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Protests erupt following stealthy Marcos burial

During the protest, League of Filipino Students blamed Marcos on economic problems currently faced by the country as well as human rights violations committed under his dictatorship.

Published

8 years ago

November 19, 2016

Nhuj Pascua

Photo by Audrey Fontanilla

Protests erupted in various parts of the country after former dictator Ferdinand Marcos was buried stealthily at the Libingan ng mga Bayani (LNMB), Friday noon, Nov. 18.

Marcos was transported from Ilocos to the heroes’ cemetery in Taguig via chopper and was finally buried after almost three decades of being kept waxed and frozen.

Outside the cemetery, Marcos supporters sported white shirts and bandanas bearing the name of the deposed dictator and waved Philippine flags.

“Alam na namin sa simula about sa paglibing niya at matagal na naming hinintay ito,” said Preii Pancho of Youth4BBM, a group of young Marcos supporters.

While loyalists were jubilant, Martial Law victims, activists, and students from various universities, including UST, were indignant.

Students from the different colleges and faculties of the University gathered at the Plaza Mayor at around 3 p.m., following calls on social media—particularly Twitter—to gather in protest of the burial of Marcos.

Social media

Compared to other protests, the assembly in the University was not organized by any particular group or individual and was said to be merely a “spontaneous reaction” regarding the Marcos burial.

Tweets about the protest began appearing at around 1 p.m., calling students to gather at the Plaza Mayor.

The gathering was later moved outside University premises at around 4:30 p.m., where protesters staged a noise barrage along España Boulevard.

Members of the League of Filipino Students (LFS) then led the protest as more students joined, holding pictures of Martial Law victims as well as tarpaulins that read “Marcos hindi bayani!”

TomasinoWeb editor-in-chief Xavier Gregorio also spoke on behalf of the protesters, slamming social media “slacktivism” commonly associated with millennials, and called on students to make legitimate efforts by joining protests.

“Not a hero”

During the protest, LFS lamented the government prioritizing the Marcos burial over more pressing issues such education and wage hikes. They also blamed Marcos on economic problems currently faced by the country as well as human rights violations committed under his dictatorship.

“Hindi kabayanihan ang pagnanakaw, pagiging diktador, at pagiging tuta [sa mga Kano],” said one of the protesters, calling the burial a shame to the people who fought and died during the Marcos regime.

Another activist criticized the problems in the system of government, saying that the youth should take part in changing a system that “oppresses and kills its own citizens.”

LFS National Spokesperson John Paul Rosos deemed the Marcos burial unacceptable, asking: “papayayag ba ang kabataan na tawaging bayani ang isang diktador?” He also feared the historical implications brought by the Supreme Court ruling, insisting that despite being given a hero’s burial, Marcos “would never be a hero.”

Apathy, more protests

Rosos admitted that they were “happy” that a protest had been organized in the University.

“Sa katunayan po, wala po kaming idea kung sino nagpatawag nito,” he said. “Nabalitaan lang naming na alas-tres ng hapon, may nagpapatawag ng protesta sa Plaza Mayor.”

Macoy Mercolita from LFS U-Belt, acknowledged he effort of the Thomasians who took part in the protest; however, he also criticized the silence of the University administration and the apathy of most students regarding social issues.

“Ang pagmumulat sa sambayanang Pilipino ay hindi makukukuha sa isang iglap lang ng pagsisigaw dito sa labas,” Mercolita said, “kolektibo natin ‘tong tatrabahuhin at ipapalaganap pa.”

He also encouraged more students to join the future protests and hopes that these protests would help the Church and the University make their stand on the issue.

Larger protests in UP, Ateneo, Miriam

There were only about 30 people who protested outside the University, a significantly smaller number compared to the 2,500-strong contingent composed of students from the University of the Philippines, Ateneo de Manila University and Miriam College that occupied Katipunan Avenue.</div

UP Vice Chancellor for community affairs Nestor Castro told student protesters that millennials should be aware and active with such issues.

“Hindi natutulog ang mga millennials!” Castro said. “Naniniwala akong gising ang mga millennials sa mga ganitong isyu.”

Despite having fewer participants both Rosos and Mercolito pointed out that these protests were already planned weeks ahead and were set to be staged whether or not Marcos would indeed be buried on that day.

