prospered by adopting technological innovations. While belief in eternal change is an attitude that we should develop, we also have to be alert against the destructive applications of technology. Today our youth are bombarded daily with tons of information in the internet; some of them are knowledge-enhancing but most are trash or spam. Critical thinking or critical education is therefore essential to filter information in the cyberspace.

We should embrace advancements in modern communications and they are now necessary to solve many of our modern problems. But we should not ignore the basic problems in our society requiring basic solutions like solving widespread poverty in the country caused by inequitable sharing of the country’s wealth; like the destruction of the environment caused by greed; like the deteriorating state of health delivery and other social services caused by misplaced prioritization of the government budget.

As young Filipinos, it is our duty to correct these congenital defects in our society. I challenge you to be active agents of good governance.

Marinduque may be a small island but it doesn’t mean it is powerless to influence the future of our society. It may be geographically isolated from other provinces but its strategic links to the rest of the country are not diminished. Marinduque is located near the center of the archipelago and it can be a source of strength. Marinduque should also aim to be the country’s center of innovative thinking, center of environment protection, center of sustainable tourism, center of rural development through efficient and intelligent use of technology.

Public institutions like MSC play a vital role in realizing this vision. MSC graduates should help fulfill these goals. Make Marinduque a small island with big dreams.

Batch 2011 of MSC, you are giants living in a small island. It is not wrong to explore the bigger world but be ready to come back to share your new knowledge with the next generation. Conquer the world, reach for the stars, but don’t forget to remember your roots.

In behalf of the Kabataan Partylist and the Filipino youth, I salute MSC for producing a new batch of talented graduates. I thank the parents and teachers for all the hardwork, sacrifice, and love which inspired these kids to finish their schooling. Congratulations to all iskolar ng bayan. We are proud of you. Make us prouder in the future.

Maimbag nga aldaw. A pleasant day to all of you.

I was told several times this morning that the MPSPC is grateful for my participation in today’s graduation ceremonies. No. It is I who should thank MPSPC for inviting me to deliver a message to our graduating class of 2011. This is the first time in my life and in my capacity as a legislator that I was given the privilege to address the college graduates of a state college. Thank you Madam Nieves, thank you MPSPC.

I congratulate the graduates, the honor students, the outstanding undergraduate students. You made it! The Filipino youth, the Filipino people who funded your education are proud of you. I also congratulate the other magna and summa students – magna, magnanine years in college; and summa, sumampung taon sa kolehiyo.

But this day belongs not to you graduates, although it’s a special day for you. This day is dedicated most especially to the two happiest groups of people gathered this morning: your teachers, and your parents.

Graduation is more like a Thanksgiving Day. It is our opportunity to thank the people who made it possible for all of you to reach this stage. Not all students who entered Grade One in 1996 or 1997 made it through college. In fact, out of 100 students who enter grade one, only 14 are able to finish college. You are part of the lucky 14, congratulations!

And one of the reasons why you’re here this morning is because of the sacrifices made by your teachers and parents. So thank you teacher for the lectures (we were listening most of the time); thank you teacher for the patience; thank you teacher for the good and not so good memories. Let us give a round of applause to our teachers.

And for the proud parents; thank you for the tuition payment, thank you for the allowance (although sometimes we use it play dota), thank you for believing in us, and most of all, thanks for all the sacrifice and hardwork (we know that some of you had to leave the country, others were forced to sell properties) just to make sure that we were able finish our studies. Students and soon to be graduates of MPSPC, clap your hands and honor your parents.

After school, you have a responsibility to fulfill to the community. You must serve the country which subsidized your education. We expect that you will use your talent and training to improve the lives of others. Think of the farmer, the market vendor, the bus driver, your parents – all the taxpayers who contributed to your education.

Public schools exist because they have specific missions to fulfill – equip the youth with knowledge and skills that are most needed by the community. They offer courses, including unpopular courses, which are vital for the survival of the nation.

There are 2,000 colleges and universities in the country, most of them are privately owned. Most of them are offering courses that are popular in the market. But if all students will take up the popular courses, who will study agriculture (young Filipinos do not know how to be a productive farmer anymore; but they are good at playing Farmville)? Who will study marine science, biology, geology, meteorology – courses whose importance became more obvious after the Japan earthquake/tsunami disaster a few weeks ago? Remember that like Japan, we are also located in the Pacific Ring of Fire.

State Universities and Colleges, like MPSPC, are mandated by law to continue developing programs which are deemed crucial for the progress of the country. I hope you will not forget that mandate when you leave this campus.

