10 Happy Things + Other Stuff

Part of this entry is also in my Multiply blog, but there are some things which I'd like to be exclusively placed in this blog. :)

I was tagged by Kuya Ge for this. :)

The rules are easy, just post 10 things that recently made you happy! Then tag 10 people.

1. Reading interesting blog posts from Arfster :D
2. Going to Timezone with Kuya and Judith, and actually bringing home prizes
3. Eating out with immediate and extended family last Easter Sunday
4. Santugon's win in CCS, and seeing them so happy about it a few days after
5. Getting together with Serna, even for just a while :)
6. Knowing that there's one professor who understands our workload, especially when some of our other professors give us requirements thinking that their class is the only one we have for the term
7. Dad's seemingly random bursts of nonsense which makes us all crack :P
8. Mom's delicious carbonara
9. Being with my friends everyday, despite the fact that we're all worked up with every little thing imaginable
10. Having the time to reflect last Holy Week and thanking God for everything that's been happening to me

I know I'm supposed to tag 10 people, but then I won't be tagging anyone in particular. It's free for all. :)

 

I'm having somewhat of a like/love dilemma right now, and only one other person knows about some of the details. >.< Thing is, I'm really hoping it's just temporary and will be gone after a couple of months or less. And I'm trying so hard to find out why I'm even liking another person, when I already been in like (or love?) with someone for around 2 years. Rawr!

What's even more frustrating is that this comes at a time when I already have enough on my plate. *sigh*

Easter Thoughts

The birth of Christ will have no meaning if He did not die on the Cross to save us from our sins.
- an excerpt from Fr. Remo Bati's homily, Easter Vigil 2008

Happy Easter to all. :) I never really blogged regarding excerpts on homilies or Christian teachings, but the above quote really struck me and somehow compelled me to share something about it.

Comparing Easter and Christmas, most people seem to think that the latter has more significance compared to the former. One cannot exactly blame them, since Christmas has always been festive and people seem to be in high spirits. There's the normal get-together with families, gift-giving, and also the anticipation that a New Year would come (with the holiday coming exactly a week before the next year). Employees get their 13th month pay and bonuses, and students get a 2-week or so hiatus from school.

The commercialism that Christmas brings, however, disillusions people of its true meaning, which is the coming of God as man. People always seem so wrapped up with preparing for Christmas dinner or buying gifts, that when Christmas Eve comes, a lot don't even bother to go to church to thank God for the blessings we have received for the past year. It's really sad and disappointing.

For me, however, it's even more disappointing that people seem to take Holy Week and Easter for granted, when it is much more significant than Christmas. While it is true that there wouldn't be a Holy Week or Easter if Christmas did not take place, Christmas would not even have meaning if Holy Week and Easter did not happen. Jesus Christ would be just like you and me, a human who lived and died. A bit extraordinary, perhaps, what with the miracles He performed. But Christ's ultimate mission was to pay for our sins through His death, since only death (both in the physical and spiritual sense) can serve as payment for our sins (Romans 6:23).

I guess one excuse that people give when they don't attend the Easter Vigil or Holy Week services is that there's too many things to do. (This is especially true for us Lasallians, since the Holy Week comes only as a 4-day vacation within the 3rd term.) For me, however, nothing can serve as a reasonable excuse for us to not give up a few hours to commemorate Christ's passion, death and resurrection. He gave up a lot for us. He gave up His LIFE for us. So why can't we spare Him a few hours during the Holy Week to thank Him for that?

DLSU General Elections 2008: Yet again...

Tapat has gathered majority seats in the Executive Committee as well as in the batch levels. However, Santugon got almost all of the positions in the College of Computer Studies, with only one batch level position going to a Tapat candidate.

There are a lot of people questioning the results of this year's elections, particularly the spot for VP-Academics. It is the only position Santugon was able to get in the Executive Board, and one of things that has ired people was the fact that Aimee Chua, a student from the College of Business and Economics (CBE), won against Anil Ratanchandani who is from the College of Education (CED). Some have reasoned that since Anil is from CED, he is much more worthy of the position. One commenter in Shale Campaigns, however, noted that for the past five years, the position for VP-Academics was never held by a student from CED. It's most probably because CED is a very small college compared to CBE. As for the candidates' capabilities to handle the position, I will not argue about that since both of them are (supposedly) capable of handling the job. Otherwise, why would they run for that specific position? They'd be stupid to do that if they knew they cannot handle it.

