THE AVENGERS: Watch a movie for a cause!

It's only THE most awaited film of 2012. And it's being shown in THE finest cinema in Metro Manila. We're selling tickets for a cause!

Buy a ticket and help send U.P. students to school! Our NGO, Ex Libris Philippines, is inviting you to attend a special blocked screening of "The Avengers." We're holding this movie fundraiser in order to help send U.P. "iskolars ng bayan" to school. Our past three fundraisers have helped fund the education of eleven (11) U.P. students!

"THE AVENGERS," showing at April 25, 2012. Wednesday. 7:00 p.m.

Rockwell Power Plant Cinema 2.

Tickets are at P500.00 each! For tickets, please contact me at 0920 947 08 35.

Be cool, and help someone go to school!

See y'all there!

__________________________________

Ex Libris Philippines is a nonstock, nonprofit organization for book enthusiasts. We believe that the nobility of ideals and great vision should not just exist in the pages of books or in the minds of authors long-dead and gone, but in reality. Our organization’s Scholarship Project helps send deserving but financially needy U.P. students to school.

In March 2007, we held a special screening of Frank Miller's"300" in the Powerplant Cinema, Makati. The proceeds went to Gerico Prince Punzalan and Hanna Keila Garcia (Mr. Punzalan graduated on April 26, 2009, BA Speech Communication, cum laude). In April of 2008, we held an opera production of Donizetti’s Don Pasquale held at the UP Engineering Theater, Melchor Hall, UP Diliman. The proceeds went to Mikael Angelo S. Francisco (BA Communication Research), Vincent B. Parrenas (BA Philosophy), Maricar F. Verano (BA History), Jessa Chryzl R. Orosco (BS Statistics), and Dave Capule (DCPMA Piano). More recently, in May 2010, we held a concert in the UP College of Music, the proceeds of which went to fund the education of Frederick G. Precillas (B.A. Fine Arts), Claudine V. Enduma (B.S. Tourism), Mark Bryan F. Manantan (B.A. Broadcast Communication), and Dancille Villarey (B.S. Nutrition). Mark Bryan Manantan graduated this past 2011 magna cum laude, and was also nominated for the Best Thesis Award.

http://exlibrisphilippines.multiply.com/

On William Henry Scott and U.P.

One of the pleasures of Summer is having an hour or so of free time each day to read non-work-related books. :) Most of the books I read in a year are hastily consumed by my eyes during this golden period of lazy breakfasts and shorter work hours.

I've heard of William Henry Scott through my dad and former professors in UP, but never had the opportunity to read him until now.

My golly! I'm in love!!

He's a White Filipino, and I love him for loving the Philippines as much as much as every UP graduate and every Filipino ought to.

A Yale and Columbia University alum as well as being a lay missionary, his literary output is staggeringly broad as it encompasses scholarly works, sermons and strongly-worded articles speaking against the corruption of Martial Law, advocating unity among the Filipino youth and begging them to take action. But always, he writes with a distinctive voice that perfectly blends simplicity and profundity.

In one of his many articles, he writes:

"The State University (Aside: where he taught for several years, alongside the likes of Teodoro Agoncillo) ... is supported by the sweat of the Filipino people's labor and therefore exists only to serve them, and so it aims to produce public-spirited, civic-minded men and women conscious of the responsibility which their privileged status entails and willing to dedicate their skills to the service of their fellow men rather than to the advancement of their own careers and the prosperity of their own fortunes..." (emphases mine)

Several months back, a viral video went around featuring Winnie Monsod's last lecture, where she exhorted her students to help our country by staying in it. Since then, the video has inspired backlash, with a lot of expats rising to defend themselves (defensive much?) and lambasting Prof. Monsod for being narrow-minded, backward, illogical, etc. (Click here and here for anti-Winnie reads.)

I think we would do well to remember W.H. Scott's perspective. He saw nation-building as a godly act, and, like former UP President Salvador Lopez, understood that "not only our individual redemption but also the redemption of our country lies in the hollow of our hands."

The way I see it, it's a lot like Faith. Christians today (in the Philippines, at least) don't have the same appreciation for their faith because they are no longer being persecuted. They don't have to celebrate mass underground, hiding from fascists who seek to exterminate them for breaking the law. In the same way, many Filipinos today don't appreciate the freedom that our forefathers died for, since we breathed in the air of liberty from birth.

Freedom was just the initial step towards becoming a great nation, but if all of us leave the country, claiming that self-actualization is not a sin, who's going to stay in the Motherland to do the hard, dirty work? For as long as Filipinos love greener stateside pastures more than the dirty patch of land we call "ours," we cannot call ourselves "great."

I'm not saying that staying in the country is the right choice. I'm saying it's the HARDER choice. (It's a different case with UP graduates, however. For us, most especially, I really believe that staying in the country, working for its betterment, is the ONLY thing to do.)