Soon, you will realize these “inconvenient truths” about life after college: 1) Jobs won’t be easy to find; 2) It’s even more difficult to meet the expectations of others – like if you don’t know the answer to a trivia question or you can’t fix the TV, or if you made a mistake in arithmetic, people will ask you: college graduate ka? 3) Some of you will realize that you are best suited for a career which is different from the job prospect you had been preparing in the past four years. Relax. It’s part of life. Welcome to the real world. 4) But the fun part is only beginning. Because after a few months in the job market and still unemployed, you and the people around you will ask if you just spent 6 years in elementary, 4 years in High School, and another 4 years in college so that you will only earn a diploma paper without a monthly paycheck?

Yes, education is job preparation but it is more than that. It should be more than that. Yes, formal schooling allows students to absorb the technical knowledge about the world of work but it also teaches them to develop a passion for new learning, the craving to acquire new ideas, the desire to seek new truths. You are an educated person the moment you realize that your education is incomplete. After college, the learning never stops.

There is no excuse to be ignorant after college. When I finished my schooling in 2000, there was no broadband internet and our cell phones have limited functions. Pangkaskas ng yelo ang laki ng phone namin, namangha kami nang tinanggal ang antenna ng phone, at bilib na bilib kami sa larong snake. Today, information is accessible. Communication is faster because of advancements in IT.

More than your high grades, college is memorable because of the critical thinking and critical skills you develop in school. These skills are essential to filter information in the cyberspace which you can use to advance your careers.

Critical thinking is also useful to preserve our past, defend our cultures, and assert our future. We are constantly reminded about the coming of the future but what about the preservation of the past? I am mentioning this because I am worried about the ignorance of many people about our history and the diverse cultures of the Filipino nation. How can we be globally competitive if we are ignorant about our identity?

Sadly, there are Filipinos who assume that only Christians and Muslims exist in the Philippines. They are not aware of the 110 ethnolinguistic groups in the country which could reach up to 10-12 million of the population.

Many television shows and movies, and unfortunately, some schools, books and educational materials usually portray and depict our Indigenous Peoples as harmful, and uncivilized who are the lowest form of human life and are incapable of living by themselves.

From our kindergarten up to major universities in the metropolis, not much is said about the cultures of our indigenous peoples. In most cases, they are not spoken of at all. Or if they are, they are often reduced to the “exotic”.

But they were the brave inhabitants of the Philippine islands whose resistance to foreign invaders enabled them to preserve their unique customs.

In an effort to correct prevailing misconceptions and misrepresentations of IPs in the country, Kabataan Partylist has filed House Bill 3963 or the “Indigenous Studies Act of 2010” pushing for the mandatory study of the history, culture and identity of indigenous peoples and cultural communities in all public and private schools.

Through IP education, Filipino students will learn that Igorots are distinguished by their tribes: Ifugao, Kankana-ey, Ibaloi, Kalanguya, Kalinga and Tingguian.They will learn too that the indigenous peoples of Mindanao are called Lumads. And when we refer to Filipino Muslims, we are actually talking of 14 tribes in Mindanao and Palawan.

We will develop an appropriate pedagogy to effectively deliver education in our IP communities. This alternative learning system can be applied throughout the country. I am aware that MPSPC has an outstanding IP program and I hope this can be replicated by other schools.

There is also an urgent need to understand the historical and cultural context upon which IPs exist and ultimately, correct existing economic policies and conditions that continue to push IPs at the brink of survival

Development aggression projects like dams, logging, commercial plantations, and mining not only destroy forestlands, these also displace IP communities. Perhaps the greatest threat to upland tribes is the government’s current obsession to extract super profits from the country’s mineral wealth.

We must fight, we must resist. We must remember how our ancestors defended their ancestral domain against the foreign invaders. We must invoke the memory of Macliing Dulag, a tribal chieftain and protest leader from Kalinga who was martyred for his brave defiance against the dictatorship in the 1980s. The historical importance of Macliing Dulag and the struggle he lived and died for reverberates up to this day.

As you beat your path through various careers, I hope that you will carry within you the flame of the Cordilleras. It is this flame that the heroic peoples of Cordillera have put ablaze. And it is this flame that is sustained by our everyday struggles as peoples fighting for our identity and existence.

Graduating class of 2011, the world outside will tempt you to just think of yourselves, to forget about your community, to forget about collective. I hope that you will not to succumb to this temptation. May you continue to be guided by the memory of your heroic past, a past that is forcing its way to be recognized in the present, to change the present.

Finally, let me say once again that it is my privilege to be invited as your guest of honor and speaker this morning. I hope I will be invited again in the beautiful town of Bontoc – where the weather is cold but the reception of the people is warm. And I hope that Mountain Province State Polytechnic College will be known that day as Mountain Province State University.

Mabuhay ang kabataang Pilipino!

