Ika-7 Manila Chapter Assembly matagumpay na ginanap

Noong ika-17 ng Marso 2011 ay matagumpay na ginanap ang ika-7 Chapter Assembly ng All U.P. Workers Union Manila.  Ito ay ginanap sa PGH UPMASA Science Hall dakong ika-2 hanggang ika-5 ng hapon.  Dinaluhan ng mahigit 200 mga kasapi, ito na marahil ang pinakamaraming dumalo sa lahat ng mga Chapter Assembly ng Manila Chapter kung saan ito ay ginagannap tuwing ikatatlong taon simula noong 1988.

Ang ika-7 Chapter Assembly ay dinaluhan nina UP Manila Vice Chancellor for Administration Orlino Talens at PGH Director Jose Gonzales bilang mga panauhing pandangal na kung saan nagbigay din sila ng mga mensahe.  Ang Secretary General ng Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (BAYAN) na si Renato Reyes ang pangunahing tagapagsalita kung saan tinalakay nya ang mga kasalukuyang pang-ekonomiya at pampulitikang kaganapan sa bansa at ang matinding atake nito sa kabuhayan nga mamamayan lalo na ang tuloy-tuloy na pagtaas ng presyo ng langis at mga bilihin subalit ang tugon ng pamahalaan sa ilalim ni Pnoy ay mas lalong pasakit sa pamamagitan ng programang public-private partnership.  Ito'y walang iba kungdi ang matagal na nating nilalabanang pribatisasyon, medyo pinamulitian lang para mas katanggap-tanggap sa mamamayan.  Pero kung ito'y masusing pag-aralan ay mas masahol pa sa mga nakaraang programng pribatisasyon ng  mga nakaraang rehimen.

Samantala, kasama sa ginanap na asambleya ay ang pagpili ng mga bagong opisyal ng chapter na manunungkulan ng tatlong (3) taon simula Abril 2011.  Sila ang mga sumusunod:

Pangulo - Benjamin Santos (SOJR)
Pangalawang Pangulo - Ma. Rita Sevilla (CENICU)
Kalihim - Rosalina Cruz (DOPS)
Ingat-yaman - Eliseo Estropigan (OETS)
Tagasuri - Josefina Castillo (Internal Audit)
PRO - Elenita Jamison (Ward 4)

Para sa tatlong Board of Directors ay napagkasunduan ng kapulungan na ipanukala ang amyenda sa Konstitusyon ng Unyon para gawing kinatawang sektoral pero pangkalahatan ang eleksiyon sa mga Board of Directors. Ito ay para mas magkaroon ng boses sa loob ng Chapter Executive Board and lahat na sektor sa UP Manila/PGH.  Napagkasunduan din na pangalangan at mag-eleksiyon na upang maisakatuparan kaagad ang pagbabago dahil wala namang nakikitang balakid at siguradong maipasa ito kung ipapanukala sa ika-7 Pangkalahatang Asambleya sa ika 7-8 ng Abril 2011.  Ang mga sumusunod ang nahalal na Sectoral Board of Directors sa susunod na tatlong taon:

Sa PGH:

Nursing - Yolanda Trapani (Ward 4)
Administrative - Ernesto Ragudos (Grounds)
Paramedical - Karen Faurillo (MSSD)
NA/WA - Francisca Mangundayao (Ward 7)
UW - Edgardo Faldas (Ward 15)

UP Manila:

CAD/NIH - Elizabeth Ladeza (HRDO)
Acad Units - Freddie Waje (CPH)

Napagkasunduan na ang panunumpa sa tungkulin ng mga bagong halal na opisyales ay gaganapin na lang sa ika-8 ng Abril 2011 sa ika-7 Pangkalahatang Asambleya ng unyon sa UP-SOLAIR.

Dahil sa kakapusan ng oras, napagkasunduan din ng kapulungan na ang 60 delegado ng chapter para sa ika-7 Pangkalahatang Asambleya na may hatiang 40 mula sa PGH at 20 mula sa UP Manila ay papangalanan na lang ng mga Sektoral Board of Directors at isumite sa Pangulo ng chapter para sa memorandum at paghingi ng official time.

