FEATURES

By Yashi & Han-san

The trapo wails through their personalized jingles, “it’s the most wonderful time of the year.” Comedic tarps are now being installed on the windowsill of makeshift houses, while a brazen parade is ongoing in the most impoverished cities.

With the elections around the corner, the trapo scattered their troops from every barangay, delivering speeches filled with trusty traps of band-aid solutions for the poverty-stricken voters. …

With its bi-annual General Assembly of Student Councils (GASC), the 54 Student Councils (SCs) across the University of the Philippines System (UP) gathered for the 51st Assembly from August 31 to September 1 via Zoom.

Unit reports from councils emphasized the struggles under the remote learning set-up, the effects of the unilateral abrogation of the UP-Department of Defense (UP-DND) Accord, and the aftermath of the state’s continuous red-tagging. …

By: Barbara Donato

The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the mundane lives, the normalcy. Schools are operating but lack quality education. Maybe the new model of education is education for the privileged, but no room to think; if there is, resources are still necessary. Students are burdened with heavy academic loads only to complete these requirements and not to gain an understanding of their education. As they cope with the problems of education, they are highly vulnerable to unchecked decisions.

There is no room with resources accessible to anyone on the brink of terrible, forced decisions. Without supervision, children and teenagers…

Features

By Shanin Kyle Manuel and Marianne De Jesus

Now the veterans cry, “Who would brave an ordeal in the wilderness?”

The deafening silence of the dwellers hints that this arena must be a no man’s land. Not until the combatants relinquished the disputed throne, the territory was once a noisy battlefield of Red and Blue. Hordes of chaos and fiascoes still seep into its pastures, nonetheless, only that the multitude remain idle and unmoved. …

While students continue to struggle with the implications of the COVID-19 pandemic, distance learning, and the Duterte administration’s intensified attacks against students, the University of the Philippines — Manila (UPM) faces difficulty to form genuine student representation which is vital in upholding students’ rights and values. Handled by the Commission on Appointments (CA), through the UPM University Electoral Board (UEB), the university now is in search of new members for the 42nd UPM University Student Council (USC) through an appointment scheme to compromise with the inability to hold the general elections. …

The second session of the final deliberations for the 42nd University of the Philippines Manila University Student Council (UPM USC), which featured USC Vice Chairperson nominee Querobin Acsibar, and USC Councilor nominees Ariane Joyce Kekim and Edzel Gail Macasu, occurred last Saturday, July 31. The Commission of Appointments (CA), along with other local student council members, was given a chance to interpellate the nominees. Throughout the whole process, the three Sulong UPM bets pledged that, once selected, they plan to take a flexible and consultative approach in their term’s projects and campaigns.

Looming student participation

It is no secret that…

Ngayong araw na ito, tinutukan na ng buong bansa ang huling SONA ni Pangulong Duterte. Ngayong papalapit na tayo sa dulo ng kanyang madugong rehimen, balikan natin ang mga pangakong hindi niya tinupad at ang mga pangarap ng masang Pilipino na kanyang niyurak. Alalahanin natin ang nakaraan, para hindi na natin bitbitin ang mga katiwalian at ang mga abuso ng nakaraang limang taon papunta sa bagong kinabukasang ating papandayin. Habang pinagninilayan natin ang nakalipas na limang taon, tandaan natin na lahat ng diktador ay bumabagsak, at lahat ng pasistang rehimen ay may katapusan.

Bagama’t nagtiwala ang mga Pilipino sa mga…