Ilang linggo na rin nagsimula ang mga usapang pangkapayapaan sa pagitan ng GPH-MILF at GPH-NDFP. Eh ang usapang pangkapayapaan sa pagitan ng Samar at Balay sa Malakanyang, nagsimula na ba? Sa tingin ko kailangan ng peace talks din sa pagitan ni Sarah Geronimo at Christine Reyes.

Congratulations sa GPH, NDFP at MILF para sa mga joint statement na inyong nilagdaan. Magandang balita ito para sa lahat ng naghahangand ng kapayapaan sa bansa.

Isa sa mga paborito kong website ay wordle. I copy-pasted the joint statements of the GPH, NDFP, MILF in wordle and here are the results. What are the most common words used by the three parties?

Sa GPH-NDFP, ang kanilang mga pangalan ang dominante at ang salitang ‘panel’. Ganun din sa GPH-MILF. Medyo nagulat ako dahil ang talagang inaasahan kong lilitaw na keyword ay salitang peace. Pero nagsisimula pa lang naman ang peace talks kaya mauunawaan siguro natin kung ang pinag-uusapan pa lang naman nila ay tungkol sa kanilang mga sarili. Eto ang hamon sa lahat ng panig: sana habang umuusad ang usapan, ang maging laman ng mga pahayag ay mga substaniyal na isyu ng mamamayan. Ibig sabihin, pag-usapan ang mga kongkretong adyenda ng mamamayan para sa tunay na kapayapaan.

Dapat tumulong din tayo na ipakilala sa publiko ang pulitika at personalidad ng GPH, NDFP, MILF. Kung ang Edsa 1986 nga hindi na alam ng maraming bata, ano pa kaya ang lebel ng pag-unawa nila sa usapang pangkapayapaan.

Batay sa aking maikling internet research, ang kahulugan ng GPH o Government of the Republic of the Philippines ay pwedeng maging iba: Generalized Proportional Hazard, Global Parliamentarians on Habitat, Good Payment History, Gospel Publishing House, Gallons Per Hour.

Ganun din ang MILF o Moro Islamic Liberation Front: Monsters, Inc. Laugh Floor, Mother I’d Like to Find (polite), Man I Like Fragging, Many Islands, Low Fares.

At pati NDFP: New Drug Funding Program, National Dart Foundation of the Philippines, National Database of Food Poisoning, New Day Foundation Program.

Nabanggit ng pangulo sa isang asembliya na pwedeng gamitin ang IT para sa pagsusulong ng kapayapaan. Tinukoy niya ang maraming website pati mga social network site tulad ng twitter, facebook at youtube. Tama ang pangulo sa pagtukoy ng papel ng IT para sa pagpapalaganap ng impormasyon ukol sa usapang pangkapayapaan.

Pero batid din natin ang limitasyon ng teknolohiyang ito. Ngayon, may pagsabog ng impormasyon sa internet. We are heavy consumers of bits and bytes of data everyday. Some information are helpful, enlightening; but most are trash. Spam. We have to filter the healthy information and discard the junk. The challenge is how to make the infinite stream of information meaningful to our lives and to our avowed goal of spreading peace in the land. The bigger challenge is how to make this information useful in building a more peaceful society.

For every tweet that says, #iamforpeace, there are hundreds if not thousands of tweets that says #damnitstrue.

Ideally, we can contact the person who tweeted #iamforpeace and recruit him to be a warrior for peace. But the problem with online conversations is that most of the time, they remain just like that, conversations in the virtual world.

Decades ago, when radio broadcast was developed, there were expectations that it would usher a new era of peace and progress. It was assumed that everybody would share scholarly knowledge through the radio waves. Of course we know Hitler also used that technology. We had the same dreams for TV before it became known as the idiot box. Now we have the internet.

Yes, let’s continue the conversations for real peace but let us also act. Human intervention in the real world. Technology doesn’t make societies more peaceful, people do.

How to be involved in the peace process? Practice politics. I do not refer to the politics of patronage or pabaon. Politics, in our discussion today, refers to the constant but often tenuous interaction between leaders and citizens of a polis. I am a subscriber to the school of thought that the goal of politics is always the invention of new possibilities, new truths, and new events.

To promote peace, we must promote the political actions of the people in the community. The struggle for human rights, economic and political rights is part of the peace process. An authentic peace agenda reflects the specific demands of the people like better social services and grassroots empowerment.

We have to be vigilant against two groups of people: First, the war mongers who prefer a military solution to quell all kinds of rebellion. And second, the naïve pacifists who want peace just for the sake of peace – those who equate peace with the absence of civil unrest and war.

Let us expand the peace constituency in the country, and we can accomplish this by continuing to struggle for our national and democratic rights.