TALAarawan

In this last blog post that I will be making, I really wanted talk about my daily experiences as a student, student of Philippine Science High School. Commonly known as Pisay, it is a public high school that offers a globally competitive education, specialized in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM). It a pride to tell everybody that you are from this prestigious school as you will be looked upon by other people with admiration.

I came up with this idea because of my mom. I asked her to give me a good topic for this essay and I think she is a bit irritated at me because I keep scrolling my phone, looking at my Facebook feed, and talking to my friends instead of reviewing. She told me with that definite tone, “Magsulat ka tungkol sa mga pagbabago ng ugali ng mga bata ‘pag nasa Pisay na. Nagiging rebelde. Ano bang mga itinuturo sa kanila?” You might laugh at this but this is true. Change is inevitable but it can be either for the better or for the worse.

An innocent 12-year-old child who signed a contract he does not even understand that much is about to face a new world, a bigger and stranger one. As I first step on the campus grounds, I am very overwhelmed and at the same time nervous. Being able to surpass the National Competitive Examination (NCE) and being part of the 1200 students among 23 000 takers who have given this once in a life time opportunity are enough inspirations to strive harder. I am nervous because for the first time in my life, I made a big decision for myself. I do not know if this will bring out the best in me or the worst in me.

Nowadays, we must accept that fact the youth is no longer those children afraid of being beaten. They are now starting to become the more aware citizen this country hopes for. Take for example, University of the Philippines’ students who rally and fight against injustices—a true act of scholars for the country. I think, this is the kind of change my parents feared of as I start to question them. Everything started when I joined my Journalism class that I became knowledgeable of all the things happening around me. Although I know that this does not give me the right to be up against them, what I wanted for them to realize is that in order for us to help this nation and achieve success, we must not keep silent. Stop being blind and deaf at the truth.

Meanwhile, of course, not all the time that being in Pisay results to goodness. I will speak from the perspective of other people outside this system. Some claimed that Pisay students as the years go by tend to forget about values and being human. Because they believed that what’s important is to be on top. This forces them to be cheaters and selfish thinkers. Maybe you get the grade that you dreamed of, so what? Will it stop corruption? Will it make us humane? Will it clean the garbage around the street? Will it stop climate change? No. It just makes us forget the main purpose of education. Going to school must not be focused on getting a lot of medals and awards but must serve as a preparation and honing environment for the country’s future manpower.  

Lastly, I wanted to share with you my realization to conclude this whole school year. Iam no longer part of the Director’s List but I am happy. Although of course, I will still strive hard to be part of it and make my parents proud. I am happy for I believe that I was able to learn something from my experiences no matter how hard, traumatizing, and tiring they are and that is…

“The key for the small and big differences we wanted to make in the world lies in our hands. It is all up to me. It is all up to us.”

Keep fighting. Life goes on.     

ACTIVISTS not TERRORISTS.

It’s only when you’re willing to do something bold, different, that your life will truly change.

-from Pour Your Heart Out by Gayle Forman

In line with the box office movie of today, the Avengers: Endgame, which was said to earned two billion US dollars, is the theme of my fourth blog post. Realistically speaking, people tend to imitate someone they really admire. This is good in a way that we have are able to appreciate the beauty of other people – their positive attitudes that made them a role mode who serves as an inspiration and a leader who gained the trust of his followers – thus negativity and enviousness could not foster.

Let us first talk about how I decided watching Marvel films. Initially, it was just a bet I made with a friend: “I am going to finish watching all the 22 movies.” Being a proud girl that I am, I am so dedicated to do everything just to win the bet. So, after I got copies of the movies, I decided to watch the very first film to the series, which is Iron Man. It was released way back 2008. Surprisingly, I found myself watching also the second and third one, “The Incredible Hulk (2008)” and “Iron Man 2 (2010) “. It was not bad after all.

But what I concluded from the first three movies is the value of family. Behind these strong and invincible superheroes is/are someone who sees them for what they are and still support them all the way. Family who will always be remembered by the heart no matter how we change.

In the first Iron Man movie, Pepper Potts, the romantic love interest of Tony Stark, the lead character, proves that whatever he will do, she will always be by his side. She even gave him a gift–an arc reactor that prevents clusters of shrapnels to crawl their way into his heart by powering a life-saving electromagnet in his chest, which had an energy output of 8 gigajoules per second. In the end, even though Obadiah Stane, the villain, successfully get the reactor, Stark was able to still live because of her gift.

