By ARTHUR L. ALLAD-IW

(Our guest columnist Marilyn Ngales is a member of BCF class A.B. 1970; M.A. 1980. She was asked to comment on the planned strike at UC-BCF last week. She is a former teacher, Dean and later a major participant of the BCF strike almost 20 years ago in 1988-1989, and now a Development Educator. — Ed.)

Quality education is a mantra constantly expressed by communities that consider education as a social transformational tool. Repetitive as it is, it has not lost its importance as a refuge of a society buffeted and continuously struggling with what values, perspectives, actions to take amidst conflicts that threaten cohesion, unity and ultimately freedoms. The Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE) used quality education as a premise to certify and thus order the UC Management and the Union to submit themselves for compulsory arbitration. The order claims “that impending work stoppage at schools would unduly prejudice the students and their parents who invest precious effort, time and money to afford their children quality education.”

When educators cry for the “return to the 3 Rs or return to the basics: reading , ‘riting, ‘ rithmetic” approach to quality education, they are referring to the disciplines which are indeed the turf of faculty. Management sometimes forget that faculty are not mere workhorses through the engagements of their disciplines but they are also builders. As institutional builders, they need to be a part of a shared governance oftentimes missed out in institutional practices. This brings us to the fourth “R” that was somehow overlooked in the basic approaches to education. “R” is for Relationship. Read the rest of this entry →

By MARY ANN MANJA BAYANG

In still another unprecedented move, the Supreme Court en banc finally approved the Rule on the Writ of Habeas Data which will take effect during the commemoration of the ratification of the 1987 Constitution on February 2, 2008. According to Justice Reynato Puno, this is another way of making the judiciary effective as the last bulwark of defense against the violations of the constitutional rights to life and liberty.

The writ of habeas data is a remedy available to any person whose right to privacy in life, liberty or security is violated or threatened by an unlawful act or omission of a public official or employee, or of a private individual or entity engaged in the gathering, collecting or storing of data or information regarding the person, family, home and correspondence of the aggrieved party. This will be very helpful especially to those who have dossiers of persons suspected of criminal acts. Read the rest of this entry →

By ARTURO BOQUIREN

On November 2, 2007, I pointed out in this column the continuous reproduction of semi-feudalism in the Philippines (to access the column, type “semi-feudalism” and click “Search Nordis” in the Google search section of the Nordis website). The struggle of the Sumilao farmers for land, the fight of the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) and other peasant groups or movements, and the failure of the Philippine government to give justice to victims of the Mendiola massacre more than two decades ago validate the assertions I made in that column.

To avoid being covered by government land reform, a number of landowners or landlords has converted agricultural lands to non-agricultural uses and, yet, even if the provisions of the government land reform program were followed, it has been possible to frustrate farmers from owning the land they till. Hence, to a significant extent, in the Philippine context, semi-feudalism has strongly contributed to global warming because plants and forests have been performing an excellent role in carbon sequestration. On the other hand, de facto, Philippine land reform programs provide a way out of land reform via land conversion of agricultural to non-agricultural land uses. Read the rest of this entry →

By KATHLEEN T. OKUBO

Here are some stories of people who were impoverished by the land laws that were manipulated to enrich conniving politicians.

This first subject is a descendant of the original peoples of Baguio City. Her great and great-great grand parents panned for gold and were cattle ranchers who by the mark-of-the hooves of their cattle on the ground defined the extent of their landholdings that literally was as far as the eye could see. Today, she is about 94 years old. Read the rest of this entry →