Nonetheless, Rosos believes that the message of all the protests in these schools and universities remain the same: “Hindi bayani si Marcos at hindi [siya] dapat bigyan ng parangal.” -P. Jamilla, V. Ferreras, C. Zarate

Nhuj Pascua

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Thomasian innovation bested others in the Metro

A mere escape from summer boredom hailed two Engineering Thomasians victorious in the recent Manila Bay Cleanup competition, launched by the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) in April.

Published

8 years ago

January 5, 2017

TomasinoWeb

A mere escape from summer boredom hailed two Engineering Thomasians victorious in the recent Manila Bay Cleanup competition, launched by the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) in April.

Fourth year Electronics Communication Engineering (ECE) students John Beljoe Abao and Ariel Manalaysay had outclassed seven other competing schools with their giant dustpan-like entry, which, according to them is based on simple logic and imagination, and practically out of the boredom during the vacation.

“Nung summer walang magawa, and opportunity din naman ‘yon,” Abao said, referring to the contest.

With the theme “Innovative Engineering Solutions to the Manila Bay Garbage Problem,” the contest encouraged student participants to devise creative contraptions that may eventually be improved and produced by the MMDA.

“It (the prototype) is V-shaped and it has a hole in the middle where a concrete storage is placed,” Abao said.

With big waves in the bay, floating debris and trash will be swept into the chute and into the tank, “just merely collecting the trash into the bin.”

Competition

The Thomasian duo took three days of brainstorming, a day to formulate the concept paper, and only a span of two hours to construct the model. But despite the short amount of time, they were “confident” about their prototype.

“One down, one down,” Abao said when asked what did they feel when they saw other participants’ prototype. According to the duo, the edge of their prototype compared to others’ was the “feasibility to implement because of its simplicity.”

The prototype brought to the defense is made up of only cardboard, masking tape, and illustration board while other participants’ proposals were more technical and even made use of mathematical computations.

The real inspiration behind the innovation, according to Abao, is the fulfillment of seeing his idea being implemented to help improve the Manila Bay.

“Kuha lang ng kuha. When the opportunity comes, grab without hesitation,” Abao and Manalaysay said, advising the Thomasian community to be ready when opportunity knocks.

According to an article in Inquirer, Department of Public Works and Highway (DPWH) Assistant Secretary Maria Catalina Cabral said that in choosing the winning design they looked for “innovation and engineering.”

“The concept is doable. We saw there was potential for this to be built and developed. MMDA and DOST will make more studies to develop and make more improvements on this proposal,” Cabral added in the said article.

The duo received P25,000 cash prize along with Certificate of Recognition.

Other participating schools included Ateneo de Manila University, University of the Philippines-Diliman, Manuel L. Quezon University and Mapua Institute of Technology.

By Mia Mallari and Romhelyn Benipayo
Photo courtesy of John Beljoe Abao

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Big News Row 3

UP is only PH school in Times Higher Education rankings

UST last appeared in the list in 2008, when it ranked in the top 500 along with La Salle.

Published

8 years ago

December 26, 2016

TomasinoWeb

The University of the Philippines was the only Philippine university that made it in this year’s Times Higher Education world university ranking.

UP earned a spot in the 800+ bracket after getting a score of 13.5 based from the following indicators: teaching, research, citations, international outlook and industry income.

The University of Santo Tomas, Ateneo de Manila University and De La Salle University did not make the cut.

UST last appeared in the list in 2008, when it ranked in the top 500 along with La Salle.

United Kingdom’s University of Oxford topped this year’s list.

In the 2010 Asian rankings, UST shared the 101st spot with Japan’s Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology and Thailand’s Prince of Songkla University. Meanwhile, Ateneo, UP and La Salle ranked 58th, 78th, and 106th, respectively.

Earlier this year, UST and La Salle made it in the 701+ bracket in the Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) world university rankings. State-run UP led the Philippine universities after bagging the 374th spot while Ateneo remained in the 501st to 550th bracket.

The Times Higher Education World University Rankings was first published in 2004 in collaboration with QS. In 2010, the annual publication partnered with mass media firm Thomson Reuters.