I was talking to one of my close friends who was so disappointed at her slate's loss during this elections. She really felt that their slate was stronger compared to the other's, and that their loss was a case of her batch's "blind loyalty," having had officers from the opposing party for all the years she's been studying in DLSU. I can't blame her for being disappointed, since I too know that she is very capable and she should have had the chance to serve in the Legislative Assembly. However, this is the reality of elections. The reasons for voting candidates are not taken into consideration at all. Only the numbers will decide the victors.

There are still pending cases in the COMELEC, as well as a special election for the College of Science. Thus, some results are still unofficial. But for those who are quite secure in getting their respective positions, congratulations. Truly, you have made your party proud. It's time that you make the rest of De La Salle University proud as well.

(I will be making a follow-up entry on this when the results have been officially announced.)

DLSU General Elections 2008: Service != Politics

Browsing through my Multiply inbox, I saw that my friend Joseph posted his reaction on the current DLSU elections. Reading it, I could sense his anger in everything that's been happening in the campaign. And I, wanting very much to say something regarding the matter, replied to his post:

Joseph, ingat ka. Puso mo. Hahaha. Mahaba ito, sensya na. Haha. I feel that I really want to say something.

I was chatting through YM with a co-elected officer of mine, and I was telling her how disappointed I am at the current state of our Student Council elections. Coming from the SC, I am so appalled at EVERYONE. Are the elections just an "excuse" to say bad things about the other party or the incumbent SC officers? A lot of them have worked with each other in the course of this year. If they saw something wrong with their fellow SC officer, bakit hindi nila pinagsabihan right then and there? Dahil lang ba magkaiba sila ng partido?!?

Both parties are at fault this time. You should have been there during miting de avance. Sobrang tirahan talaga. And I am so disappointed in the candidates, especially the incumbent Student Council officers. They are the ones in power to make change and to correct the wrongdoings of their fellow officers, tapos sila din yung may guts na manira. As for those who are not officers but are running, did they even try to approach the current officers and say what they're doing wrong, and provide suggestions? I wouldn't know.

I think this all boils down to a lack of TRUST. It should simply work like this. If you're an ordinary student, have the confidence to approach your officers and suggest activities, or improvements in the current setting. You shouldn't be afraid or hesitant just because you think they won't take your suggestion. If they don't take appropriate action, ask them why. If they give you an invalid reason, and you really feel that your suggestion will benefit the students, be persistent. If they really don't bite, and you feel that you've done EVERY SINGLE THING to convince them, then that's when you should complain. The same thing should apply to the Student Council officers in dealing with fellow officers.

It was only a few days ago that I realized I don't want the students to lose hope in the Student Council. After all, they are a part of it too. You cannot easily remove the parties. They have been there for years and years. But what they can change is the way they promote themselves. It should be clean, honest, and should not require stepping down on other peoples' shoes. And what WE, as students, can do, is to look beyond the politics and hope that the candidates really have their hearts set for service.

I don't want to judge their actions, because only God can judge them in the end.

I can't help but agree with Joseph that the current campaign is very much a reflection of Philippine politics, something that the Student Council SHOULD NEVER be seen as. Both parties want to express the truth, but they do it in such a way that it doesn't just simply hurt other people. It hurts the person's DIGNITY, which for me is simply unforgivable.

I never wanted the Student Council to be perceived as composed of politicians from BOTH parties. Yes, I emphasize both. THIS IS NOT WHAT REAL SERVICE FOR OTHERS IS ALL ABOUT. THIS IS NOT WHAT THE STUDENT COUNCIL IS.

Yes, I am really sick and tired of politics.

DLSU General Elections 2008: Has anything really changed?

I know I ought to be doing my thesis now, but I somehow need to get this out of my system. :D I don't think I can cover the campaigns as completely and objectively and as Shale Campaigns can, but I will try my best to give my viewpoints from a voter's perspective, and based solely on what I have heard and seen.

I was so furious at myself for waking up later than I would have wanted. I slept at 2:45 AM and woke up at around 9:30 AM, barely 30 minutes before the start of the debate and open forum of Santugon and Tapat. I left the house at around 11:30 AM, fervently hoping that I could catch even the last 5 minutes of the open forum so that I could ask the questions I wanted. Unfortunately, traffic in Taft was heavier than I would have liked, thus when I arrived at the 18th floor of the Andrew Building, the program had just barely finished.

I wanted to get the reactions of both political parties in relation to the first comment posted in one of Shale Campaign's entries. If you're too lazy to click the link, basically the commenter presented the following points:

• The batch candidates shouldn't have platforms since they belong to a party, and it's better being an aggregate of the party's beliefs and ideologies.
  