Ang kasalukuyang Pambansang Pangalawang Pangulong Tagapagpaganap (National Executive Vice President) at Kalihim ng chapter na si Jossel Ebesate ang nagpadaloy sa panukalang amyenda sa Konstitusyon at eleksiyon ng mga bagong opisyales samantalang ang Pangalawang Pangulo ng chapter na si Ma. Rita Sevilla ang siyang nagpadaloy ng buong programa.

Ang pulong ay nagtapos ng lagpas sa ika-5 ng hapon sa pamamagitan ng pagbibigay ng souvenir t-shirt at meryenda sa mga dumalong kasapi.

Students, faculty call for removal of UP Cebu dean | Philippine Collegian

Students, faculty & staff call for removal of UP Cebu dean | Philippine Collegian

Students, faculty members and staff from UPCC launched a series of protests on March 1, 8 and 11 to call for the removal of Avila.

Avila was accused of undermining student participation in the governance of the UPCC when he removed the student representative position inthe College Executive Committee (ExeCom), the highest policy-making body of UPCC.

Also, Avila is said to have breached the principle of democratic governance when he disregarded the College Security Committee’s recommendation of rehiring fifteen security personnel, said Nagkahiusang Kusog sa Estudyante Spokesperson and incoming UPCC Student Council Vice Chairperson Kristian Jacob Abad Lora.

Avila allegedly abused his discretionary powers when he denied the appeal for tenure of qualified faculty and filled up administrative and academic positions without holding a democratic search process, said UPCC Computer Science Professor Chito Patiño.

Aside from violating the UP Charter, the dean also breached provisions of the Republic Act No. 3019 or the Anti-graft and Corrupt Practices Act when he did not act on complaints of graft and corruption against UPCC Budget Officer Alsidry Sharif and Administrative Officer Ernesto Pineda, said Patiño.

“The UP-cherished values of collegiality, informed debate, and democratic governance must be upheld [but] this is not possible with Avila and his cohorts in the college’s midst. [They] should go,” said Lora.

Editoryal: Pangwakas na Puna | Philippine Collegian

"Higit kaninuman, marapat lamang na ang mga mag-aaral, guro at empleyado ang magkaroon ng mas malawak na representasyon sa isang pamunuang nagpapasya para sa unibersidad. Wala mang ganap na kontrol ang iba’t ibang sektor sa pagpili ng pinunong kritikal sa paghubog sa kapalaran ng UPD, mahalagang manindigan para sa pagpili ng isang pinunong tumatangkilik sa kapakanan ng karamihan. Sapagkat sinuman ang mapili at namimili, sapat ang lakas at dami nating lahat na pinamumunuan upang piliin ang landas na tatahakin ng unibersidad."

Editoryal: Pangwakas na Puna | Philippine Collegian

An Egyptian Voice of Democracy Says, Tell Old Pharaoh, Go

Friday 11 February 2011

by: Michael Winship, t r u t h o u t

"Then again today back to the square to find that the number of those who support the uprising is increasing tremendously. The charm of the Tahrir Square is attracting more and more people; some flew all the way from the United States, Canada, Germany, London and even South Africa to be there in the square at this very moment of ultimate hope. Others are coming from different Egyptian governorates, simple people who came a long way because they believe that this is a true revolution fighting for their rights and they were determined to give it all their support.

"One very simple lady from the rural Fayoum governorate told me, 'I am here to support the youth,' and added, 'When Mubarak's grandson died we all felt for him, we dressed in black and cried for the innocent child, why on earth is he now doing this to our sons? How many mothers are now crying for a child who is dead or lost?'

"Many analysts in the media speak of Egypt's economy, they say that the economic growth did not trickle down to the poor and this is why this is happening. This is too simplistic. This revolution is not about poverty or need. The people in the streets from all walks of life, rich and poor are there because they want freedom, freedom, freedom, freedom ...