Moreover, the second movie I watched, “The Incredible Hulk”, show us the value of trust, forgiveness and repentance. It was because of Betty Rose that Incredible Hulk was able to suppress his anger. Her trust to him that he will never hurt her even though he seemed to be “monster” to other people’s eyes. Meanwhile, forgiveness was manifested when after all those years that Bruce Banner, true name of the incredible hulk, was missing, when he came back, she also came back to him. Together, they fought against everyone who tried to use his “power” as a weapon.

Furthermore, repentance was seen when Betty’s father realizes that Bruce is not a monster but a hero instead. A hero that saved his daughter’s life and the lives of many innocent people.

Being a superhero does not account to fame and total power to control everything. But rather being an inspiration to everyone just by being who you are and accepting all you flaws and limits, and having the heart for the needy knowing the fact that even just once in you life, you asked for help. Offering help in the smallest way possible is a very commendable act in world of selfishness and indifference.

This site’s entries were not really thematic as I intend to chose topics randomly, depending on what I want I to write and mood of course. My first entry was about the sad reality on how people think about campus journalism and how the lessening of priority to school publications pierces that heart of young journos. For those who does not know me yet, I only started writing when I was in grade 9. A big contributing factor to it is because of my “expertise”, if I have any, in using the Filipino language, although I end up being a news writer in an English publication. And until know, honestly, I am still in doubt whether I should consider myself as a writer. Maybe, a beginner in writing is more appropriate.

From the very strong topic to lighter one, my second entry focuses on one of the richest Filipino culture, the Cordillera, comprising of Abra, Apayao, Benguet, Ifugao, Kalinga and Mountain Province. I wrote the said entry during our STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics) week, an annual school activity of ours. I am reluctant to explain further details about my school as it is not really the focus of this blog post. During the STEAM week, various workshops were offered as it is a mandate that every student must join one workshop of his/her choice. Luckily, I was able to be part of the Himig ng Kultura, a workshop on different indigenous groups’ musical instruments, specifically the Kalinga Tribe.

This time around, I guess I wanted to dig more into a less serious topic but a very insightful one. Whether you admit it or not, it did cross our mind the thought on what true happiness is and we gave this word different meanings. To some, happiness means being famous and having everything at the palm of their hands while others might define it simply when they are with their family and friends.

I want to give credits to the movie, “The Little Prince”. It was originally a book wrote by Antoine de Saint-Exupery. The very first time I saw the movie was during our club meeting. I find it boring at that time. Maybe because I am that typical girl who prefers romance type of movies rather than some animated works. And I am going to admit that it was a very big loss not watching it. To give you a short background, from the title itself, it was about a little prince whose curiosity and inquisitiveness brought him understanding and happiness. The movie manifests how most grown ups tend to forget the essence of love and affection, and simple happiness you once seek when you were still a child. What is most important is what is invisible.

It is indeed a sad reality how our own meaning of true happiness changes over time. We all wish for happiness but when have it, we seek for more. We don’t feel the contentment in our hearts. We wanted perfect happiness, the ideal one, wherein our hearts and souls are uplifted to the highest level because of not suffering from any burden and pain; a type of happiness that is impossible to achieve as we are now in this cruel world. We are the ones who made hell out of heaven.

We cannot control what will happen in the future that might take away our happiness but what we do have control is our own emotions and how we put ourselves together to surpass life challenges. And if we really want to be happy we should never let anything or anyone be our own definition of happiness. We should not depend it on external conditions but we should instead find it deep in our hearts. While I was doing this blog, I watch first a TED talk of Gen Kelsang Nyema and she said in her speech that if we really want to be happy, we should start outsourcing our happiness and unhappiness on people and circumstances. Because after all it is up to us whether to choose being happy or being sad. We can always look at the brighter side of things and with that comes a little hope that will tap you at the back saying, “There’s an end to every pain and suffering that you are feeling.”

“For as long as we are making it the job of people and circumstances to make us happy, or as long as we are making it their fault when we are unhappy, our happiness will be very unstable and illusive.” –Gen Kelsang Nyema

You can watch this if you want more heartwarming insights from her :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xnLoToJVQH4

“Igorot ka ba?”

One of the most frequent questions being asked when you are in Baguio. Tagged as “Summer Capital of the Philippines” due to its favorable coldness, Baguio nowadays is not only a home to Filipinos, especially the Igorot tribes, but also to foreigners. Once you entered the city, you will be welcomed by cold air breezes and embraced by various floral scents. Tourists destinations always leave a mark to viewers as they reflect not only grandeur and beauty but atop these is the sense of traditionalism and conservatism; this is how history of the place is retold. Although this single urbanized city cannot summarize the whole Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) for its vastness and richness in culture, a wealth that can never be replaced by any amount of money.

