Touch Move

(As seen in: the Flame)

More  than the classroom-based lessons I have learned in my four years in college, my stay at the University has taught me an important message in life that is very much applicable once I step out of the walls of my alma mater. As cliché and as common as it may sound, the lesson is simply not to take life too seriously.

This  brings me back to a photo in Facebook that features a story with the headline, “Worker dead at desk for 5 days.” The article tells the story of a worker who has always been so engaged in his work that he rarely gets off his workplace. He had a heart attack and passed away unnoticed. At the end of the story, a lesson is revealed saying, “do not work too hard, nobody notices anyway.”

Contrary to how I lived up my four years in this institution, college should be a niche for learning, having fun, discovering your identity, making friends, and grabbing opportunities while juggling to do good academically. I must admit that most of the time, I have been too harsh on myself.   I have always been filled with discontentment for desiring many things that are beyond my reach. Despite this, I am glad that before my journey reaches its end, I learned not to take life too seriously for nobody gets out alive anyway. However, it does not mean that we should dilly-dally on things. It is just a matter of proper time management. Ergo, it does not hurt to party and relax at times while working hard in school.

Graduating students have probably heard the cliché “welcome to the real world” a number of times. However, no matter how hard I try to grasp it, the ambiguity of this friendly precaution remains unclear to me.

Does this mean that all the lessons and experiences I have gained during my four-year stay in this University are all far from what reality offers? Have we been prepared for nothing but a fictional reality that exists only in the subjective mind of its thinker?

All of the knowledge and understanding acquired inside and outside the four corners of the classroom do not only serve as dry-runs but as means to equip students to more difficult trials once they leave the  confines of the campus. All the lessons—whether class-based or not—as well as the experiences and camaraderie gained during college have geared us pretty well to face the much harder life ahead.

Nothing in being is for rehearsal’s sake. Every action and decision could make or break the course of our path, whether we are still in college or not. 

In the four years that I have been in the Flame, I have witnessed the struggle faced by its members in order to produce at least a single decent issue every year.

Its past members and editors have said that the Flame runs in an “alive-dying-dead” cycle.

True enough, for the first three years of my membership, it became a year-ender publication and its existence was only noticed by few Arts and Letters (Artlets) students. Nothing and no one could be blamed. It was just that the publication had to go through a dwindling point, an instance where it was merely a flicker away from being extinguished.

Now that I am down to my last year, I am proud to say that for the first time (at least in my stay), the Flamewas able to publish three issues on the first semester, followed by Dapitan,
its literary folio, and a magazine
issue on the second semester.

However, this productive phase did not just happen with just a snap of a finger. The Flame members and its Editorial Board had to go through an eye of a needle before successfully publishing an issue as defective computers, inefficient members, and funding problems confronted us.

In fact, it took this last issue a lot of thinking and decision making from the Editorial Board. After producing three issues in three consecutive months during the first semester, we were notified by the Faculty administration to limit our release into four issues at most due to insufficient funds. The news of course saddened the members of the publication. At one point, we were tempted not to publish anything to express our dissent, but it has come to us that it would be a disgrace if the Flame would just disappear without informing the Artlets community about the real reason behind its limited release.

Despite these dilemmas, the Flame has managed to produce this lone magazine issue for the second semester. I could only hope that what has been started will be continued by the future editors of this publication.

In line with this, I would like to thank the people behind the Flame who have made my stay worthwhile. To our adviser, Professor Nestor Cuartero, and the rest of my professors, thank you not only for the journalistic lessons you have imparted, but more importantly for the life lessons you have given. I will forever treat those lessons as my life’s guiding principles.

To my colleagues and friends: Angel, Ardi, Azer, Cam, Chino, Dan, Eli, Marian, Miko, Sooey, Trina, Zhea and the rest of the old and new staff members, thank you so much for the camaraderie. “Kailan na ‘yung rock band natin?” Our bonding plans have not yet materialized. Still, thank you for those crazy two semesters filled with fun and laughter.

My deepest gratitude goes to our editor in chief, Jenn. We have been writers for the Flame for four years but we got the chance to bond and to be friends only recently. Our relationship goes beyond EIC-Assoc Edaffiliation. With all the hurdles we have surpassed together, we learned to work not only as a team, but more importantly, as friends. Thanks again for the lessons you taught me especially during the time when you caught me at my weakest point.