"In the media they speak of an international community afraid of a power vacuum, they speak of a fear from Islamic radicalism. Others speak of the absence of the building blocks of democracy. This is exactly because they do not understand the nature of this revolution. The people, literally for the first time in history, are taking the lead and deciding for themselves. The government will continue to make its concessions and offers, and the street is the judge. It is a different process where the voting is a continuous process, as the street reacts to the government announcements and measures.

"The absence of a person or a group of persons as a recognizable leadership group or figures is intentional. The intellectual young people who started all this are actually leading by spreading awareness among the people in the square rather than by giving orders, and this is making the pressure of the street crowds even more forceful, simply because it is the people rather than this or that specific name who [are] reacting and deciding ...

"The people need a guarantee that whoever rules will at the end of the day, month, year go back to his home knowing that his initial identity is [as] an Egyptian citizen and not an everlasting ruler. Up till now the Egyptian government failed the transparency exam, trying hard to hide what is happening in the square from the eyes of the world ...

"The story of the Tahrir Square is not about who is with Mubarak and who is against; it is about a truly civilized, very peaceful people who decided to regain control of their destiny ... They will forever be responsible and work to rebuild the whole country."

An Egyptian Voice of Democracy Says, Tell Old Pharaoh, Go

New Way to Measure Poverty Denounced as Deceptive, Can Undermine Calls for Better Wages - Bulatlat

According to the NSCB, the annual growth rate in 2010 of 7.3 percent was the highest GDP growth since the 8.8 percent growth recorded in 1976 – the highest in 34 years, a claim that grassroots people’s organizations find impossible to believe.

Independent think-tank Ibon Foundation said that the government’s latest labor force survey pegs unemployment at 2.80 million in October 2010, slightly higher than the 2.72 million reported in the same period last year. The number of the unemployed could very well be pegged at 4.16 million instead, the economic research group said. The difference, it pointed out, is caused by the recently revised definition of unemployment and an estimate approximating the previous definition for comparability with previous years.

Ibon Foundation added that while the reported creation of over a million jobs from last year is welcome, the quality of over half these jobs leaves much to be desired. Out of the one million new jobs created, some 515,000 were in the economy’s lowest earning sectors: agriculture (201,000 jobs), wholesale and retail trade (251,000) and private households (62,000).

The stubbornness of high unemployment and rising underemployment despite the government’s declaration of a “scintillating” 6.5 percent economic growth in the third quarter affirms that joblessness remains a serious cause for concern.

Based on Ibon’s analysis, there is a problem if the economy is consistently able to register growth and deliver corporate profits but unable to create enough jobs and raise wages. The situation highlights the need for urgent reforms in the domestic economy and address its inability to create regular and productive jobs, the group said.

Indifference

Gaite said that this latest move of the Aquino administration to alter the poverty index by bringing the poverty line lower proves its indifference to the woeful plight of the common Filipino.

“It also shows Aquino’s complete inability to intervene and halt the unabated price hikes. The government’s systematic abandonment of its responsibility to provide accessible commodities and services for the people could very well lead to widespread discontent and protests,” he said.

New Way to Measure Poverty Denounced as Deceptive, Can Undermine Calls for Better Wages - Bulatlat

Beyond the Swindle of the Corporate University: Higher Education in the Service of Democracy

(Image: Jared Rodriguez / t r u t h o u t; Adapted: Earlham College, incurable_hippie)

by: Henry A. Giroux, t r u t h o u t | Op-Ed

"In spite of being discredited by the economic recession of 2008, neoliberalism, or market fundamentalism as it is called in some quarters, has once again returned with a vengeance. The Gilded Age has come back with big profits for the rich and increasing impoverishment and misery for the middle and working class. Political illiteracy has cornered the market on populist rage, providing a political bonus for those who are responsible for massive levels of inequality, poverty, and sundry other hardships. As social protections are dismantled, public servants are denigrated and public goods such as schools, bridges, health care services and public transportation deteriorate, the Obama administration unapologetically embraces the values of economic Darwinism and rewards its chief beneficiaries: mega banks and big business. Neoliberalism - reinvigorated by the passing of tax cuts for the ultra rich, the right-wing Republican Party taking over of the House of Representatives and an ongoing successful attack on the welfare state - proceeds, once again, in zombie-like fashion to impose its values, social relations and forms of social death upon all aspects of civic life.(1)

