Tag: April 15, 2009

I GREW up hating Filipino films.

Having been raised during the ‘90s, my first impression of the Filipino movie scene was based on the slapstick comedy movies, the supposedly action-packed , guns-and-goons motion pictures, and the “bold” soft porn films with random vegetables and other food products as titles.

Every new beginning comes from some other beginning’s end. - Closing Time, Semisonic

ANIMALS parading before my eyes have been a staple moving image ever since I was young. National Geographic and Discovery were my alternative channels aside from cartoons. Maybe, that could be the reason why nature appreciation had been inculcated in me at a young age.

“PANAHON na,” UST Rector Fr. Rolando de la Rosa, O.P. exclaimed, opening his homily for this year’s Baccalaureate Mass for the graduates. But more appealing to the crowd was his following catchphrase, “para magsaya!”

As one of the hopeful graduates seated on monobloc chairs at the main field, I admittedly could not deny the smile that everyone seemed to have shared on that night of March 20. However, the overly inquisitive side of me started to haunt me again.

EDITOR’S NOTE: This piece is the long-overdue follow-up to the March 2008 entry “Contentions, anyone?” published in this same space. Sorry for the delay. Enjoy.

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TWO SEMESTERS ago, this writer and his blockmates were “purged” by their Global Environmental Politics (GEP) professor, Dr. Arlen Ancheta, from the definitional sin of equating “garbage” with “waste” and vice-versa.

BY END of March, around 500, 000 college graduates will crowd the already swollen ranks of the country’s unemployed amid the global economic crisis, which in itself has triggered massive worker retrenchments worldwide.

AMID economic uncertainties, UST Rector Fr. Rolando de la Rosa, O.P. reminded the close to 7,000 University graduates to rejoice, “for God is in control of us,” challenging them to view their problems in a different light.

“How can one rejoice when people say ‘welcome to the world of the unemployed?’” De la Rosa asked in his homily during the Baccalaureate Mass last March 20 at the UST Grandstand.

“Rejoicing is not pretending not to have problems. It is to thank God for he is in control of us,” he added.

WITH pre-need companies again under intense public scrutiny, Thomasians holding on to practically worthless education plans are reiterating their appeal for the government to help them recover their investments.

Meilin Hong, a senior Medical Technology student, said that it was hard to accept that the educational plan her parents bought from the College Assurance Plan (CAP) 20 years ago could not be used to pay her tuition.

TEXTING and addiction to social networking sites, such as Friendster, have become a way of life for the “digital generation,” that every day seems unimaginable without them. Foregoing these activities can serve as forms of sacrifice in observance of Lent, a statement issued by the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) said.

According to Fr. Oscar Alunday of the CBCP Commission on Biblical Apostolate, abstention from texting and visiting social networking sites are as good as refraining from vices at least during the Lenten season.

THE THOMASIAN graduate who obtained the highest honors this school year likened the challenges a student faces to sandstorms “that keep on changing directions and chasing you.”

UST valedictorian Eric Royd Talavera, a Medical Technology graduate from the Faculty of Pharmacy, challenged his fellow Thomasians to look at these “sandstorms” as opportunities for them to achieve their dreams.

SEEKING to arrest the decline of newspaper readership in the country, the Circulation Management Association of the Philippines launched its first reading awareness seminar to motivate the youth to patronize newspapers and help “revive” the print industry.