• The candidates, especially those in the Executive Board (EB), are voted based on what they have seemed to accomplish, or basically the credentials printed on the Specific or General Plans of Actions (SPOAs and GPOAs, respectively). However, they are merely glorifications of personalities. Have they really been productive as they claim, or have other people done the work for them?
  
• The political parties are useless because "they simply run on what makes them win." This includes campaign strategies, and noticing what the other party has done wrong (a.k.a. bashing). They have scripts that don't change every year, and they don't adjust.

I actually replied to that comment, though it was shorter than what I really wanted to say.

Another question I wanted to raise was regarding the autonomy of the COMELEC, as written in the March issue of The Lasallian. I wanted to ask the candidates what their concrete plans are regarding this matter. Personally, I like the idea of having the COMELEC as an entirely separate unit from the Student Council, with the incumbent COMELEC commissioners choosing their successors, instead of the Legislative Assembly having to do it. Hopefully, they would have more funds this way, especially if these are not included in the Student Council funds. To be honest, if I wasn't invited to run for a Student Council position, I would have chosen to be a member of the COMELEC.

So, has anything really changed? I'd say no. It's the same year in and year out. Both parties get bashed. Both parties do the bashing. Candidates of both parties outline their credentials, with a lot of people either doubting if these are actually true, or complaining about the fact that these are not readable in the SPOAs or GPOAs because of their sheer number. Remember that credentials and achievements alone should not be the basis for choosing your candidate. Unfortunately, these are the only things that can "measure" the capability of a candidate. It is only when they actually get the position that the ordinary student can see whether these candidates truly ran to serve, or did so just to glorify themselves and/or, even worse, their party.

Although I will be graduating on October 2008, I will still be taking my masterals, and will hopefully be working just inside DLSU (if I pass Datacraft's screening, that is). If that ever happens, I'll probably keep myself updated with what's happening in the undergraduate level. Thus, I will be able to see how the next set of Student Council officers would work. In this light, I would like to pose challenges to the two political parties.

Santugon, I know you want to somehow lessen or eliminate partisanship in the Student Council. This is something that will be hard to accomplish. To be realistic, I don't see this vision coming into fruition anytime soon, even if you manage to win all the positions in the Executive Committee (EXECOM). To hope for a 76-0 like we did last year is just unrealistic and too good to be true. (Trust me, I've almost always been a realist.) I'd like to see what the result will be at the end of the year.

Tapat, the University Student Government that you're proposing may seem appealing to some students, but to me it's seems up there, too idealistic. Even if you get all the positions in the EXECOM, getting the involvement of the students in this revamp won't be easy. Let's see what will happen at the end of the year. If you're really pushing for this, then hopefully it won't end up getting cobwebs for another 5 years like what happened last time.

To the candidates of both parties, I really hope that you decided to run because you have a genuine interest in the welfare of the students. Because if not, I wouldn't even want to think how the Student Council would be able to work next year.

Memories of DLSU General Elections

Disclaimer: This is not meant to be a campaign material for any political party for GE 2008. I have tried my best to be objective, and merely presented a chronology of electoral events during my past years in DLSU. If you think that this is a campaign material for any political party, or if you see this being used by anyone as campaign material, please email me at bernadette.razon@gmail.com so that I can delete this entry. Thank you.

My current status message at Yahoo! Messenger reads: "DLSU General Elections 2008: Who will be next?" If I wasn't holding a position in the DLSU-M Student Council right now, it'll probably read a campaign slogan from the party I ran under. I'd probably be campaigning along with them, whether as a barker or one of the campaign officers. Hence, my being a Student Council officer prohibits me from showing signs of partisanship during these elections, and this principle will hold in this blog entry as well.

This entry is meant to be a trip back to memory lane, mostly focusing on the Frosh Elections (FE) and General Elections (GE) I have experienced for the past 3 years I've been in college. Thus, I will not explicitly show my preference for a certain party. After all, objectivity is a virtue that we Student Council officers must possess most, if not all, of the time.

First year college - A Glimpse of DLSU Politics
Some months before FE 2005, the two political parties of DLSU-M, Santugon and Tapat, had their recruitment week. However, unlike most frosh who are caught up with the hype and ending up joining one or even both of the political parties, I wasn't one to go with the flow. The political parties, for me, marketed themselves by including freebies and discounts with the membership cards. It was as if their political ideologies came as an afterthought. During that time I made a firm resolve not to be a member of any of these parties.