It's harder to stay here, because it's unpopular, and migrating is so "now." Next, we have to live with all the corruption, traffic, heat, low wages, etc. We have to put up with a LOT, actually, just living our day-to-day lives. But it will not last forever.

William Henry Scott BELIEVED in our country, and loved it so much he chose to stay in it, despite all the terrors of Martial Law. Why can't we true-blooded Pinoys do the same?

Yes, I'm a fanatic. Yes, I've been brought up to believe that Filipinos SHOULD stay in the country, to serve it during the best years of my life and not to avail of its resources in order to leave it at the first opportunity. And yes, I realize that logic has little to do with this argument. It all boils down to FEELINGS. It all boils down to one question: How much do you love your country?

I've heard the arguments. I've talked to people on either side of the fence. But in the end, I've made my choice. I pray that I can hold on to it for the rest of my life.

Pasensiya na, I'm a UP grad. :)

Winnie Monsod's Last Lecture

I love this lecture! I believe, with all my heart, in what she says. No wonder, because my father has been saying these things to me since childhood! A must-see, especially for UP grads!

Repost: An Appeal for Support

We are Lester Pascua’s friends.

We come together to give a voice to his story.

Five unknown men, brandishing baseball bats and hidden by masks, viciously attacked our friend, Lester, in Katipunan at the night of April 29. As our friend Lester was walking to buy dinner, these men mercilessly, and without any provocation, attacked him. They ganged up on him and beat him to a pulp. As if their treachery and brutality was never enough, they soon drove off in a silver Vios (plate number ZMD 300) to escape.

As his friends, we continue to receive persistent reports that this crime was a fraternity-related hit gone wrong. Knowing that our friend Lester was never a fraternity member in UP, and had no known enemies, only heightens our suspicions that this was a case of mistaken identity. In our eyes, Lester was an innocent person caught up in a senseless act of vendetta.

Even as we still piece together what really happened in this case, and we trust our authorities in their investigation, we still condemn – in the strongest terms – this barbaric act. If it was indeed true that this was a fraternity hit, these men who attacked him are no different from criminals. These criminals, whoever they are, must not go unpunished.

We are angry that these things can actually happen in our streets. We are indignant that these hoodlums think that they can get away with their crimes. Nonetheless, we are united by our demand to exact justice.

As Lester’s friends, we come together as one to bring attention to his case, and never stop until the criminals who have done this to him are punished.

If you believe in what we stand for, please repost this note and tag your friends.

LET US SHOW THESE CRIMINALS THAT WE DON'T TAKE THIS SITTING DOWN.

http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/SAWA-NA-KAMI-SA-FRAT-RELATED-VIOLENCE/116241481744011?ref=nf

A Repost from the UP Alyansa Web Page

Speech Delivered at the LSG Candle Lighting and Indignation March against Midnight Appointments

Speech delivered by Simoun Salinas, USC Councilor-Elect and ALYANSA Vice Chairperson for Education, Research, and Training, at the Law Student Government (LSG) Candle Lighting and Indignation March against midnight appointments by Gloria Macapagal Arroyo on March 19, 2010.


As law students, we all know that repetition is the key to memorizing and understanding statutes or provisions of the law. Read the provision. Understand it. Read it again. Repeat ad nauseum.

We also know that it has been a while since the members of the Supreme Court have relished the law school experience. Apparently, it has been a while since the members of the Supreme Court, especially the 9 assenting justices in De Castro vs. JBC, have taken the time to realize the necessity of precision of language in our Constitution.

Therefore, in the hope that, as we repeat this simple provision in the Constitution, maybe they will hear our collective pleas for reason and our collective indignation. To the Supreme Court, we say: “Article 7, Section 15 of the Philippine Constitution states that “Two months before the next presidential elections and up to the end of his term, the President…shall not make appointments….”

Again, we repeat: “To the Supreme Court, we say: “Article 7, Section 15 of the Philippine Constitution states that “Two months before the next presidential elections and up to the end of his term, the President…shall not make appointments….”

Then again, maybe repetition will not be enough. Maybe now, it’s time to unleash our weapon of unified indignation and communicate our anger to the erring interpretation of the Bench.

Thus, this outrage against the bastardization of our Constitution must not only be heard; it must be felt, realized and concretized. This outrage against the bastardization of our Constitution knows no limit or boundary. This outrage knows no party lines, no affiliations, no organizational biases or ideologies.

Therefore, I encourage everyone present here, and the entire nation to continue to express their outrage and the indignation in any way possible. Express this outrage with as many fellow students, workers, lawyers or Filipinos as you possibly can. Take this outrage to the street. Take it online. Take it to the family, at the dinner table. Maybe then, if we keep on saying it, repetition and collective action can make a difference.

With that, once again, we said it before, and we will never tire of repeating it ourselves, in the interest of understanding, in the hope that they will understand: 

No to the midnight appointment of the Chief Justice by GMA!

No to the bastardization of our Constitution!