CAR, a region officially created on July 15, 1987 , is a home to numerous indigenous tribes from its six divisions of Abra, Apayao, Benguet, Ifugao, Kalinga, and Mountain Province. Each having their own beliefs and way of living but are known to be a race of the bravest Filipino who fought against colonization ever since the Spanish Era. Christianization and eventual subjugation of the mountain region is very difficult to foreigner invaders as Igorot, collective name for them, are very protective to their ancestral lands and domains, thus, they have a keen sense of ownership not only to aliens but also with the other tribes. What’s very famous on these are the Kalinga people who are very skilled at headhunting. “Ang Kalinga ay para lamang sa mga Kalinga.”They indeed deserved gaining the name “Land of the Last Headhunters”.

Opening the door for love to learn further and appreciate the said culture, is the great appreciation to Whang-od, the last Tatoo Artist. Last June 25, 2018, Apo Whang-od received the Dangal ng Haraya Award, the highest recognition given by the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) for upholding and promoting the Butbut Kalinga traditional tattooing practice of the Kalinga people. Led by NCCA chairman and National Artist for literature Virgilio S. Almario, the ceremony is held at the Kalinga Capitol Gymnasium in Tabuk. Almario even stated that Apo Whang-Od represents—first and foremost to her community, serve as a vessel of age-old wisdom and artistic creation; and to the country and the world, she is a bearer of Filipino indigenous identities, worldviews and expressions. The tattoo is also known as fatok or whatok. They are most often identified from a distance because of their distinctive body art. It is not just plainly an art to them but a symbol of strength, coming of age, and beauty.

I guess I’m down with the idea that I should not feel ashamed for I am one of them. At first, it was because I feel embarrassed everytime I acknowledge the fact that I am an Igorot. I thought it gave other people the idea of illiteracy and being naive at all these present advancements rather I am illiterate and naive of my own culture.

Now, to the next generations to come, I hope that each and everyone of you should strive to let the world know about who you are and where you belong. Because that is what Filipinos are known for. Filipinos are beautiful people inside and out. Their generosity, religiousness, strong family ties and hospitality are what made us very unique among others. And that, that is why we should feel proud of being one! 🙂

“Journalism can never be silent: that is its greatest virtue and its greatest fault.”
— Henry Anatole Grunwald, American journalist and managing editor of TIME Magazine

from https://quotefancy.com/

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According to Kabataan Party-list Representative Terry L. Ridon during the 16th Congress’ First Regular Session, “The campus press has an invaluable contribution in the restoration and preservation of free speech and expression inside and outside our nation’s campuses.”

Truly, indeed, that campus journalism promotes freedom of expression among youths at such young age. By enacting Republic Act No. 7079, or the Campus Journalism Act of 1991, the Philippine government, ideally, guaranteed continued protection to brave school journos who were upholding the principles of giving voice to the voiceless citizens of the nation as it does not limit revealment of truth to school concerns only, rather to participate actively in contemporary issues locally and nationally.

But as comprehensive analysis were made regarding the situation of campus journalist among schools, there comes the reality in life despite strong assurances from the higher-ups. History already gave pictures of the realm where grave abuses to youths are disregarded; claims were not heard. During the tumultuous decades under the Marcos regime, campus journalism served as the alternative press due to the implementation of Presidential Proclamation 1081 that legalized state censorship and ordered closure of different kinds media that disseminates information covering political and economic injustices during that time.

Moreover, campus press not just served as wake-up call to Filipino people yet produced many nameless and faceless heroes who are not only writers, but story tellers as well. Among them are Amado V. Hernandez, Wenceslao Vinzons, Miriam Defensor-Santiago, Joe Taruc, Satur Ocampo, and many more.

People should inculcate in their minds that campus press is an institution collective run and managed by the students as it does not exist for entertainment and commercial purposes only that are measured through number of likes, tweets, reacts and shares. What’s saddening to them is that people think of students who chose this field as enemies of the state and worst, tagging them as “terrorists” and “rebels”. Number of assaults nationwide are still increasing despite the passage of Campus Journalism Act of 1991. Stories from victims include harassment of student writers and editors; meddling with editorial policies; censorship of editorial articles; withholding of publication funds if the school rules were not abode; filing of libel charges; and suspension and expulsion of students.

Should this be the case of youths who seek justice in this world? Should they suffer at the feeling of knowing but must stay silent? No, that should not be the case. The roots of various campus press freedom violations must be addressed. Student press must not be killed. Not now, not ever.

There’s nothing worse than being at the heart of a battle you’re unable to fight.