To the incoming Editorial Board members, writers, photographers, and artists, good luck and may you keep the Flame alive and burning.

I would also like to express my gratitude to my “bading” friends, Alex, Bea, Bianca, CJ, Claire, Demi, Joanne, Lars, and Thaene for we have made it through thick and thin.

To the rest of my 4JRN1 classmates, dudes, girlfriends, geeks, and others, I am glad to be part of a dynamic, talented, and skillful bunch of individuals like you. To the rest of the graduating Journalism sections, JRN2, JRN3, and JRN4, congratulations to us for being the biggest Journalism batch to date.

To my thesis-mates, Bianca, Demi, and Joanne, and our thesis adviser Sir John Manuel Kliatchko, thank you. “I-kembot na natin ito!”

My sincerest gratitude and love goes to my family. Ma, Pa, and my brother, thank you so much for all the sacrifices, support, and understanding. I love you.

Lastly, I would like to thank the Lord for all of the opportunities, success, and blessings I received. I owe it all to Him. F

Students express doubts over smoking ban

(Published on: The Flame)

SMOKING is like an incurable disease that continuously haunts the society—no one knows exactly when and how it can be alleviated.

In the Philippines alone, the government has already resorted to increase the tax of cigarettes and to put up picture-labels that warn Filipinos about the smoking effects to curb the number of smokers. Now, a stronger reinforcement of the smoking ban is restored with hopes of achieving a smoke-free metro by 2012. Despite the efforts, many are still apprehensive thinking that it will not materialize.

Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) chairman Francis Tolentino, with 17 local metro mayors, launched 100% Smoke -Free Metro Manila last May 30  to protect citizens from passive smoking. Coincidentally, the launching of the campaign also falls on the eve of World No Tobacco Day celebration by the World Health Organization.

The Metro-wide smoking ban campaign prohibits any person to smoke in “public places” to which Dr. Loida Labao-Alzona, MMDA Health Public Safety and Environmental Protection head, defined as—all schools, hospitals, youth recreation centers, overpasses and underpasses, loading and unloading bays, transport terminals, and roads within 100 meters of those places, including sidewalks.

Under Republic Act 9211 or the Tobacco Regulation Act of 2003, public places refer to “enclosed or confined areas of all hospitals, medical clinics, schools, public transportation terminals and offices, and buildings such as private and public offices, recreational places, shopping malls, movie houses, hotels, restaurants, and the likes.”

The MMDA had the whole month of June to inform the public and disseminate information about the campaign. In a published article at the Philippine Star dated May 31, MMDA spokeswoman Tina Velasco said that their means of intensifying the campaign about R.A. 9211 is via “word of mouth.” Those who will be caught smoking in public places will be issued warnings. However, the actual implementation and apprehension of violators will start on July. 

Under the law, violators will be fined P500.00 on first offense, P1,000.00 and P5,000.00 on second and third offense, respectively. Those who cannot pay will be required to undergo an eight-hour community service. In line with this, 64 environmental enforcers will be assigned to monitor major thoroughfares while local government inspectors will assign their own enforcers to implement the program on secondary roads.

Weak implementation

A law that banned smoking in public places was already created way back in 2003 but was not properly implemented. According to a 2009 study of the Philippine Global Tobacco Survey, 28 percent of Filipinos aged 15 and over (about 17.3 million) are smokers.

Meanwhile, schools in the metro like UST have laws prohibiting students to smoke inside the campus. However, the prohibition does not extend outside the University premises.

The University has been a smoke-free campus since 2002.

A fourth year student from the Faculty of Arts and Letters (Artlets) who requested anonymity said that it is tough to comply with the smoking ban considering that nicotine addiction is very hard to overcome and temptation to break the law lingers due to the presence of vendors selling cigarettes outside the campus.
“[Smoking-ban is hard to comply with] because first, cigarette vendors are just around,” she said.

The RA 9211 though states that “the sale or distribution of tobacco products is prohibited within one hundred (100) meters from any point of the perimeter of a school, public playground or other facility
frequented particularly by minors.”

“UST is a smoke-free campus but this very strong anti-smoking policy is defeated because members of the  Thomasian community smoke outside our perimeter walls,” Health Service director Maria Salve Olalia said, noting that the University does not extend its jurisdiction over cigarette vendors outside the University.
“With MMDA’s action, we can help our smokers stop this lifethreatening habit,” she added.