With its relentless attempts to normalize the irrational belief in the ability of markets to solve all social problems, neoliberal market fundamentalism puts in place policies designed to dismantle the few remaining vestiges of the social state and vital public services. More profoundly, it has weakened if not nearly destroyed those institutions that enable the production of a formative culture in which individuals learn to think critically, imagine other ways of being and doing and connect their personal troubles with public concerns. Matters of justice, ethics and equality have once again been exiled to the margins of politics. Never has this assault on the democratic polity been more obvious, if not more dangerous, than at the current moment when a battle is being waged under the rubric of neoliberal austerity measures on the autonomy of academic labor, the classroom as a site of critical pedagogy, the rights of students to high quality education, the democratic vitality of the university as a public sphere and the role played by the liberal arts and humanities in fostering an educational culture that is about the practice of freedom and mutual empowerment.(2)

Memories of the university as a citadel of democratic learning have been replaced by a university eager to define itself largely in economic terms. As the center of gravity shifts away from the humanities and the notion of the university as a public good, university presidents ignore public values while refusing to address major social issues and problems.(3) Instead, such administrators now display corporate affiliations like a badge of honor, sit on corporate boards and pull in huge salaries. A survey conducted by The Chronicle of Higher Education reported that "19 out of 40 presidents from the top 40 research universities sat on at least one company board."(4) Rather than treated as a social investment in the future, students are now viewed by university administrators as a major source of revenue for banks and other financial institutions that provide funds for them to meet escalating tuition payments. For older generations, higher education opened up opportunities for self-definition as well as pursuing a career in the field of one's choosing. It was relatively cheap, rigorous and accessible, even to many working-class youth. But as recent events in both the United States and Britain make clear, this is no longer the case. Instead of embodying the hope of a better life and future, higher education has become prohibitively expensive and exclusionary, now offering primarily a credential and, for most students, a lifetime of debt payments. Preparing the best and the brightest has given way to preparing what might be called Generation Debt.(5)

What is new about the current threat to higher education and the humanities in particular is the increasing pace of the corporatization and militarization of the university, the squelching of academic freedom, the rise of an ever increasing contingent of part-time faculty and the view that students are basically consumers and faculty providers of a salable commodity such as a credential or a set of workplace skills. More strikingly still is the slow death of the university as a center of critique, vital source of civic education and crucial public good. Or, to put it more specifically, the consequence of such dramatic transformations has resulted in the near death of the university as a democratic public sphere. Many faculty are now demoralized as they increasingly lose their rights and power. Moreover, a weak faculty translates into one governed by fear rather than by shared responsibilities, and one that is susceptible to labor-bashing tactics such as increased workloads, the casualization of labor and the growing suppression of dissent. Demoralization often translates less into moral outrage than into cynicism, accommodation and a retreat into a sterile form of professionalism. What is also new is that faculty now find themselves staring into an abyss, either unwilling to address the current attacks on the university or befuddled over how the language of specialization and professionalization has cut them off from not only connecting their work to larger civic issues and social problems, but also developing any meaningful relationships to a larger democratic polity.

As faculty no longer feel compelled to address important political issues and social problems, they are less inclined to communicate with a larger public, uphold public values, or engage in a type of scholarship that is available to a broader audience.(6) Beholden to corporate interests, career building and the insular discourses that accompany specialized scholarship, too many academics have become overly comfortable with the corporatization of the university and the new regimes of neoliberal governance. Chasing after grants, promotions and conventional research outlets, many academics have retreated from larger public debates and refused to address urgent social problems. Assuming the role of the disinterested academic or the clever faculty star on the make, these so-called academic entrepreneurs simply reinforce the public's perception that they have become largely irrelevant. Incapable, if not unwilling, to defend the university as a democratic public sphere and a crucial site for learning how to think critically and act with civic courage, many academics have disappeared into a disciplinary apparatus that views the university not as a place to think, but as a place to prepare students to be competitive in the global marketplace."

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Save PAL's jobs - fight for security of tenure

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