July came, and then it was the campaign period. For the first time I was able to watch the candidates of Santugon and Tapat do their room-to-rooms (RTRs) and their person-to-person campaigns (PTPCs). There was an independent party as well, Independent for You (I4U), whose candidates and supporters were composed of students from BS-ICTM. It was really fun watching them campaign with all their memorized spiels, but unfortunately it made the whole process seem unnatural.

Through the campaigns, I learned that our batch was going to be represented by four people: two batch representatives (BRs), and two legislative assembly representatives (LA reps). I don't remember any of the political parties giving any sort of job descriptions for these positions. If ever they did, I have forgotten already.

Election time came, and all the winners from our batch came from Santugon. Now that's something that very rarely happens in Philippine politics. I was quite astounded, actually, since if I remember correctly I voted 2 people from each party.

March 2006 came, and campaign period for GE 2006 came. We were all introduced to a new set of candidates, as well as new positions: College Assembly President (CAP), Executive Secretary, Executive Treasurer, VP-Operations and Communications (VP-OPEC), VP-Activities, VP-Academics, and Student Council President. The last six positions are collectively known as the Executive Board (EB). There was no independent party or candidate this time, and we watched as the candidates of both parties slugged it out during the campaign, once again reciting their memorized spiels that supposedly contained plans for our college. At this time, we did not enjoy the RTRs as compared to those in the FE. I think it's because we were looking for a new style of presenting their platform, and not merely changing the contents of what they're saying.

Election time came, and it was the first time I somehow appreciated the orderliness of the election process. Candidates were really not allowed inside the perimeter of the voting area, and once you are finished voting, you can't be inside that perimeter as well. I saw how the candidates were really convincing everyone to cast their vote. After all, each time someone votes, they fervently hope that it would be a vote for them. Our batch was swept again by Santugon as in the FE, and the CCS CAP was from Santugon as well. The EB positions, however, were all taken by Tapat, apparently a repeat of what happened the previous year and the year before that.

Second year college - Active Involvement
I wasn't too concerned about FE 2006, though I did hear that CCS was also swept by Santugon's candidates. During this time, I had absolutely no inkling that I would be asked to run for that academic year's GE.

It was around January of 2007, and Zyon Aquino, one of our BRs at that time asked me if I wanted to run for LA rep. I remember asking him a lot of questions: who considered me for the position, why me, etc., etc. I initially wanted to decline the offer, since I had plans of my own for the coming year, which included applying for officership in SPRINT and PTS, two of the organizations I was actively involved in. However, I also knew that to be chosen to run for a Student Council position is something that doesn't come everyday.

I actually felt flattered to be given the opportunity to run, but I told myself that if I can't become an officer in either SPRINT or PTS, I would decline the party's offer. Finally, I texted Zyon and asked him one final question before giving my answer: "If I win, will I still be able to become an officer in SPRINT and/or PTS?" (That's just the gist of what I asked.) Fortunately, he said that I could, since the organizations are not under CSO. With that, I formally accepted their offer.

After I was screened and accepted by Ge and Jess, the college president and college general of Santugon respectively, the trainings and practices began. I had to practice 5 different spiels, one for each day of the campaign week. It was fun, but I couldn't help feeling so uncomfortable since it's something I wouldn't normally do. However, I survived it and our slate came prepared for the campaign period.

Unfortunately, there were some mishaps during the campaign period, including forgotten lines, mistakes in eye contact, etc. I wasn't too concerned, though, because I don't think the students cared about that. I was even hesitant about doing the PTPCs, since it's something I don't normally do. But then, as I stated, I survived all that and just braced myself for what will happen after the election. After all, I didn't have anything to lose.

Elections came, and we were all nervous. I wasn't able to go to the meeting of Santugon since I had to finish a project for ADVANSE. Someone just texted the results to me, and to my big surprise, our slate was able to get all the positions in our batch! Unfortunately, Zyon, our candidate for CAP didn't win, as well as some candidates in the other batches. Worse, only 1 candidate for the EB won. It was a bit sad, but that's part of Lasallian politics.

Third year college - Watching Along the Sidelines
Since I am currently the incumbent LA rep of our batch, I cannot campaign for my political party in any of the elections. Thus, I can only take a passive role and just encourage people to vote and take part in the electoral process. I will not even mention the candidates for this year's elections, to somehow eliminate any trace of partisanship that can be seen.

Probably in next year's FE, I'll be a barker for Santugon. :)