For Health Service resident-surgeon Albert Paulino, Jr., “The problem is the implementation [of law because] it is inconsistent, not persistent, and not insistent.”

While most authorities claim that the success of the smoking ban lies on the cooperation between government entities and the citizens, senior Journalism student Michelle Gonzales emphasized that President Noynoy Aquino, who is known to be a heavy smoker, must set an example. “Citizens will not follow [the smoking-ban policy in public] if our very own leader is a known smoker,” she said.

Expressing doubts

While the Artlets community proves to be a mix of both smokers and non-smokers, their views about the smoking policy have very little distinction.

Another fourth year student and a confessed smoker who refused to be named said that the effectiveness of the ban is “unlikely since you cannot stop people [from smoking].”

Students also doubt the success of the ban since other basic policies of the MMDA are not properly implemented like the “no littering” and “no jaywalking” campaigns.

For Philosophy professor Fleurdeliz Altez, smoking should just be regulated and not totally banned in public places.
“When you prohibit [smoking], smokers would find it hard to drop their vices. But if you just regulate it, the act itself will gradually decrease,” she said. 

The question should not focus on its (smoking ban) effectiveness, but rather, on its implementation, Altez said when asked about the MMDA strategy.

“I have high hopes that it would be implemented because it will be culturally good when smoking ban happens. It would reduce the opportunity of people to use money unwisely,” Altez said.

Since apprehension of violators will start on July, students still give the MMDA the benefit of the doubt.
“We’ll see [this July if smoking ban is effective],” Claire Capul, a senior Journalism student said.

Professional Procrastinators

(Published in the Flame, the official publication of the Arts and Letters, UST) 
The Philippines has been governed by a number of rules and regulations emanating from the many laws passed by the legislature. If I am to count the existing laws in our country today, it may take just a few hours to realize that we already have a lot—most of them irrelevant and even a repetition of those that were already passed years ago.

This led me to the realization that we do not need lawmakers anymore, but only strict implementation of our existing laws.

Thanks to my legwork about the smoking ban campaign of the Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) because I found out that the Philippine society already implements a smoking-ban law since 2003. But as reflected by reality, it has been neglected to the point that according to the Philippine Global Tobacco Survey in 2009, 28 percent of Filipinos aged 15 and over are smokers.I could not blame the apprehensions of AB students who were asked about their opinions regarding the reinforcement of smoking ban in public places. Many thought that the revamp of the existing law would be just another failure-in-the-making. As how I perceive these things, I can say that the idea of such law being implemented is good. But unfortunately, just like the many inefficient laws passed, execution of the smoking ban has its flaws.

The problem could not be the inability of Filipinos to follow rules because once stationed abroad, overseas workers could abide by foreign laws. The hitch seemed to root from our own inability to carry out rules and regulations efficiently.

Our ningas cogon attitude is also one of the reasons why we lack the means to implement and to follow rules and regulations.

Ningas cogon refers to the superficial pursuit of people to a certain new interest as the attention eventually wanes easily. It could also be depicted as the procrastination of people to address known problems.

I was not surprised when a student said that reimplementation of the smoking ban could last for barely two months. Personally speaking, I believe that we are already lucky if it lasts for 30 days.
                                                                   ***
I got surprised with the changes implemented in our city when I went home to Laguna for a two-week vacation. It has been almost a year since my last visit and because of this, I was clueless that the local government has already employed a plastic-free-metro campaign.

The execution of the policy should have started years ago, long before the occurrence of climate change and global warming. Nonetheless, I am happy to hear about the plans of having an environment- friendly community even if it is late. At least, an effort is done to rescue the earth in distress.

I am only hoping though that when I get back to my hometown again, the policy is still being implemented and not disregarded.

It is just so funny that we know the root cause of our problems, yet we lack the drive to address them. We only find ourselves acting upon them when the situation gets uncontrollable.

Obesity should have been prevented long before acquiring a relentless eating disorder; assigned deadlines should have been met if people would give more concentration to their works; labor code for children should have been laid out properly long before the Jan Jan controversy—yes, I am rambling but I know you get the picture.

We have been used to slacking to the point that it has become our expertise. Because of this, we become professional procrastinators.

Despite all the ramblings, let us give the MMDA the benefit of the doubt. Let us hope that the smoking ban will outlast its predicted two-month shelf life.